America at 30,000 Feet

Five attributes marked the Roman Empire at its end:

1) a mounting love of show and luxury (affluence)
2) a widening gap between the very rich and the very poor
3) an obsession with sex
4) freakishness in the arts, masquerading as originality, and enthusiasms pretending to be
creativity
5) an increased desire to live off the state

This was said by Robert Gibbon in 1788

Now from 30,000 feet things look pretty normal. Perhaps, there is a little less barge traffic on the Mississippi, but otherwise it looks like the country I grew up in. Less obvious however is the slow loss of momentum from the economy that was the flywheel of the world. This is going to rattle a society where personal peace and prosperity are the most important things in life. It's a perfect prelude to socialism. It's a perfect substitute for reality. Is America ready for socialism? Sure. At its core socialism is just another "Christian Heresy".

We Want You To Like Us

Now that Obama-Care is law we are starting to realize what it will do. A.T.&T., Medtronics and Caterpillar are cutting benefits and laying off people. Congress is really mad because these companies are actually talking about the effects the legislation will have on their businesses. Just like in Catch-22 the government is raising the amount of missions (taxes) at every turn. Congress is going to subpoena the CEO's of these companies to explain why they are saying these mean things about them. In Obama/Pelosi America anyone who speaks up against the government will be hauled up in front of congress to explain themselves. In other words, it's just like Col. Cathcart and Lt. Col. Korn telling Yosarian that before they give him his medical discharge they want just one small favor from him. They want Yosarian to say he likes them and to tell others good things about them. Congress is hoping these CEO's will develop "Stockholm Syndrome" and sympathize with their abductors.




"Say You Like Us"


After ignoring the Constitution, killing the economy, destroying private enterprise and dividing the country they want us to say nice things about them to the people at home. Excuse me, is this some frat hazing, are we suppose to bend over, grab ankles and yell "hit me again, harder"?

Talk about buying a pig in a poke, the country just bought the biggest grab bag of taxes and tyranny ever to come out of Washington. We picked Curtain Number Two and we didn't get the dream vacation. Instead we got a generation of misery and oppression that the republic may not survive. I'm trying to think of something nice to say about them. Mussolini made the trains run on time; I can't say that, we have Amtrak.

The Slaughter Of The Innocents

"You who philosophize disgrace, and criticize all fear, bury the rag deep in your face, for now is the time for your tears".
Bob Dylan

Yossarian: You're gonna come out rich. We're gonna come out dead.

My final sentiment on Obama-Care.

Capt. Nately: Don't you have any principles?
Old man in whorehouse: Of course not!
Capt. Nately: No morality?
Old man in whorehouse: I'm a very moral man, and Italy is a very moral country. That's why we will certainly come out on top again if we succeed in being defeated.
Capt. Nately: You talk like a madman.
Old man in whorehouse: But I live like a sane one. I was a fascist when Mussolini was on top. Now that he has been deposed, I am anti-fascist. When the Germans were here, I was fanatically pro-German. Now I'm fanatically pro-American. You'll find no more loyal partisan in all of Italy than myself.
Capt. Nately: You're a shameful opportunist! What you don't understand is that it's better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.
Old man in whorehouse: You have it backwards. It's better to live on your feet than to die on your knees. I know.
Capt. Nately: How do you know?
Old man in whorehouse: Because I am 107-years-old. How old are you?
Capt. Nately: I'll be 20 in January.
Old man in whorehouse: If you live.

Educational Snake Oil

I hate to admit it, but the New York Times finally has caught on to the fraud in secondary education. The type of fraud being committed by these diploma mills used to only be found on matchbooks and back page of comics. These schools advertise programs in hospitality, construction, culinary arts, machine tool technology, entrepreneurship, aesthetics, massage therapy, welding and more. They try to cover all the growth industries that young job seekers are trying to break into. Somehow they managed to omit buggy whips, punch cards, and DOS.

Now our unemployed come prepared with useless degrees and huge debt. My favorite program is construction management. The advertisement shows some twenty year old Heather managing a huge construction job. Hello! I don't think someone is going to put this legally blond lookalike in charge of the next Hoover Dam. Would you want this centerfold for This Old House building your dream house, or do you want Bubba? After all, Bubba has been building houses for thirty years; he started at sixteen, working for his father.

Tech colleges offer such esoteric programs as "Fork Lift Operator" and "Under Car Technician". Now when I was fifteen I went to work in the warehouse of my uncle's construction company. My forklift training consisted of someone pointing out the forklift and telling me "don't tip it over and don't chew up the sheet-rock". I didn't need a six month $5,000 program leading to an OSHA certification. "Under Car Technician", what does that qualify you for? Perhaps, a lucrative career in the grease pit at Minute-Lube?

Business has turfed its training programs to the junior colleges. The hospital no longer trains its surgical techs. Now instead of being paid while you learn, you pay the college $15,000. The hospital gets free labor, the labor pool is increased, the wages are kept low and everyone wins except the student. Probably 30% drop out during the program and of the ones that finish half are no longer employed in the field in 3 years. The college never told them they would have to work sixteen hours a day seven days a week and soon the excitement of the glossy brochure wears off and they still owe thousands. The hospital was honest enough to tell some of its trainees they weren't suitable for the job; today's college couldn't care less. The student to them only represents a transfer payment and not an investment. The blood sucking lawyers don't help with all their litigation. Now even the hospital greeters need to be certified by some organization.

Some people have filed lawsuits against these bogus educational programs. It still is a buyer beware situation since the schools have the legal guns on their side. Besides a union-card the most useless piece of paper one can posses without a job is a a diploma from Ding-Dong Tech. If you don't have a chance to recoup your tuition and expenses within three years of graduation you are probably being ripped off. If you are sixty years old and are going to invest $20,000 to learn medical transcription forget it; go work at Wal-Mart until you're ready to retire. Medical transcription is going the way of the carburetor. If I hear one more college commercial boasting that they create jobs, blood will shoot out my nose. This is a scandal reminiscent of Fannie-Mae and Freddie-Mac.

The Federal Government is involved---now I get it!

Cabin number four is not on the lake per se

Due to the crappy economy we are scaling back on our summer vacation cabin. No longer will we be getting the mini-mansion on the lake with a dock and four bedrooms. Instead we are getting this dog house made for giraffes. I still think it will be better than the fish camp at Misty Isles. Remember that stippled wall texture in the cottages on the Saint Lawrence? That was from all the swatted mosquitoes. All the other activities will be available and Babba will still do his morning group workshops in the Val Kilmer forest and lead his evening "Deliverance" canoe trips down the Tennessee River. Since accommodations are limited you should reserve the spare bedroom early.