Movie Massacre in Colorado

After viewing the news regarding the creature that killed the movie-goers in Colorado this past Friday morning, I have felt compelled to throw something up  (so to speak)  on my blog regarding the murders.  First and foremost to anyone who might have known or even been related to the citizens that were taken from us,  I must offer my most sincere thoughts and prayers to you and your loss.  Let none of my comments diminish my most sincere feelings of outrage at this dark void created in your lives by this demonic, barbaric troll.  

When things like this happen we all want to know "how could this have happened?".  It reminds me of an old Woody Allen movie where one of the main characters mentions watching a documentary on the Holocaust, the character states; 

"They keep asking, 'how could this have happened, how could this have happened?'  when given the current mindset of the modern world,  a more appropriate question would be;  'why doesn't it happen more often?'."

 I know this doesn't demonstrate much of a positive outlook towards our fellow man, but I do think there is some truth to it.  First;  We live in a world of entertainment where violence is a huge portion of what is consumed by the population.  Second, There are a lot of people out there who are not totally in contact with reality (for whatever reason).  Third, We live in a country that makes it very easy to get whatever weapons you might want (with all due respect to licensing.....  that's like using an iron shield to prevent a Howitzer from firing).   I think but for the grace of God we have been very fortunate.   It is a bit of a wonder it doesn't happen more often.  

Since this is a political blog, I must start by predicting what our beloved leaders will do to drag this whole situation into the usual partisan political boxing match.   The Democrats will demand more control of guns and restrictions for public gatherings so that somehow their rules and regulations will make it all better for us and we can sit comfortably in their fabricated world of secrurity and chain link fences.   Safe and secure from the crazies.  As usual they feel if they can control the situation it will eliminate the problem.  The Republicans will bend over to the National Rifleman's Association and conclude all restrictions of concealed weapons should be abolished so that we can all protect ourselves.... the wild west back again !  As usual, they feel if they can empower the individual while simultaneously boosting the bottom line of their favorite lobbyists......then what's the problem?  Keep in mind I'm not saying these things will happen, I'm saying if either side had complete control of the government they would happen.  (Mercifully, they do not).  As long as the two parties run the show, nothing will ever get done to prevent another calamity because they don't cooperate on anything.  This is the one "definite" here.

What would an intelligent, wise government do under such a circumstance?  Since none has really ever existed (as my series;  Intelligent Government;  An Oxymoron?" has been elaborating on... stay tuned loyal readers !)  I can only hypothesize.  First, an intelligent government would remove the incentive for any person to do such a thing as what was done in Colorado.   The murderer is after notoriety so..... remove the fame.  All investigation of the person should be restricted from public observation.  No media information other than the victims and details of what happened., there should be nothing of the person who did it.  That should be true all the way to the day they die.  Don't give him what he wants.  Refer to him (or her) only as "Mass Murderer Number XYZ" No nicknames (The Boston Strangler !), no titles ("John Wilkes Booth"- as if he's now to have his name announced rather than spoken), none of that subtle celebration of the butcher..... just  "Mass Murderer # 5897", nothing to be proud of as he sits in his 10' X 10' cell for the rest of his life.  Second, make the punishment fit the crime.  Since he loves guns so much that's all the reading material he would get;  nothing but guns he'll never be able to use.   Any other reading material would be only information regarding the people they murdered., their lives, their families, their hopes and aspirations, their journals, pictures and anything the immediate family would like to say to the murderer regarding their loved one.  Third, no death penalty.  Life in prison.   These people aren't afraid to die, they're afraid to live.  Make them live with the guilt for the rest of their lives.  Let the guilt eat away at them as each day passes consuming their every day thoughts like a cancer on their soul.  A diseased, blackened soul with no cure but for perhaps true remorse and repentance that only God could see or forgive.   

Wouldn't it be great  if we could stop enabling perpetrators with thoughts of attention, and glory and notoriety.  Let's make them think about the probable punishment and consequences to their actions.  Then maybe it won't be worth it anymore to any of these freaks that imagine themselves the "Joker" or history making assassins.  Give them reason to keep it all as just a fantasy in their twisted, small minds. 

Intelligent Government; An Oxymoron? Part 2

                                     The state of our current "so called" leadership



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"Sir or Madame Toad"  

Anyone who pays any attention to our government and its inner-workings has to be alarmed at the woeful state of our current leadership.  I could drone on about all that's wrong with it, but let me show some restraint and state simply that it no longer functions as a democratically elected leadership.  No, today we have the best politicians that money can buy.   Although it should go without saying (but let me say it anyway) that a great politician does NOT make a great leader.  In fact, quite the contrary.  What you get with a great politician is a smooth talker who can sell anyone on anything but who never actually delivers on any promises.  The politician makes promises he has no intention of keeping., and so the entire process of electing him is a farce.  The great politician is in love with the idea of power for the sake of power, ie, to stoke his ego and make him (or her) feel important and above the dim witted dolts that elect him or her.  His interest in "improving" things applies only in as much as it can present a convincing case for him/her to be elected.   That is always the point of their running for office,  nothing more.  If something is accomplished and something good comes out of the politician's election then it is a happy circumstance that we must all marvel at, that "even the losers, get lucky sometime" as Tom Petty put it.

     We don't need anymore politicians, we need leaders.  We need men and women that want to make things better for our country and our countrymen not for themselves.  Like our forefathers, they must be willing to sacrifice, they must be dedicated to liberty for all citizens, they must possess great fortitude, honesty, they must be above the fray of political bickering  and be committed to the betterment of mankind.  The men that can lead all of us to greater "peace,  prosperity and domestic welfare" are alive and among us, but they would probably not run for office because they know all too well that they could never occupy a position of leadership in today's world.  The system is not set up to select the best leader like themselves, it's set up to select the best politician.

     So, today that's what we have in Washington and Tallahassee.  A group of self congratulating, self promoting, greedy, epicurean, partisan, bickering, childish, opportunistic, small minded, crafty little toads.  A full house of ineffective politicians who think all this is just a game for them to play in front of the media to make points for their favorite cable TV network. Talking points for the spin Dr.s and their cable TV watching groupies.  Always the question is "Who had the best "shot" today?" and rarely is any noble objective to improve things or fix a problem the subject of discussion except in passing.  An afterthought.

So, the first order of business, now that we've ironed out the first great reason for such an unintelligent government is at hand.  How do we get the best leaders to the position of leading without netting a bunch of toad politicians at the same time?   I would not say it necessarily has to be the FIRST thing done, but it is one  among several issues that I will elaborate on that SHOULD be done and their order depends on when an opportunity to make these changes mentioned (in this titled blog "Intelligent Government, An Oxymoron?") do present themselves.  In other words, the order probably does matter, but any chance to improve the sad state of government should be leaped upon no matter if the "timing" seems right or not.

Intelligent Government- An Oxymoron - Part 1

As the father of two, and a concerned US citizen., I feel compelled to submit to the cyber world some fine ideas for getting a brain installed into our government.  I'd say "back" into their head, but that would imply that at one point it DID have a brain.  I suspect that has never been true.  If you're a student of history you'll know that governments are never smart, and usually very stupid.  The real question is to what degree are they stupid? Are they monstrously stupid like the Nazis of WWII or, simply too dim witted to know how dumb they are as in our current congress?  But what about past governments here in the US?  Have there not been smart governments in our history?

Uh, well let's take a look.  In the Civil War the Union should have beaten the Confederacy in months,  but they managed to draw that out into a bloody, gruesome, fiasco complete with idiotic military strategy.  Dimwitted generals that seemed unaware of basic physics;  marching thousands of soldiers out into the middle of a field with modern guns aimed at them will result in thousands of men being blown into millions of body parts.  

Our famous forefathers are revered as if they never did anything wrong, but investigation reveals much petty quarreling and our first government barely had the power to rule at all.  Not until the constitution was written was there a modicum of intelligence.  The constitutional government under President Washington was rife with bickering and teetered on collapse many times.  Thanks to his unusual intelligence, leadership and fortitude the republic moved forward.  WE WERE VERY LUCKY !!  Washington was an intelligent and effective leader but he has been the exception in our history.   The last few years has seen hyper stupidity in government like we have never seen.  This is what happens when the people no longer pay attention or are no longer able to understand what their government is doing and therefor stop trying to make a difference.

Our government is ineffective and "stupid" because the people are not informed and the people don't really care.  Not all,  but the majority don't see the connection between Washington, DC and their lives.  Younger adults today especially seem uninformed and ambivalent.  This is the consequence, what we see today.... a  leadership that is little more than a group of very expensive whores up for sale to the highest bidder, and their political campaigns are nothing more than a list of  "promises' that are easily made but never accomplished.     

The Dignity of Manual Labor

I wrote a letter in my previous blog to the Orlando Sentinel regarding the issues with Europe.  In that letter I elaborated on how much I think their problem is that they no longer MAKE anything.  I wrote the letter in frustrated reaction to the French election of a Socialist to their presidency.  But another issue lies between the lines.  Western people feel they are too good to work hard, especially to work hard at manual labor.

It is a well known fact by any business owner that good help is very hard to find.  To get people to actually do manual labor is impossible.  Much of our nation's food would not be harvested if it was up to Americans.  I would wager there is a similar situation in Europe with immigrants from Eastern Europe or northern Africa and the middle east.  The white Europeans wouldn't dare dirty their hands with manual labor but they are more than happy to sit on their asses and collect money from the government.  They have no dignity.

Just over 2 years ago I left a job at a palm farm here in Florida.  I was one of 3 sales reps, while we also had about a dozen field works that tended to the palms.  They also loaded and unloaded trucks.  The Mexican men and women were the hardest working people I've ever seen.  Why?  I don't  believe it's because they are Mexican, I believe it's because they appreciated what they got in return.  Money to buy food and shelter and enough to send to family back in Mexico.  They worked hard because they appreciated the work.  They may be poor, but they support their family and they certainly maintained their dignity.

My wife is from Cuba, as I have mentioned in this blog before.  She has a friend who came from Cuba about 8 years ago.  She immigrated from Cuba with a masters degree in Education.  When she got here, of course, she couldn't just start working as a teacher because of various regulations.  So she worked as a maid for nearly 4 years.  Why would an educated woman work as a maid?  Because she had no other choice.  Now she works as a teacher full time and she certainly has maintained her dignity.

In the superb movie Cinderella Man, one of the most compelling scenes to me was when the protagonist is fighting for the "privilege" of working on a loading dock in New York City.  There were dozens of men nearly begging for a job as was typical during the Great Depression.  Though I would hate to see such a serious economic situation ever again, I must say it was almost refreshing to see people appreciate the idea of work, any work, so very much.  They were begging for a job, but they were also holding on to their dignity.  The dignity that comes from at least "trying" to support yourself.

Such a serious situation is nowhere near existent in today's Great Recession.   The unemployed must understand that there IS work to be done out there, there's plenty of work to do.  But...it's often dirtier and/or hard manual labor.  Pride must be swallowed and if they have to start picking turnips to survive then they better start picking turnips.  We all need to get out of the cart and start pushing.  Once society is set up with the vast majority of people actually producing some thing or service,  then you will see a huge improvement in all the economies of the US and Europe.

In conclusion, our American and Western European societies need to get off our collective thrones and start making things, we need to start doing things to earn money.  Citizens must provide a service to society even if it is hard manual labor.   We no longer have the luxury of letting the unemployed go on forever more because certain jobs are beneath them.  Everyone should be directed to work, no matter what the work.  Anything else is a patronizing disgrace that implies people aren't responsible for themselves and that maybe they just aren't capable.  It is robbing them of their dignity.

In My Humble Opinion.....

Chuck Marshall

CMHO Published in the Orlando Sentinel, Again !

That paper is very good for my writing ego because Lord knows having only 3 followers on my blog isn't doing it ! LOL !

This letter was perpetuated by the election of a socialist to the presidency of France.  Read all about it..... at the link and/or I pasted it here as well.

Letter to the Editor Orlando Sentinel May 10 2012


"Europe in a Quagmire"

The successful election of Socialist Francois Hollande to the French presidency, and the refusal of the Greek people to be steadfast in climbing out of debt, leads me to believe that Europe sits in a quagmire of entitlement that it might never get out of until it hits bottom.

These citizens must face the fact that they no longer produce goods or services at a reasonable price that the world wants to buy. It has nothing to do with what Paris or Athens is willing to dole out, and everything to do with what the people produce and at what price.

Taxing wealthy folks and consequently penalizing them for being smarter and working harder tamps down innovation and drives your most talented citizens overseas.

It may not be obvious today, but it will be obvious to the next generation of Greeks and French.

Charles E. "Chuck" Marshall Clermont

In My Humble Opinion,

Chuck Marshall