Grateful Dead

Very interesting set of viewpoints... I am not sure who I am voting for (Michigan primary 1-15-08), but I am sure not voting for Hillary Clinton. I have been told that I am not listening to her viewpoint OR she is a woman, Are you afraid of her becoming President? The answer to both are no, I am listening and that is why she will not get my vote. She has made many promises and kept zero. She has changed her mind at the last minute on multiple topics, never to apologize, only to abondon the folks she strung along. I am not hear to bash her, there are enough web pages to do that... I just wanted to add my 2 cents - btw... I love that about the Dead community - I can say what I want and will always be considered part of the 'family'. In response to jobs moving overseas… I think that this is actually a good thing, BUT we need to educate ourselves for the new wave of high tech jobs coming our way. A good book on the matter is The World Is Flat (Friedman). In response to enabling the poor… Give a man a fish and after he eats half, he will throw the other half away. Teach a man to fish and after he eats half a fish, he will remember the effort involved with ‘earning’ the fish and figure out a way to preserve it for later… Me Everyone needs help sometimes... I remember a friend once told me that they had been on tour for some time and had run out of money - They went to the Spaghetti truck guy (GD Parking lot - show unknown) after not eating for a few days and asked him if he could spare a plate for them to share - The guy hooked them up with all that they could eat. I know that this does not go along with my adage above, but I thought it was a good story. I may vote for CCj, but maybe for Mike Lookinland. He is Bobby Brady from the Brady Buch TV Show. I met him at a show (Buffalo 199x, I think)... Although, I did not beleive him when he told me who he was. Then I was watching a show (Where are they now) about kid actors from the day, when there he was on TV and said that he had followed the Dead for some time following his acting career. So Mike may get my vote - If nothing more than an apology for not beleiving you. I beleive you now!

Ron Paul. and, here's an interesting take on the ol' quote- "It is not the person who votes that counts, it is the person who counts the vote." (supposedlyattributed to Jos. Stalin)... HOW TO HACK AN LHS VOTE MACHINE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiiaBqwqkXs =================== moc.swencigolyzzuf.www ===================

I like the mix of the serious analysis and the zany on this topic here. I have a lot (too much probably) to say on both levels but not tonight. I just took an amazing tour of the only distillery in the State of Washington and along with others asked a ton of questions after we sampled the gin and vodka. Very tasty. Just opened this fall. Called Dry Fly Distilling. Time to smile and listen to some Grateful Dead. If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite. William Blake

Provide them with the tools to improve their own lives, and a meaningful reason to use them. Enable their ability to participate and remove incentives to fail. Please don't get me wrong, I'm not interested in blaming the economically challenged for their condition, and I'm certainly not here as an apologist for the likes of Cheney and his Hallliburton pals. As far as I'm concerned, they really ought to be strung up by their thumbs. And Ken Lay got off easy dying before he spent a day in prison. I was hoping he'd live to be 100 in someplace more live Leavenworth than Allenwood. He would have made the perfect poster boy for why you don't screw people over. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that for me it's about personal freedom through individual empowerment and personal responsibility. Corporations, in and of themselves can actually do nothing. They require managers to make them act, and those managers, unlike the corporations, are actual living, breathing people who do need to be personally taken to task when they behave badly. Just like welfare cheats. I am certainly not a fan of the amount of spending undertaken by the US government, and the portion of that spending on all things military is without question excessively disproportionate to the need. Transforming assets into things you intend to destroy makes little economic sense to begin with. I'm familiar with Ike's speech, and concur wholeheartedly. Unfortunately, given the current state of thinking among some of the occupants of the world, a certain amount of military spending is going to be unavoidable. On rare occasions, there are even socially worthwhile side effects to that spending. This medium that we're using to communicate with was once called the arpanet, named for the agency that funded its creation, along with far more nefarious things like laser guided bombs and ICBMs. There's good and bad in everything. I never meant to imply that social service and support systems should be dismantled, but I do think that it's reasonable to see if we can't find ways to make them work more effectively so that we all get more of a bang for our collective buck, and that those of us who are currently disenfranchised are less likely to remain so. Conversation is always more interesting than recitation, so speak your mind and not someone else's.

I love the "soft support" line... "All energy flows according to the whims of the Great Magnet. What a fool I was to defy him."

does Bill secretly hate Hillary? whatever. but I think he LOVES the idea of a longer Clinton legacy in the White House more than anything, that and the fact that she would make history by being the first woman. If Hillary is the rock, Monica was in a hard place. ( -; ok, I will not start with the cigar jokes. but back on OUR topic, I would like to ask gypsysoul to be my 'Co-President' in the formerly known as the White House; future Tie Dye House. no VICES here. ( -: peace.

John Kerry endorsed Obama over his 2004 running mate Edwards..... Didn't Bill & Hillary Clinton endorse Kerry in 2004? I think Bill secretly despises Hillary and the Democrats will politely start to distance themselves from Hillary and side with Barack. Poor Bill is between a rock and a hard place. Also nice to see my union, the SEIU is stepping up to the plate as well as the Culinary Workers Union to endorse Obama.

(GR stands and applauds) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eisenhower#Post-presidency On January 17, 1961, Eisenhower gave his final televised Address to the Nation from the Oval Office.[22] In his farewell speech to the nation, Eisenhower raised the issue of the Cold War and role of the U.S. armed forces. He described the Cold War saying: "We face a hostile ideology global in scope, atheistic in character, ruthless in purpose and insidious in method..." and warned about what he saw as unjustified government spending proposals and continued with a warning that "we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex... Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together." This from a 5 star General that became President of the United States. Wow... "All energy flows according to the whims of the Great Magnet. What a fool I was to defy him."

Any system will be exploited by some people; cheating on welfare, fiddling tax returns, stealing pension funds, breaking into concerts without tickets! That does not necessarily mean that the system should be scrapped or is necessarily wrong. The problem we have is that making any system perfect costs too much in terms of cash and loss of individual freedom. But it’s always the poor who get the blame! If you are worried about your tax dollars being misused then why not look at what you are paying to sustain the industrial-military complex that runs our societies! I would suggest that for every dollar misappropriated by the poor, a thousand are stolen from you by the rich. But since everyone wants to be rich and successful, the sins of the wealthy are forgiven quicker than those of the poor! Back to the jokes I think.

I think another way of assessing Steve-O's frustration goes like this: Social systems that help people up to self-sufficiency are good and worthwhile investments that benefit everyone. Social systems that keep people down by enabling dependence are bad investments that ultimately benefit no one. There needs to be an element of personal incentive left in these programs, so that they can provide a path to help people get on track, but not provide enough to keep them on track in and of themselves. Oh, and Barbara? You got $1500 AND you got to go to Stanford? Congratulations, you're a very lucky person. That's a much better deal than I ever got, and I'm glad to see that the $1500 investment in you that we all contributed to is paying off. Conversation is always more interesting than recitation, so speak your mind and not someone else's.