Tuesday, August 2, 2011

SPIN DOCTORING

CUTTING TAXES DOES NOT PRODUCE JOBS


The first time I heard about private accounts replacing Social Security as it is now constituted was not when ‘le bete noir’ George W. Bush administration made the proposal. The first time I heard the idea was when I was an adolescent and Ronald Regan was the President. And that isn’t all I recall hearing about Social Security.


When the fund ‘runs out of money’, it does not exactly ‘runs out of money’ but will reduce its payout to beneficiaries by 23% (stat from Sen. Joe Liberman) and I would think it would be the same for Medicare.


The unchallenged way that the right (to say nothing of what the Tea Bags are doing with history…) has taken over the language of debate over programs designed to help the public at large is quite Orwellian. There isn’t much being said about the voluntary wars and the failure of the tax cuts for the highest earners, much less those above the quarter mil threshold. Both are burdens for ‘the rest of us’, meaning that if you don’t find yourself above that threshold, then it is likely that more of that burden is being put upon you.


Because of the consolidation of media and the way that entertainment has crossed over into the news information process, wondering whether or not ‘the revolution will be televised’ will be the least of our concerns.



In other parts of the world social media is said to have been the ignition point for revolutions. I don’t know if the same is possible here because of all the commercialization and incetivizing of the internet has almost made the medium an acceptable narcotic, and I don’t know if there is enough ‘detox’ to break the hold it has on the soul of our country.


Perhaps ‘aware’ is more what I am and not ‘deep’. Some of the thing are obvious to me is not because of anything other than THINGS ARE OBVIOUS. There are so many people who are confused, frustrated because not only are they watching their hopes evaporate. Individually, there is an emptiness because it is becoming less realistic to hope that even the modest goals of finding a partner, having a family, and a job to support these goals are even possible.

IN MORE PERSONAL NEWS


There is some kind of bug that is in the apartments here… housing did have some people come around and check things out and I am waiting to hear if they are going to take any further action. I first noticed them the weekend that Nebraska took me to see ‘Captain America’ and they have been sort of keeping me up ever since. They aren’t biting me or anything but knowing they are out and about has gotten to me a bit. It has been especially noticeable because the medication I started was putting me to sleep at first. I don’t wake up with anything crawling on me nor do I see a bunch of ‘em rippin’ and runnin’ around at night. It is more that I KNOW they are around and they are going to come out that keeps getting to me.


The young woman who had her relative give me her business card ‘aged me out’ but we still communicate back and forth. She asked me what my opinion of her thinking that I am ‘too old’, and she did provide reasons why she feels that way. Then she asked for my opinion on her rationale and I had to think about what I should say.


I was very torn about how I should reply. It isn’t a pride thing but I have never had to ‘plead’ for someone to be interested in me, you feel me? Not only that but when I reflect that she is the one who initiated contact, I was a little put off by her telling me that I was a little old for her. There is plenty of grey in my hair and on my face, so it isn’t like she couldn’t tell that I may be in my 40’s. What furthered my confusion is with what little of her story that I know, it did not seem that she was conscious of any hypocrisy in her statement. I haven’t heard back from her since I called her on it, but that could be that she has been busy. Not that it matters to me, jus’ sayin’…


OKAY… IF ‘BOY/GIRLFRIEND IS TOO JUVENILE…


…how then, does anyone know the status of a relationship, then? In my previous entry I mentioned Julia’s dilemma over at ‘Highway to a Husband’ and intimated that I may or may not have found myself in situations where I was lost in ambiguity in a relationship.


Now I think that it may sound a little juvenile but it is more about the significance that goes with calling someone your bf or gf that elevates it to meaning something more when you are an adult. It is a return to something basic and simple; it was the way you let someone know as a child that the feelings you had about a person was separate from all the other relationships you had in your life. Aunts and uncles were like your parents and your playmates were like your sisters and brothers, no, not exactly but you had a frame for those relationships. With your first special friend, you didn’t have any context for that person in your life and there was definitely no category for the feelings you were experiencing about them. To me, that is what calling someone your boy/girlfriend as an adult means. Anything else is just campin’.


It should not be left up in the air for someone to assume that what they feel is being reciprocated. Whether it is beneath you or not, being able to let someone know how unique your feeling for them are is not, and if you can’t verbalize that to your partner then you may have problems somewhere in that relationship. I think that if you are assuming that someone knows something, then that is prolly something you do need to talk about with them, don’t you? And even if you don’t I do, and that is that with that.


ANYWHO…


Come back for more blended nonsense tomorrow! Snootchie Bootches!!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

My generation hasn't been "boys and girls" for a very long time, so " boyfriend" and "girlfriend" always seem a little out of place. But I can't think of any word that's any better to take it's place.

I liked the video you posted. That poem has long been a favorite, but I've never heard it performed. (At the end YouTube recommended a Lady Gaga song, which I assume was an attempt at irony.)

DB said...

What is "a little old"? What kind of a measuring device is that?

The revolution may begin or may have begun on the social media, but I'm sure there is no way the news media or Congress could ever know about it, or recognize it. The revolution will come through the broken windows, off the front steps of the neighborhood youth and out of the empty pockets of the poor.

D

Anonymous said...

it did not seem that she was conscious of any hypocrisy in her statement. <<Damn, that happens to me all the time, about every different subject under the sun.

The person I'm talking to will be right quick to point out any & all hypocrisy in anything I say, but their own, that seems to elude them. Also, some are clearly talking about something else altogether, but since they lack the verbal skills to redefine the argument, they leave it on me(or you). ~Mary

Ken Riches said...

While things are tense and difficult, I do not see revolution.

As far as being old, I feel you buddy :o)

Toon said...

I think we're about the same age -- so there's no way in hell you can be old!

Unknown said...

The secret (if there really is one) to any successful relationship is 'Communication'. "I know my mind, I know your mind, and you know my mind because I tell you." If both of the people in the relationship can say that - then things ought to work out, all else being equal.

As for you being "a little old" - you never have said how old the girl is - at least I don't recall you having said - you just called her 'young'. "Too old" and "Too young" just define the box she's in - that she's placed herself in - and that box defines her as a bit immature. You're better off without.

Have Myelin? said...

Everyone assumes Alex is my husband. In fact he gets needled at times for NOT being my husband. Now I say "why would I do that to him, demote him from boyfriend to husband status?"

That shuts them up. LOL.

I don't know of another word to take it's place and partner sound too business-like.

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