What is most disappointing to me where the blind community is concerned is
the vigor with which we eat our young. Our status in life would be so much
further advanced if only we could remember that the best way to avoid
conflict and remain united in our efforts is to attack only the issue and
not the person. Important discussions like this are all too often reduced
to name calling and sniping rather than opportunities to educate and move
forward. I could have learned so much from this discussion, but sadly I
only saw more evidence of our greatest barrier to future success.
Thx, Albert Ruel, Victoria, BC, Canada
----- Original Message -----
From: "Nelson Blachman" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, February 28, 2004 3:07 PM
Subject: Re: What goes around
George,
I hope that, when you get to high school, you'll be able to attend a good
American history course. There you'll learn that you've quoted from the
Declaration of Independence rather than from the Constitution, and you'll
have a chance to memorize the Preamble to the Constitution, which mentions
the several purposes of government. In college maybe you'll later on be
able to attend a good course on economics and learn about the
interdependence of business, government, and workers. As an adult you'll
then have a wider, deeper understanding of society, and you'll understand
how governments have to place limits on the freedom of businesses to do just
as they might please, just as the Constitution places limits on what our
government may do. You'll also learn the difference between despotic
governments, such as those of North Jorea and
Cuba, and socialist governments like those in Sweden et al.
Good luck.
--Nelson Blachman
Oakland, Calif.s
----- Original Message -----
From: "George Cassell" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, February 28, 2004 1:16 PM
Subject: Re: What goes around
> I don't recall where, in the Constitution of the United States, its said
> that any of us were to be guaranteed anything, other than the right to
life,
> liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And the right to happiness, itself,
> was not guaranteed either -- only the pursuit thereof.
>
> We are not guaranteed jobs or salaries. And no company doing business in
> the United States, is mandated to create or sustain jobs for any of us.
> Their obligation is to provide whatever products or services they do
> provide, and create a profit for their owners.
>
> If you decided to go into business for yourself, you would be doing so to
> create personal wealth; not to create jobs for others, simply to provide
> them with paychecks, whether or not they deserve that money. That is what
> the communist program was all about, and why it has been abandoned, except
> for Cuba and North Korea, and we all know what a dismal failure they are.
> How many of us would like to trade places with them?
>
> If there is a divide between the have's and have's not, then it is
incumbent
> upon those who have not to improve their own lot in life, as have the
> have's. We all have the same opportunity to a decent education in our
> tax-supported schools, right through high school. Thereafter, one can
> attend college, if one so desires, by working one's way through, getting a
> scholarship, grant, student loan, or whatever it takes to put one's self
> through school. In so doing, one prepares himself for the work force,
able
> to compete in life, and not simply being dragged along by the blood, sweat
> and tears of others.
>
> Yes, there are those of us who are "disadvantaged." But, by joining
> together, we, too, can provide for ourselves, utilizing the talents and
> abilities of others in our group, while providing our own abilities as
well,
> thus making the sum of the whole greater than the individual parts.
>
> There is too much whining going on in America, and not enough of the
> personal responsibility that made America great in the first place. As
John
> F. Kennedy once said, "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what
> you can do for your country." Those words are as true today, as the day
> they were first spoken in January of 1961.
>
> -- George
>
> Keep up-to-date with the latest news and goings-on in the blindness and
> visually-impaired communities. Visit Blind World, The Online Magazine for
> the Blind and Visually-Impaired.
>
> You'll find Blind World easily accessible at: http://www.blindworld.net
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Steve Hoad" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Saturday, February 28, 2004 4:09 AM
> Subject: Re: What goes around
>
>
> posting from Windsor Maine;
> Steve Hoad
>
>
> Good points in this article cover a real fact,
> Currently in America the gap between rich and poor is continually
widening.
> The top ten percent of our country's incomes are averaging about $900,000
> (nine hundred thousand) and the bottom 20 percent are at about $8600
(eight
> thousand six hundred.
>
> That's the rub,
> when this wheel of import/export/export/import continues around the
richest
> come out on top and the poorest get rolled over.
>
> This definitely requires a public policy shift! at the Federal level so
our
> real "working class" can still exist. Not everybody can invent something,
> not everybody wants to do a "think" job, and many don't have the capacity
to
> do so.
>
> Steve, (off the soapbox now) Hoad
> from a state where the poverty is apparent,
> Maine
>
>
> VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
> To join or leave the list, send a message to
> [log in to unmask] In the body of the message, simply type
> "subscribe vicug-l" or "unsubscribe vicug-l" without the quotations.
> VICUG-L is archived on the World Wide Web at
> http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/vicug-l.html
>
>
VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
To join or leave the list, send a message to
[log in to unmask] In the body of the message, simply type
"subscribe vicug-l" or "unsubscribe vicug-l" without the quotations.
VICUG-L is archived on the World Wide Web at
http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/vicug-l.html
VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
To join or leave the list, send a message to
[log in to unmask] In the body of the message, simply type
"subscribe vicug-l" or "unsubscribe vicug-l" without the quotations.
VICUG-L is archived on the World Wide Web at
http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/vicug-l.html
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