wrote in message ...
It is called the "periodic plundering principle".
Last time it was the Savings and Loans that walked away with billions.
This time it will be Haliburton, et al that are going to walk away with the billions
of "reconstruction".

This while the infrastructure of the US is going down the tube.

I was listening to NPR after another one of our black outs (maybe after the last hurricane?) and the reporter said essentially "and the Americans have that quaint custom of stringing their wires on poles in the air like laundry" (meaning - of course you stupid colonist are going to lose your electric power if you don't modernize and put your lines underground where they belong).

We continue to measure down there at 3rd world levels on so many dimensions. Our children test at the bottom of the scale when compared to other westernized countries, our infrastructure as you pointed out is for #$%, health care... what health care?, not to mention our banana republic elections such as that of Florida and the planned Ohio election where the maker of the voting machines has "Promised to deliver the election to the Republicans".... In the mean time we are spending more on our military than ALL the rest of the world combined and this expenditure can't even handle putting two countries back together that we helped to destroy.

I love this country with a passion and what I see as special about it is its Civil Liberties and it's great wisdom in its separation of church and state (I wonder what the Christian Right is going to feel in the future after they have set precedent and it is the Islamic religious laws hanging in our school rooms and courts?...). Those are the things that this administration is attempting to destroy and I think that is treasonous.

Sorry about the rant. I promised myself I was not going to go there again but there are days when it feels as if all I love about our country is in the process of being destroyed and nothing will save it because no one will speak out.

DK


Ingrid

wrote:
The Administration is diverting money from our wrecked economy and
desperate domestic needs to pour down a Middle East rathole,


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

I agree with you! My local and our central governments have looked into
updating all power lines to underground. It is not being done b/c, the
cost to update our archaic technology would be astronomical. Of course,
this from a government who thinks it is not unreasonable to ask for 80
billion more to spend on a war which they have yet to truly validate.

Wouldn't it be nice if our govnt was asking for adequate money to be
allocated toward the REAL needs of our country. And by that, I don't
mean a continued supply of foreign oil, but education, fair healthcare,
etc...

No one will speak out??? I think people speak out--but their opinions
only carry so far. Politicians pretend to listen to their constituents
but they make decisions based on whose back needs to be scratched so
that they can gain funding to run for election again. Do we speak out
by voting--absolutely, but how much opinion do we really have on who or
what we are voting on? How many elections have you decided your vote
on the lesser of all the evils? If our only true power is in voting--we
need to have more choice/influence on what/who gets voted on.

America likes to promote the facade that we are a govnt. of the people.
But we aren't really a govnt of ALL people--we are a government of elite
people-spinning their decisions to make it seem like they are working
for all the other people, but really just making decisions based on what
will be most advantageous to themselves.







D Kat wrote:


wrote in message
...
It is called the "periodic plundering principle".
Last time it was the Savings and Loans that walked away with billions.
This time it will be Haliburton, et al that are going to walk away
with the billions
of "reconstruction".

This while the infrastructure of the US is going down the tube.
I was listening to NPR after another one of our black outs (maybe
after the last hurricane?) and the reporter said essentially "and the
Americans have that quaint custom of stringing their wires on poles in
the air like laundry" (meaning - of course you stupid colonist are
going to lose your electric power if you don't modernize and put your
lines underground where they belong).

We continue to measure down there at 3rd world levels on so many
dimensions. Our children test at the bottom of the scale when
compared to other westernized countries, our infrastructure as you
pointed out is for #$%, health care... what health care?, not to
mention our banana republic elections such as that of Florida and the
planned Ohio election where the maker of the voting machines has
"Promised to deliver the election to the Republicans".... In the mean
time we are spending more on our military than ALL the rest of the
world combined and this expenditure can't even handle putting two
countries back together that we helped to destroy.

I love this country with a passion and what I see as special about it
is its Civil Liberties and it's great wisdom in its separation
of church and state (I wonder what the Christian Right is going to
feel in the future after they have set precedent and it is the
Islamic religious laws hanging in our school rooms and courts?...).
Those are the things that this administration is attempting to destroy
and I think that is treasonous.

Sorry about the rant. I promised myself I was not going to go there
again but there are days when it feels as if all I love about our
country is in the process of being destroyed and nothing will save it
because no one will speak out.

DK


Ingrid

wrote:
The Administration is diverting money from our wrecked economy and
desperate domestic needs to pour down a Middle East rathole,


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com http://www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

I am coming to the same sad conclusion. It really is beginning to feel like a charade. DKat
"Heidi" wrote in message m...

America likes to promote the facade that we are a govnt. of the people. But we aren't really a govnt of ALL people--we are a government of elite people-spinning their decisions to make it seem like they are working for all the other people, but really just making decisions based on what will be most advantageous to themselves.

Heidi wrote in
m:

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

I agree with you! My local and our central governments have looked
into updating all power lines to underground. It is not being done
b/c, the cost to update our archaic technology would be astronomical.
Of course, this from a government who thinks it is not unreasonable to
ask for 80 billion more to spend on a war which they have yet to truly
validate.

Yes. It's funny how when doing something is advantageous to a
politician, they try to pass it off as unquestionably American. But when
it's time to clean up the mess, they're all suddenly American't.

Wouldn't it be nice if our govnt was asking for adequate money to be
allocated toward the REAL needs of our country. And by that, I don't
mean a continued supply of foreign oil, but education, fair
healthcare, etc...

What would really be nice is if tax payers had direct input on where
their tax money is spent. Hello Politicians Welcome to the Information
Age. Right now you're paying what around 30% of your income in federal
taxes to be represented by 1 President, 2 Senators, and a Representative.
There are 100 senators and less than 500 Representatives. There are over
250 million people in the US. So 250,000,000 / 500 = 500000 ... one Rep.
for every 500000 people. Number of minutes in a year: 365 * 24 * 60 =
525600. So if a Rep. worked non-stop without sleeping for a year (which
they don't), each person could get a little over one minute of his/her
time. Ratios for President and Senators are left as an exercise for the
reader.

Of course you get some of the money back in the form of services you'd
like to have, but why should I entrust my money to a group of people who
think of America as one giant credit card. One of the vaunted assertions
about capitalist economies, is that the cream supposedly rises to the
top. But what we're seeing is a bunch of gross incompetence under a
veneer of patriotic flag waving.

You wan't more missles? Run your own damn bake sale.

only carry so far. Politicians pretend to listen to their
constituents but they make decisions based on whose back needs to be
scratched so that they can gain funding to run for election again. Do
we speak out by voting--absolutely, but how much opinion do we really
have on who or what we are voting on? How many elections have you
decided your vote on the lesser of all the evils? If our only true
power is in voting--we need to have more choice/influence on what/who
gets voted on.

Talking about it isn't going to solve anything. Things will change when
people stop funding the government. But the government already has your
Social Security money, so who's going to do that.

America likes to promote the facade that we are a govnt. of the
people. But we aren't really a govnt of ALL people--we are a
government of elite people-spinning their decisions to make it seem
like they are working for all the other people, but really just making
decisions based on what will be most advantageous to themselves.

"United We Stand" is just a euphemism for "Blindly We Follow".

-- S

I think people deciding where their tax money was spent is an absolute
wonderful idea. Those who want to fund bombs could have a high % of their
taxes be allocated for such things and those who don't could put it into
other things. Most Americans do NOT have a clue how their money is being
spent. When asked most Americans think that 10% of their taxes is going for
foreign aid (it was less than 1%). In actuality almost 50% of our taxes
goes to fund the military (you have to include retirement benefits, interest
on the debt - that part raised for increased military spending, and all the
hidden cost and even without that it is a huge percentage). A large
percentage is used just to run the government itself. When it comes down to
it very, very little is used to fund those things you most often hear people
complain about... for example, the military marching bands get far more
funding than our federally funded arts/music programs.

Yes, I really like that idea. It would drive the congress and executive
office mad to be forced to spend the money as people want it spent rather
than on their pork and what gets them money for re-election. (it would be
utter chaos though). DK


"Salty Thumb" wrote in message
...
Heidi wrote in
m:
What would really be nice is if tax payers had direct input on where
their tax money is spent.