FOLLOW THE OWL?

As it wings Deeper and Deeper into the Dark, searching for Light

I was born in the middle of the country; in those flat lands where the three great rivers meet.  There, great story-tellers like Mark Twain and Walt Disney were also born, and it is reported that they learned their story-telling skills from the old slave-descendents  they knew.  I am a descendent from former slaves; although, by today's standards my Great-grandmother would not be taken as such, because as the saying goes, she was "whiter than Nancy Reagan".  Only in America (or the Americas, more correctly) is this phenomenon so common.

I've lived long enough, it seems, for research in the field of psychology to catch up with what many people on my side of the color line have known for centuries.  The current copy of Reason  magazine carries an article entitled: Born This Way?.  Check it out, and you may, as I have, find the article fascinating and enlightening.  I wrote a paper for my first college course in pyschology in 1961.  A lot has changed in the practice and understanding of psychology since then. But, as the article notes, "the human mind is a story processor, not a logic processor."

THE OWL attempts to use story-telling as a technique to permit the reader to delve deeper and think more about the various subjects covered; always from a viewpoint from the dark side of the dark/white divide that persists in the world today.

The author of the Reason  article visits many of the topics I included in my 1972 Master's Thesis.  He fails to realize, however that buried in what he describes as the religious, "sanctity" element lies the grand design for white supremacy.  That Rubicon is almost never crossed in academic or popular writing.  Most topics broached for public consumption are approached so as to appease and appeal to the typical white reader, viewer, and listener.

The sad outcome, from a psychological view, is that people who clearly are not white and don't benefit from the global color divide, nevertheless become trapped into accepting views from the white side because of a child-like, un-questioning acceptance of the southern version of Christianity in the U.S.  This phenonomenon produces freaks who behave in ways not in their self interest.  Jews in Nazi camps, known as "Sonderkommandos assisted the Nazis.  They received favorable treatment,  but most of them faced death anyway.

As I noted in the 1961 paper for my psychology class, psychologists provide their services only to those who can afford it.  At that time, it rarely benefitted non-whites.  They have had to rely on the music they invented to console and heal themselves.

The music seems to have done an astounding job; but more learning and insight by all will help us find a way forward from our present circumstance.

MONEY & THE VOTE

Have you ever sold your vote? To Whom? For How Much?

In the run-up to the 1984 election, I went along with my daughter, then a private school student, as she completed an assignment to door-to-door canvass for the Mondale/Ferraro candidacy.  We worked neighborhoods in the Palos Verdes/Rolling Hills section of Los Angeles, and participated in election calls from offices there.  We called only those voters who voted Democrat in the 1980 election.  The negative responses we received were fierce! 

In a discussion with a wealthy oil executive who was also volunteering, I was told that there existed a "price tag" for every political office in the United States.  Turns out he was right.  But I remained puzzled as to how the votes in elections were "bought".  I knew that most voters were not aware of the belief that money determined election outcomes.  Most of the volunteers were not rich, although they were also not poor.  Since then, we've all learned that "money is the mothers-milk of politics" in the United States.

If all this is true, isn't it high time we get a strict accounting of every penney paid, to whom, how it is spent, who gets rich, and what is the origin of every cent.  But, we don't do much of any of this.  We just resign oursevles to the status quo.

Where is the liberty, democracy, or freedom in all of this?  It's clear to see where the market is in this process.  Somehow, we've silently and passively "privatized" democracy and it has become the sole purview of the very rich. 

Citizens United, handiwork of our Supreme Court, comes to mind in this matter, but that wasn't around in 1984.  It appears that this ruling only amped up a process that was already in existence.

It's claimed that all of this money goes to television and other media, and they cite the Kennedy/Nixon contest of 1960 as the beginning of the phenomenon.  That presidential race is also cited for the stark change in the function of political parties in the United States.

There was the "Bear in the Woods" commercial that Reagan ran in that election.  That election was also the first presidential election with a woman on the ticket.  Reagan, using Lee Atwater, skillfully ran a media campaign that had both anti-woman and anti-black themes.  Remember the "Welfare Queen"?  

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2012

Looks like "The Supremes" are at it again!

Forty years ago, I wrote my Master's Thesis entitled "American Values In Black and White" in which

I took Public Administrators to task for their failure to use their public positions (any position paid directly by public funding) to combat institutional racism.  I used Supreme Court cases to establish the basis in law for my conclusions.   In one case, Plessy v. Ferguson, the Court, in explicit language, described race law in our country and how they viewed the justice of such law.  At a minimum, our Justices, and other public officials are required to uphold and defend the Constitution; accurately interpreting and implementing its provisions, to provide equal justice to our citizens.

In Bush v. Gore, the Court intervened in a presidential election; and thereby undermined both the Constitutional requirements of separation of powers and the requirement to have disputed presidential elections decided in the House of Representatives.  The following eight years of the regime the Court ushered in has cost our country dearly in both lives and treasure.  The grief from their actions will linger long; as we struggle into the 21st Century.

Now, in the name of reviewing the constitutionality of the Affordable Health Care Law passed by Congress, the Court is striking at the Commerce Clause of the Constitution.  If they rule in favor of the attempts of many interests to gut this Clause, the national divisions, already achieved by the right wing, will combine to destroy the unity of the United States.  The Secession, formerly attempted and failed, by the southern states will thereby be avenged and we will return to the days of  Peonage, for everyone; except, perhaps, for the top 1% .

2012 is reputed to be the year when "The World Ends"!  It's beginning to look like the world of the average citizen may be about to come to an end.  The Mayan Calendar, reported to predict this end, was the product of a culture the Conquistadors and Catholic Priests took great pains to eradicate 520 years ago.  1492 is regarded by some as the year when the raw capitalism of Europe destroyed then- existing cultures throughout the Americas hemisphere.

It could also be true that the Court is attempting once again to interfere in the 2012 presidential election. This time, before it takes place.  Jim Baker told Charlie Rose last night that the patterns of redistricting have divided this country in such a way that "there is no middle left".  In this situation, close elections will be easy to "fix".   Unchecked power will devolve to state legislatures.  The 2000 election debacle revealed that the U.S. voter was wrong to believe that the popular vote determined the outcome of our presidential elections.  It was revealed that the Constitution permits state legislatures to deny the vote to any of its citizens.  The state legislatures have the power to vote their state electors to the Electoral College without reflecting the choices of  their citizenry.

Citizens United, again, handiwork of this Supreme Court, permits funds from any undisclosed source to be used to elect the President of the United States.  All of these actions appear to weaken and undermine the protection of the U.S. Citizen.  Clarence Thomas, handiwork of Poppa Bush, has been there for everything since 1991.  He and Scalia are now joined by Alito and Roberts, who replaced O'Connor and Rehnquist  (involved in Bush v. Gore).

Is this Paranoia or Sanity?  Is there a difference in this situation?

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"FROM CHALK TO CHARCOAL"

OR

From "Colored" to "African-American"

Talking heads in the media say we need to "have a serious dialog on race in this country".  So far, only a few white commentators have discussed this topic; usually with other whites.  I contend, especially after the Trayvon Martin incident, that it is more important that a serious conversation take place between persons of all colors; but especially among the various shades of non-whites.  It would, at a minimum, make it more difficult for the white right to pit us against each other.  Non-white/non-white dialog will be difficult to achieve because whites in the media hog the megaphone and call the shots behind the scenes to limit the scope and direction of race dialog.  Their presence is detectable, even in what non-whites can say in the media.

Thanks to technology, those of us over 70 can record our experiences and leave them behind in the minds of younger generations.  When I was born, my birth certificate read "Negro" for race.  This was years before Dick Nixon forced his  five OMB boxes on the American people to divide us racially.  Because segregation forced us together despite skin shade, we existed in a group (even as  a community) that claimed membership of every non-white; "from chalk to charcoal" regardless of skin shade.  That no longer exists.  It is a serious mistake to think this nation is somehow "post-racial" or "post-blackness".

In the days of forced segregation under custom and law; at federal, state, and local levels (1867-1954); it was the government that held non-whites in a condition of economic, social, political and legal Hell.  This legal status was necessary to enforce the Peonage systems that re-enslaved portions of the U.S. citizenry.  This period in our history began with President Rutherford B. Hayes (one of the notorious Ohio presidents) who brought on the collapse of Reconstruction and the rise of the KKK,  Jim Crow, Peonage, Lynching, and Segregation.  Presidents like Woodrow Wilson and Teddy Roosevelt were activist supporters of this dismal phase in our history.  Not until President Theodore Roosevelt did serious steps to end Peonage take place.

My time as an officer in the military (1962-1982) included a period of intense racial strife in the U.S. services.  I met many service members from every part of the country; although the military membership was, and still is, biased toward the deep south.  My most memorable conversations took place with white ethnics who explained how their groups progressed economically and socially and wondered why Blacks, Natives, and Hispanics did not follow the path that white ethnics took to improve their conditions.  Black service-members were unified in their view of race relations in the military in terms of white/non-white relations; but there was much less agreement as to genuine non-white/non-white relations.  "Crabs in a bucket" was the phrase most often heard then.

Integration laws and policies, which entered our history with Harry Truman's edict to integrate the military in 1948, were the water-shed that abruptly separated attitudes about skin color within the non-white groups in this country.  The "consensus" that existed prior to integration disappeared following the riots in the late 1960's. 

Lee Atwater and Karl Rove took over this phenomenon and demonstrated the economic and political power of playing on the racial tensions within and between the races in the United States.  What we have now is a political party hell-bent on using the confusions on race to ensure the continuation of southern-white-male control of public dialog.  Fox News has found it to be a gold mine.

Perhaps the Internet provides the only media channel that can be used to start race dialogs - in all directions.

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XTRA! XTRA!

Latest from the Chronicles of the "Death of Law and Order"

Have you heard?  The white media now has thrown Zimmerman under the bus!  They now report that Zimmerman is not white, he's  Hispanic!  Woe unto those Hispanics, especially in Florida, who dream of being considered white.  During my two-year sojourn in Miami (Moms Mabley used to call it "they-Ami"), a young black scholarship applicant I interviewed told me that the state of Florida plans their number for new prison beds by the number of black males in Florida who fail their standard reading tests in third grade.  Whether its what happened to Trayvon or a life behind bars, there lies Florida "justice" for young black males.  Jeb can take pride in that along with his pride in the "Stand Your Ground" law he signed.

The Republicans are now willing to stoke their fires of race and Obama hatred with their treasured log named "Law and Order".  Vote for these clowns and you will have a future of vigilante law and no order!

Beginning with Reagan, (or was it Poppa Bush?) and Lee Atwater, on to "W" and wedge-master Rove, this country is being splintered beyond belief.  What a kick-off to the 21st century.  Anyone remember "I'm a Unite-er, not a Divider"??

But don't blame the Repoobs, blame demographics!  The GOP knows (and has known for a quarter century) that time does not favor them.  People are living longer (causing all kinds of problems in industry and government).   But the wrong color people are prevailing in the United States.  Add  the wrong color of immigrants coming across and flying in from our  borders and you get the "batsh*t" you hear on white/right media and you see on Fox "News"!

Wake up folks, the clock is ticking!


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DENIAL

"Denial Ain't just a River in Africa"

Oh No!  Say it ain't so, Geraldo!  You didn't just blame the victim in the Trayvon Martin shooting.  Talk about blaming the victim!!  How can a sane mind come up with such crap!  Crediting the above quote to the rock tune, I also credit Bill Mahr for stating that Denial of Race is the new Racism. 

After 500 years of global psychological animus against persons of color, it seems the burden is too great to deal with racism only in the United States.  That makes sense, when you realize that the attitudes and beliefs came here by boat with early immigration; limited by law in the beginning to free white persons.  They found African slaves here, arriving a couple of years before the Mayflower.  Both the slaves and the white immigrants arrived on our shores 300 years after the trans-Atlantic slave trade was invented by Catholic clerics and the Pope to solve labor problems associated with digging gold and silver in Mexico.  

They devised the most immoral, heinous, degrading, and wealth-producing system mankind has witnessed.  The Roman slave system was benign compared to what that bunch created in Mexico in the early 1500's.  Governments, private corporations, and NGO's  are even today devising ways to continue the rape of Africa; which began around the time of the sailing of Columbus.

It's perhaps another example of the arrogance of U.S. citizens to think they can, alone, make a global condition disappear.  Religions of varying stripes keep banging the drums on the centuries-old color theme.  Witness the clown show in the deep South the Republicans call their Presidential Primary.

Fox News can take a bow; it strikes again!

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HELP!

God Help Us All!

The name of Trayvon Martin will probably go down in history along-side that of Emmett Till.  In this early part of the 21st century, that's a chilling thought!  Emmett was a year or less younger that I was on that day in th 1950's.  My father reinforced his message to me and to my brothers as to how to behave around white people; warning us of bodily harm or death in that part of Pettis County.  It was a daily burden to stay alert.  I had years before been called the N-word by the local sheriff for walking on the white side of the tracks on my way to work (for $0.26 per hour).  Those were the days when Peonage was still in effect in that part of Missouri.  We knew that "The Law" was not there to protect us, but as a threat to us.

I strongly recommend that you see the movie "The Help", if you haven't already.  Although Hollywood treated Peonage with it's typical saccharine, you can plainly see how every white person benefitted from the system.  We now live with the economic and psychological effects, on both sides of the color line, as well as lasting economic benefits on the white side.  The 2008 collapse of our economy and its accompanying massive unemployment provides cover to circumvent laws against hiring discrimination by skin color and age, as well as selective layoffs.

There is an old saying that God helps those who help themselves.  All U.S. citizens, of all colors, can take steps to put an end to the use of law to commit theft, rape, and murder.  We can look with renewed scrutiny at every person in law enforcement, the writing of laws, and the judiciary.  There are legal means of impeaching, or firing bad actors.

There has been tremendous change since the 1950's in the ability of blacks and other minorities to take charge of their own voice and image.  The Media, although strongly imbalanced by the megaphones of the Right, does provide visibility and awareness of the realities-of-life for minorities in the United States.  Citizens of all colors will benefit by insuring that equal access and equal opportunity are real and not just bumper stickers for the gullible.  Nobody gains in the long run from the continuation of these practices that have been in effect since this country was founded.

Finally, although the 1960's decisions by blacks to take to the streets in demonstrations, worked at that time, it's questionable whether minorities can continue to ignore the economic impact of current government and social policies.  Voting, boycotting the products and services of offenders, paying attention to who the bad actors and actions are, are just some of the steps we can all take.  Public naming and shaming are effective against the ability of prominent talking heads and politicians to blatantly lie to us in their pursuit of power.

It's long past time to help ourselves!

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THE WATCHERs

OR

"Trying to Make it Real"

In the 1970's, Les McCann and Eddie Harris recorded a song entitled "Compared to What?"  It is a protest song about the Vietnam War.  Most of the things they cite in the lyrics plague us much worse today and the lyrics appear timeless.  Abortion, gender tensions, basic inhumanity, inability and unwillingness to take action in our governance, are cited in the lyrics; along with "war".

I contend this is so because U.S. citizens have become a nation of "Watchers" who spend the time when they not sleeping "watching" T.V., I-Phones, game devices, and computer screens.  Because the information received is piped directly to the brain, the reasoning senses are short-circuited.  There is no processing that comes from listening, imagining, thinking, or discussion.

Dismantling of our education curriculum also comes in for its share of blame.  In the 1950's, required early undergraduate college courses included a semester each of writing, speaking, listening, and grammar.  That disappeared in the 1960's for most college students because the spoiled baby-boomers found grammar to be "too hard".

We've always been a nation of 6th-grade level citizenry and our advertising and television fare are adequately dumbed down to that level.  Somehow, my grandmother, who had a 6th grade education was far more aware, skeptical, shrewd, and wise than the average listener, reader, voter, and buyer we have today.  Seventy-Six million "mind-conditioned-to-consume" baby boomers are responsible for much of it also.

In the 1970's I clipped a full page drawing from Esquire Magazine   that imagined what a typical male worker of the computerized future would look like.  It had a large head, skinny neck, was a stooped shouldered, pot-bellied, spindly-legged guy with long arms, knuckles dragging the floor, and long skinny fingers.  I've since misplaced the drawing, but that image continues to haunt my memory.  The only thing that I would correct is the butt.  It is huge on most citizens today.

The health of our children is gravely impacted by the amount of watching they do in a waking day.  It has become the activity of choice for babysitting, educating, pacifying, rewarding or punishing, and "relaxation".  Most watchers also eat while watching.  No wonder our children are diabetic and obese.

Young boys are especially impacted because they disproportionately watch and manipulate game devices.  The performance in schools of young boys in the United States began slipping behind that of young girls in the 1980's and has spiraled down ever since. Poor teaching practices are mostly to blame for this, however.

It is said that 90% of what the brain processes enters through the eyes.  Humans have to work with the ears, imagination, and speech to provide the brain assistance as it processes information. We do that by researching, listening, communicating carefully, thinking, and providing feedback. These activities enable the brain to better process what it is fed through the eyes.

The numbing/dumbing process has proceeded to the point where politicians don't have to work hard at all to get voters to swallow their lies.  They now have the power to over-ride what the eyes "see", and the ears have lost all power to correct for misinformation.

Don't-cha THINK?

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DEATH OF DEMOCRACY? Is it time for all of us to BLAST, not just ROCK the Vote?

2012 is more likely to signal the end of Democracy than the end of the world.  The United States, which claims to be the "Beacon of Democracy" for the World", is under attack by interest groups invested in weakening/starving/strangling democracy, both in our legislatures and our courts.

Taken together, they represent a steady progression toward replacing "One Person, One Vote" in the United States with a turn toward government by Corporate and Big Money Interests.

"Citizens United" is something every citizen of this country should become very familiar with ... it's facts AND its impact!  This is a dagger at the heart of Democracy as we've known it throughout our history.

Coming at the same time as the rise and dominance of financial and corporate power in the economy of the United States, the impact of the court's ruling is toxic to our Democracy.

The concerted attack in more than a majority of our state legislatures to bring back devious instruments of voter denial/suppression and to enshrine them in law, extends older methods of color-based voter denial to all citizens of  our nation.  Every public official involved in these efforts should be named and shamed publicly in our newspapers, on television, and in all organizations that  truly seek the expansion and enabling of democracy.

The party that represents both,   "money",  and corporate interests in the 2012 election in the United States should be called out and exposed for its attacks on democracy.  Those who are not familiar, should learn of the time when Germans, a proud Democracy, voted for "money" and corporate interests and for a party dedicated to destroy democracy.  What we face in 2012 is, in no way, politics as usual.

One comment from a participant in the "Arab Spring" demonstrations in the square in Cairo was to the effect that they succeeded because they got the television-watching couch potatoes involved.  We need to wake up our couch potatoes, help them to pull their heads out of the T.V. , or elsewhere, and take action immediately to save our Democracy.

Demographics, Technology, and concentration of Wealth have combined to create a toxic stew that will destroy everything in its path -- jobs, personal freedoms, and our Constitution.

Technology permits a "social media" approach to politics that isolates every interest group for inoculation from the awareness of the threat they face and to trick them to either vote against their interests or not vote.  Suppression tactics await those who try to vote.  If you're old, young, black, white, some color in between, rich, poor, north, south, east, west, religious, not religious, female, male, Hispano or Ingles -- all of these are "frogs in the same tub" as the heat rises imperceptibly.

So, make sure you CAN vote, make sure you DO vote in 2012, and TELL YOUR FRIENDS!

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