Merry Christmas!

Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Men ...

Seasons Greetings!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all.   Hope you're not driving anywhere -- they are still really bending everyone at the pump...  Cheers.

I have again underestimated how peculiar we can be...

So I come to find that this is the year of 'gifting yourself'  cause we feel put off by last year... okay fine, I guess.  Thank you, Dr. Spock :P

Book Away!

Birds of Hope.  @ Amazon.com    A Primer for the Future.

Almost soup

Final (I hope) proof copy of 1st book published in mass media -- 'Birds of Hope' -- will be here tomorrow or Saturday... Amazon Rocks!

Book Away!

Final edit of 1st edition, Birds of Hope,  zapped to Amazon this afternoon... waiting on proof okay, ready to go!

Waiting, Waiting...

Uh Huh.

'That which doesn't kill me makes me stronger.'  Friedrich Nietzsche

We're not dead yet...

WIth apologies to 'Monty Python and The Holy Grail' :D

We're just marking time for now, and are here to chat if anyone wants to visit about most anything...

me and Shadow

Symbols !!!???

Why are symbols so important?  Why does burning a book on one side of the world enrage millions on the other? Folks who are so far apart they would never even know of each other's existence without modern travel and instant communication. Communication, sadly, often with people who may think the Earth is the Center of the Universe.  Necessary for human survival? (one of my favorite indexes?  the Palmetto Test -- what difference does it make to a palmetto, a tenacious, gnarly and nurturing plant living in Florida and elsewhere, that is not bothered by much of anything). Does this tension help us continue to exist as a species (the ultimate test -- Bioevolution -- the science of observing which species are the most adaptable, thus most apt to continue)...

C'mon Fall

See me in September :DDD (little following joke)

First hints of the outskirts of fall :) Football, Football!

Frank Lloyd Wright: ' To be a Man is to be a nonconformist.'

Be a nonconformist!  Join us!  :DDD

me and Shadow

ps.  Shadow agrees that it is okay and not sexist to use the older form 'man' to represent a person of either sex in the 'cloud' sense.  Especially given the mores when Wright made this pronouncement.

Chicken Little: Is the Sky Really Falling?

Netitorial # Two

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... for reason and freedom. CommonSenS

Netitorial  No. 2                                                            August 31st, 2010

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Chicken Little:  Is the Sky Really Falling?’

Item First:  the Ratchet Effect

One way to describe what I call the ratchet effect is to cite the example of the line that defines what is ‘morally  unacceptable in movies.   A single 4 letter word (now learned in kindergarten)  yesteryear, morphs into a tit’s show in thisteryear...

On December 15th, 1939,  Clark Gable uttered those used-to-be-famous words -- ‘Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn!’  to a shell-shocked movie-going public.  You say that shocks you?  His use of the word ‘damn’ caused a firestorm of controversy and scandal.  

Fast forward to the Super Bowl, February 2nd, 2004, and Janet Jackson’s ‘accidently’ exposed right breast goes out over Network air waves to millions (don’t even talk about what’s on cable or YouTube these days).  When the FCC fined the network $550,000, CBS appealed the decision.   The fine has been upheld , thrown out, and still wends its way thru the courts.  

This ‘value creep’  of mores seems to be a function of human nature, and how we become desensitized (to decline?).   It’s  like one’s perception of growth when they are around a child or a puppy all the time,  as they grow up, as opposed to what is perceived by someone else who only sees them once every so often.

“Wow, Junior sure is getting tall! ‘  Aunt Flo says when she arrives for that annual Easter visit.

“Really?  Now that you mention it, I guess you’re right.’  Mom replies.

Something happens to test the boundaries of contemporary mores.  Then comes a chorus of cat calls and hoots (figuratively, from our media or at least from pundits).  When the controversy gets lost in the infoBlast, the ‘perp’ is washed by mea culpa’s and blessed as recovered, pretty much no matter what is done short of murder.  Er, no, scratch that last statement, unfortunately.

What that does is lower the bar for the next challenge.  And as we are all rushing by distracted by life, we don’t notice.  Then along comes Aunt Flo and says -- hey, your values have been getting softer!  And  you have to admit, well, yeah.  

Makes me a bit uncomfortable when I realize that I have just kind of shrugged it off.

But this discussion isn’t about mores per se, it wants to find out if the Sky is Really Falling, or was it an acorn that just fell out of that oak over there?

So first, we stir in some ratchet.

Item Second:  Junk Science

Then we add some junk science.  Man is there a ton of that out there, and the big winner is the back-slapping triumvirate of Al Gore, the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, and the Academy awards.

Pet Peeve Alert: Man-made Global Warming 

I grew up with the USAF Weather Officer who was so capable that he was chosen to forecast both the first US rocket launch from Cape Canaveral, and the first H-Bomb test in the Pacific, several years later.  Lets just say that I had a better-than-most look, as much as any lay person might have, into weather, as I was growing up.  And how long we have been keeping records. too?  And what are we able to measure of it at all?

All the hoopla is based on computer models.   The engineers had a saying in the video business when we’d come back with rough images:  s__t in,  s__t out.  Models, even if they are based upon correct assumptions, are only as good as the data you input.  And to hear the reporters (we’ll get to them) tell it, man-made global warming came down from the Mount,  etched in stone tablets.

Which is not to say that a lot of the things we do, because the sky fell on Al’s head, are not good things.  We screw up just fine as humans,  but it somehow doesn’t seem like we have the same firepower as say, the Sun.

So, we may or may not be warming.  And it may or may not be a ‘normal’ pattern over the roughly 4 1/2 Billion years (we think!) that the earth has been here.  Hard to tell.  Just this minute finished an article in Florida Trend Magazine, a tech supplement from the University of Florida, talking about very sophisticated research in the Antarctic Sea.  The article paraphrases a geology Professor, Ellen Martin -- ‘climate is an extremely complex system that is hard to decipher based on human time span observations.’   Glad she gets it.   That is, a reasonable consideration at the limitations of predicting weather at all, much less 50 years out.   And her work was amazingly conceived :) -- the study of isotopes in grains of sand to determine flow from the Atlantic to the Pacific millions of years ago, if I got it right.

Now come all the agenda’s -- 3rd world countries wanting to leapfrog developed countries and get an edge;  some scientists whose normally mundane field is suddenly worthy of Indiana Jones’ leather bomber jacket and fedora;  industries vying between established ( Oil and Power Co’s) and imagined -- a way to trade ‘environmental’ credits that gives Wall Street another chance to get another 500 pounds of flesh.

So, does the truth stand a chance?  It even got so bad for a while, as a scientist, if you didn’t tow the man-made cause line, you were like Galileo saying that the earth wasn’t the center of the universe.  And your colleagues held the Inquisition.  Intelligent thinkers had to keep their mouthes shut or no grant for them next cycle...

Once again, warming is not our topic today.  

Item Third:  the Media/NewsJunkie Argument

So, ratchet effect, junk science.  What else we got?  How about the Ted Turner effect (sorry Ted, but you opened Pandora’s Box).  24 hour, On-the-Spot, Up-To-The-Moment News.  And now, YouTube.

They say it’s the chicken or the egg.   The content providers just give the public what it wants, while the public looks at the media like they are ambulance chasers, which they sorta’ are.  Because people are fascinated (glad it wasn’t me!) looking at wrecks.

Last week TV where I am was talking about bacteria levels in the ocean (the tourism folks winced, as they should have)  probably caused by fish waste, and warning people.   Having lived in Florida for quite a while, I don’t think I’m talking out of school when I say that I always assumed fish had to, you know, ‘go’ somewhere.  Silly me.  

Reminds me of a crafty video producer, who years ago, on a infomercial shoot in the Turks and Caicos Islands (BFE) all the way east in the Bahamas, asked the crew to pan left and right to keep the action up (swing the camera lens from left to right).  Idiotic, but you have try and create something when nothing is happening, when it’s your job to show something is.  Sometimes the weather folks almost act like they want a tornado, so they have a reason to break into regular programing.  

So the media kind of mash-up rachet, and junk science, and pandering or promoting questionable stories.  Like Marshall McClluan said -- the Media (has become) is the Message.

My Dad, that smart weather guy, once told me that the happiest people he ever met were in Germany, while we were stationed there.  He said they had never been more than 20 klicks from the town they were born in.   About 10 miles,  20 kilometers said the GI way.

Sure that was exaggerated a bit, but I bet they didn’t stray far, and hardly ever heard the news, as they were farmers way out in the countryside in the 50’s.

That’s about the only thing I can think to do -- just pay attention to my ‘God’s Little Acre’ and do my best to set a good example for others in the way I treat man and nature.  Not take myself or the world so seriously, not let myself watch them proctoscope every topic that pops up on the evening news.  

‘Pay attention to the small things, the big things take care of themselves’ (dear old Dad again).

Take a deep breath or two and think if what you see is as absurd as it seems.  It may just be.    

Twain said believe nothing of what you hear, and half of what you see.

Smart man, Twain.

Then again, who knows, maybe we’ll have another Ice Age.

About which they were so certain when I was in HIgh School eons ago, that Arthur Miller, the noted playwright, wrote one called ‘The Ice Man Cometh (our Senior Class play).   It was all about our impending doom from the Glaciers that are supposed to be here now.  We were supposed to be back in caves, wearing animal skins, what they knew for sure was true back then.  Even made the cover of Time Magazine!

Epilog

Ouch, that was awful big for an acorn.  Sorry, we got distracted for a minute, and Chicken still is confused a bit.  

How bout you?  What do you think?  Leave a comment.  Join In (follow! and tell your buds).  We want everyone whose interest is piqued by our content to participate.  Ours means to be a big tent, open for discussion.  Feel free to comment, start a new topic, even offer a guest editorial (we reserve the right to... you know, NO violence, aggression, porn, or obscenity, name-calling or yer gone, Robert Rules of Order).

Haven’t picked a topic for next week -- there are so many choices... any ideas.  Will be starting an awards program when I get the time to figure out how, but will have 3 categories:

 Why America (your place here) is Swell.

 Why America (your place here) is Not So Swell.

 I Just Fell Down the Rabbit Hole (or, Kafka Is My Friend).

thoughts, anyone?  Tell your friends to come give it a look.

me and Shadow.

Working Working

Posting Neti # 2 today after a few more edits

Coming Tomorrow...

Netitorial # 2,  'Chicken Little:  Is the Sky Really Falling?'

Surf's Up! offshore hurricanes :)

Our First Ever 'Why America is Swell' Award

'We have no reason to lose faith in the possibilities of the future.'

Joel Kotkin, in the article Ready Set Grow,  Smithsonian Magazine, July/August, 2010, following this gem of an observation:

America's 'Civil Religion' (his coinage):

'... it's (our) ability to forge a unique common national culture amid great diversity of people and place.'

that's something Shadow and me can get behind for sure.  Spot on for the mission of this Cloud Square (Town Square in the Cloud) ...  as we see it anyhow -- anyone else can offer their opinion :)

from High Flight

by John GIllespie Magee, Jr.,  1922-1941, RCAF

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth

of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things

You have not dreamed of—wheeled and soared and swung

High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,

I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung

My eager craft through footless halls of air....

Waiting Waiting...

Flight is perhaps the closest thing to human freedom that there is... 'article on personal planes that convert to cars, on this morning's CBS Sunday Morning news magazine

It's Saturday again, summertime ,and the livin' is...

Lawns and Grills, Men!     Ladies, at ease :DDD

Is it really this lonely in the middle? Anybody out there?

We Want You! (point, point!)

 we should say "Join, Join!' -- we ARE you.

     3 spokes in our wheel:

Source:  Smithsonian Magazine, July/August, 2010:

from their editorial, 'What you need to know for the next 40 years' :

"Scientists say the capacity to imagine the future is one of the most salient human qualities, separating us from the other animals and even our fellow primates.  The idea behind this special issue (40th Anniversary of the Magazine! -- Happy Birthday :)  is to get a better feel for the consequences of what humanity is up to, and to anticipate whatever's next. '  Smithsonian set out 40 years ago to fashion guideposts for today and tomorrow.  That pursuit seems more pressing than ever'.
     Terry Monmaney, Executive Editor.

from the Pop Questions feature, which interviews random folks on the Mall in Washington, D.C.  :

"How do you feel about the future?"

"I have great faith in this country and in this world and I believe that people will find solutions and figure out how to move forward collectively."
     Susan Cummins;  Bethesda, Maryland.

from 'the View from the Castle' -- the mag's letter from the Big Boss:

' Discussing his new book about the Enlightenment,  the Age of Wonder :  How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terro of Science' ,   biographer and historian Richard Holmes recently considered science today and in the coming decades.  To my delight and surprise, he concluded:   'If there is a second Age of Wonder, I believe it will be driven by the United States of America, and the Smithsonian will be at the heart of this new possibility.'
     G. Wayne Clough
     Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution


     As an aspiring biographer and historian,  straining to look into the mists of time, I see a glimmer that tells me  CommonSenS may have found its place,  40 years from now.

me and Shadow

Attribution

CommonSenS models the principles set down by Thomas Paine, English/American (1737-1809) in order to apply them to today's times.  They spring from his essay Common Sense, written, published, and distributed in large numbers in the British Colonies,  in 1776.  He was encouraged and mentored by Benjamin Franklin, who spoon-fed Paine information from England, information that moved him to set down the definitive rationale for American Independence.  He explores the social contract and those inalienable rights you always hear about -- individual freedom.

We look to be a forum for smart discussion of important issues, as approached from different viewpoints.   The intention is to allow the gracious space necessary to agree to disagree.  Discussing first, and then working towards commonly beneficial answers and spun-off actions, We is YOU.

me and Shadow

Netitorial # Two embargoed until there are 10 followers

Better to light candles than to curse the darkness.  Our glass is always half full :)

Netitorial # One, 8.10.2010 -- 'Have Dead Peasants Morphed into Dead Soldiers?'

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

When I tried to describe this to a good buddy at an Art Walk just the other day, she said, ‘Oh, a political blog.’  That challenged me to decide if it was or wasn’t.  You know that thing Magnum calls ‘your little voice’ ? In law school they taught me that it was right 99% of the time -- and they were spot on, I dropped out :DDD. Well my little voice answered me, and I blurted out, ‘Nope -- it’s really more of a sociological thing’. 

 And I think that’s exactly what it is.  First hunch is always right.

Sooooooooo...... 

This is our start.  

There are many more topics to share as together we move to common sense and common effort, looking  back (and forth) and reclaiming the things that have made America great.  We don’t have some magic spy-glass that lets us see any better than others.  But we remember that, as  Americans, we ‘own’ our government, not the other way ‘round.  So it‘s up to us to make things right when those we entrust to lead us seem to have lost their way.  And we think they might have.

What do you think?

It will take a quite while to bring this idea into focus, but if YOU agree that this is our birthright, please join in, and follow. Help us find the way.   And ask your friends as well?  This is a call to action.  Together, we will do important and amazing things for our country, for our world, and for ourselves.  At CommonSens, we don’t own this -- just holding the rudder for now. 

It cannot be successful without YOU.  And I don’t think it will be boring :).

Netitorial # One

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... for reason and freedom. CommonSenS

Netitorial  No. 1                                                              August 10, 2010

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 {hint:  you don’t get to the Real Question til page 5} -- 

Have Dead Peasants Morphed Into Dead Soldiers?’

And as importantly: If so, what does that say about us?

by me and my Shadow

I was recently more than a bit disturbed to learn that the prominent insurance company named in a CBS Evening News story (link below) had parked US Military Death Benefit Policies in a warm fuzzy place where they could earn some interest and pump up their profits.  

So disturbed that I decided it was time to act, and created this site, enlisting Shadow as a bud and a counterweight.  Like John David Souther wrote: ‘It’s hard to see the spot you’re standing on.’  Thanks, Shadow.

‘My ‘Aha’ moment...’ 

CBS Evening News, July 29th, 2010

the Facts (link below):

“The death of an American in uniform - no matter what the circumstances - is always a tragedy. Now, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the State of New York are investigating whether life insurance companies are taking advantage of their  {sic, dead vet’s} grieving families at a time when they're most vulnerable. 

This is ... based on a six-month investigation by Bloomberg Markets Magazine. 

It's being called the life insurance industry's dirty little secret: revelations the nation's second largest insurer was profiting from the death benefits of fallen soldiers.

"Until today I actually believed that the families of our fallen heroes got a check for the full amount," said Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on Thursday. “

 ... the funds are actually held in the company's own general corporate account, allowing Prudential to earn the lion's share of the interest for itself. 

"I was stunned to find out that 'yeah, I had been duped.'" Cindy {whose son was killed in Afghanistan, for clarity -- eds.} said...

...when Cindy Lohman's statement said she was earning less than 1 percent interest on her Alliance Account, public records show Prudential was earning almost 5 percent on its corporate account.” 

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/07/29/eveningnews/main6725997.shtml?tag=mncol;lst;2...

A similar situation had come to my attention some years ago.   Wal-Mart had taken out lifeinsurance polices on their workers.   At a time when they refused to provide healthinsurance for many, many of their employees.   These life policies are called COLI (see below) but a wag coined the term ‘Dead Peasant’ policies.  They allow companies to profit from the deaths of non-key employees.  

This type of insurance was, with the help of those who make our laws (that will be a topic for other netitorials), an extension of what had originated as ‘key man’ insurance -- where irreplaceable partners cross-insured each other to protect their business. That is not only just a good idea, it can mean the difference in the very survival of the company when someone working there, with unique skills in that operation, dies.

But to extend it to cover 350,000 regular employees, in whom a company has no accepted (certainly not ethical) insurable interest, to make money, really kind of offends our sensibilities. 

In fact, if you read below, you’ll find there might be no incentive to protect employees at work, in order to collect on this type of insurance.  Would they profit by saving $ on security and getting a whopping return when someone dies as a result?  Read on, and you decide.  If nothing else, one can see that it could actually get more odious.

More Facts:

The Houston Chronicle, April 15th, 2002, by L.M. Sixel,  (link below):

“Companies routinely take out secret life insurance policies on the lives of their low-level employees and collect thousands of dollars when they die. The families never know the policies are in place and typically receive none of the money.  The policies are called corporate-owned life insurance policies or COLIs for short. But they're better known in the insurance industry as "dead peasant" and "dead janitor" policies.

While many companies buy life insurance on their key officers, so-called "dead peasant" policies are different because the deaths of low-level employees do not affect a company's financial health.

Wal-Mart took out about 350,000 life insurance policies on the lives of its employees payable to the company, according to the lawsuit filed by Sims and other family members of deceased Wal-Mart employees. Hartford Life Insurance Co. and AIG Life Insurance Co. sold the policies to Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart borrowed money from the insurers to pay the premiums, which the company was able to write off as a business expense on its federal taxes... 

A Wal-Mart representative dismissed Wal-Mart suspicions and said they were being stoked by "ambulance chasers." 

Meanwhile, National Convenience Stores also has bought accidental death policies on its employees. When an employee died at work, {such as in a robbery, ital.), NCS received $250,000.   

‘Because it had insurance, NCS did not have incentive to provide security at the convenience stores,’ attorney Clearman said. 

{And apparently were able to profit from their own at-best negligence.  What is it if that was a conscious decision?  This is a story for Law and Order, ripped from the pages of today’s news.}

‘... Wal-Mart canceled its policies in January...’

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/666837/posts 

        The AP article I saw back then said that Wal-Mart’s actions were in response to pressure from a regulatory agency.  No indication they would have cancelled without intervention.  This is one reason I don’t shop there.  I just cannot give them any of my dollars when they seem so be so lacking in common decency. 

I met Sam Walton.   He had come into town for a ribbon-cutting, flew himself to Florida from Arkansas in his Cessna 172.   Seems like he’d be the type of person to be turning over in his grave about now.  

                                               

Which brings us to the Real Question:  

What has happened to the value sets of corporate leaders?   

The ones that direct the companies that allow us the lives we have been graced with here in America?  And around the world.    This is a global question of fundamental importance.

I have a personal saying based on years of observations:  ‘the Stock Market ain’t got no soul.’

It’s not supposed to, that’s how it works.  It is a dog-eat-dog environment in which the strongest prevail and the weakest are eliminated, as a matter of fact.  House rules.  Survival of the Fittest.  Good for them (and us).  Those rules have made us perhaps the most robust and free country in the world.

It has worked, letting the market lead us to relative security and evident prosperity.

But what can we do when the ones we trust (allow) to guide our lives get so removed from day-to-day reality that they forget what their Mama’s taught them when they were still pure:  Insert the Golden Rule here.

We cannot see any easy solutions, but one thing we can do when we see things like this that we feel diminish us all -- we can stand up and shout that the emperor has no clothes on.  And then we can use our common wisdom to move to more common sense in our lives.  

To begin with, we must not let our relative security lull us into complacency.  

The recent financial melt-down looks to be a direct parallel to this particularly ugly spot in our existence.  SourceAlert!:  And how did we punish someone who arguably destroyed millions of lives?  Anecdotally, my take on the one of the most identifiable perps at the bottom of that Mega-Mess?  He walked with $500 M and is wearing an ankle bracelet in the Hamptons or Gstaad (probably so he could show them how he did it?  Like they didn’t know).   Somebody correct me on that if that’s not right.  Suffice it to say that the Gnomes in the Woodpile made $ going in and are now making $ as we slowly try to come out of this Depression.   At least that’s how we see it, here on the ground,  my small business buds -- the ones that still have a business, that is.

The Real Question boils down to:  

Are the cheaper prices worth allowing profit that borders on being ethically questionable?

That is a very fundamental decision point -- does one Save $, or Save Values?

And it is not an easy choice, at all.   


And there is no easy answer.  But there must be a right answer somewhere, and hopefully it is out there in the Cloud finding its way here, through you. 

Somehow, we have gotten to this point.  When we vote with our attention and  our actions, when we are united, not divided, we re-set the course of America.  When we expose injustice to light, when we decide to keep a vigilant watch, when we work as one, even with the guys on the other side of the boat, then we own America again.

It will take quite a while to bring this idea into focus, but if you agree that this is is our birthright, please join in, and follow. Help us find the way.   And ask your friends to join as well?  This is a call to action.  We will do important and amazing and things for our country, for our world, and for ourselves.  And at CommonSens, we don’t own this, we’re just holding the rudder for now. 

It cannot be successful without YOU.  And I don’t think it will be boring :).

Next week: “Chicken Little:  Is the Sky Really Falling?”

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Very Important Note:  

We (Shadow is my alter ego and governor) will always do our best to use supporting information that meets what used to be called ‘Broadcast Standards’.   As I understand, that says facts gathered have been verified by at least two, reliable, identified, sources.  Since it is just me and Shadow, and we don’t see any research staff hanging out, most of the topics will come from sources that vet their stories that way.  If not, we’ll likely not use them, and if we do, we’ll post a source alert: 

‘ SourceAlert:‘

Shadow ‘n me

Coming Tuesday, Netitorial # 2

If I get it done (I will :P) -- 'Chicken Little: Is the Sky REALLY falling?'  Tune in and tell your friends.  You probably already know the answer.  Ask your invisible voice  :).

me

Listen to the sound of your voice ...

... calling out Freedom

We offer this place to our American compatriots, and to friends around the world. 

Freedom dwells in the hearts and minds of men. 

Nothing quenches it.  

It secures human dignity.  

We are each its keeper.

Now it dwells here.  

We invite you to lift us up.

Keep an eye on this site -- we're pretty sure if you do, you'll follow :)

We'd like it to live long and prosper...

me and Shadow

Welcome, Campers :)

Just happened this am... this is the logical extension of Our Country,  a voice for Common Sense and moderation.  Long may it wave.

me and Shadow