I have come to a conclusion of sorts that helps me to maintain sanity. I hold fast and celebrate the good wherever it may be but the balance must weigh the wrong as well.

When the United States, my beloved country, has about 4% of the world's population and almost twenty-five percent of the world's prisoners, sister, there is a problem, a huge problem that has wiped the smile right off my face.

I started publicly humiliating the Kern law enforcement community back in December of this year regarding their role in the so-called "drug war" by questioning them as to why they weren't catching the major players after a 4 decades long "investigation."

Lo and behold, their response to my humiliating them has been to cut a few deals and make a few "real busts" of growers.  They are proudly claiming some $60 million in seizures. Well now, what has really changed for the better?

Nothing: There is more pot on the street now in Kern County than there was before the "big bust," and even cheaper say my sources. 

I am shocked! Shocked! How could this have happened?

For the gritty picture of how this happens, google "Whitey Bulger" (his brother was President of the Massachusetts Senate), and you will discover that law enforcement itself selects the criminal gangs that operate in their jurisdictions. This is not an exception, it is the rule; the only exception is it got into the news which made the FBI damn mad.

So, are things getting better? Well, our kids have more gadgets.

I suspect the various media outlets are vying for attention, which raises their ratings, which leads to them hopefully getting more advertising dollars. So in order to get more attention the news must be more graphic or contain impending doom and gloom. Because I see where things are going well for people, businesses, or products, you don't seem to hear about it as much. Combine this with the current political season, where all the candidates identify how bad things are and how they will fix it - BAH!! So I sit out back, listen to the trains rumble along the tracks, watch the cats try to catch the mole popping up from his (or her) hole and think how things "ain't so bad after all!" 

VtKid, I wish I could feel the same way you do.

Good Morning Weebles,

I used to watch a news program on Sunday mornings (at (6:00 am) from Los Angeles called " The Good News"...it was fantastic.  Good things happen all the time, everyday, but the American media is notorious for reporting only the "bad news" and it's for ratings.

I know many people do not like or agree with anything Michael Moore produces but it is worth your while to rent "Bowling for Columbine".  Most people think the movie is about gun control...IT IS NOT!  It's about American media keeping us in fear.  And as we all know fear is the biggest cause of violence.

If I remember this right, here is one example of the movie:  MM is with a news crew on the way to report on a baby that has fallen into a pool, but rescued in time.  Before the news crew even make it to the house where the incident has happened a call comes from the scanner reporting a shooting somewhere in the vicinity, the news crew decides to cover that instead.  When asked why the reporter responds with a very callus remark (paraphrase here) "If it bleeds it leads".   That's American media for you.  Personally I would rather have heard about the baby being rescued!

Somethings have never changed, violence has always been there and will always be.  There are good people and good events happening everyday....we just don't here about it as much....To some it's just not exciting enough.

In Peace,

Annette

We just hear about bad stuff faster and more often. News groups chase each others tails so we don't get different news stories or perspectives, just the same crap over and over. I try to watch that show on CBS on Sunday mornings that has all of the quiet stories on it, just to put myself in a great frame of mind.