Category: Uncategorized

November 30, 2021

daniel j arthur

I listen to the winds howling through the tall canyons of modern human civilization. The winds are strong from the big winded. Why are they? What do they seek? It has not been pleasant to say the least.

The United States of America has been a really good place for a long time. It certainly is not a perfect nation, and it has been needing to be introspective and willing to change for the better to strengthen. However, big winds have been trying to weaken the union that needs to be more perfect in an effort to destroy it, instead of letting it change, mend and heal.

For many, many years Big Money has been greedily shaking the nation’s money tree for free money. It buys politicians, primarily Republican or GOP party members don’t you think, with its huge wads of cash and bends the nation to its will. So, instead of getting more and more progress for a healthier and stronger America, we get welfare for the corporations and super wealthy.

In recent times they seem to be in lock step with the Russian disinformation playbook. People don’t know what to believe after consuming this voluminous data with no meaning other than to confuse, deceive, create hatred and division. It has been working. People are more unlikely to vote for their own self-interest now more than ever. That is irrational. It leads to harm and disharmony.

America weakens. Voters make irrational political decisions. Big Money is ready to pounce. They intend to re-colonize America and much of the world. They have no qualms about the harm and genocide that will follow. It is happening  already outside of America in places like Tibet, Hong Kong, Belarus, Hungary and many other re-colonized nations.

We can stop it. We can vote for decent and reasonable people to lead our government. We can shield ourselves from the howling winds of Big Money and autocracy. We can work together to be kind and caring to all. It is hard work. It takes a lot of listening and reflection. It takes compromise. We can do it. Do we have the will? I hope so.

November 2o & 21, 2021

Daniel J Arthur

It is a vicious circle that Big Money has been responsible for creating and enhancing in American politics. They ramp up the taking of money in their welfare for the Big Money insider scheme and reduce their taxes, while eroding the gains of the humble income generating American families. They also, in their unbridled enthusiasm for greed, harm all systems that are important for a good life from the environment to healthcare to human rights.

Many, many Americans, if not all, suffer from trauma. It has only become more likely with recent causes of trauma like the pandemic, social media misinformation and personality cults. We have plenty of intergenerational trauma from world wars, colonization and genocide against peoples like the Jews, Armenians and Native Americans, major social trauma from systemic racism, discrimination of all kinds and the like, and many other traumas people experience from physical harm of all kinds, relative depravation and so much more.

Who knows this? Many educated Americans. Who takes advantage of this? Big Money.  Using their big money in insidious ways, Big Money has sown much divisive misinformation that parses away the American Spirit and replaces it with irrational support of leaders riding the wave of discord created by them. The Big Money political data scientists and technicians know how to use trauma to separate people from their desire to be decent and reasonable. Generating enough fear from stimulating a righteous sense of hatred, envy and racism does the job.

Big Money has gone for broke, not in the riches sense, but in the political sense. They have made American people skeptical enough of decent and reasonable governmental measures to try to hijack the nation away from democracy. They want and think they can control an autocratic nation. It’s not right. Don’t let them do it. Vote to be caring and kind.

To be clear, immigration is in no way the cause of climate change issues including global warming. Immigration is a direct reaction to climate change issues. People need to find safe places to live.

November 9, 2021

Daniel J Arthur

Which political party in the United States of America has been cultivating the vote of fringe hate and racist groups? The Republicans. Not the Democrats. Why? Does it matter? It should be enough to know this that you would not support the GOP, Republicans, at all under its current leadership.

The why has do to with the naked goal of at any cost having tax breaks for the rich, continued exploitation of the market failures in our economic system and gaining more power to get more welfare for the rich. They need the votes. Divide and conquer is a big part of their playbook. More like parse and conquer. Don’t fall for it.

We need to be protecting and caring for all Americans, which means to do things that are more than fair. Black lives matter, etc. Be more than fair, and be decent and reasonable. Let’s make things better for all. Eliminate discrimination as much as possible.

November 7, 2021

Daniel J Arthur

For many years the people of the United States of America have had the best healthcare system in the world, but they have not been able to use it very well unless they were wealthy or connected, especially when young. Most of the rest of the countries with very decent healthcare allow and encourage ready access to healthcare with no to little cost.

What does it cost in the USA? Basically, it will cost you your life for not getting proper care (as many decide due to the high cost), or, if you do decide to get help, you will sometimes quickly and other times very slowly lose all of your wealth as the healthcare system will deplete most if not all of your assets.

Remember I am an independent politically. Who is trying to improve healthcare and who is undermining coverage for the benefit of the 1%? The Democrats have been trying for many, many years to improve healthcare access for non-wealthy Americans. They have clawed and scraped together the best legislation they could despite the cynical opposition by the Republicans and some “conservative” Democrats.

Don’t be fooled by the Republican efforts to divide and conquer. Of course Democrats are not perfect; however, they are the only party at present who will improve healthcare for you, and maybe someday our regular taxes will pay for most of our healthcare and our descendants will gain some wealth through inheritance like we would like.

One note of importance – the Republicans are also trying to control a woman’s healthcare decisions when pregnant. This is absurd, and should not be supported. A woman’s right to choose her own healthcare options is of paramount importance. The Democrats will not do this as far as I know.

November 6, 2021

by Daniel J Arthur

I have no current political affiliation. I have been a Republican. I have been a Democrat. I have been independent. Right now, as an independent, I heavily favor the Democrats. Why?

Just because they are willing to address global warming from climate change is enough, as the Republicans (GOP) are not. The present and future generations cannot afford to inherit an environmental disaster created by you. It is a real serious problem. And, addressing it should help us to mitigate if not solve numerous other environmental problems. I want that for me and for future generations.

My next post will address numerous other important issues to consider. Don’t worry, I don’t think of the Democrats as perfect, just much preferable.

October 27, 2021

It is time to be more thoughtful to be sure we are not doing harm whatever we do. Otherwise, we are causing terrible things to happen. Many people are involved in denying the harm of many things they support, and most of this behavior is by well-to-do and well connected people. This poor behavior leads to weakening America and the world with pollution, bad health, inferior infrastructure, climate change impacts, income gaps, racism, misogyny, restricted freedom, and more.

Be thoughtful. Care. Be kind. Be a positive force.

My dad’s uncle was an interesting fellow. He lived with his pleasant and kind wife, Irene, on the outskirts of Grand Junction, Colorado.  It was a dry sagebrush landscape dominated by the presence of the Colorado River and the surrounding mountains. They had a small farm in a cluster of other small farms in a relatively flat area alongside a canal. They had chickens and a horse. They had ditch water on the backside of the house. He didn’t say much to me, but he was always tactful and direct. Other people had conversations with him when I was around, including me. And, this is much of what I got out of it:

Years before the family had a place on Roan Creek (“crick” it was called) where they raised cows, sheep and chickens on the small ranch in the dry mainly sagebrush hills. Looking at it from afar it would be hard to know that a rich microclimate nurtured by the many dams on the crick in the many small valleys alongside made for a nice place to raise a family in the years after the Civil War. I was fortunate enough to visit the area once when I was young, catching a brook trout in a small clear pond on the crick.

The family Franklin prospered in the crick drainage, albeit modestly. They ran cows, they were real cowboys and cowgirls, and rounded up wild horses on the mesa top desert above.  Horses were part of life, and Dwight always had at least one on hand. I often thought of myself as a cowboy in those days, like my Great Uncle Dwight was. He let me ride at least one time solo.

Of course, I was just a skinny little 10-year old at this time when my dad was off in Vietnam, but after some gentle but serious instructions from my uncle, I felt every bit a cowboy as I rode Dove on the dirt track along the canal. I was alone, which was like many a TV cowboy I had known. I felt normal and at home riding, and didn’t have a care in the world. Looking back, I think people that saw this sight of a full-sized horse with a tiny kid on its back wondering along the banks of the canal might have been a little curious, if not concerned. I don’t recall being allowed to solo again there.

Usually when visiting I spent many hours playing with the water striders, we called them water bugs, skating on the water surface.  I’ll tell you something that comes to mind about the visits and my studies of the water bugs, which I would be quick to spot even as I was floating a stick down the ditch. I played all kinds of sports growing up including football, American football many would say. What I learned watching the little critters moving about the surface of the water, I put into play on the football field. Again, I was a tiny little guy, but whether I was leading my flag football team to a championship or running in touchdowns in little league or just playing touch football in the backyard, I tried my best to dart around unpredictably to the opposition. It worked really well. I recommend studying those water bugs. It’s amazing what one can learn.

Dwight was very cool and generally slow to get excited. You could tell he loved and cared for Irene, and you could tell she reciprocated his feelings. My parents admired them. I only felt comfortable visiting there, if not a little bored as they had no other children around whenever we were there. I learned a lot even there though I spent so little time with them.

Request for help from the Great Mediator

August 7, 2021

Daniel J Arthur

We have some serious divides happening in the United States of America. It appears that a very significant number of the nation have lost the ability to be truly rational. This in turn impacts all other Americans and their ability to be accurate thinkers and decision makers as well. How can we start moving closer together if not healing this divide? I will make a request.

Dear Great Mediator,

I have been living in the United States of America my whole life. I was born here. I was raised and went to school here. I have worked and played here as well as visiting a good number of places around the Earth; not enough, but a good amount. I believe that I have grown throughout the years in my ability to be rational and fair in all things. I am sure I am not perfect, and I probably get things wrong from time to time.

In recent years it seems to me that we have been having a greater and greater divide between our two major parties in our long standing democratic political system. The middle ground has appeared to have dissolved, and it has been replaced by a great chasm. I know that in reality, being that we are all human in this political endeavor, we actually share so many values and beliefs. But, somehow many of us are being misled and misinformed into a trap of inhumanity.

I don’t think I have been the problem at all. The major reason is that I have virtually no power in this system of things. I do not have enough money, connections, followers or charisma to have manipulated change. However, I have been fortunate enough to be able to observe through the many, many lenses available to me how this problem has grown to be very, very dangerous for all of us.

What I see happening is that people who do have great power in many cases are abusing their power in such a way as to brainwash many Americans. They basically want their votes. They have found that by using their monetary power they can influence Americans with bad information to get these votes for the wrong reasons, basically so that they can become more rich and powerful. They have been developing an underground non-democratic group of fiefdoms with the purpose of subverting our democracy into becoming an autocracy, which they are mistakenly thinking that they can control. There will be only one winner of this outcome, but only in the short-term.

We have many, many serious issues that need the immediate attention of our nation. This division is exacerbating the problems as no real decent and reasonable solutions are being brought forth and implemented. Information pollution is clouding and spoiling our minds. We need them to be healthy as can be – everyone’s. How else are we going to properly address climate change, the pandemic, affordable housing, health care without wealth depletion, incentives to learn, equality, systemic racism and gender bias, freedoms, healthy environments and helping all of our neighbors? There are many more serious and less serious issues unlisted here.

I am appealing to you, Great Mediator, to help us find a way to come back together. While I don’t think it is too difficult, I don’t see it happening without your help. We need your wisdom and we need it now. Please help us to be much more honest and caring in everything that we do. Help us to realize that we really have the same desire to live a good life and to be able to pay this forward to future generations. We are one and we are all unique. Please help us to live together in a mutually beneficial way. I am available to assist in any way you find helpful.

Thank you for your kind consideration and help.

Sincerely,

Daniel J Arthur

April 6, 2020

A great activity to do with your family and friends while staying home and staying safe is to ready books and share your thoughts with one another.  I believe the books I’ve written will help you have hours of enjoyment.  Please check them out.  I welcome your input.

Link to children’s stories introduction video.

Tumblr link:  Young Hearts – Wonderful Children’s Stories

Daniel J Arthur Books