Too much Palin, too few jobs

This is why President Obama can't allow himself or the economy to fail.

As Sarah Palin, the former Republican candidate for vice president, continues her book tour, it has become painfully obvious that she has not boned up on domestic or world issues since embarrassing herself time and time again during the 2008 presidential campaign. When asked about Jewish settlements by Barbara Walters yesterday, Palin answered the question like a fourth-grader, clearly showing she is still not able to articulate her position on complex issues. Her answer to almost everything seems to be to cut taxes.

When I first heard Palin speak at the 2008 Republican Convention, I thought, OK, not bad. She seemed down to earth, had a bit of a sense of humor and appeared to be a different kind of politician. Just proves how wrong first impressions can be. Later found out that she condones shooting wolves from helicopters and bases her knowledge on foreign affairs by looking at Russia from her front porch.

It quickly became clear that Palin was faking it during the campaign. She didn't have much understanding the of the world, and this led to people questioning John McCain for choosing Palin as a runningmate. This is not to say she isn't a decent mother or neighbor or basketball player. But when in came to national politics, Palin was out of her element. Now she's trying to reverse that perception by writing a book that blames the McCain campaign for forcing her into roles she wasn't comfortable with. Like a point guard in basketball, she's looking for a crack in the defense. It appears she is trying set herself up for a run at the White House by bolstering her "rogue" image and slinging mud at the people who put her in the national spotlight.

Now with Obama's popularity declining, and unemployment wiping out middle class folks by the millions, the stage is set for voters to do something more drastic in 2012. In horrid times, voters do desperate things (see Nazi Germany). Just as Obama was the polar opposite from George W. Bush, a president who had trouble speaking, the extreme contrast of a potential Palin presidency might appeal to the masses if Obama doesn't right the ship. And my confidence in Obama has been greatly shaken as he continues to run up the deficit. He has not cleaned up the lobbyists or trimmed governmental fat. He has not instituted any policies that have led to job creation.

Fancy speeches aren't going to put bread on the table of Americans. Obama traveling around the world isn't going to get people back to work. For Obama to get reelected, people need to feel reasonably secure again. According to the polls, Americans are not feeling good about the future despite electing a president who was suppose to be all about change, hope and a new era in politics. Hasn't worked out very well so far, but he still has about three years to improve things and to save us from Palin. The key is to get people back to work while maintaining our homeland defenses. If he can do those two things, he will be easily reelected.

Unfortunately, we live in a country that is fascinated by idiots, and sometimes these morons come along at just the right time to cause costly disruptions as we saw with the balloon family a few weeks ago. Whether it's the "octomom" or "balloon dad," as long as these people have some sort of shtick and thirst for fame, they will always have followers. It's too bad the media is obsessed with giving the Al Sharptons of the world a platform. But the media is only reacting to what sells. And apparently these publicity-seekers get ratings. I just hope they don't get votes.

We live in time when we need more than shtick and unhealthy ambitions from our leaders. Maybe a Palin-Octomon ticket in 2012 will be the end of the world as we know it. Perhaps there is something to this Mayan calendar stuff.

Wondering what 2012 will really bring

Get ready for a barrage of movies, television shows and magazine articles relating to the end of the world. According to some, the Maya calendar, which expires in 2012, is a predictor of global doom. Don't doubt for a second that Hollywood won't jump all over this far-out theory.

I don't believe the end of the world will come in one swift impact by an asteroid or an all-out nuclear exchange. I think the end days will come slowly, with different species going extinct and storms worsening and man's collective soul weakening. If you concur, then you might even speculate that the end times have already begun.

Of course, it's not as sexy to make a movie about something that might take thousands of years to play out.

I often wonder what the end will look like? Will it be a mass exodus of mankind? Or will we be taken one by one, act by act, in a methodical way? Perhaps the bees will disappear, then the vegetation. Or maybe we will just get tired of being tired. Lose our drive, until we no longer innovate. Without innovation, will we be able to conquer future pandemics or escape to other planets when the sun finally calls it quits?

We live in troubled economic times with people losing everything they have ever had, including a sense of themselves. With each loss - a job, a house, a loved one - comes a sense of things disappearing on us lately. Eventually, spirits are broken, which explains in part why there is so much depression in the world. One's life can only be dismantled so much before it become unrecognizable and impossible to rebuild. Some are able to remain positive through all of the darkness, but many are succumbing to the endless stream of bad news. I am hearing a lot of down voices of late.

I have bounced back from several tragedies in my life, but admittedly know that with each reconstruction comes an underlying loss of energy to rebuild again if need be. It's like asking folks in New Orleans to bounce back from five consecutive Katrina's. Yeah, we all treasure New Orleans as a unique American city, but at some point our will would be broken and we'd have to abandon the city if disasters kept occurring there. And when we do that we are, in a sense, at an end.

Some say that 2012 will only be the end of a certain phase of mankind and that we will enter a new age. If that's true, I say bring it on because what is happening now isn't working. Everything from global warming to uncontrolled greed is governing this planet. Heck, we're running out of drinking water and some believe there will be no more seafood in the oceans in 50 years. And these are fairly smart people predicting this stuff. So I would say we need a collective adjustment of our consciousness, not to mention our intellect, to extricate ourselves from the messes we're creating.

While the environment and collapsing economy get a lot of attention, I believe we are failing as a species in small ways that are equally troubling. Just in my lifetime I have seen a decay in the quality of life in this country. While technology has improved in areas such as health care, a decline in service has been abundant. Remember when doctors came to your house when you were sick and they weren't racing the clock to get to their next patient? Was kind of nice and reassuring, and might have even helped in the healing process. In fact, I'd sacrifice the fancy thermometers to go back to doctors making house calls.

Remember when there was a difference between Republicans and Democrats?

Remember when strangers made conversation while standing in line and didn't have a cellphones attached to their ears?

Remember when employers were loyal to good employees, which in turn created a vibrant economy? Wasn't that long ago that we actually manufactured stuff in this country.

Remember when substance scored more points than style?

There is a lot that I do hope goes extinct in 2012.

Veal, for instance, is a product we can do without. What a horrendous, over-the-top abuse of our dominance over animals. Where shall we draw the line when it comes to satisfying our every craving? In the minds of some, there are no lines. Of course, there is also a thing called karma.

The word "like" needs to be banned from the vocabulary of females under the age of 25. OK, by comparison to other problems, this one is fairly minor. But damn, have you heard how 16-year-old girls speak these days? I think it might take some realignment of the planets to solve this problem!

Realty TV needs to be less about trivial people and their idiotic problems and more about real issues such as putting an end to domestic violence, corporate greed and corrupt politicians.

I was watching an interview of a senior scientist the other night who was expressing his disappointment with our inability to cure cancer. According to this scientist, all the information we need to beat cancer is currently in our possession. The pieces to the puzzle are there. But because of the way research is at the mercy of big business (including drug companies, HMOs, etc.) and money is misspent on a host of unproductive ventures, it might be many more decades before a cure is available. Government, of course, isn't helping matters. It seems a cure for cancer is like anything else. Everyone with a title has a hand in the pot, so nothing truly ever gets done in a timely or efficient fashion. Maybe this too shall pass.

If 2012 doesn't lead to massive tidal waves and earthquakes, I do hope we can improve as a species and a culture. We've become too reliant on technology to solve our problems and are losing our connection to a more powerful source that lies within all of us. Science can help but it can't solve all of our problems, especially when science is profit-driven.

We've become too entitled. Our values are slipping to the point where the nuts often run the nuthouses (this is seen in workplaces, schools and other institutions) - where perceptions and instant gratification are more important than hard work and integrity. Those who are trying to make a difference are being crushed by the masses of people who just want to tune into Survivor and catch the latest sale at mall.

It's fun to watch a special-effects movie every now and then. The graphic eye-candy is quite astonishing. But I wonder if Hollywood would dare make a film that touches on what needs to change in 2012, if not sooner -- changes that don't involve exploding pyramids and bridges? I wonder if anyone would go watch a movie about spiritual transformation and heightened awareness? Or will these types of movies become extinct along with other art forms and societal values?

December of 2012, when some say the world will end, isn't that far off. Even closer, and more realistic, are personal catastrophes about to happen if we don't break this cycle of business as usual in this country. America is no longer top dog when it comes to influencing the global economy. China has passed us by while we were eating Cheetos and watching American Idol. We can't keep treating ourselves and each other like crap and expect things to work out.

I don't know if the Maya calendar has any meaning whatsoever, but I do have an increasing feeling that we've lost our way or are at the end of a journey. I don't think we necessarily need to go backwards. Instead, I think we need to reach higher, move forward, but in smarter ways. Can we do that, however, while being force fed things we don't really need in our lives? Can we become more technologically advanced and intellectually competetive while also nurturing our collective awareness of where we are on this planet?