Helping the Homeless

I've talked with people lately about Nickelsville and the homeless and whether we should support them or not. A lot of times I hear this, "Well it's ok for the people who are there because they can't help it, the economy or whatever, they totally deserve to be helped. But, there are so many people out there who choose to live like this." So, I guess it's ok if you're homeless because you can't help it, then it's ok to pity you and help you, but if you're just lazy or a drunk or whatever I'll judge you to be, you can just sit on the curb and freeze and starve. I'm not sure how I feel about this. I mean I get that logic in one sense, some people do "choose" to live a homeless lifestyle. But not all of them. So how do we pick and choose which people to help and which ones to tell to bugger off? I dunno, but I think you can't go wrong with helping everybody. If that makes me a naive chump, then so be it.

Snow!!

As we are dealing with the start of "Snowpocalypse 2010", I hear a lot of people complaining about the mayor and how everything is his fault. I can't help but come up with a list of things that significantly impacted this storm, that the mayor had nothing to do with. They include:

*Not listening to the warnings a week in advance and putting snow tires on your car, and carrying chains in your trunk.

*Driving your car too fast in the snow.

*Hitting the breaks too quickly in the snow and not giving yourself enough space from the car in front of you.

*Leaving your car in the middle of the freeway.

*Insisting on driving to work when everybody in the local media is urging people to take the bus.

I'm sure there are actually many more things that people are doing that aren't due to the mayor...

Grandpa Del

To my Grandpa Del,

I never knew you, but I would have loved to. I wish you could have told me about your war days in the Pacific. I wish I could have heard your voice. I wish I could have felt you hug me. I miss having you in my life. It's not fair that you were taken before I had a chance to know you, but that's the way it is. Tomorrow is Veteran's Day, and I will be thinking of you. Thank you for the sacrifices you made for this country, your family, and me. Even though you returned alive, you did not return untouched by war. All who fight are changed, and yet you went anyway. Thank you and I love you.

-Your granddaughter Summer

Capitalism in America, is it really Working?

This week I had a moment of realization that our nation's economy is built up, and dependent on the concept of people spending beyond their means. Getting loans from financial institution that they are now having to walk away from because the economy is so bad. Now that the economy is stalled, people are getting their acts together and beginning to live within their means. But that also means they're not out getting loans to stimulate the economy. So the economy remains as bad as ever. What will eventually happen is people's confidence will grow, and then they'll get the loans and go about living beyond their means again. And thus the cycle will begin again. Are these occasional crashes and restarts just a part of the Capitalism life-cycle? Is it the price we must pay to live the way we do? And what is the alternative? What happens if people everywhere continued to live within their means. To make do with less? What happens to capitalism and the American way of life then? Can it evolve beyond it? Can it even survive? Or is this just a horrible mess we're forced to continue to live in forever and ever amen?