RABID JACKELS April 21, 2016

 

There are millions of   Americans–the majority of us–who recognize a great man when they see one. The guy with  pick and shovel,  The cashier behind the counter.

The farmer planting seed.   Young men and women dying in these senseless wars. But when greatness resides in the White House, in the most powerful office in the world, our chests swell.

He’s brilliant. No one needs a dummy.

His words are elegant.  A pleasure to the ears. He has manners  befitting royalty  hosting  guests at a courtly table. If he’s tall and slender and handsome with a family of equal  beauty  we’re even more proud. Please, at this moment, watch a FRONTLINE document: Inside OBAMA’S Presidency.

This young man made one grave mistake: He thought he could reason with his adversaries. He tried his best. He gave it all. But one cannot reason with rabid jackals. The best thing one can do with a rabid jackal is run.  He didn’t run. He held his ground.  He’d the courage  of a madman. Madman?  It goes beyond bravery to confront such a  dangerous animal.

Frothing with greed. For money. For power. Indulging in beliefs so ridiculous they’re an insult to human intelligence.  Rancor, vulgarity, and deceit are its nature. And this den of disease spawned the greatest frother of them all.

I beg you–all of you– don’t descend to his level. May that brilliant maligned woman and that elegant elder join forces. Together they can–we can–heal.

 

 

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Sarah and Trump and Chattel February 3, 2016

Chattel. What a word. it does not roll trippingly off the tongue. There’s a darkness about it. It means possession of something. Cars, cattle, women…

Today is a wonderful time for Western women. I wouldn’t care to be a Muslim woman in a long black veil–in which she can vote with a green thumb–if she can see through the slits. Sharia law?  Her hair must be covered and you shouldn’t see her feet. Allah commands. What’s the guy got against feet and hair?

In America women are speaking out. Seems to me they’re more concerned about the future–the children, the environment, the health of the planet–than men.

Women on Kauai are vocal in complaining about GMO’s, air-born toxins, over-crowded, wrongly sited milk factories, more cars, more highways, more suburban sprawl, tourist, global warming, CO2.

I love articulate, intelligent, out-spoken women. I love their involvement in the goings-on. “The world crisis came about without women having anything to do with it. If the women of the world had not been excluded from affairs, things today might have been different.” That’s Alice Paul before the passage of the 18th Amendment. I suggest you find the film, Iron Jawed Angels. Watch it. Share it. We owe so much to this courageous young woman. We need more like her. If you must identify with a female figure, identify with Alice.

Today, of course, women often play an important role in politics and law. Think of Sarah Palin. An example of female evangelism gone sick.  Tried her hand in politics. Darling of the religious right. Well, she’s baaacckk. Slithered in with Trump. What a pair. Hope you watched her exorcism on youtube. Bishop Thomas Muthee, Word of Faith Churches in Kenya. It’s an insult to human intelligence.

Which brings us back to chattel

Biblical quotes work here. Ecclesiasticus 15:18, 19 & 33. “And a man will choose–any wickedness but the wickedness of a woman…Sin began with a woman and thanks to her we all must die.”

The history of women as chattel is woven into many legal codes and cultures. In the Old and the New Testament as well as the Quran. Women are property. There’s a world-wide dominion over women. In fundamental patriarchal religious societies, that live by the word, women are valued as objects. A husband owns his wife…

…so she better shut up and do as told.

A quote from Augustine Aquinas is enlightening. In Summa Theologica he wrote, “As regards the individual nature, woman is defective and misbegotten, for the active power of the male seed tends to the production of a perfect likeness in the masculine sex, while the production of a woman comes from the defect in the active power…”

Augustine is a Catholic Saint so I assume he resides in a Catholic heaven. As a devout non believer, who does not believe in heaven or hell, I pen a brief note.

“Dear Auggie, to spend all eternity with you would be hell.”

What do you think?

 

 

 

The Greening of Lihue November 17, 2015

Don’t you sometimes feel sorry for politicians?

I know they’re not our favorite servants, public or otherwise. I’ve known bedmakers who would serve their office better. Certainly we all know they should have a  better grasp managing money. If we managed our budget  as they manage theirs, we’d all be broke. Sadly, many  are, but I don’t think they should blame  politicians for that. I know who–or what–they should blame but I don’t want to start a fight.

Think about this? No matter what our politicians do, seems like  half the people in the country, in the state, in the county, disapprove. Bad.  Can we assume  fifty percent  approve? Good.

We rarely hear from they who approve, but we hear a constant stream of invective from those who disapprove. Some people like bike paths. Some people don’t. Some people want super ferries. Some people don’t. Most people don’t want higher taxes but everybody wants more, better, and faster public services. Fancy new high-tech garbage trucks? Oh boy! Where to dump the stuff? Not in my backyard? That’s  a 100% downer.

Everyone complains about the roads. Repair mine. Don’t repair his. Then we complain about the inconvenience we experience when the roads are under repair. Lihue is a maze most of us rats get lost in. Noise. Detours. Traffic jam ups and, quite often, a wrong turn–arrows, flag offs–sends us skittering off a hundred and eighty degrees south of that place we wanted to reach.

A restaurant? The Mall? A public potty?  A parking spot within walking distance of it? (That’s any place less than ten steps from  the spot on which we wanted to land.)

Some  answers: bring a book. You can read it in  stopped up traffic jams. A sandwich. Munch. Munch. A bottle of water. Slurp. Slurp. A road map.  Note paper and a pen. Write a letter to TGI about stupid politicians who do  stupid things and inconvenience the hell out of us. Complain. Stomp your feet. Cross your arms. Scowl. Got cell phone? Yell at the innocent in a government office who answers the phone.

So what’s this got to do with greening?

Well, I love  the green roundabouts. I love all the greened up strips beside the road. I love to see work men planting something. Watering something. ‘Course all this green stuff costs green stuff. Some guys want to spend it. Some guys don’t.

I got a’idea. Plant citrus. Local oranges are delicious–and the scent of orange blossoms!! –everybody loves good smells. Beats carbon dioxide.   Picking them when ripe would create government jobs and income. Buy homegrown food–good food, healthy food–from government road side stands.

Maybe we could plant some long green stuff. Sugar cane. Tall grass. So gorgeous. So generously, sweetly,  cleansing the air we breath. Such a marvelous living historical reminder of the wonderful island we once were. Don’t recommend burning.  Machete it–more jobs– let it grow back all by itself.

Thank you Mayor Carvalho.

 

THE OCRACY November 6, 2014

Fortunately, here in Hawaii, we lucked out. There are more sane and intelligent voters than there are nuts. Also, it seems, some folks have long memories. Thank goodness,

I’m speaking about Duke Aiona. In the 2010 Gubernatorial election,  Pastor Ed Silvoso declared, “It doesn’t matter if the Republican or the Democratic win the governorship of Hawaii. Either one is  already in the kingdom.” He was referring to Duke Aiona, who ran as a Republican and Mufi Hanniman who ran as a Democrat.

Ed Silvoso also, in Mar  del Plata, Argentina, likened opponets to his movement ‘rats that would be killed when necessary.”

Duke Aiona, said at  Silvoso’s conference, November 7, 2009 at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, “We’re one body of Christ, we’re one church , and we’re all here to disciple the nations, here in Hawaii and everywhere else, and I want you all to know that. May God’s grace be with the participants of the International Transformation Network Global Conferencd. Aloha from myself, Lt.Governor Duke Aiona to all but particularly Ed (Silvoso.)”

In that race, Duke ran as a Republican and Mufi ran as a Democrat competing in the primaries with Neal Abercrombe.

In the last, most recent election-11/2014-  Duke ran as a Republican and Mufi ran as an independent spoiler to destroy Ige’s chance of winning. Once again sanity reigned.

ITN-International Transformation Network- is that network of which Silvoso is CEO. ”ITN operatives have played a significant role organizing and inspiring Uganda’s legislators who have drafted, cosponsored, and backed draconian  an Anti Homosexuality Bill before Uganda’s parliament the execution of many HIV positive Ugandans…” The penalty for being homosexual in Uganda is life imprisonment.

ITN efforts in Hawaii were coordinated with an entity called Transformatio Hawaii of which Duke was  listed as Hawaii’s honorary chairman and member.

Happily, today, many remembered the association with a religion-political movement that beyond US shores, is brutally eliminationist. It’s goal is to bring its version of Christianity into all areas of society. Government, media, education and business.  Isn’t that just too too Republican?

On December 8, 2004, Duke proclaimed, “..our school will become God’s school, our community will become God’s community, our city will become God’s city, our island, our State will become God’s Hawaii…”

A theocracy is a social structure. Like a Monarchy, a democracy, a dictatorship. Theocracy being the absolute worst.

THEOCRACY:

A government which claims to be immediately directed by God, and divinely blessed. The country tends to be intolerant either passively or overtly to faiths other than that recognized by the state. The country identifies itself and its laws within religion and religious doctrine. There is no legal separation between church and state, and citizens of other faiths are often excluded or hampered from participation or expelled. Because a theocracy is exclusionary, it can never be a democracy which requires inclusion without exception of all equally. It cannot be a republic because a republic requires the separation of church and state and equal rights to all.

Examples of theocratic countries include Israel and Iran.

…and Hawaii?

 

 

 

THE COSMIC PSYCHOPATH FACE TO FACE October 15, 2014

We’re in for a bad time.The struggle to protect freedom is a constant worry to those who love our country. What’s most disturbing is the obvious inclusion of a dark politically religious undertone ‘the secret fundamentalism at the heart of American power’, as Jeff Sharlet wrote in his bestseller ‘The FAMILY’. it’s time to confront the Christian Mafia and the ‘murky, menacing men’ who run it. More cult than religion it rears its ugly head like some primitive beast risen from the grave to hound and confound. Barbara Ehrenreich insists we read the book but ‘not alone at night’. Heed her advice.

So powerful and insidious is this family of Nazi cultists it strains the senses to acknowledge its existence. But there is no denying Sharlet. He’s a fine writer, a respected journalist, editor, researcher and historian. His elegant ‘passionate, principled, and powerful’ expose has won praise from thinking people around the world.

Shake your head. Hide from the truth. This is the year 2014! Truths like these don’t belong. The Age of Reason can’t have died. We won the Second World War. Twenty million people died to defeat Hitler, and, surely, in the 21st century, mankind has evolved beyond the need of a mythical creature to rule and control us. A creature created with vile purpose by men of little or no worth other than the ability to use tricks of propaganda, learned at the hands of masters- Hitler, Himmler, and Goebbels- to bring it to worldwide fruition. Dead men whose design and structure of social control was too psychotic to last, became the foundation of The Fellowship Foundation’s existence.

“I thank heaven for a man like Adolph Hitler, who built a front line of defense against her anti-christ of Communism,” Frank Buchman, a foundation architect and close friend of founder, Norwegian born Nazi sympathizer, Abraham Vereide, says it all. The close ties of this group to the men who run our country goes beyond any sense the reasoning mind can comprehend.

Infused with the foreign policy of George W. Bush, confused with the teachings of Leo Strauss, Richard Perle, and Paul Wolfowitz, bemused with misty musty Americsn prayer day-breakfast meetings, secret cells-and an army of dimwitted evangelists preaching and teaching absurdities baffle the mind.

Some of their beliefs are so foreign to the American dream it’s a wonder they’ve been able to attack, let alone breach, the wall. Hidden beneath Machiavellian lies it’s a wonder we’ve been able to hold on to any truths we hold dear. Their mind-set abhors the very idea of separation of church and state. America is to become their theocracy. No taxes for the rich, and no taxes for the church. Endless wars for god and profit. No use for public schools. America’s children are to be home schooled with books written by them. Darwin out. Creationism in. Kids brainwashed to believe these lies with cult style tactics in cult style camps. They preach an economy so twisted it has the dismal science of economics standing on its head. Poverty is a punishment of god. Greed is a virtue. It’s a cult so deeply entrenched in misogyny one can pity for the simple-minded chattel who fall into its maws. So homophobic one worries about the safety of those with other sexual preferences.

And they’re thick on Kauai.

 

September 23, 2013

I Am Fishead: Are Corporate Leaders Psychopaths?

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It is a well-known fact that our society is structured like a pyramid. The very few people at the top create conditions for the majority below. Who are these people? Can we blame them for the problems our society faces today? Guided by the saying “A fish rots from the head” we set out to follow that fishy odor. What we found out is that people at the top are more likely to be psychopaths than the rest of us.

Who, or what, is a psychopath? Unlike Hollywood’s stereotypical image, they are not always blood-thirsty monsters from slasher movies. Actually, that nice lady who chatted you up on the subway this morning could be one. So could your elementary school teacher, your grinning boss, or even your loving boyfriend.

The medical definition is simple: A psychopath is a person who lacks empathy and conscience, the quality which guides us when we choose between good and evil, moral or not. Most of us are conditioned to do good things. Psychopaths are not. Their impact on society is staggering, yet altogether psychopaths barely make up one percent of the population.

Through interviews with renowned psychologist Professor Philip Zimbardo, leading expert on psychopathy Professor Robert Hare, former President of Czech Republic and playwright Vaclav Havel, authors Gary Greenberg and Christopher Lane, professor Nicholas Christakis, among numerous other thinkers, we have delved into the world of psychopaths and heroes and revealed shocking implications for us and our society.

Watch the full documentary now

 

A MODEST TAX SOLUTION March 3, 2013

By definition we have in Washington a dysfunctional family. How do we know this? Well, one of the first indications is the lack of communication and, as we know,  the Democrats won’t talk to the Republicans and the Republicans won’t talk to anybody, except each other. Sometimes.

Our poor country is on the brink of bankruptcy. Bills and expenses up the lagoon. I’m pretty certain  all of us-except the one per centers-have been in a similar situation at one time or another.How do we pay the rent and buy food, or shoes for the kids, or gas for the car or? The list goes on and on. It is not an uncommon dilemma in the average household. It was usually worse when we were younger but often, hopefully, we learn from our mistakes and make it to middle age and older all in one piece.

Many, unfortunately, never learn and at the end of their lives end up back counting pennies on the counter. Then we have this damn fool economy, over which we have no control, going nuts on frequent occasions. I don’t think much of the capitalist system. I call it the manic-depressive economy. It’s bipolar. Boom. Bust. Boom. Bust. But that’s not a subject I will wander aimlessly about in. Seems on this issue one not only ends up counting pennies, wringing hands and tearing hair, but often ends up with  a black eye and a bloody nose or  sitting in the cat/bird seat in a divorce court. That’s the ultimate dysfunction, isn’t it?

Kind’a like what’s going on in Washington. Only in Washington they can’t get a divorce. At least divorce is a closure.

Well, I think I have the perfect answer. It will take some setting up and some atypical political treachery. I think the helpless man in the middle of this mess, the most powerful man in the world-sigh-Potus, should invite Congress assembled to a big happy do at Camp David, where,  unbeknownst to these illustrious beings, a secure and well-guarded detention camp will have been erected  to which the entire crowd will be driven, like cattle, and penned. Well guarded with the Pres’ own men, of course, and several watch towers armed to the teeth.

Here there will be tents, sleeping bags, porta potties and a long  rickety table sagged down with stale loaves of  bread and water tanks the President has personally spit in. Maybe they should be stripped and handed long pink sheets, like togas, to drape themselves in. I hope it snows.

Once settled in, a booming voice from a tower will proclaim, “Work it out. Write it down. Hand it to a guard. I’m off for some rounds of golf  in Hawaii. Make it sane, intelligent, fair to all and include this clause: all churches, great or small, all religions, loony or otherwise, will fill out an income tax form. Declare all their income and forever and ever after be taxed at an annual rate of 10%. The government will do the accounting. Free. Aloha.”

THE MAGNIFICENT HUMAN SPIRIT November 14, 2012

I am moved and delighted today to express a sincere wonderment of the magnificent human spirit. Not only in America but also around the world.

What we have done at home in the reelection of President Obama is a victory for the human race. We spoke out as a people-to the party of the people-and we spoke out loud and clear with reason and intelligence. We silenced the party  of the rich and the powerful and the religious fanatics. We identified them. We exposed them. We forced them to face their silly faces and made fools of them.

Good for us.

The people of the world-especially the women in America-are demanding an end to the madness of endless wars for profit, bigotry, racism, intolerance,and patriarchal lunacy in the form of ancient religious beliefs that should play little- if any- role in the 21st century, We grew up.

We told the rich and powerful-the leaders of the most powerful nation on earth-that they are people, too. All of us are human beings. First.

As a peasant on Kauai-lucky me-I live in the greatest country, the greatest state, on the greatest island in the world. Let the world watch Kauai. We are a microcosm. We are the future. We are speaking out against over-development. We are against GMO’s. We are speaking out against the destruction of our public lands and parks We are going green.

We join hands and hearts in the house cleaning process that will allow our home-our planet-to prevail. We’ll keep the air fresh, the water clean and plentiful, the food nourishing, interesting and plentiful. We say yes to tax dollars  that benefit kids-their heath, their education, their happiness, their future. We say yes to tax dollars helping the poor and the helpless needy, to venerable seniors and those whose lives have been disrupted by disasters of any dimension. Natural, domestic or foreign.

We say yes to money spent on social needs

We say no to money spent killing and maiming innocent humans whatever their race, nationality or religion. We say no to sacrificing our brave young men and women on the ugly fields of battle.

I say: if the killing machine-wherever it might be-wants to play war games do so in virtual reality. If the navies of the world want to play war games let them do it in the bathtub. Think of the whales and dolphins that would save

I say, “Drink a toast to life and living things. Let the rest of them drink to money.”

Peace and love Bettejo Dux