What nobody else will say about what people are afraid to talk about.

For 5 outspoken issues, I’ve done a lot of preaching about truer values in a truer reality than the one we’re experiencing. We live in an age of mythology. Most of what we believe and idolize is mythical.

Mythology identifies most religions; atheists live in a mythical world too. We live in the myth that we do everything for other reasons than the money; often that’s the only reason we’re doing it. Hell is created to serve a myth. So are the political parties.

Everyone indeed lives their own personal reality. I argue with people all the time who characterize things from their own insulated alternate world, and I’m fascinated at how they might have created it for their own enslavement.

There is one fellow who said Trump is the man who is draining the swamp in D.C. and that includes the media. The media is a swamp? I replied, in good humor.

Journalism is rolling hill country with fields of green and many well-educated philosophers. You could not really qualify in this profession since you can't think objectively on the issues. When you're able to do that, you support the people, not their anti-government propaganda and subterfuge that enslaves you to their credit quagmire so that you work for them.

Government programs managed by the people's public servants will yield more service at less cost than greedy corporations that mark up everything in quest of doubling their money and making you a debt slave. They scream socialist at you and liken you to Stalin's communism. But commies are not socialists, they're autocrats and corporate fascists who take ownership of everything while pretending that they represent equality.

Trump is more like Stalin and Hitler with his power mongering, nationalism, racism, and hatred of the free press, and he isn't a liberal or socialist at all. He is a would-be despot and tyrant who can't get away with it because the country has some laws he is unfamiliar with. Imagine his surprise when the first time he fires someone he is himself in deep shit. Firing ain't gonna work for the Donald any more; he wore out that faux management strategy a long time ago. And, firing people you hired is a sign of your own failures. You were wrong or else you didn’t train or manage them well.

So, that was a good excuse for an educational rant. Another one was when a fellow accused President Obama of weakening our military strength. He’s obviously old school. I replied.

The Obama administration put defense in perspective, withdrew from shit hole wars to minimize loss of life, fight the war with drones and bombs and don't get involved in senseless ground invasions. That's for primitives. Occupation of other countries doesn't work. Maybe it did in primitive times, but I don’t know that it did.

A high percentage of our military expenditures is a total waste of money with no personal benefits to people while enriching the GOP-sucking war industry stocks. And we may not actually need expensive military bases all over the world which ring every nation with our firepower. Why are we here, there and everywhere?

Are we really in such danger that many Americans go needy while we support world dominion. We could bomb any city in the world in 15 minutes but do we need to? Too damned expensive when many Americans struggle to make ends meet and many don't.

It's just too much. 58% of the budget on weapons and resources intended to kill possible enemies and much, much less for social programs that help Americans survive. Where are the enemies that suck all of our budget? Do we need 1,370 nuclear missiles, or some less, given that a half-dozen would launch the end of the world. The enemies are the war industries and their political office holder stock holders. Make war, build income. Instill fear, stir discord, and get into every other country’s business, worldwide.

Once the shooting war has started, they change the subject to honoring, supporting and adoring our heroic soldiers whom they have sent to die or be maimed for life. Stock prices go up. In addition to armaments, they go for coffins, flags and service medals. Such a twisted world … and how about this?

Business Deductions Unavailable for Breadwinners

I got into another rant on the inequality of tax deductions for business expenses.

Meantime, when the rich buy expensive executive suites in stadiums to wine and dine clients, it's all tax deductible. They are starving the government of support to help its health and welfare programs by claiming tax deductibles on billions of dollars as 'business' expenses. They get it all because they control the tax legislation. If it’s a business expense, why don’t they bear it, instead of shielding themselves from responsibility and reducing their taxes?

Million dollar advertising campaigns to polish corporate apples flood the airwaves and intrude even our computer screens with biased information -- and it's all tax deductible advertising expense too. They are, in effect, actually encouraged in their pollution with a tax subsidy, in other words, and we have to listen to geckos, geeks and gosh darned goofs and their incessant selling, selling, selling, selling, never shutting up and all tax deductible. Millions in government lobbying and bribing is encouraged too, because it's also .... tax deductible.

The same godless root of all evil seeks to buy off everyone and every institution with the money they save and hoard and invest in overseas properties. Meantime, ordinary Americans are up to their ears paying for interest alone and by the time you pay for something it's worn out.

I came down hard in another post with other words …

When they entertain rich clients with executive suite buffets and liquor at the ball park, it's all tax deductible. So are the suites themselves. So are the bribes to congress; they are called campaign contributions and deductible as lobbying and PR activities. Every business expense they have is a deduction and the consumers all pay for it at both ends, by paying more taxes, enriching them with interest payments, and higher prices at the stores to pay for their advertising, lobbying etc. I would say they have us all by the throats, even as the politicians try to distract us with other trivial things.

Ironically, there are a lot of fellows out there who hunt and fish to put food on the table. But if they claimed a firearm and ammunition as a necessary expense on the basic business of survival, they would be laughed out of court. They would call it recreation, or sport. If so, then what the hell is major league baseball?

Reality can be twisted to hell and back when there are profits to be made, taxes to be dodged, or a mythology to be supported. Such as Trump’s mythological bubble where he lives.

He will come to be known as the man who Twittered away the presidency. If only he could shut up and listen to people who actually have intelligence in the matter at hand. But, no, he blunders forth like he's headed into his 7th bankruptcy. Actually, he is. And again he will stiff the contractors and rush to change the subject into something that aggrandizes him. When he is forced to resign, he will do so with righteous indignation as to how he has been aggrieved.

I also addressed more of the government-hating rhetoric that has been promoted by the GOP and their “limited” government line for a long time.

Some still worry about the government being a mindless oppressor like in the novel, 1984. I worry instead about the Oligarchs in 2018. Some still read Ayn Rand and feel self-righteous and superior. Others, however, see that this doesn't work and never did. Selfishness is not an art; it's an affliction.

Some still support capitalism because capitalism tells us that it creates jobs. Others see that its basic tenant is to cut jobs and reduce expenses. And if you simply must have to hire humans, get those in the third world who will work cheap and require no health benefits or safe, clean working conditions such as our government regulations require.

Can people really buy into a mythology that the government wants to confiscate people’s guns? No politician would ever support this? This myth was apparently fabricated out of false flag fear, was designed to sell firearms and also maintain an acrimonious anti-federal government fear stance. The deep reason is most likely because the government has instilled an  integrated society and now gives deference to dark-skinned freeloaders and foreigners who could be dangerous. Liberals, they often say, “ain’t got no common sense.”

FORGOTTEN WOMEN

It’s sure a good thing that predators like Harvey Weinstein are out of business and men have been put on notice to keep their hands to themselves. But there are some forgotten women and some other issues involved.

1. When Trump expressed amazement that he could just grab and kiss women and even grope their anatomy, he was noting a reality — that plenty of women would welcome any involvement with him and are anxious to, as they say, ‘sleep their way to the top.’ They were loudly acknowledged as being out there by Trump himself, but apparently no one wants to hear it.

The recent atmosphere may encourage them to back off that approach a little bit. They might be called for it too. Men are on high alert to stay away from these kinds of women who lay traps. They need to get ahead only with their professional talents, not seducing or being seduced. Sex really should be recreational only.

2. Senator Al Franken apparently likes to hit on women. Should he really lose his career over it? Does his excellent record even matter anymore since he tried to pick up women? Is the punishment overboard considering the facts?

The Senate used to censure their members over misconduct, not deliver a career-killing blow for any and all improprieties. Should men avoid any and all contact with women, just stay away from them by knowing that anything out of line could crash their whole career, even years later, like a ticking time bomb? Better by wary; they’ve got weaponry, features that men adore, beauty that men admire, personalities that men want to be with. Beware.

3. Why would those Democratic women team up with the GOP to knock out Al? Was it really supposed to be an example of integrity that might influence Alabama voters to reject Roy Moore, make the Democrats more honorable as a party and draw a contrast? The GOP just wanted this crucial seat, but the Democrats could have saved it by just embarrassing Franken with a censure. No, they went the whole way.

But it’s easier to understand when you know that more than one woman in Minnesota is poised to get that Franken seat. Still Democrat, and now they’ve got a fellow woman too. I think gender may trump politics for them. Gender is personal; politics is fabrication. Another woman in the Senate is a victory for them.

In Quest

A wandering friend of mine just sent this …

I swear the people in this country. I’ve been looking all over the landscape for a new place to live. Day by day, I have visited a new place.

I was in Corrigible and the people seemed so nasty there.

I was in Temperate and they all seemed drunk or stoned.

I was in Discreet and they were making out in the streets.

I was in Describable and I just can’t explain what I saw there.

I  was in Sensitive and people were so rude.

I was in Disputable, a bunch of know-it-alls.

I was in Tolerance but they didn’t seem to like me there.

I was in Sipid and they seemed like sissies.

I was in Trepid and people were running all over the streets, in front of my car.

I was in Animate and everyone seemed to be asleep or catatonic.

I was in Ocuous and no one seemed to notice me anyway, so I settled there.

But the people in my new neighborhood said the deed was in Coherent.

I would have to go to some court in Dictment.

The property ownership was really in Limbo.

They decided it was in Determinate.

I decided these people were like others I knew and disliked, in Sincere.

They thought they were in Violate.

I thought they were in Solent.

I finally went to a place where no one had to deal with all of this.

It was in Applicable. It was near in Operative.

It’s In Diana.

FINALLY ….. I’m known as a flaming liberal but, as John Lennon, said, I’m not the only one.

Here is a piece of LIBERALISM that explains very well what it means. I agree wholeheartedly.

Rick Kleber — January 18 at 1:27pm · Sacramento, CA

I would like all of my right wing, conservative friends and family members to read the following. I borrowed this from my buddy Barry Pearl, who borrowed this from another friend. It explains my views in an even tempered, logical way.

Let's break it down, shall we? Because quite frankly, I'm getting a little tired of being told what I believe and what I stand for. Spoiler alert: Not every Liberal is the same, though the majority of Liberals I know think along roughly these same lines:

1. I believe a country should take care of its weakest members. A country cannot call itself civilized when its children, disabled, sick, and elderly are neglected. Period.

2. I believe healthcare is a right, not a privilege. Somehow that's interpreted as "I believe Obamacare is the end-all, be-all." This is not the case. I'm fully aware that the ACA has problems, that a national healthcare system would require everyone to chip in, and that it's impossible to create one that is devoid of flaws, but I have yet to hear an argument against it that makes "let people die because they can't afford healthcare" a better alternative. I believe healthcare should be far cheaper than it is, and that everyone should have access to it. And no, I'm not opposed to paying higher taxes in the name of making that happen.

3. I believe education should be affordable and accessible to everyone. It doesn't necessarily have to be free (though it works in other countries so I'm mystified as to why it can't work in the US), but at the end of the day, there is no excuse for students graduating college saddled with five- or six-figure debt.

4. I don't believe your money should be taken from you and given to people who don't want to work. I have literally never encountered anyone who believes this. Ever. I just have a massive moral problem with a society where a handful of people can possess the majority of the wealth while there are people literally starving to death, freezing to death, or dying because they can't afford to go to the doctor. Fair wages, lower housing costs, universal healthcare, affordable education, and the wealthy actually paying their share would go a long way toward alleviating this. Somehow believing that makes me a communist.

5. I don't throw around "I'm willing to pay higher taxes" lightly. I'm retired and on a fixed income, but I still pay taxes. If I'm suggesting something that involves paying more, well, it's because I'm fine with paying my share as long as it's actually going to something besides lining corporate pockets or bombing other countries while Americans die without healthcare.

6. I believe companies should be required to pay their employees a decent, livable wage. Somehow this is always interpreted as me wanting burger flippers to be able to afford a penthouse apartment and a Mercedes. What it actually means is that no one should have to work three full-time jobs just to keep their head above water. Restaurant servers should not have to rely on tips, multibillion dollar companies should not have employees on food stamps, workers shouldn't have to work themselves into the ground just to barely make ends meet, and minimum wage should be enough for someone to work 40 hours and live.

7. I am not anti-Christian. I have no desire to stop Christians from being Christians, to close churches, to ban the Bible, to forbid prayer in school, etc. (BTW, prayer in school is NOT illegal; *compulsory* prayer in school is - and should be - illegal). All I ask is that Christians recognize *my* right to live according to *my* beliefs. When I get pissed off that a politician is trying to legislate Scripture into law, I'm not "offended by Christianity" -- I'm offended that you're trying to force me to live by your religion's rules. You know how you get really upset at the thought of Muslims imposing Sharia law on you? That's how I feel about Christians trying to impose biblical law on me. Be a Christian. Do your thing. Just don't force it on me or mine.

8. I don't believe LGBT people should have more rights than you. I just believe they should have the *same* rights as you.

9. I don't believe illegal immigrants should come to America and have the world at their feet, especially since THIS ISN'T WHAT THEY DO (spoiler: undocumented immigrants are ineligible for all those programs they're supposed to be abusing, and if they're "stealing" your job it's because your employer is hiring illegally). I'm not opposed to deporting people who are here illegally, but I believe there are far more humane ways to handle undocumented immigration than our current practices (i.e., detaining children, splitting up families, ending DACA, etc).

10. I don't believe the government should regulate everything, but since greed is such a driving force in our country, we NEED regulations to prevent cut corners, environmental destruction, tainted food/water, unsafe materials in consumable goods or medical equipment, etc. It's not that I want the government's hands in everything -- I just don't trust people trying to make money to ensure that their products/practices/etc. are actually SAFE. Is the government devoid of shadiness? Of course not. But with those regulations in place, consumers have recourse if they're harmed and companies are liable for medical bills, environmental cleanup, etc. Just kind of seems like common sense when the alternative to government regulation is letting companies bring their bottom line into the equation.

11. I believe our current administration is fascist. Not because I dislike them or because I can’t get over an election, but because I've spent too many years reading and learning about the Third Reich to miss the similarities. Not because any administration I dislike must be Nazis, but because things are actually mirroring authoritarian and fascist regimes of the past.

12. I believe the systemic racism and misogyny in our society is much worse than many people think, and desperately needs to be addressed. Which means those with privilege -- white, straight, male, economic, etc. -- need to start listening, even if you don't like what you're hearing, so we can start dismantling everything that's causing people to be marginalized.

13. I am not interested in coming after your blessed guns, nor is anyone serving in government. What I am interested in is sensible policies, including background checks, that just MIGHT save one person’s, perhaps a toddler’s, life by the hand of someone who should not have a gun. (Got another opinion? Put it on your page, not mine).

14. I believe in so-called political correctness. I prefer to think it’s social politeness. If call you Chuck and you say you prefer to be called Charles I’ll call you Charles. It’s the polite thing to do. Not because everyone is a delicate snowflake, but because as Maya Angelou put it, when we know better, we do better. When someone tells you that a term or phrase is more accurate/less hurtful than the one you're using, you now know better. So why not do better? How does it hurt you to NOT hurt another person?

15. I believe in funding sustainable energy, including offering education to people currently working in coal or oil so they can change jobs. There are too many sustainable options available for us to continue with coal and oil. Sorry, billionaires. Maybe try investing in something else.

16. I believe that women should not be treated as a separate class of human. They should be paid the same as men who do the same work, should have the same rights as men and should be free from abuse. Why on earth shouldn’t they be?

I think that about covers it. Bottom line is that I'm a liberal because I think we should take care of each other. That doesn't mean you should work 80 hours a week so your lazy neighbor can get all your money. It just means I don't believe there is any scenario in which preventable suffering is an acceptable outcome as long as money is saved.

THANKS to the writer and all those who have passed these ideas along.

Fire Ax Issue 6