Bill Clinton's Observations on the Growing "Splitism"

A recently released book entitled "The Big Sort" by Bill Bishop provides the backdrop for some comments made Saturday 12 July by former President Bill Clinton. The book details the growing divide among Americans and an increasing segregation evidently occurring based largely on public policy opinion, but also on class, income, wealth, race, culture, and other demographic factors. Clinton made his remarks to this growing development and expressed his alarm on the ramifications of such a direction. People seemingly are distancing themselves from others not like themselves. There are, of course, many, many individuals to the contrary in many places. Myself personally, I have little if anything in common with the other citizens living in Cheyenne and across Wyoming. I share very little of their political philosophy and opinions and often feel like a pariah when comparing my views and attitudes with most Wyomingians. I know the same is true perhaps even to a greater extent in regards to my youngest brother HBL and the citizens of Castle Rock, Douglas County, and the suburban Denver - Colorado metro area. I believe our two examples are reasons why we both are considering relocating to other parts of the nation where we believe there are more citizens who are similar to us in more ways, particularly when it comes to attitudes and opinions on a wide range of matters. Depending on one looks at this phenomena, one has to believe it will only continue and increase in the coming years. It appears the old motto, E pluribus unum, is all but dead in the US as we get further into the 21st century.
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http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D91SJ6DO0&show_article=1
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http://www.amazon.com/Big-Sort-Clustering-Like-Minded-America/dp/
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http://www.thebigsort.com/home.php
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http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/18/books/review/Stossel-t.html?_r=1&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin
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A Long Week of Work and Little Else

I had a long week of work wrap up Saturday night. Yes, due to the workload in the factory we had to work six days which totalled to about 55 hours which means a nice paycheck. But with all the work there is no time to enjoy or spend it in the coming weeks for the most part. This week marks the completion of the first week of an eight week stretch with little time off or a holiday. The next seven weeks will be long and at times feel like an ordeal, but it is nice to have this as compared to the alternative that I endured the first few months of the calendar year. Hopefully as the Autumn nears I will get some additional time to myself and have a chance to enjoy myself.

I also want to get started on the projects in the coming weeks and have most of them taken care of before we get too deep into October. Wednesday morning the 9th I did not get home until after 5:30 am and the sunrise was similar to this photo. After a relatively rainy May and June, July here along the Northern Front Range has been mostly sunny, hot, and dry with virtually no rainfall which has resulted in the prairie turning brown with little if any green left anywhere and the promise of it staying that way and worsening for the next 9 1/2 to 10 months.

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My hands and wrists continue to be quite painful and I have yet to come up with the ideal solution to deal with this. I do soak my hands and use my heated massager to try get relief but results are erratic at best and often unsatisfactory. I will just have to live with it but its not fun.

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Sunday will have me do the weekly grocery run and not much else. I need to some straightening up around the home but nothing major looms. I may go out and have something to eat; perhaps a nice Mexican dinner is something to consider as I have done that since last autumn.

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I have not heard from brother HBL since he completed his difficult summer seminar preparing him to teach at DPS. I know it was quite time consuming for him and had its difficulty and inconvenience, but hopefully the results and insuing news will be positive. I hope to get down to CR in the coming weeks and visit; perhaps my visit can occur simultaneously with a visit to him and his family from my sisters, but I have not heard if that is going to happen and when. It would be a nice event for the midsummer for all.

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Like the week just completed, I do not see much else happening for me other than just work and rest and the other basics in life. If next Saturday is free, maybe I will go see the new Batman movie if it is out and I think it will be.

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