A TRUCE FOR THE OLYMPICS

The Olympics are a dream that the only physical conflict left on Earth is competitive sports, where a barefoot man from a tiny village in Africa can win a gold medal outrunning highly trained runners from wealthy countries.

Every two years, we call a truce and pretend that the dream has come true.

Somehow the Olympics writes its own history. The world could have ignored the Olympics hosted by the nazis. Instead, the world attended, and what the world now remembers is JESSE OWENS.

I believe that the lessons from the Russian Olympics will be lessons we all need to learn. But we may not learn these lessons unless the games are held and attended.

Those who violate a world wide truce based on an ancient tradition are not freedom fighters. They are people seeking self aggrandizement. If you know of such a person, you can help the world by refusing to help those who have violent intentions towards the Olympics.

Join me in watching the best in the world show us their skills on snow and ice.

"OH, THE FARMER AND THE TOWNIE SHOULD BE FRIENDS"*

Neither the judge, nor the lawyer, had ever met a BUFFALO up close. So they could not understand how INCREDIBLY EVIL it was to deliberately leave a gate open so buffalo could escape. The farmer was extremely frustrated, but the farmer did not explain about the size, weight and danger of a buffalo, because the farmer thought everyone knew about buffalo.

FARMERS need to realize that TOWNIES do NOT understand the LEAST LITTLE BIT about raising crops and animals. Farmers need to explain what is happening in simple terms that you would use to a farm wise first grader.

WE ALL NEED THE FARMERS AND RANCHERS, because we all need food. In the US, we subsidize farming, which usually rewards the corporate farms, but does not help the small family farms. As the unusually strong global storms increase, we are going to have to help the farmers recover, just like we help the towns recover.

Townies control the vote, but townies also like both food and farmers. So explain to us what you need and why you need it. 

The subspecies of townie called "rich city folk" will pay incredible amounts for what California calls artisan farming. Hand made cheese, hard cider, fresh organic vegetables, unusual fowl, corn fed cattle, can all be sold at premium prices.

So farmers have a choice, grow and raise inexpensive food for the middle class and poor; or grow and raise expensive food for the 1%, and as special treats for the poor gourmets.

* See "The Farmer and the Cowboy Should be Friends" from Oklahoma.

STEALING SENIORS' HOMES FOR CHRISTMAS

My friend has a reverse mortgage. The alleged new mortgage servicer, Champion Mortgage, incorrectly gave her a vacancy notice. When I called them, I was told that she should immediately write them telling them to  "RESCIND HER LOAN". In my legal opinion, rescinding her loan will have the effect of allowing an immediate foreclosure by the holder of her reverse mortgage.

I tried calling FHA so that they could STOP THIS FRAUD. Naive me thought that someone at the FHA should order Champion Mortgage to STOP giving out the advice that seniors should rescind their loans.

Of course, thanks to the Tea Party, FHA has subcontracted out all supervision of the mortgage industry. I was told I could send an email complaint, but that I could not actually speak with anyone regarding a possible ongoing fraud against vulnerable seniors. I was quite clear that I am an attorney, but if you do not hire professionals with judgment, they have no idea how serious a problem is.

Champion Mortgage has other problems. My first phone call did not get through as I was told that I called outside of office hours. The person who answered my second phone call told me that their computers were down and I should call back in a few hours. The third phone call resulted in the HORRIFICALLY INCORRECT LEGAL ADVICE repeated several times by a temporary employee who told me that he was carefully repeating what he had been trained to say.

I tried checking with the Santa Clara County Recorder's Office to see who now owned the reverse mortgage. I was unable to find a deed of trust on the property.

Correct paperwork is the backbone of the mortgage industry. Correct paperwork can NOT be processed by untrained, low paid workers.

The Fonz would say, "WE ARE CRUISING FOR ANOTHER BRUISING."

HAPPY SOLSTICE

I was going to wax poetic about how all people once lit fires in a Winter ceremony to welcome back the sun. Then I realized that, for half the world, it is summer, and they are celebrating the longest day of the year.

It is weird how hard it is to understand that, in Middle Earth, it is now summer. ;)

Although it is true that we are all emotionally tied to the sun. We lift up our faces to the sun, we save most of our bad deeds for the night.

When Copernicus announced that the Earth went around the Sun, the church imprisoned him. "For is not mankind the center of the universe?" A part of me agrees. I would much rather be the center of the universe than a small speck in the telescope of a distant star system.

Enough boring philosophy. It is the time to celebrate, SO CELEBRATE!

WHAT DEFINES EVIL?

Assad is using medieval siege tactics against his own people. It is the "LET THEM EAT RATS!" theory of governance. Is it any surprise that no one but his own family really thinks that he is fit to govern anything?

Now the UN wants to bring in FOOD and Assad says (in translation), "Of course, giggle, if we can manage the security, we will let the UN in, maybe." Then in a whisper, "Aren't those rebel supporters dead of starvation YET?"

And have you SEEN the videos of the towns he has "taken back"? No one could live in them. They are empty, shelled into rubble. As winter sets in, the civilian population will start dying from being cold and homeless.

Those countries who are afraid of becoming a friend of Russia, only have to look at Syria for a lesson in their alternative future.

CONGRATULATIONS TO CHINA

It is way cool that you have a vehicle on the moon. WELCOME TO THE CLUB!

Could you do the US a favor and go check out the junk our astronauts left? We have conspiracy theorists who say that the US faked our moon landings. I bet that they would believe China if you would be kind enough to truck over to our landing sites and check it out.

Seriously, we are a very small planet is a very large universe. Our worldwide mission, should we choose to accept it, is to explore the vast star systems of the universe.

And maybe China could start giving the astronauts and cosmonauts rides to the international space station. 

SABOTAGING SCIENCE TEACHING IN SILICON VALLEY

Performing the classic chemistry demonstration of burning a magnesium ribbon has gotten a chemistry teacher charged with UNPROFESSIONAL CONDUCT. This will have a CHILLING EFFECT on the teaching of science.

One of the teacher's students disobeyed instructions by looking directly at the BRIGHT burning magnesium ribbon. Afterwards she suffered from severe "internet medical info syndrome". Of course, NO injury actually happened as the light burned too briefly and she was over 6 feet away. Not understanding either physics or chemistry, a school official panicked. Other chemistry teachers explained, the accused teacher explained, but the school proceeded with their charges of unprofessional conduct.

WHY?

IMHO, the school wanted the chemistry teacher to stop bothering them with complaints about his overcrowded classroom (24 lab stations, often over 28 students assigned to the class). Worse, he complained about students in his class who did not know enough math to line up decimal points in order to add up numbers. (Trust me, it is impossible to learn chemistry if you can not do basic math.) He was also concerned that disruptive students could injure themselves and others as teaching chemistry involves using substances that could injure if not used correctly.

And you were wondering WHY the schools were unable to teach science?

You take your kids out of the regular classroom and put them in charter or private school so no one is monitoring what goes on in regular classrooms. You think your school is better. It is only better because all of the parents CARE about their child's education and the charter/private schools can expel disruptive students.

But the San Jose Unified School District seems to prefer to "shoot the messenger", especially if that messenger is a chemistry teacher.

CORRUPTION IN A KLEPTOCRACY

If you live in a country where bribery is a way of life, then you probably want to stop the corruption. Unfortunately, this is not easy. Even in the US, corruption still happens. Although here, if you are caught, you can actually go to prison even if you are a friend of the President.

There is a great mystery movie called The Big Easy, which shows how hard it is to be the first person to refuse a bribe. Even though the New Orleans Police Department was 'fixed', the aftermath of hurricane Katrina showed that there were still real problems.

That said, I will give you the basic rules of how to stop corruption.

Stop ripping off the tax collector by paying for large contracts partly in cash.

The people that work for the government are professionals and should be paid a living wage. (This is important because the low wages are an excuse for taking bribes, and an excuse to not convict the person of accepting a bribe.)

The police need to be TRAINED. (Do not ever think that amateurs can substitute for police officers. Every time civilians become vigilantes, really bad things, like lynchings, happen.)

Elected officials must be paid a wage that is equal to their status. Otherwise they will justify stealing from the government that they run.

Retirement plans are VERY important. No one wants to face living in poverty just because they are too old to work. Your corrupt officials will not retire if they believe that they will be poor when they retire.

The rich must help the poor. Farmers must be helped during times of economic transitions and global warming. Too many of the educated think that the poor are "scum", rather than people just like them.

BUT IT ALL STARTS WITH YOU DECIDING THAT YOU WILL NOT TAKE OR GIVE BRIBES.

PLAYING WITH SPIES*

Spies are playing spy vs. spy within computer games such as World of Warcraft. I have a reprehensible sense of humor and an immediate desire to sign up for World of Warcraft. It is SO nice of the NY Times, the Guardian, and Snowden to bring gamers such a challenging Holiday present.

Seriously, I have known for YEARS that it is possible for groups of gamers to have private voice communications within games. I have not talked about it because I did not want to give out "information to the enemy". (But what a COOL job to play games for your country. Almost as cool a job as game testing,)

* Before you all start your own games within games by pretending to be spies, please keep in mind that real spies, like real cops, do NOT have much of a sense of humor about this kind of game. Conspiracy laws within the US are bad enough, but in some countries they will not even listen to your excuse that you were just playing a game.

Real life is NOT a game or a movie. We just lost a beloved movie star who treated real life as if it were a street racing movie. BE PREPARED TO LOSE YOUR LIFE OR YOUR FREEDOM IF YOU PRETEND TO BE A REAL LIFE SPY.

FROM PRISONER TO PRESIDENT

Nelson Mandela was one of the greatest men of both the twentieth and twenty first centuries. He taught us that forgiveness and reconciliation were more powerful than hatred and revenge. He is not gone, because he will never be forgotten.

THE N.S.A. IS COMING TO TOWN

"They know when you are sleeping, they know when you're awake, they know when you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake." (Lyrics dedicated to Snowden and the Guardian newspaper.)

I think we should thank Edward Snowden for showing us how supremely stupid it is to have civilians do security clearances.

Before you get all paranoid, I will also remind you that the NSA is NOT recording your phone conversations. They are, however, tracking the phone numbers that you call. They can also track your international banking transactions.

I am hoping that the people who commit economic crimes will be put into the category of economic terrorists. The pain and suffering caused by the con artists is immeasurably terrible. Big banks sell worthless mortgage packages and fix interest rates. Officials take bribes just for doing their jobs. Con artists scam the unaware using the internet.

Whether you are large or small, the NSA can prove how you are scamming the people who trust you.

But will they?

WOMEN, FARMS, FACTORIES

Once most of the population is in cities, you can no longer control the behavior of women through physical and psychological intimidation, although some criminals attempt to continue this control. Once women are making their own decisions, a society dependent upon the unpaid domestic servitude of women will start to come apart.

Both child care and elder care will become problems. Most people will start to have nutritional problems due the lack of an unpaid cook. Men will get extremely angry as they no longer have an unpaid servant. 

Often countries attempt to solve these issues by reading Machiavelli or the Art of War. These philosophies only make the problem worse. Turning men into soldiers means that the men will just leave the farms faster. Soldiers do not learn to feed themselves. Somehow we have to teach that all people MUST learn to cook, clean, and care for those in the family who can not care for themselves.

I am uncertain of what else to advise. The methods of controlling women vary from culture to culture. But these methods only work if the women agree to accept them.

Women are amazingly willing to accept things like high heels and short skirts, which make them crippled and unprofessional.

I do not think there are any easy answers to the changes that the entire world is undergoing. 

One thing is true. It is almost impossible to take back civil rights once someone has been granted civil rights.