Living In This Bogus Reality

The stock market closed above ten thousand today for the first time in years. The Dow Jow Industrials first hit ten thousand in March of 1999, so it has been a long time getting back there. I told you last February to be looking for a bottom. A few weeks ago I said, "I wouldn't want to be the last person to get in on the bull market". Clearly the market has indicated it's going higher. I would say for everyone to buy now. Since this ten thousand mark is a "psychological barrier" we have over come, we will probably shoot up drastically from here, so you better get on board without delay. There is an upside potential of at least forty percent, and that ain't bad. If this post recession follows previous ones, we should be up forty percent in price within the years, and at that time I will re-assess my position. All of the economic indicators are pretty much headed up now. It may not feel like it, but in terms of investment reality we are OUT of the recession. Get used to that reality, no matter how little sense it might make in your personal lives.

California educational scores are among the lowest ever. A few years back California was second worst in standardized tests and only Mississippi was worse. This time fifth and eighth graters took tests and they scored better than Mississippi and the Dictrict of Columbia, and tied a few other states, but are clearly still in the bottom ten alias bottom twenty percent. This isn't healthy. Some say you shouldn't "Teach to the test" but if it wern't for these tests, California students would fare even WORSE. It's no surprizing California students do so bad in light of the things the Governor has done the past few years in terms of vetoing bills and cutting at the very vitals of the educational process. Lately he's almost been bragging that "I'm going to reject every bill that comes to me". His attitude seems to not be too far from "Let them eat cake". But our school children are our future. California used to routinely be number one in education. It was certainly that way all the time I was growing up. These days even faring merely "average" seems to be an alien concept with the Governater.

The media is continuing to slant things way to the right as far as health care bill coverage is concerned. This bill is the only bill of the five to come out of congress that does not contain a Public Option. Yet it appears to be the one bill that President Obama has given his personal backing to. The republicans are still living in dream land talking about how the democrats want "single payer". Perhaps they figure they can scare people into voting against this current bill merely on roomer, not expecting anybody to actually read the bill. I can't fathom a congressman being that stupid, but these days, who knows? Hypothetically this bill will be merged with the bill to come out of the Senate health comittee and then the resultant bill will go to conference committee once the house consolidates their three more liberal bills, Why do I have the lingering feeling those other bills will meet a sudden death somewhere mysteriously, as in a dark alley? It used to be for a fillibuster you actually had to be on the floor debating, and if you "yield the floor" according to the Jimmy Stewart movie, then you lose your chance and the debate is ended. If only that happened in real life! This is a bogus, bullshit political reality we live in today.

Today has not been a good day for me. I didn't mind waking up to rain. Rain is nice. But there was a power failure in the night and all my fifteen FM and six AM radio stations went out and I had to re-tune them and lock them in. Google Earth was acting squerelly. It kept going to a galaxy I didn't want to go to. None of the planets would work, along with the sun and moon. It didn't matter if anything and everything under the sun was checked, nothing worked. As you know someone stole a new package of boxer shorts a few weeks ago. Today another pair was missing from the laundry. The TV didn't go on for 25 minutes this afternoon and I missed valuable "soap time". This problem with the TV used to be evident only on very cold mornings like last winter. But today was not a cold day. Eventually I imagine the TV will be unusable. Of course I was also criticized for "complaining so much". And I said to the individual "Name a day other than just now when I last complained". Of course the price of cigarettes has gone up two dollars in the past year, yet they have told us there will be no Social Security increase this year, not that I would get it anyhow. In short, along with lingering dental worries, the future for me personally looks pretty bleak. As Christians we are supposed to "Dwell in the consciousness of the love of the Lord". I'll try and remember that. I know that 29 year old woman with the two daughters forcibly conceived and born in captivity who was abducted at age eleven from her home, has "risen above her problems" in a most amazing way. I can't believe how "happy" they all seem. A few years in captivity I'd have been looking for a Jack Kavorkian type in some dark alley, or the Salem waterfront. But a lot of people do amazing things that are beyond my capabilities. If I see someone do a tripple flip off a 200 foot rocky cliff into the ocean should I "try it till I succeed?" What about the Arctic tern. These birds migrage every year from the north to the south pole. Can you imagine what it was like for the very first tern that conceived this idea? He could think back and say "Well my father failed, and my grandfather failed, but perhaps I will succeed". Oh, that's right. Those birds never got the chance to live long enough to reproduce. There goes that theory. Some people overcome amazing disadvantages in life. But I'm not then and beating myself up - that I can't duplicate their efforts- - would be pointless.