Archive for February, 2009
Give Us the Credit We Deserve
Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 | Politics | No Comments
Being a white male, I am presently in the most discrimated against group in America. It seems that people of my gender and color are responsible for slavery and for discrimination against women and in general for most of our society’s ills.
I recently was watching the History Channel and they were talking about how some of the slaves actually spied for the North. With films like Glory and TV shows like the Buffalo Soldiers, I’m beginning to doubt that any white man was involved in the Civil War. Not only that but with films like Mississippi Burning and others, I’m beginning to doubt that whites were involved in the Civil Rights movement.
Women are quick to complain about how men have created a glass ceiling and discriminated against them. They bring up the fact that women earn less then men. They complain that men don’t do housework even when the wife works etcetera, excetera, ad infinitum.
Both groups say that white men have treated them poorly since they won their freedom and the right to vote. I say, they are wrong.
First and foremost African Americans and women never won their freedom; they were given it by enough white males who thought it was the right thing to do. Did African Americans fight in the Civil War? I’m sure they did. Did women like Susan B. Anthony organize protest marches for the vote? Again, I’m sure they did, but we live in a country of laws and neither of these groups had the legal right to vote to pass those laws till white men gave it to them.
I’m afraid that the real oppressors are the wealthy people in the world, most of these people in America, with the exception of Oprah, are of the Caucasian persuasion but that may be changing in the future.
The thing is, I don’t expect that the fact that we have done things that were the right thing to do will change the country into a homogeneous populous, but when you think about all we might have done wrong and blame us. At least for the good we have done; give us the credit we deserve
Last Bus to Pottersville
Tuesday, February 17th, 2009 | Economics | 1 Comment
Short of having been sequestered in a monastery for the last fifty years I assume that all of us remember It’s a Wonderful Life. In the movie when George is shown what life would be without him, Bedford Falls turns into Pottersville.
Pottersville has turned into a horrible place where crime and corruption are rampant and everyone lives in a house that is owned by Mister Potter. You probably are already ahead of me on this but, yes, this seems to be the way that the country is going.
Once again, the rich are going to be subsidized by the government. The housing market has made houses cheap and the foreclosures have made them a literal steal for people with money. Many of us won’t have that opportunity because we will be paying off the stimulus package.
Maybe what we need is the good ol’ Bailey Savings and Loan to prevent the Potters of the world from taking over. It is curious that with all the banks that are failing that I haven’t heard much about any credit unions failing. Could it be that because the credit unions act like the Bailey S&L (that they invest in local economies and the people are shareholders and not customers) that they are doing well.
I’m sure that if you search for it you might find a few that actually “act like banks” but for the most part they seem to have weathered the storm. I may be thinking like Obama now so this might sound like socialism but I think we should start a movement to switch our financial institutions to be more like credit unions.
If we don’t then we all may be taking the bus to Pottersville. I’m trying to hold out for the last bus and with any luck I’ll miss it
Living the Nightmare
Wednesday, February 11th, 2009 | Economics, Politics | No Comments
We are all raised to believe the fairy tale and perhaps we should believe the facts. When we are young we are told that anyone can become President, that the government has our best interests at heart, that the government will take care of us. In short. we are told that we can all live the American Dream. We must be delusional.
The fairy tale that anyone may be President is legally true. The fact that only a wealthy person will become President is reality. Perhaps in some future time when the Internet has proliferated everyone’s life we may elect a President by popular vote but that would entail us believing that the Electoral College would be eliminated. I would say that this is as likely as pigs flying but with all that genetic experimentation going on I’ ll play it safe and say when all politicians are honest.
The myth that the government has our best interests at heart is true for the rich. The fact that the government has the best interests of the rich at heart is the truth. People are losing their homes and their small businesses because the banks are hoarding the money that the average taxpayer sent to the IRS to pay for the things that would make their lives easy like schools. roads, defense, credit.
We were told that the government would take care of us like a fairy godmother. The truth seems to be that the government is going to take care of us like the Godfather. They are talking about people fifty and below being on their own when it comes to Social Security. They are arguing about the stimulus and complaining that it will bankrupt future generations. They haven’t realized that if this generation starves to death we won’t have to worry about our grandkids.
I realize that most people believe that the American Dream is the ability to buy whatever they want but along with that is the security that comes with a government that cares about it’s populace. Less and less are living the dream and more and more are living the nightmare.
Dam It All
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009 | General | No Comments
I am, by nature, a contrarian. I don’t see the glass as half empty or half full, I refuse to even look at the glass. With that in mind I would like to propose an alternative to our country sitting on our butts and wringing our hands in response to global warming.
Living in New York, I could never see the problem with global warming. If I was forced to invest in sun block during January and February I don’t see that this would ruin my day. I understand that even if New York were a tropical paradise for a few years eventually it would change according to the global warming playbook. The sun would heat up the oceans and the world would become cloud covered leading to the earth sinking into a world devoid of Olympic Summer Games.
So the problem seems to be that the defrosted water from the Polar Ice caps would evaporate and flood the earth. What if we didn’t let the water evaporate or even flood the earth? What if we stored the water where it wouldn’t be effected by the sun? What if we dammed up the Grand Canyon?
I thought that this idea was too shocking because once you’ve seen the Grand Canyon you could never think of doing something like that. Then I googled it and found that the only thing that prevented it from being dammed was that it was turned into a national park. When they were going to dam the Grand Canyon before, they just wanted to give us electrical power now it could save the world.
You would only have to use the dam if the water on the coasts started to flood our cities. I realize that the Grand Canyon might not be enough, we might have to do it globally; using mine shafts, deserts,vacant parking lots. I figure if it will save our planet then dam it all.