"Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny." -- unknown

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results - Albert Einstein

The media be being stupid
January 27, 2008 - 10:33 am

I saw far too many articles either about how historic this is for black females -- will they choose a candidate that supports their race or their gender?

It's put forth as if a major decision factor.. and I suppose for some folks it is. However, as one article pointed out...

It's just as historic for white male voters. Edwards is sort of hanging around, but it's hard to call him a real candidate at this point. White males face the same quandary -- help elect the first female pres or the first black one.

Perhaps the cause of all this pointless journalism is that our election process is so... well.. ineffective that have to create something to talk about. Our debates are scripted dog & pony shows. Every nuance that they do is carefully controlled...

It is the result of having politicians and not leaders. The difference may be subtle, but it's there and important. A politician says and does whatever he/she can to get elected and stay in office. They will test the winds and bend and flop around to try in keep in step with a fickle public. A leader, on the other hands, knows exactly what he/she stands for and will stick to it even if it's unpopular.

A case in point... social security is broken. The fund is going to run out of money in the relatively near future. The date varies, but it will happen. We need to adjust something now. We need to turn it private, change who gets money... increase the money going in or decrease the money going out.

It's, as they say, a third-rail issue. You can 'win' in the people's eyes if you try to tackle it. It's too political. But it needs done or, in the end, all the people lose.

In theory, I'm all for the govt getting out of retirement accounts. That's not what the government is there for. It's up to each person/family to save money. Forcing them too doesn't fix the problem of people spending frivolously.. you're just teaching people it's ok to be a dolt because the big loving arms of the government will coddle you and give you just enough live below the poverty line.

I say in theory... because I'm not as cold hearted as my 'personal responsibility' stance makes me seem. I recognize there will be a lot of people who won't save money... who simply say the can't -- pure bullshit since all they'd have to do is set up an automatic deduction from their payroll/bank account that saves the same percentage of money and puts it into a IRA/Roth IRA. Pick a handful of mutual funds and forget about it. The market will go up and down... sure, but that's the same thing the SS fund does.. that money is invested in the market too.

Anyway... I lost my train of thought, my point.