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The first companies were comprised of people working in company with one another, corporations were originally defined as people associating for a common purpose and acting corporately. In our day we must come to grips with certain oxymorons and especially any hop-skippety-jump logic behind certain concepts, like that of a “shell corporation.” Of course the morphing definitions don’t end there. Our business landscape is replete with so-called corporations that are comprised of what investors view as “low level functionaries.” Their senior managers are also controlled by outside string pullers.

A shell corporation is defined as one without active business operations or significant assets. And our courts have displayed such a lack of intellectual rigor in dealing with such fraudulent corporate entities they have thereby corroded the democracy underpinnings of our constitutional republic. Shell corporations are often used by large well-known public companies, shady business dealers, and private individuals alike. Faux corporations act as tax avoidance vehicles for otherwise legitimate businesses, that are intent on privatizing gains while socializing losses.

Tax avoidance is seen, by integrity challenged individuals, as a loophole facilitating tax evasion. A variety of other conceptual and legal sophistries are often brought to bear in distorting the public discourse. The “Harry and Louise” advertising campaign was one clear example that ran in opposition to executive and legislative health care reform proposals in 1993 and 1994. It was a fourteen to twenty million dollar year-long television advertising campaign that was funded by the Health Insurance Association of America, the predecessor to a health insurance industry lobby group now known as America’s Health Insurance Plans or AHIP.

The industry then bludgeoned the public’s collective intellect with messaging that highlighted potential problems with government run healthcare. The dollar skewed media ignored the fact that a financial services industry run healthcare system would prove to be far worse. They created so much confusion that, during a pivotal interview, one CNN anchor mischaracterized the group’s executive director as representing the insured.

Special purpose entities are often used by large business groups to achieve a specific goal, such as to create anonymity. The Supreme Court, in a series of anti-democracy decisions has bolstered the use of such dark money to insure that the consent of the governed is never a fully informed consent. In accordance with the most dumbed down legal definition, a Political Action Committee or PAC is considered a charity of all things, even though it may exist solely to support politicians that prostitute their offices in tilting the playing table for business interests. This involves intentional obfuscation affecting all three of the primary flows of commerce. These flows traditionally include the goods, the capital, and the information.

Tax havens make it possible to move profits to shell companies. For example, a United States company buying products from overseas would legally have to pay US taxes on the profits. Strategies to offload the ever increasing tax burden to the working poor include schemes to buy importable products through a non-resident shell company based in a tax haven. The US company is then described as an offshore company. That shell company would purchase the products in its name, mark up the products and sell them to the US company, thereby transferring the profit to the tax haven. Such products may not even physically pass through that tax haven, but are instead “drop-shipped” directly to the US based business.

Shell companies have also been used by broadcasting groups to circumvent FCC limits on television station ownership. The Sinclair Broadcasting Group forms local marketing agreements with stations owned by Cunningham Broadcasting and Deerfield Media. Cunningham Broadcasting stock is controlled by trusts in the name of the owner’s children. The Nexstar Media Group controls television stations owned by Mission Broadcasting and Vaughan Media.

Even though most younger voters get their news at their convenience via on-demand streaming services and podcasts, over the air television stations still exert tremendous influence among older cord cutters. However, since the Supreme Court has so recently and clearly demonstrated its contempt for any informed consent of the governed, the assaults on net-neutrality would ultimately allow the dark monied interests to advance or retard the information flow within any and all channels of essential communication. Right now, about seven hundred billionaires control the information flow to over three hundred and thirty million US citizens. And, while alternative currencies and networks are being built, the most self-serving are constantly scheming for ways to control those as well.

The definition of black and gray market activities needs to be expanded. It is important to be suspicious of any inauthentic corporation. While the addled Supremes remain aloof, and while the US Department of Justice obsesses over the activities of unregistered foreign lobbyists, it’s important to understand the various ways in which foreign potentates effectively control our elected representatives through unbridled corporate influence. As long as anonymous groups can funnel money to politicians, and as long as those politicians have the power to defang any regulating authority, our democratic republic is also inauthentic.

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Getting control of your home environment is much easier when you can use certain handy devices to monitor conditions and make necessary adjustments. We now take intelligent thermostats and smoke detectors for granted but, with so many intelligent appliances available off the shelf, we have an embarrassment of riches. The ease with which we can make custom devices, that don’t fit within the category of popular demand, is also on the increase.

Joining the maker revolution has a low threshold. And once you get in, you may be surprised at just how inexpensive it is to build a simple appliance from scratch. The most popular microcontroller is the Arduino UNO. It is open source, which means there’s plenty of competition to keep prices low. It also excites the user base in ways that insure there is lots of support coming in from all directions. This includes hardware from different manufacturers together with lots of freely available software.

While learning to program electronics gives you the ability to do really cool things, you can get started by cutting and pasting code that has already been developed by others. The Arduino system consists of a small electronically populated board, commonly referred to as a microcontroller, and software called the IDE which stands for integrated development environment. The IDE makes it possible to develop the routines on your laptop or desktop computer and then upload the experimental or finished code to the microcontroller.

The IDE software allows you to write what are called sketches in the Arduino language. This language is common for different Arduino boards. There are a variety of tutorials and projects that are available pre-coded so you can learn how to build applications. Accordingly, beginners can get up and running quickly. Much of the functionality of a microcontroller, such as each of the Arduinos, is hard coded or physically pre-programmed into the circuitry. The Arduino UNO and the smaller Nano connect to your computer with a USB cable. Once the sketched out code is uploaded from your computer to the micro-controller, the controller can then be un-tethered and work in a stand-a-lone fashion.

You can use an Arduino Uno board for digital input devices such as sensors and Arduino shields that get physically mounted to the main board. The original Uno has 14 digital and 6 analog pins, which can be used for input and output and to interact with the software through the functions PinMode, DigitalWrite and DigitalRead. The digital pins allow the Arduino to read digital inputs such as buttons, effect things through digital outputs such as by turning on LEDs. Any of the 14 digital pins on the board can be used to read data from components such as sensors and also write data to other components such as actuators.

With the command PinMode, we can define functions for each of the 20 pins. In this way the pins can be used for many different applications. For digital input devices, such as sensors and Arduino shields, the signal at the pin is presented and read in the form of 0s and 1s. When used with analog devices, the pins can register a range of values that are also defined, interpreted, and acted upon by the uploaded code. As soon as the program is loaded onto the Arduino board, its LED circuit flashes. The TX indicator LEDs on the board also give us a nice visual indication that the Arduino is receiving and sending data when we load a new program.

There are several ground pins labeled GND that can be used to provide a common ground for your circuit. Many “pre-printed” circuits are available in the form of special purpose shields that mount onto the main board and provide convenient ways to use sensors and actuators in a plug-and-play fashion. The Arduino board, in combination with various shields, can read various inputs such as keystrokes, sensor lights, and even Twitter messages. Shields are available for WiFi and other forms of network connectivity.They also provide display capabilities and fulfill other functions.

Most Arduino enthusiasts use it to read analog sensors and, perhaps, log the data. It is however, capable of so much more. For example you could monitor the chemical balance of the water in your aquarium and use injectors to help maintain an optimal environment for your fish. Extend this function and you can build an aquaponics greenhouse where the aquarium water also serves as the nutrient reservoir for your plants while you also control the air envelope. The potential for creativity is unlimited. And, for anyone living on the canvas, the value of such specialized digital assistants quickly becomes clear.

Making things gives us great personal satisfaction. And, once you know what you can do with an Arduino style microcontroller, it is time to start the journey into the limitless world of complementary electronic components. Think of the Arduino Sketch as a reminder that humanity’s masterpiece continues to take form. Explore the capabilities of sensor shields and actuators and let your imagination run wild.

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I recently read an article by Valerie Tarico, a psychologist and writer who describes herself as having “a passion for personal and social evolution.” It was written for people she describes as having left biblical Christianity behind. She suggested “that popular Christian versions of heaven would actually be hellish.” I must admit, I have never really liked the idea of sitting on a damp cloud strumming on a four string harp. But, I also never entertained such childish notions with respect to the afterlife.

Tarico refers to her intended readers as “recovering believers” and, while the article zeroes in on Bible-belief and fundie culture, it never ventures beyond the secular context. It’s one thing to rail against the control freakery characters that enjoy excessive prominence within the context of religious authoritarianism. It’s quite another to understand the larger reality that may not have even been discerned by those who have traded the Word made flesh for the Word made book. Jesus never promised more holy books or more layers of hierarchical ecclesiastical authority. In fact, the Promised Helper Jesus spoke of is not material but rather The Spirit of Truth that will lead us into all truth.

Psychology is also not pseudo-science. Although the most disciplined working within the hard sciences, consider psychology to be the softest of the soft sciences. This is likely because of subjective interpretations by the observer, together with selectivity as it relates to relevant facts. There is no denying that the Tarico article carries a lot of her personal experience, with fundamentalism, into the analysis. And, to be sure, she has also shared valuable insights from which we can all learn.

The outgrown and outmoded conceptions of God, as an offended monarch whose chief delight is to detect his subjects in wrongdoing, does support her contention that the God described in the Bible can be a jerk. But such a notion would be forever dispelled by just a closer walk with Thee. And that’s the rub. We’ve largely outgrown the elemental religions that worship the sun, the stones, the trees, the wind, the rain, and the gold. Ok, well, some of us still worship the gold.

Shaking the fundamentalist world view, whereby the Spirit of the Living God gets reduced to – and contained in – a material record and effectively circumscribed by human language, can be a positive thing. This is because the only thing that really matters in the long run is the extent to which our religion is personally experiential. Nothing short of the wholehearted embrace of God through what Jesus taught and exemplified, will take us beyond subjective gratification to objective satisfaction. 

Psychologists and even neurologists have, for too long, held that the mind exists within, or is somehow subordinated to the brain. And, there is good evidence for this because, as any mental health professional can tell you, chemical imbalances can surely impair the mind’s function. Religious fanatics and science fiction writers alike have even compared the mind/brain capability as something analogous to a dumb terminal as they were used in the early days of client/server computing.

That having been said, those considering the problem, from a more spiritual vantage point, see the mind as an endowment. It is bestowed as the mediator between material and spiritual realities. The brain is thus seen as an electrochemical subsystem upon which the mind gently rests. Add to this the fact that truth seeking Christians have long been fascinated by the statement Paul made in 1^stCorinthians where he wrote: “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.”

Trying to make sense of the Bible through authoritarian personality cults, has always been problematic. But ours is a religion of the Spirit. Since the Enlightenment, the intellectual disciplines have been trifurcated. Science is to facts, what Philosophy is to meanings, and what Religion is to values. It’s not a competition, they are complementary, especially when they are truly commensurate with the intellectual, societal, and spiritual development of humankind. The Spirit’s workings, within the superconscious realms of the mind, are where evolution meets and becomes augmented by revelation.

While the Bible may indeed be a fragmentary record, it still represents the highest and best understanding of God that a variety of people held in accordance with the light of their day. In our day, those who remain teachable walk a path illuminated by physical light, intellectual insight, and spirit luminosity. The Spirit that leads into all truth is not bound by books, incantations, or even prayerful recitations. Prayer is not about getting our way. It is rather about taking God’s way. This means that no one knows more about our highest and best destiny than our Divine Parent. We are entirely free to accept or reject any or all of it.

It is the Father’s plan that you learn about love. So, since we know from personal experience that the God of reality is not a jerk, we can freely choose to say ”It is my will that your will be done.”

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In ancient Greece, secret ballots were used to hide votes from people seeking favors. Certain special votes, such as one to ostracize and thereby expel a citizen from Athens were also cast in private. In ancient Rome, the secret ballot was introduced to all popular assemblies in 139 BC. The constitution in France required that “All elections are to be held by secret ballot” since 1795. The secret ballot was also established generally in the British Ballot Act 1872. The individual states within the USA had completed their move to secret ballots when Kentucky adopted them in 1891. 

Internationally, the right to hold elections by secret ballot is included in a variety of treaties and international agreements affecting their signatory states. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states, “The will of the people…shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which…shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.” The American Convention on Human Rights grants to every citizen of member states, of the Organization of American States, the right and opportunity “to vote and to be elected in genuine periodic elections, which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and by secret ballot that guarantees the free expression of the will of the voters”.

The Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension, obligates the member states of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to “ensure that votes are cast by secret ballot or by equivalent free voting procedure, and that they are counted and reported honestly with the official results made public.” The Convention on the Standards of Democratic Elections, Electoral Rights and Freedoms in the Member States of the Commonwealth of Independent States obligates electoral bodies not to perform “any action violating the principle of voter’s secret will expression.”

Within any authentic democratic republic, the votes of elected representatives are cast in public while the votes of individual citizens as they elect their representatives are cast in secret. Today, the authenticity of our democracy and the secrecy of ballots cast within the United States are increasingly undermined by partisan operatives due to a combination of executive malfeasance, legislative ineptitude, and judicial buffoonery. On the 13^th of July in 2021, an Oklahoma lawmaker requested that the state election board call for a forensic and independent audit of the 2020 General Election results. The Republican candidate for president won the state by a margin of over 33% in the 2020 election. One must wonder about the motivation behind such a request, especially since the legislator’s favored candidate won every county within the state.

The audit requested by the Republican lawmaker would consist of a registration and votes cast audit, a vote count and tally audit, an election voting systems audit and a reported results audit. Could it be that the fraudit fanaticism, that has so many states in its grip, is not really about proving corruption? Could it be that the efforts to examine ballots and registrations is more about data scraping, compiling lists of voters and profiling them in accordance with their votes? Could it be that the election subversion efforts of malevolent anti-democracy forces are really about winning a voter-deception, voter-suppression, and voter intimidation trifecta?

Mo Brooks told the people gathering to protest the Trump loss, to “kick ass and take names.” We all witnessed the ass kicking as they stormed the Capital. Now we are confronted with the taking of names. They’re not fooling anybody except for those who are committed to being fools. If the emotionally charged and intellectually stunted hoards that stormed the United States Capitol, can turn their attention to harassing individual voters on the phone or at their door, they will be even more of a threat if they also appear at your home armed with your voting history.

Feigning reverence for our constitutionally grounded democratic republic and election integrity is a flawed tactic, for the truth eventually comes to light. Prevaricators will tell you that the Preamble to the United States Constitution was to have no operating effect while the founders clearly intended it to operate as a careful delineation of overarching principle. Those occupying positions of honor and trust that have, on oath, sworn to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, are duty bound to do just that.

There will always be shifty politicians masquerading as statesmen. But the voters have the ultimate responsibility for oversight in a participatory democracy. Democracy rests with the voters! When politicians are committed to corroding the democracy underpinnings of our constitutionally framed republic, it is up to us to expel them. When they are not sincere leaders, not guiding us into that more perfect union, they should be ousted.

Supreme Court Justices have given a wink and a nod to dark money contributions. They should be ostracized. When politicians receive dark money money contributions to misinform the consent of the governed, they should be forever barred from holding high office. When dark money corporate donors are distorting the public discourse in the name of free speech, there should be a rebuttable presumption that they too are bad actors.

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In the late 1940s, William Shockley led a team at Bell Laboratories to develop a new kind of amplifier for the US telephone system. He, together with John Bardeen and Walter Brattain announced the invention of the bipolar “junction transistor” at a press conference on July 4, in 1951. Shockley once explained transistor-amplifiers to a student saying: “If you take a bale of hay and tie it to the tail of a mule and then strike a match and set the bale of hay on fire, and if you then compare the energy expended shortly thereafter by the mule with the energy expended by yourself in the striking of the match, you will understand the concept of amplification.”

When a small input voltage results in a large output voltage, the effect is amplification. A transistor can serve as an amplifier by raising the strength of a weak signal. If a DC bias voltage is applied to what’s called the emitter base junction, the transistor transitions into a forward biased condition. Let’s unpack that statement.

A wide mouthed bass, a big funnel, and a large diameter telescope have one thing in common. They each allow easy entry. This can help the fish to scoop up food, the funnel can be used to rapidly fill a narrow jar, and a big lens on the front of the telescope has a lot of light gathering power. In all three examples, this can also be stated as low input resistance. In the case of a transistor, the low resistance input is called the collector. It is, by design, a way to gather as many electrons as possible from a relatively weak source.

Now once the collector has done its collecting, we can apply additional pressure to help push the gathered electrons out of the collector area and towards the output otherwise known as the emitter. Just how this pressure is applied is going to determine just how effective or powerful our push is going to be. We already know that like particles repel one another and such is the case with any gathering of electrons. Sooo, if we have a bunch of contentious electrons already pushing against one another at the collector, and if we inject more electrons at the base, those electrons are going to be motivated to find some means of escape. They’re going to be pushing towards the exit door and thrusting out of the emitter.

When the resistance at an input is low, and when additional pressure is applied from the base, we have a situation that can now be characterized as forward biasing. If you’re driving on the highway at rush hour, and there are a bunch of cars streaming in behind you from an entrance ramp, you are likely to feel the pressure to keep going. If you are tubing on a lazy river, as you pass a powerful tributary or stream, you will be forward biased as you feel the rush.

Within a transistor, the chemical layering, the electron conducting, and the forward biasing all contribute to the process of amplifying. There are many variables. How weak is the incoming signal, how strong is the desired output, and how much pressure can be brought to bear are first among the primary design considerations. Among the others is the ratio of signal to noise. Whenever we are working with conduction, we must also consider the possibility of undesirable induction. Otherwise, when we amplify the signal we want, we may also be amplifying the noise we don’t want.

If, for example, you have a collection of vinyl records, you already know about noise. The dust, the fingerprints, and the peanut butter all conspire to interfere with what might otherwise be an enjoyable listening experience. When the phonograph needle moves through the wavy grooves, it’s not only following the waves, the vinyl itself is porous. Early, in the evolution of audio, recording enthusiasts had to deal with rough records, the rumble of turntables, and the heartbreak of tape hiss.

If you are on a submarine, the levels for the signal of interest relative to the background noise in the ocean can determine whether or not a sonar system will detect an identifiable echo. When the team at Bell Labs was developing their amplifiers, they had to consider the fact that telephone lines share the same utility poles with electrically noisy power lines. Artifacts, within any given recording or transmission medium, each present a unique set of challenges to those engineering our amplification systems. Selective amplification and de-amplification provided a way to boost the signal, where interference or background noise could be anticipated, and then reduce it once the noise was no longer a factor. 

Although the right combination of substrate materials within the transistor may affect its response with respect to frequency, the circuitry that complements the amplifying transistor can usually be fine tuned to selectively filter or amplify a signal as needed. It should also be noted that amplifiers can also be used to increase raw power where signaling is not a factor.

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There is a crater on the moon named after William Francis Gray Swann. He is widely recognized for his research into cosmic rays and high-energy physics. His book, The Architecture of the Universe, was published in 1934. In that seminal work Swann, referring to chemical elements, made the statement:

Starting from any one of them, and noting some property such as the melting point, for example, the property would change as we went along the row, but as we continued it would gradually come back to the condition very similar to that which we started … The eighth element was in many respects like the first, the ninth like the second, the tenth like the third, and so on. Such a slate of affairs point[s] not only to a varied internal structure, but also to a certain harmony in that variation suggestive of some organized plan in building the atom. 

The uniqueness of the individual elements and the recurring features that Swann describes are similar to the way our seven note diatonic scale plays out within our musical heritage, together with seven named colors of the rainbow. Of course there are other ways to segment a musical scale and the colors of the rainbow are clearly in the eye of the beholder. The naturally occurring and recurring relationships in chemistry and those that can be attributed to human preference may be worlds apart. But, why do we have such an affinity for sevens?

We have seven days in the week, seven wonders of the ancient world, seven seas, seven continents, seven deadly sins, seven years of plenty and seven of famine. Shakespeare advanced a theory about the seven ages of man. There were seven sages of Greece, and seven hills of Rome. Atlantis reputedly comprised seven islands, and the Spanish thought there were seven cities of gold.

According to a poll of thirty-thousand people, seven is our favorite number. They play lucky seven. Sinbad the Sailor had seven voyages. There were seven brides for seven brothers. And, lest we forget, Snow White ran off to live with seven dwarves. What is so special about the number seven? To understand the answer to that question one must acknowledge there is also something very special about the number three.

From the Hindu Trimurti to the Christian Trinity there has always been a qualitative conception of the powers that be. Deity has been understood to consist of three primary personalities, each with their own emphasis while we mere mortals engage in a seemingly endless exercise of transactional analysis. Add to this, the self balancing and self-correcting nature of the child’s tricycle, the three legged stool, and the surveyor’s tripod. You have, what the betting man would describe as, a trifecta.

Threes and sevens make for a lousy poker hand. The superstition among doctors, that deaths comes in threes and sevens over the course of a day, is only reinforced by a statement in the Book of Numbers that reads: “He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days.” John, Matthew, and Mark each quote Jesus as saying: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” Indeed he did, for on the third day he rose from the dead.

Just how does the finite attain the embrace of the infinite? How does the temporal even begin to comprehend the eternal? When the Son of Man, as the Son of God said: “He who has seen me has seen the Father,” the art of the possible came into view. Just as true art serves as a prelude to a higher reality, Jesus lived his life in such a way as to stimulate the imagination, challenge our discrimination, and provoke our critical thinking.

The parables of Jesus represent the highest and best teaching technique for it can appeal to the widely varying intellectual and spiritual capacities of a diverse group within the human family. A parabolic analogy always consists of a directing arc and a focus.The focus is, of course, the love of God. At times, Jesus arrayed three glimmering pearls along the directing arc, such as the qualities of eternal truth, all encompassing beauty, and infinite goodness.

Throughout his sojourn, as a mortal of the realm, Jesus was always mindful of the qualities inherent in the Universal Father, the Eternal Son, and the Infinite Spirit. Working in concert with such a trio ultimately leads us to an understanding that sometimes all three will take part. Sometimes they work individually. And, at other times, any two of the Divine Personalities may decide to work together. This gives rise to seven possible combinations of Supreme Deity expression.

The handiwork of God the Sevenfold is real. And the three personalities of Deity left a spiritual birthmark that is now evident in our music, the color spectrum, and even the Periodic Table of the Elements.

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Most Boomers remember the educational technology of the 1960s as one comprised mostly of flash cards. Today, I’m reminded of one such card in particular. On the front side it read “McCarthyism.” On the flip side it read “A brand of vitriolic, fear-mongering.” 

Future generations will likely ask: “Which McCarthyism? Joe’s or Kevin’ s?” Joe McCarthy is often credited with developing what dirty tricksters have dubbed the FIBS tactic. It leverages Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry, and Smear. Kevin will be seen as having reprised what Margaret Chase Smith appropriately described as the Four Horsemen of Calumny. This Luciferian legacy was also seen throughout the career of Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels and, more recently, in the prevarications of his protege Stephen Miller.

Joseph Goebbels said:

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”

Both McCarthy’s exhibited a reckless indifference to the truth. They have each brought shame to the United States Legislature. Thanks to Kevin, the traditional republican emphasis on representative government is now widely considered to be an arcane banished idea. Not only has he betrayed the constitutionally framed representative form of government, he and his supporters have also worked to corrode its democracy underpinnings. The PUS that now oozes from such mortally wounded principle should also understood as an acronym for the Party of Unmitigated Selfishness. The only way such an abhorrent system of values can somehow emerge victorious is through acts of intentional deception, voter suppression, and election subversion.

If “the truth is the greatest enemy of the state,” then we must ask, What vision does Kevin McCarthy hold for the future of the United States other than a dystopian one? Do we want our grandchildren growing up in a world where lies, ugliness, and evil are the governing principle? Or, do we favor the truth, beauty, and goodness that authentic statesmen exemplify? One thing is certain, whatever Kevin McCarthy is leading his fan base to, is not good.

Like Miller, McCarthy is attempting to place the value proposition for our country’s future squarely on a plane of unreality. They are actively engaging in deceptive practices. After the January 6^th Insurrection of 2021, McCarthy said: ““It was the saddest day I’ve ever had in serving as a member of this institution.” Since that day he has become one of the saddest examples of human-kind to ever serve in that institution. The prevarications of such cowards are not new to the American experience. The truth is clearly not in them and they are now attempting to squelch anyone that might stand for what is right. 

The Supreme Court of the United States has also abandoned any pretense of being non-partisan, now that it has brought so much dishonor to itself, and now that they have shown their contempt for our democratic republic by ruling in favor of dark money politics, together with more sinister under the table transactions, McCarthy and other unprincipled politicians can run that table. Democracy is on the ropes precisely because statesmanship is in such short supply.

Those vested in deceptive practices have made the calculation that their constituency lacks the type of intellectual discipline that would consider both sides, within any given controversy, before making judgement. They even tried to install a couple of poo flinging monkeys on the January 6^th Commission. They see their most ardent supporters as mere simpletons who get all their news and analysis from the White Power Hour.

Such voters represent a diminishing minority and so their favored politicians can only win by cheating. The dollar skew in media and in politics is brought brought to you courtesy of seven hundred billionaires that control the information flow to more than three hundred and thirty million voters. The misinformation is parroted from the pulpit and on social media. The good news is the Intentional Consumer does not have to play Mother-May-I with any corrupt legislature or governor to vote with their dollars. And, as the corporatocracy found out after the racist riot of January 6^th in 2021, the free speech rights it gained by subterfuge carry severe consequences when they are abused. And, there should be ever increasing consequences for installing con men in high government positions. 

Any corporation making dark money contributions is presumed to be a bad actor. Information warfare has the power to destroy the world’s chance for government of, by, and for the people. Remember, to the practitioners of Geobbelianism, the lie must be maintained and “the truth is the greatest enemy of the state.” To those sentient beings, that can differentiate between politics and statesmanship, the truth is all that really matters.

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In railroading a switch diverts a train from one track to another. In plumbing, a valve can redirect the flow of water between pipes. In early electronics, directing electrons along a certain path was controlled by what North American scientists called a tube, while British scientists referred to it as a valve. That device controlled the current flow in a high vacuum between electrodes to which a difference in electrical potential had been applied.

The simplest vacuum tube was the diode. It acted much like a check valve that prevents water from flowing in the wrong direction. The electronic check valve featured a heated, electron-emitting cathode and an anode. Electrons could only flow in one direction, from the cathode to the anode. Electronic control grids within the bottle could exert more precise control by varying the voltage on the grid.

“Transistor” was a term coined by John Robinson Pierce of Bell Laboratories. He borrowed parts of two relevant words because it selectively transfers an electrical current across a resistor. Its function is still best understood in that transference and resistance context. Most, but not all, of the vacuum tube’s early functions are now performed by transistors. Audiophiles still prefer what they sometimes call “little tone bottles.”

Many mechanical switches have been replaced by transistorized electronic switches. Transistors are made from silicon. This chemical element is not a good conductor of electricity. It is rather a semiconductor. This means it’s not really a conductor or an insulator. When it is treated with impurities, a process known as doping, we can alter its natural behavior. Doping silicon with the arsenic, phosphorus, or antimony, causes it to gain some extra “free” electrons that can carry an electric current. Electrons have a negative charge so treating silicon in this way puts it in the category of negative or n-type semiconductors.

If we dope silicon with different impurities such as boron, gallium, and aluminum, it will have less than its fair share of free electrons. This causes it to attract electrons from nearby materials. This positive type of silicon is referred to as p-type. Both the n-type and p-type materials are electrically neutral in that the silicon actually has no charge in itself. It is true that n-type silicon has extra “free” electrons that increase its conductivity in one way, and that p-type silicon has fewer of those free electrons thus helping it to increase its conductivity in the opposite way.

The enhanced directional conductivity results from adding neutral atoms of so called impurities. The silicon was also neutral prior to the doping and remains uncharged thereafter. The essential concept is that the presence or absence of extra electrons refers to those free electrons that can move about and help to carry an electric current.

With two different types of silicon, we can make sandwiches by putting them together in layers. Such combinations of p-type and n-type material make all kinds of electronic components possible and such a variety of components can work in many different ways. If we join a piece of n-type silicon to a piece of p-type silicon, and put electrical contacts on either side, things start to happen at the junction between the two materials. If we apply current, we can make electrons flow through the junction from the n-type side to the p-type side and out through the circuit to perform useful work.

Because the p-type side of the junction has fewer electrons, it pulls electrons over from the n-type side. If we reverse the current, the electrons won’t flow at all. We have thereby fulfilled the role of the earlier vacuum tube or valve diode with a more durable solid state component. The diode is also sometimes referred to as a rectifier. Either name refers to an electronic component that lets current flow through it in only one direction. It is especially useful if you want to convert two-way alternating electric current into one-way direct current.

If we join two individual diodes back-to-back, we will have two PN-junctions connected together in series which would share a common Positive, (P) or Negative, (N) terminal. The fusion of two diodes thus produces a three layer, two junction, three terminal device forming the basis of a Bipolar Junction Transistor, or BJT. These three terminal active devices made from different semiconductor materials can then act as either an insulator or a conductor by the application of a small voltage.

In this configuration transistors can act as simple switches. The terminals are defined as a collector on the input or supply side of the circuit and an emitter on the output or demand side of the circuit. There is also a terminal known as the base which acts as a gatekeeper. The absence or presence of a voltage at the base determines whether the gate or valve is open or closed. A transistor conducts current across the collector-emitter path only when a voltage is applied to the base. When no base voltage is present, the switch is off. When base voltage is present, the switch is on.

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At about 10 years of age Cub Scouts enter into a pact summed up by the acronym WEBELOS which unpacked stands for We’ll Be Loyal Scouts. Fourth grade boys work toward a Webelos Badge, while Fifth Graders work toward what’s called an Arrow of Light badge. These older Scouts carry the responsibility of being good role models to the younger Cub Scouts. The seven rays of the highly symbolic Arrow of Light represent wisdom, courage, self-control, justice, faith, hope, and love.

In Hong Kong, the Brownie Promise contains the words I will promise to do my best, – To be true to myself, – To my God, and my country. In Singapore they say I promise to do my best, – To do my duty to God, – To serve my country, – And to help other people, and to Keep the Brownie Law.

In Canada the girls will say: I promise to do my best, To be true to myself, my beliefs and Canada, I will take action for a better world. In that country an earlier promise contained the line I promise that I will do my best to love God. In the United Kingdom the girls say: I promise that I will do my best – To be true to myself and develop my beliefs, To serve the Queen and my community. Before September in 2013 they said I promise that I will do my best To love my god. . .

In the USA the Girl Scouts still recite the pledge: On my honor, I will try: To serve God and my country, To help people at all times. . . And the Boy Scout Oath includes: On my honor I will do my best To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; To help other people at all times; To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.

What is it about the concept of God that causes Canada and the UK to remove it from their scout promises? Could it be that they want to be seen as somehow politically and properly amoral? Are they simply acting in accordance with some secularization hypothesis? Or does God have no place in their common understanding of what constitutes social progress?

The very first ray, in the Cub Scout’s Arrow of Light, is wisdom. Is it possible to have wisdom, in any meaningful form, that is divorced from the First Source and Center of all that is real? Are those scout programs, that emphasize a promise to be loyal, betraying the foundational principles of their respective organizations? Whatever became of the “good role models” that are to lead by example?

In the story of Job, God asked: Who is this that darkens counsel by words without wisdom?” There is something clearly unattractive about a lack of appreciation. Life is a gift. Mind is an endowment. Health is, first and foremost, predicated upon harmonious relationships, whether they occur within the physical body or socially, throughout a greater humanity. To keep one’s self physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight is a challenge at all stages of growth. To serve the community is largely dependent upon such physical, mental, and moral health.

How can any organization advance wisdom without an understanding of these foundational principles? What is the value of a leader that is not mindful of humanity’s ultimate destination. Children need to know that the best that can be achieved with a hazy goal is likely to be a hazy result. The adults within their respective spheres of influence also need to understand these principles if they are to serve as effective leaders.

People in the know see the tremendous potential of power in the store of wisdom as it continues to reside and repose in the central personality of our universe. Religion is to values what science is to facts and what philosophy is to meanings. Scouting organizations can and should debate these things without framing the questions in such a way as to squelch honest introspection.

Jesus said: “The Kingdom of Heaven is within you.” And, while it may seem there is a God shaped void within those who fail to recognize the Author and Finisher of our faith, He still resides at that nexus of the mind and heart. Intellectual balance is trifurcated. Accordingly, it is wholly dependent upon the recognition of that holistic intersection that exists between the things, meanings, and values that inform our spiritual growth.

Scouting is truth seeking. And the truth never suffers from close examination. If those in the secularist movement are confident they are right, they would welcome such an open and honest discussion. If those in the faith movement represent more than a thin veneer of religiosity, they will faithfully represent the seven rays; the wisdom, courage, self-control, justice, faith, hope, and love that are arrayed as the Arrow of Light takes flight within the lives of scouts at all stages of maturity.

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Two days before the United States celebrated Independence Day in 2021, a pathetic majority of justices on the Supreme Court published an opinion that exhibits, not only their reckless indifference to the truth, but also their contempt for the Mission Statement, the Value Proposition, and the Cardinal Precepts of the United States Constitution. Certain justices have, throughout their tenure, been perpetrating a fraud upon We the People of the United States. They have clearly set-aside what is arguably The Spirit of the Law. They are compulsively straining at gnats while also swallowing camels. 

In the 1290s another Scotus, Scottish Catholic priest and Franciscan friar Dun Scotus Ordinatio, penned the phrase consent of the governed. The principle influenced Declaration of Arbroath in 1320. The idea was mentioned in 1433 by Nicholas of Cusa in De Concordantia Catholica. Vindiciae contra tyrannos stated “…the power of the ruler is delegated by the people and continues only with their consent.” In England, the Levellers also embraced this principle of government.

John Milton wrote about the power of kings and magistrates saying it “is nothing else, but what is only derivative, transferred and committed to them in trust from the people, to the common good of them all, in whom the power yet remains fundamentally, and cannot be taken from them, without a violation of their natural birthright.” The quintessential conservative, Edmond Burke, wrote that rulers are only “trustees for the people” and, in describing the character of an effective leader he said: “the temper of the people amongst whom he presides ought therefore to be the first study of a Statesman.” 

Contrast this with the prevarications of those pretenders that occupy positions of honor and trust on the United States Supreme Court. To characterize the Americans For Prosperity Foundation as a “charity,” as if it is engaged in charitable service is to advance a thoroughly dumbed down legal definition to the point of absurdity. Like so many faux corporations, that the Supremes have elevated to the status of persons, AFP is primarily engaged in distorting the public discourse on behalf of the inheritors, skimmers, and hoarders of wealth in ways that work to the detriment of everyone else.

Justice Roberts, Kavanaugh, Barrett, Alito, and Gorsuch are each beholden to such dark money contributors. Their nominations, confirmations, and accommodations are undergirded by players such as the Kochs, that have secured an outsized political influence by means of the dollar skew. The justice’s corrosive influence, on the democracy underpinnings of our constitutionally grounded democratic republic is no longer deniable.

The modern day deceiver has traded his witness for a masquerade, steadily refining his craft through selective amplification, filtration, and contextualization. About seven hundred billionaires control the information flow for a country of three-hundred and thirty-one million citizens within the United States. Recent SCOTUS decisions concerning the concentration of media power also serve to enable those lacking the courage of their own convictions so they can express themselves through anonymous donations to political action committees.

There was a time, when sending an unsigned letter was widely considered an act of cowardice. The honest of heart would express an opinion over their own signature. But the Justices have converted what was once described as a whirlpool of information into a cesspool of disinformation through their complicity with the most cowardly actors among us. Feigning reverence for the Constitution of the United States, while actively working to undermine it, is the means by which the Supreme Court has placed the value proposition for our country squarely on a plane of unreality. Such judicial malfeasance serves to demotivate those who are the enthusiastic raisers, builders, and producers that have been more than willing to take our enterprises, our country and our entire planet from one level of attainment to the next.

The most integrity challenged justices on the court are addicted to the dark money by which they secured their form-fitting seats. Their strangely sociopathic form of corporate personhood is pure fiction. Their assertions of equal justice under law is also fiction. Their subterfuge, with respect to maintaining the system, whereby a black man or woman will never amount to more that three fifths of a person, is abhorrent. But it is their masquerade as originalists and textualists, while discarding the Preamble to the United States Constitution that is most problematic; for it is the way they skirt their obligations as conferred through the judicial oath. Such justices are unworthy to hold any position of honor and trust. 

The “Consent of the Governed” as advanced through the Declaration of Independence, presupposes an informed consent. The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights put forth by the United Nations in Article 21 states that “The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government”. In the final analysis, government of, by, and for the people is the only design that is truly sustainable. It is the only one that is spiritually serviceable; as it alone has the power to elicit the fully informed and enthusiastic consent of the governed.