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Being An Optimist – Part 1

by discount designer bedding on December 15, 2009

OK, so maybe you hate optimists. You have this picture in your mind of someone mindlessly watching Pollyanna on the late show until three o’clock in the morning, then rising at 5:00 A.M. and singing “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” in the shower until the entire household is awake, causing a bad start to an otherwise perfectly OK day. A far more discerning look at optimists shows that they are life’s big winners. They are richer, more successful, healthier, do better in school, and have both better relationships and marriages. Linda S. Wilson, President Emerita of Radcliffe, says: “I’m an optimist. Optimism is the expectation that we can make things better. For example, in the face of pending illness, assume that it has the probability of coming out OK. It’s important not to have a defeatist attitude.” What’s different about optimists is that they are tough-minded and creative when faced with adversity. Optimism is high mental energy. Fran Shea, President of E! Entertainment, says: “I think optimism is something you have to put effort into. I’m optimistic by nature, but society is so sped up, and that contributes to the overwhelm mode. Not having time to prioritize works against optimism.”

CONVENTIONAL WISDOM: Optimists can’t handle reality.

THE REALITY OF SUCCESS: Optimists are the most skillful manipulators of reality.

The Reality of Optimism

Individuals who are more optimistic report themselves to be more alert, more proud, more enthusiastic, active, and engaged. These individuals are less likely to get depressed. Dr. Richard J. Davidson, Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madium, has studied the biology of optimism and found optimists have higher levels of natural killer-cell activity with a smaller decline under stress, so they are more capable of fighting disease. Optimists also have lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol. All these observations add up to solid biological advantages that may help explain why optimists are generally so much more successful than pessimists.

Creating the Reality of Optimism

Much of what follows in this section is born of conversations with Professor Martin Seligman, Ph.D., author of the acclaimed bestseller Learned Optimism and the world’s leading authority on optimism, helplessness, and explanatory styles.

Overcoming helplessness

The number one stumbling block to reaching success for most people is that they do not genuinely believe that they can succeed. They have learned, over time, how to become helpless. This condition, which Dr. Seligman calls “learned helplessness,” is at the very heart of pessimism. We invent a million different excuses as to why we can’t do something – and you know what … as a result we can’t. The sad truth is that we are creating our own flawed destiny through pessimism. Dr. Seligman says pessimism is a self-fulfilling prophecy: “Twenty-five years of study have convinced me that if we habitually believe that misfortune is our fault, is enduring, and will undermine everything we do, more of it will befall us than if we believe otherwise…. If we are in the grip of this view, we will get depressed easily, we will accomplish less than our potential, and we will even get physically sick more often. Pessimistic prophecies are self-fulfilling.” Pessimists are more passive and less likely to take steps to avoid bad events and less likely to do anything to stop them once they start.

Who are you? Are you an optimist or a pessimist? Which category do you fall into? The typical pessimist believes that when something bad happens, it will last a long time, that the event has undermined everything he’s ever done, that it’s entirely Ills fault. The pessimist imagines the worst, is prone to depression, and generally feels helpless. The optimist believes that a bad event is temporary and surmountable, that it’s a cause of bad luck or other people. The optimist is unfazed by defeat and feels the bad event is a challenge to overcome. He or she easily regains energy and above all feels in control.

How you explain life’s events to yourself determines if you are an optimist or pessimist. For pessimists, those events are explained by Professor Seligman’s three “p’s” of pessimism.

PERMANENCE

Pessimists give up easily because they believe the situation is permanent. The bad events will continue and always be a part of their lives. An optimist believes the causes of bad events are temporary. Here’s an example you may find in your own relationships:

PESSIMIST: “You never talk to me:” OPTIMIST: “You haven’t talked to me lately.”

When things go wrong, everyone experiences a momentary sense of failure. How quickly you bounce back is reflective of this dimension of permanence.

PERVASIVENESS

Some people let failure pervade every aspect of their lives. If you lose your job, your role as a wife or a daughter or a volunteer has not diminished one bit. Dr. Seligman says it comes down to this: universal versus specific explanations. “People who make universal explanations for their failures give up on everything when a failure strikes in one area. People who make specific explanations may become helpless in that one part of their lives yet march stalwartly on in the others.”

PERSONALIZATION

Whom do you blame when something goes wrong? Those who internalize blame tend to have low self-esteem, feeling unloved or unworthy, while the opposite is true for those who place the blame outside themselves.

Becoming an optimist

This section will take you, step by step, toward being an optimist. The more optimistic you become, the more your mood will lift.

Becoming an optimist means learning a set of skills that help you to talk to yourself when you confront failure, a setback, or a tragedy. You’ll do that by changing the way you explain events to yourself. Technically, Dr. Seligman calls it the ABCDE (Adversity, Belief, Consequence, Disputation, Energization) method. Here’s an example of how to fight pessimistic thoughts by changing the way you explain bad events.

ADVERSITY

You’ve gotten up at the crack of dawn, made the beds, called two new clients, and are about to leave for work when your four-yearold flips his breakfast onto the floor. You totally lose it and scream at the little tyke, who gives you a look of bewilderment.

BELIEF

“I’m a lousy mother. I just can’t do it all. I’m providing a miserable example of how to behave and can’t even be nice to my own children. My children will grow up to be hostile people who deal with the world through the prism of anger and frustration. They’ll never amount to much of anything:”

CONSEQUENCE “I’m depressed.”

DISPUTATION

A good way to dispute any charge is to imagine that your worst enemy said that to you. You wouldn’t believe that you were a lousy mother and would argue the point SO, ARGUE! Like a lawyer launching an attack on a hostile witness, prepare the following arguments to counter your pessimistic thought.
– Make your belief factually incorrect with evidence. Look at all the evidence showing you that in fact you’re not a lousy mother – you take good care of your children, get them to school on time, read to them … you just had a bad moment.
– Decatastrophise the implications of the situation. OK, You yelled. Just how bad is that? Does that mean your child won’t graduate from Harvard or will become an ax murderer? Yelling once is just not a catastrophe.
– Search for alternative explanations for your behavior. Focus on the causes that are changeable, specific, and nonpersonal. For instance, you were up all night with a new baby and just felt a little cranky. That’s a long way from being a bad mother.
– Look at the usefulness of your belief. How useful or productive is it for you to think you’re a lousy mother? Does that really help you be a better mother? Often, it’s simply better to get on with what you have to do, to distract yourself, than to dwell on destructive beliefs.

We will continue the road on, Being an Optimist, next when we look at Energization and Immunization.

Dr Leo Kady

Dr Leo Kady is a retired physician and researcher and relishes information in a variety of fields. Dr Kady is an editor for uPublish.info … http://www.upublish.info . Please feel free to peruse more free psychological articles at uPublish.info

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Can People Really Change?

by discount designer bedding on December 15, 2009

CAN PEOPLE REALLY CHANGE?

CREATING SOMETHING FROM NOTHING

MOST PEOPLE NEVER REALLY CHANGE

Sad, but true.

Some people never even try.

But those of us who do – and I assume that you are in that group – often experience great frustration and disappointment as we encounter the same limitations over and over again.

Life can start to seem downright repetitive.

CREATING SOMETHING FROM NOTHING

Why is it that in most cases your life keeps looking like some variation of whatever you’ve experienced before?

The answer is: because you are creating something from something. You’re attempting to create a new and different future based on the limitations of your past.

Imagine that you are a potter and you have a piece of clay. You can study your craft and make pots that are smoother, sturdier, or more beautiful than before. But when all is said and done, they’re still just clay pots.

Who says you have to be a potter? And who says you can only make things out of clay?

G-D CREATES SOMETHING FROM NOTHING

There is a fundamental kabbalistic principle of Creation known as ‘yesh m’ayin’ – something from nothing.

This principle explains that G-d is bringing the entire world, including you, into existence from absolute nothingness at every moment.

G-d didn’t create this world once and withdraw back into Heaven, where He supervises from a distance and intervenes when appropriate. Rather, He is actively and intentionally speaking the world into existence from nothing in the present moment, again and again and again. In fact, if G-d would stop creating this world – with all of its myriad details – at any moment, the world and everything in it would disappear as if it had never been.

Based on this, two things are clear:

1. The world has no existence outside of G-d. Everything we experience in life is part of G-d and His intention and purpose for Creation.

2. G-d desires the world – and you – with an intense and personal desire. Everything you do has great meaning and significance to Him. That’s why He keeps on creating you.

Remember those old commercials where a little kid said something like: “I must be good because G-d made me, and G-d doesn’t make junk”?

Actually, the truth is much more powerful than that. G-d doesn’t make anything or anyone without a profound purpose. He passionately desires you and just as passionately wants you to desire Him. And He is waiting – with bated breath – for you to embrace the Divine purpose for which you have been created. To make your life, your relationships and your circumstances a “dwelling place” for the Divine.

WHAT’S NOTHINGNESS?

G-d creates from Nothing because Nothingness, ayin, actually means absolute, infinite possibility. No limitations. No restrictions. None at all.

When you don’t need to be any particular something, you’re free to be anything. Kabbalah calls this infinite potential nothingness – not because there’s nothing there, but because there are absolutely no limitations that define or restrict this infinite possibility in any way.

YOU’RE ALREADY CREATING SOMETHING FROM NOTHING

As a human beings created in the image of G-d, you are also empowered to create something from nothing. And you do, all the time.

Unfortunately, most of the time what we create from nothing are the stories about what we can’t do, aren’t capable of, will never have – together with all the reasons why.

These stories are continuously being recreated from nothing in each of our lives. But unlike G-d, who creates consciously, we create this reality unconsciously. It’s a sort of default programming. Yes, I understand that you have reasons for what you believe, but those reasons, while they may help to explain your past, do not have the power to limit your future. Unless you think they do, and act accordingly.

Most of us don’t wake up in the morning in awe of our own potential, in touch with our Divine purpose, filled with the joy of life, ready to create. More often we wake up all-too-conscious of our limitations, our disappointments, our frustrations, our unfulfilled needs, and the burdensome problems we need to solve. No wonder so many of us are worn out before we even get out of bed.

HAROLD AND THE PURPLE CRAYON

You might have read a cute little children’s book called “Harold and the Purple Crayon”. In this book, Harold, a baby, draws things with his purple crayon on his bedroom walls. He draws things like castles, mountains, roads and tigers. The interesting part is that then Harold climbs the mountains, runs down the roads, explores the castles and runs away from the tigers. Sometimes he gets so far into the picture that he can’t figure out how to get home again – but then, he just takes his purple crayon and draws the road back.

Harold is always creating something from nothing.

YOU CAN CREATE SOMETHING FROM NOTHING TOO

Your life, your present and future, is actually an ayin – nothing. Yes, as a soul in a specific physical body, there are some limits to what you can create.

But you have no idea what they are.

- – Do you want to experience unconditional love? How would you behave if you were committed to love others unconditionally, especially those people who long for your love? Your parents. Your children. Your spouse. Your friends. What if you noticed, accepted and appreciated the way they love you – even if it doesn’t yet look exactly the way you want it to look?

What might happen today if you behaved that way? What if you stayed committed to that experience over time – what might happen to your most intimate relationships, your family, your community, your world? Don’t shortchange yourself by skipping over this question. Really think about it.

- – Do you want to experience your power to live as a creator rather than a victim in your life? How would you behave if you refused to let your fears and past failures put any limits on what you do right now?

What would you do that you’ve been putting off? What else? What might you actually create or achieve over time if you do those things? And perhaps even more important, what would life be like for you right now if you choose to be a person who isn’t stopped by fear?

Do you want to be more intimately in touch with your Creator and your Divine purpose? How would you behave if you were a person committed to seeing G-d’s intimate, infinite and loving presence in all aspects of your life? What if every action you take was based on the assumption that nothing is wrong – because G-d is intentionally, creating your world right now on behalf of your ultimate purpose and fulfillment?

What might your life be like – today – if you behaved that way? How about your relationships? Your energy? Your happiness? Your peace of mind?

HOW TO CREATE MIRACLES

Like a farmer who tills his field, plants seeds, waters and tends them, sometimes it can take time to see the results of your efforts. But if you are willing to create something from nothing, you don’t have to twiddle your thumbs while you wait for things to grow. The very decision to be a creator in your own life brings with it some powerful, intrinsic rewards; rewards like joy, fulfillment – and miracles.

*Since the Torah forbids the erasing of G-d’s name, it’s customary to avoid writing it out in full.

Shifra Hendrie specializes in helping talented, spiritually-minded people create breakthrough results in their lives, businesses and relationships through a unique combination of deep spiritual wisdom and cutting-edge coaching tools.

To read more of her articles, listen to audio classes or download her fascinating f*ree ecourse, ?Seven Kabbalah Secrets that Can Change Your Life?, visit http://www.KabbalahOfTransformation.com.

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“nanny Mcphee” – an Excellent Movie With Magic and a Message for Children

by discount designer bedding on December 15, 2009

Nanny McPhee – 4 Stars (Excellent

Bless yourself by renting “Nanny McPhee” and sharing it with your children at home, not in the movie theater. Do this because this film is all about home and your children might relate better in the comfort of their own home. Nanny McPhee is an excellent film with a wonderful message for all children to recognize and understand.

In an entertainment world full of trashy and violent video games with movies to match that dwell on murder, rape, sex, drugs, alcohol, filthy language, broken relationships and crummy morals, Nanny McPhee is everything good about movies for children. You and your children can watch this film without fear of unpleasant and unwanted garbage rooted in sensationalism for ratings and greed.

When finished watching, you can thank the uncompromising excellence of British actress Emma Thompson and British director Kirk Jones for the incredible excellence of Nanny McPhee. I watched this film and went to bed wondering if it was as good as I thought it was. I watched it again the next night and did not wonder again.

Thompson-who has won 2 Academy Awards for Best Actress (Howards End in 1992) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Sense and Sensibility in 1995), and 2 BAFTAs for Best Actress (Howards End and Sense and Sensibility)-wrote the screenplay for Nanny McPhee. BAFTA is the equivalent of the American Oscars, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

Kirk Jones (not to be confused with the American rapper and actor Kirk Jones) is a gifted writer and director with great work that has not been properly recognized. Combine Emma Thompson with Kirk Jones and you have the formula for a winning production.

In 1998 Jones wrote and directed his first feature film “Waking Ned Devine” with a budget of $3 million that grossed $90 million worldwide. I believe Jones should have two Oscars and probably would if it were not for the fact that Hollywood’s voters are too busy pawing each other and posing for pictures to correct their near-sightedness.

Until a comedy is made that is better than Waking Ned Devine it shall remain my favorite comedy of all time.

If it sounds like I am gushing over Nanny McPhee, I am. There are so many good lines in this script I would not dare to recount them here. Watch the movie and enjoy the experience of listening carefully.

Nanny McPhee the movie is named for a governess (Emma Thompson) who uses magic to rein in the behavior of 7 out-of-control children of recently widowed Mr. Brown (Colin Firth).

Mr. Brown must answer to his Aunt Adelaide (Angela Lansbury) who has been financing his family’s livelihood and now commands him to marry within the month or she will cut off his sustenance. His bratty children have a genuine fear of losing their father should he marry the widowed Mrs. Quickly (Celia Imrie).

The children, who collectively have driven away 17 consecutive nannies, are led by their older brother Simon (Thomas Sangster). All 6 of the younger children-Tora (Eliza Bennett), Lily (Jennifer Rae Daykin), Eric (Raphael Coleman), Sebastian (Samuel Honywood), Christianna (Holly Gibbs) and Baby Agatha (Hebe Barnes and Zinnia Barnes)-face the same fate as Simon.

Enter Nanny McPhee with her magic and old-fashioned discipline that makes the children aware of their behavior, and soon the children become models of what to do and when to do it.

Beyond the obvious endearments, what makes this film excellent is two huge but subtle elements.

One is the guts of the writer and actress Emma Thompson who creates a character for herself that is repugnant upon first sight. She has two huge warts on her face and an enormous tooth cascading down over her lower lip. Nanny McPhee will repel you upon first look. Thompson’s acting skills allow her to be perfectly relaxed and confident despite her appearance. Her make-up was done by designer Peter King.

The other element is the discovery by the children that when they learn a major lesson, one of the warts disappears, and eventually through model behavior by the children, Nanny McPhee becomes better and better looking.

In many such films as this-the “Sound of Music” with Julie Andrews comes to mind-the nanny only influences the children. In Nanny McPhee, the children also become powerful agents for positive change, empowering them in the process. Never underestimate the insight and brilliance of Emma Thompson, the writer or actress.

A tip of the hat to Angela Lansbury in her role as well. Lansbury is a living legend who never goes out of character as Aunt Adelaide. From Broadway to Hollywood to television and back, Angela Lansbury is a British national treasure.

Nanny McPhee is based on the “Nurse Matilda” books by Christianna Brand. Emma Thompson said it took her 9 years to write the screenplay; it took her 5 years to write her Oscar-winning Sense and Sensibility.

Trust me when I say that Nanny McPhee was worth the wait and then some. Watch Nanny McPhee and learn with your children some important lessons in human nature.

Ed Bagley’s Blog Publishes Original Articles with Analysis and Commentary on 5 Subjects: Sports, Movie Reviews, Lessons in Life, Jobs and Careers, and Internet Marketing. Read my 3-part series on “Secrets Men Don’t Want Women to Know” and reviews on the Broadway musicals “Camelot”, “Chicago” and “The Phantom of the Opera”. These are all excellent films. Find my Blog at:
http://www.edbagleyblog.com
http://www.edbagleyblog.com/MovieReviews.html

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Guilt-free Mindfulness

by discount designer bedding on December 15, 2009

Mindfulness is being aware of yourself, others, and your surroundings in the moment. Well-known mindfulness teacher, Jon Kabat-Zinn, defines it this way Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way; on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally. I also like to think of mindfulness as the art of inhabiting your own life with kindness and acceptance.

When first entertaining the idea of practicing mindfulness in a conscious, committed way, I had mixed feelings. On the one hand, I absolutely believed that I would love the peace of mind and sense of balance that those who practiced mindfulness seemed to enjoy. On the other hand, I groaned inwardly at the thought of adding yet another guilt-inducing “should” to an already full schedule. Two different things tempered my concerns and helped me make a wholehearted commitment to the practice of mindfulness. One was noticing how calm, accepting, and humorous people were whom I knew practiced mindfulness regularly. I wanted more of that appealing equanimity and joy. The other realization was a semi-embarrassing “Duh!” Instead of making mindfulness a guilt-inducing chore, I could simply choose to make practicing mindfulness a joy and celebrate each small step taken.

Because my goal in personal practice is to create a guilt-free and supportive atmosphere, I’ve adopted the adage A few mindful moments make a world of difference as my motto. And a few mindful moments do make a world of difference. Probably, we can all summon memories of experiences that are branded indelibly in our minds and hearts. They may be as simple as watching the moon rise or as miraculous as being at a baby’s birth. Remembering such things can feel as if we’re having the experience all over again. We can actually embody the same physical feelings, or the deep sense of awe and mystery, that were present at the actual event. But why do these particular memories stick with us in such vivid detail while so many others fade into oblivion? What do these indelible memories have in common? We paid attention when the original events were happening. Our brains, hearts, and minds where present during the experience, not projected into the future or ruminating in the past. We were there, alive and receptive, fully inhabiting our lives in that moment.

As parents, anyone who has been in an intimate relationship, and even animal trainers know, you get more cooperation and a better response from others by accentuating and appreciating acceptable behaviors than you do by emphasizing and berating undesirable ones. In other words, we catch more bees by using the honey of kindness and approval than we do by wielding the bludgeon of guilt. The same is true of your relationship with yourself. Energy and enthusiasm flow where your attention goes. Therefore, in keeping with my guilt-free motto, I try not to dwell on how few mindful minutes I may have had so far today; but, rather, gently remind myself to become more mindful right now. It can also be helpful to revisit mindful moments at the end of the day and congratulate yourself on your expanding awareness. Affirming even what may seem the smallest of successes encourages you to continue practicing mindfulness one tiny little moment at a time.

The following practice helps me begin and end the day with a few mindful moments.

Practice . . .

Wake up to breath . . .

Before getting out of bed in the morning, tune into your breath and simply be aware of it without trying to change it. Do this for five or six breaths.

Express gratitude for at least two things. For instance, waking up to another day, sleeping as well as you did, or for a dream you remember.

Set an intention for the day. For example, “Today I will practice kindness.” “Today, I will eat in a healthy way.” or “I will give each of the kids five minutes of undivided attention today.”

Rest in breath . . .

Before going to sleep at night, turn your attention to your breath. Rest in it quietly for several effortless inhalations and exhalations.

Review and relive mindful moments experienced during the day. Thank yourself for being aware and present. Think about constructive choices you made and congratulate yourself for making them.

Ask to be protected as you sleep.

Each mindful moment remembered and celebrated makes a world of difference in our willingness to continue practicing.

Well-known mindfulness teacher, Pema Chodron says, Compassion for others begins with kindness to ourselves. One of the wonderful things about adopting a guilt- free attitude toward our mindfulness practices in particular, and ourselves in general, is that our personal outlooks are effected. When not carrying a self-induced burden of guilt, our hearts can open more fully and, as a result, shower compassion and kindness on both ourselves and others.

Practice mindfulness

With commitment, not pressure

Feel heart opening.

Author

Sue Patton Thoele is a psychotherapist, former hospice chaplain, and bereavement group leader. She is author of The Mindful Woman: Gentle Practices for Restoring Calm, Finding Balance & Opening Your Heart and eleven other books, including The Courage To Be Yourself, The Woman’s Book of Soul, Growing Hope, Freedoms After 50, and The Woman’s Book of Courage. Sue and her husband, Gene, live in Colorado near their adult children and grandchildren.

For more information, please visit www.suepattonthoele.com

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Wake Up, America!

by discount designer bedding on December 14, 2009

Let’s get real. Forget all the Gobbledegook about foreign oil fields peaking and the rapid increase in worldwide consumption…

1. Oil production in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Venezuela, Mexico, Russia, HAS either peaked, or it has NOT peaked. (Consider that each of those countries have poor records in the benevolent treatment of their own people – so why should their attitude toward anyone else be different? I’m saying that you are not going to get the truth about how much oil any or them have left in the ground, or how much oil they are capable of producing over any given period of time. Nor do these producing countries give a hoot about your creature comforts or the harmful effects to your pocketbook)

2. Indonesian oil has undoubtedly peaked. OPEC has just kicked them out of its organization as a “producer.” They are now a net importer – a once stellar producer, reduced to beggaring for their oil…a bit like you and me.

3. Brazil, in addition to refining ethanol from sugar-cane, has a major off-shore discovery called Tupi. It’s huge (50 billion barrels of crude). It’s deep, 2 miles down and locked in rock. With oil at $138 a barrel, the 100 billion dollar financing to extract it will be forthcoming. It won’t come cheap.

4. Russian Oil and gas, plenty of it at the moment, but they don’t love us any more than the Arabs do. And the Russian record for loyalty, truth, and fair play is about as dim as anyone’s. Forget them as a dependable supply source.

5. It’s a given that India and China import nearly all their oil needs and currently have an increasing demand spurred on by a 2 billion+ citizenry.

6. Bakken, on U.S. soil in South Dakota, is 2 miles deep and locked in thin layers of dolomite. At 413 billion barrels, it is potentially larger than the Saudi Ghawar field. Horizontal fracking of the complex layers of rock to release the petroleum will definitely make it expensive. Soaring oil prices are pushing this field toward a development consideration. Again, this oil won’t be cheap.

7. How much faith do you have in U.S. oil companies giving you the honest truth about anything, yet oil production and consumption statistics? If you are anything like men – ZILCH!

Now let’s turn over, in our numbed minds, a few simple thoughts regarding oil and our daily lives here in these great United States of America.

1. Why are pump prices, state to state, pump to pump, varying only a penny or so – one from the other? (Can you remember a time when there was a free market in gasoline…when there were gas wars and bargains to behold, gas station to gas station? Believe it or not, when I was a kid, that was a fact.)

The U.S. Congress will solve the problem.

2. Did you watch the recent Congressional charade, wherein oil company execs were interrogated, presumedly, by their own loyal subjects? (You will be pardoned for the suspicion that nearly every Congressman profits from gifts dispensed by oil industry lobbyists and/or contributions to their PACs.)

3. Did you hear Congress raise a hue and cry about SUING SAUDI ARABIA for withholding oil production? Yes? And last week, Congress was going to get to the bottom of Oil Speculation…those horrid “speculators” who have been driving oil prices higher…

Isn’t it wonderful that oil prices promptly dropped – dignifying Congress. I retired to my bed, pleased and eased. At last, lower oil prices! Hmm…just give the oil boys a day or two….

Okay, while we are individually suffering a collapse of housing prices, along with our family budgets, the big oil companies are making BILLIONS and BILLIONS in obscene (reportable) profits. How much more are they hiding?

Hunnh?..

1. Where is Congress on that one? Why are we accumulating horrendous personal and national debts, while big oil companies are allowed to pile up unconscionable profits?

(Oh, yes… Now I recall – it’s the NIMBY tree huggers. They’ve stopped all the new refineries from being built, all the offshore drilling from going ahead.)

How about a national energy policy?

1. Hunnh?… We have one – ethanol. It’s a dandy…costing more in fuel to cook up a gallon of ethanol than it saves by burning in your car’s engine. It throws carbon into the atmosphere during its manufacture and provides less mileage per gallon than a gallon of diesel or gasoline. Worst of all, it has thrown many square miles of Midwest ag. land out of soybean and grain production (in favor of corn for ethanol production) thus creating a monumental shortage of corn for animal feed, raising chicken and beef prices. And the lost acreage shrinks grain production, raising bread and cereal prices in the grocery store.

And just to make sure none of that cheap Brazilian ($40/barrel) sugar-cane ethanol gets to our shores, Congress slapped a 54 cent/a/gallon tariff on it some time ago in a U.S. farm bill…note that the cast-off sugar cane stalks feed Brazilian electric power plants.

Dwell with me a bit longer on our (invisible) national energy policy. And forget about drilling up more oil. (Let’s assume the oil industry is hastening its own demise.)

2. Nuclear fuel (Uranium) is cheap and mineable in the USA and Canada. Consider that 80% of French electric production is nuclear, and, so far, no accidents. Why haven’t we moved ahead with more nuclear (no atmospheric pollution) electric production? It’s tree huggers and Greenpeace, they tell us…

3. Why have we neglected public Bus, Trolley, and Train transportation?

.(See Japan for countrywide 200 mph trains.)

4. The other night on TV, I observed a $27,000 bug-like car that provably carried two people 300 miles on ONE gallon of gas, at speeds up to 90 miles an hour and had amazing acceleration from a standing start.

DETROIT, WHERE CAN YOU BE?
(Too busy building Hummers…)

5. Hats off to those busy Detroiters who, over the years, bought up patents that would advance more fuel-efficient carburation and develop super-storage batteries for electric cars – then sat on those patents.

6. How about converting natural gas to fuel – why is that industry invisible?

7. Coal gasification and coal-to-fuel? The Chinese are into it. The Germans fueled their WWII effort with petroleum extracted from coal.

On nightly TV, you can observe a major industry disappearing before your very eyes:

THE AIRLINES…

1. Loose regulation paves the way for chaotic conditions at understaffed flight control centers and airport control towers. Too many new carriers; too many scheduled flights; ramp accidents and mid-air near misses.

2. Free food is reduced to snacks; seating jammed to the max. Nonetheless, public rushes to book cheap flights – bound for every spot on the globe.

3. Loose regulation of maintenance procedures raises few questions. Aircraft and airframe safety quietly, but steadily, nosedives.

4. Annual fuel costs jump to an industry-wide $65 billion, squeezing profits and tripling fares; passengers hesitate. Airlines fight back, cutting out snacks, charging for baggage, on-the-spot canceling of flights not filled. Passengers search web for last minute price cuts as lines try to fill seats 100%; arrive at airport to find seat and flight canceled – line just declared bankruptcy. No one wants to hear about the wheel that fell off your baby stroller…customer rage. Sour counter people. Smoldering pilots and crews…

At the risk of running you off the far end of the runway – a final blast… Have we, in America, been put totally to sleep by the hucksters of Madison Avenue?

In the 1950’s, Madison Avenue was held in the kind of awe later directed toward Silicon Valley and our various bubbles – technology, housing, and, most recently, commodities. Lusting for financial gain, we’ve ignored the transference of advertising industry wiles to corporations, Washington think tanks, lobbyist groups, Congress – permeating even the inner circles of White House administrations… absorbed so beautifully that we’ve been totally rocked to sleep in comfortable cradles of SPIN.

Is it possible our leaders have blinded themselves with their own spin? Twin emergencies now upon us – energy and credit. Busy coddling one industry after another, our leaders have blatantly ignored preparations to combat these crises.

”Industry will govern itself perfectly,” has been the cry of the regulators, letting foxes guard the chicken house. And the results: Bear Stearns; the mess at the gas pump; the airline chaos; the sub-prime housing and credit collapse, with its ugly offshoot – the yet-to-be felt trillion dollar, derivative phantasia.