I’ve had the opportunity to listen to Edward Snowden a couple of times. Before hearing him, I have progressed considerably far from the view I learned in grade school along with the name of Benedict Arnold that there was and is a stark difference when comparing cowards, traitors, moles, and deserters to heroes, patriots, agents and loyalists. There is often, however, not much of a difference. Especially when the horrors of war cover with blood the motives and objectives of the warring factions and subject many to certain death when they cannot sincerely tell to whom to give their loyalties.
On the one hand, we have benefited by knowing what Mr. Snowden revealed and there is real value in the discussion it has sparked. Probably none of that would have happened without an Edward Snowden. If he had been caught and prosecuted, he would have been muzzled by our sometimes patronizing, bourgeois, elitist and suffocatingly orthodox Judiciary and prosecutorial executive.
Yet, I’m not sure I agree with him. I don’t think he has an answer nor has he come to grips with when, where and how secrecy has to be maintained. Such decisions cannot be left to the individual supernumerary, agent or soldier to determine. Nor am I comfortable with oversight outside of an adversarial system: meaning it can’t be those in charge of running our security agencies. Furthermore, if the gate keeper or overseers do not have an adverse motive to reveal wrongdoing and overstepping, or to provide a credible check and balance, the government will always devolve into excess and malfeasance.
Still, if you think like I do that individuals like Edward Snowden have broken the law and do deserve to be punished, we still act like feudal lords who would lock captured royalty in the tower under relatively tolerable conditions until a prisoner exchange or money or other bartered items was exchanged but would throw into the most horrid dungeon the peasant foot shoulders and then subject them to the worst tortures imaginable. How do we do this?
Generals, Cabinet Heads, Agency Directors, Judges, CEOs, Corporate Owners, Congressional Reps, Senators and even Presidents sometimes make similar bad decisions to that of Edward Snowden and are never punished and when they are, their sentences are fairly trivial. We reserve the worst punishments for the least among us because our royalty cannot view such conduct in a rational manner. This is because their conduct does not just cause the harm the laws they broke were fashioned to prevent but their actions threaten to unmask and reveal our royalty, our leaders own excesses and law breaking. This cannot be tolerated by the powerful. It is equal justice they fear more than simply punishing the wrongdoer. So they make examples of the Tim DeChristophers and Edward Snowdens of the world by punishing them more harshly than they would ever punish those of the same socio-economic class. They don't want justice, they want obeisance at all costs.
Loren M. Lambert, December 8, 2015 ©.
Friday, December 11, 2015
SISTERS (with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler) -- Prescreening
Sisters--very funny and clever but on some subjects that are not my cup of tea nor my side of beef, nor my bowl of soup.
There were several moments that made me laugh until I hurt, several moments that made me uncomfortable and made me hope no one I knew, knew I was there, and several moments that made me think 'how do people come up with this stuff?'
Then there was one moment that made me think that one way or another we humans have to have our close call with danger. I just took mine climbing, running rivers and lighting my hair on fire. Pretty low key, not extremely close to danger.
Loren M. Lambert, December 10, 2015 ©
There were several moments that made me laugh until I hurt, several moments that made me uncomfortable and made me hope no one I knew, knew I was there, and several moments that made me think 'how do people come up with this stuff?'
Then there was one moment that made me think that one way or another we humans have to have our close call with danger. I just took mine climbing, running rivers and lighting my hair on fire. Pretty low key, not extremely close to danger.
Loren M. Lambert, December 10, 2015 ©
Hitting Rock Bottom – I’ve Been There and I’m Going Again
Isn't saying that you have to hit rock bottom before you can turn around the same as saying the lost item you are looking for will be found in the last place you look?
How do you know when you have hit rock bottom so you know it's safe to turn around? What if you don’t get there and you turn around too early and have to go back? Or what if you're a real competitive, disciplined and diligent rock bottomer and you have to do it better than anyone else? Don’t you then have to pay attention to where others hit rock bottom and lived to tell about it? Then don’t you have to say, “Damn, that ain't nothin'. Wait until you see my rock bottom, I'm going to be the most rockiest rock-bottomer of them all."
Problem comes, darn it, when you set the world record, someone else had to go down there and take it away from you. Then you have no choice. You have to say your good-byes, write your will, stock up on bankrupting accessories, call your boss the offspring of a fornicating corpse with no mother, splash a weeks worth of a chamber pot in the face of the only person that ever loved you and dive in once again.
I hit rock bottom once. And several times before that.
I think the first time was when I was about age 4 and 2 months old. At that moment in time I realized that clothing and shoes came in different fashions as I was on my way down to the Harts, a family of 6 boys--all older than me--and all athletes. I knew my outfit (that I knew it was an outfit should say everything) was not going to go over well with the Hart brothers. This would have never occurred to me in the long previous 4 years of my long life.
My mother had dressed me. I was wearing my cute white nurses’ uniform shoes (that’s what I called them as I’d been in a hospital already and had kicked a nurse in the shin that had stuck a needle in me and could only remember her white shoes [I didn’t know at that time that you didn’t kick someone who stuck a needle in you]) and the cute little white shirt, black suspenders, cuffed light blue shorts, and cute little brown old-fashioned polo jacket with fake pockets and a little shield over the pocket over my heart.
I had then done something unspeakable to those clothes. I don’t remember what it was but I know it made my mom cry. This made me feel bad. I didn’t know why it made her cry. I know now it was because she knew the dress-me-up days were over and it was probably straight to swearing after that.
Then there were a couple of times between 5 and 7. Can't remember what set me off during those times nor why but I know it always had something to do with my parents. Then I, alone or with my older brother, would run away to my grandmothers home to live forever, or at least until after she fed us.
But rock bottom?
That was about at age eight. That’s when my Dad--due to some lengthy period of a complete lack of discipline on my part and that of my brother--finally had enough of our messy room. He took the entire contents thereof, gathered it up into a blanket and donated it to the Salt Lake County Waste Disposal Services. Those contents will someday be dug up a few million years from now by whatever intelligent creatures evolve to take our place after we all die from global warming. They will probably look like Seagulls with residual wings.
After my Dad did this, my older brother and I filled our army surplus canteens with old fashioned tap water, loaded up on a few storage items and headed out. This time we resolved to never return, ever. We both promised this several times to each other. First we passed from the Canyon Rim area through the wilderness border into the no-man's land that was Wasatch Blvd and scrambled into the beat up foothills that would, over the next 20 years, be filled with a new thing called split level houses. Then we started our climb to freedom–up into the wilderness of Snake Mountain.
We made it halfway up. It started to snow. We didn’t have gloves or hats. My brother said we should probably go back. I told him no, we hadn’t even drunk all of our water nor eaten our bottled peaches. Yes, he said, that was right but he had been carrying the peaches and they weighed a ton and that the canteens weighed a ton more and he didn’t know how the hell we had won WWII and the Korean war with such lousy canteens. So he said we had to go back. I started to cry, because we couldn’t go back, it would be too embarrassing. I told him we hadn’t even hit rock bottom.
He told me to suit myself, I could hit rock bottom if I wanted, but he was going back. He said he didn’t like all his stupid stuff anyway and that the seagulls could poop on part of it, eat the rest and regurgitate it into the Great Salt Lake.
I stood there for a long time, staring up into the mountain that was shrouded in clouds. I knew that there was some paradise being hidden under that blanket of clouds, just up over the peak. I let the snow coat my long, blond hair and drip cold down my face. Then, in humiliation, I turned back, yelling at my brother to hold up. I swore I would return and someday make it to that paradise.
That day has been the ruin of my life. I always look up and want to hit that rock bottom at the tops of the peaks, whether it’s too warm, too sunny, too cold, too dark, too early or I am too, whatever. When did you hit rock bottom? Hopefully for you it was bottom enough. For me it never will be and it will be the death of me I am sure.
Loren M. Lambert, December 10, 2015 ©
How do you know when you have hit rock bottom so you know it's safe to turn around? What if you don’t get there and you turn around too early and have to go back? Or what if you're a real competitive, disciplined and diligent rock bottomer and you have to do it better than anyone else? Don’t you then have to pay attention to where others hit rock bottom and lived to tell about it? Then don’t you have to say, “Damn, that ain't nothin'. Wait until you see my rock bottom, I'm going to be the most rockiest rock-bottomer of them all."
Problem comes, darn it, when you set the world record, someone else had to go down there and take it away from you. Then you have no choice. You have to say your good-byes, write your will, stock up on bankrupting accessories, call your boss the offspring of a fornicating corpse with no mother, splash a weeks worth of a chamber pot in the face of the only person that ever loved you and dive in once again.
I hit rock bottom once. And several times before that.
I think the first time was when I was about age 4 and 2 months old. At that moment in time I realized that clothing and shoes came in different fashions as I was on my way down to the Harts, a family of 6 boys--all older than me--and all athletes. I knew my outfit (that I knew it was an outfit should say everything) was not going to go over well with the Hart brothers. This would have never occurred to me in the long previous 4 years of my long life.
My mother had dressed me. I was wearing my cute white nurses’ uniform shoes (that’s what I called them as I’d been in a hospital already and had kicked a nurse in the shin that had stuck a needle in me and could only remember her white shoes [I didn’t know at that time that you didn’t kick someone who stuck a needle in you]) and the cute little white shirt, black suspenders, cuffed light blue shorts, and cute little brown old-fashioned polo jacket with fake pockets and a little shield over the pocket over my heart.
I had then done something unspeakable to those clothes. I don’t remember what it was but I know it made my mom cry. This made me feel bad. I didn’t know why it made her cry. I know now it was because she knew the dress-me-up days were over and it was probably straight to swearing after that.
Then there were a couple of times between 5 and 7. Can't remember what set me off during those times nor why but I know it always had something to do with my parents. Then I, alone or with my older brother, would run away to my grandmothers home to live forever, or at least until after she fed us.
But rock bottom?
That was about at age eight. That’s when my Dad--due to some lengthy period of a complete lack of discipline on my part and that of my brother--finally had enough of our messy room. He took the entire contents thereof, gathered it up into a blanket and donated it to the Salt Lake County Waste Disposal Services. Those contents will someday be dug up a few million years from now by whatever intelligent creatures evolve to take our place after we all die from global warming. They will probably look like Seagulls with residual wings.
After my Dad did this, my older brother and I filled our army surplus canteens with old fashioned tap water, loaded up on a few storage items and headed out. This time we resolved to never return, ever. We both promised this several times to each other. First we passed from the Canyon Rim area through the wilderness border into the no-man's land that was Wasatch Blvd and scrambled into the beat up foothills that would, over the next 20 years, be filled with a new thing called split level houses. Then we started our climb to freedom–up into the wilderness of Snake Mountain.
We made it halfway up. It started to snow. We didn’t have gloves or hats. My brother said we should probably go back. I told him no, we hadn’t even drunk all of our water nor eaten our bottled peaches. Yes, he said, that was right but he had been carrying the peaches and they weighed a ton and that the canteens weighed a ton more and he didn’t know how the hell we had won WWII and the Korean war with such lousy canteens. So he said we had to go back. I started to cry, because we couldn’t go back, it would be too embarrassing. I told him we hadn’t even hit rock bottom.
He told me to suit myself, I could hit rock bottom if I wanted, but he was going back. He said he didn’t like all his stupid stuff anyway and that the seagulls could poop on part of it, eat the rest and regurgitate it into the Great Salt Lake.
I stood there for a long time, staring up into the mountain that was shrouded in clouds. I knew that there was some paradise being hidden under that blanket of clouds, just up over the peak. I let the snow coat my long, blond hair and drip cold down my face. Then, in humiliation, I turned back, yelling at my brother to hold up. I swore I would return and someday make it to that paradise.
That day has been the ruin of my life. I always look up and want to hit that rock bottom at the tops of the peaks, whether it’s too warm, too sunny, too cold, too dark, too early or I am too, whatever. When did you hit rock bottom? Hopefully for you it was bottom enough. For me it never will be and it will be the death of me I am sure.
Loren M. Lambert, December 10, 2015 ©
Monday, December 7, 2015
The Wizard of Fox – A Screenplay That Will Take America Home & Help Make Us Safe Against Terrorism
WIZARD MARCO RUBIO
Good people of Fox. And all you non-tea partiers
and dear miss beautiful and lovely America, I am your Wizard.
I’m sorry about all the murder and mayhem here.
But in that big fat balloon, [he points at Donald Trump]
yes, the one and only Donald Trump,
my dear, America, and I, as the Vice President,
will return to the land of E Pluribus Unum,
where there will be no more crime, terrorism, and murder!
I am about to embark upon a hazardous
journey to get there into the outer stratosphere where I often go
to converse and otherwise hob-nob with my brother Republican wizards.
I hereby decree that until that time -- if any --
that I return, the Scarecrow Jeb Bush, by virtue of
his highly superior brains, shall rule in
my stead...assisted by the Tin Man Mike Huckabee
by virtue of his magnificent heart...and the
Lion Ben Carson-- by virtue of his courage! Obey them
as you would me! And - ah - well, that's all.
Woman
Mr. Wizard man Rubio, you'd better hurry,
the big balloon with peach fuzz hair that glows
and blurs in digital mediums is leaving.
Wizard Marco Rubio and America, along with her little dog, Constitution, tucked in a basket in her hands, jump into Mr. Trump’s ample and fat arms. Constitution sniffs Mr. Trump, growls and bites him and the Wizard, then jumps from America’s basket.
AMERICA
Oh, come back here! Constitution! Eghuu,
and you do stink Mr. Trump.
Donald Trump
You're just not smelling hard enough. Take this...
Trump clasps America harder, squeezing her mammary glands. Screaming, she kicks him where it counts and wriggles free chasing after Constitution.
TIN MAN MIKE HACKABEE
Stop Constitution! Stop!
WIZARD MARCO RUBIO
This is a highly irregular procedure! This
is absolutely unprecedented! Goodbye
America and your little nasty dog Constitution.
AMERICA
Oh! Come back! Don't go without me!
Please come back!
WIZARD MARCO RUBIO
I can't come back! Especially not with your nasty little dog,
Constitution. The Balloon and I don't know how it works!
AMERICA
Oh --
Tin Man Huckabee, Scarecrow Ted Cruz and Lion Ben Carson grope about America -- she speaks.
AMERICA
Give me some space. Please. Oh, now I'll never get home!
LION BEN CARSON
Stay with us, then, AMERICA. We all love
you. We don't want you to go. We’ll keep you save from the other
people here.
AMERICA
Oh, that's very kind of you -- but this
could never be like Kansas, could it? Auntie Em must
have stopped wondering what happened to me
by now. Oh, Scarecrow Cruz, what am I going to
do?
SCARECROW TED CRUZ
Look -- here's someone who can help you!
A big blob is wafting into view and growing bigger until stopping by them all and bursting in a gust of green snot. Within in it, Roger Ailes the Fox TV Good Fairy, appears.
AMERICA
Oh, will you help me? Can you help me?
ROGER
You don't need to be helped any longer.
You've always had the power to go back to
Kansas.
Then why didn't you tell her before?
ROGER
Because she wouldn't have believed me. She
had to learn it for herself.
TIN MAN HUCABEE
What have you learned, AMERICA?
AMERICA
To be good and true. To hold tight to my values
of freedom, liberty and equal justice.
And not to look any further than my own
heart. Because if its there, I
never really lost it to begin with! Is
that right?
ROGER
Hell no, what are you thinking, stupid ___________!
It’s “radical Islamist terrorism!” Just say it and get that boy
you call a President to follow along with you.
SCARECROW TED CRUZ
But that's so easy! I already thought
of it for you and said it many times.
TIN MAN HUCKABEE
Yeah, I felt it in my heart. ROGER
No you all didn’t. I did and I had to pound it into
your tiny little head spaces until you got on board.
I made all of you, including the Wizard of Fox,
and that Fat Trump Balloon he left with.
Now, America, some magic words will take you
home in two seconds!
AMERICA
Oh.... and the Constitution too?
ROGER
No. I’ll take care of it. Give it here. Are you ready?
America hands Constitution to Roger who feeds it a Valium and slips a shock collar over its head.
AMERICA
Oh, dear yes -- it's too wonderful to be true!
ROGER
Yes, it is, but shut up and let’s get going.
AMERICA
Oh, goodbye. I love you all, you too, Constitution.
Roger waves Constitution’s paw at America.
ROGER
So close your eyes, and tap your seas together three times.
And say -- "Radical Islamist Terrorism,” three times.
AMERICA
Radical Islamist Terrorism. Tap. Radical Islamist Terrorism. Tap.
Radical Islamist Terrorism. Tap.
The world turns rapidly into a blur. The Witch laughs. Raging storms devastate E Pluribus Unum. Prisons fly by. Torture chambers fly by. The mayhem of war floods the screen. America lands on a bed of newspapers with the headline, America Utters the Words, Radical Islamic Terrorism, in a dilapidated old one room house in a desolate, dust bowl world, surrounded by war and death.
AUNT EM
AMERICA - AMERICA! It's me -- Aunt Em.
Wake up, honey.
AMERICA
-- Radical Islamist Terrorism. Radical Islamist Terrorism,
AUNT EM
AMERICA. AMERICA, dear. It's Aunt Em,
darling.
AMERICA
Oh, Auntie Em -- it's you! AUNT EM
Yes, darling. Why are you here with us in the middle east?
I’m working as a nurse for the wounded soldiers and refugees.
You’ve got quite a bump on your head. And where’s
Constitution?
AMERICA
I left him in the Fairy of Fox’s news’s able hands.
Isn’t this Kansas?
AUNT EM
No.
AMERICA
Aren’t all the terrorists gone? I said the magic words,
AUNT EM
No, no. After tapping your seas together, giving lip service by
thinking magic words are doing something other than declaring war
against all Muslims, we’re in a bit of trouble. You see,
words don’t kill people nor solve problems.
People do both. You just have to decide which you
want to do. And you picked killing everyone.
AMERICA
Oh no. This is bad. AUNT EM
There, there, lie quiet now. You just
had some bad advice and you’re stuck like
we are in the nightmare of our own fears.
Also it so happens, leaving the Constitution to be cared for
by televangelist the Fairy of Fox, turning the country
over to the Wizard of Fox and his Balloon and
that treating everyone like enemies,
even when they have the same enemies and problems
that we do actually makes them our enemies.
Don’t you realize America that you never left home at all?
Fox was part of E Pluribus Unum.
You just shouldn’t have hung out with
Scarecrows, Tin Men and Lions. They aren’t even human.
And listening to Wizards and Hot Air Balloons!!
You think you’d lost your mind.
AMERICA
Oh, no, what do I do now, Auntie Em? AUNT EM
Well that’s going to be a little hard since
we are now at war with everyone, and we have no
Constitution. We’re putting people in concentration camps,
torturing others and our own people, putting them
in prison and the Fairy of Fox News runs everything with
his minions the Wizard, Balloon, Tin Man, Scarecrow and the Lion.
But try this: Thinking for yourself,
believing what you say you do, that all
people deserve respect, love and civil rights.
And start leading instead of reacting out of
proportion when a handful of crazy nuts
try to say that everyone is just like them
either here or on the northern continent of
the E Pluribus Unum. Gets us out of these
wars so we can all go home. And say these magic words
three times. “There are no magic words,
or even beans.”
AMERICA
Okay, thanks Auntie Em. Who knew. You’re
the heart of American! “There are no magic words,
or even beans. There are no magic words,
or even beans. There are no magic words,
or even beans.”
America then woke up and realized that times of crisis test us to see if we give in to fear and our worst natures or allow our principles to guide us.
- Loren M. Lambert © December 7, 2015.
Good people of Fox. And all you non-tea partiers
and dear miss beautiful and lovely America, I am your Wizard.
I’m sorry about all the murder and mayhem here.
But in that big fat balloon, [he points at Donald Trump]
yes, the one and only Donald Trump,
my dear, America, and I, as the Vice President,
will return to the land of E Pluribus Unum,
where there will be no more crime, terrorism, and murder!
I am about to embark upon a hazardous
journey to get there into the outer stratosphere where I often go
to converse and otherwise hob-nob with my brother Republican wizards.
I hereby decree that until that time -- if any --
that I return, the Scarecrow Jeb Bush, by virtue of
his highly superior brains, shall rule in
my stead...assisted by the Tin Man Mike Huckabee
by virtue of his magnificent heart...and the
Lion Ben Carson-- by virtue of his courage! Obey them
as you would me! And - ah - well, that's all.
Woman
Mr. Wizard man Rubio, you'd better hurry,
the big balloon with peach fuzz hair that glows
and blurs in digital mediums is leaving.
Wizard Marco Rubio and America, along with her little dog, Constitution, tucked in a basket in her hands, jump into Mr. Trump’s ample and fat arms. Constitution sniffs Mr. Trump, growls and bites him and the Wizard, then jumps from America’s basket.
AMERICA
Oh, come back here! Constitution! Eghuu,
and you do stink Mr. Trump.
Donald Trump
You're just not smelling hard enough. Take this...
Trump clasps America harder, squeezing her mammary glands. Screaming, she kicks him where it counts and wriggles free chasing after Constitution.
TIN MAN MIKE HACKABEE
Stop Constitution! Stop!
WIZARD MARCO RUBIO
This is a highly irregular procedure! This
is absolutely unprecedented! Goodbye
America and your little nasty dog Constitution.
AMERICA
Oh! Come back! Don't go without me!
Please come back!
WIZARD MARCO RUBIO
I can't come back! Especially not with your nasty little dog,
Constitution. The Balloon and I don't know how it works!
AMERICA
Oh --
Tin Man Huckabee, Scarecrow Ted Cruz and Lion Ben Carson grope about America -- she speaks.
AMERICA
Give me some space. Please. Oh, now I'll never get home!
LION BEN CARSON
Stay with us, then, AMERICA. We all love
you. We don't want you to go. We’ll keep you save from the other
people here.
AMERICA
Oh, that's very kind of you -- but this
could never be like Kansas, could it? Auntie Em must
have stopped wondering what happened to me
by now. Oh, Scarecrow Cruz, what am I going to
do?
SCARECROW TED CRUZ
Look -- here's someone who can help you!
A big blob is wafting into view and growing bigger until stopping by them all and bursting in a gust of green snot. Within in it, Roger Ailes the Fox TV Good Fairy, appears.
AMERICA
Oh, will you help me? Can you help me?
ROGER
You don't need to be helped any longer.
You've always had the power to go back to
Kansas.
Then why didn't you tell her before?
ROGER
Because she wouldn't have believed me. She
had to learn it for herself.
TIN MAN HUCABEE
What have you learned, AMERICA?
AMERICA
To be good and true. To hold tight to my values
of freedom, liberty and equal justice.
And not to look any further than my own
heart. Because if its there, I
never really lost it to begin with! Is
that right?
ROGER
Hell no, what are you thinking, stupid ___________!
It’s “radical Islamist terrorism!” Just say it and get that boy
you call a President to follow along with you.
SCARECROW TED CRUZ
But that's so easy! I already thought
of it for you and said it many times.
TIN MAN HUCKABEE
Yeah, I felt it in my heart. ROGER
No you all didn’t. I did and I had to pound it into
your tiny little head spaces until you got on board.
I made all of you, including the Wizard of Fox,
and that Fat Trump Balloon he left with.
Now, America, some magic words will take you
home in two seconds!
AMERICA
Oh.... and the Constitution too?
ROGER
No. I’ll take care of it. Give it here. Are you ready?
America hands Constitution to Roger who feeds it a Valium and slips a shock collar over its head.
AMERICA
Oh, dear yes -- it's too wonderful to be true!
ROGER
Yes, it is, but shut up and let’s get going.
AMERICA
Oh, goodbye. I love you all, you too, Constitution.
Roger waves Constitution’s paw at America.
ROGER
So close your eyes, and tap your seas together three times.
And say -- "Radical Islamist Terrorism,” three times.
AMERICA
Radical Islamist Terrorism. Tap. Radical Islamist Terrorism. Tap.
Radical Islamist Terrorism. Tap.
The world turns rapidly into a blur. The Witch laughs. Raging storms devastate E Pluribus Unum. Prisons fly by. Torture chambers fly by. The mayhem of war floods the screen. America lands on a bed of newspapers with the headline, America Utters the Words, Radical Islamic Terrorism, in a dilapidated old one room house in a desolate, dust bowl world, surrounded by war and death.
AUNT EM
AMERICA - AMERICA! It's me -- Aunt Em.
Wake up, honey.
AMERICA
-- Radical Islamist Terrorism. Radical Islamist Terrorism,
AUNT EM
AMERICA. AMERICA, dear. It's Aunt Em,
darling.
AMERICA
Oh, Auntie Em -- it's you! AUNT EM
Yes, darling. Why are you here with us in the middle east?
I’m working as a nurse for the wounded soldiers and refugees.
You’ve got quite a bump on your head. And where’s
Constitution?
AMERICA
I left him in the Fairy of Fox’s news’s able hands.
Isn’t this Kansas?
AUNT EM
No.
AMERICA
Aren’t all the terrorists gone? I said the magic words,
AUNT EM
No, no. After tapping your seas together, giving lip service by
thinking magic words are doing something other than declaring war
against all Muslims, we’re in a bit of trouble. You see,
words don’t kill people nor solve problems.
People do both. You just have to decide which you
want to do. And you picked killing everyone.
AMERICA
Oh no. This is bad. AUNT EM
There, there, lie quiet now. You just
had some bad advice and you’re stuck like
we are in the nightmare of our own fears.
Also it so happens, leaving the Constitution to be cared for
by televangelist the Fairy of Fox, turning the country
over to the Wizard of Fox and his Balloon and
that treating everyone like enemies,
even when they have the same enemies and problems
that we do actually makes them our enemies.
Don’t you realize America that you never left home at all?
Fox was part of E Pluribus Unum.
You just shouldn’t have hung out with
Scarecrows, Tin Men and Lions. They aren’t even human.
And listening to Wizards and Hot Air Balloons!!
You think you’d lost your mind.
AMERICA
Oh, no, what do I do now, Auntie Em? AUNT EM
Well that’s going to be a little hard since
we are now at war with everyone, and we have no
Constitution. We’re putting people in concentration camps,
torturing others and our own people, putting them
in prison and the Fairy of Fox News runs everything with
his minions the Wizard, Balloon, Tin Man, Scarecrow and the Lion.
But try this: Thinking for yourself,
believing what you say you do, that all
people deserve respect, love and civil rights.
And start leading instead of reacting out of
proportion when a handful of crazy nuts
try to say that everyone is just like them
either here or on the northern continent of
the E Pluribus Unum. Gets us out of these
wars so we can all go home. And say these magic words
three times. “There are no magic words,
or even beans.”
AMERICA
Okay, thanks Auntie Em. Who knew. You’re
the heart of American! “There are no magic words,
or even beans. There are no magic words,
or even beans. There are no magic words,
or even beans.”
America then woke up and realized that times of crisis test us to see if we give in to fear and our worst natures or allow our principles to guide us.
- Loren M. Lambert © December 7, 2015.
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
When You Think You Don't Need It You Really Do -- Public Education
Author David McCullough in his book The Wright Brothers
explains that Wilbur and Orville Wright, who were amazingly ambitious,
inventive and adept craftsmen--along with achieving flight within a
maneuverable heavier-than-air aircraft, had "no college education, no
formal technical training, no experience working with anyone other than
themselves, no friends in high places, no financial backers, nor
government subsidies and little money of their own. [And who had to have
known there was] ... the entirely real possibility that at some point,
like [others before them], they could be killed."
Many parents and other mentors of children who are aware of such icons as the Wright Brothers, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and numerous others in numerous professions and careers, who had no formal education or college degree, use them as examples of why their kids and disciples don't need formal education or higher education degrees. Others, such as some conservatives, common Philistines and Troglodytes use these giants as an excuse to neglect or advocate the destruction of public education or to discourage others from accessing it. However, invariably what they fail to understand is rarely do people have the superior intellect, work ethic or other advantages that these icons had.
In support of this reality, David McCullough goes on to chronicle, "Years later a friend to Orville said that he and his brother would always stand as an example for how far Americans with no special advantages could advance in the world. "But it isn't true," Orville responded emphatically, "to say we had nor special advantages . . . the greatest thing in our favor was growing up in a family where there was always much encouragement to intellectual curiosity."
That's what all humble, honest, perceptive and wise leaders of leaders understand. There is no such thing as the self-made man or woman. They get there with many great advantages, with a lot of hard work and upon the backs and wings of those who love them and those they love. And what all the rest of us of average intellect and physical ability should understand is that we, our children, and our charges, whether formally or informally, need all of the education and support that we can access.
The linchpin to all of this is the foundation of adequately funded, professionally staffed, public education. That way we all have the opportunity to take flight and show the way in our own places in the world.
-Loren M. Lambert, December 1, 2015 ©.
Many parents and other mentors of children who are aware of such icons as the Wright Brothers, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and numerous others in numerous professions and careers, who had no formal education or college degree, use them as examples of why their kids and disciples don't need formal education or higher education degrees. Others, such as some conservatives, common Philistines and Troglodytes use these giants as an excuse to neglect or advocate the destruction of public education or to discourage others from accessing it. However, invariably what they fail to understand is rarely do people have the superior intellect, work ethic or other advantages that these icons had.
In support of this reality, David McCullough goes on to chronicle, "Years later a friend to Orville said that he and his brother would always stand as an example for how far Americans with no special advantages could advance in the world. "But it isn't true," Orville responded emphatically, "to say we had nor special advantages . . . the greatest thing in our favor was growing up in a family where there was always much encouragement to intellectual curiosity."
That's what all humble, honest, perceptive and wise leaders of leaders understand. There is no such thing as the self-made man or woman. They get there with many great advantages, with a lot of hard work and upon the backs and wings of those who love them and those they love. And what all the rest of us of average intellect and physical ability should understand is that we, our children, and our charges, whether formally or informally, need all of the education and support that we can access.
The linchpin to all of this is the foundation of adequately funded, professionally staffed, public education. That way we all have the opportunity to take flight and show the way in our own places in the world.
-Loren M. Lambert, December 1, 2015 ©.
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
Legend: Story About London Gangsters Ronnie and Reggie Kray
I attended a pre-screening of Legend. It had great production value. Tom Hardy, one of my favorite actors, portrayed the Krays with mastery. The cinematography was superb.
But, I have to say, while I can recommend some R-rated movies because they have redeeming value, this one does not. If you're on the fence about the ratings, this one is not for you. Yet, if you like gangster movies that honestly show gangsters, you'll like this. I did not.
It was too violent for my taste and I spent some of my time covering my eyes and saying "lalalalalala." Thank goodness it was predictable. You knew when the violence was going to break out because they always telegraphed it--so I missed all that action. And the only character I kind of liked was Reggie's girlfriend and then wife but it was hard to do so because of her blatant, eyes-open stupidity.
Your heart is bigger and you don't become more likable because you are able to love a bigger scoundrel.
You may respond, "but don't you know its all fake?" Yes, but it's not. Good acting and good story telling allow you to suspend belief and live that reality. That is why movies, like no other medium, are so powerful. This reality is accentuated when you are someone like me who tends to feel what you are seeing. I don't like the reality of evil and criminality and I don't like how it makes me feel, especially when it is done with an emphasis thereon instead of it being a momentary glimpse to highlight good. In the movie it is discussed how sometimes the very wealthy like hanging out with the very criminal because they are both greedy and they both have access to lots of money that wasn't honestly earned. There is some truth to that, but there is a difference between the two. Maybe it is subtle, but it is nonetheless there and it makes all the difference in the world. It is when people lose sight of that fact and it allows them to rationalize and drift over to cross that line into criminality.
Loren M. Lambert © November 25, 2015.
But, I have to say, while I can recommend some R-rated movies because they have redeeming value, this one does not. If you're on the fence about the ratings, this one is not for you. Yet, if you like gangster movies that honestly show gangsters, you'll like this. I did not.
It was too violent for my taste and I spent some of my time covering my eyes and saying "lalalalalala." Thank goodness it was predictable. You knew when the violence was going to break out because they always telegraphed it--so I missed all that action. And the only character I kind of liked was Reggie's girlfriend and then wife but it was hard to do so because of her blatant, eyes-open stupidity.
Your heart is bigger and you don't become more likable because you are able to love a bigger scoundrel.
You may respond, "but don't you know its all fake?" Yes, but it's not. Good acting and good story telling allow you to suspend belief and live that reality. That is why movies, like no other medium, are so powerful. This reality is accentuated when you are someone like me who tends to feel what you are seeing. I don't like the reality of evil and criminality and I don't like how it makes me feel, especially when it is done with an emphasis thereon instead of it being a momentary glimpse to highlight good. In the movie it is discussed how sometimes the very wealthy like hanging out with the very criminal because they are both greedy and they both have access to lots of money that wasn't honestly earned. There is some truth to that, but there is a difference between the two. Maybe it is subtle, but it is nonetheless there and it makes all the difference in the world. It is when people lose sight of that fact and it allows them to rationalize and drift over to cross that line into criminality.
Loren M. Lambert © November 25, 2015.
When Corporations Are Most Likely To Subvert the Democratic Process
At the very least, can't we all agree upon a constitutional amendment that would bar corporations, business entities, banks or persons from donating to any political party or pac that at any time invest more of their capital than 20%; buy more than 20 % of their goods, materials, or products from a foreign company; or that are owed more than 20% of all of their accounts receivable at any time to a foreign country or foreign corporation or business entity?
Corporations that do this are more likely than not to involve us in unwise wars or shenanigans when things go badly for them abroad. How do they do this? It's relatively easy--they purchase a few Senators and Congressional Reps.
Loren M. Lambert © November 25, 2015
Corporations that do this are more likely than not to involve us in unwise wars or shenanigans when things go badly for them abroad. How do they do this? It's relatively easy--they purchase a few Senators and Congressional Reps.
Loren M. Lambert © November 25, 2015
HAPPY THANKSGIVING
May we all have such gratitude that we will seek, despite our fear, despite the risks, despite the failings of our own hearts, to realize that our gratitude is meaningless unless we are willing to provide a reason for even those we fashion as our enemies to give thanks and to have gratitude that even in our fear, we lived up to the promise of our better natures.
Loren M. Lambert © November 25, 2015.
Loren M. Lambert © November 25, 2015.
Conservatives Don’t Care About U.S. Military Casualties?
Conservatives: since you call for a war abroad to spare us from death domestically, how many U.S. soldiers’ lives equal one U.S. citizen’s life?
Not a fair question, right? I say it is and how about these:
Can any conservative or their political Republican representatives guarantee that if the U.S. took a more expansive role in Syria to combat Isis and Bashar al-Assad, that we would be able to bring stability in Syria?
Can any conservative or their political republican representatives guarantee that if the U.S. took a more expansive role in the middle east and expanded our drone strike program that we would not kill more innocent non-combatants than we would kill enemies?
Can any conservative or their political republican representatives guarantee that if the U.S. took a more expansive role in Syria to combat Isis, and expanded our drone program that we would not create more enemies than we would kill Isis members and other terrorists?
Can any conservative or their political republican representatives guarantee that if the U.S. took a more expansive role in Syria to combat Isis, that we would not end up in a war with Russia?
Can anyone guarantee that if the U.S. took a more expansive role against Isis, that we would not cause the entire region to devolve into instability and war?
Can anyone guarantee that if the U.S. armed other forces in the middle east and in so doing installed its preferred government in Syria that they would not become as unsavory a choice as Bashar al-Assad and not use those same weapons against the U.S. or our allies?
Can anyone guarantee that if Turkey goes to war against Russia and thereby called upon NATO, as is its right, to defend it against Russia, that this would not cause a third world war?
Can anyone guarantee that if we do not aid Syrian refugees to relocate to the U.S. that many of them will needlessly die?
Can any conservative or their political republican representatives guarantee that they know how to bring peace in the middle east, they know who our allies are in Syria, and they know some risk free solution to all foreign policy issue facing the U.S.?
The answer to all of these questions, of course, is no. No option in the middle east is risk free, yet many Americans can’t come to grips with the irony that while they beat the war drums and clamor for the U.S. to take a greater military role in Syria, the middle east and against Isis, they can’t tell you what our goals should be nor how many U.S. Soldiers’ lives it would take to reach those goals or to destroy Isis. They can’t tell you how many lives could be saved in the U.S. by investing the money such a war would cost in better health care, safer infrastructure and a cleaner environment. They can’t guarantee that such a war would not cause a second recession or depression since 2009, nor that it would not again balloon deficits and increase the national dept.
And you know what, liberals, progressives and their allies and political figureheads cannot guarantee that if this country admits Syrian refugees that there will never be among them any criminals nor individuals that would seek to do the U.S. harm. But this is what liberals, progressives and their allies and political figureheads can guarantee, that if we do extend a hand of welcome to those desiring to come here, proportionate to the extent our NATO allies do, that there will be many among them that bring invaluable gifts of ingenuity, enterprise, resilience and muscle that will make this country better. Among them will also be many who well bring the U.S. intel that will allow us to better understand the middle east, including our enemies, and thereby allow the U.S. to have greater insight and to advance the march toward peace for all in that region. This has been the case with all people that have come here. We can further guarantee that if we do not, that many will be killed, many will unnecessarily suffer, and many will become radicalized and conscripted into terrorist groups while languishing in refugee camps. So why do so many conservatives want our military to have a greater role in Syria and the middle east? Because while they care about our security here at home and claim to be patriotic, they seem not to care about how many U.S. Soldiers will die engaged in such a greater military role. Why don’t they care? It is likely that many of them see the U.S. military as a tool to be used, as an abstract thing, like their toaster, lawn mower or car. That’s what it's for right? To exercise our military might abroad? They don’t understand it means the expenditure of U.S. lives, probably more than we ever have to worry about regarding any radicals that may be among the refugees. They don’t understand this because neither they nor their children are going to be sent into Syria to fight Russia, Syria and Isis.
Moreover, truth be told, until both Republicans and Democrats get serious about border control, any feared Syrian terrorists can get here with or without the U.S. admitting Syrian refugees. In that case, we will gain more by charitably picking our Syrian neighbors, showing them our goodness and thereby making them our allies–as we have–eventually–with all who have come here. I favor such a path, not because it is risk free, but because it is the right thing to do. And yes, just like the abundance of guns in our country subject us to greater gun violence, I accept the risk to my family and me of admitting Syrian refugees because I think the good that comes from it is greater than any risk.
Loren M. Lambert, November 27, 2015 ©.
Not a fair question, right? I say it is and how about these:
Can any conservative or their political Republican representatives guarantee that if the U.S. took a more expansive role in Syria to combat Isis and Bashar al-Assad, that we would be able to bring stability in Syria?
Can any conservative or their political republican representatives guarantee that if the U.S. took a more expansive role in the middle east and expanded our drone strike program that we would not kill more innocent non-combatants than we would kill enemies?
Can any conservative or their political republican representatives guarantee that if the U.S. took a more expansive role in Syria to combat Isis, and expanded our drone program that we would not create more enemies than we would kill Isis members and other terrorists?
Can any conservative or their political republican representatives guarantee that if the U.S. took a more expansive role in Syria to combat Isis, that we would not end up in a war with Russia?
Can anyone guarantee that if the U.S. took a more expansive role against Isis, that we would not cause the entire region to devolve into instability and war?
Can anyone guarantee that if the U.S. armed other forces in the middle east and in so doing installed its preferred government in Syria that they would not become as unsavory a choice as Bashar al-Assad and not use those same weapons against the U.S. or our allies?
Can anyone guarantee that if Turkey goes to war against Russia and thereby called upon NATO, as is its right, to defend it against Russia, that this would not cause a third world war?
Can anyone guarantee that if we do not aid Syrian refugees to relocate to the U.S. that many of them will needlessly die?
Can any conservative or their political republican representatives guarantee that they know how to bring peace in the middle east, they know who our allies are in Syria, and they know some risk free solution to all foreign policy issue facing the U.S.?
The answer to all of these questions, of course, is no. No option in the middle east is risk free, yet many Americans can’t come to grips with the irony that while they beat the war drums and clamor for the U.S. to take a greater military role in Syria, the middle east and against Isis, they can’t tell you what our goals should be nor how many U.S. Soldiers’ lives it would take to reach those goals or to destroy Isis. They can’t tell you how many lives could be saved in the U.S. by investing the money such a war would cost in better health care, safer infrastructure and a cleaner environment. They can’t guarantee that such a war would not cause a second recession or depression since 2009, nor that it would not again balloon deficits and increase the national dept.
And you know what, liberals, progressives and their allies and political figureheads cannot guarantee that if this country admits Syrian refugees that there will never be among them any criminals nor individuals that would seek to do the U.S. harm. But this is what liberals, progressives and their allies and political figureheads can guarantee, that if we do extend a hand of welcome to those desiring to come here, proportionate to the extent our NATO allies do, that there will be many among them that bring invaluable gifts of ingenuity, enterprise, resilience and muscle that will make this country better. Among them will also be many who well bring the U.S. intel that will allow us to better understand the middle east, including our enemies, and thereby allow the U.S. to have greater insight and to advance the march toward peace for all in that region. This has been the case with all people that have come here. We can further guarantee that if we do not, that many will be killed, many will unnecessarily suffer, and many will become radicalized and conscripted into terrorist groups while languishing in refugee camps. So why do so many conservatives want our military to have a greater role in Syria and the middle east? Because while they care about our security here at home and claim to be patriotic, they seem not to care about how many U.S. Soldiers will die engaged in such a greater military role. Why don’t they care? It is likely that many of them see the U.S. military as a tool to be used, as an abstract thing, like their toaster, lawn mower or car. That’s what it's for right? To exercise our military might abroad? They don’t understand it means the expenditure of U.S. lives, probably more than we ever have to worry about regarding any radicals that may be among the refugees. They don’t understand this because neither they nor their children are going to be sent into Syria to fight Russia, Syria and Isis.
Moreover, truth be told, until both Republicans and Democrats get serious about border control, any feared Syrian terrorists can get here with or without the U.S. admitting Syrian refugees. In that case, we will gain more by charitably picking our Syrian neighbors, showing them our goodness and thereby making them our allies–as we have–eventually–with all who have come here. I favor such a path, not because it is risk free, but because it is the right thing to do. And yes, just like the abundance of guns in our country subject us to greater gun violence, I accept the risk to my family and me of admitting Syrian refugees because I think the good that comes from it is greater than any risk.
Loren M. Lambert, November 27, 2015 ©.
Paradoxical Sleep -- Usually
While dolphins are the true multi-taskers, one half of their brain sleeps while the other half keeps the rest of them from drowning or becoming propeller dice, humans are completely immobile, vulnerable predator bait for around 8 hours a day which forced us to form strong bonds with other humans to share the watch and to make strong homes with security systems to protect us.
But what do humans have that's kind of neat? Paradoxical sleep. It allows us to dream and allows our brains to go through all the same electrical messaging they would do if our dreams were real except for actually causing our bodies to move--most of the time.
When it doesn't, NFL footballs stars have crushed their dressers, sleep walkers have traveled through the house unconsciously and at times even ventured out into the night with sometimes scary and dangerous results, and I sit up in bed and yelp as a basketball is unexpectedly thrown at me by an imagined friend. I catch it and awake with nothing but air from the middle of the net in my hands. If only I had had the same reflexes as a teen when sports weren't everything, they were the only thing.
© Loren M. Lambert, November 28, 2015
But what do humans have that's kind of neat? Paradoxical sleep. It allows us to dream and allows our brains to go through all the same electrical messaging they would do if our dreams were real except for actually causing our bodies to move--most of the time.
When it doesn't, NFL footballs stars have crushed their dressers, sleep walkers have traveled through the house unconsciously and at times even ventured out into the night with sometimes scary and dangerous results, and I sit up in bed and yelp as a basketball is unexpectedly thrown at me by an imagined friend. I catch it and awake with nothing but air from the middle of the net in my hands. If only I had had the same reflexes as a teen when sports weren't everything, they were the only thing.
© Loren M. Lambert, November 28, 2015
The Invention of the Wheel–The Cause of Teen Pregnancy and The Beginning of the End
Author David MCcullough in his book, The Wright Brothers, chronicles that in the 1890s, “Bicycles were proclaimed morally hazardous. ..Until now children and youth were unable to stray very far from home on foot. Now, one magazine warned, fifteen minutes could put them miles away. Because of bicycles, it was said, young people were not spending the time they should [reading] and ... tours on bicycles were ‘not infrequently accompanied by seductions.’”
And of course, before bicycles, the wheel had to be invented. Therefore the invention of the wheel has to be the root cause of most of our current problems. So when anyone asks you to explain any of your shortcomings–blame it on the invention of the wheel.
Loren M. Lambert, © November 28, 2015
And of course, before bicycles, the wheel had to be invented. Therefore the invention of the wheel has to be the root cause of most of our current problems. So when anyone asks you to explain any of your shortcomings–blame it on the invention of the wheel.
Loren M. Lambert, © November 28, 2015
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