Land that I love (yeah, right) -- RANT

[BigBearJohn]

I was standing in line at the supermarket today and
there, checking customers out as fast her feeble shaking
hands could move, was a 69-year-old woman, doing her best
to be cheerful as she slid groceries past the scanner.

We started chatting about the apathetic state
of the country. She told me she was going to be
70 next month and it was difficult for her to make
ends meet. Then she said, "Oh i'm not trying to
make you feel sorry for me. At least I have a job
and my 2 kids are too old for service. It could be
worse -- at least none of my kids have died in this
useless war... I mean, (this is a navy town) I have
had to comfort so many of my friends who have lost
their children to this horrible war... just to
make the rich, richer. It's horrible. Just horrible."

What kind of a fucking country is this? Crime after crime
after crime after atrocity after crime occurs and all we
can do is sit and watch and hope SOMEBODY does SOMETHING
about it. Like cattle waiting for the slaughter.

I woke up in the middle of the night and it dawned on me.
We truly do not have any REAL leaders left. I mean, REAL
stalwart leaders. Just a bunch of sheep. Sometimes loud-
mouthed, but sheep nonetheless. And, being disabled, I'm afraid
that I'm just one of them.

[JTG of the PRB]

1. K&R.

Our country truly has reached a very, very sad state.

[TomClash]

2. It's a country in the middle of a class war

but only one side's fighting.

[blues90]

3. It is a sad situation .

I read posts of people standing by their 2008 presidential pick of the decade and frankly I see no one I would stand behind .

They can say anything and promise anything and how does one know what their true intentions are ?

The Dems allowed the repugs to rush through all the appointees and here we are now , I can't even truely figure out where we are anymore .

Some say it's just change and this is normal, well I beg to differ , this is absolute madness and there is nothing normal about it .

There are so many people who have already died or fallen through the cracks since this bush abomination came along , they have no hope now and yet they were people who had lives and dreams or were just trying to stay alive . It's like a day of sadness and they vanish as if they never existed .

This country never held respect for the elderly , and now they are just in the way .

I wake up many times each night to the shock of reality sinking in as a bomb blast . This alone is difficult enough to deal with .

Each day there is something new we hear , it's an up and down ride and it is tiring . Any good news turns to bad in an instant .

[hfojvt]

5. I beg to differ

This pessimism and despair is just too much. I think all of our Presidential candidates are pretty good, except for Gravel. Even Biden would make a better President than many I have known in my life - Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Bush (born in 1962, I cannot remember the Kennedys, except for Robert, nor can I remember LBJ.)

'This country never held respect for the elderly.' That is doubtless true of our culture, but the elderly, through AARP, control the ballot box more than any other group. In fact, they are the demographic, TANJ it all, that gave us President Bush.

Also, in 1999 the poverty rate for children under 18 was 16.9%, for 18 to 24 year olds was 17.3%. For people 65 to 74 was 8.9% and for people over 75 was 10.7%. Not only that, but things have gotten progressively better for the elderly. Their poverty rate was 15.7% in 1980, 12.2% in 1990, 10.5% in 1995 and 9.7% in 1999. For children OTOH it was 17.9% in 1980, 19.9% in 1990, 20.2% in 1995 and 16.3% in 1999. This country has even less respect for its children.

Whoops, what happened to my optimism?

[blues90]

6. The bar was pretty low from nixon to reagan .

It lifted somewhat during Clinton , now with bush jr it is almost touching the ground .

I feel it would be easier to tell if any new candidate were worth a crap if it were not for the campaign funding being so high .

There are really only three who have a chance right now and not one thrills me . Not one has anything to lose if they lose either .

I just can't have faith in a candidate who seems to run on some sort of achievement goal .

There will never be another JFK or RFK or FDR .

We face many of the same problems now as we did back then , then add massive criminal acts to the list whether illegal wars or ignored disasters such as Katrina or privatization and corporate greed and control .

With TV add sound bites we have about as much info as the new car adds as the car speeds down some isolated road tell about the car .

All they have to do is know the issues and know what the majority of the people want to hear . Just be a good sales person .

Stats only include the living , my mother had a good life but died broke . Yes children are now included more than even on the ignored list because or education and healthcare and family structure of a different generation .

[hfojvt]

4. I am not a huge fan of fuehrers or people who wanna be fuehrers

I like to think I helped to defeat my local Republican Congressman. That's something, but there are no easy answers to either war or poverty.

Elderly poverty is lower now, I believe, than it was fifty years ago. In 1960 the participation rate for men over 65 was 30.5. In 1890 it was 68.3, but in 1990 it was 17.6.

We have the worst President ever, but it's not the end of the world. Yet.