Each of us Determines "What is Moral for Us"

I’d like to talk a little about the plight of newly graduated College Students.  I always paid whatever token fees there were for my own Education in cash.  I never borrowed the money from anybody.   But today such a scenario is just not possible.  California used to be the envy of the rest of the country.  We in this country therefore need to have a major conversation about the topic Dick Derbin raised yesterday in Congress about all of these government college loans for one of these “for profit” Private Colleges that advertize and suck you in with on line ads that promise applicants the moon and then don’t deliver.  Often they will have such deceptive names as “The United States military institute” and yet their credits are not even recognized by the military branches.   As we said above, you can’t even declare bankruptcy to get out of paying these high interest loans but are kind of financially ruined for a long time- - even if you think you have the education to get a good job.   It would seem that the government should not be “wasting” their limited resources in throwing good money after a bad education.  But yesterday some High Court ruled that student athletes can be Unionized.  This to me is completely absurd since after all they are just students and technically the “extra curricular activities’ are only an adjunct to their “Higher Education”.   The idea that most players expect to make it into the NFL is kind of hoping against hope.  All of the issues raised by people like Ed Schultz in this unionization debate are irrelevant because- - there is no “professional consideration”.  It’s not like the students sign an employment contract for pay.  Putting the colleges in the position of having the big guns of labor right there on Campus could really styfle their activities.   The hours put in by these football athletes is immaterial.  I thought the idea was that it was considered an honor to represent their school the way they do, and give it their all for their particular college.

President Obama yesterday asked for a mere two weeks more time for applicants to get covered in Obama Care extending the March 31^st deadline.  The way I look at it they should get at least the whole month of April and why don’t they make it till Mother’s Day?   I’m not sure why the conservatives are so boisterous in their Objections to any extension or bending of the rules of any kind.  It’s not like they voted for it, or can now say “This is not what I voted for” because THEY didn’t vote for it.   Stephanie Miller takes exception to the idea that Democrats should throw in the towel right now because both the House and the Senate are lost causes in 2014.  It all depends on the success of the Affordable Care Act, and I’m sure that John Boehner knows this.  He expresses “concern about a problem” all the well wanting there to BE a problem- - anything that could come along and sabotage the entire Affordable Care Act.  It was pointed out that polls are not always right and opinions can shift markedly in an election year, and that declaring a DOA is entirely premature at this point not even out of March yet with over seven months to go before we vote.  In point of fact the vast majority of the people actually agree with basic democratic issues when the polling questions are put in non partisan terms.  So it would seem to me that all our side has to do to win pretty easily is for all the people in these polls to just get out and vote in November.  I continue to believe that women’s issues are our Ace in the Hole.  Because women may be flexible on a lot of issues but one thing where women stand firm is their “Rights over their own bodies” and I think Democratic candidates for both the House and the US Senate need to exploit these women’s rights issues to the max.  Even employ a little fear if you have to saying if we get a Republican Senate the next Associate Justice of the Supreme Court just might be the one to overturn Roe verses Wade.   And no matter how the High Courts decides on this “Religious Rights for Corporations’ issue- - get women involved as active protesting partisans for their cause, and bring along their friends, too.

The attorney for Governor Christie issued his "report" on his "findings" about whether his client, the New Jersey governor was culpable or not, and of course the attorney says he was not involved in any way but that Wildstein organized the whole thing himself.   Ed Schultz made a decision in January not to come to any hard judgements about the situation because facts in these cases have ways of trickeling out slowly.  There is no doubt on my mind that Christie is guilty as sin, and personally as a talk show host I would not be bashful about saying so.  But Ed isn't me and I respect this personal decision of his.  I had the “Today” show on actually after breakfast for most of that hour, now that I think of it.  Fleetwood Mac is planning a come-back and Christie Mc Vey is rejoining the group for the first time in fifteen years, since 1998.   So now all is well with the Cosmos once again.  (I think that must be an Andromadan expression)   I think things will be “well” with the stock market this year and I’m still predicting a pre election rally in October, when I suspect that an outbreak of “satisfaction” with Obama for perhaps the first time may break out.   I just don’t see any way the markets will be headed downward short of World War III breaking out.  We express concern for the threats of Vladimir Putin - - but I don’t see any crisis coming to a head on this issue this year.  It may well be one of those issues where we just kick the can down the road.   Of course people have a legitimate reason to BE concerned.   Because that treaty of 1994 was violated.  In this treaty Ukraine surrendered all their Nuclear weapons to Russia in exchange for a pledge to never question the integrity of the Ukrainian borders or their sovereignty.  Nobody at the time questioned this treaty which was signed by Ukraine, Britain, Russia, and the United States under Clinton.   Now yesterday John Mc Cain and Lindsey Graham had that little “dialog” in the Senate with some lady from Maine, who personally was in the Ukraine.  And of course if you get one “personal testimony” that means “Everybody” feels that way.  So she could have us believe that “No the people of Crimea are concerned about Ukraine losing its sovereignty.   This of course is a prime gimmick of Presidential State of the Union addresses to have someone stand up in the audience and have everyone applaud them, while they tell their particular store serving the President’s interest.   It just seems funny to me how virtually the whole world can agree with the Rightness of something- - and still nobody does anything about it.

People who live their lives "for God" do themselves no karmic favor.  Living "for" anyone other than yourself is self defeating even from a karmic perspective.  You don't owe "God" or any "other" human being because THEY don't "Pay the bills" so to speak, and will not be subjected to the karmic judgement that You alone are liable for.  It's the karmic version of "The buck stops here".

Some of you may wonder how I feel about being pressured to give to a cause for which you are told “It’s good for your karma” or to get a better seat in heaven or something.   As you know I received a revelation about a month ago I told my blog readers about to the effect that “We are the best determiners of our own moral values and what is truly Good”.   This sounds like a precept right out of the Church of Satan.  Not to “give the devil his due” or anything but- - if that revelation is a correct one, then in truth what can be a “Good deed” if YOU do it may NOT be a good deed if someone else does it.  I would say that in things like donating, even sacrificially to good causes, that if you look back on it later and say “I’m glad I did that” then it was a good thing.  So then is there merit in giving to a Cause you may NOT agree with but someone TELLS you that you SHOULD be enthusiastically supporting of - - is there any merit in THAT?  My answer is- a qualified Yes.  Because even giving to a cause you really don’t believe in, or are dubious of- - is of merit in the sense that it shows “Compliant willingness to help your brother”.   I have reflected on my history with the Churches in my life notably Calvary of Anaheim.  I never gave a red cent to those people I didn’t do quite willingly because Pastor Mark doesn’t believe in that.  As such it was a “Free Gift” as the Apostle Paul says.  There were no strings or conditions or some “expectation” of something in the Future.  It was a done deal.  What such “willingness” will do for you is that it garners you karmic points for “compliance”.  The problem of course is, that many Cult people have accrewed enough “compliance” karmic points to bury themselves ten times over in unneeded credits.  Indeed there is a passage of the old testament (not that I’ve read it personally) where Jehovah God tells the people to STOP giving because their “Goal” was reached.  This is as it should be.  Moses did not decide to build a gilded Tabernacle out there in the Desert as a monument to Himself with all that extra money.  But some would say that “Yes there is an absolute sense of Good and Bad out there”.  To this I would say that Evil people sometimes prosper and Good people often lack.   Someone in the Mafia for instance may give to something- - but perhaps his destiny is to be murdered when he sits down to eat in a family restaurant, when an ambush comes completely unexpected out of nowhere.   The thing to beware of is to know “who you are”.  For instance- - some people may say “Do I better my karma when I force myself to give to a cause- - like Free Speech radio for example- - - even though I do it grudgingly and muttering things under my breath.  Again- - it’s all about “How do you feel about the deed after it was done?”   People like Chuck Smith would say “Well if you complain about it- - this takes away your reward”.  The problem is with this (Thom Hartman is way ahead of me on this one) is that Chuck Smith doesn’t know what it’s like to be poor and to actually give “sacrificially”.   Certainly that “willingness to sacrifice” will not be overlooked by God.   Interestingly the expression “The Lord provides” is technically True.  Since under pure Calvinism every good thing that ever happens to you is “The grace of God”.   I would not base my life on such a philosophy, but in the purest generic sense of the expression - - it IS True.