Saturday, December 15, 2012

A bad week topped off by a tragedy

Dick DeVos, Rick Snyder, and the conservative contingent in Michigan got their way. They have made the first step in undoing everything that this state was built on. Let the union busting begin.

I attended the protest at the capital building for about an hour on Tuesday morning. The union crowd was spirited and a little raucous, but I didn't experience any of the violence that allegedly took place later. My impression is that most of that violence was overblown.

I'm now coming to you in the wee hours of Saturday, the 15th of December. The Michigan state legislature passed several bills that, in my opinion, set the state back many years. Most of these bills went through in a marathon session late last night.

To top off this bad week, the U.S. had yet another mass shooting, this time at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. I suppose unless you've been living in a cave, you already know. As usual, there is the usual hand-wringing and calls for gun control by the left (yours truly included in that group) and the typical defensive posturing by the right. Others rightfully call for better mental health support systems in the country. But as usually happens, in a week's time, this will all die down until the next mass shooting takes place, at which point the exact same debate will start up and, once again, dissipate to nothing. So it goes in the good ol' U.S.A.

I have spent way too much time today on Facebook, going back and forth with various people. It's just not worth it. I feel no better than I did when I began--perhaps worse. I need to take a break from Facebook. Not only is it a terrible time waster, but it rarely makes me feel very good after I am on. In that, I suppose it is not too different from any addiction.

Well folks, it's late and I really should go to bed. Plus, the dog is whining and probably won't stop unless I turn off the lights, close down the computer, and turn in.


No comments: