This is the biggest "challenge" we are facing, as a society.

Many of us grew up in a time when people did things in a very proscribed manner.
There were "rules".

Young people had their schooling & then their apprenticeships, and the "reward" for their diligence was a career, and a stable lifestyle.

They may not have wanted to replicate their elders' lives , but they at least wanted the opportunity to have a lifestyle at least as good as their parents'.

Parents let their children know that , at first, they would have to skimp & struggle a bit, but the payoff would be a comfortable life.


All bets are off now, and have been off for a very long time.

Students "graduate" with an unmanageable load of debt, into a marketplace that does not value their education, and sees them as low-paid wage-slaves, eager to do anything for any paycheck.

Saving is not even an option for most young people starting out today. If part-time work is all that many can even find, or some combination of internship/paid work is the other option, they won't even make enough to support themselves.


Many experts comment on how so many young people do not marry as young as in previous times. In some ways, I see this as a self-preservation reflex. "25 yr old woman, with $40K school debt, marries 27 yr old man, with $50K school debt"... How many people here think that's a marriage "made in heaven"?

Young people in that predicament may never be able to maintain the creditworthiness necessary to buy a home, or afford a family, or even a good loan rate for the cars they would need to get from job to job.

No matter how far we have come, we still see our own debt as a bit shameful..as something we don't really want to share with others. It's got to be a daunting thing to be dating someone, and to fall in love with them,. and then to have to have "that talk"... you know.. the "talk" where you tell them how much money you owe, and how broke you really are..

I had a friend who said that the way you could tell if it was "true love" was when you could throw up in front of that "other" person, and they would not be grossed out. I think the modern version might be , when you tell them how in debt you are, and they do not run for the hills, never to be seen again..

But having said that, love will not "cure" debt....but debt can (and will) kill love.

Even people who manage to find full-time work...work that pays well.. can never be comfortable, since every day there is news about companies being bought and sold and jobs being eliminated. Everyone goes to work with a sense of dread, every time a few people go into an office and close the door, a chill falls over the office.

People who thought they had careers, are finding out that they are 40-something, and unemployed...and possibly forever (in their former line of work).

Humans are inventive creatures, but we are being asked to re-invent ourselves multiple times, all-the-while trying to manage lives & raise families. This calls into question the whole purpose of a higher education. Why waste time and money to get a degree in something if the "payoff" will only last a while, and then you will be expected to start all over?

18-25 yr olds may be in a position to go in many directions at once until they find their true calling, but it's really unfair to ask people to do this over and over and over and over.

Daily living costs are pretty much fixed for most people. There are basics that have to be paid for: rent/mortgage...food...transportation to and from work..clothes on your back...shoes on your feet..seeing a doctor when you're sick..

If you cannot find full-time work that provides enough money for the basics of life, how can you even begin to manage on part time jobs?

I know there are millions of people who are doing this (or trying to), but falling further behind, month after month, is no way to live....not for the long haul anyway.

The public has lost faith, because too many of us lived by the rules..we played fairly, we did our part, and every time we thought it was about to "pay off", the rules were either re-written, or simply thrown away.. We keep passing "GO", but the "Collect $200" part is not enough.

Even now that there is a plan to help small businesses borrow money for "new hires".. Well that's just ducky, BUT what about re-hiring all the people laid off BEFORE those "new-hires"?

And if a small business hires/re-hires? ...then what?

Demand drives the economy. If there is no demand, making more "stuff", will not solve the problem..

Stuff is a big part of our problem. Money spent for "stuff" is used to pay low wages to the people who stack & sell the "stuff", and to the operators of the big-box corporations, but the lion's share of the money spent does not recirculate within the communities where it's spent. The only money that circulates, is the wages made by the people who live there...and if they spend their money for "stuff" at other big-boxes..well the law of diminishing returns comes into play pretty quickly.

A society of part-time workers selling foreign-made "stuff" to other part-time workers is no way to run a vibrant economy...especially when houses cost "full-time" money..so do cars & washers & dryers & dishwashers & college costs "full-time" money too...so do medical care premiums.

Well, that worked out well, didn't it? Middle class workers gave up (not their choice) those boring old defined benefit pensions, but they were "promised" that they too could be rich..rich..rich I-tell-ya..

It had to appear better than sliced bread, to get MOST eligible people IN it.

Much like the charter school thing & vouchers, the rush to GET IN, created a vacuum that "proved" that there was no longer even any need for regular old boring pensions, and that would drive more and more companies into 401-k plans..

Companies were freed up from having to keep track of pension money and to account for the shenanigans that often occurred..so it was a win-win for companies.. give out 2% pay raises (if any) and then just plop in 2-4% into the 401-ks...knowing that as people get strapped for cash they often reduce their participation percentage or drop out altogether, letting the boss off the hook as well..


People all over the country with high school educations (many with less) that probably did not even teach them how to successfully balance a checkbook, were suddenly "investors"..

Don't understand it?.. well never fear, the cable TV people will hook you up with the likes of Jim Cramer & his cohorts..and the online folks will offer you their website casino hosts... um ...experts..

How could this plan possibly fail?

For a while, many people did ride the bubble successfully (on paper..even Bernie Madoff sent out glowing statements), and some managed to pull their money out in time, by retiring at just the right moment in time, but for many many many more, all that money faithfully deducted every payday & matched (somewhat) by their employers...over all those years, was little more than a huge wad of "walking around casino money" for all the wall street hotshots. They were supposed to invest your money over the long haul, so you could retire with MORE than that stodgy old pension would have given you.

It's no surprise that the 401-k came along as the Boomers entered their prime earning years. Those were also the merger & acquisition years, so it made the 401-k seem like a fantastic way to avoid losing a pension as some companies merged & others flopped dead in their tracks.

Substitute "Health Insurance corporations & Pharma" for "Wall street" and we've got pretty much the same deal going on here, folks.. with a twist ..

the twist?

fines if you do not participate, unregulated cost increases if you do.

Corporations NEVER operate for the good of mankind.. They serve the bottom line...the BIG-investor class.

Our nation has a saddle on the Boomer Generation..and they've ridden us our whole lives (for optimum extraction of money).. This is the final act..

REAL health care will start after most of us are gone. Why? Economics

The instant the election is called for the "winner", the focus shifts into "what went wrong" for the "other guy", and who will run in 4 years.

Every president has his (or her, someday) detractors, and the press loves to bash whomever ends up in that comfy chair in the Oval Office, but the vanquished, in recent history, has refused to accept that fact. they plot and scheme, and undermine, and whimper and whine.. they look for every bit of unused "dirt" they can find, to poison the administration of the newly-elected president.

They delight in public humiliation and have fine-tuned the art of ridicule.

The "honeymoon" period is non-existent.

we don't have a legislature.. we have 535 individuals, all vying for the same pot-of-gold, aka campaign loot and cushy "jobs" for their family members.

They are too afraid to actually legislate, because they fear any votes they may have cast, being used "against" them in the next election. Winning an election no longer matters, because once won, the next one is immediately "in-progress"....no majority is ever strong enough to counter the boisterous minority completely, and plans are always afoot to strengthen the next election's results with a BIGGER majority.

The party that lost (especially if it's the republican party) merely has to refuse to BE losers. Anyone who has ever watched football knows that most of the points are scored by the agile running backs, and NOT by the 300 lb front line behemoths. To "win", it's easier to be on the offensive side of things (in all senses of the word...lord knows that republicans are among the most offensive beings on the planet).

There used to be a denouement that happened after an election.. there was a time when the winners were allowed to actually govern. Sure, the politicos were constantly focused on the next hurrah, but for most of the public, they settled in and let history unfold.

We were patient enough to understand that four or eight years of policies-gone-awry could not be instantly "cured".

Somewhere along the line we got addicted to campaigns & elections, and stopped allowing governance to occur.

Imagine if this happened in real life:

a job opening is posted.. 5 people apply..one is chosen, and every day at work the 4 losers run to HR complaining about the "new guy", they send off scathing "appraisals" of his job-performance to headquarters, and try to convince other co-workers that he's doing a shitty job and needs to be fired, they email rude cartoons of him to everyone, they egg his car in the parking lot, they crank-call his wife, they sabotage his work...some bring guns to work, just because it's their right..

would this be acceptable behavior at a workplace?

Sometimes I wonder why anyone would even want to be president.

Their formerly thriving economies got stolen right out from under them.

They used to have a three-pronged economy:
1> heavy industry
2> tourism
3> agriculture

Now they have very little of any of those three, and they were all inter-dependent.

The middle class guy worked in the factory with union wages & full benefits.
His family could afford to send their kids to summer camps that once dotted the countryside..these were middle class kids, whose family could afford to send them to camp for weeks at a time. The "rich-kids" had their camps too, but there were a LOT of not-rich kids who went to camp too.

These same families often had a fishing boat, and many had a "cabin on the lake" somewhere. It was probably a pretty dismal little place, but it was theirs, and it was a haven for them in the summer time.

Before A/C was everywhere, Mom & the kids often were dispatched to "the lake" during the hot summer, and Dads worked in offices with A/C or at a place that was hot year round (so they probably did not notice the extra degrees)..Dads drove "out" on the weekends, or "Batched" it , while the Moms & kids vacationed in the nature areas....and they did it without credit.

Many 50 & 60 year olds from those areas remember how all those little towns all over Michigan & Ohio & Pennsylvania came alive with city families escaping the heat.

The tourism of these states was built on MIDDLE CLASS vacationers, not the 5th Avenue types... those folks went to the Hamptons or to Europe.

Before there was Con Agra & Archer,Daniels,Midland gobbling up all the orchards & farms, or the land being sold off to build suburbs, there was a bustling economy every spring & summer at the orchards, and again in the fall when it was apple season.

Exit heavy industry, and the floors fell out-from-under the other economies as well. People who have sketchy incomes and shaky family-finances, no longer send their kids to camp or take vacations like they used to.

When the lakes are only used for high-cost fishing expeditions & the Great Lakes shore-fronts are "reserved" for the "mansions-only" people, the economy base gets tipped on its axis, and never recovers.

Every motel closed, every restaurant closed, every summer camp closed, every ticky-tacky bait shop closed, causes ripples across that community, and beyond.

It's been happening for a very long time, and it's hit critical mass.

The family whose financial lives get "gutted" at a particular time in their lives, NEVER recovers.. If you have adolescent kids, and you have been saving for their college, and dad loses his job, that savings gets used for rent or house-payments or food, and it never gets "paid back". Add to that, the fact that tuition has doubled & re-doubled, and many kids who might have gone to college before, will now NOT go. College no longer guarantees much, but it used to be a "marker" for many families. It proved that you had "made it". There were many "markers".. odd things like braces & contact lenses for the kids, that summer place, 2 cars, etc.

Markers are being given up, all over the place, and as people retreat from where they are, or where they thought they were... to a place they tried so hard to NOT be, it takes a psychological toll as well as a financial one.

What marked us as a people, was our optimism, and that's fading fast. True, over 3/5 of the population IS employed and seems secure, BUT when they look around and see others around them succumbing, through no "fault" of their own, it's not hard to see why people are not spending like they used to.

Many (most?) of these people who are barely hanging on see a pretty bleak future. Thom Hartmann said something a while back on his radio show that stuck with me. He said that in the next 15 years we will be seeing the largest transferal of "wealth"...ever.. as middle class Boomers transfer their life's worth of wealth...not to their children...but to pharmaceutical corporations, long-term care facilities, health-care insurance corporations, hospitals & doctors. After a lifetime of working, everything they managed to accumulate will be cashed in like casino chips, just to stay alive a little longer. Their children will receive little, if anything from them when they are gone.

Service economies with no safety net, only allow most people to exist day-to-day. There are few careers in these types of jobs. there are "contracts" or "jobs". The transition from career to job came within a lifetime, but the mythology lives on..in books, movies, in popular culture. It's as dead as the Dodo or the Carrier Pigeon, and it will not be returning..

when it becomes so ritualistic, so full of congratulatory pageantry, it may be a psychological "nudge" to keep on doing it.

All the choirs, the flags & parades, to "honor" the ones who "gave their lives" or who are the "fallen".

They did not GIVE their lives, and they did not "oops-fall", they were SENT to war by a GOVERNMENT that for some reason, could not negotiate, and chose to fight...with other-people's-children, of course.

Wars, looked at long-term, are an oddity. We are trading with those countries, are allies with them, even friends now. Did the spilled blood of war do that? or did each side finally have so much loss and fatigue, that they each said "uncle" and decided to talk?

We fought the British, and we are best pals
We fought the Philippines and now we are friends
We fought Germany TWICE, and now we are "bestest-buds"
We fought part of Spain and we vacation there now
We fought Japan, and we are their "parent-turned-buddy"
We fought Viet Nam, and now they are valued trading partners (and makers of cheap shit we love to buy)
The exception is North Korea, but we have shunned them,but South Korea is very prosperous, and more powerful than ever in their history
We even fought part of ourselves, and now eagerly accept presidents from their "parts" (although sometimes the war still seethes, just below the surface)

For the family and friends of a deceased soldier, there has to be something to make the pain less; a reason to accept the unacceptable, and that may be the pageantry, the idolization of the "fallen warrior". They have to be made to believe that their son/ daughter/ mother/ father/ uncle/ brother/ sister/ cousin/ aunt/ friend died for something. To believe otherwise means they died for no good reason.. that their lives were thrown away.

But during and after those parades, there are more "fallen" being added to the list for next year, more headstones being carved, and the leaders who place the wreaths, all go out to dinner with friends, and resume their normal lives...few if any of "their own" are in harm's way...and then we wait for next year's pageantry.

how many people will show up with a cashier's check for $10K?

I am starting to think that the whole health care plan was scuttled early on, and all the drama is just that...drama.

It should have been but ONE facet (of 4)of a real stimulus bill ...in FEBRUARY, and it should have been Medicare for all people , with a cessation of employer-assisted health care.

Facet #2 of the stimulus should have been the nationalization and re-regulation for the "big" banks/financial institutions, for 2 years, during which a FULL audit and inspection (attic to sub-basement) would have been done..and results published....followed by prosecution of CEOs...That would have reinstated faith in banking.

Facet #3 should have been an immediate revocation of all "tax-cuts" given in the last 12 years, and a return to a saner tax policy...with one exception. LOWER tax rates for people earning less than 100K

Facet #4 should have been a lowering of interest rates/cram down for people who were stuck with houses suddenly devalued by 30% or more (for maybe 5 years or so)...computers could have easily handled this, and a simple letter notifying these folks would have been easy.. "your new house payment is $....." would have sufficed, and would have kept millions of people in their houses, paying payments.

Dithering, dickering, dawdling, and dribbling, has only made the problems last longer, made the people madder, and in the end, we'll emerge with a shiny new bubble, all ready to pop in another 10-15 years..

The really scary thing is this.. Abortion, immigration, gay rights, were all issues that were diligently sidetracked during the election cycle, but now that Obama is president, they are all back, in a BIG way, and will be inserted into every bit of legislation he tries to pass.

His opponents were as afraid as he was, of using them in the campaigns (except in a dog-whistle-y way), but all bets are off now, thanks to the teabag people, and all the new right wing groups that are forming. They did not dare to attack Obama much when they knew he "might" win, but now that he has, they can finally "speak their minds".

They can trot out all their old issues, like trusted old friends, not seen for a while, and can attach those old friends to any issue they choose..and then they can beat the president about the head and shoulders with those old issues...and they can even get some help, with the likes of Lieberman, Nelson, Landrieu and others like them.

Congress has seen the balance sheet..they KNOW they have spent us into oblivion, and they also know that what money is coming in via taxes, is money THEY want and need for their own special issues. They all have health care for themselves and their families..they all make enough to live on...they have cushy jobs just waiting for them when they do get beaten, or decide to "spend more time with their families".

Status Quo is their goal, and even though they mouth the words of change, occasionally, they fear it, and will do whatever it takes (as a group) to maintain their old pal, Status Quo.

The main reason why we are having so much trouble with health care is that it's being done out of order.

Media & Lobbying are muddying the waters....bigtime..

and why would they be doing this?

Because BIG MONEY is at stake.

True reform will never happen until the stranglehold that money has on our legislators, is gone.

None of the "players" want the circle broken, because it's just perfect the way it is now.

1. congressman needs millions for his campaign every two years
2. business steps up and "helps"
3. congressman gives most of the "helpful" money to media, as ads
4. congressman votes to "help" or at least to "not hurt" his money-guys

Media is no longer even partially "independent".. they are all part of mega-corporations, and must make money. They make money by selling airspace to torment us viewers every 4.7 minutes.

Only the congressional types who can attract the big money, end up being the mouthpieces and movers & shakers of congress (there are a few exceptions, but they carry little real weight in legislative functions).

We desperately need public financing, but the powers that be are scared shitless of this idea, since "their guys" would no longer have the edge.

We will probably never get public financing though, since we are "broke", and every legislator will remind us all of that every time the idea is broached in a serious way.

Term limits would go a long way to ending the stranglehold, but since the staffers do most of the "real work" , just changing the light bulb will not alter the way the socket works, and there's never been much support for term limits, especially since the ones IN office would essentially be the ones that would have to change the rules.

In order for "the public" to ever have meaningful changes made, that would improve their lives, and deliver what we all have been asking for..for decades, we would have to have a truly fair representation in media, and would have to have legislators who represent what WE want...not what the legislators' benefactors will "allow" us to have.

Until we remove big money from our election process, and return control to the public, we will never get candidates who represent what we want.

We are trying to get meaningful health care legislation within a system that is against what we need and what we want.

If we had congresspeople and senators who were representing US, we would have it. They are elected by us, but they do not represent us.

Media has a vested interest in keeping important issues muddled. Real change would bankrupt them.

Big Business would suffer with real change, because they would have to start paying for a lot of things they currently get for free

Our congress is in the business of talking issues to death, and occasionally taking a stab at a problem, but usually making it worse, not better. It's just what they do, they really can't help it.... and even if they could, they probably wouldn't. These people we send to DC are on the ego-trip of their life. They (most of them) are seeing to the future security of their own families, and lining up lucrative deals on the side, in case they lose an election. if they accidentally do something worthwhile, you can count on it being challenged at every turn, and possibly ending up at SCOTUS' doorstep for "refinement".

Media tells us what we want, what we need, and our legislators pay them well to keep on telling us.



Big Media... Big Money ... Big Business... Big Nothing for us

This is what's at the crux of our next problem.

We (the US) are no longer the driving force in the world. We no longer make & provide the necessities of life for the world.

When we stopped BIG manufacturing, on a grand scale, we switched to a "make-work" economy, where paper-pushing, phone-answering, consulting, counseling, tending-to, etc., became our "new way".

We were all told that manufacturing was dirty, time-consuming, back-breaking work...it polluted (it really did), it was costly to maintain and innovate all those creaky old factories, and our "colonies" abroad could do the work for pennies on the dollar...YAY!! cheap stuff.

The manipulation of currency and trade deals and so many other financial shenanigans drove this runaway bus, but it's finally run out of gas, and there are so many enterprises that will never be coming back, and so many jobs will never return either.

We can accept the fact that the fantastic steel mill wages & UAW wages and so many other "good" jobs will never again be here, but even the cruddy soul-sucking desk/cubicle jobs are scarce now.

We overdid it, because so many people had to have an income, and that meant there had to be jobs for people, even if they were not "necessary" jobs.

Those of us who are older, have a reference point to gauge the changes.

A town of 20-30K used to have a few shoe stores, a few good department stores, a couple of grocery stores, maybe 2 or 3 theaters..There was competition, but there was also enough business to support all (or most) of these businesses. Many were businesses that had been there for 50 year or more, and had supported families, employed people, and prospered. They were NOT 110K sq.ft./jammed to the rafters stores. They were modest family businesses. The owners did not "borrow to meet payroll". they paid for their merchandise with the 10-day-discount, they saved their profit, for lean times, and they did not loot their businesses for their own gratification.

Everywhere you go today, things are exactly the same, all towns have the same stores, restaurants, etc. People all work for the same bosses, because a precious few own everything. Entrepreneurs start a business, it prospers a little, and they immediately look into selling it for "big-bucks" to a corporate cannibal, who guts it, lays people off, and passes it on to the next corporate cannibal, looking for a write-off. The customers & employees of that company just fall by the wayside.

There is more to business than just price-cutting and undercutting. People have basic needs and they have wants & desires. Businesses crop up to satisfy these needs & wants, but when there are too many places offering these goods & services, there's not enough demand to keep them all afloat.

People are lazy, and they like to get everything easy. It's no wonder that the shopping center idea took root in the 60's & 70's, but too much it still too much.

We were all better off when we had fewer "choices", but those choices were goods made by, transported by, sold by our own fellow citizens, and the commerce was spread around to everyone along the line. Money circulated and it made stops all along the ladder..top to bottom.

Progress always puts someone out of business, but hyper-progress and mass consumerism has put millions out of work, and millions more deep into life-crushing debt..and lowered wages for most of us.

What's next?

Where will all these unemployed find work?

house building-selling-furnishing? unlikely anytime soon

will 45-60 yr olds "go back to school" so they can start over? unlikely

just how does a 24 yr old saddled with 40K of school debt, ever get out of debt in time to start a life?

If 35-40% of income goes to put a roof over your head and 30% is "acceptable" for medical COVERAGE (not the actual medical procedures), how does the remaining 30% lead one to a comfortable lifestyle?

all questions & no answers yet..

stay tuned..it's going to be an interesting docu-drama

But not "that kind of free". You know the one I mean----the "free", as in free from British Rule.

That's so "last 3-centuries ago".

We are accustomed to BEING free, as we know it.

We have morphed into wanting everything to BE free FOR us.

Roads?? yep..we need 'em....
but god-damn..don't you DARE raise MY taxes to pay for them

Schools?? yep we need 'em....

but
a) "my" property taxes are already too high
b) "my" kids are grown up
c) I don't HAVE any kids

Health care?? yep we need it

but
it should be freeeeeee, by cutting someone else's programs/benefits..don't you DARE suggest raising MY taxes to pay for it..even if it means I have shitty coverage and may end up a pauper if I do get sick..but, I'm healthy and don't plan to ever get sick, or maybe later if I do get sick, I'll have won the lotto and will be rich, I tell ya..rich!



We love "the free" in America.

People will stampede their fellow citizens to get a good place in line for free or near-free "stuff". People send off for free stuff all the time, even though it might be stuff they can't, or won't use, and with houses stuffed to the rafters with other stuff already, have no room to store.

A BOGO deal is a wonder to behold, and people line up to participate.

People camp out, the day after Christmas to get "free-with purchase" or "half-off" for wrapping paper for next year's gifts they cannot afford, because many are still paying for the previous years' gifts.

Is it any wonder that the government always struggles with passing legislation for things we really need?

"STUFF" COSTS MONEY, and we have become accustomed to thinking that things "can be" free, if only we "work the numbers right", and get someone else to pay, or make it appear to be free.

We've been planning the fishing trip for decades, and we plan and we plan and we plan. We argue, we argue some more and then when we're done arguing, we argue again.

The time to fish or cut bait has arrived.

The one thing that politicians hardly ever talk about is this one issue.

National Responsibility to the citizens

Kennedy asked us to "Ask not, what our country could do for us, but what we could do for our country".

The "we", implied in his speech was ALL OF US..and in response to his request, people DID step up, and they did participate.

The "doing for the country", was actually doing for ALL OF US.. the people.

At some point in time "the country" does have an obligation to "the people".

In this particular time in our history, "the people" are starting to get the "Jewish/Catholic/Irish/etc-Mother Complex"... 'I give and I give and I give, and what do I get? not even a phone call, a letter..'

We see our tax money going OUT of our family coffers, and we see little benefit coming back.

Being a club member gives one special benefits. Sometimes it's preferred seating for an event, or advance notice of special sales, or discounts for dining.

Being a citizen of many countries confers special benefits we can only dream of. (Oh, to be a 60 yr old Canadian about now.)

Our "country" does not consider "the people" to be important. the people we hire to speak for us, as "the country", have chosen to blow us all off, in exchange for goodies from corporations. the stealthy part of the bargain is that these corporations are our bosses. The system has been turned on its head. We rely on these corporations for the paychecks that keep us all going, but the money they make from selling goods and services TO us, is funneled back to politicians we hire to protect us, and is then used to make it possible for those same corporations (the ones who use our labor and only exist to sell us stuff) to screw us out of every last cent we have left over.

"The People" i.e. ordinary citizens of the US are not important. our country owes us no responsibility. Apparently our country is little more than a big hunk of dirt, sitting in-between the Atlantic & the Pacific, and we just pay "rent" to be allowed to stay here.

We are not important enough to have decent health care, without flaming hoops to jump through

We are not important enough to have our children properly educated

We are not important enough to have guaranteed living wages

Everything is "negotiable", basic necessities of life are easily bargained away, and never secured for us. Every administration sets out to undo what the previous one has done or tried to do, and in the interim, "the people" are just pawns on a chessboard, being moved around, ready for the easy-sacrifice .

Issues that should have been "decided" decades ago (any many, we thought, were), are just recycled for new argument, new definitions, new exclusions.

We keep planning, & arguing & fussing, and yet we never go on that fishing trip..

The time is NOW!

There are far too many people in the good ole USofA, who have bought into the "We're No.1" meme..about EVERYTHING!.

best hospitals
best doctors
best schools
best colleges
best of it all
best military
best standard of living

The people who truly believe this, cannot see how anything should be changed.
If it's the best, why would anyone even need to make it "better".. How do you make something that's best, better? Why would you even try?

We have a superiority complex.

Until we, as a populace, can admit that we are NOT "the best", we can never accept real change.

Any time politicians promote change, it's a given that they want things to be better. Who would promise to change things for the worse?

For things to get better, we have to admit that things are not so good now, and people just refuse to do it.

They give lip-service to the problems they personally are feeling, but have no feel for the overall problems of society.

If THEIR kid goes to a good school, then there's nothing wrong with education.

If THEIR doctor is good, all doctors must be good too.

If THEIR job is secure, why worry about unemployment?


We have been sold this "Best" lingo for so long now, that to even suggest that we may be less than "best", is tantamount to treason.

Something that's vital to measuring "good-better-best", is also missing from the mix.. Comparison.

Most Americans still have not spent much time AWAY from here. What they know about the rest of the world, is what they have seen in the movies, or have been told by the media.

When most Americans travel, they tend to go places that are thoroughly "americanized-for-their-protection", so even foreign travel is no guarantee that they will learn that much about the rest of the world.

Immigrants who declare the USA to be the BEST place in the world, often only are comparing it to where they came from.. If they came from a third world country, it's only natural for them to feel this way, but it's also ironic that people who never left this place, and who loathe immigrants, would adopt their words as confirmation that we are "the best".

We have the POTENTIAL to be "the best", but we choose not to be.

We are "okay", but we are not "best" enough to be resiting change to become "better". There's a lot of room between "the best" that we claim to be already, and the "best" that we should be.

The nut-cases are doing now, what they could not manage to do in '08....and they are doing it with the aid & comfort of the same media who shut them down last year.

What a difference a year makes.

They were unsuccessful last year because "their" candidate was un-electable, and the press did not want to waste precious time on a bunch of whiny racists. They did show the most outrageous of the bunch who shouted "Kill him" or "Traitor" at Palin rallies, but the coverage was about "free speech" and little more.

Another reason they were unsuccessful last year, was the fact that Hillary Clinton stayed in the race for such a long time, that many of the most racist of the GOP base were torn between two longstanding "hates", and probably waited too long to gin up much rabble-rousing.

There was a time when they tipped their hand though, by suddenly masking their Clinton-hate, and crossing over to actually vote for her (Texas primaries & beyond).. Does anyone really think they all-of-a-sudden "liked" her? and would vote for her over their party-chosen-hack?.. This was when they realized that a black man just might win this thing.

Given a choice between Hillary and "the black guy", they would choose Hillary.. They already hated her, and had a quiverful of arrows just for her, but would need more time to craft a barrage designed especially for a black man... they had to be careful with this attack, or they would be once again be called out on their racism. Republican racism is best left just under the surface..like a stealthy submarine, cruising unnoticed by the masses.

These are the same people who overlooked every blunder that GW made..that was a daily event, for at least 8 long years.

They were willing to suspend disbelief, as he failed to deliver on almost everything he promised them.

They willingly "gave him" their husbands, daughters, fathers, sons, grandsons, etc. to go off and fight in two wars, one a meaningless war for profiteering contractors and friends-of-Bush, the other a hastily exited, poorly executed one in Afghanistan. They were willing to trade their flesh & blood loved ones, for a few lines of text in a paper and a folded flag.

They cooed and clucked as he vacationed his way through two terms, claiming that he "needed his rest", and wasn't he quite a manly figure...with that cowboy hat & that chainsaw.

They looked the other way as he proffered yearly budgets without money for either war, and as he added bloated, yet unfunded spending legislation onto their back (and onto the backs of their progeny).

The editorialists they claim as their own, gleefully climbed aboard the war-bus, and told them all how important and necessary these two wars were, and how the cost was nothing to worry about now, because "it had to be done".

AND THEN THE BLACK GUY WON!

After the initial shock, and the obligatory pats on their own backs for "electing the first black man to be president" (even though 99% of them did not vote for him), they set out to undermine him, even if it meant destroying their party in the process. The ends justify the means.

They cannot attack his intellect..or his stage presence..or his ability to communicate....but he IS still black.

No matter how hard it is to clean up the messes left by "their guy", or how necessary it is to HAVE the mess cleaned up.....for all of us, they are still willing to do everything they can to undermine him.

The only effective tool left to them is FEAR. They have to make him scary, questionable, controversial.

Media is only too happy to comply. they were on their best-behavior last year, because they too, were worried about just how to cover the first black man running for the highest office in the country. After 8 long years of bumbling, stumbling, & stammering, they were happy to finally have a literate, composed and intellectual to cover, and they went all in. But that was then, and this is now.

They could not attack Barack, the black man..but as president, they are unfettered now, and anything goes, so they are happy to report on all the nonsensical birthers, deathers, teabaggers, town-brawlers, gun-toters..

Media coverage, to these people is like water to fish.. It's what they need, in order to exist and to prosper.

So now we are where we are.

The black man is going to scare the children..
The black man wants us all to have health care
The black man is trying to clean up the messes left to us by 30 years of neglect
His wife wears SHORTS
His daughter wears a "Peace" shirt


How dare he!

and every day at work, the guy you replaced, all his friends, and everyone who tried out for your job, are there..in your face, criticizing your efforts. They have their friends writing articles and are posting them on the bulletin boards at work, in your neighborhood, and in the papers, about how awful you are at your job..how you did not deserve the job...how much better ANY one of them would be at the job, how much better the previous guy was at the job..

and yet the job is an important one... a job that needs undivided attention, and as few distractions as possible...

could be the head of surgery at a major hospital

or principle at a school

or manager of a nuclear power plant

or fire chief

or any job really..

I've been around a very long time, and I have NEVER EVER EVER seen the likes of what Cheney & his pals are doing..and how the press is carrying the water for them.

In case they have not noticed, the STORY here is the fact that the previous administration is MEDDLING, and trying to UNDERMINE their legally elected successors.

Gore & Clinton did not trash talk Bush..Carter did not trash talk Reagan.. Ford did not trash talk Carter..

Nixon was seen as a tragic figure and was let off the hook once he was out of office, and pretty much ignored.

This is dangerous. It's dangerous to our president, to our international standing, and to our whole government.

We are devolving into Banana Republic territory, where "formers" are berated, demonized and in some cases "disappeared".

Blast from the past.. Cleaning up an old computer..found this from 2004 about the Kennedy v Bush dynasties..

I thought it was fitting to re post it now..


SoCalDem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Sat Feb-07-04 09:29 PM



The Litter Box Dynasty




Stories are all over the media about the Bush Dynasty.. No doubt they are craftily placed there by Carl Rove or some other Bush flunkie, so that they can be oh so modestly discounted by the Bush family itself..

The “Camelot Mystique” of the JFK presidency was America’s longing for what could never be..
Dynasties by their very nature span generations , and feature familial consistency.. The Kennedy family is attractive, outgoing, and civic minded ..They have always been this way.. The fact that so many of them have met a tragic end, and at a young age only serves to give them mythic proportions..

No one will ever know how the Camelot myth would have turned out if JFK had not been assassinated.. Maybe he would have stumbled and the Viet Nam war could have ruined HIS presidency.. Maybe not.. What the people saw was a vigorous, outgoing, intelligent man in his prime, with a drop-dead gorgeous young wife.. They had everything.. Fame , fortune, good looks, breeding, culture, darling toddlers and a whole lifetime ahead of them.

John F. Kennedy came from a family that valued service to country.. Joe Kennedy was a scoundrel ,and made his fortune from “ rum-running” during prohibition , but the average people probably did not begrudge him his fortune.. They were able to “party on” because of him.. When WWII came along, HIS children served and died during their service.. He could have made one phone call and they could have played polo during WWII.. Even though GHW Bush has been declared a “war hero” for having his plane shot down, his war service pales by comparison. When Kennedy had his “wartime crisis”, he SAVED his shipmates, even though he was injured…. Bush bailed out, and left his crew to perish..

Republicans have never had what it takes in the Dynasty Department.. The republican presidents in the modern era have all lacked the charisma to even capture the imagination of the public..

Lets examine them:

Eisenhower, while a great wartime general, was a rather bland public figure.. He was elderly and ill when he became president and his son was middle aged by the time he entered the White House.. The country had no dynastic expectations of him.. We needed a “Grandpa” to make the bad dreams of WWII go away..

Nixon, was an aloof , paranoid, control freak.. His wife, Pat, was a quiet person by nature and never meshed with the public. Nixon went out of his way to nurture the image that they were “plain folks”, “cloth coat” folks... Dynasties do not spring from “plain folk”.. Larger-than-life, exciting, interesting people form the nucleus of dynasties.. The Nixon daughters, were ordinary girls, in a chaotic time. Though they may have secretly empathized with their peers, they could only toe the line that their father put out for them. They never really “caught on” with the public.. Of course, the female children of a leader are usually not held in as high regard as male heirs, so that may have had something to do with it..


Reagan was the ultimate “central casting” coup . He was an actor, first and foremost , and played the role of a lifetime. He was personable and friendly, but Mrs. Reagan, though loved by her intimate friends, was not a warm person. She personified the image of the person behind the person.. Though she wielded no actual power, it was obvious that Ronnie did her bidding.. Their children were nothing special , and the obvious disdain of the children left a lot of doubt as to the parenting skills of Ronnie & Mommie.. It was apparent that none of the Reagan children were capable of “picking up the torch” from their father...No Dynasty there...


Now we arrive at the “Bush Dynasty”.. At least part of the word suits them...the “nasty” part, that is..

George HW Bush entered the White House with a sense of entitlement, but lacked the charisma to make his “subjects” love him. His wife did not help him in that department either. Barbara may have looked like the sweet grandmotherly type, but it was obvious immediately, that she was a stern, humorless harridan .. There was always an unkind word to be said, when silence from her would have sufficed. The Bush children were grown and could not help soften the image of either.. Even when GHWB tried to use this grandchildren, he could not restrain himself from calling attention to the “little brown ones”.. His children USED his influence obtain wealth, at the expense of the public..

George W Bush blew into the White House like the F5 Texas Tornado that he is.. Spreading damage and destruction all around him. He came armed with a mousy compliant wife and non-existent family values to spare. The problem he had from day one, was that over half of the country did not believe he won fair & square.. Even in their dark little hearts, there have to be some republicans who know the truth, but refuse to admit it.. The Bush daughters show little evidence that they will mature into anything other than what they are now.... Spoiled, privileged children usually grow into spoiled privileged adults.. But, they are not a factor in the Dynasty .Dynasties favor male children..

The Bush lineage, is nothing to be proud of. The Walkers and the Bushes do go way back, but instead of rum-running, their background is rife with stock fraud, insider trading, and even doing business with the Nazis during WWII.. When it came time for his sons to serve in THEIR war, he “bought” them a pass.. Where Joe Kennedy sent his sons, and one daughter (Kathleen) to die and be injured, the Bush heirs would have none of it..

In fact MOST of the Bush lineage that the public hears about is “manufactured”, and re created for modern consumption.. The real turdlets of truth behind the dynasty they have created are still buried in the Bush Family Litter Box .. They have spent a lifetime covering up the vile stuff that each new Bush “deposits” .. They have delusions of grandeur, that Jeb will follow George W, and then after Jeb, will come “one of the little brown ones”, George P.Bush..

Only time will tell, and hopefully someday someone will have the courage to empty that Litter Box..


LitterBox cake recipe:
http://www.fabulousfoods.com/usa/article/1...

Code words, all.

History is defined as:



Of course we all know who "writes down" the history. The "winners", and the ones with the money to promote & publish write the history. Over time, "new" versions of old events encroach on the old histories, but once written down, they all persist, side-by-side, just waiting for the devotees of any and all versions to choose which one to believe.

Some histories end up cloaked by careful editing, and others explode onto the scene, full of revelatory details that no one seems to have known about until then.

Every time a famous person dies, or some current event tweaks our collective memories, historical data flows like water, over a cliff.

Living an a cable-news-24/7 world, we often forget that there was a time, when contemporaneous reporting was written down, and stored away. It's still there, if we look for it, but it's often easier to "listen" to today's storytellers as they "fill us in" on background material.

Public education has done a pretty poor job in recent years, so it's entirely possible these days for a LARGE segment of our population to have "learned" history from what they see on The History Channel or from so-called historical novels.






CULTURE...SOME DEFINITIONS



Using politics as the prism, it's easy to see why there are such vast differences at play. Reagan's passing was perfectly okay to one set of culture watchers, and yet abhorred by another. A LOT of the history of the man was/IS still cloaked from sight, so perhaps some of the devotees might have had a different opinion, had they had more access..but perhaps not.

The culture of the right has always always considered themselves as the one true culture, hence the term "counter-culture" was used for anyone daring to question their wisdom. Many of the people on the right, see displaying of their "cultural heritage", as somehow God-given, and justly deserved of continued reverence, even though time has proven many, if not most of them as being hollow, mean-spirited and sometimes just plain evil, in their own vernacular. The appearance of the "stars & bars", back in the public arena just at the same time as civil rights were being won for the dispossessed, is one glaring example.

When someone on the left dies, they are always measured against their flaws, their mis-steps, and are praised as being a great person, "even though they did x or y, back in <date here>...cue the tape...."

The culture & history of the person passing, or of the group they belonged to is somehow treated as if it began and ended with them, instead of them being but one step in the continuum of the total history that made them who they became, and how it will reflect on the ones who follow.

The right understands this and hangs on to their "culture, heritage, & history", for dear life. they love it so much they are always polishing it, tweaking it, and enhancing it. We people on the left are too ready sometimes, to jettison our past, and in doing so, overlook a lot of events, people and happenings that we should be embracing, if for no other reason, than to explain to ourselves why we are so accommodating to injustices done us.

Unions are in our culture,history, heritage, and we seem poised to look away, again.

Health care reform has been in our culture, history & heritage, and we are poised to have it reduced to a paltry compromise that will only nibble at the edges, and do little to change things.

Education is in our culture, history and heritage. But for democrats & progressives, the public school system would never have happened, and yet we have kids all over the country who will start school without books, in schools that are sub-standard

We need to reclaim OUR culture, heritage & history, and start building on it, instead of allowing it to be chipped away, as if it did not matter.