Blog Anniversary

I planned to do this post last Tuesday.

Tuesday, September 11, 2008, was the sixth anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center. It was also the first anniversary of the my first blog posting. In the last year, some things that I discussed have improved, and some have not.

• Thanks to the idiots in the executive and legislative branches of our government, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue to be American political issues, as opposed to military issues, or parts of the campaign against terrorism. One group of politicians stubbornly refuses to acknowledge its errors, another group continues to be more concerned about their own political ambitions than about the safety of either Iraq or the U.S. They are just too self-centered and they have too much power and too little knowledge or intelligence to do the right things.
• Hatred and ad hominum attacks continue to pervade the American political scene, as opposed to sensible, concrete proposals to improve our society. The voters are still voting for the smile and the charisma of ignorant and crooked candidates instead of supporting people who show exceptional knowledge of the problems to be solved. Politicians who are not intelligent enough to propose a better solution than their opponents investigate and denigrate them instead.
• The politicians talk about compromise, cooperation, and eliminating corruption. But their actions are exactly the opposite of their rhetoric.
• We have seen little progress toward securing our borders to eliminate illegal immigration while establishing a sensible program for importing temporary labor. This continues to be a political issue, as opposed to a social problem. Politicians sense that no one comes away from a compromise completely happy. They fear losing votes and financial support resulting from a solution more than they dislike the damage resulting from the status quo.
• "Political correctness" continues to poison our literature, our entertainment, and even our daily actions. People just do not understand that by eliminating or changing a word or other symbol we cannot abolish either a concept or a past event. But they find it easier to "erase" the symbol than to teach people the proper understanding of the concept or the perspective of the event. When you erase the symbol, the concept still exists--it just becomes represented by another symbol. The hard solution is the right one, but we remain too lazy to work it.

But it's not all bad--I just lament the lack of progress on some of my most vexing issues. Bonnie says that I am too cynical, and that I should look on the bright side and talk about happier stuff. So I will do that.

• In spite of the sub-prime mortgage fiasco, and the housing boom and bust, the nation's economy is fairly robust and unemployment is relatively low.
• From I-phones to HDTV to X-boxes, we have more technological advances and high--tech toys than our grandfathers ever dreamed of. I don't use many myself, but many people are enjoying them.
• My personal life continues to be as positive and rewarding as I can make it. I made significant progress on the plans for a convention of the American Political Items Collectors in Las Vegas in August, 2008. And, my own campaign collection has seen modest gains.
• Despite the demise of Tower Records, I have added some excellent classical CDs to my collection, giving me many hours of listening enjoyment.
• My renewed interest in the ukulele has brought me some pleasure, probably not as much for Bonnie. I added about a dozen songs to my repertoire.
• My part-time teaching job has enabled me to enrich the knowledge and values of hundreds of young children. And it has added some really fine acquaintances to my network.
• Although we blew right through our initial budget, Bonnie and I are pleased with the results so far in the redecoration of our living room and dining room. We are about 80% done, and we like it every bit as much as we hoped to.
• Bonnie and I and the two shar peis are all enjoying reasonably good health. We have begun to adjust to a more healthy diet, and have shed more than a few excess pounds.
• Thanks to the computer and the internet I have been able to maintain contact with many long-term friends, and to make some valuable additions to that network. We mostly swap humorous emails, but we also exchange ideas and information.
• Bonnie and I are fortunate to live close to both of our daughters and their husbands. To see their happiness and success is a source of joy to us.

So, I continue to make the most of the things that I can control. And for those things beyond my control, I will use the blog as my soap box. Maybe in a small way I can encourage somebody to take some steps in the right direction. Besides my own visits, the blog has experienced well over a thousand hits. It must be very boring, or a lot of readers share my views, because I have only received a couple of comments against over 100 postings.