Saturday, March 24, 2018

Maybe this time we can fix it

Because, it’s different this time. This time the victims are fighting back. Hearts and prayers are no longer a sufficient response. Less than six weeks after Nikolas Cruz unleashed a Valentine’s Day massacre in Parkland, Florida, the state’s gun laws have already changed.

It’s sad that so many students died before one group of survivors channeled their grief into political action. But it’s glorious that American young are stepping up to insist upon what their elders have failed to achieve. And it couldn’t come at a better time.

Washington is a circus now, a dark and dangerous one. While most Americans are either brainwashed or paralyzed with fear, toadying sycophants delude themselves thinking they can restrain the dangers they’ve unleashed. This does not bode well for democracy. There are problems, grave problems, that the circus isn’t addressing.

Assuming all else goes well, that the government doesn’t implode or the world doesn’t explode, by the time the youngest millennial graduates college, many of the two-thirds of his peers who didn’t attend college will be losing their jobs to robots. Vital economic issues are either not being addressed, or addressed only with voodoo economics and naivete.

Our government responds to the desires of moneyed interests while ignoring the needs of the four fifths of the people who share only ten percent of the nation’s wealth. The baby boom generation coined the phrase, “Don’t trust anyone over thirty.” They proved the adage by failing to nourish democracy. America badly needs a wake-up and a shake-up. If American youth refuses to become victims, they must fight—and fight hard. God bless them. With their help we can see this job through. I know this—if we work together we can fix and reclaim our democracy.

Sunday, March 11, 2018

The back story

Now that I've launched the eBook, I've begun thinking about the summer release on Amazon and in paperback. I've been working on the back cover. Originally I wanted to do something with the Norman Rockwell version of Rosie the Riveter. But, when you work with 3D models you've got to use what you've got. The real Rosie has a rivet gun across her lap. The fake Rosie has a blowout in her clothing. I posed the retro ray gun to conceal the blowout. However people said it looked rude. So, Rosie stepped out and Ms. Liberty stepped in.