I felt I should chime in on this Catholic contraception debate because as usual, the media portrays the extreme sides and there isn’t very much thoughtful debate, usually just a bunch of sound bites and splashing the word faith around.  

I find this debate interesting because it isn’t about Evangelicals for once but the mild mannered, hardly roused Catholics.  These are the people that faithfully go to Church on a weekly basis but are just as likely to disregard doctrine they find outdated. 

I also find it interesting because I was raised Catholic, went to Catholic school for 12 years and yes, was even an ALTER BOY!  

So needless to say, I know how things work in the Church.  Even though I no longer consider myself a member, it is still part of my background and the experience remains part of who I am.  

Even though I would side with the Liberals on most social issues I have to say they are not correct this time.  As Santorum pointed out, it is about “Economic Liberty,” and the Catholic run institutions should not be forced to provide something that goes against their doctrine.  

However, I would say that most Catholics I know have or continue to use birth control.  In my High School where everyone I knew was Catholic this was not an issue at all.  You see, Catholics my age aren’t exactly considered “Fundamentalist.”  The difference between Evangelicals and Catholics is like night and day.  

The claim has also been made that Catholic students might actually be more sexually active than public school students!  I don’t know about that, but I can tell you there was a lot going on in just about every Catholic High School when I was a student.  

So let’s look a little more deeply into why the Catholic hierarchy are so against this.  I would say that it is not the contraception itself they are against but instead, having sex before marriage that is the real problem.  On this point, a good number of regular Catholics still agree (not in my High School of course and almost none of my age agree).  

You cannot have sex before marriage and even after one has married, the official belief is that it is only for having children.  That is the official stance.  But as I said before, Catholics in the US rarely pay attention to any of this.  

There was one or two cases in my High School where girls did get pregnant right before graduation and even though most of my classmates knew, we had to keep it secret from the administrators because they would have been suspended and not allowed to graduate.  So we did keep it a secret and they did graduate.  

Contraception would have definitely been useful for the two girls involved but it was very hard to get (unless you were brave enough to go to the Quickie-Mart).  It’s ironic that contraception is not allowed but if they become pregnant then they get suspended!  This just goes to show that the real issue is sex before marriage and the Church believes providing contraception would encourage this.  

As this issue starts to wrap up, I like seeing the Nuns take a stand yet again and make themselves heard.  If you want some good moral yet reasonable opinions you always have to go to the Nuns, never the Priests or Bishops.  The Bishops and Pope live in a world of outdated, stale doctrine whereas the Nuns can apply and bend the doctrine a bit to fit the needs in the REAL world.  

I liked seeing the Nuns take a stand for Obama’s healthcare bill when it first came out in direct contradiction to their superiors (they would hate that categorization of being inferior to Bishops).  This splashed out in the media and many many Catholics cheered them on.  

This time, it looks like they have mediated quite nicely by having contraception be provided by individual insurers while still keeping in line with the doctrine.  Well done sisters, well done.  I would like to nominate Sister Carol Keehan, the head of the Catholic Health Organization for POPE!  

She says the compromise “protects the religious liberty and conscience rights of Catholic institutions.”  

She is correct, the government shouldn’t tell the Catholic church what to do, especially when it goes against their doctrine.  But it is in what she does not say that it a master stroke and I would bet that she is not against contraception in itself but does not encourage sex before marriage either.  However, being a realist she wouldn’t be against having it provided for those that ask.  That is just my hunch.  

Finally, I wish that Boehner and Santorum would handle this issue a bit more gracefully and not make it look like Catholics are akin to Evangelicals in being all fundamentalist about this.  Most Catholics (of the younger generation) use birth control and ignore what those bishops say.  But again, the government shouldn’t tell the Catholic church what to do as yes, it does go against doctrine, as stupid as that doctrine can be.  

Take a look and then see my comments.

The first thing I would like to point out is that this woman is a fake!

Being a language student, an English teacher AND having lived for 5 years in Asia I recognize the following.  Her English accent is too good to make simple grammatical mistakes as she has.   She forgets to put the plural “s” on the word “get,” yet she remembers to put it on the word “jobs.”  She is obviously not from China.

But that isn’t really the important point is it.  Here is the important point that the mainstream didn’t mention.

People are angry because Pete Hoekstra is a fat idiot who most likely doesn’t hold a passport, has never been to China and is stirring up hatred of the Chinese.

Also, his message doesn’t hold true with the Republican party line.  The Republicans should  want to ship jobs to China as it means more profits for the corporations to whom they are beholden.  As for borrowing money from China, Americans have a problem with credit cards and debt that China has graciously agreed to finance.

At least I was glad to see that the Republicans rebuked this ad.  It is so out of character for them to take a stand for the minority.  Where is Sarah Palin, Beck, Limbaugh and Bachmann on this one?  Why are they not running to his defense?

Here is the real kicker.  A lot of Chinese people speak English.  I don’t see too many people in Michigan speaking Mandarin.  Perhaps the Chinese just work harder to get ahead?

My advice to Pete “spenditnot, has no passport, never been out of the country, fatboy” Hoekstra is to learn Mandarin and bring Chinese businesses to Michigan.

他做事像白痴一样!

It is the journey of one man who upon leaving the Catholic priesthood examines the dark ugly side of the church with respect to it’s persecution of Jews.

Although I had never considered being a priest, I also left the Catholic faith. The main reason is perhaps that I had learned too much. I felt betrayed by what I was taught in elementary school, simple childlike stories, and the realization that the story changes the farther you dig into the Church.

The pivotal moment came after my studies in Spain which remains a very Catholic nation. I learned about the inquisition, I saw what Spain and yes, the Catholic faith did to the Native Americans. I learned about the power struggles within the Vatican and its corruption.

I was left disillusioned.

In the movie, he makes the point that Hitler had the tacit approval of the Pope to deport the Jews who were only 300 feet from the center of the Vatican. Then, Pope John Paul tries to make amends by visiting a concentration camp. This is fine and good but then they erect a cross to commemorate the visit, which is right in front of the concentration camp where thousands of Jews were killed.

The first thing I thought was that I had seen something similar to this before.  

This is a cross erected for the thousands of dead Salinan Indians who where made to come to Mission San Miguel near Paso Robles California to be converted.  Unfortunately for them, they did not take well to being imprisoned at this mission, forced to work and killed off by mistreatment and disease.  

So what does the Catholic faith do?  They erect a cross which is the main symbol of the religion that wiped out their civilization.  

Now, my point here is not to attack Catholicism.  My point is to repeat a message I once heard from a Dominican priest who chastised his congregation by saying “Study your faith people!”  

The Catholic Church must come to grips with the atrocities it committed in the past.  Unfortunately, this is not happening under Pope Benedict.  

What really baffles me however is the majority of people who question nothing regarding their religion.  In the film he shoots clips from some youth mega church in Colorado where they all gather together to sing songs, cry and pray.  

To me, this is the worst type of faith.  The unthinking kind which resembles more of a cult than anything else.  These people know nothing of history, nothing of doctrine and nothing of the atrocities that faith of all kinds has perpetuated as far back as historical records go.  

In short, these are the people who would believe anything so long as all their neighbors do.

I am further perplexed at adults in general.  These are people who have studied, who are professionals in business, politics whatever, but when it comes to religion are as docile as sheep.  Perhaps there is a good reason that congregations are often referred to as a “flock.”

I wonder if they have ever questioned the symbols, the traditions and the reasons they do things in church every Sunday.  Do they know the meanings behind them?  I learned from this documentary that the cross was not introduced as a main symbol until the year 300.  I learned that it was a great way to spread anger at the Jews to constantly remind them that they “killed Christ.”  

The cross in itself is a symbol of death.  As Jesus never used it himself it was thus invented as a symbol by man and therefore has no power (if you believe in that sort of thing.)  Yet, millions of people around the world carry this symbol in their house, on their necklaces and so on.  

But enough with symbols and rituals, let’s just get right to Jesus himself.  

If you dig deep enough you will ask about his brother and will wonder what happened to him.  You will wonder about the Gospel of Mary and what happened to that.  You’ll learn that many parts of the bible were not written until many hundreds of years after Jesus’s death.  

You’ll keep going and keep studying and you will wonder if all your belief is wrong due to the inconsistencies that keep piling up.  

But then this would be too much.  It would be preferential to simply not think about it at all and go on living a life in a religion that may just be entirely made up by man.  

As this post will probably offend an innumerable number of people let me offer some comfort.  

My opinions are insignificant.  I am just one being going through this existence and I look to persuade no one.  I am simply putting down in a post what has gone through my mind when watching this documentary.  My opinions do not matter.  

Of course, all I have said could be completely wrong.  I only know what I have experienced and although it is substantial in comparison to most people it is actually very little in terms of all that could be experienced in this life.  

What comforts me is the saying that “The wise man understands he knows nothing.”  

I keep an open mind, I continue to learn and I realize that all I think I know may be wrong.  

I have come to a point in my life where I am very comfortable with this.  

“Cecil Ash, Arizona State Lawmaker Proposes Holiday for White People“

I knew it had to be from the Huffington Post which has a keen eye for the absurd and sure enough it even came with a video (but to my disappointment no slideshow).  

At first it made me laugh.  Then the wheels started turning which I had hoped to put off at least until I’ve had breakfast.  My neurons lit up so much that I thought a post was appropriate and here we are.  

Getting right to the point, let me tell you I think a Latino Day is a bit silly.  

Why?

Well, Latino is a term that encompasses a huge geographical region, not a specific nationality, race, or person who accomplished a lot for “Latinos.”  If we were to create a Latino day then would it not be appropriate to also create an Asian day?  

Or perhaps it would be more beneficial to select one major contributor such as Cesar Chavez and thus it would be akin to MLK day?  Well, maybe not as Cesar Chavez most of his weight only in California, not the nation as a whole.  

I also find the Mexicans using “Latino” as an umbrella term to cover their real intent which is to make it a Mexican American day.  Como tu sabes, los Mexicanos piensan que Mexico es el rey de America Latina.  ¿Entonces es mejor para decir Mexican American day no? Besides, the majority of “Latinos” in the USA are Mexican so let us get right to the point because in all honesty, how many Chileans or Argentinians are in the US?  

But putting Mexican bravado aside, let me put myself in the mindset of a Latino American. I might ask myself, why not?  There are many of us and we should have a specific day to recognize our contributions?  

However, I find that difficult because here in the Bay Area we have all kinds of days for specific immigrant groups.  Just off the top of my head we have:  Latino Salsa and Latin Jazz Festival, Tet, Chinese New Year Parade, Carnival, Spring Blossom Festival and so on.  I would like to see any number of these deemed a Holiday.  Let us not forget that we should also request to get off from work!  

In fact, the Bay Area which in case you didn’t know used to be Mexico has a Latino Day everyday should you choose to frequent certain neighborhoods.  

Perhaps the lawmaker who is proposing this idea is doing so because he/she believes Latinos are in the minority and need the government’s assistance to be recognized.  Well, given the demographic trend lately, Mr. Ash who proposed a “White People Day” certainly has a point when he says “I just want them to assure me that when we do become in the minority you’ll have a day for us.”

What I see in this exchange between the Latino and Mr. Ash is an “us vs. them” mentality. I can assure you that just as the textbooks have done with contributions from other “minority” groups, (Women, African-Americans, Gays) the same will happen for Latinos as their numbers continually increase.  

As for the “White People Holiday,” I believe Mr. Ash was simply being facetious.  If he was serious he should fight fire with fire and call it a “European-American holiday,” and not base it on skin color.  

Anyway, I’m all for holidays, and days off of work especially, but neither a Latino-American day or a White People day is going to work.  White People have enough holidays already and as soon as Latinos are in the majority the purpose of such a holiday is going to be lost.    

After all, as the article mentions, we already have Cinco de Mayo which as every white person knows is Mexican Independence day.  ;)  Let’s just take a day of work off for that.  Or even better, let’s celebrate what America is really all about which could be “Corporation Day.”  

After all, corporations are people too.  

PS:  Nobody likes Arizona, can Mexico take them back please?  Then Mr. Ash’s request might be a bit more valid.  

These days it is hard to open the newspaper without seeing an article about Facebook, Twitter or the myriad of other internet websites.  Everyone is tweeting, Facebooking and posting away it seems.

I wonder if I’m just getting old (at the ripe age of 34) but I find myself becoming less enthusiastic about all these new websites and services that keep popping up.  In fact, I find myself unplugging more and more.  

Perhaps I am ahead of the curve.  I had my first website in 1995 while still in HS and joined Facebook before anyone I knew had.  I was constantly online from about 1998 to 1995 vigorously adopting every new internet fad that was out there.  

Now, I’m the first to stop using it as much, to stop mindlessly posting every single thought that enters my head.  I have no idea about the new services the kiddies use these days and never really took to twitter so I wonder, am I ahead of the curve by using less technology or am I just getting old?  

Part of the reason may be that I’ve simply indulged too much, like a kid who has eaten too many cookies and feels a bit nauseous.  I’ve got my news feed running, I see the stock prices next to that, I’m getting beeped and pinged and god forbid I turn on the chat.  

If I think a bit more on the subject I feel a bit cheated with the social networking of Facebook.  Here, I’m suddenly connected to seemingly everyone I’ve ever known yet, it overwhelms me so I chat with none of them.  This is in contrast to the pre-facebook days when you ran into an old friend and had the joy of catching up with them and perhaps setting a date for a beer or two where you could really learn about what they have been up to.  

Now, you find them online, “like” a few pictures, maybe trade a quick note or two and then simply become a voyeur.  The massive amount of pictures that previous social etiquette would have compelled me to “like” and comment on has become too much.  Every day is somebodies birthday and I feel bad if I didn’t wish them so because I forgot to check the FB on a daily basis.  

I guess you could say that we are now connected but remain very much at a distance.  You just do not get the feeling of closeness from a personal encounter with an old acquaintance by using Facebook.  Or perhaps I’m just an old young adult?  

There is also the issue of privacy.  That is a topic that has been slung around the internet like a bag of dog poop recently.  To be honest, younger people are not as paranoid as the older generation.  I can remember that only two years ago, people only a few years older than I were worried about perverts downloading pictures of their children that they had posted.  Well, I’m afraid now, the amount of children posted on the internet has seriously swamped and drowned any perverts out there as people have forgotten their former paranoia.  

I on the other hand have swiftly moved in the other direction although it is not due to perverts.  I have changed my name on FB to a fictitious one for the simple reason that I do not feel comfortable with the various tinkering of privacy settings that FB has become known for.  

At first blush, I too am not that concerned with privacy.  However, after seeing what sales teams for corporations do on the internet, which is to gather as much information about someone in order to sell something I have become more cautious.  I too must engage in this practice and it continually astounds me how much I can learn about someone on the net.  If they do not have their FB privacy settings set correctly I can quickly learn about their entire life!  

For some, their privacy settings are set purposely that way.  They enjoy being center stage  and I believe use it as an emotional support to believe that people want to look at them.  How many people do you know have 100 profile pictures of themselves?  How many people record what they are doing every second of the day?  

Some might say that it is simply the new way of communication, but perhaps older generations would call it narcissistic?  

For me, I have around 600 friends on the FB and feel that is quite enough.  Therefore, people know that my pseudonym is really me and thus have no trouble figuring it out.  What is does however, is acts as a very effective block for the “snoopers” out there who want to sell me things, or use my information for some other nefarious corporate purpose.  

As for Twitter, I already have enough noise I have to deal with on a daily basis and have enough trouble filtering it all out.  Why would I want to add 1 million other voices to the daily garble?  Yes, I do appreciate up to the second news but I would much rather prefer a well thought out article to some snippet from those that call themselves journalists these days.  Like I said, I never really understood Twitter.  I guess if I had to say one good thing about it, is that you really can get up to the second information if some interesting event is happening from people on the scene, but that is about it.  

As for the internet in general, there are so many choices of websites and services these days that I almost feel paralyzed.  Normal people can handle a choice of 4-5 things but when you add thousands it does create paralysis and I find myself sticking to the same sites that I’ve become comfortable with. 

Now the amount of sites are around 60 or so and even if I Google a random topic I always look for the same URLs’ that I trust:  Wikipedia, Yahoo, How stuff works, TED, News sites, FB, and so on.  

I feel that I could probably add to my personal favorite websites if I hung out with some High School kids for a day or two, but then again, I’ve become old and find their websites just full of more noise.  

To wrap this post up, I’m waiting for a story on people who are eschewing every new technological fad/website and becoming more focused.  After all, if our current political debates were to act as a barometer I would say the internet is making us more stupid by creating sites that cater to very particular and narrow points of view.  Our limited views are simply reinforced by the thousands of others who have a limited point of view and decided to make a website.  

But without getting into politics or anything like that, I simply wonder when the tide is going to turn.  Perhaps an even younger generation will realize that less is better.  Or perhaps a new web service can finely tune everything I need to know into a 30 minute digest so I can stop staring at my multiple screens.  

When most people hear the word “Atlas” they think of boring school subjects and perhaps don’t bother to lift the cover.  For me however, I opened the cover and this book has kept me spellbound.  

As any reader of this blog knows, I enjoy language, culture, history, politics and general discovery.  As it happens, these things often come all at once.  My mind is able to paint a fuller picture of the things which surround me by combining my knowledge of language, my travels to places not yet explored (by me), interest in history and reading of current events.  

I am reminded of this quote by Thomas Paine ““The mind once enlightened cannot again become dark.”   Once that spark of curiosity has been ignited it turns into a conflagration consuming as much knowledge as it possibly can.  

The “Infinite City” has definitely poured much fuel on the fire.  

The first thing I really like about this book is how it talks about “Ghosts.”  These ghosts are the past, the forgotten that have been built over yet have contributed so much and define the character of the city.  

Every neighborhood in San Francisco is full of these ghosts.  Most people cannot see them, they are disconnected from the past by that veil which grows thicker with each passing year.  

As I mentioned I have great interest in many things and from my world travels and experiences I actively seek out these ghosts.  Sometimes, I know they are there but really have no understanding of the history until I have found the right book and have done my studies.  Only then, do they really come alive.  

I will not go into the details of these ghosts in this post but instead will just give you a few examples of what I think about when walking through San Francisco.  

1. Japan Town – I see the Japanese being boarded onto buses for concentration camps courtesy of the US Government.  I see a shell of a place that once was a thriving Japanese community now being bought up by Koreans.  

2. The Fillmore – A heart of African American culture where many famous Jazz musicians once played.  This was gutted by redevelopment.  I also think of how it is named after the US President Millard Fillmore

3.  The Embarcadero – In Spanish, a “Barca” is a boat, thus the “Embarcadero” is the place where you board the boats.  

Now, take these examples and multiply them by a million and that is how I have come to see this city.  Much of my knowledge comes directly from the book I have mentioned.  

Now, how can we understand the present without understanding the past?  

The fact is, we really cannot.  Reading this book I can make greater sense of what is happening politically right now.  The 99% vs. the 1% has happened all before.  

Very few people would remember the United Fruit Company.  It was the UFC that coined the term “Banana Republic” as they controlled many third world nations.  This was the behemoth that exploited the poor in the third world countries and put people out of work in the US.  In early 1995 the exploitation was expanded by NAFTA to not only include fruit, but also anything possible of being manufactured that really put a lot of people in the US out of work.  

I believe it just took a decade or so for the process to lubricate properly, the US citizens to realize that their jobs are disappearing and should they have a job it is stagnant.  Meanwhile, the executives of these international companies are making a killing.  

The crisis did not start with Wall Street, they are only the profiteers of a system designed to make American citizens much poorer while trumpeting the horn of “efficiency and progress.”  

A great point the author makes in this book is in regards to shipping containers.  Yes, those large bulky containers they put on ships to transport goods.  These are directly responsible for the exploitation of cheap labor from other countries and the declining industrial jobs in the USA.  The “working man” started to lose power long before NAFTA, long before Wall Street and Finance went into overdrive.  

These containers were responsible for the loss of industrial jobs in SF and the USA as a whole.  An interesting fact she makes is that SF could not receive these containers do to limited space thus they went to Oakland and later Seattle and LA where space was available.  

She talks about the transition of SF going from human labor to the industrial and technological economy.  My favorite parts are here.  

“The truth is that we’re drowning in busywork, nonproductive work, everything from “creative” bankingand insurance bureaucracies to the pointless shuffling of data and the manufacturing of products designed to be obsolescent almost immediately – and I would argue that a great deal of what we’re doing shoudl just stop.  

The modernization and progress that gave this soul-destroying process a certain inevitability did indeed affect the whole country, and even most of the world.  It was not invented in the Bay Area, but San Francisco was one of its earliest epicenters…….  As this process unfolded, the white working class lost its identity as workers, mostly fled the cities, sent the kids to college, and took full advantage (by going into massive debt) of the wealth that US militarism and multinational business poured into U.S. coffers.” 

Now look at our current environment.  We have the Republicans who are the defenders of these multinational robber barons and the Democrats who try to put a few curbs on them but are basically in league as well.  

We can never turn back the clock but I think it is about time we take another look at the meaning of “progress.”  In the current Capitalistic climate, “progress” means making the profits ever higher no matter what the expense, no matter who is hurt financially.  Make more money so you can buy more stuff is the meaning of “progress” in the USA.  

Thankfully, the tide is turning ever so slightly.  People (in California) at least are more apt to purchase locally, at least where foodstuffs are concerned.  Some people are questioning the need to buy ever more goods and giving a thought to at least saving some money.  

But, it is all a dream, I highly doubt that the tide can be turned and that people will look away from greed and the desire to purchase more things.  On one side you have the business people that employ armies of marketers to make people want to buy, to make them feel they do not have enough.  On the other, you have a handful of thoughtful people who realize they are being suckered and would like to opt out of the system.  These people are the ones who shop at the local farmers markets and do not fall for every single sales pitch thrown at them on a day to day basis.  

To sum up the current climate in the USA, I’d like to take a line from the failed presidential contender Herman Cain.  ”It’s you’re own fault if you’re not rich.”  It seems that in the USA  becoming wealthy is the whole purpose of being, the purpose of life, at least in the Republican party.  

But, I digress, as I’ve gone off on a tangent again.  I guess my point is that I find it so enlightening to uncover a book like “Infinite City” and realize that these class struggles have been fought way before the current crisis.  It is fun to be able to look past all the sound bites from the politicians and realize that we’ve been here all before.  

I guess if I were to strive for a point which sums it all up, in the USA we have an electorate who is incredibly ignorant of the past and believe all these issues just started as soon as a Hannity or a Limbaugh opened their mouths.  

My advice, is to become interested in the past, to look for those ghosts.  Only then, can we really understand where we are and where we are going.  

Until we can do that, a “Banana Republic” will remain a clothing store and the world would have begun in 1990.  

How I would love to read the same type of post from a citizen of Rome.  Just one little snippet of what life was like back then and what a relatively normal citizen thought about. Well, I write this post for the future inhabitants of planet Earth.  May this post survive 1000 years so they may see what a certain international citizen is currently thinking about on 1.1.2012.  

1. The Right

I sometimes like to turn on AM radio and listen to the Right screech.  I never really know who is screeching since I do not pay that much attention unless they are a major radio personality.  This week I turned on an AM station in the 600s in San Francisco. 

There are two personalities on this station and one became upset that the listeners became concerned he was not supporting a certain few Republican candidates enough.  His position was that he “didn’t give a crap” about who he was hurting or not.  He clarified later that he was talking politically but I cannot help but conclude that he meant people in general.  He became all excited and told his own listeners “F*ya.”  His colleague was quite shocked and asked him to tone it down.  This only made him more excited and he continued to rant and rave.  It was at this point that the producer chimed in and informed him that he really should not tell his own customers to “F*off.”  

So, it has come to this.  The radio personalities on the right become so angry and excited that they tell their own customers to F*off.”  

What can I tell you, future inhabitants, other than we are currently living in a circus culture.  On the Right, the purpose is to be so outraged, so angry and it must be continued every single day.  The theme is daily outrage and anger. 

People that run radio shows like this, it is their duty to be upset every single day and they can never deviate from this.  Their popularity is based on rage and this rage must be continued.  It creates an expectation and to continue and please their listeners they can never cede once single inch to the other side.  

I then tuned in again to Sean Hannity and was very surprised that he had a well known liberal on his show.  No need to go into details but the liberal made a very good point that Obama had walked in to a mess.  Hannity did not cede an inch but did treat the caller with respect.  I could not help but wonder what Hannity in all his experience thinks personally.  Of course he cannot say so as his popularity is not derived from the truth but instead on  the simple narrative of Obama hate.  

Even if Obama had done great things: Implemented healthcare, got out of Iraq, eliminated Osama, contained Iran, the radio personalities on the right simply cannot give him any credit.  To do so would weaken their own livelihoods.  

2. The Grouping of the population

Just like the Japanese, Americans also like to be associated with groups.  It becomes part of their character.  If it were the NFL, some like the Packers, some like the Broncos.  Some are Republicans, some are Democrats.  Just as with their NFL affiliation, no matter what good the other side does it can never be credited if one belongs to the other side.  It has become as simple as that.  

I like the Broncos ergo, the Packers suck.  

I am a Republican ergo, the Democrats suck.  

Intelligent people transcend such silly boundaries but it has infected the political culture as well.  There is no concern about the well being of the nation so long as the other side is in control.  It has in effect, become a zero sum game.  If one side does well, it diminishes the other in the minds of most citizens.  

3. We are Rome. 

The citizenry is concerned with entertainment.  If you turn on the TV the citizens are wondering who sung the best, who danced the best, who got the bachelor and yes who won the NH primary.  Politics in this country has become the equivalent of a puppet show.  On the Right, war has also become entertainment.  

In the past, such as with WW11 war was something that the entire nation was involved in and was necessary.  Now, it is which country we can dominate today and which humans a drone has destroyed today.  

The citizens have no idea what it would be like to be fearful of a drone attack by a foreign land.  Americans have come to seen it as normal to have their own drones attacking other human beings.  Can you imagine what it would be like to have drones from China circling overhead in the USA?  

The point is that Americans have come to see domination as simply a fact of life.  America dominates other countries and it can never be the other way.  A drone attack barely makes the headlines anymore.  Yet should the reverse be true you can bet that it would never leave the headlines and the psychology would forever be changed.  

Just like the Romans who became accustomed to being the dominate force, always on a war footing so have the Americans become.  Yet, one day the barbarians came and took over Rome and the citizens were not prepared.  

American remains a great country and has done much so much better than most great superpowers in history.  My point with this post is that there are internal forces pulling America this way and that.  To remain great, we really should have debates on our interventions in other countries and just how much we should seek to dominate the world.  

The only politician to raise such issues is Ron Paul yet he is derided by his own party and told to “go back to the mother ship.”  

As we can see in the Republican primary, the candidates are pandering to their base and advocating war!  

Therefore, I can only conclude that a majority of Republicans wish for war, they wish for death, so long as it occurs in a country far away and no sacrifice is necessary.  

They tune in for a moment to advocate death and then return to their armchairs so they can watch the latest program to see who sings and/or dances the best.  

America has become Rome.   It is an entertainment culture.  There is no room for philosophy, there is no room for an honest discussion.  It has become one for entertainment and entertainment for all.  

I for one am very disheartened by the state of the Nation and although this country has done better than most in a historical regard I cannot help but wonder if it will burn itself out quickly.  

Will the USA sputter and die over hundreds of years just as Rome or will it find the strength within itself to persevere and become strong again.  To the Right that means electing a Republican overlord to advocate war, suppress the world and create a free for all for the citizens.  To the left it also means suppressing the world yet taking care of those that have not succeeded.  There are very few who advocate a non-interventionist stance except for Ron Paul.  

In this democracy you have to pander to the base, and the base is busy watching a stupid T.V, program.  

Welcome to America. 

My little boy decided he would not go back to sleep without some comfort around 4:00am and the task fell to me this morning.  Now that he is back sound asleep I find myself in a sort of limbo between a dream state and partial consciousness.  

While deciding what to do with myself in this surreal state it occurred to me that I had not written a blog post in quite a while.  This is to be blamed on the “little stink” mentioned above as well as that online scourge World of Warcraft whose snare I’ve fallen into yet again.  It can also be blamed on outright laziness.  

Well, perhaps it is not 100% laziness.  I’ve found myself reading and watching a lot of documentaries lately.  When one has experienced the world and read (and watched documentaries) as much as I have, one comes to the realization that one really does not know very much!  Some people would call this a big step towards wisdom, those that understand how little the really know contrasted by those who believe they have the answer to everything yet ironically happen to be the most ignorant!  

As this feeling of not understanding very much really does not go away, I feel a bit apprehensive to sit down and start writing, since who would want to read a post from someone who does not know very much?  It creates almost an aversion, a kind of mental block to writing since I feel I can be sure of nothing.  

Yes, that is a much better explanation to my lack of blog posts than simply being lazy!   :)  

But, let us get to one issue that I can be pretty confident in.  

I like Filipinos.  

If you have read this blog much at all then you understand that I know Japan, speak Japanese and have a preference for that country in general.  My second favorite is Vietnam due to my experiences there.  

In this post however, I want to tell you that I also really like Filipinos!  

Here in the Bay Area we sure have a lot of them.  Daly City is known as “little Manila” and you cannot go to Costco without hearing Tagalog as well as being a complete white minority.  

So why do I like them so much?  

The first reason, hands down, is that I find them to be incredibly friendly.  It seems as though they always smile and generally like to do so.  Filipinos like to laugh, like to be around family and seem to be generally interested in speaking with me as though I was talking with an old friend.  

As an example, I go to a small barber shop here in Pacifica where the ladies are all Filipino. I go in, they greet me with a big smile and unlike the polite Japanese it actually seems like a true smile that comes from the heart.  I sit down and these old ladies always caress my neck and call me handsome.  

Perhaps that is it.  I like old Asian ladies who caress my neck and call me handsome.  It is impossible to find anything disagreeable with that.  They also ask if I’m married and tell me I should find a nice Filipino woman.  

I then point out that I’m married to a Japanese.  It seems to please them that I have selected an Asian for a wife but I get a very small inkling that they still believe I would do better with a Filipino.  :)  

The second reason I like Filipinos is that the females can sometimes be outrageous in terms of big, in your face fashion and general merchandise.  Imelda Marcos and her many thousand pairs of shoes comes to mind as well as does my bathroom.  

My bathroom you ask?  

Well, I recently had a plumber come to my house to inspect the shower.  True to form being in the bay area he was a Filipino and asked if the bathroom was designed by a Filipino woman.  

He was correct.  

The previous occupant had a Filipino wife and she did indeed designed the bathroom.  The plumber commented that it looked like something out of Las Vegas with it’s “sunflower” shower head that completely soaks you and two Imperial Rome looking sinks.  Yes, two, why settle for one in the bathroom when two give you twice as much?  

Big, gaudy and over the top.  If it can be bought and costs a lot, then it should be acquired perhaps characterizes the Filipino females purchase decisions.  No modesty what so ever and they wear/show off these things with the greatest of pride.  

Just thinking about this gives me a huge smile.  Their eyes light up and they want everyone else to notice.  It is very cute.  

In Filipino culture, you never do anything by half measures.  If it is shoe purchases you buy as many as your closet can fit and then some.  If it is a house you make it as big as possible.  If it is Christianity then you wear a big cross and some even have themselves nailed to one during Easter.  If it is a tattoo then you cover the entire leg or arm!  If it is love then they completely devote themselves.  If it is a break up then a horrible, world ending tempest will ensue for a very long time.  

I love their passion.  It can be for love, family, shoes or bathrooms a Filipino (female) will definitely put their entire being into it.  

I like when I go to shake a Filipinos hand that they use both hands and really make you feel welcome.  

As I mentioned, perhaps this is a characteristic of the warm countries, especially the South Asian ones.  I can find many similarities with the Thai in regards to general warmth.  This is very hard to explain in American culture where we can be friendly (especially in the small towns) but we retain a bit of formality a bit of distance.  

I’ve never had an American barber (barberess?) caress my neck and call me handsome.  

Yes, I like Filipinos indeed.  

MARTIAL, the things that do attain
The happy life be these, I find:—
The richesse left, not got with pain;
The fruitful ground, the quiet mind;
The equal friend; no grudge, no strife;
No charge of rule, nor governance;
Without disease, the healthful life;
The household of continuance;
The mean diet, no delicate fare;
True wisdom join’d with simpleness;
The night dischargèd of all care,
Where wine the wit may not oppress.
The faithful wife, without debate;
Such sleeps as may beguile the night:
Contented with thine own estate
Ne wish for death, ne fear his might.

From Wikipedia

Marcus Valerius Martialis (known in English as Martial) (March 1, between 38 and 41 AD – between 102 and 104 AD), was a Latinpoet from Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula) best known for his twelve books of Epigrams, published in Rome between AD 86 and 103, during the reigns of the emperors Domitian, Nerva and Trajan. In these short, witty poems he cheerfully satirises city life and the scandalous activities of his acquaintances, and romanticises his provincial upbringing. He wrote a total of 1,561, of which 1,235 are inelegiac couplets. He is considered to be the creator of the modern epigram.

Some Asians’ college strategy: Don’t check ‘Asian’ 

Sounded like a good topic for this blog and is a choice my own boy will have to make someday so thought I’d do a post.  

My personal opinion, being a completely white, blond/brownish, blue eyed, half Asian on the inside type of guy is this!  Check whichever box gives you the best advantage!  

That seems to be the overriding opinion with all the “ハーフ” (Half – Which means “Half Japanese in Japanese, but am using it to mean all “half people” here :)   ) and I don’t blame them for doing so.  There is enough competition out there already so why make things tougher for themselves?  

Some felt that not checking the box would be betraying their heritage and I understand their point, but only slightly.  If you really think about it the boxes only give you “Asian” and “White” or “Caucasian.” so if a “half” checked Asian wouldn’t they be betraying their white heritage?  LOL.

And if we really get into it Asia is referring to a geographic area on the planet.  Yet, I still haven’t found a geographic area called “white” so aren’t these boxes all just a bit misleading?  

For example, I know of many white Africans and most of the ones I know reside in South Africa.  Wow, looks like I may have found a reason that they do not use geographic areas so much anymore, because what if the boxes were based on geographic locations things could get even more confusing!  

If there were a box to put European, then due to empires and all the new “colonials” aka “immigrants” aka “citizens” it would be hard to determine what color they are since Europe is full of people from everywhere now.  Further, most white Americans come from European descent and if we really want to get into history then we can see issues arising from those previous halfs that now make up a good portion of the many populations.  Here are some examples:

1. Spaniards – They were overrun  by the “Moors” from 711 to 1492.  A good part of the population have Moorish blood. 

2.  Latin America – Overrun by the Spaniards from 1492 onward so what box would they check?  They have Indian / Spanish and Moorish blood!  AND if the boxes were from geographic areas putting Indian would mean coming from India since that white dude Christopher Columbus ended up finding the wrong continent.  But oh wait, they’ve fixed that now. Isn’t the box, “Native American?”  And wait, who was on the American continent before the “Natives” crossed the land bridge that used to connect the American continent with Asia?  So aren’t the current Native Americans really Asians?  

I once asked a “Ethnicity adviser” at a large university a question concerning “halfs” and what box they should check.  She advised that you should check the box that you most strongly associate with, “It is how you feel on the inside!”  

Well, if that were the case, I often feel Japanese when I am in Japan.  But should I go to Cafe Latino while in Tokyo then I most certainly feel Latino as I drink my Aguardiente and try my best to salsa.  Now that I think about it, Latino is a bit too broad.  I think I would consider myself Argentinian.  

But wait!  Didn’t a lot of Nazis’ escape to Argentina?  Pursuit of Nazi collaborators

If I checked the college application box that said “Latino” and more specifically Argentinian would they possibly think I could be a Nazi?  I bet that would get me disqualified very quickly.  

Personally, I’d like to see a box that says “Global Citizen.”  If, as the above adviser says, I should check the box based on how I feel then I feel like an inhabitant of this planet, one who can assimilate into many cultures and would like to become part of as many groups as possible.  

Maybe that sounds a little corny.  Further, I am now going to exercise my Spanish (from Spain) feelings, go have a coffee and take a siesta.