Morning Guide

After a year of extremes, which saw us endure 

a hot summer in 2013 that became an interminable 

winter, 2014 had an extremely short spring. 

That turned into a summer that is flying past; July will 

be one of the coolest on record and, as we ease 

into August, the area has seen near daily thunderstorms

as the West Coast endures drought conditions

for the third year in a row. There's something wrong

here; while weather cycles are to be expected,

at least a portion of the problem is due to man's

selfishness, his narrow expectations that the basic needs

will be satisfied at the turn of a faucet.

And in Detroit ... by the end of the summer, 

the municipal utility is expected to shut off water

supplies to roughly 150,000 residents,

over 20% of the city's diminishing 700,000 population.

Telling people to "just pay their water bill,"

the utility is threatening 38% of a population that is 

living below the poverty line, underemployed, unemployed,

and trapped in what is becoming "an urban desert."

Increasingly, as those who pay for and control

the Congress sip their triple-filtered bottled water,

scenarios such as these will become common.

With cutbacks and laws weighted towards the

wealthy and their interests, they will one day

wonder why the masses are at the gates.

In spite of the fact that they enjoy privileges

bestowed upon them by their massive pocketbooks,

one day, the people who toil in the shadows

of the corporate boardrooms won't be there

to kiss their masters' asses. Instead, they will be 

in the streets looking for water.

Of course, one can't think along these lines without

considering the old saw attributed to

Marie Antoinette, "Let them eat cake."

There's another to be considered --

When the Nazis came for the communists, I remained silent; 

I was not a communist.

When they locked up the socialists, I remained silent; 

I was not a socialist.

When they came for the trade unionists, I did not speak out; 

I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews, I remained silent;

 I wasn’t a Jew.

When they came for me, 

there was no one left to speak out.

~Pastor Martin Niemöller

No Bed of Flowers

I generally keep my camera aimed at "pretty pictures."

I avoid taking pictures of people both because of my reluctance 

to approach people and for personal safety - 

you'd be surprised how many people 

seem to think the cops are watching my blog 

for glimpses of wanted felons (them!).

While always present, scenes such as that above

seem to be more common than in the past. 

While I sat on a bench waiting for the bus, 

I stared straight ahead at the "pretty picture," 

while the sad situation above unfolded just to my right.

God only knows from where he'd come.

He couldn't even say himself, although a band on

his wrist made it seem likely he'd been

to either Eskenazi Health or the VA Hospital.

A policeman was summoned and, as kindly as his

uniform would allow, he tried to get the man

to move away, without success. 

As my bus pulled away from the curb, I heard

sirens approaching, signifying an ambulance or, 

more likely, a paddy wagon, that had been summoned 

to take the sad man away.

As the differences between the Have/Have Not 
in our country become more extreme, 

the sheer numbers of people who have nothing to do,

 no place to go become more obvious.
My generation has seen the country's transition 
from a manufacturing society to the computer age, 
relying on "service jobs" (i.e., fast food industry
and hotel maids) to fill the void left by well-paying work. 
This has helped to create a surplus of people
who often have only a marginal connection to
steady employment.
The greed of our corporate masters, with the legal assistance
of Congress, have returned this country to a culture
of rapacious greed unmatched since the days
of Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan, and John Rockefeller.
It took the will of Teddy Roosevelt to bring
them into line, but today's Congress is so tightly
wound, contorted, and entangled with special interest
groups that logical thinking about dire problems
facing our society does not seem to be possible.

We are running out of water, the food supply is at risk.
Our educational system is failing us, meaning that many kids
barely have the skill it takes to press a color picture
on the cash register to ring up our Big Mac purchase.

The state of Indiana has given out so many tax breaks to
businesses *seeking* to do business here that it 
has eroded the tax base. This has led to a shortfall
in that revenue, as well as from the average taxpayer,
because so many of them are either out of work
or employed in such low-paying jobs they
have little or no tax liability.

When I ride the bus to work of a morning,
all I see are people like myself, just trying
to keep roofs over our heads and food
in our kids' stomachs. Most of us are one or
two paychecks from being out on the street,
but we keep slogging away, thinking we'll catch
a break. Some day. But probably not.

The 2% who control the nation's business
don't seem to understand that we are all drinking
from the same well; eventually they will succumb 
 to the same poison they have inflicted
on the general populace.

99% > 1%

An article in the local paper a couple days ago, about the expected turn-out on Saturday for the Occupy Indy event, stated only about 200-300 people were expected. By the time I arrived a bit after 12 noon the numbers were well above that. When we walked towards the Circle, there were over 1,000 frustrated individuals. Not bad for a bunch of people who live in a notoriously "red" state. 

There were people of all ages, all colors, all political persuasions. 

Everyone was polite, everyone was considerate. Everyone was educated. All the speakers were articulate, some a bit "off-topic," one or two were downright stirring. Oh, yeah, and for the person who made aspersions about the "personal hygiene" of the participants, everyone was clean.

What we all had in common was our anger at a government that has allowed itself to be bought off by the banking, investment and insurance industries, among others, at the expense of the people they are intended to represent. 

One speaker mentioned that the framers of the Constitution, however brilliant they may have been, did not address the concept of greed as it never occurred to them it would be a problem; it has been overweening, venal greed that has caused the people in government to legislate in their own interests, rather than those of the nation as a whole.

It is old news that people who are unemployed 
are having difficulty finding a job, 

that those who have a job often find themselves underemployed, 

still unable to meet basic expenses, or that those who are fully employed 

are often required to do the work of two people. It is not one segment of the work force, but nearly everyone across the spectrum 
who feels undervalued, diminished and betrayed   

It is a pernicious situation, no good for anyone in the long run.

Other than for the bottom line of the corporations.

Please excuse me as I am new to this. I did not want to make a long

sermon, but state some of what I heard today.