The Iron or the Golden Rule? Wednesday 18 January Forecast

The Iron or the Golden Rule?

Last night I watched the Republican debates. It is interesting that on Fox News, where watchers could Tweet their approval or disapproval of answers, Ron Paul won! By a huge margin. And Romney came in last! But Fox tried to dissemble and pretend that Paul didn't exist, with one of their "talking heads" showing a big chart which showed the results for Romney, Santorum and Gingrich only. He said, at the beginning, "Ron Paul maintained a constant lead above these three," and then proceeded to ignore the winner!

The lady anchor for Fox was getting hundreds of Tweeted protests from Paul supporters. Because of her (and their) intervention, finally Fox and the "talking head" presented another chart showing Paul as the clear, huge winner and Romney as the flunk-out! It was obvious they hated to do it.

But today that chart is no longer on the Fox website, and the other media have completely ignored those results. Paul is very consciously and deliberately ignored by the media, given fourth or fifth place in coverage even when he comes in second in the voting as in New Hampshire.

The things I really like about Paul are (a) his libertarianism about social and life-style issues and (b) most importantly, his foreign policy. His financial and tax ideas and opposition to "the welfare state" are silly and insupportable. There is a "welfare state" everywhere in the world, to some degree, and nobody is going to change that. It is merely a collective manifestation of basic human decency, a recognition that people need to be supported when they are unable to support themselves completely in economies which have very few jobs left. It may need modification, as I would admit, but not elimination. (For example, I would try to find some way of reducing excessive births {but not through abortion}, for it is ridiculous to expect the middle class to support endless production of children by those who cannot support them, especially when jobs are being replaced by machines everywhere.)

What inspired me to write this was the loud booing the Republicans attending the debate gave Ron Paul when he mentioned the Golden Rule. These Republicans booed the Golden Rule! That shows what they really are. Paul said that if we are constantly bombing other nations, how can we expect them not to bomb us? And then mentioned the Golden Rule. Loud boos! I suppose that if anyone had mentioned Jesus there would have been even louder boos. On Martin Luther King day, no less, the man whose career was based on Jesus's and Gandhi's non-violence, which is a particular application of the Golden Rule. Those who booed the Golden Rule have earned the vengeance of G*d. Fortunately for them, He has commanded us to be merciful and to pray for those who misunderstand and persecute. He himself is merciful, so my only prayer in this case must be that these mockers of God's teachings be converted and turned from their hideous effrontery, before they suffer the educative punishment they otherwise have earned.

Sir Real

P. S. I do not consider myself a total pacifist, although the teachings of Jesus lead in that direction. Sri Aurobindo taught that self-defense and national defense might include violence when inescapable; but we ought to be doing all we can to slow down and finally stop that vicious circle of attack and counter-attack.


Wednesday 18 January 2012

I gave Tuesday a D and then a C for weather, in the forecast, with the change at 11:55a PT. I am now in that zone in the Northwest and although it was still snowing at 11:55, by 12:25 it had stopped completely, although it had been snowing all morning. Score a point for Cosmic Piper. I am not claiming I can forecast the weather for every place in the world, for obviously China has different weather from Brazil, and both from the American Northwest, but I think you will find these indications interesting and, I hope, helpful, if combined with the usual weather forecasts and your own observation and intuition. I am giving that part of the forecast a C for today, even though the meteorologists are predicting more snow where I am. They may be right, but my rating suggests it won't be terribly disruptive (maybe the snow plowers will get it right) and I hope not where you are either. If there is cold or snow, that is to be expected while the sun is square Saturn, exact on Wednesday and Thursday.

Wednesday might be specially good for something connected with publicity; communication with bosses, superiors or clients; and friendly overtures in any direction which catches your fancy. The moon's square with Neptune, besides often increasing precipitation, puts a small cloud of doubt over many factors but there is sunshine within and around it, so you should not lose faith.

Social life, friendship, enjoyment, personal relationships: B
Work, projects, concentration on achievement: B
Negotiations, agreements, business, transactions, purchases: C
Cooperation of circumstances, weather, traffic, conveniences: C
Sheer relaxation and liberating self-exploration: D
Spiritual seeking, worship, prayer, meditation, positive thinking: A always

E is effete; D is desperate; C is cool; B is bold; A is awesome

Cosmic Piper