Trips to the Round Insane House.

Third trip in two weeks up to Santa Fe while the Educational Retirement Board changes are beforeethe House (bill 64) and Senate (bill 115). They love to play games up there. First trip was a general joint session on both the PERA (governement workers) changes and the ERB (Educational Retirement Board). Second trip was the House Finances and Labor relations committee which is where the Republcan tried to add a poison pill amendment which would keep current retirees from getting a cost of living increase for the next 20 years. It was tabled. Last Wednesday the House Education committee had Bill 64 way down on the docket so most of the stakeholders didn't attend knowing they wouldn't get to it. They moved it to the top of the docket, fortunately with a 5 to 4 vote along party lines the amendment was tabled again.
Today I went up to the Senate Education committee hearing and they didn't get to it. It's hard to know when to go up and when not to go up. The meetings are at 0800 which means leaving Albuquerque by 0630. It's important that retirees be there for these meetings to be heard, but when they play games on when what bill will be discussed when and where it makes it very difficult.

Catch up

• Taking Mom up to Santa Fe to lobby for the two bills making changes to our educational retirement board (ERB). It's going to be a challenge to keep it intact and not messed with by legilators intent on ruining it. One poison pill amendment was tabled in the house last week, but there's still many more committee hearings and floor debate as well as a hostile governor before we can breathe easily. It's going to be a long 60 day session.
• Amazon's Create Space is holding a contest and a novel needed to be submitted by Jan 27. I submitted mine on the 26th. I've been working on it for a couple of years so it didn't take but two weeks to get it ready. The first round is based on the pitch, second round will be on the excerpt and third round will be ont he total novel. If I'm chosen then they will help with the editing and publish it. The ten thousand dollar prize would be nice too. Crossing fingers I get past the first round.
• The weather and my health improved and I got to take a nice walk spoiled by a litte white ball. Didn't do too badly for not making it out to the course in six weeks.
• Good news. Writers2writers the West side writing group I've coordinated for the past three years found it difficult to meet where we've been meeting and I've spent the last two years trying to find a better venue. I gave up after the November meeting where we were meeting refused to turn off the music for our meeting and actually turned it up. I took the hint. We don't meet in December and still not finding a place canceled the January meeting. Other members of the group tried valiantly to find us a place, but they're all on the East side and that defeats the purpose for West side writers who want to meet close to home. If found us a place and the Feb. meeting is back on.
• A fellow writer new to blogging is Jonathan Miller aka the Rattlesnake Lawyer. He told me about Southwest Writers Workshop at one of his book signings and from that I found out about Publish America which led to getting Optimus: Praetorian Guard published in 2006. He's spoken numerous times at Writers2writers. I've read a number of his novels and he has a new one Rattlesnake Wedding coming out on Valentine's day. His blog is about the trauma of waiting for the big day. Check it out, but if you buy and read his books without buying and reading mine I'll be really pissed.

Crony Capitalism or Political Bribery

Excerpt from James A. Michener's The Source: Twilight of an Empire
Kaimakam Tabari had one simple rule of administration, and it was understood by all his subjects: In Tobariyeh positively everythingw was for sale. If an Arab youth was summoned for military service it was obvious that there was no possiblility for escape; but if his father paid the kamakam enough, he could escape.... For the issuance of the simplest government paper, an established scale of bribes was in force, and in either the civil court of the qadi or the religious court of the mufti, any decision that was wanted could be had by the paying of the proper baksheesh to the kaimakam....
As a result of this constant drain on the people of Tubariyeh, there was no money left for schools, or sewers, or water supply, or a jail in which a human being could survive. There were no hospitals, no adequate policing, no fire fighting, and no roads.

Is America devolving to a country of corruption and bribery? Do our elected officials charge for every service required like in 1880 Palestine?
We have a different form of baksheesh, more modern and sophisticated: Election campaign warchests. Every representative who is elected either to the national or state legislatures spends 18 months out of the 24 months in office raising the money for re-election. Is it any wonder the Republicans openly disdain the masses who contribute little and fight only for the wealthy and corporations who contribute much? Or that the Democrats talk about helping the middle class, but accomplish so little? Elections have become a way of circulating all that campaign money into a closed set. Corporations give the money to the politicians who then give it to advertising agencies who buy time and space from the media. The corporations who give the money own the agencies and media outlets where the money goes so just like water it gets boiled, evaporates and rains back down. Little of all this money reaches the masses who are brainwashed into buying the political product sold to them.
Since Ronald Reagan became president and forty years of trickle down economics many of the signs Michener mentions showing the cost of corruption are prevalent.

• Our public schools are being starved of qualified teachers, proper rooms and materials for learning so political cronies can make a fortune coming up with standarized tests that prove absolutely nothing about the state of learning in America. Private schools are not held to this testing standard, but when their test scores are compared with public schools they show little to no improvement. Paul Krugman told Bill Moyers in an interview that replacing the hundreds of thousands of teaching positions lost since 2008 would add an extra 200 billion dollars to the economy which would help out with housing, automobile sales, retail sales, insurance premiums, and increased tax revenue across the economic spectrum. I really wish our politicians would fight as hard about closing schools as they do about closing military bases. The same economic principle applies.
• Amost all cities are faced with aging sewer systems and waste disposal plants that contaminate our shorelines, our underwater aquifers, land and are repaired only when they break. Add to this polluted air from factories, lakes and rivers from fertilizer runoff, fracking for oil and natural gas and chemical discharges and toxic waste in land fills we are truly soiling our own long term nest for short term profits. The polluting corporations can bribe scientists to refute all claims that they are doing harm or export the toxins to third world countries so their populations are poisoned as well as buy the votes they need to keep sane regulations being placed on them. 
• Privatized prisons are filled with non-violent offenders mostly on marijuana charges in substandard facilities that are poorly staffed due to low wages with little training. The corporations pay the baksheesh to the congress critters and rake in the money with little accountability.
• The most fought over issue for fifty years is health care and even after the passing of the Affordable Health Care Act in the next twenty years the ever growing poor population (due to austerity measures by the government) millions will die due to lack of being able to get proper medical care until it is too late. Who cares about the millions of people finally getting health care and are not denied because of a pre-existing condition, but horrors of all horrors insurers will have to pay for birth control, the morning after pill and abortions. Employers who pay for this insurance are appalled that their employees want to control thier own bodies without permission.
• It's a no brainer that when the economy goes down and there are few jobs crime rises. So at a time of more criminals; states, towns and cities facing budget problems are laying off police and fire fighters. Neighborhoods are forced to pay extra for fire protection and if a homeowner doesn't pay then the fire fighters stand by and watch it burn down. Baksheesh in action. The entire criminal justice system is swamped because all the money is being siphoned into the profits of private security firms and prisons. Maybe city hall should open up a line for bank robbers. Walk up, hand in a note demanding money, get arrested, plead guilty to the judge sitting next to the clerk and police officer, get sentenced to prison so you don't have to sleep under a bridge in sub-zero temperatures. Isn't that the way corporations like to make everyting an assembly line? Maybe if we create enough prisoners from our surplus population there will be enough money in transporting them to the moon to work as slave laborers extracting minerals for the corporations to invest in such a transportation system. After all there are no more places on earth to set up penal colonies.
• When America's corporations paid taxes instead getting subsidies, and all citizens paid taxes, not just those who make less than a hundred grand a year, and thanks to the GI Bill college was affordable, the schools that are crumbling today were built, the sewer systems that are breaking were dug, the interstate highway system was stretched all across the continent and this led to high employment, a growing middle class, and the highest standard of living in world history with a small prison population. Schools could afford athletics from elementary through high school with large bands to play and perform at games. Teachers taught their curriculum, not how to take a test with high graduation rates. We were able to pay for the space race, Vietnam war, and create Medicare and Medicaid plus food stamps from the taxes raised from this standard of living. In the last forty years of regressive instead of progressive taxation, deregulation of industry, and outsourcing of employment that produces goods instead of services everything we built is falling apart and crumblind like our roads and highways. What good will all the new fancy cars with fantastic sound systems, hybrid engines, and all the other fancy gadgets imaginable be if the drivers are stalled in traffic because a sewer line burst, roads are being patched intead of repaired ruining suspension systems or you're forced to drive a hundred miles our of your way because a bridge collapsed between Dallas and Denver? Is a toll road from Brownsville, Tx to Minneapolis where every driver has to throw money into a booth every twenty or thirty miles really better than maitaining I-35?
• Was life ideal, no, before Title IX there was little opportunity for women in athletics outside of cheerleading and pep squads; little was done for the handicapped or mentally impaired; inner city was just as crime ridden and the schools suffered not to mention the problems of segregation and racism but the burst of prosperity led to correcting those problems even if they haven't been eradicated. The future I grew up in was a hell of a lot better than the future my children and grandchildren face today with a shrinking middle class and a policital system sucking all the money out of the economy to enrich .01% of the population. Would it be so hard for the Walton family to take a smaller cut from the profits of Wal-Mart and Sam's club so the employees could make enough money to not need food stamps, medicaid, and be able to rent a two bedroom apartment and buy a decent used car? Not to pick on just the Waltons as the same could be said of almost all international food and retail stores.

Good Reads for the New Year

      

 Looking for a good read this new year. Here's a couple of e-books for only a buck each at Amazon, I-books, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords

And don't forget my science fiction novel also only a buck.

A proposito

In the ancient world some marvelous structures were built. Of the seven chosen at the wonders of the world only one is still standing: the pyramids of Egypt. There was a beautiful temple named one of these wonders. It was the temple of Artemis in Ephesus built in 550BC. In 356BC it was burned down. The arsonist was arrested and tried. He plead guilty explaining that he was a person who would never be remembered after his death and this was his way of having his name in the history books. He was naturally sentenced to death and the judge ruled his name to be stricken from all records so his name would not go down in history, thus depriving him of the one thing he committed the crime for.
Now no one died in this arson, and you might ask "So What?"
Well it seems to me that today's serial killers and mass murderers have a parallel motive. Serial killings and mass murders are done by nobodies. Nameless and faceless non-entities living lives of quiet desperation. With over 300 million people in this country the overall vast majority of our citizens fit into this catagory. A great many seem to derive some meaning vicariously by identifying with Royal families, athletes, actors, actresses, celebrities famous for being famous. The paparazzi make a fortune invading the privacy of the aforementioned to feed the appetite of nameless, faceless nobodies who look at and read in a frenzy everytime Kate Middleton or Kim Kardassian sneeze.

• Add to this equation our high stress environment. This economic downturn is making the young adults work longer and harder for fewer rewards. The number of 20 somethings and 30 somethings unable to buy a decent car or afford an apartment, much less buy a house is very discouraging. Frustration breeds thoughts of violence.
• The American dream has always been a white American fantasy sometimes achieved by minorities, but pretty much taken as for granted by WASPS. The dream is now a nightmare. Getting married, stay at home Mom, buying a house, two cars and having 2.5 kids with dogs, cats, goldfish and hampsters comprises less than 7% of the general population and shrinking fast. So much for Family Values.
• Factor in a polarized political climate each of which demonize the other ramping up the nastiness like putting rifle scope crosshairs over the other party's candidate and speaking of 2nd ammendment solutions.
• Include religious loudmouths blaming every bad thing happening on God's wrath changing the Love of Christ to the Hate of Christ.
• Include the cheapness and ease of access to high powered firearms with mega magazines and their scare tactics blaming Democrats of wanting to ban guns in order to sell sell sell sell. Remember in 2009-11 the bullet shortage? This creates a perfect storm for a lone gunman or a few friends deciding to go out like Butch and Sundance or Thelma and Louise.
• The deciding factor is that everytime a serial killer is caught comes fame and their names forever placed in the history books. The same for mass shooters. Does anyone remember outside of friends and family members the names of those killed at Columbine? At Fort Hood? The Murrah Building? But we all know or can read the names of the killers in the numerous books and articles written about them. Sure it all pseudo psychological or sociological analysis of why the did what they did, blah blah blah.

Alright what can be done?

1. Sensible gun control, not the banning of guns, but good God regulate who buys and who can keep lethal force. Don't give me a silly argument that knives are just as deadly. Yes they are, but the magnitude of destruction is not the same as an assault rifle with a 30 round clip.
2. Stop glorifying mad dog killers. The media's wringing every last drop of grief for the victims is appropriate, but even saying the killer's name or why he did what he did shoud face silence on airwaves and newspapers. There needs to be an agreement not to glorify or contribute to the notoriety of someone who would committ such an act to get 15 minutes of fame.

Will this stop the violence? No, but it might reduce the carnage if those living lives of quiet desperation know thy won't get what they seek this way.
Did it work in 356BC? No Herostratus is the arsonist, but it takes someone really wanting to dig deep to find that name.

That Season Again.

A merry Christmas or Winter Solstice, or or or...

May this time with family and friends be joyous and the memories last a lifetime.

Favorite Christmas Songs

So I was a little Scroogy in my last post. Yes, Virginia I do have some Christmas songs I dearly love.
So here are my top Christmas songs with some of my favorite performers who sing them.
Drum roll.....
1. O Holy Night -- Michael Crawford's version is spectacular.
2. What Child Is This -- Barbara Mandrell really belts this one out.
3. Snoopy's Christmas -- The Royal Guardsmen may be mostly remembered for Snoopy and the Red Baron, but this song, woefully underplayed on radio, goes past satire and explains the German Yule of giving gifts and celebrating Winter Soltice with their enemies. "Christmas bells those Christmas bells ringing through the land..."
4. Pas De Deux from The Nutcracker. Last year I recorded five different showings of this ballet off Ovation channel just to watch the five different ways this song was performed. I never tire of yearing this song or watching the dance. It's beautiful.
5. Blue Christmas -- Beach Boys version is best, wife love's Elvis.
6. O Tannenbaum -- Nat King Cole, makes your heart melt.
7. Carol of the Bells -- It's snappy

Christmas Music Overload

This is the time of year to hear carols everywhere you go. I do remember the day, many years ago when I too was one of those insufferable people walking through neighborhoods ringing doors with other of my kind singing to those who opened the door three or four songs written a hundred or more years before our births. A kinldy medical doctor joined us playing a saw like a violin. The fond memories of those times last a lot longer for the singers than for the poor souls scratching their heads wondering who the hell those idiots are.
On the radio whether XM or local they pull out the seasonal songs. All singers who want cheap royalties for life do a Christmas Album. Even well known Jews like Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond sang Ave Maria and O Holy Night then sing What A Friend We Have In Jesus while they cash their checks. Those albums have been out for over thirty years, but they're still played on the airwaves and downloaded from the internet. The estates of Gene Aurty, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Andy Williams, Perry Como, Elvis Presley, Beryl Ives and on and on cash in on it, or I one would think, maybe the recording companies clean up on the old singers whose roayalties have played out. Talk about pure gravy! Would anyone remember Jose Feliciano if it wasn't for Feliz Navidad? Poor Trini Lopez, why didn't he do a catching latin Christmas song? Lemon Tree is only remembered if you really like watching The Dirty Dozen over and over again.
It seems with so many channels to choose from on satelite and cable half of them are doing some country singer's Christmas special. Wife made me watch Scotty McCreary's. Problem is he had everyone else singing and only sang one song. Not sure about that as she didn't collar me and force the torture on me until the opening part of the show was over, so he may have started the show with a song and then finished it. I like his voice even if it is Randy Travis coming from Opie Taylor.
I really avoid stores as much as possible because they blare seasonal Muzak. Most of it generic like Frosty the Snowman or Let It Snow Let it Snow. Is the song Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire where the term "Chestnut" for a stale joke originated?
I guess I get my aversion for some of these songs because I worked in department stores while in high school and college. I remember standing in the lobby of a Skaggs drug store behind a counter with cigarettes (yes back then they were in the open so all the customer had to do was grab a carton or package or two, hand it to me so I could ring it up, sack it and give change) candy (sounds silly today to be selling those side by side, but that's how they got the kids hooked on both vices) meanwhile back to the original train of thought. Standing there with the music blaring overhead for eight hours of looped holiday music 1) takes away all meaning from the songs, 2) destroys your ability to listen to songs in 3/4 or 4/4 time (that's walz and fox trot to you dancers) 3) and years later when you hear them it brings back all the memories of hurried and short tempered customers and why I was so grateful to spend most of my life trying to educate ungrateful children on the importance of knowing the difference between an noun and verb as well as the three branches of our government and the need for ballance of power between them.
Not all of my aversion to some music is about Christmas Music. Working at Skaggs the summer before going off to college I was tortured by the looped songs of Melany's I Have A Brand New Set of Roller Skates and You Have a Brand New Key followed by Jeannie C Riely's Harper Valley PTA.
Now you know why out of the huge collection of .45's collected while growing up I took none of them with me to college. I only took one lone album (lp) and that was what I tortured my mother with my senior year in high school, Iron Butterfly's Inagodadavida.

Story slowly coming along

Up to 20,000 words on story so I'm a little behind. Still doing paying work is more important.
Wednesday I pick up our Thanksgiving turkey. Last year we bought 3 turkeys. We ate one for Thanks, ate another one between holidays and had the third for Christmas. We haven't wanted turkey for a long time. This year we're only getting one. We used to get a smoked turkey at Powdrell's barbeque and they are absolutely fabulous, but the price kept going up and finally out of our reach. I mean when you can buy a 25lb turkey for $13.00 paying fifty for a smoked one seems silly, but that's what we're doing this year. If we're going to eat turkey again we decided it needs to be memberable for something other than fatigue. BTW, Mom's fixing a roast for Christsmas.

Confrontation

As people get older they seem to lose inhibitions. Mainly they say things that when they were younger they thought but kept to themselves or said privately.
A few weeks ago my mother, wife and I had dinner at a restaraunt. There was a woman and a small child around three or four years old. The child was screaming, not crying, just screaming to scream. It was very annoying. We were trying to have a nice conversation after we were through with dinner, but were forced to leave. Walking past the woman my mother made the comment that in her day parents didn't allow children to scream like that and then walked on. I paid the bill and the lady came out, kid still screaming and left. I thought that was the end of it, but the woman came back in by herself and started screaming at my mother. I positioned myself between them and in my strongly projected "teacher voice" told her to back away. I repeated my request three or four times until she left. We waited about ten minutes and the manager walked us out to the car, he was very supportive of us in the matter. That didn't stop the woman from driving past us and yelling some obscenities.
Is it just me or are parents today so afraid of being charged with child abuse that they have given up on trying to discipline their children?
Mom never beat us, but she did have a wicked pinch that got our attention and let us know to stop whatever behavior we were doing. Dad was fond of saying when we were in public, "Children should be seen and not heard!" I've read many child psychologists and other writers demonizing that statement, but we learned there was a line not to cross when in company and to respect our parents and other adults.
Today you can't go into a store or mall without the crying and screaming of kids that didn't happen thirty or forty years ago, but let a parent give the child a reason to cry and the full force of the law will hit like a ton of bricks.

Back to normal

At least that's what I'm hopin for. Drove all over creation today and didn't get much writing done. Since this month started I've been running around doing this that and the other. Tomorrow I golf and I have my van back from my daughter at least until my Mom gets back from her trip and wants her car back.
Daughter is done with the Obama campaign and now we're hoping this experience will get her into a full time job. This is the frist time she's put in long hours and kept at it.

National Bullying

A bi-partisan report using actual numbers showing that giving the rich tax breaks does NOT and I repeat NOT add jobs. Guess what the Bully Party has supressed the report. Or should it be called the Temper Tantrum Party. Jobs reports come out showing that things are improving and look at the way they scream at the messenger and since they are masters at skepticism concerning science and all things factual that don't support their pre-conceived ideas their rhetorical questions bombard non stop.
I loved it when the head of GM (remember the good old days of "I Like Ike" when what's good for GM is good for America?) said Romney the son of an auto CEO, is living in a paralell universe.
I don't know what it is, but most retired golfers seem to be republicans and I've decided that politics is not something to talk about, but yesterday the pure hatred expressed towards Obama and the local Senatorial candidate by most of the guys while waiting to tee off has made me decide not to golf with them anymore and go to other golf courses. If Obama wins I don't want to be anywhere near them as they wail and gnash their teeth and if Romney wins I also don't want to be around them when they gloat.
When the fundamentalists took over the SBC anyone who disagreed with their dogma was shouted down in Sunday School Class and shunned making anyone who actually tried to know what they believe keep their opinions to themselves or leave. Now in one of the most enjoyable forms of exercise I participate in I'm forced to do the same.
Goddamn those mutherfucking bullies that stifle a free flow of ideas. I'm tired of being the only one who exercises discretion and avoid agrument when they feel like they can say anything they want. I'm no longer enabling their bullshit.
Is it any wonder that assholes like this find ways of justifying rape?

Working on the book

I've completely redone my opening to Bona Dea and the main idea of the story. I realized that what I had was fine for a short erotic story, but it needed to be toned down and have a different message for a novel. I'm happy with it so far. Up to 12,000 words so I'm kind of jumping the gun for NaNoWriMo, but the whole idea is to get to 50,000 words. I'll be happy to get to that milestone by the end of the month, but it'll take a bit more time to get it up to 100,000 by the time its ready for publication.
I still have The Fan Plan to work on and someday I'm going to write that novel on the life of Matthew Fontaine Maury, not to mention the sequel to Optimus. Wow so much to write!

Busy Busy Busy

• I posted some pictures with different views of Sandia Mountain taken from three different golf courses at Captain's Log.
• Daughter is busy actually making money working in the campaign, too bad the pay check ends with the election, but hopefully this will give her enough experience to find meaningful employment. Keeping fingers crossed.
• Trying to keep two vehicles that are over ten years old running is proving very expensive lately, but still much cheaper than buying newer. With four drivers in the family going in different directions and only three vehicles is a logistics problem in itself, but when one of them is down it turns into a  nightmare.
• I'm turning a short story into a novel for National Novel Write Month (NaNoWriMo). I did this about six years ago and it resulted in Human Sacrifices. Now available at smashwords.com and on the provided link at Amazon for the very reasonable price of only 99 cents. Bona Dea, the one I'm working on is up to 10,000 words right now with half a month to reach 50,000. I'm not ready to post the opening yet, but will in a few days for my few loyal readers.

Math and Science

On last nights policital debate and the hype that this would be a game changer for Romeny. Come on, the only televised political debate that decided an election was in 1960 and that was because Nixon's face melted on TV, everyone who heard it on radio felt Nixon won. This election hinges not on debates but blind faith over reason and reality -- lies vs facts. Two thoughts to make my point:

1. On the morning news they showed Obama repeating Clinton's point that the Republican plan of further reductions in Billionaire taxes plus closing loopholes will ballance the budget, and the arithmatic doesn't add up. (Paul Krugman's been saying this ever since it came out)
2. Bruce has a post about Oklahoma Baptist University hiring as head of its religion department a guy who is a "Young Earth" theologian and the ongoing fight with religious right dunderheads who keep advocating Creation Science or Intellegent Design over Astronomy, Geology, Biology, Zoology, Antrhopology, Achaeology and a host of other ologies.

Christian fundamentalists have been fighting against science from the beginning. Charles Darwin's Origen of Species and Descent of Man and the theory of evolution started the war against science which is ongoing and will never cease as long as Christian fundamentalists continue in their idiotic insistence on a literal interpretation of books in the Bible like Genesis and Revelation that were purposely written metaphorically and symbolically.
Science is at its bedrock mathematics. All science is a numbers game, they simply add empiricism (scientific method) to their particular discipline. So why do so many Christian fundamentalists have a problem understanding that the Republican plan doesn't add up? They've been brainwashed by their preachers and professors and home schooled or private religious schools to be skeptical of math. They've been taught that Carbon 14 dating, which relies on the same math that produced the atomic bomb is wrong, so trust their preachers and what they say about the origens of the universe based on the Bible.  When Romney and the Republicans say "Trust me" they've been brainwashed to place their faith in God's political party instead of arithmatic. Their preachers said so.

The religious right does use math, and Blind Faith in their childish literal interpretation of the Bible to do great harm to education and our country. Why do these morons still insist that the universe is only 6,000 years old.  The basis for this is the computations of Bishop Ussher a17th century theologian who added up all the ages of the patriarchs listed in Genesis until Abraham. He then calculated back from the birth of Jesus and settled on creation happening in 4004 BC.
This theory of creation was refuted by many theologians but I like this one written in 1890 by Professor William Henry Green in his Biblioteca Sacra:
We conclude that the Scriptures furnish no data for a chronological computation prior to the life of Abraham; and that the Mosaic records do not fix and were not intended to fix the precise date either of the Flood or of the creation of the world.
For those who insist "God said, I believe it, that settles it" guess what, God never said he created the universe in 4004BC or that those ages added together meant anything; Bishop Ussher did. Do you believe God or Bishop Ussher?
There is no scriptural or common sense reasoning to support the mathematical calculations of Ussher that God created the universe only 6,000 years ago even if you believe as I do that He did. Many Christians believe both the Bible and science. To us evolution is how God did it and is continuing to work His creation. There is no conflict between faith and reality or between the Bible and science because we interpret the scriptures metaphorically and symbolically like the reasoning beings we are:
When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. I Corinthian 13:1 NASV.
Only children and the feeble minded interpret everything litterally. Think of Abbot and Costello's classic comedy routine "Who's on first" why is it so funny? Because Costello can't get past his literal interpretation of the word 'who' to figure out that it's the players name.

Ultimately this war on science is doing irreparable harm.

• It weakens the message of Christ by limiting His power. Who are we to say He had to create the universe in only this way and at only this time?
• It limits the Bible to only one possible way to read it limiting the power of the Bible for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness. II Timothy 3:16b NASV
• It separates all Christians in the eyes of our culture and country and weakens our witness about the saving power of Jesus to change people lives, because the lost see us as out of touch with reality.
• Insisting on adding creationism or intellegent design to public school curriculums paints all Christians as childish or stupid and anti-science, anti-education, and no sane person would believe a word any Christian says about salvation destroying our witness.
• It is making generations of our children intellectually retarded and unable to think for themselves.
• Fundamentalist Christians are being used by greedy preachers and politicians in an unholy alliance in the Republican party to squeeze more and more money out of our economy and because they have been brainwashed that evolution is evil and science is of the devil they have their minds made up so don't confuse them with facts.

Romney and Ryan can lie over and over again on the campaign trail, in their advertisements and in the debates and the Fundies will eat their words like cotton candy. Unfortunately if Romney gets elected all of us will get stuck with tooth decay.

Comment thought

From my friend in Oklahoma who works in the oil industry, his comment on the Cross of Gold Speaches:
I'm pretty conservative in a lot of things and really into free markets and call myself a Republican but I really don't recognize them anymore. They seem to be living in a fantasyland these days. The moderates and Democrats seem to be totally bumfoozled by the whole thing and totally don't seem to know how to respond.

Listen my children and you will get a history lesson:
The United States has never been a free market economy!
The first thing Congress did at the urging of then Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton after the constitution was ratified and the government in place was to pass a tarrif on foreign goods. So much for a free market.
Slavery was the smokescreen for the Civil War. The first call for secession in the South was the Tarrif of Abomination when Andrew Jackson was president. Northern industries liked their unfree market place and didn't care that the exporting South was retaliated against by the countries the tarrif harmed.
A major contributing factor for the world wide Great Depression was tarrif's passed under the Cooledge administration.
What was one of the first acts of President George W. Bush? He passed a tarrif on steel from China.
If you really want a free market our government would have to:
suspend all farm subsidies. Every small farmer who receives a subsidy check should thank the Democrats.
suspend all corporate subsidies and tax credits
Face it corporations are buying the best government money can buy so they can still get their corporate welfare and have no regulations limiting their ability to slash salaries and benefits, increase hours for workers, gouge the public, and steal from the public coffers.

Optimus Is Back

I've finished revising Optimus and it is now available for only .99 when Publish America priced it at 27.95. pmprescottenterprises.com will also take you to all my other novels, anthologies and stories.
You can get it at smashwords.com and amazon.com.
There are still some used print copies at Amazon.

Cross of Gold

 Absolutely amazing how the Republican Party has dragged us back in the last thirty years of their trickle down economics and now wanting a return to the gold standard. A speech given in 1896 is still relevant to answer all the of what is on the Republican economic platform.

Free Round of Golf

On the Eastern side of Sandia Mountain is a beautiful golf course: Paako Ridge. It's in a national forrest with breathtaking views of Sandia Mountain and the others around it. Ranked one of the top 25 golf courses in the country open to the public. It is a bit expensive compared to the local Municipals. I got to play there with the Albuquerque Seniors at our set price, even had a nice boxed lunch.

 If you go on their web site and sign in they'll send you a certificate for a free round the month of your birthday. So I got to play for free this month. It's not often I get to play here twice in one summer. It is closed from November to March due to being covered in snow.

 The course is long and rugged not many try to walk it. Even in a cart getting from the path to the greens is quite a hike and climb as most of them are elevated with two or three ridges.
The sky is much bluer than in Albuquerque. It's good to get out of the exhaust fumes.







I've found it best to go early in the morning on a weekday. Prices are better after 2pm, but thunderstorms that build up in the afternoons can ruin your round before you're finished.

Press Conference

Here's the video of Russ Sype's press conference last Saturday. It's well done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkvGgX30i18