Opting Out, One More Time

Holy sheep dip.... I am nearly at a loss for words. I've tried, in the last year, to re-join those of you who read newspapers, and keep an eye on those over-fed fat cats in Washington who blow so much money that is no longer backed by the gold in Fort Knox. I gave money to a presidential campaign. As of today, I'm done.... I'm checking out again.... and, I'm taking my sanity and my money with me. 

It took a brief look at an article on Yahoo, and a longer look at a couple in the New York Times web edition to make me pull my head back in my shell.  On Yahoo, they report that millions of Americans are so far behind on paying utility bills that they face being disconnected. They face this situation because of the high cost of heating their homes this winter. Bet the guys running the oil companies, and the coal companies, and utility providers don't have that problem. They have the golden umbrella of HUGE salaries and stock options. Then, moving on to the Times in disgust, there are two things that jump out from my small screen. The fact that rising global food prices are considered a crisis, and an article talking about how 96 military projects cost 295 BILLION dollars, 26 percent more than originally thought. Ninety-six projects, NINETY-SIX people. I can't comprehend how that few projects can cost that much money. And, then there are these new Naval vessels that were being designed and built at the same time with an equal amount of waste in spending. Here is what the Times writer had to say about these new coastal attack ships......  "The bill for the ship, being built by Lockheed Martin (thought they were airplane builders), has soared to $531 million, more than double the original, and by some calculations could be $100 million more."

When does someone, anyone, in government say STOP! You Lockheed guys are screwing the pooch here! If the project soars to estimations, one little boat will put you, as taxpayers, back a total of $631 million instead of  $265.5 million. If your government paid Lockheed the original bid price, which is how they got the job in the first place, there would be enough leftover to pay all those late utility bills and then some. 365 million dollars could be put to use paying for things that matter, like heating bills and medical bills for the poor. 

WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON IN DC AND BIG BUSINESS? So, since that question will never have a rational answer, I am taking what little money I have and I am going back to my cave and I am going to live the rest of my life the best way I know how. Ok, I'm not really going off to a cave, but I am going to try really hard to pretend that this un-governable government does not exist. There is a better way to live on this fragile rock we call Earth and I am still going to do my best to live in a way that is less destructive. 

A friend told me yesterday that because the fat cats won't do the right thing, and our inability to change the fucked up foibles in Washington, what did it matter if she "threw her pop can in the garbage instead of recycling it." I agree with her about the apathy and inability, but not the latter. I will still recycle, and compost, and grow some of my own food, and buy used stuff whenever possible, and eat organic, and buy carbon offsets for this trip we are taking. I will leave my little part of the world in a better way than I find it, and I will try and live happily ever after. 

To those of you who still believe in the struggle against the giant, I hope you find a way to defeat it. If you don't the children of this world are in for a hell of a ride as adults.