Humpday Happenings...
Ever hear something on the radio or TV, or read something, and it turns out to be EXACTLY what YOU have been thinking...word-for-word, with all the right inflections, and said with the same convictions?
It's more than a mere sense of Deja-Vu...
I heard such a statement yesterday while watching Glenn Beck's show (as if you didn't know I already watched it).
He stated something to the effect:
"Ever go to bed with a sense that this nation is doing well, and that tomorrow things will be normal, and it will be a better day, only to wake up and find that yet another type of insanity is taking over?"
I've said for YEARS (if not decades) that this is certainly NOT the world I remember as a child, a teen, and as a young adult.
SOMEWHERE along the way...somehow...things went horribly wrong, and are continuing to do so, at an accelerated pace.
Soldiers returning from 'Nam were treated with less respect than a homeless bum panhandling change off of you at a bus station.
Prices for damn near everything were doubling...tripling, while the companies that USED to make all those items vanished from the face of this nation...never to be seen here again.
It was like something came along and scooped them off the surface of the planet, whisking them away to...where?
I recall my Dad being asked if he wanted to RUN an entire printing plant in (of all places)...VENEZUELA, because the company was MOVING this particular operation down there (from Philly, where it was founded).
And Dad thought long and hard over it.

More money versus strange surroundings, a barely stable government (which turned out a lot worse than even Dad could imagine), and a lower cost of living...was it worth it?
Dad decided not to pursue it (thanks, Dad...I wouldn't have gotten along all that well with Chavez, anyway)
But that only one facet of this "changing" scenario called life.
Much of the manufacturing belt all along the East coast of America also disappeared.
Vast acreage of farm land also took flight across the Midwest.
And to this day, I don't know where all THAT went, either.
Yes...the world that I USED to know, and grew up in, is no longer around.
Wonder who stole it, and how much that ransom is?
I'd "bet the ranch" (if it were still around) that there are many out there that would damn near pay anything to get THAT world back.
It really makes me wonder, when the people of this nation find it more intriguing to watch the news regarding the death of Michael Jackson and what's going on with his WILL, than whether or not Americans will go broke paying for socialized medicine, Cap & Trade (more like CRAP & TRAITOR), fire-safe cigarettes (I call 'em "magic ciggies"...they go out if you're not constantly toking on 'em).
Screw Jackson's will...what happened to YOUR WILL, and I don't mean that piece of paper that divvies up your "stuff", but the will of the human spirit...as in FREE WILL?
You're giving it up...that's what's happening.
And it's all intentional.
Well, at least that's the way things work on THIS version of EARTH.
In less than two hundred years, we went from an agrarian society, to an industrialized society, to an information-gathering society, to an entitlement-laden society, replete with a shrinking middle-class to foot the bill for the rich AND the poor alike.
The best part is, the jobs the middle class once held just ain't around in the same numbers any longer, folks!
So, I wonder where all that money the rich and poor are expecting is going to be coming from anyway, hmm?
Yes sir..scary sh*t out there.
Not the world I remember one damn bit.
Taxes on almost everything you purchase...taxes on your paycheck (expect that to go up), and taxes on your SAVINGS (if you can still mange to save anything). It's all there for someone else's taking.
This is not being cynical...it's being REALISTIC.
You can't smoke, eat red meat, drive your car on gasoline, mine coal for utility plants making electricity, or have a dark-colored roof on your damn house.
You no longer are capable of knowing what is BEST for you...that's the government's job now.
Hmm...what about that "free will" thing?
Sorry...it's getting "recycled" (along with the bath water).
You might soon be "free" top do anything (the government allows, that is).
Didn't I read a book or three about such a "future" back in HIGH SCHOOL?
And weren't they all considered science FICTION?
Seems like were all "living the novel", as it were.
Funny, I would have chosen a different book, if it were up to me.
(Mary Shelleys' Frankenstein would be a step UP at this point)
If this IS all but some weird-ass dream, I can't WAIT until I wake the hell up.
That is going to be one helluva tale I'll be able to tell.
But...aren't all of YOU experiencing the exact SAME "dream"?
Now when, do you suppose we ALL fell down that same rabbit hole, anyway?
And why do we keep looking up and seeing the BOTTOM?
Move over SIX FLAGS - Welcome to BIZARRO WORLD...
(everyone remember where we parked, OK?)
As for the balance of the week, and the brand new month staring at us, it's all down hill from here (or uphill if you're into masochism) ?
And, as always,
Stay safe out there, America.