A Twitter friend, @ArcturusOrdo sent me the following image and poem from his 4th book, “Yuletide Sequence”.
Enjoy.
Poems are a still
golden mirror
of soul shining
glimpsed in quiet
solitude shared
as words
trailing softly
on the white
page like snow
falling through
Yuletide sunrise.
Calamity Politics is a Progressive on-line news magazine focusing on the Washington DC nightmare with caustic comment and mildly jaundiced opinion. Join the Resistance.
Dar
Our image of Santa is pretty much the result of an effective advertising campaign. Santa Claus wasn’t always a rotund omniscient gift-giver who circumvents the world on December 25th propelled by flying reindeer, assisted by an army of adorable elves. The Santa we know today, a jolly man in a red suit and full white beard was the vision of Haddon Sundblom. Sundblom was commissioned in 1930 to develop advertising images for Coca-Cola to use during the next Christmas season. Sundblom used the 1822 classic poem “A Visit From St. Nick” by Clement Clark Moore as his inspiration for his new image of Santa Claus. Previous images of St. Nicholas had ranged from a tall gaunt religious man to a tiny elf creature. Moore and Sundblom together created the image of our Santa as a warm, friendly, pleasantly plump humanoid.
The historical basis of Santa Claus is St. Nicholas. St. Nicholas was the renowned Bishop of Myra-a Roman town near Demire, Turkey, around 300 A.D. St. Nicholas even before he was appointed Bishop was known for his generosity. A well told story was one in which he came to the assistance of a poor man who could not afford a proper dowry to marry off his three daughters. In those times, it would mean that the daughters would remain unmarried, making it likely they’d be forced into prostitution. St. Nicholas wanted to spare the family any embarrassment yet wanting to help, he traveled to the man’s house in the dark of night, and threw three purses filled with gold coins through the peasant’s window.
After St. Nicholas died he became a beloved patron saint, but during the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century, the importance of Catholic saints was rejected and St. Nicholas’ popularity dwindled across Europe. However, in the Netherlands he remained popular, living on as a mythical figure, known as Sinterklass, who went from house to house on the eve of St. Nicholas’s name day, December 5th, leaving treats and gifts for children. Sinterklaas traditionally wore red bishop’s clothes and employed elves, and he traveled with horses that could walk across rooftops.
When the Dutch emigrated in droves to America during the 17th and 18th centuries, they brought the kindly St. Nick to the new colonies, but it wasn’t until the 1930’s that Coke and Sundblom introduced today’s version of the beloved winter visitor.
Merry Christmas.
Calamity Politics is a Progressive on-line news magazine featuring news of the day accompanied by comment and opinion.
Dar
Doctor’s Without Borders is a world recognized international medical humanitarian organization. The international medical relief organization was awarded the Nobel Peace in 1999. DWB delivers medical care to patients with NO political or religious agenda. The organization goal is to treat people where the need is the greatest. Helping people threatened by violence and social upheaval, neglect, natural disasters, epidemics or other health emergencies.
Worldwide, malnutrition accounts for 50% of deaths in children under 5 years old. Malnutrition claims 3 million children, making malnutrition the single greatest threat to child survival. Doctor’s Without Borders sends mobile clinics out into the most rural areas, where often conditions are untenable. Malnutrition in these regions is a huge problem. The DWB mobile teams have saved thousands of lives.
In the middle of emergency situations DWB medical teams work to break malnutrition’s cycle. Children under 2 years of age have small stomachs and very specific nutritional needs. If their diets are deficient in just one of the 40 essential nutrients they need, it weakens their young immune systems, and their chances of dying from even a minor infection or disease increases dramatically.
The American tax system is not broken and it certainly does not need the type of disastrous overhaul being rammed down the throats of the 99.8% of the American tax payers all for the benefit of about five thousand people, and a boat load of international corporations. Trickle down economics was debunked 30 years ago and why we have allowed the Republicans to bring it back into the tax conversation is beyond me.
On December 2, 2017 at 2 a.m., in the dark of night, without a single public hearing, Senators passed a 479 page tax bill, which included several illegible hand written notes in the margins. GOP Senators passed what could become one of the most important legislative bills in recent history. If the Republicans actually maneuver this monstrosity through the congress it will revamp the national tax code, disrupt our national health care system, while adding trillions of dollars to the national debt, thereby impacting every person in the United States.
From personal experience, I know that 2 a.m. decisions are usually stupid decisions. Decisions, that when viewed from the light of the following morning are often regrettable. So, we ask, why are the Republicans so desperate to pass such important legislation in the middle of the night? Without public hearings, written seemingly by corporation lobbyists, and supported by almost no one, we keep asking, why?
Dream content varies from person to person, but there are common themes. Psychologists have long claimed that dreams are nothing more than a reflection of our waking lives. See if you recognize any of your dreams.
If, in your dream:
1.)You are being chased, you are probably avoiding or running away from something in life. Being unable to run in a dream indicates feeling overwhelmed with daily pressures.
2.)You die. It doesn’t mean you are about to die, it suggests insecurity and/or anxiety.
3.)You are falling. It is a subconscious response to real-life stress, something as simple as a leg spasm.
4.)You can fly, you have conquered a stressful situation. If you can control your flight, it is a sign of confidence. If you fly aimlessly you are cautiously optimistic about your success.
5.)Your teeth fall out, you are unhappy with your physical appearance.
6.)You watch a car crash, a big undertaking in your life seems doomed to failure.
7.)You dream of water, it is a representation of your general emotional state. Clear water means satisfaction with work and home. Muddy water is a sign of skepticism and discontent.
8.)You are naked, you are dreading an upcoming event due to feelings of shame, or vulnerability.
9.)You are giving birth, great change is unfolding. Dreaming about babies indicates a desire to behave more maturely.
10.)You are peeing. You may be expressing desire for relief from a difficult situation. Or you may really have to pee, or you may already be doing it.
I love Sundays it lets me do silly things. Dream on.
Calamity Politics is an on-line news magazine directed at the politics of the United States. Join us for comment and sarcasm. Join the Resistance.
Dar
The FBI is a world-famous crime fighting organization. It is synonymous with solid professionalism. I have never heard anyone say they didn’t want the FBI working their case after a crime has been committed.
The FBI is like all organizations, imperfect. In the post 9/11 era, its anti-terrorism focus was at times thought to be overzealous, generating complaints from multiple sources including minority communities, and civil libertarians. The fast and loose ways of the J.Edgar Hoover FBI are long gone. The infamous founder of the crime fighting agency was famous for pursuing personal vendettas and agendas. But since FBI Associate Director, Mark Felt was discovered to be “Deep Throat”, the secret source for the Washington’s Post’s insight into the corrupt Nixon administration, a large majority of Americans have viewed the FBI as an honest and neutral bulwark against criminals of all kinds, inside and outside of the government.
Last weekend, in a rush of tweets Trump took aim at targets old and new. Trump criticized the FBI and raised questions about the special prosecutor’s investigation into Russian election meddling and the possible ties to the Trump campaign.
In that storm of tweets, more than a dozen–came after his former NSA, Mike Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. In one of his posts Trump once again denied that he had asked former FBI Director James Comey for a loyalty pledge, or directed him to stop investigating Flynn. Trump called the nation’s top law enforcement agency a biased institution whose reputation was “in Tatters–worst in History!” and urged FBI Director Chris Wray to “clean house.” Trump personally promised in his tweet meltdown to “bring it back to greatness.”
Eric Holder, former FBI Director, tweeted in response, “Nope. Not letting this go. The FBI’s reputation is not in ‘tatters.’ It’s composed of the same dedicated men and women who have always worked there and who do a great, apolitical job. You’ll find integrity and honesty at FBI headquarters and not at 1600 Penn Avenue right now.”
Trump had seized on reports that a veteran FBI counterintelligence agent, Peter Strzok was removed by special counsel Mueller last summer after the discovery of an exchange of text messages that were viewed as potentially anti-Trump. The agent, had also worked on the investigation of Democrat Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.
I stumbled across some statistics from 1900. Mind you, just over a 100 years ago things were very different from today. I thought the information was both amusing, and eye-opening. Check it out.
1) Average life expectancy in USA was 46 years. 2) Fourteen per cent of American homes had a bathtub. Eight per cent had a telephone. 3)Mississippi, Iowa, Tennessee and Alabama all had larger populations than California. 4) There were 8,000 cars and 144 miles of paved roads.5) The average hourly wage in USA was 22 cents and the average worker made between $200-$400 a year. 6) Population of Las Vegas was 30. 7) Ninety per cent of doctors in the USA never attended college.8) The Eiffel Tower was the tallest structure in the world 9) Sugar cost 4 cents a pound, coffee was 15 cents a pound, and eggs were 14 cents a dozen. 10) There was 230 reported murders in the USA. 11) Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Hawaii, and Alaska were not yet states. 12) Only six percent of American adults were high school graduates. Ten percent of adults were illiterate. 13) Most women washed their hair once a month and used egg yolks or borax for shampoo. 14) Ninety five percent of all births took place at home. 15) Leading causes of death in the USA were pneumonia, influenza, tuberculosis, heart disease, diarrhea, and stroke. 16) Eighteen percent of American homes had a full-time servant. 17) Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea hadn’t been invented yet.
Hope you got a laugh or two. Calamity Politics is a progressive on-line news magazine. Join the Resistance. *This list of what was going on in 1900 came from “Uncle John’s Fast-Acting, Long-Lasting Bathroom Reader by the Bathroom Reader’s Institute, 18th Edition.”
Dar
Saturday in the middle of the night the GOP Senate passed a tax reform bill, Trump went psycho on Twitter, an agitated North Korea fired another missile, Kushner was tied to Flynn and Russian Ambassador Kislyak, and a platoon of powerful men were being brought down for sexual harassment.
Hard to imagine, but amidst all these issues, I believe the end of net neutrality in the United States will become the most important, historically. The internet has been the bulwark of much of the country’s economic growth over the last twenty years, in fact, the internet has produced some of the most powerful and richest companies on the planet. Exemplified by Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Amazon.
It has to be admitted that the economic muscle created by the new online giants came at the cost of the brick-and-mortars, the analogs and the manufacturers. This country’s economic fortunes have been dependent on the enormous growth of these internet entrepreneurs and startup companies, which have changed our world, in some ways for the better, and in some ways for the worse.
The internet, the last great libertarian frontier of entrepreneurship, free from government intervention and the constraints of the physical world, is at serious risk. Net Neutrality is about to be cancelled by the FCC, led by Republican chairman Ajit Pai.
Imagine it this way, you now access the internet to view a website, or stream video at pretty much the same speed as everyone else in the United States. The companies that built the internet must treat all traffic exactly the same, no matter where it is headed, or how it got there.
Service providers claim net neutrality is an unfair burden that limits their ability to recoup their development costs. These ISP’s (Internet Service Provider’s) have made significant investments in the online infrastructure, and they want to be allowed to monetize their investment into more revenue and higher dividends for their shareholders.
The FCC Commission is under Republican control, holding 3 of the 5 seats on the panel. If the FCC moves forward, as it keeps signaling it will, the net neutrality rule will be eliminated. If allowed to do so, ISP’s can soon sell a faster connection to certain destinations, for certain customers. For example, Twitter might benefit from that situation. A customer could load their site faster and at a lower cost than you could another site, a site which does not have the financial ability to pay Spectrum or Comcast, or any other ISP for that matter, to give faster (preferred) service to their site.
Across the nation our cities and towns are full of working families, seniors and students who are uninsured or struggling with unmanageable health care costs. Americans spend more money per person on health care than any other industrialized country with worse results.
For many, the lack of access to affordable health care leads to decreased quality of life. It often is choices. The choice of being able to work, or attend school. A choice between food, or medication. For others it boils down to waiting until the health care situation becomes emergent. Sadly, for many it leads to death.
Health care affects all Americans. Whether it affects you, or your neighbor, your sister, your grandmother. Affordable health care crosses traditional boundaries and is one public policy issue that touches us all. It is a unifying thread of need, not of agreement.
The New Deal of Franklin Roosevelt offered new ideas and new solutions for a country without health care and created the first American social safety net. More than eighty years have passed since the first struggles to provide basic health care was initiated in the United States. A lot has happened since the 1930’s but America still is struggling with a realistic view of health care. Public health care policy that serves the most people the most effectively should be the agreed goal.
As I have mentioned in the past it is time we join the countries of the modern world and provide health care for all. Once you decide health care is a human right, not the privilege of a few that are wealthy enough to afford insurance, great movement can take place. Once that thought has been internalized we must take those beliefs to the ballot box. Vote your values and make sure that your elected officials vote our values. We must hold them accountable.
The bill will hurt most Americans. Remember it was passed in the middle of the night, done without hearings, and without time for basic analysis of the economic impact. Central to the bill is the redistribution of income from lower and middle class income families to corporations and business owners.
Corporate tax rate drops to 20%, while ordinary families are “nickle-and-dimed” by a series of tax changes, not one of which is a big deal, but when added together become significant tax increases on at least 75% of middle class taxpayers.
Additionally, ObamaCare will be repealed in such a way as to sharply cut assistance to lower-income families and raise the cost of insurance for many in the middle-income group.
And Lisa Murkowski was bought off with a pledge to open Arctic Wilderness to oil drilling. I just want to barf, and I hope it lands right on her shoes. Social and environmental issues entangled with the tax legislation, really shameful.
This is what the Republican senators accomplished while you were asleep. I guess the rule here is, don’t close your eyes while the Republicans are in control of the government.
Calamity Politics is a progressive on-line news magazine that keeps you up to date on the Washington political scene. Join the Resistance.
Dar
"If puppies and kittens don't make you smile, you might consider therapy." D. S. Mitchell 2015.
Self-isolating has forced us to turn even more to telecommunication and social media.
The Major Cause Of Sex Trafficking Is Poverty
Many great charities, here are a couple that I support: Sierra Club, World Wildlife Fund, ACLU, and Planned Parenthood.
