Musings of a Dumb Ass

Musings of a Dumb Ass...... Living within four miles of a State Capital building as the crow flys puts me in a world that is touched by constant politics. A clear majority in my neck of the woods make their living from the state coffers and many more are in associated fields that is State supported. Entire lives are lived from the cradle to the grave by those who trade the adventure of life in the real world for the security of the state paycheck and its benefits. Most of those who make the state government their career are grossly unhappy and only look forward to retirement only to find out they have to get another job to survive which makes them more frustrated than when they worked for a full state paycheck. Those who are in supervisory or management positions are in constant stress over who and what party is in and what their prospects for long term employment are. All in all a pissy way to survive. We also are the hub for government services to the entire state and consequently have state of the art 'in your face and up your ass big brotherism' as companions in everyday life. Our social services is huge with obvious huge budget allocations and unashamedly march around in peoples lives with gusto. In my own life I rubbed shoulders with that agency and found probably the most inept, inneffective, out of touch, unqualified and hopeless individuals in the biggest shameless collection of railheads including the lackluster attorneys that lurk the halls and meeting rooms in attendance of the meetings where idiots wreck the lives of fools on a daily basis. It took two years to untangle my family from the grips of that cancer of humanity and during that time I became familiar with several cases and do not know of even one that could boast of family reunification at the hands of the state even though willing and qualified family was available and eager to recieve and take care children the state was supposedly protecting. Those that were able to recover the children and get the state caseworkers out of their lives were the ones who could hire a lawyer and pry them loose in a courtroom. I know that surely they must have done a good job at some place and time, I just can't figure out where or when. Government and Big Brother are alive and well working in unison day and night to be relevant to everyday life as it is lived by every day people. A family I know is going through a divorce, and while this is tragic, it is a fact of life that is played out in every courtroom in the land every day. In this particular family both sides had done all the things with lawyers and courtrooms that was neccesary, divorce granted, and were told the final documents would be mailed. After a couple of months and no decrees in the mail, my acquaintances were told the hold up was because they (the parents) had not attended classes to teach them how to tell their children they were divorcing. As soon as they go to the social services office in the appropriate county and attend the class, their divorce decree will be mailed to them. Not much left to say about that. On another note of great efficiency and humanity I have two other friends who are employeed by state funded transportation who take senior citizens and disabled to Doctor's appointments on contract from the state. Each of their respective companies have 10 vans/busses which of course require 10 drivers and their mission is to pick up their clients and haul them to their appointments, up to 50 miles one way and occassionally up to 150 miles one way, pick them up after they've seen the doctor and return them to their residence. The average client load for each driver/vehicle is 3 clients a day. I just wonder how many clients board the state van/bus for their free ride and leave a perfectly operable vehicle at home. It's very hard to be sympathetic to those who claim they need help to survive. I need help too. I'm going to work extra tomorrow................