EDITORIAL WHEN I WAS 19. COPS WERE PIGS. NOW THAT I'M 67, I CALL THEM HEROS.

I was a child of the 60's.  It was a heady time. Peace, Love, Freedom.
I still believe that those are good things and that it hurts my heart that our species has not yet achieved any of these ideals.

I was one of those students, fighting the "establishment" that represented the War in Vietnam.

I'll never forget, in my sophomore English class, when I was in High School, the teacher read us what must have been an op-ed article from the NY Times.

It referred to the War in Vietnam as a war with a small "w", since it had never actually been declared a war. It went on it that vein and I thought it was very clever. I had not yet developed any awareness of the world in a political sense.

Fast forward to my sophomore year in college. Riots on campuses. Demonstrations. A boyfriend who could be drafted. Things changed quickly for me.         This is a picture of me in Boston, during the summer of 1970.

Of course, living at home and going to college afforded me the ability of my indignation at what was happening to our young men and the people being killed over seas.  I'm not suggesting that I didn't strongly believe in the values that "hippies" espoused. It was just that it was easier as a person, who came home every day to a house where I had food, shelter and an allowance.

I hated the police because they came out in riot gear [scary as hell] and beat and arrested students, who were for the most part demonstrating peacefully. At least that's what my memories are telling me.  With the exception of Kent State, where four students were shot to death, the police did their jobs. I may have disliked them at the time, but I couldn't understand that they were just doing what they had to do. I was too caught up in being self-righteous. They may have been overly zealous at it, but, then I expect they were wary of what they might be walking into.
  

The war, eventually ended. Most of us who didn't drop out of school, or life, went on to be part of that world that we did not like. Some of us chose professions that we believed would make the difference we were looking for. Some of us just took whatever jobs we could get, because that's what you have to do when you grow up.

As a psychologist, I will tell you that there are many sociopaths in the world. I've mentioned this before. Most are not serial murders or killers. They are just individuals who don't believe the rules apply to them. And unfortunately, they like power, so they go into careers like law, politics, military and policing. [I apologize if I left out other professions or included yours.]

That would mean, that like elsewhere in the population, there are policemen who are sociopaths. They are the rotten apples on the force. They are the ones who have received too many complaints.  They are the ones who should not be allowed to wear a badge and carry a gun.  They are not every cop.

I am a lot older and wiser now. Policemen are of course, not pigs. Most of them are good people who want to do their jobs and do not want to hurt others or be hurt themselves.

I absolutely understand why the Black people are so angry. As a Jewish person, I am watching my Israeli countrymen being on the shit end of the stick just because of who they are. However,  I do not understand why they are throwing every officer under the bus.

Isn't that what they are against? It's no different from racial profiling. What's the difference here? They are Police Profiling. Any black is a bad person. Any cop is a killer.  Does it make any sense? It doesn't to me.  

Having worked for the city of New York as an employee, with a strong union, I now how hard it can be to get rid of people who are unfit to do their jobs. It was nearly sinful that people could be allowed to work with other people when they had no skills for what they needed to do their jobs.

I don't know if this is a problem in all cities, but it may well be.  And it wouldn't surprise me, if the departments are afraid of their own sociopathic officers.

The police departments need to have a way of getting rid of the officers who are going to make things bad for the department. We are seeing the results of what happens when they either can't, or don't.

We need our policemen. They help us and defend us. We are obviously incapable of policing ourselves.

• Perhaps if the media did not make things so inflammatory it might help.
• If there were some way to keep people from uploading the videos until after there has been an investigation, maybe that would help.
• If people stopped harassing the police for doing their jobs, maybe the police wouldn't be so scared that they shoot first and ask questions later. 
• Just a few things to think about.

THEORY:
There are good people and bad people. Most people tend to stereotype groups other than their own. Stereotyping kills. 

Enough is enough.

THE EVER PRESENT LIFE THEME GOOD VS. BAD WHAT'S UP WITH THAT?

My latest ridiculous theory relates to how the concept of good and bad are constants.  They are played out in all of our moments, and we aren’t even aware of them. After finishing the Butterfly Garden, I was thinking about the Gardener's belief that was he was doing was a good service to the world. I’ve chosen the words, good and bad rather than using “evil” because it is much stronger than what I’m thinking about, and we all have a preconceived notion about that quote.

 

Definitions:

Good: Having the right qualities; untainted; virtuous; considerate, etc.

Bad: worthless; inferior; defective; unfit; wicked, etc.

As I see a certain, moral quality involved, I'll define moral.

 

Moral: Capable of distinguishing between right and wrong in conduct; good or right in conduct of character; principals or standards, with respect to right or wrong in conduct; ethics.

Ethics: Is the study of standards of conduct and moral judgement.  The system or code of morals of a particular person, religion, group, profession etc.
 

THEORY:

The ethical code that we were brought up with is imbedded in our neurological system and functions automatically, without our conscious awareness.

HYOPOTHESIS:

When going about our daily lives, we conduct ourselves according to these embedded ethics without any mindfulness. We are only aware of good or bad, when we are faced with something that creates a disturbance between our behavior and our beliefs.

 

RESEARCH DESIGN:

As this is a blog of my design, I have chosen not to do any actual research. I had my fill of that when I had to do my dissertation and other various papers.

I am going to put these research studies into two footnotes. These are powerful studies which I hope will make you think about your own beliefs in the strength of your own moral code.

 

footnotes

1. The Stanford Prison Experiment       

2.The Milgram’s Obedience Studies.

 

DATA/FINDINGS:

Collected from my personal life experience and a little bit of Freud.

I often think of characters in books, TV shows or movies in terms of Freud’s model of the id, ego and superego.

I first remember doing this for the original Star Trek.  I saw Captain Kirk as the ego. That part or ourselves, that has to deal and interact with the outside world. Its other job is to deal with thoughts and impulses of our inner life as well. Freud made a model that divided our inner workings into three parts.

A HELPFUL MINI-LESSON IN FREUD'S MODEL OF THE EGO:

The ego, well, I explained that already. See Captain Kirk.

The id, is that part of us that is uncivilized and all about fulfilling our needs. It’s the seat of impulse, and desire, the pleasure-seeking part of our personality.

The super-ego has two sides. It’s our conscience and tells us what is right and what is wrong. It also has a judgmental side which is our ego-ideal. The picture of the “perfect me”. If, in our super-egos eyes, we fail at this ideal, we tend to punish ourselves for not being good enough.

BACK TO STAR TREK:

So, Kirk was the ego. Spock was the Super-ego. The black and white thinking of, this is right or this is wrong. Bones, was like the id, all emotional and at times irrational and angry at not getting his way.  Kirk had to make choices between right and wrong, whether or not to give in to his emotional impulses or listen to reason. He often made the wrong choice as the episodes began.

GOOD AND BAD ON A DAILY BASIS:

It doesn’t matter whether you believe in Freud’s model. It’s just a theory that helps me to organize my views.

As I go throughout my day, I am constantly making choices between good and bad.  When I leave the house and get dressed, what do I wear? When I am hungry, what do I choose to eat?  When I speak to someone what do I say and how do I say it?

Each of these actions has ethical component in it. I just don’t think about it as it is so ingrained in me.

For example, I could put on a really, really, short skirt and skimpy top, a lot of makeup and flashy jewelry. First, at my age, this is probably not a good look. I could say it’s hot as hell here in Florida and the less I wear, the less I sweat, so I want to be comfortable. So, F You! That’s true. But, I don’t think I want to look like a slut,[I'm not judging if you dress this way, well ok I am. Are you beginning to get an idea that this being complicated?] because in my mind, that’s what I would see.  That’s my judgement. Your ideas may see that as good.

 

That brings up the question of, do we all see good and bad as the same thing?

The obvious answer is no. Which of course even further complicates things.  If we can’t agree on what’s good or what’s bad, we will be in conflict. Not just with ourselves, but with other people as well. I suppose I just gave another theory of why we will always be at war, but why go there? It's too depressing.

Every thought and encounter we have, gives us the opportunity to act or think in a manner that is good. Is my mind judging everyone else? Yeah. More often than I would like, so I'm working on it. So, one solution is that I may not say anything to anyone, but is judging other people an ethical thing to do? Whether you keep it to yourself or not?

Do most people even think about it? That’s what I mean about automatic.

We gossip with our friends. We know it’s not “good”, but we do it anyway. And our superego doesn’t seem to mind. Unless...... Your ego ideal says, "oh no. That makes you a bad person. My mother always told me not to do it", so you begin to feel guilty. You can substitute any word for gossip for anything you were told was bad, or you shouldn't do, and boom!! You're there.

 

We have a fight with our spouse and say something really hurtful. We do it on impulse.[oh no. how did my ego let that through. were you sleeping again?] Damn that id. It got through the barrier. What do we do then? Do we apologize? Do we let it stand because we’re angry? This would depend on what your superego thinks is the right thing.

Do I curse out the driver who cut me off? Do I dare give him the finger? Or do I remember that I am not always aware of how well I drive, and forgive him because there have been days I too have done this.  Do I let someone else into the stream of traffic, or do I just keep going. Life is of course about balance. I would still be stuck somewhere in a car if I let everyone go All the time. It's about being more aware of the choices.

 

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS:

 

I’m just a regular old human being. Please don’t stress the old. I’m having trouble with aging. I would like to believe that I am a good person. It would be an assumption to say that others think this too.  There are probably many people who either don’t care, or never give it a thought. About whether they're good or not. I'm not saying that people are all thinking about me. It sounded like that when I read it so I felt the need to clarify. Do you often think about whether or not you're being a good person or not? Just saying.

I’m writing this because I believe that it is important to give it some thought. More than a thought really. Most of us go about our days on autopilot and it makes life easy. Does not thinking about things make us better? Personally, I don't think so, but that's me. I used to be a shrink who thinks too much.

I believe in the potential for good. That’s what I started thinking after reading The Butterfly Garden. I began to see that all our waking moments are filled with opportunities to choose. Of course, not having the same definition of good makes it hard, but still.

 

TODAY, WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO CHOOSE? NOT ONCE. NOT TWICE. BUT ALL DAY WITH EVERY THOUGHT AND ACTION.
FIRST, JUST BE AWARE. THAT’S WHERE IT BEGINS. JUST NOTICE. ONCE YOU’RE AWARE, YOU CAN MAKE CHOICES. YOU DON’T HAVE TO FLY ON AUTOMATIC. YOU CAN BE IN CHARGE OF YOURSELF.

footnotes

1. The Stanford Prison Experiment.

  In 1971, in Palo Alto California, 10 male college students had agreed to participate in a study on “prison life” for $15 a day. Which back then, was a nice chunk of change. I am trying to be brief, so you can read about this study if it peaks your interest.

  Phillip Zimbardo wanted to examine whether normal people might behave in extreme ways when thrust into situations where they are either powerless or powerful.

  The study was ended in six days. Both guards and prisoners were playing their roles too well.

  The prisoners went back and forth between plotting riots and having emotional breakdowns.  Getting sick and crying.

  The” fiction” and “reality” lines had blurred so badly that they had to be released.

This brought to mind another experiment that was able to be repeated because no one wanted to believe the results.

2. Milgram’s Obedience Studies.

Milgram did this experiment at Yale University. The question was, would you electrocute a stranger, if someone in authority told you to. Long story short.

Yes. In this case though, the students only thought they were inflicting pain as they couldn’t see the subject. They could only hear the screams. That doesn’t sound so good either. In any event, the generator had numbers and words. Switches marked 15 to 450 volts, with corresponding labels from light shock to extreme and Danger, Severe Shock.   The shocking [LOL] finding was that 65% of the students went all the way to danger.  The experimenter in his white coat, kept saying, “keep going”.

  This experiment was done by many other researchers in the USA and in Europe because they couldn’t believe the results. Well, they all found out the same thing.

 

THE BUTTERFLY GARDEN BY DOT HUTCHINSON A BOOK REVIEW

THE BLURB THAT I READ ON AMAZON THREE TIMES BEFORE I BOUGHT THE BOOK, starts like this:

"Near an isolated mansion lies a beautiful garden.
In this garden grow luscious flowers, shady trees…and a collection of precious “butterflies”—young women who have been kidnapped and intricately tattooed to resemble their namesakes. Overseeing it all is the Gardener, a brutal, twisted man obsessed with capturing and preserving his lovely specimens."

There were two more paragraphs about the book. In the name of brevity, I have left them out. I read the blurb and I didn't want to read the book, but the title kept coming back while I searched for new books to read. 

 I have always been a reader. Perhaps, like Maya, the main character, I too loved to escape into the world of books. Unlike her, I have read both the classics and a whole load of trash. Even with my ADHD, I have always been able to sit for hours at a time if the book pulls me in. I'll get up for some chocolate or something to drink, but take my sustenance back to my chair in the corner.


I've been reading it for either two or three days and am 71% through it's pages.

I hope to finish it this morning.

So why am I writing it before I'm done?  I hope I'm not disappointed in the ending. That happens very often. And so, I want to share it while it's still totally compelling.

I'M AS CAPTIVATED BY THE STORY AS THE GIRLS HE KIDNAPPED.


 Reading in my corner is the one place where I can block out the world. Maya , the story teller and main "butterfly" used to recite Edgar Allen Poe in her head in order to block out the visits from the Gardener. I can relate to that.

While I'm in my chair, my husband talks to me, even though I've explained how I feel. I've learned to be able to stop reading while he talks, so he doesn't feel shut out. He just wants to feel connected. It's not his fault that I need to feel, well, like I'm somewhere else. I've learned to put down my book, and it's not so difficult when the book is not becoming a part of my consciousness. And he's a good man who I shouldn't be shutting out.

WHY THIS BOOK?

From the moment I began to read it,  I was pulled in.

 The tale is told by Maya, a survivor of what I'm supposing was a raid. She's speaking to two FBI agents. I still don't know how the Garden and the Gardener were found out. He's a very wealthy man, who has been doing this for thirty years.

The agents aren't sure if Maya was just a victim or a part of what had been going on. Why would they be thinking that? How could she be a part of this since she's only eighteen, and has been there only two years?

 Some possibilities are that she appears to be in better shape physically and mentally, that the other survivors and is not exactly being open and completely cooperative. When asked a direct question, she is able to answer with the ability of a politician. She gives a lot of information, so we learn all about the Garden that she and the other "butterflies" were in, however, she manages to avoid answering the actual question.

The writing is beautiful, and flows like music. There is a lot of underlying psychology which is of course, for me is always and added perk.

The descriptions of the Garden, the personalities of the girls, and even the Gardener are fascinating and lyrical. As disgusting as the Gardener is, I find myself ambivalent about him. That may say more about me, than the book.

SHOULD YOU READ THIS?

I can't help you with that question. I don't know what you like or how disturbed you might be at what the Gardener has been doing. The Gardener's son Avery also used the garden. He was not "kind" like his father. He was a sadistic bastard and the one character I wanted dead.

If you like stories that unfold. If you don't mind "kind rape", [if there is such a thing.]  If you don't mind death and captivity. If you have patience as the suspense quietly builds. Then, I think you will be just as happy as I am that I finally decided to read this.  If not, perhaps it's not for you. Perhaps.

Like most other readers. I give it 5 stars.

HOW DID CAVEMEN DEAL WITH INSOMNIA? DID THEY HIT EACH OTHER OVER THE HEAD WITH CLUBS?

 

My latest ridiculous theory:  Insomnia is a modern illness that is responsible for more than half of human beings problems.

Theory:  Effective sleep is necessary for effective functioning, which includes sustained attention. When one does not get sufficient or efficient sleep, one is unable to sustain one’s attention and a good immune system.

Hypothesis: When a person is physically weakened and unable to sustain attention to his environment, bad shit happens.

[*ad1]

Research design:

Well, none. Basically proving this theory takes gathering information, explaining it and attempting to prove the hypothesis.

DATA COLLECTION

In order to avoid confusion, it’s proper form to write out, working definitions of the terms being used. This way, everyone is on the same page. Here are some.

• Insomnia: Difficulty in getting to sleep or staying asleep “also not feeling rested after sleeping."
• Consciousness: Mental awareness of sensations, perceptions, memories and feelings.
• Restorative sleep: Sleep from which you awaken feeling rested and alert.
• Sleep disturbances: there are sleep disorders and one text listed 12 of them. We will focus on insomnia.
• Sustained attention: the ability to maintain focused awareness on a target or idea.
• Waking consciousness: a state of clear, organized alertness. 

 It’s interesting to note, that in many psychology texts, there is no definition of sleep. There is a lot written about it, but much is still unknown. So for today, we’ll say it’s an altered state of consciousness which changes the quality or pattern of mental activity. 

 

TO SLEEP, PERCHANCE TO DREAM

 

Even back in Shakespeare’s time, sleep was something that was sought after. I can’t help but wonder when not being able to sleep became an issue.

This is my rambling part. It should be under another digression, but I think it's not that off the path. Did cavemen have trouble sleeping? And laborers, and farmers and if you look back in history, until there was a way of making light, we kept pace with sunrise and sunset. Our circadian rhythms are still set for day and night. However, technology has turned that upside down and I believe that is one of the reasons for having so many sleep disorders.

 

The text books will all tell us that sleep is an innate biological rhythm that can never be entirely ignored.  There are numerous theories about sleep but they are very hard to prove. Letting one’s subjects die during an experiment is generally frowned upon, unless you work in the pharmaceutical sector. 

[*ad2]

Fact: Everyone needs to sleep. Some can get by on more, some on less but you’ll eventually fall asleep whether you want to or not.

INSOMNIA:

According to one textbook, there are several types of Insomnia. They listed

worry, stress and excitement as a cause of temporary problems. If it goes on for longer than three weeks, they will call it chronic.

 The other type they referred to was drug dependency insomnia, caused by withdrawal from sleeping pills. That’s rich. You take something to help you sleep. Then you stop taking it and you can’t sleep because either your body is in withdrawal from being addicted to it, or you’re having what’s called rebound which may cause terrible nightmares so you go back to the drugs. Now you may realize why I made that nasty remark about the pharma industry.

 And that’s it. Those are the only two reasons they give for insomnia. They forgot to mention depression. I suppose they saved that for another chapter, but depressions favorite trick is called early waking. That’s when you can fall asleep without a problem, but then, you wake up at an ungodly hour, like 4 am and cannot get back to sleep.

 

All insomnia sucks, but it really is awful when you are a worker bee. For me, who has a lifetime membership in that club, being retired has given me a pass. As long as I don’t have to get up at a specific time, usually early, if I can’t sleep or don’t sleep well, it doesn’t ruin me like it used to. It's still no fun, but the consequences aren't as bad.

SYMPTOMS OF LACK OF RESTORATIVE SLEEP:

• Miss work
• Make bad decisions
• Take more risks
• Have trouble concentrating
• Be irritable
• Be depressed
• 

  And Symptoms of daytime fatigue include:

• Weariness, weakness, and/or depleted energy
• Lack of motivation
• Poor performance
• Memory problems
• Lack of productivity
• Tendency to make errors and mistakes
• Depression
• Low interest in being social
• Eat foods high in calories             

   You can see how these symptoms would be problematic in your life. Right?

COMPARE THESE SYMPTOMS TO HOW YOU ARE AFTER A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP:

1. awake,
2. alert
3. able to maintain your focus
4. energetic
5. able to remember things
6. better mood

Findings:

Sleep is necessary for survival, although scientists have only theorized the reason for this. However, lack of sleep has been researched and the findings are:

Insomnia increases your risk for health problems, including:

• Heart disease
• Stroke
• High blood pressure
• Infections
• Obesity
• Diabetes
• Depression
• Pain
• Substance abuse
• Early death

According to the CCD:

Sleep is increasingly recognized as important to public health, with sleep insufficiency linked to motor vehicle crashes, industrial disasters, and medical and other occupational errors.  [Like a doctor cutting off the wrong leg.]Unintentionally falling asleep, nodding off while driving, and having difficulty performing daily tasks because of sleepiness all may contribute to these hazardous outcomes.

Conclusion:
I believe that I have proven my hypothesis. Insomnia creates conditions that are conducive to wreaking havoc in your lives. It can cause illness and accidents. Drugs are not the solution. As seen, they are part of the problem.

The help for insomnia is called sleep hygiene. There are several steps that when done as directed, are very helpful. I will not list them, because I'm trying to keep this brief. However, there is help. As with everything else, you will have to work at lessoning the episodes of insomnia. [*ad3]

And, if all else fails, you can just start reading my blogs from the beginning, and I'm sure they will put you in a nice restful sleep, or possibly a coma. I cannot guarantee either because I don't want to be sued.

footnotes
*ad1 - man, this is dry and boring. Well, maybe this part. it get's better.

*ad2- I am having a very hard time sticking to the format. I can see that it will not work for all topics.

*ad3- This was harder to write. Well, actually easier since I just had to look shit up and copy it. That was no fun for me. And, the answers were actually in the material so I didn't have a chance to really say what I wanted to because it would have been redundant and I'm not sure this is shorter anyway. Oh well.

Thanks for reading.

MY THOUGHTS ABOUT REFORMATTING THIS BLOG

MY LATEST RIDICULOUS THEORY ON LENGTH OF ANYTHING.

When I look at my blog, after it's posted, I see that it's way too long to keep most people's attention. Even mine, and I wrote it!

THEORY:
People's span of attention is short. Especially when reading news articles or articles on line. Due to the length on my posts, fewer people read them.

HYPOTHESIS:
If I change the format of my blog, so it reflects a theory, hypothesis etc., then, limiting the number of words in each section there will be a surge in followers.

RESEARCH DESIGN:
The design [*a digression1]  for this type of query is difficult. The variables are, I think, the two different formats of the blog. I think that makes sense.
The population is a bit more tricky. I can only go by my current statistics and say that the number of people who read each post varies from 17 to 36. The sample would be the entire population of Google+ who has access to reading this. Therefore, infinite. That's good because the larger the sample, the more accurate the results. LOL for this one.

  

The only thing I can do, really is a descriptive study. That means, that I will write five blogs in the new format. I will use the same hashtags for all five. [*ad2.]  Basically, I'll write my usual blogs, sticking to this format. Heaven help me, they won't be dry and scientific like this one. Shorter. I'm only attempting for shorter.

I will describe what I did to get my results, if anything. Only I will also add in the data, findings and conclusion.

DATA:
What? I'm not a magician. I only started the experiment. I ain't got no stinkin data.    All I got is an idea. So sue me.

FINDINGS:
This format may be too limiting. I'll have to see. I have no findings because we have just begun. You are my research subjects. Please, pretty please, help me do this experiment. Don't let me down. [ *ad3.]

CONCLUSION:

I conclude that I'm a brave individual. I have no conclusion yet, but I have hope. If I had money, I could pay you, but I'm a scientist. Not a politician. They pay people and they manipulate the statistics. That's another post for another day.
So, you'll just have to wait and read the five new posts, and hope I can keep it short.

I'm going to still put in pictures. I like pictures and it's my research and I can do what I want. So there.

*FOOTNOTES

[My footnotes have always been referred to as digressions. Since I have more than one, they are titled, Another Digression. I have decided to use the symbol *ad with a number. This way, it give me leeway to go off on the tangents that make my posts longer. So, you have choices. You can read the post and then the foot notes, or ignore them if you're in a hurry.  You can read them as they occur or you can just read the footnotes because that's usually where most of the funny stuff ends up.]

*ad1- I looked up the different methodologies in my Psychology text.  It was not easy to decide which one fit.
According to the scientific method, which I am trying to follow, A. One first, observes, B. then predicts, C. tests, D. interprets and E. communicates the results.  Okay. But how do you do that if you don't have an actual experiment? 
It's the research design that stymies me.

*ad2 -If I changed them, they would be extraneous variables. Those are things that could throw off all your research. And, make a researcher look like an idiot.

*ad3- I feel like I'm back, doing my dissertation. That was torture. I used the teachers in the school I worked in and had to pray they returned their surveys. Approximately 97% did. That was huge. And, if any of you besides Shelley are reading this, you still have all my gratitude.

IF A POLITICAL PARTY INVESTIGATES A POLITICIAN, WHO PAYS?

Who remember Ken Starr? Nice suit he's wearing, yeah?



Good morning everyone.  I feel like going on a rant. Want to come along?

I remember when Bill Clinton was president. One thing I can agree on was that he was a man who had trouble keeping it in his pants.  Apparently he is not the only elected official with this type of problem, (or person) but since the press finally decided (or were told)  they could print anything they heard or knew, he was probably of the first presidents to be treated to this type of exposure. That could be a pun, or double entendre.

 

It didn't matter that the job that he was doing as a public official was good. It happened because of our delightful two party system. 

Where does that term come from? Party?  Maybe, like when you're a teen and you have lots of friends, and like three of them are having a party on the same night and oh my God, you have to decide which one to go to. Oh no. Who do I like best? or. Where will I be seen by more people, or maybe, I have to find out where the person I want to hook up will be?

So, I have to choose a party. So.  I choose,  Me.  I'm so overwhelmed, I stay home.  Most people are not like me. At least I like to think so.

 I am not in the mood to do research, so you can ,or you can just be as annoyed as I am, at what has become essentially a two party system of self serving politic rats, who seem to believe that they are serving their country by tearing it apart.

It isn't just the US. The whole world seems to be going crazy. Well, going broke which caused them to go crazy. In the past, when a country went broke, it used to go to war so it could steal resources from its enemies or anyone they could beat up. Or possibly conquer. That worked for ages, right up to this common era.  All the way up to Viet Nam.  Then things changed. War had been, well sort of civilized. There had been rules of combat. Certain conditions had been in place since the beginning of time and although there were always exceptions to those rules, you had some sense of what was okay and what wasn't. Idiotic as it may have been, it was.

Then comes the War on Terror. There are no longer rules, although we still seem to expect the "enemies" to adhere to some of them. That too should be another post, so I'll stop here.

People say that wars are fought for Religion, but really, it's always about money and power.

In my opinion, Muslim extremists want the power to keep their women in Birkas and control everything in their homes and lives. After seeing what they have of Western culture, I can't say that I blame their ideas about it. Their tactics, well, no thanks.

my train went off the track. get used to it.

I suppose I should first wonder how a country goes broke. Regardless of how many political parties, or how few, countries do have faltering economies.  Again. I am not doing any research.

However, my title at least gives us a clue on some of what the USA has been spending my tax dollars on.

I am sure that the Democrats are no better. It's just that these are the two law suits and investigations I'm familiar with, so I've use these as examples.

At this point it doesn't matter. It seems that each party is going for broke. Ha Ha Ha! They use their dollars to sling mud at the other candidates. Another good use of money. And, another good reason to DVR everything. We had some bitter fights here last year, and every other minute there was a political commercial. Do you have that in England and France? I've no idea. I'm so, provincial.

 WHEN THE PARTIES GO AFTER EACH OTHER.......

For starters, When Bill was in office, the Republicans weren't happy. PS* He was the only president who balanced the budget, but why should that matter?* another digression. 
 So, they wanted dirt. They looked under a lot of rocks and they found dirt. Who doesn't have dirt? I do. I can't keep up with the cleaning and I admit, I have made some doozy mistakes in my life.  Thank God no one cares. That's why I keep a low profile. I mean like, if 50 people have looked at this blog, that's low. Right?

So, Ken Starr was the appointed independent council to investigate the Clintons. I think it was related to White Water, Paula Jones and Vince Foster. It doesn't matter. They would have found something.  What matters was that Mr. Starr had a huge hard on for Bill. (I'm glad he didn't go after Nixon.+ That would have been too gross even for me to write. but you can think it). +if you don't recall, his nickname, was tricky Dick.

So, if memory serves, he did get to impeach Clinton which was annoying and didn't really change anything. Except maybe lots of lost hours and 40 million dollars over the course of two years.

That's right. I remember the joke. Ken Starr got $40 million dollars and all he ended up with was a lousy suit. Probably, that's not quite the quote, but is the shoe fits.






I did look up whose money it was. On this I felt I needed to fact check. This is how the independent counsel was explained in an old CNN article. I consider them to be a very reliable source.  The expenses by the ind. counsel are governed by the federal courts and then passed to the justice department for payment. I stopped there.  Basically, the counsel spends money, then hands it over to other officials who pass them on to other officials to pay. Nice.

maybe we should pay our soldiers the $20.5 million for risking their lives.

The most recent investigation also took two years. I wonder if there's a time limit. Anyway, it has been reported that the Republicans spent, get this, 20.5 million dollars to probe into what happened in Benghazi.

This figure came from  an online paper called "Politic USA" and was corroborated by another paper called the Observer.

I'M SURE YOU'LL BE HAPPY TO KNOW THIS FIGURE EXCEEDS THE ENTIRE BUDGET FOR THE HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE. No wonder they can't get anything done. They are underfunded.

Much to their disappointment, they found out that Hillary didn't do anything wrong. Wow. If we'd only listened to the initial hearings, we might not have had to spend so many millions of dollars.

um. did anyone remember to close the window?


 

WHAT ELSE DO GOVERMENTS WASTE OUR MONEY ON?

My favorite American trick, is that we call "the Federal Reserve Bank".
That makes it sound like it's owned by the USA.  It's not. It's a private bank. And if you think about it, they set the interest rates. The are the ones who are asked for predictions about the economy. Mm.  Any time we get money from the Federal Reserve, we are borrowing it. That's right. We have to borrow our own money. Well, we don't have our own money I guess, except then what happens to all the money they, the government, collects? Oh, I guess we have to pay it back the Fed. And anyone else we have borrowed from .

What is the Federal Reserve Bank?

A Federal Reserve Bank is a regional bank of the Federal Reserve System, the central banking system of the United States. There are twelve in total, one for each of the twelve Federal Reserve Districts that were created by the Federal Reserve Act of 1913.^[1] The banks are jointly responsible for implementing the monetary policy set forth by the Federal Open Market Committee, and are divided as follows:  I left that out. Who cares.  This part I had to search for.

How much does it cost the US to get money from the Feds?

Cost per denomination$1 & $2 notes= 5.2 cents per note
$5 & $10 notes = 8.5 cents per note
$20 & $50 notes =9.2 cents per note        $100 note = 7.7 cents per note    

*This information came from a site called, well read it yourself.

 *G.Lee Inc. Presents "The Hidden Truth".

If that's not a coincidence of really weird proportion, I don't know what it. Even though it's not quite my real name. Still.  Sorry. I have to dash.

It's 24 hours later, but you don't know that. I want to finish this, but I am fuming. We had a heavy downpour last evening and this morning I went out to post a birthday card and our huge cacti was falling over, really badly. I thought  I could  right them  myself, but alas, I'm a lass and made it worse. So I asked my husband for emergency help.

These are 3 trunks semi propped up

this is near the bottom where I tried to put them back in and keep them from toppling. Oy.

He did come out. I was frantic. I had an extra support I thought would work. He helped me out. Somewhat. You know, when you know, when someone's reluctant to be doing something. Right? So, I thought I'd gotten a handle on it and said" Thank you very much". I meant it sarcastically, but he left. And boom. The third trunk fell over and I didn't know what to do. Long story short, I jury rigged it with some hose protectors. I don't know what they're called. You stick them in the ground so when you water, your hose doesn't trample the flowers.

So. I am pissed. I told him I was upset. So he said, "well you said thank you and I wanted to get back to my coffee and morning routine."  I said something about knowing where I stood on that list. He told me I let him know he was done. So what was I bitching about? I just walked away.  I don't want to say anything I'll regret. They say that's important in marriage. Never say mean things. Like you're a selfish *(&^!.  I wouldn't want to hear it, so I won't say it.

WHERE THE HELL WERE WE?

At this juncture, I'm sure you get the point. Our governments spend money they don't really have, keep borrowing to pay the bills that are due, tax us to pay their debts, raise interest rates to pay more debts. No, they ask the Fed to raise interest rates. And then. They blame everyone else.

it's a bit small to read, but I wouldn't believe it anyway.

It's exactly like a parent and child. They model bad behavior and when the child does the same thing, the parent punishes the child. My dad used to love to say, "Do as I say, not as I do".  Pearls of wisdom. Thankfully, I didn't do as he did nor as he said.


THEORY:  the rich get rich and the poor get poorer. THE RICH SET IT UP SO WE FIGHT EACH OTHER AND NOT THEM.

None of this is new, or news. I've lived long enough to know that. I have also studied history. In this year of a presidential election, they are saying, "let's make this country great again".  Did they not read the classic "The Rise and Fall of the Roman  Empire"?

I can't tell anyone what to do or what will help. I keep waiting for someone from the European/Anglo nations to revolt. Not that in the past it has really done much. So, if what has worked in the past comes again, there will be scape goats.

MY SINCERE, BUT TO YOUR EARS, PROBABLY RIDICULOUS SOUNDING ADVICE:

1. I do not recommend if you can't fight them, join them. Never join them. They are very wrong.
2. Live your life in your own circle. Create it and live in it. I'm not suggesting a fantasy world. Just a circle of family and friends who you love and enjoy.
3. Try not to listen to the news unless it's the weather and there might be a hurricane or tornado on the way.
4. If you can't change it, ignore it.
5. If you can change it, go for it. Don't be discouraged or disappointed. You did your best.
6.Don't hurt, or take advantage of other people because it's wrong. Do your best to be a moral person.
7. Don't take candy from strangers. Even if it is chocolate .