the return of civility or policticaly correct speech ?

I for one am glad to see a return to civility in the work place . Over the past 5 years there seems to be a new trend in the work place that has extended into our private lives . this is a trend where no one says anything negative about anything . It is all positive and morale building or one says nothing and changes the subject to the weather .

let us turn the clock back to 1970 . The popular feeling was " tell it like it is , be real " this was originally meant be real about civil rights and women's liberation , phony materialism and the military industrial complex . I know pretty weighty issues . I am not surprised the baby boomer's left these behind . Unfortunately these issues did not go away .

These issues mutated into some serious problems . we now have a uncontrollable pornography problem all over the TV and Internet . We have taken phony materialism to the point where are country is broke and in hock to the Chinese and Arabs , and the military has tuned into the presidents private army regardless of what the American people want . But hey all that is depressing . Lets talk about that LCD TV were getting for Christmas .

I find it ironic that in 1974 . playboy and penthouse were sold from displays next to the cash register . Fast forward to 2007 . Brown paper wrapper in the mail . Public school teacher gets caught reading playboy magazine . Whoa now he is a predator . We have a ocean of the sickest porn on the Internet that we have been unable to stop , so we condemn and vilify playboy and penthouse . The cleanest of all adult material .

Telling it like it is and being real while it might be depressing and burying our heads in the nice warm sand easier . While this mindless smiling and being infinitely agreeable makes social intercourse more pleasant . We should move to the next phase and start discussing real issues and solutions . Then move to a even higher level . Do something .

There are endless seminars , workshops and think tanks . All that happens is talk more talk and even more talk , but no action . We all need to get involved in the political process . By that I mean vote . Just vote . Stop saying " I am just not into politics , it is not my thing " . Vote for your ideals , vote for what you believe in . This is our country and our culture . Let us use all that positive energy and winning attitude to make a real difference . Let us be passionate about our nation and where we are going . Let us stop looking in the mirror and look out the window , There is a big world out there .

thats got to hurt

It is going to be tough going forward to deal with the fact that America will not be the most powerful nation in the world . It is our own fault of course . one of the main reasons the roman empire fell was because it hired mercenary armies to fight its wars . the mercenary armies eventually attacked Rome .

We have done the same thing with our industries . We have farmed out our R&D and manufacturing to the nations that hate us the most China ,Japan and Korea .Now we are dependent on these countries for everything except our food . Please do not believe that Japan has forgotten what we did to them in WWII or that they and China will place Americas prosperity ahead of their own .

we have allowed capitalism like fire to consume everything there is to burn . when oil is priced in Euros . We as a country will be like a guy who has gone bust and has borrowed every nickel he could, mortgaged anything he could. There is nothing of value left to sell . Because no one wants used goods . just the latest and greatest .We have to face the fact that the party is over . so where do we go from here .

Well , I think that it will be good for us as country . we will get back to basics . no matter how much the advertisers will try and hypnotizes us into buying all those Chinese goods . the reality of buying gas for the car to get to work , putting food on the table and heating/cooling our homes will be sucking up our extra money .

perhaps we will forsake phony materialism and start to look for something deeper , more meaningful and lasting . I hear so many people say they could not possibly live without [fill in the blank] . people are going to be surprised what the can live without . perhaps we will not have to engage in neurotic dramas . We will have real crisis to face .

I believe that all this will make us as a culture, nation and individuals . much wiser and stronger . In 50 years we will probably be the most powerful country in the world again .

gas pump gastapo

Last month I was asking people this question " If oil is 90.00 a barrel . why isn't the price of gas going up ? " most people just shrugged . well reality is creeping in . the price is starting to go up . speaking of reality and i know it is a delicate subject in the land of plenty .

Geo. Bush announced at a press conference. that the price of gas is to high and that he was going to work to bring down the price of gas for the American people . this is where reality comes in . the American people may not understand the oil situation , but the people who produce oil do and they know that we have reached peak oil production . going forward, demand is going to be higher than supply. it is inevitable that the price of oil and gasoline are going to go up .

no one has ever been able to break the law of supply and demand for long . Not even Geo. Bush . Reality always comes in to balance it out . Speaking of balance . The oil companies despite their carefully groomed public image . Have not been investing in new drilling equipment , refineries or people to do the work . It is such a drag on the balance sheets .

Putting all this together . How than do the oil executives find new profits if there is not as much black gold coming out of the ground ? The answer is simple . Short the supply . Make sure it is readily available but keep inching up the price . See being an oil executive is easy .

The American public shares some of the blame though . We all knew this was coming . Did we demand our government do something besides talk about the dependency on foreign oil problem ? Did we demand any steps towards real conservation of resources ? Do any of the politicians running for president have the guts to talk about the harsh realities that are coming in the next 5 years and what we are going to have to do and what we will have to "this is the delicate part" Sacrifice . The answer is a very loud NO .

It is going to be a very interesting future . the politicians like to talk about the innovative spirit of the American people . Well we are going to need all of that and a lot more . Most of all we are going to need elected repersentaives who will be able to make the tough decisions and make them work . We are going to have to realize we are all in this one together . Weather we like it or not .