I Realize it is Me

You and I together
We listen to me speak

Yet, of course,
You could say the same

You and I together
We listen to me speak

Yet, quicker than the labor of thought
You respond
As fast as a tap under the kneecap
With a river of cogent words
Reflexive but coherent

We can continue this way
for minutes
if not hours

With long verbal volleys
and fierce rallies
Words lobbed about
With deft and force
We are on our game
With more instinct that thought

In the now of speech
Who has time for thought?

You and I together
We listen to me speak

I realize it is me speaking
Though I am more observer than participant
Yet, every word is me
Said by me,
Expressing me

Speech is more me than I
While thought is more I than me.

When speaking I learn about me
While listening and thinking
I guide me
I mold me
I judge me
I improve me

I am amazed by me
The me that is my body
That moves about
and inhabits the world
Even while I am lost in thought
Or completely asleep

The me that is my body
That smells, tastes, feels, sees and hears
That breathes, loves and lives

I often take me for granted
I often forget about me
Or mistake me for I

Some believe that I will live on
Long after my body dies
Yet, I can’t imagine
Living without me
Even if this were true
It really wouldn’t be I anymore

For if I were to lose me
The I that would remain
or return
Would surely bear little
resemblance to me

Personally,
I hope that
I and me die together
It’s not just a romantic ideal
But it only seems fitting that
Since I have no memory
of a time without me
That without me
I am nothing
I owe everything I am
To me
All I think and know
I’ve learned from me

Without me
I would never have met you
I would not know your smile
your laugh, or the sound of your voice
I would never have touched your body
Or felt the pleasure of your embrace
I would never have been able to say
Or even learnt your name
Without me
I would have never experienced life
I wouldn’t have known love
Or been able to share the
Miracle of life with you

I am nothing without me
I am no thing without me
Thanks for being there for me
Thanks for caring for me
Thanks for sharing with me

Without you I never would have found me
Without you I would not have become me
Without you I would not be me

Jim Guido
5/21/11

As I mentioned in my last letter I prefer our conversations to me writing you a letter. On the telephone I can learn of what you’re currently thinking and feeling and co-tailor our conversation to take into consideration both of our present concerns and joys.

Often our conversations begin with your making an observation, stating an opinion, or asking a question based on a recent thought you’ve had, discussion you’ve been part of, or a news report you’ve heard. This leads me to a favor I want to ask of you.

Could you please email any thoughts you have so that I may be able to respond to it? It would be very helpful. I may not be able to respond quickly, so anytime you have a thought you’d like to share or talk on, just send it to me. I’ll read and mull them over and then write my thoughts when I get a chance. Is it a deal?

In the meantime I thought I’d just do some of my current thoughts mixed in with some extensions of my last letter. In my last letter I talked of your being like a river, with your ability to both influence and adapt to your environment. A side bar to that letter was my having you explore what one can do, and how you could best adapt to your current state of health and well being.

So, let me be selfish a second and answer that question from my own perspective. When not feeling well or recuperating from an injury I often resort to contemplation. Which even though is sometimes difficult due to the distractions of illness, is far more feasible than most other human activities.
So, lets spend some time contemplating.

In my last letter I mentioned how much I enjoyed our conversations and how much I would miss having them. The bulk of the letter focused on you and the person you bring to the table. Yet, I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about me and my motivations for liking our conversations.

One of the major reasons I enjoy our conversations is that I like the person I am when I’m speaking with you, and I like the person our conversations inspire me to become. Reflecting on that last observation I realize that those internal feelings truly mark off my strong friends from my acquaintances.

Many people, often through no fault of their own, have me speak and respond in ways which make me uncomfortable with myself or with my reactions to them. My distance from them is more created by how they make me feel about myself or who I am with them, then any judgement on my part about them as a person. Wow, I think that’s bordering on a self-revelation, thanks for inspiring that thought. Is it any wonder I miss our conversations?

This morning while I was walking my attention was drawn to the elaborate song of a mockingbird. Over the last several years a mockingbird has been a constant companion to my spring and summer walks perching in a short list of high places and singing away with rapid urgency. I am amazed at how often I hear him sing no matter what time of the day I choose to walk. Even during the short time it takes me to pass him he serenades me with dozens of bird songs.

Most of us are like most songbirds. We spend our lives developing and perfecting our song. We develop very deep grooves of habit which gives us a sense of history, identity and meaning. These are all very good things.

Yet, in some ways I would like to be more like a Mockingbird. It would be nice to be able to learn and perfectly repeat the songs of others. It would appear that to truly learn anothers song I would have to inhabit their reality and there way of living life. This would be true compassion and allow me to stay sensitive to the needs and feelings of others. Being able to sing anothers song would be invaluable in terms of creating harmony and having a positive influence on those you speak to.

The greater portion of my contemplation centers on human experience and my experience in particular. I never stop marveling at how intricate and fascinating human sensorial experience is, and how inaccurate our unreflected assumptions of what we actually experience often is.

One of my strongest joys is in reflecting on simple experience and being able to describe my observations to others. The following lyric and a few reveries on each line will help demonstrate what I mean.

The World Touches Me 4/26/2008

What I do see is more than I see everyday
What I do feel is more than I sense
Sometimes the world touches me
Keeps me company while I think

I shoot out thoughts like a Tommy gun
Words pour out in rapid runs
Painting the world that is me
Making the world I am to be

Wonder fills my joy
Laughter seasons the stew I’m steeping
Every day is a feast
So much to taste of which comforts and awakens
Sometimes the world touches me
Talks to me while I think

Sharing all our days
Gives my life dimension widens my perception
Listening to the rain
The rhythm is dreamy soothes like honey

Every breath I take
Is filled with wonder new world to uncover (discover)
Everything takes shape
Random seeks order when the world touches me
_________________________________________________

If you want to listen to the song you can go to guidoworld.com and listen to it on the Go! CD in the music section of the website.

What I do see is more than I see everyday

To understand and appreciate this first line and the general tenor of the song takes a little background. So,….


In every conscious experience I have there is part of me having the experience (my sensorial body) and part of me that is aware of it (ego, self-consciousness). A large part of my life is unthought and kind of on autopilot. I walk, pick things up, breathe, move my arms and legs, smile and make gestures often without any conscious assistance. Even a great part of speech is done naturally and in the flow of the moment far faster and more often than conscious thought is capable of producing.
Life happens too fast and there is far too much information for us to weed through in the most basic experience to depend on our ego. In order to survive and make sense out of life we need a most basic part of us to exist and be in the world prior to a self-conscious decision process.

A major part of us needs to be in the world and respond to it with lightning speed. First we need to be able to select and organize a world out of the tons of sense data assaulting our eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin at every moment. Then while doing this we must breathe, chew, blink and respond to specific demands of the environment (someone speaking to you, a dog running in front of you, or catching yourself as you fall) all at speeds faster than our ego can think.

Our ego, though slow is extremely valuable. Without the ego we would not process, appreciate, evaluate, alter or plan our actions. Our ego, is the central manager, who feels embarrassed, proud and happy. It is our self-consciousness which gives life its history, meaning and sense of direction. Yes, it is our ego which often causes us conflict with others or gives rise to negative emotions, yet it is also the ego that makes loving, savoring and relishing life and others possible.

So when I say that “What I do see is more than I see everyday” I mean it literally and figuratively. First, the amount of input coming into my eyes has to be organized into a comprehensible (and livable) environment. Yet, what I see at the moment with the help of my ego becomes part of my history. So, at each moment I see, I see with the eyes and knowledge of my past as well as the feelings and memories they evoke in me.

Yet, even in vision itself we see more than we see. As I look about my room I see many things. I see a table, lamps, chairs, sofa, TV, speakers, paintings, pictures, plants, shelves, walls and floor to name just a few. The simple fact of the matter is that I never fully see any of these things.

I never actually see the entire room, only a series of partial snapshots. Yet, I am able to imagine it as a whole, and to move about in it as if I saw the entire room at once. If I stare straight ahead I begin to realize how little I actually see at one moment. Even individual object only seems to come alive as my eyes move about and quickly make scan after scan.

What is even more astounding is the fact that I never see all of the chair or even the lamp. Depending on my position and its distance from me I may only see a fraction of the object, the rest of it is filled in by me. I never see the backside or the underneath of the sofa or lamp, but it does not prevent me from seeing the lamp or instinctively being able to reach and lift the entire lamp.

When in a room, walking in your neighborhood, or driving in town, you are able to successfully move about, adapt to, and respond to these environments even though you are not seeing a substantial portion of, or even thinking about them. We truly do see more than we do see.

What I do feel is more than I sense

Likewise, what I feel is more than I sense in a number of ways. First, though I never touch the entire cat, I know what my cat feels like. With my eyes close I recognize the cat almost the moment my hand makes contact with her. There are very few objects I could feel at one moment, and even many of those have shapes, contours, nooks and crannies which make it impossible for me to feel it completely. Yet, my mind is able to fill in what is missing, both in what can’t be felt in one caress as well as the absences that could not be felt at all. It may be a little misleading to say my mind fills in the gaps because it often is done with no thought and instead accomplished by the preconscious part of me that lives in the world which usually is labeled the body.

“What I feel is more than I sense”, is also true in terms of emotional feeling. The entire network of sensations cannot explain nor capture my emotions and feelings. I always feel more than I sense, and my feelings are also influenced by reflections of sensations that has taken me an entire lifetime to form.

Sometimes the world touches me
Keeps me company while I think


We often make thought in charge of perception and view perception as something that occurs in the brain (mind). Sight, for example, is when images come to us through our eyes and rest on our retina in an inverted fashion, only to be corrected by our mind. My experience tells me that world -body – self consciousness are one intimate network, in which complete separation is impossible.

My experience says that sometimes the world beckons my attention and touches me. It is obvious that the world touches me when a breeze blows or when the sun peeks out from a cloud and bathes me in sudden warmth. Often times when deep in thought, or reflection a sound or smell will summon me, or keep me company while I think.

Also, often events in my environment will touch me in the sense of having a certain poignancy or inspire me to have some strong emotion. In this sense, the world in all its wonder and mystery is forever touching me. When one recognizes the intimate relationship between the world – our body – and our sense of self, it is truly impossible to feel isolated and alone.

The world, the environment and my immediate setting affect all that I feel, perceive, sense and think. My environment defines my limitations as well as my possibilities. At each moment my setting and my body color, guide and inspire my thoughts, emotions and experiences.

My setting and others who are part of my setting, influence and help create who I am. In so many ways I am the product and project of others and the world I live in. All of my experiences are created by the world and my body, and I would not be who I am if I had a different body or lived in a different setting.

I shoot out thoughts like a Tommy gun
Words pour out in rapid runs
Painting the world that is me
Making the world I am to be


We’ve already covered those first two lines with the realization that we speak far faster than we can think, and therefore, most of speech is preconscious and evaluated by our ego as we speak. If the ego agrees or is pleased it lets us ramble on, and only intervenes when it feels a need to interrupt or redirect.

Words paint and describe the world and person that is me. My words not only express who I am, but are the very tools which help construct my view of myself, my world, and my future. My perceptions and experiences are articulated through words, but words also help create and fashion my experiences and perceptions. My words and perceptions have a mutually beneficial relationship. My experiences can inspire me to find better words to articulate my perceptions, yet well chosen words can improve and refine my experiences and give it a richness it would otherwise not have.

Similarly, it is impossible to assess to what degree the world forms my perception of myself as opposed to how my self-perception fashions my views of the world.

Wonder fills my joy
Laughter seasons the stew I’m steeping
Every day is a feast
So much to taste of which comforts and awakens


All of the above thoughts lead me to see the world, my body, and my sense of self all with a sense of wonder and mystery. We are all born out of the world and at some point dissolve back into it. With something like a plant this concept is very easy to see. The plant sprouts forth from a seed in the ground and after a time dies and becomes reabsorbed into the earth.

We are born from a seed in our mothers body. Our life, being self-conscious, evolves a little differently than our experience of the plant. Becoming conscious is born out of the entire stew of sensations and perceptions fostered by the interaction between the world and our body. Soon our sense of self seems to form like condensation. Where eventually we become self-conscious, that is we become aware of the fact that we are alive. Not only that, but we become aware of all life, whereby through us life is becoming aware of itself.

We are aware of not just our ego centric existence but we become engulfed and surrounded by life. We exist and are alive, because we inhabit a world teeming with life.

Our self-conscious existence is dependent on the fact that we have a body and live in a world. The world, our body, and consciousness are co-existent. This is the beauty and wonder that is human life. We only live because we can breathe in life from the outside world.

When we inhale we take in life, when we exhale we give part of ourselves to the outside world. With this in mind it is hard to say where we end and where the outside world begins.

I became enthralled with life many years ago. I find great joy and satisfaction in reflecting on human experience and life and in describing what we actually see and feel. I find meaning in life itself and have no desire to try attain ultimate Truth. I stopped asking big questions when I realized I was only capable of producing small answers.

Sometimes the world touches me
Talks to me while I think

Obviously other people talk to me. Yet, even those who speak a foreign language speak to me through their gestures and through my interpretations of their actions. Animals, insects even trees and plants seem to speak to me, to teach me their secrets. All of nature reveals themselves to me, and in the process reveal me to myself.

The world touches and speaks to me through every sensation of my body. I reach out and touch the world in all my activities. When I have my hands touch each other, one always has to be the toucher and the other the one being touched. I can switch the roles at a moments notice, but one hand cannot be both toucher and touched at the same time. Likewise it is just a matter of perspective that has me switch from being touched by the world to its touching me.

Sharing all our days
Gives my life dimension widens my perception
Listening to the rain
The rhythm is dreamy soothes like honey

Though I’m never separate or alone in the world, I feel the most connected to other conscious beings. We all need to feel unique and special as well as a need to belong and be connected. It is through higher animals and people that we get these needs met. It is though others that I get validation as well as a greater perspective. Many experiences and thoughts I would otherwise have no access to, I can vicariously experience through my dialogues with others.

I find comfort in the predictable, in habits and in the patterns of life. The basic rhythms of life ground me and from this base give me the courage and stability to grow and develop.

Every breath I take
Is filled with wonder new world to uncover (discover)
Everything takes shape
Random seeks order when the world touches me

Life is a never ending process of growth and discovery. Each sensation, perception, experience and feeling we have is just another color with which to paint our world or a puzzle piece to use in constructing the great mosaic of our life.

Many seek to overcome life and view it as an illusion. Me, I view life as this wonderful dance we have the privilege to attend. I love the world, the body and our consciousness and relish the opportunity to live and savor this life.

Every sentence needs a period to have meaning. Every song only becomes one when it ends. We would not know the day without the night, and life would have no significance if it had no end.

We are bound by the limits of a body that occupies a specific space and experiences life as an unfolding of time. Yet, their would be no experience for something limitless or eternal. Something all knowing could not learn, grow, be surprised or have a revelation. The true beauty of human life is that it is born with so little, and through the unfolding of time, through the interaction of world-body-and self-consciousness develops a history and a personal story of ever increasing complexity and richness.

Wonder and mystery fill our days, and as we touch the world and the world touches us we begin to see patterns and forms, and we begin to feel connected to the world, nature and others. The miracle of conscious life is in its delicate fragility which dazzles the eye and captivates the reflective soul with its rarity and ephemeral beauty.

United in Compassion,

Jim

In the previous posts I’ve covered pretty thoroughly the ways in which I feel increasingly vulnerable from an economic perspective. Starting over a decade ago with my suspicion that the policies and strategies used by the IMF and World Bank to successfully gain access and control over nations assets was about to be implemented on the American middle class. In short, this technique focused on burying a nation in debt through unrealistic loans and then forgiving their debt in exchange for ownership and control of their assets such as oil, natural gas, cash crops, minerals, slave labor, etc.

Shortly after this revelation the housing bubble began to validate my suspicions. In response to this I paid off my house, got out of all debt, and made saving money my major focus. Likewise I warned all my friends and anyone willing to listen and not consider me paranoid or mad to do the same.

Initially I felt relatively good and safe about the prudent and frugal path I chose. Yet, as time has passed I no longer feel safe. This all has been covered in the previous posts listed in the first paragraph. Yet, let me take a moment to fill in a couple a more blanks before moving on to the non-economic fears that I’m beginning to have.
Indulge me a moment as I expand on my economic concerns. Not only is our financial security being attacked through personal and governmental debt, but we are being stripped of whatever relative wealth we have by the massive printing of money making it almost inevitable that the US middle class will be destroyed and the vast majority of American’s will enter into some form of poverty.

There is no doubt that adding to the money supply increases inflationary pressures. This is evidenced by the constant rise in prices as the money supply expands. It has been our experience that the basics of life such as food, shelter, utilities, and insurance policies (car, home and health) have risen steadily for decades.
Statistics show that US wages have stagnated for the last 15 years while inflation and its related cost of living have not. This means that the standard of living for the vast majority of Americans has deteriorated over this time frame.

Yet, the bailouts and gigantic loans to the privileged few present an additional and severe challenge to the survival of the middle class while threatening to place millions of Americans into abject poverty and destitution. The growing disparity between the privileged few and the other 99.9% of the populace is showing signs of skyrocketing past even the most cynical views held by paranoid conspiracists.

In just a few decades the percentage of wealth held by the top 20%, got halved into the top 10. Before we could even digest the consequences of this shift of wealth to half as many people, the same percentage of wealth went from 10% of Americans to 1% of Americans. So, instead of 10% of the population owning about 50% of our nations wealth it quickly became 1% owning our nations wealth. Yet, wait there’s more, recent statistics collected before the bailouts and outlandish loans showed that the same proportion of wealth now resides in the hands of just 1/10th of 1%.

So, in a system where everyone grew at the same pace we would all be seated around the game board and when the bank printed money we would all get an equal share of the action. Picture yourself at a table of ten people and the banker saying, “one dollar for you, and one dollar for you” as he goes about the table.

Yet, in the real world the vast money printed wasn’t given out equally. For awhile only one person at the table of ten got thousands of dollars while the rest of us got nothing. Then it went to millions of dollars. Soon only one person of a table of 100 got billions of dollars while the rest of us weren’t even invited to the table. Now, only one person of a thousand is sitting there receiving trillions of dollars of newly printed dollars. Not only that but a good portion of this money was taken away from money we had previously earned and was taken out of our paychecks with the promise that we would get it back when we retired or when we needed it.

The concept of a living wage has been around for decades. The basic premise of a living wage is to gauge how much money a household needs to earn in order to have an acceptable standard of living. Most living wage formats focus on basic survival and do not account for extra monies to be used for saving for the future (retirement, college, etc.).

When I was on a local planning board we assessed that a family of three needed a minimal of $26,000 dollars to survive, with the possibility of savings or even health insurance somewhat in doubt. Yet, now a decade or so later the survival earning base for a family of three in our community is quickly approaching $50,000.
During this time frame the wages in our area have remained flat which means a significant number of additional families are now existing below a basic survival level. If the current trend of money printing and massive bailouts for those two big to fail continues the $50,000 survival threshold will continue to climb and more and more families will go underwater, even if they have no debt.

Unless wages grow substantially in the very near term the following statement would be hard to contest. If we continue to print money at our current pace, in the not too distant future the vast majority of Americans will be impoverished. This is not a political statement, but just a statement of fact based on a path we are currently on.
One of the reasons that many Americans have been blind to or have been able to minimize the descent of their standard of living for the bulk of this time frame was do to the housing and stock market bubbles. While people’s wages were lagging behind inflation gains in their stock portfolios and assessed value of their homes made them feel like they were keeping up. This is what was commonly referred to as the “wealth effect”.

So, let me take a minute to talk about some of the non-economic dynamics which are increasing my sense of fear and vulnerability. There is increasing evidence that the ambitious, desperate people of certainty who control and spin the news we receive will not allow me a safe place to hide out. No longer do I feel that I will be considered harmless and the few dollars I have will be considered not worth the effort to take from me.

Just as I see the imperialistic techniques of the IMF and the World Bank being used domestically to dismantle and destroy the American middle class I also see the foreign policies of empire being turned upon US citizens. This is not necessarily new for the US to do, but the intensity and degree of this assault on our rights and freedom of thought is unprecedented. Let me take a minute to explain the title of this post.

The Red Scare of the 50’s and the current War On Terrorism bare more than a few resemblances. Both government promoted movements used fear and accusations to inspire both patriotism and a willingness to sacrifice one’s rights and privacy for the good of the country. In both eras we have been told that our very way of life was under siege and that our very safety depends on complete intolerance of thoughts, ideas and activities which could be construed as giving comfort or support to our enemies. Any questioning of our government, its intentions, or its policies is considered an act of treason worthy of punishment or imprisonment. The exception to this, of course, is to restrict your questions and criticisms to the narrow debate between the Democrats and Republicans.

During the anti-communist era the focus was more on prevention and damage control to our nation’s imperialistic intentions and the unrestricted growth of industrial capitalism. Obviously the concern wasn’t that citizens of the wealthiest and freest nation on the globe would overthrow its democracy to install a totalitarian state, but rather it was concerned with possible socialistic contaminations offered through any adaptation of communistic (communal) ideology.

Sharing the wealth was only desirable to the degree necessary for winning elections, motivating workers, creating consumers, and winning support for the wars and policies necessary to become the greatest empire and super power the globe has ever known. A pragmatic social analysis of the last few decades would demonstrate how the advancement of the empire and the New World Order has a direct relationship to the deterioration of the standard of living of the middle class and the loss of personal rights and freedoms of its citizenry.

This sums up the Communism and Terrorism portion of this posts title now lets talk about the Charity and Compassion components. I’ve shown over the last few posts, this one included, how the predatory practices of the IMF and World Bank which were instrumental in empire building have been turned on the American and European middle class. The motives for this being greed and a quickened reaching of a global New World Order.

I’ve talked mostly of my fears being based on how the economic techniques of the IMF and World Bank are now being used on the American and European middle classes. Yet, we can also draw parallels of how the US’s foreign policies and strategies which have maximized their strangle hold of empire abroad are now being exacted internally upon its citizens.

In the realms of economics and politics there seems to be no quit or endpoint in the ambitions of the ambitious policy makers. No matter how much money and monetary control we have over a nation or a region, our corporations and government seem to seek more. Any country resisting our economic terms and political policies risks being punished, invaded, isolated and verbally demonized by our leaders and press. Any nation not giving us access and control of their resources, or places the needs and wants of their citizens above the interests of the US and the financial health of its multinational corporations is an enemy of the US.

To be fair, this stance and policy is not an unusual one to have for the reigning world. In fact it is safe to say that, for an empire, this demand is the norm and not the exception. In becoming and maintaining an empire it is customary that they demand free access to their allies resources and man power, while expecting political allegiance and subservience. The only way the US might be unique is to the degree that they deny their imperialistic intentions and designs.

A list of US enemies has little to do with their political ideologies and more to do with their unwillingness to conduct business according to the US’s rules. Any ruler who desires his nations independent sovereignty, has more allegiance to its own citizens or constructs separate economic partnerships with other nations will be viewed as an evil dictator (even if he is democratically elected).

No country no matter how small or insignificant is allowed to stray. Cuba, Haiti, Paraguay, Argentina, Iran and Iran are all nations that had to be held accountable because they were a bad example. Currently Libya is being singled out amongst all the North African nations due to its leader’s economic policies and future plans. The human rights violations and violence of many of its neighbors is far more egregious than Libya’s, but Libya’s way of conducting business is viewed as being unacceptable.

It appears as if citizens of the US are now being treated in the same way as foreign nations. We are now targets of the empire. The attacks are both economic and political. The Red Scare of the Fifties is being replaced by the War on Terror. The fear of being labeled a Communist is now being replaced with the fear of being labeled a Terrorist.

Our government and corporations are coming after us. They are destroying our standard of living through bailouts and handouts. They are passing laws which will rob our retirement funds, reduce social security, make quality health care even more rare and increase our debt load.

At the same time they are attacking us economically they are attacking us politically. We are losing all semblances of privacy, many of our basic rights, our access to representation through unions and collective bargaining, and with it our voice in government.

The money I earned and was taken out of my paycheck is no longer mine. Our government and corporations no longer consider it an obligation, but rather an “entitlement” no longer feasible or practical. They are too big to fail, and we are too small to succeed.

Just as nations who want to provide their people with a decent life are considered evil and terrorists, so are any American’s who question our policies or ask that we are given what we have earned. Yet, we are heading into even more dangerous territory. We are heading towards having all acts of compassion and charity being viewed as an act of terrorism, for the simple fact that it is depriving the rich of even more money and is straying away from being part of the grid, being a cog in the system.

In the 60’s and 70’s John Lennon became an enemy of the state, was threatened with deportation and labeled a communist and a terrorist due to his peaceful anti-war stance. He was considered a terrorist years after the end of the draft and the Vietnam War.

Holding opinions or embracing ideologies contrary to the ambitions of empire have been a problem for popular influential people since the Red Scare. Yet, just as no country can be too small or meaningless to be ignored or left unpunished, so too it may be that no American’s voice is to small or meaningless to be tolerated.

The ideas of peace and love are no more politically dangerous than the acts of charity and compassion. When one is charitable and compassionate one is inspired to share and give things with no expectation of pay or profit. Yet, sharing, charity and compassion are just as much in violation of capitalism as peace and love are in violation of our military objectives in our “fight for freedom” and our war against terror.

This may seem far fetched to some, but remember that we were told that the terrorists wanted to destroy our freedom, our economy and our way of life by the attacks of 9/11. We were told it was our civic duty to not give into fear and that we needed to shop and consume. If we stopped shopping, even for a week, it could mean the end of our economy, our nation and our democracy.

About a decade ago I ran across some folks who were using something called Liberty Dollars at a few businesses around town. They were somewhat idealistic and mostly Libertarians which has since become fashionable. What I gleaned from my conversations with them is that they were concerned about the national debt and felt that the private cartel of bankers (the Fed) was making too much money off of citizens and the Federal Reserves actions were having a negative impact on the national debt. A few of the people I talked to said that the goal of the Liberty Dollars was to support local businesses by forming a partnership with local businesses, kind of local currency for local business.

Only businesses signing on would recognize and accept Liberty Dollars amongst themselves. As far as I could tell it functioned kind of like a barter or token system where Liberty Dollars were used like casino chips where they aren’t considered money but could be redeemed for money if taken out of the system.
The entire Liberty Dollar network functioned like casino chips or like tickets you buy at a fair which you can purchase food or beverages with. The network never grew very large and as far as I knew every thing was above board with patrons and business owners using the Liberty Dollars always treating the currency as separate from real US dollars.

Some months ago I came across an article stating that some Liberty Dollar people were arrested and were on trial for counterfeit and fraud. The article was very straight forward and interviewed one of the leaders of the local Liberty Dollar economy.

What he said pretty much coincided with my scant knowledge of the coins. He said the Liberty Dollars were only used by local businesses who had given their permission to honor the coins with full knowledge that they were not US minted coins. He acknowledged that the coins were modeled after US coins, but that no one in the network mistook or misrepresented them for US legal tender.

The article was short with quotes by both the prosecutors and the defendants. The concern of the prosecutors was that the coins bared too much of a resemblance to US silver dollars and that they could be mistaken. The defendant stated that there was no deception taking place and this was echoed by business owners who were questioned.

A few hours later I went back to the website for the local paper to show the article to my wife. The article was gone in its place was a very cold threatening article with no quotes accept from the US attorney involved in the case. The following is the major quote from the article.

“Attempts to undermine the legitimate currency of this country are simply a unique form of domestic terrorism. While these forms of anti-government activities do not involve violence, they are every bit as insidious and represent a clear and present danger to the economic stability of this country”
-Anne M. Tompkins, U.S. Attorney, March 18, 2011 [von NotHaus trial]

Wow, suddenly we went from a couple of local dreamers who are doing their bit for the local economy to a clear and present danger to the economic stability of our entire nation. Next, we will be busting bingo parlors for using counterfeit coins and threatening our nations economy by engaging in pseudo commerce for non-profit religious organizations.

By definition the goal of terrorism is to have people feel fear and terror. I never felt terror or heard of anyone who felt terror when talking to or dealing with the people who were using Liberty Dollars in our community. Yet, the words of Ms. Tompkins struck terror in me, and in many others. Those who feel that our government created and capitalizes on the war on terror will undoubtedly find validation in Ms. Tompkins framing of the situation.

I have spent my adult life working for various human services. In response to the substantial cuts in budgets for most non-profits I have been giving a portion of my check back to the agencies I work for to help insure that they will be able to continue to offer quality services for those in need. I now worry that I could be accused of being a terrorist in treating my pay check in such a non-capitalistic manner.

Each passing day it seems as if the leash were on is getting shorter and shorter. More and more thoughts and actions are being deemed an act of treason or terrorism. While this is happening we are losing our rights, our voice and whatever money we have is being methodically and systematically being diluted and removed from our possession.

Before ending I’d like to give my thoughts on the whole perceptual management technique being used in the whole union collective bargaining issue. It appears to me that the average American has too little of voice rather than too much of one. The average American has too little representation, or too little leverage in both politics and their workplace.

I agree that unions often fall short of their goals and some may even be corrupt and self-serving. The same complaints of unions can be made of management, yet I hear no discussion of dissolving management or restricting the rights of management.

The efforts to end unions and collective bargaining practices cannot be in the best interests of workers, because it takes away their voice, their leverage, and their representation. There is always room for improvement, but annihilation is not improvement.

Ending unions and collective bargaining because of its flaws and abuses would be like ending voting because of the lies and deceptions of politicians. There is no way that unions have been any worse in terms of keeping their word or truly representing the best interests of their constituents as politicians have. Yet, we could not have a representative democracy without elections and without politicians. Sure our political process is in need of reform and improvement to better represent the wishes and interest of the electorate, but ending all elections would solve nothing and only further injure our democracy and its ability to represent its citizens. In business, unions and collective bargaining are the only means available for the workers to be represented and to have a voice.

Jim Guido

The invasion we are experiencing is to our home ownership, financial security, back pay, standard of living, health care, quality of life and ethical standing in the international community. The enemy invasion is from the inside and includes not specifically bankers but all the personality types outlined in my three previous posts (People Who Frighten Me, Scary People All Rolled Into One, and Getting Poorer by the Day).

Sometime during the Reagan Administration it seemed as if the empire had consumed all of its major components and everyone of importance had signed on. This included the government, business, the military and the media. All of the power and wealth of the US was going in the same direction. With the unions made ineffectual and the two party system unified in its support of the aspirations for military and economic global hegemony, it appeared that nothing stood in the way of the most grandiose of plans.

The official announcement of the empire’s global aspirations came with George Bush I proclamation of his vision of a New World Order. His “thousand points of light” mystical rhetoric had some people misinterpret him to be inferring that we were heading towards building a balanced global community. The phrasing of New World Order was not a mistake and the goal of a hierarchical global state run by a small band of military/financial leaders began to quickly take shape.

Yet, a New World Order on a global scale becomes difficult when a great disparity of wealth exists amongst the labor pool. The economic disparity was supposed to be between the small sliver of forgers of the New World Order and the billions of people they hold dominion over. The dream of a global World Order would have to wait until the workers of all nations had the same basic standard of living and wealth.

In order for the global masses to be of the same economic and social class, the wages and standard of living of people living in the emerging and third world nations needed to catch up to those living in the industrial states. Yet, for these nations to catch up to the standard of living of the US and European middle class would take decades, and this also would cut into the lavish wealth of the designers of the New World Order.

In order to preserve and expand the wealth of the few and shorten the process of having the workers of all nations have a similar standard of living it became necessary for the US to begin dismantling the middle class of itself and its European allies. Since the 80’s one can notice a severe and geometrically progressing growth in the disparity between the wealthy and the common man. Each year the ranks of the wealthy shrink and those of the poor swell, as a higher percentage of wealth is held by fewer and fewer hands.

Even though it became relatively obvious to me in the 80’s that the American middle class had become the target of the wealthy power structure, the seeds were planted far earlier. Since the Red Scare of the 50’s one could see the partnership of government, intelligence agencies, and corporate and financial elite becoming stronger and more organized. The front and disinformation groups used to create instability abroad came home to win public support for empire building through fear and patriotism.

Globalism a Prequel

The great onslaught of social change fostered through the peace, civil rights, workers, women’s, ecological and student movements were sidetracked and demonized by a slew of bogus front groups, disinformation networks, and unrelenting media attacks. These groups lost their focus, were infiltrated, and sold on false agendas by well crafted public perceptual management campaigns the likes the world had never previously seen.

Almost every movement lost much of its unity through the emergence of extremist splinter groups, and from the deaths and murders of many of their most valuable leaders and icons. Influential factions of movements were bought out, corrupted and pitted against each other with impressive consistency.

The change of focus in the Women’s Movement was particularly glaring. What started out as a quality of life and consciousness raising movement designed to free not only women, but to insure the rights of all people, was quickly transformed into a movement mainly concerned with jobs and equal pay, thereby creating a divisive competition between men and women. Even if one were to minimize the role of the CIA in the funding and patronage of Gloria Steinem and other key figures and publications in the Women’s movement, one would still have to figure some outside influences helped guide the movement away from non-commercial issues.

While most of the movements lost their soul and became about the prestige of gross materialism and consumerism, none had a more dramatic effect on society than the Women’s movement. The economic elite not only killed the integrity of the movements but found a way to use them in their grand plan for global economy where few own almost everything. In a matter of years after the Women’s movement became about pay and jobs the government and financial elite had restructured society in such a way that a two income family had a standard of living only slightly above the one income family of a decade prior. Now, for most American’s two paycheck families actually are financially worse off than the one paycheck family of the 50’s and 60’s.

The Attack Gets Personal

Over the last decade in particular you can see the increasingly organized systematic extraction of wealth and assets from the American and European middle class occurring with great alacrity. This is being accomplished by a middle class being squeezed by high interest rates on credit cards from above while not being able to save money from below with interest rates hovering near zero for the last decade. Couple this with stagnation or regression in wages occurring at the same time as jumps in food and energy costs and you have a middle class struggling to survive. The situation becomes dire when you add the fact that most middle class individuals are mired in debt and with a growing percent of people losing or in danger of losing their homes.

Even in the late 90’s I began to fear that debt accumulation was being used as a tool to dismantle the US and European middle classes and I developed a few theories of how this would get played out. In a previous post “The Debt Endgame: A Theory” I wrote the following:

Whether this debt situation was by accident or design the question became what does a society do when its citizens carry unserviceable debt? The lending policies of the US, the World Bank and the IMF have often put developing nations into the same scenario that the US consumer now finds itself in. What did the US do when debtor nations became overwhelmed in debt?

The short answer is that the above agencies usually found a way to cut a deal allowing a portion or all of the debt of a developing nation to be pardoned. Usually this process involved an exchange in which debt was forgiven for ownership or assets and resources. The US government or US corporations usually became the owners of resources like oil, or cash crops such as bananas or coffee in return for a release from debt.

The essay goes on to pose how house foreclosures, bankruptcy and unserviceable debt could be used as tools to repossess almost all assets and have people accept deep cuts in pay in exchange for forgiving some of their debt. In this way the success of the World Bank and IMF in gaining ownership and control of assets could be replicated in dismantling the middle class and ushering in the age of the New World Order.

When I first came across these ideas I shared them friends and acquaintances who generally felt that I was giving the elite too much credit in their organization and objectives. Even though I too shared some of their doubts regarding how it would all play out, I felt it a little naive to think that the richest and most ambitious were not devoting themselves to maximize their interests.

In my previous post Getting Poorer By The Day I mentioned how I felt relatively safe and well positioned due to the fact that I had no debt and that I was on schedule to reach to retirement goals. Yet, though I anticipated the stock market crash of 2008 and the housing and debt debacle I did not see how I was still vulnerable to be a victim of the ambitions of the architects of the New World Order.

First, I did not realize how difficult it would become to save money in a prolonged no interest environment. Second, I didn’t fully appreciate how difficult it would be to make money in the volatile stock market. Three, I did not realize how quickly living expenses would catch up to our stagnant wages making savings a more rare accomplishment. All of these misconceptions were based on the fact that I had anticipated the market rally to be shorter and that a deflationary depression was imminent (I still believe deflation is inevitable).

Yet, what I really didn’t see coming is the additional means that the ambitious New World Order crowd were going to use to destroy the middle class and extract almost all residual wealth. I had no idea that they were not going to stop until they drained my and almost any non-elite savings until they owned and controlled almost all assets.

The Globalist Snowball Gains Momentum

Here are some of the actions and proposals which are making me nervous. In the two previous posts I mentioned the bill gaining momentum which would place a 15% tax on all retirement plans. Second I also discussed how the massive printing of money (liquidity) makes all those who don’t get bailouts or free loans poorer by reducing the purchase power of money while transferring trillions of dollars into the hands of a privileged few.

During the so called financial crisis the Federal Reserve secretly printed and handed out 9 trillion dollars. Six trillion of it went to just three institutions and near 8 trillion of it went to just six institutions. It is impossible to fathom 9 trillion dollars and how much it dilutes our money supply, and thereby erodes each and every taxpayer of what little wealth they have.

Nine trillion dollars comes out to about $30,000 per person in the US. In the US 50% of US households make less than $50,000 a year, and the average household has 2.59 people in it. This means that the average households fair share of the printed money was about $80,0000. If your household, as did almost everyone’s, got no money than you actually got substantially poorer as all this money found its way into a few well manicured hands.

The disparity of wealth is reaching an unfathomable stratosphere. The majority of us standing pat are getting passed by and becoming increasingly impoverished by the day. The middle class is far from the middle. In the vast sea of wealth the middle class now hovers a few feet from the ocean floor and are sinking daily. The big fish that swim at the seas top are few and becoming fewer. The ocean and all its bounty is there’s to do what they wish.

The latest threat of a government shutdown and its debate have unearthed some more details on the unfolding assault on the American middle class. First, the rhetoric surrounding plans to raid social security and other entitlement programs has reached a fevered pitch. On two consecutive days I read articles saying that the IMF and Bill Gross of PIMCO stating an absolute necessity of the government cutting back all entitlements by 35%. The IMF also advised that tax rates of the middle class needed to be substantially raised (near 25%).

What is being said here is that our government has no choice but to not give us back the money they owe us which they took out of our paychecks. We are being told that they must renege on their promise to give us back the 16% they took out to provide a safety net for our future. Likewise, those of us with retirement plans could lose a substantial portion to immediate taxes and an even larger portion may have to vanish because of corporate mismanagement of our retirement funds. The bill proposals getting the most air time during the debt ceiling debate focused on the possibility of raising taxes on the middle class while lowering the taxes of the top tier.

Our attention was drawn away from the realities of where we are heading by the silly prospect of a government shut down being caused by ideological differences over how to cut between 30 to 40 billion dollars from the budget. The debated proposed budget cuts were a less than 5% of what needs to be cut just to keep us from running up more national debt. Well, actually that only tends to averting adding to our yearly debt, but still wouldn’t tend to the interest accruing on our national debt.

The debate was little more than diversionary theater designed to have the politicians look like they were defending their principle’s, by fighting the good fight. Republican’s voted in for reform were attacking supposed liberal programs and causes, and Democrats were posing themselves as defending the personal freedoms of women and the elderly. The Republicans were trying to stop the spending and strike a blow for righteous morality, and the Democrats were making sure the poor and vulnerable were protected.

I’m pretty sure the bulk of the debate centered on how to keep the status quo while appearing to be bold and radical. The true deal forged had more to due with public perception and little to do with substance. The deal reached was a way for both parties to save face with their voters by appearing to fight for their best interests and in the end making the minimal amount of concessions to prevent the “disaster” of a government shut down. One politician called the highly dramatic 11th hour deal “historic”, I think it more accurately could be labeled “histrionic”.

While taxing the middle class and taking away services for the poor are “on the table” and in the spotlight, the big ticket items that could actually have a positive impact on balancing the budget and reducing our national debt are off limits. If the agenda were about stimulating the economy and reducing our national debt than we would be talking about taxing corporations and the wealthy, creating real job programs and reducing our military budget. If we wanted to help restore and rejuvenate the US middle class than we would be talking about either stop the printing of additional money, or making sure that all printed monies go to the poor and the middle class and not a penny to the financial elite.

Globalism and the Land of the Greed

Our politicians are fond of saying that America is a special place and American’s are special people. We are beacons of freedom and opportunity for the entire globe. We are the globe’s moral leaders and without our guidance the flame of freedom and human dignity would surely go out.
Yet, how can rectify the view of our being the land of free and good people with the fact that we lead the world in incarceration, and that we imprison a larger percentage of our populace than any nation on the planet. We lead the world in the percentage of non-violent criminals being imprisoned. How is that freedom, how is that a recognition of the world’s most moral and good citizens?

If we lived up to our words regarding freedom, human rights, equality and national sovereignty we could balance our budget without any need to deny workers what they have earned and promised or take away services from the poor and sickly. We are not a poor nation, only a nation with policies and priorities which have a few own and control almost everyone and everything.

Through taxing corporations, and the wealthy, cutting back military expenditures, and having prisons house only those that are truly a threat to the welfare of others we could quickly balance the budget and significantly reduce national and global debt. Yet, without doing these things the road we are on will not be reversed.

We are on the road to a globalism based on disparity and dominion. The people of my recent post Scary People All Rolled Into One, are in charge and will not stop until they own everything and everyone. Yet, their final vision will not happen without our tacit consent or loyal support.

I always thought I could stay away from the fray

Carve out a safe space and stay out of their way

 Now I’m not so sure, due to what is happening today

Yet I’m always waiting to listen to what you have to say

Jim Guido

Due to these people’s positions and influence you can generally refer to them as our government. Therefore, it is safe to say that the US government is the entity I most fear in the world.

The US government and the people who influence it are ambitious, desperate (for power and urgency), they believe they are right and just, and their end goals justify their means having them hide and misrepresent their true motives and goals. We, are consumers and voters to be coaxed and manipulated. Either we support and adapt to their plans or we are viewed as evil and the enemy.

There are people who are so ambitious that they have no limit to the money, power and control that they seek. Each victory they experience just gives them more resources to wage the next battle. Theirs is a competition that never ends until they are the last person standing. Their drive and ambition demand that today’s friends and teammates will one day become foes as the game can’t end when there is another competitor left in the field.

There are ambitious people who are completely desperate in their need to win. They will stop at nothing to insure their victory. Their ambition is urgent and their methods are based on the needs of the moment. Winning is the only rule that can’t be broken.

There are desperate, ambitious people who are certain of their purpose and in their right to win. They know that God is on their side and that they are fighting on the side of Truth and Justice. Anyone on their side is good and anyone opposed to them is evil. Since they have been chosen by God and Truth, all that they do is for the cause of the Good. Evil must die and the Good must win, all those who are killed in the crusade of Truth and Justice needed to die. Their will is the will of God or the universe and cannot be doubted or resisted.

There are desperate, certain, and ambitious people who have a need to convince others of the validity of their quest. These people will try to rally the masses to support their battle against evil and to realize that they are the good shepherd leading them to a better world. These desperate, ambitious, and certain people quickly realize that many will resist and dispute their righteousness and their goal. Those who can’t hear the truth must be convinced in whatever way possible, or must be deceived because the Truth and Good cannot be denied. Evil must be defeated at all costs and those who resist the Truth must be convinced for their own good or be vanquished.

There are people of vast influence who embody all of these qualities. There are many aspects of our society which fosters and rewards these individuals and aid them in their quest for wealth, control and power. Their insatiable thirst for power leads them to the government either as a politician, policy maker or purse string holder. There cause and ambition start to show up in the actions of our government and the way it treats the people.

The certain do not have to be blatantly religious in fact they can be completely secular, yet this does not prevent them from exploiting the beliefs and faith of the masses. Yet, even the secular certain have their own definition of Truth and Justice and they too feel they have a monopoly on the Good and the necessity of their mission.

Before closing I’d like to cite a few examples of the type of behavior I see which seems to demonstrate the presence and effectiveness of these individuals in our society. I will only state a few but am confident I could give example after example which in sheer volume would rival the complete works of Shakespeare.
The most obvious example is in the simple reality that the gulf between the have and have nots is increasing geometrically while already at historic rates. In support of my premise of endless competition resulting in fewer and fewer winners you can see that more and more wealth and ownership is being held by fewer and fewer hands.

We are slowly being convinced that we do not deserve a living wage for our labor. This is shown in a number of areas including the woeful minimum wage level, the probable destruction of social security, the destruction of labor unions and collective bargaining practices. There are even legislative bills enjoying some success which advocate taking 15% out of every retirement plan as a form of back taxes due to retirement plans function as “a tax haven”.

In essence we are being told that business and government are going to renege on their promises and legal obligations and not give us the money we have earned that they took from us. Not only that, but we are also not allowed to have a voice or representation of our interests as workers because labor unions are corrupt and evil and living wages and collective bargaining groups are potentially destructive to our economy.

It is amazing to me how successful the propaganda campaign to have the majority of Americans rally behind a fear and hatred dominated ideology which strips workers of their voice and recourse to prevent their exploitation.

At the same moment we are being told that we are at the mercy of corporations and businessmen to decide what our efforts are worth to them, we are told that we should expect no assistance for basic necessities but we have to earn them. Even if we work 60 hours a week we may not deserve medical or health insurance, dental care, food stamps or sometimes even shelter.

Instead of fearing the desperate ambitious people of certainty we are convinced to fear the lazy, unskilled and mentally handicapped who are a drain on our economy and a threat to our standard of living and quality of life. While they daily rob us and take whatever money we have remaining in our pockets they have us fear the random bandit or thief who may threaten our safety. Hence the entire realm of surveillance and homeland security.

We are told we must fight for freedom, and we must give up certain freedoms to protect our right to be free. We are convinced that our safety and way of life depends on our policing the entire globe and offering our children in sacrifice. We are told that there for our safety we must sacrifice our privacy and be under constant surveillance. We are told that there are terrorists among us and due to this we must sacrifice our rights of due process and trial and that any person not in support of these policies is aiding an abetting terrorists and so in essence are terrorists themselves.

We are told that controlling the policies and economics of foreign nations is essential for the spread of democracy and the protection of human rights. Since we (the US) are the Right and Good all of our actions are Just and necessary. People we kill and torture deserve to die even if they are never given an opportunity to stand trial.

We can’t afford to feed our poor, or give medical attention to those unable to afford health insurance, but we have trillions of dollars available to bail out our wealthiest businesses. While some are too big to fail most of us are too small to succeed. In a society dominated by the desperate people of ambition the big (them) must survive and flourish at all costs. Genuinely sharing, helping and caring are contrary to their goals and general way of being in the world.

Not being an ambitious desperate individual who doubts and cares for others I have no desire to compete with these people or even battle them. I have always tried to improve my life and those of others and therefore have always advocated for improvement benefiting the greatest number of people. Yet, since I was not desperate or certain I did not try to force people to hear my words or accept my help.

Yet, now I am feeling increasing anxiety as these people and their philosophy begins to wear away at the small safe space I carved our for myself. I theoretically realized there would be no end to their ambition and greed, but they are progressing far faster than I anticipated and people are listening to and even assisting them with far more vigor than I imagined.

In my next post I will address in what tangible ways I find these powerful and ambitious people a threat to my quality of life.

Jim Guido

My wife, likewise, adopted Groundhog Day as our main holiday to send letters out to friends. Though we appreciated the slew of Christmas cards and letters we got from friends we decided to break up the winter doldrums with a Groundhog Day family newsletter to all our friends. Like most holiday letters we included life updates of ourselves, but we also added games, humor sections, and stories. Most of the stories were political or social parodies of current events somehow involving the Groundhog. The following are excerpts from previous letters.

To Flee or Not To Flee (that is the question)

“Just what is this fascination with the Groundhog?”, Dr. Blarney asked me rhetorically while we sat (ironically) in his cozy wooden den. This is a topic for which Dr. Tumuch Blarney is famous for wanting to sink his teeth into. In this interview, a shameless promo for his new book, “Looking Beyond the Shadow”, Dr. Blarney outlined the basic premise of his attack on what he refers to as, “the cult of the Groundhog”.

According to the good doctor the “myth” of the Groundhog has deep psychological roots, unhealthy ones to hear him describe it. He claims that the spring ritual myth represents a “deep seated fear” of knowing oneself. The “shadow” of the Groundhog represents on one level, one’s real self and the unconscious on the other.

He claims this is obvious considering how it is logical the Groundhog seeing his shadow would usually be a sign of good weather and, therefore, an indication of an early spring. The fact that the Groundhog seeing his shadow is a sign of six more weeks of winter shows that a deeper interpretation is needed.

“The Groundhog’s fleeing back to his winter hideaway is a fleeing from the self”, Dr. Blarney pronounced while puffing on an over sized cigar. “Without the benefit of a mirror the Groundhog’s shadow is the only available view of himself. His running from his shadow demonstrates a fleeing from himself, don’t you see?”

Though this may be the case i couldn’t help wondering how Dr. Blarney was able to see anything through glasses the thickness of skyscraper windows. I mean hasn’t he even heard of laser surgery.

Dr. Blarney became increasingly animated as he talked for hours (the prospect of six more weeks of winter started to seem comparatively short) on his interpretation of both the Groundhog “myth” and its burgeoning “cult”.

The Dr.’s conclusion is that the underlying meaning of the story is very unhealthy. He feels that one should rejoice in seeing one’s shadow and embrace the quest to know oneself. “Fleeing solves nothing”, Dr. Blarney pointed out, “finding oneself is consistent with the true nature of spring.”

The Dr.’s book is a challenging read, and the debate rages on. Dr. Smarmy says that Dr. Blarney’s conclusions reflect a significant ignorance of the thought process of the average rodent. “Rodents are very patient and reflective creatures,” he claims. The Groundhog’s retreat after seeing his shadow makes sense to Dr. Smarmy who states that winter is the time for retreat and reflection and that the seeing of the shadow encourages the Groundhog to continue his quest for self-enlightenment. Dr. Smarmy claims the Groundhog rather than fleeing from himself is actually retreating from society to better focus on, and learn about himself.

I guess the debate can be best summed up by the tagline for the old radio show, “Who know where evil lurks…….only the shadow knows.”

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In an election year I decided to make the Groundhog a secondary character and used Chilly Willy (the cartoon penguin) as way to parody the dot com bubble burst.

Chilly Adds to Winter Woes

It was just last year that our newsletter featured the meteoric presidential campaign for the honorable Chilly Willy. Last week a tearful Willy, with his trademark ice cubes falling from his eyes, gave the political world the cold shoulder when he announced the end of his presidential run.

Willy’s downfall was not due to any scandal, but rather the desperate economic conditions that have ravaged “celluloid valley” and the other animation hubs. Well over 70% of the high tech animators at Warner Bros. and Disney have been laid off since the peak of the bubble in 2001. Chilly’s campaign manager had to cancel a series of speaking engagements due to Chilly being insufficiently drawn.

Many supporters of Chilly have been despondent over his decision to pull out of the race. One young lady summed it up when she said, “When you can’t trust the word of a beloved fictional character it seems to undermine our entire political system”.

The Groundhog added his feelings of remorse in a recent interview from his winter burrow. “Though Chilly was from the far north, he forged a strong bond with us Woodland creatures. He wasn’t just concerned about issues of his district like drilling for oil in Alaska, but also was willing to lend a fin in support of the anti-logging campaigns in the eastern and western forests”.

While the Fed’s excessive printing of money has caused the US dollar to depreciate by some 30% in a little over a year, it pales in comparison to the devastation caused to the fictional dollar by the reckless printing of cash in animated cartoons. Willy’s presidential campaign was a notable casualty of the animator’s splurge to print $$$$. In the last few weeks Willy couldn’t even rent a hotel room with van fulls of animated cash and gold bars.

In a related story reported by the Olympian on January 4, workers at Northland Furniture owned by Roy P. Disney (grand nephew of Walt Disney) were fired and paid with checks with more rubber than Goodyear tires. The workers were called into a meeting shortly before Christmas and instead of receiving bonuses, they were fired and paid in checks which bounced. Neither Mr. Disney nor his accountant have answered reporter’s calls.

With the shortage of funds it was only natural for the animation industry to look for cheap labor. In primary classrooms across the northwest, teachers were assigning students to draw Chilly. Since animation takes hundreds of drawings to execute the simplest task, entire classrooms would have to be mobilized to get Chilly to a podium to deliver a speech. Ms. Grey, a first grade teacher, pointed out that even when children were handed color by number pages, “it’s almost impossible to get the children to all draw Chilly the same way. And even when that’s done, it’s hard to get them to stay in the lines”.

Soon the US student’s nap time made the workload unmanageable. In the end the animation industry turned off shore and outsourced their labor to the far east. Since these children had never seen Chilly, he began to morph into something unrecognizable.

In the last weeks of the campaign, Chilly began to appear in public wearing sunglasses and an overcoat. Chilly, a shadow of his former self, decided to call it quits since he could no longer live up to his former image.

So there you have it. The economy turned Chilly from a national hero into a national tragedy.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In Jim’s Corner, the section picturing me sitting in a corner wearing a dunce cap I wrote the following:

Through trial and error I’ve learned there are certain descriptive terms one should not use with one’s spouse (wife). Here are some mistakes and their replacements.

Think/ Say

nosy/ Inquisitive
gossipy/ informative
bitchy/ hormonally challenged
insincere/ tactful
controlling/ nurturing
vain/ self-assured
irritating/ playful
bizarre/ creative

Now, you can see why I’m sitting in the corner.

Jim Guido

I’m always confused on the exact number of readers I have on any given day because so few nations URL’s are ever listed. So, lets say on a given day my stats show I had 30 visits. If I click on the visits I may find almost all of the hits show up in 3 or 4 nations yet the stats indicate a large percentage of recent visits are coming from a nation that isn’t represented. In fact, often times I find countries such as Germany, China, Italy, Indonesia, India, Israel, Spain and Iran listed as high visitors yet I have never found a single individual URL from any of those nations. Just as a point of interest, additional countries that are frequent visitors to this site are Canada, the Netherlands, Australia, Malaysia, Mexico, Britain and Ghana. If I didn’t mention your nation, well tell your friends so that you can get into my top 10.

Recently I thought it would be fun to Google some key words based on blog titles and subject matter to see if any of my posts were listed. To my amazement I not only found many listed, but a sizable portion were listed in the first few pages. In just 10 minutes of typing in some key words I found about 6 or 7 of my posts ranked number one on Google. I’m not exactly sure what this means, but it definitely makes me feel like I’m being read a bit.

Though the bulk of visits to my site are listed as views of posts a growing number of people are reading my lyrics, listening to the music and reading my books. I really am excited by the prospect of more people getting some exposure to my art.

The number of comments left on posts remains scant which I find disappointing. I love and long for fruitful dialogue. I also yearn for feedback to help me hone some of my ideas and see how my words are being interpreted.

Yet, overall I’m amazed how such a simple site with no bells or whistles run by a complete technological incompetent has attracted an audience.

Let me know if there is anything an old school guy such as myself can do to make this site more attractive and interesting for you.

In the meantime I’ll still be trying to write stimulating and thought provoking stuff on a variety of topics including politics, economics, ecology, philosophy, psychology and popular culture.

Oh, by the way go Italia in the World Cup.

Jim Guido

Yet, I did not start the blog portion of my site with any specific intention. Yet, now some two years into the site I can offer some insight into what I’m doing and why.

My philosophical loves are phenomenology, existentialism and taoism because of how much their ideas, observations and questions affect the quality of my day-to-day life and experience. My art and this site are generally an attempt to share my observations about what it means to be a happy human being enthralled with life, perception and experience.

Many of my posts are intended to point out current myths or preconceptions which may dilute, distort or even limit our ability to experience joy and meaning through our experiences. When I look at the world’s such as politics, economics, religion, spirituality and psychology I am amazed at the number of misconceptions and assumptions that are just blindly accepted. I myself have always been skeptical of any assumptions and prefer to reflect on issues to determine their actual functional validity.

This desire to experience things as they are and to immerse myself into the wonder that is human experience and perception anchors all of my thought in visceral life. I enjoy the process of personal development and figuring out portions of the endless puzzle that is human existence.

When I offer an observation or self-revelation the goal is not controversy or an attempt to prove my opinion. My goal is to find and share what we have in common.

It is very popular today to express observations as opinions designed to spark debate and controversy. The goal usually is to win while insulting the opposing viewpoint. This is prevalent in almost all social/discussion and has become almost synonymous with modern entertainment. It almost impossible to see or read any movie, TV show, book, play, newspaper or comedy routine etc. without being asked to choose sides in the endless war of us versus them.

My goal is to highlight what we have in common while also expressing my uniqueness and individuality. Being immersed in my humanity, and focused on human experience and perception I am keenly aware of how people often deny or escape their humanity.

Instead of embracing and marveling at the transitory and finite life world of being human, many seek to flee their humanity through seeking absolutes. Instead of accepting and reveling in our transitory existence, they seek refuge in Eternal Truths and immortal non-finite beliefs.

I enjoy discovering and growing, and this being so, I have no need for Eternal Truth. For me life is an endless process in the sense that I will never exhaust its possibilities and truths. What is true today, or even true for as far as I can imagine, is not necessarily true forever? While much in life stays the same, there will always be change and new growth.

At this point in time I can say that humans need oxygen, water and food to exist, yet there may come a day when this isn’t so. The scientific truths of yesterday are seldom the same as the scientific truths of today. How boring would it be if we truly knew everything, if we found every Eternal Truth?

I personally enjoy knowing more today than I did yesterday. I enjoy sharing my discoveries with others and having them share their insights, observations and wisdoms with me.

The last statement is as good a summation as any to the goal and intention of this website. I want to share with you the thoughts and perceptions which enrich my experience and appreciation of life, and yearn for you to join in this dialogue.

Life is full of options and opportunities, and while no one can be perfect, I enjoy exploring how we can make our immediate real world into a better place. Who out there wants to help me in this endeavor?

United in Compassion
Jim Guido


The US, Australia, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Canada and Germany are often at the top of my reader list. Yet, I’m happy to count people from China, India and Spain as frequent readers.

The most disappointing aspect of this endeavor has been the lack of comments and discussion this site has generated. I’m not sure if this is due to the fact that many of my readers are not primarily English speaking people, or if the topics are too varied and not presented in an antagonizing manner.

I would love for there to be more dialogue amongst the readers.

One of the major reasons I developed this site was to offer my art to the public for free. Though some have read and listened to some of my music, or read some of my books, I do not see as much activity in this area as I would have hoped.

I am very proud of my lyrics, and I find it hard to believe you would be able to find many others with as much feeling and intelligence as I put into mine. My music is a bit different and varied. As I’ve said before my music is art posing as music. It is lush, intense, and meant to be digested slowly and ruminated over.

The feedback I’ve received from my books has been very positive, and I would love to hear more people’s responses to my lyrics, music and books.

Over the last two years I’ve covered many topics on this site. We’ve covered gender issues and male sexuality, the stock market, social issues, personal development topics, the nature of human experience, pleasure, and meaning to name a few.

Of the blogs to date, Learning How to Purr, Female Sexual Symbols, Male Dominate Female Oriented Society and Why Are American’s So Depressed have been the most popular.

Thanks again for reading some of my thoughts.

Again I want to invite you all to visit my book and music sections to browse through my art.

Let me know what topics you want me to expand on, and how I can make this site more interesting to you.

United in Compassion,

Jim Guido

Happy Birthday!!

Honoring and celebrating our birth is a way for us to recognize how special life is. Living on a planet teeming with life it is easy to sometimes forget how special and rare life is.

Yet, when you consider how vast the universe is and how up until this point we’ve still not found “life” on other planets then you can truly appreciate how much of a gift life is. Any gift you receive on your birthday pales in comparison to the gift of life.

Someday soon we may find life on other planets, but very few planets hold the promise of life. Yet, we are not just alive, we are conscious of being alive. And though it may be true that a number of animals may have a form of consciousness, we humans are extremely conscious of our existence.

This consciousness makes life even more rich and fascinating. We are able to live in the present, benefit from our past and anticipate our future. Truly amazing isn’t it?

Even though our planet is teeming with life, the vastness of the universe is a stark reminder of the uniqueness of our existence. It is probably safe to say that the number of planets in the universe far exceeds the number of humans since recorded history. This means that every person who has ever lived if spread across the universe could have their own planet. In fact current science states that there are more stars in the universe than grains of sand on earth, therefore, each human ever to have existed could claim hundreds of planets as their own.

We are rare and so is life.

My birthday wish for you is that you take advantage of this day of celebration, to truly appreciate and embrace the uniqueness of being you. I also hope this short note encourages you take a few moments to reflect on the beauty and richness of human experience and the wonder that is life.

Since we were both raised in the same garden, we deserve to assist each other bloom and blossom and admire each others beauty.

Jim
 Guido