Robert Reich, former secretary of labor said, “A college education isn’t just a private investment. It’s also a public good. This nation can’t be competitive globally, nor can we have a vibrant and responsible democracy, without a large number of well-educated people.”

²³Children of Zion, celebrate!

Be glad in your God.

He’s giving you a teacher

to train you how to live right—

Teaching, like rain out of heaven, showers of words

to refresh and nourish your soul, just as he used to do.  ~ Micah

Corporate Profits Just Hit An All-Time High, Wages Just Hit An All-Time Low

That is the statement of Henry Blodget; what a great name, what a revealing headline.

Here is his first chart on Corporate profits

Next his chart on Americans working

Finally, his chart on wages as a percent of economy

As he states it, “In short, our current system and philosophy is creating a country with a few million overlords and 300+ million serfs.


These are the issues of the election.

Socialist Countries, Democratic Countries: Is it even an important distinction?

In my estimation we toss the terms socialist and democratic as terms to define countries and economies and political methods around far too freely and inconsistently. Russia was called the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic but in essence it was a communistic country ideologically. Yet there has never really been a totally communistic country, “from each according to their means to each according to their needs.” Nazi Germany may have claimed to be socialist, but it was really a fascist countries along with others; dictatorships. The U.S.A. has had a mixed economy for all readers entire lives despite rhetoric about being a free enterprise country. The 1900s certainly shows us what a mess that can be as Adam Smith knew controls were needed in such a system. And many question if we can really claim to be a democracy at this point in time with the rich having undue control over the government and the economy. We may promote democracy in the world but we also have shown that we are perfectly happy to work with and support any time of regime if it works to our own benefit.

I think that most political scientists and most economists would conclude that almost all countries today have mixed economies and mixed politics. That is certainly true of our own country. We should be over using these terms in a pejorative manner and try to use more useful and helpful jargon.

The Huffington Post had a blog in June of last year that described the 10 countries with the best Work-Life balance. The article was based on information done by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). They examined the overall well being of a country including things such as housing and income and especially the work-life balance in a country. They used three basic criteria: 1) amount of time spent on personal activities; 2) the employment of rate of women with children between 6 & 14 years of age; and 3) the number of employees working over 50 hours per week. It was a limited study of 34 countries.

Following is their list of the 10 best work-life balance countries:

10. France

9. Portugal

8. Germany

7. Sweden

6. Switzerland

5. Belgium

4. Finland

3. Netherlands

2. Norway

1. Denmark                       

Following is a list of the OECD members and partners

Current membership

Australia Austria Belgium Canada Chile Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland

France Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Israel Italy Japan

Korea Luxembourg Mexico Netherlands New Zealand Norway Poland Portugal Slovak Republic

Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey United Kingdom United States

On average persons in OECD countries work 1739 hours, or 217 days a year and spends 64% of their day on leisure and personal activities.

This really leaves me with more questions than answers but I find it interesting and though I’d pass it along. The OECD website can be found at http://www.oecd.org/home/0,2987,en_2649_201185_1_1_1_1_1,00.html

The Socialist Pledge of Allegiance

I like the pledge of Allegiance. When I say it it makes me feel patriotic as does singing the national anthem. I get annoyed when folk talk during either, even new buddy Michael Moore  in his youth refusing to say it or stand when he was fed up with things going on in the country.

And yet there is always controversy about everything. Though the “under God” piece is relatively new, added in 1954 (that’s new in my reference frames), atheists seem to get all hot and bothered about it along with those who often confuse religion and patriotism.

The original Pledge of Allegiance was written by Francis Bellamy in 1892; it read then, "I pledge allegiance to my flag and the republic for which it stands: one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all."

Early critics thought it was not clear enough so the added the word “to” to it, I pledge allegiance to my flag and to the republic for which it stands: one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all."

That worked from 1892 to 1923, then they worried that it could apply to Lower Slabovia as well as the U.S.A. so the added "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands; one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all."

The pledge became official when approved by the congress in the year of my birth, 1942.

Then, as said, before came the 1954 addition of the deity being acknowledged.

There are the Jehovah Witnesses who complain we shouldn’t make any such vows except to God. But they have little political clout.

But now I’m wondering if there might be new critics coming on the scene. I’m thinking that Tea Party, the FOX news commentators (Limbaugh, Beck, Coulter and others) might leap to the fore on historical grounds. I doubt that they will condemn its creator, Francis Bellamy, for being a Baptist Preacher, but here is what may get their dander up, Bellamy was a Christian Socialist; and cousin of the social utopian writer Edward Bellamy.

So, the Pledge of Allegiance might prove too scandalous for such folk.

As Emily Latila on Saturday Night Live used to say, “There’s always somethin’.” I identify with her deafness and the ability to say, “Never mind.” But really isn’t there too much violins on TV, and flea or presidential erections, and busting school children? And could it just drum up business for the folk who make pledge cleaner? Life is so complicated.

Nuns on the Bus

One of the delightful things I learned from Michael Moore is how many Roman Catholic Bishops have reacted to the proposed Ryan budget and have condemned him for it while Ryan claimed it was based on his religious background (Roman Catholic) and teachings. In essence they said, “Bull.”

Better yet there is a group of Nuns that are trekking across the country on a bus objecting to the Ryan budget on religious grounds. If you want to follow them go to this piece from Bill Moyer’s Blog.

http://billmoyers.com/2012/06/20/follow-the-nuns-on-the-bus/

It is interactive and you can see what they are saying in various places.

The site says keep checking  billmoyers.com/nuns    for updates.

Laughter

I just read 25 articles on laughter on the Psychology today blog and never laughed once. I was tempted when I learned that Charlie Sheen tried to do a standup comedy routine and was booed off the stage; but that’s a bit sick. Three of the articles gave Chris Rock PhD levels of comedy along with Seinfeld, neither of which seem very funny to me. I read “funny” complaint letters to see if they were effective; nope, no laughter from me, not even a smile.

Here comes some jokes:

Humor as Medicine: 20 Quotations about Health

Humorous thoughts on living with illness.

Published on September 21, 2011 by Toni Bernhard, J.D. in Turning Straw Into Gold

I've been collecting humorous quotations about health for a while. Now that I have 20, I thought I'd share. I hope a good number of these tickle your funny bone.

The Search for Perfect Health

"Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint." —Mark Twain

"Older people shouldn't eat health food. They need all the preservatives they can get." —Robert Orben

"Eating words has never given me indigestion." —Winston Churchill

"Food is an important part of a balanced diet." —Fran Lebowitz

"Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing." —Redd Foxx

Not to Worry

"It's no longer a question of staying healthy.  It's a question of finding a sickness you like." —Jackie Mason


"Quit worrying about your health. It'll go away." —Robert Orben

"To cease smoking is the easiest thing I ever did. I ought to know because I've done it a thousand times." —Mark Twain

"Reality is the leading cause of stress among those in touch with it." —Lily Tomlin

"I've always enjoyed poor health." —Taylor Caldwell

The Medical Profession

"I am dying with the help of too many physicians." —Alexander the Great

"Isn't it a bit unnerving that doctors call what they do practice?" —George Carlin

"Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died." —Erma Bombeck

"A hospital is no place to be sick." —Samuel Goldwyn

Longevity

"If I knew I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself." —Mickey Mantle

"You can live to be a hundred if you give up all the things that make you want to live to be a hundred." —Woody Allen

"My doctor recently told me that jogging could add years to my life. I think he was right. I feel ten years older already." —Milton Berle

"You have to stay in shape. My grandmother started walking five miles a day when she was 60. She's 97 today and we don't know where the hell she is." —Ellen DeGeneres

And Finally...

"Never under any circumstances take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night." —Dave Barry

"If your doctor's last name is Google, It's time to get a second opinion." —your authoress

Did you laugh at any of these? Many made me smile but I didn’t laugh. I suspect however, that if they were told to me, I would be laughing at most of them. And if Charlie Sheen told them I might laugh at him as he fell on his ass.

I find I can make Doreen (wife) laugh at any time; all I have to do is hurt myself and she will have hysterically. She is a sick woman.

I find that when some people realize I am a minister they will tell racist, sexist, dirty jokes and watch for my response. Why is that? Are they looking for validation? One fella apologized for offensive language while we were golfing and I told him, “I didn’t give a shit.” And he was offended. He reminded me of the drunken patron of a bar I was sitting with in a tavern while I was in college and when he found out I was intending to go into the ministry he was highly offended that I was drinking beer with him and threatened to throw me through a plate glass window. Odd.

Writing about humor is rather boring. I guess I’ll just go into the house, trip over my feet in front of Doreen and listen to her laugh.

The Obscene Republican Proposed Budget

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan released his proposed budget for 2013. It is a budget the clearly protects multimillionaires like himself but doesn’t look so good for the rest of us.

Here are some key points. Massive cuts to food stamps, student loans, Medicaid and Social Security. It would also erase Medicare as we know it changing it into a voucher program, which is great for profit based health insurance companies but would leave millions of seniors to deal with these companies on their own.

Now for the tax breaks; guess who gets them? The top 1% wins again with the top income tax rate reduced from 35% to 25%. This would amount to a 3 trillion tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans. Of course the tax breaks are made possible by the above mentioned reduction of safety net programs.

Ryan says “It’s up to the people to demand…a choice between two futures. The question is which future will you choose? Good question shall we continue the supply side economics and reduced oversight of corporate greed introduced by Reagan and continues to destroy the middle class and bring grief to the poor or we can go with Paul Ryan and delude ourselves that wealth will “trickle down” but in actuallity where the rich get all the goodies.

We need a new New Deal based upon demand-side Keynesian economics and compassion for the poor and opportunities for the middle class to be able to chase the American Dream again.

Obscenity, aside from the sexual lewd stuff is defined as “offensive or disgusting by accepted standards of morality and decency; offensive to moral principles; repugnant.

Paul Ryan’s proposed budget meets all those criteria to a T. It is obscene and should be called such.