Wonderland

 

ThePre-Election Paradox

1. 84% think their house isn’t falling down, their car runs well enough to get them to work, they have enough food to get dangerously obese and more leisure time than childhood and young adulthood led them to believe they’d ever have.
   70% believe that their children will be adults in a depressingly dictatorial society, and that the lies and opportunism of their leaders give those same children a better than even chance of dying in violence or slavery. And they don’t think there’s anything they can do to stop it happening.

   Or if you like, 84% realize they’ve gotten away with spending lots of money they don’t really have on things they *like* but don’t actually NEED. 70% think that lifestyle is going to catch up with us before long.

   And no, I haven’t a single fact to back up any of that. Just my tuppence.

   Posted by GrumpyOldFart       01/07/2008  at  11:00 PM  



2. I think we’ve been sold a load of - uh - manure by the ‘media’ and various politicians.

   F’rinstance, on an un-named website long ago and far away, one member was griping and moaning and crying the blues about how there’s no real manufacturing jobs left in the U. S. and how all our productivity has gone and so on.  No much more than one paragraph later, he’s complaining about ‘corporations’ and how heartless and manipulative they are.

   So how many jobs does anyone plan to have without ‘corporations’? 

   ‘Big Oil’ gets accused of profiteering when they make a 9% return on their investment.  So how much money did they put into finding, extracting and refining the oil that runs our cars, heats our homes and in many instances makes electricity?  How many ‘corporations’ dealing in oil have gone bust over the years?  Who passes the hat for those guys who lost their money and career?

   There is a serious move afoot to demonize the capitalist system.  Can anyone guess why?

   I think the disparity between those who are happy with life and those who are concerned about the nation’s future fall into two camps:  Those who know they are currently comfortable but somehow believe all the negative crap from the media and those like me (and probably many of you) who are comfortable personally but are concerned with the creeping socialism and lack of personal responsibility engulfing public thought.

   Posted by Archie       01/07/2008  at  11:16 PM  



3. It is an uber-sad state of affairs… After traveling around the world and seeing how wasteful most American’s are I am coming to the conclusion that were are a country of LAZY SOBs and we need a wakeup call.

   Posted by Ecolihapns       01/08/2008  at  07:04 AM  



4. Speaking of reliable systems, does anyone know if they are going to be using those ‘special’ new electronic voting machines that was found to be ‘highly flawed, bug-ridden, hacker-jokes’? I have been checking on them in some quick searches on the net this morning. It doesn’t look good. But I can’t locate any new info with latest from last ‘mid-term’ elections. MANY more votes than registered voters and no papertrail is just the tip of the iceberg. Someone with a little time might want to look into it some and crack that story - if there is one. Especially given the controversy in the last Presidential election.

   Posted by museofcheerios       01/08/2008  at  11:23 AM  



5. Well now, I will admit that I think corporations are one of several major factors that have crippled our society. However, please not that “corporations” does NOT equate to “businesses”. I’m all for business, I’m all for “money talks, BS walks.” What I am not in favor of is this:

   Corporation: (n.) An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. - Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

   Bierce has been criticised nearly from the day his work was first published for his cynicism. Fine and good, as he IS cynical, very much so. But what people don’t seem to grasp is that “cynical” does NOT equal “incorrect.”

   Posted by GrumpyOldFart       01/08/2008  at  01:29 PM  



6. I was looking around and I am a little confused on the voter machine thing now. Was this a ruse? Does anyone know if this was just, as I read this morning on Michelle Malkin “Diebold Derangement Syndrome”? If so, I apologize for my ‘naivette’ on my above comment. At least I learned something!

   Posted by museofcheerios       01/09/2008  at  12:23 PM  

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