entered the "Silly Season", a 5 month stretch in which we will be treated, non-stop, to exaggerations, distortions, promises, and now, due to the "Super Pacs", flat out lies, about the candidates and their positions and actions. Keep in mind, as the election season progresses, that the Supreme Court, in all their munificent wisdom, have declared lies to be "freedom of speech"! And, watch how much spending is done this year, in order to influence your decision on whom you will bestow your vote. And then, go ahead and reflect on how little your vote actually counts, due to the fact that the electoral college, and not us, is who elects the president! It is hard not to be cynical, in this day and age. . .
Before I go any further with this rant, let's go to something that's actually fun, entertaining and wont have you frothing at the mouth. The other night, I watched a movie called, "Matha Marcy May Marlene", which won a Sundance Award. The movie was not what I'd call "uplifting", but it was pretty good. However, what made it worthwhile to me, was the discovery of a couple of songs by someone that I'd never heard of, singer/songwriter Jackson C. Frank. The first is performed by John Hawkes, and is called, "Marcy's Song": http://tinyurl.com/8yeu5cs
The second is called, "Marlene": http://tinyurl.com/7dfbut5 and is performed by Jackson himself. It has minimal but very effective guitar work, and there is no real video. I found both of these songs entrancing, and both songs, along with a lot of his other compositions are available on both Amazon and iTunes. Unfortunately, Jackson's story is a truly sad one, and he died, destitute, back in 1999, of pneumonia and cardiac arrest.
On the "search for a new cat" front, I am still looking, and it occurred to me, a couple of weeks ago, that in the past, I have always felt an immediate connection to the various animals that I've adopted, so I have just settled back, and observed my inner reactions to the cats that I'm looking at, and so far. . . No connections. Such is Life! There has been an odd phenomenon around the house, in the time that Kassie's been gone, and I'm having kind of a tough time dismissing it; we're getting some odd noises, like things being knocked off of tables, or "skitching" sounds like an animal trying to launch itself on linoleum. . . Before you write me off, here, the sounds are also being heard by both the dog and the cat, and yet when I go to find out what it is, there's nothing there! I'm not saying this is or isn't anything; I just know that it's not my imagination.
So, back to politics! It's obvious that "the pres" doesn't seem to be able to get a grip on our economic recovery; the Republicans have made no secret of the fact that they were going to fight him all the way, on every possible thing they could, to make sure he would fail, even at the cost of our future. Unfortunately, the Democrats have pretty well taken the same approach when there was a Republican in "the big chair". "Obstructionism" has become the name of the game, and it is costing our nation dearly. From every poll that I've seen, this is not what the general public is asking for, and I find it baffling that we continue to elect these buffoons! Romney's answer to correcting the economy is to cut the crap out of all the social programs, and escalate military speneding: http://tinyurl.com/87nc7wl I still do not understand why the American public does not insist that the candidates focus on job creation, as that is going to be the only way out of this mess that we're in.
On the student loans issure, the interest rate is due to double, from 3.4% to 6.8%, on July 1st, if nothing is done by the House and Senate. The Republicans want to take $6 billion from preventative health care, to cover the cost, while the Democrats want to take the money from some small business owners, in the form of a withholding tax. Both of these methods are unacceptable, and I don't understand why no one has proposed paying for it by stopping the IRS from refunding $4.2 billion, a year, to undocumented aliens, some of whom are claiming as many as 20 deductions for kids who live in Mexico! http://tinyurl.com/73ydfy6
Conspiracy time! I first started hearing about the Bilderberg Organization, about 20-25 years ago, through Art Bell's "Coast to Coast AM" radio program. It all sounded pretty hokey to me, and if it was true, I figured that it was along the same lines as the Trilateral Commision, and the Council On Foreign Relations, to which many big businessmen, actors, musicians and politicians (almost all of our presidents, since 1921), have belonged. But a few years ago, they held a meeting in Vancouver, British Columia (IF I remember correctly!), and the security arrangements brought them unwelcome attention from the world. There appears to be very little debate about whether or not these elites are engineering a world economy, and you can bet it has as much to do (if not more) with the consolidation of wealth as with the betterment of mankind! If you don't believe it, here's a link that will start you on a trip to knowledge, and perhaps, paranoia! :) http://tinyurl.com/7o27lop
So, I'll leave you with all those things to contemplate until next time; sleep tight! :) :) :) :) :) :)
Oh, wait! One more little tidbit to make you feel better about those who want the opportunity to lead our nation: 13 of the candidates that are running for the Senate have either criminal records or bankruptcies in their past!
http://tinyurl.com/6men62d
Inspires confidence in our leadership, doesn't it?
