And In The Other Hand(ful)

To close out the weekend, here’s another handful of song lyrics to read, think about (go listen to) and enjoy:
If “The Boss” could see the economic problems (and irony) in America in the ’80’s, why are we still facing them thirty years later?  —  Born In The USA
Here’s a couple by Darius Rucker.  If you’ve ever been driving by yourself on a freeway at 5:00am and the fog is so thick you can barely see the traffic lines (let alone any signs), this one will touch a nerve.  —  I Hope They Get To Me In Time
This second D.R. song is for all of us Dads who missed too much just makin’ sure there was a roof and food…  —  It Won’t Be Like This For Long
The last two of this handful are from Rodney Atkins.  The first is just a great story about living in America.  —  These Are My People
The second is about persevering…  Some times you just gotta keep on keepin’ on…  —  If You’re Going Through Hell
All of these MUST be listened to!!  As much as the words will mean on reading, some song lyrics are meant to be heard sung – these five are definitely in the “hearing” group.
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In Love With Words

I’m in love with words – any words – all words – and I want to share them around.
—    Jo Bryant
Kiwi / Australian Writer, Poet, and Potential Amateur Photographer
[Visit Jo’s WordPress blog by clicking on her name above…   And Jo, I grok words too!!    —    kmab]
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Boundless Naïveté

We spent a good amount of class time on military history, and that had positive value of some consequence, but it did dawn on me that many battles, campaigns, and wars contained the same lessons.  This resulted in two conclusions.  First, there seemed to be a relatively small and finite number of inexorable military truths, universal constants whose mastery should form the basis for success in nearly every combat situation.  And second, because all this stuff was a matter of public and historical record, there is no earthly reason to make the same mistake twice.  My early naïveté was clearly boundless.
–    Colonel Jack Jacobs (Ret.)
Medal of Honor recipient
From the book:  “If Not Now, When?“,  by Col. Jacobs and Douglas Century
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Who Did You Say Signed Off On This Treason, Pat?

The Republican Party, which had presided over America’s rise to manufacturing preeminence, has acquiesced in the deindustrialization of the nation to gratify transnational corporations whose oligarchs are the party financiers.  U.S. corporations are shutting factories here, opening them in China, “outsourcing” back-office work to India, importing Asians to take white-collar jobs from Americans, and hiring illegal aliens for their service jobs.  The Republican Party has signed off on economic treason.
—  Patrick J. Buchanan
From his book:  “Where The Right Went Wrong“
[While I agree with Pat that the Republican party has committed the equivalent of economic treason, I must disagree with the statement Republicans “presided over America’s rise to manufacturing preeminence“.
America rose to manufacturing preeminence during and because of World War II while FDR was President and the Democrats controlled both houses in Congress.  The economy stalled under Eisenhower and was revived by the Kennedy / Johnson period.  We started to falter at the end of Johnson and began our descent under Nixon, mostly because of the gas crisis (72-73) and the long term effects of government spending from Vietnam (Johnson and Nixon).  Both Reagan and Bush (the first) had recessions and it was Clinton’s Administration which brought growth.  Reagan, a “true” conservative, proposed there was no damage to the economy by going into debt (mostly to increase government spending on big ticket military purchases “star-wars” and new aircraft carriers) and then signed off on the largest tax increases in history (actually mostly closing business loopholes) to reduce the debt he had sponsored – although he was NEVER able to come up with a balanced budget let alone get Congress to pass one.  Bush II practically drove the whole planet into bankruptcy and global depression with a combination of deregulation and unpaid for wars.  Granted not all of the deregulation was actually passed into law during “W’s” administration.  His administration merely encouraged the abuses inherent in an unregulated market.
No, Pat.  Sorry.  The Republican Party has not presided over an America’s rise to manufacturing preeminence since the Civil War, and again, the manufacturing increase was because a war effort stimulated the economy and government spending – not because Republican political or economic theories are correct.
It just so happens I DO believe in small government which stays out of the way of the people and in capitalism.  But government must be big enough to defend us from modern day threats: foreign and domestic, terrorist and corporate.  At the moment, the U.S. has more to fear from multinational and “too big to fail” domestic corporations than it does from 200 to 500 Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
It used to be said the two biggest threats to democracy are an overly efficient tax system and an overly efficient military.  It seems we should now recognize the BIGGEST threat to democracy is an unregulated capitalist economy.  And on this, at least, we can agree – the Republican Party are economic traitors!     —    kmab]
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