Homework for November

2008 ELECTION HOMEWORK

Do you read? Blogs are suspect—some great, some terrible, most inane. Newspapers and television focus on entertainment rather than information. The truth only comes out when government officials retire or quit the government and write a book. If they told the truth while working for the government, they would end up in prison. If reporters told the truth they would be fired. Check with Dan Rather.
Once Bush is out of office, and his appointees are out in the cold, the books will be coming at us like hornets from a nest. Best guess—nine out of ten not kind to an ex-president. In the meantime, there are plenty of hornets already in the real world ready to sting you. If you want to know the truth about the Bush administration, instead of constant propaganda from the White House or certain radio talk shows, here are only a few starting points from the last seven years.

Clarke, Richard A., “Against All Enemies: Inside America’s War on Terror.” Clarke is one of the best; impeccable credentials.
Conason, Joe, “Big Lies: The Right-Wing Propaganda Machine and How It Distorts the Truth.” make no mistake, believing the Right-Wing hype is dangerous to your health, your family, and your country.
Corn, David, “The Lies of Geeorge W. Bush: Mastering the Politics of Deception.” a major queston, why have reporters been reluctant to report Bush lies?
Dean, John W., “Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush.” Dean, a Republican, worked for Nixon. Most knowledgeable.
Dionne, Jr., E.J., “Stand Up Fight Back.” a superb critique of our politics in 2004; probably true today. Check it out.
Goodman, Amy and David, “The Exception to the Rulers: Exposing Oily Politicians, War Profiteers, and the Media That Loved Them.” an important forum for people around the world engaged in social justice.
Hedges, Chris, “American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America.” the bigotry, fanaticism, and deeply unChristian ideology that pose danger to our fragile republic (Oprah magazine).
Lewis, Charles, “The Buying of the President: 2004.” From the Center for Public Integrity. Bankrolling and expectations.
Phillips, Kevin, “American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politcs of Deceit in the House of Bush.” demolishing the self-interestedness of politicians.
Wilson, Valerie Plame, “Fair Game: My Life As a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House.” another expose of how the White House will do anything to protect itself.
Woodward, Bob, “Shadow: Five Presidents and the Legacy of Watergate.” Woodward had the protective self-interest desire to keep the door open to the White House chambers, so he took it easy on the president. Still!

Books with lots of truths but slightly more political:
Begala Paul, “It’s Still the Ecoonomy, Stupid: George W. Bush, the GOP’s CEO. How our president trashed our economy.
Franken, Al, “Lies: And the Liars Who Tell Them.” A fair and balanced look at the Right.
Franken, Al, “Rush Limbaugh Is A Big Fat Idiot: And Other Observations.” There are millions in this country who listen to no one but Limbaugh.
Franken, Al, “The Truth.” With more truth than you might think.
Moore, Michael, “Dude, Where’s My Country.” Truth and humor.
Moore, Michael, “Stupid White Men.” And other sorry excuses for the State of the Nation.

Books about America: (with two key sources)
Cole, David, “Enemy Aliens:Double Standards and Constitutional Freedoms in the War on Terrorism.” Cole is one of the country’s great legal voices for civil liberties.
Howard, Phillip K., “The Death of Common Sense: How Law is Suffocating America.” Howard is trying to drive us all sane. Tough job.
Jenkins, Henry, “Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide.” insights into an unforeseen future. 2006.
(key) Johnston, David Cay, “Free Lunch.” how the weathiest Americans enrich themselves with your money, and take away your money.
(key) Wolf, Naomi, “The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot.” one very tough book; a citizen’s call to action Will it fall on deaf ears?

Books about women in the Middle East—the real picture:
Ali, Ayaan Hirsi, “Infidel.” Life threatened because of her criticisms of Islam.
Bin Ladin, Carmen, “Inside the Kingdom: My Life in Saudi Arabia.” Carmen married a brother, with deep regrets.
Mahmoody, Betty, “Not Without My Daughter.” A journey back to sanity; also the excellent movie with Sally Fields.

Films……..
“An Inconvenient Truth: A Global Warning,” by Al Gore. An award winning film which focuses on our lives becoming part of the solution for Global Warming.
March 21, 2008
Bill Moyers interviews former talk show host Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro on the true cost of war and their documentary, BODY OF WAR, depicting the moving story of one veteran dealing with the aftermath of war. With extensive excerpts from the film, the filmmakers talk about Iraq war veteran Tomas Young who was shot and paralyzed less than a week into his tour of duty. Three years in the making, BODY OF WAR tells the poignant tale of the young man’s journey from joining the service after 9/11 to fight in Afghanistan, to living with devastating wounds after being deployed to Iraq instead.
“Crimes Against Humanity: The Bush Record.” a documentary of the five indictments brought by the iInternational Commission of Inquiry into the crimes against humanity of the Bush administration.
“Orwell Rolls In His Grave.” explores the one thing the media doesn’t like to talk about—itself.
Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism.” Pushing a Right- Wing agenda.
“Uncovered: The War On Iraq” uncovers the truth about the Iraq War.
“Why We Fight,” a film portraying how we have become a nation of war; a seemingly unstoppable industrial military complex about which outgoing President Eisenhower warned us in 1961. Can you help stop it?

from a concerned art teacher. No math or science needed. j.

Heads In the Sand

I Can’t See. My Head Is In The Sand

No war bonds. No children taking money to school for war stamps. No necessary coupons for meat, or coffee, or sugar, or gasoline. No shortages of anything. No draft for compulsory service in the Army. But, we have been at our president’s war for over five years.
Four thousand service women and men dead and perhaps 100,000 wounded or disabled in some way, and most of us continue to act as if nothing has happened; nothing is going on to interrupt our middle class adventure to buy the latest digital toys or 50 inch TV.
We’re not interested in the war. War doesn’t effect us. Little or no interest in the trillion dollars being spent on a war that never should have happened. Little interest in a crumbling infrastructure. Little or no interest in how corporations and lobbyists are now in charge of the country. Little interest in how our veterans are being treated. Little interest in the crumpling of the dollar or the increasingly thunderous recession or the unbelievable increasing debt we are leaving our children and grandchildren.
We are interested in inane talk shows, golf tournaments, the Super Bowl, and the Big Dance. We demand unimportant news because important news would be bothersome and demand thinking. President Bush would get upset if we started to think.
You like toys. We should be able to buy toys for our kids, right? Okay, why does the United States remain one of the few developed countries to allow children to play with toys that contain toxic chemicals? The toys in question contain substances called phthalates (pronounced "thal-ates"). While the European Union has banned these substances in products meant for children, there is powerful resistance from the chemical and toy industries to doing the same here. Big surprise! Last year, San Francisco became the first U.S. city to ban phthalates in toys. The toy and chemical industries sued the city to block implementation, claiming there's not enough evidence to warrant any action. A similar ban is set to take effect throughout the state of California in 2009.
Investigative Journalist Mark Schapiro, author of "Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What's at Stake for American Power," tells PBS, NOW, "By refusing to close the loopholes in EPA laws that regulate chemicals in toys (and other products), the U.S. government is jeopardizing our health, alienating us from the global market, and erasing our role as a world leader in environmental protection."
Here’s a kicker. The FDA administrator spun like a top when questioned about toxic chemicals in toys. Buh, buh, buh! She represented the Bush administration very well. But here’s another kicker. China makes most of the toys for both the European Union and the U.S. China toy manufacturers have created two systems for making toys. One system creates toys for the European countries, WITHOUT toxic materials of any kind, and the other creates toys for the U.S. with toxic chemicals.
Nicholas D. Kristof, columnist, put his finger on another topic and another kicker: “The bill we are accumulating for the Iraq War amounts to almost $5,000. every SECOND”!!!!!! This is the first major war in American history where the cost is being paid for by borrowing. Professor Stiglitz, Nobel Prize winning economist, calculated that the eventual total cost of the war will be about $3 trillion. For a family of five, that amounts to owing a bill of almost $50,000. Do you feel you are getting your money’s worth?

Here’s more kickers…….
The income of the highest-paid military contractor CEO (Robert stevens, Lockheed Martin): $24, 399,747.00.
Average income of CEOs at top 30 military contractors: $9,095,756.00
Average income of an Army private in combat: $25,942.00

The war to date, not counting indirect costs, equals $522.5 billion.
The cost of the war to date just for Cleveland: $479.2 million. Which equals or would have bought for the people in Cleveland: ALL of the following:
$43.6 million: 48,784 homes with renewable electricity.
$43.6 million: 24,772 children with health care.
$43.6 million: 14,601 people with healthcare.
$43.6 million: 6,726 Head Start places for children.
$43.6 million: 5,390 scholarships for university students.
$43.6 million: 1,045 public safety officers.
$43.6 million: 899 port container inspectors.
$43.6 million: 740 elementary school teachers (public schools).
$43.6 million: 667 music and art teachers (public schools).
$43.6 million: 406 affordable housing units.
$44.6 million: 4 new public elementary schools.
Median household income in Cleveland, 2006: $26,500.00

WAR? WAR?......WHAT WAR?

WAR? WAR?.........WHAT WAR?

Dr. John M. Hicks

During World War II, I was a kid living in a St. Louis working class neighborhood. Our playtime was not really effected by the war that much, but we felt it because of our contact with the adult world. There were four of us in my family; my brother was ten years younger so he was out of the games and play circle but definitely in the family circle.

I remember walking with my Mom to the little grocery story near our house. She had a few ration stamps for food. The enclosed meat counter had empty trays but there was a tray of brains. We had them for supper on occasion but they were not too popular. Meat was scarce but some bacon could be seen on occasion. Vegetables were not abundant either. Gardens were in the backyards all over town during the summer. People had to can food in those days. In season, apples usually were available but oranges were worth their weight in gold and we were lucky to find one pineapple for the winter holidays. Coffee and sugar ‘were’ gold if you could find them. That day, the grocer put an extra potato in a sack and smiled.

Shoes were rationed also. Kids walking around with bacon rind in the bottom of their shoes was not unusual. Soles wore out and holes appeared from nowhere. Fortunately, bacon rind was about as tough as nails. Driving a car was the ultimate luxury during this war. Dad found that you couldn’t drive without gasoline. Tires were practically extent. By the end of the war, everyone not connected to the war effort was driving around on cords and smooth rubber—if they had a gasoline ration stamp and could find a filling station that still had gasoline.

For all the scarity of products, few people complained. War bond rallies were the norm. Everyone was encouraged to buy war bonds, and they did. Children took coins to school to buy war stamps. The folks at home were more than ready to give up some of their wants, needs and dreams just to help the war effort. And they did.

Oh, yes! In case you haven’t noticed, we’re in another war. It has lasted more than four years. Almost four thousand service men and women have been killed and over twenty thousand wounded. A rehabilitation center has been created in Texas so that all those with arms and legs blown off can be brought back into somekind of normal life for themselves and their families. Normal life? There has been no change in the normal life of most of us today as was the case in W.W. II. War? What war?

I went to a local grocery store today. The produce section is full. It’s always full. Shelves are stocked constantly and if you can’t find what you want in fresh produce, try the frozen food section. We have a choice of cheese from thirty countries. The purchase of wine continues to increase and much of it comes from other countries. Meats and fish are in abundance—every day. We have so many cereals on the market that young children, and their moms, can’t keep up with all the new options.

During the “old” war, wives sometimes had a hard time finding food to prepare and put on the table. Now they don’t have to prepare anything. Frozen foods and ready-to-eat foods are stocked in the stores to the ceiling. We have deli’s which have a hundred choices of “good stuff.” In 1944, nothing was ‘thrown away.’ Left overs, were for the dog or cat. Now, throw aways are a way of life. Repair shops are long gone. War? What war?

Speaking of good stuff, more and more people are going out to eat. In W.W. II, dining out was for a celebration of one kind or another. Now that we have an overabundance of food in the grocery stores, we dine out often. The milk goes sour at home while we indulge at the local restaurante.

During W.W. II, few homes were being built. Materials went to war, you know. These past four years, home building has been a marvelous experience for construction workers. Not just little two-bedroom homes built after W.W. II, but big jobs with thousands of square feet. We don’t need all those building materials in this war. Ironically, all these new and very large homes for sale have gigantic kitchens. One wonders why. War? What war?

Fitness centers are increasing their membership. One of the big outfits in Iowa has increased membership and is building a new facility. People are going to these centers at all hours of the day—in their SUVs. Not too many service men or women who have been wounded in battle are joining. They are rehabilitating instead.

Speaking of cars. After four years of war, we have all the gasoline we want and there are plenty of new tires. Auto sales include almost 25% for SUVs. Small cars can be seen but they tend to be old and rusty. The situation seems to fit into the theme of the movie, “Who Killed The Electric Cars?” Advice? Don’t see the movie if you’re middle class. It’ll make you angry.

We should be concerned, now that we have been in a major war for so long, about where all that money is coming from for people to buy these 30 thousand dollar automobiles. Why aren’t we putting that money into savings bonds to help pay for the war. The savings bonds from W.W. II really came in handy later when products came back on the market and houses finally were being built again. Isn’t that silly?

Today, we get more war news than we can handle from television and a host of other media sources. For us, however, opinions are not life or death. We just go on with our normal existence, using lots of energy, eating more than we need and having a fun time while soldiers die or are wounded.

You may not have noticed but the newspapers reported, January 30th, that world travel was up 4.5% in 2006. We’re supposed to be in a “War on Terror” but cruise ships continue to be built, each bigger than the last. American’s love their cruises. They love to go to Mecca, too. Mecca? That’s the glitter capital of the world—located in Nevada, of course. Phoenix, Biloxi, and Ft. Myers continue to increase their share of “snow birds.” There was no such thing as a snow bird during the 1940s. War? What war?

I realize that comparing 1944 to 2007 is on a ‘who cares’ level. What’s the point? The point is that we are NOT at war. President Bush and his close friends are playing ego games called, “Let’s Go To War!” and “We Get The Oil!” He is sharing his war games with all our soldiers and marines. He thinks the armed forces are his. He has taken over the state national guards as well. He loves to send national guard soldiers over to Iraq time and time again. He is having so much fun while the rest of us don’t seem to care. Unless you are a family of a soldier killed fighting the war for President Bush.

In W.W. II we had a draft. There is a very good reason why we don’t have a draft today. A draft would wake us up from our deep sleep. We might have to give up our saturated grocery stores and our SUVs. Fitness Centers would go out of business and running shoes would have to last longer. The last thing President Bush wants is to wake up the American public. And, of course, the American public doesn’t want to wake up. Are you kidding?

The leaders in World War II had a plan. The leaders in this conflict knew Iraq would be a cinch but the planning stopped well before that “Mission Accomplished” banner was raised. There were fraud and waste in the big war but they were miniscule compared to this one. Many billions of dollars have been wasted by Congress and the White House during the past five years but the public doesn’t seem to mind. Those billions could have been spent on health care, education and the environment but the public is having too much fun to pay attention. Do you suppose the public will ever wake up? Probably not. Even with Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” still going on, life is just too wonderful. War? What war?

537 56th Street
Des Moines, IA 50312-2016
1.515.279.9918

Culture As Game

CULTURE AS GAME

I just finished Henry Jenkins' new book, “Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide.” Jenkins has received many acccolades and even a book award for this challenging look at today's world. He has been called the 21st century McLuhan. John Seely Brown, formerly of Xerox, has said he could not put the book down. I think the book is important but Brown must be a glutton for punishment. My read picked up on an important gap or two, which is why I am responding.

Let's start with a definition. “Convergence represents a paradigm shift-a move from medium-specific content toward content that flows across multiple media channels, toward the increased interdependence of communications systems, toward multiple ways of accessing media content, and toward ever more complex relations between top-down corporate media and bottom-up participatory culture.” That's a mouthful. It may mean much more consumer involvement with decisions, choices and collaboration.

BBC is ahead of its American counterparts when it comes to recognizing the contemporary world of communication. Ashley Highfield, director of BBC New Media & Technology explained the growing impact of top-down, bottom-up convergence. “Future TV may be unrecognizable from today, defined not just by linear TV channels, packaged and scheduled by television executives, but instead will resemble more of a kaleidoscope, thousands of streams of content, some indistinguishable as actual channels. These streams will mix together broadcasters'content and programs, and our viewer's contributions. At the simplest level-audiences will want to organize and reorganize content the way they want it. They'll add comments to our programs, vote on them, and generally mess about with them.” And audiences will want to create these streams from scratch-and they will.

Jenkins declared that “Writing this book has been challenging because everything seems to be changing at once and there is no vantage point that takes me above the fray.”

That's for sure. Not even the experts can keep up with media/communication changes. New systems such as U-tube or “In-your-face “or new gadgets such as Iphone had not received attention at that time.

All of us are impacted by convergence but Jenkin's book focuses on a minority culture. Minority, in this context, means those television and video game junkies who, as they work together, are labeled as “fandoms” or fan communities. Jenkins spends an entire chapter on Survivor, the 'astonishingly' popular, highly rated CBS TV show. The show was shared and then “collective intelligence” took over as viewers took the productions apart--playing games with each other and the producers.

Then we have a chapter titled, “Buying Into American Idol: How We Are Being Sold on Reality Television.” Reality television is the ultimate absurdity (probably not-more to come). There are realities out there in the real world similar to the show, but they would never be on television. Maybe a news item after the fact. Out of 300 million, what is the number of fans who are having fun playing games with one another because of Survivor or American Idol? We have 300 million people in this country, most of whom could care less about either program. They involve themselves in other knowledge communities, some with convergence, many without.

Much space is given to The Matrix and its sequels. “If Casablanca exemplifies the classical cult movie, one might see The Matrix as emblematic of the the cult movie in convergence culture.”
How about a brand as propaganda and entertainment? “Coca-cola sees itself less as a soft drink bottler and more as an entertainment company that actively shapes as well as sponsors sporting events, concerts, movies and television series.” The hypsters (announcers) and ads have become more important than the game. Kevin Roberts, the CEO Worldwide of Saatch & Saatchi is quoted, “the future of consumer relations lie with 'lovemarks' that are more powerful than 'brands.'” “Roberts urges marketers to develop multisensory (and multimedia) experiences that create more vivid impressions and to tap the power of stories to shape consumer identifications.” We should not forget religion as entertainment. Lovemarks and multisensory experience with God sounds like a mega-church entertainment system.

One of the good and important aspects of Jenkins' book is Chapter Five, “Why Heather Can Write: Media Literacy.” Every educator teaching writing and English should read this chapter if no other. In this day and age when politicians are clamoring (sort-of) for a competetive education system, this is shake-up material. I warn you, however, that testing, or NCLB, is not the focus.

Jenkins gets into “The New Relationship Between Politics and Popular Culture” in Chapter Six. We are seeing the relationship increase as the primaries unfold for the 2008 elections. Good topic-comparison of old media to narrowcast and grassroots. We've seen it with “young people getting information from the digital/electronic world instead of mainline media. A curious point, however, since mainline media is now entertainment. Take a look at the majority of CNN shows or Larry King shows and you'll see what I mean.

Jenkins finally eludes to Mr. and Mrs. Average at the end of Chapter Three. “Some readers may be shaking their heads in total skepticism.” He goes on to say that people may not have time to dive into convergence and be creative-takes too much effort. We poor simple souls do not want to expand our comprehension and creativity. Jenkins implies that we're dumb if we choose to watch one show just to relax.

Finally, let's be critical. We have thousands of television programs and movies which are made simple and stereotypical because the majority of Americans want simplicity. The majority would rather not have to think. They want to see pretty faces yakking at one another, a good looking cook talk about her recipe of the day, or reporters ignoring the world condition. They put up with convergence when they need to because they can't help it. Besides, tell me what's wrong with simplicity? We need simplicity to relax and help maintain sanity.

Jenkins talks about convergence of communication as something greatly to be desired. He does not focus on the fact that communication convergence can be used by the bad guys equally as well as the good guys. He practically ignores how convergence can better the world by improving our ability to combat global warming, or improving the environment, our energy problems, our poverty-and all the rest of our world problems. Playing games is much more important.

I think the word “aesthetics” was mentioned once. Tell me how the betterment of society occurs when two teenagers spend hours combating one another in an electronic war. How are young children helped to become useful citizens when they jump up and down for an hour trying to get more points than their competitor? Jenkins said, “Popular culture may be preparing the way for a more meaningful public culture.” I would suggest that popular culture may be paving the way for much less meaningful culture. Take a look at the changes in our popular culture these past two decades. Ouch! How is our society helped when children and adults look for soundbytes of information through emotion rather than taking time to rationalize-anything. Fans! How many fans are fans because they have littlle or no self-identity other than the necessity for latching on to a movie, a television show or a football team for identity. During the Iowa caucus, I had a nice conversation with an upper middle class person who had no idea for whom to vote because a soundbyte life didn't permit taking time to read about the candidates.

I think Jenkins' book is an important look at what is happening world-wide regarding communication. He needs to write another book about why his first book will be read by only a few and why it doesn't help understanding and creativity for the majority, who could care less about convergence.

A Conversation

Every since George W. was thrown into the White House, the public has been bombarded with religion vibrations and initiatives. Lots of attention, especially from “born-agains.” What is most amazing to me is the numbers of religious experts out there in the real world telling us what is right and true and not one of them knows what he, or she, is talking about. They make it up based on their touches with the past. But there is no doubt, they do believe. For some reason, they want everyone else to be convinced that their beliefs are right and true. Many of them shout and wave their hands a lot. Many of them have talked to God directly. “God told me to do this,” or “God said, ‘You must help those infidels before they go to hell.’” Things like that.

I was wondering why certain people had all the glory when, suddenly, I heard a Voice. “What?,” I asked. “Take it easy,” the Voice boomed. As I looked around, the Voice remarked,”Look, I’m God and I needed a break. You can understand.” Raising my eyebrows and with a questioning, scared look in my eyes, I wondered why He was taking a break with me. He didn’t respond. I finally drummed up enough courage and said, “Okay, but since you’re here, how about a question or two?” Long pause! “Why not,” He answered. “Okay, here goes. There are millions of your worshipers who believe evolution is wrong and the Bible is correct. Since you created evolution as well as the Word in the Bible, what do you think about that?” God told me that he regretted creating the evolution of humans the way he did. I asked why.

He said,”I didn’t put enough emphasis on “humble” and love. Followers say they love and worship Jesus and then turn around and hate their neighbors and start one war after another. I believed a little greed tossed into the pot would keep people from an over emphasis of thoughtfulness, but support, compassion and love increasingly have been left out. Not a good idea. Those greedy ones tried to hide their sin by creating such terms as ‘compassionate conservative’ and ‘privatization.’”

“Humans just didn’t turn out the way I planned,” he said quietly. “The thousands of different religions is a bit much based on my original intent. One power grab after another creating one conflict after another was beyond my imagination,” He continued, “Everybody thinks their religion is right, and everyone else’s religion is wrong, because some so-called, self-appointed leader tells them so. That never was my intent.” “Can you do something,” I asked. “It’s too late.” He said. “People have to kick themselves to do the right thing.”

I mentioned that the Bible and Koran seemed to be causing all kinds of problems. How could that have happened? God’s response was, “You’re right. The intent was to provide a general array of wise choices along with some history. People were to understand right from wrong and they were to choose wise choices rather than not-so-wise choices. What seems to have happened is that too many religious leaders pick and choose what they want members to know and believe—often the wrong choices. Once again, it’s a power thing. I didn’t do a very good job subduing the desire to have power and greed. Besides that, I can’t believe there are those preaching that religion is all about wealth.” That’s more than weird if they believe in Jesus.”

I said, “Prayer seems to be big in the minds of most people. It’s my observation that prayers don’t seem to work very well. God responded, “Prayers are not supposed to solve problems. They’re to keep people going. I threw “hope” into the pot, too, and it has turned out to be one of my best efforts.”

I got the idea from God that the religion idea was meant to help people get along and to support one another. The basic idea is the same for all religions. If a space alien was to evaluate this human phenomenon, she or he would just shake her or his head and ask, “What’s the problem? They’re all looking toward the same goal.” The problem, obviously, is too much ego, along with greed and the thirst for power.

Going back to this Bush era, it would be difficult to believe that “love your neighbor” would ever be a priority. I doubt if the simplistic American-cowboy mentality in this country will let it happen. I said, “With 50% of the entire national budget going to the Pentagon and military spending, there is little chance for peace in the world.” God replied, “Yes, and with global warming, the situation on earth is dire, indeed.” His last words were, “Still! Don’t give up on humans yet. They have the ability to do the right thing to save themselves, but the way it’s going, the odds are not good. Help them out if you can.”

This is ridiculous, I thought, who does he think I am, George Burns?

I shook my head slightly, and ended the conversation with a “thumbs up.” For some reason I couldn’t imagine God believing my response was on any gungho, “go get’em,” piece-of-cake level. The situation is kind of like the politician telling the public how great it’s going to be once he is elected. Looks like we’re in deep due-due.

j.