Slow Posting
My mom asked me why I hadn't posted so much. Short answer: I've been really busy. Long answer: I'm sick of the news.
I'm sick of government news. Politicians make stupid decisions that seem unbeatably self-serving and wasteful and then, they vote on another piece of legislation that is even more self-serving and wasteful. They generally seem to have no conscious. They seem to have forgotten that their opinions and decisions do affect people. Is Washington D.C. so insulated from the Average Joe that the only opinions that matter is one anothers and press and pundits and lobbyists they fete with? Blech.
I'm sick of health news. (How's that for ironic?) Everyone knows they should eat healthy, exercise, etc. They rarely do. All the health research says to eat healthy, exercise, etc. Our world is so polluted now though, that doing everything right still doesn't guarantee a free pass from cancer or some other horrible disease. I'm not saying you shouldn't do what you can...I'm just saying, you know what I'm saying.
I'm sick of crime. I'm sick of people abusing their children or someone elses child. I'm sick of rapists. I'm sick of "people smugglers trafficking humans". And I'm really sick of prosecutors going after some person for this or that minor infraction when real criminals are getting away, literally, with murder. Oh, and I am convinced there is a special place in hell for defense lawyers who traumatize the victims in the name of a "spirited defense."
I'm sick of stupid priorities in schools. When I was in school, I got a half hour recess in the morning, the afternoon and an hour at lunch time and we still managed to learn to read, write and do some math. My kids get no recess except for a half hour at lunch. And they come home with an hour of homework every night in second grade. WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY DOING IN SCHOOL? So these poor little boys with ants in their pants get put on Ritalin when all they need is some recess to burn off steam? And we complain that kids are fat? Research shows that adults can sit for no longer than 50 minutes before attention fades. My kids at ages six and eight are well-versed in the drug culture, though...a whole week was spent learning to say no to drugs, alcohol and everything else. Is everyone insane?
I'm sick of the media. George Clooney thinks that the worst period in American history was McCarthyism. Cameran Diaz waxes elephant about politics. Every movie portrays the common person as some ignorant hick while Sex and The City glorifies vapid, sleazy women as glamorous. According to Desperate Housewives, the suburbs are filled with conniving, self-centered lust-crazed adultresses (not the love-crazed moms like I know who wait in car-line, shuttle kids to lessons, make dinner night after night, read before bed, and the list goes on and on). And Maureen Dowd laments the dirth of men in her high-faluting world of intellectual stimulation and gender manipulation as the common woman (that stupid little lady who sold her soul, got married, had children and put her career on permanent hold) bumbles back to the 50s. Red state, blue state. Rednecks versus smarter-than-you urbanity. Yuck to it all.
I'm sick of business fads. There is NOTHING new under the sun. Nada. Zip. Zero. Zilch. That doesn't mean that there aren't new products or new services. There are. But the way businesses get those products and services to the market are tiresomely blandly the same as they always have been. And, the problems that undo potential growth are also still the same--lack of cash flow, faulty manufacturing, apathetic customer service, pricing problems, image problems, high overhead, undisciplined spending. Blah, blah, blah.
I'm sick of commercialism. The best holiday America celebrates will be here next week: Thanksgiving. Yet, this year more than any other I remember, it is being blown by in a tidal wave of advertising for Christmas. It's going to be a huge season, I'm predicting. But give me a break! Are we such a thing-obsessed society that we can't stop for one day of the year and allow ourselves to ponder for a moment that it isn't our greatness or goodness that resulted in our abundance but God's bountiful blessings? We can't pause, pray and humbly give thanks with a sincere heart filled with gratitude? It is embaressing.
I'm sick of thought police. If you're a Liberal, Conservative, Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, Female, Male, Straight, Gay, Fat, Skinny, Rich, Poor, or whatever other category you fall in, you're supposed to think a certain way. Some black dude in Maryland is getting pelted with Oreos during speeches because he has the nerve to be Republican. And there are blacks (and whites) who defend this! Are you kidding me? You mean to tell me that the good Reverend Martin Luther King would approve of this? This is 2005 not 1950. It is called DIVERSITY. Or is there only a right kind of diversity--the kind where as long as your opinions match mine they are okay? An educated woman is not "liberated" unless she works 80 hours a week in a corporate position. A list a mile long could be written.
I'm sick of warped values. Everywhere in America, people are trying to convince themselves that the affair they are having isn't hurting anyone, that watching hours of TV doesn't change your thinking, that leaving their child in day care until 8 p.m. is okay, that the children will be okay as long as mommy and daddy are happy, that a new car, bigger house of more things matters more than siblings, time, and connectedness. These are called deals with the devil, because deep down these deals all come due. And it won't be pretty when it does.
I'm sick of Baby Boomers. GW Bush saddled the future generations with even more debt with the new Medicare Drug Benefit in the name of appeasing the most selfish, bloated generation ever. Anti-aging (Boomers are never going to die and when they do, they will look 20 because of all the plastic surgery), divorce, McMansions, spas, adventure travel, artificial insemination, surrogates, me, me, me, me, me. The average number of children from Boomers--1.7--means huge responsibilities for those few kids in the future. With divorce, there will be more step-children, too. But will the kid want to take care of step-mommy or step-daddy dearest when old and addled? Um, let's be realistic here.
I'm sick of stupidness. Rebuild a drowning city. Appease criminals. Hope that terrorists will go away if we pretend they're not there. Keep border wide open. Keep passing bigger national budgets. Increase student loan amounts so colleges will keep inflating tuition. Search law-abiding people at airports so we "feel safe". The list goes on....and on....and on....
So that is why there have been fewer posts recently. You know the old saying, "if you don't have anything nice to say....."
I'm sick of government news. Politicians make stupid decisions that seem unbeatably self-serving and wasteful and then, they vote on another piece of legislation that is even more self-serving and wasteful. They generally seem to have no conscious. They seem to have forgotten that their opinions and decisions do affect people. Is Washington D.C. so insulated from the Average Joe that the only opinions that matter is one anothers and press and pundits and lobbyists they fete with? Blech.
I'm sick of health news. (How's that for ironic?) Everyone knows they should eat healthy, exercise, etc. They rarely do. All the health research says to eat healthy, exercise, etc. Our world is so polluted now though, that doing everything right still doesn't guarantee a free pass from cancer or some other horrible disease. I'm not saying you shouldn't do what you can...I'm just saying, you know what I'm saying.
I'm sick of crime. I'm sick of people abusing their children or someone elses child. I'm sick of rapists. I'm sick of "people smugglers trafficking humans". And I'm really sick of prosecutors going after some person for this or that minor infraction when real criminals are getting away, literally, with murder. Oh, and I am convinced there is a special place in hell for defense lawyers who traumatize the victims in the name of a "spirited defense."
I'm sick of stupid priorities in schools. When I was in school, I got a half hour recess in the morning, the afternoon and an hour at lunch time and we still managed to learn to read, write and do some math. My kids get no recess except for a half hour at lunch. And they come home with an hour of homework every night in second grade. WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY DOING IN SCHOOL? So these poor little boys with ants in their pants get put on Ritalin when all they need is some recess to burn off steam? And we complain that kids are fat? Research shows that adults can sit for no longer than 50 minutes before attention fades. My kids at ages six and eight are well-versed in the drug culture, though...a whole week was spent learning to say no to drugs, alcohol and everything else. Is everyone insane?
I'm sick of the media. George Clooney thinks that the worst period in American history was McCarthyism. Cameran Diaz waxes elephant about politics. Every movie portrays the common person as some ignorant hick while Sex and The City glorifies vapid, sleazy women as glamorous. According to Desperate Housewives, the suburbs are filled with conniving, self-centered lust-crazed adultresses (not the love-crazed moms like I know who wait in car-line, shuttle kids to lessons, make dinner night after night, read before bed, and the list goes on and on). And Maureen Dowd laments the dirth of men in her high-faluting world of intellectual stimulation and gender manipulation as the common woman (that stupid little lady who sold her soul, got married, had children and put her career on permanent hold) bumbles back to the 50s. Red state, blue state. Rednecks versus smarter-than-you urbanity. Yuck to it all.
I'm sick of business fads. There is NOTHING new under the sun. Nada. Zip. Zero. Zilch. That doesn't mean that there aren't new products or new services. There are. But the way businesses get those products and services to the market are tiresomely blandly the same as they always have been. And, the problems that undo potential growth are also still the same--lack of cash flow, faulty manufacturing, apathetic customer service, pricing problems, image problems, high overhead, undisciplined spending. Blah, blah, blah.
I'm sick of commercialism. The best holiday America celebrates will be here next week: Thanksgiving. Yet, this year more than any other I remember, it is being blown by in a tidal wave of advertising for Christmas. It's going to be a huge season, I'm predicting. But give me a break! Are we such a thing-obsessed society that we can't stop for one day of the year and allow ourselves to ponder for a moment that it isn't our greatness or goodness that resulted in our abundance but God's bountiful blessings? We can't pause, pray and humbly give thanks with a sincere heart filled with gratitude? It is embaressing.
I'm sick of thought police. If you're a Liberal, Conservative, Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, Female, Male, Straight, Gay, Fat, Skinny, Rich, Poor, or whatever other category you fall in, you're supposed to think a certain way. Some black dude in Maryland is getting pelted with Oreos during speeches because he has the nerve to be Republican. And there are blacks (and whites) who defend this! Are you kidding me? You mean to tell me that the good Reverend Martin Luther King would approve of this? This is 2005 not 1950. It is called DIVERSITY. Or is there only a right kind of diversity--the kind where as long as your opinions match mine they are okay? An educated woman is not "liberated" unless she works 80 hours a week in a corporate position. A list a mile long could be written.
I'm sick of warped values. Everywhere in America, people are trying to convince themselves that the affair they are having isn't hurting anyone, that watching hours of TV doesn't change your thinking, that leaving their child in day care until 8 p.m. is okay, that the children will be okay as long as mommy and daddy are happy, that a new car, bigger house of more things matters more than siblings, time, and connectedness. These are called deals with the devil, because deep down these deals all come due. And it won't be pretty when it does.
I'm sick of Baby Boomers. GW Bush saddled the future generations with even more debt with the new Medicare Drug Benefit in the name of appeasing the most selfish, bloated generation ever. Anti-aging (Boomers are never going to die and when they do, they will look 20 because of all the plastic surgery), divorce, McMansions, spas, adventure travel, artificial insemination, surrogates, me, me, me, me, me. The average number of children from Boomers--1.7--means huge responsibilities for those few kids in the future. With divorce, there will be more step-children, too. But will the kid want to take care of step-mommy or step-daddy dearest when old and addled? Um, let's be realistic here.
I'm sick of stupidness. Rebuild a drowning city. Appease criminals. Hope that terrorists will go away if we pretend they're not there. Keep border wide open. Keep passing bigger national budgets. Increase student loan amounts so colleges will keep inflating tuition. Search law-abiding people at airports so we "feel safe". The list goes on....and on....and on....
So that is why there have been fewer posts recently. You know the old saying, "if you don't have anything nice to say....."
posted by Melissa Clouthier at 7:25 PM
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