Asthma, cancer, flu: When our bodies finally "Just say No"

    Oh crap.  I seem to be doomed to become an expert on almost every new major epidemic in America -- and to do it the hard way.  First I had friends die of HIV-related causes back in the 1980s.  Then more of my friends became parents of children with autism back in the 1990s.  And now I have lots of friends with kids that suffer from asthma.  What's with that?

    America is spozed to be the healthiest country in the world.  So why aren't we?  Why are Americans by the millions now falling victim to these new plagues?  And, further, might these three currently-upsurging epidemics have anything in common that could possibly give us a clue?  Yeah.  The people who get them mostly seem to have weakened immune systems -- even before they actually start presenting symptoms. 

     But then, heck, lots of other modern upsurging diseases such as cancer, diabetes, the flu and even the lowly common cold appear to affect people with weakened immune systems the most. 

     According to www.cancerfightingstrategies.com, "For most of your life, your immune system successfully fought cancerous cells, killing them as they developed.  That's its job.  In fact, the only job Natural Killer cells have is to kill cancer cells and viruses.  For cancer to develop, your immune system must either be worn out, ineffective, unable to kill cancer cells as fast as they normally develop, or you must be exposed to a mass of cancer causing toxins, radiation or some such thing, that increase the rate of development of cancer cells to an abnormally high level that your immune system can't handle."   I rest my case.

     But this association with modern diseases and immune system vulnerability should (but rarely does) bring up the next really important question:  How come American immune systems are now suddenly starting to suck eggs? 

     You and I now live in one of the most richest, most well-off countries in the world.  We've got clean houses, air-conditioning, abundant food, luxury cars, malls, all kinds of wonderful things.  But our immune systems are now clearly sagging.  Why is that?

     Even Ann Romney has multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune disease -- and she's freaking rich beyond belief. 

     And even I have immune-system issues -- despite the fact that I mostly eat organic stuff and lead a boringly-clean life (except of course for the occasional slice of chocolate cream pie from Sweet Adeline Bakeshop http://www.sweetadelinebakeshop.com/ or cupcakes from Love at First Bite http://www.loveatfirstbitebakery.com/).

     According to Donna Jackson Nakazawa, "Autoimmune diseases are the eighth leading cause of death among women, shortening the average patient's lifespan by fifteen years.  Not surprisingly, the economic burden is staggering: autoimmune diseases represent a yearly health-care burden of more than $120 billion, compared to the yearly health-care burden of $70 billion for direct medical costs for cancer."  And that's not even counting asthma, HIV or autism -- which are not autoimmune diseases per se but are also related to having a weakened immune system.  http://www.alternet.org/story/80129/the_autoimmune_epidemic%3A_bodies_gone_haywire_in_a_world_out_of_balance
     So even though we've got more money here than we know what do do with, America's health is getting worse instead of better.  Plus all of these chronic diseases and infirmities are now costing us barrels -- to say nothing of funeral expenses. 

     So what's my point -- that it's not safe to live in America any more?  That living on American soil is a death sentence?  That I should win the lottery and move to some isolated south-sea island?  Or just simply "shelter in place". 

     Perhaps there is no clear answer to this conundrum -- but I would really like to know why no one seems to be asking this quintessential question:  "Why are so many of my friends and their children suffering from asthma, autism, multiple sclerosis and, to quote Nakazawa again, 'type 1 diabetes, Graves' disease, vasculitis, myasthenia gravis, connective tissue diseases, autoimmune Addison's disease, vitiligo, rheumatoid arthritis, hemolytic anemia, celiac disease, and scleroderma'?" 

     Why here?  Why now?

     Perhaps the answer to these questions might be found in the concept of "body burden" -- that it's not just one thing or another that is weakening our immune systems.  Rather, it is all the small things in our lives that are being added together.  You add up a little bit of pesticide exposure and combine it with a small bit of air pollution, a few dozen vaccines, a whole bunch of food additives and trans-fats, some radiation left over from Chernobyl, Fukushima, San Onofre and depleted uranium, drinking from plastic bottles, black mold, allergies, pharmaceutical overload, constant cell phone and computer usage, lipstick, fluoride, hairspray, antibiotics in beef, diet colas....  The list goes on and on and on.

     So what can we do to stabilize or even reduce our own individual "body burden"?  And why isn't your doctor and Big Pharma working on this instead of just pushing more pills at us -- pills that may or may not reduce the symptoms but not the cause.  Pills that add to our body burden instead of reducing it?  Pills that do NOT strengthen our immune systems.

PS:  Since there are over 60 vaccines being given to children right now, a wise parent might consider using a little common sense when jabbing the tots.  If it's a vaccine for a life-threatening disease such as polio or if the kid is living in an environment where diphtheria or something is an immediate threat, then by all means go for it.  Otherwise?  Not.

     Also, it's a good idea to only give our children one shot at a time.  Giving five different vaccines in one day -- and many doctors do this -- is a hecka "body burden" for little kids to absorb all at once, especially babies and toddlers.  Ouch!

PPS:  My theory about the main reason why people get sick involves the fact that, in the long run, our bodies are always stronger than our minds.  You think that your mind is the boss of your body?  Think again!

      "But Jane," you might say, "everyone knows that illness is caused by germs!"  Not really.  There are always germs all around us.  Germs are always with us.  But we generally only become susceptible to all but the most evil of these little critters only when our bodies become run down and our immune system weakens -- or our "body burden" hits a red zone on the charts.

     "But how exactly do our bodies actually overpower our minds?" you might ask.  "That sounds really weird."

     Here's how it happens:  In today's modern life, our minds are always trying to get us into stressful situations or do just one more thing before bedtime or live in the fast lane of our choice or dine only on junk food.  But our bodies are actually the ones who are really running the show -- and when they need a rest, no matter what our brains are thinking, our bodies just open their doors and invite in the germs.  And we get sick.  And our bodies get their well-needed rest.  End of discussion.

     "What?" screams our bodies, "You want to stay up all night and party and then live on Twinkies and then work day and night for three days straight?  Forget that!  I'm going on strike!"  And they do.

     And what our bodies say goes.

     And this is why no one will ever get rid of the common cold.

     And, also, when our "body burden" gets too heavy -- from all the junk food that we eat and/or the chemicals, pesticides and radioactivity we are exposed to -- then our bodies also falter, no matter what our brains tell us, and then we also get sick.

      But do you really wanna know exactly what our brains are thinking about all this time, way back in our subconscious mind, back in our "reptile" brains, back beyond our control?  That's easy.  "Junk food!  Sugar!  Hot caramel sundaes!"  (Not to mention happy thoughts of starting "preemptive" wars, robbing the national treasury in order to hoard billions or cheating on your wife.)  And there's no mention at all back there of stuff like wheat-grass juice or carrot sticks -- let alone Christ-like behavior or world peace.  Sigh.

     Sometimes our brains need to be put on a short leash -- and sometimes only our bodies are up to that task.

PPS:  According to the Human Morality Database project at U.C. Berkeley, "The life expectancy for American women is now dead last among developed nations."  http://rainbowpush.org/commentaries/single/a_shocking_silence_on_lives_cut_short 
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Advertizements for myself: In these hard times of brutal (and illegal) corporatist ball-busting socialism-for-the-rich-only, I am doing whatever I can to make a spare dollar. Here are some of my current alternate-economy schemes that never seem to work -- but I keep hoping!

****** 
What next? Now I'm trying to go to a six-day vodou ceremony in a cave somewhere in Haiti. Please donate toward my trip expenses here: https://www.wepay.com/xh8kekc
Also my son Joe is trying to raise money to film a documentary on this event. Check out his video of the vodou master here -- a truly heavy-duty dude:

https://www.wepay.com/donations/suzandoc

"This documentary is about capturing a Haitian Vodou Ceremony experienced through the perspective of Suzan (a Shaman leader). The ceremony takes place in a cave that Suzan had lived in for 10 years in Fonds-des-Nègres, Haiti, 114 km west of Port Au Prince."

******
Need someone to help you throw out stuff? I'm really good at deciding what needs to be thrown out (starting with all those corporate-owned bums in Washington!)

*******
Need an actor to play an older woman in your movie? Then I'm your man! I can portray all kinds of older women -- from judges, business execs and other insane zombies to bag ladies, cancer patients, kindly grandmothers and dying patients in rest homes. I've played them all. So send me a script and let's do this. Hollywood, here we come!

****Are you a plaintiffs' attorney who is tired of writing those pesky personal injury settlement briefs all the time? No problem! I can write them for you. Years of experience. And pay me only if you win the case.

****

I recently got my Notary Public commission!

Need a Notary Public? Have seal, will travel. E-mail me at jpstillwater@yahoo.com and I'll stamp your document, make it official and only charge $10. Of course if you live outside of Berkeley, I may have to charge travel expenses -- but am well worth it!

****

Want something good to read? Buy my book! "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket: Helpful Tips for Touring Today's Middle East," available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. http://www.amazon.com/Bring-Your-Own-Flak-Jacket/dp/0978615719/ref=cm_pdp_rev_itm_title_1. It's like if Jack Kerouac, Mark Twain and/or Janet Evanovich went to war.

I also wrote a book about going on Hajj (also included as a chapter in "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket," but this book is cheaper -- but it's worth buying them both!) My book on the Hajj is so outstanding that I bet even Christian fundamentalists will love it! Please buy it here: http://www.amazon.com/Mecca-Hajj-Lessons-Islamic-School/dp/0978615700/ref=cm_rdp_product
****
"Imagine a world where EVERY child is wanted, nurtured, protected and loved: World peace in one generation!" You can now buy T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, truckers' caps, baby gear and/or teddy bears with this logo printed on them. They make great gifts, especially for parents and teachers. To purchase, just click here: http://www.cafepress.com/StillTWaters


"Life is a competition. The winners are the ones who do the most good deeds." You can also buy T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, truckers' caps, baby gear and/or teddy bears with this logo printed on them. They make great gifts, especially for those of us who are still idealists in these troubled times. To purchase, just click here: http://www.cafepress.com/StillTWaters       

Madame Jane predicts: A whole new ballgame ten years from now

"You think that the Giants are gonna be in the World Series this year?" I asked Madame Jane, our local fortuneteller.

"Probably."

"And also what about ten years from now?" I'm a die-hard Giants fan.

"Nope. Not a chance. Everything is going to be real different around here in ten years. Ten years from now, no one will be able to afford $50 a ticket. But there will be other advantages," M.J. went on to say. "Instead of watching others play baseball, we'll be out there playing baseball ourselves."

"Not even watching it on TV?"

"TV will be toast." Apparently, instead of watching "Survivor," we will be living "Survivor" ten years from now. Good grief.

But what else should I ask Madame Jane? "Will Wall Street and war profiteers still be running the U.S.A.?"

"What U.S.A.?"

"How about agribusiness?"

"You will take a stick, punch a hole in the ground and drop in a seed. That will be your agribusiness ten years from now."

Too "Little Red Hen" for me!

"But what about L-O-V-E?" I asked next.

"Love? Love? That's too Christ-like," she replied. "Love is for hippies and commies. Ten years from now, Christian, Jewish and Muslim extremist madmen will be ruling the day. And we all know that their main message is H-A-T-E.

"And what about children and music and art?"

"We will still have those. We will always have those -- as long as human beings have souls. You, however, might have to practice your fiddle underground. But that's okay because we'll all be living underground by then due to radiation anyway."

And all this will be happening to us in just ten short years? "Hey, don't blame me. I'm just the messenger." Then who should I blame? "Right now Americans have allowed a bunch of corporate predators to take over our government -- cheered on by a bunch of bozos and sheep who believe everything they see on TV." Ah, campaign ads.

PS: There appears to be two kinds of Christians, Muslims and Jews -- those who believe in killing other human beings for fun and profit and those who do not. I myself stand firmly with those who do not.

PPS: If I were suddenly gifted with super-powers, the first thing that I'd do would be to destroy every single weapon in the world more dangerous than a baseball bat. Then Madame Jane's current ten-year prediction would never come true.

PPPS: The U.S. intervention in Iran and Lebanon in the 1970s was a disaster that led to putting Islamic extremists in power over there. The U.S. intervention in Afghanistan in the 1980s was another disaster that put Islamic extremists in power over there too.

The U.S. intervention in the Gulf in the 1990s helped keep Islamic extremists in power over there as well. The U.S. intervention in Iraq in the 2000s gave Islamic extremists a huge advantage there too. And now, in the 2010s, the U.S. interventions in Libya and Syria are putting Islamic extremists in power over there too. Currently there are approximately 250,000 Islamic extremist madmen running around Libya that have been armed to the teeth by NATO with weapons paid for by corporate-owned America.

There's a moral here somewhere.

Perhaps Madame Jane is correct in predicting that the U.S. is going to Hell in a hand-basket sooner than we think.

PPPPS: Now I finally understand why the greedy 1% are always trying to push charter schools down our throats whether we want them or not -- charter schools are non-union! Just another way of obtaining cheap labor. http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2012-09-07/article/40160?headline=Berkeley-Schools-the-Billionaires-and-the-New-Superintendent-News-Analysis---By-Thomas-Lord

PPPPPS: I'll be going off to Ohio in October. No, not to watch the Republicans steal yet another presidential election there -- but to attend BoucherCon http://bouchercon2012.com/, an annual murder-mystery writers' and fans' convention being held in Cleveland this year. See you there?

And perhaps Madame Jane will be there also -- and perhaps she might even be talked into predicting YOUR future too.
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Advertizements for myself: In these hard times of brutal (and illegal) corporatist ball-busting socialism-for-the-rich-only, I am doing whatever I can to make a spare dollar. Here are some of my current alternate-economy schemes that never seem to work -- but I keep hoping!

******What next? Now I'm trying to go to a six-day vodou ceremony in a cave somewhere in Haiti. Please donate toward my trip expenses here: https://www.wepay.com/xh8kekc
Also my son Joe is trying to raise money to film a documentary on this event. Check out his video of the vodou master here -- a truly heavy-duty dude:

https://www.wepay.com/donations/suzandoc

"This documentary is about capturing a Haitian Vodou Ceremony experienced through the perspective of Suzan (a Shaman leader). The ceremony takes place in a cave that Suzan had lived in for 10 years in Fonds-des-Nègres, Haiti, 114 km west of Port Au Prince."

******
Need someone to help you throw out stuff? I'm really good at deciding what needs to be thrown out (starting with all those corporate-owned bums in Washington!)

*******
Need an actor to play an older woman in your movie? Then I'm your man! I can portray all kinds of older women -- from judges, business execs and other insane zombies to bag ladies, cancer patients, kindly grandmothers and dying patients in rest homes. I've played them all. So send me a script and let's do this. Hollywood, here we come!

****Are you a plaintiffs' attorney who is tired of writing those pesky personal injury settlement briefs all the time? No problem! I can write them for you. Years of experience. And pay me only if you win the case.

****

I recently got my Notary Public commission!

Need a Notary Public? Have seal, will travel. E-mail me at jpstillwater@yahoo.com and I'll stamp your document, make it official and only charge $10. Of course if you live outside of Berkeley, I may have to charge travel expenses -- but am well worth it!

****

Want something good to read? Buy my book! "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket: Helpful Tips for Touring Today's Middle East," available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. http://www.amazon.com/Bring-Your-Own-Flak-Jacket/dp/0978615719/ref=cm_pdp_rev_itm_title_1. It's like if Jack Kerouac, Mark Twain and/or Janet Evanovich went to war.

I also wrote a book about going on Hajj (also included as a chapter in "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket," but this book is cheaper -- but it's worth buying them both!) My book on the Hajj is so outstanding that I bet even Christian fundamentalists will love it! Please buy it here: http://www.amazon.com/Mecca-Hajj-Lessons-Islamic-School/dp/0978615700/ref=cm_rdp_product
****
"Imagine a world where EVERY child is wanted, nurtured, protected and loved: World peace in one generation!" You can now buy T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, truckers' caps, baby gear and/or teddy bears with this logo printed on them. They make great gifts, especially for parents and teachers. To purchase, just click here: http://www.cafepress.com/StillTWaters


"Life is a competition. The winners are the ones who do the most good deeds." You can also buy T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, truckers' caps, baby gear and/or teddy bears with this logo printed on them. They make great gifts, especially for those of us who are still idealists in these troubled times. To purchase, just click here: http://www.cafepress.com/StillTWaters

Nigeria today: Taking corporate power to its logical conclusion

You think that America's corporate-owned government has its drawbacks? Wait until you hear what the corporate-owned government in Nigeria is up to! You think that the results of having corporate Big Money buying off America's politicians has been scary and sad? Then you obviously haven't ever been to Nigeria -- where they have definitely gone way far beyond merely "scary" or "sad".

When it comes to having a corporate-owned government, apparently Nigeria has become the prototype, the ideal, the epitome of what a corporate-owned government can really achieve if it puts its mind to it. Corporations in America like Citibank and Monsanto and Georgia-Pacific and Chevron can only hope to aspire to the high levels of corporatism that have been achieved in Nigeria.

Nigeria today has broken the mold and set the bar really high.

But how do I know all this? From an interview with an expert on Nigeria that took place yesterday in a local park in Berkeley over tuna-fish sandwiches.

"So. What's up in Nigeria?" I asked him, immediately diving right in.

"Don't even ask," he replied. "For one thing, our government is composed of mainly puppet thugs put into office by corporate neo-colonialists -- but these office-holders have no power at all. They are only there as a showcase, an illusion, a shadow puppet show created to make it look like someone with dark skin is in charge over there and to give corporations someone to officially sign the documents that have handed Nigeria over to them."

That's ironic. In America, corporations try to dig up shadow puppets with light skin.

"When we were children in Nigeria," continued the expert, "all of us wanted to go off to college because those in our villages who had gone to college would come home and everyone would honor them. But not any more. Now the children in the villages and towns of Nigeria all want to grow up to be government thugs! To drive big shiny cars and take money from oil companies and beat people up."

"Something like that has happened in America too," I replied. "Little kids used to want to grow up to be doctors or firefighters or scientists. High school kids wanted to go to college and become architects or engineers or Bob the Builder. Now all they want to do is study business so they can rush off to Wall Street and make a killing. Who wants to be a doctor when they can orchestrate pension-plan takeovers and outsource American jobs. Or go into politics." Yeah. And become corporate-owned government thugs like in Nigeria.

"And it used to be that everyone in Nigeria at least had a chance of going to high school," said the expert. "But the levels of available education there are falling fast." Keep them barefoot and dumb? Seems to be the trend here in America too.

"Whenever we thought of America when we were children, we all wanted to be like that -- democracy and all. Owning something that said 'Made in America' on it was a very big deal. And now it's all made in China. But what amazes me most about Americans today is that they all sit back and take this and say nothing. They just listen to Rush Limbaugh and Glen Beck and Fox News and accept their fate like lambs to the slaughter."

I know what he means. And in my humble opinion, it all started back in 1963 when no one really questioned who shot JFK -- and who benefited most. Who had the motive, means and opportunity? It surely wasn't Cuba or even the USSR. "Who killed the Kennedys? After all it was you and me," sang the Rolling Stones -- and they nailed it. Then most Americans went on to never question the lack of preparedness before 9-11 http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2012/09/11/the-11th-anniversary-911-paul-craig-roberts/ or the obvious lies about weapons of mass destruction or the need for bank bailouts or.... Sheep.

"Don't Tread on Me" is now history, sent off to America's outdated memorabilia rubbish heap.

"When the BP oil spill happened over here in the Gulf," my expert continued, "BP spent a lot of money on maintaining their public image in America and making excuses. Well, Nigeria has a big oil spill almost every day. Oil spills like that are common in Nigeria. But the major difference between there and here is that BP doesn't even bother to make excuses in Nigeria. They don't even consider Nigerians important enough to even make excuses. They treat us like some kind of annoying pests that they just have to put up with while extracting our oil. Not really human." Definitely beyond sad.

Imagine all those photos of shorebirds on the Gulf Coast covered with oil -- and then imagine Nigerians covered with oil like that too. The toxic "body burden" that many Nigerian villagers are bearing these days is tragic.

"Have you ever been to Nigeria?" he asked me. "Rich people there live in securely gated communities and behind high walls. There is no walking down the streets in Nigeria for rich people. Why would anyone ever want to live like that? To always be guarded and gated and stuck behind walls? That's no way to live. Having economic equality leads to more freedom -- even for the rich."

But as the rich become more and more separated from the poor here in America too, that's definitely the direction we also are going in. Freedom, like money, does not trickle down.

Next we discussed a whole bunch of other reasons why having a corporate-owned government has led to a failed nation in Nigeria -- and will also lead to a failed nation here. But I forgot to take notes and can't remember the rest of what all we discussed. But you get the gist. Government of the people, by the people and for the people is good. Corporate-owned government is proving to be very very bad.

To paraphrase a recent saying that's now making the rounds on FaceBook, "If Romney's proposed corporatist policies actually work, then George W. Bush would have given the keynote speech at the Republican convention -- and Nigeria would be a proud role model for democracy and freedom, not just another miserable failed state."

PS: Has anyone started to miss Libya's Muammar Gaddafi yet? If he hadn't been brutally murdered and his corpse dragged through the streets of Sirte, Ambassador Stevens would still be alive and well too.

And does anybody but me find it ironic that the rockets used to attack the American consulate in Benghazi probably came from the same stockpile of weapons supplied to NATO's allies, the al-Qaeda-linked Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, and paid for by America's corporate-owned government?

Shades of Ronald Reagan's favorite "freedom fighters" in Afghanistan -- Osama bin Ladin and friends.
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*********************************************************

Advertizements for myself: In these hard times of brutal (and illegal) corporatist ball-busting socialism-for-the-rich-only, I am doing whatever I can to make a spare dollar. Here are some of my current alternate-economy schemes that never seem to work -- but I keep hoping!

******What next? Now I'm trying to go to a six-day vodou ceremony in a cave somewhere in Haiti. Please donate toward my trip expenses here: https://www.wepay.com/xh8kekc
Also my son Joe is trying to raise money to film a documentary on this event. Check out his video of the vodou master here -- a truly heavy-duty dude:

https://www.wepay.com/donations/suzandoc

"This documentary is about capturing a Haitian Vodou Ceremony experienced through the perspective of Suzan (a Shaman leader). The ceremony takes place in a cave that Suzan had lived in for 10 years in Fonds-des-Nègres, Haiti, 114 km west of Port Au Prince."

******
Need someone to help you throw out stuff? I'm really good at deciding what needs to be thrown out (starting with all those corporate-owned bums in Washington!)

*******
Need an actor to play an older woman in your movie? Then I'm your man! I can portray all kinds of older women -- from judges, business execs and other insane zombies to bag ladies, cancer patients, kindly grandmothers and dying patients in rest homes. I've played them all. So send me a script and let's do this. Hollywood, here we come!

****Are you a plaintiffs' attorney who is tired of writing those pesky personal injury settlement briefs all the time? No problem! I can write them for you. Years of experience. And pay me only if you win the case.

****

I recently got my Notary Public commission!

Need a Notary Public? Have seal, will travel. E-mail me at jpstillwater@yahoo.com and I'll stamp your document, make it official and only charge $10. Of course if you live outside of Berkeley, I may have to charge travel expenses -- but am well worth it!

****

Want something good to read? Buy my book! "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket: Helpful Tips for Touring Today's Middle East," available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. http://www.amazon.com/Bring-Your-Own-Flak-Jacket/dp/0978615719/ref=cm_pdp_rev_itm_title_1. It's like if Jack Kerouac, Mark Twain and/or Janet Evanovich went to war.

I also wrote a book about going on Hajj (also included as a chapter in "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket," but this book is cheaper -- but it's worth buying them both!) My book on the Hajj is so outstanding that I bet even Christian fundamentalists will love it! Please buy it here: http://www.amazon.com/Mecca-Hajj-Lessons-Islamic-School/dp/0978615700/ref=cm_rdp_product
****
"Imagine a world where EVERY child is wanted, nurtured, protected and loved: World peace in one generation!" You can now buy T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, truckers' caps, baby gear and/or teddy bears with this logo printed on them. They make great gifts, especially for parents and teachers. To purchase, just click here: http://www.cafepress.com/StillTWaters


"Life is a competition. The winners are the ones who do the most good deeds." You can also buy T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, truckers' caps, baby gear and/or teddy bears with this logo printed on them. They make great gifts, especially for those of us who are still idealists in these troubled times. To purchase, just click here: http://www.cafepress.com/StillTWaters

America the next lost Atlantis: Geographically, Economically, Politically & Morally

Geographically: Now that the world's ocean levels have started rising much faster than predicted, America's coastal cities may become submerged far sooner than we thought. And, sooner rather than later, Manhattan stands a very good chance of becoming the next lost Atlantis.

Here's a cute little video from NASA that describes what's been happening to our planet's climate over the last 131 years. Check it out: http://www.climatecentral.org/blogs/131-years-of-global-warming-in-26-seconds/ In this video animation, blue represents minus-two degrees Celsius and red represents plus-two degrees Celsius. That's only a four-degree variation -- but what a variation it is! At the blue point, ice all over the planet used to be still intact. At the red point, however, it has melted. At this rate, San Francisco will soon join Manhattan in its race to become the first lost Atlantis.

But enough said about that. I just hope that you don't own a condo down in SoHo or beach-front property in Honolulu. You do? You're screwed.

And then there's Burning Man. This year Black Rock City was completely engulfed in air-born dust particles and white-out sand storms almost 24/7. If this drought doesn't let up, perhaps they ought to change its name to Dust Bowl City.

And also, for the first time in memory, we have gotten a hecka lot of Canada geese hanging around Berkeley this summer instead of just passing by in the spring and the fall. Guess they don't have to fly so far south to get warm any more. No winter vacation in Cancun for them! And we humans don't need to fly south to Puerto Vallarta during the winter months any more either. Last year was the warmest winter in NorCal that I can remember (but I still love Puerto Vallarta).

Morally: The Republican party (and the huge corporations that now own it) are completely using and abusing their only staunch allies -- the older white American males and blind-faith Christians who support them -- in order to enact laws and make policies that not only undermine these staunch allies' beliefs but also their very existence.

Jobs, Social Security, homes, families, medical care, infrastructure, water supplies, energy sources, the very teachings of Christ Himself, you name it -- all have been put in grave danger by the very corporate interests that naive older white Americans and gullible Christians have blindly trusted and supported all these years. It's just sad to watch these trusting staunch allies of the GOP constantly getting knifed in the back.

Then there are the famous Fetus Wars. Jesus is being called upon to testify against Planned Parenthood -- and yet Jesus isn't even allowed on the premises when multiple brutal vicious and bloody wars have been declared against millions of innocent children all around the world. You wanna call yourself a Christian? Then you gotta act Christ-like! Duh.

And Repubs are now actually saying that Ted Kennedy originated the War on Women. Chappaquiddick was a tragic accident. That's not the same thing. But a true war on women appears to be the GOP's latest favorite game plan -- as Repubs happily head down the same path that other "Christians" took back in the European Middle Ages when an estimated nine million women who dared to speak up for themselves, tried to get an education or attempted to practice medicine were burned alive at the stake.

Economically: Since outsourcing and deregulation has hit America like a category-5 hurricane, our economy has become a disaster area -- literally. So many jobs have fled overseas and so much wealth has fled to the Caymans that many parts of the USA look almost like New Orleans after Katrina.

All the things that we used to make here? We don't even know how to make them any more. And all that knowledge of how to make them has been lost too.

Sometimes I wish that the UN or NATO or whoever -- perhaps the war-criminal-trial folks over at the Hague -- would sanction America like they are now sanctioning Iran. Then we would be FORCED to become economically independent again.

Republicans have deliberately created a vast pool of unemployed Americans so that they won't have to pay us high wages. Hence the GOP's refusal to endorse a job program. Why would they want to do that!

In their haste to make more and more money, large corporations are polluting our water and air and elevating our risk of cancer of course. But they are also killing off billions of bees. Good luck with getting our crops in when there is no pollination. And bye-bye flowers too. We don't even have to wait until water drowns out the new American Atlantis to miss our fruit trees and flowers. Monsanto has already taken care of that.

Politically: Anyone can buy a seat in Congress these days -- or even buy the White House itself or the Supreme Court (especially the Supreme Court). Who would have ever thought that it would be that way here in the former Land of the Free. Not since Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall have our public offices been so "For Sale". Shame on us for letting this happen.

And remember back in 1999 when we all thought that YK2 was going to be an international disaster? Well all the computers didn't crash, but YK2 turned out to be an incredible disaster anyway -- when George W. Bush stole the 2000 election and almost NOBODY in America objected or even noticed. Then Bush allowed 9-11 to happen, followed by the disastrous Afghanistan invasion, the incredibly expensive Iraq invasion and the 2008 economic crash.

Yes, YK2 really was a disaster.

More political immorality: Who has been a very important ally of corporate-owned Washington in places like Afghanistan, Syria and Libya? Wait for it. "Al Qaeda!" Arming and encouraging the people behind 9-11? Isn't that about as politically immoral as you can get? But Americans seem to accept this hypocrisy without batting an eye. Go figure.

And what can our bought-and-paid-for politicians possibly be thinking when they systematically alienate huge countries like Russia and China while kissing the booties of their corporate neo-con counterparts in teeny-tiny Israel. Israel? The size of New Jersey? Israel's neo-con corporatists are gonna save us from the wrath of Russia, China, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and all the other places and countries that our corporate-owned government has thoroughly screwed over the years? Huh?

And then there's that cruel joke that used to be America's legendary and heroic Supreme Court. No justice at all to be had there these days -- if you are merely working class. Those guys in black robes take their reverse-Robin-Hood roles very seriously.

"Take from the worker bees and give to the drones" should be carved in marble over our corporate-owned government buildings in Washington -- just before America, the next lost Atlantis, slowly sinks into the sea.

But you had better get to carving it soon -- because there is something in the air in America these days, a sense that nasty undercurrents are moving stealthily toward us from somewhere very deep, somewhere that the average voter isn't in touch with -- except in our guts.

And our guts seem to be telling us that America is now sinking fast. And that "We the People" have absolutely no life jackets -- but that the billionaires who now own our government are already provisioning their yachts http://www.smirkingchimp.com/node/45275.

To paraphrase Plato, "...once upon a time your State stayed the course of a mighty host, which, starting from a distant point in the Atlantic ocean, was insolently advancing to attack the whole of Europe, and Asia to boot" -- and then their city of Atlantis got all drowned out.

And to paraphrase Ray Bradbury, "Something wicked is definitely coming our way".

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Photos of Deth P Sun's paintings are courtesy of Hatch Gallery, 492 23rd Street, Oakland, CA http://www.hatchgallery.org/

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Advertizements for myself: In these hard times of brutal (and illegal) corporatist ball-busting socialism-for-the-rich-only, I am doing whatever I can to make a spare dollar. Here are some of my current alternate-economy schemes that never seem to work -- but I keep hoping!

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What next? Now I'm trying to go to a six-day vodou ceremony in a cave somewhere in Haiti. Please donate toward my trip expenses here: https://www.wepay.com/xh8kekc

Also my son Joe is trying to raise money to film a documentary on this event. Check out his video of the vodou master here -- a truly heavy-duty dude:

https://www.wepay.com/donations/suzandoc

"This documentary is about capturing a Haitian Vodou Ceremony experienced through the perspective of Suzan (a Shaman leader). The ceremony takes place in a cave that Suzan had lived in for 10 years in Fonds-des-Nègres, Haiti, 114 km west of Port Au Prince."

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Need someone to help you throw out stuff? I'm really good at deciding what needs to be thrown out (starting with all those corporate-owned bums in Washington!)

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Need an actor to play an older woman in your movie? Then I'm your man! I can portray all kinds of older women -- from judges, business execs and other insane zombies to bag ladies, cancer patients, kindly grandmothers and dying patients in rest homes. I've played them all. So send me a script and let's do this. Hollywood, here we come!

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Are you a plaintiffs' attorney who is tired of writing those pesky personal injury settlement briefs all the time? No problem! I can write them for you. Years of experience. And pay me only if you win the case.

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I recently got my Notary Public commission!

Need a Notary Public? Have seal, will travel. E-mail me at jpstillwater@yahoo.com and I'll stamp your document, make it official and only charge $10. Of course if you live outside of Berkeley, I may have to charge travel expenses -- but am well worth it!

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Want something good to read? Buy my book! "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket: Helpful Tips for Touring Today's Middle East," available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. http://www.amazon.com/Bring-Your-Own-Flak-Jacket/dp/0978615719/ref=cm_pdp_rev_itm_title_1. It's like if Jack Kerouac, Mark Twain and/or Janet Evanovich went to war.

I also wrote a book about going on Hajj (also included as a chapter in "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket," but this book is cheaper -- but it's worth buying them both!) My book on the Hajj is so outstanding that I bet even Christian fundamentalists will love it! Please buy it here: http://www.amazon.com/Mecca-Hajj-Lessons-Islamic-School/dp/0978615700/ref=cm_rdp_product

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"Imagine a world where EVERY child is wanted, nurtured, protected and loved: World peace in one generation!" You can now buy T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, truckers' caps, baby gear and/or teddy bears with this logo printed on them. They make great gifts, especially for parents and teachers. To purchase, just click here: http://www.cafepress.com/StillTWaters



"Life is a competition. The winners are the ones who do the most good deeds." You can also buy T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, truckers' caps, baby gear and/or teddy bears with this logo printed on them. They make great gifts, especially for those of us who are still idealists in these troubled times. To purchase, just click here: http://www.cafepress.com/StillTWaters