The Unclad Soul

I watched the final Republican debate last night. The candidates were in Sioux City, Iowa and were trying their best to convince voters of their individual bona fides. It was mostly a very disturbing two hours of saber rattling, Obama bashing, and self congratulating nonsense. We have no statesmanship left in this country; certainly not among any of the current Republican presidential candidates, except perhaps for Ron Paul. I have been disappointed in many of President Obama’s decisions but I do see a certain amount of decency in him. The man had a huge task handed to him the minute he walked into the White House. Blaming him for the poor economy is simply refusing to see the reality of how damaging the Bush years were. What troubles me the most, however, about the Republicans running for president is how all of them, except for Dr. Ron Paul, simply pander to voters, promise the moon, trash Obama and all Democrats, thirst for war, and create more division in the country. ...

“What you love is a sign from your higher self of what you are to do.” ~ Sanaya Roman

Newt Gingrich has come out with a public pledge stating he will defend marriage, oppose gay unions, and push for a constitutional amendment that will define marriage as “the union of one man and one woman.” A constitutional amendment! He also pledges his own “personal fidelity” to his current wife and promises to “respect…the marital bonds of others.” Let there be no misunderstanding about the purpose of this statement. It was made only to win the votes of very conservative Republicans and fundamentalist Christians. It has no other relevance. Why didn’t Gingrich make this pledge before now, like when he married his third wife? There is only one reason. He has decided he wants to be the president so he puts out this self-righteous pledge that he will now take marriage seriously. This is the worst kind of political pandering. It’s manipulative and disingenuous. Why not say instead, “I know voters are troubled by my past mistakes and worry if I can be trusted to live by th...

My friend Andy invited me to a Toastmaster's Christmas party last night in the home of one of the members of a Toastmaster's group he belongs to. Andy is a big teddy bear of a man, 40 years old, never married, who has a form of autism that makes social settings difficult for him. It's not that he is shy or that he doesn't want to be around people. The difficulty is that his autism leaves him without the social skills to read how other people are responding to him in a conversation or with their body language or through other physical expressions that most of us are able to clearly interpret. Andy has a brilliant, encyclopedic mind. He loves to share the endless facts in his head, and believe me, he knows something about every single subject you could ever bring up. But since he has a hard time reading people he often does not know when to pause in a conversation, when to listen and respond to their points, when to let others have their say. He is working on...