Musings of a Dumb Ass

Musings of a Dumb Ass..... I have an ever present fear of doctors and medicine. I know some have had life extended and continued with a pleasant and useful existence after treatment of whatever. But by and large the numbers do not support general success. Instead perfectly able individuals fall prey to being sick and chase constant medication and doctor's appointments until they're reduced to pill poppers and bloat the disability rolls. I've been bothered by an intestinal problem diagnosed 35 years ago. I've been able to avoid trips to the doctor mostly by doing what makes sense and eating the right foods when the problem growls at me, but advancing age allows my nemesis to growl more often and much louder as time rolls on. About a month ago I was being particularly bothered by a worse than average episode and had been running a low grade temperature for over a week and just generally feeling too bad to want to do anything other than lay around. Most of the time a little rest and correct diet makes everything OK, but not this time. I finally got around to complaining about being sick to my bride and was met with the normal reply of 'if ya don't wanna go to the doctor then don't complain about it'. Well, I didn't want to go to the doctor and I'll complain if I want to. But plainly I needed some help. The doctor still was not an option, not for me anyhow. I knew I needed an antibiotic, but then there's that dreaded trip and the accompanying BS that goes along with it. Later on that evening I was online and after doing whatever I was doing I started searching for natual anti-biotics. I was surprised to find there actually was such a thing and even more surprised at how easy it was to find it. Next morning I was the first customer at the local health food store and made my purchase of some nasty looking stuff called Econasia, derived from the purple cone flower, and used as an anti-biotic by medics on the battlefield up to and including World War Two. According to the health food nut running the store the liquid would work much better than the pill. I took my fevered up sick body back home and took my first dose. It tasted like nothing I'd ever had before and I actually felt a little silly trying it. Everybody knows if you want something that works ya gotta go to the doctor and get a prescription. To my surprise, two days later my fever was gone and four days later there was no sign of my nemesis. I continued my use of this stuff for eight days and a month later I feel better than I've felt in years. I don't know if Econasia is responsible for that, but I DO know I freed the doctor up enough that he can see someone else who wants to see him worse than I. I also have Econasia in my cabinet and I'm certain the doctor can continue pushing pills and destroying lives without interruption from me. Hooray for what's natural.......... I think it works!!!!..........

Musings of a Dumb Ass

Musings of a Dumb Ass.... Humans are very slow to think in an independant way, and sometimes slower to grasp what is true and sometimes obvious. We're shackled by fear and uncertainty and basically unable to shrug off beliefs handed down from the ages although a thought session attended only by oneself with logic as the arbitrator would clear up most of the demons we carry around. Most Americans believe in a supreme being and in the stories handed down and also in writing. While many will defend their religious convictions to the death it is doubtful that any have seen an angel as did the early formers of Christianity. No one else of current credibility has either. Oral Roberts had a 1950's television show on which he healed everybody that came in front of the TV cameras, lame, dumb, deaf, blind, or whatever could be imagined. He seldom failed and left behind a stage littered with discarded crutches and wheelchairs by those who no longer needed them. By around 1960 his healing demonstration show ended to never go to the airwaves again. One must ask, how could such a miraculous and wonderful event as that just stop? It is an absolute that there is no shortage of those who need healed. If God was willing to do it through Oral Roberts in 1958, why not now? Or could it be that an aggressive news media would ask too many questions now of the ones who were recieving all that healing? Do background checks on them and generally check things out? Or have we just outgrown all that now? Oral says he still believes but he never televises healings now. He just sells prayer cloths and such. This Dumb Ass is not actually about religion and the validity of it...or not. But one must visit religion somewhat to get to my point. In the early 1500's Copernicus figured out without a doubt that we revolved around the sun as did other planets. For that he took a lot of heat from the church. More than a hundred years later Galileo confirmed what Copernicus knew, but didn't make his findings public because the church said the earth was the center of everything and the sun revolved around us. He knew things would get tough for him if he said such a thing, so he remained silent until he was an old man before he went public with what he knew. Just as he feared, he was arrested, and spent much of his remaining life under guard for the crime of heresy. Today no one disputes how our solar system operates as far as movement. So..... my point is made about the way we think, and how hard it is to simply let our mind grasp at all things possible without being hindered by old fears and what we think we know. I've been bothered all my life about time and whether or not it's the same for all things. I think it's different for all living things, I just don't know how to think about it in ways I can understand. I think its dimensional. I also am very aware that I, nor any one I've ever heard of including Einstein or my modern hero, Stephen Hawking, have the ability to truly understand anything beyond the fourth dimension although all agree that many more exist, it's just that no one knows what they are or how they work. I watched a program on Nova awhile back about parallel universes, and very credible scientists believe such a thing exists, they just don't know how to find them. I wonder if there's a simpler approach, and within ourselves. I wonder if each one of us is in fact a parallel universe in our being. I see everyone in my sight, and can touch them, but no one within my sight feels exactly what I feel and if I get injured as they're watching me, they have no understanding of the pain I might or might not feel. This is a simplistic approach to a definition of a parallel universe, but since no one knows where or what they are, why couldn't this be considered? I have a head ache now..........

Musings of a Dumb Ass

Musings of a Dumb Ass...... All wars historically have been fought with some sort of strategy based on a pattern or style of warfare. Prior to biblical times armies would simply meet somewhere and engage in hand to hand combat until one side or the other was bludgeoned into submission. The commander who was smart enought to take advantage of nature or local conditions was seen as a great tactician. Outside of that it was basically an exercise that hinged on the element of surprise in deciding the winner. Methods have been slow to change and technology has been the element that decided the victor in many cases. But simplicity is the most powerful constant and the hardest to recognize. The British were successful in having the most fearsome army on the planet with the Redcoats. They were an army of discipline and as such stayed with the game plan and conquered or controlled most of the world. As the misbehaving and unruly colonists in America became a problem and had to be dealt with, lo and behold the same military discipline that allowed them to run the world became a problem, the fearsome and powerful British Redcoats were dispatched to settle things down and as per their method of operation they grouped and marched in formation to straighten out those dumb Americans. But as they marched with strength in numbers as their power, to meet the enemy in yet another victory something happened not in their playbook. The Americans singularly stood behind the trees and shot their asses off as they passed by. The simplicity of such an act is awesome. From the British perspective one might call these early colonists insurgents or in some cases, even terrorists. We are in a simplistic world with a complicated technology driven situation and cannot use both powers accordingly. We equate winning with destroyed real estate and are amazed that a destroyed landscape does not result in a submissive populace. Total victory can only be achieved two ways. One way is to kill so many of the opposition that it is definable as a complete massacre so thouroughly that the losing side can see no way out other than possible death to all of their kind, or to win the hearts and minds of the ones being warred with. Since we equate winning with physical destruction of homes and property, we like the Brits and all those before them are unable to understand when we've lost even though we're doing whatever it was that previously made us winners. In our case, we've lost the war because first we couldn't identify the enemy, and second the hearts and minds of those we meant to conquer will never be ours simply because we cannot understand nor consider them and make no effort to do so. In our present direction, there is no winning for us........... Likewise for the Israeli's.....................

Musings of a Dumb Ass

Musings of a Dumb Ass...... Some things stay in your memory forever and just will not leave. The celluloid color of the fancy steering wheel with the full circle chrome horn ring of my first car, a 1946 Buick Roadmaster with 5 cigarette lighters...... the smell of the talcum powder, my first serious girl friend encounter Vera Miller used....... the rust colored upholstered seats in the Strand Theater..... the majestic sound of the $8.00 stella guitar I bought when I was 8.... The disgusting taste of the horehound candy my buddy Steve stole from Derby's Grocery Store and said we had to eat all of it so they wouldn't have any evidence that we stole it to begin with. Our first phone number, 860-J. We got it in 1954 and the bill was $3.20 a month including taxes. I got our phone bill last month and the taxes on the basic phone service, local, was $28 and some change. A brand spanking new 55' Chevy sedan could be had for $1630.00. The sales tax on a loaded new Chevy Impala today is a bit over $1750.00. In 1973 gasoline was 41 cents a gallon taxes included. Now the tax on a gallon of gas is more than that. My stepfathers salary in 1958 was $125.00 a week which allowed us to live in grand style. The weekly with holding on a ten dollar sweat job is more than that now. This is the price tag of all that inflation I've been bitching about for so long. The government is the only entity doing good with it and hoping inflation will go up some more. And it will. Our answer to it is to raise the minimum wage. Why do I think this entire debacle is so dangerous........ Read the blog again and you tell me.................

Musings of a Dumb Ass

Musings of a Dumb Ass...... I have this unshakable belief that we humans in general are very simple creatures. We don't particularly like that assessment, but it is so. When we complicate anything or any issue to the point that we create options that require 'out of the box' thinking we are at our happiest searching for the hidden and making room for the unlikely rather than look at the simple. This whole damned world after 9-11 has left me flummoxed. At no time have I seen logical thinking and reasonable action since that day. Instead we've acted like fools and hens in a chicken house. I've been unable to put a finger on the reason for our military failure in Iraq. Reasonable thinking will bring you to the conclusion we have been defeated in every way. We have been unable to secure the country, we've been unable to bring anything there under control, we've been unable to win the hearts and minds of the people there, we've been unable to establish anything resembling an effective authoritative government in Iraq, we've shown no ability to rebuild any of the damage incurred in our invasion. We are unable to provide safety even for the Americans there civilian or military and have in fact been beaten into near hiding in what we call 'the green zone' in the nations capital of Baghdad. Outside of that very small area we're sitting ducks for those we can't identify and die daily just driving down the road. All this comes after an invasion that displayed the most awesome, effective, and accurate war toys in the history of the art of warfare. We just blew everything we aimed at all to hell and spared what we wanted to without a mark on it. All this was done basically before the troops arrived on the streets. Perhaps this is the problem with modern day warfare. We just ain't killing enough. Opposing armies that traditionally engaged the invaders fought and killed each other without directly including civilians, except for the Germans and Japs in WW2., they just killed everybody. That's all changed with technology and entire countries are now decimated with minimal loss of life. Israel is now the Kings of brutality and their air assault on Lebanon is being described by many as being uneffective and some even think a failure. Probably because they can't find an opposing army to engage and are reduced to just killing civilians. They too seem to have arrived at this modern day dilemna of warfare. You just can't kill enough civilians to satisfy the thirst for power, and if there's no army to kick the ass off of, how do you ever have a cease fire or sign a peace treaty? How do you know if you've won? If there are no powers in officialdom to surrender how do you know when to stop? Simplicity is powerful..... and scary.................

Musings of a Dumb Ass

Musings of a Dumb Ass.... Most Americans grew up in an environment professing allegiance to the Christian faith. The factual side of what we became dedicated to was of little importance as long as we believed in some version of Jesus as the son of man and the child of God. All Christians equate their faith in the shadow of the Jews although the Jews view the Christians as frauds and not worthy of heaven and in fact believe that none other than the Jews will ever be accepted into heaven. Into this setting comes the Muslims who also worship the God of Abraham as do the Jews and Christians but likewise believe neither the Christians or Jews have a chance at Heaven. In the midst of all this comes the confusion of faith and politics and finally misguided madness and power brokerage. Somehow coming out of World War 2 through what seems to me sympathy to the Jews for the treatment they recieved at the hands of Hitler, and the Christian belief that the Jews must have a homeland for Christ to return to in his second coming, a belief not shared by the other two religions also worshiping the God of Abraham. Equate into this the power of the USA coming out of World War 2 and the formation of The United Nations governed by a majority of nations under our influence and the decision to give the Jews a homeland in Palestine and uprooting those already living there to make room for the ones taking over, then the total support both financially and militarily from us to the Jews ignoring all others translates to today and the situation in the Middle East. There is no way out of this. If the current mess quiets down it will only go back to a simmer to erupt again because resolution will not be allowed by the USA. In our eyes resolution is the complete dominance of Israel over whom ever challenges them and likewise those who want their land and lives back will settle only for the departure of Israel. A very tough situation and possibly one that can only be resolved by a full scale war in which those who oppose Israel and the way she behaves will be obliged to equip those in the gunsights of Israel with equipment and armies to match. No fighter planes have taken to the air from Lebanon to return fire because there aren't any. No tanks have been photographed or filmed returning fire because there aren't any. No organized military is seen taking up arms against those who are destroying everything in sight because they have none capable of rising up. Instead they are relegated to firing missiles that can be set up in a yard of a civilian neighborhood and fired by an incensed Arab ducking the onslaught of an air force with all the modern gadgets and armament suitable to a superpower but sent by a country no bigger than New Hampshire, and of course financed by the USA. In predictable form, we are warning all Muslim nations to not dare to provide armament or any other support to Lebanon or anyone else Israel decides to attack. We have been plain enough in our support of Israel to blatanly give her a week or so to completely destroy everything in Lebanon before any easing up is considered. Those blinded by the religious side of this tragedy believing God is on their side should take a deep breath and look at the whole picture beginning with the formation of the Jewish state in 1948 and those displaced and affected by that action and consider whether that was the correct way for the Jews to have a homeland or not. And be advised.... God will have a way of deserting you as we wreak havoc on our own stability and being, in pursuit of reaching for the blessings of the almighty. If there is an almighty, he or it must be very disappointed in our behaviour......................

Musings of a Dumb Ass

Musings of a Dumb Ass....... More really is less..... We are at a time in history when the ability to communicate is beyond anyones imagination just 20 years ago. Answering machines, call forwarding, voice mail, radio telephone, cell phones and on and on. But in the course of a day how hard is it to talk to a real person? No matter who you call in your business day more than likely you have to endure a machine and a waiting period to actually speak to a live person who in the end won't likely be able to deal with whatever your call is about anyway, and this includes the phone company and your government offices. But it doesn't stop at communication. More is less at the Doctor's office. Never in history have we had more Doctors than now, but don't count on seeing one in a hurry...... doesn't happen that way. And when you finally do jump through enough hurdles to actually see the Doc, you probably will not come to resolution. That only happens after about 49 referrals and untold waiting, then don't expect wellness, probably ain't gonna happen. Don't count on going home for a leisurely evening of television at home....... unless you're either into crime, medicine, or reality shows, because that's all there is. Don't know what happened to those who produced such great television shows from thirty years ago, which by the way you can still see if you don't mind re-runs. All those who made what we watched so great must have died without telling anyone how they done it. Now reality television shows tell us who the next singing star is going to be, who the next great comedian will be, who the next skinny person will be, and allows us to channel our attention to such a small stream that it's easy to fill us up with nothing..... and we seem to love it! In this new age of information we actually have such a little bit that we can't figure out who the bad guys are and in the end neither does anyone else. TV isn't worth it, movies are a lost cause, can't afford shopping, so I spend a disproportionate time on the computer waiting for a revelation of some kind to appear. Being disappointed at that, I'm thinking about trying bee keeping. My Grandfather done that and found a lot of satisfaction, of course the little bastards will probably change my mind on about the third sting and I'll go back to trying to find real people on the phone and watching TV. All things come full circle.................

Musings of a Dumb Ass

Musings of a Dumb Ass.... There's a lot of public figures that believe Israel is fighting The United States war in attacking Lebanon. The ignorance and shallowness of anyone who would make such a statement is without bounds. We are displaying bad judgement and hypocracy at a new level of outrageousness. Lebanon has been accepted as a democratic state friendly to America till now. I suspect that would be a hard sell in Beirut at the present. Everyone knows and it has now been reported that The U.S. has given Israel a week to destroy Hezbollah by whatever means she chooses even though that will include the destruction of Lebanon, it's economy, its real estate and many of its civilian population. I suppose that's the thing to do with Hezbollah and Hamas even though both are recognized as a political party brought to representation by a legal democratic vote of the people of Lebanon (Hezbollah) and Hamas in Palestine. We have become incapable of logical thinking and are into ourselves so much that we believe we're all that really matters, and everyone else on this planet is secondary to what we wish and will by whatever means necessary bend our way. All of the Middle East is watching with hate in their hearts as we again hold back anyone who would challenge Israel while she rants and raves against her neighbors. This will assuredly all come home to us probably in an unexpected way. For instance.... We're fools enough to think Saudi Arabia is our friend, even though she furnished 15 of the 19 hijackers of 9-11 plus Bin Laden. Try this on.... Saudi is now riding high and stacking up American Dollars selling us their $75.00 pr. barrel crude that costs them only cents more per barrel to pump than it did 25 years ago. They are literally making more money than they can count. After a couple of years of this, Saudi will hold enough dollars that if they choose to call them in and use the Euro as the standard instead, they will have the power to crash the already sick American economy in a single unexpected and legal act and we wouldn't see it coming any more than we seen the planes approaching the towers. All major powers have have gone stupid towards the end. I guess we just can't help it..................

Musings of a Dumb Ass

Musings of a Dumb Ass.... Many deep thinkers believe there is a world war going on right now. Since we only have troops officially in combat in two countries, Afghanistan and Iraq, from the vantage point of the American in the street disagreement might seem logical. But a closer examination would suggest powderkeg status between enough nations and allies to make absolute warfare between everybody an eyeblink away. Aside from the human suffering and tragedy that war brings where ever it is, the inability of taking history at its word and assuming that since things have changed it will never happen again is inforgivable. Wars have always raged and always will because power is what drives all of humanity. Nation building as demonstrated all the way back to the Romans has been painful and the argument could be made that it was never worth it because time and conviction has always been the impetus that determined destination in the end anyway. Being born near the end of World War Two doesn't give me the status of 'having lived through it' but one can attain a reasonable cause and affect from studying what led up to it and how it played out. From what I've derived from it, it appears to me that religion didn't play a large part in it. But I think it did set the stage for a religious conflict that is now the underlying cause for terrorism and tension around the world and especially for us. As near as I can tell at no time in recorded history did a conglomerate of nations come together and set aside a portion of real estate for a particular sect of people until the State of Israel came along. Prior to that, statehood has generally been attained by fighting for it by those who will live there. Moreover, the very land that was chosen for Israel was already occupied by others who had to be relocated irrespectful of their history and roots generations deep in the structures they occupied. Any idiot should have known that kind of plan wouldn't come about without a very high pricetag, and even at that would be destined to be a hotbed for eons to come. If the Jews had gone into Palestine and conquered the inhabitants within, then taken control of the territory, unassisted, perhaps respect of the victors would have created a very different state than what is there today. But that isn't what happened, no matter what their supporters might say today. Every day and every inch taken by Israel is only because we stood guard and protected them not only with words and deeds, we equipped them in every way to fight a war in super power style including nuclear against their enemies who in comparison could only throw stones. So why was this support extended to Israel? The biggest reason is biblical, and the next biggest was guilt because of what happened to them in WW2 at the hands of the Germans. Biblical trumps German behaviour, and Christians believe there must be a homeland for the Jews before Christ can come back and fulfill the bible. The fact the Jews disbelieve Jesus' status and importance means nothing to us, which I do believe would make our support for this madness they engage in daily an entry into a religious war. Of course, only the enemy is demonstrating that. We call it everything else but. Others can call it whatever they choose. I call it the way it is............ A religious war, which is the most brutal and deadliest of all..........

Musings of a Dumb Ass

Musings of a Dumb Ass.... Mans inhumanity to man has never taken a break, and the human race is no where near maturing to a level that we can expect respect for each other. Since the dawning of history our kind is noted by the wars we've waged against each other. I suppose we're destined to be as we are and little can be done to change it. Why is this? Hypocracy must surely be the most dangerous weakness we're afflicted with. It has long been know and noted, no one can imagine the misery and hopelessness of starvation as well as the ones starving, yet we pretend to understand. Likewise, no one can understand the sting of discrimination as surely as the one discriminated against. Yet we believe we know. The ones comfortable in their climate controlled homes watching the rain have no clue how it feels to huddle in a grass hut in a monsoon or crawl out of the rubble of a tin house after an earthquake, yet we think so. Experience and memory are not good teachers as demonstrated by the Israeli's. One would believe survival could be attained without the decimation of the weaker. Israel has forgotton the treatment they recieved such a short time ago and now believe it is their God given right to reduce all who oppose them including women and children to the level of stray dogs in their midst. The number of terroristic acts of Americans on Americans far outnumber the number of terroristic attacks on us by foreigners. Summarily it is the same world wide including the attack on the train in India. There is little doubt that the perpertrators of that act will include those from the homeland of India itself. Although America must bear most of the blame for the civil war going on in Iraq (yes, it is definitely a civil war), the fact remains most of the killing is Iraqi's killing Iraqi's, and is religion fueled, and we are impotent in controlling it. We humans are indeed strange creatures and defy understanding. The one who claims to understand is immediately recognisable as a fool who understands nothing. We are changeable. That is our only hope..............

Musings of a Dumb Ass

Musings of a Dumb Ass......... Well,....Shucky darn.... Today the politicians are patting themselves on the back and the Governor of my state says everybody is working harder thus creating a whopping projected 9% annual increase in state revenue, up from the last quarters prediction of a 4.9% increase. No mention of inflation was made. This is the kind of gobbledygook that lights my fire then follows with extreme exhaustion. I am convinced the government in general understands how stupid its constituents really are and have no hesitation to take advantage of it. My states coffers are being rewarded with what in all likelihood will amount to 3/4ths of a billion in unexpected income this year. This is a surplus year on the heels of many that were described as afflicted with fiscal crisis. I find it incredulous that no elected official nor journalist has made a correlation between financial success and good times for the state and the backbreaking burden of inflation. It's almost as if simply because the extra funds are there, we should never question how, and since it's there take the official word, and go to the party with it and feel good about ourselves. In my governments world, there is minute inflation. In my world no matter what I buy, it seems to be more every time I spend my money, and I don't just mean at the gas pump. History will provide a long list of governments and economies that have collapsed because of runaway inflation but for some strange reason we believe that isn't possible here. We have no base to place value on goods and services any more other that what we say the value should be. We have little manufacturing on our shores left and when trade imbalance correction is discussed the scholars of 'free trade' will call us isolationists for any move toward leveling up the playing field, all the while holding the gates open and telling us it's OK as our jobs leave. Granted, it's our fault that we got into this situation, but we refuse to do what's necessary to have parity. I will go to my grave saddened that modern Americans have demonstrated the ultimate in stupidity of self preservation. We have become greedy and self indulgent over a very short historical time and out of touch with sensibility. We've been suckered into believing that it isn't going to stop, but it will. Perhaps time will dictate that I leave before we run aground, but then again, maybe not. If I'm still around when the event happens I'm sure I'll witness a lot of fingerpointing, but little admission that the man in the street and the work-a-day American is the one that gave it away at the ballot box. Call me irresponsible, but the global economy is not, never has been, and probably never will be advantageous for the long term America. We had too much to lose while everyone else had too much to gain, and we have been very poor business people. Inflation folks..... that will do us in with greater efficiency than any foe we've ever faced, and we are in charge of it.........................

Musings of a Dumb Ass

Musings of a Dumb Ass...... Being a blogger is a strange addiction. You can't help but put down your thoughts, no matter what they may be, then wonder if anybody ever looks to see what you said. Most who visit your blog will come and go without comment, taking their thoughts about whatever was said and disappearing into oblivion. Blogging is a bit like mental window peeping. You can see what someones thoughts are without divulging your presence, then go your way either in appreciation or disgust. I'm guilty of all the above. I visit lots of blogs and rarely comment, even if I like them, and by all means remain silent if I don't like them, I just don't go back to them. Some time ago a blog called 'Mental Masturbation' caught my eye and I've visited it often and enjoyed it. It is maintained and posted by a student from India who is plainly an intelligent individual and glad for the opportunity to do what he's doing. This person made a post in tribute to what he feels makes America great and it was truly a refreshing experience to read his words. They were eloquent and from the heart and should be read by all Americans. In surfing blogs, many will be found filled with only anger and criticism, others with complacency and mistrust. It is rare to find one with respect and appreciation such as 'Mental Masturbation's July 4th. post', with the author not looking for something for nothing, but instead, tugging at the reins to contribute. I do hope my fellow blogger, who incidentally lives very close to me, can understand what makes many Americans critical about such a great country, and it is great!. What causes those who complain about what is troubling to them, is that many, myself included, remember a time when personal freedom was very different and much greater than today. There was a time when taxation wasn't the threat to livelihood that it is today. There was a time when one could conduct business and live their lives without the intrusion and interference from our government that is so today. There was a time that our country was very nearly universally respected. That is not so today. It is all those fears that make those of us who were so blessed to be born here to be so vocal about what we feel is wrong and what will surely eventually take away all the things positive that you so wisely and eloquently pointed out in your post. For those who might follow or visit 'Musings of a Dumb Ass' I would invite and suggest that you log on to http://ahm-ahm.blogspot.com and visit 'Mental Masturbation'. It's worth the effort....................

Musings of a Dumb Ass

Musings of a Dumb Ass.... Why Capitalism is no longer viable for us....... I have no quotes from deep thinkers to start with, just observations made over a lifetime of change. When I was a child, unlike today, people gathered up at each others homes and in public places to simply visit. That was when kids had the opportunity to be exposed to the wisdom of 'the menfolk. And wisdom in it's simplest and most effective terms usually came out. There were a couple of words that set the tone for conversation and were fearsome and frightening in particular. One was communism and the other socialism. There seemed to be fear and disrespect for both of them. I really never heard anyone explain what they were and the difference between them but there was no doubt that neither one was good for America. What my childish interest and curiosity in the menfolk's conversation couldn't recognise would become clear to me 50 years later. The menfolk of my childhood were already setting the stage for the loss of true capitalism and freedom even then, so long ago. It was plain they had great respect and desire for 'them union jobs' and what organised labor could do for them. They also had awe in their voices when they talked about how Roosevelt saved the country by giving jobs when there weren't any. What is interesting today is all those positions were acceptable at the time because we could afford it. What they couldn't foresee was where labor and government could take us and how great we'd feel on the journey without giving a thought as to where the final destination would land us and what misery could come of it. Labors job came to be 'get something for nothing'. Governments purpose became 'to give something for nothing' and both labor and government convinced us we had it coming and deserved it and we believed them, even till today. Since we thought we deserved it and had it coming, we became incredibly greedy and hungry for more. And got it. Now we're faced with the socialistic world all the menfolk from my childhood feared so much, and those from that time who are still alive are first in line for the benefits of their fears. What's crazy about it is it works a little like a chain letter. Those on top of the list will concievably get indescribable returns for very little investment while those on the long end of the list can pay out the nose for a lifetime and never recover their investments, and the very last ones on the list may get nothing. So, my fathers, and his fathers generation made the impossible seem so real we're still lining up for 'what's ours' even though the window is closing. Most of us just can't imagine it really happening. Along the way we lost what made us great, which was the desire for a good stable job that we would fight for overtime on, loyalty to our own, and a government that acted in the best interests of its people. Between labor and management there is no respect. It's all about something for nothing, labor trying to pin management down with more of what isn't working anymore and management taking care of only themselves and managing nothing good for the company. We lost respect for ourselves in the workplace and bought into the sales job foreign manufacturers knocked on our doors with and now there is little hard manufacturing going on in this country and even the GM employees are clamoring for a Toyota. Toyota has no history of benefits paid to an American worker and as they build their factories across our land they don't have the retirement and benefits load that American Auto makers have from past generations plus paying a lower wage than Detroit allows them to build more for less. Price and a little bullshit works every time, we all want a Jap or other foreign made car and kid ourselves into thinking that since they're building them here now it's OK to buy them, meanwhile Ford Gm and Chrysler are crumbling at the base even as we all meet at Wal-Mart and buy shovels made in a third world country to dig the rest of our grave. All this, and the government controls not only your retirement and healthcare, but also every facet of your life as it takes, controls, and distributes more of your money every day and encroaches on your freedom hourly........ Ah that socialism.....what a great lover and bedfellow................... it is soooo easy..................

Musings of a Dumb Ass

Musings of a Dumb Ass........ The promise of life.....Yesterday I had my 62nd birthday. I spent most of it working like I usually do, not because I have to, but because I want to. My family went out of their way to pay homage to my day and all in all it was very pleasant. There were all the usual questions including, well, do you feel any older today? Since aging is a progressive event one doesn't usually 'just feel older' at a given time but at some point one usually does notice that lifes requirements are less. One sobering fact of aging is that when you pass the milestone I just did, you must recognise that what's behind you is much more than what's in front of you. I was getting a little melancholy over the arithmetic in my life and wondered to a friend 'what's next'? My friend's reply was two words and very profound and truthful,... 'a lifetime'. A lifetime must be looked upon as a promise. It was so at birth and will be so until death. In my world, the promise is simple. Pick something you want to do, then pour all your passion into it and you will be greater for it, win or lose. That has been my rule for living since I realized I could think, and that thinking was powerful. My life has been such an adventure that to dwell on it in these pages would probably do nothing but foster disbelief in those who might read it. Once life has moved beyond relevance to others it then is owned in heart, body and soul to the one who lived it, and may be lived again and again by the one who lived it through memory. In my case, my wife shared with me, and we experienced together some of the most exciting times possible for a mortal and consequently we still share those times together occasionally. In addition to that of course are those memories and achievements that belong to only I, and sometimes something causes me to remember one of those things forgotton that are pleasant to recall . But as my friend so wisely buttonholed it, a lifetime is what we all have left. I don't waste much of mine, and dreams still visit me occasionally, and as crazy cockamamie thoughts and possibilities invade my thought parameters I never dismiss them as undoable, crazy perhaps, but never undoable........ I still have promise................ !!!!!!