As we get into the later years of our lives, after we’ve lost a parent (or both) and more than a few school chums, we start to consider, perhaps for the first time, our own mortality.
Dylan Thomas is best remembered for his poem that begins: Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
As shown at left, however, the Stoics had a far different, and, I would suggest, healthier approach to the event that ultimately confronts all of us.
Their Latin saying, Memento mori, “remember that you [have to] die”, may sound equally macabre, but it carries the same life affirming concept as does “Carpe diem.” Make every moment count, toward whatever you wish to achieve for yourself, and/or for those around you.
The latest polls show me ahead of Biden and Trump among voters under age 45. But I need your help getting on the ballot in all 50 states. Let’s break the two-party system and bring real change to America…. Donate today.
It’s said that all politicians lie. But sorry; this simply can’t be.
It would be interesting to know the precise set of factors associated with this fairly dismal report, summarized in the bar chart below.
Certainly the high costs, especially those associated with student debt, play an important role.
Another contributor, to be sure, is the belief among the right wing that our colleges and universities are essentially manufacturing facilities that crank out liberals. I.e., only those with progressive views do well in courses like political science, history, and the rest of the humanities, because of the bias of the institution and its professors.
A competing view is that conservatives suffer from thought processes that tend to be narrow, selfish, indifferent to human suffering, and often deeply religious / anti-science, and that universities have no responsibility to present what could be called a “Fox News interpretation” of the world around us. Perhaps it’s actually a good thing that our young people are encouraged to develop belief systems that feature compassion, inclusion, and sustainability.
This from senior energy analyst Robert Rapier on the graph below:
GDP is one of the most important economic indicators. This measures the monetary value of all the stuff a country makes in a year. It is also used to determine recession (two consecutive quarters of GDP declines). It is not the only important indicator, but it is a big one, and it says the U.S. is outperforming other major developed economies.
Here’s a short essay from an old business colleague of mine, Steve Vachss (pronounced “Vax,” pictured here). My comments in response are in italics.
The American two-party system is dead. What began as a crippling disease has destroyed our government and much of our way of life.
The initial infection was the Citizens United decision rendered by the Supreme Court in 2010. This decision reversed century-old campaign finance restrictions and enabled corporations and other outside groups to spend unlimited funds on elections. It opened the gates to permit a cooperative web of powerful organizations that spend billions on selecting leaders that support or destroy laws that transfer billions of dollars to them from all ordinary citizens daily.
By controlling monies paid to media outlets, they select TV and print media journalists who must drive the opinions of their financiers.
I wouldn’t call Citizens United the “initial infection,” but I agree that it is a huge cancerous tumor eating away at what otherwise could have been a far healthier system of government. For the first few years after its passage, public outcry was considerable, and best of all, it came from people of all political philosophies. That uproar seems to have given way, now we have what we believe to be more pressing problems, e.g., the threat to end American democracy.
This is not an issue of conservative vs. liberal. By paying billions to support their needs and desires, the super-rich can influence the public to believe MSNBC, Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, or the New York Times.
If by this you mean that both Democrats and Republicans are corrupt, I certainly agree. The GOP may be more visible in its deceit due to its alignment with the fossil fuel industry, but there are plenty of other huge pockets of money for the Democrats to latch onto as well. Having said this, it’s clear that there are some progressives, the Bernie Sanders of the world, who honestly represent the well-being of the common American, and these folks are most assuredly not Republicans.
The following are a few proofs to consider:
• After the 2024 presidential election our leader will be one of two 80-year-old men. By the end of the next term in 2027 we will have had 11 years of presidents who are too old for any other job.
It appears that this is correct. FWIW, I’d be very happy to see a strong Democratic candidate half of Biden’s age. In the case of Biden, however, it’s impossible to know how many of the important decisions in domestic or international affairs are coming from the president himself, versus his top advisors.
• The Congress—including 535 members of the Senate and House—cost us approximately $11,000,000 a year. They spend millions more on staff, entertainment, and air transportation every year! What do we as citizens receive in new laws or fixing old laws that don’t work? Nothing! Instead, we see or hear nonsensical attacks on rivals, most of which are made-up rhetoric to garner votes.
It’s hard to argue against this. For at least the past decade, we’ve had a situation where, if one party wants something, it’s sure to be opposed by the other, regardless of its merit. This may be the single vilest aspect of the U.S. congress at this point.
• Meanwhile, we have lost our national leadership positions in every international category except military weaponry. Our country’s population has been bloated by tens of millions of illegal immigrants directly or indirectly paid by the Federal Government. Our national debt is beyond repayment by anything less than every taxpayer sacrificing 90 percent of their salaries and net worth.
The numbers I have come across suggest that the number of illegal crossings over the past two years have risen to an all-time high of 2 million per annum. I also see clearly specious rhetoric from the right-wing media, e.g., “The Democrats want open borders.” Does anyone really believe that? This a national (and international) crisis, and everyone with any honor seems to understand that.
Also, as we purport to be “a nation of laws,” we need to obey all the laws, both our own and those of the international community, associated with the processing of those seeking political asylum.
To paraphrase an old movie line, “I’m mad as hell” and don’t want to allow the two-party system to continue without a patriotic challenge.
Glad to see you have the spirit here. Given our conversations of the past, it comes as no surprise. Please keep me posted on any plans you have to deal with these issues.
This cartoon from “Bloper” presents humankind’s response to climate change thus far.
Virtually every educated and intelligent person on Earth, including our scientists and our political leaders, understands that the temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere and oceans is rising, and that we have very little time to avert the catastrophe that comes along with it.
We are, however, also living with a small number of extremely wealthy and powerful people whose greed defies description, who are quite happy to inflict untold misery upon all our planet’s life forms if ignoring climate change enriches them even further.
Outside of the fact that Liz Cheney and I both recognize that Donald Trump is a criminal sociopath, I would be surprised to learn that she and I have anything in common in our political and philosophical reckoning.
Still, when I see memes like the one here, it makes me think how good it would be for our nation if she could gain traction in the Republican Party.
I’m afraid, however, that this is a pipedream. Until a) Trump is removed from the scene and b) enough time passes for the trauma he created to dissipate, there is no mechanism for a voice of reason to make any real headway in restoring sanity to the GOP.
Now, as a progressive, maybe that’s a good thing. As an American and citizen of the world however, it’s hard to watch an entire political party with tens of millions of adherents wallow in the cesspool they made.
Here’s a great article on the moral imperative to address climate change. Its point: “To be complacent about climate is … to endorse future human suffering on an almost inconceivable scale.”
As we look back on 2023, the hottest year on record (by far), we see the number of deaths from storms, landslides, wildfires, and heatwaves going through the roof. Simultaneously, we see world leaders doing essentially nothing to prevent global catastrophe.
Quoting the bible in an effort to expose Trump for the conman he is may not be effective, if only because there is no proof that excerpts, like this one from Romans, actually apply to the former president.
Having said that, this passage certainly works for me.
Most religions have similar texts, warning their followers about evil and deceitful people who speak falsely in the name of God for their own aggrandizement.
As we get into the later years of our lives, after we’ve lost a parent (or both) and more than a few school chums, we start to consider, perhaps for the first time, our own mortality.
From Robert Kennedy Jr.:
It would be interesting to know the precise set of factors associated with this fairly dismal report, summarized in the bar chart below.
This from senior energy analyst Robert Rapier on the graph below:
Here’s a short essay from an old business colleague of mine, Steve Vachss (pronounced “Vax,” pictured here). My comments in response are in italics.
This cartoon from “Bloper” presents humankind’s response to climate change thus far.
Outside of the fact that Liz Cheney and I both recognize that Donald Trump is a criminal sociopath, I would be surprised to learn that she and I have anything in common in our political and philosophical reckoning.
Here’s a great article on the 
This made me laugh.
Quoting the bible in an effort to expose Trump for the conman he is may not be effective, if only because there is no proof that excerpts, like this one from Romans, actually apply to the former president.
