-- Maggie's Musings --           MODERN POLITICS Here we go folks! The national election is still a year and a half away and already the political sniping has started. We no longer hear about issues pertinent to the welfare of our country, but we know much more than we need to about the candidates personal lives. It's true, we need to know if our chosen representatives are ax murderers, pedophiles, or bank robbers. (I was going to say con artists but they're all that) but as far as other skeletons…….who doesn't have a few? At this point, I don't have a clue what any candidate, including my favorites, has in mind as far as solving the many problems facing our nation today. Everyone is too busy taking pot shots at the others and hitting the trail for the big money! On the subject of money raised in political campaigns, the word obscene comes to mind. With all of the poverty in this country, the billions spent on a war we should not have begun, and the reconstruction of areas still untouched since Hurricane Katrina….you would think that fundraising for political gain would be the least of anyone's worries. Apparently not! The millions each candidate expects to raise so that the American public will be exposed to him or her endlessly in the media IS obscene!! Each candidate should be given equal time in the media, participate in national debates and do old fashioned stumping in order for all of us to know what their intentions are, once elected. They should be in touch with their constituents in arenas that do not call for $1,000.00 (or more) a plate dinners with only the rich and famous. It will ultimately be the rest of us who will elect someone to hold the highest office in the land and I, for one, am sick of "He said/she said" and "if you tell on me….I'll tell on you" politics. That…. and the money issue is a total turnoff. Show me a candidate who can address the issues without name calling and flaunting their campaign treasuries and that person would get my vote……no matter which party they are affiliated with! If things continue the way they're going, I might have to cancel my papers, magazines and cable subscription. So, if you have a topic that interests you or tidbits you would like to share, send them to me at: maggiesmusings@idyllwildonline.net Thank you for participating. SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA BEACHES Lately, it seems that almost weekly there is a warning that one or more Southern California beach should be avoided because of sewage being dumped into the ocean. The media is quite "matter of fact" in their reporting of these incidents, like it is not a big deal and is to be expected. This is truly disturbing to me and I don't live near the beaches. I like to visit any chance I get but may think twice about doing so in the future. I certainly would not like to bring out of state guests to show them what glorious beaches we have under these circumstances. If I did live near the beach, I would be up in arms about the frequency of these beach closures. Who is dumping the waste? Shouldn't they be fined and made to stop; or have their businesses shut down? Could it be the cities themselves who are at fault? If so……SHAME! Who answers for this? That part is never reported! Southern California beaches are touted as among the best in the world and beach tourism is a huge industry here. How embarrassing!!!! Our society is systematically trashing our environment….. mostly because of financial greed, without a thought toward future generations, let alone the welfare of our State, Country and most of all, the entire Planet. We are trashing our oceans, the life blood of our planet without conscience or appreciation for the lives of all kinds of flora and fauna or just the beauty of an unblemished, uncompromised environment. The "Asphalt Jungle" is upon us and it makes me truly sad (and MAD) that no one seems to care. If you haven't seen "An Inconvenient Truth", please do so. It is an eye opener that if you watch and are still unconcerned about our part in destroying this earth, then you get what you deserve and I guess your family and mine will have to live with it. I know I have some changes to make. Dumping sewage into the ocean should be at the top of the list of things that cannot be tolerated in our environment. The ocean is our lifeblood…if the life it supports is gone…..we're gone! Simple as that! So, if you have a topic that interests you or tidbits you would like to share, send them to me at: maggiesmusings@idyllwildonline.net Thank you for participating.       OUR AMERICAN SOCIETY IN 2007 Is it just me or are there others who find that people who are revered these days, especially by young people, are less than worthy of the adoration? I would never want a daughter of mine to emulate the likes of Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Nicole Richie, the current Miss Teen U.S.A. or Miss U.S.A. These young women are obsessed with money, sex, drugs and offensive behavior in general. Boys do not have it much better especially in the area of sports. These days football, baseball and basketball players conduct free-for-alls in the middle of games setting less than stellar examples of good sportsmanship. They fail drug tests, party until all hours and get arrested for all kinds of abhorrent behavior. Many of them are illiterate. Now let's look at politicians and religious leaders. We have senators and congressmen who lie, cheat, steal, molest young people and have nothing to say other than to trash each other in campaigns. Our president has an ego the size of Texas and his grammar leaves much to be desired. Our country is in a war that no one really knows the reason for any more, yet young people are dying for it on a daily basis. Most of us have no idea what these "leaders" stand for, or what they do for our communities, states and our country. As for religious leaders, they too have scandal around every corner. All of these people are paid obscene amounts of money and don't seem to have the same standard of punishment for breaking the law as the rest of our society. There are people in our own country who are starving and homeless, yet we revere people who spend huge amounts of money for parties, drugs, weddings, lawyers and fines. I don't begrudge anyone who earns an honest living, the right to be a millionaire but our so called heroes these days have no idea what EARNING a living is. Finally there are the parents……These are people who think buying their children what ever they want is being good to them. They give them money, send them to the mall having no idea what music they are listening to, what movies they are watching and who they are associating with, both in person and on their computers. If there is a problem with behavior, teachers are to blame. God forbid that the parent or the kid might be at fault! We are moving into a generation of kids who have no idea what a real hero is and have no real role models - including their parents. They are given everything and expect to have instantly, all that their parents worked a lifetime to acquire. They are insolent, ill mannered and have no respect for others or their property. They have no appreciation for fine art, opera, classical music, ballet and theater. They are either obese or skeletal. Most of them cannot add, spell or parse without a computer or calculator. But why should we be surprised? ….look who we ask them to look up to!!! So, if you have a topic that interests you or tidbits you would like to share, send them to me at: maggiesmusings@idyllwildonline.net Thank you for participating.             THE COMMERCIALIZATION OF CHRISTMAS Here I am on my soapbox again! Is it my imagination or does the selling of Christmas come earlier and earlier every year? Pretty soon, it won't be January clearance sales; it will be "shop early for Christmas" - in January! The stores can just leave the Christmas trees and lights up year round and maybe change colors and themes occasionally to get your attention. I remember when people would have been horrified to see a Christmas display in stores before Thanksgiving. Next it was Halloween. This year Christmas came with Labor Day! I know that merchants need to make a profit and most of them make it with holiday sales but the meaning of Christmas has taken a back seat to the almighty dollar these days. The spirit of giving means how much you spend! It used to be that you only gave to those who meant something to you and often it was a handmade gift or homemade foods. Now you are expected to give to every person you know, including the postman and you have to outdo Sally next door in the process. What values are we teaching our children? Being selfish and greedy comes to mind! How did St. Nicholas come from bringing toys to the children to giving expensive gifts to everyone? And I really don't think that this is what the Magi had in mind for the future when they brought gifts to the Christ Child - do you? So, if you have a topic that interests you or tidbits you would like to share, send them to me at: maggiesmusings@idyllwildonline.net Thank you for participating.             MY NEWEST PET PEEVE! PLASTIC PACKAGING Am I the only person who has a problem with the hard plastic packaging that is wrapped around almost everything you buy these days? In the beginning, this nuisance was foisted upon us because there are less than honest people walking out of stores with stolen goods. Now I think the manufacturers have gone too far……the plastic is around everything, no matter what the size of the product. Everything from small appliances to underwear has plastic around it. There is nothing more irritating than trying to remove this wrapping. Most times it is so close to the product that you have to be very cautious using scissors or knife to get it off for fear of damaging the item inside. Once you do get a corner open and begin to remove the plastic, you have exposed very sharp edges which can wield a nasty cut if you aren't extremely careful! I'm surprised there hasn't been a lawsuit over this! I mean people sue for far more frivolous things! Now let's talk about the wrapping around CD's and DVD's! First you have to deal with the hard plastic wrap and then you have to deal with the soft wrap and all the 'security' stickers inside. By the time you've finished opening everything, you're out of the mood to listen to music or watch a movie! I don't know about you, but by this time, I'm very grumpy and am usually using some colorful language to go along with my mood!! Lately, I've taken to asking the merchants I buy the products from to remove the wrapping. Maybe if we all did this, the merchants would complain to the manufacturers and someone would come up with a better way of packaging. We can only dream! So, if you have a topic that interests you or tidbits you would like to share, send them to me at: maggiesmusings@idyllwildonline.net Thank you for participating.             2006 OLYMPICS - A POST MORTEM Like most Americans, I looked forward to the 2006 Winter Olympics with anticipation and enthusiasm. What became immediately apparent was the media impact on this major sporting event. Before the opening ceremonies, several young athletes were 'hyped' far beyond their ability to perform and when they didn't live up to the expectations, their failures and falls were shown over and over again world wide, to the embarrassment of the athletes, their families and our country. When the great Michelle Kwan was forced to withdraw from competition because of an injury (a heart breaking decision for her), her fall during practice was shown ad nauseum world wide by totally insensitive television reporters. We saw every skiing, skating, snow boarding and sledding catastrophe so many times that the victories and high scores that were achieved seemed quite unimportant. I think we should show these young men and women who work so hard for many years to make our country proud much more consideration and support. They deserve our accolades, not a ghoulish fascination with their mishaps. Just my opinion……………. So, if you have a topic that interests you or tidbits you would like to share, send them to me at: maggiesmusings@idyllwildonline.net Thank you for participating.             BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN…A controversy! In a recent conversation with friends of mine the subject of the much acclaimed film Brokeback Mountain came up. I was surprised at their negative comments because of the accolades of almost every critic who has reviewed this film and the awards nominations, not only for the production but also the acting. It became very apparent after a few minutes of listening to criticism being tossed around that the negativity stemmed, not from any other source than the subject matter. They wasted no time in trashing the acting, the story line and the film as a whole. In this day and age, it is still appalling to me, the bigotry and cruelty of supposedly educated and charitable people. It also boggles my mind that they even watched the film in the first place, given their stance on homosexuality and knowing the subject matter prior to viewing it. I'm always fascinated by people who will get up in arms about a film, television show or book and then watch it or read it. Is that to reassure themselves that they are correct and everyone else with a differing viewpoint is not? Don't get me wrong, I think everyone has a right to their opinion in these matters but when it is expressed with no room for debate and with blatant disregard for another point of view or that there could even be one……..it gets my hackles up! Especially when it ends up being nothing more than arrogant viciousness! I haven't seen the film yet because once again, other people have made that decision for me and it was only shown in my area for a week and then pulled! I will see it as soon as I can and let you know MY take on it. So, if you have a topic that interests you or tidbits you would like to share, send them to me at: maggiesmusings@idyllwildonline.net Thank you for participating.       . Home | Events | Visitors Guide | News / Features | Entertainment | Maps | Advertising | Contact | The Pet Stop | Maggies Musings Idyll Chatter News & Reviews Money Making Secrets Revealed | Shopping | Dining | Hiking | Biking | Rock Climbing | Camping Lodging | Classified Directory | Real Estate | Robert Allen Online