What if There is No Recovery?

In a local article, it said a lawyer had taken out an ad in a Lincoln Day dinner party agenda that said, “If you're a RINO, You Got To Go! Either you are a Conservative or not. If not, convert or get out of our party!”

You see, this lawyer ran for and lost the election for county judge last fall. And the man who was elected had a temper tantrum after seeing the Republican-In-Name-Only ad and said the lawyer wasn't an active Republican since he didn't bother to show up at the dinner party.

Not only do these guys not play well together amongst themselves, but they injected themselves into a city level issue that has its own set of sparks flying. True to politico's nature, they are arguing not about the issue itself, but whether it should go to vote by the people instead of just passed by city council.

The city council is Republican heavy with a Democrat for a mayor. A woman mayor sitting with an all male city council. On the table right now is whether or not they should become a non partisan city council, which they believe will open the door to more candidates with less costly campaign tabs since they won't have to campaign during primaries. I wonder who's the RINO in that issue.

The city's population is sitting close to 22,000 and it is the county seat; the county itself is 56 percent rural with a total population of 76,000. Smack dab in the middle of the Fayetteville Shale Play and the natural gas boom, the area has been economically insulated - until the last few months. The gas companies have all but shut down drilling and pipeline building since the price of natural gas is so low. The county treasurer was the only one cautious about the area's sudden boom and did her best to keep the Quorum Court from overspending the excess income. The city's heated issue mentioned above is whether to slap a 2 percent tax on hotels and a 1 percent tax on restaurants (A&P tax) to dive into the pockets of the drillers, roughnecks and pipeliners; something that, if implemented now with the gas all but nil, would drive local business even further down.

The story goes a lot deeper, but this is enough to illustrate the points I made yesterday about our social structure as based on capitalism driven by consumerism. Let me play devil's advocate here and blatantly blurt out loud what no one has dared to ask: What if the economy never turns itself back around? What if the whole she-bang just collapses? To be honest, I think the writing has been on the wall since the early 1980s!

I took a course once called "American Hegemony," which included the history behind our economic, political and military growth - and the unbridled exploitation of third world countries, minorities and women. It opened my eyes, changed everything and plunged me into a deep depression by the end of the semester. Finally, during one of the last classes, I asked the professor, "How can this all be fixed?" His solution: self-contained, self-sufficient communities that traded with other communities for necessities. He said he came to this conclusion based on the fact that all boundaries are only political and serve to contain the people, but not business - which has proven out to have far more rights than people.

OK, we just might evolve in that direction and come closer to Gene Roddenberry's vision of a Utopian culture. But, the problem is the transition, and I doubt that it would be anything less traumatic, bloody and devastating than, say, Hurricane Katrina, tsunamis and 8.0 earthquakes hitting every area, every single inch of the country, all at once!

I've had nightmares about New York City and Long Island becoming a huge pile of starving humanity with everyone fighting for scraps of food. The exodus of millions into the countryside would leave behind devastation and pillage exponentially greater than what happened during the Civil War. People without the land and know-how to raise and grow their own food will be shit out of luck. There would be no choice but to band together in small groups to hide in defensible areas because it would be impossible to survive alone.

Hence, in one nightmare is the key to what it truly means to be a social creature. Throughout the nightmare are points of light: spiritual and safe groups living life the way it was meant to be lived, dedicated to advancement, the evolution of man and its planet.

The End. Yes, it's near, very near. But, it's not the end of the world. It's the end of life as we've known it. Can it turn out any other way? Ask yourself if the paltry, petty local government illustrated above would be able to lead through the difficult transitions ahead. If your answer is "no," then you'd be in agreement with me. As small and mostly rural as this area is, it would still become a war zone when the Big Picture collapses.

The whole point of this is to prompt you to think through the possibilities. Remember just how much we are never told by our government, the think tanks and the cartels that pull all the strings behind the scenes. Think about what it would take for you to survive if the whole thing imploded in on itself. Think about how you would want to live after all the dust settles.

Most of all, think about greed. Greed cancels out life. You sure can't doubt that nowadays, can you?

You Need to be Social?

I read an article this morning about a research study that found that those that are "social" have a different brain structure than those that aren't. The snapshot of a moment in the form of a brain scan tells nothing about the how or why of this structural difference, leaving the age-old debate of nature vs nurture intact and going strong. In other words, my reaction was, "it took you this long to figure this out?"

The study, comprised of 41 randomly selected men that were given a questionnaire and brain scans, deduced that those that responded positively to questions about making a warm, personal connection and being emotionally demonstrative had larger orbitofrontal cortexes and ventral striatums than those that responded negatively. It led the scientists to theorize that specific brain structure could produce a pleasant personality, but so could being pleasant alter brain structure. Their conclusion: Evolution has brought social need down to the basic needs level.

This conclusion raises more than a few questions. Compare it to the widely known and accepted "Hierarchy of Needs," devised by psychologist Abraham Maslow in 1943.

The needs pyramid illustrates the level of psychic energy required to meet the needs of each level. As a person fulfills the needs of one level, psychic energy is freed to attend to the needs on the next, higher level. More a process than a snapshot, the levels shift constantly and are not static in nature. What time has proven out, the pyramid also correlates to the number of people able to address the needs at the higher levels, and even fewer that attain a state of self actualization.

Demoting acceptance down to the powerful biological needs of basic survival (food, clothing, shelter) seems to imply that we have evolved into sheep. Yet, our social structure of individualism is based on our economic structure: Capitalism forces the separation and distance of people's social tendencies. The statistics of the level of divorce, unwed births and the rise in crime all corresponding to economic fluctuations is the proof.

If belonging and acceptance have become as driving a need as these scientists assert, we would have seen already a major shift in our economic structure as more and more social demands replace and displace the economically reinforced demand of consumerism. Collectively, all of us have suffered the economic downfall, but have we shifted away from our economic structure and its forces to become more needy and reliant on familial and social groups?

In the United States, where consumerism rules, there has been little indication of this social shift. Minor indications would be the exorbitant cost of long-term elderly care forcing adult children to care for their parents. But, the necessary shift of extended families living together and small, self-sufficient communities are still only a component of our historical agrarian culture, and not in evidence today.

I applaud science for slowing inching its way to the "discovery" of thinking and feeling. But, it is still too juvenile and myopic to be worthwhile at predicting behavior at the least or self-understanding at the most. Keep trying!

Sucked Into Facebook

I've had a Facebook account for a few years, and never bothered with it. I couldn't figure out how or why it would be useful to me, and it is so ugly to look at that I just let it sit there.

A few months ago, a friend created a Facebook account and uploaded a lot of her photos, and we both friended another we had worked with, and my list of friends started to grow a little. The author of my favorite book is on Facebook too. But, I still didn't always remember to check Facebook for updates. Weeks would go by between logins.

I see that the teenagers sure have a great time with it! One girl posts a blow-by-blow of everything she's doing, including petting her dog and cleaning her bathroom. It's an interesting view into the mind of a teenager, that's for sure. Life is never boring for them, and you can tell because it's all right there on Facebook!

Last month, after the shooting in my home town, I talked to many people that I hadn't in years, and realizing how much I missed them all, I got a wild hair and invited them all to Facebook. Life hasn't been the same since!

Now, I check Facebook several times a day. I even have the Facebook app on my iPhone and check it when I'm away from home. I never thought I'd say this, but I look forward to getting poked! Instead of using email, several friends use the messaging within Facebook to keep in touch. And, reverting to my own teen-hood, I sometimes take a photo with the iPhone and upload it to Facebook, to illustrate what and where I am at the moment. I even upload a lot of the photos from Out in the Back Yard, though I couldn't tell you why. They look so much better on the blog than they do on that crappy white and blue, sterile looking Facebook!

I so want to say that this is a good thing, I really do. But, it's beginning to feel just as horrible as it feels to wait for the phone to ring. I start to wonder and worry why a poke from a particular person isn't returned and messages aren't answered, and then do a happy dance when they are. I don't even want to talk about the anticipation of seeing just who is online to chat with!

If this is what Facebook is all about, then I'm doomed! Poke me back, dammit!

A Matter of Literacy

I met a 37 year old woman today that could not read or write. She had severe dyslexia. She said that there are times when she will explode from the frustration. Without her mother's help, she could not maneuver through life's day-to-day demands.

When she was diagnosed, the doctors told her and her mother that she was stupid, mentally retarded, and would never be able to learn anything. They insisted she would fare better in a long-term care facility than in public school because she would never learn to progress through the grades. She made it to fifth grade.

This woman was not stupid. She was not mentally retarded. And, she was able to learn from verbal instruction and demonstration. As a matter of fact, she learned quickly, thoroughly, asked a lot of questions and participated in the learning process.

It is estimated that the problem of illiteracy in adults in the state of Arkansas is 20 percent. In my own area, the percentage is higher. Illiteracy effects quality of life significantly, to the point where it is impossible to find a job and raise children. It is extremely detrimental to self-esteem and well-being which causes social withdrawal and non participation. And the list goes on.

I find it difficult to imagine what life would be like without reading. I read anything I get my hands on. I read to learn, I read to explore, I read to relax, I read to fall asleep and I read to engage my brain. I read to write, and I write to read. Without the ability to read, I would not be me.

I imagine that most of us take our ability to read for granted. We don't think about reading the street name signs, or the names of stores we drive by. We read ingredients on labels along with product names, and we read the instructions on the microwave popcorn. We read to choose which level of octane in gas and read the headlines of magazines and newspapers as we wait in line at the grocery store. Without even thinking about it, we read the words on TV commercials, no matter how much we try to ignore them.

What would it be like for you if you couldn't read? Do you know anyone that can't read?

To find ways you can help, check out America's Literacy Directory.

Okiedokie Already

Dang. Now, where was I going to start? Oh yeah, I remember now...

I did absolutely nothing during the long weekend, and it was great. Well, nothing that I remember. That's how I should say it. Thankfully, I leave proof of what I did everywhere. (So there, scatterbrains!)

This is the frame of mind I've been walking around with for months now. Most of the time, it's funny. It's the slapstick, stupid kind of funny, if you know what I mean. Other times, it's frustrating as all get-out.

Of course I can't remember where I found it, didn't think to bookmark it, but I read an article yesterday saying this "foggy thinking" is typical in menopausal women. The only thing you can do is wait it out, and though I was relieved to find the way my brain hasn't been working lately is normal, I wasn't too happy to read that it could take years before I get my mind back!

But, you know what? It's not just women that experience this foggy thinking thing. Nope. I mean, this isn't scientific or anything, but I was talking to Mike the other day, and he was just as scatter-brained as I was! The conversation went something like this:

"I've been playing around with...with...you know, the ....," Mike said.

"You mean the... the thing that has to do with .....? I said.

"Yeah, you know what I'm talking about!" Mike said.

"OK, but were you thinking about the... about the..." I said

"No. I know what you're thinking, but I think you were right the first time," Mike said.

Okiedokie. Neither one of us thought to change the topic of the conversation. We just kept talking like that for, oh, about an hour. Mike would have to be an incredibly sympathetic man if my "foggy thinking" rubbed off on him. But, I don't think that's it at all. Nope. I think Mike has his own case of fogginess going on!

Maybe, just maybe, estrogen has nothing to do with it at all. That puts me right back where I started, which was...which was...

Thank You, Soldier

Arkansas' Fallen Hero display came through the area around Christmas time. Somber and sad, the vast number of flags and accompanying photos stood straight and tall against the stiff wind. They stood strong.

"Thank you for what you do, Soldier," is what I say to every one I meet, every day. Those of us that have never served can never fully understand the soldier's experience. "Thank you" never seems to dent the surface of gratitude owed them. A day here and there, set aside to honor our Soldiers, is not enough. Every day is not enough, but it will have to do.

Thank you for what you do, Soldier.