The Measure of Success

How do you measure success? Dollars and Cents? By that criteria Lincoln, Florence Nightingale, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Theresa, MLK, even Jesus were failures. Real success means doing something with your life that lets people live better lives, makes the world a better place to live. Getting rich is just a side affect that some experience. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, got rich, but more importantly, they were successful. Mitt Romney got rich.

The Middle Class

One of the favorite “buzzwords” the politicians keep using is “middle class.” Do you know who Romney or Obama are talking about when they use it?  I don’t. It would be helpful if they would tell us who they mean when they say “the middle class.”  I suspect they are not talking about the same people.
My curiosity got the better of me and I did a Google search to see what I could find.  I got 510,000,000 results.  I looked at a few.

Budget

Dean Heller along with all the other Republicans keep harping on the fact that Congress hasn’t passed a budget in three years.  Does it matter?

Que Sera, Sera

"It is what it is" is obviously true, but "que sera, sera" is not.  I reject the idea that we have nothing to say about the future.  We can not change the past, (although there have been many attempts to re-write history) but "what will be" is what we make it.

What I learned watching the RNC.

Mit Romney is a nice guy and his wife loves him.
Paul Ryan once washed dishes and waited tables at a restaurant.
As President and Vice President they will “lead from the front.” I didn’t learn where they will lead us or what path we’ll follow.
They will “protect” medicare. They didn’t say who or what from or how they’ll do it.
They will “restore America’s future.” I have no idea what they mean by that and they didn’t say.

The Source of all Evil

Good, Bad: Right, Wrong: Justified, Unjustified: Justice, Injustice: Evil.
Good is that which produces happiness, joy, pleasure, comfort, health, ease, knowledge, understanding, love, empathy, etc.
Bad is that which produces sadness, depression, stress, pain, sickness, ignorance, intolerance, hatred, anger, animosity, poverty, prejudice, persecution, etc.
Right is that which results in Good.
Wrong is that which results in Bad.
Justified is that which is Right or that results in both Good and Bad but the Good outweighs the Bad.
Unjustified is that which is Wrong or that results in both Good and Bad but the Bad outweighs the Good.
Justice

Contradiction

“UNAWARE OF THE CONTRADICTION…. There's an old joke that goes something like this: my neighbor went to public schools before joining the military. He went to college on the G.I. Bill, bought his first home through the FHA, and received his health care through the V.A. and Medicare. He now receives Social Security. He's a conservative because he wants to get the government off his back. I mention the joke because a surprising number of right-wing activists don't seem to appreciate the humor.