Restoring Faith in Democracy ~ Freedom ~ Liberty ~ Peace ~ Truth in America and the World

Hubble Telescope by NASA.

There are people in the United States of America who say they value democracy and personal, religious, and political freedom on one hand, while at the same time are working to erode that very same foundation of liberty and freedom on the other. Authoritarian brutish belligerence is not the way to maintain the freedom for which the USA was born. It is a misconception that we will still have liberty and freedom after we destroy it. Who would benefit from such a political gimmick?

Lies are at the root of the axe chopping away at democratic principles. Peaceful integrity, honest conversation, and review of history will shine a light on why it is important not to revert back to the very reason the USA broke away from the dictates of England in the first place. Our Forefathers did not like authoritarian rules and oligarch regulations. Neither should we.

Manipulation of minds is the work of those who wish to usurp the treasures given to every human being by God, the Eternal Universal Life Force Energy. The USA is not alone in experiencing the assault on God-given freedoms with which every human being is born.

You matter. Your vote matters. No one, regardless of party or country owns your voice. Do not fall into the caveman mentality that might is right. It is not. See through the veil of fear and intimidation. Recognize that it is the game plan of authoritarian rule to try to scare you into believing that there will not be enough land, money, food, goods, education, or anything else as the reason to shut out others. This is not true. There is enough to go around. It is called sharing.

Greed, unbridled power, and selfish personal and political gain is at the helm steering the intimidating ghost ship with the hidden, or not so hidden agenda to undermine democracy, freedom, and truth in every state and country. This is not only a life-altering symptom of the USA aimed at destroying freedom of thoughts, words, and actions.

There is a dark force of energy apparent everywhere, not just in the USA that does not value individual human rights. This is a prime example of George Orwell’s 1984‘s double think. This force seeks to rob you of your rights by overlaying a blanket of fear, fear of lack, fear of want, fear of losing what you already have. Oligarchs of the world love this trend. Their motto is money is might is right. It is not.

Ethics matter. Truth matters. Do not believe the lie that all left-wing politics are lies and only right-wing messages are truth, whatever country where you live. They are not.

Unless you make a million dollars or more, no middle-class citizen in Massachusetts, for example, will pay more in their taxes determined in upcoming elections, despite what the wealthiest among us promote. Lies are being promoted that all small businesses will have to pay more if they do not vote with the millionaires and billionaires. This is not true. Investigate this for yourself.

The world is a conglomeration of good and bad, war and peace, truth and lies. All people have free will no matter where you live, even if you must make your decisions privately in states or countries that do not value truth over their ill-advised and self-serving lies. You decide what to accept or not.

Now is the time for reflection and decision on whether or not you value your liberty to speak your mind, without having to hand over your money, time, and every other freedom that a true democracy provides. Check out the lifestyles of the freedoms enjoyed by people in North Korea, for example, to see how well dictators provided for their people. Oligarchy is in countries ruled by big business, treating large corporations as people, which ultimately usurps the rights and privileges of the “common man” (all people.) Individual rights to fair taxation diminish with oligarchs in charge.

Who would benefit from such a political gimmick?

The rich and powerful, such as those involved in gun, drug and human trafficking, notoriously sweeping the world are in the pockets of politicians now trading common sense and freedom for subservience to the almighty dollar and their own selfish financial and political gain. We need to be more intelligent and not follow these inflated egos into the voting booths.

Freedom is freedom from manipulation and mind control. You are the boss of you, not any politician equally in the pockets of gun, drug, and human traffickers. People are priceless. The gun, drug, and human traffickers have prices. People are worth more than money.

Is pro-life actually pro-life for the lives of our veterans out in the cold on the street? Politicians love to say they are pro-military. The military has products to buy, income to be made, while veterans are in need of physical, mental, and spiritual care from faithfully serving their country, which takes government money to fulfill the promises made to the soldiers. Notice who the politicians are who always want to cut the budget when it comes to taking care of our veterans. Four consecutive budgets under Trump suggested cutting benefits for disabled veterans.

Is pro-life actually pro-life for the hundreds of hungry men, women, and children, including all people of all genders, or is pro-life qualified by an agenda?

Democracy is a precious gift worth keeping, at least to my way of thinking. Please make sure you are registered to vote and vote in the next election in your state and country. You make a difference in this beautiful world. It is time to build up humanity.

Who would benefit from such political gimmicks?

Namaste

Bobcats In Massachusetts

A Bobcat crossed the road in front of my car last night about 8:45. At first, I thought it was a domestic cat, but it was a very large cat. Then I observed that this cat had no tail. It was quite a muscular cat. When I got home, I researched what I saw online and discovered I had observed a Bobcat. Then I wondered if Bobcats were native to my area in Massachusetts. I was surprised to find out they are.

Bobcat Front Footprint

The other day, after a light snowfall the night before, I notice what I thought were domestic cat footprints walking up the driveway from the old forest across the street, by the car, and into the backyard. But these prints were larger than past cat footprints I had observed, and had four larger toe pads in the front, and one in the back of it. I believe it was a Bobcat that walked up my driveway, by my car, close by the side of my house, and into the back yard.

I gratefully thank the Bobcat and fox who live in the wild area I have chosen to live. This year is the first year that I have caught only two mice in the house. I think the Bobcat and the fox are fantastic at mouse catching.

The following is from Learn about bobcats | Mass.gov :

The bobcat is the only wild cat now found in Massachusetts. Bobcats are common in the central and western parts of the state, present in the northeast, and expanding into the southeast.

Description

The bobcat is a medium-sized feline, approximately twice the size of a domestic house cat. It can be easily identified by its short, “bobbed” tail (up to 12 inches), prominent face ruff, and slightly tufted ears. Its coat of short, dense fur can vary from a yellowish to reddish brown with distinct or faint black spots along its flanks and white underparts that are also spotted with black. In summer, the fur tends to be shorter and more reddish in color, becoming longer and much paler in the winter, although there can be much variation in color among individuals. Adult bobcats weigh 15–35 pounds and measure 28–47 inches in length. Size varies depending on sex, as male bobcats are approximately 33% larger than their female counterparts.

Life History

Bobcats breed from February through March. They are polygamous and do not form lasting pair bonds. The young are born after a 62-day gestation period in April or May. Females produce one litter each year consisting of 1–4 kittens, with an average litter size of 2. The female is the exclusive provider, and the male does not participate in raising the young. At birth, the kittens are blind and helpless but have a thick coat of spotted fur. The kittens are born in a den lined with dried grass, leaves, moss, and other soft vegetation that the female scrapes into the den. Dens are located in rock crevices, under rocky ledges, in caves, in brush piles, or in hollow trees, stumps, or logs. Females may use the same den sites for several years in a row. The female nurses the kittens until they reach two months of age. At one month of age, the young begin taking solid food and venturing from the den. The young remain with the adult female until they are full grown, usually through their first fall or winter. Females reach sexual maturity at one year of age, although they do not typically produce their first litter until two years of age. Males do not reach sexual maturity until two years of age. Bobcats live an average of twelve years in the wild and females continue to produce one litter per year until death. Although some young fall prey to owls, coyotes, and adult male bobcats, food abundance is the primary factor affecting the survival of both kittens and juvenile bobcats. Bobcats are an important natural resource in Massachusetts. They are classified as a furbearer species, for which a management program and regulated hunting and trapping seasons have been established.

Food, habits, and habitat

As carnivores, bobcats most commonly prey on medium-sized animals such as rabbits and hares but will eat mice, squirrels, skunks, opossums, muskrats, birds, and snakes. Occasionally bobcats will prey on larger animals such as deer, but this is generally when other food items are scarce. Only sick, injured, young or very old large animals are likely to be killed. Bobcats hunt by stalking prey until they are close enough to pounce. They may also wait on a trail or in a tree to ambush prey or run down prey over short distances. Although bobcats have a fairly good sense of smell, they rely primarily on their keen eyesight and hearing to detect both prey and danger. When food is plentiful, they will cache the excess by covering it with leaves, grass, or snow and return to feed on it repeatedly. Bobcats are shy, solitary, and generally elusive. While usually silent, bobcats can produce a large repertoire of noises. A bobcat may scowl, snarl, and spit when confronted with danger and may be heard screaming during the breeding season. Bobcats maintain well-defined home ranges that vary in size depending on prey abundance, season, and climate. Males maintain larger home ranges than females and individuals can travel up to four miles daily. Both sexes use scent marking to mark trails and den sites. Their use of scent is thought to help individuals avoid direct contact with each other as they travel within their home ranges. Bobcats can be active day or night but tend to exhibit crepuscular (dawn and dusk) activity. Their activity peaks three hours before sunset until midnight and again between one hour before and four hours after sunrise. They remain active year round and do not hibernate. Bobcats are proficient climbers and will climb trees to rest, chase prey, or escape from predators (chiefly domestic dogs). Like domestic cats, bobcats try to avoid water whenever possible but when forced to flee to water, they can swim quite well.

Tips for residents

Bobcats are well-adapted to a variety of habitats, such as mountainous areas with rocky ledges, hardwood forests, swamps, bogs, and brushy areas near fields. Bobcats deal with human influences but tend to avoid areas with extensive agriculturally cleared lands that eliminate other habitat types. Bobcats are adapting to suburban settings and may be seen in backyards and residential areas. Bobcats rarely cause conflicts with human activities.

Tracks

Bobcat tracks may sometimes be confused with the tracks of domestic housecats although adult bobcat prints are larger than a house cat. Bobcat tracks have four toes in the front and back although the front foot actually has five toes. The fifth toe is raised high on the forefeet so it does not leave an impression when it walks. The claws also do not leave an impression, as they are usually retracted.

Protect livestock and chickens

Bobcats may prey on small livestock and chickens. Avoid pasturing animals or placing coops in remote areas or in areas near heavily wooded cover. Pen livestock in or near a barn at night. Keep chickens within secure pens or coops. Electric fencing may be used as a deterrent.

Misidentification

Bobcats are the only wild cat in Massachusetts. Learn more about mountain lions. The good news is, they eat snakes.

If you are experiencing problems with bobcats or have questions, contact your nearest Massachusetts Wildlife office.

Namaste

The Problem With The Herd Immunity Experiment ~ All The Deaths We Have Experienced In The Wars In Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq Are Only Half Of What We Have Currently Lost In This Covid-19 Pandemic

Six to Seven million people are expected to die in the United States of America alone in the Herd Immunity exeriment. Start the healing with healing measures of social distancing and wearing masks.

The Grand Old Party, GOP, admits it is following a Herd Immunity track as a “cure” for COVID 19. First of all, please realize that this is a fringe medicine concept. There is no cure for COVID-19, also known as SARS Co2, a highly contagious and deadly coronavirus. There are no vaccines currently available for the COVID-19 pandemic and are not expected to be available until next summer.

This means that since there are 331 million people in the US and experts say 70 percent of the population would have to get the virus for herd immunity to work, 231.7 million of us would have to get it. Since the current death rate is from 2.6 to 3 percent of all those who get the virus, 6 to 7 million of us would die. So if this is your idea for a cure, you might want to say good-bye to your parents and grandparents now. Or maybe vote for someone who has a better plan.

Children do get this deadly virus and many have already died from it. They can also be carriers, spreading COVID-19 to others even if they show no symptoms. Taking temperatures and having fevers is a symptom of COVID-19 that may not show up for 14 days, while continuing to spread this virus.

There are some Utah hospitals now at the point of needing to decide to give better care to the younger sick patients, hoping for better survival rates for the young.

Masks and social distancing are proven methods to bring a country to be COVID-19 free, like New Zealand. It’s called delayed gratification. Delayed gratification is a mature response to social dilemmas. By doing the right thing now, we can move past the juvenile approach to wearing mask and social distancing adult temper tantrums.

Remember, it is a secret vote when you cast your ballot. Even if you once voted for the current President, if you want to keep your health insurance including coverage for pre-existing conditions which include coverage for COVID-19, you can vote for Biden/Harris and it will be covered. Please know that the Affordable Health Care Act is on the chopping block in November on the Supreme Court docket, where it is expected to be cut altogether of the incumbent gets back in.

All human life is precious. We all matter. Human life is not expendable in a civilized society.

Namaste

Prejudice Is A Mental Disease ~ War Is Not The Answer

How many people have said, “This is just my opinion. I have a right to my opinion. That’s just the way I am.”? Everyone has a right to their own opinion. However, prejudice is not an opinion, nor is it “just they way I am.” Prejudice is a mental disease, a value of hate that is taught through families, friends, and society.

Prejudice is taught. Prejudice is an ignorant teaching. No one is born with a prejudiced mindset. It is also part of the poverty “rich vs poor” mentality, which includes the “us vs them.” It also infiltrates to the “we are better than them,” no matter which side of belief we are on.

The problem occurs when we atttempt to make prejudice be normal, or just another thought or value system someone has. Society never does well when we pretend any form of mental illness is normal.

How close to mental illness do you choose to get? Prejudice is a choice. No matter what our parents, friends or people in our circle of life believe, we always have the choice in what we believe as an individual.

I have had people tell me they have a right to be prejudiced, that the only crime is to act out in harmful or criminal ways. This is faulty reasoning. What you think about, you bring about.

Another person told me that they carry a gun and could shoot a black person with no problem. This is the form this kind of mental disease takes. It shows the beginning of acting out in hate, not simply “believing what I want to believe.”

I could be bipolar, which used to be called manic-depressive, and say, “I was born like this. It is in my DNA.” That would be an accurate statement. But since prejudice is not in our DNA, it is a mindset that shapes how we choose to lives our lives, to say “I was born like this” is not a true statement.

Prejudice is an ignorant, deformed mental concept. It serves no one. This mental illness has been with humanity since people populated the earth. But prejudice has not been recognized for what it truly is, a mental disease.

Some of us fall into the weakness of prejudice by becoming victims of it, or by becoming bullies by it. Neither side is healthy. Both sides can heal, but only with the truth that all human beings work together, regardless of race, color, creed, gender, age and any other difference which makes us human. Our variety as human beings is what makes us unique and lovable, not deplorable.

If we only look at the crimes and outrage taking over cities in the United States these days, while not looking at what sparked this in the first place, we would be willfully ignorant of the facts. Facts are not opinions.

Changes obviously need to be made. Staying relatively quiet since the days of Martin Luther King, Jr. has not stopped the sinister wave of hate prumulgated through the United States and the world under the subculture of white supremacy including prejudice in all its hideous forms.

We need to take off the blinders to the reality of how we treat all people in all situations, stop red-lining districts, stop political and willful conniving to scam the system, and stop pretending mental illness is normal, and stop putting prejudiced lawmakers and judges, all of whom are examples of the mental illness of prejudice in public office.

The solution to the mental disease of prejudice is to call it what it is, mental illness. Mental illness is treatable. We as a country as well as the world can heal from every form of prejudice. Some people are prejudiced against the mentally handicapped, or people from other lands or beliefs, not just against people who are not exactly the same color of skin that we have. Still, all prejudice is a mental shortcoming, a defect that ought not to be treated as normal.

While systemic racisim has blinded many people, it is not a disease that is incurable. We need to deal with the core issue of racisim, which is prejudice, which erroneously thinks that one brand of people is better than another.

We are all the same in the eyes of God.

There is only one race of people, the human race.

It is time we mentally heal, and educate ourselves to all the goodness diversity has to offer.

It is time we mentally heal, and choose empathy and compassion over mental illness and narcisism.

It is possible to heal with our very next thought. Reach out to help others. Use words of kindness.

It is possible to heal mental illness through prayer, counseling and support.

It is just as easy to build each other up as to tear each other down.

If we start with a positive solution today, we can live in a better world tomorrow.

Because You Deserve To Feel Better

What happens When Churches And Public Open Too Early ~ Memorial Day Services For Veteran’s

Testing for symptoms as a means to see if people have the coronavirus is like leaving the barn door open after the horse has escaped. It obviously does not work, since people who have COVID-19 are CONTAGIOUS 14-21 DAYS PRIOR TO THE APPEARANCE OF SYMPTOMS. Testing for fevers before going into any building will remove a suspected person with the killer virus, but only after he or she has infected numerous other people for those 14-21 days prior to the temperature taking.

There is a false semse of security out there today. We are not used to dealing with pandemics these days. It has been over a century since we dealt with smallpox. We seem to have forgotten how we got rid of polio and other diseases.

This is not just about the money.

Lives matter. Black lives matter. Blue lives matter. Red lives matter. Yellow lives matter. Brown lives matter. While all colors of people matter, there is a systemic worldwide racism that says, to this very day, that black lives do not matter. I am pointing out the growing number of white supremists in this country. While this is not the reality of some black and Latino doctors, lawyers and successful people, it is the reality for many black and Latino people across America. So while I mention that all lives matter, I am especially pointing our that black and brown lives matter. These are the people in our inner cities suffering the most in this COVID-19 pandemic.

It is a lie to say the curve in the United States of America is flattening. It is not. If you take the New York State stastics out of the picture, the statistics for the US go straight up. We are foolishly fooling ourselves. We all will pay the price for our own willful ignorance.

If having  1,699,634 confirmed cases in the United States of America today, up 19,056 from yesterday, (that is, taken from only those who have been tested, which is less than 1 percent of our total population), then go out across America with your families. Board airplanes, go to sporting events, go to churches and wherever else you want to tempt fate.

Even those of us who thought this was all a hoax and denying reality are now burying their dead.

If having  93,271 confirmed cases in Massachusetts today, up by 596 since yesterday, does not matter to you, then go out with your families.

If having  155,092 confirmed cases in New Jersey today, which is 938 more than yesterday, does not matter to you, then go out with your families.

If having 112,017 conformed cases in Illinois today, which is more than 1,713 than yesterday, does not matter to you, then go out with your families.

If having 68,186 confirmed cases in Pennsylvania today, which is 473 more than yesterday, does not matter too you, then go out with your families.

In New York, if having a total of 362,764 confirmed cases today, which is more than 1,249 more than yesterday, does not matter to you, then go ahead and plan your traditional Memorial Day celebrations.

Memorial Day celebrations, especially for those veterans in veteran’s homes across the country will never be the same, because in this case, we inflicted our own veterans with death by our stupidity. They made it through wars. They made it back home. They made it into old age. But so many veterans did not make it at this point at the end of their lives because those at the top of the command chose ignorance over science-based care.

I debated on the word “stupidity” in the preceeding paragraph. Why did I stay with that word?  We are all living in a time when we seem perfectly fine deluding ourselves on so many matters, because of financial interest, jobs, political interests, you name it, because of some other benefit other than the truth of the matter. This general lack of truth malaise has now insideously crept its way into present life and death situations. Going along with ignorance as if it were truth is literally stupid of us. We are better than this.

It is humanly possible to put out our American flags in honor of Memorial Day, watch parades and special ceremonies on TV, without going to large gatherings which are known to fester and spread the coronavirus like wildfire.

Just because I CAN do something, does not mean that I SHOULD go out and do something someone else tells us to do. You and I have the unique ability to stop this COVID-19 in its tracks. You and I are in charge of ourselves. We have the unique choice to stop the spread of COVID-19, or choose to live with it forever. How you and I decide to individually handle this pandemic personally is how this pandemic will continue to live or not live.

I choose for the people to live, not the pandemic.

All our veterans would thank us for a job well done if we choose to put an end to this pandemic, first in our home, neighborhood, state, country, continent and world.

Because You Deserve To Feel Better

So How Is Your Inner Child Doing? Updated 5/21/20

It’s as if we are all having flash backs to the 1970s. It would be helpful to re-read M. Scott Peck’s “The Road Less Traveled” from 1978. It very well could be the antidote to our grown up issues with our temper tantrum inner child. I can hear the echo of The Eagles’ hit song, “Get Over It,” as the remedy to “kick its little ass.”

How IS your inner child doing?

The Road Less Traveled is a timeless book on the benefits of delayed gratification as a means to living a more fulfilling adult life. It may also be the only remedy to living life at all these days.

Has your inner child been catching your attention lately?

Is your inner child running your life much to the chaos that only a two-year-old running the house can bring?

How are you with delayed gratification of anything?

I ask this question given the times we are living in right now. We are in the midst of a worldwide coronavirus pandemic, which has no known cure, is highly contagious, is transferable from person to person 14 to 21 days prior to any symptoms, and is not gone in many parts of the world. Two days ago when this article was first posted, the country with the worst batting record of winning the global pandemic is the United States of America, with over 1,490,022 cases, which is an increase of 18,937. These numbers continue to increase minute by minute. As I update this post 2 days later, currently the confirmed coronavirus cases in the USA total 1,551,680, which is an increase of 23,285 cases over yesterday, and an increase in deaths totaling 93,434, an increase of 1,518.

In Massachusetts, for example, three days ago confirmed COVID-19 cases were 80,497, an increase of 1,165 from the previous day. Today, confirmed cases total 88,970, an increase of 1,045 over yesterday. Deaths from COVID-19 today are 93,434, an increase of 1,518 over yesterday.

I’ve heard so many people say, “Stop telling the confirmed case numbers and the deaths. That is so depressing. Let’s start talking about only positive things. I’m am depressed, you know. I must concentrate on other things.”

As a holistic counselor, I have taught about the power of positive thinking in every session I ever held, for years. But there is a difference between denying reality by focusing on something that does not solve the problem and doing something positive about it to arrive at a solution. You and I cannot arrive at the solution if we do not look at the huge, extremely contagious problem with no known cure. Wishing it would go away will not make it go away. It will make it stay around forever. Saying, “It is not happening,” does not make it not happen.

Many states are in the same boat on the river of “denial.” That used to be a funny joke. Now it is a sad state of reality.

As a nation, we seem to be unable to do the adult discipline of dealing with the problem head on. If only pointing fingers, blaming, ignoring, and spinning tales could get us out of this one. Even though it was three months late in the game, we did manage to begin social distancing, and wearing masks and gloves, at least some of us did that, and some of us only after a penalty of $300 was assessed for those of us who stamped our feet and still said, “No I won’t.”

But that did not stop 315,822 humans from dying. Some will say that number is too high because some people who died in the hospital, who had COVID-19 really died from having heart attacks and respiratory and other failures. Even some of the people that denied that this coronavirus was nothing more than a bad flu and was a hoax also died from COVID-19.

However, the reality is that COVID-19 weakens hearts and lungs, and those heart attacks and deaths from lung issues were most likely from COVID-19. Also, we only know about confirmed cases. Only one percent of the population in the United States has been tested. The reality is that the number of people walking around with COVID-19 is far greater.

What’s a person to do?

We have spent two whole months social distancing, and wearing masks, and some of us wearing gloves too. Some of us are looking at the same numbers and saying, “Enough is enough. We cannot go on like this. The businesses are hurting. People need paychecks.”

The answer in some states is to rush to open up businesses before the curve has really flattened. As long as any state is having increased confirmed cases, the situation is getting worse, not better. Some states have better track records of how they limited this killer virus in the first place.

Common sense is needed at the helm. If your particular state or country determines it is ready to open up to business, consider not allowing your inner child to make decisions for you that could seriously shorten your life, or shorten the lives of those around you. Do check out the statistics for your country, state, county and city or town. Determine for yourself what guidelines you want to live by.

You only get one life. Protect your inner child.

Because You Deserve To Feel Better

He Died And Met God ~ And He Wasn’t Ready …

 

God Bless