TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the 40's-70's

[seabeyond]

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the


40's, 50's, 60's and 70's !!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they
carried us.



They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored
lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we

rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took
hitchhiking.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.



Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE
actually died from this.



We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but

we weren't overweight because



WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!



We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.



We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running in the
bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no
99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell
phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........
WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!



We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no
lawsuits from these accidents.

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.



We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays,

made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.


We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't
had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They

actually sided with the law!



This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers
and inventors ever!

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned



HOW TO

DEAL WITH IT ALL!
And YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as

kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good.

And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.



Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!

[beam me up scottie]

1. Oh brother.

And we used to use lead-based paint and prescribe drugs for pregnant women that caused fetal deformities too.
:eyes:

[ultraist]

47. sheeesh...

Progress sucks, doesn't it? Oh, the glory days...when poor kids, in particular, were allowed to be brain damaged from lead paint.

So much for the decrease in infant mortality rates in our country and a substantial improvement in standards of living. Who cares if fewer children DIE today, than they did in previous decades.

[beam me up scottie]

52. Oh yes,

women were DEFINITELY better off then, weren't they?

Pathetic reichwing propaganda.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

143. Just means that today there are a LOT more wussies

in the world due to today's "progress".

[beam me up scottie]

144. Wussies? I notice YOU'RE here...

:think:

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

167. I survived the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s. and so far half the 00s.

What have YOU done? Where have YOU been? What have YOU seen?

Dr. Jimmy
Quadrophenia
The Who

Laugh and say I'm green
I've seen things you'll never see.
Talk behind my back
But I'm off the beaten track.
I'll take on anyone
Ain't scared of a bloody nose,
Drink till I drop down
With one eye on my clothes.

What is it? I'll take it.
Who is she? I'll rape it.
Got a bet there? I'll meet it.
Getting High? You can't beat it.

Doctor Jimmy and mister Jim
When I'm pilled you don't notice him,
He only comes out when I drink my gin.

You say she's a virgin.
I'm gonna be the first in.
Her fellah's gonna kill me?
Oh f**king will he.
I'm seeing double
But don't miss me if you can.
There's gonna be trouble
When she choses her man.

What is it? etc.

Doctor Jimmy and mister Jim etc.
Is it me? For a moment
The stars are falling.
The heat is rising
The past is calling.

I'm going back soon
Home to get the baboon.
Who cut up my eye,
Messed up my Levis.
I'm feeling restless
Bring another score around
Maybe something stronger
Could really hold me down.

[beam me up scottie]

179. Was your first post sarcastic?

Or do you really believe things were rosier then?

I've been around long enough to know better.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

190. Not rosier by far-- but very much simpler.

The world was a larger place, and it was much harder to get around in. We had no video games, no computers, no walkmans, no ipods, no plasma tvs, no digital cameras, and although gas only cost sixteen cents a gallon it was just as hard to fill your tank on the wages you earned.

Simple things counted. Long walks on dusty country roads. Knowing all your neighbors by name, and being welcome in every home for miles around. Watching the age of technology really taking off-- it was an exciting thing to watch Neil Armstrong put the first footprint on the moon. Making your own ice cream. Watching your grandma actually making her own lye soap. Going into the woods with the entire family to hunt for mushrooms.

A thousand simple little pleasures that have been almost completely forgotten in the space of a single generation.

No, not rosier. But definitely better.

[beam me up scottie]

196. If that's what you remember, great.

I had a wonderful childhood as well but I'm not willing to dismiss the horrible childhoods others had, or didn't if their life was cut short.

"The Good Old Days" seem to only exist in the memories of middle to upper class WASPs.

My mother grew up in war torn Germany as a refugee, things were much simpler for her as well, but not better.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

198. Of course there were bad times too.

My mother had polio in her childhood. My father suffered a nervous breakdown when I was about ten. My brother died when he was just forty- he had diabetes, and had lost a leg to it. Arthritis runs in my family- all three of my sisters have it, and I've had two knee replacements. All this comes from those beginnings- from a time before advanced medical care may have eased our diseases before they took hold. I'm far from naive, but I choose to remember the WHOLE experience of my life, not just the good bits and pieces.

It's called becoming more than the sum of your parts. Childhood, even in bad times, is part of that. I take pride in the fact that the rough patches in my childhood made me stronger. I'll pit my life experience, humble beginnings and all, against anyone born into the generation after me.

[beam me up scottie]

202. I won't argue with you there.

I agree.
I took offence at the right wing email and the suggestion that liberals are responsible for ruining our freedoms.

The "good old days" seems to be a common misconception among bigots as well, remember the character Archie Bunker? My dad grew up in New York, he has not so fond memories of how the cops used to beat suspects for hours until they would confess to anything. I'm glad I had a wonderful childhood but I am also glad my parents didn't try to gloss over history like the textbooks do. They taught me to think for myself so propaganda really raises my hackles.

I received the same email with links to rw websites and prayers that could be said to help them get america back.

I prefer to look at history from all perspectives, not just one side or the other.
This email only exhibited one side, that's why the reaction to it was so strong.

Peace

[Clark2008]

199. Quadrophenia is THE.BEST.ALBUM.EVER!!!

:hi:

And May 19 was Pete Townshend's birthday.

"Every year is the same and I hear it again, the loser, no chance to win.
Leaves start falling. Come down is calling. Lonliness starts kicking in.
But, I'm One. I am One. And I will be. You'll all see I'm The One. I'm The One."


:D

[ComerPerro]

48. And, additionally, look who put all these precautions and restrictions

in place.

People who grew up between the 40's and 70's.

[beam me up scottie]

54. Exactly.

Some people learn from the past while others won't let us leave it.

[trotsky]

2. Ah yes, romanticizing the good old days.

Obviously written with a little tweak at Democrats ("before lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good").

People tend to forget the bad things that went on during those decades, things that made life dangerous and society intolerant. Polio, racism, Vietnam, etc. You know, those little things.

[beam me up scottie]

6. Yep-I got this email too.

Sent to me by a reichwing acquaintance, I had the courtesy NOT to send it to my friends.

[trotsky]

11. I say, if you're so in love with the 50s,

let's re-instate the tax structure from the prosperous 50s. You know, where the top bracket paid 90%?

[beam me up scottie]

15. Now THAT

I would go along with.
:evilgrin:

[Enraged_Ape]

147. Let's bring back the salary structure too

You know, where even an entry-level employee could support an entire family on one income.

[catzies]

64. Me too. Knew before I finished reading it where it was going. Sheesh.

And like you I didn't forward it along, either. ;)

[beam me up scottie]

74. I've seen articles

posted in here from World Net Daily (and it wasn't because the poster wanted to poke fun at them)

eek!:scared:

[getmeouttahere]

9. But people also forget that....

a lot of the freedoms that those of us who are anything but a white anglo-saxon male enjoy today were won in the 60's & 70's...and I am thankful everyday for the people who fought those battles so that black people, women, gay people and anyone else who was ostracized for being different in the 50's & before could have at least a chance at equal opportunity or simply a chance to express themselves.

[trotsky]

16. Amen. And what a struggle it was.

It wasn't won by falling out of trees or sharing a bottle of pop. Real people died securing those rights, because the existing system was so hateful, so powerful, it took that much sacrifice to topple it. The system that was so wonderful if you were a middle class or rich Christian white family. Not so grand if you were anybody else.

[getmeouttahere]

24. Excellent, Trotsky....

One of my favorite quotes is from L. Ron Hubbard:

"A culture is only as great as its dreams, and its dreams are dreamed by artists"

Artists played a big part in freeing us from the shackles of the 50's, along with those who fought for basic civil rights & equality of opportunity

And to think it was only 40 years ago that civil rights legislation passed

[seabeyond]

19. i dont know sems like repugs are pretty hip on this too n/t

[The Straight Story]

156. Really? My thoughts on it all.

Are you saying then that dems are associated with - lawyers and the government regulating our lives for our own good - and do you see that as a positive, negative, or somewhere in between (and for the record, I am somewhere in between).

People tend to forget the bad things that went on during those decades, things that made life dangerous and society intolerant. Polio, racism, Vietnam, etc. You know, those little things.

They don't have to forget them to enjoy the things they miss. Sure there WERE bad things about those times, but I think the idea was to remember some of the good things and how those have changed out of the bush weapon we call fear (and control).

I think the overall point though is that in some ways, obviously not all, we were more free and open. And that opened the doors as well to the movement where more freedoms were won for other people. We had freedom, we helped others get theirs from the government, and now some see us as regressing on a broader scale for all people.

[ultraist]

170. "WE" had freedom?

No,white males had freedom and ALL others had partial freedom.

[The Straight Story]

178. True enough, but

then isn't/wasn't the idea to spread that freedom to all - not give it then yank it away from all?

[ewagner]

3. Amazing isn't it......

All the things we are sheltering our children from....well, we survived all of them.... Times were simpler, or at least they seemed that way...

Thanks for the post. You brought back a lot of memories.....

[tigereye]

10. well

some of those things are true. There were good things and bad things. It did seem more innocent and relaxed in a way, more idyllic. I think many folks now want to protect their kids from actually living and taking risks; as a parent I have to stop myself from doing that periodically. :shrug:

OTOH a lot of things are much better than they were then in terms of freedom, opportunity for women and mionorities, diversity.

[ewagner]

27. You're right about more freedoms

When my wife started college, it was ABSOLUTELY UNHEARD OF for a woman to enter the college of Business Administration (unless it was for secretarial skills). A woman with a MBA was rare.

Interestingly enough, it is those of us who survived that era who led the protests to gain a lot of those freedoms.....

ironic really.....

[getmeouttahere]

63. Exactly, ewagner....

so while I agree with many of these posts about the true horrors of life in those days, I also look back with fondness at the accomplishments of the generations who freed us from those horrors. But now the repugs want to take us back to the 50's...the 1850's!!!

[Zhade]

130. More innocent? Sounds like more ignorant.

I mean, let's take the OP (a bizarre post) and apply it to, say, black children during that time. Oh my, they must LONG for those days to return!

What a remarkably odd OP.

[tigereye]

153. well sometimes ignorance

in the sense of the most mild meaning of the term, can equate with innocence. A lot of kids then were focused on being kids and they had fun playing, regardless of some of the conflicts that occurred. Well, as innocent as if can be with the Vietnam War and riots on TV. (60s)

I had a fairly idyllic childhood in a small town during that time, and there are some statements there that I can relate to. My son's childhood now is radically different than mine, with some gains and some losses.

[bowens43]

4. This is a lot like another post of yours....

do you have a point of some kind? If so , it isn't apparent.

[progressivebydesign]

60. I was thinking the same thing... I'm thinking of the smoking thread n/t

[Lorien]

161. And the sunscreen thread

all of which have the same point; libertarianism is good. Hey, Darwinism is good, too-and with these attitudes, we get to see it at work!

The OP seems blind to the fact that the WORLD has changed since then. I grew up in the '70s, and we did not have the thinned ozone layer, the high percentage of GMO foods, the large number of Pedophiles and bad drivers (fewer people and more social consciousness back then), etc. etc. Enough-I'll leave this we-all-know-what for the mods to deal with.

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

67. It's apparent to me

n/t

[NewWaveChick1981]

5. Yeah.

I just saw some kids out playing in our neighborhood last night, and it was a real novelty. It doesn't happen often.

[LiberalEsto]

7. One word

Thalidomide

[beam me up scottie]

14. Thanks.

I couldn't think of it.
:thumbsup:

[Bluerthanblue]

41. another word

DES

(diethylstilbestrol)


DES Cancer Network

The DES Cancer Network is an organization that addresses the special needs of women who have had clear cell adenocarcinoma of the vagina and/or cervix – a cancer linked to exposure to DES before birth. Current statistics indicate that 746 women in the United States are registered as having had this cancer, 62% of whom were DES-exposed in utero.


<http://www.descancer.org/>

[Individualist]

58. DDT

[Bluerthanblue]

78. Mercury

.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. I fell off my bike a lot

but at least I never had to wear one of those dorky helmets. I went roller skating (the kind that clamped to your shoes with a key) and never wore knee pads. We had a tree house and occasionally fell out of it. Went swimming and without life jackets; played on the beach without Mom watching every minute. Ran around (unsupervised) in the woods on vacation, learned to recognize poison ivy by the age of 6. Went trick-or-treating on Halloween without a parent, even ate some of the candy without having it X-rayed first. In the summer we were sent out to play, told to come home by supper time. So we roved the neighborhood in packs, like feral dogs; caught frogs and bugs and snakes; played baseball in the street, ran from back yard to back yard or tore around on our bikes, no helmets, knee or elbow pads, got hurt once in awhile but lived to tell about it, and had a hell of a lot of fun in the process. I'm glad I grew up then and not now, where everything is so supervised and guarded.

Yes, there were some conditions and products that were dangerous then and are better and safer now. I agree that some things need to be regulated, and I don't blame lawyers or the government (unlike the OP). But it strikes me that kids are now so over-protected and cushioned and coddled that they never get to take risks or make decisions on their own. I think it's more a function of parents becoming so fearful and child-centered that they won't let the poor little buggers do anything. There has to be a happy medium.

[Ravenseye]

31. One of my best friends died from falling off her bike

She flipped a curb accidentally and went headfirst into it. This was when I was 7 years old back in the late 70s. If she had been wearing one of those dorky helmets she would be alive today. I might not still be friends with her, but good chance she'd still be alive.

These emails are total bullshit because they imply that 'Hey that never happened to me' which is anectodal evidence is statistically relevant. The fact is that there are plenty of kids who rode their bikes without helmets and never fell off. I never wore a helmet till the 90's, even after my friend died. I was fine.

The other fact is that a kid who didn't wear a helmet and died from having her head split by a curb isn't alive to read this post and say "Hey you know what?"

[GirlinContempt]

113. Good point

[Lugnut]

40. And...

I still sport some scars here and there. :)

There were good things and bad things about that era but I'm with you about the coddling of today's children. If children don't learn to cope with failure they will be poorly prepared for reality.

[Solon]

95. Why not PREPARE them for failure...

Like making your kids where helmets while riding bikes, or kneepads and other things. They will still get hurt, but REDUCING risk is far preferable than suffering permanent damage due to negligence. I was FORCED to where a helmet on my bike, even though it was "dorky", and when I flipped over the handlebars and split my knuckles on the pavement of the street, along with hitting it head first, I destroyed my helmet, but at least it wasn't my skull. Still have the helmet, it has a HUGE dent when it hit a rock on the ground, I shudder to think whether I would even be alive today if my parents didn't "coddle" me.

[DemExpat]

91. Yes, and I enjoy living here in the land of bicycles where people

of all ages ride bicycles without wearing helmets.
Yes, it is a risk, but one people here prefer to take rather than wearing headgear every time they jump on the bike.
Of course, they have bicycle paths here too which makes it somewhat safer IMO.

DemEx

[minerva50]

12. I had a retarded aunt

She recently died. She was born retarded because Grandma didn't want another child and drank heavily through most of her pregnancy. She didn't know she was harming her baby, so you can't really blame her. She was coping as best she could. They weren't always the good old days.

[Wilber_Stool]

13. Your right

Those of us that survived can feel that way. But if we could talk to the dead, we might get a different story.

[liberal N proud]

17. Sounds like something I read from a Garrison Keillor book

Can't remember which one but he talked about growing up with that thought.

[Zhade]

132. Garrison Keillor wouldn't be stupid enough...

...to imply that all was peachy keen back then, which this (I now know) forwarded rightwing email does.

[unsavedtrash]

18. No era was perfect but I very much liked this post

gave me a craving for water from the hose. :bounce:

[seabeyond]

22. i was using bottle water myself, and i was the one serving

last summer, hey, thats right, we drank from the hose. so i stopped that one

kinda fun drinking from a hose, hot sweaty, yada yada. getting whole face, by accident of course

[Bridget Burke]

20. Learned a new word today: "Glurge"

It refers to those "inspiring" think pieces one finds posted all over the internet. Who knows who wrote this piece of crap? Down with government regulation!

My Mom smoked & all 3 kids had dreadful allergies. She stopped in late middle age & probably extended her life by a few years.

Edited to add: Paste a phrase from this into Google & see where it turns up.

[Horse with no Name]

39. I remember sitting in the front of a pickup truck

With both my parents smoking on either side of my brother and myself.
It was stifling.
I have never smoked a day in my life, yet I have asthma and chronic bronchitis.
I think lots of kids from that era can give the same story.

[latebloomer]

157. ugh, I remember that too!

Riding in closed-up cars with my smoking father, that is. Yours sounds a lot worse!

[ultraist]

51. "Down with gov regulation"

Ah, yes, the good ole days when big corps were given free reign to POISON consumers! Tobacco companies, Nestle's baby formula escapade...

Too bad there is some accountablity and gov regs on megacorps. Sorry to see their profit margins dwindle. :eyes:

[alcibiades_mystery]

21. Perhaps you could pen a similar message for all that DIDN'T survive

But I guess that would be a downer, and not so deliciously reactionary. :eyes:

[Arugula Latte]

32. Exactly.

Thousands of kids flew through windshields, fell off their bikes and hit their head, were born without arms or legs or severely retarded from toxins their mothers injested, and on and on. Many of those former kids are either long dead or sitting in state-run homes. Pardon them if don't look back with a warm nostalgic glow of fondness for the good old days.

[SmokingJacket]

23. It was because of the kids that didn't survive those days...

that things are more tightly controlled now.

My brother ate rat poison that looked *remarkably* like oatmeal! Luckily he got his stomach pumped in time. Because of kids who didn't make it, D-Con is now bright green pellets -- probably someone sued them. What whiners! :sarcasm:

I knew a girl who was playing right before the streetlights came on, right out in the street. A car ran her down and she died. You BET her mother wished she had been a bit more overprotective. Actually, I know two kids that happened to, back in the good old days.

There's no point in romanticizing the old days. I don't think I'm the only one who remembers kids who drowned, were run over, were killed in car accidents, or died of leukemia when it wasn't as curable as it is now. It's not like those days were Days of Sunlight and Roses or anything -- they had their problems, just as we have ours.

[Horse with no Name]

28. You are correct

I remember going to school with several kids who had been hit by cars.
As of this moment, I can't think of my kids going to school with anyone who had been hit by a car.
I remember knowing several kids who "got their stomachs pumped".
Kids that stuck forks into electrical outlets.
Kids who were abused and beaten but nobody cared.
Abusive teachers in the schools.
Kids who had razorblades stuck in their apples at Halloween.
I'll never forget the first child that I heard was kidnapped and murdered--her name was Regina Chavez. I was 10 I think. It was in Arizona. She was murdered when she left school to take her dog home.
Oh and all of those nasty sports injuries kids use to get because they didn't wear protective gear.

Not saying that there weren't good old days, but let's remember why kids quit playing outside. It wasn't simply because they were lazy, it was because Mr. Stranger Danger became more prevalent in a society where both parents had to work to make ends meet.

[undergroundpanther]

35. In the old days

Pedophilia was"rare" and if you were hurt by a molester who would listen to you you were a silly kid a less than person.The adults would say you made it all up before they'd listen to you and even if they heard they wouldn't do anything.I had cops pat me on the head and tell me I was just excited when I tried to tell them the violence in my home. The cops would drive my drunk father home instead of lock him up for DUI.In the old days parents could hit their kids and nobody did nothing because it was normal to hit kids,hell principals across the nation had the hallowed holey paddle ensconced on the wall to intimidate kids..

School bullies were still dominating halls the neighborhoods and were there to make life miserable most everywhere kids gathered and parents were oblivious. Adults and kids alike were bystanders nobody had awareness of how rampant abuse is in this culture. I was told to"ignore it" which was really endure it..

Safety also means safety from abuse.You can wear kneepads and safety belts but that will not stop a monster at home or school that everyone insists and assumes is a pillar of the community. In the 70's being a pillar of the community meant you were somehow exempt from suspicion, all bullies aspire to win social position to get away with abuse..and awareness about that thankfully has begun to change.

[Greybnk48]

25. I bought cigarettes out of a machine at 9 years old!!

But only the one's that the Doctor's recommended on T.V.--you know, the one with the "micronite filter"--Kent. That was the one most Doctor's recommended. Things were simpler then.

When my friends and I escaped from being molested by a man while walking oour dogs, the cops didn't pursue it because he was a buddy who owned the local sub-shop. No messy court cases.

And my girlfriend was raped at 14, but the case was dropped because her clothes were "suggestive."

The other kids and I built a raft that immediately sank in our local canal (rain slew) with all on board. It took a strong shower to get all of the oil and gunk that was in the water off of us.

But my favorite memory is of us kids chasing behind the military jeep that routinely sprayed DDT for bugs. Running through the fog was great fun!!!
AH. The good old days.

[beam me up scottie]

36. Ahhhhhhhhhhh, yes.

Remember back in 1969 when the Cuyahoga River caught on fire and burned for days...

[Jo March]

106. The field right behind our house was regularly crop-dusted

which meant that our house was crop-dusted as well. We used to wake up and our eyes would be matted shut with eye crust.

Both our parents smoked so we had allergies and still do. The chemicals from the cigarettes caused the enamel on our teeth to not form correctly (as studies now are showing) and we had well-water with no flouride so we all had mouths full of cavities.

Daddy frequently drove us while he was drunk. He abused my mother and the police and everyone else looked the other way.

Ah, the good old days.

[latebloomer]

159. "Kent with the miconite filter"

"It makes the taste of a cigarette mild
Like a balmy day in the month of May"

[donsu]

26. well, my mother never smoked or drank

(father did all of that)

and one of the first things she taught me as a pre-schooler was that I was the perfect bait for sexually criminal men.

we never drank from the hose as it tasted bad and our parents said it was unclean.

we played outdoors all the time but our parents had to know at all times where we were.

we were taught not to be rude and just walk into someone's house. we also had to write thank you notes.

in my childhood they hadn't started to process food. most food was bought natural. I was 20 when the first McDonalds arrived. so we didn't gain weight from processed food.

water and air was way cleaner and you could go out in the sun for a couple of hrs. before your skin would burn. now it takes a about 15 min.

then is then, now is now.

life is change and loss - you survive it or not.

[plcdude]

29. well simple is as

simple does. Having grown up in the 50' and 60's I clearly recognize that life then was very different from now. What we didn't know then has indeed hurt us. The conclusion that lawyers and the government regulating our life is not what changed life as we knew it in my opinion. We are the government and we are the juries that pass judgment on what lawyers bring before us. There is much we can learn from the way we were but there is also much we have changed for the good and not so good. As "feel-goodish" as this message is to me, it is also misleading. I did and continue to encourage my children to play outside but not out of my or other trusted adults' purview. Many things we did mostly out of ignorance were not good. The changes that we have made as a culture for the most part have been positive. Some as is pointed out have not been so beneficial. As to us being a generation that has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever, is only half the story. The other side includes Vietnam, all the George Bushes, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, pollution, being despised around the world for our selfish over consumption of it resources and arrogant enforcement of our way of life on to other cultures far older than our own.
The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas, largely because we decided to use the scientific method of inquiry and probably have had outside assistance. Check this out http://www.disclosureproject.org/.
So the good ole daze were just that they were good and they are gone. How shall we live now and in the future based upon what we have learned from them and continue to learn is really more important. But that is just my thoughts on the matter.

[shrike]

30. I knew a woman who smoked and drank during her pregnancy

Her daughter was born without a uterus and thus can't have children of her own.

[catzies]

120. My mom smoked & drank too and I have the birth defects to prove it

n/t

[Nay]

149. My mom smoked like a chimney and my brother and I were both

extremely premature -- we each weighed two pounds. In the early 50's. We barely made it, and have eye problems from the excess oxygen used in incubators at that time.

We also used to run behind the DDT trucks to play in the fog, and who knows what that has done, besides make birds' eggs so fragile they break easily.

The one good thing about back then was that you were encouraged to disappear all day to go out and play. You weren't allowed to sit around and watch TV, what there was of it. And none of us was fat! Not one!

[bennywhale]

33. What a moist eyed, lip quivering read. RE: Used to side with the Law. Why

is that good. The Law is often corrupt. Automatic deference to authority is a bad thing.

Lynchings, apartheid, measles, dysentry, lack of clean water, restricted education.

AAAAAAAA those were the days.

[mindfulNJ]

34. My favorite was

the 20 foot tall metal swingsets on the concrete playgrounds...I still have scars from those...:eyes:

[Horse with no Name]

45. Yeah

ANd the slides on those things with the torn metal?
Growing up in the hot Arizona sun, if you were lucky enough not to get 3rd degree burns from sliding down one, you probably weren't going to be lucky enough not to rip the flesh off your legs.

[bunkerbuster1]

70. And the jungle gyms set in concrete

I lost consciousness after falling from one in first grade. Of course back in the the good old days, they didn't think to call an ambulance or worry about liability! Damn those trial lawyers!

[Javaman]

37. We also lived during segregation...

Viet Nam, Watergate, the Christmas bombing, the gas shortage, bay of pigs and the constant threat of nuclear war. Yup, those were some really good old days.

I hate these stupid ass spam emails.

[ultraist]

59. white male propoaganda reactionary BS!

Damn those civil rights "lawyers!"

[earthboundmisfit]

38. But back then you couldn't tell anyone if things WEREN"T "perfect".

If you were being physically and/or sexually abused at home, it was a "family matter" and you couldn't tell anyone about it; there was no place to get help (except church? yeah right). Unintended pregnancies ended with coat hangers or trips "to an aunt's" out of town. Family legacies of lies to cover physical & emotional bruises... Sometimes the secrets & the shame & the sadness ended in suicide.
If you were lucky and lived in a "perfect" town and a "perfect" family, it was sure rosy all right, and I'm happy for every kid who got to live that way back then. Hell, I'm happy for every kid (and every adult!) who gets to live like that NOW, too - but the 50's & early 60's weren't so idyllic for everybody.
Hey it just hit me - the writer of that essay (which I received in e-mail also) sounds a lot like Dana Carvey's "Grumpy Old Man"!

[Ravenseye]

42. And the ones who died aren't here to read this message.

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.

-- We survived, but thousands of children didn't and died in-vitro. Thousands more were born sick or with low birth weight, or with fetal alchohol syndrome. Nobody knows how many, but the tens if not hundreds of thousands of children severely affected by mothers who smoked and or drank aren't here to read this message.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.

-- And the children who died from these actions (and mothers who died from these actions) aren't here to read this message.

Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

-- And the children who died or became severely mentally disabled because of the lead aren't able or here to read this message.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.

-- And the children who died from drinking drano, eating mommy's pills, planting their head in the curb, or being kidnapped by abductors aren't here to read this message.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.

-- And the ones who died aren't here to read this message.

Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.

-- And the ones who did and died aren't here to read this message.

[TrogL]

43. That's not how I remember the 50-60's.

• My best friend was routinely beaten to a pulp by his father. Nothing was done.
  
• A classmate was routinely raped by her father. Nothing was done.
  
• The neighbour across the street routinely beat his wife on the front lawn. Nothing was done.
  
• In my high school graduating class (not a large school) three of the girls were pregnant out of wedlock.
  
• Several of my classmates had syphilis and/or gonorrhea.
  
• It seemed like every adult I knew older than 45 had heart, respiratory problems and/or cancer.
  
• Worksite injuries were an expected part of work. If you hadn't been injured, you weren't trying hard enough.
  
• I was routinely harassed/bullied/assaulted/spit on in the hallway. The bully was praised and I was blamed.
  
• Everybody (with a few exceptions) smoked and drank pretty much constantly.
  
• Three friends of mine were killed in a car wreck. Two would have survived except they were thrown through the windshield. Seatbelts were still an "optional accessory".
  

[tinrobot]

44. My best friend didn't survive the 70's.

If he had been wearing a helmet, he probably would have survived.

[maveric]

84. I have many friends who didnt survive the 70's. The lowering of the legal

drinking age to 18, in 1973 accounted for at least 8 deaths of good friends of mine.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

46. Yeah. If kids are bad at stuff, they need to be shown for the losers they

are. :eyes:

And man, those times were great. For half of those decades those negros knew their damn place until those rules and regulations made them get all uppity. THose where times when a woman had good old fashioned values. She knew how to cook for her man and be obedient. Ahhh, the good ol' days.

[Arugula Latte]

49. I was mulling why the tone of this spam is so annoying.

It's the typical Repuke smug, self-righteous, I got-mine-so-what's-your-fucking-problem tone. So, yes, millions of people "survived" the mid-century and emerged without being maimed for life. Well, good for them. Now they have to gloat and give the proverbial finger to those who weren't so lucky. It's like people being born into wealth and not understanding why those fucking poor people can't just snap their fingers and be fabulous like they are.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

53. Someone should write one about the generation that survived the Plague

Ahhh, the 1500s. Now men were men then!

[trotsky]

69. LMAO

Thanks, I needed that. :D

[Arugula Latte]

71. "Sure, people dropped dead in front of us...

But we just made a game of leapfrog out of their bodies!

When we broke out in unsightly pustules, we had instant connect-the-dots games right on our skin."

[latebloomer]

160. LOL!! n/t

[Swamp Rat]

195. LOL!

Excellent! :thumbsup:

[marions ghost]

110. exactly

this selective nostalgia stuff is often calculated to be divisive, because of the superior undertones....

[Lorien]

115. I've received similar spam from repugs

I AM a child of the '70s- and the world is nothing like what it was back then. No job security, thin ozone layer, more GMO foods, more pedophiles (because the population has boomed), more bad drivers (for the same reason), etc. etc. These self indulgent threads smack of that-which-must-not-be-named....

[ComerPerro]

50. Spam email from someone living the a past that only Republcans remember

To paraphrase Ned Flanders, in a recent episode of the Simpsons.

[progressivebydesign]

61. I don't see anywhere that SeaBeyond received this as an email..

.. do you? I thought the original poster wrote it. Did I miss something?

[lukasahero]

65. It's been around for a while

I'm sure if you did a search here on DU, you'd probably find a copy of it and I know you would if you googled it.

In fact: (I got 3,660,000 results from googling "To all the kids who survived the")

http://hbingham.com/humor/survivors.htm

http://www.baptistboard.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=24;t=003257;p=0

http://www.galists.org/read/messages?id=21827

http://right-mind.us/archive/2005/01/01/1098.aspx

http://www.crosswalk.com/fun/humor/1311079.html

Edited to add the links which come from some interesting sources...

[Bridget Burke]

107. I first read it at Datalounge (!)

"Spam" may be the correct word, but "Glurge" just came to my attention.

glurge (GLURJ) n. A sentimental or uplifting story, particularly one delivered via e-mail, that uses inaccurate or fabricated facts; a story that is mawkish or maudlin; the genre consisting of such stories.

Perhaps that's not an exact fit....

[lukasahero]

114. Ooh I have a new word - thanks!

Glurge. Kind of rolls off the tongue doesn't it?

"Mom stop sending me all this glurge." Yeah, that'll work and I won't even have to curse about it. Thanks! :-)

[ComerPerro]

119. At the very least it is very similar to spam email I have seen over and ov

over and over and over again.

[seabeyond]

142. i didnt write it, dont want credit for writing it

never thought anyone would think i wrote it. sorry, would never try to fool someone into thinking i wrote it. as i said in a post way down below, wasnt trying to raise hackles. truly was just a fun post for me to read. read it a year ago, read it today. was on a spiritual, non political board of easy going all people who voted for kerry. none of us saw it as such a to do. was just a giggle for us

that is all.

i dont often pull other peoples words and post them. i mostly speak for myself. so i didnt think to make clear i didnt write it. will keep that in mind in the future though

[comsymp]

80. That isn't really true

Several presumably non-R posters remember that past, including me.

And to the thread in general, I don't think that the implication of the OP was that EVERYTHING was better then. I've always interpreted it as a lament on the wussification of our society - and, in many respects, I agree.

SHOULD seatbelts, bike (or skateboard) helmets & pads, lifejackets be *mandatory*, with legal ramifications for the parents if the child fails to use 'em? My libertarian tendencies say no. Available, sure, but not required by law.

Is playing outside healthier than playing video games? Usually. Of course, personal judgement comes into play here.

Is being bad at sports, or "not good enough" for the team something kids need to be shielded from? I don't think so - it's an opportunity for several Life Lessons® at once: Keep trying, different people have different talents, hard work pays off, NILIF....


My personal favorite is:

No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

Guess that resonates with me because I'm one of those Luddites who's extremely irked by seeing 10 year olds with cellphones.

Oh, and I also think playdates are a crock.

[Solon]

100. I disagree on Seatbelts...

If one of the parents is a driver, THEY are responsible for the safety of everyone in the car, and should insist, especially in the case of children, of seatbelt use. They can refuse to drive, I do, because you are liable for them, period. I would say that if a parent doesn't require seatbelt use in the case of children, especially younger kids in safety seats, and due to an accident the child is severely injured or killed, that is NEGLIGENCE, and the parent isn't fit to have that child to begin with and should be liable, preferably with jailtime, for whatever consequences happens to that child. The only reason this should be law is because, first, roads are public and driving is a privelege, not a right, and second, the driver of the car is in charge of the car, and has complete control over the use of seatbelts in the car. That's part of the reason I don't think the others apply, because parents cannot not be with kids 24 hours a day, but when that child is in their parent's car, the parent can observe them the entire time they are in that vehicle.

[comsymp]

109. Can't argue with that...

Well, maybe we could have an interesting exchange about the driving = privilege part. But sure, parents should be required to buckle the kids up - and the same is true for carseats - and a negligence charge could definitely be supported by a failure to comply. Of course, being a kneejerk libertarian on issues like this, I always have that Slippery Slope tape playing in the back of my head. :crazy:

I guess I was thinking more about adults with the seatbelt issue - and let's add motorcycle helmets, while we're at it.

[Solon]

125. That is an interesting thing though...

Like I said, I refuse to let anyone into my car, child or adult, who doesn't follow my rules, those are simple, shut up, sit down, and buckle up. I do NOT want anyone in the car to be maimed or killed, I always buckle up, a holdover from my parents telling me: "We aren't going to the movies till you BUCKLE UP!"

That being said, I should have been more specific about driving priveleges, you can do that all you want from any age up, on your own property, you own a farm, you can drive any vehicle from a bicycle to a tractor, from the age you can practically be able to till you die, without any restrictions. However, once you enter the public roads, paid for by all people, and maintained by the government, then you have to obey the rules. In the case of minors, it should be more restrictive, they are not responsible for their own well being until age of majority, parents are, and they are the ones who should be responsible for children's safety on the roads, and liable as well for lack of precautions.

This gets tricky when talking about adults, but to be frank, it is not technically a violation of any rights to have a ticket written for not buckling up when on public roads. There is no slippery slope, simply because in this particular case, it only applies on public roads. Just as I can tell you not to smoke in my house(I wouldn't but just an example) the government can restrict, or outright ban you from using the public roads in a 2000 pound vehicle. The same is true in many other ways, such as public decency laws, you can't streak through a public park at noon without some consequences, regardless of what your drunk friends say. :) Neither can you do a number of things on public property that you can do in your own home or property. You can't have sex in a car on public property, yet I don't see anyone complain about being caught and written a ticket, or even thrown in jail over that.

This is not to say that it should be done, though I do generally agree with it, as a matter of personal safety. However, their are differences between reasonable(seatbelt laws) versus unreasonable laws(banning smoking on outdoor public property). Its a balance, but overall, it is one that rarely endangers our rights. I'm more concerned about rights explicitly written into the bill of rights, that apply on public property, that are restricted. That is the big thing about the bill of rights, those are enumerated rights that apply both on public and private property, I don't see the use of vehicles as one of those rights.

[OnionPatch]

55. Yes, I remember those days

We ran loose until dark and I remember several incidents where perverts approached us. We were lucky and ran away, but I also remember the neighbor kid telling us he could get a few dollars from "blowing" the perv down the road. That kid is in prison now and who knows if the perv is still on the loose.

I remember the family down the road who were all killed in an auto accident.

I remember drinking soda-pop and eating twinkies on a daily basis. I also remember getting a mouth-full of fillings before I was 15.

Sure, I remember those days, but I look back at those incidents with shock, not with nostalgia.

[Jose Diablo]

56. Uh, what's so good about the 40's-70's

I can remember a buddy down the street in the 60's coming back from a family 'vacation' with his jaw wired shut. It seems is dad had a collision. My buddy is the only one that made it. His Dad, Mom and sister didn't make it. His Grandmother and Grandfather came and lived in his house so he could finish school with the same friends.

I can remember another guy had leukemia. He didn't make it past 4th grade.

Suicides? You bet. There would generally be 5-6 a year in my school.

Girls getting in a 'family way'? Sure, but if their parents couldn't afford a D&C, she was off to live with an Aunt or Uncle.

Guys getting killed hot dogging in a car. Hell, we had 4 of them in one car burned alive in a wreck on homecoming night.

Whoever wrote this piece wasn't living in the 'real' world. Lots of kids never made it. I don't see what was so good about the 'old' days.

Don't even get me started about what our government did to us after we got out of high school. And they are doing it again. The same fat pricks are doing the same thing and getting away with it, by evolking some kind of bullshit about how 'great' things were.

[ultraist]

57. 1950 Infant Mortality rate for Black children: 43%

Nearly HALF of Black children DIED in 1950 before their first birthday.

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0779935.html

Ya, times were so fucking great then. Progress be damned!

[Lars39]

66. That's horrible!

And I'm ashamed I didn't know this.
I know people get exasperated over threads based on this type of email,
but they often turn educational, broadening outlooks and understanding.

[beam me up scottie]

72. I never knew that.

jesus

[foo_bar]

162. that's 43 per 1000, not 43 per cent

i.e., 4.3%.

[Ms. Clio]

165. Sorry, but I think you are reading the table incorrectly?

The stats were 43 infant deaths out of 1000 live births, not 43 out of 100, which would be 43%.

However, it is still much higher than the 27 white infant deaths per 1000 live births.

For some native and Hispanic populations in the Southwest, infant mortality was even higher.

[ultraist]

171. Correct, for every 1000 Black babies born, 43% DIED before 1 yo

Our infant mortality rate has SIGNIFICANTLY improved over the decades.

[foo_bar]

215. 4.3% (n/t)

[lukasahero]

62. One correction: "Little League had tryouts" for boys

"and not everyone made the team" especially girls who weren't allowed to try out in the first place.

Yeah, I just loved those days. :eyes:

[Logansquare]

68. Cueing Dana Carvey's old man

When we were thrown through windshields because car seats and seatbelts didn't exist, we didn't gripe. WE LIKED IT!

[Hubert Flottz]

73. We were told at school that America belonged to all the people.

We were told that this was the "SWEET LAND OF LIBERTY!"
We were told that the president worked for us and that we didn't work for him!
We were told that if we were good children, we might one day grow up to be president, but we were also told that a person who goes AWOL is a criminal!
We were told that it was okay to pay into Social Security, because our Uncle Sam would be there to take care of us if we got too sick or too old to work!
We were told that America was blessed by God because we upheld human rights around the world!
We were then told how to "Duck and Cover!"
We were told to do unto others as we would have others do unto us!
We were told that if we worked hard, stayed out of trouble and paid our taxes, that our votes would always count!
We were told that the American form of government(DEMOCRACY)was "By ALL the people and for ALL the people!"
We were told many things and we believed those things!
*************************************************
Now a piece of penny candy costs fifty cents, but the kids are told that they never had it so good, because the economy has just turned a corner!
Now we have a federal government that lies to every American young or old, almost every time they make a public statement!
Now our leaders are the ones who have no respect for human rights abroad, or even here in the US!
Now our children can't watch TV or look at a newspaper, without hearing about and seeing horrid pictures of POWs being tortured, mistreated and even killed by our own government!
Now look at the example the leaders are setting in Iraq when they tell the kids of America, that, that horrible, bloody, chaotic mess there is what a DEMOCRACY looks like!

Kids learn by watching and listening to their adult leaders! People like the President Of The United States for example!!!!!!

"But Iraq has — have got people there that are willing to kill, and they're hard-nosed killers. And we will work with the Iraqis to secure their future." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., April 28, 2005

"We have enough coal to last for 250 years, yet coal also prevents an environmental challenge." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., April 20, 2005

"I want to thank you for the importance that you've shown for education and literacy." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., April 13, 2005

"If they pre-decease or die early, there's an asset base to be able to pass on to a loved one." —George W. Bush, on Social Security money held in private accounts, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, March 30, 2005

"In terms of timetables, as quickly as possible — whatever that means." —George W. Bush, on his time frame for shoring up Social Security, Washington D.C., March 16, 2005

"This notion that the United States is getting ready to attack Iran is simply ridiculous. And having said that, all options are on the table." —George W. Bush, Brussels, Belgium, Feb. 22, 2005

"If you're a younger person, you ought to be asking members of Congress and the United States Senate and the president what you intend to do about it. If you see a train wreck coming, you ought to be saying, what are you going to do about it, Mr. Congressman, or Madam Congressman?" —George W. Bush, Detroit, Mich., Feb. 8, 2005

What should we tell the children of today? What's a Mother to do??????? Gawd help us!

[beam me up scottie]

76. The truth?

Maybe if ALL OF US were told the truth when we were growing up we wouldn't have let this happen.

[Hubert Flottz]

81. It was a hell of a lot closer to the truth than what today's kids are

exposed to! Every GOP congressperson in Washington stands up and tells lie after lie on Cspan! When Bush does say something your kid would need to be deranged to understand what he means!

"We expect the states to show us whether or not we're achieving simple objectives — like literacy, literacy in math, the ability to read and write." —George W. Bush, on federal education requirements, Washington, D.C., April 28, 2005

"He understands the need for a timely write of the constitution." —George W. Bush, on Prime Minister Iyad Allawi of Iraq, Washington, D.C., April 28, 2005

"I'm going to spend a lot of time on Social Security. I enjoy it. I enjoy taking on the issue. I guess, it's the Mother in me." —George W. Bush, Washington D.C., April 14, 2005

"In this job you've got a lot on your plate on a regular basis; you don't have much time to sit around and wander, lonely, in the Oval Office, kind of asking different portraits, 'How do you think my standing will be?'" —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., March 16, 2005

"You work three jobs? … Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that." —George W. Bush, to a divorced mother of three, Omaha, Nebraska, Feb. 4, 2005

"I'm also mindful that man should never try to put words in God's mouth. I mean, we should never ascribe natural disasters or anything else to God. We are in no way, shape, or form should a human being, play God." —George W. Bush, ABC's 20/20, Washington D.C., Jan. 14, 2005

"Who could have possibly envisioned an erection — an election in Iraq at this point in history?" —George W. Bush, at the white House, Washington, D.C., Jan. 10, 2005 ....BOB DOLE????

[beam me up scottie]

85. I had no idea you would let your kids listen

to king chimpy.

My parents taught me that people lie and that I need to think for myself.

Terrible concept, eh?

Oh, and please point out which one of these reichwing talking points you consider to be truthful?


"We were told that this was the "SWEET LAND OF LIBERTY!"
We were told that the president worked for us and that we didn't work for him!
We were told that if we were good children, we might one day grow up to be president, but we were also told that a person who goes AWOL is a criminal!
We were told that it was okay to pay into Social Security, because our Uncle Sam would be there to take care of us if we got too sick or too old to work!
We were told that America was blessed by God because we upheld human rights around the world!
We were then told how to "Duck and Cover!"
We were told to do unto others as we would have others do unto us!
We were told that if we worked hard, stayed out of trouble and paid our taxes, that our votes would always count!
We were told that the American form of government(DEMOCRACY)was "By ALL the people and for ALL the people!"
We were told many things and we believed those things!"

I see one, the golden rule. But maybe I think too much.

[Hubert Flottz]

90. It must have been bad!

Growing up with nothing to believe in!

[beam me up scottie]

92. Koolaid.

I'm guessing you drank A LOT of it.

[Hubert Flottz]

104. I did!

We couldn't afford soda very often in the filthy coal camp where I grew up, so we drank Kool-Aid when we could get that, but we were lucky to have clean drinking water most of the time! I liked Cherry and Orange Kool-Aid the best I reckon! Grape was pretty good too! It would have really been bad for us where I grew up, had we had no HOPE for a better future...no hope for a better world!

There are people that I trusted then and I trust them to this day! I soon learned who I could, or could not trust! Most of my teachers were democrats, some even held some state political offices! My parents were always democrats and I'm grateful for the things they told me! Those things have served me well for fifty five years! I've never spent one night in jail!

One thing I learned, was to always respect other people, who earned my respect. Some people's parents were too busy to teach their children that, I guess! Some parents just don't care how their kids turn out, or what the kids say or do to other people!

I guess that's about all I have to say to you! Besides...I probably can't tell you much anyway, since you know just about everything there is to know! Goodbye now!!!!!! :hi:

[beam me up scottie]

105. sigh...

I'll have to call my dad now and tell him he's a failure as a parent because he didn't raise me to be a nationalist...

:patriot:

[Zhade]

134. Left off the list: the KKK helped place "under god" in the pledge.

Yes, we should long for the days when an UNCONSTITUTIONAL STATEMENT was forced onto all children by Klansmen.

Um, yay.

[beam me up scottie]

146. Yes, and how SAD it is to

grow up NOT believing in a vengeful fundie god who will make sure people in other countries and anyone else who is different from us rot in HELL forever and ever and ever...

tsk tsk tsk

Is it too late to drink the kool aid?
Because I feel the need to wrap my ass in the flag and whistle
"Yankee Doodle" through my........I'll just stop there.

:evilgrin:

[Zhade]

219. SNORT! Good thing I wasn't drinking anything, "kool" or otherwise!

I'd need a new monitor (and I'm at WORK)!

[LostinVA]

168. The Knights of Columbus did that, not the KKK n/t

[Zhade]

218. Uh, you might want to look into that org's ties to the KKK.

NT!

[Kathryn STone]

201. god that's so true

I live in TX now have been here 5 yrs before that in Tempe AZ.
It's so strange living in a "Confederate" state.

[Zhade]

217. Hey, welcome to DU!

I grew up in the South, so I share the pain. I love a lot of the South, but not a lot of the people.

[Ms. Clio]

75. Why did you post this as if you wrote it yourself?

When you did not?

[beam me up scottie]

77. I was going to ask

the same thing...

[Zhade]

135. The lack of attribution is odd.

Does the OP want us to think SHE wrote this revionist drivel? I honestly don't think the OP is that dumb.

Actually, I'm kinda surprised that the OP posted this at all, I didn't expect this kind of nonsense from her based on past posts.

[Ms. Clio]

163. I don't know, she hasn't answered my question

But it does seem odd, yes.

[beam me up scottie]

180. Another odd

occurrence:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3692988

Perhaps a continuation?

[Ms. Clio]

182. Perhaps some bad influences at work here

Cocaine is a helluva drug.

[beam me up scottie]

183. BWAHAHAHA!

but don't you remember how much FUN it was !!!

:rofl:

[Ms. Clio]

188. Yeah, those were the days, my friend, we thought they'd never end

:D

[Cleita]

79. I was a kid in the forties and a teenager in the fifties,

however, this rosy assessment doesn't include stats for the kids and teenagers who were killed and maimed because they didn't have bicycle helmets and didn't wear seatbelts. It doesn't include the kids who were crippled or died from polio.

It doesn't include the stat that kids who have been immunized for childhood diseases aren't going to have them come back and haunt them years later, like chicken pox. I got chicken pox when I was six years old. I have been suffering from Shingles now going on two months that is a direct result of having chicken pox almost sixty years ago.

The reason kids weren't fat was because there wasn't any fast food back then and they ate real food. They werent indulged in candy and other sugary deserts because back then those foods were treats and meeted out sparingly.

The reason you could go out all day was because the neighborhoods had stay at home moms who kept an eye on the kids and were quick to telephone another mom about her child if something was going on that was unsafe and illegal. There wasn't as much fast traffic because there were no freeways.

There are a lot of reasons why the good old days weren't always that wonderful. I know because I lived through them.

[China_cat]

82. You missed one of the big reasons

that the moms were stay at home (other than the rampant sexism, of course). Working dads made enough to support their families on one salary. It didn't take 2 people working 2 jobs each to do the same thing.

Aside from that, there were no good old days. Ever.

[Cleita]

87. Also, a modest single family home was affordable and people

didn't have as much, like two cars, an RV,or a boat like they do today. Nobody had a lot of clothes or toys either in the working class family, so it made it easier to live on one salary.

Also women were always cooking meat stretching casseroles, which also cut down on the animal fat they were feeding their families helping inadvertently to keep their families slim and trim as well as their budget.

Many didn't have telephones even the cheaper party line telephones because it was an extra expense. I remember us having an icebox for a long time before we got a refrigerator and one of those mangle washing machines. There was no dryer but a clothesline. These appliances must have saved a fortune in electricity.

[China_cat]

140. Well, not if you lived on a farm.

Also women were always cooking meat stretching casseroles, which also cut down on the animal fat they were feeding their families helping inadvertently to keep their families slim and trim as well as their budget.

Diets in rural areas and on farms consisted of meat every day at at least one meal and usually 2. Bacon or sausage (from your own pigs) and eggs (from your own chickens) was a typical breakfast...with butter churned from your own cream on the toast. I was 18 and on my own before I ever realized that the steaks I had grown to think of as boring because we ate them so often were actually an expensive thing to buy; that pheasant was considered something exotic and worthy only of the very rich and that venison was something the majority of people had never tasted.

I don't think my grandfather EVER ate a vegetable. He only lived to the age of 92.

As for slim and trim, you might try looking at pictures from the first 2/3 of the 20th century. Big sizes started at 16, not 10 like they do today. The average weight for a 5' woman was 135, not 85. Why are we so fat? Because the ideal looks like an Auschwitz survivor and the majority of us just can't get there and live. If you can't reach what everybody's telling you you should look like, it's just easier to say the hell with it and enjoy yourself.

[Cleita]

145. Sounds like your farm was rather rich.

Most of the farm people I knew kept chickens for eggs and they killed most of the roosters for sunday dinner, and the older hens that stopped laying. They seldom ate other meat.

Another farmer friend said when they killed the hogs they kept one for themselves and sold the others. That was the only meat they had all year.

But I'm talking about the ordinary working class, and yes a steak was a luxury. Often the stretcher wasn't hamburger or ham hocks but canned tuna. It was very cheap back then. You also did a lot more exercise on the farm than the ordinary person who goes to work everyday.

But for myself, I look at pictures of my classmates back then and maybe only one kid per class was a chubby. Now I see the kids coming home from school and so many of them are chubbies. This isn't a coincidence IMO.

[Jose Diablo]

112. What you said dredged-up more memories of the 'good' old days

"The reason kids weren't fat was because there wasn't any fast food back then and they ate real food."

I was raised on a diet of pinto beans, corn bread and potatoes. A lot of starch, but hardly any meat. Sometimes get some hamburger with chili brick, but thats about it. Still like that sort of meal, but still, a little more meat would have been better I think.

It's no wonder kids today have more problems with weight, both parents work so 'fast' food is the way to go. Both of my parents worked, but my older sister made most of the meals. Pretty crummy for her too, I guess, caring for a younger brother all the time.

Where do these people come from that wax nostalgic on the 'good old days'? I'd venture that perhaps they did have it good, as some today also have it good. Strange, there always seems to be a small group of people that have it much better than others. I remember these people in high school as the ones that always seemed to sit in the front of the classroom. Or maybe the jocks, they acted like the kings of the world. The rest of us, were expected to stay in the background and we did pretty much, in high school.

Naturally enough, outside of school if we caught them, we would pound them flat. It wasn't talked about much, but class warfare was definitely there in high school. After graduation, each went to their own destinies, but we enjoyed high school for the chance to really get to know the others. You know, to interact one on one so to speak. And the others? They hated people like myself also. It's not like they were victims, often times they would bring-on something they couldn't finish. Maybe they think they can finish it this time.

Now many are sequestered in their gated communities. Seemingly immune to the effects of their greed. But there will come a time. And there are millions and millions and millions of people just waiting for that time and the opportunity. There will be a day of reckoning. The hate is definitely there, it is learned from early days in life.

I imagine there is less mixing now, with schooling becoming more privatised.

It has been too peaceful these last 3 1/2 decades. But it is always better to let the others start it. They always start it and cannot finish it. There are limits. I think they have crossed the rubicon, so to speak. As long as there are jobs, it remains peaceful, watch what happens when the jobs dry-up.

[Walt Starr]

83. Ahhhh, nostalgia, the way things never were.

Nostalgia is selective memories about a time that was never the way we remember it. This is why the past is glorified as moral and upright and the present is demonized as immoral and sick.

That's why reichwingnuts bring up nostalgia all the time, evoking false memories about times that never existed.

[booksenkatz]

86. Why is everything at DU so "either/or?"

While I would never romanticize any era in human history (there is always evil and oppression going on somewhere), neither will I refrain from thinking back on happy *moments* in my life just because while I was having fun in those little moments, someone somewhere was in misery. Life in America sucks so hard right now, what is the harm in thinking back on a personal moment of seeming-freedom here and there? Why so many broad brushes? Life is never 100% perfect, nor is it 100% horrible. At least that's been my experience (although the pendulum has been heavily weighted on "horrible" for quite some time now, at least for me).

Just remember: at any given time when you are having a blast, or having a golden moment, or enjoying a fantastic meal, or having fabulous sex, somebody out there somewhere is in Holy Hell. But don't let it kill your enjoyment. As long as you know in your heart that as a Democrat you are volunteering and working to help relieve suffering in this world, then I say, ENJOY those golden moments and have as many as you can get... life is short. If you wait until everyone in the world is happy, safe, free, and at peace, before you allow yourself to have a moment to enjoy life, then you'll spend your entire life in misery.

Just sayin.

[beam me up scottie]

88. Sorry, some of us

don't like reichwing spam emails.

Maybe you should ask why somebody would post it here.

:eyes:

[booksenkatz]

94. I understand

I do understand -- I received the same email from a family fundie some time ago; but I'm dismayed to see seabeyond slammed with such vehemence because I've never seen freepy motives from her in the past. I've only seen kindness from her here. So I had to conclude that she was posting it for non-freep reasons. Hell, maybe she was just longing for the past a little bit -- I find myself doing it quite often these days, even though I'm fully aware that the past had just as much suck to it as the present has. Life always seems simpler when you look back. I don't find any harm in a little escapism now and then. Whatever gets you through the day, and through this administration.

Just trying to look at it from a different angle, I suppose.

[beam me up scottie]

96. Kindness,

like respect, is a two way street.
;-)

[booksenkatz]

99. OK, now I don't understand

Where was I unkind? I always do my best to type out responses that are respectful -- I truly apologize if you felt that I failed this time.

On edit: I didn't mean to be obtuse -- perhaps you meant that seabeyond was being disrespectful? I admit I didn't read every single post in this, or her other, thread.

[beam me up scottie]

103. Sorry, that's

what the wink was for.
You know like "King george is an awesome leader" (wink wink nod nod)

I wasn't referring to you, really.

:blush:

Sorry I didn't clarify.

:loveya:

[Zhade]

138. The problem is that this rw astroturf is DISHONEST.

It looks back on all the "could have been terrible but weren't!" moments, implying that because things could have happened and didn't TO SOME KIDS, that these things didn't really happen much and thus times were "better" with less regulation, etc.

Frankly, that's revisionist bullshit. It's not hard to see why rightwingers would love this kind of thing.

What is hard to see is why on Earth seabeyond posted this (without even attributing it to a source), because like you I've NEVER seen her display a single freeperesque quality. It's quite odd.

[booksenkatz]

154. Agree w/every word you wrote, Zhade

I wish that seabeyond had included some commentary as to what particularly moved her about this piece. Sure, there are elements of it that make me a bit wistful for the seeming simplicity of my childhood, I think that's normal; but you are correct, its revisionist conclusions are appalling. Would love to have seabeyond clarify... and if she is unable to see its rightwing elements, we need to kindly help her to open her eyes.

[Zhade]

164. I've always thought she was a good person.

This was baffling to me.

[Canadian Socialist]

176. I don't think seabeyond meant anything by this post

other than, like me (maybe) she had a relatively placid and lovely childhood.

Now, having said that, I understand that not everyone (hell, hardly anyone) had that kind of childhood. But I see parents w/their kids nowadays; I see the majority of kids w/their cell phones. I too rail against some of this.

To be more personal, I grew up in Canada as an army brat. We travelled the world. For that, I am very thankful. I was one of the lucky few who saw a different way. My dad (and by extension our family) was deployed to Germany after the Berlin Wall was erected. We had no tv, no phone. But, it was just another posting to us. In the interim, I've been very lucky to travel the world and see things that most westerners don't see. There really is no point to this, just that sometimes, nostalgia is a very powerful force. I remember wandering aimlessly through towns we were visiting (in Europe) with my sister and my younger brother. I was all of 10. My folks never worried about us. I'm just sayin'.:beer:

[gollygee]

89. We need a thread to the kids who *didn't* survive the 40s through the 70s

to see the other side of this.

[napi21]

93. Well, I lived through them too, and although there has been progress

in a lot of areas, like the polio vaccine, and opther diseases, I believe many kids are way too over protected in todays world.

There's no problem with seatbelts, but I think it's wrong to ticket ME at age 61 for not wearing one.

It was wrong to paint baby cribs with lead based paint, but to forbid it's use on the outside of your house is silly. Surely people can keep their kids from gnawing on the outside of their house!

I still think it's better for kids to use their inginuity to make up games instead of buying every darn plastic toy, or game station you have the money for.

The worst of all is trying to protect kids from any disappointment. Sometimes you get a bad grade, they really have to learn to live with that! Sometimes you don't make the team, sometimes you do bad things and get caught. Responsibility is taught, and learned while you're young, and I think it's every parent's responsibility to make sure their children not only learn honesty, moral values that they believe in, and guilt, sorrow, and responsibility so they can be happy, successful, and well adjusted adults.

[beam me up scottie]

98. Uh,

"It was wrong to paint baby cribs with lead based paint, but to forbid it's use on the outside of your house is silly. Surely people can keep their kids from gnawing on the outside of their house!"

Lead can poison more than just crib-chewing kids.

[gollygee]

101. 1) lead paint flakes off house and onto ground 2) lead gets in groundwater

3. well you can probably guess from there.

[TrogL]

214. We have to deal with you after you've gone through the windshield

In the Canadian health care system you'd be a direct drain on resources. In the US system, assuming you're paying your own bills, you're still occupying a bed that could be used by someone with some fucking common sense.

[Goldmund]

97. I'm not going to get into the bigger discussion,

since I'm at work, but I will say this: the culture of fear has many manifestations.

[comsymp]

117. Speaking of which...

Head's up: Bill would ban soccer headers
By Emelie Rutherford / Daily News Staff
Friday, May 20, 2005

BOSTON -- In 1952, 2-year-old Bob Edwards tumbled down his parents' stairs and smacked his temple on the pavement, causing a brain injury that altered the course of the Framingham man's life.

While Edwards knows he cannot prevent other kids from getting in accidents like his, he is asking lawmakers to stop a potentially damaging practice among K-12 students: "headers," or when soccer players hit balls with their heads.

"Brain injury or a concussion can change a soccer player's life if all soccer players uses his or her head as a battering ram," Edwards, 54, told the Legislature's joint Education Committee yesterday.

Public and private school students also would be required to wear helmets during soccer matches under a bill Edwards crafted. The bill additionally calls for the Legislature to create a commission made up of sundry experts to help thwart sports injuries among children and, he hopes, recommend requiring protective gear.

sadly, more

[Goldmund]

118. It's a great example

Spare no expense to mathematically insignificantly reduce the already statistically infitesimal probability that something bad will happen.

But as a general attitude, it becomes "useful" when the sheeple need to have some other fear plugged into their fear receptors for political and propagandistic purposes.

[bpilgrim]

102. WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING! - even on the streets of PHILLY

that is the most depressing part of todays society, imho.

the media got us all so paranoid todays kids aren't allowed to go anywhere unsupervised.

good think we got great home video games now, no need to even go to the arcade.

peace

[bemildred]

108. Post hoc, ergo propter hoc.

The conclusion does not follow from the premises, and is
wrong in any case, the US was much more highly regulated in
the golden age than it is now.

Another feeble propaganda screed masquerading as logic.

[GirlinContempt]

111. There is a reason

most people delete this crap from their inbox

[Just Me]

116. *LOL* How DID we do it? Survive all that?

Your closing cracked me up!!!

:rofl:

[DTinAZ]

121. Libertarian crap

Sorry if I offend the sensibilities of any libertarian-leaning folks reading this topic, but knowing how stupid and careless people tend to be (myself included), I welcome governmental help in the form of regulation, laws, inspections, etc. when it's done for the greater good. You may consider yourself free to do stupid things like not wearing seatbelts or a motorcycle helmet, but then when you wind up brain damaged after an accident, we ALL pay...not just you, whether you have good health insurance or not.

My local Air America affiliate station has a libertarian on from 6 to 9, and his Friday group of "Charles' Angels" (regular guests who happen to be female) were busy defending Wal-Mart today, spouting Libertarian nonsense. The reason this guy is on an Air America station is that he's very outspoken against Bush's pre-emptive war in Iraq. But liberals and social progressives need to realize that we don't really have all that much in common with Libertarians, who are basically anti-government.

edit: fixed typos

[devilgrrl]

122. Shove these rightwing talking points where the sun don't shine...

:nuke:

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

123. If I had a bike I would still ride it without a helmet.

I know how to ride a bike, damn it! BTW, I was born in the late 70's, so I went without a bike helmet all the way through the 80's and the 90's. Imagine that!

LOL, I used to drink from the garden hose all the time.

Ugh, and I hate video game systems. I will never buy one of those things for my son. Kids should play outside and with other kids instead. It's much healthier for them.

[DTinAZ]

124. it's not knowing how...

...to correctly ride a bike that's at issue -- you're missing the point. It's all the bike accidents that happen, especially those involving automobiles, in which a helmet will give you a much better chance of coming out with your melon intact. Wearing a helmet protects not only you, but your family, the drivers of the cars around you, and all of the other members of your group medical coverage.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

126. Like I said... I know how to ride a bike

meaning I know how to ride a bike safely. I haven't fallen off a bike since I learned how to ride when I was 4. I am very careful about it and I know what I am doing. I personally don't see riding a bike as much of a risk. Maybe it is for other people, but not for me.

Do you think people should wear helmets when they are walking too? They could fall down or get hit by a car while they are walking. Perhaps we should all wear bullet proof vests too, just in case some random criminal tries to shoot us.

[DTinAZ]

129. aw c'mon...

Do I really have to explain and/or prove the difference? It's all about the odds of something going very wrong and reasonable options to prevent catastrophic results. The odds of sustaining brain damage from walking down the sidewalk (or even on the proper side of the road) are MUCH less than when riding a bicycle. Sure, you can go through life without ever experiencing significant negative consequences from foolish decisions, but there are many people who aren't so lucky.

I remember the day that my high school band director wound up in the hospital with a head injury from not wearing a helmet on his motorcycle. He got a steel plate and was never the same...no, I didn't carry a powerful magnet in my backpack... ;-)

[Zhade]

139. Uh, that's pretty unconvincing.

I had a friend at my last job whose wife died when she was hit by a car while riding a bike without a helmet. Massive head trauma.

She knew how to ride a bike, too. Unfortunately, the elderly gentleman who had an insulin shock while driving and passed out didn't know about her ability to ride when he struck her.

[Arugula Latte]

128. I knew somebody who thought like that

He was successful, a dentist, healthy. Went for a bike ride sans helmet. Hit a rock or something. Just a little obstacle that can happen to anyone. Bang. Massive brain injury followed by death days later.

Do you think he would trade the indignity of wearing a helmet for the priviledge of knowing his grandchildren?

[OldLeftieLawyer]

127. No, it makes me - a Baby Boomer - want to stop you

from posting idiotic emails you receive.

What garbage.

[AnnInLa]

131. We played kick-the-can outside at dusk all over the neighborhood,

but now I watch my granddaughter like a hawk when she goes outside to ride her little bike (with her little helmet and knee pads) so no crazy runs off with her. We played ball in empty lots and roamed the woods at will. Now, my graddaughter plays in an organized, co-ed soccer league, transported back and forth in carpools of SUVs, driven by moms wearing whistles around their necks or on their key rings in case of danger. Good grief.

We went "rolling houses" in the dead of night, after climbing out our window...the most we got were mosquito bites. Later on, we went to drive-ins and got mosquito bites there too, blush.

I will survive what's happening to America....feel like I've seen it all now, but I worry about the granddaughter surviving it. That's what made me so political, and semi-activist, (at my age, imagine, where are the young folks to do this??? Am training the granddaughter, but she's only 6, so ....).

[seabeyond]

133. i read this about a year ago and loved it, had forgotten about it

and went onto a non political spiritual board today of a lot of easy going people that all voted for kerry and saw it. i enjoyed it the last time i read it, and i enjoyed it this time. it helped mellow me out some. i was one of those moms that even taking a shower, with two little ones, was a calculated risk, seeing how sound was taken away from me if there was an emergency. those years of that 6-8 minutes in a shower were anything but peaceful, it was a mad rush to get out.

i only shared it here, because like i said, it felt good to remember simpler days, and i mellowed on a few things

this was not a right wing ambush to do.

such animosity. and generally i am well received. lol. not today. but that is cool. everyone gets to do exactly what they want with this post. has little to nothing to do with me

[DTinAZ]

137. a comment/attribution would have helped

Your post would have fared better had you mentioned your motivation, source, etc. up front. Many people can certainly relate to various parts of the contents, but I'd agree with the person who identified it as "glurge" (and I'm glad to learn that new word also). It sounds WAY too "Paul Harvey-ish" for posting here, IMO.

[Gloria]

136. We also survived cow milk with Strontium 90 in it....

remember? I do...late 50's, I think....

[LostinVA]

141. And don't forget Superelasticbubbleplastic

That stuff smelled like a chemical factory...

[bloom]

148. More mercury and PCBs for everybody - yea!

Who needs research - who needs regulation - let the corporations pollute as much they want. OOOOooo that evil EPA that was created back in our "good old days" - putting a crimp in our pollution. How dare they generate laws that try to maintain the world so that it is a healthy place to live. :sarcasm:


------

How and when was the EPA created?



President Nixon declared his intention to establish the Environmental Protection Agency with Reorganization Plan Number 3, dated July 9, 1970. The EPA's mission would include:


"The establishment and enforcement of environmental protection standards consistent with national environmental goals... The conduct of research on the adverse effects of pollution and on methods and equipment for controlling it; the gathering of information on pollution; and the use of this information in strengthening environmental protection programs and recommending policy changes... assisting others, through grants, technical assistance and other means, in arresting pollution of the environment... assisting the Council on Environmental Quality in developing and recommending to the President new policies for the protection of the environment."


After being cleared through hearings in the Senate and House of Representatives, the EPA came into being on December 2, 1970.

http://www.epa.gov/epahome/faq.htm#create

[VOX]

150. Googled this, it's on G. Gordon Liddy's site for starters...

The right wing seems to love this good-old-days stuff.

While were at it, why not have a nostalgic moment for whites and blacks using separate bathrooms, women who couldn't even vote, and kids being seen and not heard. :sarcasm:

http://www.liddyshow.us/liddyfile53.php
- - - - -

[Junkdrawer]

155. Good catch...

:thumbsup:

[Catchawave]

151. I don't miss the physical and emotional abuse !

Nope, not at all. I played outside all day, or I was at friends' homes, because I hated going home!

There were 8 in our family and one little Ford Custom sedan. We were packed so tight, seat belts weren't necessary.

My mom made the most disgusting meals, if there was meat, it was grizzly and fatty ::gag::


Those are some of the ways I suvived the 50's and 60's :cry:

[Horse with no Name]

152. One of my best friends used to tell me

And we laughed about it during our adult years...that she always felt at home when she was at my house because my dad screamed at us the way her dad did.

[Junkdrawer]

158. We're goin' back to the Shadows again !

Out where an Indian's your friend!
Where the vegetables are green,
And you can pee right into the stream!
(And that's important!)
We're back from the Shadows again

The Firesign Theatre...

[Burma Jones]

166. Yeah, so you use this as an excuse to do things you shouldn't

What the post neglects to say is that we/they were raised that way not because our parents were negligent or knew a better way or were slobs. You want to blame someone, blame Nuzak for building up everyone's fear.

But, if are coming here looking for people to side with you while you smoke around children and fail to protect them - AND ARE SMUG ABOUT IT - you really need to go to the site that shall not be named.

[Ksec]

169. ah memories

I remember them well.

I sometimes think about the warm summer evenings and playing out under a streetlight . And the weinie roasts. And the sleepouts we used to do on each others porches through the summer.

Those were the days

[johnaries]

172. I survived since 57, and I can tell you that the reason we have

so many of the laws now is because a lot DIDN'T! For a long time, many of the problems we know about now just weren't reported. We lived in denial.

Our parents weren't brave, they were just ignorant. Not their fault, they didn't have access to the information we have now.

Luckily, most of us are much better informed now. Although it would appear you don't fit in that category.

[WI Independent]

187. I think we've become too informed...

There is no logical reason for me to forego the safety offered by the belts and airbags of a modern car to take a ride on my motorcycle (even with a helmet). The odds of me living longer would definitely go up if I sold it. But then I would never have that feeling I get cruising down a country road.

I think we, as a society, have become obsessed with making sure everyone has a long life... at the expense of actually feeling alive while we're doing it.

[bpilgrim]

193. we are obsessed with irrational FEAR promoted by CONSUMERISM

as you said the same things occurred back in the day but that didn't stop people from LIVING.

now nobody talks to anyone and are afraid to let their kids play outside unsupervised.

we all now live like the boy in the bubble it's nutts.

peace

[all.of.me]

173. i think the point of this is that we live in fear

i don't think it's political. i think it says we take too many precautions, we're not free.

thirty years ago, i read a dear abby column (i still have it!). it was from a woman who was 85. she said she was sorry she was not more adventurous - if she could do it again, she'd go barefoot in winter, eat ice cream for breakfast, and so on. i can't remember the whole thing, but the point was that she lived cautiously in error. i think that's what this OP is about.

[cajones_II]

174. not really

this is an anti- government anti lawyer bit of glurge that's been around the iternet for 10 years that I am aware of.
Look at the last paragraph, it blames the lawyers and gov't regulation for an end to childhood innocence.

It's seemingly innocent appearing crap like this that plants those background seeds the fascists need.

[all.of.me]

177. i didn't read that very last part

when i've gotten it in emails, i've never seen that part. i've just read the rest of it as how we live in fear, constantly trying to prevent things instead of just enjoying life. my take...

[NorthernSpy]

175. how about an ode to above-ground nuke testing?

That too was part of the excitement of the era.

If you don't count all the cancers, a little fallout never hurt anybody.


:eyes:

Actually, my folks grew up back then, and they've always said it mostly sucked. When it comes to nostalgia, some are spared the affliction, I guess.

[beam me up scottie]

181. My favorite apple

is the Northern Spy.
I live in the south now, can't get them here.
I miss them.

[chknltl]

184. above ground nuke testing is still here...yet the band plays on!

it's in the form of "depleted uranium munitions" www.truthout.org/docs_2005/051105K.shtml
www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_16946.shtml

[beam me up scottie]

185. Wow.

What an excellent website.
Axis of Logic.
Definitely bookmark worthy, thanks.

[chknltl]

186. Question....

I am new here... this is my second ever posting. Why isn't this topic number 1 on everyones minds in this forum? Has it been discussed before? Am I missing something?

[beam me up scottie]

191. Are you talking about depleted uranium?

I believe it has been discussed several times.
Threads started in General Discussion sink so fast that most people never see them unless posters keep them active.
I did a quick search and I found these :

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3685838

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=259&topic_id=344

You can post on either of those to kick them back up to the top of the forums.
This was just a quick search of recent posts. I can try to find more if you like.

[chknltl]

192. I live up to my namesake...

Thanks, I'll read those and march along with the band.

[beam me up scottie]

194. GD is not a good forum for topics

like DU because of the volume of new threads.
You could try starting your own thread, I'm not sure how many posts you have to log in before you can do that, I'd have to check.
If you do decide to start your own thread, this deserves more attention so try posting in either the Disability Issues & Activism, the Foreign Affairs & Defense, or the Veterans and Military Issue forums.
Good luck and welcome to DU!
Please pm me if you need anything.

~Linda

[donsu]

216. nostalgia, romance, are constructs

the bushgang psy ops use constructs

[Demonaut]

189. Thanks, I grew up in that era and I did all you described

building the go-carts was the highlight of my childhhood...It doesn't necessarily need be a RW talking point, it just speaks to the simplicity of the times...and if you unfortunately did not experience this I feel sorry you missed out

[REP]

197. WHO CAN I SUE????!!!!!

I survived all that and more! I walked to school all by myself! I wasn't driven everywhere by my parents - I either walked or didn't go! I played dodge-ball! I'm sure I suffered and now I need to a lawyer 'cause I'M GONNA SUE!

[Swamp Rat]

200. Reich Wing propaganda...

Allow me to respond to the original author (not you seabeyond). ;)



"TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's !!" - What, the 1440s? 1370s?

"First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us." - Not my mother. She quit smoking before she became pregnant.

"They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes." - I take aspirin and I LOVE blue cheese, especially from FRANCE.

"Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints." - No, I slept in the same bed as my parents.

"We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking." - And no depleted Uranium or cluster bombs.

"As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat." - So are you for progress or not?

"We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle. We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this." - Unless they had the plague.

"We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!" - BuShit. You are fat as a hog!

"We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on." - So we don't have street lights anymore?

"No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K." - Except for all those kidnapped and murdered children.

"We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes." - ROFL! You FORGOT THE BREAKS?!? :rofl:

"After running in the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem." - A FEW times??? :rofl:

"We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..." - And you reject these things? Then why are you using them now?

"WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!" - Right, children these days do not have friends and they do not play outside. The elementary school down the street with all the children outside is just a hallucination caused by the Clenis.

"We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents." - Frist, is that you?

"We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever." _ HAHAHAHA!!!! So, you're the dumb ass that ate the worms... you owe me some crayons too!

"We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes." - So, who did you blind you asshole?

"We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!" That's right! We no longer ride bicycles, enter houses through doors, or talk to people.

"Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!" - Yes, but the poor little bastards eventually had to learn they were not genetically perfect - inferior to the perfect, white male stereotype.

"The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!" - Yes, how else does one become a Nazi Youth, unless s/he learns to OBEY.

"This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!" - Like the fake war in Iraq they invented? Why don't you prove yourself and risk getting killed in Iraq. Enlist today, or are you too chicken?

"The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas..." like, more efficient forms of genocide, atomic weapons, and corporate media propaganda.

"We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL! And YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS!" - True, we have put up with people like you for a long time. Thank you.

"You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good." - Oh, I will, but I will include my rebuttal.

"And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were." - As long as there are people like you, I do not want to have children, but be sure, we will educate YOUR children and tell them the truth about YOUR lies.

Last thing: Support our troops by getting your yellow ass to the military recruiter TOMORROW... and NO EXCUSES!

[beam me up scottie]

203. Swamp, you da man!

:rofl:
I like your version better:

"They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes." - I take aspirin and I LOVE blue cheese, especially from FRANCE.

"We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents." - Frist, is that you?

"We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes." - So, who did you blind you asshole?
"very many eyes"?:rofl:

:applause:

[Swamp Rat]

204. Dank u

You know, after 3 years of lurking on DU and receiving RW emails like this I got pissed off enough to register and finally open my mouth - I credit mopaul to this day because I was inspired by one of his threads about rebels. Now, I LOVE beating the shit outta the stupid freeps with their own propaganda... they are so easy. As you know, the professional disruptors are a bit more difficult, but not impossible to squish, like the cockroaches they are. ;)

I was sent a pic (probably made by a freeper) making fun of Kerry and our NAVY (or "Kerry's NAVY" as the pic said - I took it personally that some freep would bash Kerry at the expense of our NAVY). The pic was really poorly done and I knew I could do better, even with a crappy, free graphics program and a loaner computer... ever since I got a pared-down version of Photoshop, I have been able to, and done better at expressing and realizing my ideas. One of these days I will have my own computer and a full version of Photoshop... look out suckers! :D

Anyway, this is my first pic from almost a year ago:



Here's the follow-up. The USS America is going to be scuttled in the middle of the Atlantic (the last time I heard), and I think they should rename it rhe USSA Rumsfeld before they do it. It pains me that they would sink it on purpose while bearing the name "America."

[beam me up scottie]

205. You do all that with a pared down version?

AND a loaner pc?
Hot damn, wait until you get the whole shebang!
Just remember us little people...

What are the chances we could thumb a ride on a Greenpeace boat and paint the side of that sucker before they scuttle her?
Oh wouldn't that be a feat? Bet you it would make the news!

[Swamp Rat]

208. That's a GREAT idea!

:think:

If only I knew the NAVY guys who will be involved in the decommission process. I bet there are more than a few who would like to help. :)

[beam me up scottie]

209. Wouldn't that be a coup?

Freepers' heads would explode, eh?
:nuke:

[beam me up scottie]

206. Off topic but did you catch this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=1794806

I read it at work and had to grab my kleenex and go into the storage room for a minute. My mom was from Germany.

What we lost indeed...

[Swamp Rat]

210. I just posted this to that thread:

That email was sent to me by my cousin from Köln. It was as moving then as it is now, but as you said, "look what we've lost."

If anyone is interested, I checked it out at snopes.com. It's OK.

http://www.snopes.com/rumors/winston.htm

[beam me up scottie]

212. I just posted

as well. I will kick it tomorrow.

We should never forget the day the world stood with us.

Goodnight my friend, it's been a long day.

[Swamp Rat]

213. Boa noite!

:hug:

[MisterP]

207. always good advice, that

plus I love your art!

[Swamp Rat]

211. Thanks

I finished this one today... er, yesterday. :D