Are we really that busy

Yesterday at the checkout line at my local Safeway I saw a young boy handling a large bottle of "Unsweetened Tea". As his Dad behind him unloaded a few more items from the cart I thought to myself, have we really become so consumed with distractions of all sorts that we can't find the time to make iced tea from a few bags of tea and some boiled water. Again this wasn't some weird concoction marketers created when we all became bored with plain old iced tea. There were no exotic fruits infused. Not even any sugar. Give me a break here!

There really is no hope for the future if Americans can't make there own iced from scratch. Never mind our failures with the education system. Where will that young person on line find motivation to push himself through engineering school someday if he doesn't learn how to make goddam ice tea from scratch.

I guess the lesson is: Hey son, if you want to make enough money to have all the good things in life (like a glass of ice tea) then you better get in your room and play some video games to get ready for the future. And if you want to have a glass of iced tea while you're paying off all your student loans I'm sure there's a Youtube video to show you how.

American Exceptionalism is now American Patheticism

A country hijacked

Over the course of the the last 8 plus years we have heard many complaints about the lack of solid reporting from the mainstream media and how they have acted like cheerleaders for the corporate interests that they serve. Well this is nothing new. I just finished reading JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters. The book documents how President Kennedy went from being a Cold Warrior to a Peace advocate and how this profound change caused the real powers behind the USA to become so threatened that they had to take " Executive Action" against our President. Being only 8 years old at the time I vaguely remember the shock his assassination caused but accepted the reported events as truth as this was all my eight year old mind was capable of. The book reports many shocking facts suppressed by our government and the Warren Commission who's duty it was to get to the bottom of it. Well if you are of the opinion that they did then maybe we are living in a country full of eight year olds.

To return to my opening point about the mainstream media; much is made of a speech JFK gave at American University. The main theme of the speech was how he wanted to begin a journey toward peace and an end of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. This included the eventual total disarmament of our respective nuclear arsenals. This fact did not sit well with the military-industrial complex. This powerful speech which was widely reported around the world and especially in the Soviet Union was greeted with enthusiasm and hope by the people of the world yet was barely reported on in America. Now think about the continued build up of nuclear arsenals and war we have all lived with these past 26 years. Ask yourself what would life be like if our country had not been hijacked on Nov 22, 1963. I urge you to read the speech I have linked to and seek out this book to see for yourself what could have been.

Problem solving American style

So today a doctor was killed in church for performing late term abortions. Where the hell is Jesus when you need him. The shooter is some sick fuck that probably claims to walk with Jesus everyday. I wonder if he asked him just before he shot if he was doing the right thing. Jesus seems to be everywhere he needs to be but I guess he decided to miss mass today.

Abortion is a horrible thing but I'm guessing its a last resort for most. I had a girlfriend years ago and we had to make that hard choice. Who knows what or where I'd be today if we didn't make that decision.

We have a government that is supposed to be separated from religion but it is virtually impossible to educate our young on how to prevent them from putting themselves into this position. I knew my children wouldn't get the advice they needed from the school system so I made sure they knew their options as soon as I thought they were capable of getting in to that kind of situation.

Some may think that abortion is an act of violence. And violence begets violence. The cowboys have rode off into the sunset. Its time for change in America. At least that what the last election was supposed to be about. Please join me in letting everyone you know that this is not how we solve problems in America.

Sign O' the Times

As I was returning from lunch today I saw a guy wearing a sandwich board enticing passersby to come in and save money by having your taxes done by.... This form of employment is growing more popular by the day. It was last popular during the Great Depression. Coincidence or just a recurring fad? A few weeks ago two guys at an oil change place were doing the same thing only they looked like the guys that do the oil changes.

What if you boss said hey John its slow today. Take this sign and hang it over your shoulders and go hop around on the sidewalk doing things to grab peoples attention. Oh and did I mention that Sally in marketing just got laid off. So today's question is: Are you willing to lose everything or just your dignity?

American Dreamtime

Are we all going to sleep through 2009? I just finished reading Robert Scheer's latest post at Truthdig and I have to ask myself just what is going on in our country in my name. I am very cynical by nature but I am really sinking to new depths. We really have become a nation of sheep. As long as there is grass we'll continue grazing while we await getting sheered or slaughtered. What will you do when you wake up and there is no more grass. Does anybody want to start a co-op farm and become hippies. Who knows how to mill grain. Now these are extreme thoughts but I'm not the only one thinking them. When you don't know what to do staying asleep is probably a good thing.

New Year's Resolution

If I see him I will throw it.

THE BEGINNING OF THE END

Yesterday marked a tragic anniversary in our nation's history. For it was the day when the sham president was handed the memo that warned "Bin Laden to attack the US". Thank you for being the most useless fuckstain ever to get in a position to reek havoc on so many. You deserve the pain of a slow death for all your loved one before you finally succumb to a long life of torture at the hands of the Abu Graib and Guantanamo survivors. At a minimum you should be spit on whenever seen in public. I hope you live to be 100 without ever a good night sleep.