What NOT To Blog About...


I actually got myself caught in one of "those" conundrums...you know the ones....like a mental game of ROLLERBALL...with NO substitutions or timeouts! You decide one thing, then reverse your position, then wind up reversing it again, only to find that you "think" you're right, but you might be wrong, and that what you thought in the first place was more correct than your current mindset...at least you think so for the time being.
Yeah...THAT type of conundrum...LOL!

I've been giving some serious thought (dangerous to do that) about what America has become, and what we might (yet) become versus what we USED TO BE...and how we got to where we find ourselves right now.

America is STILL a damn fine country, despite what the "critics" might want you to believe. Overall, Americans are damn fine people, too...at least those souls I have come to know.

But somewhere in this nation's "journey" through the annals of history, we've all gotten a bit "off track" where some of our priorities are concerned. And that concerns me.

We USED to be a nation of diverse people that got along a helluva lot better than today.
We used to be a nation of $.27 bread, $1 a gallon gas, $25 bicycles, and $.50 quart-sized beer.
We had houses that weren't being taxed out the ass, and were built a LOT sturdier than the palatial "mansions" that go for way over $100K+ these days.
We had cars that got so-so mileage and were built like an M24 Chaffee tank!
We took "drives to nowhere" on Sunday afternoons.
We were content with AM radio.
We had REAL (vibrant) downtowns in our cities.
People were measured by ETHICS and MORALITY.

In other words, we got along with less (for less) and were all satisfied with that.

Today, by and large, it's just the opposite.

We barely cast a glance at another person on the street (while on our Ipods).
We pay about a buck for bread, $3+ for ONE gallon of gas, bicycles cost $80+, and beer is not sold in "quarts" any longer, and definitely not for anything UNDER $1.00
We live in overpriced, overtaxed, underconstructed places far from throngs of people.
We drive foreign cars that get better mileage (unless you use ethanol anyway), and have more "creature comforts" than most any average home.
We drive EVERYWHERE, instead of walking or taking a bus, and our vacations are in other countries or far from where we live, (for the most part).
We don't even bother with FM radio...we have SATELLITE RADIO now, digital and in HD (whatever the hell that means).
Our downtowns are ghost towns anymore. Suburban malls have supplanted the cores of our cities for the almighty dollar.
People are measured by POWER and POSSESSIONS.

It does get better...
We've become a nation driven by greed, entertainment, deceit, cheating, and whatever else can "get us by" while doing the LEAST amount of work. Our work ethic is largely in the crapper, being replaced by foreign labor (in slave-waged nations) at an alarming pace. Our family "unit" is pretty much an anachronism these days, with teen pregnancies, divorces, and "extended" families out the wazoo. Our integrity is on trial most every day, and at some of the highest levels in the nation, all for the secular progressive scrutiny of the evening news. And we salivate like some Pavlovian experiment gone awry waiting for that next snippet of "who's doing what to whom for whatever reason".
In a word, we've become HEDONISTIC... to a fault.
And the ironic part is...we ENJOY it.

We're letting whatever device that comes down the pike do whatever work is required while we sit back and do other things (thanks to our ever-growing, media-fueled ADHD). All but gone is our pride in accomplishment...our sense of achievement. With fewer and fewer exceptions each day, we're no longer all about toiling for our rewards...we're all about doing whatever we have to do to get what we think we deserve...at whatever cost.

We've lauded rap music and a crucifix in a jar of urine as "art forms"...we've allowed people to speak treasonously about our nation. We punish the innocent, while rewarding the guilty. We constantly redefine our founding documents to suit whatever purpose blows in the four winds. We demonize those who show religious values, yet acclaim those who demonize religion itself.
And to what end?

Indeed, these are the things we should NOT be blogging about (or should we?)....but you know me, I'm like a salmon...I love to swim against the currents. I like to ask the hard questions....make the tough calls, and stand by my convictions and my beliefs in what this nation was..and still can be.

And it's this type of dialogue...debate...call it what you will that made America great in the first place, and can get her back to her rightful place on this old rock.

But that's just "my" opinion...