When those honkers and wavers lose their vehicles or lose their jobs, or pensions, or homes..... or whatever it takes to put them under the financial 8 ball..... then maybe my friends and I will not stand so alone on those street corners. Will it also be too late? Probably. Who knows. The fault, dear Brutus is not in the stars, but in ourselves.

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Op-ed Commentary One Time Rights

The Fault, Dear Brutus...........

Complacency: Self satisfaction; Smugness. Remember February 2003? Throughout America and throughout the entire world, hundreds of millions of ' we who knew better' marched, rallied and stood to protest the upcoming attack and invasion of Iraq. History has this remarkable habit of judgment - thus, we were right and the Cheney & Bush Cabal was wrong. Yet, from March 19th, 2003 until even now, some four plus years later, the fog of complacency has engulfed most Americans. We see a stock market reaching new highs, while the foreclosure and personal bankruptcy rates set their own recent records. We see job cuts, layoffs, and small businesses going under while Wal-Mart opens more and more new super centers. CEO pay is at record highs, while the 9 to 5 workforce sees less and less in benefits. Did you know that in my area, Volusia County Florida, Michael Moore's blockbuster film " Sicko" did not even play? Coincidence or conspiracy?

American kids, they could have been your kids or my sons ( had we a draft ) , are dying each and every day in the hot desert abyss. Yet, back home, my neighbors are too busy to even donate one hour a week of their time to stand in protest to this madness. No, they are too complacent, too insulated from it all...... for now. Where are the hundreds who stood alongside me in February 2003? Where are the loyal Democrats who stood alongside me in October 2004, to protest the Cheney & Bush Cabal's phony war? Oh sure, I hear the honking horns and the ' thumbs up ' as they fly by our street corner each and every Tuesday at 5 PM. They do the same thing to my friends up in Daytona on Thursday evening, and my friends in New Smyrna Beach that same night. Ditto for my friends up in Ormond Beach each Saturday morning, standing in front of the entrance to the mega Wal-Mart. Honks and waves.

As insurance rates continue to skyrocket, with property taxes alongside them, Americans will suffer. Obviously, never on the level that the Iraqis are suffering, or our young soldiers are suffering.... those who can still breath. No. Yet, suffering has little dignity wherever it appears. When those honkers and wavers lose their vehicles or lose their jobs, or pensions, or homes..... or whatever it takes to put them under the financial 8 ball..... then maybe my friends and I will not stand so alone on those street corners. Will it also be too late? Probably. Who knows.

PA Farruggio

July 21, 2007