Irritable Brain

Newtown - Old Scapegoats

Lawmakers across the land are in reactive mode as opposed to being proactive. This time in response to the Newtown shooting in Conneticut. The mentally ill are in the crosshairs once again. People are gnashing their teeth about their neighbors who have been treated for a mental illness having access to guns. WHY?

According to a December article in the New York Times mentally ill people account for only 4% of all violent crime. 4%! That means so called "normal" folks are killing and raping citizens 96% of the time. Facts, not myth. The perception is that people with serious mental illnesses are violent, when in fact, they are 2 1/2 times more prone to be attacked than the rest of the population. The media hypes up a crime exponentially if they discover that the perpetrator has ever been treated for a mental illness.

The real fact is the civilian population has the police and military outgunned 79 to 1. According to the magazine Mother Jones civilians own 310 million guns as opposed to the military 3 million and 1 million in the hands of law enforcement. New laws aimed at keeping firearms out of the hands of people who have been treated for mental illness is not going to curb this nations gun violence. In case lawmakers haven't figured it out, most people who resort to gun violence don't go down to their local gun shop and register their weapons. They usually either get them on the street or break into a house and steal them.

There are literally millions of people who have been treated for a mental illness who hunt or have a firearm for home protection that would never think of harming another human being for any nefarious reason. You just don't see them splattered all over your TV screens, therefore I guess the media and "normal" folks don't think that they exist.

Having a gun dealer check a customer for previous treatment for mental illness assuming that would suggest a potential for violence makes about as much sense as having a car dealer running a background check to see if a customer has been treated for alcoholism because they might get drunk and kill someone with their car. The gun lobby has made it possible for our society to be flooded with weapons. If lawmakers want to pass a new law to curb gun violence they should make sure bullets are $300 each! Since lawmakers control budgets, they should be a little more proactive and make sure funds for mental illness treatment and research are made more available.

Royal's Dirty Dozen Thoughts To Ponder

1. Never, EVER, argue with an idiot. He will suck you down to his level then kill you with experience.
2. We never really grow up. We only learn how to act in public.
3. The evening news is where they begin with "Good Evening", then proceed to tell you exactly why it isn't.
4. War does not determine who is right - only who is left.
5. Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
6. If I agreed with you, then we'd BOTH be wrong.
7. Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think that they are sexy.
8. A clear conscience is a sign of a fuzzy memory.
9. Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.
10. You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need one if you want to skydive twice.
11. Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.
12. You are never too old to learn something stupid.

 

Are Christians Really Christians?

One of the hottest topics people in my state and around the country are talking (mostly yelling and arguing) about is gay marriage. The Maryland state legislature passed a bill allowing gay marriage. Even though there are provisions in the bill giving clergy that right to refuse to marry gay couples, both the Christian Right and Left joined Republicans getting their panty hose and jock straps all tied in knots over the bill. Now they've joined forces  to try to get enough signatures on a petition to put it to a vote in the coming elections. What if this had happened when the Civil Rights Act or the Voting Rights Act were passed in the 1960's? What would have happened if those bills were subject to a national referendum after they passed Congress? HELLO!

Christians seem to love fear. They seem to have a need to love to fear and/or hate something. Usually some group. Christians (actually all fundamentalist of the three religions descending from Abraham) also seem preoccupied with sex and abomination. They appear to have holy shit fits at just the mention of sex and abomination. And I use the term Christian rather loosely. I am mainly talking here about Evangelical Christians, Cristian Fundamentalists, strict Catholics and most Baptist.

Christians love to hate gays. Always have. It has been the single most bonding issue White and Black Evangelicals,strict Catholics, and Baptist can agree on. They have combined to make gays the NEW NIGGERS of AMERICA!

I get the feeling these folks think gays are obsessed with wicked sex practices and can't wait to climb in bed with someone of the same sex. That gay people view all people of the same sex as potential sex partners, and can't wait to find some child to indoctrinate.

Most of the gay fiends I have behave like everyone else, and you wouldn't even know they were gay unless they told you. As far as I can tell ,they do the same thing in bed most of the time as all my heterosexual friends; SLEEP!

I am not a Christian. I am a spiritual Taoist (as opposed to a religious Taoist). I personally find organized religion in any form very divisive by nature. Religions are always about US. Not ALL OF US. Organized religions are rooted in the dogma of their holy books, rituals, and clerics. Holy books are written by men from an ancient era taken from an oral tradition. Most people were illiterate during the formative years of the three major religions. The rituals were created by men, and for the majority of history the clerics were men. People are fallible, I don't care how much of what they do, say, or write is "inspired by God". Yet people today take the words of their holy books literally without taking into consideration the historical and cultural context of when they were written. DUH! I am not writing these things to bash Christians or anyone else. I am just giving you my personal viewpoint. Organized religion just doesn't float my spiritual boat. If it works for you, GREAT!

Why Christians are called Christians is a question I asked my very Methodist grandmother (who raised me) when I was about 10 years old. I had learned in church that Jesus was a Jew. I asked her "If Christians are followers of Christ, why aren't we Jews?" To this day, I can't get an answer that makes sense. I figured out the reason Christians use the Old Testament is because most early Christians were also Jews themselves. Almost every time a "Christian" gives me a reason gays should not marry they go to the Old Testament. The most popular reference by far, and the top of the Hit Parade of quotes is Leviticus 20. A part of Leviticus also forbids tattoos, but I don't hear too many Christians getting their knickers all tied up in knots about tattoos (probably not enough sex involved). Leviticus has references to sacrifices also. When I point this out to my Christian friends they usually say, ""Well, that was back then. We don't sacrifice any more. We have different rituals now"  And what about Leviticus 11? It says not to eat anything from the sea without fins or scales. Shrimp cocktail anyone? Don't tell me the Bible is the literal word of God and then knit pick what works for you!

 

Jesus was not a Christian. He was an observant Jew with a lot of good and wise ideas about how we should treat each other. I realize that religiously he was much more than that, but I don't here too many Christians quoting Jesus when it comes to backing their religious views about most things. They quote everything in the Old Testament and some from the New Testament, but not what Jesus said.

I can't seem to find too many sayings by Jesus that are judgmental or hurtful to others. What I do find is a nice concept by Jesus that goes: "  You must love your neighbor as yourself." When I say this to my Christian friends that are against gay marriage they usually say, "Oh we love gay people. We just don't like what they do." Let me see, what did these people do that is so awful? Find someone that they love so much they want to spend the rest of their lives with and have a ceremony that gives them the same legal rights as others that did the same thing. OMG! HOW HORRIBLE. Give me a break. Jesus didn't go around teaching people to be hateful or hurtful. And here's another tune from the Jesus TOP TEN FOR THE RIGHTEOUS: "For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and everyone who humbles himself will be exalted." They won't admit it, but a lot of these folks have an air of righteous arrogance about them, or at least that's how they come off. Cut it way down quite a few notches.

So, should Christians really be called Christians? Show me a person who follows the words and actions of Christ and does that only, and I would consider that person a Christian. Show me a Bible thumper and I'll show you, for lack of a better term, a Bible Bully. Someone who uses the Old and New Testaments for whatever spiritually rocks their boat, justifies their bigotry, or makes them right whatever the argument.

I served my country twice. Once as a marine in Vietnam and once as a V.I.S.T.A. volunteer in the Alaskan bush, with Inupiat Eskimo youth. I did not do that to make sure that the intolerance and bigotry that consumed this country in 1969 when I joined the Marine Corps would perpetuate to this day and age.

As an African American I am appalled that other black people and religious leaders who have suffered the injustices we did during those dark periods of American history, can have the nerve to issue those same predjudices and injustices to another group of human beings. Hiding behind the veil of religion. Where is our collective memory? Have we as a people forgotten what it felt like so soon? It's shaneful! White folks used the Bible to justify slavery too! Think they were right? Show me the difference. Because it's not US this time?

The National Organization for Marriage is using gay marriage to divide black folks as a major strategy and many black ministers are falling in line like lemmings going over a cliff. Do these ministers somehow believe they serve a different homophobic God?

 

A real Christian follows his Christ. A Bible thumper blindly follows his church. No questions asked. Big difference! Faith is one thing. Blind Faith? Keeps you in the dark, and I believe I remember from my Sunday school days hearing somrthing about "Let there be Light!"

 

 

 

From ConsumersUnion

As the deadline nears for health insurance companies to return nearly $1.4 billion to consumers for wasting our money, the lobbyists have moved in to stop it.

Two bills have surfaced in Congress to undermine our rebates, putting most of the money we deserve right back into insurance company pockets!

We’re not going to let the lobbyists have their way. And we need you, and anyone you know who’s concerned about skyrocketing health insurance costs, to join us.

Tell Congress: Hold the health insurance companies accountable. It’s our money!

One of the most pro-consumer rules in the national health reform law is aimed squarely at how insurance companies spend our money. If an insurance company spends more than 20 percent of our premium dollars on their CEO salaries, paperwork, marketing and sales costs, we get a rebate, or lower rates.

The deadline for the first round of rebate checks is August 1. And it’s estimated insurers owe 9 million Americans nearly $1.4 billion! That’s a REAL incentive for companies to tighten their belts and get costs under control – just like the rest of us are having to do.

We’re launching a nationwide campaign to support this common-sense rule in health reform and prevent it from being gutted by lobbyists and others. If you’ve ever been frustrated by a health insurance company that seems accountable to no one, now is the time to speak out.

Send your message now! It’s time consumer voices drown out the lobbyists!

This is shaping up as an epic battle, because we know the insurance companies don’t want to give our money back. Please take action, and stay engaged with us as we continue to fight for value in health insurance.

Sincerely,
DeAnn Friedholm, PrescriptionforChange.org
Consumers Union, Policy and Action from Consumer Reports
1101 17th Street NW, Suite 500
Washington, DC 20036

Help 2 Fix Congress With This Congressional Reform Act of 2012

Warren Buffett, in a recent interview with CNBC, offers one of the best quotes about the debt ceiling:

"I could end the deficit in 5 minutes," he told CNBC. "You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election.

The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months and 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded it. That was in 1971 - before computers, e-mail, cell phones, etc.

Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took one (1) year or less to become the law of the land - all because of public pressure.

Warren Buffet is asking each person to forward this as an email to a minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask each of those to do likewise.

In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one idea that really should be passed around.
 
*Congressional Reform Act of 2012

1. No Tenure / No Pension.

A Congressman/woman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they're out of office.

2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security.

All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.

3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.

4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.

7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen/women are void effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen/women.

Congressmen/women made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.

If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only take three days for most people (in the U.S.) to receive the message. Don't you think it's time?

THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!

If you agree with the above, pass it on. If you are reading this you are one of my 20+ - Please keep it going, and thanks.
 
 
  Please help 2 fix Congress !!!
 
 

Trust In You!

You are inherently loved, loving and loveable.  Your worth is a given. It is your divine inheritance. You do not need to earn or validate it. It is unconditional, forever and always. There is nothing you can do to lose it, and nothing you need do to win it. To that end, I want to share a story someone sent be email. It's a wonderful metaphor that brings home this truth.

 

A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a 20 dollar note.

 

In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this 20 dollar note?"

 

Hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this to one of you but first, let me do this."

 

He proceeded to crumple up the 20 dollar note.

 

He then asked, "Who still wants it?"

 

Still the hands were up in the air.

 

Well, he replied, "What if I do this?" And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe.

 

He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty. Still the hands went into the air.

 

"My friends, we have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value.

 

It was still worth 20 bucks.

 

Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value."

 

Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to the universe and those who DO LOVE you. The worth of our lives comes not in what we do or who we know, but by WHO WE ARE. You are special - Don't EVER forget it.

 

DO NOT LET, irrespective, challenging situations, or challenging people, that may have led to your limiting feelings and beliefs stand in the way of experiencing your inherent worth - others would not let you get in the way of them or their lives, I can promise you that. You can learn to get out of limiting thinking, sometimes situations are more complex, but all situations are possible to move away from, irrespective. Some take longer, some adjustments in thinking take longer, it isn't just about changing thinking, it's about balancing your environment - internally and externally. It's about a balanced mind and body. If one side isn't balanced, the other will not be as proficient as it can be. Sometimes you may need professional help, sometimes it takes a while to find the appropriate professional help - not all professionals are positive influences, just because someone says they are a solicitor doesn't mean to say they're going to be good at what they do and win your case. Follow your gut feeling at all times. Move away from anyone or anything that simply isn't taking you higher.

 

The one person that you can trust to be with you at all times, is YOU.

 

Therefore believe in you, get in tune with you, feel you - YOU will give you the right answers at all times, the right guidance at all times, listen to yourself. This is the absolute start to achieving the life you want - nothing else. This is what will help you deal with the most challenging of situations at all times.

 

 

New Year Resolution

In keeping with the holiday spirit, I resolve to keep on giving for the entire year of 2012. The things I will give are from a list compiled by a woman named Denise Bissonnette. These things are free but not necessarily easy to give.

1. Visibility

A lot of people feel unnoticed, unseen, unheard. People with serious mental illnesses, homeless people, alcoholics and addicts, and even the unemployed. I'm going to make an effort to let these people know I "see" them. A smile and hello. A short conversation. Anything to acknowledge that person is not in this world alone.

2. An honest compliment

People are starving to be affirmed. To notice what a person is doing right is a gift we can afford to give in just about any situation.

3. Thanks

How about a little gratitude? How much do we take for granted? There are a gazillion ways others make our lives a little easier everyday. If we can feel gratitude we sure as hell can verbalize it.

4. A heartfelt apology

This is for someone we have caused emotional pain. This gift should be wrapped in acknowledgement of the other persons pain and not wrapped in our excuses. This gift can be given at the moment of the offense or months later. There is no  expiration date.

5. The benefit of the doubt

What if we could completely mess something up and not have to worry that others are thinking about the worst of our intentions? What if you really were "innocent until proven guilty" in the hearts of others. Why not give that gift to others?

6. Forgiveness

There is no way to explain the enormity of this gift. If you have ever truly been forgiven you know what I mean. If we are really going to live in the present why fill it with a grudge? Forgiveness is a gift for us as well as the other party.

7. Kindness

Kindness brings out the best in us and has no negative side effects.

8. Tolerance

Tolerance is giving to every other person every right you claim for yourself.

My Birthday Presents

My birthday, December 4th, is a month away and I've been thinking about what to get for myself. My birthday will be the beginning of my 61rst year on the planet. A transition year. The beginning of the winter of my life. (Not the dead of winter)

There is an ancient Chinese Taoist story about a wise sage who gave his daughter three gifts for her birthday during a transition year. I'm going to give myself the same three gifts or as close as I can get to the real thing. A small mirror, a pure crystal skull, and a small Buddha statue.

The mirror represents the Present Me. When I see myself in it, I will see me in the present. I am reminded to live in the present. To live mindfully and to be mindful of my actions and reactions.

On another level the mirror is symbolic of self reflection. Were my actions constructive, beneficial, or empowering? Or just the opposite? Were my actions in accordance with the Tao? Did I cause positive or negative consequences? If negative, what will I learn, and what will I correct?

The crystal skull is obvious. It is the Future Me. It represents my mortality. Everyone has a finite amount of time on this planet. Once you become mindful of and fully accept this, you can focus on what you are going to do with your remaining time here. I am cultivating my Tao. The skull will be a great reminder.

The Buddha figurine is the Eternal Me. Buddha is not a god. Buddha was a real living person who achieved enlightenment (actualized his divinity). A spiritual goal for me to strive for. The statue will be a 3-D metaphor for the divinity in me (in all of us). My inner Tao. My real, true Self. The ultimate goal of my spiritual quest is to find my way back to my pure true Self.

I'll keep these gifts in my office to keep me on point. They will be daily reminders of where to keep my focus.

Diamond Dust

I went to a funeral today. It was a funeral for a lady I had known for quite some time. For some odd reason I began to think of gemstones.

People think I don't believe in GOD because I choose to cultivate my Tao, but they're very wrong. Both concepts are two sides of the same coin as far as I'm concerned.

What does GOD and Tao have to do with gemstones, you may ask? Well, let me confuse you even more. When I lived in northwest Alaska it would get so cold the moisture in the air would freeze. If you walked by a lampost during the dark months you could see the ice crystals twinkling in the light. My Eskimo friends called it diamond dust.

I believe the universe (GOD, Tao, the Force, etc) showers us with gemstones in the form of people. How many times have you heard "That Judy is a real gem."?  Gemstones take on different hues and characteristics, just like people. Some are bright, some are dark, but they all add some demension to our lives. Take time to appreciate the gems in your life. You don't have to look too hard to find them.

And then there's the diamond dust in our lives. They could be children, siblings, parents, military buddies, friends, or mentors. They sparkle spectacularly, then are gone in an instant.

Be grateful for the diamond dust and do not sorrow when the dust is gone. They were gifts from the universe that not everyone got a chance to enjoy. Feel honored. Don't focus on the brief flicker, focus on the fact that the universe chose you to experience the sparkle.

Tea Party Poopers!

Capital Hill used to make me gnash my teeth and attempt to pull at the roots of the hairs on my bald head. Now I just throw up my hands and speak words I don't want to put in my blog. Or just throw up! Most of the Tea Party members are new, and boy does it ever show. No finesse whatsoever.

I used to think of the Republican party as a bunch of old fat cats who've been around the race track too many times, knew all the worst dirty tricks, and were in the pockets of the most heartless of tycoons. When the new members came to town, they would pull them in the back rooms and show them some of their good dirty stuff to get them up and running. How to stick it to the Democrats, the poor, and the environment. Now I almost feel sorry for the old guys.

When I think of the Republicans now, I think of a group of seniors at the mall with a gaggle of little brats trailing behind yelling"I want this or I'm not moving". And the seniors are standing there looking like deer in headlights!

I have a new disorder called "Itchy Remote Thumb". Everytime the evening news starts to report on Washington it gets the urge to channel surf!

VET UP!

I am a Vietnam vet who works at a Veterans Hospital. What is really starting to piss me off is the number of vets who are coming in with a righteous sense of entitlement. I think they are confusing benefits with entitlement, and there is a difference.

If you are on active duty and someone is injured worse than you in combat or an accident, you would expect them to be treated before you. What is the difference after active duty?

I was in the emergency room of the VA hospital that I go to last week. Every 15 minutes a man across from me was demanding something. MOVE ME! TURN ME OVER! I HURT! CAN I GET SOME HELP? I'M IN PAIN! I was in pain listening to him bitch!

I take Morphine 3 times a day for pain and Oxycodone for spikes in the pain. I am in constant pain! I also realize I am not the only Vet in the emergency room. I am not the only patient my nurse or doctor is working with.

All the stretchers are filled and the waiting area is crowdwd with Vets waiting to be seen. What makes ME special? Why should all the clinical staff make my needs more important than any other Vet?

Have I forgotten so quickly what it was like to go through all the bullshit of war so fast? To forget that we are all former warriors in the same boat? When I see a WWII vet, I feel, take him before me, that guy paid for MY freedom.

Let me stop before I really turn this into a manifesto. In my neighborhood people say MAN UP. I say VET UP!