America, time to rise up and do the good work.

America, let's up our efforts. Last night I watched We Are Marshall, and I feel inspired. Typically I distrust the emotional experience that I get from a movie, but the story behind this movie is real enough for me to foster some faith in people. In the face of tragedy, what choice will we make? Marshall rebuilt their football program. Faced with the sorry state of our nation, I'm calling on us to persevere with our values, and rebuild our nation and the world with hope and faith.

We allowed a bunch of bastards to steal two presidential elections, and use the office to flat out steal our public funds. A huge part of the wealth they dealt in was artificial, a smoke screen made possible by deregulation and lack of oversight. The machinery of finance spun and generated the illusion of wealth. And in finance of an artificial war created under false pretenses, they hired themselves at inflated prices to supply and carry out the war. The money the war is costing us went into the Cayman Island bank accounts of the people who started the war.

And this bunch of bastards have alienated much of the world. We've bombed villages and women and children, we've tortured prisoners who we've held with dubious cause. We've behaved like the enemies we've always fought against. We've empowered the worst in ourselves. Our leaders responded to the despicable photos of Abu Ghraib by prohibiting soldiers from carrying cameras.

America, we're in a bad way. Money is going to be tight. We are at risk of world war. Our citizenry are performing below potential at a time when we all need to step up and pitch in. I'm writing this because I've been wallowing in my own inaction. I'm weighted down by bad habits and bad attitude. We Are Marshall is a movie, an escapist activity, and I spend too much time escaping and avoiding. But I spent yesterday trying to get myself going and working towards improving myself and my conditions, and I chose a movie with an inspiring story. My choices yesterday worked. I got a charge of hope and faith, and I'm working in this moment to maintain it.

If you've read to here, I hope I've given you a little bump in the direction of hope and faith, and you have some inspiration to take the next step in making this a better country, a better world. Now I'm going to focus on getting my house in order as a means of getting my being in order.

McCain will win his loss

I believe that the Republicans have every intention of losing the presidential election. They're putting on a show, but they're throwing the game. All the money's gone. Why would the want the white house? Obama will spend 4 years presiding over decline and chaos, unable to fix the mess. And the racist base of the Republicans will believe that that Liberals have caused it all.

Cream or Scum

Rising to the Top

The Cream or the Scum?

I heard Utah Phillips say something like "America is a melting pot, you know where the people on the bottom get burned and the scum rises to the top."

Who are our leaders? Take a guy like Ken Lay. What kind of man was he? Was he even guilty. I have no answers. I just finished reading the wikipedia entry on Ken Lay. At his funeral, it was asserted that "An overzealous federal prosecutor...vilified a good man." It was total character assassination" and that "Ken was the victim of a lynching." I don't know the truth, but I suspect that he engaged in corrupt activities for personal gain regardless of the consequences.

Do talented people of reasonable ethical makeup, the cream, rise to the top of our power system, or is it those with an underdeveloped conscience, the scum? I can only offer uninformed opinion.

Addicts

Father: Son, when you get to college, there will be pushers there trying to get you hooked.
Son: I can handle it dad.
F: Son, you're young, you want to experience things. You want to fit in. These pushers will be right out there in the open, tempting you to join their little club. And once they get their hooks in you, they'll never let go.
S: Look, Dad I can use it responsibly. Just a little.
F: Oh that's how it starts. They'll give you a little for no fee. Then after you use a little, they'll up it. Give you more. And the temptation to use it is great.
S: I can handle it Dad, and there's no way I can get through school without it.
F: If you give in, you'll be a user the rest of your life.
S: [with disdain] Like you Dad? You're in over your head.
F: [hangs in head in shame] Yes Son, like me. It seemed so sexy at first. I was on top of the world. I felt like I could do anything I wanted. Go anywhere, get anything. Now my minimum payment is half my income, and if I miss a payment, they punish me.
S: Right, and now you can't afford to send me to college, so I'll end up a user just like you.
F: Don't do it Son, don't let those pushers with their little tables, and freebies suck you in. Don't sign up for a credit card.
S: It's too late Dad. I started out on student loans, and now I have a card with a thousand dollar limit.
F: NOOOOO!!

Flip this one off

Let's see if I got this straight. Let's say I'm a bank (ok, you're a bank), and I loaned a million dollars to people to buy some houses. Now on my books, I say I'm worth 2 million dollars, because when everybody pays me back with interest, I'll be worth that much. So since I'm worth more money, I can loan out even more money, so I do. Now I realize that those people aren't going to pay me back, and I have to foreclose on them, and suddenly on the books, I don't have all that money I said I did. Uh oh, financial crisis. Along comes the Government who wants to bail me out. But first, before the house will agree to bail me out, they first want to make sure I get some tax cuts, and they do. So now the Government is going to buy my bad loans so I can take them off my books. So apparantly, the people who I foreclosed on are now houseless, and owe the Government the money. I've been paid. I still have the house because I foreclosed on it. I got the tax breaks. This is a great country. And here's the real kicker. Let's say I owned the houses that I loaned the money for in the first place. That would mean I loaned somebody money who then gave it to me, but then couldn't pay me, so I took back the house and the government gave me the money, but only after they made sure I got a tax break. This is a really great country.

Two middle fingers up to the bailout.