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" What good are laws where money is king." Petronius

 “What good are laws where money is king”   Petronius

 
I am an idealist.  I have always accepted the notion that the United States, despite its faults, was a nation always evolving toward a more perfect union.  Obviously, if you are evolving to a better place, you are aware of certain measurable milestones that indicate progress is being made.  And historians can show us that they are there. 

 

The problem is today. We no longer seem to have a coherent belief about what this country is about and the question is why?

 

I am sure many could argue with passion and conviction sophisticated, nuanced scenarios for why this is.  I am not sure it is all that complicated.

 

As Petronius tells us money has always been king.  Money buys power. The two are inseparable.  Today as we see the economies of the world including our own barely able to wobble and sputter forward, the corruption caused by money and power become less subtle.  The giants of our economy are now blatant and obvious in their ploys and power grabs to stay in the game.

 

The problem is the working and middle class.  Both groups are willing to look the other way as long as they have change in their pockets and right now those pockets are empty. 

 

President Nixon said it simply and best of all.  “If the voters have change in their pockets on election day, you win, if they don’t, your out.”  It really is that simple.

 

Brother Giovanni

How does an ordinary person make sense of the times we live in? PNS EDITORIAL

PIZZAONIAN NEWS SERVICE EDITORIAL

 

On the state of things:

 

How does an ordinary person make sense of the times we live in?  Conventional wisdom told us that if we study what the big boys and girls do, select the right institutions, work hard, save your money and invest wisely all will work out.

 

The problem is we did not know that the big boys and girls were all crooks and/or incompetent and that the institutions they managed were frauds as well. So now we hang on by our teeth praying that the government can keep the whole mess propped up long enough so that we will start believing again.

 

The problem here unfortunately, is that many of the decisions that are being made by the government include a lot of input from the same institutions and people that got us here in the first place.  It does not inspire a great deal of confidence. So we hang on and pray a lot.

 

When we look at the evolution of our business and government leadership over the past few years, we are inclined to paraphrase Mort Sahl who simply stated that “Darwin was wrong.”  Let’s hope our new president proves him wrong.

 

 

From Worldonia, June 29, 2010
 

BROTHER GIOVANNI ANNOUNCES HIS RESIGNATION AS SUPREME PIZZAONIAN

 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FROM:  PIZZAONIAN NEWS SERVICE (PNS)

Contact:  Publicio Relationio at the PNS office of Public Relations at   PIZZAONIAN@YAHOO.COM

 

SUBJECT:  BROTHER GIOVANNI ANNOUNCES HIS RESIGNATION AS SUPREME PIZZAONIAN

  

In a stunning announcement Brother Giovanni revealed he will soon step down as Supreme Pizzaonian.  Surprised Pizzaonians had just gotten used to Brother Giovanni’s inspired leadership that led Pizzaonia to a new and prosperous time.

 

Under Brother Giovanni’s leadership, Pizzaonia saw the successful merger of Pizza conglomerate, Pizza digogo DiVinci, with the Pizzaonian Monasteries that created the famous “Pizza and Faith” doctrine which is now a cornerstone of Pizzaonian faith.

 

Other milestones attributed to Brother Giovanni’s leadership include the elimination of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy for woman monks, the successful marketing of the Miracle Mozzarella Pizza line that brought a new prosperity to Pizzaonia, the creation of an integrated belief system that allowed all creeds, including atheism, to coexist, the adoption of a universal health plan system that made faith healing the cornerstone of its financial success and the appointment of the first woman submarine commander to the nonexistent Pizzaonian Navy.

 

It is rumored that Brother Franco will be appointed Supreme Pizzaonian and, if so, will allow for a relatively seamless transition.  Brother Franco and Brother Giovanni are known to be close collaborators and consulted with each other often during the crisis periods.

 

A statement from Brother Giovanni is expected soon and will explain his reasons for resigning.   More as it develops.

THE THE FAILURE OF VESTED INTEREST POLITICAL LEADERSHIP -- OIL IN AMERICA

 

Brother Giovanni continues to observe life in Worldonia and file his daily observations about events here.  As Supreme Pizzaonian, Brother Giovanni, felt compelled to report fist hand so he could better understand how life here might someday affect Pizzaonians.

 

 

Watching the political scene here is confusing, addicting and often bizarre.  What is different from our Pizzaonian concept is that everything here is politicized.  As such, solutions for the common good have ceased to be the goal.  The game here is power and politicians will manipulate the system any way they can to further their political gain.

 

This indictment may seem harsh, but what is bizarre here is the political leaders don’t seem to fully understand how badly they have lost their way.  The process has been so corrupted by money and power it allows their manipulation of the political system for their private gain to mask itself as virtue.  Their political leaders have managed to convince themselves their vested interest is in the best interest of the nation they lead. Objectivity does not exist here. 

 

A case in point is what is currently happening in the United States, without argument the most powerful, industrial and military nation in Worldonia. The United States is experiencing what has been described as the worst environmental disaster in its history because of a tragic accident causing an unprecedented amount of oil to flow into their Gulf of Mexico.

 

As you study the epidemiology of this tragic event you come to the amazing realization that the most powerful nation of its time does not have a coherent, national energy policy.  What they have instead is a completely politicized process that pits a multiple of powerful energy factions against each other, each trying to dominate the other.  All of this makes a solution impossible.

 

What is so obvious to an outside observer is that they are all necessary to the energy solution and need to compromise their vested interest and join together for the greater good.  Their actions are not unlike a group of surgeons watching a patient bleeding to death on the operating table while they ague over which one of them has the best answer to the problem. 

 

If there is a solution here it will happen when a national leader emerges with the courage and will to do what’s needed without any thought of the next election. My intuitive, gut feeling is that the people here secretly yearn for such a leader to come forward.

 

The future of their nation may depend on it.

  

Brother Giovanni

And here we come to the heart of the problem: most people accept and confuse faith as truth.

 
As I travel in Worldonia it is clear that most Worldonians still confuse the distinction between faith and fact.

 

It seems arrogant to believe philosophical and moral truth can be defined as fact.  It is best to regard the subject as subjectively elusive, and in the objective sense, not definable.  This is very humbling.

 

If you accept the notion that you cannot know something with a certainty you have to accept the fact you are accepting moral principles based on assumptions that masquerade as truth.  When you consider people are willing to die for these assumptions, the magnitude of the problem escalates rapidly.

 

What then are we left with?  How do we reconcile our spiritual and moral foundations if the foundations for our belief systems are sitting on the quicksand of assumptions?  The answer is faith.  And here we come to the heart of the problem: most people accept and confuse faith as truth and from this assumption we sow the seeds of mistrust and division.  What else could bring about the seeds of division and hatred that pile up so much pain and misery in this world in the name of moral righteousness?

 

What then do we have left?  We have belief systems based on faith that can only exist in the shadow of doubt since you can never be sure that what you believe is real.  Once this position becomes clear to us we have an intellectual and moral duty to test our assumption against the light of reason.  For some this would seem to be a contradiction, but what else to we have?  This becomes our existential and heroic dilemma, for if we do not go on; we have only the starkness of despair to grapple with.

 

So in the end we live a life based only on reasonable assumptions that we base on faith and then act on as a certainty.  Our companion will always be doubt.  But doubt at this level becomes a virtue because we have no choice but to pause and reflect every time our self righteousness overcomes us.  This can be the pause that allows our humanity and tolerance to exist.  When it does the world is a better place.

 

Brother Giovanni

 

THE JOY OF BEING ORDINARY

  

Here in Worldonia where the quest for greatness is a way of life, they could all use a seminar on the joy of being ordinary.

 

So much of the joy of daily living here is missed simply because everyone seems to be “questing” for something.”  You get the impression very few Worldonians are happy with who they are.  What they are seems so much more important to them, and since what they are never seems to be enough – well you get the idea.

 

This, of course, leads to much frustration and tension that seems to permeate all aspects of their lives.  As a result escape in all forms is big business here.  Since contentment seems to elude Worldonians, they spend a fortune on activities that will, at least for the moment, mask their unhappiness. 

 

As a result, fantasy in all forms is big business here.  And why not, since fantasy is all they seem to have.  Seems to me someone here should think of getting that seminar on “the joy of being ordinary” together.

 

Brother Giovanni

 

Brother Giovanni will continue his personal observations on Worldonia for the next month.  Pizzaonians are encouraged to comment.

Privacy surrendered here without a whimper. Brother Giovanni

 

As I travel through Worldonia and have the opportunity to experience my original homeland again, I am struck by how unconcerned Worldonians are about their lack of privacy.

 

Privacy as we understand it in Pizzaonia is non-existent here.  We believe in privacy as a fundamental right of citizens in a free and democratic society, and here that right is being surrendered on a daily basis without a whimper.

 

And they have constitutional safeguards against it which the average person seems quite willing to ignore.  The tradeoff seems to be the convenience of facility offered by this surrender.

 

From our perspective it is frightening to consider what a free person is willing to surrender so easily for convenience.  It makes you wonder how much freedom they are ready to surrender in the future, particularly in light of how conditioned the people here are to moving without resistance in that direction.

 

Brother Giovanni

 

 

Brother Franco’s letter to novitiates to the Pizzaonian beta-world

THE DISTANCE BETWEEN CULTURAL HONESTY AND SPIRITUAL HONESTY?   INFINITY

 

 

Welcome to all who travel, consciously, the journey between birth and physical death.

 

It is time to speak, to ramble, to yell, to say what is on your mind no matter how outrages it may seem.  There is no other way to truth than to ramble with your unfiltered thoughts about life and its vagaries. 

 

What to say and how to say it has always been the problem.  To seek the polite way of communication, that is to speak with an acceptable voice that resonates with cultural politeness and deference, is often the way of the coward.  This may seem harsh to most, but I am amazed at how many times we hide behind cultural politeness.  Since cultural politeness is considered a virtue it becomes an insidious and convenient mask for cowardice.

 

The obvious problem is that cultural politeness often masks the truth by diluting it and making it palatable, and in so doing it makes the truth less attainable.  Once this type of politeness takes root it helps to establish a belief system that seems very comfortable with its delusion of heroic qualities.  The problem is the truth can only be masked so long, and if you are very lucky, the sham you really are will finally appear in all of its glorious ugliness.  For many this is the beginning of their personal salvation.

 

The problem with salvation is that no one really knows a lot about it.  We certainly hear a lot about it, but consider the source.  What does it mean to be saved?  Be assured while you will hear a lot about the conjecture of salvation here, I doubt if you will know any more about it when finished.

 

Nevertheless, I will muse on hoping to find some grain of spiritual honesty in my self that will make this journey through this mortal coil meaningful to me, and perhaps in some indirect way, to you.

 

Notice how language already is getting in the way.  The words flow as if they have meaning, but to this point they only allude to the problem without directly confronting or defining it.  This is what happens to most musing.  It always ends in the same place.

 

How then to approach the self that lurks beneath the sheath of consciousness?  (That self that gives up little of itself and still controls so much)  Perhaps a good starting point is to question our virtues and see why we consider them virtues and if they in fact accomplish anything other than a “feel good mentality.”

 

How much delusionary goodness is allowed to exist because it makes us feel good? If you look at how morality is sold to us today from the moralizers that preach the current morality of the day, how much of their words call us to sacrifice, call us to do without, or to give up the impossible?  Not many, for if they did there would be few takers and they would soon be an audience of one, themselves.

 

All truth demands sacrifice.  Without sacrifice one wonders if humility is possible, since humility is the beginning of the search for truth.  For with humility the eventual confrontation of self with all of its delusionary traps is inevitable, and because of this it marks the beginning of the journey into the darkness.

 

However, like the expectant butterfly you wait in the darkness in joyful expectation of becoming a butterfly.  And when you become a butterfly you finally understand that cultural politeness is not politeness at all.  And like the butterfly the journey may be a short one, but glorious nonetheless.

 

Brother Franco

 

 

Supreme Pizzaonian, Brother Giovanni, portalizes to Worldonia to report first hand on events there.

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FROM:  PIZZAONIAN NEWS SERVICE (PSN)

Contact:  Publicio Relationio at the PSN office of Public Relations at   PIZZAONIAN@YAHOO.COM

 

SUBJECT:  Supreme Pizzaonian, Brother Giovanni, portalizes to Worldonia to report first hand on events there.

  

Brother Giovanni announced today that he personally will portalize to Worldonia to report on the state of current affairs in order to keep Pizzaonians better informed about events that may eventually affect their world.

 

“As we view the events in Worldonia it becomes clear we can no longer assume we are isolated from these events simply because we live in another universe.  After all, the American Congress has made this assumption for many years and we all know how that turned out,” said Brother Giovanni.

 

Many Pizzaonians were surprised that the Supreme Pizzaonian would assume the duties of foreign correspondent, but Brother Giovanni was clear on his determination to learn first hand about the bizarre happenings in Worldonia.

 

“To remain relevant as the symbolic leader of my people it is critical that I learn first hand so I can better understand how Pizzaonia can protect itself from the disconnect now occurring between the Worldonian people and its leaders. 

 

As we witness your elective process it is clear, if we believe what we hear on your talk shows, that all your political leaders are idiots and your political geniuses have all become talk show hosts. For us that is a very strange phenomena,” said Brother Giovanni.

 

It is reported that Brother Giovanni is already in the United States and will send us his first observations this week.