Mountain Views News          Saturday, August 27, 2011

13

OPINION

 Mountain Views News Saturday, August 27, 2011 

STUART Tolchin..........On LIFE

THE UNCAUSED CAUSER
WHO IS TO BLAME?

HAIL Hamilton My Turn

Mountain 
Views

News

PUBLISHER/ EDITOR

Susan Henderson

CITY EDITOR

Dean Lee 

EAST VALLEY EDITOR

Joan Schmidt-Clayton

SALES

Patricia Colonello

626-355-2737 

626-818-2698

PRODUCTION 

Richard Garcia

PHOTOGRAPHY

Lina Johnson

Ivonne Durant

WEBMASTER

John Aveny 

CONTRIBUTORS

Jeff Brown

Pat Birdsall

Chris Leclerc

Bob Eklund

Howard Hays

Paul Carpenter

Stuart Tolchin

Kim Clymer-Kelley

Christopher Nyerges

Peter Dills 

Hail Hamilton 

Rich Johnson

Chris Bertrand

Ron Carter

Rev. James Snyder

Bobby Eldridge

Mary Carney

La Quetta Shamblee

Katie Hopkins

Deanne Davis

Despina Arouzman

Greg Wellborn

Dr. John Talevich

Meaghan Allen

Sean Kayden


What does it mean to be a progressive?

A friend sent this and 
I thought I’d share it with 
you. It’s beautifully written 
and is the best explanation 
I’ve ever read of just what it 
means to be a progressive.

“Being a Progressive 
means that I believe on social progress, I think 
we the people should recognize a goal and work 
towards achieving it, and I think that goal should 
be first the survival, and then the prosperity of 
the largest percentage of the human population 
possible.

“We believe we have a moral responsibility to 
humanity as a whole. It’s basically the same thing 
most religions teach, we are our brother’s keepers. 
But we believe that government as the primary 
institution of human organization should actively 
promote that ideal. We believe in using human 
genius and human industry to ensure human 
survival. Where conservatives seek prosperity for 
the individual, we would prefer less personal gain 
and more prosperity for all. 

“Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and FDR are the 
most successful progressives most people are 
familiar with: Lincoln ended the inhumanity 
to man we committed with slavery, TR saw 
economic inhumanity in the corporations and 
trusts he broke up, and FDR battled it in the form 
of poverty. LBJ was also a successful progressive, 
that is, until he lost his way in Vietnam. 

“Henry Ford was a progressive in his business 
practices, probably the most successful progressive 
capitalist in history. When Henry began to 
succeed, rather than pocketing the profits of his 
success he shared it with his employees. He paid 
them two and sometimes three times what other 
auto companies were paying, and by doing so he 
created a successful middle class that could afford 
to be his customers. He also created in the process 
a workforce that was committed to the success of 
the company, because they knew its success would 
ensure theirs. From a progressive point of view, 
that’s the major flaw in today’s industry. When 
employees know they are considered a disposable 
commodity, they have little incentive to give their 
all, the company makes no commitment to them, 
so they make none to it. 

“A purely progressive company would not pay 
hourly wages, it would instead base its pay on 
company performance. Profit sharing. It would 
recognize that a corporation is a machine, with 
each part necessary for success. 

“All western powers used a similar ideal of 
mutual commitment to become the economic 
powerhouses we are. The rule in our economies 
was that you would work for the same company for 
your entire career and because of that the success 
of the company was the focus of the worker. We 
did it after WWII, and we kicked some serious 
economic ass. War torn Japan adopted the idea, 
and after a few decades of rebuilding the damage 
to their infrastructure from the war they exploded 
into the world economy as we shifted our focus to 
personal success and began to decline. 

“Mutual commitment and a common goal of 
success are the pillars of industrial progress, but 
in an economy where employees have become 
disposable and live in constant fear of being 
downsized or outsourced for a few dollars of 
corporate profit, corporations make themselves 
irrelevant to personal success. When that happens, 
you get workers who are there to spend the hours 
on the clock instead of to do the job, because their 
success is irrelevant to the company, the company’s 
success becomes irrelevant to them.

“Our founders spoke a lot about human dignity, 
which is the ability to look in the mirror and see 
something of decency and value. That becomes 
harder and harder to do when the reality of the 
world is that your future, regardless of how hard 
you work or how many ideas you come up with, 
can be destroyed when some corporate raider buys 
in, fires you and your co-workers, and walks away 
with the value you, and in some cases generations 
of workers, have created for that company. 

“Such a system makes the ability to be unfair to 
large groups of people a successful strategy, and 
successful strategies will be repeated whether it is 
the perceived success of pimps and drug dealers 
in the “hood” being repeated by the kids who see 
them or the more destructive perceived success 
of the corporate raider in the boardroom. I say 
“perceived” success, because both have become 
wealthy, but both have done so by the work and 
honest effort of others, both are in reality parasites. 
One of them is just easier to recognize for what 
they are than the other.”

Right on!

The debate 
continues to 
rage. Who is 
to blame for 
all this? For 
all what?—
for all 
this. There is a segment of the 
population that believes, more 
than believes - is certain that 
this whole world, this whole 
Universe or even Universes, 
was created by somebody 
or something outside of the 
Universe. Another segment 
of the population is equally 
adamant in proclaiming that 
everything - and they mean 
everything - is explainable in 
terms of natural laws, some of 
which have been discovered 
while other laws are still 
lurking out there operating 
independent of discovery. 
Neither of these positions is 
provable at this time. In fact, as 
far as I can tell, neither position 
is ultimately provable, because 
no matter what laws science 
uncovers, the other side, (let’s 
call them Creationists) will 
counter by asking “Right, and 
who do you think created these 
laws?”

This debate is not just 
dismissible, it’s just as 
unimportant as undergraduate 
questioning which takes place 
as roommates chatter about 
free will while waiting for 
the pizza to be delivered. Is it 
really helpful for me, fifty years 
later, obsessionally to study 
(or attempt to study) these 
questions?. Does this attempt at 
study make me a better person, 
whatever ‘better’ means? Maybe 
it follows that individuals who 
understand the mechanics 
of an automobile are better 
drivers than people like me, 
who understand little of auto 
maintenance beyond putting 
gas in the tank and taking the 
car to the repair shop when 
dashboard lights flash or steam 
starts to rise. Unfortunately, 
this rather mundane awareness 
connects to my realization that 
if I am unable to understand 
how a car functions, how can 
I expect myself to understand 
the laws of the Universe or the 
possible existence of the Great 
Designer beyond these laws?

If you’re still with me, the 
next couple of questions are 
obvious. Do I have a choice in 
the matter? And, next, who is 
this “I” character anyway? First 
things first. FREE WILL- Am 
I free to choose? Can I make 
any decision independent of 
my own particular biology that 
compels me to do whatever it is 
that I do? 

I know this is kind of fuzzy 
and vague but for me questions 
about the nature of the “I” are 
part and parcel of questions 
about the existence of God. 
I certainly experience the 
existence of the “I”. I think I 
exist, I think I make decisions 
and am the driver of my own 
vehicle of life. Unfortunately, 
my experience is that this “I” 
character, my own conscious 
awareness has little to do with 
what I actually notice myself 
doing. My actual experience is 
that my conscious awareness 
is often last to understand my 
own motivation and to be able 
to predict what I am going 
to do. This whole question is 
discussed in David Eagleman’s 
book, INCOGNITO, The 
Secret Lives of the Brain. 

Eagleman disturbingly explains 
with appropriate scientific 
foundation, that what is taken 
to be conscious awareness is 
in actuality the end results of 
conflicts between rival physical 
locations existing within our 
brains. Eventually a point of 
agreement is reached and only 
at that point does the result 
reach our conscious awareness. 
Generally we are already doing 
what we are doing before we are 
even aware of it. As unsatisfying 
as this explanation is, that is the 
present up to date scientific 
explanation of individual 
experience of the “I”. No ghost 
in the machine; it is all a vastly 
complex, interconnected 
neural network that is not, in 
itself, driven by other parts of 
the network. Contrary to our 
own experience of a kind of 
unified and separate “I”, there 
really is nothing else there.

I know this is an unsatisfying 
explanation but now let’s take 
it to the next step. If there 
is nothing within a physical 
human being but actual physical 
interconnectedness I’m afraid 
that it follows, at least for me, 
that it is highly probable that 
there is nothing more or less 
to the Universe than a complex 
physical interconnectedness. In 
their book, The Grand Design, 
Stephen Hawking and Leonard 
Mlodonow speculate upon 
how something can come from 
nothing. Included in the book 
is Einstein’s playful question 
Did God have any choice when 
he created the Universe? 

Oh, that Einstein! One is left 
with the realization that there 
is nothing more or less than 
the Universe or multi-verse 
which is (or are) self-created.. 
So if that’s true then who is to 
blame—the universe(s) is (are) 
to blame for itself, obviously…. 
AND if you find that answer 
unsatisfying then…..ASK GOD 
(or Gods)

You see it is all connected in a 
very disconnected way. Just do 
your best, which is what “I” am 
attempting to do. 

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OUT TO PASTOR A Weekly Religion Column


Finding a cure for textaholics 

Rev. James L. Snyder

Recently, the Gracious 
Mistress of the Parsonage 
and Yours Truly upgraded 
our lives with cell phones. 
Up to this time, I just 
assumed the cell phone 
was what a prisoner used..

 My wife and I drug our feet for a long time 
until we finally took the plunge. Both of us finally 
went to the cell phone store and signed up for cell 
phone service. She picked out a phone for her and 
then picked up another phone and turned to me 
and said, “I think this will suit you.”

 I learned long ago that when my wife is 
“thinking,” I should not interrupt the phenomenon.

 I must say she did not hog the whole experience 
of purchasing cell phones. She rather graciously 
allowed me to pull out my checkbook and write a 
check for our cell phone service. I wrote that check 
and signed it with a smile not knowing what I was 
really doing.

 I have found not knowing what I am doing 
really is a very peaceful part of my life. There is no 
stress when you do not know what you are doing. 
However, when you have some idea what you are 
doing, then comes the stress. I must admit, most 
of my life is stress free.

 Now, that we have upgraded our lifestyle, life 
has become rather easy for us.

 I really did not know how the simple act 
of signing up for cell phone service would so 
drastically change our life. There is something 
with our service called texting. I have heard of this 
of course, but I had no idea what it was all about. 
But I was shortly to discover the bliss of the world 
of texting.

 Not long after we purchased our cell phone 
service we were at a restaurant celebrating our 
wedding anniversary. Yes sir, 40 years ago we 
tied the knot and we have had a wonderful time 
together. Oh sure, there have been those “knotty” 
situations, but overall everything has held together. 
That sure was a tight knot we tied back in the day.

 We were celebrating at a certain restaurant 
and my wife needed to go to the lady’s room for 
whatever ladies do in the lady’s room. While she 
was gone, the waitress came to take our drink 
order. Even though I have been blissfully married 
for 40 years, I never take it on my own to make 
decisions for my better half. I have not had enough 
practice making decisions for my half. So, when 
the waitress asked for her drink order I did not 
quite know what she wanted.

 Then it dawned on me. I will text her. After 
all, isn’t that why we got this cell phone service in 
the first place? So I text her and ask her what she 
wanted me to order her for her drink.

 Within a very short time, my cell phone buzzed 
and I looked at her text. “Coffee.”

 I looked at the waitress who was looking rather 
strangely at me, and said to her, “My wife will have 
coffee.”

 This was just the beginning of the textualization 
of our formal blissful relationship. We really do 
not have to talk anymore; we can just text each 
other, which cuts down on the shouting.

 Just the other night I was sitting in my easy 
chair reading a book and a text message came 
on my cell phone. I picked it up and looked at 
the text message and it said, “Can you come to 
the bedroom immediately.” Not knowing what 
opportunities awaited I rushed into the bedroom.

 There my wife was on one side of the bed and 
said to me, “Help me turn this mattress over.”

 We were at the mall together and we usually go 
to different stores. My cell phone rang and a text 
message came, “Where are you?”

 I immediately text back, “Right behind you.”

 A text message returned quickly saying, “Oh, I 
thought you were lost.”

 “No,” I fast text back to her, “but it can be 
arranged.”

 I am neither a psychiatrist nor a psychologist 
but I think my wife has become intexticated by 
this new technology.

 I said to her once, “Lay down the cell phone and 
nobody will get hurt.”

 She quickly text me and said, “Touch my cell 
phone and you die.”

 I’m not sure if there is a rehab center for 
textaholics yet, but I know someone who should 
go there. Wait a minute… I have a text coming in.

 “What do you want for supper? Meatloaf or 
fried chicken?”

 “Fried chicken is fine with me,” I text back.

 Now, where was I? Ah yes, a rehab center for 
textaholics. Wait a minute… I have another text 
coming in.

 “Can you pick up a quart of milk at the store?”

 “Okay.”

 Yes, a rehab center for textaholics. If anybody 
knows one you can text me with the information.

 But then again, maybe being addicted to texting 
isn’t all that bad. After all, it facilitates keeping in 
touch with someone without actually having to 
talk to them. That can’t be all bad.

 It still does not trump God’s ability to keep in 
touch with us. I like what the prophet says, “And 
it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will 
answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will 
hear” (Isaiah 65:24 KJV).

 I think God has texting beat, thumbs down.

The Rev. James L. Snyder is pastor of the Family 
of God Fellowship, 1471 Pine Road, Ocala, FL 
34472. He lives with his wife, Martha, in Silver 
Springs Shores. Call him at 352-687-4240 or e-mail 
jamessnyder2@att.net. The church web site is www.
whatafellowship.com.


GOOD FIRST 
IMPRESSIONS

 Good impressions are a marvelous thing. 
Rich Little does good impressions, but those 
aren’t the kind I’m talking about. I’m talking 
about those little special pluses you can do 
to make people associate you with pleasant 
thoughts or memories. Take "yummy" for 
example. If you have been invited to a party 
involving food and are expected to bring 
something, here are a couple of suggestions to 
knock people’s socks off.

 If you are planning to bring something sweet like cookies, 
cupcakes, or cakes, let Connie at Oven Lovin’ do the baking. I 
received a coffee cake that had been prepared by her and, well let’s 
just say if she weren’t happily married… Call Connie at (626) 676-
0276. P. S. I met Connie at Mary’s Market, who happens to serve 
the best tuna sandwich I have ever had.

 If you are looking for savory appetizers and want to be 
remembered in a positive light, I have three suggestions from 
two restaurants. First, bacon wrapped shrimp and/or mini 
chimichangas from Fresco’s. Call Oscar at (626) 351-0388. 

 Cheese boureg is a slice of heaven made of two kinds of cheeses, 
parsley, and green onions fried in a philo dough. Also, if you want 
yummy and healthy, order the hummus dip. It’s made of garbanzo 
beans, garlic salt, lemon, and tahini sauce (from sesame seeds). 
Add a drop of olive oil on top and you are styling. Call Corfu at 
(626) 355-5993.

 Good impressions are really important in hospital settings. And 
my Scottish friend, Bob Matheson forwarded me actual secretarial 
medical record entries from a hospital in Glasgow, Scotland that 
don’t leave a good first impression. Here we go:

1. The patient has no previous history of suicide. 

2. Patient has left her white blood cells at another hospital. 

3. Patients medical history has been remarkable insignificant with 
only a 40 pound weight gain in the past three days. 

4. Patient has chest pain if she lies on her left side for over a year. 

5. On the 2nd day the knee was better - the 3rd day it disappeared. 

6. The patient is tearful and crying constantly. She also appears to 
be depressed. 

7. Patient has been depressed since she began seeing me in 1993. 

8. Discharge status: Alive, but without my permission. 

9. Patient had waffles for breakfast and anorexia for lunch. 

10. She is numb from her toes down. 

11. While in ER, she was examined, x-rated and sent home. 

12. The skin was moist and dry. 

13. Occasional, constant infrequent headaches. 

14. Patient was alert and unresponsive. 

15. Rectal examination revealed a normal size thyroid. 

16. The lab test indicated abnormal lover function. 

17. Skin: somewhat pale, but present. 

18. The pelvic exam will be done later on the floor. 

19. Patient has two teenage children, but no other abnormalities. 

20. Between you and me, we ought to be able to get this lady 
pregnant. 

21. By the time he was admitted, his rapid heart had stopped, and 
he was feeling better. 

22. She has no rigors or shaking chills, but her husband states she 
was very hot in bed last night. 

 Possibly not a good first impression of medical care in Scotland. 
Have a good week my friends. It will be particularly good to 
parents who, if not already, will be shuffling their student children 
off to school. Vacation will then really begin for the parents. Yay! 

RICH Johnson

Mountain Views News

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