I was born during the "Baby Boom" in the 1950's. I spent my childhood attending public school and learning about the great country of the United States of America.

By the time I was a young adult, along with many others of my age group, I found it necessary to express my beliefs. The kids I had known since first grade were now coming home in body bags from a war that to many of us, seemed illegal and stupid.
I could not understand how, after having to use the atomic bomb, the previous generation could continue making war knowing what the consequences were.
And so we, the next generation, raised our voices in protest as we were taught was our right by the Constitution of our land.

Imagine our surprize when the National Guard was called out to shoot real guns at unarmed college students who were merely exercising their constitutional rights! Imagine our horror when next to no one said a word about the fact that we, the children of America were being jailed and killed for doing nothing more than speaking our truth.

Many people told us we didn't belong here...that if we didn't agree with what was going down, we should leave. We were hated by our own parents, and for what? Not wanting to sacrifice our lives and end up like they did...being miserably unhappy and living a lie.

As a result I think most of my generation went insane. They turned to drugs, or money or died...inside and out. Became what they despised because it was better than being hated, or just withered away and became faceless. We didn't want to die, but either way...going to war, or fighting against it we were doomed to the death penalty because our spirits were crushed. And I don't think we ever recovered. I don't think our country ever recovered from the Kennedy assassination either...but no one ever really looks at what these things did to us. We just keep going and now, we keep our mouths shut and try not to draw too much attention to what we believe, if we believe anything at all anymore.

I find it almost humorous that former VP Dick Cheney is offended by the investigation into his administrations' use of torture and is crying "politics".

To me, this is a moral issue and I find torture to be highly offensive. It is however, not at all surprising to me that Mr. Dick misses the moral imperative of this issue seeing that he appears to have built his own morality code fashioned after another highly offensive government back in the earlier part of the 20th century in Germany.

Since he is so willing to offer his opinion on these things, I figure so should I.

My sister would also like me to impart the message: "Dick Cheney go the &*@#% AWAY! You are irrelevant and your constant presence is offensive to all life on this planet". Thank you BAT.

And thank God for the freedom to call him a malevolent,overbearing fathead.

Original cabin built in the early 1800's. This is now the kitchen. There have been several additions; not the least of which is a large porch off the side of the house. We are surrounded by wood, meadow and stream; with the unfortunate placement of a highway running right by the front of the property. Of course, this does tend to be a necessary part of modern life. Occasionally we'll hear the "clop-clop" of horse shoes and an Amish buggy will drive by. Except for being a main "Hogg" Route between race tracks; one might well imagine being in another century.

My favorite part of being here so far is waking up to find deer grazing in the fields around us, and critters galore going about their morning chores. Everyday is a story involving the family of crows, the two families of deer, the turkey clan, the occasional coyote and today a close encounter with a goshawk. So much wild life presses on me to heal and find the peace in life I need. I want to allow myself to go to that and relax into that natural routine of the sun rising each morning, and quietly setting each night. However, the places in my life once filled with woulds, coulds, shoulds and other such human needs ring so loudly of emptiness right now that the silence is deafening. Large chunks of my very self are missing; gone with those who have passed, that I feel unknown to me.

It's a whole new ball game. There's no lines or designations on the field. There is no rule book. There ain't even a freakin ball. Players keep disappearing leaving me to figure out how to keep the game going without them, and frankly, I don't like it. Whoever thought up these concepts of old age and death was a real shit head in my opinion. But then, no one ever asked my opinion when they were designing life, death, the world and everything. Sigh.

I moved out of my apartment where I was surrounded by an ex-violent felon, an angry lesbian who thought rules were for everyone but her and other assorted loonies who couldn't not keep their own craziness from seeping into my apartment.
I filled out paperwork initiating getting a house through USDA-RD with my sister.
I temporarily moved to Dixon City with my daughter for a couple months where I lost my beloved Pyewacket. I can truly say that my life and my self will never be the same without her.
Then I moved back to Ithaca to care for my Mother, whose health started to fail after the death of Adam.
I was blessed to have had close to six months with her before she was gone too.
In the meantime, the government went to work on my income and decided I didn't need any.
So, my sister and I are actually living in our own house...but I have no Social Security or SSI. Why? No one can explain it...it's just one of those magical things that happens to money when it comes in contact with the gov.
I can't tell you how I'm feeling because I can't get close to that right now...if I did, I'd drown everyone. One foot in front of the other is the only way I know to go...so I'm attempting to do that.
Having a house isn't nearly as wonderful without the dear ones I had always envisioned sharing it with.
Such is life.
It is however, nice to have access to computer again. I almost had to learn how to type all over again.
So, hello out there to everyone~ hope you are all hanging on and getting where you need to be.

Susan

"I'm against the $85,000,000,000.00 bailout of AIG.

Instead, I'm in favor of giving $85,000,000,000 to America in a
We
Deserve It Dividend.

To make the math simple, let's assume there are 200,000,00 0
bonafide
U.S. Citizens 18+.

Our population is about 301,000,000 +/- counting every man,
woman and
child. So 200,000,000 might be a fair stab at adults 18 and up..


So divide 200 million adults 18+ into $85 billon that equals
$425,000.00.

My plan is to give $425,000 to every person 18+ as a We Deserve
It
Dividend.

Of course, it would NOT be tax free.
So let's assume a tax rate of 30%.

Every20individual 18+ has to pay $127,500.00 in taxes.
That sends $25,500,000,000 right back to Uncle Sam.

But it means that every adult 18+ has $297,500.00 in their
pocket.
A husband and wife has $595,000.00.

What would you do with $297,500.00 to $595,000.00 in your
family?
Pay off your mortgage - housing crisis solved.
Repay college loans - what a great boost to new grads Put away
money for
college - it'll be there Save in a bank - create money to loan
to
entrepreneurs.
Buy a new car - create jobs
Invest in the market - capital drives growth Pay for your
parent's
medical insurance - health care improves Enable Deadbeat Dads to
come
clean - or else

Remember this is for every adult U S Citizen 18+ including the
folks
who lost their jobs at Lehman Brothers and every other company
that is
cutting back. And of course, for those serving in our Armed
Forces.

If we're going to re-distribute wealth let's really do
it...instead of
trickling out a puny $1000.00 ( "vote buy" ) economic incentive
that
is
being proposed by one of our candidates for President.

If we're going to do an $85 billion=2 0bailout, let's bail out
every
adult U S Citizen 18+!

As for AIG - liquidate it.
Sell off its parts.
Let American General go back to being American General.
Sell off the real estate.
Let the private sector bargain hunters cut it up and clean it
up.

Here's my rationale. We deserve it and AIG doesn't.

Sure it's a crazy idea that can "never work."

But can you imagine the < I>Coast-To-Coast Block Party!

How do you spell Economic Boom?

I trust my fellow adult Americans to know how to use the $85
Billion We
Deserve It Dividend more than I do the geniuses at AIG or in
Washington
DC .

And remember, The Birk plan only really costs $59.5 Billion
because
$25.5 Billion is returned instantly in taxes to Uncle Sam.

Ahhh...I feel so much better getting that off my chest.

Kindest personal regards,
Birk
T. J. Birkenmeier, A Creative Guy & Citizen of the Republic

PS: Feel free to pass this along to your pals as it's either
good for a
laugh or a tear or a very sobering thought on how to best use
$85
Billion!! "