This Web Blog was haphazardly produced without using Spell Check one danged time. We like it that way.

I was scheduled to be in Las Vegas on Monday and in San Francisco today. Nope! The airline that I ignorantly chose and now have learned is notorious for screw-up, US Airways, sent me an automated message on the afternoon of my flight informing me that it was cancelled.

I scrambled for two hours to try to book another flight and simply ended up angry and frustrated. Some of you may know the old joke about ending up like Sonny Corleone.

I have been trying to recover from the disappointment ever since. So this will be a short post because it is like I've not been "here" this week.

Besides that disappointment, I've also had problems moving things forward with the few potential clients I have tried to line up and am not finding editors very responsive to my story pitches. It's all been rather frustrating.

But this is the No Whine Zone, so I simply have to continue to suck it up.

Moving on to another topic, I'm going to make a declaration that you might find uncharacteristic. I've decided that this Blog will not spend much - if any time - on the U.S. Presidential primaries. I think they are getting too much, over-much, attention already and most of things being written and said about them are without value. I'm bored already of the gas bags making predictions based on spin and meaningless gossip. I suspect you might be, too. So, I'm pleased to announce you won't find any of that drivel here.

Instead, in futre posts and essays - as well as by means of the Guest Bloggers - I shall attempt to discuss with you issues that matter in our daily lives. I hope you'll stay tuned.

Throughout the course of history, in the time of the Old Religions - whether it was Amon-RA, Quetzelcotel, Zeus, Odin, etc. - the king of the gods and goddesses would strike with a thunderbolt when you screwed up. Lightning Strikes and then you are done. We could stick a fork in you.

That much has not changed. When lightning strikes here or at its sister on BlogTalkRadio.com, you are done.

On the back channel, I was referred to as "cold" because of my comments about Condoleeza Rice and the man in the White House in my last post about Pakistan, the third movement of this symphony. Frankly, I didn't feel that was fair because I was only stating facts that everyone knows but that most people refuse to express openly - out of fear.

I believe we cannot succumb to fear.

I also believe that too many people who claim to be "progressive" act as much like sheep as the people they claim to oppose on the other side of the aisle. They accept cant over substance and look for a great performance over great thinking. It bothers me immensely.

Therein lies the primary reason for heretodoxy. Here's an example. Listen to this discussion between Bill Moyers and Ron Paul - the latter of whom is constantly portrayed in the Mouthpiece Media (MM) as a wingnut, racist and idyit - and tell me if you hear anything you disagree with. Yet this man is being portrayed by the MM as a nutcase.

I am not - by any stretch of the imagination - saying I agree with the man's positions. What I am saying is that I know what it is like to be marginalized because you don't toe the corporate line that has dominated this country for too long.

The late President Kennedy famously wrote a book entitled Profiles in Courage that featured narratives about people in this country's history who went against the grain. That book, unlike many of the books produced by people seeking high office, inspired many of us in my time. It gave us something to consider and contemplate and suggested that we, too, could step up to the plate and achieve positive change within this experiment we call democracy.

A huge part of making the experiment work, thrive, continue to exist - my view - is to challenge and ignore the conventional wisdom; to agitate against injustice; to bring up the hard issues that constantly face humanity and demand - not plead - that those issues be addressed. Finally, we have to stand up against the plutocrats and oligarchs who would like to be fat and happy while the rest of us starve. That demands that we be fearless.

This is the point in an essay like this when a politician would quote Thomas Jefferson. I would prefer to quote Ambrose Bierce. Bierce said:

Men become civilized, not in proportion to their willingness to believe, but in proportion to their readiness to doubt.

I would hope that at least a few of my readers would keep that concept in mind.

BTW. here's a musical site and production studio that I like. I think you should check it out because he deals with indeprendent producers and artists. Always a good thing.

Do check out his Blog and his music. You'll be glad you did. I'll have MUCH more to say about his work over time.

Just so you know, the show with Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson went well and Bill Purcell was extremely information. I hope you'll check it out at my archive at BlogTalkRadio.

I'll be gone for about a week. Off to Nevada for a trade show and then back to San Francisco once again to see a client and a number of old friends. So don't expect much here until mid-month. Lots of changes in the wind, again, as well.

I shall miss you and I hope you'll miss me.

I wish you good health and a happy and prosperous new year.

Thanks for coming back.

This week's video is from our good friend and colleague Antonio Graceffo. Check it out. It takes you to Burma, a place you need to know more about.

Cheers!

Keep me in your prayers as I keep you in my own.

Thanks for visiting.

Talk to you in a day or so.

Be well.