Happy New Year 2010

The blue moon rose large over the Organs on New Year's eve. Fireworks graced the skies at midnight ushering in the first year of the second decade of the 21st Century. Just a couple hundred more years until NCC-1701 leaves its moorings for its maiden voyage.

The biggest concern is that we make it that long. Some kind of health insurance reform will get through Congress in 2010. It will be largely influenced by lobbyists since despite all of Barry Obama's post-partisan change beliefs, the District of Columbia is still a place where money talks and everything else (like ethics, representing the voters who sent you, honesty) walks.

Should we even discuss the latest foiled terrorist attempt? Does the end justify the means or lack thereof?? The guy got caught, the bomb did not go off. It wasn't 9/11 all over again. So all the recommendations by all the investigative committees in the world can't defeat the fact that human beings are not infallible. It is the nature of the species to err in order to evolve.

Speaking of errors, what exactly is the problem with those whole body screen machines?? Being an individual with a knee implant, I can attest that the machines (Albuquerque has them) are far less intrusive than some bozo using wands and "patting" me down. They are also much faster, making the lines at airport security check points flow much more smoothly. If the concern is privacy, as I've heard voiced by opponents and talking heads on t.v., then we need to eliminate Facebook, Google, credit cards, credit bureaus, government, and probably most other human institutions because we cede a little of our precious privacy every time we interact with one of them.

Just a few thoughts--

"...and Happy New Year. Let's hope it's a good one, without any fear. War is over if you want it, war is over now." -- John Lennon

Dumb and Stupid-er????

I give up. It's getting cold even here and the pirate dogs and me are getting to feel like it's time to hibernate. Maybe when we come out of that state things will be somewhat normal?????

This morning I posted a link to an Onion satirical article on Facebook. The gist of it was "moron" picketing in WA state thinking they were in Wa DC. The last sentence was that to combat the ignorance, the gov was gonna spend $3-trillion on education. Would that were true......

Throughout the day I check Google News to see where the Dow is (affects my retirement) and just to stay in touch with the "real" world (outside the office). And the Onion is prescient---we have been taken over by morons!!!!

Take Fox News---please, preferably off the airwaves. These idiots, led by Greta van Susteren, are trying to paint the administration as having an Enemies List and Fox News is #1 on that hit parade. Shades of Nixon and the Plumbers, whom I'm sure they would have supported!!! Problem with Fox News---all ego no grey matter. All bluster and no brainwork.

The premise that stupidity is rampant in our fair nation is the subject of a column in the Berkeley Daily Planet on the dumbing down of America. Basically the author's take is that oversimplification due to constant noise has led to a degradation in the thought processes of the American public.

Now what I've thus far presented are opinions. I could scrape up more of them, I'm sure. But let's end this discussion with a fact that conclusively makes the case for this premise that we are stupid as a people. The governor of CA, Arnold Schwarzneggar, today signed a bill supporting the building of a 75,000 seat football stadium in the LA area. This phenomenal WASTE of money in a state that can't educate its children, can't balance its budget, has made drastic cuts in services, and needs to free prisoners to cut the prison population or be in contempt of court!!! LA needs a football stadium as much as the rest of us need to contract AIDS and Swine Flu at the same time!!!!!

Dumb, dumber, stupid, and stupider. Time to hibernate. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ