Book reviews: Mudbound, by Hillary Jordan

Mudbound by Hillary Jordan, published in 2008, is a horrific journey through that racism.  It is so sharply felt that it demands to be read a second time.  The reader is left gasping from the shock and the arrogance captured. 

http://www.helium.com/items/2285138-book-review-about-racism-in-the-southern-us

Should bonuses be paid to executives in bankrupt companies?

The creditors have not been paid and the cash flow is backward, that is after all, what bankrupt means.  The company can no longer operate as before, that is why they are asking for legal protection from creditors.  Should our corporate sponsors then about-face and reward themselves?  Hell, no!  Any sane person would not think so.  For this question to even rear its ugly head is a blasphemy; and the system exposes itself to be deeply corrupt and very arrogant.

http://www.helium.com/items/2172898-corporate-greed-failing-economy-class-discrepancy-corporations-bonuses-bankrupt-company

A guide to corporate ethics

Then when troublesome disasters come down, like when British Petroleum poisoned 25% of the world’s oceans; but it was okay because that company is an investment for a bunch of retirees. So those retirees would be very hurt by legal actions against the corporation, which is now like a father to them.  So no harm done, no foul.  What the hell is more like it?!

http://www.helium.com/items/2185958-corporationbig-businesscorporate-mentalityethics-in-businesscorporate-ethicspolitical-influence

How to best recycle plastics

That’s where the responsibility comes in; our society’s tolerance and knowledge of this destructive behavior is an outrage. And our action or inactions will have a grave influence on our Earth’s survival, which hopefully will lead to a new age of civilization. If Extraterrestrials are observing our progress to date, they must be aghast. I wonder if they have nicknamed Earth ‘The Dump’.

http://www.helium.com/items/2198440-recycle-plasticgreen-livingsustainabilityhow-to-recycledoes-recycling-count

Should marijuana be legalized?

The anti-drug stance of the United States costs big bucks.  And the underground economy brings in big bucks, with no tax liability at all.  It is difficult to sympathize with a country that spends so very much on a drug war that was obviously lost long ago, and one whose economy is upside down.  Not only is this anti-drug money being spent in huge amounts, year after year, also huge amounts of taxes are not being collected or paid out on the marijuana industry alone. And yet the marijuana industry is only a small portion of the total underground economy, millions as opposed to billions.

http://www.helium.com/items/2260721-legalize-marijuana

Book summary: The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton

This classic tale detailing the class system in action is a story of survival, trust and learning the hard lessons.  It is three brothers against the world.  The gang they belong to is not only a bolster protecting them from harm, but a bulls-eye as well that attracts the wrath of a rival gang, the police and society in general. 

http://www.helium.com/items/2277636-the-outsiders-book-summary

Failures of the US Prison System

Society has evolved into a prison state.  The poor, the unwanted, and the great unwashables are put out of sight.  The true predatory criminals are usually not caught.  They are too smart.  This system is set up in favor of the great white collar criminal, a badge of honor in these United States.  If there is no specific law against a thing, money can be made from it until the barn doors are nailed shut.

http://www.helium.com/knowledge/246183-failures-of-the-prison-system

Reflections: Mourning

Deep grief has to work itself out.  It cannot be ignored.  Talking to and about the lost one helps, reliving and rehashing, bringing the events close at hand again, touching gently the memory, then harder, to poke the sore point again and again until the pain begins to recede and morph into an altogether different pain. 

http://www.helium.com/items/2183053-deathmourninggriefgrievingwidowwidowerreflections

Women are taught to have a negative body image.

Women are taught to have a negative body image.  Our plastic society is responsible for much of this.  Appearances are everything and people do not look much beyond the surface.  Advertising, television, and photos of thin models in glossy magazines all glamorize thin women.  Little girls look for the glamour, the heels, the nail polish, the makeup, the jewelry, and the hair.  They can tell which women are self-confident and are drawn to that image.  Does having the hair, makeup, etc. cause a woman to feel self-confident?  You bet it does! 

http://www.helium.com/items/2176814-self-confidence-body-image-negative-body-image

Laying Low

I've been laying low for months now - trying to stay out of the economy's way.  Trying to survive, not live good or anything like that, just the hell to survive, and I guess it's time to ask - What the hell have I been reduced to?  After all these years, I'm living like a college kid again, strictly hand to mouth.  My greatest fear is that I'm living one misstep from homelessness.  Last night the chill crept into me.  And today it lingers.

Put The Crazy On The Paper

Just when I'm at the end of my economic rope, a migraine whips me into submission, beating and pounding ferociously at my head, kicking me while I'm down, and laying waste, much like the Bush administration did to the United States during its tenure.  As a proud Native American half-breed, I've always been afraid to truly speak my mind, you know, what with the torture, killing, forced removal and all.  My dad called it bad feelings.  I was born in Ohio, the Indian killing state, so I very well know that look . . . the one that says - yup, we shoulda killed all you bastards when we had a chance.  Well, right back at you, honey! 

On the day that Barak Obama was elected president of the United States, I was so proud, so happy, because I had come to believe that I wouldn't live long enough to see anything like that, not in my wildest dreams.  In my heart I know that Obama was only elected because the country has been so thoroughly trashed and mismanaged that there is nothing left for anyone to make a quick buck over; oh right, there are probably some fat retirement bundles around to be squeezed and swindled.  But still, it's not easy pickings like it once was, when huge accounting scandals like Enron and pyramid schemes like Madoff are exposed, it tends to encourage people to ask more questions and hopefully, every little scandal will unravel another.

For whatever reason the United States has decided to become civilized, whether forced or not, we need a new system, one that actually works, that doesn't idolize the biggest thieves our culture produces or run on some insane fake credit foundation.  I'd like to see the government go into the alternative energy business, the private sector has done nothing but screw that up.  Solar panels have been around for what, thirty years, so they should be cheaply mass-produced by now.  Special interest groups like the oil lobby have to quit running the country. 

Underground Economy

I am all in favor of President Obama's statements regarding fiscal responsibility.  As a bookkeeper, I know enough about the economy to realize that credit is not solid if it can't be turned into hard cash, or real money.  So right up front, let's grab some hard cash from the underground economy, which is loaded up with money.  The state of California has just today introduced legislation to tax and regulate marijuana in the same manner that alcohol is taxed and regulated.  Common sense is what the author calls it.  I agree, let's put that underground economy into our destitute marketplace.

Cities and towns would benefit from the sale of business licenses.  Counties could charge sales taxes.  Payroll taxes could be charged.  It's a win-win situation. Marijuana needs to be taxed, thereby bringing in hard cash, and also saving money on cops, courts, and prisons.  Prohibition does not work for marijuana any more than it did for alcohol.  This could all be done on a probationary or trial basis.  It could be voted on after five years or so.

The country is in deep trouble and running on credit.  When credit surpasses the ability to repay, then it is meaningless.  Jimmy Carter said it a long time ago, but no one listened.  It is ok to fix or replace broken things, like the economy.  Actually it's wise to take action before the crisis point, but we didn't.  We waited for the fear to compel us, and now that it has, we need to add actual dollars into the economy, not more bad credit.

Ghost Truck

What Did I Just See?

How to measure your social media personality

Southpark did a recent episode and of course made some of their usual acidic points.  Big Brother and everyone else is watching. Information moves at the speed of light.  Joke around about bombs in the morning and chat it up with the feds the same night.  Befriend an undesirable and public opinion can sink you.  Kiss ass carefully and your rewards will be great and plentiful.  Thank you, o great Internet god!

http://www.helium.com/items/2207480-avatarsocial-personalityuser-namefacebookinternetonline-persona

What improvements are needed in today's prisons?

This prison state is a huge private club, and one whose members rarely leave. They are firstly branded as convicts, criminals, or excons. Their rights are stripped away, their freedom is gone, and not just the freedom to walk away from prison, but the freedom to live any kind of traditional, normal life. It is a clear and convincing intent by the federal government to remove certain of society’s undesirables on a permanent basis.

http://www.helium.com/items/2276592-improvement-in-todays-prisons

Should medical marijuana be legalized?

The medical art of healing is for the purpose of relieving discomfort and pain. The AMA said in 1997 that the federal government should consider legalization of medical marijuana for this very same purpose. They are an authority on medical issues, even so late in the game, even after so much corporate gaming. However the US government refuses to reclassify marijuana from the Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. Governors have asked, police personal have asked, even members of the medical profession have said what the hell.

http://www.helium.com/items/2262271-should-medical-marijuana-be-legalized

How to start a daily Yoga routine

The human brain is a marvelous thing, it is programmed to keep the body healthy and demands food, sleep, and exercise when it is needed.  Focusing on these unconscious bits brings them to the surface where they can be ordered into a daily routine.

http://www.helium.com/items/2278510-daily-yoga-routine

The rich get rich faster: The poor get rich slower

Everyone has to pay a bit in order for society to move on, grow, and evolve into a better society.  Development of all forms is essential to life. However, the poor by their very definition are stagnant.  Their growth is likely to be on the loss side, whether in terms of health, education, or employment. They sink to the lowest dregs of the bottom of the barrel.

http://www.helium.com/items/2260373-the-poor-get-poorer-the-rich-get-richer

Rehabilitate or punish: How should society treat criminals?

Learning is an ongoing process. It is also a life-long process. There is no fill up point; high school graduation is not the last time the brain has to work. This belief is held by many and it is very wrong.

http://www.helium.com/items/2260669-rehabilitation-or-punishment

Whose fault is childhood obesity?

Indulgence has been the name of the game for several generations.  This is the age of I want it, I am having it.  No waiting in this culture.  Television the great babysitter indoctrinates the children.  Buy this, buy that.  Eat this, eat that.  You do not have to wait for one single thing.  The age of entitlement is manifest.  And a pall passes over the land.

http://www.helium.com/items/2180792-childhood-obesityhealthfat-kidsnutritionexercisehealthy-living

Ways gossip causes trouble at work

Gossip is the crowning glory of office politics, which is an ugly business, based pretty much on retaliatory forays against the enemy, the upper elite, or the workplace competition.  It usually appears bitterest against the competition. 

http://www.helium.com/items/2171256-gossip-workplace-gossip-in-workplace-office-politics

The disappearance of Caylee Anthony

It was the smell of rotting flesh that finally forced 22 year old Casey Anthony to deal with her biggest problem, her 2 year old daughter Caylee’s body. Casey Anthony apparently was so disassociated in regard to her actions that she just went on about her business until she was forced by the stench to do something.   After leaving the body in the car for a couple of days, then in the backyard for another day or so, she dumped the body.  Three years ago, in Florida, two year old Caylee Anthony died accidentally or was murdered by her mother.  Casey had been doing Internet searches on how to make chloroform, probably so the kid would sleep while she was out partying.

http://www.helium.com/items/2173588-casey-anthony-caylee-anthony-murder-trial-court-case-florida-courts-child-abuse-chloroform

Bad Taste

The bad taste of the Bush administration hangs like fog.  Yes, we're happy that it's over.  But we're all wandering around like accident victims, not able to think and barely able to function.  I think it's called shock.

http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8470325478588249971&postID=18455158700699025

Conspiracy Theory

Geo Bush, Dick Cheney, certain corporations, and Donny Rumsfeld all a conspiracy make, like soup in a can, such are the days of our lives.

Hell, yes, I believe in conspiracy theories, in particular the one involving Geo Bush.  For monetary and political reasons leading back to monetary reasons, Dick Cheney and compatriots wanted to go to war; no, they needed to go to war.  And the timeless answer revealed itself.  All they had to do was get the citizens of the United States riled up.  And with modern day complacency being what it is, there had to be an outrage on American soil.

How many wars have been started that way?  With a nice little inside job leaving clues that directly lead to the enemy.  You slap the citizens around a little, raise a public outcry, then war explodes across the country.  Politicians are the first to jump up and say hey.  It behooves them to talk the patriot talk and walk the patriot walk.

Hard to say how much Geo Bush knew and when he knew it.   I have no doubt that he knew a tactical event was coming down.  Leave it to Dick Cheney and Donny Rumsfeld to go all overkill; they weren't leaving any room for doubt.

Rainbow Cake

A Horrible Kitchen Accident

Making High Speed Rail A Viable Option

High speed trains should have been a fixture in the United States years ago. Now that the government is offering more incentives for this purpose, there is no reason not to. The United States is the only highly civilized country that has no high speed trains. The reasons for this are political and corporate in nature.    

http://www.helium.com/items/2258137-making-high-speed-rail-a-viable-solution

What Is The Best Form Of Travel?

If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, then method of travel is as well; and trains by far offer the best method of travel.  The scenery is exquisite and the bathrooms horrifying.

http://www.helium.com/items/2257728-amtrak-train-travel

Inflation in the US

The United States economy is precariously balanced on the price of a gallon of gas.  Heating, cooking, and driving are all dependant on this factor, the price of a gallon of gas.  If the money boys could figure a way for people to eat gas, they would be thrilled.  They have to make do with profits on fuel and heat; and those profits are huge.   Of course the price of food is bitterly attached to the transportation cost of goods.

http://www.helium.com/items/2197737-economyinflationgasfuelpricesconsumerpriceindexproducerpriceindexaveragehourlyearningsgoods

Tips For Traveling the US by Train

Train travel is absolutely lovely at its best; at its worst, it is a tortured ride through hell, Amtrak hell that is. Trains are the only viable alternative to flying, which is another tortured ride through hell, jammed into a plastic cattle car with nowhere to run. At the very least on a train, it is possible to go for a walk; and survival is statistically more possible when crashing from ground level. There are a few things you can do to be prepared for the train trip.

http://www.helium.com/items/2258791-tips-for-traveling-by-train

How should society treat criminals?

Prison is not a vacuum. It must be filled with something and it will be filled with something, if not something of a positive nature, then it will have to be of a negative nature. Herein lies the danger. What the beginning predator can learn in prison is a frightening thing. Relearning or rehabilitation makes far more sense.  Replace the negative with the positive on as many levels as possible.

http://www.helium.com/items/2260669-rehabilitation-or-punishment

Country Supper

This is a delicious & lighthearted recipe for a country supper, a relaxed down home specialty of mine. The ingredients are smooth and interchangeable. Whatever you have - potatoes, rice, or noodles, hamburger, chicken, or soy, then add a few vegetables. Flavored soup, such as cream of mushroom soup, can replace one of the ingredients. Five ingredients are all you need.

http://www.squidoo.com/country-supper

The King Of The Sauerkraut Sandwich, The Rueben

I was born a Midwesterner and when I haven't been home in a while, I start craving the luscious Rueben sandwichs. I'm talking rye bread, corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, and Thousand Island dressing, to be precise. I could tear one up right now!

http://www.squidoo.com/the-king-of-the-sauerkraut-sandwich-the-rueben

Humor: Facebook

Alas, the idiocy of my Farmville avatar!  That stupid girl is what I repeatedly call her.  I have no choice, she is on my nerves so badly.  I have no patience with her, when I click for her to move, I expect her to get off her fat ass.  Immediately, if not sooner.   I click and click and click, she slows down even more.  I want the trees harvested, the animals harvested, and assorted planting, plowing, and harvesting of the crops. 

http://www.helium.com/items/2185879-farmvillefacebookinternet-gamesavatarvisigoth

The Emperor Is Going To Look Fabulous In This

The system doesn't work.  Now that it's finally and completely collapsing, maybe it's time to get a new system rolling, one that's a bit more equitable for a whole bunch of people, and not just the chosen few.  It should be fairly obvious to everyone that the class system doesn't work.  And the United States has had a class system going since the get go. 

First you got the pit bosses, politicos, the money boys.  They who call the shots, the populist puppet masters, keepers of the flame of money.  This is the class of the rich, the all powerful and all knowing, damned near godlike in their elevation.  This slender bit of spectrum rules over all else, decides for all.  The commonality is the righteousness, the hunger, the thirst, stockpiling, never, ever having quite enough.  But in actuality having money enough to choke a horse, more than they could ever possibly spend, more than they could ever eat, more than they could ever take with them.

Then a very broad and free ranging middle-class, from the private schools to the ghettoes, from the hill houses to the railroad tracks.  America the beautiful.  It's a class stuffed with dreams and go get ‘em attitudes, magic in the air and a very real sense of possibility.  The class of education and free will, America's middle class is lusted after the world over. A golden sugar coated fantasy and just about as healthy.

Then we've got the low life poor, the ones who never count and are barely seen.  Native Americans were the first in this esteemed line of scum produced by the U.S.  Other cultures have swirled and blended their religions and cultures through the fringes.  The poor, the crazy, the disenfranchised, the elderly, the destitute, all these have their special place among the lowest of the classes.  Their numbers grow, but dispassionately we say, the poor are always with us.  Yes, the poor are always with us, so I guess that makes it ok.

Truly this is a system that does not work, a bloated mass choking itself to death.  Mortgages and bad credit flutter through the air, desperately trying to breathe through the polluted haze of freedom.  Irrationality and suspension of belief are necessary to float the boat on this, the free enterprise system, classes A through C. 

Union Label

The United States has gotten away from the days of strong union feelings.  Workers must organize.  Don't cross the picket line is what I was taught.  Your own family put their time in to the picket lines.  Support your fellow workers.    One of my cousins took a truck driving job as scab labor once when he really needed a job.  He was heading back on I-75 N when he was advised by CB radio to stop the truck and leave his job.  He ignored this request initially.  But when the bullet slammed through his windshield a few moments later, he was a convert.  He pulled the truck over and left his job; had someone pick him up on the side of the interstate.    I'm not making any judgments here; however, for unions to be effective, they must be respected.

Two things happened in the United States that were instrumental in destroying this country's labor movement.  The mob didn't help much when they nosed into union business in the US; really they made it all a joke.  Not much to take seriously with the mafia calling the shots, but the problem was that the unions were the only safety net standing between the employees and the bosses, factory owners, the money boys. 

President Ronald Reagan kicked in to the fray when he fired the air traffic controllers en masse in 1981; since they were public employees, a government union, they weren't allowed to strike.  Other government unions had violated this 1955 law in the past, but Reagan went after the air traffic controllers.  He then cowboyed up further and also banned the FAA from ever hiring back any of the fired workers.  In 1993, President Clinton overturned this decision; over 850 workers at least were hired back after 12 years. That Reaganonomic day was a turning point for the unions; they were effectively busted in the United States.   Every union in the country should have protested that action loud and clear, but they didn't and executive privilege ruled.  Consequently, labor stoppages which had been approximately 300 a year now dropped to 30 a year.  And the power of the unions in the United States was vanquished.