It’s no longer a matter of living in interesting times. Democracy in the US has always been on a roller coaster. We got started on a big hill by men (women only in the background at that point) who were flawed giants. Their principal flaw was owning slaves, In their defense, we can say that slavery was common at that time, and it hadn’t yet occurred to many that slavery was (and is) an evil institution. The country has had a variety of ups and downs since its founding, we’ve had numerous wars, including the military actions required to complete . . . → Read More: Bad to Worse
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 Comments are closed  Blog  African-Americans, Carter, China, Civil Rights, Clinton, democracy, economic decline, economy, Eisenhower, George Bush, GOP, Great Depression, Great Recession, greed, Harley Davidson, honesty, housing, industrial base, Interesting Times, Interstate Highway System, laves, mobsters, Native Americans, Nixon, North Korea, Pogo, political decline, presidents, Reagan, Republican, rich get richer, robber barons, Russia, slavery, tariffs, Trump, Vietnam War, War in Southeast Asia, women, WWII Going to Hell in a Handbasket is an old saying typically used to describe a situation heading for disaster. That seems to be the current situation in the United States. In many ways, the States reached its zenith during World War II because everyone—at least nearly everyone—worked together for the common good. This is not to say that everything was wonderful during that time. We unjustly imprisoned Japanese Americans and excessively rewarded those whose companies produced munitions we needed for the war effort. In doing so, we created what has become the military-industrial complex. President Eisenhower, who had been . . . → Read More: The Handbasket to Hell Comments are closed Blog 1920s, 1930s, Allies, banking, butcher, Chine, Chinese Revolution, Civil, Civil War, conservative intellectuals, corporate greed, cuts of meat, earn a living, finance, financial laws, follow the money, France, French revolution, Gordon Gekko, Great Depression, greed, greedy, handbasket, handbasket to hell, Hell, hell in a handbasket, industrial age, Investing, Michael Douglas, Military Industrial Complex, Nineteenth century, political influence, president, repeating history, revolution, robber barons, Russia, Russian revolution, slavery, tax code, tax laws, Teamsters, the States, the wealthy, thumb on the scale, trade unions, Trump, Wall Street, war, wealth, wealthy, WW II, WWII If you’ve been paying attention to the news, you already know about the conflict between Stormy Daniels and Donald Trump. While the Trump administration seems to be setting a new record for corruption and other “dishonesties” in the White House, this isn’t the first time in U.S. history politicians have yielded to temptation and the abuse of power. As Lord Acton pointed out, power corrupts, and that has certainly been true for U.S. Presidents. As is true today, our Founding Fathers tended to be the rich and powerful. One of the ways they used their wealth and power was . . . → Read More: Stormy Weather Comments are closed Blog agri-business, American Presidents, Belgian Congo, corporations, corruption, Democrats, Donald Trump, earthquakes, fame, Founding Fathers, fracking, French Indochina, Gordon Gekko, greed, Lord Actor, Martin Shkrekli, Mexico, Native Americans, oil and gas, political donations, politics, power, presidents, profit, Republicans, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Shkrekli, slavery, slaves, Stormy Daniels, the Fugs, the Rolling Stones, Vietnam, wars, wealth, White House, White Man's burden, Wide Wide River If you watch any commercial television, you have surely noticed how much of the advertising is for prescription drugs If you think that the advertising for prescription medication has increased over the past few years, you’re correct. Such advertising is legal in only four countries, with the U.S. being one of the four. Marketing of pharmaceutical products has been “big business” for a long time, of course. Companies making such products trained an army of sales representatives to take samples around to physicians and others responsible for writing the prescriptions. They also initiated a major lobbying effort to persuade . . . → Read More: Ask Your Doctor…. Comments are closed Blog big business, blood and soil, cats, choice points, Civil Rights, commercials, Confederate States, congress, consumers, corporate equivalent, disability, dogs, fast forward, fear-based politics, fossil fuels, Germany, global climate change, Hitler, knowing our present, mark territory, minorities, minority, newspapers, newsweeklies, pharmaceuticals, Pogo, prescription medications, science, scientific method, scientists, self-interest, short-term gains, slavery, something new, television, the less you fear, the more you learn, the States, tribe, vote, Walt Kelly Shakespeare’s original use of what has become a common saying, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” was about differences between the families of Vietnam War protests. Even the Charlottsesville, Virginia illustrate just how crazy political life in the States has become. The hostilities seem to have expanded, with election of Donald Trump seems to be proving my cousin right. One of the recent news stories says that the Vietnam War. I was one of those caught up in both the Vietnam War protests and the Civil Rights movement. Many of those I . . . → Read More: We Will All Go Down Together Comments are closed Blog 1960s, Billy Joel, Civil Rights, Civil War, Goodnight Saigon, GOP, hate, Pete Seeger, protests, Republicans, Romeo and Juliet, Rule of Law, Shakespeare, slavery, Trump, War in Vietnam You may know the old saying, the darkest hour is just before dawn. While the saying isn’t literally true, it serves metaphorical purpose. First Light precedes astronomical dawn and provides the first proof that night is coming to an end. “Political night” has descended in the States, leading many to wonder whether “first light” is right around the corner. Many are hopeful. I’m not so sure. I think we (all of us) need to gain some perspective based on history. The history of humanity has been primarily wars and exploitation. War, of course, is not new. Tribes went . . . → Read More: Gaining Perspective Comments are closed Blog Africa, Bob Dylan, Charles Darwin, Communist Block, Communist Revolution, darkest hour, dawn, Europe, evolution, first light, follow the money, health care, history, humanity, Indo-china, Korean War, Masters of War, Medieval times, natural resources, perspective, Pete Seeger, politics, redistribution of wealth, slavery, stay woke, tribal warfare, tribes, uberwealthy, Waist Deep in the Big Muddy, War in Vietnam, WWII I haven’t posted anything new in a while. I’ve been too busy reading the political news and wringing my hands. My sense is that the world situation is getting worse. We have, of course, had “dark days” in times past. I’m not sure there has ever been a time the planet was without at least one war going on. Most recently, in the States we experienced the World Wars (I and II), the Korean War, the “conflict” in Vietnam, and whatever is currently going on in the Mid-East. We’ve also had Civil Rights challenges, and various other conflicts and difficulties . . . → Read More: Dumbfounded, Discouraged, and Dismayed Comments are closed Blog Ark, be fruitful and fill the world, birth control, Bosnians, Civil Rights, Civil War, climate changer, Cosmic Energy, dark days, earth, economy, fifth extinction, food, gap between rich and poor, global warming, humans, intelligence, Korean Ware, logical consequences, mass extinction, news, Noah, Pogo, politics, Serbians, slavery, Southern Heritage, species, territory, the All That Is, the South, Trump to bring back coal, Vietnam War, Walt Kelly, WWII The title of this blog comes from a Pete Seeger song: The lyrics contain a number of metaphors that apply to the current political situation in the States: First, times and circumstances change. What was once safe doesn’t necessarily remain that way. Second, having a “big fool” set direction may not turn out well. Third (and one of my favorite quotations), “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it,” which was doubtless based on George Santayana’s original: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Remembering history by itself isn’t sufficient. . . . → Read More: Waist Deep in the Big Muddy Comments are closed Blog amusements, Amusing Ourselves to Death, bathroom bills, Big Muddy, comedies, comedy, crystal blue persuasion, despopts, dictators, famine, games, Genghis Khan, Henry David Thoreau, human history, Julius Caesar, lives of quiet desperation, Mao Zedong, murder mysteries, Neil Postman, Nineteenth century, Pete Seeger, politics, primitive, primitive customs, print, religious freedom, Shakespeare, situation comedies, slavery, superstition, television, the more things change, Tragedies, tribalism, TV, TV's Golden Age, warfare, wars When Martin Luther King said, “I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character” (in his I have a dream speech), he was, of course, referring specifically to racial disparities. Unfortunately, racial disparities haven’t disappeared, and perhaps even more unfortunately, our culture has added a variety of other disparities by which we judge people. Like skin color, they are all superficial in nature and say nothing about the content of their character. The first thing that occurs to me is the bias many hold . . . → Read More: Content of Character Comments are closed Blog ancestors, bill of goods, border wall, Bosnian War, cast the first stone, country of origin, culture, do it anyway, fear, feel the fear, Feelings Buried Alive, fences, future, gay, gender, genocide, husbands, I have a dream, Karol K. Truman, lesbian, LGBT, loving our neighbor, Martin Luther King, medieval, Mexico, military budget, MLK, NLP, past, present, racial disparities, revenge, revenge is sweet, Richard Bandler, royalty, second-class citizen, sexual orientation, skin color, slavery, Susan Jeffers, transgender, walls, wives, zombies T.S. Eliot ends his poem, . . . → Read More: Not with a Bang But a Whimper Comments are closed Blog 1920s. 1930s. Great Depression, Ancient Romans, Bosnians, Caesar, Civil War, Communists, dark underbelly, Dust Bowl, election, George Santayana, industrialization, Joseph McCarthy, Joseph Welch, medieval history, not with a bang but a whimper, political parties, politics, Reconstruction, remember the past, repeat it, Republican, resentment, resentments, Serbs, slavery, soldiers, States, T.S. Eliot, The Hollow Men, the world ends, Viet Cong, Vietnam, WWI, WWII |
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