Third World Country

I am sad to say that much of what I see and hear on the evening news these days leads me to think that America is rapidly becoming a third world country. From our inability to produce educated children capable of competing for jobs requiring the slightest intelligence to our inability to deliver basic health services we have already become a third world country.

Our children are dumb in increasing numbers. Look around you, you will see them everywhere, every race and creed, they are dumb and getting dumber. Just ask a cashier to make change without the cash register telling them how much......

Our teachers are incapable of teaching. Many teachers are inneffective because of their inability to see the changes in their students and adapt, others that have tried to change their methods to adapt and have been thwarted by over regulation of the educational system.

When we let the government measure the effectiveness of our educational system, our educational system will become as ineffective as our government. It already has! Look around, and ask for change next time you're at McDonalds.

Our politicians tell us we are a compassionate country. Look around, how much compassion is there in making 80 year olds stand in line for hours for a flu shot? It happened here! Do we deny a cancer patient a life saving treatment? It happens daily here. Look around, listen to your fellow citizens, where is the compassion?

There is none. None from the corporations that make their money providing health care, none from our government officials sitting idly by watching the commoditization of saving lives, none from our fellow citizens who can afford to be healthy and look at the poor and infirmed and say, "I did it on my own, they should be able to also". We are a very selfish society, and we are paying the price.

I hear many of our NPR compassionate liberals blaming it all on George the Second. He is just a symptom, not the cause. The majority of our fellow citizens voted for him and his team. The majority of our fellow citizens are comfortable with the policies of this political team. The majority of our fellow citizens have the attitude of this political team; "Do it my way or get out of the way."

Not all is lost, there are some fine folks providing services to our society. The problem is that we take these folks for granted and their numbers are dwindling. They are giving up in large numbers. The need for their compassion is overwhelming because so many of us lack any compassion at all.

Each day from now on I am going to find one thing positive in the society I interact with and one thing that needs changing. I'll let you know what I find here in my ramblings. Maybe by looking at my world more closely I can understand it better and find the good and perhaps even clarify what needs changing. Maybe I will even find something I can do something about, stay tuned.

Life is good!

I know, it's a cliche but what the heck, if life is good, why not say it? Ok, Life IS good, right now anyway, and why shouldn't it be, it's raining again. Hey, at least it's not snowing, I do still hate winter.

April is ending and the grass is green and the air temperature is above freezing and the frost is gone and the leaves are coming and the grass needs mowing and the women are wearing shorts and halters......LIFE is GOOD.

More later, maybe.

Back Again

I'm back, it's a new year, the Red Sox are now at Spring Training, we had 10 inches of snow last night and I still hate Winter.

I took a little trip through Blogland today to see what other folks are doing. It turns out there are some very funny people out there and I enjoyed the trip. If Douglas Adams stops by, I already thanked him for the fish.

The end of life as I know it.

OK, so what do I do now? The Red Sox won it all and my life as a Red Sox fan is over. No longer can I say "Wait till next year" because this is the next year I've been waiting for. I suffer no longer, Hell must surely have frozen over last night.

Did anyone notice that the last out of the World Series was made by number 3, The Babe's number? Also, after the last out, Johhny Damon Number 19 was hugging Gabe Kappler Number 18. And you thought the eclpse of the moon was eerie.

Anyway, I enjoyed the series and am now a Red Sox fan without a complaint.......What now?

They Won

I am amazed, they won. Not only that but they won early so I didn't have to sit there with my stomach in knots the whole night. On to the World Series now! This is a good year to be a Boston sports fan.

Ok, so now you know a little about me. I am a sports fan in general and a Boston team sports fan in particular. I'm not sure what a blog is supposed to be about but perhaps it is to give me a little better perspective on who I am? I guess since I don't expect anyone will ever read this, I might as well write for myself. It's good practice anyway.

Here is a good exercise. I will describe what I see from where I am now typing: I am at a kitchen island, on my laptop running a wireless connection to the Internet. The island is strewn with papers, news, junk mail and ads from the newspaper. There is an old Watt apple bowl on the table with Bannanas in it. If you don't know what a Watt apple bowl is, go to ebay and try to buy one, they are old and expensive if in good condition.

I am facing a 3 season porch that can be seen through French doors. There's a nice old white wicker set on the far end of the porch near the back wall slider that leads to the yard. to the left of the wicker is a 4 seater hot tub, gurgling now, keeping the water warm. there is a small wooden ladder and a spa pillow with a weight attached beckoning for someone to enter the warm swirling waters.

Beyond the slider in back of the wicker is the yard, the evergreens stand out now against the pale foliage of the meadow behind them. I see the swamp maple red leaves of fall beyond and to the left, the red is now a dull rust color. The Rose of Sharon between the evergreens was once deep green and now is nearly yellow. The leaves cling and swing in the breeze and gently drop one by one.

I see birds, jays mostly, flitting about looking for seeds, the feeder is empty and I suppose they are not happy with me today. The finches have given up on me, the jays have a bit more patience. They are as they sound, demanding and irritating.

There are dishes calling me to wash them from the granite countertops to my front and right. Good thing I never learned to type, I can ignore their call by continuing this diatribe.

Have I told you anything about myself in that description? I think so, what have you learned about me?

I'll write more later, in the mean time.....Theeeeeeeeeee Red Sox Win, Theeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Red Sox Win!!

NHguy is a die hard Sox fan

Does it get any better than this? Game seven, Yanks Sox, this is what a Sox fan lives for. Oh sure, we have memories of Dent, Buckner, Grady and Pedro, but it is true, hope really does spring eternal.

This is my day off, and I am thankful for that. I can listen to WEEI and get psyched for the game. I'll probably be so wound up bu 8:20 this evening I won't be able to sit and watch. The Sox epitomize life as a roller coaster ride of very emotional ups and downs. We have gone from the depths of despair down 3-o to the height of elation at 3-3. That's all meaningless now though, it's one game tonight for all the marbles.

It's another beautiful Fall day here in Southern New Hampshire. Crisp and cool, bright sun making the colors of the leaves vivid. The sun will come up tomorrow, and the leaves will still be beautiful, but the lustre will be diminished just a little if the Yanks move on to the series.

Random Thoughts on a Fall day.

I just stumbled onto this blog feature fooling around on Google. I'm not sure if it will really be a useful tool or not, but I thought I'd just give it a try.

It was a picture perfect Fall day here in the Granite State and the leaves here in Southern New Hampshire where I am are in full color. I took some pictures at a stream near here and when I figure out how to post them, I'll share them, though I am sure that there will be few who will ever stumble across these ramblings.

I am listening to the fading hopes of Red Sox Nation as David Ortiz has just hit a home run to bring our beloved Sox to within one run of the Evil Empire. We are dying a slow death I fear.

Ok, enough for now, I hope to return soon if I can figure out how to access my blog again.