Ozzie and Harriet, Father Knows Best and the Donna Reed Show, all contributed to the irrational mindset of present day conservatives. Those fictional times have come and gone and nothing is going to bring them back. Without education, health care and financial security, the American dream is going the way of Captain America. Except the murder weapon isn't a rifle, it's an economic scalpel, wielded with cruel precision against those who can't defend themselves.
Such was not the case for working-class Americans. Over the past 35 years, the massive changes in the U.S. economy have largely condemned American workers to lives of economic insecurity. No longer can the worker count on a steady job for a single employer who provides a paycheck and health and retirement benefits, too. Over the past three decades, workers' individual annual income fluctuations have consistently increased, while their aggregate income has stagnated. In the brave new economy of outsourced jobs and short-term gigs and on-again, off-again health coverage, American workers cannot rationally plan their economic futures. And with each passing year, as their level of economic security declines, so does their entry into marriage.Oh yeah, life is so much better now that the conservatives have had their way. Shades of Herbert Hoover.
Yet the very conservatives who marvel at the efficiency of our new, more mobile economy and extol the "flexibility" of our workforce decry the flexibility of the personal lives of American workers. The right-wing ideologues who have championed outsourcing, offshoring and union-busting, who have celebrated the same changes that have condemned American workers to lives of financial instability, piously lament the decline of family stability that has followed these economic changes as the night the day.
Jerry Orbach was the heart of Law and Order and the reason I watched after Jill Hennessy and Chris Noth left the show. I was honestly saddened by his death, as was a good portion of New York, so I don't understand why he can't have a street named after him. Don't bogart those street signs, my friend.
I didn't win the lotto. I also didn't buy a ticket.
Lying about a personal private matter cost 30 million dollars in the 90's and resulted in a botched impeachment. Nobody died, even though the embarrassment was tremendous. Lying about outing a CIA agent and getting caught? No big deal to the conservative wing, that type of crime is worthy of being pardoned and what the heck is all the fuss about? Funny how the definition of lying has become so mutable. I guess national security isn't as important as making sure that the world knows the former President enjoyed a few extra perks in his office. Oh, and the Democrats had better watch their step because the people might get tired of hearing about high crimes and misdemeanors. Or the string of felonies that cover them up. Don't want to pull back that curtain too fast, the puppet masters aren't ready yet.
The tale of the turning aspens isn't quite over, Jon explains how important they are and their incredible ability to survive fires. I'll bet Duck! is happy that Scooter is an aspen.
The myth of the "American way of life" was put forth by gullible people who believe that their invisible friend will "save" them.
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