Hi,
This blogger covered the debt ceiling two blogs ago and pointed out the safeguards in place for the various funds like Social Security. I hope you were able to take the time to read it because the mainstream press is into DISASTER, SENSATIONALISM, and BOOSTING Obmerism.
It is a terrible thing when the American media and newspapers turn against the American public and only print what they deem the readers should know. The Press is privy to both sides of an issue but now select only one to publicize. It is not an attempt to EDUCATE BUT TO PROVE THEIR READERS ARE TOO IGNORANT to think about an issue and draw the right conclusions. IT IS ALSO AN ATTEMPT TO SELL FEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!THE PRESS WOULD LIKE TO CLOSE the door to interaction BETWEEN PEOPLE on the Internet and through e-mails BY CAUSING THE PUBLIC TO FEEL ignorant! THE PRESS REALIZES THAT The Internet is DIRECT COMPETITION TO THE MEDIA NEWS AND THE NEWSPAPERS.
I'M NOT SURE HOW MANY FOLKS REALIZE THE FEAR OF INTERNET COMPETITION THAT IS DRIVING THE MEDIA TO EXTREMES!!!!!!!!! The PRESS can see the END in sight. When all the media and other members of Press RESORT to biased reporting, scare tactics, and YELLOW JOURNALISM, IT IS A SIGN OF THE IMMINENT DEMISE OF THE WORLD AS THE PRESS KNOWS IT!!!!!!!!!!!
There is an interesting book I am reading by a roving reporter who points out how fast the Internet has become the leading force in the lives of folks not only in America but all over the world. How SWIFTLY communication between peoples and countries has DEVELOPED so that keeping citizens IGNORANT is becoming more difficult and may well become IMPOSSIBLE. THERE ARE A LOT OF REASONS THIS IS HAPPENING!!!!!!!!!! THE IMPORTANT ONE IS THAT THE WORLD IS IN THE MIDST OF A CHANGE WHICH WE STARTED CALLING THE TECHNOLOGICAL REVOLUTION SOME YEARS AGO.
SHARING information is something that the Internet does naturally. Unfortunately, not all of it is true but that has been the case in all forms of communication. The very act of sharing encourages THOSE WITH AN AX TO GRIND OR OUTRIGHT LIARS to TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THAT SHARING. This has been the case since MANKIND STARTED INTERACTING!!!!!!! so it doesn't really count as a deterrent. Remember THE ECONOMIC PHRASE TO BE APPLIED TO ALL ISSUES: LET THE BUYER BEWARE!!!!!!! THAT GOES FOR ANY PART OF ECONOMICS. THE INFORMATION HIGHWAY IS PART OF ECONOMICS NOW whether through blogs, emails, advertising, long videos, entertaining movies or media--WHATEVER!!!!!!!
When folks share, they attempt to check out the truth of what they are sharing. BUT IT IS TOO TIME CONSUMING AND DEBILITATING TO HAVE TO CHECK EVERYTHING WE SEND OUT!!!!!!
The Chinese used to have a saying that helped a young reporter: TO LEARN EVERY FACT ABOUT ONE THING WOULD TAKE TEN THOUSAND YEARS!!!!!!!!!! That's ONE THING, remember, NOT A SLEW of things.
So much as folks may try to keep the information shared factual, it is often difficult to know or gain that amount of truth!!!!!!!!!! WHAT TO DO????????? Well, like "Mom" used to say DO YOUR BEST then understand that other FACTS MAY COME TO LIGHT THAT UNDUE YOUR BEST INTENTIONS!!!!!!!!! If that happens then send along the new information and let folks judge for themselves. THAT'S when "LET THE BUYER BEWARE" solution comes into play. This is a SHARED INTERACTION AND THE READER AS WELL AS THE SENDER HAVE RESPONSIBILITIES.
INTERNET has QUICKLY become one of the leading INDUSTRIES IN THE WORLD. IT HAS TO BE factored into BUYING AND SELLING between people anywhere in the world THUS EVER EXTENDING THE MARKETS whether we like it or not. OUR EARLY YARD SALE EXAMPLE IS NOW E-BAY!!!!!!!! THE NET is a less expensive avenue for NEW BUSINESS START-UPS and can provide tremendous income based on some ingenious ideas such as E-BAY, Amazon.com, FACEBOOK, or TWITTER.
Encyclopedias used to be the only way to find information on past events. Now the INTERNET PROVIDES AN UNPARALLELED DATA BASE FOR ALL SORTS OF INFORMATION. Again, much of it is fact, some of it is propaganda, the rest of it outright lies BUT DID WE HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM WITH THE ENCYCLOPEDIA???????????? YES!!!!!!!!!! We simply didn't question it. We accepted that their editors were efficient, proficient and ACCURATE!!!!!! BUT DO WE KNOW THAT FOR A FACT?????????? NOPE!!!!!
So we must realize that when we are "LETTING THE BUYER BEWARE", we do have to take some things on FAITH, some on FACT, and some on our own KNOWLEDGE as well as the KNOWLEDGE of our PEERS. IGNORANCE ONLY HAPPENS WHEN A SUBJECT IS NOT CHALLENGED BY SOMEONE!!!!!!!!! In other words, ONE person's IGNORANCE MAY BE BLISS but it is in danger of BECOMING DANGEROUS when ANOTHER person is not willing to become INFORMED AND EDUCATED enough to correct THE SITUATION!!!!!!!!!!!!
THE WILLING EXCHANGE BETWEEN PEOPLE ON THE INTERNET IS AN IMPORTANT AND EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE. An important part of modern citizen's lives SHOULD BE A WILLINGNESS to forward e-mails, write blogs or articles, and share whatever their knowledge with others. THIS IS THE WORLD WE HAVE ENTERED AND IN FUTURE there will be a tremendous amount of responsibility needed from ordinary citizens of varying societies to keep each other informed ABOUT their locale HERE and across the world.
WONDER WHY THE PRESS IS WORRIED???????????? BECAUSE THEY KNOW YOU....YOU.....AND YOU..........ARE THE "REAL" REPORTERS OF THE "REAL" NEWS OF THE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!! It will eventually be seen as a good CITIZEN'S RESPONSIBILITY to engage in the kind of INTERCHANGE that is NOW HAPPENING BETWEEN A MINORITY OF PEOPLE. Will you always get it right?????? DOES THE PRESS ALWAYS GET IT RIGHT?????????? NOPE!!!!!!!
Just where will all this CYBER INFORMATION to end up? How it will be managed? How it will be stored? It's MIND BOGGLING!!!!!!!!! It certainly points the way toward NEW BUSINESS TO BE DEVELOPED BY THE INTERNET GENIUSES. Yahoo e-mail recently added more cyber storage but that's a DROP IN THE BUCKET. THE INTERNET'S POTENTIAL HASN'T EVEN BEEN TRULY TAPPED YET and look at the changes already in our lives. Changes like I-Phones that just a few years ago would have seemed to indicate a talent for an OVER-REACHING IMAGINATION. If you have imagination of that kind, this is the place for it. The Internet CAN BECOME the home for new CREATIVITY and replace what has been lost.
SPEAKING OF LOSS, it is clear that whenever there is a major CULTURAL CHANGE SUCH AS THE USE OF CYBER SPACE, there is going to be loss. ENTERING THE INDUSTRIAL AGE, THINK OF THE LOSSES that occurred in AGRICULTURE alone.
This stage in TECHNOLOGY CREATES A NEED TO STUDY what business or professions might be lost to the Internet in order to protect PERSONAL ECONOMICS AND PRESERVE so that growth can accompany change. IT IS A TIME TO REVIEW PAST FISCAL ATTITUDES AND ASK IMPORTANT QUESTIONS!!!!!!!!! What is valid in the changing world???? What businesses will disappear and what types of assets will become invalid; is there a road to long term; and what cyber companies hold promise in the short term.
Whenever there's a MAJOR SHIFT IN ECONOMICS AND CULTURE, it becomes IMPERATIVE that both the EDUCATED AND THE IGNORANT BECOME SCHOLARS to weather the storm. THOSE WHO CHOOSE TO remain IGNORANT WITH THE HOPE OF BEING SAVED BY SOME FORCE OUTSIDE THEMSELVES WILL FIND their hopes unfulfilled as usual. Maybe, cyberspace can provide a light that shines SO STRONGLY THAT THEY TOO will begin to PARTAKE OF LEARNING.
OF COURSE, THAT WOULD BE A PERFECT WORLD WHICH DOESN'T EXIST NOW AND PROBABLY WON'T IN CYBERSPACE!!!!!!!!
CHEERS, CONNIE
7/21/11
CHANGING PORK CHOP LAW TO CHOP SUEY! Post 71
Hi,
Most of you received the email designating programs that the new Congressional House members have proposed cutting. It's a pretty long and primarily unnecessary list of services with PORK CHOP written all over it. In the past PORK CHOP or PORK BARREL were the phrases for BILLS THAT EMANATED FROM GOVERNMENT with GREASY, GREEDY FINGERMARKS ALL OVER THEM.
Since this blogger is primarily a writer and an artist, you might think rage would be rampant over the loss of 167.5 MILLION for the ARTS and $167.5 MILLION for the HUMANITIES. This blogger would WELCOME THE GOVERNMENT REMOVING ITS INTERFERING BODY FROM BOTH. You might ask why???????????
My articles opposing these grants appeared in Art Magazines before they were passed by Congress. Of course, no one paid attention. The Art World saw Museum grants. The local governments saw a chance to dip into the fund and many minor artists and Art groups saw opportunities to get funding. The article stated GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE IN THE ARTS PROLIFERATES A LOT OF BAD ART!!!!!!!!!!! The GOVERNMENT HAS PROVEN THAT STATEMENT CORRECT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It has most certainly done its job of proving my articles right.
Ever drive by A HUGE LEAPING FISH ORNAMENT OR A CHEESE WEDGE 5 FEET HIGH OR A COILED HOSE TWENTY FEET HIGH RESEMBLING A PHALLIC SYMBOL GONE ASKEW OR A HUGE WALL MURAL DONE BY AMATEUR "ARTISTS"???????????? DID YOU WONDER WHAT IT WAS DOING THERE???????????Be sure to thank your FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AS WELL AS YOUR LOCAL GOVERNMENT. The latter got most of the money for this SUPPOSED ART WORK????????from the former. These ORNAMENTS ARE ABUNDANT NOW IN AMERICA since the Federal Government took over the responsibility of DECIDING WHAT IS ART AND WHAT IS NOT!!!!!!!!
PLU.......EEEEEZE!!!!!!!! FISH AND LENGTHS OF HOSE are TOTALLY ART WORTHY!!!!!!!! The question is whether the CREATOR CREATED ART OR A SALABLE OBJECT MEANT TO ADVERTISE A GIVEN ATTRIBUTE. There's nothing wrong with doing that as long as we DO NOT CALL IT ART. SCULPTURE has a long history OF BEING MISUSED so one shouldn't be surprised. Sometimes, the artists play through with zeal and zest and convince WHATEVER RULING BODY that ART IS worthy as MICHELANGELO did in Rome and made them ACCEPT HIS FINISHED WORKS. We've not been quite as fortunate in America although a few commissions for GREAT Sculpture sneaked through, many of the funded pieces are extremely unnoteworthy. There are great MODERN sculptures done by great sculptors but not many on the government dole. ARTISTS DO NOT COMMAND RESPECT WHEN GOVERNMENT INTERFERES.
The problem: Simple. ART IS SOMETHING BEYOND most practical thinking. IT IS A DISCUSSION BETWEEN THE ARTIST AND THE ARTIST AND MAYBE A FEW VIEWERS. IT DOES NOT FIT INTO NEAT CATEGORIES like computer files. IT CARRIES ITSELF INTO REALMS UNTRAVELED by the AVERAGE BLOKE and stares back BALEFULLY--without a label, an excuse, or an explanation. IT'S IN YOUR FACE AND IT TELLS THE ARTIST'S TRUTH ABOUT WHATEVER: SOCIETY AND PEOPLE, POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT, NATURE-GOOD AND BAD AD INFINITUM. Yes, fish do fit there---so does A HOSE but in a way you may never have dreamed. PAINTERS AND SCULPTORS (ALL ARTISTS) NEED ARTISTIC FREEDOM FOR THIS TO BECOME A REALITY!!!!!!!! unfortunately this comes at a price. DOESN'T EVERYTHING?????????
What KIND OF WORK called art will the average man buy??????? SORRY, YOU WON'T LIKE THE ANSWER. THE "SCHLOCK". And there's lots of it. Pretty little scenes and carefully copied nature studies done at art groups or where ever. Pretty damn good draftsmanship in a lot of it. BUT ART????????? NOPE!!!!!!!!!! Attempts at art. MAYBE. CERTAINLY, LOTS OF REALLY GOOD GRAPHICS THAT TRANSLATE INTO BEAUTIFUL PRINTS. IS there some REALLY GOOD ART?????????? YOU BET!!!!!!!! Can Mr. Average Man identify it?????? Highly unlikely. WHY???????
A few important factors inhibit understanding. Artists are seldom vocal teachers. They teach through art. It's silent. SOMEONE HAS TO TALK FOR THEM. That's how CRITICS WERE BORN. IF GOVERNMENT HAD TAKEN THAT YEARLY $350M spent on ART AND THE HUMANITIES and done its IMPORTANT JOB, the public would have received a quality ART EDUCATION FROM the GOVERNMENT'S choice of projects IN painting,sculpture, drawing AND the minor arts.
They'd have explored the art, explained the process, and glorified the artists and all this would have been done by TRULY KNOWLEDGEABLE ARTISTS, ART HISTORIANS, AND MUSEUM CURATORS IN ROTATING POSITIONS WITHIN THE STRUCTURE. Videos, films,and visual computer histories would have helped provide the real cultural advantages Americans deserve.
Instead these jobs did not go to people with KNOWLEDGE such as qualified artists or Professors but to folks who know how to dole out money where it will create the most help for the politicians. ART AND ARTISTS were NOT SELECTED BECAUSE THEY LACKED THE talent OF PURSUING GRANTS and ARTISTS WERE SELECTED because they glorified SOME political cause. The Government provided money to people who were good at filling out papers for money grants and that too often was their only real talent. Home town folks, again good at filing money grants with little more than a secondary interest in art, became the real procurers of local community art projects. They used their money to glorify the HACKNEYED, produce the TRITE, AND WORST OF ALL MAKE THE PUBLIC BELIEVE THAT EVERYTHING IS ART. BULLLLLLLLLLLLLLLONEY!!!!!
ARTISTS USED TO SAY: DON'T BUY IT because it looks good over the SOFA. JUST BECAUSE YOU LIKE IT DOESN'T MAKE IT GOOD ART!!!!!!!!!!
That's still true. Odds are individual judgement is based on the same factors that the Government's judgement is based on. FRANKLY--NONE. Even when an individual has been TAUGHT THE ESSENTIAL BASICS OF GOOD ART IN COLLEGE, that judgement is often suspended. The surprising element has always been that consumers will choose almost anything with more knowledge and foresight than a work of art.
SO WILL THE GOVERNMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!! Although looking at their record of reckless spending, the same type of judgement may apply.
Of course, purchase of ART IS very personal-and should be-although "LIKE" is not key. Good ART has to be UNIVERSAL. It should elicit CALM, JOY, EXCITEMENT, INSIGHT, PASSION, RENEWAL,OR REVULSION etc. DOZENS of words that express an EMOTION beyond the ORDINARY "LIKE". Maybe many times, viewers may mean this. Too often, however, the fact that it is an addition rather than a compulsion is the reason for buying the work.
The GOVERNMENT made MAGNANIMOUS DONATIONS OF MONEY to Museums and cultural centers, who should have known better. But AN ART AFICIONADO ON THE TAKE IS LIKE A MAN ON THE MAKE. TOO IMPASSIONED to show an iota of concern. So those erstwhile institutions contributed to the demise. All in all the use of Government funds has created a more NEGATIVE EFFECT ON FINE ARTS THAN A BENEFICIAL ONE. THE HUMANITIES AND THE CULTURE as a whole have benefited only in ways that the Government deemed necessary.
Therefore, although it will take 100 years to restore what the Government has "rent asunder", the sooner it gets out of the ARTS and HUMANITIES the BETTER for all concerned but especially the ARTISTS !!!!!!!!!! SO, HOORAY FOR CUTTING 2.5 TRILLION OVER THE NEXT TEN YEARS FROM THE NATIONAL BUDGET INCLUDING THE ARTS AND HUMANITIES ENDOWMENTS.
CHEERS, CONNIE
Most of you received the email designating programs that the new Congressional House members have proposed cutting. It's a pretty long and primarily unnecessary list of services with PORK CHOP written all over it. In the past PORK CHOP or PORK BARREL were the phrases for BILLS THAT EMANATED FROM GOVERNMENT with GREASY, GREEDY FINGERMARKS ALL OVER THEM.
Since this blogger is primarily a writer and an artist, you might think rage would be rampant over the loss of 167.5 MILLION for the ARTS and $167.5 MILLION for the HUMANITIES. This blogger would WELCOME THE GOVERNMENT REMOVING ITS INTERFERING BODY FROM BOTH. You might ask why???????????
My articles opposing these grants appeared in Art Magazines before they were passed by Congress. Of course, no one paid attention. The Art World saw Museum grants. The local governments saw a chance to dip into the fund and many minor artists and Art groups saw opportunities to get funding. The article stated GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE IN THE ARTS PROLIFERATES A LOT OF BAD ART!!!!!!!!!!! The GOVERNMENT HAS PROVEN THAT STATEMENT CORRECT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It has most certainly done its job of proving my articles right.
Ever drive by A HUGE LEAPING FISH ORNAMENT OR A CHEESE WEDGE 5 FEET HIGH OR A COILED HOSE TWENTY FEET HIGH RESEMBLING A PHALLIC SYMBOL GONE ASKEW OR A HUGE WALL MURAL DONE BY AMATEUR "ARTISTS"???????????? DID YOU WONDER WHAT IT WAS DOING THERE???????????Be sure to thank your FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AS WELL AS YOUR LOCAL GOVERNMENT. The latter got most of the money for this SUPPOSED ART WORK????????from the former. These ORNAMENTS ARE ABUNDANT NOW IN AMERICA since the Federal Government took over the responsibility of DECIDING WHAT IS ART AND WHAT IS NOT!!!!!!!!
PLU.......EEEEEZE!!!!!!!! FISH AND LENGTHS OF HOSE are TOTALLY ART WORTHY!!!!!!!! The question is whether the CREATOR CREATED ART OR A SALABLE OBJECT MEANT TO ADVERTISE A GIVEN ATTRIBUTE. There's nothing wrong with doing that as long as we DO NOT CALL IT ART. SCULPTURE has a long history OF BEING MISUSED so one shouldn't be surprised. Sometimes, the artists play through with zeal and zest and convince WHATEVER RULING BODY that ART IS worthy as MICHELANGELO did in Rome and made them ACCEPT HIS FINISHED WORKS. We've not been quite as fortunate in America although a few commissions for GREAT Sculpture sneaked through, many of the funded pieces are extremely unnoteworthy. There are great MODERN sculptures done by great sculptors but not many on the government dole. ARTISTS DO NOT COMMAND RESPECT WHEN GOVERNMENT INTERFERES.
The problem: Simple. ART IS SOMETHING BEYOND most practical thinking. IT IS A DISCUSSION BETWEEN THE ARTIST AND THE ARTIST AND MAYBE A FEW VIEWERS. IT DOES NOT FIT INTO NEAT CATEGORIES like computer files. IT CARRIES ITSELF INTO REALMS UNTRAVELED by the AVERAGE BLOKE and stares back BALEFULLY--without a label, an excuse, or an explanation. IT'S IN YOUR FACE AND IT TELLS THE ARTIST'S TRUTH ABOUT WHATEVER: SOCIETY AND PEOPLE, POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT, NATURE-GOOD AND BAD AD INFINITUM. Yes, fish do fit there---so does A HOSE but in a way you may never have dreamed. PAINTERS AND SCULPTORS (ALL ARTISTS) NEED ARTISTIC FREEDOM FOR THIS TO BECOME A REALITY!!!!!!!! unfortunately this comes at a price. DOESN'T EVERYTHING?????????
What KIND OF WORK called art will the average man buy??????? SORRY, YOU WON'T LIKE THE ANSWER. THE "SCHLOCK". And there's lots of it. Pretty little scenes and carefully copied nature studies done at art groups or where ever. Pretty damn good draftsmanship in a lot of it. BUT ART????????? NOPE!!!!!!!!!! Attempts at art. MAYBE. CERTAINLY, LOTS OF REALLY GOOD GRAPHICS THAT TRANSLATE INTO BEAUTIFUL PRINTS. IS there some REALLY GOOD ART?????????? YOU BET!!!!!!!! Can Mr. Average Man identify it?????? Highly unlikely. WHY???????
A few important factors inhibit understanding. Artists are seldom vocal teachers. They teach through art. It's silent. SOMEONE HAS TO TALK FOR THEM. That's how CRITICS WERE BORN. IF GOVERNMENT HAD TAKEN THAT YEARLY $350M spent on ART AND THE HUMANITIES and done its IMPORTANT JOB, the public would have received a quality ART EDUCATION FROM the GOVERNMENT'S choice of projects IN painting,sculpture, drawing AND the minor arts.
They'd have explored the art, explained the process, and glorified the artists and all this would have been done by TRULY KNOWLEDGEABLE ARTISTS, ART HISTORIANS, AND MUSEUM CURATORS IN ROTATING POSITIONS WITHIN THE STRUCTURE. Videos, films,and visual computer histories would have helped provide the real cultural advantages Americans deserve.
Instead these jobs did not go to people with KNOWLEDGE such as qualified artists or Professors but to folks who know how to dole out money where it will create the most help for the politicians. ART AND ARTISTS were NOT SELECTED BECAUSE THEY LACKED THE talent OF PURSUING GRANTS and ARTISTS WERE SELECTED because they glorified SOME political cause. The Government provided money to people who were good at filling out papers for money grants and that too often was their only real talent. Home town folks, again good at filing money grants with little more than a secondary interest in art, became the real procurers of local community art projects. They used their money to glorify the HACKNEYED, produce the TRITE, AND WORST OF ALL MAKE THE PUBLIC BELIEVE THAT EVERYTHING IS ART. BULLLLLLLLLLLLLLLONEY!!!!!
ARTISTS USED TO SAY: DON'T BUY IT because it looks good over the SOFA. JUST BECAUSE YOU LIKE IT DOESN'T MAKE IT GOOD ART!!!!!!!!!!
That's still true. Odds are individual judgement is based on the same factors that the Government's judgement is based on. FRANKLY--NONE. Even when an individual has been TAUGHT THE ESSENTIAL BASICS OF GOOD ART IN COLLEGE, that judgement is often suspended. The surprising element has always been that consumers will choose almost anything with more knowledge and foresight than a work of art.
SO WILL THE GOVERNMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!! Although looking at their record of reckless spending, the same type of judgement may apply.
Of course, purchase of ART IS very personal-and should be-although "LIKE" is not key. Good ART has to be UNIVERSAL. It should elicit CALM, JOY, EXCITEMENT, INSIGHT, PASSION, RENEWAL,OR REVULSION etc. DOZENS of words that express an EMOTION beyond the ORDINARY "LIKE". Maybe many times, viewers may mean this. Too often, however, the fact that it is an addition rather than a compulsion is the reason for buying the work.
The GOVERNMENT made MAGNANIMOUS DONATIONS OF MONEY to Museums and cultural centers, who should have known better. But AN ART AFICIONADO ON THE TAKE IS LIKE A MAN ON THE MAKE. TOO IMPASSIONED to show an iota of concern. So those erstwhile institutions contributed to the demise. All in all the use of Government funds has created a more NEGATIVE EFFECT ON FINE ARTS THAN A BENEFICIAL ONE. THE HUMANITIES AND THE CULTURE as a whole have benefited only in ways that the Government deemed necessary.
Therefore, although it will take 100 years to restore what the Government has "rent asunder", the sooner it gets out of the ARTS and HUMANITIES the BETTER for all concerned but especially the ARTISTS !!!!!!!!!! SO, HOORAY FOR CUTTING 2.5 TRILLION OVER THE NEXT TEN YEARS FROM THE NATIONAL BUDGET INCLUDING THE ARTS AND HUMANITIES ENDOWMENTS.
CHEERS, CONNIE
7/13/11
POLITICAL DOUBLE SPEAK Post 70
Hi,
We've been hearing constantly about debt ceilings including scare tactics on America's finances and it's all DOUBLE SPEAK that hides what the arguments are really about!! These are battles ABOUT the kind of SPENDING that's okay BETWEEN President OBAMA'S AGENDA AND HIS OPPOSITION'S.
POLITICAL DOUBLE SPEAK in case you are new to this process is when they tell the voting public one thing when they are actually engaged in something else. Why do they do this??????To protect CITIZENS from the TRUTH about the politician's actions because they might not LIKE IT and show it at the ballot box!!!!!!!!
FIRST AND FOREMOST, THE TERM DEBT LIMIT or CEILING is simply a fiction. The United States has been spending like DRUNKEN SAILORS FOR YEARS AND YEARS. This term was coined IN 1917 AND the DEBT CEILING has been TWEAKED OR RAISED ABOUT 80 TIMES.
PLU...........EEZE!!!!!!!!!!!!WHAT KIND OF A LIMIT IS THAT??????????IT DOESN'T LIMIT ANYTHING!!!!!!!!!!! It was established originally as a safety valve for accountability for the U.S. Treasury, which obviously decided to ask for overrides +-80 times!!!!!!!!! HOW'S THAT FOR accountability??????? Points up the trouble with risky law. There's always a way around it. HAVE YOU HEARD THIS KIND OF VOCAL DEBATE BEFORE on the majority of the almost 80 times the debt limit has been changed????????
Of course not. But when THERE IS a CONTROVERSIAL PRESIDENT, who is either further LEFT OR RIGHT OF CENTER in a time that INCLUDES A RECESSION, IT BECOMES A POLITICAL FOOTBALL!!!!!!!!
This blogger writes about Economics because the politicians and the Media take advantage of the public's ignorance about the term. They have decided they can tell the public any economic fiction they find expedient, add a few CARE OR SCARE tactics, a lot of phony debate and VOILA! WIN THE HEARTS AND MINDS OF THE 'INNOCENTS'!!!!!!!!!
I enjoyed Jim DeMint's, (R-S.C.)comment when he accused the administration of "playing Chicken Little" on the debt ceiling because he said Social Security and Medicare have enough funds to pay beneficiaries "for several years". But THE ADMINISTRATION IS NOT the first to do the "Chicken Little" dance nor will be the last! DOUBLE SPEAK!!!!!!!!!!!
WELL, DAMMIT, THIS BLOGGER DON'T THINK YOU SHOULD HAVE TO VOTE FOR FOLKS WHO TREAT YOU LIKE IDIOTS!!!!!! POLITICAL DOUBLE SPEAK is a BAD DISEASE and VERY CATCHING AND OFTEN CORRUPTS even the MOST WELL-INTENTIONED.
For example, THE current debate is REALLY ABOUT TAXES, AND SPENDING ON THE VARIOUS WELFARE PROGRAMS, LIKE HEALTH CARE, THAT OBAMA'S AGENDA IS DEMANDING. It's his administration and so his policies lead the way and have to be either SUPPORTED or OPPOSED by surrounding politicians.
OBAMA must have EXPECTED TO BE CHALLENGED WHEN HE DECIDED HE WOULD CHANGE AMERICA TO HIS VIEW OF WHAT IT SHOULD BE!!!!!!!!!!His threat about SOCIAL SECURITY IS SIMPLY EMPTY RHETORIC. His AGENDA is in strong support of programs like Social Security. These dire predictions from politicians are part and parcel of the FANTASY SHOWDOWN that belies the NEGOTIATING WALTZ DONE BY BOTH PARTIES TO ENABLE THE NECESSARY COMPROMISES THAT MAKE GOVERNMENT WORK. AYE...that's the key!!! COMPROMISE is the only way for our political situation to thrive and that compromise can be both good and bad for it.
But believe it or not, Mr. Politician, Americans can handle the TRUTH. Not always well but even in Florida where the recently elected GOVERNOR SCOTT did what the voters wanted and took a hit for it, the voters are adjusting. SOMETIMES AFTER A LONG session OF POOR POLITICS, THE CURE SEEMS WORSE THAN THE ECONOMIC DISEASE!!!!!!!!! But given a chance, it can prove itself.
The Media today is no help. They've all gone into SHOW BUSINESS ALONGSIDE THE POLITICIANS. Unfortunately many NEWSCASTERS OFTEN think the only important ECONOMIC FACTOR is their NEW ROLE OF reading THEIR LINES and acting out someone else's writing and beliefs while deciding whether their make-up makes the most of their looks. The managers behind those actors worry that aging women and grey haired men DETRACT from popularity AND VIEWING. What a totally "intellectual" viewpoint of the evening news.
It's a lovely set-up for POLITICAL DOUBLE SPEAK. Feed the hungry writer's computer and the NEWSCASTERS WILL PRESENT A DRAMA A DAY FOR ALL THE VIEWERS TO ADMIRE. Have you taken note of the daily TRAGEDY that the NEWS?????????now presents? The realization that their own DISASTER IS NOT FAR OFF has spurred them to new heights. Be that as it may, the national debt simply became the latest in a long string of tragedies, double speaking that is!!!!!!!!!!!
What's the REAL SCOOP AND SCOPE OF WHAT'S GOING ON IN DEBATE ON DEBT CEILINGS???????? As far as this blogger can tell:
The debt limits are obviously NOT EFFECTIVE FOR CONTROLLING SPENDING.
Debt limits are NOT REALLY PARTISAN--President Obama and his entourage voted against raising debt limits, noting in 2006 that increasing limits weakens America both at home and abroad. His attitude has obviously changed. So it's opposition by whatever party is currently out of favor.
Republicans and some Democrats do NOT BELIEVE a technical default is DISASTROUS.
The REAL DISAGREEMENT IS what will create economic growth: A CUT-BACK ON SPENDING OR TAX BOOSTS.
AND ABOVE AND BEYOND ALL THAT: President Obama thinks he MAY NOT NEED partisan agreement to RAISE the debt limit. A thinly veiled power grab by the administration with a poor interpretation of the 14Th Amendment of the Constitution could cause endless confusion and a stalemate.
In other words it may all be much ado to accomplish nothing. HOW DO LIKE THEM APPLES???????
The results of POLITICAL DOUBLE SPEAK is interesting. Words become real weapons. It has touted that RAISING THE DEBT CEILING is to PAY CURRENT DEBTS but it may be actually about PAYING FOR AUTHORIZED DEBTS (those are debts not yet incurred but on the agenda in the future!!!!!!!!!!!) In other words not only for what debts we have incurred but for what debts we MIGHT INCUR.
WOW, who wouldn't like a budget like that?????Hey, Boss I want a RAISE to cover WHATEVER I MIGHT DECIDE TO BUY NEXT CHRISTMAS as well as whatever I already am in debt for buying. Thanks!!!!!!!!!!
And of course, caught in the midst of all the DOUBLE SPEAK are the MIDDLE CLASS whom both ARROGANT WEALTHY and COMMUNISTS want to reduce in number. WHY???????? Because the MIDDLE CLASS is AMERICA'S GREATEST STRENGTH AGAINST THOSE ELEMENTS!!!!!!!!!! America's middle class distinguishes it from third world countries where poverty makes it impossible to protest against unfairness. Being middle class in other words makes citizens more difficult to control while demanding to KNOW THE TRUTH!!!!
So, whatever occurs out of all this DOUBLE SPEAK, you can be assured that those who will be made to suffer will be AMERICA'S MIDDLE CLASS because they have enjoyed the good times too long. The ARROGANT WEALTHY see the good life as THEIR RIGHT for achieving so much and the COMMUNISTS see the good life as STOLEN FROM THE POOR. The MIDDLE CLASS has become an ENDANGERED SPECIES without "ALL ASSUMING GOVERNMENT" protection FROM EXTINCTION. Don't you wish the MIDDLE CLASS was as important to American politicians as the Everglades Kite?????
CHEERS, CONNIE
We've been hearing constantly about debt ceilings including scare tactics on America's finances and it's all DOUBLE SPEAK that hides what the arguments are really about!! These are battles ABOUT the kind of SPENDING that's okay BETWEEN President OBAMA'S AGENDA AND HIS OPPOSITION'S.
POLITICAL DOUBLE SPEAK in case you are new to this process is when they tell the voting public one thing when they are actually engaged in something else. Why do they do this??????To protect CITIZENS from the TRUTH about the politician's actions because they might not LIKE IT and show it at the ballot box!!!!!!!!
FIRST AND FOREMOST, THE TERM DEBT LIMIT or CEILING is simply a fiction. The United States has been spending like DRUNKEN SAILORS FOR YEARS AND YEARS. This term was coined IN 1917 AND the DEBT CEILING has been TWEAKED OR RAISED ABOUT 80 TIMES.
PLU...........EEZE!!!!!!!!!!!!WHAT KIND OF A LIMIT IS THAT??????????IT DOESN'T LIMIT ANYTHING!!!!!!!!!!! It was established originally as a safety valve for accountability for the U.S. Treasury, which obviously decided to ask for overrides +-80 times!!!!!!!!! HOW'S THAT FOR accountability??????? Points up the trouble with risky law. There's always a way around it. HAVE YOU HEARD THIS KIND OF VOCAL DEBATE BEFORE on the majority of the almost 80 times the debt limit has been changed????????
Of course not. But when THERE IS a CONTROVERSIAL PRESIDENT, who is either further LEFT OR RIGHT OF CENTER in a time that INCLUDES A RECESSION, IT BECOMES A POLITICAL FOOTBALL!!!!!!!!
This blogger writes about Economics because the politicians and the Media take advantage of the public's ignorance about the term. They have decided they can tell the public any economic fiction they find expedient, add a few CARE OR SCARE tactics, a lot of phony debate and VOILA! WIN THE HEARTS AND MINDS OF THE 'INNOCENTS'!!!!!!!!!
I enjoyed Jim DeMint's, (R-S.C.)comment when he accused the administration of "playing Chicken Little" on the debt ceiling because he said Social Security and Medicare have enough funds to pay beneficiaries "for several years". But THE ADMINISTRATION IS NOT the first to do the "Chicken Little" dance nor will be the last! DOUBLE SPEAK!!!!!!!!!!!
WELL, DAMMIT, THIS BLOGGER DON'T THINK YOU SHOULD HAVE TO VOTE FOR FOLKS WHO TREAT YOU LIKE IDIOTS!!!!!! POLITICAL DOUBLE SPEAK is a BAD DISEASE and VERY CATCHING AND OFTEN CORRUPTS even the MOST WELL-INTENTIONED.
For example, THE current debate is REALLY ABOUT TAXES, AND SPENDING ON THE VARIOUS WELFARE PROGRAMS, LIKE HEALTH CARE, THAT OBAMA'S AGENDA IS DEMANDING. It's his administration and so his policies lead the way and have to be either SUPPORTED or OPPOSED by surrounding politicians.
OBAMA must have EXPECTED TO BE CHALLENGED WHEN HE DECIDED HE WOULD CHANGE AMERICA TO HIS VIEW OF WHAT IT SHOULD BE!!!!!!!!!!His threat about SOCIAL SECURITY IS SIMPLY EMPTY RHETORIC. His AGENDA is in strong support of programs like Social Security. These dire predictions from politicians are part and parcel of the FANTASY SHOWDOWN that belies the NEGOTIATING WALTZ DONE BY BOTH PARTIES TO ENABLE THE NECESSARY COMPROMISES THAT MAKE GOVERNMENT WORK. AYE...that's the key!!! COMPROMISE is the only way for our political situation to thrive and that compromise can be both good and bad for it.
But believe it or not, Mr. Politician, Americans can handle the TRUTH. Not always well but even in Florida where the recently elected GOVERNOR SCOTT did what the voters wanted and took a hit for it, the voters are adjusting. SOMETIMES AFTER A LONG session OF POOR POLITICS, THE CURE SEEMS WORSE THAN THE ECONOMIC DISEASE!!!!!!!!! But given a chance, it can prove itself.
The Media today is no help. They've all gone into SHOW BUSINESS ALONGSIDE THE POLITICIANS. Unfortunately many NEWSCASTERS OFTEN think the only important ECONOMIC FACTOR is their NEW ROLE OF reading THEIR LINES and acting out someone else's writing and beliefs while deciding whether their make-up makes the most of their looks. The managers behind those actors worry that aging women and grey haired men DETRACT from popularity AND VIEWING. What a totally "intellectual" viewpoint of the evening news.
It's a lovely set-up for POLITICAL DOUBLE SPEAK. Feed the hungry writer's computer and the NEWSCASTERS WILL PRESENT A DRAMA A DAY FOR ALL THE VIEWERS TO ADMIRE. Have you taken note of the daily TRAGEDY that the NEWS?????????now presents? The realization that their own DISASTER IS NOT FAR OFF has spurred them to new heights. Be that as it may, the national debt simply became the latest in a long string of tragedies, double speaking that is!!!!!!!!!!!
What's the REAL SCOOP AND SCOPE OF WHAT'S GOING ON IN DEBATE ON DEBT CEILINGS???????? As far as this blogger can tell:
The debt limits are obviously NOT EFFECTIVE FOR CONTROLLING SPENDING.
Debt limits are NOT REALLY PARTISAN--President Obama and his entourage voted against raising debt limits, noting in 2006 that increasing limits weakens America both at home and abroad. His attitude has obviously changed. So it's opposition by whatever party is currently out of favor.
Republicans and some Democrats do NOT BELIEVE a technical default is DISASTROUS.
The REAL DISAGREEMENT IS what will create economic growth: A CUT-BACK ON SPENDING OR TAX BOOSTS.
AND ABOVE AND BEYOND ALL THAT: President Obama thinks he MAY NOT NEED partisan agreement to RAISE the debt limit. A thinly veiled power grab by the administration with a poor interpretation of the 14Th Amendment of the Constitution could cause endless confusion and a stalemate.
In other words it may all be much ado to accomplish nothing. HOW DO LIKE THEM APPLES???????
The results of POLITICAL DOUBLE SPEAK is interesting. Words become real weapons. It has touted that RAISING THE DEBT CEILING is to PAY CURRENT DEBTS but it may be actually about PAYING FOR AUTHORIZED DEBTS (those are debts not yet incurred but on the agenda in the future!!!!!!!!!!!) In other words not only for what debts we have incurred but for what debts we MIGHT INCUR.
WOW, who wouldn't like a budget like that?????Hey, Boss I want a RAISE to cover WHATEVER I MIGHT DECIDE TO BUY NEXT CHRISTMAS as well as whatever I already am in debt for buying. Thanks!!!!!!!!!!
And of course, caught in the midst of all the DOUBLE SPEAK are the MIDDLE CLASS whom both ARROGANT WEALTHY and COMMUNISTS want to reduce in number. WHY???????? Because the MIDDLE CLASS is AMERICA'S GREATEST STRENGTH AGAINST THOSE ELEMENTS!!!!!!!!!! America's middle class distinguishes it from third world countries where poverty makes it impossible to protest against unfairness. Being middle class in other words makes citizens more difficult to control while demanding to KNOW THE TRUTH!!!!
So, whatever occurs out of all this DOUBLE SPEAK, you can be assured that those who will be made to suffer will be AMERICA'S MIDDLE CLASS because they have enjoyed the good times too long. The ARROGANT WEALTHY see the good life as THEIR RIGHT for achieving so much and the COMMUNISTS see the good life as STOLEN FROM THE POOR. The MIDDLE CLASS has become an ENDANGERED SPECIES without "ALL ASSUMING GOVERNMENT" protection FROM EXTINCTION. Don't you wish the MIDDLE CLASS was as important to American politicians as the Everglades Kite?????
CHEERS, CONNIE
7/8/11
"T'ISN'T ALWAYS FAIR OR JUST BUT NEVER IS, YOU KNOW, NO MATTER WHAT" POST 69
Hi,
I read columnists on the left and right as they are designated in the newspaper. And I am too often amused at their intentions. However, I got to laugh loud the other day when a noted observer from the "left" ended up quoting Ronald Reagan on lifting the debt ceiling during his presidency. DOESN'T HURT THAT RONALD REAGAN WAS RECENTLY SELECTED BY THE PUBLIC AS OUR BEST PRESIDENT. Nothing like a winning team!!!!!! Then the columnist from the "right" caused more laughter when he called the Republican party what amounted to "abnormal" and the members, of what he termed "the movement", fanatics who won't listen to scholars or intellectual authorities!!!!!!!!!
Oh gosh yes, let's LISTEN UP everyone. Let's pretend that we haven't been SCREWED, GLUED and TATTOOED with lies, innuendo, false statistics, and general WRONG THINKING by many of these erstwhile SCHOLARS AND INTELLECTUAL AUTHORITIES. LET'S ALSO IGNORE the fact that not once in all these discussions on paying our debts or raising the debt ceiling has the AMERICAN PUBLIC been made CLEARLY AWARE that the one issue they demanded unanimously in the 2012 ELECTION has not been brought to the table. The HEALTH CARE BILL!!!!!!!!!
It is clear that a major discussion and some concessions on the OVERWHELMING IMPACT of the health care bill, the cornerstone of a fully Communist Society, is being totally avoided as bits and particles of spending are thrown out as bait to the negotiators.
Let's face it! President Obama said right after the election that he would study why he took such a "SHELACKING" (HIS WORD, NOT MINE) but when the health care bill was mentioned as a reason, he negated it. It was only MENTIONED that one time since the Media has taken an oath to only spout CORRECT LOGIC as obtained from OBAMA OFFICIALS which is like CORRECT PROFILING. SO, IT IS REASONABLE TO BELIEVE THAT PRESIDENT OBAMA WILL NOT BRING HEALTH CARE TO THE TABLE FOR ANY COMPROMISE that doesn't require extreme muscle.
Nancy Pelosi, the most BELOVED woman in America, said just the other day on TV that the health care bill is not a consideration for debate. IT'S OBVIOUSLY ONLY A CONSIDERATION TO THE VOTERS, WHO DEMANDED that IF NOT COMPLETELY REPEALED, THEN AT LEAST ADJUSTMENT MUST BE MADE . THEY DID THIS LOUD AND CLEAR IN THEIR 2010 VOTING. That appears to be what those who represent "THE MOVEMENT" ARE ATTEMPTING TO ACCOMPLISH WITH THE ONLY MEANS AT THEIR COMMAND.
This DEBT CEILING DEBATE may not be the weapon of choice but when all other approaches fail to dislodge the Democratic hold on HEALTH CARE, what would these columnists suggest?????????The 2010 representatives were elected to do a number of specific jobs. REPEAL HEALTH CARE, LOWER SPENDING, AND EVENTUALLY TAXES. No one was shy about the reasons--if one side or the other can't understand the PEOPLE'S VOICE BUT ONLY INTELLECTUAL AUTHORITIES, SCHOLARS, OR STATISTICS then we have IMPASSE!!!!!!!!!!
CAN YOU HEAR THAT RUMBLING??????IS IT INTELLECTUAL AUTHORITY???????IS IT THE SCHOLARS??????? NO....CAN YOU BELIEVE IT........IT'S THOSE "UNINTERESTED" VOTERS THE INTELLECTUALS TOLD US ABOUT!!!!!!!!!!!LISTEN UP!!!!!!!!!
I once knew a gentleman who had lived through the more LAWLESS days of our country and I asked how the citizens would decide when and how justice should be done. "Well", he drawled, "t'wasn't too tough, you see, when we heard the folks rumblin' , we listened, we dug into it, and then we did the necessary. T'wasn't always fair or JUST but never is, you know, no matter what."
None of us could avoid the MEDIA FRENZY of the Anthony trial this month where the JUSTICE SYSTEM worked because without TRUE EVIDENCE, the jury could only come back with one answer. NOT GUILTY. Innocent UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY MAKES OUR current SOCIETY STRONG-it is not the seemingly casual justice of old but understand it is still imperfect!!!!!!!!!!"
"T'isn't ALWAYS FAIR OR JUST BUT NEVER IS, YOU KNOW, NO MATTER WHAT."
That about says it all. No justice is perfect. Yes, we need health care and want to care for the needy but do we want the MONSTER HEALTH CARE BILL that was passed in the last Congressional Session and signed by President Obama THAT INCLUDES ALL SORTS OF ISSUES OUTSIDE OF HEALTH CARE INCLUDING A TAX ON OUR HOMES.!!!!!!!!!! No, we don't and the NEGOTIATING legislators who HEAR the rumbling of the crowd WANT TO DIG INTO IT AND DO THE NECESSARY!!!!!!!!! BUT THOSE IN CONTROL WON'T LET THEM!!!!!!!!!!
The question is WHEN DID IT BECOME ONLY THEIR GOVERNMENT AND NOT OURS!!!!!!!!! There's a long and short answer to that. The Republicans AND Democrats stopped representing the people some long way back on the ADVICE OF THE INTELLECTUALS, STATISTICIANS, AND SCHOLARS!!!!!!!!
RONALD REAGAN interrupted that for a short period and accomplished a great deal but as soon as he was out of the way, the communistS continued with more zeal THAN BEFORE because R.R. scared the HELL OUT OF THEM WHEN HE WARNED US ABOUT GOVERNMENT CONTROLLED TOTAL HEALTH CARE.
The short answer is that THE HEALTH CARE BILL moved us into becoming a SOCIALIST STATE with total government control!!!!!!! Communists believe that Government controlled health care is the corner stone to establishing a Communist government and authority. Call it Socialist. Call it Progressive. It all adds up to the same theory supported often by Communist Scholars, intellectual authorities, and statistics!!!!!!
President Obama has his Agenda. He's made no bones about it. He believes that this is the way America should be, so does his wife and the folks he has hired to help him run our government. They believe that the only way justice will be done is to make this into a GOVERNMENT CONTROLLED SOCIETY. A number of the people living in this country AGREE WITH HIM but I don't believe it is a majority of citizens. America is a MAJORITY RULES NATION OR WAS!!!!!
Obama's cohorts point to the Communist governments in some of our favorite places in Europe as examples of the success of their theories. HOWEVER, much of what has happened in the world ECONOMICALLY has happened not only because of our depression but more importantly because of Europe and Asia's very shaky economic underpinnings. AMERICA IS one of the most successful economic regimes in the world EVEN ON OUR WORST DAYS. Our system works although make no mistake it has long been an amalgamation of socialism and capitalism brought to us by both Republicans and Democrats. We have been successful because of that amalgamation and when the PENDULUM SWINGS TOO MUCH TO ONE SIDE OR THE OTHER----WE ARE IN DIFFICULTY.
I believe the last HEALTH CARE BILL is TIPPING THE BALANCE IN OUR SOCIETY DANGEROUSLY, AND I BELIEVE THAT PRESIDENT OBAMA IF HE WANTS TO BECOME A GREAT PRESIDENT must be willing to back off on his TOO RIGID AGENDA because that is what GREAT PRESIDENTS HAVE TO DO. It's only the BAD Presidents or Mediocre Presidents that don't yield. PRESIDENT REAGAN HAD TO YIELD.
"T'ISN'T ALWAYS FAIR OR JUST BUT NEVER IS, YOU KNOW, NO MATTER WHAT!"
CHEERS, CONNIE
I read columnists on the left and right as they are designated in the newspaper. And I am too often amused at their intentions. However, I got to laugh loud the other day when a noted observer from the "left" ended up quoting Ronald Reagan on lifting the debt ceiling during his presidency. DOESN'T HURT THAT RONALD REAGAN WAS RECENTLY SELECTED BY THE PUBLIC AS OUR BEST PRESIDENT. Nothing like a winning team!!!!!! Then the columnist from the "right" caused more laughter when he called the Republican party what amounted to "abnormal" and the members, of what he termed "the movement", fanatics who won't listen to scholars or intellectual authorities!!!!!!!!!
Oh gosh yes, let's LISTEN UP everyone. Let's pretend that we haven't been SCREWED, GLUED and TATTOOED with lies, innuendo, false statistics, and general WRONG THINKING by many of these erstwhile SCHOLARS AND INTELLECTUAL AUTHORITIES. LET'S ALSO IGNORE the fact that not once in all these discussions on paying our debts or raising the debt ceiling has the AMERICAN PUBLIC been made CLEARLY AWARE that the one issue they demanded unanimously in the 2012 ELECTION has not been brought to the table. The HEALTH CARE BILL!!!!!!!!!
It is clear that a major discussion and some concessions on the OVERWHELMING IMPACT of the health care bill, the cornerstone of a fully Communist Society, is being totally avoided as bits and particles of spending are thrown out as bait to the negotiators.
Let's face it! President Obama said right after the election that he would study why he took such a "SHELACKING" (HIS WORD, NOT MINE) but when the health care bill was mentioned as a reason, he negated it. It was only MENTIONED that one time since the Media has taken an oath to only spout CORRECT LOGIC as obtained from OBAMA OFFICIALS which is like CORRECT PROFILING. SO, IT IS REASONABLE TO BELIEVE THAT PRESIDENT OBAMA WILL NOT BRING HEALTH CARE TO THE TABLE FOR ANY COMPROMISE that doesn't require extreme muscle.
Nancy Pelosi, the most BELOVED woman in America, said just the other day on TV that the health care bill is not a consideration for debate. IT'S OBVIOUSLY ONLY A CONSIDERATION TO THE VOTERS, WHO DEMANDED that IF NOT COMPLETELY REPEALED, THEN AT LEAST ADJUSTMENT MUST BE MADE . THEY DID THIS LOUD AND CLEAR IN THEIR 2010 VOTING. That appears to be what those who represent "THE MOVEMENT" ARE ATTEMPTING TO ACCOMPLISH WITH THE ONLY MEANS AT THEIR COMMAND.
This DEBT CEILING DEBATE may not be the weapon of choice but when all other approaches fail to dislodge the Democratic hold on HEALTH CARE, what would these columnists suggest?????????The 2010 representatives were elected to do a number of specific jobs. REPEAL HEALTH CARE, LOWER SPENDING, AND EVENTUALLY TAXES. No one was shy about the reasons--if one side or the other can't understand the PEOPLE'S VOICE BUT ONLY INTELLECTUAL AUTHORITIES, SCHOLARS, OR STATISTICS then we have IMPASSE!!!!!!!!!!
CAN YOU HEAR THAT RUMBLING??????IS IT INTELLECTUAL AUTHORITY???????IS IT THE SCHOLARS??????? NO....CAN YOU BELIEVE IT........IT'S THOSE "UNINTERESTED" VOTERS THE INTELLECTUALS TOLD US ABOUT!!!!!!!!!!!LISTEN UP!!!!!!!!!
I once knew a gentleman who had lived through the more LAWLESS days of our country and I asked how the citizens would decide when and how justice should be done. "Well", he drawled, "t'wasn't too tough, you see, when we heard the folks rumblin' , we listened, we dug into it, and then we did the necessary. T'wasn't always fair or JUST but never is, you know, no matter what."
None of us could avoid the MEDIA FRENZY of the Anthony trial this month where the JUSTICE SYSTEM worked because without TRUE EVIDENCE, the jury could only come back with one answer. NOT GUILTY. Innocent UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY MAKES OUR current SOCIETY STRONG-it is not the seemingly casual justice of old but understand it is still imperfect!!!!!!!!!!"
"T'isn't ALWAYS FAIR OR JUST BUT NEVER IS, YOU KNOW, NO MATTER WHAT."
That about says it all. No justice is perfect. Yes, we need health care and want to care for the needy but do we want the MONSTER HEALTH CARE BILL that was passed in the last Congressional Session and signed by President Obama THAT INCLUDES ALL SORTS OF ISSUES OUTSIDE OF HEALTH CARE INCLUDING A TAX ON OUR HOMES.!!!!!!!!!! No, we don't and the NEGOTIATING legislators who HEAR the rumbling of the crowd WANT TO DIG INTO IT AND DO THE NECESSARY!!!!!!!!! BUT THOSE IN CONTROL WON'T LET THEM!!!!!!!!!!
The question is WHEN DID IT BECOME ONLY THEIR GOVERNMENT AND NOT OURS!!!!!!!!! There's a long and short answer to that. The Republicans AND Democrats stopped representing the people some long way back on the ADVICE OF THE INTELLECTUALS, STATISTICIANS, AND SCHOLARS!!!!!!!!
RONALD REAGAN interrupted that for a short period and accomplished a great deal but as soon as he was out of the way, the communistS continued with more zeal THAN BEFORE because R.R. scared the HELL OUT OF THEM WHEN HE WARNED US ABOUT GOVERNMENT CONTROLLED TOTAL HEALTH CARE.
The short answer is that THE HEALTH CARE BILL moved us into becoming a SOCIALIST STATE with total government control!!!!!!! Communists believe that Government controlled health care is the corner stone to establishing a Communist government and authority. Call it Socialist. Call it Progressive. It all adds up to the same theory supported often by Communist Scholars, intellectual authorities, and statistics!!!!!!
President Obama has his Agenda. He's made no bones about it. He believes that this is the way America should be, so does his wife and the folks he has hired to help him run our government. They believe that the only way justice will be done is to make this into a GOVERNMENT CONTROLLED SOCIETY. A number of the people living in this country AGREE WITH HIM but I don't believe it is a majority of citizens. America is a MAJORITY RULES NATION OR WAS!!!!!
Obama's cohorts point to the Communist governments in some of our favorite places in Europe as examples of the success of their theories. HOWEVER, much of what has happened in the world ECONOMICALLY has happened not only because of our depression but more importantly because of Europe and Asia's very shaky economic underpinnings. AMERICA IS one of the most successful economic regimes in the world EVEN ON OUR WORST DAYS. Our system works although make no mistake it has long been an amalgamation of socialism and capitalism brought to us by both Republicans and Democrats. We have been successful because of that amalgamation and when the PENDULUM SWINGS TOO MUCH TO ONE SIDE OR THE OTHER----WE ARE IN DIFFICULTY.
I believe the last HEALTH CARE BILL is TIPPING THE BALANCE IN OUR SOCIETY DANGEROUSLY, AND I BELIEVE THAT PRESIDENT OBAMA IF HE WANTS TO BECOME A GREAT PRESIDENT must be willing to back off on his TOO RIGID AGENDA because that is what GREAT PRESIDENTS HAVE TO DO. It's only the BAD Presidents or Mediocre Presidents that don't yield. PRESIDENT REAGAN HAD TO YIELD.
"T'ISN'T ALWAYS FAIR OR JUST BUT NEVER IS, YOU KNOW, NO MATTER WHAT!"
CHEERS, CONNIE
7/1/11
STUFF HAPPENS! GET OVER IT! POST 68
Hi,
I read two books recommended by a friend written by George Friedman: "The Next Century" and "The Next Decade".
I found them very helpful putting together facts from America's past and obtained a thoughtful look into Friedman's view of possible future American political agendas. They may be helpful in your outlook on the current political dialogue and economically as a view of America's possible future including wars. Friedman has a company, "Stratfor", that analyses the kind of information he presents and I have no quarrel with his logic or point of view.
However, when he says that he hopes that our REPUBLIC can survive the idea that AMERICA has become an EMPIRE, I would have liked his advice to the PRESIDENTS he says will be our most important asset. He had a lot of advice for the present and future Presidents on how to maintain and retain our power base and keep countries across the world in a balanced state but when it came to PRESERVING THE REPUBLIC, his advice to Presidents was minimal and therein lies the rub.
It appears to me that the same techniques that Presidents must use for maintaining an empire including the oft repeated balance are required even more greatly at home when dealing with America's citizens and maintaining a REPUBLIC.
What no one ever seems to mention any longer in the media about our country is the fact that we got where we are and became an empire because of the type of nation and government that America has enjoyed. Much of what has been ACCOMPLISHED was due to the kinds of FREEDOMS that were granted by our CONSTITUTION and fathered by our laws. THOSE WHO DISAGREE MIGHT SAY "IN SPITE OF OURSELVES" but I find 200 YEARS OF MAKING ALL THE RIGHT MISTAKES HARD TO ACCEPT. I think we can safely say that our CONSTITUTION AS WELL AS OUR DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE has seen AMERICA through some pretty heavy weather with some pretty correct moves.
The reason AMERICA works might be as SIMPLE and COMPLEX as FREEDOM itself. Our founding documents allow a constant and required LEGAL change in AMERICA slowly but surely. THAT IS KEY-SLOWLY BUT SURELY!!!!!!!!!!!!! Those documents administered as laws by the three divisions of Government, THE LEGISLATIVE, THE EXECUTIVE, AND THE JUDICIAL, HOPE TO GUARANTEE LIFE, LIBERTY AND the pursuit of JUSTICE for CITIZENS and were written so as to be ADAPTABLE to all the changes and terrors that Americans could throw at it. AND IT HAS DONE ITS JOB.
Not always as fast as many would like. Not always as well as many would have hoped. And not always as impervious to the destruction of American Freedom as many would have desired. BUT IT HAS SURVIVED BECAUSE IT ALLOWS THE FREEDOM TO CHANGE!!!!!!!!! And because we have had some powerful PRESIDENTS WHO HAVE GUARANTEED THAT SURVIVAL.
A President, these days, has to wear MANY HATS AND UNFORTUNATELY SOME DON'T FIT AS WELL AS OTHERS!!!!!!!!!!!! But WEAR THEM HE MUST because it is his job to REPRESENT ALL THE PEOPLE NOT JUST A SELECT FEW. And that requires a WILLINGNESS to balance his personal beliefs against those DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSED. It is NEVER EASY!!!!!!!!!
As an aside think about your own opinions and how strongly you may feel FOR EXAMPLE about the way your neighbor makes NOISE LATE AT NIGHT. YOU GET ALL FIRED UP and it is hard to reconcile your belief "THAT HE OUGHTA SHUT UP" with his belief "THAT HE HAS A RIGHT TO YELL" in his own house!!!!!!!! How do you balance those strong emotions and attitudes so that you both are in a more balanced position and NO ONE GETS SHOT!!!!!!!!!
We read a lot about those who get SHOT and realize that BALANCE IS NOT ALWAYS ACHIEVED EVEN BY THE MOST DIPLOMATIC but one of the great things about AMERICAN FREEDOM and our reliance on our BELIEFS is that most of us try to AMELIORATE A SITUATION. The real point is that WE TRY AND WE DO SUCCEED A GOOD BIT OF THE TIME.
The foregoing example is on an individual level in very simplistic terms and does not compare to the COMPLEX ISSUES and DIFFERENCES that surround a PRESIDENT and CONGRESS. The laws that survive these COMPLEX ISSUES relie on our Judiciary and our CONSTITUTION to balance them and our Justice Department to adjudicate them and SO OFTEN AMERICA DOES IT RIGHT!!!!!!!!!OMG, WHAT A GREAT SET OF DOCUMENTS!!!!!!!!!!
DON'T LET ANYONE radically CHANGE or ELIMINATE THE DOCUMENTS!!!!!! CHANGE THE LAWS NOT THE DOCUMENTS AS SOME RADICALS ARE NOW TRYING TO CONVINCE CITIZENS TO DO! THE CONSTITUTION AND THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE ARE NOT PERFECT BUT what the hell is????????????
Friedman says he hopes AMERICA can preserve the Republic for his children and grand children but doesn't seem to offer much information on how we must go about accomplishing that. After all, it's not his expertise and specialty.
Whose is it???????? THE CONSTITUTION AND THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE and an AMERICA governed by a wise and balanced PRESIDENT, CONGRESS, AND JUDICIARY.
FREEDOM ROCKS!!!!!!!!! And AMERICA has preserved it much longer than most countries by relying on the MORAL FOUNDATIONS of this nation. NO, WE DIDN'T ALWAYS DO THE RIGHT THING and we have regrets but hey-- you got a PERSONAL LIFE WITH NO REGRETS????????? my sincere CONGRATULATIONS. The rest of us are human and make mistakes and forget the moral guidelines sometimes. STUFF HAPPENS!!!!!!! GET OVER IT!!!!!!!!
AND GIVE OUR NATION A BREAK THIS FOURTH OF JULY!!!!!!!!!!!! IT'S BECOME AN EMPIRE BECAUSE IT STOOD ON THE FIRM GROUND OF FREEDOM FOR ALL MEN!!!!!!!!!
Yes, ALL!!!!!! RACIALLY, IT WAS SLOW BUT WE FOUND OUR WAY.
So, pat the CONSTITUTION gently; smooth the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE lightly; and BE PROUD OF HOW FAR WE HAVE COME. Look toward a bright future that THOSE DOCUMENTS AND WHAT THEY STAND FOR will take us through. BE VIGILANT and they will stand up to all the tough times ahead!!!!!!!!!!! NOT EVEN bad Congresses, bad Presidents, or bad Judiciary will accomplish anything but wrong turns in the road that can be corrected since our CONSTITUTION AND DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE stand firm.
HAPPY JULY 4Th. HERE'S TO THE FUTURE AND GENERATING FREEDOM FOR OTHER COUNTRIES BY EXAMPLE.
CHEERS, CONNIE
I read two books recommended by a friend written by George Friedman: "The Next Century" and "The Next Decade".
I found them very helpful putting together facts from America's past and obtained a thoughtful look into Friedman's view of possible future American political agendas. They may be helpful in your outlook on the current political dialogue and economically as a view of America's possible future including wars. Friedman has a company, "Stratfor", that analyses the kind of information he presents and I have no quarrel with his logic or point of view.
However, when he says that he hopes that our REPUBLIC can survive the idea that AMERICA has become an EMPIRE, I would have liked his advice to the PRESIDENTS he says will be our most important asset. He had a lot of advice for the present and future Presidents on how to maintain and retain our power base and keep countries across the world in a balanced state but when it came to PRESERVING THE REPUBLIC, his advice to Presidents was minimal and therein lies the rub.
It appears to me that the same techniques that Presidents must use for maintaining an empire including the oft repeated balance are required even more greatly at home when dealing with America's citizens and maintaining a REPUBLIC.
What no one ever seems to mention any longer in the media about our country is the fact that we got where we are and became an empire because of the type of nation and government that America has enjoyed. Much of what has been ACCOMPLISHED was due to the kinds of FREEDOMS that were granted by our CONSTITUTION and fathered by our laws. THOSE WHO DISAGREE MIGHT SAY "IN SPITE OF OURSELVES" but I find 200 YEARS OF MAKING ALL THE RIGHT MISTAKES HARD TO ACCEPT. I think we can safely say that our CONSTITUTION AS WELL AS OUR DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE has seen AMERICA through some pretty heavy weather with some pretty correct moves.
The reason AMERICA works might be as SIMPLE and COMPLEX as FREEDOM itself. Our founding documents allow a constant and required LEGAL change in AMERICA slowly but surely. THAT IS KEY-SLOWLY BUT SURELY!!!!!!!!!!!!! Those documents administered as laws by the three divisions of Government, THE LEGISLATIVE, THE EXECUTIVE, AND THE JUDICIAL, HOPE TO GUARANTEE LIFE, LIBERTY AND the pursuit of JUSTICE for CITIZENS and were written so as to be ADAPTABLE to all the changes and terrors that Americans could throw at it. AND IT HAS DONE ITS JOB.
Not always as fast as many would like. Not always as well as many would have hoped. And not always as impervious to the destruction of American Freedom as many would have desired. BUT IT HAS SURVIVED BECAUSE IT ALLOWS THE FREEDOM TO CHANGE!!!!!!!!! And because we have had some powerful PRESIDENTS WHO HAVE GUARANTEED THAT SURVIVAL.
A President, these days, has to wear MANY HATS AND UNFORTUNATELY SOME DON'T FIT AS WELL AS OTHERS!!!!!!!!!!!! But WEAR THEM HE MUST because it is his job to REPRESENT ALL THE PEOPLE NOT JUST A SELECT FEW. And that requires a WILLINGNESS to balance his personal beliefs against those DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSED. It is NEVER EASY!!!!!!!!!
As an aside think about your own opinions and how strongly you may feel FOR EXAMPLE about the way your neighbor makes NOISE LATE AT NIGHT. YOU GET ALL FIRED UP and it is hard to reconcile your belief "THAT HE OUGHTA SHUT UP" with his belief "THAT HE HAS A RIGHT TO YELL" in his own house!!!!!!!! How do you balance those strong emotions and attitudes so that you both are in a more balanced position and NO ONE GETS SHOT!!!!!!!!!
We read a lot about those who get SHOT and realize that BALANCE IS NOT ALWAYS ACHIEVED EVEN BY THE MOST DIPLOMATIC but one of the great things about AMERICAN FREEDOM and our reliance on our BELIEFS is that most of us try to AMELIORATE A SITUATION. The real point is that WE TRY AND WE DO SUCCEED A GOOD BIT OF THE TIME.
The foregoing example is on an individual level in very simplistic terms and does not compare to the COMPLEX ISSUES and DIFFERENCES that surround a PRESIDENT and CONGRESS. The laws that survive these COMPLEX ISSUES relie on our Judiciary and our CONSTITUTION to balance them and our Justice Department to adjudicate them and SO OFTEN AMERICA DOES IT RIGHT!!!!!!!!!OMG, WHAT A GREAT SET OF DOCUMENTS!!!!!!!!!!
DON'T LET ANYONE radically CHANGE or ELIMINATE THE DOCUMENTS!!!!!! CHANGE THE LAWS NOT THE DOCUMENTS AS SOME RADICALS ARE NOW TRYING TO CONVINCE CITIZENS TO DO! THE CONSTITUTION AND THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE ARE NOT PERFECT BUT what the hell is????????????
Friedman says he hopes AMERICA can preserve the Republic for his children and grand children but doesn't seem to offer much information on how we must go about accomplishing that. After all, it's not his expertise and specialty.
Whose is it???????? THE CONSTITUTION AND THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE and an AMERICA governed by a wise and balanced PRESIDENT, CONGRESS, AND JUDICIARY.
FREEDOM ROCKS!!!!!!!!! And AMERICA has preserved it much longer than most countries by relying on the MORAL FOUNDATIONS of this nation. NO, WE DIDN'T ALWAYS DO THE RIGHT THING and we have regrets but hey-- you got a PERSONAL LIFE WITH NO REGRETS????????? my sincere CONGRATULATIONS. The rest of us are human and make mistakes and forget the moral guidelines sometimes. STUFF HAPPENS!!!!!!! GET OVER IT!!!!!!!!
AND GIVE OUR NATION A BREAK THIS FOURTH OF JULY!!!!!!!!!!!! IT'S BECOME AN EMPIRE BECAUSE IT STOOD ON THE FIRM GROUND OF FREEDOM FOR ALL MEN!!!!!!!!!
Yes, ALL!!!!!! RACIALLY, IT WAS SLOW BUT WE FOUND OUR WAY.
So, pat the CONSTITUTION gently; smooth the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE lightly; and BE PROUD OF HOW FAR WE HAVE COME. Look toward a bright future that THOSE DOCUMENTS AND WHAT THEY STAND FOR will take us through. BE VIGILANT and they will stand up to all the tough times ahead!!!!!!!!!!! NOT EVEN bad Congresses, bad Presidents, or bad Judiciary will accomplish anything but wrong turns in the road that can be corrected since our CONSTITUTION AND DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE stand firm.
HAPPY JULY 4Th. HERE'S TO THE FUTURE AND GENERATING FREEDOM FOR OTHER COUNTRIES BY EXAMPLE.
CHEERS, CONNIE
6/22/11
TECHNOLOGY'S VANISHING ACT! POST 67
Hi,
An email showed up the other day with some predictions about TECHNOLOGY and the affects on our society so I thought in light of our previous blog, I'd share it with you.
Economically, technology will be changing a tremendous amount as we have already seen but the future holds many changes that will be very hard to imagine. Not only politically but personally and it may help to at least be aware of some of them.
Things that this email predicted will disappear from your life are: the POST OFFICE; the NEWSPAPER; the BOOK; the CHECK; the LAND LINE TELEPHONE; MUSIC; TELEVISION; OWNING "things"; AND PRIVACY.
I would add that Music should include all the arts and that much of our culture will disappear into the Tech box and become difficult to differentiate from that of the rest of the world unless Americans are willing to salvage it for future generations.
Okay, there are four groups that stand out as ECONOMICALLY CHALLENGING: THE POST OFFICE; CHECKING ACCOUNTS; OWNING THINGS; AND PRIVACY. These three offer the most problems and change.
Although many of us are used to communicating over the Internet rather than writing formal letters, that is not the real issue in losing the Post Office. Loss of the Post-Office means that all our financial information will be posted on the net. That will include banking, brokering, paying bills, receiving whatever information from those sources that are necessary and anything that you now do in the privacy of the mails.
STRIKE YOU AS UNSAFE?????????? IT CERTAINLY WILL BE!!!!!!!!! Many now pay their bills on the net for convenience and thus far it would appear safe. However, when a whole nation of people have their financial information UP FRONT AND PERSONAL, what true SCAM artist will be able to resist????? Including that greatest of all scam artists, the Government. Only in their case, they won't have to sneak into your accounts!!!!!!!!!They'll simply pass a law and make it LEGAL!!!!!!!!!! THIS FEATURE is certainly a bigger loss of privacy then we have felt so far and leaves citizens very vulnerable to unethical or immoral political groups.
Paralleling this is the CHECK. Your checking account!!!!!!!!! probably your savings account, your contracts for CD's, and other banking entities will be under scrutiny as well. Britain plans to do away with CHECKING ACCOUNTS BY 2018. It appears that it is costing banking billions of dollars to process checks so ONLINE TRANSACTIONS OR PLASTIC CARDS seem to be the plan for the future. OF COURSE, EXCEPT FOR ITS MAJOR CITIES, BRITAIN since WW2 has dreadful postal service in the 'burbs'. It simply never recovered its former glory.
Not OWNING THINGS is pretty general but what the e-mail author points out is that the Apple, Microsoft and Google are currently proceeding with something called "CLOUD SERVICES"
THAT WILL BE INSTALLED IN ALL FUTURE COMPUTERS. You pay a subscription fee to the Internet cloud provider. The INTERNET WILL ACTUALLY BE BUILT INTO THE OPERATING SYSTEM EVIDENTLY leaving no choice but to use the CLOUD SERVICES to save your files. the author was not CLEAR ABOUT CHOICE IN THIS SITUATION!!!!!!!!! IF IT IS NOT A CHOICE but A DEMAND THAT'S really tough. This VIRTUAL world will allow the user to retrieve music, books, files from anywhere which sounds great unless those files are LOST IN VIRTUAL SPACE!!!!!!!!!EITHER MECHANICALLY OR BY THIEVERY.
The user may lose necessary privacy files. For instance, an artist who keeps files of sketches and paintings on a computer will have to retain non Internet equipment in order to maintain the integrity of the work and protect it from thieves and forgers. As will authors, composers etc. because once it is PUBLIC PROPERTY, LEGAL RIGHTS BECOME HAZY. There is bound to be tremendous legal opposition to this feature if it cannot be refused. Think of the businesses now using the Internet and the liability to them and their privacy issues!!!!!!!!!!!
AS TECHNOLOGY SEEMINGLY MAKES OUR LIFE EASIER, OUR RIGHTS BECOME MORE COMPLICATED!!!!!!!!!! It is going to mean that RESPONSIBILITY IS GREATER AND UNDERSTANDING LEGALITY WILL BECOME MORE NECESSARY!!!!!!!!!!
We have already experienced a great loss of PRIVACY CALLED PROTECTIVENESS or as it should be called OVER-PROTECTIVENESS. The email author points out cameras in phones, buildings, traffic lights and your computer; GPS coordinates, Google street views; and buyer profiling. Sure, these have proved very useful, sometimes fun, sometimes helpful to the users but WHAT IS THE PRICE OF LOSS OF PRIVACY when local, state, or national government DECIDES TO USE THE CAPABILITY FOR ITS OWN DESIGNS. Again there are many LEGAL ISSUES HERE. SOME ARE CURRENTLY BEING ADDRESSED BUT many have not yet become problems. JUST BE SURE to VOTE in A GOVERNMENT THAT IS NOT A 'SNOOPER' AND IS WILLING TO LET YOU BE!!!!!!!!! There's not much of that lately.
LET THE BUYER BEWARE!!!!!!!!!BECOMES MORE AND MORE RELEVANT.
When we support these products with our hard earned funds because we want the latest, the newest,or the best for ourselves and our kids, we are not thinking about the DOWNSIDE. All TECHNOLOGY IN THE PRESENT AND FUTURE has to be viewed REALISTICALLY and the DARK SIDE STUDIED!!!!!!!!! Unless BUYERS BECOME AWARE and use their POWER OF REJECTION (NOT BUYING AN INTRUSIVE PRODUCT!!!!!!!!), there will simply no control of how INVASIVE TECHNOLOGY CAN GET!!!!!!!!! PROFIT SPEAKS LOUDLY!!!!!!! NO PROFIT--NO INTRUSION!!!!!!!!!! YOU ALWAYS HAVE THE DECIDING VOTE even when it is made to seem that you don't. REMEMBER THE EDSEL!!!!!!!!!
For those too young to remember Ford's faux pas, it was called the EDSEL after one of the sons. It was produced and was considered a disaster by Ford, who produced in the late fifties and BUYERS DID NOT BUY IT. Ford Motor Company lost MILLIONS OF DOLLARS on EDSEL's design, manufacturing and marketing because BUYERS REFUSED IT. It was considered a GREAT FAILURE and an embarrassment and production was halted after 1960.
SO YOU SEE, YOU DO HAVE THE LAST ECONOMIC WORD ON THESE KINDS OF THINGS!!!!!!!!!! USE IT!!!!!!!!!
When the NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES DISAPPEAR into the Web completely, there will be subscription fees. No savings to the buyer. Since technology took over the youth, there is little interest in paper reading which leads to BOOKS. The advent of EBOOKs is simply the tip of the iceberg and although this Blogger hates to see the demise of the BOOK, my own EBOOk, "Absolute Power!" is listed in Barnes and Noble and Amazon.com. The reason is REALITY. It is cheaper for the buyer, more convenient, and a wave of a future in which home libraries will be a collector's item, public libraries will host TECHNOLOGY on a full scale, and authors will find their home on the web. SAD BUT TRUE.
THE LAND LINE PHONE has already started disappearing across the nation and as profit diminishes, we may all be forced to relinquish its service which in large part have been taken over by CELL PHONES. The primary problem here is that if you are not assiduous in CHARGING YOUR PHONES, you will be at a loss in the event of an EMERGENCY. THIS IS TECHNOLOGY THAT REQUIRES RETHINKING!!!!!!!!!!!! Where are the "PERMANENT" BATTERES THAT WILL NOT REQUIRE "CONSTANT" CHARGING. I think it's about time for that advance.
The email cited a video "Before the Music Dies" and a book by Steve Knopper, "Appetite for Self-Destruction" about the self-destruction of the music industry. BUYERS ARE SHOWING THEIR DISTASTE with the industry by buying 40% of the "catalog items", in other words THE OLDER BUT GOODIES. The live concert tours are also being affected by the GREED AND CORRUPTION affecting the whole industry. IN POST 63, there is an evaluation of what happened to the art world in America because of the greed and political corruption of many major artists. IT IS VERY POSSIBLE that because artists of all persuasions have a kind of second sight, that they are more aware that AN END IS IN SIGHT AND THIS encourages a lot THE SELF-DESTRUCTION. It's an interesting point but one that RESEARCH will have to take on.
Sitting in front of the TV used to be one of the few kind of family events at home in America. Well, FORGET IT!!!!!!!! The viewer now uses Netflix to choose the TV movies and can watch alone. The rest of the folks are into their computers playing games and doing other things. The computer has dramatically reduced TV revenues . MUST BE WHY IF YOU DO WATCH TV THERE ARE 20 COMMERCIALS AT THE BREAK!!!!!!!!!!AND they run every few minutes.
Cable companies are trying desperately to re-ignite the medium but with hundreds of stations, of which only a few offer TV worth watching!!!!! MAYBE THEY SHOULD GO THE OTHER DIRECTION????????!!!!!REDUCE THE NUMBER OF STATIONS AND MAKE THE GOOD SHOWS FIGHT FOR TIME!!!!!!!!! That would reduce cost, increase quality and thereby, raise revenues! YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!!
These, of course, are only a few of the changes that may be expected. Only the creative imagination and the imagination of the computer entrepreneurs can really indicate what can be expected but be assured the changes so far are a drop in the bucket. Remember how industry changed society and lives evolved in so many ways. Technology promises that much change and more.
Cheers, Connie
An email showed up the other day with some predictions about TECHNOLOGY and the affects on our society so I thought in light of our previous blog, I'd share it with you.
Economically, technology will be changing a tremendous amount as we have already seen but the future holds many changes that will be very hard to imagine. Not only politically but personally and it may help to at least be aware of some of them.
Things that this email predicted will disappear from your life are: the POST OFFICE; the NEWSPAPER; the BOOK; the CHECK; the LAND LINE TELEPHONE; MUSIC; TELEVISION; OWNING "things"; AND PRIVACY.
I would add that Music should include all the arts and that much of our culture will disappear into the Tech box and become difficult to differentiate from that of the rest of the world unless Americans are willing to salvage it for future generations.
Okay, there are four groups that stand out as ECONOMICALLY CHALLENGING: THE POST OFFICE; CHECKING ACCOUNTS; OWNING THINGS; AND PRIVACY. These three offer the most problems and change.
Although many of us are used to communicating over the Internet rather than writing formal letters, that is not the real issue in losing the Post Office. Loss of the Post-Office means that all our financial information will be posted on the net. That will include banking, brokering, paying bills, receiving whatever information from those sources that are necessary and anything that you now do in the privacy of the mails.
STRIKE YOU AS UNSAFE?????????? IT CERTAINLY WILL BE!!!!!!!!! Many now pay their bills on the net for convenience and thus far it would appear safe. However, when a whole nation of people have their financial information UP FRONT AND PERSONAL, what true SCAM artist will be able to resist????? Including that greatest of all scam artists, the Government. Only in their case, they won't have to sneak into your accounts!!!!!!!!!They'll simply pass a law and make it LEGAL!!!!!!!!!! THIS FEATURE is certainly a bigger loss of privacy then we have felt so far and leaves citizens very vulnerable to unethical or immoral political groups.
Paralleling this is the CHECK. Your checking account!!!!!!!!! probably your savings account, your contracts for CD's, and other banking entities will be under scrutiny as well. Britain plans to do away with CHECKING ACCOUNTS BY 2018. It appears that it is costing banking billions of dollars to process checks so ONLINE TRANSACTIONS OR PLASTIC CARDS seem to be the plan for the future. OF COURSE, EXCEPT FOR ITS MAJOR CITIES, BRITAIN since WW2 has dreadful postal service in the 'burbs'. It simply never recovered its former glory.
Not OWNING THINGS is pretty general but what the e-mail author points out is that the Apple, Microsoft and Google are currently proceeding with something called "CLOUD SERVICES"
THAT WILL BE INSTALLED IN ALL FUTURE COMPUTERS. You pay a subscription fee to the Internet cloud provider. The INTERNET WILL ACTUALLY BE BUILT INTO THE OPERATING SYSTEM EVIDENTLY leaving no choice but to use the CLOUD SERVICES to save your files. the author was not CLEAR ABOUT CHOICE IN THIS SITUATION!!!!!!!!! IF IT IS NOT A CHOICE but A DEMAND THAT'S really tough. This VIRTUAL world will allow the user to retrieve music, books, files from anywhere which sounds great unless those files are LOST IN VIRTUAL SPACE!!!!!!!!!EITHER MECHANICALLY OR BY THIEVERY.
The user may lose necessary privacy files. For instance, an artist who keeps files of sketches and paintings on a computer will have to retain non Internet equipment in order to maintain the integrity of the work and protect it from thieves and forgers. As will authors, composers etc. because once it is PUBLIC PROPERTY, LEGAL RIGHTS BECOME HAZY. There is bound to be tremendous legal opposition to this feature if it cannot be refused. Think of the businesses now using the Internet and the liability to them and their privacy issues!!!!!!!!!!!
AS TECHNOLOGY SEEMINGLY MAKES OUR LIFE EASIER, OUR RIGHTS BECOME MORE COMPLICATED!!!!!!!!!! It is going to mean that RESPONSIBILITY IS GREATER AND UNDERSTANDING LEGALITY WILL BECOME MORE NECESSARY!!!!!!!!!!
We have already experienced a great loss of PRIVACY CALLED PROTECTIVENESS or as it should be called OVER-PROTECTIVENESS. The email author points out cameras in phones, buildings, traffic lights and your computer; GPS coordinates, Google street views; and buyer profiling. Sure, these have proved very useful, sometimes fun, sometimes helpful to the users but WHAT IS THE PRICE OF LOSS OF PRIVACY when local, state, or national government DECIDES TO USE THE CAPABILITY FOR ITS OWN DESIGNS. Again there are many LEGAL ISSUES HERE. SOME ARE CURRENTLY BEING ADDRESSED BUT many have not yet become problems. JUST BE SURE to VOTE in A GOVERNMENT THAT IS NOT A 'SNOOPER' AND IS WILLING TO LET YOU BE!!!!!!!!! There's not much of that lately.
LET THE BUYER BEWARE!!!!!!!!!BECOMES MORE AND MORE RELEVANT.
When we support these products with our hard earned funds because we want the latest, the newest,or the best for ourselves and our kids, we are not thinking about the DOWNSIDE. All TECHNOLOGY IN THE PRESENT AND FUTURE has to be viewed REALISTICALLY and the DARK SIDE STUDIED!!!!!!!!! Unless BUYERS BECOME AWARE and use their POWER OF REJECTION (NOT BUYING AN INTRUSIVE PRODUCT!!!!!!!!), there will simply no control of how INVASIVE TECHNOLOGY CAN GET!!!!!!!!! PROFIT SPEAKS LOUDLY!!!!!!! NO PROFIT--NO INTRUSION!!!!!!!!!! YOU ALWAYS HAVE THE DECIDING VOTE even when it is made to seem that you don't. REMEMBER THE EDSEL!!!!!!!!!
For those too young to remember Ford's faux pas, it was called the EDSEL after one of the sons. It was produced and was considered a disaster by Ford, who produced in the late fifties and BUYERS DID NOT BUY IT. Ford Motor Company lost MILLIONS OF DOLLARS on EDSEL's design, manufacturing and marketing because BUYERS REFUSED IT. It was considered a GREAT FAILURE and an embarrassment and production was halted after 1960.
SO YOU SEE, YOU DO HAVE THE LAST ECONOMIC WORD ON THESE KINDS OF THINGS!!!!!!!!!! USE IT!!!!!!!!!
When the NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES DISAPPEAR into the Web completely, there will be subscription fees. No savings to the buyer. Since technology took over the youth, there is little interest in paper reading which leads to BOOKS. The advent of EBOOKs is simply the tip of the iceberg and although this Blogger hates to see the demise of the BOOK, my own EBOOk, "Absolute Power!" is listed in Barnes and Noble and Amazon.com. The reason is REALITY. It is cheaper for the buyer, more convenient, and a wave of a future in which home libraries will be a collector's item, public libraries will host TECHNOLOGY on a full scale, and authors will find their home on the web. SAD BUT TRUE.
THE LAND LINE PHONE has already started disappearing across the nation and as profit diminishes, we may all be forced to relinquish its service which in large part have been taken over by CELL PHONES. The primary problem here is that if you are not assiduous in CHARGING YOUR PHONES, you will be at a loss in the event of an EMERGENCY. THIS IS TECHNOLOGY THAT REQUIRES RETHINKING!!!!!!!!!!!! Where are the "PERMANENT" BATTERES THAT WILL NOT REQUIRE "CONSTANT" CHARGING. I think it's about time for that advance.
The email cited a video "Before the Music Dies" and a book by Steve Knopper, "Appetite for Self-Destruction" about the self-destruction of the music industry. BUYERS ARE SHOWING THEIR DISTASTE with the industry by buying 40% of the "catalog items", in other words THE OLDER BUT GOODIES. The live concert tours are also being affected by the GREED AND CORRUPTION affecting the whole industry. IN POST 63, there is an evaluation of what happened to the art world in America because of the greed and political corruption of many major artists. IT IS VERY POSSIBLE that because artists of all persuasions have a kind of second sight, that they are more aware that AN END IS IN SIGHT AND THIS encourages a lot THE SELF-DESTRUCTION. It's an interesting point but one that RESEARCH will have to take on.
Sitting in front of the TV used to be one of the few kind of family events at home in America. Well, FORGET IT!!!!!!!! The viewer now uses Netflix to choose the TV movies and can watch alone. The rest of the folks are into their computers playing games and doing other things. The computer has dramatically reduced TV revenues . MUST BE WHY IF YOU DO WATCH TV THERE ARE 20 COMMERCIALS AT THE BREAK!!!!!!!!!!AND they run every few minutes.
Cable companies are trying desperately to re-ignite the medium but with hundreds of stations, of which only a few offer TV worth watching!!!!! MAYBE THEY SHOULD GO THE OTHER DIRECTION????????!!!!!REDUCE THE NUMBER OF STATIONS AND MAKE THE GOOD SHOWS FIGHT FOR TIME!!!!!!!!! That would reduce cost, increase quality and thereby, raise revenues! YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!!
These, of course, are only a few of the changes that may be expected. Only the creative imagination and the imagination of the computer entrepreneurs can really indicate what can be expected but be assured the changes so far are a drop in the bucket. Remember how industry changed society and lives evolved in so many ways. Technology promises that much change and more.
Cheers, Connie
6/15/11
NOTHING CAN GO WRONG!-MMMHMPH POST 66
Hi,
Another Economic FIASCO. The headline in a local paper ".....Owners left powerless in Bulk Buyer Takeover". Condo Owners lost control of their HOME OWNERS ASSOCIATION to a large firm THAT BOUGHT OUT UNITS ON CHEAP. According to the article, over 11,000 condos across this nation have suffered similar scenarios.
The problem here is not only the takeover but the reasoning behind the Condo concept. From the beginning folks "in the know" made clear statements that CONDOMINIUMS were much safer than COOPERATIVES BECAUSE OF THE HOME OWNERS ASSOCIATION and legal bylaws!!! Home owners supposedly could not lose control of the buildings and grounds and NOTHING COULD HAPPEN TO THE INVESTMENT.
That word-NOTHING- CREATES UNEASINESS. SEARCH FOR NOTHING! Can you find it?????????? NOTHING ALWAYS HAS SOMETHING WITHIN IT THAT RENDERS the word NOTHING USELESS.
NOTHING CAN GO WRONG!!!!!!!Puleeeeeeeeeeze!!!!!!!!!! GIVE ME A BREAK. The Government says that all the time and look at the messes they're trying to clean up!!!!!!!!!
In this case NOTHING HAD A LOT OF SOMETHING: property values reduced from a quarter of a million dollars to 40-50,000 dollars with numerous vacancies at that price; the collection of dues for HOA dropped, so disrepair began when existing homeowners couldn't meet upkeep; a majority of these 1/4million dollar units became available at the CHEAP; a large company saw the profit in buying up whole groups of UNITS which led to control of the condo association through the HOA.
One likes to think that FAIRNESS always rules--but it's not written in the HOA bylaws!!!!!!!!What is written is that a majority of homeowners control the welfare of the residents and buildings. That means MR. NEW PROFIT MAKER (who is now THE MAJORITY) is in control of this very democratic Association and has the existing tenants over the proverbial barrel. It's legal. It's not real nice. But baby, it's business (condos WERE always more of a business then just owning a home--that's why an HOA was needed) and PROFIT is necessary (either for keeping up the Condos or for a new majority investor) and is the MOTIVE.
Is that wrong? NO!!!!!!
This particular group seems to have been more fair than some would have been. They really refurbished the run down place, added attractions, only doubled rather low dues and assessed current homeowners what amounted to a minimal amount under five grand for the improvements.
HOWEVER, in the interest of protecting their derrieres, they blocked new owners wanting to buy condos by claiming " the new buyers would not have the means to meet condo obligations" In other words-UNIT OWNERS must SELL TO BIG COMPANY (B.C.) at a LOW PRICE OR NOT SELL at all AND PAY whatever B.C. DECIDES TO CHARGE for fees and assessments. B.C. meanwhile restores the units to use as RENTALS so the REMAINING HOMEOWNERS NOW LIVE in a RENTAL FACILITY.
IT'S ALL LEGAL, FOLKS!!!!!!!!!!Some readers will feel B.C. has done the town a FAVOR by cleaning up what was fast becoming a rat-infested defunct project. Others find profit making like this to be gross and morally UNJUST but have no advice to offer. All emotions aside--Condos are a BUSINESS and not TRUE HOME OWNERSHIP (one home+one owner) a system that has its OWN SET OF PROBLEMS).
This in no way attacks the condo owners and HOAs that are currently functioning well and keeping their legal promises to homeowners. There are many with fine standards and HOA officers. But remember this situation affects all condo owners by underlining the hazards that owning cooperatively entails. The condo owners who are now lucky enough to be holding strong assets, should still review their legal papers and by-laws to try to find those loopholes from which profit takers can gain advantage.
Okay, what's at stake here??????????(BESIDE THOSE REMAINING HOMEOWNERS LEFT HOLDING THE BAG????) The big answer is always the same.
LET THE BUYER BEWARE!!!!!!!! SORRY, THAT'S NOT WHAT YOU WANT TO HEAR!!!!!!!!But there are no free lunches or dumping of responsibility!
"NOTHING CAN GO WRONG" SHOULD SCARE THE HELL OUT OF YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!
Whenever you enter into an agreement that makes you only part of the whole, the only thing you really control is your PART. UNLESS, and this is a BIG UNLESS you either own a large portion like over 51% or you are HOA politician enough to convince others to buy into your investment (buy the defunct units) and stand on your side. CONDOS are an interesting use of CAPITALISM (profit taking) AND COMMUNISM (all for one and one for all). However, all business transactions have dozens of legal loop holes and it simply takes the right set of circumstances to make them pop out.
Have you read about TAKEOVERS in large companies????????? Well, now you understand how that happens. FIND THE LOOPHOLE, MAKE AN OFFER "THEY CAN'T REFUSE" AND IT'S PAYDAY!!!!!!!!!!!
Although leery of condos from the beginning because of an innate cautiousness about business, the reports showed that they thrived and only a few went under. Most, not all, HOAs seemed reasonable in their demands and restrictions. It is true of most things that when times are prosperous, attitudes soften and dire predictions calm. Still over the years intuition has proved better than most propaganda.
There is little that can be done for the owners in those 11,000 condos (that number is sure to increase as hard financial times continue to deflate home prices). The only advice to those currently in condo associations not currently under siege is to change some of the supposedly 'GOOD' RESTRICTIONS (like deciding who can live there and who cannot) to rules not so easily adaptable to ONE OWNER TAKEOVER. Go over your homeowner's laws with your lawyer with a fine tooth comb and change what can be reinterpreted for someone's advantage. WILL THAT DO IT???????? NO!!!!!! Not Entirely. But it may help in some ways to make the profit process less painful and maybe provide legal ways to cut current owners a slice of the profit.
AS LONG AS THERE IS A CHANCE TO MAKE A PROFIT UNDER ANY SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT, LAW, OR BUSINESS PHILOSOPHY-- PROFIT takes precedence AND THOSE INVOLVED CAN BE RESPONSIBLE ONLY BY BEING AWARE! Make sure it's not your profit that's being taken.
CHEERS, CONNIE
Another Economic FIASCO. The headline in a local paper ".....Owners left powerless in Bulk Buyer Takeover". Condo Owners lost control of their HOME OWNERS ASSOCIATION to a large firm THAT BOUGHT OUT UNITS ON CHEAP. According to the article, over 11,000 condos across this nation have suffered similar scenarios.
The problem here is not only the takeover but the reasoning behind the Condo concept. From the beginning folks "in the know" made clear statements that CONDOMINIUMS were much safer than COOPERATIVES BECAUSE OF THE HOME OWNERS ASSOCIATION and legal bylaws!!! Home owners supposedly could not lose control of the buildings and grounds and NOTHING COULD HAPPEN TO THE INVESTMENT.
That word-NOTHING- CREATES UNEASINESS. SEARCH FOR NOTHING! Can you find it?????????? NOTHING ALWAYS HAS SOMETHING WITHIN IT THAT RENDERS the word NOTHING USELESS.
NOTHING CAN GO WRONG!!!!!!!Puleeeeeeeeeeze!!!!!!!!!! GIVE ME A BREAK. The Government says that all the time and look at the messes they're trying to clean up!!!!!!!!!
In this case NOTHING HAD A LOT OF SOMETHING: property values reduced from a quarter of a million dollars to 40-50,000 dollars with numerous vacancies at that price; the collection of dues for HOA dropped, so disrepair began when existing homeowners couldn't meet upkeep; a majority of these 1/4million dollar units became available at the CHEAP; a large company saw the profit in buying up whole groups of UNITS which led to control of the condo association through the HOA.
One likes to think that FAIRNESS always rules--but it's not written in the HOA bylaws!!!!!!!!What is written is that a majority of homeowners control the welfare of the residents and buildings. That means MR. NEW PROFIT MAKER (who is now THE MAJORITY) is in control of this very democratic Association and has the existing tenants over the proverbial barrel. It's legal. It's not real nice. But baby, it's business (condos WERE always more of a business then just owning a home--that's why an HOA was needed) and PROFIT is necessary (either for keeping up the Condos or for a new majority investor) and is the MOTIVE.
Is that wrong? NO!!!!!!
This particular group seems to have been more fair than some would have been. They really refurbished the run down place, added attractions, only doubled rather low dues and assessed current homeowners what amounted to a minimal amount under five grand for the improvements.
HOWEVER, in the interest of protecting their derrieres, they blocked new owners wanting to buy condos by claiming " the new buyers would not have the means to meet condo obligations" In other words-UNIT OWNERS must SELL TO BIG COMPANY (B.C.) at a LOW PRICE OR NOT SELL at all AND PAY whatever B.C. DECIDES TO CHARGE for fees and assessments. B.C. meanwhile restores the units to use as RENTALS so the REMAINING HOMEOWNERS NOW LIVE in a RENTAL FACILITY.
IT'S ALL LEGAL, FOLKS!!!!!!!!!!Some readers will feel B.C. has done the town a FAVOR by cleaning up what was fast becoming a rat-infested defunct project. Others find profit making like this to be gross and morally UNJUST but have no advice to offer. All emotions aside--Condos are a BUSINESS and not TRUE HOME OWNERSHIP (one home+one owner) a system that has its OWN SET OF PROBLEMS).
This in no way attacks the condo owners and HOAs that are currently functioning well and keeping their legal promises to homeowners. There are many with fine standards and HOA officers. But remember this situation affects all condo owners by underlining the hazards that owning cooperatively entails. The condo owners who are now lucky enough to be holding strong assets, should still review their legal papers and by-laws to try to find those loopholes from which profit takers can gain advantage.
Okay, what's at stake here??????????(BESIDE THOSE REMAINING HOMEOWNERS LEFT HOLDING THE BAG????) The big answer is always the same.
LET THE BUYER BEWARE!!!!!!!! SORRY, THAT'S NOT WHAT YOU WANT TO HEAR!!!!!!!!But there are no free lunches or dumping of responsibility!
"NOTHING CAN GO WRONG" SHOULD SCARE THE HELL OUT OF YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!
Whenever you enter into an agreement that makes you only part of the whole, the only thing you really control is your PART. UNLESS, and this is a BIG UNLESS you either own a large portion like over 51% or you are HOA politician enough to convince others to buy into your investment (buy the defunct units) and stand on your side. CONDOS are an interesting use of CAPITALISM (profit taking) AND COMMUNISM (all for one and one for all). However, all business transactions have dozens of legal loop holes and it simply takes the right set of circumstances to make them pop out.
Have you read about TAKEOVERS in large companies????????? Well, now you understand how that happens. FIND THE LOOPHOLE, MAKE AN OFFER "THEY CAN'T REFUSE" AND IT'S PAYDAY!!!!!!!!!!!
Although leery of condos from the beginning because of an innate cautiousness about business, the reports showed that they thrived and only a few went under. Most, not all, HOAs seemed reasonable in their demands and restrictions. It is true of most things that when times are prosperous, attitudes soften and dire predictions calm. Still over the years intuition has proved better than most propaganda.
There is little that can be done for the owners in those 11,000 condos (that number is sure to increase as hard financial times continue to deflate home prices). The only advice to those currently in condo associations not currently under siege is to change some of the supposedly 'GOOD' RESTRICTIONS (like deciding who can live there and who cannot) to rules not so easily adaptable to ONE OWNER TAKEOVER. Go over your homeowner's laws with your lawyer with a fine tooth comb and change what can be reinterpreted for someone's advantage. WILL THAT DO IT???????? NO!!!!!! Not Entirely. But it may help in some ways to make the profit process less painful and maybe provide legal ways to cut current owners a slice of the profit.
AS LONG AS THERE IS A CHANCE TO MAKE A PROFIT UNDER ANY SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT, LAW, OR BUSINESS PHILOSOPHY-- PROFIT takes precedence AND THOSE INVOLVED CAN BE RESPONSIBLE ONLY BY BEING AWARE! Make sure it's not your profit that's being taken.
CHEERS, CONNIE
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