A Meditation On the Past

Here is a meditation on the past that I read today. Some food for thought

“I must forget the past as much as possible. The past is over and gone forever. Nothing can be done about the past, except to make what restitution I can. I must not carry the burden of my past failures. I must go on in faith. The clouds will clear and the way will lighten. The path will become less stony with every forward step I take. God has no reproach for anything that He has healed. I can be made whole and free, even though I have wrecked my life in the past. Remember the saying: “Neither do I condemn thee; go and sin no more.”

These word spell the word of relief all over my soul.

California And The Death Penalty

California is not Texas when it comes to the death penalty. We keep many people on death row far longer than they should be. People like Richard Rameriz, the Nightstalker, should be dead right now. However, I applaud California law makers to eliminate the death penalty as discussed in the excerpt of the article below

“Beyond the walls of San Quentin State Prison, there are more than 700 inmates on death row, including notorious killers like San Diegan David Westerfield and former San Diego resident Scott Peterson. But according to a new bill introduced by State Senator Loni Hancock, the death penalty would be abolished and everyone on death row would serve life in prison without the possibility of parole. ” We can not afford the expensive failure that the California death penalty has become,”said Sen Loni Hancock D-Oakland.
According to a recent study by a federal judge, California spent more than $4 billion on capital punishment cases since the death penalty was reinstated in 1978″

We can no longer afford it. Money that could be given to allow people to have a higher education is being spent on people on death row.

Without raising taxes, we cannot afford the death penalty. It is that simple. If you believe that the death penalty should remain, than you should want to pay higher taxes to pay for death row. Even if we got more tax recepit, does the death penalty do its job in executing guilty criminals where we have absolute assurance that the person did the crime and the crime is especially aggravated murder. The answer is simply no.

Without tax increases, higher education is far higher priority for funding out of the general fund than a death penalty system that is ineffective and costs too much money. The people on death row should be serving life without parole just like they do in Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont, Maine, North Dakota, New Mexico, West Virgina, Illnois, and Massachusetts.

Therefore, I am happy that our state is taking steps to eliminate the death penalty even though I personally support it in the cases of especially aggravated murder and where we have absolute assurance that the criminal committed the crime.

Discover About Having Fear of Oneself

Being alone for a long periods of time makes me scared.  Especially when my dog and my parents are gone on a long vacation has gotten me feel alone. 

The fear is especially present when I am in my house for hours.  In the past, I spend hours on the Internet and my parents being gone was not an issue.   I was just spent time alone on the Internet and look my news stories for hours.  I felt lonely at those times, but my OCD with the news helped block out my loneliness.

Now, this problem has became the opposite problem. I cannot spend all day by myself in my house.  My house now becomes a prison where I am locked up like a prisoner. 

The main problem is that I do not have engrossing hobbies that keep me engrossed so I do not need to deal with my feeling of loneliness.   And being the internet all day in the house began to fail.   I just cannot no longer be engrossed on the Internet for hours on end and not feel alone.

So far, the best method to deal with loneliness is go to Starbucks and sit Starbucks for an hour doing stepwork or planning my first hike with the Sierra Club.  It still does not prevent the loneliness, but it creates enough of a break in the day where I can escape the loneliness.

I think the ultimate escape for the loneliness is to engage in one strenous all day hike per weekend when I am not out of town.    Other habits is going to movies to see a movie or walking around on the beach.    My main problem is that I just need to apply myself to doing it.  

Ironically, I do not get lonely at night.   I normally go to meeting or spend times with friends so I am never alone and I have people to talk to you. 

It is just the afternoon period where I get very lonely and it has now created enough of an unpleasant feeling where I want to take action on it.

Weiner Should Go Now!

The Associated Press reports

“A former porn actress who exchanged emails and messages over Twitter with Rep. Anthony Weiner said Wednesday that he asked her to lie about their interactions, while a growing chorus of lawmakers pressed for his resignation as the scandal enveloping the congressman enters its third week.

Weiner has told friends he wanted to speak with his pregnant wife, Huma Abedin, before deciding whether to resign. She returned to Washington early Wednesday from a trip to Africa with her boss, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Nightclub dancer Ginger Lee is the latest in a series of women who said they received sexually charged messages from the seven-term congressman. The scandal began when Weiner posted a picture of his underwear-clad crotch on Twitter, then lied about it and said his account was hacked. Weiner acknowledged last week during a teary press conference that he had sent lewd photos and messages to about six women over three years”:

I understand that he is sex addict, but going to this length and lying about it. I think that my greatest problem about Weiner is that he did not come to the people and just admit that he had inadequate coping skills with dealing with lustful behavior and his lust made his life unmanageable. All he had to admit is that I need to go treatment to get help for my inadequate coping skills with my lust and than seek help.

He had to lie to hide the addiction. The realized that he was a prisoner of fear and let his fear made his addiction worse. My question is whether this person is still fit for office without having substantial time to work on his coping skills and his honesty. Perhaps, the best option is to resign and deal with the subject issues. Making somebody lie about your addiction and willing go to any lengths to cover it up means that are unfit for office and you need to time to work on your steps.

Mr. Weiner’s is talented individual and is a boon to the progressive cause. However, we need people with excellent moral and spiritual fitness to advance our cause when we face monied interests that want to see our cause defeated. Therefore, it is better for him to resign and replace him with somebody else who has better moral and spiritual fitness to advance progressive causes in Congress.