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A Little Bit of Aristotle’s Philosophy for the Ethically Challenged GOP

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Aristotle was of the belief that “Achieving good character is a process of clearing away the obstacles that stand in the way of the full efficacy of the soul.”

He came up with such an ethical notion somewhere between 384-322 B.C.E. And here we are, as a nation, in the 21st Century, facing GOP powers-that-be in Washington D.C. who, instead of seeking ways to ethically tend to our society’s political and social needs, choose to do whatever they desire whenever they please.

“To hell with the rules,” is their operating policy. I mean first the Republican House tries to weaken the power of an office that keeps an eye out for unethical behavior, and now the Republican Senate just bypasses the “background checks” and “ethics clearances” that traditionally a president’s cabinet nominees have had to go through throughout our modern history before they’re even considered for confirmation.   [Read more…]

On the Topic of the GOP and Ethics

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It makes perfect sense to me that the House Republicans tried to secretly curtail the powers of the Office of Congressional Ethics because, if you have no ethics, you damn sure don’t want some nosy person poking around documenting it.

And these GOP characters are as to ethical behavior as a sea turtle is to Death Valley. They’ve demonstrated for decades, which anyone can google, that they are not, by any means, on speaking terms with anything anywhere near synonymous with “ethics.” They are, in a word, ethic-less, if you will.

And their leader – The Donald – twittered some jive that supposedly caused these alleged “representatives” to back away from their devious deportment.   [Read more…]

The Hip School Where the Arts Rule

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By Ernie McCray

I had moments not too long ago when I thought that I just might not be around in 2017 – based on the complete lack of energy I was enduring day after day, with my belly under siege by some bacteria that just didn’t want to leave.

But I’m still here on the scene, happy as a lark, slowly getting back to my routines. Wanting to write something regarding my making it to 2017, I checked a writing prompt website and chose number 17 of the choices, as a symbol for 2017, and it read: “In 400 words create your ideal place.”

That put me in a nice place because the prompt could have been something like “Write a 150 word profile on somebody named ‘Margaret Mallory’” or write about “something wrapped” which would have called on more creativity than I wanted to own. I just wanted to kick the new year off in a nice tone.   [Read more…]

It’s Time to Let Our Light Shine

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As I more and more awaken from the shock to my body and soul as a result of Donald Trump being my president, I keep thinking back to my Sunday School days in the 40’s singing a song our teacher, Mr. Chandler, taught us:

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine
This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine
This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine…

Mr. Chandler, a beautiful man, with a voice like Paul Robeson’s, would tell us: “Children, no matter, what comes your way in your life, and, Lord knows, you will have trials and tribulations that sometimes will make you feel like giving up and maybe make you lose your way on your path to righteousness. But you have a power in you, a light, a powerful light, that you must let shine, that you must use to help yourself and your world to stay on track the way God wants you to.”   [Read more…]

The Lost Airman Has My Heart and Mind Fixed on Peace

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I just finished a book, “The Lost Airman,” that made we want to cry out for some kind of miraculous change in the world, where people would finally come to “study war no more.”

The book is a true story of Arthur Meyerowitz, who was shot down over Nazi-occupied France in 1943.

Although the story is factual it reads like a masterful tale spun by an author adept at keeping a reader on the edge of his seat.   [Read more…]

How Can We Help Our Children Rise Above The Times?

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I’m thinking that our present times aren’t serving our children well. I mean, as I look at what’s going on in our society it seems as though we are all caught up in an atmosphere of lunacy wherein we have pretty much thrown our hands in the air like we just don’t care and kissed our way of life goodbye.

The saddest part of all this to me is our children are watching our madness, as only they know how: closely.

And they’ve got be as confused as they can be as they observe so many “grownups” going along with the program of a real live frightening bogeyman-like human being who crash landed in our midst and evolved, like a curse in an episode of the Twilight Zone, into a candidate for the highest office in our land.   [Read more…]

Thinking of Old Badgers in the Autumn of Our Years

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Looking at an autumn scene, with trees changing colors, overlooking a lake of cold water, signifying the last season of a year, I thought of how I’m in the autumn of my years.

And from that I couldn’t help but think about the Class of ’56 of Tucson High, people whom I hold dear, old “Badgers” celebrating a time when we were classmates 60 years ago.

Our hair, like the leaves in the picture of the trees, has thinned and its color has changed as has a host of other things.   [Read more…]

Colin Kaepernick: An NFL Quarterback Was Just Added to My List of Social Heroes

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This is so deja vu, this state of affairs with Colin Kaepernick, the San Francisco 49’ers quarterback who sat when one is “supposed to stand” in honor of The Star Spangled Banner that heralds a time when non-white people in our county were not seen as human beings.

I fully understand and appreciate this man’s stance although I stand whenever the anthem is played out of respect for those who get goose pimples in such moments. However, I bow out at singing about “bombs bursting in air” and “flags still being there” and the empty promises inherent in the braggadocio “The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave!” at the end of the song.

That aside, I can’t help but think back to the 68 Olympics, when the quest for “liberty and justice for all,” in a spirit of today’s “Black Lives Matter” movement was pursued like never before. My soul still fills with pride remembering the image of Tommy Smith and John Carlos at the ceremony for handing out the gold and the silver and the bronze medals for the men’s 200, standing on their podiums with their heads bowed and their hands raised in the “Black Power!” salute.   [Read more…]

Dreaming Under Blue Skies In My Solitude

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Are we ever living
in a freaked out time?
Like you got Donald Trump
running for president,
not in a cartoon, but in real time.
Then you got
folks mostly brown and black
being shot down in the street,
in fact,
by those who are licensed to “serve and protect,”
who, in effect,
don’t do either of that,
inspiring cries of “Blue Lives Matter”
and “All Lives Matter”
leaving “Black Lives Matter”
bearing the unmitigated blame
for all the shame.
It’s a new American game.   [Read more…]

We Need to Be Aware That the Homeless Are Human Beings

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When I heard that there would be a “San Diego Homeless Awareness Day” my first thought was “Hooray” and then I thought about how “awareness” isn’t the problem.

I mean we know that there are folks who have no home, no place to stay, penniless, practically completely down and out.

We’ve heard over and over on the news about “rock gardens” being constructed on some streets where the homeless like to sleep; about the police destroying their encampments, places where they feel relatively safe trying to get a good night’s sleep.   [Read more…]

Remembering a Sad Moment in ‘Gay Paree’

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Paris. Maria and I and her family spent 16 days there in late June, literally taken by its beauty and its charm.

I have such sweet memories of our time there:

Our cursing the five flight of stairs to our apartment every time we returned from somewhere;

All the sights, the art, the culture, the fashion, the cuisine; the Metro; the soccer madness created by the Euro-Games;

Eye-shopping in a store with prices way beyond what we could ever pay without suffering tremendous buyer’s remorse, when out of nowhere there came a little fuss and then to the left of us walked Celine Dion, taking a selfie with a woman who was way beside herself with joy, smiling at her admirers, quickly signing autographs, and leaving as gracefully as she had appeared …   [Read more…]

Voting My Conscience for My Grandson and All the Children of the World

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I don’t usually run scared but it frightens me to the bone when I hear so many people say that there’s just no way they would ever vote for Hillary Clinton for president.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m voting my conscience too. But I’m doing it on behalf of children, people like my little three-year-old grandson and his contemporaries.

My vote is based on what’s in front of me as possibilities, like the possibility that Donald Trump could, in reality, become the president and set the tone for how things are going to be in a society wherein my grandson is going to learn about his world. Well that’s terrifying to me – especially considering my 78 years of struggles in this country.   [Read more…]

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