tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29279041774384428452024-03-13T09:43:53.618-07:00Thoughts about most anythingAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03282286130669709035noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2927904177438442845.post-13466361564932515962014-01-21T16:53:00.002-08:002014-01-21T16:53:33.335-08:00A Statement of Status<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.3in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Tomorrow evening I will complete my 70<sup>th</sup> year.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I’ve been thinking about this a lot over the last few weeks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A lot of odd thoughts rolling around in my head.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A couple stuck out above the others.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">First, when I was a lot younger I never thought I would live past 30.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over the years I have wondered I thought that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps is was a failure of imagination.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Having never lived those more mature years, I couldn’t imagine what they would be like and so just thought I wouldn’t make it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Second, is the lyrics to a Beatles’ song.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">How terribly strange to be 70.</i></b>”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I can’t say I’ve gained the answers to everything as I’ve grown older.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mostly I’ve gained an appreciation of the vast amount of things I don’t know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I understand that knowledge is one of the main things that drive me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I like to know things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I may never use them in any practical way, but I just really like to learn things.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I spend a long time in college, and while it retarded me from establishing a long-lasting, stable career, it did let me gain a wide spectrum of knowledge about a number of things.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">A lot of people may say that time was wasted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve thought the same thing in some low moments, but I still wouldn’t change anything if I had a time machine that would allow me to go back with a do-over.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">No one can reach the age I have attained without some regrets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, there have been moments in those low times when I was overcome by those regrets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was only with time I accepted there was nothing I could do about all those missteps and poor decisions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">So I approach the last phase of my life not totally satisfied with what I’ve accomplished with my life, but at least mostly at peace.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">It will be for others to judge whether I have wasted the time I have been given.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I only hope I will not be judge too harshly and that some of the things I’ve done will have added something positive to the world and to the lives of those I’ve touched.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03282286130669709035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2927904177438442845.post-79420770072371131592013-10-07T19:08:00.001-07:002013-10-07T19:08:20.605-07:00The Great Diversity Flap<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 3pt; text-indent: 0.3in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Recently I’ve read a lot of postings on Facebook and Twitter about the lack of, and need for, diversity in science fiction.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Apparently there is a huge flap going on about the makeup of the people who ran the most recent Worldcon in Texas and their choice of panelists, programming and how writers were or were not picked for the awards ballots.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The term I saw thrown about was “old White guys.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I am tired of “old White guys” being used as a pejorative term.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I am an old White guy and I resent the manner in which the phrase is being used.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I was born white.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had no choice in that, just like every other person has no choice or control over what race or circumstances they were born into.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">And I will not apologize for having survived long enough on this earth to be classified as old.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It sure as hell beats the alternative.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">If there is a cabal of “old White guys” running things they aren’t telling me when and where the meetings are being held.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus, I have no voice in how things are run or who may be discriminated against or for.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Right up front I want to set the record straight about my own interest in this whole thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have read and collected science fiction since I was fourteen years old.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have had a tiny bit of success in publishing science fiction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have sold exactly two stories and gained membership in SFWA back when a single story sale was sufficient for membership.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know it isn’t even a blip on the radar of the successful writers in the field, but I’m still proud both sales were to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Analog</i> and one of them was reprinted in France; twice.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">OK, that’s enough about my circumstances.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It tells you I have at least a small credibility and a long-time interest in science fiction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An interest I have been trying to pursue again since I was economically downsized from my last fulltime job.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">The current howling and ranting frankly scares me and disappoints me. I see a lot of heat and rhetoric being generated about the subject. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I see a lot of finger pointing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t see too many people advancing solutions to the problem they say exists.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I am sure there are problems in certain areas of science fiction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hell, there are problems in all areas of society and science fiction is not a world unto itself.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I saw one post which wondered why in a “forward thinking community” like SF writers these things were happening.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Being able to organize words into a form which communicates a story of enough quality to be published is a unique skill, but that skill does not necessarily confer on the writer a higher moral purpose or superior social conscience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Look at the example which has been discussed at length of the writer who has written a well received book, but whose social comments have outraged a large part of the community at large.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Holding science fiction writers to a higher standard than the general population just because of their participation in this genre of fiction seems naïve.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I am sure there are people writing science fiction who have been discriminated against for one reason or another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are people all over the world who are being discriminated against for a variety of reasons every day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Being a writer of fiction in this genre conveys no special invulnerability to the foibles of human nature.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">There are no doubt racists, misogynists, sexists or whatever “ists” you find offensive in the field of science fiction writers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are the same “ists” in the general population.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I doubt there is a person in this world who has not been treated badly and unfairly at some point in their lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And if you can point out a person who hasn’t until now, all I can say is that person ought to be thanking God (or whatever higher power they ascribe to) that they have lived a charmed life up until now.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">It’s going to happen, folks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do I condone it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Am I against it? Yes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">And you have a right to express your displeasure if you are the person on the receiving end of the mistreatment, but that displeasure should be expressed to the person who is responsible and not broadcast far and wide as a call to arms.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">For the most part people who act like a**holes are going to continue acting like a**holes no matter how loud, long or far you yell about your displeasure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A leopard doesn’t change its’ spots and an a**hole doesn’t reform just because he (generic) is yelled at; in person, in print or electronically.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I am not making light of the fact that exclusion may or may not exist in science fiction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Discriminating against anyone for any reason is wrong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I just think it may be hard to do anything substantial about it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Face it, discrimination exists in almost every facet of life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Expecting the field of science fiction to be different is unrealistic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve met some nice people who are science fiction writers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I haven’t run into any jerks yet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It may happen and I’ll deal with it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Essentially I’m asking what can we, as individual writers, or even a group of writers, do about it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you are the recipient of the mistreatment you obviously don’t have the power to correct the situation or you would have done it and not written about it (unless you wanted to brag about your own power).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you are someone else and just object to the treatment of another, unless you are in a position to exercise authority over the offending party there still isn’t much you can effectively do about it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">The first of the two things that scares me about all this rhetoric is that science fiction may be descending into the culture of victimization.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I saw one post where the writer listed 100 works that he considered “diverse/marginalized”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The author has the right to post such a list, but I wonder if there is a majority of people who would agree with his list or the label of “marginalized”?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">And would the authors of those works agree with the label and the implication they are a victim because they were “marginalized”?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">To me there seem to be a greater and greater number of people in our society today adopting the label of “victim” and looking for some kind of social or financial redress for what they consider discrimination or a slight to their person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They want some action by others to relieve their own emotional pain.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">As I pointed out above, there probably isn’t a person in the world who hasn’t been treated badly in some way at some point in their lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Outside of physical harm or injury it’s probably something you just have to live with.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Publishing snarky diatribes, lacking proper research and verification, or republishing such remarks without firsthand knowledge or experience with the offending event probably will not cure the emotional injuries despite lighting a warm fire of outrage in your own guts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Protest for principle is fine, but you have to be willing to live with the consequences of your actions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wonder how many of the people who have yelled so loudly will gain anything from the action?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And have they damaged their own reputations if they haven’t made a good case for their indignation?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">The second thing I fear coming out of all this Internet activity can be summed up in one word.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Quotas.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I have seen one writer talk about how his first story might not have been published if the editor of the publication hadn’t pledged to run a story by one unpublished in each issue of his publication.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">How big a step is it before someone proposes publications devote a certain amount of their space to particular minority viewpoints whatever they may be?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How would you like a rejection letter from an editor which read, “Sorry we can’t publish your manuscript.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are no (<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>) characters in the story”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Between the brackets insert your underrepresented class or group of choice. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I have never considered the orientation (gender wise, politically, or sexually) of a writer whose work I was reading.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think I did know at the time I was reading “The Einstein Intersection” that Samuel Delany was black; didn’t make any difference.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wasn’t until just a couple of months ago that I found out he is also gay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did it make any difference in how I viewed the work?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">NOPE.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Look, I want to read good writing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t care who, or what, the author is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If that old adage was true about how an infinite number of monkeys at an infinite number of typewriters will eventually turn out all the great literature in the world, I would just want to read that quality work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wouldn’t matter if the author was not even my species.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Yes, something should be done about bigots and misogynists, but I fear an overreaction which will just hurt writers and the field of science fiction itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And until someone comes up with a workable and effective proposal, all the heat and light being generated recently is just a waste of time and energy by authors who would be better off if they spent the time writing.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03282286130669709035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2927904177438442845.post-25155209799965862862013-03-24T17:00:00.002-07:002013-03-24T17:00:43.189-07:00On Writing and Why I Write<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.3in;">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">I am a writer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">It's something I have been doing for a good many years. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">If, as I heard in a writing class one time, you have to write a million words before you write good stuff I may qualify. It's for others to judge.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">I have written short stories, newspaper articles, editorials, essays, contracts, letters, PowerPoint presentations, website content, blogs, one unpublished novel and even a few poems.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">After a good number of years away from spending a lot of time writing fiction, and now at an advanced age, I am trying to reconnect with my tenuous roots in science fiction and the writing community at large. I am fighting demons of self-doubt and fears of inconsequence.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">I had some minor success many years ago and published my first story in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Analog</i> Magazine when I was in graduate school. I became a member of SFWA (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America) based on that publication. I remain a member to this day, proud to be among the names of writers I have read and enjoyed since I was a boy. My credentials may be insignificant in the grand scheme of the Universe, and even in the world of SFWA, but I still carry my two publications in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Analog</i> with pride.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Trying to reconnect with fellow SFWA members, writers and people in the science fiction community, I have been adding Facebook friends. I want to learn more about the community I belong to even if I am only on the outer fringes. And perhaps, with any luck and some good Karma, I will introduce myself to other writers; much like the camel that pokes his nose into the tent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">For the most part I have been accepted as a "friend" on facebook by all I have asked. I have also been accused of adding friends in order to increase my numbers and reach some nebulous goal of acquiring all the friends possible. It was also suggested that Facebook was not the route I should take to "promote" myself. While I would love to be better known, and I guess Facebook is a means of self-promotion, I have always believed that "promotion" came from someone else. You can expose yourself, but only others can validate your acceptance and give recognition to you and your work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">With my limited exposure over the years I have found most writers to be generous people. It stems, I think, from the fact writing is the loneliest job in the world. The difficulty of planting your ass in a chair with a blank piece of paper in front of you (or blank computer screen more likely these days) and creating a whole new universe cannot be fully understood by those who don't practice this form of self flagellation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">One prominent SFWA writer, who I am proud to call my friend, said writing is a mountain he has to climb every day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Harlan Ellison, the well-known science fiction writer, once described the difference between an Author and a writer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An Author, he said, writes for the fame and the glory. A writer writes because he has to.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">There is something inside a writer that forces him or her to take that lonely journey each day. Some need or hunger or compulsion which drives them to put words on paper and hope against hope the end result will faithfully express the thoughts and feelings that crowd the writer's life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">I fought this hunger most of my life. I ignored the thing inside me that wanted me to tell stories. I knew there was little chance of actually making a living as a writer. One factoid from a college course said that in the United States at the time there were probably only ten people who made a full living from writing. It may be higher today, but I imagine the number is still infinitesimal in comparison to the whole population.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Even though I fought the urge to write, it would always catch up to me. If I stayed away for too long I started having dreams. My unconscious mind would tell me stories. I would have vivid dreams of situations and settings and plots. I could only stem these dreams when I at least made an abortive attempt to start writing again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">So, now, at age 69 I am starting out on this journey up the mountain again. I fear the journey. I despair I will ever make a significant contribution to the world of writing. A million distractions poke and prod at me every day. I can only move forward one step at a time, no matter how small the steps are.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">And while most of the responses I have had to my reentry into the world of writing have been supportive, one prominent member of my community labeled me little better than a beginner.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Perhaps I am. Only others can judge. I point proudly to my SFWA membership and my limited publications, but only others can be the final judge.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">I once heard that if you take an infinite number of monkeys with an infinite number of typewriters they would eventually recreate all the great literature in the world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.3in;">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Me, I remain just another monkey with a typewriter; or in this case a computer keyboard.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03282286130669709035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2927904177438442845.post-4041802430995181862013-03-07T19:17:00.000-08:002013-03-07T19:17:26.569-08:00Congress Needs to Face Facts<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.3in;">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Two nights in a row I have seen on the television news that Wall Street has set a new record.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Tonight some pundit says that the rise in Wall Street and the rise in housing prices means household wealth has recovered and is now back to the point it was before the recessions hit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Bullshit!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">I fall back on the old adage, "Figures don't lie, but liars can figure."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.3in;">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">I also saw a news report today, passed along on Facebook, which pointed out the national debt has been going down since 2009 and has fallen faster in the past three years than at any time since WWI.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And taxes are at near the lowest level in 70 years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.3in;">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">A couple of days ago I saw a short video which graphically illustrates the distribution of wealth in the United States. This short film shows how bad people think it is, what people think the ideal should be and what the situation actually is. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The result?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.3in;">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">The disparity between the poorest and the richest is the widest it has ever been in this country.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">You can watch the video at this URL.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(<a href="http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/03/04/watch-video-on-wealth-inequality-in-the-u-s/">http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/03/04/watch-video-on-wealth-inequality-in-the-u-s/</a>) Or, search for wealth distribution video on Google.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">All this put together tends to belie the Republican claim that we have to slash taxes more and more.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Now I don't like the idea of paying more taxes any better than anyone else but, I do know there is a need for the money that is collected. </span><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">I don't like the idea of a huge national debt either, but if it is going down why all these cries of disaster from the Republicans.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.3in;">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">The cost of almost everything has been going up and up over the last few years. Food prices have shot up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gasoline prices have become practically usurious.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.3in;">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">So, in light of all this, when John Boehner says we should only cut and not raise taxes I just can't believe it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.3in;">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">If there has been increases in prices in a lot of the things everyday Americans purchase, why does Boehner seem to believe the government can operate outside price increases and with less and less money?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">I'm not saying Washington should go on a spending spree, but the government can't operate without inflation just like the citizens can't.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.3in;">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Yes, there are places where the budget can be cut and savings can be achieved, but Congress will never reach the goals the Republicans claim to want through cuts alone. It just ain't gonna happen and the elephant party needs take its' head out of the sand (or other orifice where it has been stuffed) and face facts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">The facts are we still have problems. There are too many people in this country trying to live at or below the poverty line. While the economy seems to have recovered for the wealthy, all those below the wealthy are still struggling to keep their heads above water. Housing prices may be back to where they were, but I would guess there are less people able to afford those homes now than in the past. The prices on staples and necessities keep rising, but wages and benefits for employees are reduced or stagnant.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Unless some sane and hard choices are made, we will all be in even greater trouble.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Congress needs to take its' finger out of where it has been stuck and use it to write some legislation to address these problems and then use that finger to press on the "aye" button when that legislation comes up for a vote.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03282286130669709035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2927904177438442845.post-15844779170718371632013-02-26T19:10:00.000-08:002013-02-26T19:10:05.828-08:00Distraction<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New';"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> I am really irritated by the recent Sprint commercial I have seen.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New';"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Essentially the commercial's narration says that the speaker has to "download everything" in the human experience.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New';"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> NO, you don't!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New';"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> That is part of the problem we have today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are downloading or participating too much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At least we are wasting too much of our time on too much extraneous and irrelevant crap.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New';"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> No one can "download" everything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can't read it all, you can't watch it all, you can't be everywhere and you can't know everything.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New';"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> I think it is this manic need to participate in everything that is distracting us from focusing our energy on important things facing us.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New';"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> If you spend a lot of time checking out what Kim Kardshian is doing or tweeting about the unkind remarks in the Oscars about Rhianna and Chris Brown or wondering what Snooki is up to, you can't be spending enough time on things like the debt crisis, the gridlock in Congress or the looming disaster for the economy if sequestration happens.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New';"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> And you don't even have to go that far.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are enough issues and difficulties facing us locally to where you live that are in need of serious thought and positive action you don't even have to deal with the insanity that is happening in Washington D.C.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New';"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Just take a look at your local news on television.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New';"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Here in the San Diego area what about things like the closing of the program that feeds low income people because of lack of funding?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New';"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> On the east coast there are still people living away from their homes in terrible weather because their homes can't be rebuilt fast enough.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New';"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> So, you can obsess over Britney going back to darker hair if you want, but when the economy goes south and you lose your job in the following downturn I hope someone else has enough time to give you a hand.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03282286130669709035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2927904177438442845.post-43525527350803323182013-02-10T22:26:00.000-08:002013-02-10T22:26:35.598-08:00Death of the Middle Class<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 6pt; text-indent: 0.3in;">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt;">I was, I suppose, middle class.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt;">Well, maybe lower-middle class.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt;">Since my forced retirement I am more correctly somewhere below lower-middle class and closer to the poverty line.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt;">Having been middle-class I felt I fit right in with the rest of the country and gave me a sense of belonging.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt;">I've just discovered I belonged to a vanishing species.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not just because I'm an old white guy, but just because I was classified middle class.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 6pt; text-indent: 0.3in;">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt;">That's right, the middle class is endangered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My information concerns the San Diego area where I live, but I suspect it is not limited to my corner of the world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt;">I quote from a news story I found, "Between 2007 and 2011, middle-wage occupations in San Diego dropped by 15.2%."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The same article pointed out during the same period middle earners in California dropped by 13.2% and in the nation by 8.3%.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt;">The old fable that anyone could work their way up from poverty into the middle class and a comfortable life seems to be gasping for breath.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt;">Doing a little research, I found an article that said 15.1% of the population in the United States lives in poverty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is 46.2 million people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This hits disproportionately high in the Black and Latino communities and in the South, but I suspect it also hits a lot of the elderly community.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt;">It's not hard to see how the American Dream and the middle class died.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was sacrificed on the altar of profit by bankers and Wall Street speculators.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It died at the choking hands of business management that makes hundreds of times in wages what the common worker does.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was bludgeoned by politicians who bowed to the pressures of the wealthy to maintain that wealth and to their own lust to retain power. And finally, it was poisoned by a pervasive attitude that money and the acquisition of it was the be all and end all of the life experience.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt;">I am not sure the "dream" can ever be revived, but I think the effort needs to be made.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The middle class that remains needs to start fighting for its' own survival.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While the Tea Party movement started out as a fight for economic equality before it was co-opted by the extreme right, something like that movement needs to start up again, but this time someone has to keep their eye on the ball and not get sidetracked into some radical or reactionary cul-de-sac that becomes a joke and impotent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt;">While there are still significant numbers in the middle class it needs to bond together in a movement for self preservation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt;">This is a call to arms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a clarion call to rise off the couch, abandon reality TV and put pen to paper and deliver a message to the members of Congress that they better start serving all the people or risk losing their cushy space at the government trough and have to actually work for a living.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt;">Use whatever strength in numbers the middle class has left and put up a fight against the erosion of economic stability for those below the one percent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03282286130669709035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2927904177438442845.post-45565091333668409572013-01-26T19:31:00.000-08:002013-01-27T18:33:15.183-08:00Approaching Irrelevancy<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 3pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt;">I am becoming irrelevant.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt;">It didn’t happen overnight, but as a slow progression as the years added up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt;">First I passed the age where movie producers no longer cared about me and what I thought. (17-25)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt;">Then, I passed the age where TV networks cared about me. (18-45)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt;">Somewhere a little later I passed the age where any company wants to hire me because I might increase their company medical costs and because I wouldn’t settle for wages that were too low to actually live on. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt;">Next I reached the age where AARP started sending me information packets and membership applications.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt;">Then I hit the age where I had to apply for Medicare.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt;">Now I’m getting mailers from insurance companies for term life insurance and mail from funeral service providers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt;">Before you start thinking this is all whining, remember you have already passed a few of those milestones listed above.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You, too, are slowly becoming irrelevant.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt;">The question is, why do we make people less and less important as they age?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt;">Foreign cultures revere their older citizens, or at least appreciate their experience and wisdom while we, as a nation, seem only concerned with the cost of keeping older people alive and healthy in our society.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt;">It may be an over simplification, but can you think of any other reason for the obsession to cut funding for Medicare and Social Security?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s all talk about how much those programs are costing us and none about the consequences to the citizens, mostly older citizens, when these programs are gutted in the name of fiscal responsibility.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt;">We used to brag about how we were the greatest nation on earth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That myth seems to have been exploded in the financial collapse of 2007.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now we can’t seem to get out of our own way and spend all out time in partisan bickering.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt;">The two major political parties seem to have no greater agenda than gaining control and keeping it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once they have a measure of control they don’t seem to be able to do any actual governing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Neither of the parties seems to be able to reach a real compromise on the problems facing us as a country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s all about how their side is “right” and how they won’t let the other side “win”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt;">Well, that just doesn’t cut it!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt;">And it’s time for us, the marginalized, those of approaching irrelevancy to do something about it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt;">There was an old adage about WWII where a person bemoans the fact he stood aside and let others who weren’t his “kind” be taken away and when it came time for him to be taken away there was no one left to stop it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt;">That’s where we stand today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, no one is being taken away, but we are being made irrelevant and marginalized and unless we do something about it we will all surely fall.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt;">I am tired of being irrelevant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You should be too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You should be tired of the efforts to make you that way. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you dismiss this, then who will speak up for you when you reach the next age where no one cares about what you think?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03282286130669709035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2927904177438442845.post-55070708753003861252013-01-09T19:53:00.000-08:002013-01-10T11:23:11.099-08:00Television Reaches NEW Lows<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">I have an advanced degree in television and film.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">I say this only to indicate I have a little knowledge of what it takes to put a program together and not to brag about my education.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">I am also ashamed to say it because of the sorry state of television today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(And movies too, but this will deal with television.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">I had thought television couldn't descend any further into the abyss of bad taste and banality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">During idle moments I have surfed the cable channels recently and discovered 'reality' television has dropped off the cliff of taste and probably cannot be saved.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">I thought things like "Survivor", "Big Brother" and "The Bachelor" had reached new depths of voyeurism and silliness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again, I was wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">There are several shows dealing with tattoos.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Huh?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is there really that much interest in spending half a hour watching people trying to correct the mistakes other people have had drilled into their bodies?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">There are a couple of shows dealing with dancing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, not dancing competitions (I could almost understand that), but crazy mothers who are sending their kids to dance classes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Of course there the "Real Housewives of . . ." (insert your favorite city or condition.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Finally, I stumbled across one I couldn't believe at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The ultimate in bad taste is "Double Divas".<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, a show dealing with two women who design bras; catering to the American male obsession with large breasts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">OK, I'll admit that cable network shows like this are designed to appeal to a smaller audience than a network show.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus, they appeal to a smaller, specialized consumer of entertainment, but a show essentially about large breasts?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Plllleeessseeee!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">I thought all this was bad, until I saw some of the hype for what the major networks are introducing for their 'second season' starting here in January.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Gag me with a Gensu.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">NBC is offering us a doctor with a split personality who turns . . . what?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Evil by night?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Killer by night?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can't tell form the promos and I really don't want to know.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Fox is advertising a doctor who is forced to treat members of the mob. And that will go away shortly to be replaced by a guy who hunts a serial killer (haven't we seen this before about a thousand times?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">TNT is offering a doctor show as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"Monday Mornings". The promos are overly dramatic, but I gather it is about what hospitals call a mortality and morbidity conference where doctors explain why something went wrong with a patient.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sure, just what I want to watch doctors screwing up and trying to explain it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">ABC has its’ own trashy entertainment in “Scandal” a show about cleaning up the messes of politicians in Washington D.C. as well as the aforementioned “The Bachelor”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The network also weighs in with “Nashville” about dueling country music stars.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">I thought "Entertainment Tonight" was banal enough, then the same network (CBS) offers a second helping of trivia about entertainment personalities called "The Insider".<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, not being stupid enough already, they teamed the people from that show with a celebrity gossip website called "OMG!" and created an even dumber program called "OMG! Insider". It gives you not only a half hour of mind numbing trivia about stars, but pairs it with a website where you can get up the second details and the trivial pursuits of wannabe stars and TV personalities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">No wonder we can't get our economy moving again, everyone is spending<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>all their waking hours wondering if Lindsay Lohan has been arrested again, who Kim Karsashian is married to/dating/pregnant by this week or<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>who John Mayer is dating today (I would say this week, but his relationships don't seem to last that long.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">And if the programs weren't coarse enough you can always watch the commercials.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cutesy comments about going to the bathroom?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Give me a break Charmin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Try and treat your audience like adults instead of sniggering sixth graders laughing at potty humor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Come on, folks, read a book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Watch a movie even. (Although these days that isn't really too much of a step up from television.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Network viewership numbers have been declining over the last few years (no surprise there with the content they are producing) and I can only hope people are just turning it off and not just switching over to watch huge breasts being fitted for a new bra.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03282286130669709035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2927904177438442845.post-70630222946389921542012-12-05T15:41:00.000-08:002012-12-07T16:27:54.537-08:00'Living' on Social Security<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">I live on Social Security.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, live isn't exactly the word.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">I am attempting to survive on Social Security.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not very successfully.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">So, when I see Republicans, and especially John Boehner, talk about the necessity to cut entitlements like Social Security and Medicare I get angry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would laugh if it wasn't so tragic.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">I know we have problems economically. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Republicans ignore the fact these problems developed on their watch. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>George Bush came into office with a surplus in the Federal Government.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When he left we were deep in debt, fighting two wars on a credit card and the financial community (under his regulations and oversight) was on the edge of collapse.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Boehner’s latest proposal to cut back on the cost of living increases for Social Security recipients is just plain offensive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the business world Boehner is so fond of championing the average yearly salary increase is 3%.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The increase in Social Security benefits for 2013 is just 1.7%.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Somehow I don’t see that as excessive, though Boehner seems to think it is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">In real numbers, in 2012 I received $906.80 per month after deductions for Part B of Medicare and a Part D drug plan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Next year I will receive approximately $925.34 a month with my ‘generous’ cost of living increase.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I say approximately because I don’t know the exact amount of the Part B deduction the government will take in 2013.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">(<strong>NOTE: </strong><em>Just an update. I got my notice of Social Security benefits for 2013. I was wrong. Medicare part B is taking more of a deduction. In 2013 I will get $919.10 per month.</em>)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">The national poverty level for a single person in the United States in 2012 was $11,170 (that works out to $930.84 a month).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which means I was about $24.04 a month above the poverty level this year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">I know there are people who have it way worse off than I do living on Social Security; and I'm not doing that well. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sp, how can the Republicans justify calling for these people to take a cut in income and abandon them like they were so much refuse?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">When I see Boehner crying great crocodile tears over the state of the economy and the growing Federal debt just doesn't move me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">I might even be able to stomach all this irritating rhetoric if it wasn't for the fact that all of Congress opted out of the Social Security system years ago in favor of a much more lucrative retirement plan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">OK, John, you want me to struggle along on even less than I'm getting now?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just as soon as you and all the other members of Congress make yourselves subject to the Social Security system, then we can talk about cuts in the program.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">You want me to live on less money because I’m a drain on the economy and increasing the national debt?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will make you a deal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will try to tighten my belt a little more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will do this just as soon as you try living on less than $1,000 a month for a while.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You spend no more than that on things like food, gas, electricity, water, gasoline, telephone service and garbage pickup for say three months.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After that, if you still believe the people living on Social Security have it so easy, we can talk about cuts in things like Medicare and Social Security.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">I suspect if Congressmen had to survive under a retirement system like Social Security all the talk of cuts would be a whole lot quieter than it is now. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It all depends on whose Ox is being gored, and this Congress doesn't have an Ox in the system.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">I also am not buying all this crap about "we can't harm the job creators." <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>History shows during the Bush Administration years, which gave all kinds of benefits to these 'job creators', there were actually fewer jobs created than in the previous ten years. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Businesses shipped jobs overseas to maximize profits, held wages stagnate and eliminated positions to make the workers they kept work harder.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">The 'job creators' also have flourished in the compensation area far beyond what the common worker has gained.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1980 the average CEO of a company (assuming the CEO is the job creator) was compensated 42 times more than the average worker.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By 2011 the average CEO was making 380 times more than the average worker.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Forgive me if I don't cry any tears for these poor, oppressed 'job creators.'<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Recent news stories have pointed out American businesses are sitting on trillions of dollars in cash instead of creating new jobs or investing in their businesses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can only assume they are sitting on this money in the hopes Republicans can push through some plan to let them keep more of those dollars.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">So, as we rush toward the "fiscal cliff" I just can't work up any sympathy for plans to screw old people in favor of benefiting 'job creators' or people who are doing just fine in these tough economic times.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03282286130669709035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2927904177438442845.post-10035617481329241112012-11-29T15:45:00.000-08:002012-11-30T17:57:27.810-08:00Wall Street Sucks<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I hate the stock market.<br />There are a number of reasons, but I'll just dwell on the personal. <br />Let's set aside the fact the stock market (and the people who work there) helped precipatate the financial crisis we are living through right now. <br />Let's put aside the fact no one connected with Wall Street has been prosecuted in all this.<br />I'll even ignore the fact my 401K lost a lot of its' value just at the time I needed it.<br />Let's just talk about my recent dealings with the money men in their temple.<br />I used to own stock.<br />I say used to because the company cashed it out. I owned ten shares of Rohr Industries. It was because I worked there at one time.<br />But Rohr became B.F. Goodrich Aerospace, which became Enpro Industries, which was bought out by United Technologies. I had no say in further participation in any of it. I just got a check for partial shares I held in a retirement rollover account. I also got a notice I had to surrender the ten shares I had a certificate for.<br />Unfortunately, I put the certificate away in a box in garage a number of years ago. A stock broker doesn't want to deal with anything less than 100 shares of anything. So, my ten shares would be a pain in the butt for any broker and cost me some unknown fee for his services.<br />Still, I had been thinking of cashing in the stock anyway because I needed the money.<br />The buyout just happened before I could make any arrangements of my own.<br />I searched for the certificate, but had no success. My garage was neater than it had been before my family rebuilt my house while I was sick, but it still yeilded nothing after a fairly exhaustive search.<br />So, I had to choose the option where I told them I had lost the certificate. Real pain in my butt.<br />First I had to have the form notorized where I swore I had lost the certificate. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;"><strong>(Cost=$10)</strong></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Next I had to provide a fee for a replacement certificate. This even though noone would ever see a certificate because it was being surrendered and cashed out. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;"><strong>(Cost=$50)</strong></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Next I had to send them money in the amount of 3 percent of the value of the stock I was surrendering. This went into an impound account as a hedge against fruad. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;"><strong>(Cost=$38.25)</strong></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Next I had to send the funds in a certified check. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;"><strong>(Cost=$5)</strong></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Finally I had to send the whole mess to the broker by registered mail, return receipt requested. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;"><strong>(Cost=$19.10)</strong></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I was surrendering ten shares at a value of $127.50 each; total $1,275.<br />Now I needed every penny of the money for that stock, but it cost me <span style="color: red;"><strong>$122.35</strong></span> to get my funds. And I get a net of $1,152.65.<br />I suspect a stock broker won't even pass gas unless someone pays him a fee to do it.<br />So I have to laugh every time I see one of those television advertisements for something like e-Trade. Why in the world would I participate in a system that nearly destroyed this country financially and got a fee for doing it?</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03282286130669709035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2927904177438442845.post-51288236194171050252012-01-27T10:55:00.000-08:002012-01-27T10:55:52.635-08:00The Election Circus<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.2in;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">We have a totally dysfunctional election system in this country.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.2in;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">A person who wants to run for office has to have certain skills in order to be successful during an election.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The problem is that skill set is not the same one needed to actually be successful in carrying out the duties of the office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So while someone might be a great campaigner he or she is not necessarily the one best suited to perform the duties of the office once the election is finished.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.2in;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I have been watching the circus the national election process has become.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I have developed an ever-increasing disgust with politics and the political process as it is currently structured.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.2in;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">An example of why I call it a circus can be found in the <place w:st="on"><state w:st="on">Iowa</state></place> caucuses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here is a small state in the middle of the county which has been raised into prominence just because it has the earliest date for picking candidates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The demographic makeup of the state does not reflect that of the country as a whole.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The population of <state w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Iowa</place></state> is <span style="color: #333333;">3,022,555</span>, but only 121,000 people were expected to participate in the Republican caucuses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s roughly 4% of the state population.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.2in;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">So what you have is a small percentage of the population of a state that doesn’t demographically represent the country as a whole picking a candidate for office.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.2in;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I thought one of the most telling remarks about the <place w:st="on"><state w:st="on">Iowa</state></place> caucuses provided by a television reporter covering the whole process was the winner of the caucuses has never gone on to be the nominee of the party.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.2in;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">To make the whole thing seem even more like a waste of time the ‘final’ results weren’t announced for 17 days and then the Republican party in <place w:st="on"><state w:st="on">Iowa</state></place> refused to name an official winner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Initial reports gave the victory to Mitt Romney man by eight votes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then the ‘final’ count says Rick Santorum won by 34 votes, but the GOP officials said the true results might never be known because there were typos in the vote counts from 131 precincts and eight precincts failed to turn in their paperwork at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So the ‘final’ results weren’t exactly final after all, but after pressure from the state central committee Santorum was finally declared the ‘winner’ of the <state w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Iowa</place></state> caucuses.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.2in;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The Republican Party, to date, has held a staggering number of candidate debates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And this is just to pick the person who will eventually have to debate President Obama in the run up to the general election.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.2in;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">It is little wonder we get a dismal turnout on the actual Election Day.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.2in;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">By the time November rolls around the American public will have witnessed something like a full year of campaigning by candidates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One candidate, Newt Gingrich, began officially running for president on May 11, 2011.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s roughly 17 months of campaigning before the November election.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We will have witnessed primaries and caucuses in 50 states and the <place w:st="on"><state w:st="on">District of Columbia</state></place>, two party conventions, incalculable television ads and a mind numbing amount of television news reports, opinion polls and analyses.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.2in;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Adding to the mind numbing rhetoric and interminable news coverage, the massive expense of the election almost defies description.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One Super PAC just received its’ second $5 million check to promote the candidacy of Newt Gingrich.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Through January 26, 2012 Super PACs backing Republican candidates and causes had spent approximately $35,283,865.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This doesn’t include what the candidates themselves may have spent or what the Democratic Party and PACs may have spent in promoting the eventual candidacy of President Obama.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.2in;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Roll that number around in your head for a minute.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then, think of what that amount of money could do in your community or your schools.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And this is just the beginning of what will be spent until a Republican nominee is chosen and a fraction of what will be spent by both parties before the national election in November.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Can’t your think of some better uses for all that money?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.2in;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">And as if the election process isn’t expensive and messy enough, once these people get elected to national office they spend a great deal of their time in political maneuvering instead of actually governing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Congress has become nothing but a pit of political bickering and not a legislative body.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.2in;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The actual election is now 10 months away and I can hardly wait for it to be over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m already weary of television reports about sniping candidates, opinion polls, television ads and the latest debate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the thing that makes it even worse is all the action so far has been one party fighting among itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By the time we get around to having a representative for each party campaigning, the entire nation may be totally numb and unresponsive.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.2in;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">With such a vested interested in the current system I doubt either party would be willing to change the campaigning process, but something is needed that would cut down on the clutter and the expense.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I suspect nothing will cut down on the negative rhetoric which has proved so useful in beating an opponent.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.2in;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Most likely it will be up to the general public to say “enough” to the negative campaigning, the length of campaigning and to the massive amounts of money spent on campaigns.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This isn’t a call to arms, but a suggestion maybe you should do something to make your thoughts known on the “election season” and make it shorter and cheaper if not more civil.</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03282286130669709035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2927904177438442845.post-21551475373785992142011-09-23T18:35:00.000-07:002011-09-24T00:24:47.980-07:00Initial thoughts<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some time back I put a fair amount of effort into blogging for a while. I think I reached something like 100 blogs on various subjects before I lost enthusiasm. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I just ran out of steam.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The last six months of my blogging efforts were a weekly review of news and events and my comments on it all.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">What I want to do with this new effort is reach out from my somewhat isolated position and share my thoughts on a wide variety of subjects. I don't think I can be pinned down on theme or subject matter so anyone looking for a unfied view of the world may not find it here.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">What I hope you will find is an interesting and engaging point of view on life and all its' aspects.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">If nothing else, I hope that whatever I post here will provide an opportunity for the reader to reflect on the things I choose to address and find them interesting and entertaining.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">And I hope to use this vehicle to promote the first love of my life; writing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">So, here we go, hopefully sharing this adventure together.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03282286130669709035noreply@blogger.com