O! WHAT A TANGLED WEB THEY WEAVE . . .

What it comes down to with the web of lies that 45 and the administration are weaving . . . and that many of the Republicans in Congress are in collusion with for their own benefit is that everyone who voted for them is in a position to continue to believe in their lies and defend them -- no matter how ludicrous they are.

This makes them look either like they are very stupid or that they are so racist that they will continue to support 45 and his handlers no matter what it costs they people who need help or the people they are intent on dominating and subjugating.

It almost seems overwhelming because it definitely means that the rise of fascism has come to the point that there has been a kind of coup of our government -- hijacked within the way the elections work because of the Electoral College that was set up so that the men with economic power would always triumph over the popular vote when it came down to that.

But there still are ways we can stem the tide. There have been judicial challenges and the 45 gang have underestimated their power to dominate beyond the ethics and ideals of the majority of Americans -- those who didn't vote for them and everyone else that doesn't believe in lies and doesn't have the wool pulled over their eyes.

We have our work cut out for us.

TRANSPARENCY vs SMOKESCREENS

In light of dt's tweets accusing agencies of the federal government of leaking information that led to Flynn's scapegoat resignation, I was thinking about the kinds of strange communications we have been experiencing since even before this administration took office.

As a reality tv star, dt gained a following that led to his becoming of champion of people who believe in the promise of a kind of get rich quick American dream.

The character he played on the reality tv shows was appropriate to that venue and he became very popular,

But there was a lot about him that was hidden from view, and we all know that reality tv shows are heavily edited by the time viewers see them.

So here we are now, subject to a new kind of reality tv show complete with all the usual kinds of tweets that we got used to during the campaign and all of the blustery sound bites and rhetoric that have fed the appetites of the people that elected him.

But there is no transparency and no honesty, only smokescreens and a series of lies and propaganda.

This is so far away from the American ethics and public policy that we admire when we are trying to live out the best of our ideals.

Enough is enough.

Really.

Don't you think?

On Women

Every time I try to stay apolitical, which was one of the great things about being an officer of the US Gov't . . . I find it difficult because of the people who are suffering . . . and while I truly believe that WE, the PEOPLE should be taking care of one another, not necessarily asking the gov't to do everything I know the difference in the way things go.
I came on active duty as an Air Force Officer during the Jimmy Carter Administration when because of his attitudes and the policies and legislation that followed, women were allowed to serve their country on active duty in the armed services and elsewhere . . . and as a citizen I believe that just as I have a right to vote, I have a right to be a volunteer to serve and even to die for my country if I choose to do that . . . and women were allowed in many career fields, though not in combat -- but I was one of less than 100 women in our armed services in the early to mid-80s who was granted hazardous duty pay because some of the missions I volunteered to be part of were dangerous . . . and there was also a Join-Spouse Program that helped married couples who were both on active duty stay together working on the same bases or in the same areas as much as possible . . . but the MINUTE President Reagan got into the White House, women were barred from as many as 16 or more career fields over all the services and there was much less help to make sure couples and families stayed together.
It seems to me that the biggest problem these days (and maybe always, all over the world) is that spirits of oppression and domination, sometimes clothed in very fundamentalist religious rhetoric from several different cultures are running rampant, trying to place 1/2 the population -- the feminine half in captivity an/or in subordinate and repressive positions.
I do not believe, and I will never believe that the Creator intended that the 1/2 the population of human beings that is in blessed partnership with God to continue to create, nurture and sustain the whole population of human beings would EVER want them to be enslaved, beaten, oppressed, marginalized, or in any other way abused or restricted from the rights and freedoms enjoyed by the male 1/2 of the population of human being.
Enough is enough and it is no wonder that James Thurber so often pointed out humorously . . . but clearly . . . the battles between man and women. Let's make love, not war . . .
Oh . . . and the oppressive, dominating spirits seem to be against all sorts of "minorities" . . . and really, I think the thing the dominating people are most afraid of is that they will be treated the way they have treated or want to treat the powerless and those in need of their mercy, kindness and care.
(Okay . . . that tirade is over . . . you may go about your day in peace as far as I am concerned . . .)
[If I get a lot of flack about this, it will disappear, though . . . I am not in the mood to argue . . . just wanted to state my opinion . . .]

Gun Contol

My friend Jack, whose work on Capitol Hill includes ethics and public policy issues posted this on FaceBook:

Gun Control in Light of the Terror and Massacres of Innocents

One of the things I believe I learned in the 16 years I lived in Washington, DC and NoVA is that often the people we have elected to Congress have very little knowledge of normal, everyday American life.  And more often than not, they spend more time trying to stay in office than they do working on issues.  We have a "lobby-ocracy"

Had my eyes opened in the summer of '93 when it had been a long time since I had been out of the District and its environs.  I spent the summer taking part in "A Christian Ministry in the National Parks" at Mt Rainier National Park.

I found out that many people in the District and inside the Beltway live, eat and breathe politics -- even when they try to avoid it.  You can't be anywhere near the Capitol at night without even sub-consciously noting whether the light is on over the cupola -- when it is on, Congress is in session.

Just as almost everyone in Champaign-Urbana lived and breathed with the University of Illinois annual schedule, it's like that in the DC area, too.

Sometimes I was convinced that the bi-partisianship is just a way they have to blame one another for whatever . . . and that they get too locked away in their ivory tower of privilege, wealth and power.

But it is the responsibility of all citizens to take part in our republic.  We pretty much only have ourselves to blame when it all gets out of whack.

In no other building in the world is the adage "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely," more evident.

I have a friend who is now retired from working in the Senate Radio and Television Office.  Every time I was with her in one of the Members and Staff elevators, I was amazed to listen to some of the conversations young Pages were having with each other about their Senators or Representatives.  You can probably imagine.

There are so many misunderstandings about why The Billl of Rights was written and approved.  So many things have changed and if the Constitution and its Amendments do not remain living documents, we are all in trouble.

Ethics SMETHICS!

How about you?

It seems like every time I check the headlines online or in a newspaper or a magazine there is another media-screaming story about terrible breach of good ethics by a person in politics, by a military member, by someone in a college institution or by a corporate personage.

Many people seem to love knowing all there is to know about these scandals.  Media empires are built on milking them for all they are worth.

Often I want to ask the perpetrators a question that my three-year-old grandson, Jude, asks us when we are acting in a way that seems strange to him.  

"Whatcha DOIN'???" 

I suppose I am thinking about all this in a certain way because I am spending a lot of time preparing to teach a college course: PHIL 330 (Ethics).

If there are enough students, I will be teaching again on the Air Force base where I was stationed after seven months of training as a brand new 2nd lieutenant during waning quarter of the last century.  

Philosophy, ethics and metaphysics are cerebral pursuits. So beware.  Even the titles of the required texts for the course might give you a headache.  They are:  

Aristotle's "Nicomachean Ethics"

Immanuel Kant's "Groundwork on the Metaphysics of Morals"

John Stuart Mill's "Utilitarianism"

While I am enjoying getting to know the books again, a lot of questions about the current state of our society have popped up.

Quick.

How would you describe the accepted ethics of the majority of people of the 21st Century United States?

"Off the deep end?"

"What ethics?"

"No problem?"

"Who cares?"

For some people it seems that our society has become increasingly more openly permissive of activities and attitudes that the grandparents of the Baby Boomers found anti-social and even illegal.  Others seem to believe in an "anything goes" way of life.

Long harangues from people quoting many different sources will afford you lists of reasons to back up what they profess.  And like a lot of other issues in our polarized society, other "talking heads" will defend the other point of view.

But even all the way back to Aristotle and the philosophers from whom he descended, there were ideals that described the ethics of society.

And then there was reality that was obvious in the behavior of certain people.

Would you like to keep exploring what ethics really are?

What does it mean when people act out against whatever they profess to believe?

What are the consequences to individuals when they act in denial of their beliefs?

What are the consequences to families?

What are the consequences to corporations or institutions?

What are the consequences to governmental public policy on every level?

What are the consequences to society?

Shall we begin a discussion?