National Unemployment Goes Double Digit

The new jobless figures are out and unemployment stands now at 10.2% of the population, so it can be said the darkest forecasts have come to pass. This is despite happy talk a few days ago about unemployment claims being down. Perhaps people's unemployment has run out and they've given up trying to get more. In this case Obama's actions should be heartening in that he extended the 26 week limit on unemployment compensation. The stock market has not done what I thought it would be doing now, when I made my "buy" recomendation a few weeks ago. But I'm still giving the same advice, which is to buy on the dips and be thankful the market is not at twelve thousand by now. As I have said, if 1982 is any model, this economy won't even begin to get out of the slump it's in untill the Dow Jones Industrials are making new all-time highs, and that leaves a ceiling of over four hundred points to shoot for by way of financial gains. Those in Gold futures should stay right where they are because, as the announcer says "The future of the dollar is very uncertain" and it's always nice to have a little insurance. Every investor should have a little something put away in gold futures, just in case the worst happens. But what this means is that we need to encourage economic reform legeslation, like Senator Bernie Sanders proposed today of reorganizing and breaking up the major banks. We must remember that the government is really the people. The constitution preamble, after all, begins with the words "We the People". When charges are filed against a criminal in superior court, it isn't "Orange County verses Rodreguez" or whoever but "The People verses Rodreguez". It is the people who are the litigents in both cases against individual felons, and also against giant corporations when they violate public interest. Given this awareness that it's We the People who are acting- - what Ronald Reagan says about those nine most dreaded words is nonsensical. He says you should most fear the words "I'm from the government and I'm here to help". Now I will agree with the axion of "A government with the power to grant you everything you need also had the power to take from you everything you have". But - as a moralist, a liberal moralist, my belief is that we need to restore capitalism's work ethic and that people who MAKE something and work all day with their hands, ought not to pay more income tax than those who don't, who sit by the swimming pool waiting for the dividend check to roll in. The idea of self sufficiency is a value that I charish and that we should charish both individually, and as a nation, as far as our productivity is concerned. Pat Buchannon "gets it". Ross Perot "gets it". Thom Hartman "gets it". But the Bushys and the Clintonites don't get it. What they envision as some economic eutopia is not my America. And it isn't a vision of America that you should defend or fight for.

We've all heard about the Ft. Hood shootings where thirteen people were killed and thirty others were wounded. The shooter was a Moslem who shouted out "God is great" when he did the act. He was a psychiatrist and underscores the truth that psychiatrists have among the highest suicide rates of any profession. This guy was unhappy and got bad job reviews, but somehow he was promoted to Major last May. The warning signs were there but they were ignored. As you know Eric Harris of Columbine shooting fame, was taking Zoloft, and the drug was in his system when he died. I've heard about the danger of seretonin uptake inhibitors for twenty years, that these drugs caused either uncharacteristic violence, or suicide. People should think twice about the semi divine aura we ascribe to the psycho-therapy profession. Many doctors, like the late Sydney J Adler, believe pills are the solution to everything and that it all stems from a "chemical imballance in the brain". You probably have read enough of my writings to know I don't believe this on the whole, but that the human Soul is far more complex.

This is kind of my "neener - neener!" paragraph. Fred Price's wife developed cancer of the hip or something and for a period of time Fred Price was regularly chiding his congragations in his sermons "I know you you people don't go to the doctor. It isn't because you have faith Jesus will heal you, you're just afraid to go to the doctor for fear of what he might tell you". Well, he might tell you that you have cancer. But do you really? New research has suggested that Cancer is not quite what we predicted, ie. that it is progressive and irreversable. Instead the presence of cancer cells indicates the state of health in the body, much as it does in the economy, and that a healthy body knows how to repulse cancer cells and destroy them. In this country our early cancer diagnosis rate has never been better. Yet our mortality rates from cancer are not going down. There seems to be an epidemic of over-diagnosis and over-treatment, not to mention over-worrying. Fred Price forgot to add worry into this equation. Before Halloween of 1997 it was a long, long, time that I had gone without seeing a doctor of any kind, save for dentists and eye doctors. Going so long a period without seeing a doctor didn't kill me, did it? I'm still here. I do believe in sending a little supplication prayer up to God now and then to let Him know that I'm here and thinking about Him.

We are going to meditate on the truth about "Circles". Last time I told you about the births and deaths of universes. And have you noticed that Universes are spherical. I'm not sure all of them are but let's go with the egg shell view for now. Circles are posessive things. They see themselves as complete. They are willing to bend time and space to their will to make themselves seem infinite. Given leave, a circle will go on forever. The limited has become limitless for the time being, and the time being is never ending and circular. This would seem to imply that time itself is circular and repeats itself, as the Hindus claim. Atoms are circular. You penetrate their spherical shells go go for the golden nuggets within, and the atom reacts violently and starts a chain reaction of all its buddies. Universes are formed when a circle of time and space is drawn around itself. The Universe has no need for anything outside itself, and neither has it any place for it. And yet expansion that is inevitable in itself, eventually results in the death of the universe, as it eventually lacks enough cohesive ether binding force to hold itself together. As such a Universe is born of great violence and dies of great violence. (Selah)

And now I'd like to get into the real of Eight Golden Truths. Just by way of review, can you people tell me - - pay attention, class- - can you tell me what three dimensional geometric figure that's symmetrical- - - has eight sides? I'll give you a little hint. All of the faces are triangular, yet when you cut the figure in half in any direction, what you have is perfect square surfaces. And here is the kicker - - all of the cardinal points touch the surface of a perfect sphere. What I'm going to do is give you these eight truths now, and develop them, either in the next posting of this blog, or we may jump to "Skeletons from the Closet" and you'll have to read it there. I haven't decided yet. These truths are kind of a Roreshock test in that, like Dylan lyrics, your mind might interperet the sayings differently, than I will subsequently develop them.

Experiance is the mortal enemy of "Pure religion". Reality is the mortal enemy of dogmatic false belief that prides itself on not needing anything to justify itself. Anything that needs nothing real to justify itself, has no real "right to exist". I welcome experiance - and if it is an experiance with God - this is for the better. Behold, even a Bad "something" is better than a perfect "Nothing". A Christian who needs nothing to justify his existance most likely HAS nothing to justify his existance. Reality is the mortal enemy of the unreal, and Christian theology is unreal. Some say that they have had a bad experiance with God. But people learn from experiance. Would you have fate take back the experiance from having ever happened, only to have the individual go on in perfect bliss ignorance, till the time comes when he has to have the experiance Again? (Selah)

Circles are posessive things; violate them at your Peril

Sometimes, things are exactly as they appear to Be - even First Impressions

When all else fails, look at the computer program text

You have a billion here and a billion there and pretty soon, you're talking about Real Money!

In the long run scheme of things - Adam Smith must be satisfied

An entity too big to fail is too big to exist. This also holds for true for Religion, as well as Corporations.

A God with the power to give you everything you need, has the power to take from you everything you have.

Experience is the enemy of Ignorance, Superstition, and even Bigotry