Okay, so it's been a while... there's been a lot of bad news, and a lot of cover up of the real news, and honestly, I wanted to stay away for the end-of-year holidays... hell, have a good time, right?
Did you stock up on some much-needed staples? Did you do your diligence about conserving water, and find a way to save it for your own (later) use? Have you planted anything in your backyard garden? Maybe I've also been struck by the futile feeling of "howling in the dark". But, I'm a persistent bugger, so I'm back at it.
I've also been left with more questions than answers lately: strangely enough, I've been watching the "drop-out" rate on unemployment. Shadow economy? People aren't just throwing themselves off of bridges in fits of despair; they're dropping out of the work-force. What does that really mean? They're finding ways to support themselves and/or their families outside of mainstream employment. How?
It was actually the protests in Madison, Wisconsin that set my pen to paper again. This may be the biggest battle yet; please see the article I posted on FB about the root of the issue. Hint: It AIN'T the money. If the Republicans and Teabaggers can break the back of the public workers' unions - think Reagan and the Air Traffic Controllers - we have truly torn the cover off of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged and fallen inside the story.
So, I challenge you to read it. Better, I challenge you to read it, and compare and contrast it with today's current economy. It's a big book, perhaps the last true American Romantic book. You won't get much from the Cliff's Notes. But that's what these times are about, aren't they? Taking up challenges we'd rather not have; expanding our worldviews to grasp concepts we didn't want to have to think about.
Here's what's coming, and not from Ms. Rand's novel: Revolution. I'm speaking it now, here, and the thought makes me feel weak and ineffective. But, we're all gonna have to 'grow a pair' and a LOT sooner than we thought, in much less abstract ways than we thought.
Read the book. And, yes, there will be a test.
A damned big test.
Till then, be safe, be prepared.
Brutal Truth
