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Women in Congress

  • Posted on January 31, 2011 at 9:49 pm

Woman of Substance

I have been thinking about women tonight.  I’m thinking about the women that I know and have known.  My mother was a wonderful woman, strong, stable and determined.  She had 14 children and managed to go back to teaching when I was just a youngster.  I think she was an amazing woman.  The truth be told there are many amazing women in our country right now.  Some are out working jobs and some are home doing the ultimate job of raising children.  Some manage to do both and some, like me, do it alone.  The point I’m getting at is there are a lot of strong women in this country that are capable of doing pretty much anything they set their mind to do.

I personally think that we are under represented in Congress and because of it we have little influence on any branch of government.  We may vote and think we have influence but the truth is the majority of the laws are made by men.  No man really knows how a woman thinks and no woman would really want a man to speak for her.  However, year after year, even though we have a little over half of the population, we continue to vote in these men to offices that control every aspect of our lives.

Tonight I came across this website which is very educational and a little disheartening.  http://womenincongress.house.gov/

The really frightening part of the website can be found on this page.  http://womenincongress.house.gov/historical-data/

This is where all of the historical data is about women in Congress.  If you click on the interactive map you will be able to see all of the women from every state that have been elected to Congress.  The data is scary because there are so many states that have had so few women representing them.  In fact, Mississippi has never had a woman senator or representative.  They may have some women at the state level as I have not looked that up.  However, it is appalling to think that we have been a country for over two hundred years and even though women have had the vote for around ninety or so years, we still can’t get women elected at the federal level.  Until this happens, the laws will always be made my men.

Maybe some of you think this is fine and dandy.  From my perspective those men haven’t been doing all that great of a job.  Maybe it’s time that women grabbed the checkbook and figured out how to balance the budget, educate our kids and keep us safe from the bad guys.  Men just seem to keep that “good old boy” mentality going.  I think it’s time for women to unite and create their own party!  How about, “Women United for a Better America”.

Most women that are mothers have had to do battle with their young teens from time to time.  They carry those battle scars with pride because they know that some day their child might thank them for it.  If not, they still know they did what they were supposed to do.  We’ve all heard our moms tell us to do something and when we asked we got that, “Because I told you so!” answer.  It may have not been satisfying to hear as a youngster but it was consistent.  As we grew up we might have even used it on our own kids.  Many of us have had to be the bad cop when dad only wanted to be the good cop, so many know how to be tough when they have to be.  Now I come to President Obama.  He can’t say, “No” and he is so wishy, washy that he usually says, “Maybe!” and that is just indecisive.  Mothers know that you just say, “No” because anything else could be a form of weakness.  There will be times when you do say, “Yes!” but the kids will know they earned whatever it was they were trying to get.

Now, I know I sound like I’m just being funny here.  This is just my attempt at humor, but really this is no laughing matter.  We, as women, deserve to be fully represented in our country.  Until we have a seat at the decision making table of government, we will always be second class citizens or the small children at the Thanksgiving dinner party that have to eat at the “little kid’s table”.  We may laugh at that table, but we always are so happy when we are grown up enough to sit at the adult’s table.

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The Fake World of Military Spending

  • Posted on January 30, 2011 at 2:46 pm

I’ve heard of Scranton, Pennsylvania before.  On the show “The Office”!  I also remember Joe Biden talking about Scranton as being his birth place when he was running for the VP office.  Here is an enterprising young man creating fake military equipment for our government to use in military training exercises.  The amazing thing is how much it costs and when his business began.  This article is interesting.  It sounds like, a rags to riches story.  Here is a grocery store guy that some how gets this big military contract for “fake” equipment.  He’s not even producing real products.  That is clever!

The business is not for the general public.  They basically sell to government and to “Hollywood”.  What I’m curious about is how they got all these contracts and the start up money.  It’s obvious that they have filled some kind of unique niche that centers on fighting terrorism.  http://www.inertproducts.com/home

This article showcases the company and I came across it and found it interesting and thought many of you might as well.  http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/scranton-company-s-arsenal-of-replicas-keeping-troops-safe-1.1097416#axzz1CXjm9Mw6

This is some of what I find interesting about this article:

“There’s only a handful of companies in the country that deal with what we deal with,” said Mr. Rozzi, 31, of Clarks Summit. “We’re growing 600 to 800 percent a year. Last year, we did $6 million in sales.”

Spending on Defense Department orders in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre/Hazleton metro area grew by 9 percent in fiscal 2009 to $499 million, according to recent U.S. Census Bureau data that is the most current information available on defense contract spending.

“We need to ride the high of the defense spending for now,” said Teri Ooms, director of the Institute for Public Policy and Economic Development, a Wilkes-Barre-based think tank. “It’s good for us to have the diversification where we have some of these companies.”

There is more here:

Inert Products, though, has experienced explosive growth during its brief existence.

Mr. Rozzi, a former grocery store manager, started the company alone in 2007 as an outgrowth of his hobby making materials for pyrotechnics training.

After Mr. Rozzi began fashioning mock mines and artillery projectiles from homemade casting materials, Inert Products bought a building in West Scranton that formerly housed a food distributor and paint shop. The company now has 10 employees and most of its products are manufactured in Ohio, though some dummy explosives, like blasting caps and dynamite, are made in Scranton.

So the company employs ten people.  I have to figure most of them are probably family members.  I’m just guessing here as I have brothers that are in business and they take care of family first.

This story can be inspirational if you look at it from the point of view of a little guy creating a product and making a living off it.  Or, it can be another story about the craziness of our military spending.  This line alone tells you how insane our country is about military spending.

“The U.S. Department of Defense spends more on training each year than some other countries spend on their entire military budget,” he said.

Yes, I know you can all say we are a big country.  Of course I have visions of weekend warriors dressing up and playing paintball with gusto.  Is this what President Obama was speaking of when he was talking about reinvention?  I see we can reinvent guns into fake guns, etc.  When the Pentagon spends more than 22 billion dollars on fake equipment and training, which is more than the annual budget of the state of Arkansas, you have wonder what’s up with that.  http://www.usgovernmentdebt.us/state_spend_gdp_population

Another curiosity is the growth in military spending.

.  The picture here to me is warped.  We are a militaristic country.  Everything we do is beginning to revolve around the military.  Even our first lady, Michelle Obama has mentioned the lack of fitness in our youth as being a national security issue.

We are not building a nation.  We are building a military industrial complex.  Our job is to defend the world from terrorists. We are the mercenaries that run around the world invading countries, assisting in régime change and spreading our “vision” around the world to make it safe for big business whether it be oil, nickel, big Pharma or Coke.  We have reinvented ourselves.  We are the few, the proud, the chosen ones to save the world from itself!  Yet, we may not be able to save ourselves from ourselves!

We need to listen to President Eisenhower as he talks about the disastrous rise of misplaced power.

Here is another picture of our federal budget.  Defense spending is out of control!

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Reinvention and Other Useless Rhetoric

  • Posted on January 30, 2011 at 2:01 am

I'm sure it is not just the GOP, but this is a good depciton of the money cycle.

I keep hearing a strange word over and over in my head, reinvention.  Frankly, it’s just a word but it seems to be the “buzzword” this year in politics.  Governor Rick Snyder used it in his “State of the State” address and President Obama used it in his State of the Union” address.  It sounded interesting that both politicians have chosen to give such similar speeches when they are supposedly from opposing political parties.  The word reminds me of those “born again virgins”.  It’s almost like an oxymoron to me.  How do you reinvent and invention?  I also find it interesting that when anyone thinks of the word “invention” it usually draws to mind some kind of product.  Since we aren’t exactly making any products, what are we trying to reinvent?

I’m picturing the sleazy ex-husband that is desperately remaking his image for his next conquest.  How did that saying go?  Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.  I think that buzzword, reinvention, is nothing more than corporate speak for “privatizing government”.

We have been told so many times that government doesn’t work and private industry does a better job that many of us actually believe this myth.  I see our country being sold out to private industry more and more.  Here in Michigan we better think hard about that bridge the governor wants to build.  I’m all for the bridge but not if it is put in the hands of some private company that controls what goes in and out of our country.    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704590704576092881920953952.html

The details seem a bit fuzzy to me.  I remember fuzzy math and it usually adds up to a headache for the little guy.

My son complains all the time about how the government of Illinois handles licensing.  It seems that they have very few state offices open.  However, you can purchase your license plates, etc. through private industry, but it will cost you much more.  You are paying for the convenience of not having to travel the distance to find an open state office.

This push for privatization has been going on for some time.  Republicans have been trying to privatize Social Security for years.  The military has been holding hands with private corporations for years.  The one thing that I notice about all of this is the high cost of doing business with these private military corporations.  Our politicians seem ready to feed that dragon for a long time to come without worrying too much about how the money is spent or how much is laid to waste in Iraq and Afghanistan.  They don’t even seem too concerned about the millions and millions of missing dollars that have been reported about.

Now the latest trend is to take public education and sell it out to private corporations that are for profit businesses.  This is being done in a rather sneaky way.  First, the schools have privatized everything from janitorial service and food service to substitute teachers.  Its’ all happening and inch by inch it will happen on an even bigger scale.  The push right now for getting rid of tenure for teachers is all part of this plan as far as I can tell.  The past ten years has been an out right assault on public school teachers and their competence.  What ails education is being blamed on the teachers.  The teachers are the scapegoat but it is really just part of the plan to destroy the teachers’ unions.  Truthfully, there are many factors that have had an influence on education.  The biggest factor in my mind is poverty.  The rise to the top of the chosen few and the loss of the middle class have created a growing lower class of people that have probably lost hope for the future.  Unemployment is staggering and many people are also under employed.  Their main priority right now is simply survival.

With all of this in mind what does the president do?  At the state of the union he called once again for the push for science and math education.  The funny thing about this aspect is something my sister mentioned the other day.  She told me I should do a post on what the senators, representatives and other politician’s children are doing for jobs.  She figures they aren’t working in science and math.  We talked about it.  I know Chelsea Clinton works for a hedge fund.  Most of these politician’s kids are probably going where the money is.  I don’t think the money is in science, math and certainly not in education.  The young people that can manage to find a decent job are working in business.  The other ones are doing service jobs like waiting on tables, working in a retail store or working in senior citizen’s homes.  Our young creative minds are left under utilized in a country that sees more value in private industry than in people!

Early this morning I was watching C-Span.  It was some kind of educational meeting that took place this week.  There was a man from Sweden who was part of a private business that had created schools in Sweden that were for profit businesses.  He was over here because he is starting a school in New York City.  I found this all very interesting.  He said people were unhappy with the school system in Sweden.  This must be a world wide phenomenon.  When he opened his first school he had something like 900 people sign up, even though he had no prior proven success.  He said that just showed how ready for change people were.  He wants to do for America what he did for Sweden.  There was also a young college graduate student from Chile.  Chile also has been starting schools created by businesses.

Watching this today made me really think about what’s going on here in our country with education.  The drumbeat has been going for quite some time that teachers are not qualified, that they are inept.  Much blame has been placed on the poor quality of the teachers.  I’m not going to say all teachers are great because obviously there are imperfect people in every job category.  However, it has been my experience that most of the teachers I know are dedicated individuals that want to do the best job they can for the students.  It’s apparent to me that it’s not so much about the teachers as it is about business controlling every aspect of government.  Business has been able to infiltrate into everything we do.  It really is about the bottom dollar.

The common person only has their vote.  Business has lobbyist that caress the politicians and give them the money they need to keep their seats.  What we end up with are corrupt politicians that sound more like businessmen than like statesmen.  The most recent push for business was the health care bill.  Real people don’t seem to be happy with it.  However, insurance companies will be happy with all the new customers they are going to have after all the penalties kick in.  Business has a special seat in our government.  Don’t let them destroy public education with a for profit business plan where the bottom line is profit, not students.  President Obama using a word like “reinvention” is meant to inspire us with nothing more than business laced useless rhetoric.  Don’t be fooled!

By the way according to Dyson he reinvented the vacuum cleaner!

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The State of the Union and that Pesky CEO Pay

  • Posted on January 24, 2011 at 10:39 pm

This morning Peggy Noonan was on the Morning Joe show.  I watch the show as I’m getting ready for work.  I always think it is interesting when I hear Republicans like Peggy and Joe singing the praises of President Obama.  They both just love Obama and are so thrilled that he is moving more towards the “center”.  I, of course, find all of this laughable because Obama has always been pretty much right of center.  If he was any where left of that golden center, health care would have a public option and we’d be out of these two wars.  I have to make a clarification here as both Peggy and Joe insisted this morning that they are not really into that “Republican” label.  They are really “conservatives”.  All I know is that a thorn known by any other name is still prickly.

I sit here thinking about the state of the union address.  Of course we are all being told that President Obama is going to embrace business with some kind of love fest.  Recently, he put an editorial piece in the Wall Street Journal where he said that we have to look at old, outdated rules and regulations.  I’m really curious about this because I have a nephew who sustained a traumatic work place injury about ten years ago.  I’m sure he wishes there were better rules and regulations in place when he had his hand cut off in a meat cutter.  In business, it always comes down to the almighty dollar.  Let’s see is it worth putting that screw on the “kiddie” pool or will we make more money even with a lawsuit, if we don’t?

The questions business must think about.  I wonder what went through the minds of those Toyota executives when they tried covering up their little problem.  http://www.motortrend.com/features/auto_news/2010/112_1001_toyota_recall_crisis/index.html

You can read President Obama’s entire executive order.  There isn’t a lot to it, but it really makes me wonder why President Obama even bothered with it.  However, reading numbers 4 & 5 really get my curiosity up.  It seems to be quite open to interpretation.  The lines seem a little blurry to me.

http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/executive-orders/2011.html

Or even his editorial piece.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703396604576088272112103698.html

As stated in that Executive Order and to the extent permitted by law, each agency must,
among other things: (1) propose or adopt a regulation only upon a reasoned
determination that its benefits justify its costs (recognizing that some benefits
and costs are difficult to quantify); (2) tailor its regulations to impose the
least burden on society, consistent with obtaining regulatory objectives, taking
into account, among other things, and to the extent practicable, the costs
of cumulative regulations; (3) select, in choosing among alternative regulatory
approaches, those approaches that maximize net benefits (including potential
economic, environmental, public health and safety, and other advantages;
distributive impacts; and equity); (4) to the extent feasible, specify performance
objectives, rather than specifying the behavior or manner of compliance
that regulated entities must adopt; and (5) identify and assess available
alternatives to direct regulation, including providing economic incentives
to encourage the desired behavior, such as user fees or marketable permits,
or providing information upon which choices can be made by the public

I’ve been curious about the push for business in government for awhile now.  Here in Michigan we have a new governor, a businessman.  In the last election Maine and Florida, like Michigan went to the business world for their governors.  Now, I hear talk of President Obama warming to business and yet I saw on MSNBC today that American businesses have created about two million jobs this past year.  However, only 600,000 are in the United States.  I keep hearing the words “business friendly” and I’m not sure exactly what that means but I can deduce that it might imply “labor unions” not so friendly.  It really does come down to the bottom dollar.  How can a business turn the highest profit?  The cost of labor has to go down to make business happy or they can just keep hiring workers in other countries.  Where does that leave the American people?

Our Governor spoke last week and I’m still wondering exactly what he’s going to do but I know it’s going to be some kind of love affair with the business world.  Don’t get me wrong, I do realize that business has to be able to make a profit.  I’m just not so sure that those high CEO pays are all that necessary.  Other countries seem to curb the appetite of their CEO pay.  It is destroying our country.  Here is a good take on it. http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/nov2008/ca2008114_493532.htm

Notice that CEO pay can be 400 times the pay of the average worker.  I would say that is kind of excessive!  If we want to fix business in this country, then maybe we should start at the top and stop making the little guy continue to give up things and make concessions.  American CEO Pay needs to be adjusted.  Every CEO should be thinking about his or her country.  John F. Kennedy said, “Ask not what your country can do for you.  Ask what you can do for your country.”  We can start with CEO pay.  Maybe President Obama could create an executive order there.  Maybe the government should do business only with corporations that limit the CEO pay.  President Obama imposed a restriction on CEO pay for companies involved in the bailout plan.  However, many of them found ways around that little gem.  I think our government shouldn’t do business with any corporation that has excessive CEO pay.  If you really want to make your stomach churn, just check out the AFL-CIO site on executive pay.  It really will make you sick.  http://www.aflcio.org/corporatewatch/paywatch/ If you’re too lazy to do the search, just check the top 100 here:  http://www.aflcio.org/corporatewatch/paywatch/ceou/top100.cfm

There is something wrong with business when the CEO can make such tremendous figures while the little people at the bottom of this food chain are continually asked to take a cut.

I’ll be watching the president tomorrow night.  I’ll be hoping that he’s thinking about those little people at the bottom, but I have this sneaking feeling it’s going to be more about the bottom line for business and how we all have to sacrifice a little bit more.  However, I know that guy at the top won’t be feeling a thing!

As I was looking around tonight I came across a great “read” on what’s happening with public sector unions.  This is a blog post by a teacher.  http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2011/01/impending-demise-of-unions.html

Just keep all of this in mind when your listening to the president Tuesday night.

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War, what is it good for?

  • Posted on January 22, 2011 at 1:01 am

So, I’m looking around on the internet just reading tonight and I noticed Keith Olberman is out. I don’t really care about Keith, so I read on and look for news on the wars.  I never hear much any more about either war, even though there is constant turmoil in both Iraq and Afghanistan.  It all seems pretty much null and void in the minds of the American people.  I sometimes wonder if I am the only person that thinks spending all of this money to blow up a couple of countries is insane!  I came across this site which seems interesting.   http://armscontrolcenter.org/

According to this site, here is the defense budget for 2011 and it does match up with what I have found on the Whitehouse budget website as well.

Fiscal Year 2011 Budget Overview

For Fiscal Year (FY) 2011, which begins on October 1, 2010, the Obama

Administration has requested a base budget of $548.9 billion for the Department of

Defense (DoD). This is $18 billion, or 3.4 percent, above the appropriated Fiscal Year

2010 base budget of $531 billion.

In addition, the Administration has requested $159.3 billion for “Overseas

Contingency Operations,” to fight the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

This brings the Fiscal Year 2011 defense budget request to a total of $708.3

billion.

What I am noticing is that high cost for the two wars.  I looked up the population of Iraq which is around 31.5 million.  California has a population of around 37 million.  What I am getting at is this:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget

Check out the federal budgeted money for California or any state for that matter.  I think there is something wrong with this picture.  That money spent on the wars could really be helpful back over here in our own country.  Of course the conservative Republicans have other ideas.  Here is where you can check out their proposal to reduce spending.  http://rsc.jordan.house.gov/Solutions/SRA.htm

On the two page summary, I noticed many interesting cuts to everything from the arts and humanities to the repeal of the Davis Bacon Act which requires the government to pay the local prevailing wage.  I wonder what’s up with that, less money for the common man, just trying to make a living of course.

The other day I was listening to the Ed Schultz radio show for a few minutes on my way home from school.   Some one was sitting in for Ed.  A guy called in who really cracked me up.  He was on a rant about Senator John McCain and he said McCain has been taken care of by the government is whole life.  This man couldn’t believe McCain’s stance on health care since McCain has essentially been taken care of with government health care his whole life.  I had to laugh because it was essentially true, except for the stint he had when he was a POW.  The politicians in office just don’t get it.  They have everything at their finger tips like money, power, health insurance, great pensions and they just cannot see what has happened to the common worker in America.

The American people need to pull their head out of the sand and figure out what is really going on.

Big business and government combined is a lethal combination for the American worker.  Labor unions have been destroyed over the last forty years.  One of the last of the unions still standing are the teachers unions.  They are the next to go.  This is the way the American people are being programmed right now.  There is a constant drumbeat against the teachers and their unions.  We are being told how poor our education system is and it is the fault of the TEACHERS!  Tenure is a dirty word.  We are being programmed that it is the problem and it must go!  I’m only throwing this out there because as a teacher, I can feel the target on my back and I can see what is going on.  We, the people, are being programmed once again that business is good, privatization is good, and labor unions are bad, bad, bad!

All across the country we have business people getting into government.  Here in Michigan we have our new governor, Rick Snyder, a business guy.  I listened to his state of the state address and he was very short on anything specific in terms of cuts and spending for the most part.  The big thing he talked about was building a bridge to Canada.  Here is a transcript from his address.  http://www.freep.com/article/20110120/NEWS15/110120009/1001/NEWS/Transcript-Read-and-watch-the-State-of-the-State

It had a lot of “fluff” but not much substance.  I expect in April when he gives the next speech he mentioned, we will hear more specifics.  I don’t think his address was much different than most others.  I just would like to know what his plans are for the budget.  He wants to change the small business tax but he doesn’t say how he’s going to pay for these changes.  Some in K-12 education are worried that he is going to take from that budget to give to the public colleges.  I don’t know what is going to happen, but I think it will mean more pain in education whatever is decided.  This year I had to pay 3% more into my retirement with no additional benefit.  Next year it could be more.  We don’t have a contract and we are probably not much different than most schools in the state that are wondering what the budget is going to be.

The other day I was applying for a bus grant to take some of my art students up to the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts and I asked the school secretary what portion of our students was on free and/or reduced lunches.  Our school was around 61% but she said one of the elementary schools is somewhere around 90%.  These are scary numbers.  We need jobs for American workers.  I feel like I’m on a wheel that just keeps going round and round.  War, what is it good for?  What is it really doing for the American people?  We know what it is doing for some corporations.   http://www.presstv.ir/usdetail/160995.html

You must listen to this video because it is so interesting.  The wars will continual until they are financially unsustainable because it is in the best interest of corporations.  War, what is it good for?

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Mary Reed, Super Mom

  • Posted on January 15, 2011 at 12:39 pm

Mary Reed and daughter, Emma McMahon

I was reading news about the shooting victims in Arizona and came across a story about Mary Reed.  Mary Reed did everything she could to protect her 17 year old daughter from being hurt during the attack on Representative Gifford and all who were within shooting range of her.  Mary’s daughter had been a congressional page for Gifford over the summer.  They were at the event to simply get a picture.  Mary pressed her daughter up against the building and took three bullets for her.  Surprisingly Mary will survive.  She said she was like a mama bear.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/01/11/20110111Gabrielle-Giffords–arizona-shooting-mother-protects-daughter-from-bullets.html

As a woman and a mother, I understand that protective mode that took over Mary.  We all would do anything to protect our children.  It’s hard to fathom being put into a situation like Mary was in, but I’m sure instinct took over every part of her to bring her to the point that she just knew she had to protect her baby.  Mary is a hero to me.  She is the virtue of all mothers and a testament to what women will do for their children.

I haven’t heard anything about Mary this week.  I’ve only been hearing things about politicians and pundits talking about how this will play out politically.  I have always thought of my own mom as a hero.  She had 14 babies with 10 of them being boys.  I’ve always joked that raising all those boys automatically made her a candidate for sainthood.  My mom was my single best cheerleader.  She always made me feel like I could do things that I, myself, doubted I could do.  She helped give me the confidence to do many of the things that now define me in my life.  Mary’s daughter, Emma, knows just how much her mother, Mary, would do for her.  This has to be somewhat of a defining moment for young 17 year old Emma.  We all say we would take a bullet for our child.  Mary took three and stayed standing pressing her young daughter into the building praying for the carnage to stop.

I salute Mary and all moms today.  The world has many problems and unfortunately we cannot protect our children from some of the ills of society or the choices that they may make in life.  However, when push comes to shove we will all want to think that we could be a mama bear just like Mary.

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Defining Moments

  • Posted on January 14, 2011 at 10:19 pm

That was candidate Obama speaking about defining moments.  That was then and this is now!

Well the 2012 presidential election officially started this past week with the shooting in Arizona.  I listen to Morning Joe in the morning when I’m getting ready for work and a bit of Chris Matthews and Big Eddy on MSNBC in the evening.  I have noticed the continual slow indoctrination of the American people by MSNBC and probably other channels as well.  This last couple of days the words “defining moment for the president” seemed to take precedent over all other talk.  We, the public are being indoctrinated by the press that Obama’s speech at the memorial service in Arizona is his defining moment. Donny Deutsch said something this morning like Obama made us remember why we voted for him.  No, Donnie, the president did no such thing because it wasn’t about the president.   Chris Matthews even said it was an “opportunity” for Obama.

I’m not in President Obama’s head but politicians seem to dirty everything they touch with that old opportunity thing.  Just to clear things up for Chris Matthews and opportunity doesn’t usually come off the deaths and injuries of real people.  If anyone looks at a memorial service as an opportunity, they are nothing more then a leech off society.  As for that “defining moment”, it’s hard to see a connection to the presidential politics of 2012 and what happened in Arizona.

When my mom died that was a defining moment in my life.  I seem to remember things as before and after her death in many ways.  The same goes for my dad and sister.  At my mom’s funeral I read a poem I had written.  The poem and the service itself were not defining moments for me.  The defining moment was when my dad screamed up the stairs for me to come down because mom had died.  I’ll never forget that lonely Thanksgiving morning when I lost my wonderful mom.

We all have moments when our life may be defined in one capacity or another.  The birth of our children or our marriage, are moments that probably are defining for people.  Great events in a person’s life will probably be defining moments.  However, the shooting in Arizona wasn’t about President Obama and it wasn’t about politics really.  It was about an epidemic in our society of violence and probably mental illness.  It just so happens that this time the violence struck a politician.  It was a defining moment for all the people involved in the shooting.  For the rest of us it was a tragedy that we saw unfold slowly and continuously on our TV sets and the Internet.  We heard day after day many pundits talking about who is to blame and so on and so.  We can empathize with all involved and we can pray and hope that the wounded have a quick recovery.  We can share in the loss of life but we cannot really know the suffering of each family that was touched by this madness.

In my mind a defining moment for President Obama was his election.  It was about him and what he had accomplished.  Arizona isn’t about Obama or Sarah Palin or any other politician.  I’m tired of the same old talk from the same old pundits who are once again trying to make us pick a side.  In December they wanted us to like Obama because he did so much and we all got out tax cuts.  I feel the drumbeat from people that are in the pocket of Obama trying to get the rest of us to fall in line and vote for him in 2012.  All I can say is 2012 is a long way off and the economy will probably be the defining moment for the next election, just like it was for the last election!

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Shattered Dreams and Our Violent Society

  • Posted on January 11, 2011 at 8:59 pm

Shattered Dreams

After the last couple of days of hearing non-stop news about the shooting in Arizona, I have decided to say what’s really on my mind.  The pundits started the blame game early on and seem content to want this to be more about getting ratings than anything really useful.  From my perspective as a teacher, I don’t really see what is so different about this act of violence than the violence that schools have had to deal with since Columbine.  Every school administrator, teacher, school personnel and even students across our nation all know about the routines schools go through every year since Columbine to be prepared in the event of an emergency.  Prior to Columbine, we all felt safe.  Safety in schools is kind of remembered as before and after Columbine.  That one violent day changed our schools forever!

At Sturgis Middle School every teacher has a “Go To” box.  This box has a first aid kit, flashlight, class lists and a book of procedures to use in the event of an emergency.  Each year we practice drills with our students where we go into a “lock down” phase.  We have had in-services with police officers visiting our school and training us in the proper procedures to use in an emergency as well as what to look for when students seem troubled.  Students cannot wear long trench coats to school for fear that they might be hiding a weapon much like Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris did on that fateful day.  Students aren’t supposed to take their backpacks to their classes for essentially the same types of fears.  The point I want to make with all of this is just to let the rest of the world know that learning about the shooting in Arizona this weekend wasn’t shocking at all to me.

I feel very strongly that many people are troubled right now.  Some of our youth are even more troubled.  I’ve said this many times on here about how my life as a youngster was a lot less complicated than most of my student’s lives today.  To top all of this off, we have record unemployment, woeful economic conditions, record costs to go to college, not to mention those hefty student loans when a kid is finished, and a society seemingly filled with hate and violence.

All during the fall we heard about bullying.  We couldn’t turn the TV on without hearing about some poor young person that just couldn’t take it any more.  They committed suicide because they just couldn’t take being harassed any more.  There is meanness in our country and a total lack of civility when dealing with each other.  It’s not just in politics, but it starts from the top down.

Yesterday, I came home from school to hear Chris Matthews on Hardball talk about how this could give President Obama and opportunity because he’s always been above the fray.  This might give him a chance to show some emotion.  This could be a good moment for him.  One again Chris Matthews speaks before he thinks.  I had to turn the TV off because it was appalling to me.  President Obama may appear to be civil but he has had his nasty moments as well.  Most people will remember his comment about bringing a gun, if the other side brings a knife to the fight.  http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/06/14/obama-if-they-bring-a-knife-to-the-fight-we-bring-a-gun/

At the top of our food chain of people there really isn’t the civility that we need.  Ronald Reagan believed in that trickle down economic crap, however, the only thing that I think has trickled down is the lack of decency people show each other on a daily basis.

At our school we have embraced a program called “Rachel’s Challenge”.  Rachel Scott was a young student at Columbine who didn’t expect to live a long life but who wanted to make a mark on the world.  After she died her parents went through her journals and also found a statement that she had put on the back of her dresser.  They were moved to have something positive come from her death.  Her family goes all over the country challenging students to commit to Rachel’s Challenge.  Rachel wrote an essay and she wanted to start a chain reaction of kindness.

http://www.rachelschallenge.org/LearnMore/RachelsEssay.php

When the Rachel’s Challenge program comes to our school students are challenged to do these five things:

– Look for the best in others – Eliminate Prejudice

– Dare to Dream – Set Goals – Keep a Journal

– Choose Positive Influences – Input Determines Output

– Kind Words & Actions = Huge Results

– Start a Chain Reaction with Family and Friends

These are not earth shattering concepts, but if you think about it many adults could benefit from following these five principles.  They are pretty simple and could actually be life changing.

The sad truth is there are many troubled people out in the world today.  We can choose to put our hand out and help each other or we can continue following the shrill, violent path to destruction that we are currently on.  Our government could start by creating people friendly programs instead of just business friendly programs.  It seems like our current government policies leave many people without hope.  If you are at the bottom of the economic food chain, life can be dismal as you face hardship after hardship.

I had a little boy come to school the other day because he was upset.  His mom had a car accident and he was worried about how they were going to pay for everything.  One hardship can break a family.  We all know families that are struggling in debt, or unable to find a decent paying job, worrying about how to pay their utility or health care bills or buy shoes for their kids.  These are hard times and some people crack under the pressure of hopelessness.  I’ve heard some pundits talking about Jared Loughner being mentally ill.  Of course, we all think he must be mentally ill because of what he did.  Chances are that he is mentally unstable but with the cost of health care how would some kid who worked at several big box stores afford that care?  It was probably cheaper just to buy the gun!

It seems to me that the American people have been failed by government officials and the government policies that they vote for because those policies don’t do a lot for the poor, the middle class and the disturbed.  In addition to this, we are assaulted daily by TV and radio pundits that drive the agenda and constantly bombard our homes with hatred and violence.  I remember that show “Crossfire”.  That was a hateful show and Jon Stewart was right then and he was right this fall when he talked about the political discourse at the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear.

If people want to see a change in this country on the issue of violence, then it must start from the top with the president and government policies that help create a climate of economic hope.  However, we can’t sit back and expect the government to do everything.  If each of us does whatever we can to help each other in these trying times by just following the simple guidelines of Rachel’s Challenge, we could change the world.  We must change government policies, but we must also listen to each other.  It doesn’t matter if you are right or left leaning, an independent or non-political, we all need to find a way to talk to each other in a civil manner.  If we want to change our nation, violence isn’t the answer.  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream and he had hope and he demonstrated through peaceful means.  We could all learn from this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4AItMg70kg&feature=related

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2011 What Goes Up, Must Come Down Eventually

  • Posted on January 4, 2011 at 7:40 pm

President "Republican Lite" Obama Making Nice With Senator Boehner and Representative Canter, Republican Hatchet Men

You may still be on that holiday high, hung over from the good eats and drinks.  However, it’s time to sober everyone up with the reality that is coming.  You may be feeling pretty fine right now because your tax cut was saved.  Oh, well, you gave in on that tax cut deal for the wealthy thing because well, you got yours!  Of course we all know that the status quo is unsustainable for Republicans, unless they’re talking about tax cuts for the wealthy.  So, you might be wondering what I could possibly be worried about.  The answer is, plenty!  As the tax cuts may be giving many people a bit of sugar high right now, those same people will soon be feeling that sugar candy low you get when that sugar rush is gone!

First of all you need to understand that the Republicans feel they can make the most gains by making life as difficult as possible for the Democrats.  The Republicans are putting forth a new rule that will make it harder to raise the debt ceiling, something they didn’t mind doing under the Bush administration as I recall.  http://thehill.com/homenews/house/134799-new-gop-rules-will-make-it-tougher-for-house-to-raise-debt-ceiling

Furthermore, now that the Republicans got that big tax cut they wanted they are ready to take a hammer to everything else because after all, we are broke.  Just listen to Senator Boehner talking about our country being broke and then turning around and pushing for the massive tax cut for the WEALTHY! What a trooper!

That means there is only one way to go and that’s with cuts and I don’t mean tax cuts.  We know they are not going to “raise” taxes as they have pushed through the continuation of the Bush tax cuts, even for the wealthy.  So just what is discretionary spending any way?  Part of the discretionary spending is the defense but we all know that it will not be cut and in fact is going to see a budgetary increase in 2011.  That leaves all of the other types of special programs like education and of course that pesky money that goes back to individual states.  The states are already hurting and they are probably going to hurt even more!  You can read about the discretionary spending in the articles I site and also in the letter sent to the President by the Republicans in 2009. With extending the Bush tax cuts both parties have intentionally painted themselves into a corner.  They are going to have to find a way to get out of the room without messing up the paint.  It’s not going to happen because once again both parties are going to lay all the ugliness at the feet of the American people.  Instead of having the wealthy top two percent step up and do more to help this country, we can all expect that the middle class and the poor will once again absorb these burdens.

In 2009 the head Republicans, Senator John Boehner and Representative Eric Cantor sent President Obama a letter.  In it they outlined the cuts they wanted to make to reduce the deficit.  These Republicans look at any change to the Bush tax cuts as being a tax increase unless of course it betters the wealthy.  We all know that they upped the death tax to favor the very rich!  Even though the Bush tax cuts were set to expire and the country would go back to the previous tax code, it is now looked at as being a substantial increase in taxes if they were allowed to expire.  It’s really fascinating when you start getting into the mindset of how the Republicans really think about these issues.  Much of what they want to do is to push everything back to the states.  Of course this has been going on for years already and many states are in a heap of trouble but if you read things through carefully, it is exactly what these guys want to do.  They want to eliminate many programs.  I think this 2009 letter is a big hint as to what the political fights will be coming down the road in 2011.  Remember the budget is only good until March 4th.  So, what can we expect?  http://republicanleader.house.gov/UploadedFiles/06-04-09_Savings_Proposals_For_President.pdf

This is something everyone should read as it is a real eye opener.  There are many programs in education they want to cut or eliminate completely, even my own “art education” gets the whack!  So much of what they want to do they deem in their infinite wisdom as not a “federal” role.

In regards to the issue of Social Security I think this is interesting.  This is directly from About.com.  http://useconomy.about.com/od/fiscalpolicy/p/Mandatory.htm

The first Baby-Boomer turned 62 in 2008, becoming eligible to retire on Social Security benefits. By 2025, those aged 65+ will comprise 20% of the population. As Boomers leave the work-force and apply for benefits, three things happen:

  1. The percentage of the labor force under 55 stagnates, providing less payroll taxes to fund Social Security.
  2. GDP growth declines remains flat thanks to fewer workers.
  3. By 2040, the Social Security Trust Fund goes bankrupt.

Choices for FY 2012 and Beyond:

As a result, the U.S. Federal Budget in 2012 and beyond will have to choose among the lesser of three evils, none of which are good for the economy:

  1. Devote more of the budget to pay Social Security benefits. However, to maintain current benefits, the federal budget will have to increase to 25% of GDP by 2045.
  2. To fund this increased budget, taxes would have to increase, further slowing the economy.
  3. Decrease the benefit amount paid to retirees. This is the most likely scenario. This would force able-bodied Boomers to continue working. Those who couldn’t work would provide a further drain on the economy.

What I find as the interesting part is the fact that both parties are aware of this and they still decided to reduce the payroll taxes recently.  It makes me wonder if they want to cause a catastrophic failure so they can say, “I told you so.”  I guess the idea is we pay 2% less into Social Security and that will leave us more money to spend on junk to stimulate the economy.  What kills me is what I just read over at About.com.  About claims we will have to choose amongst the lesser of three evils, so why did we make it worse by partially defunding Social Security?  Maybe greater minds than mind can answer that question.  Of course my suspicious mind makes me think that we are being set up for failure so that once again we will accept less. We will accept less in benefits when we retire and we will work longer to get to retirement.  Life is over as most of us have figured for our retirements.  The state of Michigan already is taxing me higher by making me pay more into my retirement without any additional benefit.  I’m sure the Federal government is getting ready to do the same.

There is an agenda out their folks.  It seems like all the things that were created under FDR, which were sacred cows at one time, are now going to be fodder for the Republicans and our Republican “lite” President to dismantle.  Politicians that might have fought this have been systematically taken out.  Two come to my mind that won’t be back after the New Year, Representative Alan Grayson and Senator Russ Feingold.  I mean if Democrats had to go, why couldn’t it have been more of those Blue Dogs?

http://useconomy.about.com/od/fiscalpolicy/p/Budget_Spending.htm

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