The Invisible Elephant

I just listened to the Democratic debate in Iowa. While I like the candidates, they, just like their Republican counterparts, and the journalists questioning them, are all ignoring the mammoth invisible elephant. Sure, we want a lot of things, but how are we going to pay for them? We can't pay for what we are doing now! We have become the world's largest debtor nation, our excesse being financed by foreigners. Thirty years ago we were told that the federal debt and deficit spending didn't really matter because we "owed it to ourselves."

That has long since ceased to be true. We are mortgaging our present and our future and risking our way of life by spending beyond our means, and far beyond our willingness to actually pay for it. I think too many Americans think Uncle Sam has deep pockets lined with excess cash he can just throw at anything we decide we want. Wake up! He not only doesn't have cash in those pockets, the only way he gets any is from our taxes or borrowing from China, Saudi Arabia, Japan, and the like. We are like children who don't see why our parents can't buy everything we ask for. We don't see the consequences of our unwillingness to pay our own way.

Our federal government is like a family spending it's way into bankruptcy, paying the mininum due on a raft of credit cards, juggling the debt and spending more and more, but no one in the family is willing to cough up something to pay down the principal, or refuse to spend more. And the Republican "religion" that taxes should be cut is crazy. Like the family saying, well, we have all this debt, but let's take a salary cut and make it even harder to pay our bills. (Yes, I know, they think it will stimulate the economy and bring in more taxes, but where's the proof? Faith is not enough.)

The current financial industry and housing market meltdown is part of the same foolish psychology -- unregulated companies loan too much money to people who can't pay it back. Greed is great until they start to feel the pinch - and then ask Uncle Sam to help out. Who is more foolish? The lenders? The people who spend more than they can pay? Our government doing the same? It's a country and society-wide illness. We all need a 12-step program for overspenders!

There are many deserving programs that we would like to have, but it's time for an across the board evaluation of what the basic needs are, not the extras we would like to have. It's time to figure out how we are going to really pay for the things that matter most and admit to ourselves we can't have it all.

And let's stop pretending "welfare" is a bad word if the government is going to hand out corporate welfare in the billions. Go back to some reasonable regulation and make corporations behave in a fiscally responsible manner so we don't have to bail them out -- with Chinese dollars.

Are any of the candidates on either side courageous enough to tell the truth about this? Or are they all just going to keep promising more and more that we can't pay for?

The Assault on Reason by Al Gore

The Assault on Reason by Al Gore should be required reading. This passionate account of the assault on our constitutional freedoms and the lack of informed citizen participation in our democracy is moving, critical, and compelling. If you care about America, if you care about the Constitution, if you care about where our country is headed, read this book. Don't take the freedoms you have for granted, and call your government to account. And use the internet for more than surfing and buying stuff. Stand up for net neutrality and preserve and help to shape the internet as a tool for democracy and good government.

Photo of the Day - Pink Bouganvillea

Having flowers all year around is a joy, but I was surprised to discovered a difference in the seasons even in southern Florida. This year brought a profusion of blooms in the spring which has continued all summer.

Be Careful What You Wish For

They say be careful what you wish for -- you might get it. I'm finding new ways to understand that saying. For instance, I never thought I would spend hours of my life picking up little white stones and throwing them back into landscaping beds. No, I didn't wish for that, but I did wish for a nice house in a warm climate, and having achieved that, what came along with it was nice landscaping, with little white pebbles in the beds all around the house.

It never occurred to me that they wouldn't stay put! However, two things keep encouraging them to jump the dividers and end up in the grass (or sand, depending upon whether we have succeeded in coaxing any grass to grow in a particular location). Fir most likely cause is my husband dragging around a heavy rubber hose to water with, and dragging it through the beds and pulling the stones off with him. The second is an incredible downpour, the likes of which we had last night.

And that occasioned water high enough to come into the low windows on our sun porch and cause a flood on the carpet, necessitating dismantling two bookshelves and then digging in one such "popcorn bed" to try to make a better channel for said water to escape. And picking up MORE little smooth white pebbles and tossing them back into the beds.

Yes, I like my house. But I had no idea it would mean I'd become a pebble picker.

Photo of the Day - Red Double Hibiscus

Flowers seem to have endless variety and beauty, and light from behind adds more nuances.

Save the Internet - Maintain Net Neutrality

The internet has proven to be a fertile ground for the citizens of the world, allowing freedom of speech and a place to start even the smallest of businesses. We have all been vastly enriched by the information and opportunities available, from communications to news to online shopping.

One of the prime reasons of the success of the internet is this openness and opportunity. We don't allow telephone companies to determine who we can call or what we can talk about with them, so why should we let our government allow ISPs to determine what content we can offer or access online and make the internet an instrument of big business? Don't let Congress destroy freedom of speech and access on the internet!

Don't confuse a "free internet" for free internet SERVICE. We all pay for internet access through networks. BUT, the INFORMATION available should be unfettered. Big business should not be able to co-opt the internet and use it for themselves alone. They have plenty of opportunities to use it and profit from it without destroying what has been so successful.

Don't kill off freedom, or the goose that keeps laying more golden eggs. Let Congress know how you feel before they vote. Let them know before June 15. Check the Sites for Curious Minds Links on the right column for more information.

Photo of the Day - White Peony

What lush, glorious flowers peonies are. When they grew in our garden in Kansas, the blooms were so large the stocks could barely hold them. The air was fragrant with their scent. Ants love them, so they aren't the best flowers to bring inside, despite their beauty and perfume, but they are gorgeous to photograph.

Thoughts on Rain

It's been a long drought. I don't think we've had any rain since March. We've been spared the fires in Georgia, northern Florida, and California, but several days the air has been thick with smoke that has blown south to us. Even the weather is relative. There can be too much of a good thing. We've had comfortable, beautiful weather, but our plants and water supplies are suffering.

So, here came Tropical Storm Barry, ironically right on schedule the first day of hurricane season, and brought us the perfect, gentle, many-hour rain. Some places got the downpour and flooded streets, but we were the grateful recipients of the best rainfall. We hope the fires have been quenched and the overworked firefighters will at last get a rest.

People greeted each other with thanks for the rain instead of complaints about it.

Maybe in a month, when we have the daily downpours and have to rush to shut down and unplug our computers to be safe from the lightning strikes, when we have hurricane warnings, we'll be less enthused about rain, but for today, we are thankful.

Photo of the Day - Palm Flowers

Until I lived in tropical environments, I never thought about palm trees and plants flowering, yet they have interesting blooms. They are usually long feathery-looking tassles, and they can make quite a mess when they fall. Some are very long and sweeping. I've seen some three feet long. This is a smaller variety. I've also learned there are many species of palm, and I have no idea what they all are. They do produce seeds (fruit), and I've lived with coconut palms. More on those another time. None of the palms I have now has edible fruit, that I know of.

Photo of the Day - Bottlebrush Flowers

The variety of forms of flowers is astounding. Some don't even look like what I grew up with thinking of as flowers. The bottlebrush tree has brilliant red flowers that truly do look like a bottle brush.