Sept. 05, 2003 - 19:13 MDT

THE WONDERING JEW

For The Defense

Once a week I don't "free think" an entry but respond to someone else's questions. Friday Five, of course.

1. - What housekeeping chores do you hate doing the most ?

A. - Doing dishes, ugh. The dishwashing machine is a blessing to me. The only thing I hate about that drear operation is doing the pots and pans that don't go in the dishwasher, those greasy, grubby things with former food stuck to them tightly.

2. - Are there any you like or don't mind doing ?

A. - Washing windows and mirrors. To see through a glass clearly is a pleasure to me and doubly a pleasure if I accomplished that bit of work.

3. - Do you have a routine through the week or just clean as it is needed ?

A. - Yes. Both - or neither.

4. - Do you have any odd cleaning/housecleaning quirks or rules ?

A. - I guess my only quirks or rules are to find out what Heather wants done next. There are a few things like doing dishes which are my baliwick and the accomplishment of such is done on "automatic."

5. - What is the last thing you cleaned ?

A. - Easy, washed dishes, pots and pans and cleaned the counter, put the dried stuff away. Last thing before that was vacuuming the floor two days ago.

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Makes me wonder at times. More businesses are shipping their work, whether manufacturing or paper pushing, out of our country and the unemployment percentage is still rising or maybe for the moment, not getting any worse, just staying at its miserable level.

The baby boomers are at retirement age now. Social Security will be stretched to the max and possibly the breaking point as the employed folks are becoming scarcer and therefore the SSI is it? the tax that employees pay into Social Security is getting less and less.

Seems to me that the Big Businesses are only obligated to pay their share of Social Security taxes on the employees working in this country which allows more profit to the companies and if they are lucky more dividends to those investors who still have holdings -- bought in better times I am sure.

Tax cuts were passed out, to the benefit of the rich, naturally. The little guy really benefited not, miniscule at the most. And it really doesn't seem to have encouraged businesses to expand or rehire people who have been laid off.

A couple of paragraphs from Cokie and Steven V. Roberts column in this morning's Rocky Mountain News (9/5/03) narrows things down a bit I think, "America's healthier birth rate, greater productivity and the steady infusion of young, taxpaying workers from abroad help ease the burden of burgeoning retirement and health-care programs."

Second paragraph, "But these factors will not solve all of America's problems as two great fiscal forces roar toward each other: declining tax rates and rising retirement costs. And that does not even include a third costly trend: America's growing obligations as peacemaker and nation-builder around the world."

Cokie and Steven seem to me to be experts in the very best sense. So we are still engaged in Afghanistan (however the politicos want to term it) -- we are still stuck there. Now we are recruiting some of Saddam's soldiers and police to help bring peace to Iraq. Heh. To my way of thinking, order and law cannot be instituted unless all sides are willing to have said order and law be applied justly and peace can only be kept if all sides intend to be peaceful. Doesn't seem to me to be much of a chance in the Mid-east of making sense of anything.

Ah, well, what can I say ? Its a mess.

As to the Friday Five, the Wondering Jew speaks For The Defense . . . . . . . . . . .

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