Does Fame equal ethics?
Hello Sports fans! It’s been a long week and now were back to rant about baseball, hotdogs, apple pie and, well, more baseball. It is 4th of July week after all.
The National Baseball Hall of Fame , famous, historical, and incomplete.
The Hall Of Fame. By definition what is it? I think wikipedia has a pretty good grasp with the following “is a museum operated by private interests serving as the central point for the study of the history of baseball in the United States and beyond, the display of baseball-related artifacts and exhibits, and the honoring of persons who have excelled in playing, managing, and serving the sport. The Hall's motto is "Preserving History, Honoring Excellence, Connecting Generations".
Did anyone read anything about ethics in that? Ok, so here’s the issue. Joe Jackson, Pete Rose, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and eventually Barry Bonds should be there and they’re not. It’s really quite simple; they epitomize the most famous players to have played the game in our lifetime. To not include the history (and yes that means the good and the bad history) of these prolific players and their contributions to the sport lessens it. Is there not a war in our history books? Is there no record of hate crimes or racial segregation in museums? Get real America! The good players who have made mistakes along the way have taught us to adapt the rules when necessary and that managing is all about change. They do not in any way defame the sport or the entertainment industry.
I do not personally care for the class shown or not shown by a few of the aforementioned talents, but they are talents none the less, each with at least a significant milestone of importance to the history of the game, and most of them carry several records and milestones. Baseball would be much worse for wear without the accomplishments of Pete, Joe, Mark, Sammy, and Barry and those accomplishments are due to be included in the hallmark. OK, maybe they should not be allowed to participate any longer because as history notes, they cheated.
Would they have been there if not for cheating? For Rose and Jackson, absolutely, there inclusion should not even be questioned at all. For McGwire and Sosa, the jury would be out, they had about a 50/50 chance of performing at the level of play without steroids, but the legalities of the drugs come into question. The substances were not banned from baseball during the time when they were being used. Andro, In fact was over the counter in any vitamin and fitness shop. It was legal and readily available to all who would pay the $14.00 per bottle. Now that steroids are banned form the game, suspensions and punishments are well defined. At the pinnacles of these others careers, they were not. This is baseballs problem, not societies. Baseball needs to ensure that its house is in order by testing, clear rules and clear punishments defined in advance, not knee jerk responses by writers and commissioners. Their contributions to the game should be the lone consideration for inclusion.
I once cheated on a test, was caught and given the grade I deserved, a zero. Was I erased from the class or the school, no? Was I given a free pass, no. Was I embarrassed, of course? Punished?, definitely. That zero is a part of who I was at the time, and I earned it. And it does not signify my life. I have no doubt that the grade book that holds its shameful letter is long gone, and not many remember the deed, but I do. I know its value in life, more now than then. Had I not got caught, I would have valued cheating, would have respected it, and most probably embraced it as acceptable behavior. I would like to thank the teacher who had the foresight to give me the zero, not let me retake the test and have to live with the grade, and yet at the same time, the teacher who did not recommend suspension or expulsion from the class or the school. I passed the class, and the school, had to work much harder to do so, and went on with life. Punished, yet not condemned. I think it was quite fair, even at the time.
Why, oh why, can’t the powers that be (baseball writers of America) get off their high horses and stop looking down upon ball players as superhero’s, yet figures of an entertainment industry. These men are not up for seats on the Supreme Court, yet they do sit atop some of the highest records in baseball history.
If the crime fits the punishment, then so be it, but in these cases, there is such a clear case of overkill that is just repugnant to the core. Is it the job of the baseball writers to bring ethics to the game, absolutely not? Is it the task of the baseball writers to condemn players for mistakes, again, absolutely not? Is the commissioner of baseball so powerful an entity as to leave two of the games most noteworthy players out of the inclusion in the history of the game; no way. Wake up commish, make a punishment that allows the game to have integrity, yet embraces its fame and famous. Include its warts, bruises, bumps and blemishes as part of an evolutionary, continuing sport.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Thursday, June 19, 2008
The Power of friendship
If love is the cure for all, than friendship is the blood within loves soul.
There never have been more stirring or truer quotes ever written or repeated than those about the power of friendship. It is seemingly overshadowed by love in its very relaxed and unassuming nature. I mean really; have you ever had a date say, “let’s JUST be lovers”? Absolutely not; but friendship gets dealt such a second class role in reality and relationship.
Once again in life, being addressed as the “friend” rather than the “lover” is treated like it has so much less a commitment, when it should be so very much the opposite. Don’t ask me to ever just be my friend, for I hold this honor for the “mighty of the populous”, the “crème de la crème”, the “top 1% of the class”, the “enter your favorite “best of” cliché here”.
To simply “just” be friends, means to be willing to give up your sweetheart when I need to vent, to give up your paycheck when mine comes up short, to give up your Saturday when I need your back and to give up your car upholstery when I’ve had too much to drink. Are you really prepared to “Just” do that? How about the phone call at 3am when my world goes to shit, the trip to the jail when I need bail, the trip to the hospital when I’m too sick to drive, the bed in the spare room when I need to sleep or the key to your car when mine is in the shop.? Are you still “just” here? Or do you suddenly feel the need to slip silently away in the night like the stray alley cat when the farmer breaks out the shotgun?
Doesn’t a lover get the easy button and a pass on all the detailed concise neediness that we have in our lives over the friend? Do we really bear our soul to a lover, or bear a body? Could a friend ever have it so easy? Never; not in a million years.
Fear not, friend, for if I have let you be “just” a friend, you will never find yourself in want from loneliness, or compassion, or empathy, or shelter, or support, or even pain, for I will be there. I will creed you my every second, if it is what you need. My every cent, if it will help you, and my very blood, if it restores your soul.
So take thee heed vixens and lovers, if you are lucky enough to breech my soul and gain what you seek, the so called “just” friendship; you are amongst the lucky. For few are willing to meet the task, and few deserve the honor. If I am your friend, thank you , I am eternally honored, and grateful, humbled to my core and standing at the ready as well.
There never have been more stirring or truer quotes ever written or repeated than those about the power of friendship. It is seemingly overshadowed by love in its very relaxed and unassuming nature. I mean really; have you ever had a date say, “let’s JUST be lovers”? Absolutely not; but friendship gets dealt such a second class role in reality and relationship.
Once again in life, being addressed as the “friend” rather than the “lover” is treated like it has so much less a commitment, when it should be so very much the opposite. Don’t ask me to ever just be my friend, for I hold this honor for the “mighty of the populous”, the “crème de la crème”, the “top 1% of the class”, the “enter your favorite “best of” cliché here”.
To simply “just” be friends, means to be willing to give up your sweetheart when I need to vent, to give up your paycheck when mine comes up short, to give up your Saturday when I need your back and to give up your car upholstery when I’ve had too much to drink. Are you really prepared to “Just” do that? How about the phone call at 3am when my world goes to shit, the trip to the jail when I need bail, the trip to the hospital when I’m too sick to drive, the bed in the spare room when I need to sleep or the key to your car when mine is in the shop.? Are you still “just” here? Or do you suddenly feel the need to slip silently away in the night like the stray alley cat when the farmer breaks out the shotgun?
Doesn’t a lover get the easy button and a pass on all the detailed concise neediness that we have in our lives over the friend? Do we really bear our soul to a lover, or bear a body? Could a friend ever have it so easy? Never; not in a million years.
Fear not, friend, for if I have let you be “just” a friend, you will never find yourself in want from loneliness, or compassion, or empathy, or shelter, or support, or even pain, for I will be there. I will creed you my every second, if it is what you need. My every cent, if it will help you, and my very blood, if it restores your soul.
So take thee heed vixens and lovers, if you are lucky enough to breech my soul and gain what you seek, the so called “just” friendship; you are amongst the lucky. For few are willing to meet the task, and few deserve the honor. If I am your friend, thank you , I am eternally honored, and grateful, humbled to my core and standing at the ready as well.
Monday, June 16, 2008
A Silent Slumber
Today I will share something different. It still applies to our theme of United We Sleep, but in a much more individualized manner.
A Silent Slumber :
Today a man killed himself. He left a lengthy suicide not that explained why he felt that he could not take another breath. It was harrowing at the least.
He wrote:
“I’ve decided to leave you all behind. I have become a failure in more ways than I can tolerate any longer. I failed to make enough money to provide the basic necessities. I can no longer afford to keep your home or buy groceries. I can no longer have the confidence that made you love me as a husband, or trust me as a father, or confide in me as a friend.
I cannot begin to explain how many times trying has met a brick wall. So many nights I sat sleepless, attempting to manifest the courage to keep going. I cried myself to sleep, silently as not to disturb you. I woke the next day, more embarrassed that the night did not claim me, only to leave me in peril another day. You see, happiness has not been my friend for many years, and lately, hardship piled on misery is just unbearable. I still hold love in my heart, and will take it with me as I move on to whatever journey awaits me. I hope you can now move on to a place and time in your lives where my failures do no longer impede your happiness and growth.
The education has been interesting, sad, blissful for moments, and tragic. There was happiness at times, and just enough so to cause me to realize what is missing. If poverty is all you know, than poverty is acceptable as a way of life. But if happiness was here, now emptiness remains…there is no acceptable way to make up for the wholeheartedness. Consumption used to be the name given to what we call cancer nowadays. It was a term meaning the body was being consumed from within, with bad overtaking good. Well, I have consumption of the soul, and body, and mind.
I cannot leave you all so openly and ask for forgiveness, so I will only ask for understanding. This is only a lesson in why, not a letter seeking redemption. I have known other people who gave up, and the question was always, why. They didn’t tell us what was wrong. How could it be so bad that “insert name here” chose to give up on life and love forever. Here is my answer. Life and love are not one in the same. You can love and have a miserable life, and you can live and not know love. But when you loose at both and see constant reminders of how failed your very being is, you learn to hate yourself. You become more and angrier at each passing day. You look for reasons to breathe, reasons to care, reasons to smile, and every day you find less and less, until there are none remaining.”
This note is Fictional. This man does not exist, but it is a testiment to all those who have passed silently while burdened with the sorrows unseen. How many cry silently while we sleep? How many hold inside the pain of such tremendous sadness and loneliness?
Rather than asking “why” when we loose someone in this tragic manner, we should look around to see if there is a person we know who seems this sad or troubled. Have we done enough to make sure those we love know it, every day? Have we made sure we are not simply leaving our feelings to be understood?
To all my friends and loved ones who follow by reading these words, make sure you don’t get a letter like this one. Please visit http://www.twloha.com/facts.php to learn about suicide prevention and how you can help.
Peace!
A Silent Slumber :
Today a man killed himself. He left a lengthy suicide not that explained why he felt that he could not take another breath. It was harrowing at the least.
He wrote:
“I’ve decided to leave you all behind. I have become a failure in more ways than I can tolerate any longer. I failed to make enough money to provide the basic necessities. I can no longer afford to keep your home or buy groceries. I can no longer have the confidence that made you love me as a husband, or trust me as a father, or confide in me as a friend.
I cannot begin to explain how many times trying has met a brick wall. So many nights I sat sleepless, attempting to manifest the courage to keep going. I cried myself to sleep, silently as not to disturb you. I woke the next day, more embarrassed that the night did not claim me, only to leave me in peril another day. You see, happiness has not been my friend for many years, and lately, hardship piled on misery is just unbearable. I still hold love in my heart, and will take it with me as I move on to whatever journey awaits me. I hope you can now move on to a place and time in your lives where my failures do no longer impede your happiness and growth.
The education has been interesting, sad, blissful for moments, and tragic. There was happiness at times, and just enough so to cause me to realize what is missing. If poverty is all you know, than poverty is acceptable as a way of life. But if happiness was here, now emptiness remains…there is no acceptable way to make up for the wholeheartedness. Consumption used to be the name given to what we call cancer nowadays. It was a term meaning the body was being consumed from within, with bad overtaking good. Well, I have consumption of the soul, and body, and mind.
I cannot leave you all so openly and ask for forgiveness, so I will only ask for understanding. This is only a lesson in why, not a letter seeking redemption. I have known other people who gave up, and the question was always, why. They didn’t tell us what was wrong. How could it be so bad that “insert name here” chose to give up on life and love forever. Here is my answer. Life and love are not one in the same. You can love and have a miserable life, and you can live and not know love. But when you loose at both and see constant reminders of how failed your very being is, you learn to hate yourself. You become more and angrier at each passing day. You look for reasons to breathe, reasons to care, reasons to smile, and every day you find less and less, until there are none remaining.”
This note is Fictional. This man does not exist, but it is a testiment to all those who have passed silently while burdened with the sorrows unseen. How many cry silently while we sleep? How many hold inside the pain of such tremendous sadness and loneliness?
Rather than asking “why” when we loose someone in this tragic manner, we should look around to see if there is a person we know who seems this sad or troubled. Have we done enough to make sure those we love know it, every day? Have we made sure we are not simply leaving our feelings to be understood?
To all my friends and loved ones who follow by reading these words, make sure you don’t get a letter like this one. Please visit http://www.twloha.com/facts.php to learn about suicide prevention and how you can help.
Peace!
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Here's a Stimulus Package
Over the next few weeks. Americans will be recieveing a check from the Boss. Yup, the U.S. Treasury. About $300 per person give or take a few using political math. Its supposed to be a national rebate. Spending money. A way to stimulate the weakened economy, and to try to make you feel better about the fleacing youre taking on all sides.
Ummm, who gave them the money to give back to us? Quick, anyone? It was YOU!...well you didn't do it yet, but you will, with interest.
You see, this is a loan from your taxes later to your pockets now, add in inflation, rate of recovery and overhead and you'll probably be paying back $900 for this $300 shot in the arm. What a great way to save us. Cmon guys, give us a break.
How about this. Dont send me a check. Use my share of my loan to me to rent space on an airplane for a tired, weary, overworked and underpaid American Soldier. Give that soldier a seat home, where they all should be.
Spark the economy? Well, just a guess here, but I'm willing to wager that a soldier reunited home with his family would go out and spend a few dollars. Maybe have dinner with his wife and kids, catch up on the lost birthdays of relatives, grab that new tv they were saving for while they were seperated, or take a well earned vaccation. Hows that for stimulous. Multiply it by all the American Soldiers, Sailors and Marines and Airmen in Iraq and I think you get a much needed economic boost in the same sectors that the national economists have decided need stimulating. I bet you stimulate the families of these same National Heros too! Sending Johnny home would make moms and dads happy coast to coast, ease our worried minds just a bit and give us all something we really need. A reason to stand up and cheer.
Ummm, who gave them the money to give back to us? Quick, anyone? It was YOU!...well you didn't do it yet, but you will, with interest.
You see, this is a loan from your taxes later to your pockets now, add in inflation, rate of recovery and overhead and you'll probably be paying back $900 for this $300 shot in the arm. What a great way to save us. Cmon guys, give us a break.
How about this. Dont send me a check. Use my share of my loan to me to rent space on an airplane for a tired, weary, overworked and underpaid American Soldier. Give that soldier a seat home, where they all should be.
Spark the economy? Well, just a guess here, but I'm willing to wager that a soldier reunited home with his family would go out and spend a few dollars. Maybe have dinner with his wife and kids, catch up on the lost birthdays of relatives, grab that new tv they were saving for while they were seperated, or take a well earned vaccation. Hows that for stimulous. Multiply it by all the American Soldiers, Sailors and Marines and Airmen in Iraq and I think you get a much needed economic boost in the same sectors that the national economists have decided need stimulating. I bet you stimulate the families of these same National Heros too! Sending Johnny home would make moms and dads happy coast to coast, ease our worried minds just a bit and give us all something we really need. A reason to stand up and cheer.
9/11 and Bin Ladens Promise
You cannot make any thinking person believe that sub-prime mortgages did this. Can you say 9/11?
Bin Laden’s message was clear then, but no one heeded it. He vowed to destroy America by disrupting its economy. How many of you thought that he really associated our economy with the Trade Centers? What he meant was that the trace centers would be the focus of our sympathies and take our attention from the real operational plan. Make America go to war and spend billions upon billions chasing ghosts. Send a gullible government on a manhunt they would not be willing to complete, and let its speculative influence drive the cost of oil up 5 fold based on the Possibilities of shortages that would never materialize, disruptions from forces that are not there. Ghost Wars! Guess what he is thinking now? “Suckers”!
Do you really think that Oil Barons in Washington (Bush, Chaney) who party with Oil Barons form Saudi Arabia (Bin Laden’s relatives) real give two nickels about poor working Americans? How many people have died in this Ghost War? Someone is definitely to blame and should be held accountable for the loss of life. War crimes charges should be investigated on the President, and the Vice President. By the way, has anyone seen the vice lately? Too busy counting the fraudulent wealth he has accumulated during the complete dismantling of the constitution and rape of the oval office.
What on earth is going on in Washington when the minds that control spending and the economy think that a $3oo national tax rebate is a real solution? This band-aid pulled from out behind the bottom drawer of broken politics is nothing but more of the same deception that goes to bear the sad reality that the elected officials in Washington have over served their usefulness as policymakers. It’s time to make them make a change.
Its time for one term limits. It’s time for the old guard to go home. It’s time for partism politics to be abolished in this country. It’s time for a complete system overhaul of the legislative branch. The IRS is broken. It’s time for Fair Tax. The two-party system is broken. The voting process is broken. The congress and senate are so burdened by lobbyists that real reform becomes further away with each passing day. The model-a ford that is Capitol Hill is a broken down hoopdie that needs to be put out to pasture.
D.C. is so full of overpaid, bullied sellouts that have absolutely no since of the reality that is the working class of America. They continue to allow lobbyists and big business interests to control where they vote. The constituent has no voice in policy. The popular vote has to be reinstated. Patriotism must make a comeback.
The fix is painfully simple. Wake up and demand that voices are heard. Wake up and use your voice. It is time for a revolution in the form of voting. Write ins’, media pressures, demonstrations, campaigns. People, put your mouths where your money should be. Do you realize that the government gives away more tax money to foreign interests than we spend in our own country? Of course not, who would be willing to tell you that. Do you know that this very moment, prices are being influenced by the threat of war with Iran? Iran? Aren’t we already at war with Afghanistan AND Iraq? When did they end? When did we bring Bin Laden to justice? When did we stop looking for him, or were we ever really. Wasn’t this a mirage to focus our attention for the short span necessary to get troops funding and support for a war that has no bearing at all on this country other than to completely decimate its economy at the benefit of big oil.
Bring our troops home and focus on local policy, THEN talk to me about Iran. Tell Kuwait to pay their bill, with oil. It’s time to send national debt collectors after these unpaid loans and demand restitution, form any and all debtors, or risk immediate and long term tariffs, block all imports from these bad debt countries and treat them the same way you treat citizens who do not pay their debts here. NO MORE CREDIT!
Tell OPEC to control their prices or we control what they receive in imports, such as food. See how long they can eat oil. Balance the trade deficit by the use of tariffs. Isolationism works, especially when you have the best military in the world to protect you. When they are home! Stop fighting the battles of so called allies who have no concern in our prosperity or long term well being and are only in good graces with us as long as we cover their asses with American Military might.
Bin Laden’s message was clear then, but no one heeded it. He vowed to destroy America by disrupting its economy. How many of you thought that he really associated our economy with the Trade Centers? What he meant was that the trace centers would be the focus of our sympathies and take our attention from the real operational plan. Make America go to war and spend billions upon billions chasing ghosts. Send a gullible government on a manhunt they would not be willing to complete, and let its speculative influence drive the cost of oil up 5 fold based on the Possibilities of shortages that would never materialize, disruptions from forces that are not there. Ghost Wars! Guess what he is thinking now? “Suckers”!
Do you really think that Oil Barons in Washington (Bush, Chaney) who party with Oil Barons form Saudi Arabia (Bin Laden’s relatives) real give two nickels about poor working Americans? How many people have died in this Ghost War? Someone is definitely to blame and should be held accountable for the loss of life. War crimes charges should be investigated on the President, and the Vice President. By the way, has anyone seen the vice lately? Too busy counting the fraudulent wealth he has accumulated during the complete dismantling of the constitution and rape of the oval office.
What on earth is going on in Washington when the minds that control spending and the economy think that a $3oo national tax rebate is a real solution? This band-aid pulled from out behind the bottom drawer of broken politics is nothing but more of the same deception that goes to bear the sad reality that the elected officials in Washington have over served their usefulness as policymakers. It’s time to make them make a change.
Its time for one term limits. It’s time for the old guard to go home. It’s time for partism politics to be abolished in this country. It’s time for a complete system overhaul of the legislative branch. The IRS is broken. It’s time for Fair Tax. The two-party system is broken. The voting process is broken. The congress and senate are so burdened by lobbyists that real reform becomes further away with each passing day. The model-a ford that is Capitol Hill is a broken down hoopdie that needs to be put out to pasture.
D.C. is so full of overpaid, bullied sellouts that have absolutely no since of the reality that is the working class of America. They continue to allow lobbyists and big business interests to control where they vote. The constituent has no voice in policy. The popular vote has to be reinstated. Patriotism must make a comeback.
The fix is painfully simple. Wake up and demand that voices are heard. Wake up and use your voice. It is time for a revolution in the form of voting. Write ins’, media pressures, demonstrations, campaigns. People, put your mouths where your money should be. Do you realize that the government gives away more tax money to foreign interests than we spend in our own country? Of course not, who would be willing to tell you that. Do you know that this very moment, prices are being influenced by the threat of war with Iran? Iran? Aren’t we already at war with Afghanistan AND Iraq? When did they end? When did we bring Bin Laden to justice? When did we stop looking for him, or were we ever really. Wasn’t this a mirage to focus our attention for the short span necessary to get troops funding and support for a war that has no bearing at all on this country other than to completely decimate its economy at the benefit of big oil.
Bring our troops home and focus on local policy, THEN talk to me about Iran. Tell Kuwait to pay their bill, with oil. It’s time to send national debt collectors after these unpaid loans and demand restitution, form any and all debtors, or risk immediate and long term tariffs, block all imports from these bad debt countries and treat them the same way you treat citizens who do not pay their debts here. NO MORE CREDIT!
Tell OPEC to control their prices or we control what they receive in imports, such as food. See how long they can eat oil. Balance the trade deficit by the use of tariffs. Isolationism works, especially when you have the best military in the world to protect you. When they are home! Stop fighting the battles of so called allies who have no concern in our prosperity or long term well being and are only in good graces with us as long as we cover their asses with American Military might.
Monday, June 9, 2008
The Price of Corruption
My fellow Americans………when we hear these words, we immediately think of rousing speeches from American Presidents past. Some good and some bad, when faced with these words we knew we needed to listen, that our elected National leader had a message of great importance to his public. Lately we cast a blind eye or deaf ear in the general direction of the tube, but do we really even want to hear any more of what these leaders have to say?
Are we, as a society, numb to the point of blatant disregard for what comes from Capitol Hill? Have we become so used to lies and deception from the top levels of government that we know to not take it at face value, or to even give it credence?
This week as the price of fuel reaches record highs on every passing day, a lame duck administration does absolutely nothing to ensure that our working poor have the basic means to be productive members of society. What happens to the service industry when the workers can no longer afford to travel to work? What happens when the working have to choose between food and fuel, or fuel and rent, or eating or paying the electricity bill?
Are we really just going to continue to let the lower classes of society become so much more overwhelmed in debt and despair that they feel they cannot afford to go to work? Are we really to let young mothers and fathers feel like they have to take second jobs and leave their children behind to educate, teach, and protect themselves because our jobs don’t pay enough to make it from week to week?
I actually read a column that a so called financial expert thought the right thing to do would be for the government to increase taxes on fuel to maintain a price point. That way the cost would stabilize at the point where Americans made cutbacks and the coffers of the treasury would fill rather than those of the oil barons. Nice theory, except for the reality part of it all. In reality, many of us are right now making the cuts that cannot be sustained for more than a few weeks. The mid and long term damage of the current economic issue is frightening to many of us at best and destructive at this very level NOW! I personally know several people who will be losing what they have in the near term because they cannot afford the inflation. It’s taking the working poor to the poor house, destitution, and in quick fashion. So, this “expert” makes minimum wage? I really doubt that.
Anyone that does not realize we are in depression already apparently does not shop for groceries. Between the inflated cost increases at the pump, on the utility bill and on groceries, we are in the middle of double digit inflation, with no relief in sight. Costs have risen 20% or more on many items, and 11% overall in just a few months.
It’s time for immediate action, for now and the future…
..more tomorrow!
Are we, as a society, numb to the point of blatant disregard for what comes from Capitol Hill? Have we become so used to lies and deception from the top levels of government that we know to not take it at face value, or to even give it credence?
This week as the price of fuel reaches record highs on every passing day, a lame duck administration does absolutely nothing to ensure that our working poor have the basic means to be productive members of society. What happens to the service industry when the workers can no longer afford to travel to work? What happens when the working have to choose between food and fuel, or fuel and rent, or eating or paying the electricity bill?
Are we really just going to continue to let the lower classes of society become so much more overwhelmed in debt and despair that they feel they cannot afford to go to work? Are we really to let young mothers and fathers feel like they have to take second jobs and leave their children behind to educate, teach, and protect themselves because our jobs don’t pay enough to make it from week to week?
I actually read a column that a so called financial expert thought the right thing to do would be for the government to increase taxes on fuel to maintain a price point. That way the cost would stabilize at the point where Americans made cutbacks and the coffers of the treasury would fill rather than those of the oil barons. Nice theory, except for the reality part of it all. In reality, many of us are right now making the cuts that cannot be sustained for more than a few weeks. The mid and long term damage of the current economic issue is frightening to many of us at best and destructive at this very level NOW! I personally know several people who will be losing what they have in the near term because they cannot afford the inflation. It’s taking the working poor to the poor house, destitution, and in quick fashion. So, this “expert” makes minimum wage? I really doubt that.
Anyone that does not realize we are in depression already apparently does not shop for groceries. Between the inflated cost increases at the pump, on the utility bill and on groceries, we are in the middle of double digit inflation, with no relief in sight. Costs have risen 20% or more on many items, and 11% overall in just a few months.
It’s time for immediate action, for now and the future…
..more tomorrow!
Thursday, June 5, 2008
United We Sleep
A few friends who were either interested in what I was saying , or wanted me to say it elsewhere, suggested I start a web log (Blog). So , what the heck. Here's the site and some of the posts will be OP-Eds on TechHamptonRoads.com as well in the near future.
I will tell you it promises to be no holes barred, political , religious and personal rants and hope you will all join in.
The title is simply defining how the American People continue to sleep at the wheel while Government drives the rubber off the democratic tires, right into the garages of big business.
Please check us out here!
I will tell you it promises to be no holes barred, political , religious and personal rants and hope you will all join in.
The title is simply defining how the American People continue to sleep at the wheel while Government drives the rubber off the democratic tires, right into the garages of big business.
Please check us out here!
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