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LEADERSHIP IN AMERICA

Regular readers might be wondering what happened to our Kitchen-Table-wisdom in August???...Or not. The fact is as the Kitchen-Table-troops and I watched uncivilized riots, fires and looting in the cities we have traveled to and once considered destinations - we were actually stumped for comments of any kind for several weeks. More accurately I think would be, speechless. And that is saying something for a group of opinionated Baby Boomers who were in high school and university in the turbulent 60s and 70s - marching and protesting Vietnam, abortion rights, women's rights and equal pay for equal work, etc... Baby Boomers didn't invent protesting - but we certainly refined it. However, we only burned our bras. We never set fire to entire buildings or stole property from hardworking business owners trying employ people and make a living...So it's now September 2020 and we in the Kitchen-Table-bunch have managed to gather our wits - while still searching for the mi
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POLITICS IN AMERICA

When we talk about 'politics' - essentially it's supposed to refer to governing policy - but over the centuries of distortion, politics has evolved from beliefs and principles to strategy and maneuvers. The "troops" and I haven't posted anything since the end of May, but not because anyone became ill or we're tired or otherwise distracted - but because we've deliberately sat back to 'watch' events as they unfolded around us here - and the globe in general... And, in America's corner of this globe the view from the vantage point of our single and combined ages around my virtual kitchen table - is disturbing. There was a book published in 1969 titled "The Peter Principle". The basic premise of the work by author Laurence J. Peter was; " In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his [her] level of incompetence ." The problem with America's democratic republic is that too many people in politics start righ
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AWARENESS IN AMERICA

T his time - around my [virtual] oval kitchen table - the topics went everywhere, but the common thread that emerged was awareness...Only when and 'if' we're aware of something can we embrace or change or avoid a specific something . No less passionate, I nevertheless listened to each contributor for several minutes not willing to either comment or ask a question - cause each of these people were on fire !  What did it take to get the kitchen-table players so worked up? Well - for starters we've been pretty well confined to our houses for the last two months - with a significantly reduced ration of our usual morning coffee and doughnuts. The doughnuts have been reduced because the morning [fitness] walks have been reduced. The morning fitness walks have been reduced because the last few weeks in Arizona have been hot - around 90F even at 7AM...! Regardless, with less caffeine and sugar to jump start aging brain cells - one of our playhouse contributors wonder
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JOURNALISM IN AMERICA

Around my [virtual] kitchen table, lately - not unlike King Arthur's Camelot with 'knights' of the round table - we continue to appear via Skype... "We" the opinionated 21st Century 'knights' - who retired to this Arizona 55+ community - are not members of Tom Brokaw's "The Greatest Generation" we are their offspring, known statistically as "The Baby Boomers". Boomer-Babies began arriving in 1946 when Truman was President [after men returned from WWII and women returned from factories] then continued to arrive at the rate of 4+M a year for eighteen years until 1964, when Lindon Johnson became President. In total 76,000,000 million Boomers invaded this nation causing an an explosion of schools and housing construction through the 50s, 60s and 70s. [Are we still relevant? Well, as of 2019 - 71,200,000M of us were alive and continuing to take up a lot of space.] We remember when President John F. Kennedy was assassina
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INFRASTRUCTURE IN AMERICA

For this 'kitchen-table-topic' I sincerely hope you're sitting down... Our virtual debate via technology sent me searching in many directions for answers - still illusive - but ohhh, so worthwhile to highlight. Is America the greatest country in the world? Absolutely not - it's deteriorating! America does have the greatest PR machine and Main Street voters continue to buy into a vast mass marketing program from every state and federal politician - working diligently to keep the following realities as quiet as possible. In this 2020 Election Year - armed with even a little extra information voters can ask serious targeted questions and insist on answers this time - not [budget] excuses, which are just that. IT IS the people living on Main Street America who make America great!  Our overall leadership - 'not' so much... Main Street functions with a practical, logical, straightforward approach - while [most] politicians do-not. Trump attempted to
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BALANCE IN AMERICA

F rom around my kitchen table [via Skype as we practice social distancing] it occurred to those who signed in that 2020 is not only a Leap Year , but an Election Year! With that - it is an astonishingly fine opportunity because at no other time between our election cycles do "we-the-people" seem to be able to have our politicians' [undivided] attention. You need to be a highly paid Lobbyist to do that - and most voters aren't highly paid - just highly taxed. [Sorry, I digress.] Sooo, what did everyone [at their laptops] want to say to the 2020 herd of folks running for re-election? Plenty... We agreed a good deal of of America is socially and politically out of balance. We begin with how far our elected representatives have 'drifted' from our Constitution. In his Gettysburg Address, Lincoln spoke to the original intention of this Republic as; " a government of the people, for the people, by the people " - which seems to have be
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PRISON REFORM IN AMERICA...

O hhh, gosh - around my kitchen table this time we almost needed a referee...More than one! Nearly every night each network [local and national] lead with some form of crime - usually tied to gun violence. So much so that anyone visiting from another galaxy would refuel and leave - quickly - likely for the refuge of a nice black-hole somewhere in the Universe. From crime and criminals and criminals going to prison - the discussion naturally began to cycle around to the 2nd Amendment - then ran amuck from there... But we can't really discuss the 2nd Amendment without first understanding 'why' it was included in the constitution of our newly formed Republic and its original 'meaning' because the intention and meaning in 1788 is quite removed from the interpretation the NRA would have everyone believe, today. It's really, really very simple. Having thrown off an oppressive king - our founding-fathers intended that ordinary citizens not only had the indivi
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