Great link to Nate Silver! November’s undercard is also unusually thick with state ballot initiatives this year, from the expected (weed, guns) to the interesting (health care reforms, Maine’s consideration of ranked-choice voting) to the downright kooky (California). They may not be as high-profile as the national races but it should be an interesting show for fans of direct democracy!

https://ballotpedia.org/2016_ballot_measures

Hard to imagine people being required to vote. It feels like the opposite of freedom. How about people get paid a nominal fee if they do vote? Now, where would that money come from? Oh, the penalty imposed on those who choose not to vote! Pay a dollar or make a dollar–your choice!

Earth is an artist in rock and stone, river, sea and sky, and also expresses itself in words–like yours.

I was recently reminded that “everyone has a story so consider that before you judge” I’m paraphrasing, but your charge to practice empathy is the same message. Thank you for making the theological secular.

Greetings Fred – Glad to have you aboard!
Your plight is a universal one. To keep the mariner’s reply short, he suggests you do some reading about how myths are used to explain things we don’t understand. Every individual has dozens of small beliefs about why reality is the way it is. An obvious myth is believing that God can manipulate our lives; for example, the football player that makes a touchdown believes that God had a direct hand in his achievement. He is free to believe that, and have faith that God will shape his life. This cannot be proved or disproved so who is to say?
The important thing is to have a core set of beliefs that help explain your reality. A characteristic of myths is that they are beyond human manipulation.
For some immediate insight, the mariner refers you to works by Joseph Campbell, a premier writer on myth and its relationship to human understanding. See: http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=joseph+campbell+youtube&qpvt=joseph+campbell+youtube&FORM=VDRE

Ancient Mariner

Hear, Hear!!

We seem to seperate ourselves from the Universe. It is “out there” and we are “down here” when in reality there is no seperation. We exist as it, but have forgotten the fact that Earth and Humanity are not a different part of the Universe and what we see and experience daily is all part of the same thing. By communicating with each other and with our world in a loving way we are communicating with the Universe, but we have lost that awareness. Many refuse to try to communicate with one another and definitely not with Mother Earth and so they do not expect the unexpected because they think they are in control. We are in for a rude awakening when our blocks are suddenly taken away!

This is a very clear analysis of what has happened in politics during my lifetime. It sounds like it is unbiased, if that is even possible. I like the line, “Reagan was just the toastmaster…” (at the fall of the Berlin wall). You could say he was the Toastmaster in Chief…!