P.J. Sullivan's Blog, page 2
December 14, 2019
Let’s Legalize Sleep!
America needs a sleeper’s bill of rights, legal recognition of sleep as a fundamental human right. Where I live it is illegal for homeless people to sleep within the city limits. Being homeless is not in itself a crime, but once the homeless succumb to sleep they become criminals, subject to rude awakenings or worse. Sometimes even jail time. There are no designated places where they can sleep legally, once the emergency shelters are filled. And emergency shelters are neither safe nor conducive to sleep. If a Third World city like Calcutta can allow unmolested sleeping, why can’t we?
Meanwhile, up the coast at Pelican Bay State Prison, inmates have to put up with disruptive cell checks throughout the night. And we wonder why they are hard to manage! Hospitals should be quiet, restful places, but rarely are. As Herbert Shelton put it, tranquillizers substitute for peace and quiet in hospitals. Mental hospitals are overcrowded and noisy, and everyone is rousted out of bed at 6 AM.
Not only sleep, but quality sleep is a basic human right. Which brings us to noise abatement laws. We need them, and strict enforcement. Motorists with defective or missing mufflers should be fined. So should anyone whose music disturbs sleepers. Noisy animals should be illegal, whether they be dogs, cats, roosters, or peacocks. Yes, even your precious Bowser! Because the rights of humans to sleep should have priority over the rights of animals to pollute. Dogs disturb the sleep quality of tens of millions of people every night, and get away with it because politicians are afraid of the dog lobby. Churches and mosques should not be allowed to summon whole neighborhoods to prayer at 6 AM by ringing bells or otherwise disturbing the peace. Noise abatement is only common courtesy, after all, consideration for the rights and feelings of others. But the law should be behind it.
Schools should not schedule classes earlier than 9 AM. We are a sleep-deprived nation, and what a difference that makes! In needless accidents, in violence and road rage. Perhaps even in random shootings. In chronic illnesses of all kinds, including Alzheimer’s. Sleep deprivation can cause hallucinations, manias, and psychoses. Calling for universal health care seems hypocritical while we are denying people the basic necessities of life and health. According to studies at Harvard Medical School, sleeping fewer than five hours per night increases the risk of death from all causes by 15%. Sleep deprivation is a form of torture, and won’t make America great again.
Let’s legalize sleep! Let’s make it a right and a national priority.
Meanwhile, up the coast at Pelican Bay State Prison, inmates have to put up with disruptive cell checks throughout the night. And we wonder why they are hard to manage! Hospitals should be quiet, restful places, but rarely are. As Herbert Shelton put it, tranquillizers substitute for peace and quiet in hospitals. Mental hospitals are overcrowded and noisy, and everyone is rousted out of bed at 6 AM.
Not only sleep, but quality sleep is a basic human right. Which brings us to noise abatement laws. We need them, and strict enforcement. Motorists with defective or missing mufflers should be fined. So should anyone whose music disturbs sleepers. Noisy animals should be illegal, whether they be dogs, cats, roosters, or peacocks. Yes, even your precious Bowser! Because the rights of humans to sleep should have priority over the rights of animals to pollute. Dogs disturb the sleep quality of tens of millions of people every night, and get away with it because politicians are afraid of the dog lobby. Churches and mosques should not be allowed to summon whole neighborhoods to prayer at 6 AM by ringing bells or otherwise disturbing the peace. Noise abatement is only common courtesy, after all, consideration for the rights and feelings of others. But the law should be behind it.
Schools should not schedule classes earlier than 9 AM. We are a sleep-deprived nation, and what a difference that makes! In needless accidents, in violence and road rage. Perhaps even in random shootings. In chronic illnesses of all kinds, including Alzheimer’s. Sleep deprivation can cause hallucinations, manias, and psychoses. Calling for universal health care seems hypocritical while we are denying people the basic necessities of life and health. According to studies at Harvard Medical School, sleeping fewer than five hours per night increases the risk of death from all causes by 15%. Sleep deprivation is a form of torture, and won’t make America great again.
Let’s legalize sleep! Let’s make it a right and a national priority.
November 27, 2019
$ea$on'$ Greeding$
Looks like the holidays are here again. The season to shop, pig out, get drunk, cut down trees, and kill turkeys. A time to give presents to people who don’t need them. To commemorate the birth of a savior who was born in March or April, “when shepherds watched their flocks by night.” A savior that no one takes seriously the rest of the year. But it’s good for bu$ine$$, they say. And some of the music is nice, and the colored lights.
Christmas is for people with grandchildren, of course. Kids are necessary for full effect; who else would believe the lies about Santa Claus? The whole Santa scam doesn’t work without the innocent gullibility of the little ones. But where can one rent a grandchild by the day? I doubt I could afford one for more than a day. Is that what the Xmas bonus is for? I Googled “grandkids for rent” but no luck. Should I try eBay?
Of course the real reason we have Christmas in December is the wretched weather this time of year. We need a break from the dreariness of the cold and gloom. We got the idea for Christmas from the pagans who were having fun celebrating the winter solstice. And why not? Christmas must seem pointless In Australia.
So it looks like another bleak Christmas here. I doubt I’ll even put up my Christmas stocking. Why bother? And as for a Happy New Year, all bets are off here in Trumpistan!
Happy solstice everyone! Can spring be far behind?
P.S. Please be advised that I don’t
need any more neckties.
Christmas is for people with grandchildren, of course. Kids are necessary for full effect; who else would believe the lies about Santa Claus? The whole Santa scam doesn’t work without the innocent gullibility of the little ones. But where can one rent a grandchild by the day? I doubt I could afford one for more than a day. Is that what the Xmas bonus is for? I Googled “grandkids for rent” but no luck. Should I try eBay?
Of course the real reason we have Christmas in December is the wretched weather this time of year. We need a break from the dreariness of the cold and gloom. We got the idea for Christmas from the pagans who were having fun celebrating the winter solstice. And why not? Christmas must seem pointless In Australia.
So it looks like another bleak Christmas here. I doubt I’ll even put up my Christmas stocking. Why bother? And as for a Happy New Year, all bets are off here in Trumpistan!
Happy solstice everyone! Can spring be far behind?
P.S. Please be advised that I don’t
need any more neckties.
October 7, 2019
HEALTH CARE RECONSIDERED
The controversy over health care in America misses an important point, that the human body is a self-healing organism. Americans think that doctors and medicines are the only options for the sick. They are not. There will always be a role for doctors, but the majority of illnesses are preventable and curable without them, simply by removing causes. Medicines rarely remove causes–they suppress symptoms, thus converting acute illnesses into chronic illnesses.
In his book, “Rubies in the Sand,” Herbert M. Shelton asks, how did prehistoric peoples fare before doctors and medicines became available? How did they care for their sick? He concludes that they did very well, until their “fatal breach with nature.” Because nature heals. All it asks is non-interference in its processes. Every cell in the body is endowed with an instinct for self-preservation. Harness that instinct and remarkable things can happen.
People run to doctors at the first sign of a symptom; doctors then suppress that symptom with powerful drugs. Few people—and few doctors—understand the meaning of symptoms, that symptoms are part of the healing process. To suppress symptoms is to suppress healing. (Homeopathic medicines “work” by being too weak to suppress the body’s efforts to heal itself.)
The current obesity crisis is an obvious example. Do doctors have the power to cure obesity? Is gastric bypass surgery the answer? Too many desperate people believe it is. Have they never heard of fasting? Fasting is easier than dieting for anyone with pounds to spare, and is guaranteed to take off pounds, in all the right places, without doctors or medicines, without side effects. Fasting is a perfectly natural process that does not require a hospital setting. It costs nothing and can be done anywhere. Why then are so many obese people unwilling to try it? Instead, they flee to medical gurus, seeking drastic cures. Why is major surgery preferable to fasting? Why do so few Americans realize how easy it is to fast? The difference between fasting and starving? Why are so many so eager to surrender their autonomies to doctors?
Doctors admit that they can’t cure the common cold, but millions of cold sufferers recover anyway. Doctors can’t cure Ebola, but patients with healthy immune systems have survived it.
Doctors claim to be making progress against chronic diseases, but a careful study of the statistics calls that claim into question. All the money Americans have thrown at “health care” has not made us healthy. If vaccines help to save lives, improvements in public sanitation could save more, without the side effects down the road. Sound nutrition could save countless lives, of both starving and obese people. Environmental integrity and equality of economic opportunity could save many more lives.
Medicines are not the answer; indeed, they all have side effects, some of which can be deadly. It is claimed that thousands of people die from lack of health insurance in America, but an estimated 225,000 Americans die each year from medical malpractice and from illnesses attributable to hospital stays.
The cost of “health care” is soaring. People and governments could save billions of dollars by adopting and promoting drugless natural healing, as espoused by Herbert M. Shelton, instead of medical symptom suppression. But that would require confronting the all-powerful medical and pharmaceutical lobbies. As John H. Tobe said, “Disease is the biggest money maker in our economy.”
“Medicine is not a science,” said Dr. Emmet Densmore, “it is empiricism founded on a network of blunders.” In the United States, medicine is also a for-profit business answerable to the insurance industry.
As for me, I am covered by Medicare, but hardly ever have occasion to use it. After decades of medical blundering, even abuse, I now rely on nature for my health care. It gives me more control over my life. Why not give nature a chance? Don’t know how? Read Shelton.
In his book, “Rubies in the Sand,” Herbert M. Shelton asks, how did prehistoric peoples fare before doctors and medicines became available? How did they care for their sick? He concludes that they did very well, until their “fatal breach with nature.” Because nature heals. All it asks is non-interference in its processes. Every cell in the body is endowed with an instinct for self-preservation. Harness that instinct and remarkable things can happen.
People run to doctors at the first sign of a symptom; doctors then suppress that symptom with powerful drugs. Few people—and few doctors—understand the meaning of symptoms, that symptoms are part of the healing process. To suppress symptoms is to suppress healing. (Homeopathic medicines “work” by being too weak to suppress the body’s efforts to heal itself.)
The current obesity crisis is an obvious example. Do doctors have the power to cure obesity? Is gastric bypass surgery the answer? Too many desperate people believe it is. Have they never heard of fasting? Fasting is easier than dieting for anyone with pounds to spare, and is guaranteed to take off pounds, in all the right places, without doctors or medicines, without side effects. Fasting is a perfectly natural process that does not require a hospital setting. It costs nothing and can be done anywhere. Why then are so many obese people unwilling to try it? Instead, they flee to medical gurus, seeking drastic cures. Why is major surgery preferable to fasting? Why do so few Americans realize how easy it is to fast? The difference between fasting and starving? Why are so many so eager to surrender their autonomies to doctors?
Doctors admit that they can’t cure the common cold, but millions of cold sufferers recover anyway. Doctors can’t cure Ebola, but patients with healthy immune systems have survived it.
Doctors claim to be making progress against chronic diseases, but a careful study of the statistics calls that claim into question. All the money Americans have thrown at “health care” has not made us healthy. If vaccines help to save lives, improvements in public sanitation could save more, without the side effects down the road. Sound nutrition could save countless lives, of both starving and obese people. Environmental integrity and equality of economic opportunity could save many more lives.
Medicines are not the answer; indeed, they all have side effects, some of which can be deadly. It is claimed that thousands of people die from lack of health insurance in America, but an estimated 225,000 Americans die each year from medical malpractice and from illnesses attributable to hospital stays.
The cost of “health care” is soaring. People and governments could save billions of dollars by adopting and promoting drugless natural healing, as espoused by Herbert M. Shelton, instead of medical symptom suppression. But that would require confronting the all-powerful medical and pharmaceutical lobbies. As John H. Tobe said, “Disease is the biggest money maker in our economy.”
“Medicine is not a science,” said Dr. Emmet Densmore, “it is empiricism founded on a network of blunders.” In the United States, medicine is also a for-profit business answerable to the insurance industry.
As for me, I am covered by Medicare, but hardly ever have occasion to use it. After decades of medical blundering, even abuse, I now rely on nature for my health care. It gives me more control over my life. Why not give nature a chance? Don’t know how? Read Shelton.
June 22, 2019
On Predators and Predation
Americans have a powerful affinity for predators. Our national symbol, the American eagle, is a flesh-eating raptor, the top predator of the skies. The pets we dote on, cats and dogs, are carnivores. We kill for them and invite them into our homes, even into our beds. When Cecil the lion was killed in Zimbabwe, we went into hysterics of outrage. On Facebook, Cecil was described as a “noble animal.” What is noble about a four-legged killing machine? Tigers get the same kind of devoted sympathy. Even sharks have loyal fans. There has been much protest about the “cruelty” of keeping killer whales in captivity in marine theme parks. Pity the poor, mistreated flesh eaters! T. Rex is everybody’s favorite dinosaur, because of its ferocity. Never mind that the biggest dinosaurs were vegetarians.
Granted that carnivores play an important role in ecological balance. Granted that some of them (wolves and coyotes) are regarded as pests if they impact someone’s bottom line. But I’m talking about emotional attachments here.
And how do we treat animals that are not predators? We shoot them for sport or eat them for breakfast. We murder them by the billions, under conditions of horrible brutality, in slaughter houses across the land. With impunity; no one cares.
This kind of affinity for carnivores would be understandable if we were carnivores ourselves, but a study of the human digestive system reveals fundamental differences from those of carnivores and omnivores. Whether or not we eat meat, our bodies are still those of frugivores (fruit-eaters). As Herbert M. Shelton said, “Although man has included meat in his diet for thousands of years, his anatomy and physiology, and the chemistry of his digestive juices, are still unmistakably those of a frugivorous animal.”
A frugivorous animal that identifies with and sympathizes with carnivores! Why? Why don’t we identify with our own kind? Why don’t we behave like frugivores? Why do we kill for carnivores? Why do we spend more money on dog food than on cancer research? Does our affinity for predators explain our propensity for predation? For violence?
Anthropologist Raymond Dart said that our ancestors were killer apes; I disagree. No doubt they sometimes had to kill for food, out of necessity, because famines were regular features of their lives. But that did not change their natures.
Our closest relatives in the animal kingdom are fruit-eating apes, but they are not ferocious enough for us. We want to be at the top of the food chain. And so we are. We have succeeded in putting ourselves at the top of the food chain—the most dangerous predator on the planet. At the Bronx Zoo in New York there is a sign that says, "Behind this curtain is the most dangerous animal in the world." Pull the cord and the curtain opens, revealing a mirror!
Granted that carnivores play an important role in ecological balance. Granted that some of them (wolves and coyotes) are regarded as pests if they impact someone’s bottom line. But I’m talking about emotional attachments here.
And how do we treat animals that are not predators? We shoot them for sport or eat them for breakfast. We murder them by the billions, under conditions of horrible brutality, in slaughter houses across the land. With impunity; no one cares.
This kind of affinity for carnivores would be understandable if we were carnivores ourselves, but a study of the human digestive system reveals fundamental differences from those of carnivores and omnivores. Whether or not we eat meat, our bodies are still those of frugivores (fruit-eaters). As Herbert M. Shelton said, “Although man has included meat in his diet for thousands of years, his anatomy and physiology, and the chemistry of his digestive juices, are still unmistakably those of a frugivorous animal.”
A frugivorous animal that identifies with and sympathizes with carnivores! Why? Why don’t we identify with our own kind? Why don’t we behave like frugivores? Why do we kill for carnivores? Why do we spend more money on dog food than on cancer research? Does our affinity for predators explain our propensity for predation? For violence?
Anthropologist Raymond Dart said that our ancestors were killer apes; I disagree. No doubt they sometimes had to kill for food, out of necessity, because famines were regular features of their lives. But that did not change their natures.
Our closest relatives in the animal kingdom are fruit-eating apes, but they are not ferocious enough for us. We want to be at the top of the food chain. And so we are. We have succeeded in putting ourselves at the top of the food chain—the most dangerous predator on the planet. At the Bronx Zoo in New York there is a sign that says, "Behind this curtain is the most dangerous animal in the world." Pull the cord and the curtain opens, revealing a mirror!
May 13, 2019
Gone to the Dogs
Someone in my county shot two pit bulls and hanged their corpses from a tree next to a highway. He or she added a sign promising death to all stray dogs. The county went into shock. This was the lead story on the local news, which called it “felony animal cruelty.” Law enforcement sought the perp, who faced prison time.
Why was this an issue, in a society where shooting a deer is perfectly legal? Nobody cares about deer, which are said to be overpopulated and in need of culling. If shooting a dog is animal cruelty, why is it not cruel to shoot a deer? Billions of harmless animals are murdered each year in slaughter houses. Nobody cares about them, except for a few ethical vegetarians. Why the exalted legal status of dogs? What makes the life of a dog sacred, worth more than the lives of the animals people eat for breakfast? Of course it is people who have made this judgment, not Nature. People decided that dogs are sacred, just as Hindus in India decided that cows are sacred. Dogs are called “companion” animals, as if to suggest that they are almost people. They are NOT people!
This is not a question of property rights. The perp threatened only stray dogs, not privately-owned dogs.
I maintain that the perp in this case did a service for the community. Dogs also are overpopulated and in need of culling. They have been causing problems, killing deer and livestock. Why don’t we have licensed animal control officers keeping stray dogs in check? Because people have decided that dogs are exempt from the balance of Nature. By adopting dogs and killing for them we have eliminated natural checks on their numbers.
How did a predatory beast that lives by killing come to be a love object to so many Americans? Why do people indifferent to the suffering of other animals go all soft and mushy over the perceived suffering of dogs? Dogs attack tens of thousands of people each year, most of them little children. Dogs kill and maim children. What is lovable about that? If any other animal did half of what dogs do it would be declared a public menace, to be shot on sight. But Americans have a huge blind spot about dogs. A magazine article asks, “Do Dogs Go to Heaven?” Americans are head-over-heels in love with dogs, who can do no wrong. Why? What rationale can explain this bizarre devotion to close cousins of the Big Bad Wolf? In the 16th century, Hernan Cortes gave a gift of a dog to a Mexican chieftain, who immediately had it killed, thinking it was a rat.
But dogs are cute, people insist. Puppies are “adorable.” The cult of dogs and puppies by soft-headed sentimentalists causes a staggering amount of suffering to other animals, and to human beings. Thousands of Third World children die every day of hunger because they are outbid in the food markets by the big bucks of the dog food industry. Children go blind from vitamin deficiencies in countries that export tons of nutritious foods to the dog food industry. American dogs grow fat while Third World children starve. Is this not obscene? I have not even mentioned the other problems caused by dogs: the noise and other pollution, the public expense, the diseases they spread. I knew a child who was killed by a dog. Rest In Peace Gabrielle.
What will it take to wake up Americans to the truth about dogs?
Why was this an issue, in a society where shooting a deer is perfectly legal? Nobody cares about deer, which are said to be overpopulated and in need of culling. If shooting a dog is animal cruelty, why is it not cruel to shoot a deer? Billions of harmless animals are murdered each year in slaughter houses. Nobody cares about them, except for a few ethical vegetarians. Why the exalted legal status of dogs? What makes the life of a dog sacred, worth more than the lives of the animals people eat for breakfast? Of course it is people who have made this judgment, not Nature. People decided that dogs are sacred, just as Hindus in India decided that cows are sacred. Dogs are called “companion” animals, as if to suggest that they are almost people. They are NOT people!
This is not a question of property rights. The perp threatened only stray dogs, not privately-owned dogs.
I maintain that the perp in this case did a service for the community. Dogs also are overpopulated and in need of culling. They have been causing problems, killing deer and livestock. Why don’t we have licensed animal control officers keeping stray dogs in check? Because people have decided that dogs are exempt from the balance of Nature. By adopting dogs and killing for them we have eliminated natural checks on their numbers.
How did a predatory beast that lives by killing come to be a love object to so many Americans? Why do people indifferent to the suffering of other animals go all soft and mushy over the perceived suffering of dogs? Dogs attack tens of thousands of people each year, most of them little children. Dogs kill and maim children. What is lovable about that? If any other animal did half of what dogs do it would be declared a public menace, to be shot on sight. But Americans have a huge blind spot about dogs. A magazine article asks, “Do Dogs Go to Heaven?” Americans are head-over-heels in love with dogs, who can do no wrong. Why? What rationale can explain this bizarre devotion to close cousins of the Big Bad Wolf? In the 16th century, Hernan Cortes gave a gift of a dog to a Mexican chieftain, who immediately had it killed, thinking it was a rat.
But dogs are cute, people insist. Puppies are “adorable.” The cult of dogs and puppies by soft-headed sentimentalists causes a staggering amount of suffering to other animals, and to human beings. Thousands of Third World children die every day of hunger because they are outbid in the food markets by the big bucks of the dog food industry. Children go blind from vitamin deficiencies in countries that export tons of nutritious foods to the dog food industry. American dogs grow fat while Third World children starve. Is this not obscene? I have not even mentioned the other problems caused by dogs: the noise and other pollution, the public expense, the diseases they spread. I knew a child who was killed by a dog. Rest In Peace Gabrielle.
What will it take to wake up Americans to the truth about dogs?
March 17, 2019
Election Update
Well it’s official. I will not be running for president in 2020. If nominated, I will not serve. I want to spend more time with my family. (Well, I would if I had a family.) I probably wouldn’t qualify for president anyway, because I don’t have a dog. Yeah, I know, Chester A. Arthur didn’t have a dog, but I’m not Chester A. Arthur. And Donald J. Trump doesn’t have a dog either, but he’s not a real president, is he?
There’s the “S” word to consider. I’ve never been a card-carrying Socialist, but I will admit to reviewing books by known and suspected Socialists, even to giving them multiple stars. So I’m guilty; Fox News would smear my name all over the place. I have no other skeletons in my closet—none that you need to know about. But the pundits would find some.
Haven’t heard from Wall Street, Big Pharma, or the Koch Brothers so financing my campaign would be a challenge. I’d have to start a Go-Fund-Me account to keep the lights on.
I wouldn’t want the Russians reading my e-mails, would you? Most of all, I don’t want to have to get a dog. And I’m not sure I’d want to be a household word, at least not in Republican households. And I’d have to visit cemeteries and make speeches and play golf. And wear neckties and pretend to be a Christian. And shake the hands of cold-blooded killers. Hell, I’d have to BECOME a cold-blooded killer! My mother did not raise me to be commander-in-chief of the biggest military machine in history.
So, no thanks! All things considered, I will sit out the election at home, resting on my laurels. Well, I would if I had any laurels. My apologies to my supporters—both of them.
There’s the “S” word to consider. I’ve never been a card-carrying Socialist, but I will admit to reviewing books by known and suspected Socialists, even to giving them multiple stars. So I’m guilty; Fox News would smear my name all over the place. I have no other skeletons in my closet—none that you need to know about. But the pundits would find some.
Haven’t heard from Wall Street, Big Pharma, or the Koch Brothers so financing my campaign would be a challenge. I’d have to start a Go-Fund-Me account to keep the lights on.
I wouldn’t want the Russians reading my e-mails, would you? Most of all, I don’t want to have to get a dog. And I’m not sure I’d want to be a household word, at least not in Republican households. And I’d have to visit cemeteries and make speeches and play golf. And wear neckties and pretend to be a Christian. And shake the hands of cold-blooded killers. Hell, I’d have to BECOME a cold-blooded killer! My mother did not raise me to be commander-in-chief of the biggest military machine in history.
So, no thanks! All things considered, I will sit out the election at home, resting on my laurels. Well, I would if I had any laurels. My apologies to my supporters—both of them.
November 2, 2018
What the Media Are Not Telling Us
Why do so many people vote against their own interests? Because they are misinformed. Why are they misinformed? Because they get their news—and their views—from the media:
1- CLIMATE CHANGE. Hurricanes, wildfires, floods, droughts, heat waves are amply covered in the media, but as natural disasters, usually with no mention of the human activities that magnify them. The links between climate change and the wars in Syria and elsewhere are not mentioned. The impending extinction of the human species is not considered newsworthy.
2- INEQUALITY. The growing gap between the rich and the poor is rarely mentioned in the media, while Trump’s lopsided tax cuts are normalized.
3- U.S. IMPERIALISM. Rarely mentioned as such in the media. U.S. military interventions around the world are presented as humanitarian missions, police actions, treaty obligations, or restorations of “democracy.” Americans continue to insist that their country is not an empire, though it exceeds in power and scope all the empires of history. Meanwhile, the media quote without comment Trump’s complaints that the rest of the world is ripping off the U.S.
4- ELECTION FRAUD. How many Americans know that provisional ballots are not counted? How many understand that the 2016 election was stolen? How many understand how it was stolen?
5- IMMIGRATION. The refugee caravans are amply covered in the media, but without mention of U.S. complicity in the conditions that cause them. Their connection to climate change also is unspoken. Refugees are called migrants or even invaders rather than legitimate refugees from intolerable violence and corruption.
6- VACCINES. The media exhort people to get their shots, but rarely mention the risks involved. This is not entirely a fault of the media, as most adverse reactions to vaccines are not reported to authorities. Most are never even linked to vaccines.
7- BERNIE SANDERS. The most popular candidate in the 2016 presidential election campaign was—and still is—ignored by the media.
8- LATIN AMERICA. The misery in Venezuela is blamed on socialism, without mention of U.S. meddling and sanctions. In Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega is blamed for resisting coup attempts against his democratically-elected government. U.S. and IMF involvements in Latin America are rarely mentioned. Socialism is demonized everywhere.
9- OVERPOPULATION. Everywhere there are too many people, but you’d never know it from the media. Only an occasional report on advances in fertility treatments. The BBC recently did a program about the "problem" of human infertility.
What a different world it would be if people got the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth from the media! But the corporate media dispense propaganda rather than truth.
1- CLIMATE CHANGE. Hurricanes, wildfires, floods, droughts, heat waves are amply covered in the media, but as natural disasters, usually with no mention of the human activities that magnify them. The links between climate change and the wars in Syria and elsewhere are not mentioned. The impending extinction of the human species is not considered newsworthy.
2- INEQUALITY. The growing gap between the rich and the poor is rarely mentioned in the media, while Trump’s lopsided tax cuts are normalized.
3- U.S. IMPERIALISM. Rarely mentioned as such in the media. U.S. military interventions around the world are presented as humanitarian missions, police actions, treaty obligations, or restorations of “democracy.” Americans continue to insist that their country is not an empire, though it exceeds in power and scope all the empires of history. Meanwhile, the media quote without comment Trump’s complaints that the rest of the world is ripping off the U.S.
4- ELECTION FRAUD. How many Americans know that provisional ballots are not counted? How many understand that the 2016 election was stolen? How many understand how it was stolen?
5- IMMIGRATION. The refugee caravans are amply covered in the media, but without mention of U.S. complicity in the conditions that cause them. Their connection to climate change also is unspoken. Refugees are called migrants or even invaders rather than legitimate refugees from intolerable violence and corruption.
6- VACCINES. The media exhort people to get their shots, but rarely mention the risks involved. This is not entirely a fault of the media, as most adverse reactions to vaccines are not reported to authorities. Most are never even linked to vaccines.
7- BERNIE SANDERS. The most popular candidate in the 2016 presidential election campaign was—and still is—ignored by the media.
8- LATIN AMERICA. The misery in Venezuela is blamed on socialism, without mention of U.S. meddling and sanctions. In Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega is blamed for resisting coup attempts against his democratically-elected government. U.S. and IMF involvements in Latin America are rarely mentioned. Socialism is demonized everywhere.
9- OVERPOPULATION. Everywhere there are too many people, but you’d never know it from the media. Only an occasional report on advances in fertility treatments. The BBC recently did a program about the "problem" of human infertility.
What a different world it would be if people got the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth from the media! But the corporate media dispense propaganda rather than truth.
September 21, 2018
Book Update
In 2010 I published a book of letters sent to a soldier from Missouri during the American Civil War. Letters written in 1862 and 1863. When I updated that book in 2012, there were still some unresolved issues. Since then, one of those issues has been resolved.
We know from the letters that Millie Barton had a baby in October 1862 and named her Annie Barton. We know that her husband refused to have anything to do with the baby, and objected to her being named a Barton. He wanted the baby put “out of the way.” He asked his mother to adopt the baby. I speculated that Millie must have had some kind of illicit affair.
We know now that nine months before the baby was born Millie’s village was occupied by a Confederate army under Alvin Cobb. This according to a letter I found in the files of the provost marshal. The Bartons were known to be Union sympathizers, so it is probable that the baby was a product of rape by a Confederate soldier. This explains the strange reaction of Millie’s husband.
So Millie renamed her baby Annie Price. Why Price? There was no one in the area by that name, according to the 1860 census. The rapist—or more likely the rapists—did not leave their calling cards, so Millie named her baby after the only Confederate soldier whose name she knew: General Sterling Price, who was terrorizing Missouri in those days.
Before the baby was one year old Millie’s husband was dead, so Millie was free to cover up the scandal by renaming her child Annie Barton and bringing her up as a child from a legitimate family. The child never knew the circumstances of her birth.
And now, dear readers, you are up to date on “Bushwhackers and Broken Hearts.”
We know from the letters that Millie Barton had a baby in October 1862 and named her Annie Barton. We know that her husband refused to have anything to do with the baby, and objected to her being named a Barton. He wanted the baby put “out of the way.” He asked his mother to adopt the baby. I speculated that Millie must have had some kind of illicit affair.
We know now that nine months before the baby was born Millie’s village was occupied by a Confederate army under Alvin Cobb. This according to a letter I found in the files of the provost marshal. The Bartons were known to be Union sympathizers, so it is probable that the baby was a product of rape by a Confederate soldier. This explains the strange reaction of Millie’s husband.
So Millie renamed her baby Annie Price. Why Price? There was no one in the area by that name, according to the 1860 census. The rapist—or more likely the rapists—did not leave their calling cards, so Millie named her baby after the only Confederate soldier whose name she knew: General Sterling Price, who was terrorizing Missouri in those days.
Before the baby was one year old Millie’s husband was dead, so Millie was free to cover up the scandal by renaming her child Annie Barton and bringing her up as a child from a legitimate family. The child never knew the circumstances of her birth.
And now, dear readers, you are up to date on “Bushwhackers and Broken Hearts.”
March 6, 2018
Reflections on Resident Trump
Donald Trump has been president for more than a year now and is being normalized in the media. The shock of his election is gradually wearing off. When I point out that he is illegitimate I am told to stop whining and get over it, the election is over. So what if he lost the popular vote, the argument goes, he won the electoral college fair and square and that’s what counts. Except that he didn’t.
The election was close in Pennsylvania but Trump got all the electoral votes. Since then the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ordered redrawing of the districting maps due to “unconstitutional partisan gerrymandering.” In other words, his electoral victory in that state was fraudulent. Other states were similarly gerrymandered.
Gerrymandering was only one of at least a dozen Republican scams in the last election. How many of them will decide the next election?
Then there was Interstate Crosscheck, which disenfranchised tens of thousands, maybe millions, of minority voters, by striking them from the voter rolls. They were given provisional ballots, which looked good on paper but were never counted. In Michigan, Trump’s victory margin was barely 13,000 votes, while 449,000 voters were purged from the rolls. According to Greg Palast, twenty-six states still do Interstate Crosscheck.
And then there were partisan ID requirements at the polls. According to The Nation, Wisconsin's Voter ID law suppressed 200,000 mostly left-leaning votes; Trump won that state by 22,748 votes.
And then there were long lines at the polls in non-white districts, hackable voting machines, strategic closing of polls and DMV offices where people of color could access them, “caging,” and other elaborate, mostly-racist, schemes to keep people from the polls who might not vote Republican. Maybe Russians meddled, maybe not, but not nearly as much as Republicans did. As Greg Palast said, “Jim Crow, not the voters, elected Mr. Trump.”
I’m talking about election fraud, not the imaginary “voter fraud” that Trump complained about. Exit polls prove election fraud; there is no significant evidence of voter fraud. Trump tried to find voter fraud but failed.
Until we confront Republican cheating it will surely continue. Talk show host Thom Hartman argues credibly that the last legitimately-elected Republican president was Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956. Republicans always cheat because they have to, as they represent the interests of only one percent of the voting population (plus wedge issue zealots). It was Democrats who created the Voting Rights Act; it was not Democrats who abolished it in 2013.
Trump is a fraud and an impostor—never forget that—and so are all the fascist thugs under him. His “victory” was fraudulent and I am not going to shut up about that. Nor should anyone else, ever. The 2016 election is not over. No fraudulent election should ever be over.
The election was close in Pennsylvania but Trump got all the electoral votes. Since then the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ordered redrawing of the districting maps due to “unconstitutional partisan gerrymandering.” In other words, his electoral victory in that state was fraudulent. Other states were similarly gerrymandered.
Gerrymandering was only one of at least a dozen Republican scams in the last election. How many of them will decide the next election?
Then there was Interstate Crosscheck, which disenfranchised tens of thousands, maybe millions, of minority voters, by striking them from the voter rolls. They were given provisional ballots, which looked good on paper but were never counted. In Michigan, Trump’s victory margin was barely 13,000 votes, while 449,000 voters were purged from the rolls. According to Greg Palast, twenty-six states still do Interstate Crosscheck.
And then there were partisan ID requirements at the polls. According to The Nation, Wisconsin's Voter ID law suppressed 200,000 mostly left-leaning votes; Trump won that state by 22,748 votes.
And then there were long lines at the polls in non-white districts, hackable voting machines, strategic closing of polls and DMV offices where people of color could access them, “caging,” and other elaborate, mostly-racist, schemes to keep people from the polls who might not vote Republican. Maybe Russians meddled, maybe not, but not nearly as much as Republicans did. As Greg Palast said, “Jim Crow, not the voters, elected Mr. Trump.”
I’m talking about election fraud, not the imaginary “voter fraud” that Trump complained about. Exit polls prove election fraud; there is no significant evidence of voter fraud. Trump tried to find voter fraud but failed.
Until we confront Republican cheating it will surely continue. Talk show host Thom Hartman argues credibly that the last legitimately-elected Republican president was Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956. Republicans always cheat because they have to, as they represent the interests of only one percent of the voting population (plus wedge issue zealots). It was Democrats who created the Voting Rights Act; it was not Democrats who abolished it in 2013.
Trump is a fraud and an impostor—never forget that—and so are all the fascist thugs under him. His “victory” was fraudulent and I am not going to shut up about that. Nor should anyone else, ever. The 2016 election is not over. No fraudulent election should ever be over.
December 11, 2017
Twelve Reasons Not to Get a Dog
1- Dogs are expensive. Americans spend $5 billion annually on pet foods—more than the gross national products of some countries—and more than that on veterinary bills. Add another billion for show dogs. Add another billion for flea treatments. Not to mention legal fees and damages ordered by courts. Dog bites cost insurance companies a quarter of a billion dollars each year. Is dog food research worth more than cancer research? Americans seem to think so!
2- Dogs spread diseases: leptospirosis, tuberculosis, histoplasmosis, undulent fever, asthma, eczema, allergies, rabies, pasteurella multocida, roundworm, hookworm, ringworm, Guinea worms, salmonella, typhus, toxoplasmosis, scabies, fleas, lice, ticks.
3- Keeping dogs is socially irresponsible. They consume billions of pounds of food fit for human consumption while a billion of the world’s people are seriously malnourished. Thousands of Third World children die of hunger every day because they are outbid in the food markets by the big bucks of the dog food industry. Dogs grow fat while children starve. Protein-deficient Latin America provides much of the fish meal in American pet foods. American dogs often get expensive medical treatments denied to poor people. U.S. drug companies spend almost nothing on tropical diseases of humans, but spend half a billion dollars annually on First World animal health. Dogs are environmentally destructive. Whale meat is a common ingredient of pet foods.
4- Dogs are dangerous, even to their owners. They bite millions of Americans each year, most of them little children. Children sustain an estimated 44,000 bites to the face annually, usually from family pets. Dogs kill more people than rattlesnakes, spiders, sharks, rats, alligators, bears, or lions. Dog attacks cost $50 million annually in medical bills. According to the U.S. Postal Service, dogs bite twenty mail carriers every day. The biting force of a dog's canine teeth can exceed 1,000 pounds per square inch.
5- Dogs are predators. They feed on other animals. Animal lovers should understand that dog food does not grow on trees. To save the life of a dog is to condemn many other animals to death. Billions of harmless creatures are brutally raised and brutally slaughtered to feed dogs.
6- Dogs are prolific. According to Iris Nowell, author of “The Dog Crisis,” one bitch could theoretically produce 67,710 offspring in six years. Public health officials estimate the U.S. dog population at 100 million. Authorities agree that dogs are seriously overpopulated. This is because humans have removed them from natural checks on their numbers.
7- Dogs are messy. They deposit almost ten million gallons of urine daily on the U.S. They foul streets and footpaths. A Georgia survey found that a single dog fecal deposit produced up to 588 flies. Dogs promote rats, roaches, and flies by turning over garbage cans. Dogs drool, shed, and stink.
8- Keeping dogs is unnatural. Nature intends for carnivores to do their own killing, not have their prey killed for them by humans. In nature, no species kills to feed another species. Dogs are nowhere near humans on the mammalian tree. According to zoological science, humans are more closely related to bats and whales than to dogs. Making love objects of dogs, wolves, jackals, or hyenas is unnatural.
9- Dogs are noisy. Dog barking can exceed 90 decibels, louder than OSHA limits for continuous occupational exposure. Loud enough to cause hearing loss in humans, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Dog noise is powerful pollution that can carry for miles. Dogs disturb the peace and sleep quality of hundreds of millions of people every night.
10- Dogs are destructive. It costs taxpayers $500 million per year to pay for damages caused by dogs. Dog urine can kill trees and may be infected with leptospirosis. Dogs kill livestock.
11- Dogs are commercially bred, like livestock. 90% of dogs in pet stores come from puppy mills. Buying a dog from a pet store supports this nefarious and irresponsible business.
12- Dogs don’t do well in captivity. They develop the same degenerative diseases as humans. Kibbled dog foods cause digestive disorders in dogs.
2- Dogs spread diseases: leptospirosis, tuberculosis, histoplasmosis, undulent fever, asthma, eczema, allergies, rabies, pasteurella multocida, roundworm, hookworm, ringworm, Guinea worms, salmonella, typhus, toxoplasmosis, scabies, fleas, lice, ticks.
3- Keeping dogs is socially irresponsible. They consume billions of pounds of food fit for human consumption while a billion of the world’s people are seriously malnourished. Thousands of Third World children die of hunger every day because they are outbid in the food markets by the big bucks of the dog food industry. Dogs grow fat while children starve. Protein-deficient Latin America provides much of the fish meal in American pet foods. American dogs often get expensive medical treatments denied to poor people. U.S. drug companies spend almost nothing on tropical diseases of humans, but spend half a billion dollars annually on First World animal health. Dogs are environmentally destructive. Whale meat is a common ingredient of pet foods.
4- Dogs are dangerous, even to their owners. They bite millions of Americans each year, most of them little children. Children sustain an estimated 44,000 bites to the face annually, usually from family pets. Dogs kill more people than rattlesnakes, spiders, sharks, rats, alligators, bears, or lions. Dog attacks cost $50 million annually in medical bills. According to the U.S. Postal Service, dogs bite twenty mail carriers every day. The biting force of a dog's canine teeth can exceed 1,000 pounds per square inch.
5- Dogs are predators. They feed on other animals. Animal lovers should understand that dog food does not grow on trees. To save the life of a dog is to condemn many other animals to death. Billions of harmless creatures are brutally raised and brutally slaughtered to feed dogs.
6- Dogs are prolific. According to Iris Nowell, author of “The Dog Crisis,” one bitch could theoretically produce 67,710 offspring in six years. Public health officials estimate the U.S. dog population at 100 million. Authorities agree that dogs are seriously overpopulated. This is because humans have removed them from natural checks on their numbers.
7- Dogs are messy. They deposit almost ten million gallons of urine daily on the U.S. They foul streets and footpaths. A Georgia survey found that a single dog fecal deposit produced up to 588 flies. Dogs promote rats, roaches, and flies by turning over garbage cans. Dogs drool, shed, and stink.
8- Keeping dogs is unnatural. Nature intends for carnivores to do their own killing, not have their prey killed for them by humans. In nature, no species kills to feed another species. Dogs are nowhere near humans on the mammalian tree. According to zoological science, humans are more closely related to bats and whales than to dogs. Making love objects of dogs, wolves, jackals, or hyenas is unnatural.
9- Dogs are noisy. Dog barking can exceed 90 decibels, louder than OSHA limits for continuous occupational exposure. Loud enough to cause hearing loss in humans, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Dog noise is powerful pollution that can carry for miles. Dogs disturb the peace and sleep quality of hundreds of millions of people every night.
10- Dogs are destructive. It costs taxpayers $500 million per year to pay for damages caused by dogs. Dog urine can kill trees and may be infected with leptospirosis. Dogs kill livestock.
11- Dogs are commercially bred, like livestock. 90% of dogs in pet stores come from puppy mills. Buying a dog from a pet store supports this nefarious and irresponsible business.
12- Dogs don’t do well in captivity. They develop the same degenerative diseases as humans. Kibbled dog foods cause digestive disorders in dogs.
