From: one-if-by-land@concord.com   
      
   "Kris Krieger"  wrote in message   
   news:Y4udnef509EFOobVnZ2dnUVZ_vednZ2d@earthlink.com...   
   > "Don"  wrote in   
   > news:fvfpgo014jl@news3.newsguy.com:   
   >   
   >>   
   >> "Kris Krieger"  wrote in message   
   >> news:oJmdnQKz09Ds14bVnZ2dnUVZ_gmdnZ2d@earthlink.com...   
   >>> "Ken S. Tucker"  wrote in   
   >>> news:7d6dbb74-c7ab-4aa5-   
   >>> 930b-282e8b0f8f83@t12g2000prg.googlegroups.com:   
   >>>   
   >>>> On Apr 30, 1:34 pm, Pat  wrote:   
   >>>>> On Apr 30, 4:23 pm, "Don"  wrote:   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>> > Q. What is an Economic Stimulus Payment?   
   >>>>> > A. It is money that the federal government will send to   
   >>>>> > taxpayers.   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>> > Q. Where will the government get this money?   
   >>>>> > A. From taxpayers.   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>> No, the money will not come from taxpayers.  Bush is running a   
   >>>>> deficit.  He's borrowing it to give to you.  So you are taking out   
   >>>>> a loan to pay for your high-def TV.  It's your grandkids that will   
   >>>>> pay for it.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Yeah, Enron Economics, pay big dividends   
   >>>> based on creative imaginary accounting.   
   >>>   
   >>> Exactly - you hit the proverbial nail on the proverbial head.   
   >>>   
   >>> Smoke and mirrors specifically (and cynically) designed to maintain   
   >>> the status quo of the power elite.   
   >>>   
   >>>> Every American get's a bonus for running a $trillion   
   >>>> trade deficit.   
   >>>   
   >>> And most allow themselves to be duped into beeliving that it's a good   
   >>> thing...   
   >>   
   >> I'm not so sure thats the case.   
   >   
   > I was primarily referring specifically to the "incentive cheque".   
   >   
   >> Seems that most people are aware things are completely awry but don't   
   >> know what to do about it.   
   >   
   > Most people know things are awry, I agree; I don't observe, however, that   
   > all or even most people simply don't know what to do - it seems to me   
   > that people have been, for many years, *unwilling* to mkae necessary   
   > individual changes.   
   >   
   >> The default method I see everywhere is to vote out the offending   
   >> parties which is dubious at best.   
   >> Besides, all that does is present an opportunity for a new and even   
   >> more nefarious contender to stick it to the people.   
   >> If only there was a way that the citizenry could somehow extract   
   >> offensive politicians quickly and legally, singularly or in   
   >> group......   
   >   
   > Part of the problem is that, although elected officials *technically* are   
   > the employees of the taxpayers/citizensm, what happens in practice is   
   > taht people readily and willingly relinguish responsibility and effort,   
   > giving it up to elected officials and basically allowing, or even   
   > *asking*, those officials to take control.   
   >   
   > Control is a hard thing - it requires a willingness to (1) learn about   
   > *all* sides of the issues, (2) accept the burdens associated with making   
   > decisions that will inevitably make *someone* unhappy, and (3) accepting   
   > responsibility for one's own errors, and I don't mean irrelevant crap   
   > like "I made the mistake of smoking one joint when I was 17", I mean for   
   > the important adult decisions.   
   >   
   >   
   > It's similar to people who put all of their trust in medical personnel to   
   > the extent of questioning nothing whatsoever, and don't do any sort of   
   > self-education about their own health so as to ensure that they, and   
   > their loved ones, are being correctly treated.  I'm seeing this right now   
   > woth family members - one relative had to have emergency surgery, and has   
   > been confused and delerious for over a week since the surgery - only one   
   > erlative is even *thinking* about the possibility of a stroke, while   
   > everyone else is just not posing *any* questions.   
      
      
   I'm involved in that circus right now too, and I swear to christ I want to   
   grab some people by the hair, starting with my own family members.   
   Multiple levels of massive medical malpractice combined with utter contempt   
   and frivilous silliness and a nice man I've known for more than half my life   
   is being dragged and drugged through the end of his life, sliced, diced and   
   laid out to die.   
   I've heard that if you want to know what your wife will like in her later   
   years, observe her mother. In my case I hope thats not true cause my mother   
   in law seems to be a birdbrain. Don't get me wrong, I lover her to death but   
   in serious matters around her husband she is just not equipped to deal with   
   the amount of information and necessities that are required. My wife on the   
   otherhand has waded right into the middle of this nightmare and has been   
   bloodied from top to bottom trying to get a handle on it but its way too   
   much for one person, or even a battalion of people to deal with. What do you   
   make os a surgeon that does a major operation on a person and then leaves   
   the very next day on a 3 week vacation leaving the recovery process to other   
   people that have not the slightest idea of what has went on? This is what   
   just happened to my father in law and 4 days later he was this close || to   
   dying and went to the emergency room by ambulance. Then 1 week later he had   
   to go by ambulance to the ER again. These people have 18 yo gurlz with pink   
   hair running the records dept. and snapping their gum. My FIL is so drugged   
   he doesn't know which end is up and his wife is running around with her   
   hands in the air and all the other family members are wondering WTF? None of   
   us can point fingers at anyone in particular because everyone of them   
   bastards in semi-gov't employ are to blame, its the system itself that is at   
   fault cause everyone is *just doing their job*.   
      
   When my time comes my hope is that I am ambulatory enough to drag myself   
   down in the woods with my beretta in hand and I'll sit under a tall tree and   
   usher myself out of this fucked up plane.   
   /vent off/   
      
   It seems to me that the   
   > same exact thing  tends to occur with politicians.   
   >   
   > At the same time, people are part of the problem, because they spend so   
   > much time and energy and hot air jumping up and down about silly and/or   
   > minor things that the issues which actually impact *everyone*, and even   
   > ones that have global importance, are glossed over.   
   >   
   > One thing that is needed is individual involvement/action, from the   
   > tiniest things to the most major.   
   >   
   > At the same time, an "activity book" might be a good idea - something   
   > like one of those "For Dummies" series books, "How to improve the world -   
   > and your own life - for dummies".   
      
   Neat idea. I'm gonna roll that around a little.   
   Have you heard of the *Everything* series of books out there?   
   My wife has authored/co-authored several of them.   
   http://tinyurl.com/69ufh3   
   Maybe her and I can do one - something like: *Everything American Politics*.   
      
   THe problem is that a lot of people   
   > don't *want* to consider making any changes in their world outlook or   
   > attitudes.  They want things to be fixed by "Them"/"somebody else"/"those   
   > people who are responsible".  Plus, what you get is alot of bickering,   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)