ruminations 2

so now I'm reading about soldiers coming home from tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan- in Time mag. -with serious PTSD.; sometimes Murder and suicide being a consequence. Then I read about the pending deployment of 30-35,000 troops to the festering wound that is now AFgh.

I hear stories about a compromise on health reform where the insurance companies we all love to hate get more customers and there is no coverage for abortion or immigrants even if they want to pay. - Orwellian, Kafkaesque. The world as it is.

Then there's the Wall Street mega captains that have gotten away with 100's of millions on their way out the door from exploding Lehman's and Bear Stearns. WTF! Explain yourself, Tomfoolery Timmy G.

I want to commend Bill Maher for being the first to raise the alarm on Obama. We thought he was the answer and now we see he's a capitulator. Ariana Huffington, I didn't want to admit it, but now I see what you saw early on. Rachel Maddow, it wasn't just a "feminist" issue. I'm sorry about thinking that of you. Michael Moore, you keep trying to open our eyes.

Once again, corporate America is having its way with us. And not just the little guy; it's the stockholders that went along for the ride as long as the arrow on the graph pointed up, and the poor schmucks who wanted to cash in on the ride by mortgaging their homes. OOps.

whatever, i'm tired.

No wonder people die in old age. How can we go on seeing how it's turned out?

tz

I'm calling this "Ruminations" because having a cohesive, well thought out blog is too much pressure. At my advanced age - almost impossible, since there is a lot going on in the old noggin (see-I used the word "noggin")

What's been on my mind lately is that sometimes I feel like something has been put over on me. I keep reading about ethical people and how they are admired and then I see how the world is and I feel like I'm an idiot to buy into the mythology of being good. -and what is good anyway_- Where do we practice goodness? In a place of worship? As an atheist, my blood curdles at the thought. Of course, good works are done through church ladies and such. But, then there are the cruel and ubiquitous scam artists that call themselves God's interpreters. Pedophile priests, mysogenous imams inciting murder, the crazies who believe in creationism, you know the drill.

So then I look at charity work. There are lots of people doing good works through charities. They give great parties and raise money from the rich so the rich can move in the right circles. I believe the Ins call the Outs Strivers. Anyway, young idealists go out in the trenches and do some good.

There are some grownups who are idealists. Or are they fools. No. I can't believe that. Did you read "Three Cups of Tea"? That is a good man. (so sorry, I forgot his name) He was instrumental in building schools for GIRLS and boys. Great until the crazies tore the schools down and beat the shit out of little girls. I hope he hasn't lost hope and become a griper like me.