You Betcha!!!

Man, August whizzed by. I meant last week to rant against the (former) hippies in a post on the 40th anniversary of Woodstock. Time usually does that when one ages, and when one keeps as busy as possible. Even when one gives up a couple of hours sleep as I routinely do in order to DO more. Think about this: If - by the age of 72, one sleeps 8 hrs per day - then 24 years are spent sleeping, leaving only 48 years of waking activity. However, if one is dormant for only 6 hrs per day, then only 18 years are spent behind closed eyes, leaving a whopping 54 years of DOING stuff, I could really use a 32 hour day...

A lot has happened during the month to contribute to our inevitable slide into socialism. The Nevada head of ACORN has been convicted of voter fraud and has plead down to lesser charges by agreeing to drop the dime on others within the organization - both locally and nationally. The outrageous Tax & Spend mentality in Washington has reached epic proportions. BHO's Health Care agenda is abominable in that it'll end up costing We The People more than ever, stifle small business growth, and provide us with inadequate, insubstantial coverage. Oil has hit a high for 2009, Scotland has slapped the US in the face by releasing the Lockerbie bomber under Gordon Brown's failing leadership, the car dealers aren't getting paid for the "Cash For Clunkers" program - which incidentally is only an additional bailout for the auto industry - the foreign auto industry at that. (Toyota was the #1 seller). State and federal government has generated 110,000 jobs while 3 million private sector jobs were lost. Las Vegas is at an all time high unemployment level of 13.1%, California at 11.9%, New York City at 9.6% and Barack lost his cool and said "Folks In Washington are all wee-weed up" before he took a vacation on Martha's Vineyard for 20 grand. This just as he announced the revised 10 year budget deficit figures - 9 trillion!!! (I don't think I could have typed that out with the zeroes.) The same figure that was disputed when released by the Congressional Budget Office last month. All this without the cost of the aforementioned health care plan. The Justice Department has decided to take a step backwards and attempt to prosecute the CIA for interrogation issues as well as adopting the Clinton era policy of treating terrorism as a law enforcement issue, despite the fact that history has proven this method to be ineffective and dangerous. The House & Senate Democratic leadership have called the citizen protest groups all kinds of vile names, branding average American citizens as nazis, terrorists and racists even though they advocated similar protest actions - albeit more radical - during the previous administration. ( I have a few beefs with George W, Bush but that poor bastard never got a fair shake. BHO sure makes him look like a dream.) The Left wing media doesn't want to admit that it may have been a little short sighted in their BHO love-fest and remains completely in the tank for the administration while the right-wing pundits continue to increase their bankrolls by playing upon the fears and uncertainties of an increasingly disenfranchised population. Their fires are fanned by a recent Gallup Poll which reported that people who consider themselves conservative outnumber those who consider themselves liberal. In the meantime, punditry of both persuasions continually strive to maintain the left/right dichotomy. This split along ideological lines is a guaranteed cash cow and keeps us from recognizing the real threats to our society - The Beltway!!! I've said it before, and I'll say it again - "As Long As They Keep Us At Each Others' Throats, We Can't Go For Theirs".

I was going to go into a diatribe about how the hippie generation is responsible, but I would be repeating one of my previous rant - Those Damn Hippies - verbatim, so I'll include it below. The link to the original article from "The Uncommon Manifesto" is: http://www.crookedhook.com/Ramblings009.html

Those Damn Hippies

Those damn hippies. I had heard that phrase uttered around and at me throughout most of the sixties and seventies. I never, ever thought that I would utter that very same phrase all these years later.

You see, I wasn’t really of the hippie generation. I was eleven years old when Wooodstock went down. Stuck somewhere between the “Peace, Love, Dope” crowd and the “Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll” folks, I idolized those ahead of me during my teenage years. After so many years of moral repression, racism, and uptight social mores, the so-called path to an “enlightend society where everyone was equal” seemed to be the modern day version of Utopia. I think they meant well, but somehow between the commercialization of the counter-culture and the actual reality of trying to enact some of the extremely liberal social policies, intention was overtaken by greed, apathy, and blind ambition.

Don’t get me wrong. The music was great, the clothes pretty cool and I always preferred to wear my hair long. BUT, for the most part, the “sexual liberation” of our culture has been taken way too far and has caused our society more harm than good. Less than a generation of loosened morality spawned the likes of Madonna (she and I are the same age, incidentally), whose music was predominately targeted towards an adolescent (and younger) audience, thereby mainstreaming her far more adult oriented image. We all stood by while a generation of children were forced to lose their innocence earlier than necessary in the name of the almighty buck. Unfortunately, this all occurred under the most often abused tenant of our constitution - the right to free speech - The First Amendment. Then, another half generation passes and along comes Bill Clinton, who basically legitimized adultery and caused another generation of American youth to believe that oral gratification was not to be considered a sexual act. Although, it could be argued that the media and partisan politicos were equally at fault for overly publicizing a situation that has been occurring since at least Thomas Jefferson (Clinton’s idol - no wonder) and in fact has been perpetuated by the world’s leaders since the beginning of recorded history.

The same holds true with “recreational” drug use. No one will argue that the drug problem in our society is a major issue, which has been exacerbated by years of an inept drug war that has only served to create huge economic concerns on both sides. There is a lot of money to be made via illicit drug trading and an equal income to be had in the eradication of said contraband. While some great ideas have emitted by those using these substances in the interest of “expanding horizons” the general populace has only been dragged into an abyss by these practices. There are really only a very select few individuals on the face of the earth that are capable of achieving any form of great awareness through subsance use - certainly not for everyman.

The desire for compassion and for the creation of a society to include all types has evolved into what is now termed “politcal correct” behavior. The inclusion of radical feminist beliefs have emasculated the male population rather than achieving the desired effect of creating equality for women. (Women have ALWAYS held the upper hand in societies since biblical times.) Under the guise of affirmative action, whole generations of citizens with european ancestry are made to feel guilty and are in fact denied the very same equal rights guaranteed to so-called minorities. In order to be more understanding and compassionate, we are now expected to be forgiving to those who wish us ill will, even if preventative opportunities are presented.

Those damn hippies, they led my generation and those who blindly followed us to the edge of the precipice, pushed us off and turned around and went to Wall Street, Hollywood, Washington DC, and even places like Seattle and Montpelier, Vermont to count their loot obtained by the sales of counter-culture ideals. Shrouded in slick packaging and appealing ambiguities, we have been sold upon ideals that have been perverted and that are only now beginning to display the decay.

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Most of the icons of the day have either become the "man" that they previously railed against - case in point, Jerry Rubin, who did quite well investing in Apple Computer (among others) early on and now lives comfortably in Australia. Or they have passed on before sacrificing their ideals such as Abbie Hoffman (d. 1985) - Rubin's former Yippie partner, who prior to his passing engaged in a speaking tour with Rubin entitled "Yippie vs. Yuppie". Then there are those like Bill Ayers of Weather Underground and Barack Obama fames. They keep coming back in a fashion similar to the Herpes virus. Those were but to name a few of the movers and shakers of the day. So many more lesser known, but equally idealistic individuals permeated our universities, media organizations, and public sector jobs in order to advance their socialistic one-world order agenda. The hope and change that this generation offered when they were young was far less scarier than the hope and change that they are cramming down our throats today.

I've spent the last couple of days listening to and editing the "First Season" of "It's High Time We Talk" for a best of type compilation tentatively entitled "Highlights & Lowlights:. While the CD will contain primarily the more humorous moments of our escapades, there has proven to be some very thought provoking moments as well. We update on an irregular basis as is befitting our characters. Think Cheech & Chong meet Dennis Miller with a smattering of John Stewart and Michael Savage throw in for good measure. Do yourself a favor and give the show a listen...