June 21, 2017

Phil Beaver works to establish opinion when the-objective-truth has not been discovered. He seeks to refine his opinion by listening when people share experiences and observations. The comment box below invites readers to express facts, opinion, or concern, perhaps to share with people who may follow the blog.

Note 1:  I often dash words in phrases in order to express and preserve an idea. For example, frank-objectivity represents the idea of candidly expressing the-objective-truth despite possible error. In other words, a person expresses his “belief,” knowing he or she could be in error. People may collaboratively approach the-objective-truth.
 Note 2: It is important to note "civic" refers to citizens who collaborate for the people more than for the city.

  

Our Views: flooding (theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/our_views/article_49cbe416-5525-11e7-8fbf-57ee24cd329d.html)

I appreciate The Advocate’s report, “In 2016, the [National Flood Insurance Program] had almost 60,000 claims across the nation, for $3.7 billion in payments to insured homeowners and businesses. Louisiana accounted for close to half of those claims and $2.4 billion in the total of payments.”

I recall 150,000 flooded in Louisiana. Does that mean 90,000 had no insurance or what? Is there no relief for people who weren’t in 100 year flood zones and had no insurance? What’s the story? I’m on high ground, but care and want to know.

Also, I never learned how much goes to the distribution firm. Last I knew it was around 20%, which would be close to $0.5 billion. Outrageous!

  

Today’s thought (Revelation 1:8, CJB). "I am the 'A' and the 'Z,'" says ADONAI, God of heaven's armies, the One who is, who was and who is coming.”

NIV for comparison:  “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” Interesting that KJV and NIV do not mention armies.

Not unexpectedly, it seems more “authorities” than G. E. Dean play the mystery game with some people’s lives. It’s an awful practice.

Letters.

Spinning Kennedy’s statement  (Niyogi). (theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/letters/article_22b7af9a-52cd-11e7-8689-93bafc256775.html)

Seems like a physician spouting propaganda for the business.

When Senator Kennedy said, “we need to . . . help people get better, not just spend more money,” he was urging government to encourage people to healthy lifestyles, which is four times more effective than medical care in establishing and maintaining well-being.

Shame on medical-care promoters.

 TOPS lawyerly confusion  (Matt). (theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/letters/article_6e25af54-55d9-11e7-828d-fbb0ec457a72.html)

Huh? I thought TOPS was cut last year by a decision by the Legislature.

Against the people (Dysart, June 15). (theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/letters/article_c8b0e1b6-5127-11e7-b7c1-37f13bb91737.html)

To Barbara Broussard Gilbert: Do you really grasp my statement? Do you realize that a person's political influence in the senate is 20 divided by 0.3 or 67 times stronger if she lives in Wyoming rather than California?

Does CA ever elect a president on its own? Did CA lose the 2016 election on its own?

Do you understand the republican form of government is designed to prevent both democracy and monarchy?

I'm not trying to be argumentative: I am trying to be collaborative. It takes two collaborative parties to communicate.

  

Columns.

Give-away cutting (Lanny Keller). theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/lanny_keller/article_f631bbb4-52bd-11e7-98f9-1f1e017de221.html

I want neither budget-cutting nor new taxes: I want give-away cutting and to see The Advocate invent that phrase or better.

Another change I’d like to see is the end of the manipulative phrase “taxpayers.” When the Legislators and the Governor connive to give-away the coffers, they hurt all the people.

By connive I mean promote cutting child-care, health-care, and education to protect the give-aways, such as favor to the nursing-home business, Hollywood executives and investors, and many other special-interest receivers.

Time to reiterate my apology to the people for my vote for Gov. Edwards. I now add apology for my many past votes for Jay Dardenne.

To Elaine O Coyle: The Democrats lost yesterday 5 to 0. Perhaps they will start to think that it's people like me, people who vote for primary candidate Donald Trump as well as presidential candidate Donald Trump who are behind the hope to make America great and are in it for the long haul. (Beyond the 229 years of neglect of the potential that have transpired.)

  

If not the Democrats perhaps The Advocate; if not, perhaps Mr. K.

Trump administration together but not obligated to writer-opinion (David Ignatius). washingtonpost.com/opinions/when-theres-a-family-quarrel-in-the-middle-east-let-rex-handle-it/2017/06/15/2eeae6d6-5207-11e7-be25-3a519335381c_story.html?utm_term=.3ffa98a3e8e0

“But Trump’s instinct was to side with the Saudis and Emiratis. He tweeted June 6: “During my recent trip to the Middle East I stated that there can no longer be funding of Radical Ideology. Leaders pointed to Qatar — look!” That was hardly even handed.”

Qatar was present for that reaction, so Trump’s tweet is perfectly fair. Ignatius just does not understand the propriety of the administration.

 President Trump is the administrator and the world’s best communicator. His cabinet members are the executors. I like it.

Writers like Ignatius show they have not the propriety to report rather than pretend prescience. As a report, I very much appreciated this column from the nearest writer to journalist I can think of these days, and it represents an improvement during the recent past.

Strike down Davis-Bacon rent seeking (George Will). post-gazette.com/opinion/Op-Ed/2017/06/19/George-F-Will-Demolish-this-old-law/stories/201706190027

Cato Institute posed the question, “Will the administration see the logic of abolishing regulations that raise the cost of construction, such as the Davis-Bacon Act and Buy American regulations as part of their supply-side push?” May 23, 2017, cato.org/blog/trumps-budget-changes-tone-infrastructure.

Less recently, “Trump leads a party that’s ferociously hostile to unions. Certain conditions unions will demand as part of any infrastructure bill, like Davis-Bacon wage protections, are anathema to Trump’s party. When the union leaders who met with Trump asked about Davis-Bacon, he equivocated.” Jan 2017, thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-woos-organized-labor-and-hardhats-are-swooning.

Politians need to be citizens  (E. J. Dionne). journalnow.com/opinion/columnists/e-j-dionne-in-the-jungle-of-suspicion/article_774d85d8-552b-11e7-aa65-434fe0f9890a.html

Dionne, a Catholic and writer, obfuscates, perhaps from himself, the moralization of American politics. See newenglishreview.org/DL_Adams/Saul_Alinsky_and_the_Rise_of_Amorality_in_American_Politics/ . William F. Buckley, Jr. referred to Alinsky as the revolutionary of the church people of America. See and hear at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsfxnaFaHWI ,

Other forums 

quora.com/Why-do-so-many-human-beings-resist-and-refuse-to-grow-up-when-they-reach-adulthood/answer/Phil-Beaver-1

Too many people miss the most deadly error: gullibility. The shield against gullibility is humility. However, it takes hard work to comprehend the-objective-truth.

For example, early islanders could imagine that the earth was not flat, but people on land were confused by the possibility of falling off the edge of the earth. They were not willing to do the work to discover that the earth is like a globe.

Again, people died from over exposure to the sun and therefore were persuaded that the sun was a God. Smart people saw that most people were easily persuaded to think something else was in charge. Politicians capitalized on the idea and partnered with the priests to control the people.

Thus, there developed constructs with priest-politician-partnerships that the people believed would help them to a promising future, even a future in their afterdeath, which no one has ever observed, yet billions of humans expect.

This theory is explained by Machiavelli in “The Prince,” Chapter XI. I refer to it as Chapter XI Machiavellianism. Only a dreamer would think it can be overcome.

I think the priest-politician-partnership can be overcome when most people collaborate for comprehensive safety and security as the transcendental public integrity, fully aware that there will always be dissidents. The secret to success is humility and fidelity respecting the-objective-truth rather than egoistic gullibility.

Announcement: 

theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/entertainment_life/calendar/#/details/4th-Annual-Ratification-Day-Celebration/3562296/2017-06-21T19

Phil Beaver does not “know” the-indisputable-facts. He trusts and is committed to the-objective-truth of which most is undiscovered and some is understood. He is agent for A Civic People of the United States, a Louisiana, education non-profit corporation. See online at promotethepreamble.blogspot.com.