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          I wrote this story about my mother in 1981, two years after her death.  I was studying clinical philosophy at that time, a new discipline, which was deep, personal, and analytical, and while I was still missing my mom, I thought about her a great deal then.

Parents and children have powerful and intimate relationships and perspectives about each other – sometimes positive, sometimes negative, and sometimes neutral.  Here I reveal my mother through my own appreciation of being a child, a parent, and a grandparent.   I address a philosophical problem, that of finding a sense of groundedness in response to the universal human problem of the abyss – that is, the lack of meaning and aloneness – or nothingness.  My mother found her ground in God, and in so many ways, now I do, too.  

This is called “My Mother’s Ground”.

 She came to America from Greece in 1912, or thereabouts, at the age of 16.  The fourth in a family of six children, quite poor, she had been a young schoolteacher in her village.  Her sister and brother-in-law living in New York sent her the money to join them in the land of hope and opportunity.

She met and married my father, had three children, became a widow at 42.  With the three of us married, or gone soon after, she remained alone in the big house, and somehow managed to make the money last.

We worried and wondered at her aloneness every night.  She would say to me “God will take care of me, I’m not afraid.”  God was my mother’s ground.  

An invalid for six years, and in need of continual custodial care, my 82-year-old mother spent her final years in a local convalescent home.  At times, she was amazingly alert – other times, forgetful.  Most often, strangely peaceful and content.  In the early days of her confinement, she would often ask in bewilderment “Por que el Dios mi hizo esto ” (Why did God do this to me?)

Interestingly, after her second stroke, she communicated almost exclusively in Spanish, her native tongue, despite the fact that she had been quite articulate in English.

What made it possible for my mother to face each day with valor, even a smile?  Her philosophy, which she affirmed each day when we were together, and that was every day, “Todo lo que hace Dios es para bien” (Everything that God does is for good).  God was my mother’s ground.

In a way, I envied her very much, but I do not believe she ever allowed herself to see the abyss.  She chose very early in her life to insulate herself from the anxiety of nihilism by a total and daily commitment to the will of God.

What a fascinating and incongruous polarity of personality was my mother:   A most gentle benign imposition of an iron will in areas concerning her children, and a personal complete and total surrender to the will of God.  Indeed, God was my mother’s ground.

For KSCO, this is Kay Zwerling.

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My friend Michael Olson shared this with me.  It is called “Catching Pigs”, and it is thought provoking. 

There is a chemistry professor in a large college that had some exchange students in the class.  

One day while the class was in the lab the Professor noticed a young man (an exchange student) who kept rubbing his back.  The professor asked the young man what was the matter, and the student told him that he had been shot while fighting communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country's government and install a new communist regime.

In the midst of his story, he looked at the professor and asked a strange question. He asked “Do you know how to catch wild pigs?”  

The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line. The young man said that it was no joke.  “You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and begin to come everyday to eat the free corn. When they are used to coming everyday, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming. When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence. They get used to that and start to eat again.  You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in the last side.

The pigs, who are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat that free corn again, you then slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd.  Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to that, that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity.  The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening to America.  The government keeps pushing us toward communism and socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, tax exemptions, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops, welfare, medicine, drugs, etc., while we continually lose our freedoms – just a little at a time.

One should always remember two truths:  

1.  There is no such thing as a free lunch, and   

2.  You can never hire someone to provide a service for you cheaper than you can do it yourself. 

If you see that all of this wonderful government 'help' is a problem confronting the future of democracy in America, you might want to send this on to your friends.  

However, if you think the free ride is essential to your way of life, then you will probably delete this email, but God help us all when the gate slams shut!

Quote for the day:  “The problems we face today are there because the people who work for a living are now outnumbered by those who vote for a living.”

For KSCO, this is Kay Zwerling.

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The following is a KSCO commentary.  Here is Kay Zwerling:

          My friend Zoltan sent this to me, and it is really worth repeating.  Let’s call it “It is the new American way”.  I ask all Obama supporters to please share this with others who voted for him.  Perhaps you will then understand the problem with the fair share he supports, because you will not read it in any newspaper and certainly not on any TV station.   We felt like this was the perfect time to share this important story with you. 

          Recently our good friend, a local realtor, shares his experience with us about an Obama supporter he encountered while selling homes to a low income working family in Pontiac, Michigan.  We asked him to please write it down so we could share it with you.  You should be sitting down while reading this. 

          As a realtor for the past 28 years, I thought I had seen or heard it all, until now. 

          I was showing homes in Pontiac one afternoon recently and showed up at a home at 4:00 p.m.  The homeowner proceeded to tell my buyers and I she had already entered into a contract to sell the home on a short sale, where the bank accepts less money than is owed on the home.   

          She proceeded to tell us she and her sister, who also lived in the area, were buying each other’s home via the short sale process.

          I mentioned to her that I thought relatives could not be involved in those transactions.  She smiled and said “We have two different last names so no one knows the difference.”

          She went on to tell us each of them owed over $100,000 on their homes and were in the process of buying each other’s homes for about $10,000-$15,000 cash.  To top it off, they were each receiving $3,000 in government provided relocation assistance at the closing.

          My buyers and I were amazed that she was outright admitting to fraud and yet she continued.

          She began to tell us that the best part of her scheme was that because they currently were not working they both are now receiving Section 8 vouchers.  I said I thought those were for renters.  She said “That is the best part.  Me and my sister are going to be renting each other’s homes so we do not have to move, and Obama is going to give us each $800 a month to pay the rent.”

          So here is the bottom line – both of these scammers got at least $80,000 in debt forgiven, $3,000 in cash for relocation when in fact they did not relocate, and to boot you and I will now be paying through our taxes $1,600 in rent for each of them each and every month, perhaps forever.” 

          Is it any wonder why so many people have decided that all they have to do is vote for the Democrats and they will be taken care of for life at the expense of the taxpayers?!   I would not be at all surprised if they are receiving food stamps and whatever other programs are available for anyone who is willing to LIE to get assistance. 

          These women went from working and paying about $900 each in mortgage payments to staying home and getting paid $800 each per month to live in the same homes they had been living in – and all they had to do is LIE on a few papers.  This craziness has to stop!   I am sure this kind of FRAUD is going on each and every day all across the Country, and no one wants to touch the subject of entitlements.  

          It is the new American way.

          For all of the do-gooders who voted for Obama to help the less fortunate – cheers – they are now the “most” fortunate. 

For KSCO, this is Kay Zwerling.

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The following is a KSCO commentary.  Here is Kay Zwerling:

          I wrote this in June 2008, and it is in my book. 

As we think about China, and how she has so rapidly become a world presence, we may remember Napoleon’s description “Let China sleep for when she awakens, she will shake the world”.  

Today, China is not only awake, but because of her enormous population, she is – or will become – arguably the greatest force in the world.

So, despite what our sophisticated Wall Street types have to say, China is getting richer and stronger, and we are becoming weaker.  Ironically, China’s funds are so invested in America, that if she removes those possible billions and trades them into Euros, our economy may collapse.

But, the Pandora’s box is now open, and will never close.  

Why did we allow this inequity to happen?  Wouldn’t fair trade have been better than free trade?   Fair trade means that I give you 50%, and you give me 50%.

Recently, I read a most intriguing article, with regard to China, who is much more aware and aggressive than we are about acquiring the world’s dwindling raw materials.  

China is now engaged in Africa, specifically the sub-Saharan countries like Mozambique which supplies lumber, and Zambia which supplies copper.  The Congo has a wide range of minerals, and equatorial Guinea has oil.  China, at a frantic pace, is swooping up the copper, timber, natural gas, zinc, cobalt, and you name it.  

Because China can see that in the foreseeable future – factoring in the recent luxury needs of China and India, plus all of Europe, Asia, and the United States – there will be a shortage of these raw materials.  The awakened giant is now buying up everything that the poor sub-Saharan countries are willing sell her.

Evidently we are either too timid, or not looking ahead, asleep at the wheel, or maybe too obsessed with corrupt American politics.   

In fact, our Country is involved in the sub-Saharan countries, but not in the aggressive way that China is.  

We should wisely remember the forgotten work of Thomas Malthus, who said some two centuries ago “The power of population is infinitively greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for all mankind.”   In other words, there may not be enough of the raw materials to serve all mankind.  

Like China, shouldn’t we be more aggressive about obtaining the raw materials while they are still available?

For KSCO, this is Kay Zwerling.

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The following is a KSCO commentary.  Here is Kay Zwerling:

          My good friend Michael Olson gave me this recent Wall Street Journal editorial. 

          This is speech from Senator Barack Obama on the Senate floor on 3-16-2006 –   

          Mr. President, I arrive today to talk about America’s debt problem.  The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure.

          It is a sign that the government cannot pay its own bills.  It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our government’s reckless fiscal policies. 

          Over the past five years, our federal debt has increased by $3.5 Trillion to $8.6 Trillion.   That is Trillion with a T. 

          That is money that we have borrowed from the Social Security Trust Fund, borrowed from China and Japan, and borrowed from American taxpayers. 

          And, over the next five years the President’s budget will increase the debt by almost another $3.5 Trillion (again with a T). 

          Numbers that large are sometimes hard to understand.  Some people may wonder why they matter.  Well, here is why they matter: 

          This year the federal government will spend $220 Billion on interest.  That is more money to pay interest on our debt this year than we will spend on education, homeland security, transportation, and veterans’ benefits combined.

          Our debt also matters internationally.   My friend, the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, likes to remind us that it took 42 Presidents 224 years to run up only $3 Trillion of foreign-held debt.

          This administration did more than that in just five years. 

          Now, there is nothing wrong with borrowing from foreign countries, but we must remember that the more we depend on foreign nations to lend us money, the more our economic security is tied to the whims of foreign leaders whose interests might not be aligned with ours. 

          Increasingly, America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. 

          Leadership means that the buck stops here.   Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. 

          America has a debt problem, and a failure of leadership!   Americans deserve better! 

          So, my friends, clearly Barack Obama’s views on this subject have changed since he has become President Obama.

For KSCO, this is Kay Zwerling.

© copyright 2013

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The following is a KSCO commentary.  Here is Kay Zwerling:

          I wrote this in March 2005, eight years ago, and it is in my book.

This is about forgiveness and irony. 

I learned long ago that to forgive feels good.  If you can forgive unconditionally, it is like God is patting you on the head saying “That’s good.” 

And, now about irony.  For years, China was called The Sleeping Giant.  In 1979, The Sleeping Giant was awakened when the U.S. went to China to complete arrangements to initiate economic relations.  

My husband and I happened to be visiting there at that exact time.  We were part of a group of Americans permitted to visit that Communist country, and it was memorable.   As a result of the U.S.  visit, we saw the Chinese people dancing and rejoicing in the streets of the city that was then called Peking, now known as Beijing. 

Led by English-speaking tour guides, we observed people only on bicycles.  They all wore the same black cotton uniforms and they withstood the winter cold by wearing layers and layers of cotton.  

Wherever we were taken, people gathered intrigued by our white skin and especially by our Polaroid cameras. 

The tour guides were curious about us, and asked many questions, like, why are there so many divorces in America, and how come people have so many children.   Chinese couples were allowed only one child, preferably a boy.  And, that was 1979.  

Let’s fast forward now to 2013 – 34 years later.   China is a booming economy with Big Mac burgers and all the other trappings of capitalism.    

Now comes the irony. 

From China, the U.S. imports enormous quantities of manufactured goods including millions of artificial Christmas trees.   These trees are made to look more authentic with real wood trunks made from unclean Chinese wood which houses Chinese brown fir beetles. 

And now, Chinese mercury is polluting our environment.   The very pollution that our country sought to eliminate by sending most of our manufacturing industry to China and other countries because we wanted to focus more on clean service industries and electronic industries, has made us globally dependent and is polluting our own land in ways we never dreamed of. 

In other words, in order to meet our manufacturing needs, China now has over 6000 factories or more using coal burning furnaces. 

With her newfound prosperity, China is learning ways to obtain electronic information from us to compete with us in the world markets.  Have we helped to create a clever, maybe unbeatable monster?   

For KSCO, this is Kay Zwerling.

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The following is a KSCO commentary.  Here is Kay Zwerling:

          I wrote this in April 2006, and it is in my book, and it is about illegal immigration. 

Weighing in on the present immigration mess – first close the borders, ignore the marchers who wish to undermine our laws, those here illegally must obey the laws, must learn English, apply for citizenship, and wait the same amount of time as those who come in legally. 

No drivers’ license, no voting rights until they become legal citizens. 

That is what I think.  No more amnesty.  Furthermore, no more voting ballots in any language other than English – it is idiotic.  No more pandering to foreign newcomers. 

All of these related troubles stem from weakling leaders in both political parties whose main concern is, and has always been, re-election and vying for newcomers’ votes. 

Those leaders willingly left the borders open.   Both political parties for over two decades are responsible for the 11 million illegals here.   Actually, now, seven years later, there are even more than 11 million illegals here. 

Thank you President Ford, thank you George Herbert Walker Bush, thank you President Clinton, and George W., for your deliberate failures!  

Since the word felon has been used so loosely, and then crossed out, I submit it is our delinquent leaders, Presidents, and Congress, who by their inaction in upholding the laws of our land, are the real felons.   

And, another thing – the tail must stop wagging the dog.   About the UCSC student protest to the military recruiters being on campus – the students should be expelled for leaving their classes and We the People should withdraw our public funds helping them. 

They are in school to learn their subject matter and not to make policy for the university and the Country.   

And, the wimpy delinquent faculty better shape up, or they should be fired!  And, that the Regents who approve the enormous salaries and bonuses to upper employees while denying raises to the lowest employees who keep the university functioning – that is wrong!  The Regents should be replaced! 

Better still maybe the public universities which We the People support who have 85% liberal professors brainwashing our children should be closed. 

For KSCO, this is Kay Zwerling.

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The following is a KSCO commentary.  Here is Kay Zwerling:

Here is a short Open Letter to a small, but very loud group of Americans:  

You are always offended by some bullpucky or other.  Now, the rest of us are getting angry, because now your incessant complaining is taking the joy out of our beautiful holiday season.

For about 150 years, our government has peacefully acknowledged the existence of God with the words “In God we trust” on our money, and we have enjoyed reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and singing God Bless America at ball games and other public functions, and we like to say “Merry Christmas”, and some of us are happy honoring Christmas with small public displays of baby Jesus in the manger, or a display of a Menorah saying “Happy Hanukah”.  So what’s the big deal?  You better get over it, because we the silent majority will no longer cater to your offending sensibilities.  Control yourself, and put up with it.  If you are momentarily bothered, cover your ears or go to the john, or go hug a tree, or better still, go to Canada where there are so many more like you.  You would be happier there.  

So much for the negativity.

Now, to those of you who listen to KSCO and KOMY, as matriarch and on behalf of the Zwerling family, local residents for over 60 years, I say thank you to our bright and loyal listeners, thank you to our delightful and incredibly informed callers, thank you advertisers for your very much appreciated support, thank you to our great radio staff for working happily and enthusiastically, and it shows in the programming. 

We feel good knowing that we are a conduit for various points of view.  I for one am grateful for the privilege to make commentaries and hope they make a positive difference. 

Let us all make an effort to be good to each other and respect our differences.  My family and I wish all of you good health and peace of mind in the year ahead, the two most important blessings, without which life would not be worth much. 

And, thank you to those of you left me holiday gifts, and they were mostly anonymous.  I am very touched, and very grateful. 

We pray for our troops in action, and we pray for wisdom in our leaders, and God please bless America.
For KSCO, this is Kay Zwerling.

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