Post Full Of Distractions—Giving The People What They Want
Here is a post full of distractions. In America we like distractions to take us away from the fact that we are a second-world nation in decline.
It is easier to be distracted than to take part in politics and in public affairs.
I want to give the people what they want.
The text in the post is for people who want a distraction from the distractions.
Above is a running donkey. Sometimes you run and run in life, and yet it feels that you have not made much progress.
It might also be said that the donkey symbolizes the Democratic Party.
We vote for Democrats year after year, and yet we do not appear to be moving ahead.
At the same time, our Republican Party has gone far-right crazy.
Like in Egypt and in Wisconsin, everyday people will have to do the hard work of freedom.
Below is the spinning Earth. We are all sisters and brothers on the spinning Earth.
Don’t be fooled by folks who tell you immigrants are trouble or Muslims are bad.
That kind of talk is just a distraction.
Below is a house being built.
You don’t see that much anymore.
Next is a pink heart and gay pride symbol indicating my support for gay marriage.
We should let people be with the people they want to be with in this brief life.
Gay marriage harms nobody.
Here we have a boat and a bridge. Regular readers of this blog will know I like water and boats.
We can stay the course even when there is an obstacle ahead.
Below is Franklin D. Roosevelt. F.D.R was a great President who helped bring us Social Security.
Your belief in so-called limited government will be of cold comfort when you are old and broke.
You are crazy if you think the private sector will help you get by when you are old.
Finally, we have a tree with one remaining falling leaf.
Life ends with death. But then there is renewal.
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Welcome To Texas Liberal
Texas Liberal is a blog of politics and political history.
My name is Neil Aquino. Here is my profile.
I can be reached at naa618@att.net.
Additional focuses of the blog are books, art, poetry, personal relationships and, also, sea life and marine mammals.
( The picture above is of the Houston Ship Channel. A narrow channel can lead to a wide sea.)
The signature post of this blog is the Martin Luther King Reading & Reference List. This list is the best of it’s kind on the web.
Another good post is my reciting the words to the Shaker hymn Simple Gifts on Galveston Island, Texas as a ship passes behind.
I live in Houston, Texas and I do sometimes write about political issues in Houston and in Texas.
I also often write about my former hometown of Cincinnati, and about the great beach city of Galveston, Texas.
I define liberalism as a role for government in the economy to help make life more fair, and a broad acceptance of people regardless of who they are.
This is why it says “All People Matter” at the top of the blog.
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Texas Liberal began regular posting on July 25, 2006.
I also blog at the Houston Chronicle as one of eight featured political bloggers, and on Where’s The Outrage? which posts out of North Carolina.
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Texas Liberal 
They may be “distractions” but they give a lot to think to everyone ! Great blog, thank you.
Thanks for the kind words.
Um, I think I just had a seizure.
Good points, though. And of course trivial (non)issues (flag burning, terror mosques, Obama’s religion) are used specifically to drum up support while distracting from vastly more important concerns. As in:
American People: “Hey, uh, where are the jobs? And why is the economy in the shitter?”
GOP: “OMGZ – QUICK, LOOK, A MUSLIM!!!”
Hmmm…..I feel a smartass blog post coming on…
Hey, who cares if our country is going to hell in a handbasket? We need more Snookie antics. Ugh.
Thanks for all these kind comments.
Runawaylawyer–Thanks for being here. I’ll check out your blog.
Your belief in so-called limited government will be of cold comfort when you are old and broke.
I expect continue to confiscate money from me when I am old and wealthy, so that it may be given to your readers, whom you sadly assume will inevitably be poor.
Matt—No. I think that many hard working people will not earn enough wages along the way to put away enough for retirement. The story below suggests this to be true. And it assumes a rate of pay more than many people make.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10017/1028629-435.stm
Thanks for your comments here.
Slevin’s analysis is simply wrong, which tends to be the case when you have an organizational-behavior prof crunching your numbers for you. He didn’t compound the returns, for crying out loud!
When that error is corrected, Slevin’s hypothetical worker retires with $110,000 per year, forever, and is still able to leave the entire principal balance (some $2.2 million) to his children.
Hmm. My paltry investments have this thing in its literature that says “Past performance is no guarantee of future results.” You can even lose your principal.
I’m pretty sure I’ll be dead way before I need it anyway. And my nieces will have candy money. 🙂
Matt–I don’t know exactly what you do for a living. I hope you are successful and make a good salary. But very many hard-working folks in this country lack the money for a good retirement. They do not have the resources to invest now for what will happen much later. To paraphrase what they said about Senator Goldwater in 1964—In your heart you know I’m right.
Matt–I don’t know exactly what you do for a living.
I’m an auditor.
I hope you are successful and make a good salary.
I do.
But very many hard-working folks in this country lack the money for a good retirement. They do not have the resources to invest now for what will happen much later.
What if they had an immediate raise of, say, 12.4 percent?
To paraphrase what they said about Senator Goldwater in 1964—In your heart you know I’m right.
You’re right about what? You cited a back-of-the-envelope study with mathematical errors that invalidate it. You’ve not addressed those at all — do you understand them?
I’ll tell you what–You find a way to get folks a raise of anything approaching 12.4% raise in this society and we’ll talk. See if you can get them 40 hours of work a week as well.
I wasn’t sure whether you’d recognize 12.4% as the combined FICA contribution for employers and employees. I guess not.
It was clear enough you’d used that number for a reason. Your sole point seems to be to score points and not address the basic issue here—A lifetime of hard work in America offers no promise of a decent retirement. That is the issue here. Not you playing a game of gotcha.
Your sole point seems to be to score points and not address the basic issue here—A lifetime of hard work in America offers no promise of a decent retirement.
I’m addressing the point. Workers are stuck with artificially depressed wages so that the government may operate an unsustainable pension plan with staggeringly low returns. I think that’s a bad idea.
As a side tip, being more difficult to get helps protect against the gotcha stuff.
Your every comment is a gotcha. I’m just the transmission line here for your dialogue with yourself.
like the house flash, reminds me of lego’s.
I think magic sparkle pony was born with a silver &^%$ in his mouth!