March Madness

3/26/11 - Rescuers are struggling to reach thousands of survivors in remote areas of Burma after an earthquake tore up roads and reduced hundreds of homes to rubble, leaving 75 people dead .......

But when I turned on the news yesterday the Chris Brown story lingered, I heard for the 50th time we lost the queen of Hollywood Elizabeth "Diamonds" Taylor, your bracket is busted, we have no exit strategy in Libya, the market is advancing despite global economic chaos, and it is raining again in San Diego.

It is this combination of stories, and the inability of the media, and therefore the masses to prioritize and focus on items of importance vs. opportunities for distraction ....... this is truly March Madness.

Locally at my place of work, they are asking everyone to cut hours and use their sick or vacation time to pay themselves so the company can cut costs during a slow down in sales, teachers in California got notices during Spring Break as to who has a job next year and who doesn't, and Los Lakers look like they have turned on the switch and are ready to defend their title. Which of these is important?

There is some good news: superstar athletes are donating some salary to Japan relief efforts, baseball players in Arizona played an Exhibition Game that will benefit victims of the Tucson shootings, and Barry Bonds has 15 lawyers in the courtroom attempting to puncture holes in the Federal Prosecutors attempt to finally corner him and put him in jail for years of steroid use. If OJ got off, you can bet BB is not going to jail for his bloated head ....... I am waiting for the catchy headline akin to "if the glove don't fit you must acquit." How about, "just cause his balls are shrunk, without no pics this case is bunk."

Americans are all over the map, just the way Ronald Reagan wanted it. A brief look at that clown - B grade actor - President, tells you so much of what has happened since his family finally admitted he had Alzheimer's. (Always wondered when the onset of that disease first took hold?). Reagan has become an icon for current conservatives who do not believe in the real values this country was founded upon. You know, the values stated right there on the plaque on the Statue of Liberty, "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Reagan's "trickle-down economics"—the belief that tax policies that benefit the wealthy will create a "trickle-down" effect to the poor, definitely benefited the wealthy, but ........ his "less-government" intervention views, Reagan cut the budgets of non-military programs, including Medicaid, food stamps, federal education programs, and his administration attempted to purge many people with disabilities from the Social Security disability rolls.

If you weren't there, or don't remember why the Republicans worship him so much, it went something like this. Give people all the personal responsibility; let business owners keep more profits, give everyone credit cards so they can buy what they want with no regulation. They believed "good patriots" will pay back their debit (NOT!) and hold themselves accountable. That did not work the way they planned.

So the lines were crossed by Reagan from Hollywood to the White House and now Americans think Kim Kardashian and Snookie are influential role models. Our leaders are political lifers, doing anything and everything they can to save their job and stay in office. They don't invoke our core values or work to enhance programs that support "original" America's religious freedom and "opportunities for all" ideals. They spout anything that their handlers write for them that is "anti" their opponent.

Most Americans have no clue, personal opinion, original thoughts, or energy for real change, confused and blinded by Fox Noise, bright colored tabloid magazines at the supermarket checkout counter, and even Katie Couric, supposedly carrying the torch handed down by Walter Cronkite, feeds us world events and Charlie Sheen's antics during the same half-hour broadcast.

If you are wondering what the point is of the ramblings of this writer, I have no response. It just bugs the shit out of me and churns my brain all day long. I have to write about it, seek out others who will dialogue about, just to stay sane enough to get a good nights sleep and keep on keeping on. XOQ