The euphoria many of us enjoyed at the election Barack
Obama in 2008 (--and the happy tears!) never destroyed
racism here or anywhere...have we progressed from bad
old days? Yes, because lynching is a hate crime now, and
many other atrocious anti-Black crimes formerly allowed/
ignored are taken seriously in all ethnic communities and
are legally prosecuted.
This past year, though, has been an alarming retrenchment
highly reminiscent of those bad old days: several churches
being set on fire, white cop killings of young unarmed
African American males, the mass murder of Black
church goers in South Carolina by a violently deranged
white youth, and other, if less traumatic incidents too
numerous to list here--What a tragic disgrace!
I have often attended services as one of only two
"white" persons at an AME denomination church.
The kindness and welcoming there can't be beat.
The musical energy and joy the regulars and the
choir exhibit are without parallel--the musicians
are terrific, inspiring as well. Only one motivated
by the Prince of Darkness would intrude upon
such a setting.
I'm asking America: WHAT "post racial" Society?
Where is it to be found? It exists in no nation, not
ours, or others, I'm certain. The dark, tribal-primitive
survivalist emotions of the human "family" going back
six million years is still very much part of our psyche.
But in those six million years of evolution, we HAVE
developed our pre-frontal cortex (that highest center
right behind one's forehead), the brain's capacity for
rational thought, studying the arts and sciences, will
power, controlling/modifying our behavior, etc. By
actively focusing from this most important of all our
bodies' systems, we are better humans, less prone
to evil or thoughtless hurtful harm against others.
Meanwhile, in my alter ego as the Safety Monitor,
I strongly suggest Black churches install metal
detectors in their entrances and exits. Doesn't God
help those who help themselves?
Monday, June 29, 2015
The Month That Was: June 2015, Ugly and Beautiful
What a month this has been! We had horrors of
violent, murderous racism (-the ugly) and decisions
by the Supreme Court to be proud of, passing
Marriage Equality, and re-confirming the ACA as
federal health insurance law (-the beautiful). It will
be hard to forget June, 2015. The contrasts are the
yin and yang of our society.
The last week of June will bring more momentous
rulings by SCOTUS, so stay tuned.
violent, murderous racism (-the ugly) and decisions
by the Supreme Court to be proud of, passing
Marriage Equality, and re-confirming the ACA as
federal health insurance law (-the beautiful). It will
be hard to forget June, 2015. The contrasts are the
yin and yang of our society.
The last week of June will bring more momentous
rulings by SCOTUS, so stay tuned.
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Nine Mudered While in Church: Blasting Back to a Bad Past--Again
If any reader rejected my frequent, earlier contentions, namely,
that we've been entering into a new Dark Age, seeing evil events
many of us had hoped were safely cast onto the dustbin of
history--you were resoundingly proven wrong yesterday:
Remember the four little girls killed in a southern state's church
years ago? A hauntingly similar scenario occurred Wednesday,
June 17th, when a young white lunatic entered a church in South
Carolina, fired his gun, killing nine people. (It's as if he read
American History and decided to recreate the horror, going
one better.) There is a clear photo of him, as yet unidentified.
When I add all the retrenchment from humane and sane
policies enacted in the twentieth century together, the
appalling, terrifying conclusion is inescapable--we have,
bit by bit, returned to bad old days. But this disastrous trend
is in its infancy, so we still have time to unite, gird ourselves
for the fight. --So let's fight! Let's organize, not as Occupy
did by having a giant, messy party, without any sustained,
legislative follow-through; instead, let's get serious.
Isn't it high time?
******************************************
UPDATE: Per CBS Radio, 21 year old Dylan Roof, the
alleged perpetrator has been caught, found in North Carolina
by Debbie Dills, a woman driving near him who took down
his license plate number, then called 911. Our nation owes her
our admiration and gratitude for her quick thinking, her
public-spirited actions.
that we've been entering into a new Dark Age, seeing evil events
many of us had hoped were safely cast onto the dustbin of
history--you were resoundingly proven wrong yesterday:
Remember the four little girls killed in a southern state's church
years ago? A hauntingly similar scenario occurred Wednesday,
June 17th, when a young white lunatic entered a church in South
Carolina, fired his gun, killing nine people. (It's as if he read
American History and decided to recreate the horror, going
one better.) There is a clear photo of him, as yet unidentified.
When I add all the retrenchment from humane and sane
policies enacted in the twentieth century together, the
appalling, terrifying conclusion is inescapable--we have,
bit by bit, returned to bad old days. But this disastrous trend
is in its infancy, so we still have time to unite, gird ourselves
for the fight. --So let's fight! Let's organize, not as Occupy
did by having a giant, messy party, without any sustained,
legislative follow-through; instead, let's get serious.
Isn't it high time?
******************************************
UPDATE: Per CBS Radio, 21 year old Dylan Roof, the
alleged perpetrator has been caught, found in North Carolina
by Debbie Dills, a woman driving near him who took down
his license plate number, then called 911. Our nation owes her
our admiration and gratitude for her quick thinking, her
public-spirited actions.
Friday, June 12, 2015
Why Is the World Crazier Than Ever? Lead with Lead for an Answer
While visiting the University of Chicago recently
with my alum daughter, I picked up a free
publication put out six times a year by the U of C.
The University of Chicago Magazine is a serious,
scientific and cultural institution for, by and about
students and alums of this great school boasting
more Nobel Laureates than many entire nations.
The May/June 2015 issue of the magazine includes
a must-read article entitled "Immeasurable" in their
regular Legacy column. U of C alum geochemist
Claire C. Patterson was instrumental in waging war
against lead pollution. Without his research and
concomitant fearless grit, cars would still spew
out this tragically dangerous neurotoxin into our air.
Lead pollution is still, sadly, being produced by
utilities, factories, mines and smelters. As Newton
Second Law theorist chemist Henry Bent has pointed
out, there is no "away". Whatever we have created
on this planet remains here, even if in a different form
...So what are the results of exposure to lead, whether
through the respiratory ingestion pathway or through
the G.I. tract?
(1) Because lead is toxic to every organ system in the
human body, particularly childrens', extra exposure is
to be avoided at all costs. The brain's prefrontal cortex
and the brain as a whole are primarily vulnerable. The
damage includes deficits to learning, judgement and
behavior.
(2) Now for my supposition: All this lead accumulating
in our brains (-along with all the other assorted poisons we
routinely ingest) MAY WELL account for all the increase
in insanity/violence we observe on the news and in person.
How can anyone escape this horrifying conclusion?
Our ourselves and our world: more poisoned than ever,
crazier than ever.
P.S.: my sources: The University of Chicago Magazine,
May/June 2015; the National Institutes of Health,
Neurotoxic Effects and Biomarkers of Lead Exposure,
January 2009; The EPA, "Learn about Lead".
with my alum daughter, I picked up a free
publication put out six times a year by the U of C.
The University of Chicago Magazine is a serious,
scientific and cultural institution for, by and about
students and alums of this great school boasting
more Nobel Laureates than many entire nations.
The May/June 2015 issue of the magazine includes
a must-read article entitled "Immeasurable" in their
regular Legacy column. U of C alum geochemist
Claire C. Patterson was instrumental in waging war
against lead pollution. Without his research and
concomitant fearless grit, cars would still spew
out this tragically dangerous neurotoxin into our air.
Lead pollution is still, sadly, being produced by
utilities, factories, mines and smelters. As Newton
Second Law theorist chemist Henry Bent has pointed
out, there is no "away". Whatever we have created
on this planet remains here, even if in a different form
...So what are the results of exposure to lead, whether
through the respiratory ingestion pathway or through
the G.I. tract?
(1) Because lead is toxic to every organ system in the
human body, particularly childrens', extra exposure is
to be avoided at all costs. The brain's prefrontal cortex
and the brain as a whole are primarily vulnerable. The
damage includes deficits to learning, judgement and
behavior.
(2) Now for my supposition: All this lead accumulating
in our brains (-along with all the other assorted poisons we
routinely ingest) MAY WELL account for all the increase
in insanity/violence we observe on the news and in person.
How can anyone escape this horrifying conclusion?
Our ourselves and our world: more poisoned than ever,
crazier than ever.
P.S.: my sources: The University of Chicago Magazine,
May/June 2015; the National Institutes of Health,
Neurotoxic Effects and Biomarkers of Lead Exposure,
January 2009; The EPA, "Learn about Lead".
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Presidential Candidate Sen. Ted Cruz and The Way Back Wing of the Texas Polity
The Way Back Wing of the Texas Polity is ignorant and
strident, yet politically vigorous enough to get Senator
Ted Cruz to DC with his hideously inappropriate desire for
higher office. It is shocking indeed to do some checking
and find he has actually argued cases before the Supreme
Court. (-!) He, however, has not studied the United States
Constitution itself, or the Federalist Papers, or a very telling
essay by Founding Father and chief constitution author,
Former President James Madison; had "TC" (Cruz) done
so, he would not have bothered to try to renounce his
Canadian citizenship (where he was "natural born")
in favor of his American citizenship.
If Cruz WAS up on his American History, most
significantly, between 1783 and 1787, he would
know dual citizenship is no bar to a U.S. presidency
(unless the second country is declared an enemy state
by our State Department). A "natural born" citizen of the
U.S. who has additionally acquired a French citizenship is,
under certain circumstances, allowed to hold the office of
U.S. president, for example. The constitution doesn't
stipulate any consideration as to where either parent was
born, ONLY the person who dreams of attaining
that highest of our offices. (--WAIT--he IS qualified to
lead Canada as Prime Minister...go bother THEM, TED!)
To understand Ted's problem, see Article II, Section 1,
Paragraph Five of the U.S. Constitution.
But this dopey denizen of Texas, who represents
the way back wing of the Texas polity doesn't
care, or doesn't care to know, what the highest
law of our land in fact does stipulate, bar or
require. Since I do, I think I'd be a better attorney
than Ted, who well may have memorized many
case precedents with only the shallowest of
understandings...
No matter what acts or judicial decisions have been
rendered since 1787, the federal constitution can
only be amended in two ways:
(a) by another runaway, open constitutional
convention, just like the one that established our
nation, or;
(b) by individually passed amendments, the only
way we have acquired any changes to our founding
document since 1787. The Naturalization Act of
1940 can confer citizenship upon an aspirant,
just not the "natural born citizen" category.
(My parents both legally qualified to become
citizens under that 1940 act, but they were
never eligible to become president--whereas
I am constitutionally allowed, born in NYC,
NY, USA.) Please see Article V, not the Fifth
Amendment, the U.S. Constitution.
There will be more errors revealed about
The Way Back Wing of the Texas Polity,
right here, soon....
strident, yet politically vigorous enough to get Senator
Ted Cruz to DC with his hideously inappropriate desire for
higher office. It is shocking indeed to do some checking
and find he has actually argued cases before the Supreme
Court. (-!) He, however, has not studied the United States
Constitution itself, or the Federalist Papers, or a very telling
essay by Founding Father and chief constitution author,
Former President James Madison; had "TC" (Cruz) done
so, he would not have bothered to try to renounce his
Canadian citizenship (where he was "natural born")
in favor of his American citizenship.
If Cruz WAS up on his American History, most
significantly, between 1783 and 1787, he would
know dual citizenship is no bar to a U.S. presidency
(unless the second country is declared an enemy state
by our State Department). A "natural born" citizen of the
U.S. who has additionally acquired a French citizenship is,
under certain circumstances, allowed to hold the office of
U.S. president, for example. The constitution doesn't
stipulate any consideration as to where either parent was
born, ONLY the person who dreams of attaining
that highest of our offices. (--WAIT--he IS qualified to
lead Canada as Prime Minister...go bother THEM, TED!)
To understand Ted's problem, see Article II, Section 1,
Paragraph Five of the U.S. Constitution.
But this dopey denizen of Texas, who represents
the way back wing of the Texas polity doesn't
care, or doesn't care to know, what the highest
law of our land in fact does stipulate, bar or
require. Since I do, I think I'd be a better attorney
than Ted, who well may have memorized many
case precedents with only the shallowest of
understandings...
No matter what acts or judicial decisions have been
rendered since 1787, the federal constitution can
only be amended in two ways:
(a) by another runaway, open constitutional
convention, just like the one that established our
nation, or;
(b) by individually passed amendments, the only
way we have acquired any changes to our founding
document since 1787. The Naturalization Act of
1940 can confer citizenship upon an aspirant,
just not the "natural born citizen" category.
(My parents both legally qualified to become
citizens under that 1940 act, but they were
never eligible to become president--whereas
I am constitutionally allowed, born in NYC,
NY, USA.) Please see Article V, not the Fifth
Amendment, the U.S. Constitution.
There will be more errors revealed about
The Way Back Wing of the Texas Polity,
right here, soon....
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