AYN RAND: APOSTLE OF SELFISHNESS AND HERO OF THE ALT. RIGHT

Ayn Rand

Russian-American novelist, promoter of selfishness, 

hero of the alt. right

1905-1982

Russian educated atheist Ayn Rand believed that selfishness was a positive virtue. She hated Christianity, championed abortion and, in addition to writing a few toxic novels and a small volume about selfishness, she also started a club that was dedicated to the promotion of selfishness. That the right wing lauds her and follows her selfish prescriptions for American society is a jarring contradiction, ESPECIALLY since the majority self-identify as Christian, and Rand's philosophy is the antithesis of Christianity.

"Abortion is a moral right which should be left to 

the sole discretion of the woman involved; 

morally, nothing other than her wish in the

matter is to be considered."

~ Ayn Rand ~

Several of America's contemporary government leaders have been remarkably affected by the fantasies of this novelist whose world view, if widely enacted, would regress the civilizing influence of Christianity on mankind back to the beginning of time.

Rand wasn't an economist and, in fact, her imaginative pronouncements on this field are dismissed by professional economists who have studied the history of economic systems and who know that we are stronger together than we are individually. It is the positive glory of human beings that we aim to enable every one of our members to succeed, and we lift up one another because we know that, in doing so, the human species becomes more successful. The dog-eat-dog world of Ayn Rand produces the opposite result.

"Jesus said unto him, 'thou shalt love the Lord thy God

with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy

mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the

second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as 

thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law

and all the prophets.'"

~ Matthew 22:37-40 ~

Because selfishness, xenophobia, racism and misogyny that are promoted by the alt right are damaging to the human race, as a whole, the alt. right movement, as typified in its most virulent form in the ravings of Steve Bannon, has to discredit and discount the experts in crucial fields of knowledge, even Biblical scholards. This bizarre subculture lionizes opinion without foundation while deriding experts in favor of fiction writers.

Steve Bannon and Marie LePen - 2018

"Let them call you racists. Let them call you xenophobes. 

Let them call you nativists. Wear it as a badge of honor."

~ Steve Bannon, 2018 ~

Ayn Rand was famously racist and nationalistic. She spoke against Native Americans, Arabs and indigenous people, in general. Her brand of politics is for white people only.

Followers of alt. right personalities resolutely ignore professional opinion in favor of people whom they perceive to be the common man, in whom they see themselves in some capacity. The pleasing mirage that the alt right personalities project, caters to the ordinary white guy, who then feels that maybe he too can rule the world without the bona fides typically required to do so. Slovenly Steve Bannon, with his baggy clothes and unkempt mop of hair, is their spokesman.

What is really going on here? At the heart of the modern alt right movement is the fight of the wealthy to grab even more wealth than they already have. The disparity of income in America is already the second worst in the world among all nations, but the wealthy are using hot button issues to coerce the white majority into helping them in the biggest smash-and-grab since before the French Revolution. The poor, disabled and elderly are hungry and poorly housed, yet the wealthy want to eliminate social programs that help alleviate their suffering. Ayn Rand disparages the charity that would help them.

"Those who shut their ears to the cries of the poor, will

themselves call and not be heard."

~ Proverbs 21:13 ~

Ayn Rand is the figurehead upon which the right hangs its political hat because her philosophy is conveniently hostile to poor people and minorities. According to Rand, it is immoral to make a man contribute to the welfare of the poor, vis-a-vis taxes. This is contrary to the Christian ethos, but the followers of the alt right are so mesmerized by the smoke and mirrors of Paul Ryan and people like him that they fail to call this movement into account for its violation of the central tenets of Christianity.

"You shall give generously [to your poor brother] and your

heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because

for this thing the Lord your God will bless you in all your

work and in all your undertakings."

Deuteronomy 15:10

On Facebook and other social media, I have had too many conversations with supporters of the lies of the alt. right mouthpieces who blame everyone's troubles on lazy, criminal poor people, minorities, and the like.

When faced with hard facts that disprove the myth of "massive fraud in the disability system," for instance, supporters resolutely cling to the lies. The payoff for believing poor-hating propaganda is too great to give it up, since those lies serve to elevate the status of the common man without any effort - somewhat like the video games that allow us to be big winners by the flick of a finger on a button. To be a winner, without having to bend one's head to any authority, without having to accept inconvenient truths that emphasize our lack of status, and without exerting a lot of effort, is too heady a wine for people who have chaffed under the annoying limitation of being ordinary for such a long time. Why accept facts when the lies let us believe that the poor are to blame for all our difficulties?Having a scape goat that possesses less power than we do allows us to look down upon them and pretend to some superiority. It is also far easier to withdraw assistance from the poor than to reclaim the ill-gotten gains of the wealthy.

"For all those who exalt themselves shall be humbled,

and those who humble themselves shall be exalted."

~Luke 14:11~

The psychology of Christianity is brilliant. People of real religious faith and comprehension already know this, but it also stands the test of objective examination. We can reject selfishness, not just because Jesus said so, but because it doesn't produce good fruit for humanity as a whole. We can embrace modesty and humility, not just because Jesus said to do it, but because those virtues propel us in a positive direction that is healthy for the individual as well as the group. We can share our wealth with the poor, not just because it is emphasized continually throughout the Old AND the New Testaments, but because it makes sense for the survival of our species.

The authorities upon whom one bases one's world view and activities is a clue to one's heart, so I ask you: Who is your authority? Is it Jesus, or is it Ayn Rand?

SLICE OF LIFE - TODAY IN THE NEWS

SUPER BLUE BLOOD MOON OVER NORWAY

picture by Heiko Junge / EPA

Recently, I watched the amazing super blue blood moon, as it was eclipsed over Albuquerque. It was the first in more than 100 years, so it was a special event.

Today, there is an article in the Washington Post that Donald Trump has ordered that the U.S. plant boots on the moon again. No one knows why this is important at this time in history. It will cost billions, maybe trillions of dollars, but perhaps he was inspired by the super blue blood moon and got carried away.

The picture, above, was taken in Norway. Donald Trump likes Norway and has said that he would prefer that we get immigrants from Norway instead of "shit hole countries" like predominately black or brown places - like Haiti.

40 million poor people in the U.S. often go without food or have to eat cheap but unhealthy substitutes. 1 out of every 4 children in the United States goes to bed hungry.

On television, I watched a special report on NBC about how Hostess, among other companies, is giving their employees a bonus and a year's supply of Twinkies and other manufactured treats.

Poor people are not getting bonuses or Twinkies.

Those with 401Ks are getting a little something in their accounts also.

Poor people do not have 401Ks.

During Trump's brief tenure, many services to the poor have been cut and/or eliminated.

There is a lot of celebration on Facebook among the middle class who are getting a smidgen of a raise, a modest bonus, or a little money in their 401K. "Trump is doing a good job for America!" they've written.

When these people say that Trump is doing a good job for America, which America is it, exactly? At least 40 million people are not included in their vision of America - in Trump's version of America, which is all white and rich.

The tax package that Trump pushed through gave great benefits to the wealthy, a few benefits to the middle class, and nothing to the millions of poor Americans that are struggling to survive. Under Donald Trump's administration, the more wealth you have, the more benefits you are getting from the tax plan and his removal of protections for the environment and the health of human beings around the world. Rich people benefit mightily from the removal of regulations. It isn't a benign benefit. Everyone else must SUFFER in order to push more wealth to the wealthy.

Even the benefits to the middle class are actually booby trapped. They're engineered to expire after a short time, after which there will be a balloon payment that the middle class are stuck with paying. They don't realize that the bonus or the little raise they see today are being given to them ON CREDIT. They've kept the blinders on, but in a year or two they'll be screaming about it and will find a way to blame Democrats tomorrow for the booby trap that the Trump administration laid for them today.

What is YOUR vision of America? Is it a small cadre of rich white folk, with thousands of wan, hungry servants servicing all their needs and desires?

I am praying for the intercession of Saint Francis during these difficult times, when Americans' worst instincts are being triggered. I am talking to Jesus CONSTANTLY throughout the day, asking for him to do something to enlighten these people who call themselves Christian but believe in Satan's values.

What is your vision of a supposedly Christian America? Please think about it.

God save us all

Silver Rose Parnell

Copyright (c) 2018, All rights reserved.

EDUCATION IN AMERICA

I have been wondering why the alt right have gotten hysterical about American colleges and why they've been hollering about "snowflakes" and "crybabies." I could not understand what was fueling this animus toward the educated, nor why Donald Trump would appoint someone to run the Department of Education who had no education in education...and no experience either. In fact, Betsy deVos has spent many years and a lot of money trying to dismantle the Department of Education. Why her, I wondered?

After reading the Washington Post this morning, I am beginning to get a clue.

The alt right, represented in this article by Frank Antenori, "a former Green Beret who served in the Arizona state legislature" believes that public colleges and universities should only be funded if they teach courses of study that result in a degree with which a person can make an appreciable income. An art degree, for instance, is a "junk degree." Culture means nothing to them.

According to Antenori, the current situation is that students go to major universities to "get brainwashed and learn how to become activists and basically go out in the world and cause trouble."

The hammer headed "solution" for this alleged problem, according to Republicans, is to cut funding for education, which they have done. Nearly every state has had to cut funding to public colleges and universities since the 2008 financial crisis, according to this article. Exactly how this is supposed to fix the problem is a mystery to me, since all it does is prevent poor and middle class kids from having access to a college education.

I should have intuited the "problem" about education before this. You just have to "follow the money" when trying to understand overblown right wing anger.

For those on the extreme right, the solution to any alleged problem is to cut funding to everything that helps poor and middle class Americans, while giving tax breaks to the wealthy. If they can gin up anger toward some aspect of a public program, no matter how small, that is what they do. They spread lies about "massive fraud" in the welfare system, then cut funding to programs that feed children. In a bid to cut Social Security benefits, Republicans would also have you believe that a large number of disabled people are liars and cheats, when there is no factual basis for this complaint whatsoever.

The inconvenient fact (for the "alt right") is that there are liars and cheats in every walk of life. The percentage is about the same, whether you're a 60 year old disabled veteran in a wheelchair or a billionaire. The only difference is that the billionaire steals more money from the public pocket and is therefore a more successful criminal.

The process of disinformation begins like this. Take a minority of a minority of a minority. For instance, students who are also activists. It is a small number, but in order to whip up the Republican base, you have to turn something into a problem, then exaggerate both the number of miscreants involved and the cost to Americans of whatever behavior is being inflated.

Instead of actually addressing the wisdom of that one class on "climbing trees" Republicans want to dismantle the government agency that regulates educational institutions while at the same time cutting funding. Once again, they are taking a giant hammer to a gnat, and missing the gnat.  They never cared about the gnat to begin with. That is why they miss it...again.

If Republicans really cared about the state of our educational system, they would do something that actually fixes the imagined "problem." That would be the role of the Department of Education.

There are many reasons why an art degree or an English literature degree is not "junk" and why funding the educations of our poor children is crucial to the continued success of the American way of life. It should be obvious that institutions of higher education do not exist for the sole purpose of turning out human machines that produce consumable products, especially since those type of degrees are not EXCLUDED from courses of study.

There is room for every type of person in America, and there is no reason why our educational system should not teach everything on the spectrum, from the artist who makes towers out of tin cans, to the corporately inclined student of business administration.

I do not care for art made from tin cans or cow carcasses. My tastes run to the traditional, but I do not presume to tell other people that their taste has to conform to mine. The sign of a real "nanny state" would be one in which only the left-brained, commerce-inclined children would be fed, while all others are starved.

As a final note, I would remind the reader that the rest of the civilized world provides free education to all its children.

Silver Rose Parnell
(c) copyright 2017
All rights reserved.

REVIEW - VICTORIAN SLUM HOUSE - PBS

The cast of "VICTORIAN SLUM HOUSE"

PBS

Some people in America justify cuts to social programs by claiming that individuals and churches will take up the slack. They claim that no one should be "forced" to help the poor through the payment of taxes, and that it should be done by free will.

These people ignore the historical reality of what really happened the last time we left it up to the churches.

Watch Victorian Slum House on PBS and take a look at the horrific conditions in which these people had to live and toil.

In this case, it is in England. The "cast" are not actors, but British people whose ancestors lived in the slums during the Victorian era. It is a reality show with a tremendous amount of educational opportunity for young and old alike.

It isn't the jolliest thing you could watch on television, but I find myself riveted by it.

It may just touch the stony hearts of Americans with a "sink or swim" or "dog eat dog" vision of the world.

Check it out.

Silver Rose

THE TRUTH ABOUT ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS AND WELFARE

Hispanic men at a homeless shelter in Los Angeles

ABC News report

2446  "Not to enable the poor to share in our goods is 

to steal from them and deprive them of life.  The goods 

we possess are not ours, but theirs.  The demands of 

justice must be satisfied first of all; that which is already 

due in justice is not to be offered as a gift of charity."...

"when we attend to the needs of those in want, we give 

them what is theirs, not ours.  More than performing 

works of mercy, we are paying a debt of justice"  

Catechism of the Catholic Church

It never fails when I prove someone wrong in this never-ending slander against the poor, I am told that I am "entitled to my opinion," when I have actually demolished someone's lies with facts.  It has become obvious to me that a great number of people do not know the difference between opinion and fact, so I start my post with a short tutorial:

The primary definition of "opinion," at least the one with which I am dealing here, is:

"A view or judgment formed about something, 

not necessarily based on fact or knowledge."

The definition of a "fact," for the purposes herein, is:

"1.  a thing that is indisputably the case; and,    

2.  a piece of information used as evidence or 

as part of a report or news article"          

The peculiar North American definition of "Welfare" is:

"financial support given to people in need."

Notice that "opinion" isn't necessarily based on the truth of a thing, while a "fact" IS. Therefore, if someone says:

"I am tired of illegals getting welfare,"

they are expressing an opinion (being "tired of it") based upon the supposed fact that "illegals get money from the government."

This opinion is based on a lie and is promoting that lie to other people, whether in social media, mass media or private conversations.  I am going to make yet another stab at providing the factual information about undocumented immigrants in our country.  

"Undocumented immigrants do not qualify 

for welfare, food stamps, Medicaid, and most 

other public benefits.  Most of these programs 

require proof of legal immigration status and, 

under the 1996 welfare law, even legal immigrants 

cannot receive these benefits until they have been 

in the United States for more than 5 years."  

CNN Money Article (1)

[Emphasis added.]

The above quote presents the factual circumstances of this issue, which facts are repeated by countless credible sources that can easily be found on the internet, yet scores of people have argued with me incessantly, vigorously and loudly, claiming that undocumented immigrants are given welfare as soon as they enter the country. 

I suspect that something that confuses these people is the fact that, if a person is born in this country, they are American, which means that, if the illegal aliens have babies in our country, then those babies are Americans and they are entitled to a small amount of government assistance.  These children are sometimes referred to as "anchor babies" that serve to allow the foreigners a tenuous foothold in this country.  Even so, the amount of money given to these children is so small (about $550 each, plus food stamps), it is a marvel to me how much certain people begrudge the food that goes into the mouths of these little ones.

What I hear continually from angry Americans, is that they resent their taxes being spent on the poor because of this false impression that illegal aliens are raking in big bucks.  They also accuse the disabled of faking their injuries, but that is another topic for another day.  The angry Americans are widely under the mistaken impression that they are spending huge amounts of money on "welfare" for illegals and other poor people.

As of 2012, a person who earns $50,000 a year only pays $36.82 in taxes for food stamps and $6.96 in taxes for welfare per year.  It seems like an awful lot of squawking for $43.78 PER YEAR IN TAXES EARMARKED FOR WELFARE AND FOOD STAMPS, especially when you compare that figure to the $4,000.00 a year they spend on corporate subsidies.  Below is a tax breakdown using $50,000 per year income for one tax payer. These tax figures are provided by the White House and government agencies, collected by commondreams.org. (3)

If we step back and look where all of the entitlement monies are spent after you have paid your taxes, the elderly, the disabled and the working poor account for the majority of it. Using the above model of the tax payer who earns $50,000 a year, his taxes for unemployment insurance, food stamps, welfare, retirement and disability to government workers and Medicare amount to $346.25, per year, added to which would be approximately $3,500 per year of Social Security taxes, making a grand total of $3846.25 paid into so-called "entitlement programs."  These monies are spent out in the following percentages:

These figures were obtained from the U.S. Office of 

Management and Budget, the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, 

the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the 

US. Dept of Labor, and the U.S. Census Bureau.

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities [February 2012] "more than 90 percent of the benefit dollars that entitlement and other mandatory programs spend go to assist people who are elderly, seriously disabled, or members of working households - not to able-bodied, working-age Americans who choose not to work.  This figure has changed little in the past few years."

"Federal budget and census data show that, in 2010, 91 percent of the benefit dollars from entitlement and other mandatory programs went to the elderly (people 65 and over), the seriously disabled, and members of working households.  People who are neither elderly nor disabled - and do not live in a working household - received only 9 percent of the benefits.

"Moreover, the vast bulk of that 9 percent goes for medical care, unemployment insurance benefits (which individuals must have a significant work history to receive), Social Security survivor benefits for the children and spouses of deceased workers, and Social Security benefits for retirees between ages 62 and 64.  Seven out of the 9 percentage points go for one of these four purposes."

The remaining 2% include able-bodied people who "choose" not to work (many of whom are suffering from undiagnosed and/or untreated mental and emotional illnesses): hardly the vast conspiracy of fraud and corruption that uninformed and angry Americans claim are bankrupting our country.

In the past, I have heard the angry Americans discount facts by falsely labeling them "statistics," rather than raw data, and claiming that statistics can be skewed to suit the situation.  While that perception of statistics could be true, I would point out that I am not providing "statistics," but raw data instead.  The definition of statistics is:

"The practice or science of collecting and analyzing numerical 

data in large quantities, especially for the purpose of inferring 

proportions in a whole from those in a representative sample."

The definition of "raw data" is:

"Raw data (also known as primary data) is a term for data

collected from a source.  Raw data has not been subjected 

to processing or any other manipulation."

The information I have provided consists of raw figures provided by primary sources from which no inferences of proportions have been made.  No manipulation of the data has been done.  These are simply the facts of the law and the direct numerical (monetary) figures of the matters discussed.

I present these facts in an effort to curtail the cruel myths that are circulating throughout the internet and to begin to direct the attention of the angry Americans to the truth of this portion of the discussion about welfare in America.

Helpful sources:

(1)  CNN Money Article

(2)  LIFE BEFORE SOCIAL SECURITY
(3)  COMMON DREAMS
(4)  CENTER ON BUDGET AND POLICY PRIORITIES

God bless us all,

Silver "Rose" Parnell
(c) 2015

HIGH CLASS PROBLEMS

One of my darling friends who is always helping me surprised me with a phone with which to start my new phone service.  Aside from having to adjust to yet another bill, the phone itself is a Rubic's Cube of the technology world.  Last night, it sent me text messages like, "someone else has taken over your account.  Go to www....."  Of course, I was horrified and went right over to the website and could not see what is the matter.  I am still the owner of record, and the address and phone are correct.  I am mystified.  Why did I get that message?  Is there something nefarious going on behind the scenes that I can't see?  I woke up fretting over this.

My new "Zinger" telephone

Reading the book is no help.  It tells me, "if you want to do this then do that.  I don't even know what this is, much less whether or not I want to do that.  If I don't do that, I wonder if I am being somehow remiss.  Am I supposed to do that?  Should I do it?  I am underlining the "this" and the "that" because I don't even understand it well enough to give it a name.

Sometimes the phone prompts me and says that there are Wi-Fi networks available.  Oh, goodie.  And?  Am I supposed to do something at this point, or is the phone pointing out something that doesn't pertain to me because I don't have internet on my phone?  Is it the phone's version of that kid's game where you count every yellow car between here and Denver?  "Oh, look...there's another yellow car."  Nothing to be done about it.  It's just another yellow car.

VW van

There are all sorts of teeny tiny little icons on the top of the phone.  I haven't the foggiest what they mean. I haven't gotten to that part of the book yet, but I strongly suspect they have something to do with the internet again.  Who knows?

His Majesty, Shivaasna

aka "Mr. Fuzzy Pants"

First thing this morning I had to go to the store to buy my cat some of the food he is NOT supposed to eat because he is dying of kidney disease but which is the only type of food he WILL eat.  I mix it with the prescription food that costs nearly $2 a can and hope for the best.  The last 2 days, he has refused to eat because I only gave him the prescription food and he was not having it.  At any rate, I pop the frustrating phone into my purse with a snort of disgust and head out the door.

On the way out of the Walgreens near my house, a man walks into the alley where they have placed the designated handicap parking (Yes, put the fragile disabled people in the alley where no one can see them get mugged.  Makes perfect sense.)  He proceeds to pull out his member and urinate against the wall, right there in front of me.  I am insulted and embarrassed, of course.  One of my pet peeves is the casual way in which so many men fling their bodily fluids onto the pavements from various orifices.  It's revolting.  I couldn't get into the car fast enough.  Never have I been so grateful for automatic door locks!  It's like the urban version of the USS Enterprise.  "Shields up!"

USS Starship Enterprise

I once saw a tour bus pull up into that same alley and several men exited the bus, stepped into the trash cubicle, and urinated behind the garbage bins.  Lovely surprise for the poor maintenance men that have to tidy that area.  Can you imagine?

Not long ago, I witnessed a man blow his nose onto the pavement.  He just held one nostril and let the other one blow out its contents.  One is always seeing men spitting onto the sidewalk.  This is where everyone walks, mind you.  It's a filthy business.  Whatever happened to a nice handkerchief?  Again, I do not see women spitting onto the pavement, and I am so curious to know whether or not the male of our species have an extra gland in their mouths that women do not have, and they have to expel the contents now and then.

bird of paradise, displaying for a

female

In the animal world, behavioral differences between the male and female of the species are meant to attract one another.  I wonder if I have misunderstood something crucial all these years.  If so, I wish the male of our species would do something lovely instead of urinating and spitting in front of strange ladies.  What about dancing?  I saw a beautiful film about a particular kind of bird in the rain forest that has exquisite plumage and does this amazing dance whenever a female comes near them.  It was mesmerizing.  How about something like that?  I think I would rather enjoy watching that, especially if the plumage was pretty.

So, this morning, before I had a chance to settle into the car and flee the scene, I had to witness that man casually put his penis back into his elastic-waist shorts and then saunter back to the payday loan establishment a few doors down.  I would bet that the payday loan shop doesn't allow anyone to use their bathroom, so the man decided to do what he did.  I've never seen a woman do that.  You know what women do.  They wait.  They hold it until they get to a bathroom.  I have also wondered to myself if there is something inherently flawed with the male urinary system and they are physically unable to wait, poor dears.  Of course, I've never seen any one of them actually let loose inside a store, mind you.  "Oh no!  I think my waters just broke."  No, that doesn't happen.  They must have some kind of control.

If some men feel they absolutely cannot be made to wait, perhaps it is time we started marketing diapers to them.  Either wear a diaper, or we'll ticket you $100 for peeing on the sidewalk.  That sounds like a uniquely American situation.  We love to punish people.  That's why we have so many people in prison.

On the other hand, we could simply take care of one another in a better way by providing bathrooms in shopping centers and public places as a matter of course.  You know why we don't have those?  It costs money to build and maintain bathrooms and we don't want to spend money on other people.  Our hard-boiled individualism reflects itself in this and many other anti-social cultural constructs.

Public bathroom in Thailand

I often wonder why, with our great freedom to construct a society of any type we want, the western world, for the most part, has imagined itself into a world that is far uglier than it has to be.  I think this is why we are so addicted to entertainment.  We must escape into an imaginary dimension because we can't stand the one in which we actually live....the one we have constructed.

Gas Station in Carmel, California

Some towns, however, have too much civic pride to let their streets turn into troughs of urine.  In chi-chi tourist towns, like beautiful Carmel, California, even the gas stations and toilets have to be constructed and decorated in a specific style.  There are very strict rules and building codes about this, all of which are designed to eliminate the ugly while harmonizing with nature.  I don't think neon is allowed within the city limits.  The residents of this town have an aesthetic vision of beauty that cannot be breached, and I am willing to bet that one would be hard pressed to find an ugly alley in which to pee in that little burgh.  Even the toilets at the beach are substantial and beautiful.

Public bathrooms at a Carmel beach

Carmel proper is a smallish town, a wealthy enclave, and can afford to spend a lot of money to maintain a certain look and level of cleanliness.  As with all things, it boils down to the availability of funds.  Not all towns have the wealth of Carmel, which is where a Federal government program would come in handy.  But there is that pesky selfishness we have to contend with.  People in California don't want to pay taxes to help raise the standard of living somewhere else.  "Who cares about the wellbeing of people in New Mexico?  I've got mine, and that's all that matters."

I'm convinced that it is time for a paradigm shift to a model of society that is supportive of all its members, one that is kind, gentle, loving and generous toward one another and the earth on which we live; a culture that recognizes the need for beauty that is in harmony with nature and doesn't want to cover everything over with cement.  Just as the industrial revolution pushed Americans off the farms and into the city, it is time for another model to take over.  We only have to decide what we want and then put it into action.

The first thing I want is for everyone to have access to the basic needs of life, and what could be more basic than a sanitary and attractive loo?  That, and a telephone that doesn't require an advanced degree in computer sciences to operate.

Silver Rose Parnell
Copyright (c) 2015
All rights reserved.