MIDDLE-CLASS TAXES .....

Who will  decide  if  our  taxes  will  increase  in  just  3  weeks ?  A  few  dozen  members  of  the  house  of  representatives , that's  who .

Cutting  taxes  for  the  middle-class  shouldn't  be  difficult , especially  when  republicans  claim  they  agree  with  the  president  on  the  issue . But  some  Republicans  are  still  holding  middle-class  tax  cuts  hostage  because  they  want  to  cut  taxes  for  millionaires  and  billionaires .

Here's  in  my  opinion  what's  going  on  right  now  ;  President  Obama  is  asking  Congress  to  move  forward  on  a  plan  that  would  prevent  98  percent  of  American  families  from  paying  higher  taxes  next  year . The  Senate  has  passed  that  bill , and  the  president  is  ready to  sign  it,  but  the  republican  leadership  in  the  house  of  representatives  won't  even  bring  the  bill  to  the  floor  for  a  vote , House  Democrats  have  filed  a  petition  that  would  force  a  vote  if  it  attracts  218  signatures . If  a  bill  has  enough  votes  to  pass , Congress  ought  and  should vote  on  it  and  pass it , it's  a  pretty  simple  proposition .  And  every  member of  Congress  who  hasn't  signed  on  to  keep  taxes  low  for  the  middle-classes  needs  to  hear  from  us  all .

Let's  get  one  thing  straight  and  clear , if  our  taxes  go  up , Republicans  will  have  made  a  conscious  and  deliberate  choice  to  let  that  happen , just  to  cut  taxes  for  the  wealthy  and  the  very  very  wealthy .

Republicans  need  to  stop  using  the  middle-classes  and  the  poorer  classes  as  a  bargaining  chip . If  they  fail  to  act  positively  and  responsibly , a  typical  middle-class  family  of  four  will  see  a  $2,200  tax  hike  starting  beginning  of  next  year . Honestly , in  my  book  that's  a  lot  of  money , and  middle-class  families  could  face  some  tough  financial  decisions  simply  because  Republicans  didn't  want  to  ask  the  wealthiest  2  percent  of  Americans  to  pay  their  fair  share .

That's  not  what  millions  and  millions  of  Americans  voted  for  just  one  month  ago . We  know  we  can  affect  changes  in  Washington  when  we  raise  our  voices  together , maybe  it's  time  to do  that  against  some  of  our  politicians  and  the  very wealthy  establishment  they  represent and  blindly  defend .



Letting  some  anger  and  frustration  out ,  facing  an  ugly  political  situation  affecting  us  all , thank  you  Stephanie  for  inspiring  my  words . Thanks  to  my  readers  as  usual  for  listening , and  salamat.  
  

250,000$ SOCIALISM .....

  Mention  socialism  and  you  have  to  talk  class  warfare .  Indeed , the  mere  allusion  to  the   notion  of  economic  inequality  in  America  nowadays  prompts  the  immediate  suspicion  and  accusation  that  you  are  trying  to  incite  class  warfare .

  A  recent  political  cartoon  portraying  president  Obama  driving  a  military  tank  labeled    "class  warfare"  in  response  to  his  timid  and  docile  suggestions  and  efforts  to  return  the  tax  rates  for  the  rich  and  super  rich  to  the   very  acceptable  and  favorable  levels  in  place  before  the  Bush  tax  cuts  turned  them  from  lavish  to  obscene .

It  is  a  sign  of  the  times  , our  times , when  a  centrist  and  a  moderately  conservative like      Mr.  Obama  is  labeled  a  socialist , a  leftist , and  is  constantly  accused  of  inflaming  class  war .

The  obvious  tactic ,  in  all  it's  ugly  clarity , of  suggesting  and  advocating  that  taxing  the  rich  is  going  to  destroy  the  economical  machine  and  stop  the  creation  of  jobs  is  a  diabolical  black-mail  of  the  country  and  it's  people , for  the  pure  and  simple  selfish  benefit  of  the  rich  and  the  super  rich  individuals  and  corporations ,  all  represented  by  politicians ,  lobbies , and  influential  pressure  groups , who  are  all  at  the  core  of  this  game  and  are  part  of  the  privileged  class .

Mr.  Obama  mentioned  couple  days  ago  in  a  speech  in  a  Pennsylvania  factory  that  all  Americans  should  get  involved  in  this  important  issue , that  could  establish  the  better  path  for  our  future , and  the  nation's  prosperity  and  humanity .



My  response  to  the  grave  issue  of  taxing  the  rich , and  extending  the  tax  cuts  to the  middle  classes  and  the  underprivileged ,  thanks  for  your  attention  and  salamat.      

AMERICANISM....

   I'm not sure why , and maybe  I  shouldn't ,  but  compared  to Chris  and  his  family  roots  ,   I'm totally  belittled  ,  and  feel  like  a  complete  novice  in  my  Americanism . But  let's read  what  he  wrote  about  all  this .

   I'm  not  blind  to  the  imperfections  of  this  old  America , or  the  failures  to  meet  it's  ideals  consistently  at  home  and  abroad . I  spent  more  than  two  years  living  in  Roxbury , the  inner  city  in  Boston , across  the  street  from  a  public  housing  project  where  I  ran  a  small  church  as  a  seminarian  at  Harvard  Divinity  School .  I  saw  institutional  racism  at  work .  I  saw  how  banks , courts , dysfunctional  schools , probation  officers , broken  homes , drug  abuse , crime , and  employers  all  conspired  to  make  sure  the  poor  remained  poor . I  spent  two  decades  as  a  foreign  correspondent  in  Latin  America , Africa , the  middle  East , and  the  Balkan . I  saw  there  the  crimes  and  injustices  committed   in  our  name  and  often  with  our  support , whether  during  the  Contra  war  in  Nicaragua  or  the  brutalization  of  the  Palestinians  by  Israeli  occupation  and  armed  forces .  We  had  much  to  atone  for , but  still  there  was  also  much  that  was  good , decent , and  honorable  in  our  country .

The  country  I  live  in  today  uses  the  same  civic , patriotic , and  historical  language  to  describe  itself , the  same  symbols  and  iconography , the  same  national  myths , but  only  the  shell  remains .  The  America  we  celebrate  is  an  illusion .  America , the  country  of  my  birth , the  country  that  formed  and  shaped  me , the  country  of  my  father , my  father's  father , and  his  father's  father , stretching  back  to  the  generations  of  my  family  that  were  here  for  the  country's  founding , is  so  diminished  as  to  be  unrecognizable . I  do  not  know  if  this  America  will  return , even  as  I  pray  and  work  and  strive  for  it's  return .

Our  nation  has  been  hijacked  by  oligarchs , corporations , and  a  narrow , selfish ,  political  and  economic  elite .  Cultures  that  cannot  distinguish  between  illusion  and  reality  die . The  elites  are  blinded  by  absurd  fantasies  of  omnipotence  and  power  that  is  dooming  our  civilization.  We  are  more and  more  resembling  small  developing  third  world  countries  as  we  have  been  steadily  impoverished  by  our  own  power  elites , legally , economically , spiritually , and  politically .

We  embrace  the  dangerous  delusion  that  we  are  on  a  providential  mission  to  save  the  world  from  itself , to  impose  our  virtues on  others , which  we  see  as  superior  to  all  other  virtues , and  that  we  have  a  right  to  do  this  by  force .




Excerpts  and  ideas  from  the  book " Empire  of  illusion"  by  Chris  Hedges , winner  of  the  Pulitzer  Price ,  my  thanks  as  usual  to  my  readers  for  their  time .     

EVERYBODY'S NOT SO HAPPY NOWADAYS ....

IN Aldous Huxley's  " Brave  New  World " the  hero , Bernard Marx , turns to his  girlfriend Lenina ;

   " Don't  you  wish  you  were  free , Lenina ? "
       " I don't  know  what  you  mean . I am  free . Free to  have  the  most  wonderful  time . Everybody's  happy nowadays ."
        HE  laughed , " yes , everybody's  happy  nowadays ."  We have  been  giving  the  children  that  at  five . But  wouldn't  you  like  to  be  free  to  be  happy  in  some  other  way , Lenina ?  In  your  own  way , for  example ; not  in  everybody  else's  way ."

       " I  don't  know  what  you  mean ," she  repeated .

A  typical  day  is  full  of  anxiety  and  boredom , cheerfulness  and  happiness  provide  the necessary  flashes  for  dealing  and  living  against  this  dull  background .  Thus  we  live  in  a  state  of  being  completely  involved  in  our  activities  for  their  own  sake . 

Every  action , movement , and  thought  follows  naturally  from  the  previous  one , like  playing  music , jazz  for  example , your  whole  being  is  involved , and  you're  using  your  skills  to  the  utmost . With  enough  adjustment , we  could  all  be  making  beautiful  jazz  of  our  lives .

  People  who  learn  to  control  inner  experience  will  be  able  to  determine  the  quality  of  their  lives , which  is  as  close  as  any  of  us  can  come  to  being  happy .  Csikszentmihalyi  writes  :  "There  are  two  main  strategies  we  can  adopt  to  improve  the  quality  of  our  life ,  the  first  is  to  try  making  external  conditions  match  our  goals .  The  second  is  to  change  how  we  experience  external  conditions  to  make  them  fit  our  goals  better ....   We  cannot  deny  the  facts  of  nature , but  we  should  certainly  try  to  improve  on  them .

Some  researchers  ( Diener)  believe  they  can  measure  happiness .  They  conducted  a  study  that  found  a  correlation  between  the  incomes  of  undergraduates  twenty  years  after  graduation  with  their  level  of  cheerfulness , their  research  also  showed  that  people  with  some  sense  of  humor  in  life , and  happy  people  in  general  have  higher  supervisor  ratings , higher  organizational  citizenship , and  higher  incomes .

    

Grandiose  illusions  and  some  dreaming , are  complimentary  to  cheerfulness  and  a  good  sense  of  humor , for  the  well  being  and  happiness  of  us  all .  They  come  in  three  types  ;  (1)  unrealistically  positive  views  of  the  self ; (2) exaggerated  perceptions  of  personal  control  ;  and (3)  unrealistic  optimism .  All  of  these  exaggerated  illusions  can , managed  the  right  way , improve  our  lives .  Illusions  are   good  for  us ,  and  therefore , by  extension ,  unembellished  and  the not  decorated  reality  is  negative  in  our  lives  and  for  our  happiness .  

Sharing  with  you  all  some ideas  inspired  by  the amazing  Hedges , thanks  for  your  patience , and  salamat. 

 
   

SYRIA REVISITED !!!

In  everyday  life  we  must  continue to  be  critics  of  a social  order  that is  still based  on  oppression , injustice , and  even  savagery .  Such  being  the  frame  of  mind  that  we  as  responsible  human  beings  have  to  maintain  today .

Under one  pretext  or  another , as  peasants , workers , merchants , or political  prisoners ,  all had  lost  all  their  rights ,  beginning  with  the  right to  talk .  Everyday  they  were  insulted  to  their  faces  and  had  to  take  it  in  silence . They  were  imprisoned  and  deported  individually and  en  masse  from  their  usual  lieu  of  habitat .

Exile , captivity , and  especially  death , became  as  their  lot  in  life , their  destiny ,  and  here I'm  not  talking  about  the  elite  among  them  or  the few  intellectuals , who  are  real  revolutionaries  and  freedom  fighters , but  of  all  those  Syrian  rebels  and  their  resistance , in  every  village  ,  town  or  district  of  the  many  Syrian  cities  , who  at  every  hour  of   the  day  and  night  throughout  two  years  of  revolution  shouted  "NO" .

The Syrian  national  council , and  it's allies  of  the  Musslem  brotherhood  and  their  proposed  interim  government  in  exile , are  drifting , nerveless  and  blinded  ,  incapable  of  meeting  the  crisis  of  the  country  or  it's  people . The  Syrian  bourgeoisie  and  the  class  of   the  nouveaux-riches   around  the  regime  are simply  hanging  on  , entrenched  and  petty , unable  even  to  conceive  the  possibility  of  any  action .

Perhaps  a  day  will  come when  a  happy  age  , looking  back  at  the  past , will  see   in  this  suffering  and  shameful  carnage , the  path  which  led  to  peace .

After  the  reelection  of  the  present  administration  in  the  U.S  and  as  the  Syrian  president  is  arrogantly  declaring  that  he  will  not  leave  the  country , many  in  Syria  and   the  Middle-east  are  awaiting  to  see  if  this  coming  year  might  bring  an  end  to  this  problem .




Syrian developments  again  on  my  mind ,  a  truly  tragic  situation , thanks  for your  attention .

AN IMPORTANT SIDE OF OUR ELECTIONS ...

WE have very  little  use  in  our modern  times   for  formal  Theology , whose  supreme  task  is  the gaining of political  power and  the fabrication of  rational  proofs  for  the existence  of  God , and  the punishment  or rewards  of  the after life . And  despite  the  accepted  ideas  nowadays  trying  to  impose  that  people  can  come  to  live  with  the  assumption  that  faith  and  reason  agree .

Gov. Mitt  Romney  and his proposed  vise president  in  tomorrow's  elections , are both  typical representatives  of  these religious philosophies  and  doctrines , through  their firm belonging to very conservative sects  of  Christianity ,  and  being  surrounded  by  neocons  advisers .

There are  today  minds  who  find  the proofs for  religiosity  and  the empowering of  religions in modern  societies  entirely  convincing ,  and   equally  intelligent  minds  that  find  them  misconceived  and  inconclusive  and totally  unconvincing ,  each  side  suspects  the  other  of  bad  faith . But  the fact  is  that  the  proofs  only convince  those  who want  to  be  convinced , and fail  to  convince  those  who  do  not  want  to be  convinced  .  And  so  most  arguments  are  not  really  proofs  at  all .

The  reader  may  wonder  whether  questions  that  sound  as  abstract  and  remote  as  these  have  any  real  flesh-and-blood  importance  at  all . Our  whole  life  revolves  around  the  answers  and  the  decisions  that  are  being  given  to  them .  How  one  answers  them  determines  one's  view  of  one's  own  life , it's  future , the  life  of  nature , the  political  and  economical  life  of  our  nation  and  our  globe .

Time  will  show  us  the  human  consequences  of  the   answers  and  actions  to  these  questions .




 Some  reflections  on  the upcoming  elections  in  the  United  States , and  the  state  of  the  union . thanks  for your  time .     

SANDY !!!

I couldn't  find  a  more explicit  and  revealing line to describe the passing of hurricane Sandy , than  those lines  by  the  poet / philosopher   Wordsworth ;

   There  was  a  roaring  in  the  winds  all  night ,
    The  rain  came  heavily  and   fell  in  floods . 



A  quick comment on the night  and day  when hurricane Sandy came by , thanks for your time . 
 

KIERKEGAARD AND MONTAIGNE ....

Though Kierkegaard  insisted on the distinctive  individuality of each existing self ,  he remained curiously ambiguous about his own true self .  Perhaps most readers do not take seriously enough  Kierkegaard sense of humor . In  EITHER/OR  he relates that he had been taken  up into the seventh heaven  where the assembled  gods gave  him the privilege of making any  wish , which they would fulfill .

 For a  moment I was at a loss . Then I addressed  myself to  the gods  as follows ; " Most honorable  contemporaries , I  choose this one thing , that I always have the laugh  on my side ." Not one of the  gods said  a word ; on the contrary , they all began to  laugh . From that  I  concluded that my wish was granted , and found that the  gods knew how  to express themselves  with taste ; for it would  hardly have been suitable  for them to have  answered gravely ; " Thy wish is granted ."

Kierkegaard wit is easier to grasp than his message .  Montaigne , also a  thinker of  Existentialism , had explained  the problem ; " If my mind could  gain a  foothold , I would not write essays , I  would make decisions , but it is always in apprenticeship and on trial ."

  Yet  we need not be troubled by our inability to sum up  and make Kierkegaard's  message  intelligible . There can never be a system for existence , because  existence is always  incomplete  and developing .

Kierkegaard says , and again I'm quoting from : Either/or ,  "What wonder , then , that the world goes from bad to worse , and that its evils increase more and more , as boredom increases , and boredom is the root  of all evil . The history of this can be traced from the very beginning of the world . The gods were bored , and so they created man , Adam was bored because he was alone , and so Eve was created . Thus boredom entered the world , and increased in proportion to the the increase of population . Adam was bored alone ; then Adam and Eve were bored together , then Adam and Eve and Cain and Able were bored en famille ; then the population of the world increased , and the peoples were bored en masse .

But man is misled if he thinks he can relieve boredom by what he sees when watching the affairs of the world , or even the elections of his own little society . The only relief is to stay home , where the existing individual bores himself into  inventiveness .





D.J.B.  helped research and analyse the philosophers  and I'm grateful ,  as to you my good readers my usual thanks for your time and patience , salamat.

A REALISTIC LOOK......

FOR some of you , or those of you familiar with Michel Kilo , a Syrian  exiled activist , against the Assad regime ,  he published recently an article in a Lebanese news-paper (Assafir)  professing and setting forth  the future of the popular movement in Syria , describing the behavior and attitudes of the general Syrian populace after the  fall of the present regime and of the Assad clan .

His  Utopian and almost  Heavenly angelic  views and descriptions of the political prospects , social behavior , and outcome of the whole revolution , are inviting at best , of a smiley grimace ,  one would have , upon hearing  the  impossible being invoked  and predicted for the future of this unfortunate country .

IT is very difficult , (almost impossible in most cases, )  for a society  to change it's  fundamental methods of thinking , and it's social/political course , because most men during such transitions must rely on the  old established methods . While  at the same  time  gradually  learn to observe , criticize and replace . So transitions take  time ,  a decade , a generation , or even longer . As  a rule , people tend to  sympathize  for a longer time with the  old  ideas  during  transitions , though in diminishing degrees .  So I  place these coming years for Syria , within the time  frame of the  older mode ;  changing  the  classification only  when the new  is clearly  in power .

THIS scenario  is not by any means , exclusive to Syria , it would absolutely fit  any  and all  countries  undergoing social  and  political revolutions and old oligarchic regimes changes , as in most  Arab nations .  Egypt for one , is a perfect example of  this  change/non change , in mood, ways  and behaviors . Here I'm commenting on another good article in today's  Arab papers , by the Egyptian author and political columnist   Ala' Assouani , commenting and complaining about this  non changing mood and behavior of Egyptian people and politics .


Thank you all , for your time .

A BLOGGING AFFAIR ....

ERASMUS (c. 1466 - 1536)  the Dutch  philosopher wrote ;  " Creep not upon the earth , my brother, like an animal . Put on those wings which  Plato says are caused to grow on the soul by the ardor of love .  Rise above the body to the spirit , from the visible to the invisible , from the letter to the mystical meaning , from the sensible to the intelligible , from the involved to the simple . Rise as by rungs until you scale the ladder of Jacob .

A blog , as a literary work , [ as I often describe them] is not a telegram , or an e-mail , and definitely not a twitter or the like ; it shouldn't have  necessarily a message to convey , any more than events or characters . In place of themes , one would often disperse and  circulate  random non-objective symbols and obscure literary allusions throughout the  article .

Only well informed readers , and insiders can decode these allusive references , the fact that some words or pictures are unclear is not a problem for them , but a virtue . Sometimes to be serious a blog  must be  ambiguous , elusive , enigmatic , indeterminable  and even  opaque .

Length is irrelevant to classification . The point is not quantity of words , but their connection to the events  and  characters presented in the work .

Most of the times , people reason  by  doubting , and that leads to questioning , and by questioning  they learn the truth . That is an axiom I follow in reasoning and writing blogs .

We are all  seekers of truth , we all want to know why and how . Man is the asking animal . And some of us live and strive by the why  and  the why why !!




A quick explicit explanatory thought . Thanks for your attention . 

A WORLD IN PROGRESS !!!

WE have a common sky . A common firmament encompasses us . What matters it by what kind of learned theory each man looketh for the truth ? there is no one way that will take us to so mighty a secret .     SYMMACHUS , roman thinker , A.D 384.

The new  Christianity , writes the author  Michelle Goldberg , is a "total ideology" ; the goal is the take over of  "every aspect of public and private life,"  including but not limited to government , science , history , culture , and relationships .  It holds that the secular authorities in the United States must be replaced by men of faith , who will refashion American life  according to God's teachings . U.S civil law  holds  Pat Robertson , must be replaced by biblical law .

" Christian politics ," writes George grant - director of Coral ridge Ministries (Florida) - " has as it's primary intent  the conquest of the land  (America ), of men , families , institutions , bureaucracies , courts , and governments  for the kingdom of Christ ."

As in all forms of totalitarianism and aspiring theocratic movements , the  fundamental purpose of  this  theocracy is to spread the ideas  regarded as holy , and eliminate opposition to them .  Such a purpose requires  a thoroughgoing reorientation  of the national mind ,  entailing thought control .  The result will be a nation conditioned to forget facts , understanding , liberty and individualism , while remembering  Jesus , God , and his earthly representatives  in the church ,  writes L. Peikoff .

IT  adds up to a historic popular  feeling that ;  something  fundamental has gone wrong with the United States . The only possible fix , the new  Christians tell us , is authentic  religion . What they seek is  revolution across  the whole of  American  culture , in the  name of a mode  of thought  that has not  ruled here since  the time of the puritans ,  again quoting  Mr Peikoff .

Because it is defined in  terms of fundamental  principles , the new  Christianity  is not , as some think , inherently  provincial , rural  uneducated poor people . The new Christian movement is in all aspects of  American societies .

IF we replace every word in the previous paragraphs saying  Christian , by the word Musslem , and every Jesus with a Muhammad or  Moses , and every America by Arabia  or Musslem world ,  wouldn't we reach the same frightening conclusions ?  and watch  the  same scenarios only in different parts of the world ??   Are we then  to blame  and condemn   Abraham and the prophets  for  all this  or our own  modern religious  narrow  mindedness .

" God is dead ,"  said  Nietzsche  in the nineteenth  century . A recent  book title gives the twenty-first- century's  reply ;  " God is back."




I  owe  L. Peikoff  for his  insightful  and deep analysis of the American progression and future .  As usual my gratitude for your time and patience .  

MUSSLEM REIGN AND SALAFISTS....!!

Today in many parts of the  Arab and  Musslem world , science , arts , and modern social concepts , are largely unknown or ignored , and of little  interest to them . Truth about  religion , the soul ,  eternity and early Islamic  modes of living , they believe , are incomparably more important than truths about the body, nature , or contemporary sciences , since these  pertain only to the darkness that constitute this world .

Only a handful of individual  Musslems across the Arab world gained  fragments of new scientific knowledge . No Arab or Musslem thinker of the last few centuries produced or even upheld  a theory of the physical world as a whole , not even  in rudimentary terms . It is an era without scientists , without artists or creators  of futuristic and human  progress ideas .

Whereas the world is striving to produce more of these inspired futurists , the Musslem and Arab world in general , is condemning  what little they know of it  as immoral , to them , it is not insignificant , but a threat , such worldly interests might provoke God's wrath , endanger  one's salvation , and is not  compatible with the  prophet's own times and way of life .

Although man in general  in our modern times , cannot claim to understand  much about  God's plan , the Musslems and their salafists , often refer to it .  Explanation of most events , they believe , is one that identify , as far as possible , the Divine's will  and hands in these events , whether it's political , social , family issues or the well being of individuals and or whole societies .




Some sad reflections on the situation governing a large segment of the world population . thanks for your time and patience , salamat.

PLEASING THE GODS ....

Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's  and unto God  that  which is God's . On this all brilliant thinkers agreed through out history . But how much is God's , and  when is it due ?? on this , the mixed-up men , being  very mixed-up , could not agree .

Many  confused - very confused and mixed up indeed - men and women in the Arab world , and the general Islamic world , are now facing and living this dilemma , of how much  is due to God , and how to render it .

How to live their lives , progress through life , raise and educate their children and prosper economically , and build stable and happy societies ,  and at the same time please their God , with offerings , rituals and principles , thousands of years old , only favored by Gods thousands of years old .

I say and repeat Gods , but I only mean the One God of most of our worldly religions . As most , or dare I say, all  followers share these same exact feelings of being  extremely mixed up  as to how , and what to do , regarding the ;  " how to please God in our actual times ."

The Christian who burned Korans not long ago in Florida, is trying to please his God, as the Jewish or Copt or whatever , who created that retched video were trying their way to please their God, or those barbaric attacks on diplomatic missions an the killing of diplomatic staff perpetrated by Muslim mobs who were all trying hard to please their god .


Some reflections on the not too inspiring events of the Arab and Muslim world , again thanks for your patience and time .

AMERICAN RELIGIOSITY !!!

WE all  admit that most Americans can be safely categorised as conservatives and religious  , or at best religiously conservatives . Following most religious sects or different denominations , most or all answer to the same higher authority .

All these religious denominations without exception  ask men to sacrifice themselves  to a transcendent entity , such as the One , God , or the state whether religious or civil . The good life , therefore , consists for the groups and individuals alike ; for each man's renunciation of personal , worldly desires in order to serve a higher truth , and a better community here on earth .

Religious leaders , thinkers and congregations are often described as advocates and proponents of faith over reason , and thus as non  or anti rationalists .

The American people , in good numbers , nowadays are turning and more so than ever before , as anti establishment and/or anti government and higher organising bodies in their lives , with more evident disrespect toward leaders of any kind .

In trying to relate the one and the many , it seems that our solution  is to write off the many as unwanted , undesirable  and unreal , and interpret literally the one as a self-sufficiency , championing  the one   without the many .

So as  Americans, represented by tea partiers and ultra conservative write wingers , are we turning away from religious substance and core principles ? are we reinventing new social/religious dogmas or a new creed to suit our modern selfish temperaments .




Simply some observations from our times, thanks for your time .
 

THE ARAB AND SYRIAN UPRISING....

THE point of life nowadays in the Arab world and more so in Syria, is the daily living of it.

When one reads about the Syrian revolution , you smell smoke , pictures of fire , accompanied by images of death , bad death  ,  somber pictures of carboniferous towns and cities , villages and the country side . You get a sense that fire  and death  are elements of destruction and rebirth .

  Syria  didn't just fall to the revolution in March 2011 , it burnt slowly ,  and keeps burning , slowly and fiercely . Revolutionary events do not just happen , they ignite .

Such historical outcomes , do not happen according to any grand  historical design , nor to well orchestrated conspiracies from other forces , not even from well designated enemies .  They are  merely  collective acts of  countless  individuals who at a certain point , for a moment , were struck by a moral purpose in their lives . Their dignities .

The obligation to resist and uproot a regime that had been fed on the appetite for domination , subjugation  and  extermination , is the essence of it all . This is exactly why , the images of fire and death in Syria are elements of both , destruction and rebirth .




Syria has been lately a lot on my mind, it's people , their revolution , and it's  desolate and hopeless regime . As usual , thanks for your attention and time . Salamat .

Hatred and violence......

There is nowadays an obscure e-mail circulating parts of the Arab world, whereby the Shiia are more dangerous than the Jews,  implying worse or lower than the Jews !!.  So and according to Sunni Musslems the Shiia today are more dangerous and have reached  the new low. 

Now according to Jews and Musslems, [ both direct descendants of Abraham] the Christians were the norm for low and danger,  Hindus of course consider the Musslems to be at the bottom , so would a Dutchman after the brutal killing of the popular Amsterdamer film director. 

Catholic and Protestant hatred decades ago  helped start and form America, but time didn't  really help it heal or subside from social fabrics whether it's here in the U.S. or in old Europe.  The lynching of  young Palestinians  by Jewish teenagers few days ago and the non intervening of hundreds of bystanders on the streets of Jerusalem, are again and again a despicable act of violence and a  picture of this hatred and lack of assimilation.

Maronites, Alawites, Druze, when is it all going to end ??

The world today , whether it's the Middle-east or Europe, north America or Asia the ex Soviet-union or Africa or the Balkans is living  it's religiosity, it's religious violence and hatred ,  and sadly it's all there to stay.

The  twentieth century has brought with its end two of the oldest legacies of our times,  " revealed religion and ethnic nationalism ",  when we thought that such things were done with and gone from most of our lives.

We should perhaps have known better , We believed in the transformative power of reason . Maybe it's our fate in life, that, there would always be some sort of unstoppable and undefeatable racial or even a biological obstacle to true assimilation .




Thanks for your attention and time, salamat.

ALMOST HUMILIATING !!!

Since my first visits to the U.S. back in the late sixties, and later in the early eighties when with my family,  we officially emigrated  to  America , until very recently, I could not easily adapt myself  to the notion of our strange relationship with the state of Israel.

Though with time I reconciled with this strange policy of ours, and accepted certain very publicised notions and aspects of our behaviour, as taking for granted that Jewish influence in all local elections is so powerful and essential to succeeding, and of course the known influence and lobbying tactics of AIPAC over congress is above all other consideration. It led me to think and believe that our extreme pragmatism lead us to such twisted behaviour.

Lately though, or at least in the last decade, matters have gone, and are going, more out of any control , going in ways that are against any rational or sensible policy, or even the simple safeguarding of our interests.

Never in the history of this great country of ours, did we humiliate ourselves, our leaders, our policies, by such begging for the approval of another state over our decisions and decision making . For whatever we want done, being it our elections, foreign policies, wars, or even decisions at our states and city level.

WE even resorted over the years to bribing and buying their acceptance and approval of our governing ourselves, and our interests, and it amounts to many , many billions of our tax money. Their leaders nowadays visit us as conquerors who come and dictate. It's a  strange, indeed very strange, and sad, state of affairs we have reached in our independence, our freedom of choice, our electoral decisions. It is so unAmerican, and so undignified, and we insistently keep at it.

We are firmly and assertively making it a way - our way- of life.




Thanks for your time and patience. 

ARISTOTLE AGAIN.......

THE Oxford dictionary defines "magnanimous, magnanimity" as : nobly generous, not petty in feelings or conduct.


Magnanimity the accomplishment of humanity, as in the man who has integrated all the virtues , courage , temperance ,  amiability,  generosity, such a person is really at the peak of moral happiness, that is to say, happiness plain and simple.

He is the happiest of men because his humanity is truly accomplished and radiant. This blossoming of a human being who has integrated all the virtues so that they have become inner and almost natural dispositions, Aristotle call magnanimity.

The magnanimous man is the most autonomous. He has no need of others. He is not worried about what others may think of him. It is as if he were above all that. His  great concern is the good, moral perfection , he knows how valuable it is, and because he is capable of great things, he expect recognition and honours, but he is truly worthy of them. Thus he is or could be called the perfect man.

"Now the proud [ magnanimous] man, since he deserves most, must be good in the highest degree." Aristotle thought of him as a great man, "a capable man who does not demean himself with petty concerns,he is a little like a god , superior to ordinary mortals. He is the sort of man to confer benefits but he is ashamed of receiving them , for the one is the mark of a superior , the other of an inferior." 

He must speak and act openly, for he is given to telling the truth, except when he speaks in irony to the vulgar. For it is not the part of a proud man to have a long memory, especially for wrongs, but rather to overlook them . Nor is he a gossip, for he will speak neither about himself nor about another, since he cares not to be praised nor for others to be blamed.

With regard to necessary or small matters, he is least of all men given to lamentation or nagging , the asking of favors . He is one who will possess beautiful and profitless things rather than profitable and useful ones ; for this is more proper to a character that suffices to itself.

At a first glance , this magnanimous man might be taken to be a very proud man in the modern sense of the word , almost pompous, He seeks to be perfectly accomplished .  Is he not, underneath it all, seeking his own aggrandizement and perfection ??

This is not in fact the case at all . The proud man (in the conventional modern sense) is the centre of his own world . He is not interested in others . Whereas, for Aristotle, the magnanimous man is interested in others, and in a manner that is great and noble , and in that, would be all the difference.




I have used the word "man" in the generic sense , whereby "human being" or "men and women" could have been more appropriate.
Paragraphs in italics are direct quotations from Aristotle.
English translations of Aristotle texts were by W. Ross , T. Irwin , and the texts and expertize of J. Vanier . MY  thanks to all, and to my readers.

ARISTOTLE !!!

SO who was Aristotle ??  I would like to tell you, on the strength of what is known about his life, how I imagine him to have been, and how I imagine him to have led his life.


IT seems to me that Aristotle, in his mature years, would have been one of those highly cultured men who knows how to listen, is passionately interested in reality, and is curious about everything there was to be discovered. Such men remain alert and attentive without being overwhelmed by information, because they have judgement. They know how to distinguish between what is true and what is false, what is essential and what is secondary. They know how to identify good intuitions. They are steady and open, capable of enthusiasm. They know how to join in the heat of the chase but also  how to stop, be silent, look, and contemplate. They seek to unify their knowledge, to establish a unity within themselves. That is why they take time alone to meditate and internalize what they know, to weigh things up. they are less interested in the sum total of their knowledge than in having an accurate vision of the world, less interested in what people think of them than in the truth itself.


I do not think it would be an exaggeration to say that Aristotle was a uniquely exceptional person, he was a kind of a walking encyclopedia. Plato actually nicknamed him "the reader".

What is the highest activity in life ? For Aristotle, the quest for happiness is linked to this question. By "highest activity" we are meant to understand the finest, most sublime activity, the one that is going to to enable us to progress furthest in the development of our humanity.  Happiness, virtue, the quest for truth and friendship -- especially friendship, constitute the essence of a fulfilled life, at least according to Aristotle.

The questions that interested Aristotle passionately had also been a passionate interest of  many men and women throughout the ages, they are timeless questions of serious concern to anyone wishing to live his or her life to the full, to parents wanting to point their children in the right direction, in accordance with certain values. What kind of education leads to a life that is fully human? What should be taught and how should it be taught?? There are also social and political implications . Indeed, the task of any government, or political leader is to organise society in such a way  that the largest possible number of people can live well within it, and not just for a certain and definite elite. 





With the help of  J. Vanier, an authority on Aristotle, thanks as usual for listening.

THE SPICE OF LIFE !!

Happiness, whatever else people may say, is the great concern of our life. To be happy, to know happiness is the great desire of every man and woman. We may differ perhaps in ways by which we attain happiness, but we all want to be happy. That is our great goal and aspiration.

I  believe in human intelligence, I'm convinced that our capacity to think, to know and analyze, to make the right choices, to orient our lives in one direction or another.  I do not accept that we are merely a collection of predestined desires or impulses, I  think that each of us is, more or less, master of our own life and destiny.

Seeking the truth in all things, avoiding lies, acting in accordance with justice, and transcending oneself to act for the good of others in society.  Other axis of the quest for happiness as in ;  pleasure, power, esteem and honour are as important in our daily lives, as we need to give friendship a generous place in our existence.  But these last elements even though essential for our happiness and our life, do not have the value of a final end.

In order to be truly human and lead a fully human life, we need a certain substance, or inner structure to enable us to act correctly,  respect others' rights, be our masters, speak the truth, and be upright and honest.

When it is said that happiness is self sufficient,  it is not a matter of happily shutting ourselves away in splendid isolation , it is a matter of working with and for others, for parents, children, wife, and in general for ones friends and fellow citizens.

If life is a long term accomplishment, we have time in which to learn

Simply some thoughts for our betterment, thanks as usual for your time and patience, and salamat .

AS YOU THINK SO YOU BECOME.....

Every difficulty in life present us with an opportunity to turn inward and to invoke our own submerged inner resources, the trials we endure can and should introduce us  to our strengths.

WE ought to be normally suspicious of the murky ideas laid down in pure academic and philosophical debates, exposes and  some dry texts.

I personally passionately denounce display of cleverness for it's own sake. One should be committed to non patronizing explanations of helpful ideas for living better. One would consider himself  successful when his ideas are easily grasped and put to use in someones real life where they could actually do some good elevating out character.

The art of living is actually a philosophy of inner freedom and tranquility, based on moral teachings stripped of sentimentality, piousness and metaphysical mambo jumbo.

Happiness and  personal fulfillment are the natural consequences of doing the right thing. Unlike many of  our days thinkers, we ought to be less concerned with seeking  to preach and lecture the world , than with identifying the specific steps to take in the pursuit of betterment and moral progress.

Seeking moral progress over the seeking of moral perfection is a sure sign of the higher life serenity. Moral progress results in freedom from inner turmoil,  we can stop fretting about this and that.

Spiritual progress requires  us to highlight what is essential, and to disregard everything else as trivial and  unworthy of our attention.

Let's quit trying to be something ultra-special , to be saints or mystics, or even  heroes, living our lives through useless continuous competitions, and instead try our best  and utmost to be honorable decent people, living upright  and decent lives, becoming our best  possible selves.

Rightness is what satisfies  the person for the sake of his own mind.





My thanks as usual for your time and patience, salamat.

NO CLEAR TITLE !!

A people -  Syrian or most of the Arab peoples-  is a living thing, except of course when it's dead. One sign of it's being alive is that it is changing all the time,  and it is an absolute commandment that no change must be interfered with.

For , on the one hand, political change cannot be resisted and, on the other , to repress change would block and oppose life. History cannot be stopped when it suites a governing oligarch.

When the ruling authorities of all Arab states including those of Syria and not excluding those of the Gulf-states, address the general public, they always speak with contempt, disdain  and derision thinking to guide or straighten out a situation or whole segments of the population. They also tend to deny that during the life of a nation it is at times better , more uniform and flexible, than at other times, for whatever happens to it at other more turbulent times is not disorder and decay but necessary evolution .

I'm here playing two roles . As an observer who  refuses to utter absolute judgements and final verdicts, and as a person who lived and still is connected to those countries ; I'm saying : " Hands off , enough."

It is not for the ruler to decide for his subjects the idea and notions of wright and wrong , enforcing it by cruel genocide most of the time, rather , these new evolutionary changes will be forced, and not taken from such rulers.

It is time for such oligarchies and rulers to retire and fade away in history no matter how against human nature such behavior sounds.




my usual gratitude for your time and patience, salamat. 

THOUGHTS FROM AN ELECTION YEAR !!!

IT used to be that unassuming listeners and the general public cultivated their minds through periods of elections, more so in a general election year, with it's heated debates, which feeds curiosity, and furnish imagination.

Good politics, moreover, are part of the general culture, morals and literature. Today that source of culture has dried up, as well ; it has been delegated, and professional politicians no longer write or debate for the public or the citizen but for one another.

Lately their narrow subjects and bickeries have ceased to be of any real interest to most. Such topics are not expected to attract the general citizenry.

The great questions about being and becoming, the test of truth, and the contradictions  of common sense, have not lost their fascination among most of the populace, but politicians and their related media  professionals no longer write for or address the intelligent, only their fellow politicians and professional media collaborators.

The elaboration of modern politics and governance go far beyond assertion and counter assertion on such simple matters of merit and quality of this or that politician candidate.

WE should have no wish to reprove any honest use of the intellect. Our aim should only be to contrast implicit claims with actual results, rhetorical slogans with performance, and to ascribe discrepancy not to individual fault but to the temper of the world and the deceitful march of our times.

WE are mistaken when we believe that culture, the humanities and our economical welfare are being served by politicians, their debates, and their election machines.




Thanks for your time and patience in a year of elections.

PARALLELISM AND CONFORMITY

A technical definition of Fascism as a political philosophy, and the characterization of political systems that are widely described as Fascist would certainly include two current models,  Islamic/theocratic movements or monarchies and autocratic/ despotic regimes. Both either aspiring to govern or actually in power.

IT'S proved by the fact that Fascism as well as our two models have created a living faith, and that this faith is very powerful in the minds of men devoted to them, it is demonstrated by those who have suffered and died for them as much as a result of them.

This Fascism under both faces is a political philosophy that is avowedly authoritarian, and seeks the supremacy of it's own, over others through the institution of absolute power. In the use of Fascist as a pejorative description, the term can apply to individuals and sub-states groups and actual reigning regimes.

In such regimes - as the Assad's regime in Syria, or any theocracy for that matter, Bahrain and it's neighbors for example - whether existing or aspiring to govern. There is not much use for , or presence of democracy, civil liberties, or due legal process. Human rights are arbitrarily at best and extensively violated, summary arrests, detentions without trials, and capital punishment for offences which include dogmatic, theocratic or political opposition and dissent to any rule, whether by the established regime or an aspiring and forming power trying to over throw an existing regime.

IF there are any elections they will be a sham, rigged, or influenced by various forms of coercion.  Close control of the media and extensive censorship is the rule, and it's shared religiously by both types of governance. Typically such regimes are conservative economically and morally, favoring business and business-owners over working people, outlawing  trade-unions,  and entertaining continuous suspicion of intellectuals, writers, artists and academics, all types of free thinkers are unwelcome and not tolerated.

These common  characteristics and tendencies so typical of both types of  absolute and despotic rules , define them both as Fascists. these two models of existing or aspiring forces, are unfortunately the only models fighting it out nowadays in the Arab arena  and beyond, in most of the Islamic world. The lack of a third , secular and democratic alternative is very disappointing and alarming.





Many thanks to Mr. Grayling for his insightful notes in defining  aspects of classical Fascism, and as usual to my readers for their patience and time, salamat.

THE ARAB SPRING

Human rights and civil liberties, none of these are  mere abstractions. The difference they make to the lives of individuals is so vast. Only compare the life of the ordinary man and woman in a western country today with the lives of many of their fellows in developing countries, especially those where religion remains a dominating influence over people's lives.

Religious inspired and backed-up revolts and uprisings, have all their own dynamics, which gradually makes them turn against the values which facilitated their own rise. They therefore change from being a weapon against repression into a weapon of repression, and everything they had set out to destroy re-emerge in new and worse forms.

Sectarianism and tribalism,racism and the praise of war and violence are the results of all Arab revolts and uprisings, which attempt to revive the kind of dictatorships and absolutism once exercised by dictatorships and monarchies. Regimes where the word "democracy" meant a term of horror, and the people were regarded as anarchic and dangerous. WE by now tragically know the results all too well.

TO place reliance on reason, and champion the autonomy and rights of the individual, and oppose absolute monarchies and absolutist regimes, organised religion and the reign of autocratic regimes and  groups are unable to give or do justice.  Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self imposed  immaturity, immaturity in the Arab case is the inability to use one's understanding to his or her problems without guidance from another, whether it be a religious dogma  or foreign powers. And their inability to use their understanding without guidance from another is the state of affairs throughout the whole region. THE freedom to use reason publicly in all matters is practically nonexistent and not tolerated.

PEOPLE of the Arab world can not frame a just constitution or even think about a just political order , until they first figure out who they truly are and consequently the best way to live. Islamic or secular, democratic or theocracy, Shii'sm or Sunnism, to the left or right, liberalism or religious conservatism or even an amalgam of all this, the people of those countries do not know which they want nor are they in any agreement among each other about the way to craft an acceptable living model.

ON all sides we only hear: DO NOT ARGUE !!! OBEY, do not argue; believe, pay and don't think. WE live the culture of the "do not argue."



MY special thanks to all for your time and patience, salamat.

A HECK OF A SITUATION !!!

The founders of western philosophy, the ancient Greeks, guys like Socrates, Plato and Aristotle,thought that the most important philosophical question in the universe, the question to which all other philosophical questions lead, is the question " How should we live ?" The awkward situation in Syria is that all parties ask this same question and each claim the answer opposing the other.


Assuming the question here is whether it's okay for Bashar Assad to run Syria the way he does, or did for the past 12 years, or even the way his father before him did for over thirty years.

I may not know what the best moral or ethical theory is, but if I have any moral knowledge at all, I know that what MR.Assad is doing and might be up to is wrong.

THE Syrian regime and as a last resort for it's survival and the close ones surrounding him, is willing to go into a civil war,and a very bloody one for that, that result in the disintegration of the political structure of Syria as we know it, and the formation of many smaller states, including an Alawite one on most of the coastal geography of actual Syria.All under the same question of " how should we live?"

SO why play around the bush ?? indeed, it's tempting to say that anyone who thinks it is okay for MR. Assad to wreck his country , and ruin the lives of thousands upon thousands of people is a moral incompetent, regardless of the outcome if or when there is a regime change.

A goal of successful countries ought to be to help pull failed countries out of their nightmare.




Thank you for listening and salamat.

PICTURE AT AN EXIBITION !!!

THIS year's election debacle between president Obama and GOP's Romney is just about to start, at least officially.....

SOME of the most hard -fought political arguments of our times, take place this year between two rival camps. The laissez fair camp and the fairness camp. Media is calling it "the middle class or the ninety nine % against the one % rich."

Leading the laissez fair camp are free market libertarians who believe that justice consists in upholding and respecting the voluntary choices made by consenting adults, and legislation to oblige. The fairness camp contains theorists of a more egalitarian tendencies. In their view, justice requires policies that reform and restore social and economic disadvantages and disparities, and give everyone a fair or at least better chances at success.

Often the disagreements are among partisans or rival advocates in the public realm. Sometimes the disagreements are within us as individuals.

Can we reason our way from the judgments we make about concrete situations to the principles of justice we believe should apply in all situations?? That's what moral reasoning consists in.

Disagreements about right or wrong, justice and injustice are part of life in democratic societies, some believe fairness requires taxing the rich to help the poor, and help preserve social benefits, while others believe it is unfair to tax away money people have earned through their own efforts, no matter how they did it as long as it's legal. Elections are won and lost on these disagreements and premises.

What we take to be public debate about justice and rights would be nothing more than a reflection of our moral convictions, and as much as we might be tempted to think that our moral convictions are fixed once and for all, by upbringing, faith or philosophical maturity, sometimes, an argument can change our minds.

WE must rise above the prejudices and routines of everyday life, to grasp the real meaning of justice and fair life for most. Elections this year are going to show us what we really think and who we really are.




Thanks to all for your time and salamat.

UNBEATABLE LOGIC !!!!

WHAT is a good argument for eating meat ????


Suppose someone asks: "What is a good argument for drinking wine"?


YOU can survive without wine while still getting the nutrients and all the anti-oxidants you require, at least that's what they tell me, but so what ??

WINE is a great pleasure to the palate, it makes you feel deliciously intoxicated, and it is a delight to share with friends and family.

AS Benjamin Franklin in his unfailing wisdom once said ;" Wine is sure proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." What better reasons could there be for drinking the stuff ?? if you enjoy wine, that seems to be all the argument you need.

IF you want to be happy, or at least be happier, stop struggling with every issue, stop fighting to achieve complete happiness in life, as this way only leads to disappointment and delusion.


A quick and short thought, thanks for listening.

VEGETARIANISM AND VEGETARIANS

For those of us fortunate to live in advanced western countries, the claim about being able to have an adequate diet without meat and or poultry is obviously possible and maybe correct. But that doesn't speak to the moral issue.

A close friend of mine and my younger son, both no longer eat meat, occasionally they might eat fish, guiltily though.

IF you ask me to offer a defence of this position, I'm not sure I can do it. Though I could be quite convinced by some of the arguments for vegetarianism, I eat meat, poultry and fish.

Does that mean that we can't be confident in calling the system of adding pink slime to red ground beef, or the whole factory farming and transportation system as it exists right now in most advanced countries of the world and led by the United States a moral outrage??

The relationship between philosophical reflection and daily life can be a complicated thing.

Further thought on the same theme as one could ask whether torture could be justified in a "ticking bomb" scenario, or killing an unarmed young adolescent and calling it self defence,or even the massacres by reigning regimes in some parts of the world, I believe that these kinds of situations are designed to lead to judgemental impasses and paralysis.

Such situations can encourage us to lose our confidence in our judgement about the majority of real world situations that we might face.

Can we imagine circumstances in which so many important considerations and decisions in addition to animal suffering are in play that we're not quite sure what to say about eating animals ???




Thoughts from an exchange with Alexander G. AS usual thanks for your time and patience.

21st CENTURY VISIONS !!!

IN the 20Th century, national sovereignty was generally regarded as something sacred, something that couldn't be interfered with. IN the 21st century, a head of state, a regime or a government can't be left free to do whatever they deem good to their interests or survival.

AS we know today, the world can not stand aside when gross and systematic violations of human rights are taking place ,we also learn that interventions must be based on legitimate and universal principles if it is to enjoy sustained support of the world's community.

WE need to establish a formal body of rules and laws to govern when the UN can authorise an intervention in a sovereign state, including the capability to remove it's leader by force if necessary. WE need to take urgent actions to establish a proposed set of rules to govern our responsibility to protect, our responsibility to react, and our responsibility to free an oppressed people.


20st century modes of dividing the world under major superpower's interests are not acceptable nor justifiable in our 21st century. Veto power in the UN of the said permanent members are not acceptable nor useful to the entirety of world nations. Whether these vetoes come from the U.S. protecting Israel or Russia protecting the Syrian regime, as the two countries and in both cases exercised a very selfish power in blocking and stopping the international body of nations imposing some just and needed actions and solutions.

THIS is a normal inversion of traditional behaviour, which seems necessary for a new era. THE 21st century brings the need for major policy changes on the world scene, with ethics based in deep philosophy. WE have to escape from some of the deeply embedded viewpoints of the 20Th century.

Vested interests will try to discredit such changes in our world legislation, and sometimes in brutal ways, we have again the blatant examples of the Syrian regime or the Israeli right wing government's behaviour and indifference facing international objections to their wrong doings at different instances in their recent history and only protected by superpower's vetoes.

WORLD people and nations need to be sure we understand the journey ahead and need to plan well how to bring about necessary inversions.




Just an honest opinion, thanks for your time.

THE STATE OF THE UNION.......

OF course what I'm referring to here is the union of any two persons, whether in marriage or any form of relationships, including friendship.

THE long time success of a relationship depends far more on avoiding the negative than on seeking the positive. A good estimate that a stable marriage/relationship requires that good interactions outnumber bad interactions by at least 3-4 to 1, some experts even see a 5 to 1 ratio as fair. Every couple should observe themselves.

WE all know that a friendship or a relationship that may take years to develop and mature can be ruined by one single action.

THE prime goal and concerns of a good relationship is that we should survive it.

Because we need to make sure that we are not close to the limits beyond which relationship's total breakage occurs, a discipline that continualy and comprehensively keeps measuring and modeling the mechanisms governing any relationship should reign at all instances.

THE art of living within the boundaries of a relationship, whether it's a couple in marriage or just lovers or a friendship is to make the best of it, not to try to organise everything the way you want.

MY words and few lines contain questions that are addressed personally to the reader, TO YOU. WE are more likely to learn something by finding surprises in our behaviour than by hearing surprising facts about people in general.




Thanks for your time and patience.

WAITING FOR THE CATASTROPHE !!!!

THE possibility of climate change represents a titanic clash of interests between the ability of the planet to support our lifestyle against the profitability of big oil/coal commercial enterprises.

Because there is no apparent certainty, the oil and coal industries can choose to ignore the possibilities and carry on with business as usual. But if we wait until the evidence of catastrophic climate change is conclusive and evident to the eye, it will be too late to stop it. The forces provoking climate change cannot themselves be changed quickly to reverse course.

The study of global warning has become so visible that profit-driven falsification of science constitutes "a clear crime against humanity."

Scientists with their extensive instrumentation have warned us that the Ocean conveyor is beginning to change in all Oceans and more so in the North Atlantic, it might sooner than later be too late to stop it. Once these conveyors start to change, the huge momentum of the forces at work will carry it forward irreversibly.

The U.S. department of defence commissioned a study on the consequences of the Ocean Conveyor's changing their positions and worked out three scenarios in detail. In the worst, Britain and Holland followed by most of central and east Europe have such frigid temperatures that many people leave. Much of Sweden turns to tundra. The Riviera becomes like the main coast of the north. As this is happening and while Western Europe turns icy, central Africa becomes hotter, and rainfall rates decline.

Many parts of the world experience severe droughts. There are mass migrations of people and wars caused by shortages of water and food. Despite this scenario, presented by it's own Department of Defence, the U.S. government took no action.

The true cost of carbon-based fuels includes the costs of pollution, military protection of oil assets and the costs of abnormal storm damage that is related to global warming. The medical expenses for coal-related sickness and emissions of carbon-based gases resulting in enormous lost workdays.

When these costs are included in the accounting, the cost of power from wind generators and solar panels and other green energy resources could be less than the cost of power from coal and oil. If and when that happens, there will be mass production of alternate energy sources, and that by itself will bring down their costs substantially.



thanks for listening, your interest is as usual greatly appreciated, salamat.

THE WAY WE ARE !!!!

The famous psychologist Richard Nisbett conducted an experiment whereby the participants were led to individual booths and invited to speak over the intercom about their personal lives and problems. They were to talk in turn for about 2 minutes. Only one microphone was active at any one time. There were six participants in each group, one of whom was a set stooge. The fake participant spoke first, following a script prepared by the experimenters. He described his problems adjusting to New York and admitted with obvious embarrassment that he was prone to seizures, especially when stressed. All the participants then had a turn. When the microphone was again turned over to the stooge, he became agitated and incoherent, said he felt a seizure coming on, and asked for someone to help him. The last words heard from him were, "C-ould somebody-er--er-help-er-uh-uh-uh [choking sounds]. I... I'm gonna die-er-er-er I'm... gonna die-er-er-I seizure I-er[chokes, then quiet]." At this point the microphone of the next participant automatically became active, and nothing more was heard from the possibly dying individual.

What do you think the participants in the experiment did? so far as the participants knew , one of them was having a seizure and had asked for help. However, there were several other people who could possibly respond, so perhaps one could stay safely in one's booth. These were the results: only four of the fifteen participants responded immediately to the appeal for help. Six never got out of their booths, and five others came out only well after the "seizure victim" apparently choked.

The experiment shows that individuals feel relieved of responsibility when they know that others have heard the same request for help.

Did the results surprise you ?? very probably. Most of us think of ourselves as decent people who would rush to help in such a situation , and we expect other decent people to do the same. The point of the experiment, of course, was to show that this expectation is wrong,, even normal, decent people do not rush to help when they expect others to take on the unpleasantness of dealing with a seizure. And that means all of us and you, too.

When I first came across and read the procedure of the helping experiment I thought I would come to the stranger's help immediately, as I probably would if I found myself alone with a seizure victim. I was probably wrong. If I find myself in a situation in which other people have an opportunity to help, I might not step forward. The presence of others would reduce my sense of personal responsibility more than I initially thought.

Changing one's mind about human nature is hard work, and changing one's mind for the worse about oneself is even harder.



My great thanks to Mr. Daniel K. for finding and discussing the experiment that was conducted a long time ago by R. Nisbett.

THE FUTURE ISN'T WHAT IT USED TO BE..... OR IS IT ???

A new year's first day is a time to recollect and remember, to look back and think. Maybe so... maybe not !!

I've never been a good one to look back. What's the point ? It's over. Been there already, done it all. I'm good at not looking back.

That I spent my life flying and going to places and taking no pictures, none. Friends and family always asked me for photos to look at, and I always said there aren't any, just my memory of it.

My wife and friends though seem to photograph everything. We just had over a hundred photos of our family gathering for this past Xmas period. Pictures of us, our smiles, the tree, gifts under the tree, and always the food at the table.

Face book pages overflow already with dozens of photos , and I mean it could reach the hundreds.

Speaking of Face book, I'm always intrigued by people who reminisce about their breakfast or brunch, or the taste of a prepared dish. It would never occur to me to look back on my brunch or dinner, and for sure not the taste of food, yes it was good, but no need to dwell on it.

That's why I have always been more interested in the year and times ahead, in the future and not the past, what the future might bring, what might happen, the surprise of it all.

I'm now in my sixty-something year of age and still looking forward to getting older, and years to come, I've always looked to older age and ahead times as better in my life.

Maybe the future isn't what it used to be thirty years ago, but it's the all exciting future nonetheless.

Happy new year everyone, let the next adventure begin.



thanks for your time, again happy and happy, salamat.