I will begin my post today with the usual commentary on news and events of interest to me and then a few comments on the family.Yesterday was Easter so to those of you who celebrate this holiday i wish you a happy easter.It is a very important holiday to the christian world,and growing up in a household with a greek orthodox father(not practicing)and a irish catholic mother i did celebrate this holiday as a child.It is difficult to discuss religon and politics without offending folks on one side or the other,but i hope i can keep the discussion civil.I have been watching the developments in Washington with a keen eye towards my states representatives in the house and senate.As the debate over health care reform heats up,the rhetroric on both sides has really gotten rediculous.As the far right of the republican party drags on the rest of the members,bringing them down to a slow crawl in their march toward winning back seats,the other side is not doing that well with their members either. As the media at large mostly focuses on the stuff that sells papers or brings in revenue,the truth sits in the dark recesses of the halls of power.Our system,which is the shining example admired and looked up to by many around the world,is rampantly corrupt by lobbying money that is unchecked now due to the recent Supreme Court decision giving corporations the same rights as citizens.No powerful Senators or Congressmen will propose a law that will negativly affect the very companies that are financing their campains.They like to say there is no "quid pro quo"here,that no one gets favors for contributing money to their campaigns ,but we all know that is a lie.Just look at two very powerful men in charge of committees that oversee the banking and financial markets, Barney Frank and Chris Dodd.These men are responsable for making changes to ensure nothing again ever happens that can bring the world to the brink of financial collapse,and what have they done?NOTHING!They make excuses and continue to accept millions in donations to their campaigns from the companies they are supposed to reign in.How do we the people believe in a government that is so openly and blatently accepting what can really be considered cash bribes from giant corporations with one motivation,keeping profits high and operating costs low.When you look at the donations to campaigns of people like Mr.Dodd and Mr.Frank,you see names like Bank of America and other financial giants at the top of the list.Insurance companies and Banking giants are very wealthy and can spread their money around where ever it will help benefit their bottom line.The money spent on to lobby on behalf of faceless corporations is staggering,and to pretend that it is just "free speech"protected by our founding documents is just offensive.I have blogged alot about the financial crisis and the fallout of it,and i truley believe the people in charge of the committees responsable to ensure future stability and transparancy in the banking system are unreliable untrustworthy and too connected to the system they oversee to change anything.Government officials who accept millions of dollars from these corporations should be ashamed of themselves.All the anger in our country manifesting itself in unruley and sometimes violent outbursts must be redirected to non-violent politically aimed actions to change the way our two party system has failed us.For too long has these two political parties excluded too many independant free thinking citizens to the detrement of our democracy.As a nation i believe it is time for us to come together and correct what is wrong with the way our democracy conducts its business.Constant partisan rancor must give way to civil discussion and real results oriented lawmaking on behalf of the people of this nation.We can no longer sit back and ignore the way Washington in broken unless we want to be known as the generation that oversaw the destruction of the first free and democratic nation on earth.Another financial collapse can only be averted if we collectively reject all incumbant politicians and replace them with new people that are willing to do the peoples business in a fair open and free manner.We must institute an across the board public financing of all national,state and local level political elections to remove the corrupting free flow of corporate financing of elections.There are so many different ways for the market to crash again it would take me hours to attempt to describe them all.The major things that are unsettling about the fact that no real changes have been made to correct the problems that caused our last bubble to burst is that nobody has been held accountable for the collapse.As the situation continues to fall farther and farther into the past,less focus on the causes will develop into another catastrophe in the markets.Anyone who has watched and listened to the experts since the markets collapsed in September of last year knows doing nothing will result in another bubble bursting somewhere in the markets.It doesn't matter if its commercial real estate or morgage backed securities,or unregulated things like credit default swaps and hedge funds,something will cause what they call a "correction"to occur and financial devastation will of course follow closely behind.The folks to bear the brunt of market losses will again be the taxpayers,while when the markets are stable and profits are gained,only the shareholders and employees of the corporations will benefit.I hope this next election will begin a change that will continue to sweep our nation,removing incumbants being the main goal.This is just wishful thinking on my part i know,but it doesn't hurt to wish for a better future for my children.
Speaking of the children,both boys are doing alright,working hard at their studies and helping me around the house.The spring vacation is coming up and i know the kids are expecting to go somewhere fun,but i am not sure if my back can handle anything more than a short car ride.This would limit our choices,but i am doing my best to find a safe fun and affordable place to go.I prefer Florida attractions like disney theme parks,and i know the kids would enjoy them as well.I also look forward to going upn to our summer home on lake ontario,which i posted a picture of,along with a picture of Jeromy fishing on our family fishing boat on sandy pond,where the camp is located.Until next time,thank you for reading. spacewalker
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