Thoughts Before The Alarm Sounds

     Because genealogy can be a time-consuming passion, I didn't get involved in it until I retired, and I am so sorry I waited that long. Discovering the identities of my ancestors made me hungry to know more about their lives. The records of genealogy: certificates of birth, death, marriage, etc., can provide the skeleton of family history, but it's the stories that flesh it out.      What really whetted my appetite for more knowledge was my memory of the few stories my grandfather told me. Although he may not have remembered what happened yesterday – in his last years all days were alike – he told me in great detail about the summer he “hired out” at the age of 18: the name of the farmer who hired him, what he did from sunrise to sunset, how much he was paid (a dollar a day), and just about every other detail of those three months.      Grandpa was long dead when I realized that there was so much more he could have told me...

     I have often heard it said that the Constitution of the United States is based upon the Ten Commandments, so I finally decided to check it for myself. I suggest that individuals who think this is the case should do the same. They may be in for a surprise.      But for those who do not have the time or inclination to make such a comparison, I present the following:       Commandment I - Thou shalt have no other gods before me. The only time God is mentioned in the Constitution is at the end of Article VII: Done in convention . . . in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven . . . In fact, Amendment I expressly forbids any mention of religion.      Commandment II - Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. The Constitution is silent on this Commandment.       Commandment III - Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain. Th...

     Since both the stock market and the jobs market are looking better lately, the GOP has invented a new line of BS: the high price of gasoline is the fault of President Obama. Newt Gingrich in particular is going about bragging that, if elected, he will quickly lower the price to $2.50 per gallon. He bases that figure on the fact that it was $1.13 when he was speaker of the house. Really Newt, if the president has that much control, why don't just we reelect the president from those days: Bill Clinton?      Actually Newt, along with the rest of the clowns, is figuring on lowering the price by means of their tried and true method: Drill, baby, drill. It is their claim that the Obama administration is holding back production in order to keep the price high. The theory is that by so doing, we will be forced to buy green, energy-efficient cars. Unfortunately, the record doesn't accord with this theory.      At the end of 2008,...

     I have posted several blogs in which I stated that the stimulus promoted by President Obama was too small and that another was necessary. I backed up my suggestion with data indicating that President Roosevelt's stimulus, i.e., the New Deal, was working until he tried to balance the budget in 1937.      I believe I was right in advocating a stimulus to promote jobs under the economic conditions of the past, but as far as the current situation is concerned, I am beginning to think I was wrong! The economy is vastly different from the one that prevailed during the Great Depression.      It is true that a stimulus in the form of government spending on projects for which the government is most efficient , i.e., providing a single service for many customers, will provide a limited number of jobs. Society does not need competing armies, courts and legal systems, police forces, power grids, government buildings or interstate hi...