My abiding faith.

Yes, Americans are better off today than they were four years ago. No doubt about it. Another reason why Barack Obama deserves a second term. Obama inherited a horrendous economic mess when he was elected in 2008. And the mess was caused primarily by eight years of George Bush and Republicans. Especially conservative Republicans. Come to think of it, that's all there is in the Republican Party. Conservative and ultra-conservative Republicans. No such thing as a moderate Republican anymore. For Americans to turn over the White House and the reins of government to Republicans would be insanity. A return to the debacle of the past. Most Americans have to be smarter than that. That's my abiding faith. Makes me an optimist. That when push comes to shove, Americans will do the right thing. --Jim Broede

How to stimulate the economy.

Alcoa is an international conglomerate. In the process of closing a smelting plant in Sardinia/Italy. Because it's gonna be cheaper to operate in Iceland. Where immigrant workers can be brought in and paid $6.50 an hour. It's a sign of a heartless and mean-spirited business operation. Alcoa has annual profits hovering around $20 billion. It could easily pay workers a more decent living wage. But chooses not to. For the sake of padding its profit. That's the way capitalism operates. And to hell with the common good. If workers were paid more, it'd be a big boost to the economy. Because workers would have more to spend. Yes, folks, workers and the middle class are being exploited. By big business. By big corporations. We need to get more of the wealth into the hands of the middle class. Instead of into the pockets of the rich and super rich. --Jim Broede

A newspaper's weakest link.

I subscribe to the print edition of the New York Times. I'm supposed to get home delivery. Even if the delivery man misses me. I'm told all I need do is call, and they'll deliver the missed paper later in the day, or the next day at the very latest. But that's an empty promise. It's bull shit. Maybe in the last 4 years, I've missed delivery about 25 or 30 times. Only once did the Times come through with a replacement copy. I tell that to the Times representatives. On the telephone. They keep promising the delivery. A replacement copy. I tell 'em it's an empty promise. That they are telling me a lie. A fib. I know they won't fulfill the promise. But still, they keep promising. Maybe some day I'll get pissed. And cancel my subscription. But I don't. Because I like to read the New York Times. The print edition. I used to write for newspapers. Spent 29 years writing for the daily St. Paul Pioneer Press. In St. Paul. Minnesota. And I always had the impression that the Pioneer Press' weakest link was the circulation department. That must go for the New York Times, too. I trust the Times' writers. And the editorial department. But I don't trust the circulation people. They're incompetent. --Jim Broede

Reasonably free. And happy, too.

The world isn't gonna be the place I want it to be. So I've got two choices, essentially. Adapt and cope. Or live a frustrated life. But the nice thing is that the world ain't all bad. One can salvage many, many nice times. Endearing times. Loving times. Still, one has to put up with some crap. Things that one can't change. As for me, I learn acceptance. Or I fight for change. Even when it's a losing cause. At least I get some satisfaction from trying. Occasionally, I come out the winner. I get great satisfaction when I win a battle with the political bureaucracy. Especially at work. Shows that I have some power. I'm still able to control my fate to some meaningful degree. Sometimes, I merely outlast the opposition. I out-live 'em. I have lived long enough to retire. Which gives me more independence than I had before. Gives me more flexibility. Gives me more options to do what I really want to do. More of a sense of freedom. But even before I retired, I tried to position myself so that I could be free. So that I could be my own being. Without having to submit to the dictates of others. Seems to me that freedom and happiness go hand in hand. I'm never totally free. But I have convinced myself that I am reasonably free. And happy, too. --Jim Broede

Inside a man's mind.

I'm going for daily walks with an 84-year-old man. With dementia. Maybe Alzheimer's. Always seems to be happy. Maybe it's that he's not aware of his dementia. If he was, he probably wouldn't be so happy. His wife has dementia, too. And she's aware of it. To some degree. She doesn't always come across as happy. Maybe because she has some knowledge of her condition. Probably makes her insecure. Not wanting to make a fool of herself. Anyway, I tell the man to focus on one thing. Our walk. To, in a sense, wear blinders. Savor the moment. The walk. To observe nature. The environs. To forget everything else. I try to get him to listen to what I have to say. Just as I listen to him. It's mostly his world that I enter. Makes me better understand what is inside his mind. --Jim Broede

Given time. To reach our primes.

I have friends younger than me. Maybe by as much as 20 or 30 years. And they've reached their primes. They may not know it. That they are at a great age. Not too young. Not too old. A nice age to reach their primes. Many of us us reach our prime without knowing it. But I tell them. That they are in their primes. It's a good feeling. Know it. Appreciate it. My guess is that people reach their primes at different ages. Could be that I'm in my prime now. At 76. Because I sense I'm a late, late bloomer. Took me a long time to mature. And I may not yet be mature. When I was in my 50s and 60s, I was still in my immature, idiot stage. People with short lives reach their primes early. People like the composers Schubert and Mozart. But those of us who live long lives tend to reach our primes late in life. That's why we live long. We are blessed. Given time. To reach our primes. --Jim Broede

What the GOP doesn't tell us.

I like to put matters in perspective. For instance, idiot Republicans blame Barack Obama for an unemployment rate of just over 8 percent. They say that's bad. And ample reason to replace the Obama administration in the upcoming presidential election. The Republicans neglect to tell us that when Obama took office four years ago, America was losing jobs at the rate of 750,000 a month. Yes, under George Bush. Under a Republican administration. That's the situation that Obama inherited. A near economic collapse of America. The worst economic times since the Great Depression. Compare that with today. No longer are we losing jobs. America is gaining jobs. Every month. Sure, it'd be nice if we had even more jobs. But it sure beats the hell out of losing 750,000 jobs a month. Fact is, Obama and his administration have performed near miracles. Pulling the nation back from the brink. Of course, there's still a long way to go. But to put the Republicans back in charge -- well, that's pure insanity. Absolutely ridiculous. It'd be handing back the power to the same idiots that got us into this mess in the first place. --Jim Broede