Nero fiddles while Rome burns ......

No doubt if the Founding Fathers had such an attitude, we'd still be slaves to the Brits.

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"What I mean by "long term" is the basic tenet that the bigger they are, the harder they fall, and what goes around comes around. In St. Luke's gospel, the CEO wound up in hell, begging for a sip of cold water, and the homeless man sat at God's right hand. This happens over and over again in Scripture, and in America we believe that the guy who gets the $100 million bonus today is on a chute that leads to a bad cocaine habit, a car crash, serious head injury and 16 months of speech therapy before he can write his Crash & Redemption memoir and go on Larry King to promote it. Just wait and see."

Don't bet on it ...... these people's greed knows no limits and their consciences were stamped out a long time ago by themselves ....... they will not repent ...... and what in the hell does scripture have to do with reality ? Do you think some invisible man is going to make it all alright ...... people have to create their own freedom and justice ...... there is no hereafter .....

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"Among the young and ebullient, there's no worry about interest rates because they have no savings -- they spend their weekly earnings and a little bit more on hair gel, iTunes, phone bills, $4 coffee and $100 jeans beautifully pre-ripped. They don't see the headlights in the soybean fields at midnight, only the lights in the bars where they go to be beautiful and cool and maintain text-message contact with friends from coast to coast and then have sex."

Yes, they are a petty, shallow, selfish, unconscious bunch ........ and to think they called the hippies the "me generation"

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Mr. Keillor suggests we ignore corruption, evil and madness because we can't do anything about it while the opposite is true ....... we can't do anything about it because we ignore it.

People who think this deserve to get screwed by everybody from their mechanic to the president.

And if the citizens themselves have become as amoral and corrupt as those who oppress them, then the american people will continue to get what they deserve.

The developing ADD geek before he starts guzzling adderal and ritalin.

Is ignorant self-centered americans who think entertainment is the reason for living ...... of course it does make them forget about their ignorant self-centered existence.

An illusion ......... right wing and liberal talking heads ....... the illusion of diversity and choice ...... certainly the illusion of reason.

The mass media parallel of the two-party congress ...... both beholding to the money interests ....

Who holds the real power ? Well, those with the power to print money and it isn't the US govt but a private corporation representing international investors.

People aren't recognized or rewarded in our culture for being knowledgeable about anything besides their job (which is usually a limited field of memorized facts and OJT skills (be they a plumber or a surgeon)

Being able to think bestows very little advantage in our culture.

Materialistic and obsessed with entertainment, their heroes are rock stars, movie stars and tv personalities ....... people who makes lots of money but need no exceptional wisdom or knowledge or the ability to thing.

Then there are the sports figures ....... tons of money for exercising a genetic talent they were born with (not that they worked for) whose efforts do not involve more than those of a college student with a demanding major.

Its too bad our priorities are totally reversed from what they should be ......which will figure greatly in our downfall.

I don't like celebrities in general but should one disappear I would not miss them greatly ....... however, if my garbage man disappeared for a few weeks, I would miss him/her.

Our teachers, and our workers in general ...... the ones doing the work that needs to be done, are not respected and are abused.

If you want to make huge amounts of money, please do not do anything that is needed ......... the more irrelevent your pursuit, the greater is the likelihood of your reward.

Intellectuals are viewed as unexciting and boring or as freeks and geeks.

Is there any wonder most americans don't even know who their congressman is ...... let alone the actions of Jefferson or Jackson ???

This is as the corporations and the govt want it ........ a passive ignorant rabble tranced-out by entertainment and other bullshit.

One cannot hold the govt or anyone else accountable until one is willing to hold oneself accountable.

The USA has 5% of the world's population and 25% of its inmates ...... much more than even military dictatorships.

And prostitutes pretend to be aroused (ie, they lie) as do the running-dog-lackeys who call themselves Congressmen.

I agree ........ desperation leads to self-deception ..... we see what we want to see ...... we project our own values and beliefs (which is why Obama won the election) ..

Mediocrity can make the "normal" appear exceptional ....

The mediocrity of the republican presidential candidates gave the democrats a victory and made the democratic candidates look like sane moderate individuals ....

Things had shifted so far to the right by the time George Bush became president, that moderates and republican lites could pass themselves off as liberals and even as progressives..... even though the "progressives" of our parties would be hardly considered "liberals" in europe ....

Likewise, the aggressive unilateral actions of Bush make Obama appear as a moderate man of peace.

Rhetoric (and the associated intentions) have nothing to do with action.

We must measure a man by his actions ...... not his words.

Obama is a moderate ........ tied to the status quo in all regards and he will not challenge any of its fundamental economic pillars (including the mil-ind complex) ....

Walking a fence is not an easy tasks however ....

Perhaps the award was to encourage Obama to take risks he otherwise would not.