"Trick or Treat?” When is Enough is Enough is Enough, People?

“Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble. - Macbeth

Here “we the people” are pushing for, hoping for –and perhaps even VOTING for "CHANGE" in the forthcoming election (just 4 short days away) and our current President, who enjoys an approval rating of roughly 27% (and for whom this is obviously of no consequence) is now going for that one last push, that one last “bend over” that aims to weaken even more government rules currently protecting consumers and the environment.

Why aren’t we out there in the streets YELLING at the top our lungs–“No More Deregulation... We’re Mad as Hell and We’re Not Going to Take it Anymore!?” As I recall, some years back we participated in helping coin Daddy Bush's “no more taxes!”

According to an article in today's Washington Post:

“the new rules would be among the most controversial deregulatory steps of the Bush era and could be difficult for his successor to undo. Some would ease or lift constraints on private industry, including power plants, mines and farms.” These rules would, in effect, “help clear obstacles to some commercial ocean-fishing activities, ease controls on emissions of pollutants that contribute to global warming, relax drinking-water standards and lift a key restriction on mountaintop coal mining.”

Is this the “trick” or the “treat”?

Didn’t “we the taxpayers” (yes, there will ALWAYS be taxes), a silent majority, just allow our Congress to dole out some $750 billion+ dollars to bailout Wall Street (with no oversight!)? Didn't we just agree to ensure that its senior level executives get their due, namely bonuses and pensions -- the result of this administrations previous deregulation? The WSJ reports that after all “the big boys owe their executives more than $40 billion for deferred compensation and pensions.”

But no matter, we’re too focused on the election and concerned about potentially losing our homes and jobs (and/or looking for new ones), gas and food prices as we continually drift along the way, saying nothing!

Why should we care that the party isn’t really over?

There are at least 90 new regulations (or tricks) hoping to get pushed through and apparently nine of them are "economically significant." They will reportedly “impose costs or promote societal benefits that exceed $100 million annually. They include new rules governing employees who take family- and medical-related leaves, new standards for preventing or containing oil spills, and a simplified process for settling real estate transactions.”

According to the WP article, “On the afternoon of Bush's inauguration, Jan. 20, 2001, his chief of staff issued a government-wide memo that blocked the completion or implementation of regulations drafted in the waning days of the Clinton administration that had not yet taken legal effect.”

Riddle Me This:

How do we currently define democracy, through the lens of the American domestic and foreign policies that have been (and are still being implemented) over the last eight years?

Our efforts at protecting our civil rights and the environment are continually being hindered and scaled back. Can we really afford to allow ourselves to be so lightly dismissed? and this country's poorest (and of late not so poor) people to be continually crippled?

Doesn't it it anyway distress us that our voices are not being heard and attended to, but 'straight up' ignored? Or perhaps it is rather that we do not even have a voice, a choice anymore in this "great" country of ours?

While the country is focused on the outcome of the election, the Bush administration is out “Trick” or “Treating.”

"Country First," right?"

Who is getting the “Treat,” and who is accepting the“Trick?”

Obama's "Yes We Can!"

How many of you can remember as a child and maybe even now as mature adults, reading that great motivator of a book, The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper?

I can remember reading, and rereading it for myself (and to my daughters) because afterwards it made me feel as though I really could do anything if I tried hard enough and believed I could. “I think I can,” “I think I can.”

It occurred to me recently that in many ways, Obama’s central campaign slogan, “Yes We Can” is a sort of metaphor for that same little engine.

He represents and promotes the value of hard work and belief in our ability—as a nation—to create “CHANGE.” Like this children’s tale, which in some way is also a metaphor for the American Dream, Obama inspires us to once again believe in that dream; “America,” he tells us, “we are better than this.”

We all marvel at the success of this man’s campaign. He has proven his ability to keep climbing in the polls, surviving the McCain/Palin Mountains of suspicion and bigotry. His success shows us that his engine can, so far, do it. Survive it. Make it.

At this moment in our history, we find ourselves looking at the current turmoil in the U.S. economy where “we” are losing our jobs and our homes, "we" are paying more for food and fuel than ever, and "we" are still fighting and losing lives in what appears to be a war without end. And “we” acknowledge that "we" need to believe in that dream of change more than ever because all our lives, on some level have been affected.

Barak Obama, says to us "to the American people, to Democrats and Republicans and Independents across this great land -- enough! ...This moment, this election, is our chance to keep, in the 21st century, the American promise alive."

And now, Obama’s Engine That Could is scaling and on the precipice of –in just five days– the highest mountain yet. Through his noble-like eloquence, his knowledge and compassion, his language, and his belief in us, ALL of us, Obama brings us hope, and he brings us optimism for a better future. For the first time, in quite some time, here is a presidential candidate who actually emboldens us to be better, stronger and to stand up and challenge the status quo of the last 8 years. 

"Something better awaits us, if we have the courage to reach for it...we are one nation, we are one

people and our time for CHANGE has come " --Barak Obama

Can he triumph? Can he do it?

“I-think-I-can, I think I can”...

Can “We the people in order to form a more perfect union” do it?

Yes We Can!

Introduction

"As there are many wise things that have led to great foolishness, so there are many foolish things that have led
to great wisdom." -- Montesquieu

Hi and welcome to 'Riddle Me This..."

I decided to start this blog because I have often been described as one of those people that 'the most amazing things' seem to happen to --things worth noting because they may be out of the norm, i.e., fun, fortunate, crazy, wild, or simply incredulous. And then there are times when I might just feel the urge to muse on some subject or another.

Or...it could simply be start of a dialogue on life and the fun and out of the ordinary events and things that happen, or can happen while just living with and among other "humans." Life is so unpredictable and that's the beauty of it.

I often describe life to family, friends, and associates as ever flowing, ever evolving like the ocean. It is wonderous when you imagine it in that context. Each day when you awake, when you start your day, you expect that there will be new experiences, new thoughts, and events and that by days end, you will have somehow changed - or something will have.

We really are 'little Michaelangos' sculpting ourselves and our lives through our thoughts, our desires, and our intentions. We mold the clay that is or becomes our realities.

LIfe happens. Notice it.

I like to think I am like a surfer riding the waves and as one friend told me, "just ride the wave Karen and eventually you'll wind up at the beach!"

I hope you will enjoy my musings and that you will let me know what you think with a "funny" "interesting" or "cool" vote.

Ya'll come back now ya' hear?"

--Karen