Evolution and balanced businesses

i'm typing this in AbiWord on a M ac. Think about t hat for a moment and why i do this . i
personally don't want to support any business/government that is exploitative,monopoliz ing,
materialistic, commercial (in the sense of ego-aggrandizing advertisement), or unbalanced . If we
look at the American government as a business, we see it's all five. True, only the American
government with its resources and occas ional bent t oward t he individual/cons umer, could
create/support such a vast,complex, and wonderful thing as the int ernet (A mericans did not
invent the int ernet but they by far - are its strongest supporter). So thank you America for
supporting the internet (even essentially evil inst itut ions can do good;) .. A long time ago (in my
lifetime) as i had mentioned previously, i attended a M ennonite fellowship at M ichigan State. We
met in the basement of the university chapel. (That was the extent of our 'clout' but it was
comfortable for us.) So even though the university could not officially support Christians, they
allowed us use of facilities to a minimal degree. Some of us refused to buy postage stamps at that
time because it was rumored that money went directly to US military budget (i don't doubt this
but if every time you use a postage stamp, are you really supporting the U S military? As k the
M ennonites and US government). How did they send mail? At that time, there was no internet so
they had to use other services (such as UPS etc) . So it s hould be no wonder w hatsoever why i
use AbiWord on a M ac: i refuse to support M icrosoft's monopoly. Even though my version of
AbiWord continually crashed on my Windows net book, i s till refused to bend: there's always a
way. You can use Linux or M ac and there's plenty of FREE stuff available for download: last
night i downloaded FileZilla (an FTP program) and G imp (an image manipulat ion program). A nd
the creators are not in the business of 'get ting richer' (like Microsoft and Bill Gates ); they're
essentially good 'underdogs' w ho provide quality t hings on principle. You're free to donate t o the
efforts but it's not required. If i had steady employment, i would support all three (AbiWord,
FileZilla, and G imp). i played around wit h Gimp last night and it's quite wonderful for a free
program .. All this discussion of good underdogs (not like Satan - he's an 'underdog' but evil t o
the core), free alternative programs and operating systems, and unbalanced busines ses does not
really identify (like i have before) the posit ive qualities we're looking for . What is a balanced
business? As i've discussed previously, the economic model of the co-op is viable, feasible,
doable, practical, sus tainable, and should be encouraged as frequent ly as possible. When you
have a choice to buy a product/s ervice, don't just support t he underdog, do res earch on the
competing companies to see what kind of value s tructur e they support (everycompany has a
value structure - even if it's unpublished). i'm not talking about being so neurotic to obsess about
every little thing like t oothpas te (t hough the quality of t hat's important). i'mtalking about major
financial decisions: hous e cons truct ion, car/truck, computer, and which school your children
attend. If we continually support (even indirectly by complacency) monopolies like M icrosoft,
we will Always be at their mercy. They can choose any pricing structure they want, they can
choose which portions are accessible (current ly, Windows is quite secret), and t hey define the
maintenance/novelty schedule (when new versions come out; how long they'll support cert ain
versions like Windows 98 - an exceptionally stable version (that didn't crap out every other
minute)). It's rumored Windows was actually based on M ac-windows and Explorer on Netscape
so when we use Windows, we not only support a demonic-monopoly, we s upport concept theft. i
know no one can own a patent on the 'windows' paradigm (in computing), but you'd be surprised
what M icrosoft tries to protect as proprietary So .. next time you think about buying a computer,
think about Linux or M ac please .. O kay, enough about computing .. One of my recent ess ays
was about Iam University (only later did i fi nd out there's already an online univers ity by t hat
name but who cares - they can't own the name of God). Besides, i don't believe they're a co-op.
'M y'Iam University (if w e can ever get it together) will have the economic st ructure of a co-op
(please read the founding statement if you're curious). So even if we 'never get it together' (get
support and donations), thechart er is important becaus e it shows you What's Possible. If a
university can be a co-op (i have no doubts whatsoever that a university properly administered
can), w hat else can be? The answer's obviously: Everything! The co-op principle can be used in
food (i've seen this in action on three continents), education, creative endeavors such as w riting,
and really only limited by your imagination. A nother w ay to describe a co-op is 'worker ow ned'.
It's common knowledge that if more factories w ere worker ow ned, they'd have a tendency to s hut
down less often. Of course, modernization and product line must always be continually re-
evaluated for relevancy to market demands, but this is an adm inis tr ation iss ue. Co-ops , properly
run, can be viable competitive organizations. Look at t he financial version of the co-op: credit
unions - who can say they don't like credit unions? Generally speaking, they're more objective
about consumer loans , more consumer friendly, and consumer ow ned! What bett er example of a
co-op is there? So everywhere we look, we can find successful examples of co-ops. When they
Fail, it 's alw ays out of human greed (such as when the US government bailed out the s avings -
and-loans because of bad investment strategies). So it's not a failure of the bus ines s model, it's
basically a failure of hum an char acter. We chose 'bad' administ rators or did not have investment
strategies sustainably defined. And in the end, the consumer paid for bad decisions: our tax
monies basically lined the pockets of clever investors (the ones who bet against t he savings-and-
loan investors). We f___ed ourselves on that one majorly.

If you got bored above, your attention should perk up at my discus sion of evolut ion. i've
neglected this topic for far too long. Bobbie, my 2010 census employee and fundament alist
Christian good friend, insists Earth was created around 7000 years ago. So w as the rest of
creation (including the cosmos). They had successfully 'brainwashed' their intelligent teen son to
believe similarly. T hey're convinced Adam and Eve had perfect D NA and it 's getting degraded by
cosmic radiation and toxic chemicals. Actually, what they don't know is DNA has some self-
repair mechanisms for low level radiation. They also ignore the fact light from Andromeda
galaxy is over one million years old. Why would God create such an absurd universe? (If indeed
everything is only 7000 years old.) Bobbie, her pastor husband, and their brilliant son are
unfortunately deluded by Christian dogma. Some Christian groups rabidly adhere to t he 7000
year creation concept much like Standard M odel adherents do. They're t he same ones w ho insist
we're on the verge of Biblical Apocalypse and we must prepare for immanent doom. Soon people
will start disappearing and there will be a great worldwide tribulation and so on.. i'm sorry to say
Bobbie (and friends), t his is not only Insane, it 's Sat anically inspired. Only Satan would wish us
into self-destruction as she envisions. No God (thati know ) would wish t hat on humanity. So you
should not wonder at my take on evolution .. Since i believe in God and that She basically
engineered our universe, my view of evolution is as a guided process. Evolution, by itself (as i
previously stated), hasno agenda - only adaptation to selective pressures. Toevolve a proto-eye
(for instance) requires conscious design, so does a nervous system and brain; there's no random
force in the universe that would create an eye, s pine, and brain from random chemicals and no
DNA. J ust as the dinosaurs were wiped out (likely by a huge meteor) and all that's left are
basically birds (among them delicious chickens - just thin k about that .. and note how St upid
chickens are! i've observed them here in t he village quite frequently). B irds are Lucky they can
fly (that's truly a gift fromGod). It's probably a 'compensatory' gift (making up for the decimation
of dinosaurs). You see, God is N OT cruel - She even has compass ion for dinosaurs .. So you can
see none of this discuss ion is 's pewing out of my ass hole'(forgive the coarseness); many of my
'friends' have attacked me over the years but aas any one of my consistent readers knows, if
anything, i'm consistent.

i'm sure my 'friends' think of me as "t he cool insane guy" who's so consistent and logical in his
way of thinking - it's Extremely difficult to find any hole in my logic. You wanna know why?
What do i keep saying? It's not m y logic - it's G od's .. If physicist s (and my American family)
could just get off their damn high hors es for just one second, t hey'd realize everyt hing i say in
these ess ays has some value. Everything. These present a balanced holistic way of looking at
things. And what is that but a God-like perspective. It's something i've prayed for myentire life
(it's not something that happens overnight).. M y relationship with NowPublic and Scribd has
been 'mutually exploitative' and must end soon .. i realize it t akes advert ising dollars t o support
both and both are required by me to 'get the w ord out ' but .. In ess ence, both companies are
'making money' from God's inspirations. That's not right. i'm forced to 'put an end to it' soon. i've
made a conscious-conscientious decision to stop publishing on these two domains. i'm not happy
about it but i'm not happy about the fact we're still using money ..A s w e s pend the next 100 years
(in my estimation) transitioning from a money bas ed economy (one t ruly bas ed on exploitation
and greed) to one based on M eaning, i must be patient (with my son, American family, and
humanity) with their reluctance to embrace Trust and Respect. But i have faith we Will. i have
Faith We will.