This is NOT a "feel good" post

I just read in the news that Canada now has a more affluent middle class than the United States.  So do several other countries.

On the ever-popular topic of health care, the United States ranked 40th in the world on accessibility of quality health care, behind #1 France, as well as Singapore, Portugal, and Chile, among others.

We've been reading for years about the sad state of our educational system here in the US.  Finland ranks first in the world followed by others like South Korea, Hong Kong, Latvia, and Slovenia.

Our economy statistically is bouncing back from recession at a world-leading pace, but those jobs are by-and-large not the high paying jobs we need.

Now many are questioning the wisdom of borrowing heavily for a college education.  They say the debt students are straddled with when they graduate is way out of line with the modest-paying jobs they're likely to get.  They'll be in debt forever.

Many of our cities are decaying, our roads and bridges are in sad shape, and we're afraid to smile at anyone for fear we'll be called in for "sensitivity training."  Political correctness rules.  

When something goes wrong, it's always that elusive "someone else's" fault, never our own.  Lie, cheat or steal if you have to,  just "show me the money".

We universally think we're the best at everything, when we are increasingly just average at everything....nothing more. 

This is not meant to be a "beat up on the US" post.  Quite the opposite; this is meant to be a "WAKE UP AMERICA" post. 

IMO, and I think my position is probably now a majority opinion, our system is simply broken.  Class warfare is raging.  "I've got mine.  You go get your own".  Tea Party members don't play well with others, nor do their extreme liberal counterparts.  We are our own worst enemies.

We MUST break this.  Our political system is a joke.  The wrong people / special interests get breaks at the expense of the rest of us, which ultimately weakens us all. 

Yet we still strut around yelling "WE'RE NUMBER 1".  We're talking the talk, but we're sure not walking the walk.  How long do you have to be in denial before you hit bottom?

There's nothing we can't do, but a lot of us are going to have to change the way we think before that will happen.

Does anyone give a shit anymore?

Happy hump day.  :)

S

And you thought YOU were having a bad day!

Put aside your petty office politics and your complaining about the lack of paper towels in the rest room.  Count you blessings you aren't Amy Herbst.

She's an opera singer (a mezzo-soprano) in Nashville, KY, and she has a serious dilemma.  It seems that ever since a common procedure during childbirth, she farts when she sings.  

She claims a nurse at the Ft. Campbell Army Hospital that did an episiotomy (look it up) on her botched it, damaging her reproductive and digestive systems when her son was born, leaving her incontinent, flatulent, and unable to continue her singing career.  She has since lost her job in Madame Butterfly.

Her attorney says the incision wasn't fully repaired, and the prognosis isn't good as follow up surgeries may not fix it, either.  Ouch!

Kinda makes your complaining about the new guy that took your de-facto parking place, the one  you claimed back in '96, seem lame, doesn't it?  ;)

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It seems that a lot of people in Atlanta who were walloped by ice and snow earlier this week are upset with the mayor and the governor for them getting trapped in their cars on the freeways, their kids trapped in their schools, etc.  They say they weren't given enough warning and that someone needs to be held responsible.  

"Dear God, how dare you!"

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And finally, Justin Bieber is back in Canada to answer assault charges filed against him there.  If I was him I'd be very scared.  I don't think he'll fare very well in prison.

Now, y'all go and have a nice day.  :)  

S

So now I've pissed off Germany, too?

"I had...a bad...experience!"  from The Italian Job.

Earlier this week I said some rather disparaging things about India, and immediately my technology tools all went kaput.  This necessitated a call to Yahoo customer service, which of course is contracted out to a couple of semi-English speaking idiots in....INDIA!   It has been suggested to me this was simply Karma coming home to roost with a vengeance.  (NOTE:  Just as I typed this, the battery compartment door on my wireless keyboard popped open and the batteries fell out.  That's creepy!)

Yesterday my car's driver side power window wouldn't open, and I remembered there was a fuse that controlled just the driver's side front window.  The other 3 windows worked fine.  So while I was out making my rounds I stopped in to my mechanic and asked him to please check it.

He got in my car (an Audi), turned on the key, hit the "down" switch....and it came down.  DAMN!  So it was just me?  Am I jinxed or what?

Then he tried to close it, and just as happened to me....nothing.  Now it was stuck down*.  Yes.  I AM jinxed.

What have I done to piss off Germany?  I like Germany, especially their cars.  *sigh*

I need the weekend to hurry up and get here.  *pout*

S

*They got it back up temporarily. It wasn't the fuse.   Replacement parts are coming pronto from Canada.  I'm just thankful they aren't coming from #$%^& India.  ;)

A little of this, a little of that....

The news hodge-podge clogging my radar today:

On a scale of 1-12, I read that the pollen count in Dallas today is 11.4.  That explains a lot. *cough, gasp, wheeze*

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The Wall Street Journal reports the newest "exciting field of academic inquiry is 'boredom studies'."  Yeah, I had to read it twice, too.  Technically it's referred to as the Study of Monotony.  It boggles my mind to think that college professors (tenured, no doubt) can make a living studying boredom.  

And Canada seems to be the hotbed of boredom studies.  Wow!... that's something to be proud of!  There's even a "Boring Conference" in East London with power point presentations on topics like "toast".  Jeez.  Talk about....wait for it....a boring conference!

This reminds me of when I was a college senior looking for a slam-dunk grade-point-enhancing course that would get me a diploma. I found it in the "Sociology of Leisure".  The professor was a tie-dyed T-shirt, beads, and sandals wearing kinda guy.  As the Vietnam War was in full bloom, the prof told us we would all pass, guaranteed, as he wouldn't want it on his conscience that he flunked someone who was then drafted and later killed in Vietnam.  In the spirit of the subject, I cut his class most of the rest of the semester.  Absolutely true story.

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I read on Yahoo news that a recent study found that in every major US city except one the average family income wasn't enough to buy the average priced new car.  It seems that after allowing for inflation the average family income has been essentially flat for the past 30 or so years while new car prices have increased dramatically.

What to make of this?  First, our system of economic rewards is broken.  The system is rigged with favorable tax and deduction and exemption rules and even subsidies for some, at the expense of the majority.  We need a new tax system that is fair across the board. If we can do that everything else should fall into place.

Second, cars are too damn expensive!  All these electronic systems and government mandated features cost a lot of money.  

But to me the main thing I took away was....guess which major city in the study had the highest average family income?  Washington DC, due to all the extremely well-paying government jobs there.  What we pay our "civil servants" is absurd!  Go to "federal government employment opportunities" and see the wages they are (WE are) paying.  IMO these paper-pushin' water cooler queens need to have their pay and benefits slapped down in line with what similar jobs in the private sector are paying and no more.  The dog is tired of being wagged by the tail!  Maybe our budget crunch will fix that.

Come to think of it....a lot of my Sociology of Leisure classmates went on to careers in government employment. It was a perfect fit! 

That's all I have.  Bye.  ;)

S

Team America...World Police

If you watch the news at all you know there's a civil war raging in Syria right now.  The question that's constantly being asked is, "What should we do?"  Do we just watch?...Supply arms to the rebels?...Provide some sort of direct military support? 


I wonder if we as a nation suffer from some sort of guilt trip dating back to World War II?  Do we somehow feel responsible for not doing more in the 1930's to stop Hitler before he initiated the Holocaust?  Is that why we feel this urge to save all the oppressed of the world?  Speaking for myself as a Christian I would say, no, I don't want to turn a blind eye to the hungry or sick, but how much can we be expected to do, especially when so many right here at home are needing help, too?  


I don't see many other advanced western nations (Australia, Sweden, Canada..?)  chomping at the bit wanting to get involved there and we don't seem to be too critical of them.  Why is it all on us?  Would we be terrible people if we just said, "Sorry, but this is your fight."  


Be honest....do you really care what happens in Egypt, or Syria, or Yemen, etc?  As long as they don't export terrorists to come here and do us harm, I really don't.  And if they do, don't we have ways (clandestine) to deal with that short of the way we've handled things in Afghanistan?  I just think we need to get our own house in order before we start telling others how to run theirs. 


S

Just thought you should know....

USA Today has released the financials of all 535 members of Congress.  It shows that 11% of them, 58 members, are wealthy enough to be included in the richest 1% of the population.  I wonder how many of them were in the top 1% before they were elected to Congress?  No wonder there's a disconnect in Washington.

Ah oh....is this what we all have to look forward to?  Haha!

This is pretty amazing:  Canada is issuing new money.  Not your traditional paper bills, but super high-tech polymer bills that have redundant anti-counterfeiting features and see-thru windows.  Plus, they look really cool.  See them here on You Tube.  Good job Canada!

Careful....Amazon aims to get hold of a lot more of your money.  They have a new program called Amazon Prime.  It costs you $79 a year, and for that you get expedited check-out and free 48-hour delivery.  People who have it like it so much they find they're spending twice as much at Amazon as they used to.  Just like Amazon planned it.  ;)

Have a great day everyone.

S