Hour by Hour

Last week I bought an appointment book for 2009. For me, and almost all of my colleagues, at least those over forty, and certainly over fifty, having a concrete, paper and pen, write it down appointment book is so much easier than anything electronic.

I moved my office a couple of months ago. I moved just down the hall. But in doing so I emptied out the shelves of the old office. I put over twenty appointment books into a big box and lugged them home for storage. All of them are Week-At-A-Glance types. My brain is set to see the whole week laid out before me. If the hours are not all filled in a feel a bit guilty, even though now, since I hurt my back, I am trying to leave spaces.

One thing I get from this job is a clear sense of time. Hour by hour, just like it is in the book. I feel the week, the month, the year, my life pass by. If I am sitting and talking to friends I can tell when the conversation has lasted fifty minutes. The timer in my brain goes off. I need to change positions, change topics, talk to someone new.

Yet, I don't feel my life is passing by. It seems much more like it is exactly the same. I am amazed that I have aged. I feel the same. I do the same thing -- although I am much better at it now -- and I just keep going, hour after hour. She is my "nine o'clock,"he is my "ten o'clock." Very often someone will take that spot for six months, a year, sometimes even two years, although usually if they are still coming after a year, they are coming less frequently,but some people last a long time. For a while I had all my ten o'clock appointments trained to bring coffee. But now only one is left. I have to get the new ones up to speed.

I picked up one of the appointment books that was ten years old. The hours were filled in. I could remember about ninety per-cent of the people; their faces, their dilemmas, and how they were when they left. About five people are seeing me now, although they all had been away for at least a couple of years, some have come back a few times But for most of them, I don't know where they are now. Their stories continue without me.

I'd love to have a big reunion and see how everything turned out. But HIPAA won't allow that.

creeping changes

This economic stuff is bad. Many people are either losing their jobs, or afraid that they could. Money is tight. People are finally afraid of credit cards/

These are not bad things.

Many of the couples I see who usually fought about money-- using it as one of their flash points, even if it wasn't the real issue they were fighting about, which is usually control, recognition, and who should carry the emotional load -- now they talk about survival.

In some ways people are very tense about making the bills. In some ways people are more relaxed because the pressure to make tons of money, to keep up, to buy more and bigger, is gone. Even the people who have money, have less.

Making tons of money is not trendy any more. It looks bad. If this were France in 1787 all those auto execs, and big bankers would be on their way to the guillotine. There is a lot of popular support for that.

There are signs that things are changing. Having a job seems more important than just making money. How you get your money is beginning to matter again.

May there will even be a return of things like ethics and integrity.

Well, let's not get carried away.

More about that

Thinking about my last couple of posting has made some things clearer about what is so compelling and also so difficult about this job.

It becomes clearer at holiday time when I am even busier than usual, both socially, and at work. What becomes clearer is that while I can really enjoy my time off, I often feel that when I am with people, it can be pretty boring. I mean, I like many, if not most of my friends and relatives, and it is good to see them, but in truth, no one has much to say. Or at least they don't say it.

My own kids kid me about the types of questions I ask. What are you doing? What are you reading? What are you listening to? What are you thinking about? What is really going on?!!

Yes, the politics are finally encouraging, the Celtics are doing well, adding the cranberries into the wine and then into the sauce makes it more interesting, but WHO are you and what are you BECOMING?!

Then I go to work and people tell me everything. They tell me things that they don't tell anyone. They tell me things that they have never told anyone. They tell me things that they don't even want to tell themselves. To me, these are the most intriguing and engaging conversations anyone can have.

Today I had a session with a very bright, attractive woman who told me that last night she spent an hour sitting on her kitchen floor with a knife placed just under her heart wondering if she could go through with it. She felt she had done things that if anyone found out about, she couldn't live knowing they knew. Then her husband came home and she jumped up and set the table. Today she went to work and no one had any idea what she had been thinking. She then told me why she had felt so badly.(I'm not going to tell you).

Yesterday I met a new young man who seemed like he had just come in from the wilderness. He had been out of school for two years and had been doing basically nothing but hiding in his room. But six months ago he read something on the Internet that opened an interest in psychology and philosophy and he has been reading and thinking since then. He was incredibly insightful, articulate and self-possessed, and yet he never knew his father and his mother has been screwing with guys in the other room for years, and no one knows how this kid thinks, or even that he can.

Of course there are downsides. These are very one-sided relationships. I realize that. The people I talk to come to me for help. that makes me feel good My friends don't put me in that position, but then, I don't have to help them. The responsibilities are different. But often, I don't need too much contact with people after thirty to forty hours of this. I get all listened out.

I'd rather watch a game.

Ring-ting-a-ling

Well it sure is holiday time. Many of my clients were out there last Friday at 5 AM ready and eager to spend money they don't have. At least no one was trampled to death in my area. That is kind of sick, don'tcha think? That shoppers have rally gotten that desperate.

This is always one of the busiest times for me. Some family gatherings are really great and nurturing and communal. Everyone gathers and buys gifts to show heir love and appreciation for each other. The warmth and love is what chases away the cold of the long winter nights. I actually see some people who have a family like that. The family has grand-parents who had eight kids and they all have kids, many of whom have kids, and they all get together for Christmas and share good tiding.

I actually have two members of that family who see me, and they give me very different views of what goes on, and who really likes whom, and what the underlying tensions and rivalries are. But at least everyone manages to pull it off for a day.

Most of my clients dread the holidays. I see about four Elanor Rigbys who will be alone unless a fourth cousin has some compassion, or the old man on the third floor invites them in. But if he serves wine they get nervous about his intentions and make sure they keep their knees tightly held together.

For many it is the guilt that brings families together. A mother can squeeze feelings of guilt an inadequacy out of a child for fifty years if she has the talent. And many do.

I also have two families in which one sister is now married to the former husband of another sister. That can make things a bit tense, unless families are rally into sharing.

So, if you have a therapist, make your appointments early. Therapy times fill up quickly around the holidays. Many of us therapists fill up many hours with appointments. It's better than being with our cousins.

The Letter

Before I get to wishing everyone a happy and healthy Thanksgiving, I would like to say, once again, that the job I have is "endlessly fascinating" {that's something my mother always said when she couldn't figure out what was going on} and also, often, a bit weird.

I worked hard this week for two days, getting people set to deal with whatever variation of family they have to co-exist with, when I got a letter. This is not the way I am usually introduced to people. These days a phone call, and now more often an email, is the method most people use to try to arrange a first appointment.

This letter was about seven single spaced typed pages. It gave pretty graphic descriptions of stuff that is supposedly going on in private in a town close to where I work. None of the exact details were included that would allow me to verify that the people mentioned actually exist.

The situation described in the letter was not actually that unique or that terrible. It was the letter itself, it's format, language and detail that makes me wonder what is really going on. who would write all this and why? I have my ideas, but ... those are just hypotheses.

At the end of the letter the writer said I would get a call after Thanksgiving to set up an appointment.

Perhaps things will be revealed.

Now, it is time to wish you all a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous, even in these times,
Thanksgiving.

Remember, appreciate the people around you. They are doing the best they can.

results of financial meltdown

I get to see some of the unexpected fallout from the downturn in American personal wealth. Yes, I have to deal with couples who have re-financed to pay their credit cards and now they can't pay their mortgage and their house isn't worth what they owe. Then they get tense and blame each other for it. All that stuff is commonplace.

What I see now are some things that are a bit unusual. I have two (2) situations in which there are three adults living in one house. In one case a man and two women, and the other a woman with two men. In both cases there was a marriage that was not going well. The resulting emotional distance morphed into one person becoming involved with a person outside the marriage. What followed were the usual hurt, anger, arguments, threats and general disruption

Then, as is often the case, one person threatens to move out. The other says fine, I am bringing my lover in. BUT, there is not enough money to move out and pay for another place to live.

In one case a man is living in the basement while his wife is screwing some guy in what once was his bedroom. In the other case the "other" woman is sleeping on the couch, while the family, kids and all, goes on with life as usual, treating this woman as if she is invisible.

Not a very emotionally enriching situation, but it does show that diplomacy and compromise is better than living at the shelter.

I am not sure how either of these will end.

Too much

As a discipline I try to post here every two or three days. It's supposed to be good for my brain, and it should help to live a more "considered life." But often, life gets in the way.

At those time I have so much to say and so much to sort out, but ther isn't time to do it.

Right now I have several personal and family experiences that illustrate how complex health care has become here in the U.S. of A. It's a mess but there are reasons for that, but it don't have time to get into that.

There is also so much going on with the family, and even more going on at work, and the world is going through a great deal of flux in politics, in the economy, and this has its ramifications on everyone, and everyone has their effects on the economy and politics.

And then the Internet connection won't even work for a while, for reasons that I totally can't understand, so I can't even get started.

"Still,tomorrow is going to be another working day,
and I'm trying to get some rest,
That's all I'm trying to get some rest."
P. Simon

More though times

Beside the financial crisis there seem to be other bad things that just pop up in clusters. Maybe it has to do with everyone being tense, but these things don't seem related.

My father-in-law, who I have mentioned here before, is 95 and has really been a tough old bird for many years. But now his body and mind are slipping away. It is taking a long time and is tough to watch. He fell and is in the hospital, but he isn't sure if he is in jail or visiting one of his old customers. When the nurse asked him what year it was he answered 1980, which was the last year he worked.

A good friend of ours is back taking chemo-therapy for a re-occurrence of her cancer. It is very difficult to know how well she will do. Then today, my son told me that one of his friends who had moved away and started a new life in a far-off land was shot and killed in a robbery.

We don't live in Baghdad or Mumbai but there are times when it feels like the world is crumbling around me. My wife gets upset, as well she should. I think I have developed too much of a clinical detachment. I have a circle of about six people, and if anything happened to them I would be rocked to the core, but beyond that, I can feel bad, but I have learned to just kind of shrug and go on.

It could be from working with so many people, and getting to care about them, at least to a point, and still realizing that in many cases, their lives are not going to improve that much.

Or it could be that I'm just really not that nice a guy.

Back at it.

The historic week has ended. I am envigrrated for a better world, but right now I have to deal with the one we have. That means that today I got up and went back to the office.

The misery business, as my father-in-law always called it, is booming. Financial pressure puts pressure on relationships; stress is everywhere. People are struggling, people are angry, people are sad. That's OK, that's what I have to deal with.

I'll tell you what's tough. It dealing with the narcissists. When people are in a difficult situation, or have difficulties in their heads, or are just difficult, that's fine. But when someone feels that all the troubles have been heaped upon them, and then they just sit there and complain that no one is lifting them off fast enough, that is when the job seems difficult and taxing.

Understanding your problems is helpful. Explaining is helpful.

Blaming is not.

Hey, don't blame me, I'm just the therapist.

Obama and Psychotherapy

If Mr. Obama can get people together and try to make significant changes in our society, then some of my clients can make the sustained effort necessary to get their lives going in the right direction. His administration can set the tone that we are working together to make things better.

"But," some of my clients will say in one form or another, "my life is difficult, I was dealt a bad hand, my father left when I was young, my mother was a starry-eyed hippie." Obviously, that can no longer be a lasting cause of bad behavior. Now that there is insight, change should follow. These clients may not have a totally devoted grandmother who will last with them until the very threshold of their greatest achievement, but they do have me. I am here, and I am attentive, and I will be at least until their insurance coverage runs out, and with the new parity bill that could be a long time.

So, let's use this as a time of transformation for all of us. Let us pay attention to each other, help each other along and begin to move in a good direction. But, also, let's raise the expectations of each of us, and we will all benefit.

YES!

I will admit that on Sunday I was very confident, but by Tuesday morning I could see a way that the election could be lost.

I sat with friends and family, trying to be friendly without telling everyone just to shut-up and pay attention. When PA was declared fairly quickly I began to relax. An hour later when Ohio was given to Obama I knew, like everyone else, that it was really going to happen. All the TV people seemed to know it all along.

For the first time in eight years I felt hopeful. I drove to work this morning and I did not cringe every time I heard the news. I felt I did not have to be embarrassed about how the people in my government were screwing up the economy, science, world trade, war, energy, the environment, health-care, health,and human relations.

Basically, I have some confidence that the people who will be running this country, while they certainly won't be perfect, and they certainly will be politicians, will at least be smart. They will understand that the world is complex. That it does not just consist of good-guys and bad-guys, and that the problems we have to deal with are difficult. I think they will have a better understanding that even if someone disagrees with them that doesn't make them terrible or stupid (although sometimes they are).

That's all I want, to feel that we have good people who are trying. For eight years I have felt we have had an administration and even a Congress who were stuck in their own mud and couldn't see passed their mind-set, and couldn't understand what they were seeing, and didn't try to understand it.

Now, we will have to wait and see. but I certainly do buy what Mr. Obama is selling, which is hope.

That is really a great deal of what I do in my own work. Get my clients to believe that their lives can be better. I know how necessary that is if any change is to occur.

Finally

It's funny about time, but if you don't do anything the world keeps turning and eventually, things come to pass.

This election has been going on for almost two years. I have really been pretty actively following it since last January. What with the wars never ending, the financial ups and downs and downs and downs, the current idiot President who has allowed the Justice Department, the Energy Department and the FDA to all become inept and corrupt, I have always felt that this is a crucial election.

Now, finally, I have seen my last client before I vote. I have encouraged all my clients to vote, but I don't get into politics unless they start. The election has really aroused more interest than even the Red Sox this year, and that was not the case four years ago. Four years ago many more local folks were intensely involved with the Sox, and their own local Senator was running for President. Now they seem to have awakened.

What happens next is completely unknown. The world is in a great mess, to a large degree because of how this country has been run for the last eight years. It will take years to clean it up. But at least, if the election goes well, the tone of national and international relations can change dramatically. The world will look at America differently, and we could be a bit different with each other.

But that has not happened yet. I am working tomorrow and then I will be watching every channel. Mostly I will be watching Florida. For me, that is the first major indication. Maybe I won't have to stay up until two in the morning.

six days away

The election is coming, so they say. Mr. Obama has been running for 21 months. Mr. McCain has been running, on and off, for eight years. The decisions, soon to be made by millions of Americans, some of whom have already completed the task, is less than a week away.

In many ways people have to decide if they want to protect themselves, their won interests and their own money, or they want o feel that they are a part of a larger society in which each of us has some relationship, and some important interactions with each other.

This economic melt-down is, to a large degree, the result of people not looking at, and not caring about, the consequences their actions may have upon the welfare of others. They trusted that their attempts to make money were basically honest, and although the things they did were risky, they didn't look, understand, or ever think about how inter-related we all are. There was all this talk about some kind of "invisible hand" running through free markets, and that would make everything balance, and determine a real and fair value of things.

Obviously, there were many flaws in that kind of thinking, just as their are flaws in "trickle-down economics."

America is a land of opportunity, but it can also be a very harsh place for those who slip and fall, or for those who never had the chance to stand up in the first place.

Should we look around and care about each other, even if it is at some cost to ourselves? Or, if we each do the best we can for ourselves, will things work out as they should?

To some extent, the people will decide.

The leaves, and times, are changing

Today was one of those days that they put in movies about New England. The was HD clear after the night's rain, the sky was a perfect autumn blue. The temperature was actually warmer than it should be, but no one complained. Here in Southern N. E. the leaves are at their peak, and because of the right amount of rain and temperature changes this is a good year for color. There are reds, yellows, orange, brown and even purple mixed against some still green. My neighborhood has big old trees, maple, oak, beech and pine, with occasional sassafras, walnut, tulip and even willow. The trees reach way up into the blue, each with it's own vibrant color.

As we walked we met other neighbors walking. We talked of the coming election, which seems like it will never come. Everyone in this small city is of the same mind on the election. We talk of the economy, and joke about keeping our jobs for another decade. Who really wanted to retire anyway? Some of these folks had real jobs and made real money. Some of them have retired. In some ways the great stock market crash represents huge changes in numbers, but no real change in the current lifestyle. But everyone knows that things a are different, and we will not be as plush as we had planned.

One friend, who does business in Europe said that the bad times have hit there hard now. The world blames the credit crazy U.S. for giving and then selling so many bad loans. But everybody bought them and tried to get rich. Now everyone is getting poor. Some much poorer than others.

For us older folks, there is some sense that we have been through some of this. We are not old enough to have been part of the depression of the 30s, but old enough to know that bubbles burst.

It just seems that the bubbles build and burst at a much faster rate now. People seem to be waiting around for the next one to begin. The idea of a slow, steady rise in the economy, based on real products and real work has not really taken hold yet.

Maybe new, "Green Energy" will sweep us up in a new wave of progress and everyone can ride that train back to wealth and consumption.

Or maybe not. Perhaps we will all be poor for a while, and stay home, have conversations and get to know each other.

But that's just an old man talking. Most of us will run around and keep in touch through text messages:
"Pizza?"
"2 late"
"OU812"

all fall down

I was away from blogging for almost a month. Why? Because there was too much else going on. Just one thing after another that needed to be taken care of. When I was done with all that my brain didn't have too many creative neurons firing. I went to bed.

I had to pay the bills for my practice, the bills for the house, and now the bills for my fading father-in-law. The car needed to be taken care of, so did my wife's car, not that I can do the work, but I had to drive it up and back. The house is being worked on and one day two guys were standing on the scaffold and staring right in on my desk.

Mr new doctor seems to question everything about my health. I have taken more tests than ever before, and I'm OK, just poorer. One wonders about why our health care is so expensive. "Just want to be sure." I wonder if it is my health, his pocket, or the lawyers he is really worried about.

I had to see my clients, see my kids and listen to my father-in-law not make sense and my wife get upset about it. I don't make much sense and she doesn't seem to care.

I took time to watch the leaves change color.

I did a bit to keep Obama moving in the right direction.

BUT, my life is a breeze compared to what I hear in my office, and usually my clients are not the ones who are the most lost, disorganized and overwhelmed, but they have to deal with people who are. A's mother is on cocaine and three months behind in her rent. B's brother is locked in a room and won't come out. C's sister came to live with her because her house has mold. Now she hasn't paid any rent, hasn't cleaned the room and disappears every weekend without any explanation. D's daughter has been suspened from school for fighting, three times.

This doesn't count all the illness that are impossible to deal with, Parkinson's Huntington's, ALS. These are the kinds of things tahat just suck life out of a whole family.

I hear about so many houses that haven't been cleaned in months, so many bills hat haven't been paid that people stop trying, so many lawns that haven't been mowed, so many roofs that haven't been fixed. Things are falling down.

It seems to me, and I've been doing this a while, that the pace of life, the price of life, and demands of keeping up have increased, partly because of technology, to the point where people can't keep up, and are dropping out.

Even without this financial mess, I think it's worse than it was, but maybe I'm just getting old.

Been so Long

Look at that. I just looked at the date of my last post and it was almost a month ago. I would have said maybe two weeks. It's amazing how life gets filled up with all kinds of stuff. I had even told myself that it would be good for my brain to keep writing often, but so much for my brain.

I have spent time having parts of my body poked and measured and scoped. Despite all their best efforts, and they really seem to be trying, they haven't found anything wrong with me yet. That's what you get for going to see a doctor.

I have also been doing what I said and trying to help the Obama campaign. The actual work I do has not been that meaningful. He has not yet called me to help do his mental health policy, although he should. I will lobby for that after I see that he wins.

I hope you noticed that the Mental Health Parity bill got stuck into the Huge Economic Recovery Package. It will be a slight help, although insurance companies will find ways around it. They didn't designate $770 million for mental health. They should have, as clearly everyone involved with this mess is nuts.

For me, the trouble mainly goes back to Reagan. It was he and his conservative crowd that decided that the purpose of America was to give everyone the opportunity to get rich. That was the only purpose. How anyone made money, how much it destroyed other people, other countries or the other values and fabric of our own society were not questions anyone even considered.

Also, those conservatives were the ones who began to target liberals as having useless tax and spend policies. While those criticisms were on target in some respects, what those people put in place were spend and spend policies. It has been the conservatives, and G W Bush more than anyone in history, who just spend money and build huge deficits. They created a climate of unregulated greed and here we are.

So, I am holding on to hope for the next couple of weeks. There are about 35% of the people would vote for the Republicans even if Sarah Palin herself were running. It does seem that for now, the independents and the often undecided voters have had enough of war, bad health care, a crappy economy, and watching this country fall into chaos and decline.

Even my most moribund clients are taking notice in this election. Only the ones who are chronically bitter and angry seem to be for McCain.

Great Theater

Wow!
All of this is better, and more unexpected and unpredictable than any TV show. Unfortunately, so many people seem to view this election as if it was "American Idol."

You have to have some kind of admiration for John McCain. You never know what he will do next, and you never quite know what he is thinking. While this may be great for a self proclaimed "maverick," it is really terrifying to think of a President acting that way. A little stability in a time of crisis could be helpful.

He "suspended" his campaign to run to Washington, as if anyone could suspend a Presidential campaign five weeks before the election. Did he mean that no one should pay attention to what he was doing? I don't think that was what he meant. I think what he meant was: watch me act like I'm concerned, but I rally don't quite know what I'm doing. He also may have been trying to find a way to eliminate the vice-presidential debate, before Sarah tells the world that she knows all about foreign policy because Putin flies over her house.

A good thing is that even many of my clients, many of whom don't pay much attention to who is running their country, are paying attention now. I also think that as Obama continues to be on TV all the time, in ads, in debates, inginterviews, people will begin to see him as Obama, the Liberal Democrat, but much less as Obama, the Black guy. He is just becoming familiar, and that is a good thing for this county.

Unfortunately, Palin is not doing the same for women. She is fulfilling the stereotype of the not too swift beauty-pageant lady, who wants to bring peace to the world but whose talent is baton twirling.

Obama survived the debate about foreign policy, which is supposed to be McCain's strength. It is impressive that McCain has been to all these countries and knows all these people, but his stace seems to be ready to go to war with them all. He doesn't seem to see that going to war hasn't been too successful over the last fifty years.

Obama's lead is building, but who knows, one explosion, a TV appearance by Satan on David Letterman, or Tina Fey coming out in support of McCain, and everything could swing the other way very quickly.

More Obama stuff

So, as I said, I am doing work for Obama. Today, since I live in a very blue state, I was called people in battleground states to see if they could do some work in theri neighborhood. I leaned a few things.
First, most people don't answer their phones, even if they have cell-phones. I think my wife is the last person who believes that if the phone rings you are supposed to answer it.
Second, i seems that so many people in America are moving and struggling. So many phones are disconnected, and so many people who signed up only two months ago are already someplace else.

There was some genuine enthusiasm, so it seems some people are paying attention.

I can't remember an election that has gotten this slimy this early. It seems that McCain will say anything he feels will be effective, but without any attention to truth. I guess he feels that Bush did it to him, so he can do it to Obama. "The Straight-Talk Express" seems to be completely derailed as he and Sarah have no contact with the press. They don't want to be accountable to anyone. Even the ladies on "The View" called him a liar, and he had nothing really to say.

It's sad, because there is so much at stake. For him to suddenly become a fiscal watch-dog, when he himself was censured by Congress during the last banking crisis is as ridiculous as it gets.

But that's they way things are going.

Also, That web-site that was posted as a response to my last post was interesting and worth checking out.

Should have seen it coming

About three years ago, looking back from what we know now, I should have known that the financial world was about to implode. At that time I was seeing the usual sixty different people in a month. What I realized even then was that about ten of the people I saw, who had been not doing too well professionally, were suddenly taking exams to become mortgage brokers. Even those who couldn't pass the exams were sell mortgages for their sleazy brother-in-law or cousin. The cousin was often the guy who sold mortgages, and to add to his profit margin, sold cocaine.

I had one woman who had a few relationship problems, but she was selling both real-estate and mortgages, and she was making many, many dollars. She worked constantly, looked stylish, networked with everyone, and knew everyone. Everyone thought they could be just like her.

Well, they couldn't.

But they all sold mortgages to their aunts and uncles and ner'-do-well brothers. They all seemed to have some sense that these people couldn't afford the payments. Many of the people taking the mortgages were taking money out of the houses they had owned for years, believing that the equity in the house would just continue to rise at 20% a year. Often they used the money to pay off the credit card debt they had gotten by buying SUVs, and the trips that came with them.

The banks were encouraging people to use the credit cards, and would sent new ones to people as soon as the old one was max-ed out. The mortgage companies were selling on the basis of low-rates that the Fed had dropped to get the economy going after the stock market bubble burst, without regard to creating a bubble in housing.

Then the bubble popped. Surprise!

It was completely unregulated. What made it worse was the brilliant investment bankers who devised "credit default swaps" and were leveraging derivatives on those at 30- 1.

Then the families who wanted it all now, and was encouraged to put it all on credit, was faced with the reality that they owned much more than they had in assets, and that they now had negative equity in their houses. It was over for everyone.

Now, John McCain wants to tell you he will reform all this, by stopping the greed of the "Fat Cats." Well those "Fat Cats" are the are Republicans he is counting on to finance is campaign. He forgets to tell you that. That's why he wants to keep the Bush tax cuts. That way they get to keep their money.

That's called getting tough.

It's OK (almost)

Well football is on. And football and HD TV were made for each other. We are here in America, watching football, drinking a beer, and everything is just fine.

It's easy to forget that we are fighting two wars, one for no reason, and one we are losing. It's easy not to think how today we had to pay taxes and so much of that money is going to to bombs and corruption.

It's easy to forget that houses are being foreclosed at a record rate, that unemployment is rising rapidly, that we are being fleeced by oil companies. It is these same companies that will make more money when we "drill, drill drill" and it won't make the price of gas cheaper.

It's easy to forget that the Justice Department is corrupt and run out of a religious/political office. It's easy not to look at the department of the interior that takes bribes and has sex with people from these same oil companies.

Mr. McCain says he wants to go to Washington and make changes. He doesn't say that he will change any of this. He won't stop the war that spends a couple of billion of my money each month. He won't change the people in these corrupt departments because they are all the same Republicans that are paying for his campaign. He won't change health care and make it affordable or efficient. He will go to Washington and change the face of the man in the White House. Everything else will be the same.

But, hey, football is on. My team is winning so everything must be right with America. Let's not bother with politics. That way we can act stupid, be happy and poor, and probably lose more of our sons and daughters in wars for the oil companies.
But that's a small price to pay for HDTV.