The Tribune Online, 42

When the Holidays are not Happy...

A few articles back, I poked fun at our holiday rituals in the US with all of its hassles, spending on things people may not want, depression setting in during a supposedly time of joy...so on and so forth. As I was going through some of my files, I came across this greeting card I received from the foreign minister of Zimbabwe, when he thanked me for an article I did in a publication, I used to own on the Gulf Coast, about the nation's rise from apartheid, to show what could be done with human cooperation as opposed to racial domination...and, I had to sigh, what the hell happened??

Zimbabwe was supposed to be an example to the world just prior to the release of that true father of a nation, the Honorable Nelson Mandela. Today, they are as far apart as any two majority black ruled nations in Africa can be. I even included a copy of a $2.00 Zimbabwe note that's probably not even worth two mills. It appeared that God sent a guardian angel in the person of Nelson Mandela to lead a people and a demon in the person of Robert Mugabe to demonize a nation...so, forget all of that religious crap about angels in the clouds and devils dwelling in the fires of hell. They are real and human.

Yes, like Zimbabwe, there are a few loose wheels in human development led by devil-like individuals, otherwise called sociopaths...they are in Iran and North Korea...alive and well. Surely, the inhabitants of these pariah nations can't be happy under the given circumstances. However, if not for a strong belief in a wondrous power in this Universe, by whatever title of reverence you want to apply, I believe somehow this has a purpose unbeknownst to us mere mortals.

Consequently, if you are feeling down and out, just think about those with difficulties far more severe...Happy Holidays, world!

Finding a cure for the big "C"

Forgive me as I write this in what might be called the KISS format (Keep it simple, stupid). Yesterday, I received a report from a colleague about the spread of "AIDS" in England. In the report, it stated one of the reasons for the continual spread of the disease is the homosexual community not being more forthcoming about its activity among scientists, doctors and researchers not being more forthcoming about the deadly effects. The Catholic Church even condoned the activity by saying it's okay...just use condoms. This may be an oversimplification, but it hits at the devastation via "immorally loose" and lustful gratification, as opposed to an exchange of love between morally committed parties. Maybe, AIDS could be stopped in its tracks by this principle alone, but very little possibility knowing the environment from which it sprang.

Environment brings me to my point of this article. It seems researchers could not find any traits of cancer in earlier generations of mankind, how long ago or how old these ancesters were, I don't know. It was only in later generations that this trait of cancer was born and has grown to worldwide proportions affecting every segment of humanity, some more than others in western cultures. I, therefore concluded that it could have only come from our enviromental ways of living, from what we eat and drink, to day-to-day habits, both good and especially bad such as nicotine, caffeine, alcohol, pollution, improper food consumption (obesity) and on and on...all environmentally related.

It also appears that it has adapted to our traits genetically, making our descendants more or less susceptible to the deadly effects, but with our abilities to diagnose in order to stay ahead of the consequences...for that's all we can do at this time with science and research...to stop is not an option.

I worked at a shipyard under the direction of a section leader that was a retired Marine Colonel...volunteered when he was an underage kid during WWII, fought in the Korean conflict, and in Viet Nam, a lot by hand-to-hand combat during reconnaissance. When he got married and during a counseling session with his bride, the doctor said that due to his years of killing and trying not to get killed, it would be a wonder if his first born didn't come out with a bayonet in one hand and a grenade in the other. Even after all of those years, you still could see a "killer's glint" in his eyes when he got pissed... thus, when genes are altered.

Witnessing Poor Management in Roanoke

This morning I had to make a quick trip to the local supermarket to pick up a few groceries. On my way back, as I was making a left turn at an intersection, a shopping cart from one of the stores not far from where I reside, flew in front of me due to the wind gusts. I had to swerve to avoid hitting it...thank goodness, there was no oncoming traffic.

I saw a concern from what may have been a catastrophe...talking about counting your blessings. Anyway, I found out that shopping cart,  along with about a dozen more overturned near the curbside, belonged to the Burlington Coat Factory outlet.

I went inside and asked to speak to the manager, a very professional young lady. I introduced myself, shook her hand, and gave her one of my business cards and asked..."Do you have any idea what it would cost the store if someone made off with one of your shopping carts"? She said somewhere between $200-$250. I then asked, are you aware that there are about a dozen of your carts laying out next to the curbside? I asked, would you pay someone to gather them up for you? If so, how much? She quickly said, the store wouldn't do that, for they have someone to come along to fetch them.

I responded, I almost hit one of them, and it might have been even worse, if I had run into someone else during the avoidance. Now, put that prospective cost to Burlington Coat Factory and see what kind of tally they come up with, by being sued for negligence. She quickly excused herself. I assumed she was going to get her coat and to collect some carts.

Defeating the demons of the past...

I have made my thoughts known about how I feel about this upcoming celebration of "Confederate History Month" to be celebrated in Virginia, each April thanks to a "back porch" deal with the Sons of Confederate Veterans and Governor Bob McDonnell. Now, the impetus for this celebration of these "sons of traitors" in an effort to overthrow the sovereign government of the United States, founded on life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, is comparable to a "western jihad" if you will, in fighting "northern aggression"...so they assert.  This is why people in the south are still considered some of the most stump-jumping dumb Americans on God's green earth.

We all know what the Civil War was about...producing cotton for rich white folks, who got poor white folks riled up to keep niggers beneath them as slaves. It was one thing to be poor white trash, but quite another to be a nigger.

Here are some quotes from an article in the American Heritage Magazine,Volume 60, No2, Summer, 2010, page12:

"Without cotton you have no modern industry...without slavery, you have no cotton...The linkage was indisputable: more than 70 percent of American slaves were involved with cotton production. The price of a slave was directly related to that of cotton. Slavery spread only to areas where cotton could grow."

"Nearly three million slaves picked, processed, and transported the bumper cotton crop of 1860, which netted the prodigious sum of $191 million."

South Carolina's James Henry Hammond was "neither the first nor the last to threaten opponents with the 'irresistible power' of cotton." You see, the Civil War was about the shedding of white and black red blood over maintaining mounds of green money...which Bob McDonnell claims is the real reason for this initiative foisted upon the state of Virginia.

I, therefore challenge current member and leader of the NAACP, Julian Bond at the University of Virginia, to mount a class action suit in conjunction with the  NAACP's Legal Defense team, to defeat this upcoming celebration. Likewise, to be as vigorous in this effort against this psychological and emotional damage to the health of primarily Virginia's black population, as Ken Cuccinelli is against defeating better and more complete health care for Virginia's citizens.