Holiday Giving

I know I blather on about subjects I probably don’t know enough about, but this holiday season, let me ask you to think about a couple of groups that I feel need more attention.

I’ve been associated with the Boy Scouts of America for 11 years as a leader. My youngest stepson attained his Eagle about five years ago and I’m still active in it. I’ve seen the impact on changing boys into young men. There is no program I know of that teaches boys how to be a leader. Not sports, music or academics. So if a scout comes by offering to sell a wreath, please consider buying from him. If a local troop is selling Christmas trees, again consider buying from them. If there is a pancake breakfast, go and have some and know that your money is going to help boys grow up to young men.

The other group is Shelterbox USA. As local as the Boy Scouts are, this is my global initiative. Almost silently, Shelterbox has gone into disaster sites and delivered shelter, warmth and dignity to the neediest people. They ask for nothing from the people and give a lot. However, that takes money to do so. They don’t have celebrities touting their good name, they don’t have an ad budget. So please consider a donation to their cause. I have a friend in Columbia right now working on setting up shelters for people caught in flooding. The news in the States doesn’t cover it, but we have people on the ground assisting in getting shelters up in a number of places.

I hope you would consider giving to Shelterbox. I have found it to be a very honorable organization that really only wants to help. If you do, please consider going here to give.

I am blessed to have a great wife, great friends, great kids and a pretty good life overall. I hope to continue our conversations in the future.

Happy Holidays to everyone all over the world
Rich

I am Your Parent’s Generation, but I Have Not Given Up Hope

I am 57 years old. I have no children of my own, but if situations had been different, my oldest would about 30 years old or so. About the median age of the Occupy Wall Street people. I recently read a response from a 31 year old veteran that he had lost faith in his parent’s generation in that they would make the world a better place. I am his parent’s generation.

In one way, I think he is right. We did him wrong. We had come from the idyllic world of the 50’s and 60’s and we had it so good. We had jobs and a great economy. We had world peace and the future was so bright. The land was pure and clean. And then in the past few years, we threw it all away, according to him. Well, that is BS.

My parents lived through the Second World War. My father served in the Navy. My parents were poor by anyone’s standards, but since they lived in rural areas, they had enough to eat, clothing, a roof and a school. My mother never finished college I think because of the war. My father went to college on the GI Bill. Both worked pretty hard to provide us with the same things they had, enough to eat, clothing, a roof and a school. We got the luxuries of a family vacation (in a car, no air conditioning), our own rooms (there were only my sister and I), a good Christmas and a rare dinner out. They tried to sheltered us from the bad things around us, but frankly no one could do that.

The article implied that we had it good and blew it. Yup, I remember the good times: Cuban Missile Crisis; the Cold War; West Berlin and Checkpoint Charlie; the Viet Nam War; the Oil Crisis of the 70’s; the recessions of the 80’s and 90’s, there may have been one in 00’s, but since I wasn’t working then, I may have missed it; and one that still sticks in my mind, President Kennedy’s assassination. I thought the world would end that day.

I remember walking down the street as a very little boy during the Cuban Missile Crisis wondering why my parents were so weirded out and I was looking for Russian Bombers over Peoria. I understood there was a target there. The TV was on, but I wasn’t allowed to watch it. It was just some talking head. I didn’t understand it, but I knew something was wrong.

I remember going to the Court House to sign up for the draft. The Viet Nam War was winding down, but they were still taking people with very low numbers. All it took was the wrong two ping pong balls coming up and my life would have to change rapidly. I didn’t have to. But I was lucky, I didn’t know anyone that went to Viet Nam, but I saw the obituaries in the local paper of older boys who wouldn’t come home. I knew some of their brothers and sisters. I met a lot of guys in college who had returned. Some with missing limbs. Some with their heads messed up. . I doubt anyone who went came back normal. I also remember the protests and took part in a few while in high school. My father didn’t want me too because he didn’t want to get in trouble with the college he taught at. I did anyway. I now understand his reason and position.

I remember the long lines of cars during the oil crisis in the 70’s. I couldn’t afford a new car, so you just drove a little less and tried to save fuel. It frankly occupied your mind as to how to survive. And of course, we worried that this was the start of another war in which I could be drafted. I think I had deferments, but all it took was a doctor to say, no, you’ll be fine and I could be 1-A.

I remember big layoffs in the 80’s and 90’s. I remember when they would lay off people and everyone was called in one at a time and told if you were still employed. I remember women coming out crying because they had been let go. I felt guilty that day.

I wasn’t very old when President Kennedy was killed. A kid in class who went home for lunch heard it and came back and told the class and the teacher. It was a Catholic school. The nuns were devastated. We were in shock. There was a part of me that died that day. President Kennedy was hope. He had big ideas. He wanted to make the world better. And they shot him.

Your parents went through the same thing. So they hovered, protected and tried to isolated you from the world. Maybe our generation should have let you see more of the bad stuff like we saw. Our parents tried to protect us because they had seen true evil. We should have let you develop the antibodies to the evil of the world we got. We didn’t . And by doing so, we allowed the evil to grow a little larger.

And now you think the world needs to change. It does. We wanted it to change so badly. But it doesn’t change easily. And it will not change overnight. This isn’t an after-school special where the bully learns to be friends in an hour. Your generation is giving up hope. I lived through enough stuff and I don’t give up hope. There will always be evil in the world. There will always be greed. There will always be sin. There will always be despair. My parents fought it the best they could. We fought it the best we could. And now you can fight it too. But you can not give up hope.

An Encounter - A short story

We stepped into the blackness. One moment we were in country on a search and destroy mission and the next we all stepped into a void. I remember that the jungle wrapped around me and I figured I was dead. It was a VC trap. Sarge had Boyd on point and he hadn’t said anything, then Sarge stepped in and the rest of us sort of followed. At first I figured it was just super heavy brush. But in one step, I could no longer see even the low lights we had. There was a bit of moon light before we stepped over, but now nothing. Sarge whispered to Boyd. “Where the hell are you?” I heard Boyd’s muffled voice saying “Here Sarge”. I followed it, since really I had nothing to guide me. I knew I was dead and this was how it was. At least I didn’t feel anything.

A few steps ahead, I saw something. I saw Boyd and Sarge crouched by a wall. There ain’t no walls like this in country. Maybe in the cities… Sarge motioned us forward and we took up positions around Sarge. “Where are we? This is a city, there ain’t a village within 20 clicks of us let alone a city.” The night air smelled different. I looked around and saw that somehow we were in a depression in a city like Siagon. Behind us, somehow was a long wall. But we just came from there. Sarge told us to keep our heads down. He saw some bushes over to our right and told us to stay low and follow him. We did and headed towards the only cover we saw.

The grass under our boots was cut. The ground was soft. The air smelled of flowers and food. American food. I could smell hamburgers cooking, I swear. The temperature was about 70 degrees, something I haven’t felt since I was home. And I also smelled a small squad of dirty Americans. For the first time in a while, I realized we reeked of sweat and dirt. We had been in-country for a few days only. We checked our perimeter and saw no one.

Then Sawyer piped up. “Sarge, look over there”. We looked where he was pointed and we saw, well we somehow saw an illusion. There is no way that was in Viet Nam. I didn’t do the drugs of choice and so I knew it wasn’t a hallucination. I shook my head a few times and kept looking at it. What the hell was the Washington Monument doing here? Sawyer started to shake. “Sarge, I’m from DC. This is DC man. How the…” Just then we heard a car rev up. We got flat and Sarge and I went over the small hill to look. Sarge turned to me and said “I have never seen that kind of car before. It wasn’t built like anything I’ve ever known. It must be food poisoning or something turned on all of us. We need to get out of here.”

We crawled back and Sarge got with Specs and tried the radio. Nothing but static. He tried a few times to get a chopper in so we could get the hell back to base or where ever, but no luck.

Then we saw two people walking through the trees talking and holding hands. Sawyer brought up his weapon and Sarge grabbed him and told him to hold fire.

“Hang tight”.

“OK, the best thing to do is to try and go back the way we came. If we can find the LZ and hold up, we should be able to get this through our systems and we can go back to base. I figured something went wrong with our rations or the water and we got a weird bug.”

We crawled back along the open area and under the fence. And we came to the wall. It was black and long. “Sarge, we must have come over it, right? I don’t remember falling”. As we got closer we saw it up close. Sawyer said, “I remember this part of DC. The Lincoln Memorial is right over there. The Washington Monument is there. The Reflecting Pool is right there and I don’t remember this being here.”

Sarge and I got close and saw the wall had etched names. We could see where we came through because of the dirt and stuff from our boots and clothing as we dragged the jungle with us. The jungle bits and dirt start right at the edge of the wall. I looked up and said, “Sawyer, what’s your first name?” “Steve, why?” “Your name is here in this wall. And…so is mine”.

Sarge stepped up and put his hand on the wall. It passed right through it. “I don’t understand this but I think we got some weird Nam bug. I think this is the way back”. He then just stepped into the wall like it wasn’t there. “Let’s go guys, I think it is time to go home”.

Why I will not join the Occupy Wall Street Movement

I can not join the Occupy Wall Street movement for many reasons. I do feel that I have been part of the 99% for a long time. I haven’t had a ‘real’ job for over 11 years and have finally come to terms with doing what ever I can. I have read through their ‘demands’ and although some of them are not germane to the subject at hand and some are too far to the left for me, I agree with some. And I have written before about the role of protests in the US in that I feel they help to increase the divisions between the political divides. Not every worker agrees with this movement. Few if any Republicans agree with the marchers. And so by continuing to beat their proverbial drum for far left causes, the Republicans become more entrenched against anything these people want. I’m not a Republican but rather an independent. I tend to be left of center. I don’t feel they are representing me either and I assume others do not agree with them either.

This movement was formed by Adbusters and by Anonymous. Adbusters is a anti-comsumerist group that up to know has been creating spoof ads. I don’t think I saw anything that gave their political opinions, but given their anti-consumerism, I would assume they want a very far left view of buying less, using less etc. It is a nice sentiment, but not all of us want to live in Vermont on a collective farm. Anonymous is a very left anti-corporation, anarchistic group who likes to hide in the shadows and attack people and organizations that they don’t like. They have been very active in hacking web sites and infiltrating other groups to cause disruptions. Their reason for supporting and starting the Occupy Wall Street is unknown (to me).

So who leads Occupy Wall Street? When you read the literature, they say no one. But to me, a bunch of people without a clear leadership is a mob. I don’t think this is a mob, but I think there are clearly people who are at the head of the movement that do not want to be identified for some reason. Frankly, I think they have overstated their own worth, since I doubt the government wants to arrest them. I also noticed that they were able to raise money and opened a bank account. How can a leaderless group open a bank account? Someone had to agree to it and some names must appear as capable of depositing and removing money from the account. I find when people do not want to be known, there are a couple of reasons. One is that they fear for their life. Even though they again overstate their view of the movement as a “Tahir Square” which it isn’t, I doubt anyone would be arrested in the night. Or they want to remain hidden because they do not want the world to know who they are because they represent groups or ideas that are not in agreement with what the movement wants to accomplish.

My fear is this is a great farce played on people who really are hurting by anarchistic groups. They hope to embarrass the big banks and corporations and are willing to use real people to accomplish this. I think of it as virtual rioting. They want to smash the virtual windows of Wall Street wearing their dumb V for Vendetta masks or black baklavas. Their desire is not to help the 99%ers. They don’t care about them. It is to create chaos and trouble.

Another area is the division this is cause. A protest only helps the people that basically agree with your cause. In most cases, there are three groups, the people that agree, the people that disagree and the people that are on the fence and even in that group there are sort of agreement and sort of disagreement. There are few who will be magically transformed from one side to the other. But this is a national issue. What the protesters are doing is helping reinforce the right’s view, regardless of what positive things are being said and done. The longer and more confrontational this protest is, the deeper the divide between the groups. Yes a few of the people who sort of agree might come over, but they are widening the gap between the two groups. And I think that will not help the cause.

So one of the items mentioned is that the Wall Street people feel this is a Tahir Square. This is so far from one it is laughable. Where is the true despot such as Mubarark? Where is the Secret Police that can arrest anyone? Where are the secret prisons where you might come out in a month or so? Where are the rooftop snipers? Where are the thugs attacking the square while the police stand by? Where is the specter of death? None of this really exists here. Yes, it could happen, but since it has never really happened in the US, I doubt it will. This is not an American Spring or Fall or anytime.

I’ve read through the long list of demands from the protesters. Some are ultra far left silly. Some are just far left. And some I believe in. It is difficult to join a movement that has ‘demands’ that I can’t accept or don’t believe are feasible. As much as I want to end the wars, as much as I believe the war in Iraq was illegal, I feel walking away would make the US less safe and look weak in the eyes of the world.

And the demands do not have a consistent theme related to the Wall Street crisis. I realize that the group is ‘leaderless’ but somewhere creating a consistent theme and keeping the demands to a manageable few would make the group seems more palatable.

Another issue is that the group or some part of the group has taken confrontational methods to keep the movement together and to gain publicity. It may also help in getting those people who sense a sympathetic tone and want to help. Getting arrested doesn’t help the cause. Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge has no purpose to the cause other than to get confrontational with the police. Since most of the cops around Zuccotti Park probably are somewhat sympathetic to the cause, it does no good to make them work harder just because some management person wants to clean up the park. As a friend pointed out, it is just good theater. We don’t need theater, we need concrete action. Confrontation will hurt the movement more than it will help, unless you are into anarchism, which I still believe exists within the leadership.

In General Colin Powell’s auto-biography, he states some of his beliefs on war and starting a war. One of those rules was - be careful what you want, you might get it. Now in this case, my corollary is what if you got what you want, are you ready to do it. If the world capitulated to the Occupy Wall Street, what then? Are they ready to put in real laws and tell the world what to do? I don’t think so. They may have a few glimmers of good ideas, but nothing is close to concrete. Now I don’t always apply this rule to everything, but having an idea of what should or could happen next would be good. To stand and complain is just well, complaining. To stand and complain with a few good ideas is making a change.

One last issue is the endgame. This has to end eventually. I don’t think the world is going to change their mind and start to implement these some what nebulous demands. At some point, people will either 1) leave because the movement has run out of steam, 2) leave because it is too cold to stay in some park, or 3) be forced out because the owners of the parks (either the city or the private property) has had enough and wants them to go somewhere else. I don’t see a scenario where the protesters win. If the protesters just leave because they run out of steam or get too cold, the movement fails. If they are forced out, the movement can either claim martyrdom or take the fight to another place. In the end, 1 or 2 will occur. And the enemies of these will point to the failure of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

So what could be done? There is great power in the people. There is anger. But to become so angry that they do not see what strength they have weakens the group. The Democrats have obviously abandoned the cause of Wall Street Reform because they are addicted to the money. The Republicans have always had an addiction to the money. And Wall Street is not the only problem; corporations are using secret influence through lobbyists and money of which Wall Street is only one player. I believe one solution is to work to fix the campaign finance system so that lobbyists, corporations, unions and individuals are forced to give through an independent group so that any money is very transparent. All ads by special interest groups must have strong rules as to what can be said and what can’t be said. And we create a way to finance elections so that our elected officials do not have to coddle up to lobbyists and the rich in order to get elected. But that is work. It means creating a lobby system to tell our officials to vote for election reform. It means putting candidates who are in favor of campaign finance reform and then getting them elected. I may mean creating a third party that steps away from the anachronistic Democrats and Republicans and restates what most Americans want.

But some people might think it is easier to go sit in the park. I don’t.

We Are All the Middle

I consider myself to be an independent thinker. I believe that I am sort of in the middle of the political spectrum. And as I’ve talked to people on the left and the right, I’ve sense that they too feel they are in the middle of the spectrum. And I believe I know why.

We all want to be in the middle. We prefer being in the middle of the crowd. I assume there are a few fringe people who believe they aren’t necessarily centered, but let’s ignore them for now. Anyone can define themselves as being in the middle. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean we are in the middle. That definition is arbitrary. So we have to continue to define what we think is the middle by finding people on either side of our beliefs because you can’t have a middle of one, you need to know there are people who are to the right and left of you. And the more people you can define as to the right and left, the more we see ourselves as the center.

But how we define who is to the left and right does vary based on our cultural, religious and societal beliefs. I imagine an Amish man in Pennsylvania might think that he is in the middle based on what he sees as to the far left (what they call the English) and to the right of those in his community that are very religious and want nothing to do with the outside world. And since his world is relatively closed, he can not see the ultra left because his spectrum doesn’t go as far as television and music.

So is it with everyone else. Some people will not allow their spectrum to spread too far in case they find that they are not in the middle but have drifted to the right or left. In many ways, we define the middle not by our beliefs, but by our allowance of how far left and right we want to accept. We do this by narrowly defining what news shows we watch. We will watch the left side and define that as an extreme. We hear about people to our right side as too virulent and define them as the other extreme. Except since we have somewhat placed our flag in the ground, we won’t ever budge but will ignore any evidence that we aren’t in the middle.

So what does this mean to us? Sometimes, we should pick up or flag and let it drift a bit. We should challenge our beliefs not by someone else telling us what to believe but by contemplating the basic tenets of what we consider sacred. We should allow ourselves to be challenged by speakers and writers well outside our comfort zone. And then we can plant our flag again, but not too deeply. Because when it is too deeply planted, we will have difficulty removing it. And sometimes it is easier to leave it in the ground and find the spectrum that seems to work rather than learning what else is possible.

Are American Tech Workers are hard to find? No

Recently I was listening to President Obama in North Carolina say that technology workers are difficult to hire because we don’t generate enough Science, Technology, Engineering, Math students (STEM). I agree that the modern university doesn’t want to change to the Indian model of churning out highly trained, but unable to work independently students. But I think this problem has been exasperated by business management in the past which now we are seeing the outcome.

When I was a wee lad in technology; we were always interested in learning new things. When COBOL was the rage, we heard about these new web functions like HTML and JAVA, C++ etc. So someone would always ask if they could go to a training class on Web development. And the answer would be NO. Because once you learn this, you will quit and get a new job and who would keep our COBOL programs going? So if you tried to learn JAVA on your own and your management found out, you were then on the watch list because obviously you want to quit. When a new project opened up at your job that would need some of those skills and you asked if you could move to it. The answer was NO, who would do your old job? When your project or area was looking to be phased out and you asked what the next project was, the answer was none. We could train you, but frankly we can get all these workers out of college with Java and web development. Why should be train you? So you hoped to find another COBOL job and went through the same process.

Management didn’t want to train us because who would do our jobs and we were more expensive than the recent graduate. A few were retrained, but very few.

I suspect this was true of a lot of engineering and technology jobs. Why retrain these more expensive workers when cheap recruits were around.

So, President Obama, when you say there aren’t enough skilled technology workers in the US. There were, but those CEO’s you were talking to didn’t want us because they think we are expensive. And so they hired college grads. When those didn’t work out as well, they hired H1B’s. There are a lot of 40 and 50 year old techies out there that would love to work these jobs. Yes, they may not be 100% on top of what is hot, but they know how to work, they know how to program, just not in your hip new language and they can learn. And they have lost enough money to not be as expensive any more. Too bad, the high tech CEO’s don’t want these cast offs, when a nice H1B can do the same thing and is easier to manage. American companies don’t want us anymore. We aren’t hip enough, we not considered cheap enough, we are considered too hard to manage and we so we are thrown away like last weeks trash.

So are American Tech workers hard to find? No, look at Home Depot, at your pizza delivery guy, the guy who runs your yard service, your bartender. Look at the guy down the block that hasn’t worked in a few years because he is ‘unqualified’ and basically too old but HR won’t let them say that. We are here, you just don’t want us there.

Libya and President Obama

President Obama is caught between a rock and a hard place and Republicans and anyone who wants to pile on are shoving the rocks together to make it tighter.

Gaddafi is a brutal dictator who frankly is crazier than Saddam Hussein ever was. And is showing himself to be far worse to people that oppose him. Hussein wanted power, Gaddafi is just crazy. So when the Arab revolts started and spread to Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain and then to Libya, we are seeing how much these dictators and monarchies want to stay in power. Some understand their time is limited and others are using force against the people to prove they are in charge.

But in Libya, we have a chance to assist in removal of someone who has caused unrest in the world in the past and will in the future. If he were able to install his son, this idiocy would continue for a very long time. If he can be removed and a non-dictatorship is elected, the Mediterranean could be a more peaceful area.

But there are those in Washington who oppose this action. I seriously doubt it is unconstitutional. I also doubt that Congress never knew the US might be involved. I would hope that some staffer in the Congress listens to CNN and reports to his boss that there might be trouble.

The US had two options, continue on a isolationist path or assist. I do not think the US should become an isolationist as proposed by the Tea Party and others under the guise of money. I don't think we should be the world military leader, although as a friend pointed out, NATO and the EU probably couldn't agree and get organized without the US being the point person.

So why the criticism of our involvement. Is it that these Congressmen and women (and pundits and Monday morning quarterback) really have the nation's well being at heart? Do they worry about the men and women that will be put into harms way? No, they see this as a way to get face time. People who agree with President Obama do not need to be on TV saying they agree, that isn't good news. Conflict! TV news needs conflict. So most of the criticism is just that, good theater.

So should we be there. Yes, in my opinion. I don't want to be there. I don't think we should do all the work either. I do not want ground troops to be involved, unless it is as humanitarian effort after the conflict is over. But in the end, the world will be better if Omar Gaddafi is removed from office.

The Radicalization of Republicans

At one time, Tip O’Neill, the very Democratic Speaker of the House, was known to rail about Republicans and then go drinking with them. Allegedly, Ronald Reagan was one of those buddies. Since more gets done when voices are lowered and talking off the record, probably a lot got covered, discussed and agreed to over a few. Fast forward to today. If a Republican was seen chatting with a Democrat, they would be called on the carpet, let alone going to dinner or drinks. Republicans and Democrats see each other as enemies rather than esteemed colleagues of the opposition.

I noticed something odd lately. I believe in the past, say Tip O’Neill’s day, the concept of a vote being on strict party lines was unusual. Probably on bills that related to the core values of either party. But today, Republicans seem to be walking in lock step. The Democrats (being Democrats) can’t do this yet, but it raises some questions.

At one time, Eastern Republicans were hated by the Western Republicans over ideas of land use, water rights etc. Yes, in the core values of Republicanism, they agreed. They were more for more states rights and more defense rather than the current core values. But when a bill was raised that the Western Republicans wanted (allowing land use), they would break away from the rest of the party. The Dixiecrats are another example of this. The Democratic party agreed on a lot of principles, but integration and the South didn’t agree and they broke off to vote what they believed their constituents wanted rather than what the Democrats or Republicans wanted.

So why have the Republicans started to stand together? I believe they have become ‘radicalized’ by someone/something. You see, I can’t see the Republican House of Representatives in the 1950’s agreeing to let the leadership tell them what to vote, even if it meant doing something against the constituents’ needs and views. The Democrats don’t stand well together because they represent varied viewpoints on politics. But the Republicans do too. They have Social conservatives and moderates, Fiscal conservatives and moderates, Defense Hawks and Doves, small government and smaller government etc. Somehow, these people have been brought together under one umbrella to present a united front.

So what brought them together? It could be the selection of candidates. Scott Brown is an excellent example. Senator Brown won on a Tea Party type platform; although he never said he fully supported it. He won over a poorly run campaign by the Democrats. He was swept into the office and I think he was supposed to shut up, sit down and vote the way he was told to vote. Except he didn’t. He voted for Massachusetts first and the Republicans second. And the Republicans and Tea Party became outraged. He has been targeted by the Massachusetts Tea Party in the next election. The Republicans and the Tea Party are talking about ‘purity tests’ to see if the candidate is a good enough Republican to run.

So why does the Republican Party care that much that it is willing to vet all candidates. Money. Money changes everything. Large corporations and very rich people are willing to give money to the Republican Party and I believe it is with the caveat that these people vote the right way every time. And if you want to be elected, you will. There is power and prestige related to being a US Senator or Representative and so you put a few votes where you might not have voted, so be it. Your next election cycle will get a nice contribution and you will have more money to compete against your opponent. Or get the nod as the candidate for the next higher office. Or a lucrative offer if you retire and become a lobbyist. Money.

There has always been hidden puppeteers behind both parties ever since parties were formed. Sometimes, a puppeteer will peek out to show the audience who they are. Often times, the hidden puppeteers’ purpose is money for themselves and friends. But today, it is big money. Eliminate the EPA, make it easier to drill for offshore oil, keep the workers salaries down, lower taxes for the rich, make it easier to off shore jobs without anyone caring. And the puppeteers have gotten together. Because by working together, there is more money to be made.

The next step is the Radicalization of the Democratic Party as an arms race of money. And so on. It will be more difficult to get everyone on the same page, because, well, they are Democrats. But they will if only to counter the radical Republicans.

This is wrong. By removing money from the electoral system, the power bases will have to find another approach to influencing politics and they will. But if we don’t remove money soon, the country will continue to fracture into a left and right. States will have to decide what side of this line they are on. People will have to move to be in the ‘correct’ side of politics until one day, States will secede and the United States will be no more. And the rich will move to the Cayman Islands or to the Nation of Hawaii.

Being Independent

I am an tired and angry owl lately. I've been going through a transition, trying to define myself. I know a lot of people that have put themselves into boxes with titles like conservative, liberal, progressive, tea party, etc. And as I've said before, I do hate labels. So I've cast aside the poorly draped sash of Liberal since it didn't fit and I kept having to hide parts of it, since it really wasn't me. I hate the term moderate. That seems very wishy washy, like you can't make up your mind and you just go along with the crowd. I'm not in love with independent either, but it probably fits better than most. But again, I imagine there are conservatively oriented independents and liberally oriented independents. Again, they are labels. I go my own singular way.

As well, I don't like organizations that want my voice. I've been a part of the Coffee Party since almost the beginning, but it has evolved in my opinion to be a more liberal group. I like the people, I like the message of civility, but I notice the programs are leaning more and more to the 'progressive' side. That is fine, but they don't represent me well. I also don't see civility on Facebook and frankly don't go to the web site much because it seems kludgy at times. I am also interested in No Labels group. I think I helped start it with a post on the Coffee Party about this, but again, it is a nice group, very slick with a decent message. They seem to be trying, but there is some money behind them and it isn't clear. I guess I agree with my hero Groucho Marx who said, I don't care to belong to any club that will have me as a member".

The problem is I enjoy the people. I have some good friends in the Coffee Party. I love Annabelle Park and what she believes in. I guess I just don't agree with her on everything, but the basic premise of civility and talking to both sides. I just wish it was more accepted by more people. I have other friends that I truly wish I could be better friends with.

So like my avatar, I sit alone. Waiting. I can hoot to others and get a hoot back, but independence has its downside.

A Look at 2011

Today is January 1, 2011 and I’ve been reading a number of articles online about what they think this year will be like in a number of areas, politics, society, technology, business, etc, etc. I’d thought I would add my two cents to the mix. I think I’m about as qualified as most of the writers, since I don’t think most people can predict that well and just sort of use these predictions to continue their agenda.

Politics
I expect a lot of people telling us that they are for the elimination of partisanship and then continuing on the same course as last year. The Democrats will be moaning about the loss of seats and the Republicans will be gloating. Expect both sides to say that they wish the other side would sit down and talk. In the end, the Democrats and the Republicans will be in a very similar position as they are today. Which is ineffective. Will partisanship continue? Oh yes. Will Congress pass reform to clean up lobbyists and money? Nope, Congress will try to do something, but frankly, lobbyists and money will block any attempt to clean up Congress since Congress doesn’t know how to live without this money. Someone will try.

Society
People talk about the rise of the Tea Party. I think the real Tea Party will go under and the new faux Tea Party of the Republican Party will take over. The real Tea Party (the real men and women of the country that feel a change is needed) will be pushed to one side and told that the government will be doing exactly what the real Tea Party wants, except they won’t. Look to Michelle Bachman and the faux Tea Party types try and reach out to the real base. I give the Real Tea Party people some credit. I think they and thousands of people realize we are in trouble. The problem is that they have no leadership who doesn’t have a personal agenda. If they ever get a real person to step in front of the parade, they could be a great influence. But that person will be probably crushed by the faux leadership running to the front to act like leaders.

Jobs
Watch the numbers rise. I think there are more jobs on the horizon. They won’t be great jobs, but will be better than the minimum wage jobs we have been adding. Washington talks about the middle class, but does little to help it. Until the middle class has good jobs and better chances, only then will a recovery occur. But the middle class doesn’t donate money to politicians.

Business
US businesses have figured out that the US isn’t going to provide a lot of money to the bottom line and so they are determining the best course of action to keep their profits up and their executive jobs. This is the reason for expansion into China, India and other countries. Except both China and India are both willing to allow other countries products in and then have a local entrepreneur step in and offer cheaper and better marketed products to their own people. China sort of looks at the Pepsi’s and McDonald’s as the test markets. Let them come in and sell the people that they should be buying a Pepsi and then when people want one, then sell a Chinese version that is cheaper. Nationalism is too strong, but the lure of a buck is too much for US companies.

Technology
As businesses keep demanding people work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in order to pretend we are the center of the world, I believe more and more technology will be used to allow people to believe they have a home life and yet be connected. Smartphones demonstrate that you can be on a vacation and still have a leash to work. They can yank it at any time they need you. And with more and more tools, like IPads, you can tie into work to take care of problems, meet, review etc.

A bit negative, I know. But I really do believe that at the end of 2011, we will look back and think we were just spinning our wheels for a year.