And the Hyena said to the Jackal ...

   

Do you ever have the feeling you have lived too long? When Barrack Obama was elected President of the United States, I recall rejoicing to have lived long enough to witness that time. Meanwhile scandals, some horrendous, have come and gone. This nation, so damaged by economic savagery, struggles to regain its footing, but continues to fail to regulate its financial institutions and enforce the laws of the land. The President is a slick debater and, as beleaguered as he is, he's no hero. Who knew Vladimir Putin would emerge as, at least, a smarter strategist.
     We do not have decreased unemployment; we have increased underemployment. We do not have social or economic justice; we have an incrementally growing gap between haves and have-nots in this country, based upon greed and bigotry. People like my parents, both orphans, abandoned and abused, cannot find purchase, because there is so little opportunity for anyone in this country, other than the overprivileged few.
     America is not being held hostage; it is falling apart at the seams. We do not have lack of leadership, we have an intellectually and morally bankrupt House of Representatives, a pack of noisy hyenas. The jackals on the other side of the aisle are no better. They move in, while the hyenas are attacking their own. They value winning above all else, so, in a perverse way, they partner with the hyenas. We have a ruthless elite in this country, winning at the expense of the the Republic, itself. It is neither ludicrous, nor disgusting; it is dangerous.

Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. --James Bovard, "Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty"

     Speaking of dangerous, how has the NSA scandal affected you? Have you had any new insights about privacy, since Snowden spilled the beans? My own epiphany came out of nowhere. I just got tired of tracking shipments of purchases made online from a couple of suppliers. In tracking one such package, I saw a tiny ad on the UPS site, saying I would no longer have to track packages; I could just sign up for e-mail or SmartPhone messages. Once a package is soon-to-be delivered, UPS, God bless 'em, would alert me. Wow. Herein begins the lesson. As I registered on the UPS site, the company asked me to verify my identity.
    The verification questions blew me away. UPS knows I stayed in a resort on Collins Avenue in Miami nearly two decades ago. UPS knows where my daughter lived recently, although we do not share a last name. They think I stayed in her home. They know who my grandson is and his birth date. Finally UPS knows someone named Lenore Cole, whom they believe to be my relative. I have no living Cole relatives, as I am the only child of two orphans, whose siblings died young. By ignoring the information they have on poor Lenore, I caused my own demise. UPS refused my identity.
     Who the hell are these people, what is their source for all this erroneous, albeit extremely sensitive, information about me and mine? The weird thing is we've never shipped things to one another via UPS.
      Right now I am thinking the NSA doesn't just have our information. They have corrupt ethics, but they also have corrupt data. Now that, my friends, is as dangerous as our federal budget rip tide.