HarryKrause wrote:
On this day in 1939, one of the most important books of the 20th Century
was published: John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath.

A series of shorter novels published in the mid-30s -- Tortilla Flat, In
Dubious Battle, Of Mice and Men, The Red Pony -- had brought Steinbeck
increasing success and fame, but he longed to do a longer novel
reflecting "a very grave attempt to do a first-rate piece of work." With
a lifelong empathy for the working poor, and months spent researching
the "fruit tramps" and "Okies" who lived in the West Coast migrant
camps, Steinbeck's subject and theme were never in question.

Interestingly, Grapes of Wrath is a work of art the current POTUS
denigrated while he was sliding his way to an MBA. Bush claimed the book
did not depict any sort of reality, and had nothing to say to those
living in the modern era. Thus, the genesis of Bush's "compassionate
conservatism."

"Grapes" is one of my all-time "best" American novels, up there with
Moby-Dick, Gatsby, Huckleberry Finn, the Sound and the Fury, Catch-22,
The Sun Also Rises, and a handful of others. I have a feeling Bush has
never read any of these books, cover-to-cover, but might have invested
in the Cliffs Notes.

Not Steinbeck, but a well written commentary on the US today

March 12, 2005 | Listen. Do you hear it? There's something in the air,
and it's not just mercury emissions. It's a sound, a feeling, a
movement, and like the flock of reporters returning to a courthouse in
Santa Maria, Calif., it's growing bigger every day.

All across America, people are witnessing a remarkable transformation.
You can see it in the crowding of a school, feel it in the crumbling of
a bridge, and smell it in the water from a drinking fountain. It's a new
era for a new land, and it's headed your way.

As the poet Walt Whitman might have blogged, "I hear America cringing."
Welcome to America Lite. Now with 3,700 percent more deficit!

In America Lite, cutbacks run free and contractors ride off into the
sunset. And seldom is heard a discouraging word in the wide open spaces
of your retiring TV news anchor. Good morning, America Lite! Join us as
we gloss over the results of your Extreme Makeover. Lady Liberty has had
the principles liposuctioned right out of her, Uncle Sam is on steroids,
and the biggest enemy of the United Nations just got nominated as
ambassador to the United Nations. What's next? Lizzie Borden for
secretary of health and human services? MC Hammer for secretary of the
treasury? Donald Rumsfeld for secretary of defense? But enough about
that. We now return you to our regularly scheduled Martha Marathon,
already in progress.

Take a gander around America Lite. Check out the infrastructure. Quaint,
isn't it? You've got your roadways, your railroads, your power grids and
whatnot. The American Society of Civil Engineers just gave it all a D,
down from a D-plus in 2001 and 2003. Sure, we could fix it, but that
would cost $1.3 trillion and we need that plus several billion more just
to knock the stuffing out of Social Security. Oh, frayed new world!

In America Lite, folks who lose their Social Security benefits can still
give their regards to Wall Street -- because politicians of all stripes
and every shade of yellow-belly are standing up for the rights of
struggling Americans to give a big fat gift to banks and credit card
companies. Yaaay! Fee at last, fee at last, thank God almighty we're
saddled with a 23.99 percent fee at last.

Hey buddy, lost your income while serving National Guard duty in Iraq?
No problem. While you were dodging bullets without a Humvee shield, the
Enron boys were hiding behind their asset shields. So now you too can
feel like a big spender as you keep making house payments long after the
bank forecloses.

The shiny new bankruptcy bill, also known as "Serenade of the Quid Pro
Schmoes," should make it much harder for families with debt to start
over after suffering serious illness, unemployment and other calamities.
Annual premium on your health insurance? $7,000. Cost of a dilapidated
tract house in California? $700,000. Campaign donation for Beltway
robber barons? Priceless.

Because in America Lite, we believe that fewer people working harder
than ever can build a better life for every single man, woman and child
who is a member of the investor class. And that's why the America Lite
team is on the job -- everyone's job. For example, Wal-Mart and other
retailers are lobbying Congress to let truckers work 16-hour days. What
good is a crumbling infrastructure without truckloads of sleep-deprived,
pay-cut-pummeled, benefit-burgled, debt-ridden American drivers to make
it more of a challenge? And what good are nurses if they can't handle a
drastic increase in patient levels? In these exciting times, any unsafe
nurse-to-patient staffing ratios will soon be alleviated by spiraling
morbidity rates.

In a world where excessive advances in knowledge could present a serious
obstacle to the steady progress of humanity's handbasket along its
hellish trajectory, America Lite is greasing the wheels and paving the
way. Indeed, the Bush budget cuts will help reduce bothersome research
into food security, animal viruses, forestry sustainability and a lot of
other stuff that has never preempted a Katie Couric exclusive on "Botox
for Babies." Simper Fi, Katie! Meanwhile, NASA is about to jettison
3,000 of its best and brightest researchers. Because in America Lite,
the study of global climate change and breakthroughs in aviation safety
need never take the place of good old creationism and confiscation of
deadly toenail clippers by the Transportation Security Association.

So sleep well, little citizen. Because in America Lite, you can rest
easy knowing that while your personal passwords are misappropriated,
your sensitive information is being bought and sold, and your identity
has been shipped by next-day air to key demographics in several states,
you will never again be threatened by the terror of a split-second
nipple flash on your countertop TV. And besides, the FBI is sort of
wending its labyrinthine way toward getting on the case. It has spared
no taxpayer expense, pouring $581 million into failed efforts to
overhaul a computer system so antiquated that it was operational back
when people in Ohio and Florida still had the vote.

But don't neglect to say your prayers, because in America Lite, the
economy may be faith-based, but the White House doubts the existence of
people who need jobs.

So try to win that lottery, hire a team of lawyers and accountants, and
if you still need something to do, run for office to deep-six medical
malpractice lawsuits and high-five the pharmaceutical lobby. As the
American poet once said, "Do I contradict myself? Very well then, I
guess that makes me president."

In article ,
says...


"Grapes" is one of my all-time "best" American novels, up there with
Moby-Dick, Gatsby, Huckleberry Finn, the Sound and the Fury, Catch-22,
The Sun Also Rises, and a handful of others. I have a feeling Bush has
never read any of these books, cover-to-cover, but might have invested
in the Cliffs Notes.

I'd bet his investment was a breeze of the Cliffs Notes purchased at the
book store on daddy's account.

jps

"'''''"Grapes" is one of my all-time "best" American novels, up there with
Moby-Dick, Gatsby, Huckleberry Finn, the Sound and the Fury, Catch-22,
The Sun Also Rises, and a handful of others. ''"""''"'


krause,,,

are you off your meds again??? Grapes in your all time best??? or one of
them??? no wonder you come from a land of make belief,,,










"HarryKrause" wrote in message
...
On this day in 1939, one of the most important books of the 20th Century
was published: John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath.

A series of shorter novels published in the mid-30s -- Tortilla Flat, In
Dubious Battle, Of Mice and Men, The Red Pony -- had brought Steinbeck
increasing success and fame, but he longed to do a longer novel reflecting
"a very grave attempt to do a first-rate piece of work." With a lifelong
empathy for the working poor, and months spent researching the "fruit
tramps" and "Okies" who lived in the West Coast migrant camps, Steinbeck's
subject and theme were never in question.

Interestingly, Grapes of Wrath is a work of art the current POTUS
denigrated while he was sliding his way to an MBA. Bush claimed the book
did not depict any sort of reality, and had nothing to say to those living
in the modern era. Thus, the genesis of Bush's "compassionate
conservatism."

"Grapes" is one of my all-time "best" American novels, up there with
Moby-Dick, Gatsby, Huckleberry Finn, the Sound and the Fury, Catch-22, The
Sun Also Rises, and a handful of others. I have a feeling Bush has never
read any of these books, cover-to-cover, but might have invested in the
Cliffs Notes.