I heard on the radio today that, due to the aging baby boomers, severe cuts must be made in social programs as they retire to ensure the fiscal continuity of the country. There simply wont be enough people working for their tax dollars to support the baby boomers in the manner of social programs which the prior generations have enjoyed.
The issue I have with the recent outcry by fiscal conservatives that we are turning away from capitalism towards socialism is that this isn't a matter of the ship suddenly hitting an iceberg and sinking. The ship has been taking on water for decades. It began to list to starboard before I was born to such a degree that people no longer recognized level.
What we see now is the worst banking crisis in living memory. Liquidity is the fluid that lubricates capitalism. Without it capitalism grinds to a halt. I think we are seeing the ship capsize at last and take on water faster than ever before. The question is, how do we make the banks lend when there are no promises that the recipient company will be solvent tomorrow?
Add these things together and we get a frightened constituency. Frightened and growing ever hungry. Frightened, hungry, and getting more and more wet as the ship begins to sink beneath the waves.
It is this fear, coupled with memory of horror stories heard at grandpa's knee that has caused the recent legislation of which fiscal conservatives decry.
Is there an easy fix? No. Are we going down the wrong path? Likely. Is it a change in sentimentality and love of capitalism? No.
We are treading water and grasping at whatever preserver we can reach before the sharks come. Huddle together friends. The sharks feed on those on the outside...
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Talk nerdy to me...
In a semi-darkened room, havoc is at play. A man sits hunched over a laptop, fingers ablaze, as he embarks on a journey of social enlightenment. He searches and googles, tweets and blogs, dozens of tabs opened at once as he multitasks his way to digital supremacy. He hasn't left his abode for three years. He has no need of the outside world.
The man joins twitter, and facebook. He has email accounts at hotmail, gmail, and yahoo. He has a level 57 undead warlock. He is connected. He is hip. He is an everyman of a new millennia.
As our world becomes more and more connected in the digital realm, we often run the risk of becoming less and less connected in real life. And yet, for a few, the digital world is akin to being a pimply faced asocial gangly high school kid snubbed by even the lowest of cliques. Not everyone can be a networking superstar. Not everyone can be connected. And hip.
It is these digital rejects that we must remember. As we sit in our places of absolute social power we should remember the clumsy girl who has no online friends. The pimply troll who shouts out obscenities that say "Please, someone look at me!"
If this brave new world of social connectivity is to be somewhat inclusive, we must reach out to others. Embrace a loner. Befriend a stranger. Comment on someone's blog. Share your extremely connected power to make someone's day.
Be connected. Be hip. Be kind.
The man joins twitter, and facebook. He has email accounts at hotmail, gmail, and yahoo. He has a level 57 undead warlock. He is connected. He is hip. He is an everyman of a new millennia.
As our world becomes more and more connected in the digital realm, we often run the risk of becoming less and less connected in real life. And yet, for a few, the digital world is akin to being a pimply faced asocial gangly high school kid snubbed by even the lowest of cliques. Not everyone can be a networking superstar. Not everyone can be connected. And hip.
It is these digital rejects that we must remember. As we sit in our places of absolute social power we should remember the clumsy girl who has no online friends. The pimply troll who shouts out obscenities that say "Please, someone look at me!"
If this brave new world of social connectivity is to be somewhat inclusive, we must reach out to others. Embrace a loner. Befriend a stranger. Comment on someone's blog. Share your extremely connected power to make someone's day.
Be connected. Be hip. Be kind.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Love frozen in time.
Several years ago a young girl in high school fell in love with a boy in her class. They did the typical high school romance things; dates to movies, dinner, necking in the car. They also had the typical fiery relationship which ended when the girl's father was stationed in a different state.
She moved away somewhat reluctantly. She loved him. They continued to speak and attempted a long distance relationship. But, as these things often do, their lives got in the way and the young lovers grew apart.
A couple of years later the young girl, now a young woman, went into a bar in her new city and met another man. He managed the bar. He was also married. He was quite taken with this young woman. He was also in love with his wife.
The bar manager had been married for seven years. During that time he had yielded to the daily temptations which cross the eyes of one who manages a bar. Not daily, but more than he should have. Needless to say this man of low morals yielded to the charms of the young woman. As is often the case in these types of indiscretions, the young woman became pregnant.
The bar manager had some difficult explaining to do. There were difficult decisions to be made all around. There were anger, tears, and gnashing of teeth. Fits of rage and loving embraces. In the end the bar manager chose to leave his wife of seven years and attempt to care for the young woman and her infant child. He loved his wife. He had warm feelings for the young woman. On a cold and windy night in January the bar manager packed an old duffel bag and walked the six blocks from his home to the apartment of the young woman. Upon arrival he went into her arms, and sobbingly said, “I guess I live here now”.
Fast forward the clock seven more years. The young woman was now a late twenties mother of three, disillusioned with the life she had made with the bar manager, who now managed call centers. He worked long hours and continued to work from home. They shared a great deal. The bar manager loved her as much as he had ever loved anyone. As much as his wife before. She was bored. It was about this time that the young woman discovered that she could find her old high school friends on MySpace. As it sometimes happens, she found the young man she had loved as a teen. Six months later she told her children's father she no longer loved him as a wife should love her husband. He should move out. He did.
Six months further on the woman moved to the city in which she had attended high school to live with her high school sweetheart. Her love for him had been frozen in time.
The bar manager still loved both the young woman, and his former wife. His love for them too had become frozen in time.
Thats what people do. When a relationship ends and a person still has feelings for the other, those feelings become static. They don't suffer the day to day tribulations which can wear away at love. However, as people grow, people change. Lifestyles change. A person's interests and desires mature. What one finds attractive develops and changes.
Love must grow and ripen through shared experiences. A true love is never static. Is is a vibrant dynamic whirlwind that inflames the heart and rages the spirit. It fills the soul with passion and brings light into the world. It is the very reason for being. It is love.
As of this writing the young woman has rekindled that type of love with her high school beau. The bar manager has found that type of love with another. They are all happy. They have both realized that love can be static, frozen in time, or dynamic, fiery and intense. This author has warm feelings for the former, but loves the latter.
She moved away somewhat reluctantly. She loved him. They continued to speak and attempted a long distance relationship. But, as these things often do, their lives got in the way and the young lovers grew apart.
A couple of years later the young girl, now a young woman, went into a bar in her new city and met another man. He managed the bar. He was also married. He was quite taken with this young woman. He was also in love with his wife.
The bar manager had been married for seven years. During that time he had yielded to the daily temptations which cross the eyes of one who manages a bar. Not daily, but more than he should have. Needless to say this man of low morals yielded to the charms of the young woman. As is often the case in these types of indiscretions, the young woman became pregnant.
The bar manager had some difficult explaining to do. There were difficult decisions to be made all around. There were anger, tears, and gnashing of teeth. Fits of rage and loving embraces. In the end the bar manager chose to leave his wife of seven years and attempt to care for the young woman and her infant child. He loved his wife. He had warm feelings for the young woman. On a cold and windy night in January the bar manager packed an old duffel bag and walked the six blocks from his home to the apartment of the young woman. Upon arrival he went into her arms, and sobbingly said, “I guess I live here now”.
Fast forward the clock seven more years. The young woman was now a late twenties mother of three, disillusioned with the life she had made with the bar manager, who now managed call centers. He worked long hours and continued to work from home. They shared a great deal. The bar manager loved her as much as he had ever loved anyone. As much as his wife before. She was bored. It was about this time that the young woman discovered that she could find her old high school friends on MySpace. As it sometimes happens, she found the young man she had loved as a teen. Six months later she told her children's father she no longer loved him as a wife should love her husband. He should move out. He did.
Six months further on the woman moved to the city in which she had attended high school to live with her high school sweetheart. Her love for him had been frozen in time.
The bar manager still loved both the young woman, and his former wife. His love for them too had become frozen in time.
Thats what people do. When a relationship ends and a person still has feelings for the other, those feelings become static. They don't suffer the day to day tribulations which can wear away at love. However, as people grow, people change. Lifestyles change. A person's interests and desires mature. What one finds attractive develops and changes.
Love must grow and ripen through shared experiences. A true love is never static. Is is a vibrant dynamic whirlwind that inflames the heart and rages the spirit. It fills the soul with passion and brings light into the world. It is the very reason for being. It is love.
As of this writing the young woman has rekindled that type of love with her high school beau. The bar manager has found that type of love with another. They are all happy. They have both realized that love can be static, frozen in time, or dynamic, fiery and intense. This author has warm feelings for the former, but loves the latter.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
My freaky neighbor lost his mind!
While sitting at dinner a couple of weeks ago I was startled to hear the crashing of glass coming from the living room. When I went in to investigate I found my front window shattered and a gold ball bouncing about with impunity. As I stood there wondering what was going on I heard a loud thump on the front door.
I opened the door and saw my neighbor standing on his lawn, golf club in hand, lining up to smack another one at my house. Fortunately he wasn't a very good golfer. This one went over the house and bounced off the roof.
I stood there for a moment, completely perplexed. I yelled at the guy to knock that crap off. He shot me the finger.
I went inside and called the police. I told them what had happened. The guy on the phone told me that since it was on private property there was nothing they could do... damn! While on the phone two more golf balls struck my house.
I went to the garage and unpacked an old college project. I had designed and made a multi shot potato cannon which fired eight spuds a minute about 300 feet. I grabbed my stock of potatoes from the kitchen and went to the front yard, cannon and ammo in hand. I set the cannon up on my porch and aimed it at my neighbors place. In the time it took me to set it up my neighbor had hit two more golf balls at my house, one of which busted a sweet terra cotta pot. I yelled at him again to stop. Again, he flipped me off.
I started firing potatoes at his place. I had superior firepower both in terms of available numbers of attacks and accuracy. Within three minutes he had no intact windows or potted plants remaining in the front of his house. He continued to make erratic golf shots at my house, doing a bit of damage, terrorizing...
By now the other neighbors had come to see what was going on. Many of them sided with him, saying I was disproportionately inflicting damage. Some sided with me as I stated I would stop firing potatoes into his house when he stopped hitting golf balls at mine.
He stated he would only stop hitting golf balls at my house after I moved, as I had no right to live there...
I have a right to live there, and to defend my property.
We are still swapping salvos today...
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Jewtonium's Bucket List
So many other people are doing it, so I will as well. The following is my bucketlist... (in no particular order)
1. Visit Jerusalem (and other points of interest in Israel)
2. Visit Europe (all encompassing)
3. New York City (again and again)
4. Learn to fly (in a plane)
5. Finish my doctorate
6. Hang with Snoop Dogg
7. See this new kid brought into the world
8. Move to Dayton to be with my kids
9. Grow a beard which would make Dusty Hill say "Damn man, thats a nice beard"
10. Visit Hawaii
This list will continue to grow...
1. Visit Jerusalem (and other points of interest in Israel)
2. Visit Europe (all encompassing)
3. New York City (again and again)
4. Learn to fly (in a plane)
5. Finish my doctorate
6. Hang with Snoop Dogg
7. See this new kid brought into the world
8. Move to Dayton to be with my kids
9. Grow a beard which would make Dusty Hill say "Damn man, thats a nice beard"
10. Visit Hawaii
This list will continue to grow...
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