Musings of a Dumb Ass

There is generational confusion in number values. This is a phenonema that grows everyday and has conditioned us to accept change in our daily lives that rearranges what it takes to make us feel secure. The best example of this at the moment is our reaction to gasoline pump prices. Not so long ago the price of gasoline at the pump was stable at the $1.50/1.60 range. Then we had the spiking that took it to three bucks a gallon. Now, celebrating our good fortune, we call it 'down' at $2.29 a gallon and say that should give us confidence and rejuvenate the economy. What? Our money has went up and down in value since we came into being. The old timers called it 'buying power'. As long as wages travel at the same speed as inflation nobody gets hurt, right? Not exactly. Income taxes are on a progressive schedule established way back when and simply says on the schedule of deductions your employer uses when deductions are made from your paycheck, 'if you make at least ****, but not more than *****, your taxes are *****, which means in simple terms, the higher the wage, the higher the percentage deducted. Most all other taxes are predicated at a certain percentage which keeps all of us from having to consider a new amount, it just grows along with inflation automatically, but fast inflation will cure last years budget deficits magically, and the politicians pat themselves on the back for good management when in reality they've done nothing commendable and we're just too dilbert to figure it out. The real decriptive way is to return to buying power translated to real money. Example: Last night I stopped in at my local supermarket to get veggies for a salad and came face to face with $2.99 a pound tomatoes. The way to look at that is to have something to compare to make a judgement of where we are in value/buying power. I remember a time when average wages were $1.25 an hour and tomatoes were $2.00 a fifty five pound bushel. Presently in my neck of the woods average pay is about six hundred bucks a week. Minus an approximate 30% in payroll deduction, more or less, depending, that leaves a whopping $420. in take home pay, or enough to buy not quite three bushels of tomatoes that could be bought with five hours labor at a buck and a quarter an hour from yesteryear. Housing is beyond descriptive comparison. In San Francisco a two bedroom apartment now goes for about three thousand bucks a month. But that's a world to its own isn't it? Maybe. But what if you grew up there? What if your family was there? What if that area was simply home for you and you didn't want to live anywhere else? And what if you were about to retire on social security and figured out your social security stipend would only cover half of your rent? What a hellish situation we've created. Have balls..... vote third party....... you can't make it any worse than it's going to be as it is............

Musings of a Dumb Ass

Musings of a Dumb Ass ........Realities are usually depressing. The disgust I have with the way our politics are and the direction we've been heading for so long has little chance for relief. There's a saying that goes "If you keep on doing what you've always done, then you'll always have what you've always got". I have hopes that one day before it's too late we'll be able to take a stand that's radical and independant and take our country back from the illness that has us in its grips. My idea of radical and independant isn't anarchy. Instead it's a power displayed at the polls like nothing we've experienced. A return to a far more simple way of doing things. A return to personal responsibility. A departure from the idea that government does everything for you. A ceasation of information gathering on the average citizen as a way of life without neccesity, and if information gathering is a neccesity, make sure it is of national importance and nothing to do with control of everyday life. I know my way of thinking is 'out there', but in my mind it is simply a return to a time when privacy was king and each individual took care of themselves and those close to them. It's a simple formula and does not include socialism and welfare. It worked very well once upon a time and would again. It once gave strength to carry us to victory in a time when competitiveness and brutality on the battlfield was unparalelled. We walked away from World War 2 with grace and dignity not to mention victory. Now we can't overcome a little piss ant country in which 97% of its people are unarmed and standing by as spectators while the other 3% make asses of us, and the majority of the planet will take comfort when we come home with our tails between our legs in defeat. There's a way to return to simpleness of life. It requires power at the polls like we've never displayed which of course is the first signal of failure. What the government and the media describes as a landslide election is nothing of the sort. The numbers that separate the numbers of the do's from the don'ts are always very close and certainly are not definable as a landslide by anybodys standards. A simple majority is what counts and the winner of a national election between Democrats and Republicans never has the benefit of runaway numbers. Popular votes for Democratic and Republican Presidential contenders are traditionally very close unless it's the second term run for a very popular sitting President, then the opposing party seems to settle old obligations and let a totally unelectable have a run at it, knowing they're going to get trounced. In my state the best any third party is doing currently is 6%. I'm smart enough to know there is no chance to unseat the powers that be, with all but a smattering of the remaining either Democrat or Republican and equally a stand-off in numbers. But I refuse to sanction Tweedledee OR Tweedledum. It's third party for me...............

Musings of a Dumb Ass

Musings of a Dumb Ass..... Is freedom a state of mind? An idea? An attitude? How does it stack up as a reality? In the 1800's and much of the 1900's an American could carry a weapon in his hand, as a side arm, or completely concealed. To protect us from ourselves the powers that be started encroaching on those rights with the idea that civilized people don't need to protect themselves from each other, then with the idea that the law would protect us from the lawless, therefore firearms would be more of a danger than a protective devise, and we would legislate ourselves to safety. Finally, we were told that only those of us who were willing to register our weapons owned with the powers that be, and now go through training could own firearms. Also those of us who would possess a weapon legally would have to pass judgement through a scrutinizing look at our past and if we do not conform to the approved behavioural patterns we are denied the right to possess, although anyone who wants to circumvent the law can readily purchase a gun. The background check that divulges a felony conviction is one that denies your right to owning and possessing a weapon, even though your felony may have nothing to do with violence and instead be convictions for insufficient checks or even the failure to pay court ordered child support. When a right is governed by the satisfaction of many forms of behaviour are we still in a state of freedom? If we accept the premise of total protection provided by the powers that be, and take no personal part in it, accepting the remedial judgements as final, are we in a state of freedom? If we feel we're free does that make it so? Or if we feel we're oppressed, does that make it so? We live in a far different society than that of my Father and Grandfather, and I'm old enough to remember both. Today's world has little resemblance to either generation's from such a short time ago. In the last few days a city of 70,000 or so north of me put an ordinance in effect banning smoking in all public places and there's an issue on the ballot to be voted on statewide in November asking that the state tax on a package of cigarettes be increased to about a dollar a package in total. As a former smoker from 17 years ago who still occasionally is tempted to 'light up', I must confess that I find smoking totally nasty and it stinks to high heaven, plus I have no doubt it will kill some of us. Having said that, it still strikes me as highly oppressive for our government both federal and local to behave the way they are about the issue. It would seem to me the answer would be to make the sale, possession and manufacture of tobacco products illegal in this country rather than beat everybody to death by degrees as it is being done. Better be careful how you smoke, drink alchohol, or have sex. But Thank God we're free!!!!!!!!!...... and forget the gun, that's just too much trouble nowadays........ but if you do shoot someone, don't be smoking when you do it

Musings of a Dumb Ass

Musings of a Dumb Ass .......... I love freedom. It is such an all encompassing state that I'm not too sure I actually know what it is in reality. Ones freedom can be anothers oppression, for instance, a smoker who puffs away in the midst of one who does not. There are some places on the planet that lay claim to being free, but from another's standpoint may not look so free. In Germany, a waiter in a restaurant must go through specialized training and be 'approved' before they can wait tables. What?...and they feel free? In Europe most of those old buildings that have survived wars and the ravages of time were built by labor with little training but are regarded as treasures and we are in awe of them, while in The U.S. in my state and county the person who wants to do for themselves in maintenance on the personal home and property irregardless of their ability are no longer allowed to do so because of state and local building codes, and this is freedom? If you're in Africa and lucky enough to have a vehicle to ride in, just get in the damned thing as best you can and get going, standing, sitting or laying. In this country, to take your family to the grocery store there's probably a hundred written laws that govern your trip to the grocery store one block away, including special seats for the kids to be strapped into and where they may sit. If you don't feel this is the way to do it you are shunned and fined and scowled at for being irresponsible. So which is in a state of freedom? In the late 70's while in Seattle I spent some time with a young man from Russia. He worked in Moscow at a vending machine company owned by a rich individual. He came to Seattle to better himself in pay and working conditions but only stayed in Seattle 3 months before returning to Mother Russia. He couldn't adjust to the work rules of the union shop of the vending company in Seattle. He said 'There were just to many rules for him'. I was amazed to know he worked for a rich independant business man in Mother Russia. At the time, I didn't think there was any such thing as a rich independant anything over there. It is increasingly difficult in this country to get an idea or have a passion and 'just go do it'. And there's a reason for this. We send politicians to work each morning and it's their job to pass new laws. And they're doing a fine job of that. We've now reached a place that only the most private of your private thoughts are unregulated. At this time in our history that's all that we have left free. And you better be damned careful about that. If you happen to say your thoughts out loud, you might go to jail...... maybe therapy.... or at least counseling.... and that isn't free......... is this a state of freedom?....... I suppose it depends on what you compare it with.............

Musings of a Dumb Ass

Musings of a Dumb Ass......... So, what's a job worth? The older I get the more I worry about what I have less of.... the future. I'm 62 now. Why do I care? I'm not gonna be around for much of it anyway. So why can't I just go on down to Social Security and apply for my welfare check like all my friends who couldn't wait to do so. Or better yet... why didn't I come up with some problem of some kind 2o years ago and get disability like so many I know has done. At least I wouldn't have to worry about health care or breaking a bone. I could just whip those medicare and medicaid cards out and wait for everyone to service me while I grumble about co- pays. I could brag to whoever was listening about getting $900.00 worth of medicine for only $3.53. With any luck I could be at the pharmacy counter beside some fool working for a living trying to scrape up enough money to pay for his medicine, and make sure he heard me. Without insurance his service and medicine is much higher than insurance companies pay. That makes no sense to me and should be illegal. It is most certainly immoral. I'm always asking 'How'd we get this way?' How we got that way is a very large issue. Most will blame whomever their political party is not, as if the presence of their guys would really make a difference. Those we elect to power do make things better for some...... but who? I looked at a couple of those elected jobs and found some interesting things. In the 2004 Presidential campaign 88o million dollars was raised to help you decide who to elect as your Commander-In-Chief. 88o million dollars is enough to pay the Presidents salary for 2,200 years. That's right folks, two thousand two hundred years. Presently in my state there has been a total of 20 million dollars raised to help us decide who will be our next Senator. That's enough money to pay the Senators salary for more than 120 years. If any one wants to know who the elected officials will be helping, just have a look at the money doner list. Follow the money. I dare you. And don't be afraid. I've decided the truth has nothing to do with being free...........

Musings of a Dumb Ass

Musings of a Dumb Ass....... One of the most dangerous things to humanity is the power of the arsenals at the disposal of individual states and their willingness to use them. We are at the top of the mountain in raw power and technology and should likewise be foremost in responsibility of possession. Somehow we lost sight of the awesome power we once held almost totally alone and became a pawnbroker of influence and favoritism with nuclear power as the prize for those we either sought to use or dictate to. The payoff is a world in which we have become uncertain of who does and does not have the technology and or the weaponry. This has removed a lot of authority in our roar. While we are protesting rogue nations possession of these merchants of death at the front door, we've been handing them out the back door for those who we hope to do our dirty work for us and those we want to protect. This has created a deadly backlash of hypocracy that has damaged us beyond credibility to virtually anyone. We don't seem to understand that our list of friends is changeble with the tick of a second hand and we showed great misjudgement and immaturity as a nation as nuclear weapons of mass destruction came into being. There was a time in which we had the power and prestige to lock down the development and production worldwide of such a technology but we danced that away and now are residents in a very dangerous world in which near stone aged mentality individuals have the ability to acquire the most awesome power heretofore known to mankind. Some how our screams for sanctions and threats of military intervention on those in pursuit of this power doesn't strike me as very effective and certainly not efficient. Nor does it it scare any of those we are addressing. This leaves us in a strange and precarious predicament. We no longer have much of anything prestigeous to threaten anyone with and our track record in foreign affairs is dismal. If we can't figure out something new to threaten everyone else with then we'll just have to figure out how to get along with the likes of those riding goats to the missile sites in India and Pakistan and learn the wants of North Korea much better than we currently know, while hoping that Israel allows another day in which she doesn't corral or kill her neighbors. Of course China and Russia talk on a level not understandable to us, and England and France aren't nearly as civilized as they think and could become crazy by any standard at any time. Our best bet would be to develop some brand new technology that supercedes anything out there right now. I favor the ability to interrupt the flow of electrical power on a very large scale. Or the ability to completely control magnetism on a grand scale could be a great show stopper. Whatever is coming next I hope my country can master it first.... then show the strength and judgement to not share it with any other power good or bad on this planet. Providence only knows we've shown our stupidity with power we've had by ourselves so far. Perhaps we'll get another chance. In the meantime, get used to every turkey and nincompoop out there having everthing imaginable at their disposal.....

Musings of a Dumb Ass

Musings of a Dumb Ass...... Drudge carried a report in which Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfield said 'The American Military is too strong to lose a war'. I couldn't have had a better example of those running things being out of touch than that whopper of a statement. The man responsible for understanding the military's circumstances, needs, goals,and challenges has no clue about its situation. We've already lost the war in Iraq. There was no military to defeat by the time we got to Baghdad. That only left winning the hearts and minds of the people, of which we failed dismally, and in doing so we created a civilian uprising which we haven't even figured out a name for. Terrorists and insurgents are the most common used. For added drama Al-qaida gets thrown in there occasionally but we can only guess at who any of them are. What is known is that every time we stick our head out somebody is trying to blow it off with a roadside bomb, use it for target practice, or plant a rocket propelled grenade or some other nasty device in whatever we're riding in. The ones responsible for these attacks are nearly always unidentified and simply go their way and wait for the next opportunity to display how much they hate us. And it has nothing to do with how much we love freedom. It DOES have something to do with who we are, but only because we're there. We somehow cannot correlate the decimated landscape and the destruction of their economy and way of life, and the lack of everyday essentials such as water and electricity and sometimes food with a reason to hate us. At no time since we stepped across the border into Iraq has life been better for anyone there. But I certainly am glad to know from such a powerful person as The Secretary of Defense of The United States of America that our military is too strong to lose a war. What we have to do is find someone with a military force to engage so we can prove that to everybody. These amatuers we've been messin'with are just too frustrating................

Musings of a Dumb Ass

Musings of a Dumb Ass ...... They make it so hard for you to take anything seriously. For those who need time and reason to contemplate 'things', a person immersed into the Christian faith of God can actually come off as rude. They seldom have a working knowledge of the religion they are a part of and yet are attempting conversion of the hapless one in their sights. Instead they somehow are overcome at the wonderfulness of whatever they are experiencing and are oblivious to the factual nature of anothers problems in participating in their joy. It's not enough to be respectful of them and their beliefs, they will insist you take Jesus into your heart or be lost to the timeless never ending pits of hellfire. If you question much of anything, you most likely will be met with a glazed over sort of blank expression and a limp explanation of 'how real he is' or how God sent his only son to die for you and shouldn't that be enough? And maybe pity. Which really pisses me off. Then will come the declaration that they know it is real and more often than not some first person experiences they've had that convinced them to 'live for the Lord' and that they have found greater satisfaction in life as a born again than ever possible before they knew Jesus. It's not that I'm against God and eternal life. I'm for it very much. I'm just having lots of trouble figuring out if it's so, and how do you get hooked in to it. A misinformed or uninformed follower who is fired up in the moment is hardly the one to lead me on. Instead, the one who will reach me will be the one who can talk sense and fact and wind up someplace other than 'well, it's faith based and you gotta have faith'. That's when my meter says 'trip over' and I have to exit the ride. My Friends who love Jesus, by and large do not realize that the Jewish, Islamic, Catholic, and all sects of Christianity all worship the God of Abraham. In fact I know a couple of Protestant preachers who believe the Muslims worship a totally different God than the Christians. That confusion alone is enough to leave me dazed and incapable of understanding, not to mention completely unwilling to get involved with such a bunch railheads. There is one thing I do completely and totally believe and subscribe to, and that is the unique American right to practice ANY religion you may desire, or not to practice anything other than shooting hoops if that strikes your fancy. You should be able to do this with impunity and without the interference of those 'in the spirit'. And I think it's a right worth dying over. For those who might be confused by such a statement from me, I would suggest they have a look at all the cleric based Governments on the globe and see which one is the most attractive to live in. As for me...... I suppose I'll just drift along in my haze of wonder and confusion until a higher power, if there is such a thing, gives me a signal of some kind that I can interpret as a true signal from out of this world at which time I'll be right behind and occasionally in front of the other wild eyed door knockers trying to share my convictions with you and will no doubt be as mortified as they are when you don't join up with me in my crusade to convert the world to what will guarantee believers eternal life. Until then..... Vote third party and save us all for future debate.................

Musings of a Dumb Ass

Musings of a Dumb Ass..... I'm sorry...... Damn! How'd that happen?........ I screwed up...... We gotta change that........ we're gonna take another direction...... This is why I done that..... At the time it seemed the right thing to do...... I think stubborness and the inability to recall it in a truthful and right way is a sign of weakness.......... I think all those statements used with honesty are the surest signs of strength a human being can display, yet no elected official I've ever known of ever uttered any them at any time other than departure in disgrace. If those in power cannot see how weak and irresponsible they appear to be as they defend the policies that have proven either to be based on untruth or just downright wrong, then they are not qualified to lead me. If they can see, and continue the wrong road, they are not fit to lead me. It takes strength and wisdom to admit mistake, and done in the correct and responsible way it instills trust with those who should be trusting, and confidence in those admitting the wrong. In every court of law in this land the success and closure of justice is when the perpertrator admits what he or she done. If pardon or parole is an option it is only granted when there is admittance and apology. Yet those who lead us seem to believe honesty is up to interpretation and whatever is in doubt is simply something we are misunderstanding. We are at a very tender time in our journey as a country and I think are more vulnerable to dishonesty and liars than at any time in our history. It is a time to consider on what terms are we to survive? It is also a time to set out what we really stand for. We must decide what we can afford and what we deserve and are entitled to as citizens and what can the country continue to give those who are asking. It would be very healthy to pull in the power of those who abuse it and display the strength to send them packing. I think the formula for freedom is actually uncluttered by complication as is our constitution. I've read it many times and refer to it often and am absolutely appalled by those who can't accept it for its simpleness. Its strength is its simple approach to our rights and how we should mete out the authority to run this country. I think the next two national elections are the pivotal times for our future and if charge is not taken by the citizens then we are not to last. Our economy is in position to crumble as so many others have in history. Our competitive spirit is dead in the world market. Our respect around the globe is the lowest in our history, and we are viewed as bullies by most on the planet. It is true that we are a blessed people and many things are unmatched by any country anywhere. But the problem is ....... what is wrong with us is worse than the deadliest cancer and certain to destroy the strongest among us leaving only those who will lay down and wait for the end................ until then vote third party

Musings of a Dumb Ass

Musings of a Dumb Ass.......... Had enough? Then vote Democrat!.............. That's what the sign in the yard said. No doubt the person who lived there truly believed that to move the power base to the Democrats would solve our troubles. I was on an errand in town when I went by the house with the sign by it, and it came and went in a matter of seconds. But here I am two days later still thinking about it. Those kinds of things and those kinds of thoughts have been a part of the American landscape since there was an America. We all know there is a very different world out there than there was fifty years ago when there was a true difference in the political parties that ran our country. Tragically, we've lost our way and possibly the very soul that it takes to keep and maintain a country such as ours. And that loss is basically chargeable to the Democrats and the Republicans. It's not the difference between them that caused it, on the contrary, it's been the constant move to sameness that's stolen our future. For a very long time there's been only an issue or two that really defined the parties, such as abortion rights or tax issues. That leaves everything else pretty much void of debate. Oh yes, they all swell up at the podium of concern and fairness, but when it comes down to it, they're all for sale or trade. It has taken a concentrated effort on behalf of all those in public office to bring us to today, and they walked hand in hand to the capitol to agree on the things that have eroded our individual rights to more control than Mother Russia heaped on her citizens in her darkest days. It took voices in unison in Washington D.C. to beat our economy into oblivion. It took the guidance of minds without concience to bring us to such a state of disrespect world wide. It took the combined efforts of those devoid of statesmanship to frighten their constituients to a state of submission befitting those of communist Europe in World War Two. To say I'm disgusted and sad is a monumental understatement. To presume that the belief to elect the other party will solve our problem is one of complete and irreparable ignorance, but unfortunately definitive of us and our politics. This is why we are destined for nothing good. I will do my part in salvaging hopeless odds. Will it be 'vote for the Democrats' and save our state? Puhleeze.......... If it is not possible to see the present folly in both parties then it is not possible to think on your own, and freedom and independence is not recognizable to you in any form, and you have no right to it. I will vote 3rd party because I realize the other two look just alike.......... and Yes, I've had enough!!!!.................

Musings of a Dumb Ass

Musings of a Dumb Ass......... Today the Dow Jones average closed 53 points from an all time high of 12,000. The August trade deficit was announced just shy of 70 billion dollars for August only. The average credit card holder is carrying a 10 thousand dollar balance. Individual home sales are in the tank. The price of individual homes are in the tank. New auto sales are in a downward spiral. At plus two bucks a gallon we are thankful the price is down. What? Although almost everything stocked on a shelf is jumping each time we shop and the cost of health care is out the roof, the government tells us there is no inflation. The government also tells us of the hundreds of thousands jobs created in the last year and how great things look, but health insurance and therefore health care is out of reach for 46 million Americans, and 37 per cent of Americans now live below the poverty level. Whoever thinks all this adds up to good times is a fool. Our printing presses are still big enough to print enough money to fool us, but not for long. We are now in a spot that any move by almost any credible nation on the dollar will collapse our economy. If they don't, we've shown every indication we can do it by ourself. It'll just take a little longer........ not much....... possibly by the end of President Bush's term or very soon in the next President's term. We are truly collectively fools................

Musings of a Dumb Ass

Musings of a Dumb Ass.......I had a German visitor in my home last night who has been in America for many years and still has a very thick German accent. I had a couple of trips to Germany that added up to about three months total some years ago. My occasion called for me to travel extensively in the country and I saw about everything to be seen, so we had quite a bit to talk about. My visitor was a child in post-war Germany and soon our conversation turned to WW2 and what did I think about Hitler. This person was taken by my curiosity about Hitler and amazed when I produced his book 'Mein Kampf' which I've had many years and have read more than once. As we talked it was my turn to be amazed at how little the German in my living room knew about the man who intended to conquer the world, and failing that, still changed the face of our world forever. There's a guilt carried by Germans in the company of Americans about the things that happened in Germany and of the behaviour of the Germans with the concentration camps that doesn't hold true with all Germans in Germany. When I was there I ventured far away from the American military bases, and in the German hinterland I didn't get the same hint of guilt from the old men in the gasthouses that the more urban might display. In fact, I felt a definite feeling of resentment in some of the places I wandered through. There's a thing about war and winners and losers that often time and events gloss over making winners the good guys and losers the bad, earned or not. I seen WW2 as a particularly brutal and destructive action but I've never lost sight of the players in it and find the leaders of all sides fascinating, especially Hitler. In our crazy world we're not supposed to think bad thoughts and by all means support our leaders no matter what, and only see the other side as evil. While I don't think I would have enjoyed a Hitler dominated world, I certainly see no reason to not try to understand how he got to his place in history. Although my German visitor still had lot's of guilt over Germany in WW2, there was an eagerness to borrow my copy of Mein Kampf, which I obliged. Later on I was thinking about guilt and brutality and how both get treated depending on time and how things wash out. In the early 1800's there were 10 million indians in the U.S. . By 1900 there were only a hundred thousand left nationwide and we caucasions were responsible for the decimation of these people. We have no guilt of this atrocity. Yet just over 30 years later Hitler started his rampage for which many Germans still carry guilt over. 45 years past the turn of the century we dropped the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki unquestionably saving the lives of millions by ending the war with Japan, and for this we feel guilty. What confusing creatures we humans are............

Musings of a Dumb Ass

Musings of a Dumb Ass..... Americans have always been suckers for a lie, believing in the unbelievable and accepting the improbable as so, while making room to place the impossible as a possible. When I was young all the old folks I knew somehow believed they paid in all the money they were to draw out in old age as Social Security, and the Government was holding all that money for them and this would give them an income to carry them into the next life with dignity. I can't recall when in my life conversation on the source of funding for Social Security started. I do recall that many of those who were drawing it were belligerent and combative about their right to recieve it. Likewise I'm not even sure when the impotence and the folly of the system became a reality to me. I remember when my father signed up for his 'pension' he told me he 'might as well start getting back some of what he'd been paying on since it started'. As it turned out he and his employer together paid less than ten thousand dollars into Social Security in his working lifetime. By the time he died at 85 he had appreciated more than four hundred thousand dollars worth of money and services from the government he paid less than twenty thousand in total taxes and social security to in his entire life. So how could such a discrepancy in balance sheets happen? Who was watching the money bin? How could we be suckered into buying into such a future destroying machine? How could the greatest generation fight and die to preserve our great nation then turn around and be the principle generation to destroy the future of the next twenty generations? They didn't. At least not in their prime. Only as they reached old age did they become needy beyond our means. By then the truth was lost to the ages to be replaced by the jabberwocky of the politicians who clung to power by making a populace dependant on them for their survival. Much later on in life I had a conversation with my Father in which I ask him if he believed he'd paid in the kind of money he was getting back. Without hesitation he said 'No'. I asked him where he thought the money was coming from, and he said it was coming from all the people who were working and currently paying in. I asked him if he understood that to be the way it worked from the beginning, and he said no, he thought he'd only get what he paid in. I asked him when did he realize it was basically on the back of the next generation , and he couldn't remember. I asked him where would their money be coming from when it was their turn, and he said ' The same place mine's coming from, the younger people who are working'. I've never believed in the credibility of such a scheme, because no matter what county you're from, the math just doesn't add up, not to mention the degradation of pride and self esteem of those recieving it. The whole dance might have continued on much longer had it not been for the invention of the birth control pill and it's common use in the '60's, which resulted in an unknown decline of pregnancies, and the murder of up to 75 million babies through abortion. We unwittingly looked the other way as it happened and told ourselves it was the right way to form a more perfect society. Now we have the results of our actions. Millions more than we admit in illegal aliens within our shores taking jobs that we don't have people for, the outsourcing of jobs to other countries because we don't have a competitive labor pool to staff with, and last but not least, not enough bodies available to pay in enough money to allow the kind of programs and expansions my fathers' generation has enjoyed. Another hundred million or so born over the last 45 years or so would have certainly come in handy about now for all those baby boomers who think they're going to have the same ride their Daddy did. There's only so many openings for door greeter's at WalMart. The rest of you better get your asses prepared to get a job of some kind......... if you can get past all those illegals ready to do anything to get a job of anykind..............

Musings of a Dumb Ass

Musings of a Dumb Ass..... I really don't care to put thoughts down in a permanant way on current events and breaking news, leaving that to the bloggers who bird dog all the news wire services and wait for the utterances of the famous and powerful then have immediate opinions on what has happened or what was said, much of the time with accompanying plans to straighten out everything. Those kinds of writers bore me beyond repair. Having said that, I've watched the Amish in Pennsylvania dealing with the killing of their children in the little one room school house with admiration. What caused the sicko who done the deed to do it somehow seems to be unimportant to these people. Instead they seem to be focused on maintaining dignity and going on with life. Perhaps they are still acquainted with the art of living, which I think most of us no longer understand. To have peace in your heart I think you must have forgiveness, and one of the first things that happened was for a spokesman for the Amish families who lost children to murder that day, to show up at the door of the murderers family to bring forgiveness. That simple act has such great power and maturity that explanation evades common thought process. While an ambitious and inconsiderate news media stood by to wring every emotion real or imagined out of anyone remotely connected with the incident, then when that source was exhausted, brought on the predictable appearances of experts to tell us what we think and why we think it, followed by impressive knowledge about the Amish community and how it works. The simpleness of life gets lost in all this. It was a tragedy. It's done. It must be set aside so that life can continue. Those families touched by such a dreadful loss may never be the same, but they've indicated they will survive and continue. With no therapists. And where were the 'counselors' who show up like ambulance chasers to tell the wounded how to grieve? How will the television journalists and personalities feel when they show up on anniversaries of the tragedy in the future only to find there's no emotional scars to exploit and nothing further to say? Since the Amish who by definition of their beliefs have no television, the arrival of the media will only be bothersome to them. What a personality assassination for those who think they matter in everything. Ours cannot and will not ever be a perfect world, but we could take some lessons from a very simple people about simple and satisfying ways to deal with tragedy...........

Musings of a Dumb Ass

Musings of a Dumb Ass..... I don't think anyone has ever lived who could correctly define what their journey through life meant, although I believe anyone with enough sense to tie their shoes at some point or other wondered what it was all about. I've lived my life almost as someone watching themselves from afar disecting what they done or why they done it and satisfying themselves with their answers. It's interesting to journey to what is most assuredly the beginning of the end of what we know and understand to be life and take note of the changes in what is important to you and the growing uncertainty of whether you were ever right about the choices you made and even whether or not your core values are as you always believed, or deep down did you have this hint of hypocracy that wasn't even known to yourself? Personal honesty has always been paramount to peace for me and late at night I've never lost sleep because I lied to myself, albeit I may have spent some time looking at the ceiling because someone lied to me. But now that time is taking on a new value for me it does cause me to question some things I thought I understood. The importance of role models is much clearer to me than when I was young. A young man will presume fire in the belly will allow those with the will to survive with style and success, while an old man won't argue the importance and power of fire in the belly, but will understand that a much better world will come when everyone is shown the power of strength and fairness and the value of morals. A young man may confuse hard knocks as a way to get tough skin but an old man realizes too late that backbone comes from love and dedication and no fear of the consequences. Some go through life looking for something or somebody to lean on fearing to look reality in the face. I never done that. Me and reality have had an interesting trip together. When I was about 20 I allowed myself to have unbridled thoughts about God and creation. After I came to grips with the idea that I might die unable to sign up on any plan for salvation and eternal life, I was able to look at the hereafter in a much different way and opted to do my very best to grab everything I could experience in life as opposed to living within the restraints of unlivable servitude as laid out by some other mortal from another time or place that didn't work for me. Of course, I don't have the answer, because here I am an old man with many more questions than answers, with thoughts rattling around in an inept brain, but I must have done something right because I have such pleasant memories, and I am somewhat at peace with myself. I had a conversation with a woman a couple of days ago who is killing herself everyday a little at a time, too much money, too much time, the inability to get out of bed and grab the day, preferring to leave the television on the weather channel and chain smoking, looking out the window at nothing, thinking about nothing, keeping track only of the next doctor's appointment and imagining her next illness but unable to imagine her death. I don't believe I've mastered the art of living but I'm afraid my friend never introduced herself to life and will go her way without enjoying the experience in the simplest of terms. I suppose the real tragedy of life is to start having a greater understanding of it when it is beginning to fade instead of when it shined so brightly. There is very definitely a richness to getting old, if you refuse to give up your sanity, but I can promise you, it ain't near as much fun as it was forty years ago..................