BACK TO THE 60s...

For one last time. I promise.

Who, What, Where and When have been asked in regard to the ongoing Riots in England.

(Where you might ask is the Why .... I will come to that later).

Anyway, a local talk radio show has been dealing with the Riots in England over the course of the last few days. The host, begins his program by asking Why is this happening Now and throws the topic out to his telephone audience for reply.

The Responses, and there are many, deal with everything but the Why.

For example: They point out that it is most often the young entitled (read welfare) recipients or privileged youth out for a thrill (ie the Who);

• They also note it is occurring in our major Western Cities such as London, Paris and here in Canada in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver (i.e. the Where);



• And of course, in regard to the When - it is happening now - certainly now in London and here in Canada - at last year's G-20 and in Vancouver at this Spring's Stanley Cup Playoffs.

When they get to the issue of Why - surprisingly a large number of callers go back to the 60s "when the roots of today's problems began". Much like I have said in earlier Blogs, "it all began in the 60s".

Before I get into the specifics of their comments, let me recap why I see the 60s as a strategic to understanding today.

Baby Boomers like myself, started to become adults over the course of the 1960s. Since then, our numbers have dominated society and will continue to do so for the next several decades. It has been and will continue to be, all about us.

So my premise is that to understand today one must understand that decade especially with the dramatic changes that took place during those 10 significant years. As I mentioned, many of the comments from the callers dealt with this peculiarity.

Let's, in bullet form, review those comments:

• JFK was assassinated in Nov. 63 and with him ended the Age of Innocence; followed by the killings of M. L. King and Bobby Kennedy;



• Early in the 60s, Rock and Roll and the Waltz was replaced with the Twist, The Beetles and later in the decade, Hard Rock;



• Large numbers of Boomers - tuned out and turned on ...to drugs;




• The Vietnam War reached its peak and split America;




• Violence in the Streets - inner cities burned;



• Church Enrollment began its steady decline;



• Schools were less disciplinary;



• The Birth Control Pill was introduced to Society; girls were now able to be as reckless about sex as their male counterparts;



• Despite this, Abortion rates rose;



• Girls / Women were less likely to placed on a Pedestal;



• The trend in Women returning to the work place began in earnest (i.e. kids sent off to day care, fewer mothers home when children returned from school);



• Government Pensions and Health Care were introduced marking the beginning of the Age of Entitlement;



• Discipline in the Home declined as did parenting skills.

So this was put forward as to Why so many have gone off the rails - have opted out - lack a conscience or what have you.

And it is put forward as to Why but in reality it is as much about When things started to go south - ie the 60s.

In fact, many of the bulleted items above do not deal with the Why. That is to say, Why did many Boomers tune out and turn on? Why did Church Enrollment start its downward decline? Why did Parenting Skills decline?

To that Question, I Have No Idea.

The bottom line though remains - the 60s represent a watershed for modern society. Many good things resulted but I think on balance, there were more bad things and many of those negative influences prevail to this day.

We now have an Entitled Society, a significant minority of our Citizens lack a conscience and the rest of us are left trying to cope in the best way we can.

As to Why - who really knows.

As I see it...

'K.D. Galagher'

I Finally Figured Obama Out.

Since his Election I have found Barack Obama to be an Enigma - I just could not get a handle on the guy.

Let me come clean here - it will come as no surprise for you to know that if I was American - I would not have voted for Obama but what you might not realize is that I was hoping he would win.

In my mind, the time had come for a Black American to be in the White House in the same manner that the time has come for a Woman to occupy that space.

I felt the pride of Black America that one of their own had a shot at being President.

For a long time, I hoped that he would grow in office but as time has gone on, I can see this will not happen.

The guy blames everyone for failings - the Big Corps; the Big Banks; Republicans; Tea Partyers; The Rich Whites, George W. Bush, Fox News and so on and so on.

Each target in turn, gets a hammering at what seems to be one of his daily Press Conferences.

He forgets that he is the President of ALL AMERICANS - he is in place to represent Them ALL and he is in place for find Solutions for What Ails the USA.

He needs to drop the Blame Game, but I have just come to the conclusion that he is incapable of doing that. In fact, he is wired in such a fashion that it is just not in his DNA.

What I now realize is that it comes down to his upbringing and his life experience that prevents him from acting differently.

This realization came to me as a result of his several appearances over the course of the Recent Down Grade Debacle- and in particular in what he said and what he failed to say.

I guess I have known about his flawed approach for some time and have even touched upon it in many of my Blogs but this recent Crisis brought it home to me.

Obama's father left him when young, his mother could not keep him and he went to live with her Grand Parents.

As an adult, he worked as a Social Worker in the poor Black Districts of Chicago.

He sat over the course of 20 years in a Church where the Pastor ranted and raved about the vile Whites while condemning America as 'G.D. America'. (While this same Pastor lived in a rich white enclave in a $10 million home - some hypocrite).

As a Black and given his life experience, he too had to come to believe in victimization - the Whites victimizing the Blacks.

Us versus Them.

Problems of the Black Community could easily be placed at the door step of the insensitve Whites.

Solutions were not needed, only excuses and blame given.

That explains why he has surrounded himself with such Socialist Minded Persons - each ready to support his dogma that someone else is to blame.

No need to take corrective action - just Blame, Blame, Blame.

It also explains why he is so cool to Israel . I hesitate to say it but there is a streak of Anti Semitism that runs through Black America i.e. if Rich Whites are bad then Rich White Jews are even worse.

I do not envy Barack Obama, indeed I feel quite sorry for him. He has a little over a year left in office and I do not expect much positive will result.

In my mind though - it is not his fault. It is in his wiring.

Post Script: I forgot to mention an important aspect of Obama's being - he truly wants to reduce the disparity between rich and poor / the have and the have-nots. And this has led to his high spending and in turn, the S&P downgrade. I fully support his goal if for no other reason than it is fair and is the humane thing to do. Where I diverge from him is that you cannot help the poor by beggaring the rich. Plus, sadly, the time is not right for such heavy spending since US and indeed much of the Western World is on the financial ropes. That said, I would like to see some of the Military Spending diverted to helping the less fortunate especially in the area of good schooling. As I have said before, the time has come for America's NATO Allies to offer up coin and resources to offset a much needed diminished role for the US.

As I see it...

'K.D. Galagher'