Signs of the Times:
State lottery ticket sales around the U. S. are setting records. Today's New York Times reports that many state lotteries are experiencing increased sales at folks watch their incomes being eaten away by high energy costs, inflation, and weekly paychecks that stagnated for thirty years.
The numbers racket has always thrived in the poorest neighborhoods where people who see no other way out of their desperate financial situation gamble what little money they have against long shot odds that make a fixed horse race look like a sure bet.
Here's a hint: your odds of winning the state lottery are far worse than any odds Las Vegas will give you. You've got a better chance of winning if you play the slots.
Freedom Is Just another Word:
For your friendly secret police spying on you. That's right, the FBI has been given the legal capacity to spy on you when their is no evidence that you have done anything wrong. Not a problem, right, as long as you never do anything illegal? That's what people thought during the Nixon administration too. (See The New York Times' article on the new Bush executive order increasing the FBI's powers.)
When the Right Hand Doesn't Know Where the Left Hand Is:
Quick! What's the world's biggest suicide bomber?
Answer: The United States.
Staggers the mind, right? We've lived with this fellow for a half century. He calls himself "The Nuclear Umbrella." (Words truly are wonderful.) The nuclear umbrella is the policy of developing a nuclear "defense system," which consists of nuclear weapons sufficient to kill every person on the planet about six times over. As with all suicide bombers, the problem with him is that once you use him you can never use him again. But, oh, the delicious thrill of his threat!
Unfortunately, the armed forces seem to have run into difficulties in controlling this big fellow. Today's New York Times reports on the Air Force's "stewardship of its nuclear arsenal" and "'the lack of unity of command and not having one person or organization accountable for the overall mission'" in Defense Secretary Gates' words. You've heard the term, "loose cannon," right?
Worst case scenario—you won't be around to say, "Ooopsie!" Even a president suffering with Alzheimers understood this.
State lottery ticket sales around the U. S. are setting records. Today's New York Times reports that many state lotteries are experiencing increased sales at folks watch their incomes being eaten away by high energy costs, inflation, and weekly paychecks that stagnated for thirty years.
The numbers racket has always thrived in the poorest neighborhoods where people who see no other way out of their desperate financial situation gamble what little money they have against long shot odds that make a fixed horse race look like a sure bet.
Here's a hint: your odds of winning the state lottery are far worse than any odds Las Vegas will give you. You've got a better chance of winning if you play the slots.
Freedom Is Just another Word:
For your friendly secret police spying on you. That's right, the FBI has been given the legal capacity to spy on you when their is no evidence that you have done anything wrong. Not a problem, right, as long as you never do anything illegal? That's what people thought during the Nixon administration too. (See The New York Times' article on the new Bush executive order increasing the FBI's powers.)
When the Right Hand Doesn't Know Where the Left Hand Is:
Quick! What's the world's biggest suicide bomber?
Answer: The United States.
Staggers the mind, right? We've lived with this fellow for a half century. He calls himself "The Nuclear Umbrella." (Words truly are wonderful.) The nuclear umbrella is the policy of developing a nuclear "defense system," which consists of nuclear weapons sufficient to kill every person on the planet about six times over. As with all suicide bombers, the problem with him is that once you use him you can never use him again. But, oh, the delicious thrill of his threat!
Unfortunately, the armed forces seem to have run into difficulties in controlling this big fellow. Today's New York Times reports on the Air Force's "stewardship of its nuclear arsenal" and "'the lack of unity of command and not having one person or organization accountable for the overall mission'" in Defense Secretary Gates' words. You've heard the term, "loose cannon," right?
Worst case scenario—you won't be around to say, "Ooopsie!" Even a president suffering with Alzheimers understood this.
Labels: Politics, The Economy
posted by Jim | 10:06 AM
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