So much thinking.

Its been some time since I last posted my thoughts. Let's see, so much to consider. Punitive punishment against my Saints, VCU making it through the first round, democrats and republicans, vacation.  That is a lot to think about.  Unfortunately, or not, during the past ten days I have been away from my computer and my Blackberry is less than adequate for posting to a Blog.

During this time I have considered much and given much thought  to these bouts of wisdom as to what I might write on each and every topic. Yes, I have had much to say in this regard and have looked to express those thoughts so that Tom, Don or Peter could thoughtfully respond.  Yet, as I sit here today, pondering what wisdom I can share, I find myself unusually interested in writing solely about nothing. Yes, while I know it difficult to believe I find myself lacking in any opinion right now about with nothing I care to share and as such simply wish to see if I might wax poetically about just that - Nothing.

So as I and others ask ourselves why we are reading Bud's Blog in the middle of the work day, let us relax our minds and chuckle just a bit at the amusement of releasing our thoughtful minds to, well you know how this ends.

Whose not counted?

At Church today I met two very interesting people.  The first, a young black women in her thirties, looking to start her own business. The other, a gentleman in his fifties, worn face, long silver beard and hair. The Rector brought these two to meet me during the coffee hour as they both shared with me that Big Easy Connection. The conversation drifted to unemployment and governing policies relating to jobs creation. No, I did not push this but was interested in their thoughts. Yes, my new found friends, especially that of my silver haired fellow caused me to dig a bit deeper into my own mind as to the solutions for the issues of today.  This gentleman, down on his luck, simply getting by, wants to move back home to the Gulf.  Unfortunatly he cannot seem to find a job, long enough in duration that will allow him to make enough to move back home. I found my new silver haired friend to be of deep intellect, well thought out and guiding our conversation in an unexpected direction.  He, I believe accurately, placed responsibility for today's economic woes squarely on both sides of the political aisle. His observation was simple.  The work is there. Companies are ready to invest and hire.  The government won't release job creating work ntil such time that it feels the political environment will pay for it. Hum, that causes many questions.  Then my new found friend did the unmentionable.  We began talking about the unemployed that simply didn't want to work. He brought up a new class of citizen.  A person that just feels beaten .  Not unable to work, not unwilling to work.  Just tired and beaten.  They aren't depressed.  They are simply tired.  They have tried for so long.  They did well when times were good and they did well when times weren't.  Now that times are bad, they have been trying for two, three or more years, they are just too tired to try any more.  This is a subject I may delve into more over time.  It represents the worst in our society. You see, as society I believe we are looking for nice and easy black and white solutions. Oh and yes, we want those solutions now.  After all, we're in the internet age.  Everything is now. To bad life isn't that easy, and again as I say, the answer is grey.

Whose at Fault?

Watching this morning's news, reading the posts on Face Book and just listening to people's thoughts on the issues of elections and policy I find myself disappointed at the lack of thought people give to how we got here. We live in a democracy that requires people to act. You and me.  Politics is a participatory sport. It is not made of of politicians.  It is the people.  "We the people" - Yet, we the people, if we do vote, we don't call or write a letter expressing our beliefs. We simply point a finger of blame at the other side.  Well guess what. Someone gets it.  Someone did write a letter or made a call expressing an ultra right or ultra left position. However, there is this large contingent of Americans today wondering what happened?  How did we get here?  We got here expecting people to act on our behalf without the benefit of our input. "We the people" have left governance up to s small contingent of LEFT and RIGHT extremist advising those elected to do the right thing. We have simply set-up our elected leadership to fail.  So instead of saying my voice doesn't count, take some time to express your vote.  Remember, before you point your finger to blame someone else for why government isn't running as you believe it should, three fingers are pointing back at you.  Be careful whom you blame.

A beginning.

Giving a speech one day, a friend introduced me saying "what do you call a person that is in politics but not a politician, who writes law but is not a lawyer?" I have often thought about this introduction. Yes, I am around the law and directly in the midst of politics. While conservative, my views are different than most of similar and opposite standing. And, I often tire of surface level thinking people take in forming opinions. Yes I said it. I all too often watch people, left and right, form opinions without ever looking deep into what is or has happened. I see people blindly believe in someone or hate another based on emotion and void of rational thought. I know, we live in a democracy where the elected represent the ideas of those who elect them, yet, those that elect really don't know what they do and blame their actions on others.  A vicious circle  it is. None the less, whether anybody reads my blog or not, I now have an outlet. An outlet to improve my craft of writing and my ability to provide a deeper level of thought. In doing so, I reserve the privilege to express ideas outside of that for good public policy and informed election. I also reserve the opportunity to write about other important facets of my life such as music, AMA or Riverside or absolutely nothing important at all. So, lets see where this take us and if it is even meaningful in the first place.  So it begins.