Tuesday, July 25, 2006

To Everything There is a Season

My 94-year-old grandmother died peacefully in her sleep last night. God was merciful to take her in such a gentle manner, and I know that Grandma was prepared to meet her maker.

The funeral is out of town and I won't be back until Sunday, but I wanted to leave you with a few links I had planned on sharing. The first one is from Think Progress:
Wage stagnation, long the bane of blue-collar workers, is now hitting people with bachelor's degrees for the first time in 30 years. Earnings for workers with four-year degrees fell 5.2% from 2000 to 2004 when adjusted for inflation, according to White House economists.
From Daily Kos comes What Did You Expect, America?
Would you hire a babysitter who hates children and thinks they should be eliminated? Or who declares for years in your hearing that children are irritants who should be starved to be small, unseen and mute?

Would you hire cops who think laws are stupid and useless and should be abolished?

Would you hire a conductor for your orchestra who believes music itself an abomination?

Then why would you hire - and you did hire them, America; they are your employees, after all, not your rulers, despite their grandiose pretensions - members of a political party who think government is useless, ineffective, bloated and untrustworthy?

[...] If you put people in charge of running a project they are ideologically committed to proving a failure, it will fail.
Take a couple of minutes and read the whole thing.

Finally, the next few links relate to Amway, Dick DeVos and his ideology. Even if you don't live in Michigan, they're worth reading because the rumor is that DeVos wants to use the governorship of Michigan as a springboard to the White House. (DeVos is even further to the right than Bush.)

Amway Exposed, Part One: The Profitability of Amway

Amway Exposed, Part Two: The "Tools" Scam

Why bother reading about Amway? A comment from Pohlitics sums it up well:
When you get down to brass tacks, the whole Amway universe works like this: wealthy elites exploit the poor with the false hope of achieving the "American dream" in order to enrich themselves.

As DeVos sees things, this is simply the AMerican WAY, and it's what he envisions for our state government. DeVos and his extreme right-wing bretheren want to build a society where the underclass works tirelessly to make the rich richer, and they view government as a tool that can be wielded to make this perverse dream a reality.

I just can't imagine how anyone who knows anything about how Amway really makes its money (or doesn't stand to be enriched by a Michigan plutocracy) could cast a vote for Dick DeVos.
Finally, click on the Dateline investigation link in this post from Pohlitics and keep his words in mind:
As you watch, just remember that the guy who ran this company wants to run our state government. Be afraid.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry to hear about your grandmother, Kathy. That's never easy. Good luck with the funeral this week.

-Zack

Lew Scannon said...

It's sad to hear about your grandmother's passing.It's as important to celebrate her life as well as mourn her passing. 94 years is a long time.All the advances she must have witnessed is incomprehensible to even those in our age bracket who have seen a lot (Remember rotary phones?).
But it's also sad that we have people like Dick DeVos who want to roll back all the social advances we've made in the last century so they can live like the robber barons of old.

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry to hear of your grandmother's passing, Kathy. We'll be praying for her, for you, and for your family.

Unknown said...

Sorryto hear of your loss. Our prayers are with you.

Mark Prime (tpm/Confession Zero) said...

If you put people in charge of running a project they are ideologically committed to proving a failure, it will fail.

Smack! Perfection!

May your grandmother rest in peace my friend.

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry for your loss, Kathy.

enigma4ever said...

Thank you for the wonderful links...and news from the North...

so sorry about your grandmother..
namaste and many prayers your way...

Graeme said...

may your Grandmother Rest in Peace.

Kathy said...

Thank you all for your kind words and condolences.

Lew, I do remember rotary phones, and I recently wished I still had one during a power outage. New isn't always better!

Enigma, thank you for your prayers. Namaste.