As part of the 70th commemoration of the end of WWII, I went to an exhibit of the Auschwitz Album. While movie directors have done an amazing job re-creating these awful scenes throughout the years, the actual photos of unphotogenic, unmadeup distressed masses being herded around as they struggle to manage their few belongings along with their friends & relatives is heartbreaking.

What's more astounding is this seminal horrific event came this close to having 0 photographic evidence even at this late date in the history of photography - only by accident did one of the inmates stumble across this unauthorized photo album a few hundred miles away. 

Yesterday I might have driven the back way over the Red River in Texas and scooted on up to welcome the President in Durant, Oklahoma---which is usually referred to simply as "Choctaw"---meaning the large casino complex which is the hub of the town.

True to his Bush genes Jeb has just uttered what is not only the table prize of all Bush out-of- touch commentaries but ignores the true problem of our economy---substandard growth caused by the misguided austerity policies of his own Republican party.

His comment was, reportedly, when asked about how to achieve 4% growth---"It means that people need to work longer hours and, through their productivity, gain more income for their families."  Joseph and Mary, the Pope and Lucifer, where do you start?

Work longer hours, who the heck is he kidding? Americans already work longer hours than most any other developed country. How far out of touch do you have to be from the average worker in this country to utter such nonsense?

Could the OXI vote on the Greek referendum on Sunday be the beginning of something big? I mean a kind of beneficial contagion, a world wide movement, something which would impact nations and continents, that would reverse wealth concentration and focus on the problems of slow growth and unemployment of the youth---not to mention address abject poverty in many parts of the world? Howard Fineman thinks something's afoot in the Greek referendum---as he writes in an article today, The beginning of the Great Austerity Backlash.

According to MSM, Europe is in shock following the Greek "No" vote on Sunday. Euro has taken a fall in trading.  Summits are being called to discus what is next. 

To deal with the liquidly problems in the Greek banks;

“If necessary, we will issue parallel liquidity and California-style IOU’s, in an electronic form. We should have done it a week ago,” was the quote attributed to FinMin Yanis Varoufakis on Sunday, after the victorious “no” vote.

http://www.infobalkans.com/2015/07/05/varoufakis-hints-parallel-currency-cites-california-s-past-iou-scheme 

Nation: A people who share the same lies about their past, hatred of their present neighbor, and illusions about the future. 

--Ernest Renaud

The myth that America was founded on Christian principles is so embedded in the psyche of our nation that questioning it's veracity is considered blasphemy. Many patriotic Christians point to biographies, autobiographies, and the Constitution instead of the Bible to validate this claim; what they disconnect is the fact that most Revolutionary history was written from the perspective of politicians and generals. It doesn't take a very smart person to understand that history told from the top down doesn't reflect the views of the average person. The native, the slave, the housewife, or the poor would have a different view of the same events based on their social positioning. This isn't a relativist argument. If we can't look at the past objectively, how can we look at our present condition with all of the emotions associated with our individual beliefs, critically?

If you're like me, you may have overdosed on the subject of gay marriage the last few days. I am only affected in that I am saddened when any group of people does not have the same rights as everyone else. In the context of the SCOTUS decision, I don't see it as a religious issue. Each individual religion will decide that for themselves. Even within the Christian community there is division. Some churches have accepted it, some haven't, and some are still wrestling with the issue.

Tim Wise defined lynching as, "the extra judicial killing of any person". There was a period in this country where every 2 1/2 days a black man, woman, or child was hung from a tree. I write these words knowing that I'm the second of my parents children born without a legal challenge to my rights as a human being. My parents went to segregated schools. The history many of my patriotic friends want me to understand happened during the civil war; the history I can't get them to talk about is much closer. It took the south seventeen years to fully integrate schools after the Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas decision.