This Is Very Sad

[ozark trout fisher]

I don't care if you're a conservative, Jerry. Most of the people I fish with are conservative. I just don't like you as a person. I'm not going to waste my time on someone who plays fast and loose with the facts or goes out of their way to be rude.

+1

But then I'm just a troll, so what do I know?

[ness]

I agree the country is in decline, but it depends upon exactly what you mean by "moral compass". If you're talking about politicians who care nothing about what's good for their constituents or the country and only about what's good for their friends and campaign donors, agreed. If you're talking about people and companies of power and influence who care only about how much more money and power they can accrue, agreed. If you're talking about the entertainment industry and (because of the entertainment industry) huge segments of the public that are obsessed with sex, violence, and rampant consumerism, agreed.

But if you're talking about stuff like a perceived turning away from religion among the populace, or "gay marriage", or prayer in schools, or all the other stuff the religious right considers moral decline, well, I can't agree. Plenty of non-religious people are moral and plenty of religious people are not, and what they believe has little or no effect on the welfare of the country.

The U.S. is in decline because there are way too many people chasing way too few good jobs anymore, way too many people who are ill-prepared and totally unwilling to work at those jobs, way too many people who don't have a clue how to raise children and who won't take responsibility for doing so, and way too many people of power and influence who won't take responsibility for how their actions affect the country.

It amazes me how well this country continues to go even with all those ills. Somehow, most of us still have it pretty darned good. I can't imagine living anywhere else, and consider myself extremely fortunate to have been born in this country. Even poor people in America live lives that poor people in so many countries can't even conceive of living. Perhaps that's changing, but I'm afraid that when America goes down the tubes, either the rest of the world will have led the way down, or will be right on our tails.

There are a lot of folks that don't fit whatever your definition of 'religious right' is that are struggling with the issues your want to brush off. And I suspect the folks that fit 'religious right' in your mind also believe your other list are real moral issues too. Can't we discuss this without labeling? It's the exact same thing you were grumbling about politicians doing.

[Wayne SW/MO]

I'm not buying the disenfranchised gibberish. When haven't we had disenfranchised? The biggest problem in this country to is lack of a future and that pretty much sums it up. This country has run on the concept of getting a better job, not just any job if you're lucky.

The political partiess lay blame on one another as if neither cares and even down to grade school remarks of ridiculas proporportion.This just serves to insulate them from their transgressions.

THis country needs the middle class back with adequate income and peace of mind. Some money needs to be shifted back from earnigs gained in absentee to earnings in the weekly envelope. There has to be a future for every high school grad that is more than 4 more years of school. We have to get back to the point where you lose your job today you're working smewhere else in a week or two. The country needs leadership that understands you can't put all the resources towards the lower end and the needy of the world. Our goal shouldn't be lower ourselves to even it out, but help the others rise up. All that ahs to be done from what is needed to fuel the income generting working class. Confidence in the future, that's what fuels patrotism.

We had more disenfranchised in 1941 than we knew what to do with and it didn't effect patriotism.

[Mitch f]

But if you're talking about stuff like a perceived turning away from religion among the populace, or "gay marriage", or prayer in schools, or all the other stuff the religious right considers moral decline, well, I can't agree. Plenty of non-religious people are moral and plenty of religious people are not, and what they believe has little or no effect on the welfare of the country.

The U.S. is in decline because there are way too many people chasing way too few good jobs anymore, way too many people who are ill-prepared and totally unwilling to work at those jobs, way too many people who don't have a clue how to raise children and who won't take responsibility for doing so, and way too many people of power and influence who won't take responsibility for how their actions affect the country.

It amazes me how well this country continues to go even with all those ills. Somehow, most of us still have it pretty darned good. I can't imagine living anywhere else, and consider myself extremely fortunate to have been born in this country. Even poor people in America live lives that poor people in so many countries can't even conceive of living. Perhaps that's changing, but I'm afraid that when America goes down the tubes, either the rest of the world will have led the way down, or will be right on our tails.

I'll admit, I have it pretty good right now....business is going good and for me things are looking up regardless of the overall economy. I also consider myself extremely fortunate to be born in this country. I know that most people in foreign countries still strive to be American citizens.

Moral compass meaning North as a true standard, our standards are lowering every day. I firmly believe it will have a negative effect on this country.

I'm not trying to be all "Westboro" on you but the moral decline CANT be any good in this country when this happens:

http://www.secretsofthefed.com/parents-common-core-teaching-11-year-old-nsfw/

This chic has more Snap-On Tools than a Detroit auto repair facility...I'm not posting the pics on here because of what you will see. Remember, this is not a J-Lo or Madonna video, its a PUBLIC SCHOOL system sex education class for 6th graders. Paid for by tax dollars. I don't believe you would want your niece or nephew seeing this in your public school system.

[ness]

What's that thing she has in the first picture? I saw one just like it in Paul Dallas' canoe. He said it was for filtering stream water.

[Feathers and Fins]

Social media is fun to watch sometimes it is a great barometer of this country. I don’t know how many posts on Facebook I have seen on Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson the last week. More than I have about the three beheadings for certain and certainly a lot more than about our Administrations plans to deal with the terrorist group. Today I hear about some Dr someplace I think TX who poisoned his wife WTH? I really think Jobs, Economy, Border security and Healthcare are far more important a news Item than some Doctor who poisoned his wife of two NFL Players and their domestic issues and creating a 4 woman panel to deal with it. I sure as hell know that terrorist and dealing with them is more important.

What the two NFL Players did or did not do ( neither have been tried ) is really the business of the courts and the people involved. I often think how can people get fair trials when the media both News and Social convict people before trial?

I think of the media to some degree as the fourth branch of government the one that is suppose to hold the other ones to task and to report on them doing their job or not. To inform We The People of what our leaders are doing.

Do the 2 players and whatever happens affect any of us here? Does the NFL’s 4 women panel affect any of us here? Does a Dr poisoning his wife affect us?

But Terrorism does affect us, the economy does affect us, Healthcare does affect us, The media at least News Media needs to get back to reporting what does affect us and hold the politicians to task! I really see a media bias and an undo amount of time reporting on events that to me have NO impact on our lives.

[fishinwrench]

OMG! My g/f went ballistic after she saw that on FB yesterday.

I immediately noticed the word "allegedly" numerous times in that "report".

I said " Babe, it's Facebook....ya know, the interactive Saturday Night Live of the internet".

[ozark trout fisher]

I agree the country is in decline, but it depends upon exactly what you mean by "moral compass". If you're talking about politicians who care nothing about what's good for their constituents or the country and only about what's good for their friends and campaign donors, agreed. If you're talking about people and companies of power and influence who care only about how much more money and power they can accrue, agreed. If you're talking about the entertainment industry and (because of the entertainment industry) huge segments of the public that are obsessed with sex, violence, and rampant consumerism, agreed.

But if you're talking about stuff like a perceived turning away from religion among the populace, or "gay marriage", or prayer in schools, or all the other stuff the religious right considers moral decline, well, I can't agree. Plenty of non-religious people are moral and plenty of religious people are not, and what they believe has little or no effect on the welfare of the country.

The U.S. is in decline because there are way too many people chasing way too few good jobs anymore, way too many people who are ill-prepared and totally unwilling to work at those jobs, way too many people who don't have a clue how to raise children and who won't take responsibility for doing so, and way too many people of power and influence who won't take responsibility for how their actions affect the country.

It amazes me how well this country continues to go even with all those ills. Somehow, most of us still have it pretty darned good. I can't imagine living anywhere else, and consider myself extremely fortunate to have been born in this country. Even poor people in America live lives that poor people in so many countries can't even conceive of living. Perhaps that's changing, but I'm afraid that when America goes down the tubes, either the rest of the world will have led the way down, or will be right on our tails.

Yep. When people talk about "moral compass" it seems that most are focusing on the wrong things. It's time to stop caring about stuff that doesn't affect us, because we have plenty of real problems. How about we worry a bit less about gay marriage and we can focus a bit more on all the waste that Tyson plant is dumping into the river......we're just getting distracted by stupid, inconsequential stuff while a bunch of very real, very consequential things go virtually unnoticed.

What gets more attention, people talking about Michael Sam being the bane of the NFL or the possibility of disaster from Pebble Mine? Which do you think is more important? The incongruity there is bringing us down as a country.

[Mitch f]

OMG! My g/f went ballistic after she saw that on FB yesterday.

I immediately noticed the word "allegedly" numerous times in that "report".

I said " Babe, it's Facebook....ya know, the interactive Saturday Night Live of the internet".

Ha, I hear ya.......I tried to verify by Snopes and it wasn't on there. so I looked it up by several other sources. But you can see the 6th grade boys are into it.

[Wayne SW/MO]

Amazing thing is that that kind of classroom antics will bring you before a judge if it isn't "cerified".