One Human on a Small Planet

Who are you, Mr. President?

2011-09-03T21:29:00.000-07:00

DearMr. President,

Pleaselisten. The Republicans and TeaPartiers hate you. They hate you becauseyou are not one of them. And, I mean youare not one of them in every way. They hateyou and will never stop hating you, not even where you are dead and cold inyour grave. Not ever.

Theirhatred of you is so deep, so fixed, that they are willing to destroy thiscountry in their determination to get rid of you. That single-mindedness cannot now altercourse. To do so would mean admittingerror, and that will not happen. Ever.

Yourinsistance in trying to get them to work with you has already caused greatdamage to us all, in this country and around the world. Continued efforts on your part to change themis only aiding and abetting the destruction of this nation. You have become the tool of the extreme right,as well as the not so extreme right that courts them for votes.

Youractions magnify and accelerate the already rapid decline of the middle classand utter impoverishment of the poor. Wehave a growing third world nation within the borders of this country. You are sacrificing the lives and futures ofthe vast majority of Americans in attempting to appease a small group that willnot be appeased.

Twentypercent of our children go hungry on a daily basis. You are helping those who say that is acceptable. You are saying to the people who hold us all hostagethat you prefer their approval over the welfare of our children. That makes you one of the extremists who standin the streets and classrooms across the country, pointing to one in fivechildren and telling them there is no food for them today and probably nottomorrow.

Andnow you have decided that it is also acceptable for our children to face afuture of greater pollution in our air and water. You are siding with big businesses that wantno fetters in the destructive methods of doing their business. You are saying to our children, and your own,that their health is of little consequence. They’ve waited for years, why not a few years more? Making the rich more wealthy is of greaterimportance.

What happened, Mr. President? Who are you?

Pariah on Society

2010-09-17T22:40:00.000-07:00

From the online Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

Pariah

noun \pə-ˈrī-ə\

1 :a member of a low caste of southern India
2 :one that is despised or rejected: outcast

Okay, I should be thinking or doing something else, anything else but this. It’s full on distressing and depressing.

I lost my job a few months back. Laid off. Job elimination. Wow! I had enough work to more than keep me busy, but apparently the powers that be decided it was the right thing to do. Fine. That is the employer’s prerogative.

Anyway, since then I have been busy trawling through job boards, sending out my resume and taking workshops on resume writing, interviewing and such. There hasn’t been a lot that I am qualified for, but I have responded to those and more than a few for which I was either so over or under qualified that the chance of even getting a phone interview approaches nil. The agency I have been working through hasn’t had a lot, either. What they have called me about has been either so difficult to get to that I would spend my earnings on cabs or have been jobs for which I am not qualified. Bless them for trying, though.

Now, I am enrolled in a few classes, all evening or weekend to keep me free during the work day. Just in case. I’ve even signed up to do volunteer work at a local organization.

Anyway, I recently went out of town for a family function for two weeks. This was arranged a while back and the airfare was already paid, so I went. I told the unemployment insurance folks so it was not like I collected benefits during that time.

After months of beating my head against the wall, I needed some time to recharge and be amongst some friendly, supportive people. Having the time during the day to watch the news is a tad destructive. One sees the projections of how long the high levels of unemployment will last and certain folk who love to demonize the unemployed all too often. All too often. The former is depressing. The latter just layers on the distressing.

I was born here. I am a citizen. I have worked for a living for 35 years, more than 24 in this country. I have paid my taxes without question. Quibble, yes. Question, no. I value the fact that the government is there for emergencies, defense of the country, regulations of the finance, food, drug, etc. industries, education, and so on. An organization that keeps all 50 states equally safe is more important than most people understand.

Back to the story. I needed to get away from the disappointment and vitriol more than I can say. To be told that no matter how one’s job went away or how hard one has sought a new one, you are a pariah on society, is dehumanizing. You are not worth a helping hand or even a kind word. You are no more than a mongrel dog to be kicked when down.

As I said, it doesn’t matter how one lost their job. It doesn’t matter if it was because the company you worked for went out of business. It doesn’t matter if your job was outsourced to overseas or some other company in this country. It’s of no interest if your company just decided to downsize, whether to save the business or just increase profits. No reason matters. It’s is still your fault that you are out of work.

How does a country turn on its hard working people so easily? How do your neighbors, who were one day your friends, suddenly decide that you are dirt beneath their feet? How do you go from being a respected, contributing citizen one day to a thing that is feared and even hated the next?

I should have come back from my family feeling refreshed and ready to jump back into the process of finding work. Instead, I come back to escalated insults and innuendos, more people telling me that they would be happier to see me begging on the street instead of helping me get a new job so that I can be contributing again. They would rather I spend my entire savings then empty my meager retirement fund so that I would need to work until I die.

I have just me to worry about. How do people with families, with children, deal with this attitude? God help us if Americans no longer care about other Americans. God help us if ten percent of this nation is now considered to be of so little value that we are to be left to beg on the streets. If ten percent of this nation’s people are pariahs, God help America.

If I could ask the President one question...

2010-08-27T19:33:00.000-07:00

If I could speak with the President, this is what I hope I would have the courage to say.

Tell me why I should vote, Mr. President. I have voted in every election I could. I believe it to be a privilege when so many in this world are denied it. But why should I vote?

I voted for you in the hope that your promises were real. I gave money to your campaign. The Presidency, Senate and House all in Democratic hands was a situation that I did not think would happen again. For the first time in years, I had a little optimism for this country.

Then it started to fall apart.

The banks continue to hold onto the money provided them by the people of this country. Instead of loaning money to help small businesses and ordinary people they raise fees and interest rates and pay out big salaries and bonuses while making ever higher profits. The banks were bailed out but American wasn’t. It was left to die a long, slow, painful death.

Long, destructive months of a healthcare reform battle where strong, immediate benefits for people in need now were negotiated away. Concessions were given enabling insurance companies to make many more billions in profits at the expense of millions of Americans. The public option was sacrificed for nothing in return.

The people responsible for taking this country into an illegal war were allowed to go their way with nary a wrist slap. The people, some of them the same that took us to war, who approved and even ordered the torture of prisoners were also allowed to get off without answering for their crimes.

Wall Street reform was watered down, giving the banks and financial institutions plenty of room to continue their greedy course with reckless abandon.
The energy policy was allowed to die in the wake of the BP oil spill. The death was so quiet and late in the night that it happened with little more than a moan.

Billions upon billions of dollars, so desperately needed here at home, continue to be poured into the pockets of wealthy and corrupt operators in Iraq and Afghanistan. As much as I dislike the fact we are there at all, we are there, but please do not stuff the pockets of the corrupt who do nothing to help.

Congress went home on vacation while the unemployed saw their unemployment insurance end, leaving millions to worry about feeding their children and keeping their homes.

The stimulus package was watered down so much that it only postponed what is now clearly the inevitable. The recession will become a depression. Again, barely a whimper was heard from the Democrats and the White House.

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell still discriminates against a whole sector of the brave men and women of this country, forcing them to break the very oaths they took when they answered the call to serve.

The Deficit Commission has been packed with members that have long voiced their determination to dismantle Social Security. Co-chair Alan Simpson has no trouble publicly demonstrating his disgust with recipients because he knows that he is safe and secure in his position on the commission.

I now know with certainty that I, along with millions of other so-called middle class citizens in this country, do not matter. We are chaff before the wind. We have produced the grain and given it up to the rich land owners. Now we can be discarded. Now we are discarded.

Please tell me, Mr. President. Why should I bother to vote?

Lost in a Jobless World

2010-08-04T23:03:00.000-07:00

Today is three months since I was laid off.  I am still looking for work. It is not at all surprising, but it still chomps. The job market is tight, tight, tight. There are a few jobs being posted that I can apply for, but there must be 200 people, at least, applying for each one. Knowing that can be, is, discouraging.

I am applying for all of the jobs that I have even a remote chance at. So many want experience or software expertise I do not have. Or, they are wanting an entry level person. I am going into those areas but, having worked in recruiting and even been a hiring manager, I know what happens. If they even look at your resume, and that is a big if, you immediately go in to the reject pile. You either hit a large majority of the keywords or it's easy to see that you have way too much experience and will want too much money. They can be very, very picky.

There still aren't a lot jobs out there. Even the agencies haven't had much. And those were mostly so far off the mark it was laughable.

Job boards are full of the same or fake postings. One can see the same jobs posted there by agencies week after week. They never change, they just get reposted so that the agencies can get more resumes. One applies for them only to be told they've been filled, but they are still there next week and the weeks afterward.
At least I know what the score is. Having worked in recruiting and been responsible for hiring my own staff at one stage, I know what goes on. I have realistic expectations and no illusions. It helps, but only a little.

One looks, though. The daily trawl through the boards is the daily reminder how little is out there.   Then there is the agonizing over the cover letter and resume as well as the need to send them in fast. If you don't get your application sent within 24 hours your chances approach zero. So many applications are sent, many employers just can't accept any more.   You worry if the cover letter is just right. It needs to stand out in a good way, just the right amount of information, not too long, not too short, enthusiastic but not desparate.   You add a line to the growing spreadsheet that records your efforts.

Then you have to let it go and continue the search. And, you have to stay positive. You have to keep yourself from sliding into a despondency that kills enthusiasm.   You keep moving and, every day, keep looking and sending in the resumes. You try to figure out more ways to cut spending, let go you more of the things that make life worth living. You hope and pray that one day those things will come back.

Anyone who says people getting unemployement insurance are lazy and not looking for work are utterly clueless or hateful liars. They sure as hell don't give a damn. I have been taking workshops to help me with writing resumes and cover letters, and interviewing. Each workshop is full of people frantically looking for something. Anything.

Most of them are so close to the edge. They are desparate for work and pray for Congress to extend benefits just so that they can keep a roof over their heads and food on the table until they find work. We are all just hoping to find something, and that it will pay enough to live on.

I will need to take a lower paying job. That is a certainty. So many employers just aren't hiring. They are hanging onto money they should be using to grow their businesses. Those that are hiring know they have job seekers at their mercy. Most will take advantage of that. For some, it may mean the difference of being able to have that extra body at all. For others, it will be a cynical opportunity for cheaper labor.

A problem I have with taking the low paying job is that I do not like to take a job only to turn around and leave as soon as I find something better that pays more, leaving the employer in the lurch. It's an ethical thing for me. I did that once years ago and it didn't sit well with me. My consolation was that it was obvious the job was going to disappear in the very near future so I saved the employer the need to lay me off.

I don't mind taking lower pay if I can get by and save a little on it. More important to me is the people and the work. If those are good, and the day is more fun and interesting, I can deal with less money. Those jobs are few and far between, I am very sad to say.

Anyway, the whole point of this screed is that I hit a milestone of sorts with three months. My family is trying not to freak. I am trying not to freak. I have a small cushion of money, but it won't last forever. Am I already tainted as someone not to be given a chance? Am I already considered to be too lazy to want to work, wanting instead to live on unemployment forever? Will the voices out there painting the unemployed as being unworthy, lesser humans prevail and convice the world that they are right?

I know my own fears and worries and I have only myself to worry about. it must feel like the end of the world for families. How do they cope? I cannot even imagine. My heart breaks for them.

What Happened to America?

2010-07-25T21:52:00.000-07:00

I was speaking with a friend that lives overseas last night. She is confused about the state of the U.S. What is happening? Another friend mentioned that Americans are now being viewed as a frightened people. I have heard similar questions and sentiments more than once lately. And, they are always spoken with sadness.

What has happened to America and Americans? What is happening?

We were once known as a people united and daring. We were once know as a people that moved forward, explored the unknown, took incredible risks. We were once innovating, inventive, curious. We overcame our fears and stepped boldly into the future. We reached for the stars.

What happened to that country and her people?

I am not under the false impression that America was ever perfect. Far from it. We had our fears and challenges. The difference is that we used to strive to overcome them. Now we allow them to pull us apart.

We fear those that are different and work to expel them from our society. We distrust and even despise those that do not fit into a narrowly defined niche. We go so far as to hate and ostracize an entire segment because of the actions of a few. Maybe it was always that way but it seems to be intensifying exponentially of late.

One could argue that many Americans have a long list of people to hate and distrust these days.

- anyone who isn’t white
- anyone who isn’t straight
- anyone who doesn’t have a job
- anyone who speaks with an accent
- anyone who is too poor to afford healthcare
- anyone who wants to save the planet for our children
- anyone who needs a helping hand
- anyone who doesn’t agree to a certain point of view

That is not a complete list, but it already means that a pretty significant number of people in this country are on the receiving end of some serious ill feeling. Instead of embracing the differences and working together to overcome all challenges, we are pushing each other away.

The Emma Lazarus poem that lies within the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty includes the lines:

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Should we remove that poem from the statue? Is it really still valid?

Almost all of us, our parents, grandparents, or more distant ancestors, came here from somewhere else. We came here and built a nation that has led the world.

What happened to that brave country and people that embraced the world and the future? I fear it is no more. I fear it will never be again.

Nations rise and nations fall. It has been that way for the entire history of humanity. I just hoped that America’s time in the sun would last a little longer.

Pundits Love to Have Us Swirling Down the Drain, It Provides More Sensational Soundbites!

2010-07-06T20:03:00.000-07:00

I have lately had more opportunity to watch daytime TV. Given that I am a liberal, I tend to tune into MSNBC. I am beginning to wonder why. Some of the hosts don’t seem to know what they want or where they stand. There are all too often very conflicting messages in the space of one hour.

First, it’s all about the polls, it seems. Polls rule! Even better if the numbers for Obama fall. These guys seem to salivate because they falling numbers mean they and their guests have another opportunity to tell the world how the President should fix his image, the ills of the country and the world! Yum!

And, they seem to know exactly how to fix it all. Just listen in. The President should do this. The President should do that. He should listen to me because I know all!

The only problem is that everyone has different ideas on what should be done. Often the fix is given in a mere fifteen seconds, no details, no pros and cons, no thought to cost involved. Sometimes the ideas vary so wildly that there is no possibility of reconciliation between them, or compromise or melding them into a coherent plan. Who does the President listen to? Should he make twenty pundits and hosts angry to make another dozen happy or just kind of meh?

Does he jump to it today without feasibility studies, cost estimates, personnel, infrastructure, etc? Should the President first make sure it’s legal? Oh, yes, there is a whole can of worms there. Many things need to be approved by Congress first and others just may be flat out illegal.

Second, it doesn’t help when the sound bite sized promos for some of these programs are somewhat sensationalist. I understand the need to draw in viewers, but some of them are reckless.

For instance, for weeks Dylan Ratigan’s promos talked only about the corruption in the government. There was no clarification. We just saw the government is corrupt and needs to be fixed! I saw this ad at least five or six times in each afternoon. I know he didn’t say that it was Obama, but when one generalizes “the government”, people these days can easily jump to the conclusion. And, with everyone saying Obama needs to do this or Obama needs to do that, it seems to be a natural conclusion. I know for the first few days, I thought maybe I’d missed some breaking story of corruption in the White House on the news.

Last week, one of the guest hosts (Markey?) on one of the MSNBC shows asked a guest (Jeff Ross?) “Is this Obama’s fault?” when they were discussing the fact that trailers used after Hurricane Katrina and were found to be loaded with formaldehyde are being sold to people going to the Gulf to work on the oil clean-up. Apparently the trailers were sold to brokers with the provision they be labeled as having very high formaldehyde levels so that potential buyers would be able to make informed purchases. Some brokers are, of course, not labeling the trailers.

How the hell can Obama be to blame for unlabeled trailers? Is it something he could have even been aware of? Is it the kind of detail he should be aware of given the multitude of problems he has on his plate? Let’s see, there is unemployment, the Gulf oil spill, illegal immigration, Iraq and Afghanistan, North Korea, Iran, energy legislation, financial reform, Republicans that would rather see this country fail than let Obama get anything done. Among other things.

I get the impression that many of these guys have never worked in the real world. I mean the world where a CEO isn’t even aware, beyond a single bullet point on a ten bullet point PowerPoint slide in a sixty slide presentation, of a program implemented in a single business unit of a 100,000 employee international corporation. I mean something like the way invoices are processed for payment or sourcing for a new disability benefits vendor. The CEO might not even see that one bullet point.

My point is that not everything can be run up the ladder to the top guy. As much as Chris Matthews loves to harp on the chain of command in the gulf spill, how booms are laid and maintained is something the President should not be dealing with. Or where to procure skimmers. Or if BP is preventing clean-up workers from wearing protective gear. He should be able to leave that to the Incident Commander and his/her staff.

That Incident Commander also needs to be able to assign tasks to his/her staff, and so on down the line. Yes, I said should be able to. Anyone who has worked in the real world knows the implementation of orders and assignments is dependent on the people given those orders and assignments doing their jobs.

Ensuring proper completion of the orders and assignments is up to immediate superiors in the field. It should be up to Admiral Allen, or whoever is the Coast Guard commander in the Gulf, and his staff to make sure everything that can be done is being done. The Admiral takes the reports, or 60 page presentation, up the line.

Third, everything is a sound bite or not much more than that. Watching the news, national or local, and almost all political shows is like speed dating. We get just enough information to create an impression but not enough to be informed. There are so few meaningful interviews. For crying out loud, the 4th of July hot dog eating contest got far more coverage than the toxic trailers!

Some show hosts talk (read “rant”) for 2 minutes 45 seconds and allow there guest to speak or answer for 15 seconds. I don’t mind introductions to stories or to the guest. The introductions set the stage. But when the host does the introduction, asks a question but then continues to talk and rephrase the question over and over before the guest gets a word in, the point of the exercise has been defeated. Why not just get a quote and read it? That is all that seems to be wanted or desired by some hosts.

When we do actually get a “discussion” there is little depth or breadth. Why not have one or two days a week when there is a 15 minute segment devoted to a subject? Allow the expert guest to talk for a few of those minutes. Impart information, real, true information. What a concept! What I see is all too often a hit and run manner of interviewing.

The one true exception is Rachel Maddow. She is the one I rely on for real information and real interviews. Bless her! Countdown comes in second. Even though he often goes off on tangents, Keith Olbermann lets his guests actually respond to questions. The rest are talking (read “shouting”) heads that appear to not really need guests. I get the impression they just like to pound out their own thoughts and have people agree with them.

Fourth, hosts, pundits and the like, all scream that Obama and the Democrats need to make lots of noise about how the Republican block legislation, speak untruths and generally do despicable things. Maybe they are trying to make noise. It has to be remembered that if the media does not show it, how are the rest of us supposed to see it? I watched my local news, three different broadcasts on different stations, and did not see a mention of Barton’s apology to BP. That was a biggie to miss.

As I mentioned above, the guys stuffing hotdogs down their gullets trumped deadly, toxic trailers being sold to workers in the Gulf who were just trying to earn money to feed their families. I’d beat some of them don’t have an option since the Republicans decided they don’t need unemployment benefits. That’s a nice option – starve and live on the street or go live in trailers that will make you sick and may kill you.

The important stuff doesn’t rate a mention.

Finally, the opinions of the world are all about perception. In one form or another, just about all of these hosts, commentators and pundits have asked, “Is this Obama’s fault?” And, they ask it almost daily. Tell a lie often enough and it is taken as truth.

Aren’t there two other arms to the government that are either not doing their jobs or are busy giving the country to big business? Aren’t there government departments that were left so dysfunctional by 8 years under Bush Co. that it will take years more to get them into working order again? Is it just easier and more controversial to blame Obama than to go after those who are culpable? Is it just less work? Ah, got you there, didn’t I?

Contrary to what you may think, I’m not giving Obama a pass. I think there are a lot of things that could have been done better and things that should have been done that weren’t. However, I see what he has to work with and the relatively short amount of time he’s had to overcome enormous obstacles. Even before the election last November, President Obama said it was going to be a long, difficult road to travel. He wasn’t wrong.

Does the Bottom or the Middle Ever Listen to the Top? And, Who Cares?

2010-06-17T11:11:00.000-07:00

One of the interesting things about being unemployed is that one has time to watch during the day. Today, I stumbled across the Congressional hearing of BP CEO Tony Hayward on MSNBC.

First of all, Hayward has been amazingly even and calm throughout this whole two months since this still moving disaster started. If he wasn’t British I’d have to say he’s been on drugs. Don’t get me wrong, the man is an ass, as are much of the decision making crowd of the company. No different to the vast majority of the corporate world but still not excusable. He knew there were real and huge issues with the safety in BP for years. There is more that could have been done to monitor and rectify those issues, and in a much more timely manner.

Anyway, much of the discussion so far has been about the decisions that set off the chain of events that resulted in this murderous and horrifying event. Hayward has been asked about the supposed transformation (my word) in safety precautions and procedures that began when he came to power. Some answers have been side-stepping the questions. Other responses by Hayward have been that he was not part of the decision making process. (The latter is kind of understandable since they were to do with the on-the-ground drilling processes.)

The thought that popped into my head is to do with how much the bottom, or even the middle, of an organization listens to the top and implements any mandated changes. I have worked in companies and government departments ranging in size from a few dozen to tens of thousands of employees. All have suffered from an internal inertia that can boggle the mind.

As a small example, one office I worked in, which was part of a very large company but functioned as its own little kingdom, had a maximum of eighty people. The CEO frequently tried to change the culture in the office regarding the way managers applied employee policies. For instance, some managers would allow comp time for employees working long hours on projects while others refused to do the same.

In a much, much larger company, the policies were for all employees, but the application was pretty much left up to the subsidiaries, the management structure and even locations, right down to the supervisors of the very bottom level employees. There were no consequences for people breaking the rules. None. Promotions, pay increases and bonuses were handed out year after year without regard for what the transgressor did or did not do.

And, you know what the reason is? Well, the major reason. The bottom line. As long as the sale is made, the project is finished, the cost gets cut, no-one at the top really cares about the rest. There are other reasons, of course. The need to feel power over others, laziness, incompetence and plain stupidity are a few.

The main thing is that the top is worried about the bottom line, whether this is private sector or government. One is profit and stock price. The other is just plain limited budget.

BP, the other oil companies, Massey Energy (think coal), and God knows who else, have been getting away with safety infractions and cutting corners since the beginning of time. The top will pay lip service to safety even when people die and disasters happen. The middle ignores the lip service because they either don’t care or don’t have the luxury of time and manpower to care. The bottom is just too worried about their jobs.

And us, the rest of us? We don’t care as long as we have cheap gas for our cars, coal for our central heating, our iPods, 56 inch LCD TVs, beer and pizza. Even though we ourselves live in the same situations, we don’t really care that much about the other guy.

The media will move on to the next big thing as soon as it happens. The Upper Big Branch Mine disaster happened in April 2010. This year, just two weeks before Deepwater Horizon blew up. It killed 29 men and through many more out of work. Who is talking about it now? Who will care when fall is turning into winter and coal fired furnaces need coal to warm the house?

Hurricane Katrina happened when? August 2005. The miserable decrepitude of the levees and pumping stations caused untold misery and death apart from the destruction by the hurricane. What’s happening there now? Too few care because the only thing coming out of the gulf that might have impacted us all was seafood. The shrimp are a little more expensive for a season or two? Buy hamburgers.

Once the gusher is capped and the next big thing happens, who will care about the gulf? Only the people that live there. The rest of us will be worried about cheap gas for our cars, iPods, 56 inch LCD TVs, beer and pizza.

Oil Spills and Things That Take Time

2010-05-26T17:30:00.000-07:00

Through circumstances beyond my meager control, I find myself with the time to watch more of the daytime (at least on the west coast) political shows on MSNBC. Apart from them, I watch the news on TV and peruse several online news sites and blogs.

We live in a marvelous age of instantaneous everything, news, shopping, watching movies and TV, registering for this or enrolling in that. We turn on our computers, smart phones and iPads and there we are. It’s wonderful. It’s also deceptive. We have come to expect everything in live to be instantaneous. We want it today. We want it now. Wait, we want it yesterday.

Problem is that only part of life is instantaneous. Most isn’t. A lot of it takes weeks, months or years. If it can happen at all. While I am all antsy and anxious and impatient for the world to change, for life to be better, I know I have to wait. Grrr

Back to the point. I have been watching some of the political shows and one thing really stands out very quickly. The over the top impatience is front and center. The President should be here, the President should be there. He needs to be doing this and taking over that. The list is long and arduous. It includes, in no particular order, but is not restricted to:

- the oil spill in the Gulf
- the war in Iraq
- the war in Afghanistan
- Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
- illegal immigration
- the recession
- unemployment
- healthcare reform
- financial reform
- corruption in the MMS
- big oil
- big coal
- big banks
- terrorism/terrorists
- undoing 8 years of Bush

That’s a lot of pretty big stuff to deal with, but, wait, I’m not finished. There’s the constant sniping, second guessing, hissy-fitting coming from both sides of the aisle, the media (absolutely salivating over all the turmoil and sound bites) and the public in general.

Oh, God, now we have a new catch phrase to go along with the horribly over and misused “perfect storm”. “Top Kill” is the new thing to say. *groan*

One thing to remember here. The people of this country played a big part in some of the huge problems we are having right now. People not able to afford to buy homes deciding it was okay to go into unaffordable loans (yes, I know a lot of people were duped and defrauded and they don’t count), people deciding that they really do need their gas guzzling SUVs and Cadillacs to drive to work and back everyday, and the soul destroying greed that drove the financial institutions to do what they did. We all have to look at our own behavior and desire to use until nothing is left.

Why do we think that the troubles in our country and all over this world would be an overnight fix? Or even take a year or two to fix? A minor cut on a finger takes at least days to heal, even with antiseptics and bandages. The deep gash across this country is going to take very careful, long term tending to heal.

Filibuster Financial Reform?

2010-04-26T18:24:00.000-07:00

Who on God's polluted Earth would think filibustering financial reform is a good idea?

What happened to country first? What happened to that good old patriotic, flag waving boys and girls that were crying that they were on the side of the people?

Nothing. They're still busy opening their pockets for big banks and big businesses to stuff in as much money as possible while they mouth sympathies for the dwindling middle and growing lower classes.

Make the banks and finance do the right thing? Hell, no they won't! That would kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.

The Greatest Republican President

2010-03-31T20:32:00.000-07:00

will be Barack Obama. Ever.

Rachel Maddow said soemthing on her show tonight that really confirmed what I've been thinking for a couple of months. She said that Bill Clinton had been a great Republican president. It's kind of true. The thing is that it took him eight years to get there.

However, in a little more that 14 months, President Obama is looking to surpass that achievement.

- No consequences for the torturers and those that facilitated it
- No consequences for the banks, investment firms and the people that brought this country, and the world, to its knees
- No public option in healthcare
- A very watered down financial reform bill is being put together
- Climate change legislation being weakened
- Nuclear energy
- Off shore drilling

He's going to be a great president, a great Republican president. And, the poor and middle class of this country will continue to bleed and die slow, painful deaths. I'm really not seeing the change.

The Chruch

2010-03-28T21:32:00.000-07:00

The Pope said today that one should not be intimidated by petty gossip. Right.

How many hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of people have come forward to accuse Roman Catholic priests with varying types of molestation? How many priests have been sheltered, shielded and given the means to carry on as usual by a church that has been too concerned with its own self-importance.

I love the Cathloic religion. It is a truly beautiful thing. It's the people that have been running it pretty much since the beginning that have always been the issue. An overwhelming number of them have been so busy gathering and keep their power and trying to mould the world to their own narrow views that they seem to have forgotten in whose name they are supposed to serve.

Priests cannot marry, something implemented by the church to save money, women must be subservient in all respects and children can be abused to the extent desired by the local priest. Families must not practice contraception, resulting in utter poverty, illness and early death by so many. That's all as it should be according to "The Church". Everyone is supposed to suffer like Jesus Christ did. At least, that seems to be the thinking in the Church at all levels, right to the top.

Personally, I always thought Jesus wanted to alleviate suffering, feed the poor, comfort the grieving. That is what I believe and will always continue to believe. Jesus served the poor, moving amongst them and caring for their physical and spiritual wellbeing. He was forgiving and patient and kind. He told us never to harm a child, any child. He gave everything of himself for us.

No bitter old men too obsessed with their own power are ever going to convince me otherwise.

Headlines: Spines Found!

2010-03-25T20:49:00.000-07:00

Wow! The Democrats found their backbones. Not the best healthcare insurance reform legislation possible by a very long way, but it is a start. I hope they decide to keep them.

I also hope the Republicans stop having their hissy-fits and kindergarden playground temper tantrums and remember they have a real job to to. That job is to do everything they can t help this country and its people move forward. Oh, right, that means to progress. Can't have that.

Not the Healthcare Reform Debate, Well, Maybe a Little

2010-03-14T17:45:00.000-07:00

I was writing another post about the whole healthcare reform legislation thing, but decided I just can't write it now. I am so utterly and completely weary of being jerked around by so many of the politicians that having been fart-assing about that I am...tired of it. We have a lot of good pople trying to do good things. But, then we have those that just don't seem to care enough to do the right thing for the most people possible. They are too concerned with their own pumped up egos and their own jobs and the money they are getting and will be getting from big business. Screw everyone else.

It doesn't help that the President seems to get involved only when it's time to speechify. He's a moving and inspirational speaker, to be sure. But it takes more than that. Maybe he's doing it all behind the scenes. Sorry, I want to see it. I want it to be so in my face that the media will stop being so kind to the right wing nuts, liars and hatemongers that they will start talking about it. The media, all of it, are so busy pandering to the right that they forget to report any other opinion. Their noses are so brown, John Boehner is probably jealous.

Break some heads in public, Mr. President. When you say you are for something, be for it. Vocally and loudly. The sqeaky wheel and all. We need it, now and for the next 7.5 months.

Anyway, since I am not talking about the healthcare reform debacle, I want talk just a little about a movie I saw earlier today. I so love NetFlix. I've seen so many films I would have missed and all in the comfort of my own home.

This week my movie was Food, Inc. I'm well informed and knew a lot of what is in this film, but to see it all together was horrifying. It should be mandatory viewing for all high schoolers and parents. Let them see what they are shoveling down their throats and into their kids mouths day by day. And, quite happily, too! I know most wouldn't give a rat's ass, but if even one in a hundred changed their eating habits and what they demand at the store, it would be worthwhile.

When do we reach saturation point?

2010-02-27T21:05:00.000-08:00

Saw a new ad for Meg Whitman, the would be politician who wants to be queen of California (and maybe the U.S.), today. She now has former employees and friends expounding her virtues.

I am not exaggerating, but I believe I see or hear about 5 ads for her every day. EVERY DAY! These have been going on for a couple of months now. That means that by the November elections, I will have seen or heard her ads at least 1,500 times. Yes, seeing the woman that is buying the governership of one of the largest economies in the world is going to be in my face at least one thousand five hundred times before she takes receipt of her purchase. Oh, joy. Oh, bliss. Oh, puke.

Apparently, she is a penny pincher and trims to the bone. Watch out all you voters, and non-voters, who need help to survive in this world. A little more of that threadbare rug that you live on is going to disappear.

A footnote: This avalanche of advertising is but a preview of what we will see once the corporate big boys start buying airtime for their bought and paid for politicians and pet causes. I mean, don't we already see enough ads for drilling and mining everything possible? It's a "let's find and use it all right now, before it runs out" attitude. Screw the kids and grandkids. They won't need it, just like they won't need clean air to breathe or clean water to drink. And, oh, that means the companies behind this carpet bombong will get all the profits from it, too.

"The Summit"

2010-02-25T19:40:00.000-08:00

Or, in layman's terms, an exercise in futility.

Having to work and needing to interact with co-workers meant I was able to only listen to some of the Summit in Washington DC today. It's probably a good thing. The Republicans spent a good portion of the time spinning fairy tales and whining that we should start over again. Ad nauseum

What gets me more than the broken record of general mendacity is that the Republicans keep saying that all Americans are afraid of healthcare reform and WE want to start over again. Excuse me, but you do not speak for me. Nor, dare I say, do you speak for a goodly majority of Americans. At least not the ones you've been able to frighten half to death with your lies. So, stop including me in your statements.

On a slightly different note,Chris Matthews said something interesting in his analysis of the Summit. He said the Democrats might, and I'm paraphrasing, get up the courage to do their jobs and finish passing a bill.

So many of the Democrats have been given several opportunities to find their spines. The President has delivered a couple of powerful speeches and a massive put down of the Republicans on their own turf. What have the Democrats done? Squat. They wouldn't know what to do with a spine if they found one, much less grew it!

Sorry, now I'm generalizing. Anthony Weiner, Alan Greyson, and a couple precious others do not belong to the spineless masses. God, I wish we had more like them!

Revenge is Mine Saith the Republicans

2010-02-15T13:52:00.000-08:00

I look at the general state of things in Washington DC and am reminded of someone I worked with many years ago.

Let’s call him Max. It isn’t his real name, but it’ll do. Max held grudges like no-one else I’ve known, at least personally. He lived by a very particular code. If he didn’t like you or felt that you had slighted him in any way, large or small or non-existent, he did everything possible short of violence to get you.

It didn’t matter who might get caught in the crosshairs. Other people, the job, client work, the company, they were all considered expendable so that Max could get his revenge.

You could be working with this guy for years and have a decent, even friendly, business relationship. Then, one day, you might point out an error in his work. It was probably something minor, but needed to be corrected before going to the client. Didn’t matter. The perceived criticism was all it took.

Max would spend every spare moment, and some moments that should have been devoted to client work, to destroy you in the office. We were a small office, not more than a hundred people, so it was a fairly obvious and disturbing process.

The campaign would start off subtly, a hint here, a remark there. Max would criticize your work, belittle you personally while your back was turned and make unflattering comments to co-workers as you passed in the hallway. If satisfying results did not come fast enough, Max would escalate his campaign until the target quit, begged forgiveness (without really knowing what they’d done wrong) or were reassigned.

It didn’t matter to him who or what he damaged along the way. If the client was lost, no problem. If other staff left the company because of the toxic environment, who cares? The only thing that counted was that Max felt he achieved his goal of destroying his “enemy”.

This was allowed to go on for years before the local CEO had enough and asked him to leave. By then, we’d lost clients and good staff. The damage had truly been done.

To my point…I look at the scorched Earth politics being conducted by the Republicans in Washington DC and wonder when it will end. Does it need for the country to grind to a four year long standstill before they are happy? We are already pretty much there because the Democrats still can’t find the spine and will to do their jobs on their own. So, another three years of deepening debt, more unemployment, higher healthcare costs, poorer education, losing ground in technology, worsening pollution, and so on?

The Republicans are insulted because they lost the elections in 2008. They are angry that the people of this country said enough. They feel like their policies were criticized and thought of as failures. They want revenge. They want revenge at all costs.

Will they finally be happy when the United States becomes a third world nation?

The American People - Screwed Again

2010-01-24T12:37:00.000-08:00

And again, and again...

In no particular order:

Number One:
The Supreme Court decison to let corporations, any and all corporations, spend as much money as the want to buy politicians and elections. I wonder how many people realize that this can be Chinese, Saudi, Indian, German, Japanese, ANY COMPANY ANYWHERE WITH ANY AGENDA as well as U.S. companies?

Oil companies will be able to drill on your property. Hell, they'll be able to take you property! Coal companies will be able to strip mine you favorite vacation spot and dump waste into the rivers and lakes that provide your drinking water. They'll be able to build power stations in you neighborhood and NOT need to worry about pollution controls. Just imagine your kids having to wear gas masks to breathe.

Yum foods will be stocking your kids cafeterias with high sugar, high fat, artificially colored, flavored and preservative loaded snack foods. No worries! At least they'll be fat, happy and need treatment for diabetes, high cholesterol and obesity by the time they're fifteen.

That'll keep the healthcare companies doing booming business! As long as you fork over half of your paycheck every month to the insurance companies, you can get every medication under the sun.

The other half of you pay will go to banks and credit card companies. They'll be able to increase interest rates and tack on fees for everything from using an ATM card to sneezing. You'll need to use one credit card to pay another. You'll need to dig cans and bottles out of garbage cans to have any money for food.

It's all good, though! the Supreme Court is always right. Right?

Number Two:
The Democrats are doing their customary cowering, cringing and kowtowing to the Republicans. Despite months of polls showing that most Americans want healthcare reform, the Dems are now wanting to "think" about it a little longer. They want to slw down a process that has been fifty years and twleve months in the making. They want to "wait" and get it perfect before they act. They want to include the Republicans in the discussion.

Who are they supposed to be serving? The American people? The majority? The millions that gave millions in campaign donations and time and sweat and tears? Apparently not. Apparently they are serving the minority and the Republicans.

Number Three:
Chickens with no heads. The Democrats are in such a panic over the election in MA, that they have turned into deer caught in headlights. Again. They are frozen with fear and trembling. They are quivering in the corner, too afraid to move their collective asses. And this is over a very poorly run campaign that just about anyone would have lost. The Senate seat waas lost by Coakley, not won by Brown.

Learn from it and do better next time. Don't hide under the bed!

Number Four:
The Media. As usual, the story is not about the facts. It's about the fear and headlines and what can be made the most salacious and sensational. Hey, the media is big business! They need to earn profits, too. Everyone knows you can't make profits with the facts and truth.

Have you read any history?

God help us.

Oops, They've Done it Again!

2010-01-19T18:43:00.000-08:00

I'm really, really sad I wasn't able to get anyone to take my bet last November. It was a bet on how long it would take the Democrats to shoot themselves in both feet. Not one foot, two. I said one year after the inauguration, 365 days. I would have won, hands down.

I'm going to site only a couple of things and in no particular order:

The race to fill Ted Kennedy's Senate seat. It should have been a no-brainer. Well, the Democrats left their brains and any common sense they might own at home and have handed the seat to a very scary Republican. Was everyone on vacation? Did no-one notice what was happening?

On top of that, the blame game started before the polls closed, loudly and publicly. What are they thinking??? Oops, I forgot, brains and good sense left at home.

The health care reform bill - where does one start? For the first time in, oh, many years, the Democrats had the golden triangle - White House, super majority in the Senate and a huge majority in the House. One might think they'd get something done that would do the people of this country some good, right? Nope. Screw the people out here that are getting sicker, getting more broke, getting dead. They bickered and whined and played "mine is bigger than everyone else's" games, frittering away the opportunity to DO SOMETHING. Brains and sense no-where in sight.
The Democrats stand by and let attack after attack by the GOP go by without response, or coherent reponse. They try to shut down anyone in their party that is willing and able to stand up for the truth and say it.
Finance reform - not happening yet and probably never will. And, the news that Dodd wants to dismantle the CPA is downright scary.
Mortgage relief - Let's give a whole bunch of money to big banks and not ask for any accounting. I don't care if TARP was put in by Bush or not. Change the rules or get the money back or shut them down. Make sure the banks do what they were supposed to do with the money, not pay huge bounses or buy other banks.

Should I add their souls are MIA, too?

Pollution - stop calling it global warming if you don't think people believe it. The big businesses on the right are going to campaign like crazy the global warming isn't real. Instead, call it POLLUTION. It's pollution that makes the children sick. It's pollution that contaminates drinking water. It's pollution that makes the air so thick and toxic that we cough and wheeze and have "Spare the Air" days that force the old and kids with asthma stay indoors. It's pollution that makes our food crops inedible. It's pollution that gives fish mercury levels so hight that eating it will sicken us and our kids.

The Democrats don't seem to be able to find their way out of a wet paper bag with a map, GPS and a box cutter. They just don't seem to know what to do when they have the power to do something. They don't seem to be able to remember that they've done this before. Oops...

Bloody idiots.

Lies and the Media That Repeat Them Just Because They Sound Good

2010-01-08T18:56:00.000-08:00

I am watching Countdown on MSNBC and one of the first stories tonight was about the flat out LIE about 9/11 Rudy Giuliani decided to tell in his interview with George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America. Good old George, who seems to be more about promoting himself and earning big bucks, let the lie slide. He did nothing to question it until the hue and cry went up on the internets and other places. We got a "my bad", which is, actually, more than we normally get when the talking heads allow or even repeat the lies their (paying) guests tell during so-called interviews.

Eric Burns from Media Matters was a guest on Countdown and he said said the interviewers (I really can't call most of them journalists, since their ambition for fame and fortune made them the whores of the airwaves long ago) had a responsibilty to be nice to the guests and get to the truth.

Even though he did say there was a need to get to the truth, it wasn't the emphasis.

I believe the media and journalists, reporters, editors, producers primary responisbility is the TRUTH in bold capital letters. Responsible reporting, including fact checking, is second. A distant third is to be civil, not nice, to the guest or interviewed party. If the person(s) being interviewed is willing to tell lies, especially knowingly, they do not deserve niceness in any way. This telling of lies, especially on national TV, is reprehensible and does a huge diservice to the country and the American people.

The media's willingness to repeat the lies and replicate them without challenging them across programs and networks is telling lies. It is not reporting the facts. It is not journalism. It is lying. Period. I hope there is a special place in hell for you.

You may get the titillating controversary that will bring in viewers or sell papers when you spread the lies, but the interviewer who stands up and challenges the liar would earn a huge spotlight for doing so. I'm sure your next paycheck will help you sleep and make you happy, but- try to think about it.

Rush Loves Health Care in the USA!

2010-01-02T14:40:00.000-08:00

Well, isn’t it good news? Rush Limbaugh has declared the USA has the best health care in the world and nothing about it should be changed. He should know.

Mr. Limbaugh was recently rushed to the hospital with chest pains that were just like a heart attack. After a battery of tests, the doctors declared that it wasn’t a heart attack. As a matter of fact, they couldn’t find the cause. He should be pleased. He didn’t have a heart attack or any other life threatening condition. Health care in the USA triumphs!

Isn’t it amazing what $33,000,000 a year in pay can buy? Please note that I am quoting the lower end of his annual earnings estimates I’ve been able to find. One was as high as $50M.

For $33M per year, Mr. Limbaugh can buy the best care in the world many times over. He can get the best doctors, emergency transportation, hospitals without thought or care about how he might pay for it. I don’t know if he has insurance. Maybe he does. Even if it’s a high deductible insurance, I’m sure the premiums are not too burdensome for him.

Even with half, or quarter, that amount in income, Mr. Limbaugh would have more than enough to cover any healthcare costs he might have.

Were we all in such circumstances, we would have no need for reform either. If we all had insurance or could afford the premiums or have access to first class care, we would none of us need reform. If only.

I wonder when Mr. Limbaugh last had to worry about whether to pay for a doctor or pay the rent. I wonder when Mr. Limbaugh last needed to decide if he could afford to buy his cholesterol medication or antibiotics or whatever prescription he might be taking instead of food. I wonder when Mr. Limbaugh last had to choose between vaccinating his children against deadly childhood diseases or putting gas in the car so that he could get to work every day. I wonder if Mr. Limbaugh has ever had to make these choices.

If these were choices that didn’t need to be made by millions of people daily in this country, we wouldn’t need healthcare reform. But people need to make the choices. People get sicker and die every day across this nation because they have to make those choices. They need healthcare reform, no matter what Mr. Limbaugh thinks.

The Democrats do it again

2009-12-16T19:04:00.000-08:00

I'm so not surprised. Sad. Not surprised.

The Democrats found themselves in once in a lifetime situation this year - President, majority in the Senate, majority in the House. The GOP are in disarray. OMG! They could really get to work cleaning up the unholy mess that is our country and then actually do something that would improve the lives of tens of millions of their fellow citizens, even saving tens of thousands each and every year.

What do they do instead?

Implode. Again.

The quibbling, quivering, clueless as to how to act when they can actually act behaviors appeared almost immediately after they took office. it didn't even have to wait until year two. These fine folks can't seem to find a spine and walk upright with it.

They're giving it all away as fast as the lobbyists can voice demands. They're caving in on any and every demand from the banks and big business that will strip the rights and pick the meager pockets of average citizens with amazing alacrity. They money they're getting paid now and will get after leaving office will apparently help them sleep at night. Individuals are using this rare opportunity to puff themselves up and play king or queen because they think its fun. Screw their constituents. Screw the country.

Wow.

Mirriam-Webster is going to have to include little hand drawn pictures of the Democratic Party ass along side definitions of inept, selfish, clueless, incompetent, useless, oh, you get it. I mean the ass of the ass, not the front end.

And then we have a president who seems to be taking a hands off approach to the point that risks all. I know there's a lot to do, but give us a sign that you're in charge when it comes to us and our futures. Please! Help! We're out here and we're dying. Literally.

A Fine Christian Nation

2009-12-08T19:41:00.000-08:00

I’ve been watching a bit of the healthcare reform debate and have been struck by something that is mind bogglingly contradictory.

It appears to me that those is Congress, Senate and House, that call themselves good, upstanding and moral Christians are the very people shouting down healthcare reform with the loudest voices. They cry “government death squads”, “big brother will take over”, “early death to the elderly” and many other such things, each new slogan and rant more virulent and wild than the last. These are people that preach Christian values and Christian morals.

Odd.

Does a Christian stand idly by and watch their child sicken or die for lack of antibiotics?

Does a Christian stand idly by and watch their mother die of cancer because she can’t get chemotherapy?

Does a Christian stand idly by and watch their brother die of injuries because he can’t afford to go to the emergency room?

Apparently in this country, the United States of America, that’s precisely what a Christian does. The new definition of Christian is that one has no obligation to child, to mother, to father, to brother, to sister, to cousin.
The Christian sees the injured man on the side of the rode and passes by.

This is a fine Christian nation.

One can easily tell another way. Just look at the fine Christians in Congress and in pulpits that are actively supporting a new bill that will make being gay punishable by death. It’s okay that this bill is in another nation. That’s the right way to do it. Export the hate and fear, then import it as an established way to practice their Christianity.

Such a fine Christian thing from such a fine Christian nation.

Jesus would be proud.

Just How Many Dead Bodies are Enough?

2009-11-22T17:41:00.000-08:00

I want to know if the Republicans, Conservadems and their good buddy Liebermann are getting paid money to block healthcare reform. And, if they are getting paid, just how much?

It has to be a lot of money to be happy (for the Republicans it's a matter of positively relish) to let tens of thousands of Americans die every year from lack of healthcare. It has to be a lot to be happy to let tens of millions to go through life without healthcare insurance coverage and basic access to healthcare year after year. It has to be a whole lot.

We know with certainty that the insurance and pharmaceutical companies can afford the money. We can see the large number of ads on TV that run in commercial break and commercial break. We can see the lobbyists that daily whine and wheedle in the halls of the U.S. Congress and capital buildings in states across the country. We’ve seen how they pay so called non-profits to bus “protesters” in from who knows where to badger and threaten anyone that wants reform.

It has to be a whole lot of money. Either that or so many of our elected officials are flat out mean-spirited. They don’t care that children, American children, are dying daily. They don’t care that families are going bankrupt, losing everything, in order to pay for the doctors and hospitals and medicines needed to save themselves or their children.

Or, their just thick as two bricks.

I kind of think I would go for the money as the likely reason, but the other two a probably part of it.

Healthcare and the Land of Fear

2009-11-13T23:50:00.000-08:00

Healthcare Insurance Reform, still waiting for it

I’ve been watching the whole circus that is our style of government in the hopes that more than the handful of courageous Senators and Representatives would stand up for the millions of people without healthcare insurance. I’m talking about the Democrats here. The Republicans lost their binky last year and have been throwing a big hissy fit ever since.

I’ve been hoping that there would be a collective enlightenment and they would see the illness and misery. I’ve been hoping they would put aside their own petty agendas and do the right thing by the masses.

Yeah, right. I know. I like to daydream and imagine the impossible.

Instead of taking pity on the tens of thousands that will die this year, there are certain of our elected officials that would rather puff up their own value, hold those tens of thousands, and the millions not able to afford healthcare, hostage. It doesn’t seem to matter that people are getting sicker, going bankrupt, even dying, while they wait for healthcare insurance reform. It’s more important for the politicians to get their way than help their fellow citizens.

I just hope they one day fully understand and FEEL what they have done. To me, it is stepping past the line of negligent homicide, if not premeditated murder. They know full well what they are doing, but they blithely go about the business of abusing their power.

Home of the Craven Cowards, Land of the Faint of Heart

It’s interesting, isn’t it, that the Party of No (Republican), are quaking in their boots at the thought of trying accused terrorists in New York? It’s fine to send our courageous young men and women to war in a far away, hostile country to fight. That’s fine. Talk big and brave and shout their own patriotism to every news camera in sight, but bring less than a handful of men under heavy guard to the U.S. and they wet their pants in fear.

The Republicans seem to be fearful about everything these days.

They’re scared of standing up to big business that is bleeding the country dry. Oh, wait, that’s were so much of their money comes from so they don’t dare touch it. If that pipeline closed up, they’d have to do fundraising with the constituents. That would mean having to prove they’re actually doing something to help those constituents. Eek!

They’re frightened of gays having the right to marriage. Me thinks they doth protest too much. I get the impression some of the homophobes may be actually be homo! Otherwise it must be that they’re filled with so much self doubt and loathing that they just hate everyone that doesn’t fit into their own narrow profile.

Just as an aside, the Bible was written by humans, people, men in particular, most often long after the events they were writing about were gone. The texts have been revised to fit the whim of whoever was in power. Just go count the versions on the shelf now? I bet I could find 100 different version without breaking a sweat. Which one is correct? Prove it!

Now, the members of the GOP (Grand Old Party just doesn’t seem to fit these days, does it?) are too frightened to bring three men to trial here in this country. Why? What do they fear? Is it that these men are accused of terrorism? Is it that the trial will reveal in stark detail the torture committed by this country? Or is it that the Republicans have fear-mongered so consistently and so loudly for so long that they’ve become infected themselves?

You Can Die so I Can Have a Mercedes

2009-10-28T20:22:00.001-07:00

I’ve been watching the health care insurance reform circus going on in this country. I call it a circus because there just isn’t another word to describe it. And, the ringmaster is pretty much absent.

Why are we willing to spend millions to rescue a single American held hostage by pirates on the high seas, but we aren’t willing to save so many Americans here at home? Why aren’t we willing to try to make this work?

I wonder what these good senators and representatives are really thinking as they stand up and declare that they just can’t support a public option (a strong one) or reform at all. Is the money from the insurance companies so important? Is the job so important?

Is it more important than:
- the millions that do not have insurance?
- families that can’t afford a $50 antibiotic for a sick child until they are so ill that the only recourse for them is to go to an emergency room and spend thousands?
- a woman with breast cancer that is told her policy has been cancelled because she had allergies as a child or, heaven forbid, an abusive spouse broke her arm?
- A family forced into bankruptcy because the insurance decides treatment that has been accepted as standard for years is determined by their insurance company to be experimental?
- a small business owner has to discontinue health coverage for their employees because the cost of premiums over the last few years has quadrupled and eaten all profits?
- people are dying by the tens of thousands every year in this country because they just can’t afford or even get coverage?

Is any of that acceptable?

Is it acceptable to give the insurance companies and their shareholders more and more and more of this country’s wealth every year while telling millions we can’t afford for them to see a doctor? Isn’t it more cost effective to treat when it will cost only $100 instead of waiting until it will cost $3,000?

Is it acceptable that an American child, or any child, should be told that they need to die so that someone can have a Mercedes or a fat bonus? Apparently in this America, it is.

And now for something completely different…

There is an ad, actually two, about the proposed tax on juice drinks and soft drinks. This very severe looking woman is complaining about this tax on juice drinks (not juices) and soft drinks (you know, Pepsi, Coke, Dr. Pepper, etc.). She says that families are already having difficulties in the current economy, so the government shouldn’t be adding more taxes on such things.

Now, I might be wrong, but if people are having difficulties in this economy, why the hell is anyone buying any kind of drinks that are loaded with high fructose corn syrup, sugar, various artificial flavorings, colorings and preservatives? Give your family something real, like water, real juice or milk? What are they thinking other than hoping to make their families obese and/or diabetic?

Don’t they realize that they won’t be able to afford healthcare soon? It could quite possibly be that the consumption of juice drinks and sodas will be one of the new pre-existing conditions that will be used to deny healthcare coverage in the next couple of years. The questionnaire will include detailed questions about what you eat and drink and feed your kids. The big health insurance companies will file the information away and use it to deny coverage once you present with high blood sugar levels or your fat kids tip the scales at the 115 percentile.

Oops, too bad you didn’t want a public option. Too bad you shouted down health care reform. So sad.

Failure

2009-10-04T21:20:00.000-07:00

Gotta love it. The Bush Administration had eight long years to totally trash this country, and the dismantling of regulations for the finance industries. But, it seems the Obama Administraion is a failure because it couldn't clean it all up and make everything wonderful again in nine months.

Small analogy. How long does it take to stop a mile long, fully loaded freight train going fifty miles an hour? Not fifty feet, I can gaurantee you. More like fifteen hundred. And, it's very, very tricky if you're going down hill.

Well, folks, we've been riding a fully loaded mile long freight train, going fifty miles an hour on a downhill slope. It takes a bit longer than nine months to stop this train. We can only back it up once it's stopped. We have to be patient. I know that's hard, even crushing for many. I'm frightened of losing my job every single day. But, unless we do it right, we're in even more danger of getting completely out of control and losing it all.

Why are so many so willing to listen to and believe the people screaming failure at the top of their voices and lie about what is really needed to be done? Why are so many people so willing to believe the people who got us into this mess to begin with?

Obama said in the beginning that this was going to take time - years - it was going to be painful - very. We nodded and said, "we know." How soon we forget. How impatient we are. it's like this country has turned into a mob of two year olds, all wanting everything right now.

There were no maps or instructions for how to get out of this easily and quickly. We have to be Americans, we have to remember we are the "Can Do" nation. Have we lost that ability? Have we lost that determination? Have we lost that courage? I hope not.

We're dying out here, or don't you give a rat's ass?

2009-10-01T19:09:00.000-07:00

I've been avoiding coming in here the last couple of weeks. It's for a good reason. I want to try to avoid swearing, even on my blog. I can swear like a sailor and it isn't for public consumption.

Anyway, I will try to refrain from the profanity. WTF is going on with the Democrats? Have they been beaten so often that they're like a dog that cowers in the corner even when the hand of a new, kind, gentle owner reaches out to feed or pet them? Have they decided that they want to share in the riches that can be had if they bend to the wishes of big business? Have they lost any shred of self respect? Have they just stopped caring about the people of this country? WHAT? Somebody, please tell me?

Folks, we're being sold into slavery. The financial industry got their bailout and are already back to bad business with nary a new regulation in site. Billions upon billions of more dollars are disappearing into deep, dark pockets and will never be seen again.

The big polluters are pouring so much money into lobbying, and the deep, dark pockets of their lackeys in Congress that it's unlikely any meaningful changes will be made. Hell, why pay now for something you can put off onto your children and grandchildren? Who cares if they won't be able to breath and that there won't be enough water to grow sufficient food for the still exploding population? As long as they can live like kings now, they're not going to worry about the next generation. They can buy clean water and fly to the little corners of the Earth that still have breathable air. They think. I wonder how much big bubbles and air scrubbers cost? And, a lot of those nice tropical paradises will be underwater. Literally.

The healthcare insurance companies have so many politicians in their pockets that even more of our wages will be sent their way. They've ordered the supersize abacuses to tally up the profits. But wait! With 47,000 plus people dying every year because of lack of health insurance, there are fewer people to provide profits. But wait! There is talk of a mandate that will mean everyone, except the slice of the population that are too poor to buy even food, will be forced to get insurance or face a big fine. And, the premiums are going to be huge. I wonder how much of that will be profits for the insurance companies? What public option? The public have the option of paying premiums or fines. Makes money for the insurance companies either way. That's healthcare reform!

The biggest corporations are gobbling up small companies and each other. Soon there will be little to no competiton, which means they can charge what they want. On top of that, the competiton sometimes agree to inflate prices in order to make even more profit.

We will be a country of the super rich and the poor. In between will be a small layer of the merely rich, trying like crazy to not be like the middle class that is no more. The rest of us will be working six and a half days a week, living in rentals and eating McDonalds morning, noon and night.

Until the Democrats stop being cowards and do what they were elected to do, I fear for our future. The one bright light is Representative Alan Grayson, a freshman in the House, who stood up and sais enough is enough! Out of the mouths of babes.

Birthers

2009-09-17T18:32:00.000-07:00

Considering the escalating rhetoric, vicious and something that will incite deadly violence, I should comment on the insanity that seems to be gripping a portion of our society. I just hope that portion is very, very small. If not, this will become massively ugly. I cannot understand the people that should know better who seem to be actively pursuing this violence.

Anyway, to the "birthers". I wonder if the teabag toting folk who either believe President Obama was not born in Hawaii or that Hawaii was or is not a state in the union realize that their elected officials in Congress are really letting them down. Has anyone been asking their brethren in Washington if legislation has been introduce to remove Obama from office?

I mean, if Obama isn't legally eligible to serve at President, why haven't the Senators or Representatives tried to actually remove him or have him arrested or something? Why are they not shouting from the roof tops that there is a faker, a usurper, a charlatan in the White House? Why are they silent? If they really, truly believe that Obama isn't really, truly President, why are they not DOING SOMETHING??? Did I miss it in the news?

If they aren't doing anything to correct this mistake, you all should be asking your elected representatives in Congress WHY THE HELL NOT??? Get out there, demand they do something. You elected them, you pay their salaries, you pay for their premium healthcare, you pay for their travel. They work for you. Demand it. Then you'll know what they really believe.

Democrats and the Great Hunt for a Spine

2009-09-11T21:03:00.000-07:00

Due to being out of town and no TV to watch the Presidnet's address to Congress on Wednesday, I haven't watched the address. I will hunt it down and watch it this weekend.

However, the main point of this, as you may have guessed from the subject line, is the Democrats search for a spine. Cave, cower, cringe in fear and general lack of intestinal fortitude is still the main trait exhibited by the left side of the center line. Centrists, moderates and progressives alike, they have no idea what to do with a little power.

Case in point, Rep. Joe Wilson shouts "You lie" in the middle of the President's address and guess what. He insults the office of the President as well as the President himself, and he's rewarded with a change in the health care insurance reform legislation that seems to demand that any health care provider may need to demand proof of eligibility for coverage before actually caring for the patient.

Does that mean natual born citizens as well as immigrants that have been naturalized as well as those just carrying green cards? What about students here on legal student visas? Or, children that were born in this country of illegal immigrants. Aren't the children citizens? They were born here, right? Do they need to have a passport or other kind of proof on them if they fall ill or break and arm? Should we all be carrying our passports with us at all times? What if one is unconscious? What if there was a car crash? Do the paramedics need to search for your wallet or handbag before they transport you to the hospital for live saving CPR?

Sorry, I digress. It seems that every time the Republicans demand a change, or even a resignation, the Democrats jump.

Is it out of fear? If so, get over it! Is it in hopes that giving a spoiled brat what it asks for will make it shut up and play nice? Get over it. They won't. They'll just keep demanding more and holding the country to ransom without ever intending to even come to the party.

What happens to doctors that treat first and ask questions later? Do they get hauled of to jail? Are they forced into bankruptcy because they cannot get reimbursed? Are they fined as well?

God help us. We have crazies on the right and snivelling whimps on the left.

Stop waiting for something that will never happen. There is more than politics involved here. There is deep, unmovable hatred that cannot be changed or even softened.

For all our collective sakes, before we descend into a nation of the ultra-rich and ultra-poor with no-one in between, DO WHAT'S RIGHT! DO YOUR JOB!

Let's Play Scare the Old Folk! Or, healthcare insurance reform in our times.

2009-08-13T21:16:00.000-07:00

I am not at all surprised that people are willing to scare the old and infirm amongst us in order to gain, or keep, power and money. Isn't is sad to say that? Shouldn't I be surprised? Shouldn't I be shocked? Yes. This should be something so abnormal, so rare, that it would blindside me. It doesn't. Not in the slightest.

What have we come to that people in power and have enough money to be wealthy beyond what most Americans could even dream to make in a lifetime, deem it necessary to instill a deep, nightmarish fear into the citizens that are amongst our most vulnerable and frail? What are we as a nation, that so many think it's their right, that it is even fun?

To tell people the reform that would actually make their lives easier, give them better access to care, and not mean certain bankruptcy, that the government wants to take awwy healthcare or even kill them is obscene. To make up horror stories and fabricate wild scenarios about what reform would do is unconscionable.

Too many of our country's elderly are already living in poverty or very close to it. They survive on social security and maybe, if lucky, a retirement benefit after a lifetime's hard work. Increases are minimal while costs of living soar. They get healthcare now through Medicare, which doesn't pay everything. So, when the cost of going to the doctor or buying prescriptions, goes up, they have to find that money from somewhere in a budget that grows much slower than the cost of living.

I'm not even talking about the undereducated, the working poor and the younger disabled. Then there are the self employed or small business owners.

To use the subject of healthcare as weapon is so low, so cowardly, and quite possibly murderous.

The people behind it seem to fall into five categories -

1 Those that want power. These are mostly the politicians and their puppetmasters.

2 Those that want money. These are the insurance moguls and the politicians in their pockets.

3 Those that just want to make trouble. There are always people who will join a fight and hope for blood. They don't care who gets hurt or even what the fight is about. They just want to destroy something. It makes them feel powerful in the very small sense of bullying.

4 Those that hate. Let's face it. We have a black president. This nation is still full of racism. Some of the hate is fueled by fear of change, fear of moving forward, fear of having to admit to lifetimes of being wrong about those that are different.

5 Those that fit two or more of the definitions above.

These groups of people are involved in our lives in one way or another. It's just in this instance, in this "debate" they are targeting a defenseless population. And, they don't care what damage they do as long as they get what they want. They don't care that these elderly could be their own mothers or fathers or grandparents. They just don't care.

The lust for power, the greed and the hate are so strong, any compassion and sense of what is good and right disappears. It no longer exists. How can it? Those feelings are mirrors that show the soul.

I am deeply, deeply saddened, but I'm not surprised.

Health Care Insurance Reform? NEVER! they cry

2009-08-01T21:11:00.001-07:00

The hamsters are in their wheels, running as fast as they can. Fast enough to make smoke. Lots of it. Enough to cloud the issue and divert attention. People are beginning to look for a fire that really isn’t there, at least not the fire the hamsters want to lead us to believe is there.

Okay, that’s a little far-fetched for a metaphor, but I think the imagery is good.

The Republicans are churning out so many stories and flat out lies about the Obama administration’s health care insurance reform proposals that many people are beginning to think there is something to at least some of it.

A big one is that the reforms will cost too much money. Excuse me? What are we paying now? What is that coming out of our paychecks every week? How much has yours gone up over the last ten years? How much will it be next year?

I know my premium, for the same plan, is tripling. The deductible is increasing by half, as well. I don’t know about the rest of the out of pocket costs of the plan yet, but I dread seeing it. The company I work for is trying hard to keep the costs down for the employees, but the increase in costs for them is a huge burden, too. It’s worse every year.

In the middle are the providers, doctors, clinics, hospitals. They are constantly negotiating with insurance companies for the amount they actually will get paid for services. If you can understand the incomprehensible “Explanation of Benefit” you get form the insurance company, you’ll see your doctor gets precious little out of the deal. From that, they have to pay office staff, rent, ongoing education, association fees, buy equipment and materials, and get liability insurance. The expenses don’t leave much for their own pockets. It isn’t a wonder so few doctors are going into general practice and more are not dealing with insurance companies at all. They can’t afford it.

A couple of years ago, I seriously considered starting my own business. I have something I’d love to do and has a decent possibility of being profitable, except for one big thing. I cannot afford to buy my own health coverage. It would eat up probably 70% to 80% of my income. Going into debt just to have health insurance is not something I’m willing to do right now.

To be honest, I wouldn’t be able to get my own coverage. I tried once, years ago, when I was between jobs. Three companies turned me down flat. I think they were laughing, too. Anyone else have that experience?

I work with people that have to work in order to have health care insurance. They worked hard for many, many years and wanted to retire early. They haven’t wanted to go out too early, 60 or 62, to travel or enjoy the grandkids for a while. Nope. Sorry. Too young for Medicare and buying their own insurance wasn’t possible. A little arthritis goes a long way to getting you denied coverage. The premiums have gone up so much in recent years that they had to stay or return to work.

I know small business owners that can’t afford coverage for themselves or their employees. They live on the brink year after year. Some have had to close up shop and find a job with insurance.

We’ve all heard these kinds of stories or know someone who has experienced them, even ourselves.

The thing is, the problem will NOT go away if we try to ignore it if we go with the status quo. It’s only going to get worse. I should think it will be an exponential thing. We will all be working for the insurance companies.

Remember that old song “Sixteen Tons”? If not, it goes, “Sixteen tons and what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt.” It’s a song about coal miners, working for the mine, living in mine owned shacks and buying groceries and goods at mine owned stores. Just a hair above slavery. That will be us in the foreseeable future. If not us, then our children. Nice legacy to leave them. Glad I don’t have kids.

Now there are claims that the reform will lead to the elderly could be forced to die early, or commit suicide. Oh, pul-eeze! If you believe that, you really need to change the channel occasionally. This is 2009 and there are more than four channels on that TV.

Please don’t try to tell me that the insurance companies are our friends. Profits are huge despite the fact that they spend a very large amount of money on self promotion and politicians. Oh, you think those GOPers and Blue Dog Democrats crying that we shouldn’t rush reform or even have any reform at all don’t have a lot of insurance company money in their coffers? Like I said before, change the channel occasionally.

Some are saying we have to slow down. SLOW DOWN?!! People have been studying it, talking about it, planning it, making proposals, debating about and slowing down since Truman! That’s World War II, folks. If we don’t have health care insurance reform soon, only the rich will have coverage. There rest of us will just have to remember the days when we might have changed the status quo and weep.

Thoughts of Cronkite

2009-07-19T20:49:00.000-07:00

I grew up watching Walter Cronkite on the news. He was trusted in our house like he was in millions of others. His sad passing highlights the long ago passing of responsible and unbiased broadcast news, as well as print news.

It prompted me this evening to put my DVD of "good night and good luck" into the machine and watch it. Anyone who has not seen this film, should, and soon. It starts with the first few lines of his speech at the RTNDA Convention in 1958. The speech can be found here - http://www.turnoffyourtv.com/commentary/hiddenagenda/murrow.html

The movie itself is relevant to politics and so called journalism today. Murrow, Friendly and their team took on McCarthy, the Air Force and, by extension, the U.S. Government. They stood up for a principle when it would had been much easier to go with the flow, look away and ignore what was happening. They risked their livelihoods and futures.

From what I remember and what his contemporaries and those who came after say, Walter Cronkite reported with an even hand and with great integrity.

Was this the passing of an age? I regret that I believe so. One only need look at the stories that are reported first and the biggest headlines these days. Michael Jackson's death pushed the turmoil in Iran completely off the front page. The plight of his children are the headlines over health care in this country. A sensational celebrity antic is more important than American service men and women in harm's way in Iraq and Afghanistan. Headline grabber at all costs, Sarah Palin, decides to quit part way through her term takes more, much more, time and space than ANYTHING else.

Yes, yellow journalism has always existed. The very sad thing is that yellow journalism is the mainstream now, and can be found in the one time standard bearers of print and broadcast news. And, one doesn't need to look inside or at minute 23. It is front page and story number one. Even sadder is that the populace in general seem to love it, even prefer it. What hope have we?

The Attention Span of a Nation

2009-07-06T17:15:00.000-07:00

Apparently it's about 15 minutes. Just two weeks ago, we were enthralled with the attempts of the people of Iran to hold a democratic election and then demand that the votes be counted with honesty and the true results to stand. We cheered the protesters in their brave efforts and willingness to put themselves in harms way for their country.

Last week, thousands of U.S. Marines went on the offensive against the Taliban in Afghanistan. We waited in hope that no more of our young servicemen would be lost.

Farrah Fawcett, after a courageous battle with cancer passed away. The so-called journalists that grace our televisions nightly, and daily, on 20-20, Dateline, the Today Show, and all the others, clamoured to put out their video obituaries and interview the family, friends, doctors, maids, and anyone who claimed to have an association with Ms. Fawcett for their respective shows. All so tastefully done. NOT!

But before that day was out, Michael Jackson died. Suddenly, we forgot the Iranian protesters and the election. We forgot the U.S. Marines putting their lives on the line half a world away. We forgot the economy and the misery of hundreds of thousands more people losing their jobs.

Hours and hours and hours and hours of coverage. One news organization after another reporting "sources" saying Jackson was dead. Truth be told, it looked to me that TMZ broke the news, but all the other services were just reporting off that. And, we all know, if one says "sources', even if if it is only ABC, CBS, NBC, AP, and all the others are just quoting each other, it's being truthful. Why bother confirming if you can get away with pointing the finger at someone else's bad reporting?

After that, it went downhill, and fast. It actually hit bottom in the first hour. I won't go into details. If you didn't see it, you're lucky. I have ended up putting in DVDs to avoid the all channel, all day, all night coverage. I can watch the same clips, same interviews, same simpering sycophants only once before I feel nauseous. No rumor has been too salacious. No talking head too over-exposed or insincere. No hanger-on, or hanger-on wanna-be, too low or improbable to put on camera. Just add the disclaimers "sources say" or "unconfirmed" and we're good to go.

The feeding frenzy was, and still is, utterly base and nauseating. Cover it, yes. Michael Jackson was a truly amazing man. He was talented and influenced more than one generation. He will be missed and should be mourned. What is going on, however, is making a mockery of his sad passing. It is not mourning. It is not paying respect to a giant of the music industry. It is gross in the extreme. It is digging through trash and fighting over what is in the bottom of the can.

It is sad for our nation.

BTW, Sarah Palin resigned because she was pissed at being out of the spotlight. Hey, now she's there again. She's used up her 15 minutes way too may times. I hope this is the last.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell & Marriage

2009-06-23T18:54:00.000-07:00

Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenback was just on Rachel Maddow's show. He, and Lt. Dan Choi, are two powerful examples (amongst many others) of the kind of men and women this country needs in its military. The idea that anyone even close to the caliber of these men is dismissed as not good enough or too great a risk just because they are gay is ludicrous at best.

Equality is equality. Not equality but separate. Just plain equality. Equality in service and equality in marriage.

I just hope President Obama is being crazy like a fox. If he pushes dumping DADT or DOMA, what would the reaction be? One can imagine wailing and gnashing of teeth. But if he does as he has been, keeping a "let's put this on a slightly lower heat" kind of attitude, what happens? One can see the latter happening now. People are coming from both sides of the aisle, even in the military, saying that gay men and women are valuable, do not disrupt their units, serve with distinction and should be allowed to remain in the military and be honest about who they are.

There is also more open discussion of gay marriage. The courageous states that have passed legislation allowing gay marriage are finding that the sky is still there, God hasn't struck them with lightning and the children aren't suddenly turning gay en masse. People in general are seeing that it's not going to destroy traditional marriage after all.

Is the President waiting for the public to have a change in mindset before wading in? Does he want it to be the public's idea before he gives it a gentle nudge in the right (or liberal) direction? Is he a fox on pacifist clothing? I hope so.

It's all about us and our opposition to Obama!

2009-06-18T20:27:00.000-07:00

The current strategy of the GOP seems to be to oppose anything and everything President Obama is trying to do. Block as much as possible, moan that they are being left out, score as many political points as they can. That's what it's all about. Doesn't matter what. Doesn't matter who else is involved, whether their own country or another. It's bad enough to pull the antics they do here, against Americans.

Republicans seem to be blind so thoroughly by their hatred that they are willing to destroy the movement developing in Iran so that they can accuse Obama of not doing enough to condemn the massively flawed election. The Republicans want to rattle the sabres so loudly they might easily cause a backlash against the Iranian opposition that would result in the movement being put down in a violent and lethal manner. Our brave lawmakers only want to be seen to be "standing up" for the cause. They want to stick out their chests and thump away wildly, proclaiming their support of a people yearning for freedom and democracy.

It doesn't matter, though, if the opposition movement ultimately fails. It doesn't matter that the posturing and bellowing actually pushes the Supreme Leader in Iran to declare Ahmadinejad the winner because of the interference of the Americans.

Actually, the Republicans would probably be wildly happy if the opposition movement fails. They could then blame President Obama for not speaking out more strongly and rattling the ol' sabre as well.

Good way to score points.

Terror on our Streets!

2009-06-03T21:02:00.000-07:00

A quick thought...

Why am I even slightly surprised when the American voting public falls hook, line and sinker for the fear peddling the GOP and right wingnuts churn out on any and every topic they can.

The very recent poll that showed the American public do not want the remaining prisoners in Guantanamo transfered to US prisons is a case in point. People seem to have gobbled up the claims that the prisoners would be released on our streets and threatened the general populace. The doors are going to be opened up and these guys will be allowed to walk right out onto our streets. Right.

Why is it that so many people are so willing to immediatley believe the proven liar? Why is it that common sense goes out the door so easily? Why is it that America, once home of the brave, has become the home of the quivering, quaking, shaking faint of heart?

How did that happen?

Prop 8

2009-05-26T21:39:00.000-07:00

Sad news today. Even though the courts hands were probably tied (I am not a lawyer), it is deeply distressing the hate mongers have won out again. Gays aren't good enough for the same right to marry as straight people. They must be satisfied.

Why is it that people so fear and mistrust those that do not conform to their view of the "norm"?

These so-called Christians that have such a burning desire to preach hate and fear. I do not begin to understand it. They put all their faith into a Bible that was written by men long after Christ died. It has been rewritten and re-interpreted so many times over so many generations, how can it truly reflect his words?

The one thing that shines through is the message of love and acceptance and caring. There is no message of hate and exclusion and fear. For hundreds of years, any non-white people were treated as less as not worthy of equal status in our society. Heck, there were even white people treated as badly, but we were finally learning to move past that attitude. How have we come to saying it again? How have we come to hating so deeply again?

I don't think that is what Jesus intended. At least, I hope not.

Fear in Our Times

2009-05-24T21:20:00.001-07:00

In his speech a few nights ago, President Obama said “Our government made decisions based on fear rather than foresight”. I think he was being diplomatic. I believe the Bush Administration made decisions based on fear and with the intention to incite fear. The more fearful we were the better. They ladled it on, thick and rich with everything they could think if to make us think that the terrorist were just down the block, ready to kill us all in our sleep.

The Bush Administration used they very tactics we decry as evil in the pursuit of their agenda. They wanted a war that wasn’t necessary, so they did everything possible to change the facts to fit. The Iraqis were surprised that anyone thought they had a connection to Al Qaeda, just torture people until one of them says there was a connection just so that the torture will stop.

They wanted to shift the blame for being asleep at the wheel when the World Trade Center attack happened, so they screamed at every opportunity that it was Clinton’s fault. It doesn’t matter that he left office nine months prior to the attack and his intelligence folk warned there was something in the offing.

Now Dick Cheney is making the rounds, telling anyone with a microphone that torture made us safe. Even though the overwhelming evidence is that any useful information was obtain from “prisoners” was obtained before the torture started, and that torture usually produces more false information that truth, and it was very useful in recruiting for the terrorists, and made it exponentially more dangerous for any captured American service men and women, Mr. Cheney is adamant that is kept us safe.

The GOP is following hot on his heels. They are using every trick in the book to spread the fear again. According to them, Obama wants to release all the people being held at Quantanamo onto the streets of the United States. From there, they will invade our neighborhoods and kill us in our sleep.

The media outlets, newspapers and broadcast are, of course, breathless in their need to propagate these insane accusations as fact and reality. They seem to be falling over each other in the haste to have Cheney and the GOPers on their shows and in their columns. I know the need to sell papers and commercial time is a high priority, but at the cost of our country? The term media whore can be applied to more and more of our supposedly noble journalists these days.

What really gets is the number of allegedly educated and sober Democratic politicians that are falling for it. Apparently their spines did disappear years ago and will never be found again.

We have gone from being a nation that can hold its collective head high and look danger in the eye to a nation of cowering, gibbering idiots. We have not recovered from the days of reds under the beds, we have just replaced them with terrorists. We are now using and condoning torture and the worst of tactics that we abhor in our enemies.

How can we, as a nation, as the United States of America, say to future generations that we stood up and met the challenges of our time? If we succumb to the fear, if we do not meet the fight head on, if we do not keep that moral high ground, we will not be worthy of being called Americans. We have become the very things we once stood against.

Spooks in the Room

2009-05-18T20:48:00.000-07:00

So, the GOP are holding the CIA up as the sayers of absolute truth and moral superiority? The CIA are supposed to be the guys that sneak about spying, upsetting dictators, bugging rooms, and doing all kinds of underhanded things that aren't discussed in polite society.

Besides, such support is despite former Senator Graham's note-taking of all things minutia and large indicating the CIA's briefing reports were wrong 3 out of 4 times and Director Panetta's own seeming inability to state unequivocally the reports were absolutely correct. (What a rock and a hard place that man lives between.)

The CIA are supposed to be the guys that do the dirty work for us, no matter what it is or why. Their's is but to do or die, right? They're supposed to be the spooks in the room. If that's their job, but they can't even get accurate briefing notes together, I have a hard time trusting anything they say.

Another thought...unless those briefing summaries (SUMMARIES, remember) are date and time stamped by some sort of nuclear, unalterable clock, who's to say they weren't written last week? Just saying.

The Former VP that Won't Fade Away

2009-05-10T17:42:00.000-07:00

Anyone want to know why Cheney won't go away? I think there are a few reasons.

1. He needs to justify his existence.
2. He needs to justify his all comsuming passion to torture, even though there might not be any evidence the people he wants to torture have done anything worhty of arrest. (I'd hate to think what he does when he sits alone in the dark and watches the DVDs of the torture. *shudder*)
3. He wants to be able to blame the Obama administration if there are ever any future attacks by terrorists on U.S. soil. This will probably include if the terrorists are some of Cheney's most ardent followers that have been incited by his claims. It also doesn't matter that the actions he devised and approved of were and are the greatest possible recruiting tools given to terrorists.
4. He can't stand the notion that he's now being publicly held up to account for his actions.
5. He is paranoid to the point of insanity.
6. He's just pissed that he couldn't rule for ever.

Retribution?

2009-04-26T15:18:00.000-07:00

Webster's defines retribution as recompense, reward, or the dispensing or receiving of reward or punishment, esp. in the hereafter. The Compact Oxford Dictionary says it is punishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance.

I'm all for retribution for the dictator wannabes in the Bush administration who thought it was their God given right to take the United States down the road of torturing people. Now I am not naive enough to think it has never happened before. There will always be sadists in our midst who will do this kind of thing. However, to make it "legal", to make it "policy", to make it "common" for America is beyond all comprehension of a sane and moral society.

My little quibble here is the use of the term retribution. While the definitions are appropriate, the word has taken on connotations for vengeance, sometimes at the price of reason. Why not say justice? When a person is charged with assault or theft or even murder, we call it justice to hold the perpetrators accountable for their actions. Why is it not justice in this case. These people broke not only U.S. law, but international law. They broke agreements made between many countries decades ago. Why is it not justice to hold them accountable?

Prosecuting Torture, or Not

2009-04-20T20:05:00.000-07:00

The President announced today that he has no interest in prosecuting the people who tortured on behalf of this country, or words to that effect. I can't go back and get the exact quote. I am too horrified that President Obama can consider this line of action, or inaction.

We have the smoking gun. We have the memos. We have statements from members of the Bush administration going up to the highest levels that brag about the torture. We have the notes! For God's sake, six times a day for a month? Two times a day for a month? In even the most basic of criminal code, if you hit someone once it is called assault. Just once, that's all it takes.

What the hell does it take? Even if the men that actually perpetrated these horrors don't get investigated and brought up on charges, the men that allowed it, ordered it must be held accountable. What kind of warped, sadistic men would do these things in the name of this country, would consider it okay? Allowing them to get away with it would tell future administrations that torture is a naughty no-no, but we shouldn't do it again!

God help us if we don't.

Everyone's Suddenly Decided to Go Green

2009-04-19T20:30:00.000-07:00

Almost every day now, one news cast or another is running a "green" story. Species are dying out, forests are disappearing at an alarming rate, fish populations are crashing, the glaciers and polar ice caps are melting faster than we thought just last year, are just a few of the now timely topics.

We still have naysayers twisting bits and pieces of legitimate studies and reports to suit their needs, often to the point of outright lying. I'd like to know what purpose is served by that kind of thinking, but really don't want to go into it now.

My current question is about the sudden interest in being green. I want to know where the hell these reporters, anchors, commentators, editorialists, show runners and powers that be were when all of this could have made a difference? I hope that somewhere, sometime, they wake up in the middle of the night and know, with soul chilling certainty, that their inaction and disinterest has contributed to the dying planet they are leaving the children of this world, including their own.

Teabagging, Tempests and Taxes

2009-04-15T19:15:00.000-07:00

Well, the teabaggers were out in varying sizes (or lack thereof) of force today, protesting everything from taxes to the president. I wonder just how many of them understand the conotations of being a "teabagger". As some of my friends woud say, *snerk*. They can't claim to have used th term first, but they will certainly be remembered for using it at all!

(Oh, go Google it! There are some rather graphic vids that leave no room for confusion.)

I wonder, though, why they are screaming about the taxes part. For a very large chunk of the American taxpaying public, Federal taxes went down on April 1. Were all those ordinary looking people I saw in the news reports not amongst my income group of under $75k per year? Are they pissed because they are just over that mark and aren't getting the reduction? Maybe that's it.

I also wonder where they were when the previous administration was running up the deficit, pouring money down the drain, often to good old boy buddies and their corporations. No-bid contracts from a president who believed that taking care of those BFFs with deep taxpayer pockets was the right thing to do must have made them think it was Christmas every day.

Where were the teabaggers then?

I could go on about the boatload of lies used to get this country into a war that wasn't necessary, taking our eyes off the real ball just next door. Now, how many years, how many hundreds of billions of dollars, how many lives of American service men and women have been wasted?

Where have the teabaggers been?

I could also talk about the off shore tax shelters used by big corporations in order to avoid paying hundreds of billions of dollars in taxes in the U.S. I could talk about the criminal lack of keeping the American infrastructure in good working order. (Yes, roads, bridges, schools, power generation.) There are so many things and so little time.

Hellooooo, teabaggers? Any of you there?

Now, the teabaggers are swallowing the hook, line and sinker dangled by Fox Noise, corporate lobbiests, and headline seeking talk show hosts in their "grassroots" campaign. I wonder if these people realize that they are the ones on the ground and the organizers are teabagging them?

Probably not.

Press Conference March 24, 2009

2009-03-24T22:03:00.000-07:00

I watched President Obama’s press conference earlier then a couple of the MSNBC talk/commentary shows. Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow started off a little slow in forming opinions that they could discuss. Not surprising since they were having to do it pretty much on the fly.

By the third show, Chris Matthews, it was easy to see the experts and commentators were already gathering steam. The opinions and spins and criticisms and naysaying was picking up speed. It’s almost like watching a swarm, a warm of whatever comes to your mind, just swirling from place to place. The swarm can’t decide which way to go or where to settle. It just moves in a blind panic, each member trying to get to something first and shout the loudest, vying for its opinion to be heard and believed.

The last few weeks have been headlines of panic, wailing, gnashing of teeth, outrage, woe-is-me, finger-pointing, more panic and anger. It’s like watching bad TV.

The current administration has been in office all of two months. Why do so many people seem to think that everything should be resolved and peachy-keen after just a few short weeks, especially following eight years of the most reckless, self-serving, xenophobic rich white guys that were only thinking of their own agenda. The country, and by extension the planet, didn’t matter.

Since the election, President Obama has been very honest about the very real fact that the mess is going to take years to clean up. It is going to take hard work and patience from everyone. People are screaming that the government has to stop spending, that we cannot go further into debt. Sorry, but even I can see it is the only way out. If people aren’t spending, nothing moves. Ask any business owner, small or large. We all understand that when no-one is buying, businesses close, people lose jobs. It becomes a tighter and tighter spiral. If the government stops spending, we will sink.

I have a small analogy. It isn’t a very good one, but it is simple and may work. Say you are a homeowner. You have a hole in your roof and the spring rain is coming. Do you go ahead and put the repairs on your credit card or do you let the rain come in and ruin ceiling, walls, floors, and mold to grow? The latter is going to double, triple or quadruple the costs. What do you decide?

Does the wailing and gnashing of teeth really accomplish anything? Does the nit-picking? Do the tantrums? No? I didn’t think so.

Want

2009-02-26T20:56:00.000-08:00

I keep hearing the most amazing, and not in a good way, thing. Barack Obama has been President for 37 days, right? Close enough. The largest spending package in the history of the country was passed, many of W's truly vile and cynical measures have been overturned, the process of closing Gitmo is underway, the most massive budget ever has been produced (including all the spending hidden in the past by BushCo) has been presented to the world, plans to bring as many troups home as possible are on the table, and everyone still wants more. people want the absolute final plans, the final decisions, the money in hand, problems solved and neatly filed away right now.

The last president had 8 years to screw us all over. That cannot be undone in 365 days, much less 37. I know many, if not most, of you have money to make and advertising to sell and bosses to please and ratings to worry about. But, seriously folks, take a breath and give the man and his team at least a few more days before moaning and groaning that it hasn't all been done. A few more weeks would actually be nicer.

President's Address to Congress

2009-02-24T19:39:00.000-08:00

President Obama's address to congress was, well, amazing. It's amazing what can be said by someone who knows how to speak in complete sentences. It was amazing to listen to someone who actually talks to EVERYONE around him, Democrats, Republicans, the person on the street. It was amazing to listen to someone with ideas and vision and a genuine concern for the people of this country and the world. (Get over it, we are part of this world and have to consider our neighbors on the small planet!) It was amazing to listen to someone who has a plan!

OMG! I just had a real fangirly moment!

Then, the Republican rebuttal. I hate to say this, but the word "cringeworthy" is the kindest word I can come up with. Governor Jindal was spouting the same lies (He brought up the mythical high speed train from LA to Vegas. Good grief, when are they going to stop flogging that dead horse?) He chanted "we can do anything" in a tone that reminded me of the kind of used car salesman you should run from. As Sentor Boxer just said, it really did sound like Jindal's speech was written earlier today. My impression is that is was written yesterday, over coffee, and they pulled all the talking points from McCain's stump speeches from last year's campaign. Is that plagerism?

2009-02-18T21:54:00.000-08:00

Watched some of Hardball tonight. I am a little concerned. How can anyone say President Obama is indecisive this early in the game. The man has been in office how may days? 30? He's gotten a humongous stimulus package through congress and signed. He's still getting his team together. He's battling a GOP that is ready, willing and happy to sink the country and the world rather than play nicely. He has to deal with two wars, daily news of further economic bad news, the nightmare that is Gitmo, and countless other things.

Now Chris Matthews is asking his guests to confirm his own impression that the President is indecisive about what to do about the housing meltdown. We gave BushCo eight years to grow the many and diverse crises we are experiencing today. Can we not give President Obama a little more than 30 days to make the decisions needed to begin the repairs and recovery?

McCain, the GOP and the Church

2009-02-15T17:54:00.000-08:00

It appears the election was just too much for Senator McCain. His tactic of lying to score points must have done something to his brain. He ust doesn't seem to be able to stop lying. To say the President is not trying to have a dialogue with Republicans is a strange thing to say. For crying out loud, President Obama seems to be spending MORE time talking to Republicans than he is to Democrats. Does McCain and the rest of the GOP want him to just take whatever they want and demand the Democrats vote for it? Aren't the policies of tax cuts for the rich and nothing for the poor, the middle class or the country's infrastructure the very things that got us into the mess we are struggling with now?

More tax cuts, and nothing else? I need a job. Having a tax cut without a job means squat!

I can't wait to see if, with the stimulus bill passed, the GOP try to work as hard as possible to make it work or try to sink it, either actively or by inaction. This will prove their level of commitment to our country even more than their opposition to those parts of the bill that would directly help communities create and keep jobs. Are they serious about being patriotic Americans or would they rather see the country fall than be proved wrong? One doesn't have to be carrying a bomb or a gun to be a terrorist bent on the destruction of the United States of America.

On a different note, I see the Catholic Church is still covering up for and supporting priests that do decidedly non-Christian things. Pedophiles and bishops that deny the Holocost. What else is hiding under their cassocks?

McCain and Osama

2009-02-12T21:46:00.000-08:00

Didn't John McCain try to win the election by stating on many occasions he knew how to capture bin Laden and would as soon as he entered office? Did he decide that because he lost the election he doesn't have to cough up the grand plan? Or, was it all a lie?

I think, like so many other patriotic Republics putting the country first, he decided to take his marbles and pout in the corner. Rather let the country and the world burn than do the right thing. Why am I so not surprised?

Post Election Stupidity

2009-01-26T20:28:00.000-08:00

The new President is in the White House a week, well less than a week. I’ve been reading the blogs and the newspapers. I’ve been watching the news and political commentary shows. There was no honeymoon. Already the Republicans are complaining about everything in sight. “We’ve been shut out! They want to spend too much! We need more tax cuts, but don’t cut taxes for the poor coz they won’t be paying any taxes at all! It won’t work because we don’t want it to!”

I want to know what the hell they think less spending and more tax cuts (for the rich, presumably) are going to do. Haven’t they given their rich, greedy friends enough tax cuts? Haven’t they spent enough in Iraq to float ten countries out of the current quagmire? Are they so pissed at losing their seat at the big kids’ table that they’re willing to sink the country and the entire planet just to get even?

Apparently so.

One more question. No two.

First, if a person has lost their job, earning no money, how does a tax cut help them?

Second, when are the Democrats going to grow a backbone? The Republicans have come out of the box willing to piss on the world because they insist on having a hissy fit. They want all the toys and are will to hold everyone hostage to get them. The Democrats need to trample their sorry asses into the ground and leave them behind. They need to save this country, and by extension, the world. We can’t wait. We’re on life support and the electricity is going to be turned off very soon.

Advice to a President-elect

2008-11-11T18:47:00.000-08:00

Before anything else, I need to say thank you to all veterans for the sacrifices made for this country. My Dad is a veteran of WWII and Korea. A Marine for 25 years, he gave so much of himself and lost many, many friends in those awful wars. He came home and made a life for himself, his family, and his country, giving us more than I can say. He did it quietly, with dignity, strength and love. He embodies what I consider to be the definition of the word “hero”.

God bless all veterans and those men and women in harms way today.

Now to advice…

The election is less than a week behind us and things are moving fast. Very fast. Already, just about every newspaper, political commentator and/or blogger and news service is telling us what the new president-elect needs to be and/or should be doing.

They all talk/blog/write about how he should move on the economic disaster the current administration is leaving this country. They also have the solutions for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the environment, education, and whatever else takes their fancy. On top of that, they seem to know who Barack Obama should pick for every cabinet post, as his advisors and even just good buds. They know why it should be done as they say, too.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m sure many, if not most, of them have very good solutions backed up by experience, sage counseling by their peers, wisdom and insider knowledge. I’m sure they also have all the best intentions, as well.

However (another word for the big “but”), I would think that President-elect Obama is a pretty smart cookie and has a fair bit of it already figured out. He seems to have done well putting together a team who engineered the most remarkable political campaign in the history of this country, if not the world. He knows how to surround himself with intelligent, hard working people that give him good advice from varied perspectives. Most of all, he knows how to listen to that advice and make intelligent, well considered decisions.

Barack Obama seems to know how to get it done. We just need to have the patience and wisdom to let him do it.

Hey, do you think John McCain will cough up his plan to capture Osama Bin Laden now? Or, was that just another lie?

Holy Crap!

2008-11-04T20:54:00.000-08:00

Figuratively speaking, I have held my breath for along time. As I said in a previous post or two, I did not think Barack Obama was the right candidate for the Democrats. To be very honest, I didn’t think he had a hope in hell. His inexperience was the major reason. They secondary was that I really did not believe this country, in its seemingly infinite conservativeness, would not elect an African-American as president. Mayors, governors, senators, yes. President, no.

I am so incredibly happy to be wrong. I am so happy we finally had enough of the darkness in our lives to want change and then go after it.

One of the most gratifying things I have heard from the pundits and commentators on the TV is the credit they are giving to Hillary Clinton. They have actually realized that her tough campaign during the primaries was exactly what President-elect Obama needed for the truly difficult and downright vile campaign thrown at him by the Republicans and its minions. He grew and learned and proved that he can deal with long, long hours under the highest stress.

He sure as hell won me over. I think, no believe, that we actually have a chance at cleaning up the toxic waste being left by the Bush administration. We have a chance at giving our children a country worth having and a planet that will thrive.

President-elect Obama is giving his victory speech as I write this. He is a wonderful speaker. He is intelligent, articulate and generous. He is hopeful, inclusive and eloquent. Who would have believed America would elect him? Holy crap!

Joe who?

2008-11-02T16:31:00.000-08:00

I have been struck by how Joe the Plumber has become John McCain’s poster boy in the late days of the campaign. Why would anyone wanting to be President of the United States pick a man that purported to be something he wasn’t as their role model? Why would McCain call him an American hero?

Excuse me, but Joe the Plumber is not a licensed plumber and never had the money or any real prospect to buy his employer’s business. He was a guy trying to make a living and under a misconception about Barack Obama’s tax plan. He apparently did not listen or understand when the senator explained it to him. It didn’t matter.

Joe is happy to give uninformed and off the cuff responses to questions. He’s doesn’t seem to care whether he has the knowledge to speak about the serious issues facing the country today. He’s enjoying the limelight and the prospect of earning big bucks from his story. Joe is savvy enough to know he can cash in with a press and nation that loves the lowest common denominator on far too many occasions.

Sound familiar? Sound a little like a certain Vice Presidential candidate? John McCain seems to love to pick up people that will give him big press coverage and lots of diversion from what should be discussed and covered. Combined with continuing to push what he knows to be lies about his opponent, it proves McCain is no longer the honorable man he once was. It is chilling to think that he is willing to go to such extremes to win an election. And, too many people in this country seem to be swayed by these tactics. I’m very scared.

Dare I hope?

2008-10-30T20:56:00.000-07:00

Dare I hope that the people of the USA are ready to hope that things can be better? They WANT things to be better? They want to stop being afraid and pinched and depressed and angry? Are they ready to stand up and say ENOUGH? Can we elect Barack Obama and Joe Biden?

Are they ready to say they work hard every day, come home and do a little more around the house, just to get by but never see the light at the end of the tunnel, so are now ready for the light? Are they tired of the darkness and suffocating feelings and anxiety about their lives? Can they accept just a smidge more responsibility so their children and grandchildren can have at least as much as they do or even a little more?

Or, are they afraid of light and air and smiling and believing they can leave something better for their children? Can they leave behind the devil they know and venture out to something different? Can they remember what it was like?

Or, are they willing to throw the dice on the future, the future for themselves and their children? Are they will to hand the reigns over to an old man that just wants what he thinks he is owed, someone who has quite willingly sold his soul in order to get what he wants. And, standing right behind him is a woman that wants nothing more than to be queen.

People don’t seem to get that it really isn’t all about them. Some of it is, but mostly it’s about the country, and world, being left for their children and grandchildren. I know many people have children because they want children. I often wonder, though, if they stop to think about what that means. Long term. Generational.

Having kids is not just have the kids, grow old then die. There is a huge responsibility for what they leave those kids. Will it be a life that is a little bit better than our own? Will we leave clean water and air, enough oil and natural gas to see them through discovering new sources of energy and technology? Will there be enough food?

Will it be worse? Will the ravenous use of all natural resources, including all the oil we can drill-baby-drill for and a planet moldering under polluted air and water and landfills of our throw-away living be the legacy? Will they have all the bills of our mismanagement and over-use and greed? Will the sins of the fathers be visited on the children?

Are we ready? Can we deal with a little more pain so that our old age and the ages to come aren’t crushed?

We have to be ready for change, for a man and a government that wants to make it better, to make a life and country that does not live with fear, that reaches out to our neighbors on this tiny world and stands straight in amongst them again. We have to be ready, if not for us, then for our children.

What price victory?

2008-10-20T19:39:00.000-07:00

I’ve come to a conclusion. Well, I actually came to it some time back. I was just hoping I would be proved to be wrong. John McCain is not a man of honor. I wonder if he actually ever was. Oh, it seems that he has shown honorable behavior in the past. I question, though, whether it was because it suited him at the time, it furthered his career or put him in a good light for the public? He certainly isn’t showing any honor at the moment, and hasn’t for some time.

Anyone who would hire the same muckrakers that sank his previous presidential campaign demonstrates he is more than willing to jump into bed with those muckrakers. The very tactics that he decried he now uses with a viciousness that has no place in a candidate for the highest office in this land.

The Senator from Arizona has also shown that he is willing and able to use what he knows to be lies and half truths to further his cause. I am not even going to try to pick a handful from the very large pile to list here. Oh, wait, I’ll mention a couple.

- McCain hints, winks and suggests that Obama has close ties to at least one terrorist. Oh, he says he doesn’t care about a washed up terrorist, who, by the way, is a respected educator and works with Republicans on community works. In almost the very next breath, though, McCain says he wants to know what Obama’s relationship to said washed up terrorist. Mean time, McCain is…oh, it’s too stupid to continue.

- McCain says he is a maverick. How does a maverick vote with his president 90% of the time and brag about it. Since this is McCain’s own statement and it’s on film, I think it must be true.
McCain has always been a highly vocal supporter of deregulation. He says he wants to deregulate health care. He also says he can fix the economy. Fix it for who? Oh, that’s right. He wants to fix it for the people who earn more than $250,000 a year. The rest of us don’t count.

- McCain says he knows how to find Osama bin Laden. He says he’ll do it as soon as he’s in the White House. He also says he is a patriot. Wouldn’t a patriot have provided every bit of information and done his best to capture bin Laden as soon as he could? Would anyone holding such information hostage for so long be called a loyal American?

- McCain is an angry old man. He is so bitter that this has not been a cake walk for him that he is willing to do anything to become president. He is willing to allow his own campaign to attack anyone supporting Barack Obama in any way possible. He silently stands by while his surrogates attack decent, hard working and loyal Americans, generating fear and hate and dividing this country.

Senator McCain said over and over again that Senator Obama was willing to lose a war to win an election. Well, McCain is willing to destroy a country, his own, to win an election. Just tell me, how American is that?

Politics, what else?

2008-10-07T20:18:00.000-07:00

October 7, 2008

Okay, I’m lazy. Get over it. Please.

The second presidential debate is on right now. I should be giving it my undivided attention, but I find political speeches, debates and other such things very painful to watch and listen. I will try to leave it on, but may record it to pick though later.

It is incredibly dismaying to see what is going on in this country right now. The dirty politics, which were supposed to be absent this time around, are here again. I can see why McCain wanted Palin as a running mate. She is supremely ambitious and happy to do anything and everything necessary to win. And, that has crept into McCain’s modus operandi. It’s scary.

There are no filters (no pun intended) built in that would prevent the willingness to incite violence. I’m not kidding. One only needs to watch the stump speeches to know they are using the same tactics used by white supremacists when targeting African-Americans or any other non-white group. Catch words and phrases spoken over and over again to incite hatred and fear, and maybe violence. Haven’t there been criminal proceedings brought against people that use those tactics?

Another thing that scares me is the desire by so many to have someone that will be next in line to the White House that says “also, too” and compares herself with Joe Sixpack on a regular basis. First, she is insulting Joe Sixpack, consistently implying that Joe is uneducated and can understand only the simplest ideas and is interested in nothing but beer. I come from a blue collar background, and I am offended by it.

I want someone who is smart. We’ve had almost eight years of the king of underachievement. This country has already lost status, respect and is losing her heart. We need someone who is cool under pressure, understands the concepts, and who will surround himself with intelligent people that are putting the country, and not their hip pockets, first. It is vitally important that the next president can talk with world leaders without anger or threats. We must heal the relationships with friends and bring our enemies around without threatening war. A hot head dealing with hot heads does not bode well for a good outcome.

In a previous post, I said that Hillary Clinton would be a better candidate than Barack Obama. Senator Obama has proven to me that he is a solid, intelligent and capable man. He has been composed and articulate under extremely difficult situations. He has chosen a worthy running mate in Senator Biden, someone who knows foreign policy and has a wealth of other knowledge and experience.

There are accusations that the Obama campaign has launched smear attacks on McCain and Palin. Since it seems that every point made by the Democrats can be backed up by video and other public records, I think the accusations are without merit.

The same cannot be said for the McCain campaign. The man who very recently stated, on camera, that he would not stoop to such tactics has apparently forgotten his promise. What other promises would he forget?

Oil and Elections - I couldn't decide which

2008-06-08T17:02:00.000-07:00

Well, I’m a pathetic little blogger, aren’t I? The point of these things is to post on at least a semi-regular basis. Not lazy me. At least, not when I want to be coherent and calm. The way things have been going lately it has been difficult to not scream at the world with its collective head in the sand. Hopefully, there will be only two subjects today. I don’t want to bore people any more than necessary.

First up is the economy. I will be the very first to admit that I am not an expert, however, anyone with any kind of sense should have seen the current state of things in the U.S. coming. It came faster than I thought, but it was at least I knew it was on the horizon. I’ll focus on oil. We can only go so long using and using and using before it runs out. As I’ve said before, oil appears in so many areas of our lives, not just in our cars, trucks, SUVs and Hummers, not to mention commercial vehicles, trains, ships and airplanes. There are millions and millions and millions of all these things, too, all voraciously hungry and belching out the indigestible bits.

With a war in oil country and densely populated countries such as China finding their affluent legs, there is less to go around. The U.S. has long been fortunate enough to have some of the cheapest gas on the planet. Now we howl with pain and anger because we must pay similar prices to many, many other countries. Driving to the corner store for a quart of milk is not going to be a viable thing all of a sudden. Oh, the horror, we may need to get out and walk! But wait, the local grocer is boarded up because Walmart or Safeway or whatever mega-store has pushed them all out. The price of milk will not only be the price of milk, which is also increasing on a regular basis, it will include the gas it takes to go buy it.

Next up is, you guessed it, the elections. Why anyone would want to be president right now is a mystery. The current mess is something that will take a very long time to fix. Actually, it can be stabilized and improved, but it may never be completely fixable.

The silent campaign by the media to support Barack Obama helped put him over the top. Just. Yes, yes, I am a supporter of Hilary Clinton. Yes, yes, I am a bit of a conspiracy theorist. It was painfully obvious, though, that there was a bias toward Senator Obama in the television media. In all too many news casts, the anchor or reporter would talk about Senator Clinton, usually to criticize, then show a clip of Mr. Obama speaking, usually about something positive. It was a very clever way to slant the coverage while covering equally.

Now, I really don’t have anything against him, but Senator Obama had better step it up. Talking change does not equal making change. I want some really solid policies and plans to implement them. He will also need to work with the Congress he has been so consistently slamming. He has a very limited window of opportunity to sway a lot of people to his side. If he thinks Mrs. Clinton was a harsh critic, he is in for a rude awakening. She said nothing that the Republicans weren’t already planning, and they are masters of the negative spin.

No-one should blame Mrs. Clinton for pointing out some of the obvious holes in his resume. They shouldn’t. He wasn’t expected to pull his punches. Why should she? And, let’s face it, the holes are obvious. He needs to show he understands and has a way to gain what he needs to plug them.

During a conversation with a friend yesterday, she described Senator Clinton as abrasive. She’s been described similarly, and worse, by so many people. I would love to know why. If she had been a man exhibiting the same tenacity, the same ability to stand toe to toe and fight, she would have been applauded as a strong, tough candidate. That’s a very disturbing gender bias.

I will vote for Obama in the election because the thought of John McCain in the White House chills me to the core. I am very much hoping that I will have a growing enthusiasm for him. Senator Obama seems to be genuine and earnestly wanting to help this country. We sure as hell need it. I wish him the best of luck. He sure as hell needs it.

The Candidates

2007-11-25T16:34:00.000-08:00

Well, this entry is a long time coming! I’ve been too busy, too lazy and/or too angry to put anything out here. Something said on one of the endless news/commentary/biased opinion programs that are almost as common as reality shows motivated me today.

It was about the election. What else could you think I meant? And, no, I’m not talking about the election in Australia. I am relieved, though, that the people of that country finally figured it out and canned Howard. I just hope the people in the good ol’ U.S.A. finally get it, too. It’ll be more than a day late and a dollar short, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

I want to be up front about this, but please read my whole argument before dismissing it. If you’ve read the previous posts, you’ll know I’m a liberal. I am also a Clinton supporter. I won’t go into many of the reasons, but I feel they are valid. Barack Obama is my second choice. In another time, the line-up might have been reversed.

To get back to the topic, the bit of discussion I saw centered around Barack Obama being a force for change but inexperienced, and Hillary Clinton being experienced but not as much for change. Both of these are, in my humble opinion, accurate. My concern is that massive change for the country, the U.S.A., may not be the right thing to try to do at this moment in our history.

We are in a hole, a deep, dark and incredibly dangerous hole. I’m going to compare it to a black hole because it is threatening to suck in the rest of the world, too. We can like it or not, but the fate of the United States is tied to the fate of the entire planet and vice versa. It really isn’t “us” or “them”, it is “everyone”. We absolutely have to think in those terms. Our future depends on it.

Let me mention a few of the reasons I think this way. National debt, trade imbalance, the falling value of the dollar, non-Americans buying up property and companies like it’s a fire sale, a failing education system leaving us with an ever diminishing pool of engineers, scientists, doctors, are a few.

There’s global warming. It’s not just global warming, though. The oceans are rising. Forests are being cut or burned down faster than ever. Our children and the elderly are suffering from more respiratory illnesses than ever. That’s only going to get worse. There are no barriers that can keep airborne pollution in or out.

Terrorism belongs to all of us. We need to worry about the terrorists grown in our own back yards as well as those in extremist groups from other countries.

Oil is getting harder to find and more expensive for almost everyone. It’s going to run out sooner or later and we will all feel the pain.

We are in a war that is exacerbating all of the above. We are pouring hundreds of billions of dollars and, more importantly, the lives of our young men and women, into something that cannot end well. The military is stretched to the breaking point. President Bush is now talking about expansion and worse.

The U.S. has the worst possible image around the world and even at home, making it “them” and “us”. How far do we need to fall before we hit bottom? How long will it take to crawl back up from that hole? And, the most important question, will there be anything left to come back for?

Now, finally, to the point of this entry. I like Barack Obama. He is intelligent, charismatic and very earnest. I think if he had been running eight years ago, I would have been an enthusiastic supporter. He would have been great. But, now, right now, no.

We need someone who is very savvy and tough as nails, who has been around in national and international political circles for more than a couple of years. We need someone who can talk with the world’s leaders in their political language. We need someone who is more than a little calculating.

I know Hillary Clinton has been a senator for only three years longer than Obama, but she has been part of the scene for a lot longer. She is intelligent, tough and focused. She also does not need to be introduced to the world. She knows everyone and is known by everyone.

First, we need someone that has a greater possibility of winning the presidency. If I can point out his freshman status as a real concern, what will the Republicans do? Can he really fight the battle that will be needed next November?

Then, we need someone that can tackle the whole mess that we are in, and I mean the whole mess. Our recovery on the home front and the international scene is going to be a monumental task.

Right now, at this point in history, I believe we need someone like Hillary Clinton.

WWIII???

2007-10-17T21:09:00.000-07:00

Oh my God! How did we get here? The president, yeah, the one other people voted for, is now dropping 'World War III' in press conferences. How did it come to this? Is he setting up the first step to broadening the war in Iraq by claiming that if we don't continue the war on terrorism we will get into WWIII? Is he so determined to justify his existence and legitimize his presidency by thinking in terms of another World War? I pray not.

As it is, we are going to be in a quagmire of global political unrest, suspicion and hatred for years and years to come. The world rightly views this country with glasses that are not colored rose because of the lunacy that has been coming out of the nation's capital over the last seven years.

Heaven help us!

Use it one and throw it away

2007-08-08T21:42:00.000-07:00

Have you watched any TV lately? Every other ad is for either a gas guzzling monster truck or SUV, some kind of use once and throw away cleaning product, or an air freshener that is guaranteed to make your home smell so good that everyone who lives there or visits will be instantly addicted and not want to leave the magic aura of the fragrance.

What the hell are we thinking? Are we a society that is so intent on our status symbols or making up for our own shortcomings and lack of self-esteem that we are willing to use up every drop of NON-RENEWABLE oil we can lay our hands on, throw away everything we use and fill up the air we breathe with artificial perfumes?

There is no magic way of creating oil, at least not in the quantities we need. One day, and maybe in our lifetimes, it will be ranked as an endangered species. When it’s gone, just think of everything that goes with it.

Plastic is but one example. Oh, yes, we are making plastics from corn, but how many of the myriad of plastics can really be replaced by the corn based variety? And, how much arable land will we need to convert from raising food to making plastics? My guess is a very, very large number of acres especially considering our taste for bottled everything, including water.

Oil or petrolatum based products, including hand and body lotions, cosmetics, paints, nylon and polyester will become scarce and eventually disappear. Can you do without your lip balm or Vaseline? I know that there are products in existence or coming onto the market that do not use mineral, but not quickly enough in sufficient quantities to sate the appetites of our ever expanding population.

In America’s automobile-centric mentality, what are we going to do when gasoline is rationed or not available to all who want or need it? Can you imagine lining up for a five gallon can once a month, or having to submit to a lottery for a chance at getting a tank-full? What about not being able to fly anywhere unless you can afford economy class tickets for the price of a full-fare first class ticket for a fraction the number of flights we have now?

Heating oil would go, too. Natural gas would become scare as well. Welcome to the world of our great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandparents.

But, wait! While this is all happening, the forests of the world are being cut down to supply the growing need for firewood, and to provide more farmland for corn to make oil to make plastics and bio-fuel for our cars. Now that we need the wood for fuel and the land for corn, we are cutting down the very thing that cleans the air for us. The trees. The carbon dioxide is being taken out of the atmosphere and replaced by oxygen at a slower and slower rate. The thawing permafrost will soon release its own store of carbon dioxide and methane, millions and millions of tons of it.

Add to all of that the fragrances of the myriad of air fresheners. The artificially scented candles and sprays that puff every fifteen to sixty seconds will swirl about us. Let’s not forget fabric softeners, either. Throw those little sheets in the dryer so that your clothes smell good and have no static cling. Every load must have one, covering our clothes and towels and bed sheets in a fine coating of oil and fragrance. Our air will be heavy with carbon dioxide and chemicals, but it, and we, will smell good. If we’re lucky.

I don’t even want to start on the use-it-once-and-throw-it-away products we have for everything from dusting the furniture to cleaning the toilet. We seem to think we have a never ending supply of everything we want. There is no need to open a window or wash a dust-cloth or mop a floor with a reusable mop. We can use it once and throw it away. It’s our God-given right! Isn’t it?

The TV tells us so. Doesn’t it?

First post for a newbie...

2007-08-05T13:11:00.001-07:00

Well, I finally did it. I have a blog and can now share my thoughts with the world at large, at least with anyone who stumbles across it. Being such an opinionated person, I will no doubt do it frequently and with a large degree of passion. Oh, feel the power!

Some may question the pomposity of my blog title. No apologies. I am one human being on an increasingly small planet. I have a vested interested in the fate of this tiny, spinning, ball of rock and water. That interest is not only for myself, it is for a whole bunch of people. Therein lies the place where the passion lives.

Oh, my, you say! Is this person another one of those crazy individuals that regularly goes off on tangents about politics and the environment? Crazy, depends on who you ask. Individual, yes, did I not say so in my blog name? Regularly, maybe, we'll have to see what's going on in the world and my mood at the time. Politics and the environment? Oh, yes. The former definitely has a great deal to do with what happens to the latter.

I will, however, not just rant and rave. I need the good things, too. I like the little events in life that make me laugh, or smile, or feel good in any way. It's all important.

Oh, I am just so excited! This thing has spellcheck, too! WooHoo!