Different Slants

I got a call yesterday from the DNC asking for a contribution. I said no and explained why.

Nearly every communication I have receive from the Democratic party since the last election has begun by reminding me how bad the Republicans are. Half of what the Democrats are doing in Congress, it seems, is only an exercise in making the Republicans look bad. I think the Republicans are doing a fine job of making themselves look bad. They don’t need any help from the Democrats.

This is 2007. It may be hard to tell but, it is not an election year. It is time to stop campaigning and start solving the nations problems. We still have to find a way out of Iraq. Our educational system is not competitive. Health care is broken. Social Security is headed for a train wreck. Both parties, and part of the problem is we effectively have only two, need to stop their bickering and get to work.

Since the one thing both parties seem to pay the most attention to is campaign money, I am withholding my contributions to the DNC until I see the party start to live up to their promise of changing the tone in Congress. I have always withheld money from the Republicans so I can’t really change do much there.

Yesterday I attended an engineering conference in Santa Clara, California called MemCon. One of the speakers was from the Consumer Electronics Association. During his talk he described all the electronic gadgets he carries with him everywhere. These included multiple cell phones, computers, MP3 players, GPS navigation devices, battery charges, and believe it or not, even more. He also mentioned the licenses expired on all the rented music he had on one of his iPods in the middle of his flight from DC to San Francisco, tragically turning the device into a rock for the rest of the flight and forcing him to seek other amusement.

This got me thinking about the need some people have to be either connected or entertained. While I fully understand the utility people engaged in certain occupations find in things like cell phones and laptop computers, I see many other examples of people who seem to be addicted to distraction. The speaker said, “You can never be too entertained”. I disagree. (Read on …)

I invite all of North America to come and see me read my story titled: “The Thousand Dollar Bill” from my 3rd book, titled Saul Bellow,Kosher Pickles and the Aluminum Fortress.

It will be on July 26th, 2007, Thursday at 8 pm

My web page is www.fightingwordspubco.com.

Is a great story of an individual standing up for himself and up to one of the largest educational instutions in the United States.

The place is The Comedy Shrine, 22 East Chicago Ave. suite 205 Naperville, Illinois 60540 Phone: (630) 355–2844

There will be no charge for this performance.

If people are pleaed by what they hear, and see, the theater owner, David Sinker may have me as a regular performer, but you’d have to buy tickets if that happens. Sorry.

If any of you reading this are able to come, bring a friend, especially one who had trouble paying their tuition, once upon a time.

Thank you,

Trojan Duck? Amphibious Assault Vehicle? You tell us. Look out! There may be a very large child lurking about somewhere.

The highest priority role of the U.S. federal government should be defense. We could have a very long debate indeed on the difference between defense and military adventurism but, we won’t. Not here. Not now. Maybe later.

The second highest priority should be education. In the U.S., the job of education falls to the states. Thats a good idea except it is not working for most of the nation. Some of the states have created good universities but, we have to look to other countries to find students qualified to attend them. Although we still have many of the top universities in the world, our K-12 educational system is continuing it long decline.

So why is this important? (Read on …)