BTW – if you truly want to find an evil person – or a pervert – look in the church pews. There are a lot of wolves in sheep’s clothing sitting there waiting for their next victim.
When I talk about these corporations taking over the world – I get this blank stare from most people. Not just Republicans – but Democrats and those who do not participate in politics.
Why do you think that is?
Is it because we all so busy scrambling and rushing around trying to just survive?
Or is it because we have been manipulated into thinking if we have our designer coffee and our blinged-out cell phones to Facebook and Twitter, that we are doing okay?
I just don’t get this mindset.
Is my age showing? Was my generation from the 50’s taught different?
I do believe our family structure was different back then – more families were intact, with one person being able to work a job that paid enough for the family to survive.
Is that what happened?
But – back then – people were content with a smaller house – very few had two cars (we did not need them) and nobody had a ‘vacation home’ or a big boat or a big R.V.
And nobody that I knew ‘played the stock market’ like I see today.
We also had preachers in small churches who really cared about their people.
We also had doctors that actually took care of their patients – and even made house calls.
We also had teachers who routinely had 35 kids in a classroom and with no para educator to help him/her.
We also had guns in most homes – but we had people who respected the power and potential danger of those guns – and people did not feel the need to do the cock strut through the local store with their guns strapped across their beer bellies to show how macho they are…
Am I remembering my childhood correctly – or am I just missing the good ol’ days when things around me made some sense….
Also – I remember our main street of businesses. There were a lot of Mom and Pop stores.
These business people were also our neighbors and friends. They were not some faceless corporation that swooped in to make their profits and then treat the locals like we are a pile of trash to be discarded.
I remember the corner store by my Grandpa’s house. Mr. Harris was his name and I remember each time Grandpa gave us kids a nicklel, we would all run over to pick out our favorite treat.
Mine was always a bottle of Strawberry soda pop.
And it came in real glass bottle….
This was also during the Eisenhower days…….maybe these Republicans who scream they want to go back to the good ol’ days should do some research on how Eisenhower did things in the White House…
Aw, what am I thinking?
Eisenhower supported the rights of workers to unionize and he also warned us against overfeeding the military industrial complex beast.
That kind of thinking would be labeled as ‘communist’ by these current Republicans.
After all – Dick Cheney proudly stated that Reagan proved deficits don’t matter.
It’s hard to not think about guns and violence occasionally. You can’t listen to news or read on the internet without the subject blasting you in the face.
Yes most houses had guns in them when we were kids. But I never heard anyone say anything about needing them for protection. I was aware there were criminals and I never gave it a thought but if I had I would have thought only criminals would need “protection.”
Today we have a horrible domino effect of too many people, including police, armed with military-type killing machines and everyone, again including police, thinking about “protecting” themselves. If we didn’t have so many gun nuts running around would the police be so quick to pull their guns? Back in the times when our guns were unloaded and at home in the gun case until the next hunting excursion did police approach the citizenry in a much different and less threatening way? Back before the police were armed with killing machines — because let’s face it the guns of today can’t be represented truthfully as anything less than a killing machine — did their actions both deserve and receive our respect? When the police approached us and asked us questions weren’t we much more likely to answer those questions respectfully?
Yes. I think guns are a BIG part of the problem today!
Yesterday the President celebrated what he called a “milestone year” of economic revival. But a new Battleground Poll finds 56% of likely voters believe economic conditions are getting worse or are poor and staying the same, and 77% are worried about the economy.
Earth to Democrats: A big reason you bombed in the midterms is you sounded out of touch. The economy sucks for most people, and almost all the gains are going to the top. If you want to win in 2016 you have to tell the truth and commit to policies to turn this around: a living wage and expanded Earned Income wage subsidy; higher taxes on the top to pay for world-class schools and make college affordable; resurrecting Glass-Steagall and busting up the big banks so Wall Street stops gambling with the economy; exempting the first $15K of income from Social Security payroll taxes and taking the cap off income subject to them; a single-payer healthcare system; and getting big money out of politics.
As my husband and I are shopping for Christmas, we came across a selection of DVD sets that contained a lot of the old t.v. shows from our childhood.
We bought the ‘Bewitched’ set of 6 DVDS of Season 1 and 2. It was only $8.96.
This has been the most fun for us this past week. We have both laughed and then talked about all the people involved in the making of that show.
As we have noticed, there were never a lot of people who were actually on screen – but there were a lot of behind the scenes people that made this show such a success.
I got to thinking – isn’t that a lot like life?
There’s only a few people who seem to get all the celebrity status – but it takes a lot of people behind the scenes to make those celebrities be able to enjoy their status.
I fear our country has become numb and oblivious to the fact that it takes a lot of people working behind the scenes (without all the celebrity status and perks of money and fame) to keep this country going.
There are a lot of hard working people who still go to their jobs every day (even though they may hate their job with all their being).
But they go to work because that is what is expected of them – to feed their family and to survive another day/week.
In this land of plenty (and I do mean PLENTY) – Americans need to wake up to the fact that we are obsessing and celebrating the wrong things in our country.
Let’s stop giving every thing to the top 1% and start recognizing that without the hard working people in the bottom 99% – there would not be a successful country filled with PLENTY.
In order to do that – we will need to change our mindset that corporations are people and that our military has to be the biggest and most-funded in the world.
If there is any validity to this question and the answer explaining politics as the author states, it sure points out how selfish we Americans are. It’s all about us individually. What happened to the common good?
Spent a good part of this morning driving around East Wichita looking for an address that does not seem to exist? A phone call said that my mother has a Doctor’s appointment at an address it turned out does not exist? A check with her M.D. showed they knew nothing about it and she was not referred to anyone like that? ….. Curious-err and Curiouser…Now I come to find out that it was suppose to be with a Dentist that is not her’s. I swear that either I am not the only one with a brain injury or I sure am getting quite a bit of help in it!
Call the number back and ask who made this appointment and who gave them the authority to do so..
It sounds like someone has too much time on their hands or – there are a lot of stupid folks working in the health care field nowadays.
My mother and I were just talking about this yesterday. I have some wonderful doctors – but I would not trust their staff with my dog’s life – and she has been dead for 6 years.
that pretty much sums up my feelings about the quality of medical office workers. Most doctors do not want to pay for quality workers – so they get what they can and patients suffer.
these medical office staff do get their patients; names and numbers mixed up – so maybe someone has a similar name and they are the one with the actual appointment?
But – that still does not explain not being able to find the address….
PrairiePopulistsAndProgressives.net 
But Reagan was such a nice Church-going guy that spoke about God, Family, Country and the American Flag.
Of course, Reagan was also nothing more than a Hollywood actor with the gift of the silver tongue.
It’s just too bad the damn thing was forked…
BTW – if you truly want to find an evil person – or a pervert – look in the church pews. There are a lot of wolves in sheep’s clothing sitting there waiting for their next victim.
Not every church – but I do have a theory.
A truly evil person knows how to ‘blend in’ and appear like he/she is such a nice, God-loving person.
That is pure evil – in my opinion.
Some are even church leaders ..
for example – Dennis Rader – aka BTK
His evil carnage went undetected for how many decades?
When I talk about these corporations taking over the world – I get this blank stare from most people. Not just Republicans – but Democrats and those who do not participate in politics.
Why do you think that is?
Is it because we all so busy scrambling and rushing around trying to just survive?
Or is it because we have been manipulated into thinking if we have our designer coffee and our blinged-out cell phones to Facebook and Twitter, that we are doing okay?
I just don’t get this mindset.
Is my age showing? Was my generation from the 50’s taught different?
I do believe our family structure was different back then – more families were intact, with one person being able to work a job that paid enough for the family to survive.
Is that what happened?
But – back then – people were content with a smaller house – very few had two cars (we did not need them) and nobody had a ‘vacation home’ or a big boat or a big R.V.
And nobody that I knew ‘played the stock market’ like I see today.
We also had preachers in small churches who really cared about their people.
We also had doctors that actually took care of their patients – and even made house calls.
We also had teachers who routinely had 35 kids in a classroom and with no para educator to help him/her.
We also had guns in most homes – but we had people who respected the power and potential danger of those guns – and people did not feel the need to do the cock strut through the local store with their guns strapped across their beer bellies to show how macho they are…
Am I remembering my childhood correctly – or am I just missing the good ol’ days when things around me made some sense….
Also – I remember our main street of businesses. There were a lot of Mom and Pop stores.
These business people were also our neighbors and friends. They were not some faceless corporation that swooped in to make their profits and then treat the locals like we are a pile of trash to be discarded.
I remember the corner store by my Grandpa’s house. Mr. Harris was his name and I remember each time Grandpa gave us kids a nicklel, we would all run over to pick out our favorite treat.
Mine was always a bottle of Strawberry soda pop.
And it came in real glass bottle….
This was also during the Eisenhower days…….maybe these Republicans who scream they want to go back to the good ol’ days should do some research on how Eisenhower did things in the White House…
Aw, what am I thinking?
Eisenhower supported the rights of workers to unionize and he also warned us against overfeeding the military industrial complex beast.
That kind of thinking would be labeled as ‘communist’ by these current Republicans.
After all – Dick Cheney proudly stated that Reagan proved deficits don’t matter.
It’s hard to not think about guns and violence occasionally. You can’t listen to news or read on the internet without the subject blasting you in the face.
Yes most houses had guns in them when we were kids. But I never heard anyone say anything about needing them for protection. I was aware there were criminals and I never gave it a thought but if I had I would have thought only criminals would need “protection.”
Today we have a horrible domino effect of too many people, including police, armed with military-type killing machines and everyone, again including police, thinking about “protecting” themselves. If we didn’t have so many gun nuts running around would the police be so quick to pull their guns? Back in the times when our guns were unloaded and at home in the gun case until the next hunting excursion did police approach the citizenry in a much different and less threatening way? Back before the police were armed with killing machines — because let’s face it the guns of today can’t be represented truthfully as anything less than a killing machine — did their actions both deserve and receive our respect? When the police approached us and asked us questions weren’t we much more likely to answer those questions respectfully?
Yes. I think guns are a BIG part of the problem today!
Guns are a Big problem – just as Big money in our government is a problem
But – I don’t see either side really stepping up to the plate to fix either problem – IMHO
Democrats are more inclined to support more gun control – but as we saw during the midterms – how many Democrats ran away from Obama and his policies?
Like you said – below – Democrats need to figure out once and for all what they stand for – and learn to not back down.
Robert Reich shares his opinion —
Yesterday the President celebrated what he called a “milestone year” of economic revival. But a new Battleground Poll finds 56% of likely voters believe economic conditions are getting worse or are poor and staying the same, and 77% are worried about the economy.
Earth to Democrats: A big reason you bombed in the midterms is you sounded out of touch. The economy sucks for most people, and almost all the gains are going to the top. If you want to win in 2016 you have to tell the truth and commit to policies to turn this around: a living wage and expanded Earned Income wage subsidy; higher taxes on the top to pay for world-class schools and make college affordable; resurrecting Glass-Steagall and busting up the big banks so Wall Street stops gambling with the economy; exempting the first $15K of income from Social Security payroll taxes and taking the cap off income subject to them; a single-payer healthcare system; and getting big money out of politics.
As my husband and I are shopping for Christmas, we came across a selection of DVD sets that contained a lot of the old t.v. shows from our childhood.
We bought the ‘Bewitched’ set of 6 DVDS of Season 1 and 2. It was only $8.96.
This has been the most fun for us this past week. We have both laughed and then talked about all the people involved in the making of that show.
As we have noticed, there were never a lot of people who were actually on screen – but there were a lot of behind the scenes people that made this show such a success.
I got to thinking – isn’t that a lot like life?
There’s only a few people who seem to get all the celebrity status – but it takes a lot of people behind the scenes to make those celebrities be able to enjoy their status.
I fear our country has become numb and oblivious to the fact that it takes a lot of people working behind the scenes (without all the celebrity status and perks of money and fame) to keep this country going.
There are a lot of hard working people who still go to their jobs every day (even though they may hate their job with all their being).
But they go to work because that is what is expected of them – to feed their family and to survive another day/week.
In this land of plenty (and I do mean PLENTY) – Americans need to wake up to the fact that we are obsessing and celebrating the wrong things in our country.
Let’s stop giving every thing to the top 1% and start recognizing that without the hard working people in the bottom 99% – there would not be a successful country filled with PLENTY.
In order to do that – we will need to change our mindset that corporations are people and that our military has to be the biggest and most-funded in the world.
correction: military has to be the biggest and most over-funded in the world.
If there is any validity to this question and the answer explaining politics as the author states, it sure points out how selfish we Americans are. It’s all about us individually. What happened to the common good?
One Little Survey Question Explains All of Politics
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2014/12/one-little-survey-question-explains-all-politics
Indy you seem to be too cynical.. Well I am in good company then!
Yes, R.D., I have admitted many times that I am very cynical.
BTW – I am glad to have your company in my group…
I hate being this cynical, but with every passing year, I seem to get more and more cynical.
Aw, what am I worried about?
When the Republicans take over the Senate and the House come January, all will be right with the world again…
Won’t it?
heavy sarcasm///
Spent a good part of this morning driving around East Wichita looking for an address that does not seem to exist? A phone call said that my mother has a Doctor’s appointment at an address it turned out does not exist? A check with her M.D. showed they knew nothing about it and she was not referred to anyone like that? ….. Curious-err and Curiouser…Now I come to find out that it was suppose to be with a Dentist that is not her’s. I swear that either I am not the only one with a brain injury or I sure am getting quite a bit of help in it!
And it gets more odd, her Dentist does not know anything about it either!
Call the number back and ask who made this appointment and who gave them the authority to do so..
It sounds like someone has too much time on their hands or – there are a lot of stupid folks working in the health care field nowadays.
My mother and I were just talking about this yesterday. I have some wonderful doctors – but I would not trust their staff with my dog’s life – and she has been dead for 6 years.
that pretty much sums up my feelings about the quality of medical office workers. Most doctors do not want to pay for quality workers – so they get what they can and patients suffer.
I hope it isn’t some sort of scam to get her out of the house so they can go in and rob her blind!!
fnord – that was my thought also – which is what I meant by someone with too much time on their hands.
But, then again, people do get their patients’ numbers and
these medical office staff do get their patients; names and numbers mixed up – so maybe someone has a similar name and they are the one with the actual appointment?
But – that still does not explain not being able to find the address….
I don’t know…..it’s a strange thing – for sure.