Does anyone really feel hope right now? Does anyone really believe that things are going to get better for the poor, working- or middle-class person in this country, the so-called 99% that we hear so much about? 

Does anyone think that those we elect really feel that they represent us and not the powerful interests that fund their campaigns and lobby them every waking moment of the day?

Does anyone truly see a way that the environment will be fixed before great disasters are unleashed on our planet -- rising ocean levels that will cover islands and coasts throughout the globe, displacing millions of people from their homes; air quality that is so bad that people will have to wear masks to go outside; and transformation of massive amounts of farmland into desert as the population grows to another billion people that we cannot possibly feed (even as religious loonies continue to condemn birth control and urge folks to have more and more kids because it’s the will of their demented deities)?

Does anyone see any chance that homelessness, joblessness and hunger will not continue to increase and that more and more Americans will go without basic healthcare, given that the feds, the states and the cities do not have any clue as to how to stem the growing tide of poverty and need in our nation, especially when politicians cut human services and social programs before they trim even the least fat off the budget for the military and defense (god forbid Janet Napolitano and her thugs should go without expensive toilet seats to cushion their privileged butts)? 

Does anyone believe that we are not in the Great Depression II, that the fact that more kids are now going to school hungry in the morning than ever before in this country’s history is not indicative of the simple reality that Houston, we have a serious problem?

Does anyone think that the clones of Fox News constantly distracting us with stories about crime and the kidnapping or murder of beautiful white (usually blonde) women is not intentional, that the rich folks who own these mainstream media outlets do not have it in mind to keep us uninformed so that we can be satisfied with the latest cellphone or ipad or to-die-for gadget that everyone has and which is advertised on their networks or in the pages of their boring newspapers?

Is anyone naive enough to believe that Wall Street actually cares if occupiers march every minute of every day so long as they can make money in any way they can and still be bailed out if they screw up while the victims of their schemes scramble to put food on the table or a roof over their heads?

Does anyone really truly think that the outcome of this November’s election will make more than cosmetic difference in the face of a nation in which more and more children sleep with their families in vans, more and more people give up trying to find work because there is none, and the only institution that has enough funding to operate at full capacity is the military?

Missiles don’t fill empty stomachs, but they sure blow them up real good.