caught in the net

a recent news story tells the sad story of the victim of cruel and anonomous behavior on MySpace. A young girl became estranged from her best friend and sought out friends on MySpace. I have heard many use such incidents as some sort of indictment of the internet. I know, I know, I get a little preachy. The net is just a tool. The same as a shovel or a car. You can wack someone over the head with a shovel and take thier money. The same shovel can dig a hole. In fact, the shovel can do both and then be used again and again. So the blame for any evil is on us, not the tool.

TIBU

I have spent CONSIDERABLE amount of time reading and writing on a site for writers. The stuff I write is noticed by a few but mostly I am shunned. I don't know why this is so but I can deal. Most of the writing is very good, in my opinion, so it must be mine is not up to snuff. Or maybe it was something I said or didn't say, I don't know. Writing for the world can be bruising if one does it for praise. Lucky for me that is not why I write.
Someone put up a post there desribing the famous crossed swords in Bagdad. We should all read it.
Thisisby.us
Brakeformoose

hoping for change, but not holding my breath

Well this year's elections in my home town have brought a change in many faces. Mayor, council, projects, committees and more. The ads try to convince us of the different future in store for everyone. But, we've heard it all before. We shall see. Getting elected seems to be a matter of who can promise the most. In an old Gilligan's Island, Gilligan is told by a political insider to promise the people "Dis,Dat and dee udder ting" and the assembled crowd cheers wildly when he does. Sound familiar?

broken health

In a letter to Sen. Wayne Allard (R) of Colorado Thomas Weiss, M.A., C.N.A. brings to the forefront of discussion the plight of patients, Nurses and Certified Nursing Assistants in the environment of the greedy corporate takeover of public health care. The amount of qualified people being driven out of these fields can be traced to the ever increasing involvement of the huge profits to be made as "The Boomers" retire. The moves of big business and their efforts to get profit enhancing legislation is lowering the value of human life to merely the bottom line of a profit/loss balance sheet. Where once those who owned a nursing home also owned the responsibility of patient care, this is no longer the case. Now thru changes in our laws, the levels of corporate structure and ownership make it all but imposable to find who is really in charge. Some of the largest owners of nursing homes own as many as 300 to 400 homes. This is made possible by the cozy way laws are snuck into our lives under the banner of "privatisation". Is your life and the lives of your loved ones really better than they were pre-REAGANOMICS and the trickle-down theory?