Decentralize The Stock Market

When New York city is disabled, so is the U.S. stock market.

That is not a good thing.

They should have it set up so trading can continue without New York City.
I suspect it could be arranged without too much trouble. There is plenty of
trading nowadays that takes place in cyberspace.

It just illustrates how New York has a monopoly on this important
economic activity.

This is the 21st century. It is time for that monopoly to end.
Who knows what sort of event might cripple the New York exchange in the future.
We should not be vulnerable to this sort of thing in the age of the internet.

After 9/11 the markets were closed for an extended period. Now with a big storm called Sandy
the markets are closed again.

This hurts the entire economy. It spreads damage. We would benefit from a
better and more flexible system.

Pleasure In Gardening

I enjoyed watering my garden this morning.
Seems like an innocent occupation, caring for plants.
But I felt a little guilt....
living in Los Angeles we are always worried about water shortages
so it becomes somehow anti-social to water our gardens

sometimes they even make it illegal and threaten to fine you if you water
in the wrong way or at the wrong times

so even this pleasure, the pleasure of watering plants,  which seems totally innocent, is tinged with guilt

on the one hand we are supposed to consume big time in order to keep the wheels of industry turning
but on the other hand we are not supposed to consume because it hurts the environment or something

confusion

to consume or not to consume, that is the question

I plead not guilty

I would like to be able to live my life without fear of punishment
to live by my own lights
to follow my own conscience

live and let live

I can stop listening to all the contradictory voices screaming about how we are supposed to be

I can remember what we really are

2013 Recession

I keep hearing rumors of an impending recession. They point to the slowdown we have already seen
in 2012. Now company earning are coming in weak and we hear of slowdowns all over the
world.
Does this really mean there will be a new recession?
Say this and the answer will be- but we haven't had a full recovery yet!

And if there is a new recession it looks really bad for the government sector.
Tax receipts are already weak and expenses up.

There are three basic possibilites
more growth
no growth
shrinkage

and the growth or shrinkage could be fast or slow

One thing is certain, all these things will be happening some time in the future!

But what about the next 12 months?

I still see the muddle through. In my neighborhood homes are selling quickly and easily.
Restaurants are busy. Business goes on. There is lots of construction and prices are rising for many
things.
That sounds like a good economy.
I believe that the way they measure the economy is deeply flawed.

If I maintain my own home, doing repairs and maintenance, that is not measured as part of the economy.
If I hire someone to do it, that is measured. But the end result is similar.
When people become more efficient, that might look like a decline. But it is an improvement.
If I get sick and go in the hospital, that looks like growth, but it is not a good thing.
If we manufacture more bombs and guns and missiles, that looks like growth but it is just foolishness

Bottom line for me is no recession. Even the GREAT RECESSION is very suspect in my mind.
Mostly it was just revaluation of real estate. And revaluation of the price of labor. We have so much really
that taking away some of it (less than 5%) should not be such a big deal.

 

Losing Things

loss give one the chance to become more enlightened

to awaken
to wake up

to see the truth

one love

no loss

welcome loss as well as gain

we are the infinite already

Writing On The Wall

"Obamanomics
trickle up poverty"

This message was prominently on display on the 405 freeway in Los Angeles
signs of the times

Freedom

we are free

this is a great mystery

most people would not agree that we are free

we are free

not bound, not controlled, not opressed

but totally and really free

wake up and know the truth of total freedom

bad stuff

there is no bad stuff

but....
if we see it like that

where does it come from?

belief in justice, guilt, need for punishment.....that sort of stuff

and
desperate need for attention for strokes for love from other humans

and
mischief
teasing
laughter


sunrise   sunset  

Delight In The Truth

"LOVE DELIGHTS IN THE TRUTH."

so the truth must be delightful

so if something is not delightful, then it is not the truth

"If it ain't delightful, it ain't the truth."

 

Expensive California Gasoline

Every cloud has a silver lining Traffic is noticeably less congested now that gasoline shot up to almost $5.00 a gallon less traffic less driving these are very good things very good but I hear the price will be coming down soon maybe people will have discovered that the road to enlightenment and happiness is not necessarily traveled in an automobile

Geoffrey F. Morgan's Home

This photo is dated 1938 but the house looked pretty much the same in 1952. 533 23rd. Street in Santa Monica, California Note the style of the shingle roof. This house is my connection to Mr. Morgan. I grew up in this house. My parents bought it some time after Mr. Morgan's death. I remember old theater posters in the garage. We also had music in our home. My mother, Drexel Oliva, was a piano teacher. She had two Steinway baby grand pianos in the living room.

Geoffrey F. Morgan Obituary 3/3/1952

Here is a transcription of a news story published in the
Evening Outlook, the daily paper of Santa Monica, CA.
The date was 3/3/1952. It was a front page story.




Geoffrey Morgan, Noted
Civic Leader And Orator
Dies After Long Illness
Prominent Lecturer Loses Gallant
Battle Against Incurable Disease
Geoffrey F. Morgan, writer, educator and civic leader, but best
known in 48 states as a lecturer and orator, died yesterday at Santa
Monica Hospital after a long and courageous fight against an incurable
malady.

Although he had known for many
months that his condition was incurable,
he continued to meet speaking engagements
and to appear in behalf of causes as long as he
was able to stand. In fact he confided that in
delivering his last two public addresses he would
 have been unable to carry on except for the fact
that he supported himself by holding the back of a chair.

As his strength ebbed further and he was confined
to his bed at home, he continued to confer with
civic leaders and especially with persons
interested in beach development, one of his
principal interests, by means of a bedside telephone.
This he continued until even the effort of speaking
overtaxed his ebbing strength. The end, however,
came peacefully after several days of waning
consciousness.

Funeral services will be conducted by the Rev.
Clifford E. Barry Nobes at St. Augustine's Episcopal
Church at 2 p.m. Wednesday with Gates, Kingsley
& Gates in charge. While no specific request was
made, members of the Morgan family suggested
that in lieu of flowers contributions by individuals to the
work of the American Cancer Society fund would
have been in accordance with Mr. Morgan's wishes.

Pallbearers will be Ira C. Hilgers, Harold B. Stark,
L. S. Storrs, Jack W. Evans, Elliott Morgan, and
Morgan Evans.

Geoffrey Francis Morgan, born in London, England,
Aug 8, 1882, was the youngest of the four children
of the late Alfred W. Morgan and his wife, Janet.

The family emigrated to California when Mr. Morgan
was a small child, arriving in the United States in
January 1887, and settling in San Diego County where
the Morgan children received their early education. Later
the family moved to Los Angeles where Mr. Morgan
graduated from Los Angeles State Normal School ,
which later became UCLA.

From 1903 to 1906 Mr. Morgan, who never married,
was a teacher in the country schools of California.
Noting that educational standards for the teaching
profession were rising even in those days, Mr.
Morgan decided that further professional training
was necessary, so he enrolled at Stanford University.

WROTE SCHOOL SONG

While an undergraduate in that institution, he
was the author of the present day Stanford song,
"Sons of the Stanford Red." became editor of
Chapparal and took a leading part in campus
dramatics and debating, gaining a lifelong interest
in the theater in general and the Little Theater
movement in particular.

After receiving his A.B. degree in 1910 he became
principal of a Riverside school in which capacity he
is remembered by numerous older residents of
that community. Again feeling the drive for
further advancement in his profession, he entered
Columbia University, where he received his M.A. degree
in 1914, and then joined the faculty of Ohio University
where he served as professor of education until
1916, when he accepted a position as superintendent
of schools in Athens, Ohio, seat of the university.

During this period he took the lead in organizing
youth activities of the community, and became much
in demand as a speaker on inspirational subjects,
so much so that in 1920 he resigned in order to devote
all of his time to the lecture platform.

NOTED AS SPEAKER

For many years he was speaking on the regularly
organized circuits of the Redpath Lyceum and
other bureaus, but later he became an independent,
in which work he continued until his final illness, except
during the period from 1941 to 1947 when he was
manager of the Douglas Aircraft Company speaker's
bureau.

Mr. Morgan often commented  that he had spoken
at public gatherings in every state in the Union, and on
considerably more than 6000  occasions. Some of his more
popular subjects were: "Success With Ease,"  "What's the Use?,"
"The Blessings of Machinery,"  "Sutter's Fort and Sutter's Gold,"
"There Ought to be a Law," and many others dealing with
aviation, a subject on which he developed a vast amount
of knowledge while associated with the Douglas company.

Between lectures he found time to write more than a score
of plays and operettas designed for amateur production,
working in collaboration with a number of composers,
of whom Geoffrey O'Hara was perhaps the best known.

Many of the plays and operettas still are favorites
with school and amateur groups. They include "Tulip Time,"
"Don Alonso's Treasure," "Rose of the Danube,"
"The Count and the Co-ed," and others.

WAS AN ASSEMBLYMAN
In the field of civic and community affairs, Mr. Morgan,
although he traveled extensively, long ago identified himself
with Santa Monica as his home community, having come to
this area after leaving Athens, Ohio in 1920.

He served as assemblyman for this district from 1931 to
1937, was a life member of the Rotary Club of Santa Monica,
served as campaign chairman of the Community Chest,
took a leading part in work of the Salvation Army, the
Council of Social Welfare, was chairman of the recreation
commission and active in the Little Theater movement
sponsored by the Recreation Department.

For two years he was president of the Santa Monica
Theater Guild, which produced his "Don Alonso's Treasure"
last Summer. He was head of public relations of the theater group
at the time of his death. Through his efforts the present Morgan
Theater has become the home of the theater guild.

He was for a time a director of the Chamber of Commerce,
which only recently awarded him a life membership, and
had served as a member of the Board of Education and the Library
Board.

Perhaps closest to his heart was the development of the
beaches of the state as the primary recreational facility of California,
and from 1940 to 1945 and from 1948 until his death he was
president  of the Shoreline Planning Association of California,
an organization which he sparked to success in obtaining
legislative appropriation of $10 million for beach acquisition.
In recent years he had worked tirelessly for development of the
beaches acquired under this program.

AIDED CHURCHES
Mr Morgan who in recent years made his home at
533 23rd St. was a member of the Rotary, the Dramatists Guild,
Actors Equity, Phi Alpha Tau, and Tau Kappa Alpha, a member of
St. Augustine's Episcopal Church. He often donated his talents
not only to that church but to others of different denominations.

He is survived by his two sisters,Mrs. Hugh Evans and Mrs. G. S. Storrs,
and one brother, Laurence W. Morgan, all living in the Bay District,
as well as by 11 nephews and nieces and 18 grandnephews and nieces.

The 11 nephews and nieces are Jack Evans, Morgan Evans and
Mrs. Ira C. Hilgers of Rustic Canyon;  Bernard G. Evans, San Bernardino
and Santa Monica; Mrs. George T. McKee, Walnut Grove; Elliott W. T.  Morgan
and Janet Morgan, Santa Monica; Mrs. Wallace Boag, currently in
Australia; Leslie S. Storrs, Barbara M. Storrs and Mrs. Harold B. Clark,
all of Santa Monica.

Freedom Choice Power

I need to remind myself often that I am free

I am choosing my experience and my reality

the TV people are constantly telling me I have no control or power
that I am just tossed on the waves of "society"

sorry so many people think that way
they could discover the truth

but it is OK

they are free even if they don't know it

they are free and they are choosing instant by instant

I am free sitting here choosing a hot day
a lazy day
a day to ride a bicycle and to go to a concert
a day to water the plants
a day to do the laundry
a day to cultivate love
a day to drive my daughter to school

a perfect day of wholeness and completeness

no lack
no want
just the infinite spirit of love everywhere eternal

Nothing is forbidden

good rule
the rule of no rule
but instead of forbidding things

we cultivate and encourage things

like love

like patience and kindness

and selflessness

nothing is forbidden but one thing is cultivated

and that thing is love

The Three Thing

many times I have dropped a pencil and reached for it only to miss

I miss once, I miss twice, but the third time I get it.

the third time I actually pick it up

how common is this pattern

third time's a charm?

a charm?  what does that mean?

I just witnessed another human being do something three times before they did it right.
But it was a little trickier, loading a glass into a dishwasher

careless
not giving right attention
in a hurry
asleep at the switch

what is it that makes us miss twice but get it on the third try?