by Don Case on Tuesday, September 6, 2011
"Socialism never took root in America because the
poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat,
but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires."
Attributed to john Steinbeck.
As a kid I worked delivering papers, detasseling corn,
helping my dad with car repairs and construction
for friends and neighbors, worked in Jack in the
box when it still had the head on a spring and
another greasy spoon, in a car wash and in a
machine shop making pool equipment.
Later I worked in two office desk factorys, the
first was a custom place the second made junk.
The second office furniture factory employed
a couple hundred people but only I and the Jamaican
supervisor spoke English. Customs would come and we
would be the only two left.
These were all short term jobs while in high school
and when I returned from the service. I do not
see any young people that are interested in these
jobs today except a few that want to make their own
money and are inventive enough to make up their own
jobs that are acceptable in the eyes of their peers.
I have worked forty years trimming trees in every
aspect of the job from cleanup to climber/lead man
to supervisor as civil service and now own my own
tree business of 24 years. I had as many as seven
employees working for me. In the last ten years
I have reduced my business to small jobs with one
occasional helper and consulting.
I taught Arboriculture and Landscape pruning
practices for 3 1/2 years at the local community
college. I had students that ranged from gardeners
to the city mayor (she out climbed and out trimmed
the young brassos at 55 years old).
So we witness the decline of a young work force interested
in physical labor is a major factor in the dependency
we now have on immigrant labor legal or not. The people
that are working these jobs do so because they are
better off here than at home. Central and South American
wages and living conditions are much different than here.
For that reason we can live there in relative luxury on
social security. You just have to close your eyes to
the way people live there.
What can we do as a people, not just USA-sans but
Americans North, Central and South to obtain equality
for all peoples? I see this project as the best
answer to the many problems of culture clash and
immigration imbalances. Those of you in Europe and East
Asia may have some insight into this as there are many
borders there to learn from. What works and what does
not work.
"I must go over into the interior valleys. … There
are five thousand families starving to death over
there, not just hungry but actually starving. The
government is trying to feed them and get medical
attention to them, with the Fascist group of
utilities and banks and huge growers sabotaging
the thing all along the line, and yelling for a
balanced budget.
In one tent there were twenty people quarantined
for small pox and two of the women are to have
babies in that tent this week. I've tied into the
thing format he first and I must get down there
and see it and see if I can do something to knock
these murderers on the heads. Do you know what
they're afraid of? They think that if these people
are allowed to live in camps with proper
sanitary facilities they will organize, and that
is the bugbear of the large landowner and the
corporate farmer. The states and counties will
give them nothing because they are outsiders.
But the crops of any part of this state could not
be harvested without them. … The death of children
by starvation in our valleys is simply staggering.
… I'll do what I can. … Funny how mean and little
books become in the face of such tragedies."
John Steinbeck
Letter to Elizabeth Otis (1938), as quoted in
Conversations with John Steinbeck (1988) edited
by Thomas Fensch, p. 37
Friday, September 30, 2011
Here we are
by Don Case on Monday, August 22, 2011
We are but a speck in time and in the universe so what makes us think we are so important?
Star Size Comparison HD
Thinking out of the box in a big way is a possible answer. We have discovered
Black holes
where every thing gets pulled in including light, how big can they get? We have discovered
White holes
that seem to create matter. And we have discovered
Dark matter
that seems to fill in all the spaces we thought were empty. We are even creating
Digital Molecular Matter
as a new concept.Add the concept called time
WHAT IS TIME? WHAT CAUSES TIME?
and things go into different dimensions and realities.
If there was a black hole big enough it may have taken what was then the universe in and that matter came out from a white hole known as the big bang.
That brings us back to time of which Albert Einstein said, referring to the passing ofa friend,
"Now he has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me.
That means nothing. People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction
between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion."
So the man that defined time and space thinks of it as naught. Yet he was a religious man saying,
"Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind."
But how can religion be the answer to existence?
Religion
is a man made idea and comes in many forms. Back to our ultimate scientist, Albert said
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe."
We are just embryos compared to the universe, what gives us the right to say we know who and how it was made? Theories are just that theories and we all have them.
"Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods." (yup our good friend Albert again).
And this, "A human being is a part of a whole, called by us _universe_, a part limited in time and space.
He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest... a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."
"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts."
(Sign hanging in Einstein's office at Princeton)
We are but a speck in time and in the universe so what makes us think we are so important?
Star Size Comparison HD
Thinking out of the box in a big way is a possible answer. We have discovered
Black holes
where every thing gets pulled in including light, how big can they get? We have discovered
White holes
that seem to create matter. And we have discovered
Dark matter
that seems to fill in all the spaces we thought were empty. We are even creating
Digital Molecular Matter
as a new concept.Add the concept called time
WHAT IS TIME? WHAT CAUSES TIME?
and things go into different dimensions and realities.
If there was a black hole big enough it may have taken what was then the universe in and that matter came out from a white hole known as the big bang.
That brings us back to time of which Albert Einstein said, referring to the passing ofa friend,
"Now he has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me.
That means nothing. People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction
between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion."
So the man that defined time and space thinks of it as naught. Yet he was a religious man saying,
"Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind."
But how can religion be the answer to existence?
Religion
is a man made idea and comes in many forms. Back to our ultimate scientist, Albert said
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe."
We are just embryos compared to the universe, what gives us the right to say we know who and how it was made? Theories are just that theories and we all have them.
"Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods." (yup our good friend Albert again).
And this, "A human being is a part of a whole, called by us _universe_, a part limited in time and space.
He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest... a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."
"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts."
(Sign hanging in Einstein's office at Princeton)
Freedom is another word
by Don Case on Sunday, August 7, 2011
puppets and masters who are who who's in charge
what purpose what end who is small who is large
power relinquished power misused information false
for advantage repeated till reality lost
so many have none prosperity for few
no outlet for anger from frustration for you
protection domination at home and abroad
image degraded the recovery hard
value uneven quality askew
less good and abundance what to do
greed drives the ones that have much and want more
no heed for old saying watch what you wish for
microscopic life supports life above
without the lesser they undo what they wove
unbalance dissipates like water seeking it's level
hoarding too much leaves no room to revel
true balance and fairness to all rich and poor
is the way our plenitude will restore
the one in the mirror who can it be
what is the difference between you and me
hold up your hand look past it you "see"
through your fingers our body a vessel of thee
live true to the self that the inner mind knows
the one that sees others the same as it grows
we say "rest in peace" is that what peace is
at the end what is left are we really free?
puppets and masters who are who who's in charge
what purpose what end who is small who is large
power relinquished power misused information false
for advantage repeated till reality lost
so many have none prosperity for few
no outlet for anger from frustration for you
protection domination at home and abroad
image degraded the recovery hard
value uneven quality askew
less good and abundance what to do
greed drives the ones that have much and want more
no heed for old saying watch what you wish for
microscopic life supports life above
without the lesser they undo what they wove
unbalance dissipates like water seeking it's level
hoarding too much leaves no room to revel
true balance and fairness to all rich and poor
is the way our plenitude will restore
the one in the mirror who can it be
what is the difference between you and me
hold up your hand look past it you "see"
through your fingers our body a vessel of thee
live true to the self that the inner mind knows
the one that sees others the same as it grows
we say "rest in peace" is that what peace is
at the end what is left are we really free?
Poet and reader
by Don Case on Sunday, July 24, 2011
Cells that form thoughts gather
in ganglia to organize better
lines and verses for conveying
feelings, ideas that are weighing
on the psyche of the writer.
Physical tissue that contains
soul and heart within the brain
all the magical connections
help to share true reflections
for connection to the reader.
Putting words on paper or screen
hoping they'll know what we mean
no two minds can be the same
readers have thoughts that came
to their own rhyme and meter.
Cells that form thoughts gather
in ganglia to organize better
lines and verses for conveying
feelings, ideas that are weighing
on the psyche of the writer.
Physical tissue that contains
soul and heart within the brain
all the magical connections
help to share true reflections
for connection to the reader.
Putting words on paper or screen
hoping they'll know what we mean
no two minds can be the same
readers have thoughts that came
to their own rhyme and meter.
Pain
by Don Case on Thursday, July 14, 2011
Most described
and vilified
so many different
ways to feel
each one identified
as real
The slice that stings
those paper things
quick sudden impact
thudding throb
slow constant rill
feel it still
Fiery nerve ends
burn in air
the ones that pulse
and still are bare
a crushing blow
the hammer knows
Witch is bearable
quick and neat
or controlled
by drugs
feel only
heart beat
Escape not there
sensation here
the flesh responds
and nerves repair
a mark remains
to tell the tale
Maps of life
experience brings
disconnect feeling
where scars begin
numb but sensitive
in a different way
Large and small
long and short
some forever
some a memory
fleeting but
touched remembered
Most described
and vilified
so many different
ways to feel
each one identified
as real
The slice that stings
those paper things
quick sudden impact
thudding throb
slow constant rill
feel it still
Fiery nerve ends
burn in air
the ones that pulse
and still are bare
a crushing blow
the hammer knows
Witch is bearable
quick and neat
or controlled
by drugs
feel only
heart beat
Escape not there
sensation here
the flesh responds
and nerves repair
a mark remains
to tell the tale
Maps of life
experience brings
disconnect feeling
where scars begin
numb but sensitive
in a different way
Large and small
long and short
some forever
some a memory
fleeting but
touched remembered
The path
by Don Case on Sunday, June 19, 2011
The mind's desire
to find the way
is directed by
the path it takes
To choose a course
to embrace ideals
direction makes all
dimensions real
Seeing the way
for each a choice
influenced by
past mind's voice
So the future
reflects the past
till perception
reveals the path
Narrow, twisted
hither and yon
up and down
and then beyond
To the edges
of limits
that are
not really there
Inspiration,
realization,
no borders
there be
Inner freedom
imagine
for you
and for me.
The mind's desire
to find the way
is directed by
the path it takes
To choose a course
to embrace ideals
direction makes all
dimensions real
Seeing the way
for each a choice
influenced by
past mind's voice
So the future
reflects the past
till perception
reveals the path
Narrow, twisted
hither and yon
up and down
and then beyond
To the edges
of limits
that are
not really there
Inspiration,
realization,
no borders
there be
Inner freedom
imagine
for you
and for me.
Effort
by Don Case on Wednesday, May 25, 2011
The push to action
to conquer distraction
waits in the background
thoughts of the mind
The energy summoned
is slow in coming
to create a tangible
sentence defined
Life in slow motion
gives credence the notion
to beauty of words
and the will to be kind
Desires are fleeting
each one a chance meeting
to grasp and enjoy
till it starts to unwind
Engage in exchanges
of ideas in stages
built from the depths
where a spark you will find
The push to action
to conquer distraction
waits in the background
thoughts of the mind
The energy summoned
is slow in coming
to create a tangible
sentence defined
Life in slow motion
gives credence the notion
to beauty of words
and the will to be kind
Desires are fleeting
each one a chance meeting
to grasp and enjoy
till it starts to unwind
Engage in exchanges
of ideas in stages
built from the depths
where a spark you will find
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