Dear me, my dear old pappy is losing it more quickly than ever; we were up and about an extra hour early today because he completely missed the “fall back” event. However, onward and upward: In case you are still working on recovering from that Halloween Hangover, old pap and I thought we’d pop in with a few sobering thoughts.
WALMART, that paragon of retailing virtue (yes, if you hadn’t heard, they’ve given their employees a raise; oh, not enough so their workers won’t still require food stamps to feed their families, but still a raise), is leading the charge to make Consumerism the paramount benefit of living in the good old U.S. of A. They, along with some other forward thinking companies, in their continual efforts to make our shopping experiences more rewarding, are continuing to expand our opportunities for enjoying “bargain basement” sales. Trending now is advancing the “traditional” Black Friday sales from the day after Thanksgiving to the Blessed Sunday after Halloween. Oh, joy to the world!
All of the Republicrat presidential aspirants, as well as our brand new Speaker of the House of Representatives, are attempting to out-conserve each other. We haven’t been able to ascertain just what it is they are conserving; it certainly isn’t the environment. Environmental protection seems to be one of the factors fueling their disdain, if not hatred, for our good old Prez.
Now, on to a bit of somewhat more hopeful news: Could those well-structured Millennials ride to the rescue? Well, we sure don’t know about that proposition, but there may be some encouraging trending among these young lasses and lads. We sure need help in extracting our good old country out of the morass in which we find ourselves.
Old pap and I plucked this little tidbit from the Daily KOS, a kind of left-leaning batch of scribblings which we find (unsolicited) in our email box every day, so we figure a tiny lift now and then is fair play:
“”One-in-five Americans are religious progressives, according to a new survey by the Public Religion Research Institute. Using a religious orientation scale that “combines theological, economic, and social outlooks,” researchers argued that while the number of religiously unaffiliated Americans continues to rise, a growing coalition of young, diverse, and politically-active Americans are connecting their faith with progressive values.
snip
“However, the percentage of religious conservatives shrinks in each successive generation, with religious progressives outnumbering religious conservatives in the Millennial generation.”
According to the survey, 23 percent of people aged 18 to 33 are religious progressives, while 22 percent are nonreligious and 17 percent are religious conservatives. By contrast, only 12 percent of those aged 66 to 88 are religious progressives, whereas 47 percent are said to be religious conservatives.
Religion has long been co-opted by religious conservatives as a vehicle for political gain, but this study hints that the future of faith-based political advocacy could rest with the left-leaning faithful. Religious progressives already make up 28 percent of the Democratic party—this in addition to 42 percent that are religious moderates—a number that only stands to grow as Millennials age and begin to vote in greater numbers.
snip
The study also found that although religious liberals are passionate about progressive causes, they aren’t interested in imposing their beliefs on others: only 29 percent of religious progressives believe a person has to believe in God to live a moral life, as compared to 74 percent of religious conservatives.” Note: that 29% is still too danged many for my and pap’s preference!
NOW, OLD PAP AND I DON’T KNOW ABOUT THE ACCURACY OF ANY OF THIS “SURVEY” STUFF , but, nevertheless, the gist of the study is encouraging to us since we’ve never thought that asking God, wherever She might be, to help defeat your adversaries to be in good taste.
Well, that’s what an old hound dog and his teetering old pappy think, anyway.
As our old past prez used to say, get out there and help the economy, shopping ‘till you drop!
Buster and pap.
Buster's Two Cents 