Possible US and Iran Accords

President Obama received a phone call from President Ruhani of Iran this morning, and he got time on ABC coverage to talk about it, from the Press briefing room.  But Bill Handel has joined the chorus of saying that Assad and Putin have both been playing President Obama like a violin lately.  Bill noted that it was cleaver to use these chemical weapons as a distraction.  Today the UN ceased control of these dangerous chemicals, most of which had not even been activated.   Bill sees the overall message as one of affirmation that it’s OK for Assad to kill as many of his own citizens as he wants – just as long as he doesn’t use chemical weapons.  Bill noted that the last figure of 110,000 total dead- - has been the figure used for weeks- - and it’s as though coverage of further violence by Assad is pushed off the air waves in a classic case of “Out of sight, out of mind”.   Others think the President is masterful for averting war.  But basically the president has averted nothing.  He just allowed Putin to steal the spotlight from him on this issue getting a rare chance to play the good guy in the eyes of the world.

The democratic senate voted out a “clean continuing resolution” bill by the comfortable vote of 54 to 44.   Apparently the bill to cut off debate was 79 for it.  This along with attacks from his own party should go a long way tword making Speaker Boehner feel encircled.  I thought of the notion that if government does shut down, then we won’t be spending that much money.  This will have the effect of pushing back the mid October deadline date for the default on the national debt.  The President says that he’s perfectly willing to look into making improvements in the Affordable Care Act, but it must be done through the proper channels and not through blackmail.  You will remember that Republicans couldn’t keep from calling it the “Obama Sequester”.  Perhaps now this repeat performance will jog their memory as to who really is responsible for the Sequester.  But I don’t think it bothers these right wingers one bit being caught in a lie.  Of course now they have a whole elaborate list of demands that the President must meet to avoid a government shutdown.  Obviously they aren’t even attempting to rationalize it as a Deficet issue- - since the deficit has almost been cut in half over the past three years.  So now they have a whole new list of demands.  These include final approval of the Canadian pipeline, and the elimination of a lot of EPA regulations, and the opening up of federal lands to oil exploration and drilling.  In addition they want the usual tax breaks for the rich. And also a dismanteling of Banking regulations that was passed two congresses back.  The whole idea of negotiation under such circumstances - - is about as blatant as a daylight bank robbery.

The Lodi news reports that - - after a minor argument between the Dodger and Giant fans outside a bar- - one or more of the Dodger people pursued the Giants fans and jumped them, and a worse struggle insued.  And the guy who ended up using a knife was first hit over the head with a chair.  I’m not buying this bit about “This guy wouldn’t hurt anybody”.   But it should be no reflection at all on any Baseball Stadium since the altercation took place several blocks away.

Bill Handel is not at all happy about all these violent prisoners- - serial murderors and sex offenders - -being loosed upon our streets in compliance with the US Supreme Court mandate.  Bill says that “There should be a major epidemic of I Pad thefts if that happens”.  I don’t know if Bill knew that in fact there has been a major I Pad theft today.  Logic would dictate just as David Cruise says- - that the money should not have gone for I Pads that cost several hundred dollars each, apparently handed out to grammar school kids or something - - because as David says “A tool is only as valuable as the experience of the one using it”.   Clearly the money could have been better spent in countless ways.  Perhaps improved school busses - - or more teachers, or air conditioning for kids that don’t yet have it.  Maybe Judy is right.  If there is any money to spend, it won’t be saved for when you really need it, but it will be squandered on literally anything, just to use it up, so they can ask for more.  Speaking of crime- - David Cruise says that cops routinely stop and frisk kids gathered together in groups of more than three.  They pat them down and have them sit on the curb with their hands behind their heads, and pelt them with questions.  If this actually works, maybe it isn’t a bad idea.  Logic would dictate that it would “nip the gang influence in the bud”.  David is afraid this treatment by the police will get the kids used to early the idea that “they are criminals” and if you tell someone they are a criminal consistently- - he will begin to ACT like a criminal, and this would be counter-productive.

I have already posted and decided not to include any of my special type of “cosmic stuff” but I'm in edit again because people need to go with inspirations once they get them.  Even Father Eric, as dense as he is, can have a "sudden jarring enlightenment" with the right interactional stimulation of conversation in the room.  I will do a brief treaties now on the idea of “inside’ verses “outside”.   It’s kind of a distinction between knowing ABOUT somebody and KNOWING the person himself because you have lived right along with them and shared common struggles.  A dissertation on the distinction from looking at a hell hole from the inside, as opposed to looking at it from the outside- - when it no longer has power over you.  People give out of compulsion or because they feel “it’s the right thing” even though it’s basically the last thing they want to do- - in my book should receive more honor from God in the Afterlife- - than someone who does of it of their own unfettered free will.  Because they have a choice, and once you’ve ever been “On the Inside” you don’t know what a blessed luxury having a Choice about something really is.  The guy in the Arlo Guthrie skit in the Army psych interview who just wants to join up so he can kill people- - is not as virtuous as someone who is drafted- - when they had a lot of other plans for their life.  Since Jesus can never know what it’s like to be trapped in such a way, either by emotional or legal blackmail or some overt physical threat- - then it can never be said that he suffered the way a Man suffers.  (Selah)  It's absurd for Man to say "If you were really religious you'd see yourself the way God sees you".  In that case I'd be God.  The wonder is NOT why we don't see things the way "God' sees us, but how "God" himself can be so daft that - - he is incapable of AWARENESS of the fact that we mortals are affected by Time and cause and effect.  I see no virtue on God's apparent lack of empathy for Man on this issue.  Though Pastors find virtue in the idea that since God is a Monday morning quarterback (but only after the fact and never before when it counts) that somehow we ALL would be better if we adopted this "apathy" of God on this one issue of - - Time, - and also to the fact that we're limited and mortals and can't do everything.  We certainly can't get "IT" done all at once, and we cant go back and re-arrange the past to make it easier for us to do it.  You know scripture says of Jesus that 'Jesus always had the very nature of God, but never considered equality with God a thing to be grasped or sought after".  If that statement is really true - - then it doesn't matter whether or not whether we worship Jesus as Divinity because he doesn't Care.  (Selah) 

  

Some UN commission has issued a new report saying that it is “Extremely likely” that global warming is manmade.  But others will point to the claim that 1998 was the hottest year of all time on the planet.  If this is so how come they keep issuing reports that “Six of the past ten years have been the hottest years on the planet ever” or whatever.   Rush Limbaugh and all the rest of them, contend that the whole thing is a politically generated hoax designed to - - I don’t know boost Al Gore in the Presidential polls or something.  So many of the rationalizations of the far right are wearing really thin.  They used to say the United States had a weak foreign policy.  They used to say that the deficit was growing.  They used to claim that any day now we would have simotaniously runaway inflation and a collapsed economy.  They used to claim that their sexual morals were superior to the average liberal.  They used to claim that they wanted our military to be properly equipped.  They used to claim that what separated them from the left is that they had an inherently deeper love of country than the left.  But now they are stripped of the ability to make any of these claims.  They don’t have the senate behind them.  They have to face the fact that two Presidential elections and a U S Supreme Court ruling and the fact that the Affordable Care Act is standing law and has been for three and a half years already.   Now all they want to do is take food and government programs away from the poor and raid pension funds, and garnish government worker’s salaries so they can pay more in ‘Hedge fund” fees, as if somehow government’s sole reason for existence was to make a profit and not serve the people.