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["Marie McHarry" <mmcharry AT dtnspeed.net>]

<<What caused the last  depression and the one that is coming is
consumerism.  
The political parties are only the tails being wagged on the dog of our 
lifestyle.>>

I'd say that the cause of the Great Depression (or should I say the First
GD?) and the coming one are fairly drastically different. The first time
round, the Stock Market was going crazy and huge numbers of people who
didn't have the money to put at risk were investing because everyone was
getting rich. That's not at all like the rampant consumerism that's going on
now. It was a greed-based disaster, true, but in the 20s people didn't have
a clue about how many material things they didn't have.

Now, we have people who work long and hard so they can buy a house and car
that they can't afford and never get the time to enjoy and designer clothes
and a personal trainer so they look good in the clothes -- and all of it
depending on credit that will cause the whole illusion to come crashing down
if they lose their jobs.

It would be really refreshing if some of these so-called family oriented
politicians really were in favor of families and human life. They aren't, of
course, because that's not what their corporate sponsors want.

I really miss Paul Simon, not the singer, but the former US senator from
Illinois. He was a good and honest man, and he was loved and respected
across the political spectrum. If we had half a dozen more like him, they
might be able to light the way to the future.

Oops, I'm beginning to wax poetic -- that's what comes from spending hours
on the mower destroying water hemlock. Does anyone know a way to eradicate
the stuff permanently short of using Roundup(which I'm considering)? It's
one of the first things that begins to grow, and the unseasonably warm
weather we've had has encouraged it to explode. It produces huge amounts of
seeds, so now it's everywhere, even in the yard, which I have always kept
mowed. Next thing, it will begin to smother the pastures. I had planned to
level it last fall and plant rye, but overtime at my day job interfered...
hence the mess.

Marie