It has been 50 years since the building of the Berlin Wall began, when the communist East closed its border, and divided the city for 28 years.

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Eudaimonia

Time goes fast when you're having fun.

(That is amazing that so much time has passed. Now there's no E. Germany and no Soviet Union (although Putin is approaching that state again).

I'll probably get hung, shot and my genital hair plaited uncomfortably for this, but the title of this meshed with a news item I was watching.

America is telling Syria and Libya to stop using force against a dissident minority, yet she fought a 4 year civil war to suppress her own separatist minority.

What was good then is bad now, apparently.

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Calm, quiet, smooth, devastating

I've noticed that a lot the past decade or so.

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You make a very valid point.

I don't understand why we should be talking to or about them in any case. We seem to have enough problems of our own.

Fortunately for Americans, the Federal government, and the costs associated with it, emerged from that battle triumphant over the various States of the Union.

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Eudaimonia

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It is that collection of one hundred Senators, four hundred thirty five Representatives, one President, and nine Supreme Court justices, the totals of which is five hundred forty five people out of the three hundred odd million Americans who are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic bliss we now enjoy!

Right?

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Eudaimonia

Some totally cynical people would say that it's more in spite of, rather than because of.

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Calm, quiet, smooth, devastating

Far be it for me to criticize the labors of others! Still, I do wonder, from time to time, why, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, why the U.S. runs a deficit of more than a trillion dollars? I have also occasionally wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, why do we have inflation and high taxes?

I trust that I shall be forgiven if I admit into the discussion the possibility that if one accepts as true that those 545 people control the power of the federal government, it follows that what exists is what they want to exist.

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Eudaimonia

Perhaps, old friend, perhaps.

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Calm, quiet, smooth, devastating

Could it be that most of the poliiticians are LAWYERS? Or is that "Liars"?

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Yep!

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Respectfully, as the overwhelming majority of lawyers are not politicians, I remain unpersuaded that the problem with politicians is due to their prior career choice.

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Eudaimonia

I suspect that for some, the progression is as inevietable as egg, caterpillar to moth.

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Calm, quiet, smooth, devastating