A Snake That Eats Its Own Tail

By John Bassett McCleary
Excerpt from a future article

Some people say that the whole world is driven by the American economy.  True, to a point.  But first I must say that the real driver is American capitalism and our consumer materialism.  Add to that the US advertising industry pushing false prosperity around the world, and you will see that the direction in witch our economy is driving the world is over the edge of a deep chasm.
What should be driving the world’s economy are people’s necessities and a little extra for entertainment.  The American dream was not to reach gluttony, but that is what it has become, and we have infected the rest of the world.
What capitalists don’t realize, and I hope they are ignorant and not just callous, is that their money-religion has corrupted the world’s natural economic equality, and is polluting the morality of mankind as well as the ecosystem of the world.  Wow, what a trifecta of crimes!
The balance of world economy comes down to an ancient Greek morality that states:  “All business deals should be equitable to both parties.”  And I add:  “Or else they are just common robbery.”
What capitalists did not foresee was the day when their avarice for more profits would finally milk the working class dry of money to buy the products and pay the mortgage.  This is what has happened in America.
In the past, capitalists have banked on consumers from other countries.  But then what happens when all the capitalists in the world have banded together and milked dry all the customers and workers of the world?  Is this what is happening now?
I find it an odd twist of fate that the global economy most American capitalists desire also leaves these capitalists vulnerable to global economic downturns.  It works to the American industries’ favor to forsake their own American workers and market, if they have a market, in another part of the world.  But, if the economy of the world is tied together, and capitalism is doing the same in all countries, then the economy will dry up everywhere.

A Global Group Hug

By John Bassett McCleary
Excerpt from a future article

At no time in the history of humankind has it been more important for all of us to join together for mutual benefit… or, actually, for survival itself.   Not since Homo sapiens were a small tribe, banding together to fight-off saber-toothed tigers and hunt mammoths for sustenance, have we been more in danger of extinction.
Today, an us-against-them mentality is perpetrated by the capitalist ego and Christian work ethic.  This might be appropriate in a world where our only contract with other tribes was an occasional battle over food or mates, but not today when we are affected by the trials and troubles of every other country.  Economies, wars, diseases and famine anywhere in the world cause ripples that reach us.  Our market catches a cold if another country’s economy sneezes.  And it goes both ways.

This present worldwide economic meltdown should teach us something about our vulnerability to economic problems elsewhere in the world.  It is a dangerous mistake to continue to promote our own economic, political and social sovereignty.

Most American Capitalists are economically international.  They benefit from a Global economy, whereas the American worker does not.  Aside from cheap foreign goods, which most often break before their time, the American consumer gets little benefit from the world economy as it stands today.

We need a realistic, democratic free trade and employment agreement throughout the world.
I’m not talking about a “NFTA” that benefits big business and screws workers or favors one country and hurts another.  We, in this world, have to start thinking and acting globally.  We must stop looking at other people of the world merely as customers or workforce, and begin thinking of them as brothers and sisters in the same house–this world!
The world’s human population growth has created a crowed and polluted earth that is becoming more endangered everyday.  This overpopulation means we are influenced and affected by the activities of more and more people all the time.
We can’t ignore other cultures anymore.  We should have also learned by now that we cannot change other cultures.  Short of killing them all, I guess we are going to have to find some way to live peacefully with everyone else.  So let’s talk!
The growth of governments and society, and their involvement in our lives, is directly related to the increase in world population.  When the human population was smaller, we lived in small family groups and then tribes, clans, villages, states, and on to countries as our populations and common needs grew.  It is natural to band together into larger, mutually beneficial groups.  The European Union has done it; soon, a World government will be necessary.
We should begin now to think of the sovereignty of the world. Soon, it will become mandated by the problems that we have ignored for so long.

Hypocrisy is Actually a Sin Worse Than the Sex Itself.

By John Bassett McCleary
Excerpt from
The Sexual Documentary of a Young Man

Professing moral laws, then breaking those laws and denying it, is much more sinful and damaging than doing what you want to do and accepting responsibility for your actions. In essence you are contradicting yourself and making a lie of your convictions.
If you place moral restrictions on yourself and others, saying that they come from God, and then break those rules yourself, you are sinning against your own God, mankind and yourself.

In recent editorials in newspapers that will remain nameless, columnists who will remain nameless wrote about the sexual indiscretions of politicians, past and present.  These columnists gave lip service to hypocrisy when talking about a recent sexual escapade by a conservative, “family values” senator who has been known for his moral indignation toward the sexual actions of others.
These conservative columnists were less concerned about the man’s hypocrisy than what they called “the lower nature that resides in all of us.”  By this, of course, they implied that sex is a sinful, subhuman activity.
These writers made the same mistake most people do when confronted by “sexual indiscretions.”   They missed the point that sex is not really a sin when compared to hypocrisy.  Deception, not sex, is the true “lower nature” that resides in mankind.
Sex is no more a sin than breathing in and out.  All animals do it, and must do it to live.  How we treat sex, how we react to it, and how we behave with our partners determines whether it is a sin.
Demonizing sex is the first mistake our society makes in raising its children.  Make kids ashamed of the origin of their birth, mix in a lot of hypocrisy about the fact that we shouldn’t live with sex and can’t live without it, and then send them off to have a happy life.  Sure, that makes a lot of sense!
It was evident during the sexual revolution that some people became jealous of others who were having more fun than they were.  The counterculture was enjoying itself, and that gave straight society more reason to dislike it.
It’s almost as if some people are afraid to feel good.  It’s a religious thing; their churches and pastors have told them that certain activities are sinful.   If these activities happen to be fun, this automatically creates jealousy in the abstainer when he sees other people indulging.
People hate their own weakness, fear their desires and then transfer that fear and hatred into indignation directed at those who are doing what they can’t do because of religious commitments.  In self-defense, they choose to ridicule, and even hate, those who are not living by the same restrictions by which they are controlled.
The next step for these people is to isolate this activity, this “sin,” in which “they don’t indulge,” as something only other people do.  In their minds they believe that they are not capable of committing that sin; only other people do it.  So when they do indulge in that sin or a deviation of it, which they most often do eventually, they can lie to themselves and pretend that what they are doing is actually something else which is not really sinful.
These self-righteous people will often continue to condemn others for these sins while they, themselves, are performing them.  This, of course, is hypocrisy, and hypocrisy is actually a sin worse than the sex itself.
When people lie to themselves, they perform the worst of mankind’s sins.  They are lowering humanity and denying the common sense that God gave us as his greatest gift to mankind.  If you say one thing and do another, that is deception of yourself and denial of your own common sense.   If you place moral restrictions on yourself and others, saying that they come from God, and then break those rules yourself, you are sinning against your own God, mankind and yourself.
People who write columns in newspapers or make commentary on radio or TV owe nothing to the public but clarity.   What they have to say is their own opinion.  It is up to the reader or listener to glean their own opinion or take what information they can from what is said.
Lying to the public is not uncommon.  Shock!   Commentators do it all the time.  Often, they do not even know they are lying, and I give them the benefit of the doubt for that.  Passing misinformation by accident is a major industry in the media.
Most editorialists believe in what they say.  Their information may be lacking, and their idealism may be skewed from a strange perspective, but most still think that they are telling the truth.
I become indignant when I feel that a columnist is merely writing what his boss, political peers or the public want him to write.   It especially bothers me when his misinformation is destructive to mankind or to our environment.
Editorialists who misinform are seldom exposed during their lifetime.  Anything can be spun into the truth.  But, if you believe in heaven and hell, and preach them in your media commentary, you better have your hypocrisy squeaky clean when you meet with St. Peter at the Golden Gates!

Political Correctness Be Damned!

By John Bassett McCleary
Written  11/1/08

Screw political correctness if it gets in the way of communication. . How are we going to confront issues if we can’t use the words? Communication is humankind’s best creation, and it is what will, if that is possible, save humankind from itself.
I am a tolerant person by nature!  Why else did I not go out and assassinate a few politicians in the last few years?  I am tolerant in my actions, but in my words I am politically, drastically incorrect, as is my right according to my Constitutional freedom of speech.
And yet, although I am verbally uncontrollable, I would never, under any circumstances, purposely lie to someone, knowingly deceive them or omit facts that I know would prove me wrong.  It is amazing how many people think that the Constitutional right of freedom of speech means that they have the right to lie!
When you tell the truth, political correctness be damned.  When you’re lying, even if it is oh-so-polite, it is still a lie.
I have no mouth filter. I say what I think!  But, on the other hand, my brain has no chastity belt. It hears everything that comes its way.  You can lie to me, but don’t expect me to believe you.  You cannot lie, even to yourself, in my presence without my disdain.
I am now welling up with indignation.  There is a limit to my tolerance.  When the pig with lipstick looks like a pig with lipstick and sounds like a pig with lipstick, but tells you it is a Polar bear with petroleum investments, it is still a pig, but it is now wearing expensive lipstick.
Its bad enough that the Republicans are lying to us, but what irks me most is that there are people stupid enough to think they are telling the truth.  There, I said it…the stupid word. We’re not supposed to call people stupid, we are supposed to intimate that they are ignorant; but I have observed lately a thing I call self-imposed ignorance; it is basically stupidity.  In this day and age with the massive amounts of media available, it is almost impossible to remain ignorant unless one tries very hard.
John.9.12.08

By John Bassett McCleary
Written in 1989

Guns Do Not Protect Your Family!  Stop using that as an excuse for owning firearms.
Having a gun in your home greatly increases the chances that a family member will die.  It is a fact!
Numbers show us that, for every one criminal who is subdued by a household gun, there are literally hundreds of family members who are killed in gun accidents at home, not to mention all the thousands of friends and family members who are killed with a household gun in fits of passion.
The facts show that you are actually putting your family in peril by owning a gun.  This alone would cause a rational person to dispose of his weapons.  But then, we are not dealing with rational thought, are we?  Let’s face it, we are dealing with the male macho ego.
Don’t use “the right to bear arms” excuse for your reasoning.  Don’t dishonor the fathers of our country by saying that they meant citizens should own half a dozen assault rifles, Mac-10s and nine millimeter semi-automatics.
Don’t offend the writers of the Second Amendment by thinking they intended it to be used to justify the indiscriminate sale of deadly weapons to just about anyone who can pull a trigger.
Please, let’s start thinking with our heads rather than other parts of our anatomy.  If you own guns, you should look deeply inside yourself to see why you really own them.  Understand where this urge for weapons comes from.  Could it be less to protect your family than to enhance your own image?
Men use guns, cars, clothing, sports, bodybuilding, sex, power and money to enhance their image.  It’s part of life, and most of those sublimations are relatively harmless.  But guns are not.
We have supposedly gone beyond the days of the Wild West.  But some men are trying to drag us back into those times when men were measured by the size of their guns.
Wake up!   Having the bigger gun does not make you the bigger man.  It makes you a weak man hiding behind a big gun.  If you have such a fixation, seek help.
Although most women don’t have such fixations, they often humor their men.  Women, tell your men that you like them just as much, maybe even better, without that cold, steel rod.  You may be saving the life of one of your family members.
But, if your man must own a gun, urge him to do so with common sense.  Keep it locked up and unloaded.  Teach every member of your family to treat every gun as if it were loaded, even though it isn’t.  Never ever, ever point a gun at another person unless you wish them dead.
Keep the gun and the ammunition in separate places.  Put the ammunition someplace where anyone looking for it will have plenty of time to think about what they are doing and cool down, if need be.
So you might get robbed, but the chances are greater that you will be saving the life of a family member.
The gun lobbyists say, “If guns are outlawed, then only outlaws will have guns.”  The truth of the matter is that most gun homicides are perpetrated by people who were law-abiding citizens until the moment when they shot someone.  Most gun violence is a crime of opportunity. The availability of so many guns is what makes the criminal and causes the deaths.
I think the NRA is misguided right now, not because they put guns into the hands of criminals, but because they put them into the hands of potential criminals. Remember, keeping one questionable freedom is foolish if it jeopardizes all of our other freedoms combined.  Death ends all your freedom.
When a danger to society is recognized, a rational society will place restrictions on that danger.   We have automobile speed laws, which some people feel infringe on their rights, but these laws save lives.  It’s about time we became civilized and started considering more stringent gun laws, too.
These are only my opinions.  This is a free country, and I have the right to my opinions, as you have the right to yours.  But please, use the gray matter that God gave you, and think about what I have said.  Don’t let your ego kill someone you love.

Never believe anything on the internet except here!

And you’re a fool if you take what I say without a question.

John McCleary