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“Mourning in America” and Other Lies

  • Posted on September 22, 2010 at 7:15 pm

It’s pretty obvious from the following chart showing the national debt that President Obama inherited hell.  Whether you like him or dislike him is irrelevant.  This is the hell he inherited as president.

This morning I was greeted with this Republican ad on TV.

I noticed a few things about it.  One, it was very “white”.   I also noticed the play on the word “mourning” as though we are mourning the death of our country.  What most people might not realize is this is an old ad that has been remade.  The Republicans today aren’t very “forward” thinking.  They also aren’t very creative.  They are trying to be clever with their little “word” game.  They would like us all to remember the Reagan years with some kind of loving memory.  The original ad used the word “morning”.  Here it is.

It too is a very white ad,  as though that’s what America is all about.   You know “white” people getting married and living their lives in peace.  It mentions the interest rates as being half what they were.  This is a boldface lie.  I had a place purchased at that time and the interest rate was a whopping 14%.  Another thing that is interesting is the national debt.  If you look at the chart above, you will notice that the national debt began it’s very sharp upward swing under President Reagan.  Conservative Republicans talk in this recent ad about a smaller, more caring government.  Caring government and Republican rule is almost like an oxymoron.  The two don’t even belong together.  Under the first President Bush we had a “thousand points of light”.  If  people were having hard times, I guess they were supposed to find one of those thousand points of light..  I think most people would prefer a job to begging any day of the week.  If you look through the past several years of Republican rule, government spending and the national debt has been anything but small.  You can see both of these charts larger if you just click on them.

The new ad portrays this idyllic life that we could have with a smaller more “caring” government. .  Republican rule has brought us much chaos and to add to it a resurgence of poverty in America.  The true “mourning” should be for the death of the middle class and for the poverty stricken that have lost so much under Republican rule.  During the second Bush presidency we had tax cuts for the wealthy and two wars that nobody wanted to pay for.  The end result is a huge pile of national debt, most middle and poor people with stagnant wages or no job at all.  This is just reality.  The numbers don’t lie.  Republican rule is a rule where there are tax cuts for the wealthy and a minimal amount for everyone else.  Republican rule is just a nightmare and someone needs to point this out when these ads are run on TV that just are false.

I noticed that it is a special group creating the ad, probably a 527 advocacy group for the wealthy for all we know.  Trust me the wealthy have a different agenda than the rest of us!  This is the group that’s pushing this latest ad.

http://cftr.org/default.aspx

They’re all pretty much Reagan people.

http://cftr.org/about/default.aspx

Here are just a few of the people involved in the making of this ad.  The main thing I notice is how closely they are tied to Republican governing.

Craig Shirley, CEO Shirley and Banister

Bill Pascoe, runs a conservative blog and was Alan Keyes campaign manager in 2004 (That’s when Alan ran against Obama for the senate.)

He says, “Penance for all the wrongs I’ve committed during the course of a professional career in and around politics.”

Cleta Mitchell is a partner in Washington D.C. office of Foley and Lardner LLP

Diana Banister is Vice President of Shirley and Banister Public Affairs

Republicans also grow government.  If you will look closely at the following chart you will notice that there was a sharp climb in government growth and % of GDP spent on government growth in the early eighties under President Reagan.  You should also notice the sharp decline in those same expenses under President Clinton.  The climb starts back up under President Bush.

I’m tired of those Republican lies that I seem to be hearing in this latest ad.  Those Republicans don’t seem to have any trouble spending my money or yours.  I say talk is cheap.  They can tell me all they want about having smaller government.  The only one in recent years that has actually had a smaller government is President Clinton and he’s a Democrat.

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Can You Hear Me Now?

  • Posted on September 20, 2010 at 5:32 pm

Out in Main Street America the "Right" and the "Left" are a lot closer than most people think.

Unfortunately, I keep thinking about that old commercial for Verizon.  You know the one that keeps asking, “Can You Hear Me Now?”  This one with the mosquitoes takes the cake for representing the Democratic Party and what ails them.

Those pesky mosquitoes could be the Tea Party people but they are really those angry Democratic voters that are planning on staying home this November.  My mother always used to tell me to be careful what I wish for because you might get it.  The Democratic Party has brought on much of these problems themselves.  By moving to the right when they should have moved left when that pesky mosquito was biting them, they lost their momentum.  The party has governed with President Obama at the top much like the old party headed by GW.  I can’t be the only one that feels like this.

The Tea Party people would have us all believe that the country wants to go conservative and right.  I personally don’t believe that.  I think there is a lot of confusion about what we should do as a country.  People definitely want some direction.  Right now there is a lack or failure of leadership.  It’s like being out on a boat and stormy sea comes up and you realize no one on the boat really knows much about sailing.  It could be like when the airplane pilot has a heart attack and we’re all looking at each other to see if anyone can take the controls.  Either way we are screwed!  We want someone to take the helm and lead us out of this storm.  So far we have someone that says pretty things on occasion and then is so TIRED, he has to go on vacation.  I remember when GW was president.  He always said, “It’s hard work.”  Oh, please, we all work hard and most of us don’t get much of a vacation.

I cannot tell you how many issues the Democratic Party went “right” on when they should have moved left, but I will mention a few.  Guantanomo….yep, still in place, a very Republican thing to do even though our constitutional amendments mentions things like a right to a speedy trial,  blah, blah, blah, stuff we keep ignoring.  Yep, last I noticed we are still fighting two stupid wars and not to mention spending lots of money there.  We could really use a “left” move there.  Health care…..people have labeled it “Obama Care” which does kind of piss me off as they did the same thing with Hillary.  However, it’s a shitty plan that didn’t even consider “single payer” or the “public option”.  I could go “Blah, blah, blah, again!”  They definitely should have gone “left” on this one.  If they had educated the masses on what these two ideas really mean, I think most people would get it.  I’ve had conversations with Republican friends that don’t cringe when I talk about it, so I know it’s all possible.  Education!  Oh, yeah, we now have “merit pay”!  It’s unbelievable that this was brought in under a Democratic president.  Merit pay has always been “union busting” talk from where I stand.  They definitely should have gone left on that one.  There is always that pesky question of who determines what is meritorious!  This could be a great opportunity to bring in Joe Blow’s kid when he graduates from college.  You know Joe Blow, the guy that sits on the school board.  If his kid needs a job, I’m sure we can make room for him.  There must be some teacher we don’t really like that is a bit of a “rabble rouser”, you know, not a “team” player, that we can get rid of for their less than stellar performance.  Wow, definitely should have gone left on that one!   Now here is a real “right” move that should scare a lot of “lefties”.  President Obama has sanctioned the killing or assassination of an American citizen.    http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/08/30/assassinations/index.html

I really think they should have gone left on that one.  I cannot even fathom a real Democrat doing this.  It’s like were in some kind of strange new world.  Most people don’t even know about this because it’s not really out in the main stream press.  As you can see, I could go on and on about the fact that the Democratic Party with President Obama at the helm has definitely moved right instead of left.  This is why he is losing so many of us out in the real world.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2010/09/president_obama_criticizes_the.html

Many question the Tea Party movement.  I know some of it is fired up by Republicans but there are a lot of people that are angry out here that just don’t understand what is going on with our country.  They thought they were going to get this big “CHANGE” when all they go was some shitty t-shirt.

I guess the “Yes, We Can” ones really meant we CAN be more like Republicans!  We are left hoping a real Democrat will start leading.  The mistake has been that swing to the right when I think we should have swung to the left.

Most Americans simply want government out of their lives.  I thought it was interesting a few weeks ago when I heard Tom Hartman refer to a Libertarian as a conservative Republican that wants to be able to smoke dope and get laid.  I thought it was funny when I heard it, but it resonated with me because most people are far more liberal on social issues than many of them even realize.  Most people just don’t want you or the government “in their face” telling them how to live.  Even those Tea Party people could fall under this category.  For all of the talk about those social issues like gay marriage and abortion, the real concern is money.  If those Tea Party people and the rest of America had jobs and the economy was booming they wouldn’t be so interested in those other issues.  Those “wedge” issues have been used for years by both parties to keep us apart in our vision for the country.  This keeps the masses wrapped up in these social issues that become almost like a bait and switch.  People think they are voting for one thing and then they get something else.  It’s a game these two parties are playing as they both are “right” of center.  There is no “left”.  When I’m saying President Obama and the Democratic Party should have moved left, they are “playing’ us and telling us that it just isn’t possible because the Republicans are such obstructionists.

The truth is the Republicans are obstructionists but both parties want it that way.  They really are working for the corporations, not us.  They are trying to privatize every piece of government they can get their hands on so their buddies, you know their “real” constituents can make more money.  The public school as we know it is done.  Both parties have done everything they could to get private companies in the schools.  These are “for profit” companies.  They only care about the bottom dollar.  This has happened in our defense spending as well.  It’s across the board in every area of government from the federal to the state.  My son lives in Illinois.  They have private companies that sell the license for your vehicles.  It’s expensive.  Look at all the toll roads that have been sold to private companies.  This has been slowly happening.  Our government is serving these special interests so they can make more money while the rest of us are treated like serfs to the kingdom!

If this country is going to revolutionize and get back to what we really stand for someone has to convince the masses that as much as we all think we are so different, we are really alike.  You know the stuff about how the Tea Party people are “crazy” and those “lefties” are just a bunch of left over “Hippies” crap, that’s used to divide us.  I bet we have more in common than we realize.  If we could ever get together and talk and realize that as much as we think we are different, we are the same, we could maybe take back our country!  I cannot sit by and watch my party of my youth, the Democratic Party, become such an elitist, narrow party for the corporations without screaming my head off about how crazy it is that we have come to this!  We the people are Tea Party and Lefties.  We all want the same things.

We want to be able to raise our children in a place we can be proud of where they can grow to adulthood in peace, get a good education without it costing a life of servitude to the banks, be able to get a job that pays a living wage, have health care without going bankrupt over some terrible disease, have our personal freedoms kept safe, and always have the constitution to protect our differences.  The two parties have used everything they could to divide us but most of all it is FEAR.  We must stand up and embrace our differences so that we can actually sit down and have a real discussion about how to repair the problems in our country.  These two parties work hand in hand to help their corporate buddies.  They play games with us and keep us separated.  I have conservative family members.  They think very different than I do.  I know in reality we all want the same thing.  It’s all about everything I mentioned above.  I’m tired of being played and the Democratic Party should have moved left when they went right.  It’s all a game and the American people have been kept “stupid” about the game that’s really being played.

Republicans and Democrats that are our elected officials are largely corporatists.  They both are more concerned with keeping corporations happy then serving the needs of their true constituents.  The corporations in the meantime have inserted themselves in every aspect of our lives including our schools.  As a country we are really left of center, we just don’t know it yet!  Whether we are from the Tea Party crowd or liberal America, we are not being served well by the people that we voted into power.  Their master is business.  We should all be alarmed by how we are systematically being told that things will run better if they are run like a business.  This includes our government and even our education system.  The business class, you know the corporations have taken over our voting process.  They have given us dumb and dumber to vote for and we just keep on fighting with each other trying to convince each other that we are right.  We have no real power any more.  Business has it all and they will keep it as long as we keep voting and putting in their people.

Right now there are some rich business people running for governor across our country.  In my own state of Michigan we have the business guy that refers to himself as the “nerd”, Rick Snyder, who wants to come in and treat the government like a business.  I guess we’ll be seeing government jobs outsourced to China and India pretty soon if these guys get in!  We have been programmed to think that everything should be run like a “business”, so we are all buying into this stuff without really thinking about it.  It probably started with Reagan but it has been continued by both parties.

The Democratic Party can’t hear us because they are too busy listening to their master, the corporations.  The Republican Party has the same master.  As much as these two parties try to tell us one is left and one is right, they are both corporate.  They keep us in a state of confusion and fighting about right and left.  Democrats think Tea Party people are crazy wing-nuts and Republicans think people like me have a screw loose.  We need to realize, as I have said, we all want the same things.  We aren’t going to get it with these two parties as they are currently made up.  We must change them before it is too late and we end up looking like some third world country without a pot to piss in and a window to throw it out.  We are falling off a cliff but we’re holding on by a thin tread just from our sheer stubbornness and will to survive.  We want what is our right.  This includes the “pursuit of happiness” which we will never have until the heavy yoke of the corporate master is removed from our two political parties.  Democratic Party can you hear me now?  Do you know what I’m thinking?  There are a lot of dissatisfied Democrats out here wondering what in the hell happened to our party.  You have to start listening to us or we may end up voting for some crazy Tea Party person just to spite you!

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The Democratic Party Failure

  • Posted on September 18, 2010 at 1:01 pm

This video says a lot to me about the disrespect shown to Hillary Clinton during the 2008 election.  It’s subtle but it still shows me a lot about the men in the party!  I will always remember those words, “Likable enough!”

The last couple of months we have been hearing about how the Democrats are going to lose in November.  There has been much talk about which seats would go and how many are needed for the Republican Party to take over the House or even the Senate.  It almost feels like we have already voted.  I always find in interesting when pundits tell us what we, the people, are thinking.  I don’t know how they could possibly know what people are really feeling these days.  Most people don’t participate in polls, many don’t have land lines, and many don’t answer their phones for anyone but their friends.  This has made me think about what I’m thinking about all of this.  From my viewpoint, if the Democratic Party loses it’s because they still didn’t repair the problems created from the 2008 election, and they have governed more like Republicans than true Democrats.  If they lose, they deserve that loss.

Back in 2008 my primary vote was taken away here in Michigan and given to Barack Obama.  I didn’t vote for him and if I had been given an opportunity to revote, I would have voted for Hillary Clinton.  The Democratic Party then chose to even take some votes from Hillary and give them to Barack, a very undemocratic thing to do.  This and what happened in Florida has set the stage for a lot of what’s ailing the Democratic Party today.  The Democratic Party has for a long time acted in an elitist manner.  They have assumed that they know what is best for their constituents, even if their constituents think otherwise.  This is the main problem with the party.  They don’t listen to their people.  I called the Michigan Democratic Party when all of this was happening and I was treated poorly and even hung up on.  It’s hard to trust a party when they treat you like crap.  Well, fast forward two years to the November election.

It’s hard to see how anything has really changed.  I had high hopes that President Obama would do something to make me trust the party again.  I hoped that I could start respecting Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid again.  It hasn’t really happened.  I’ve written on here that we should vote for the Democrats because the Republicans are worse.  Isn’t that just a wonderful reason to vote?  Neither party is worth a damn these days.

The Democratic Party and President Obama have framed the last two years so there are four things that come to my mind:  We are still in these stupid wars.  We have a health care bill that no one seems to understand.  We have bailed out banks that didn’t bail out the American people.  We have a president that much like his predecessor likes to go on vacation a lot, acts clueless when it comes to real people and their needs, and has even embraced some of his Republican policies.

When President Obama came into office I was hoping he could convince me that he was the right choice.  It would be foolish for me or anyone else to want him to fail.  We’re talking about our country here.  I don’t want us to fail.  However, after two years, it’s hard to see what has really changed.  For all that talk about how things were going to “change”, much has stayed the same.  Washington is as hateful as it always has been, it’s as corrupt as it always has been and it’s as clueless as it always has been.  Even in the midst of economic disaster these politicians cannot seem to get anything done for the people.  They are too busy trying to get reelected than to do their jobs!  So if they lose their jobs this November, I have no sympathy.

Everything the Democrats have tried to do they have washed down so much that it looks more like a  Republican plan than a Democratic plan.  The health care bill didn’t fix anything.  We won’t know exactly what it will do until 2014 when much of it kicks in.  We do know that people with a more progressive agenda did not get their way.  Single payer was taken off long before the bill was completed.  John Edwards said if you let the corporations come to the table they would eat all the food because they’re a bunch of hogs.  I know, there I go about John Edwards again.  He is a horrible person and that’s what we are supposed to remember.  What I choose to remember are the policies he talked about.  He was right about this one.  President Obama invited those pigs in and they ate all the food.  Special deals were made.  Drug companies and insurance companies must have been pretty happy after all of this because they now have new customers that must buy from them.  It’s a closed market.  We are forced to buy from a corporation without any real cost cutting measures in place.  In fact, the people that supported a more progressive agenda for health care issues were not even invited to dine to supply their ideas on this discourse.  The people that really wrote the deal were insiders for the insurance companies.  You can’t play that slight of hand trick with the cards over and over and expect your people to continue to believe in you.  Of course the Democratic Party knows what is best for us even if we don’t.  This elitist attitude is what’s ailing the party.  They just don’t respect the intelligence of their voters.

Many of us Democrats, or used to be Democrats, would like to see the money that is going over to Iraq and Afghanistan come back home and help our war torn societies.  We have spent so much money overseas that we don’t have the money we need to run our city and state governments.  Times are tough.  Most of us want to take care of our own.  Many of us would like to see these wars resolved and the troops brought home.  President Obama was supposedly against the Iraq war but what he has done is really just shift the troops to Afghanistan.  It’s like these wars will never end.  If you have a child in kindergarten, chances are he may be fighting in the Middle East after he graduates!  At home we have to down size everything in our governments which means less police, less service, less education, basically less of everything so we can keep fighting over there.

The Democratic Party is clueless to what was happening with the American people.  The number one priority should have been jobs.  James Carville was right when he said, “It’s the economy stupid!”  It is the economy.  The stimulus package did some good but it fell far short from what it could have done.  The bickering over extending unemployment didn’t help.  Making the unemployment issue into “politics as usual” didn’t help.  When the Democrats cry that they can’t get anything done because they don’t have enough Democrats when they have so many, they appear ‘WEAK”.  They make the Republicans look strong as opposed to appearing just plain bad.  If the Democrats can’t figure out how to run things with the numbers they have, maybe they deserve to lose.  The Republicans didn’t have those numbers but they always managed to get what they wanted when they had control.  This tells me that either there are far too many DINO’s or Republicans are just better at the game.

Another thing that has really bothered me about the Democratic Party is their lack of female candidates.  The Republicans were smart enough to realize that there were a lot of women upset after the 2008 election and the way Hillary was treated.  I have noticed there are a lot of Republican women running for office.  They sound a lot like feminists even though they have a conservative agenda.  I want more women in office.  I could be tempted to vote for a Republican woman just because women are so under represented.  We are over half of the population and yet our laws are still largely written by white men!  When the Democratic Party comes out and attacks these women much like they have this last week with Christine O’Donnell they are tugging at another old wound from 2008.  Many of the women that I have come to know online since 2008 that were Democrats could easily vote for some of these women.  Many would like to see more Democratic female candidates but we recognize that the Democratic Party treats their female candidates horribly.  For as much as the Democratic Party would like us all to believe that they are a “big tent” when it comes to women, they still want us kept in our “place”.  Much like the Catholic Church we are supposed to sit on the sidelines and be supportive.  We are expected to be out at the grass roots level helping to campaign for the candidates.  We can lick envelopes, pass out flyers, make phone calls, canvas an area and make a financial contribution but we aren’t supposed to run the place!

Now I finally come to President Obama.  He governs much like his predecessor.  In fact I think he is a Republican.  He appears to be channeling Ronnie, not Jack or Lyndon and certainly not FDR!  A few weeks ago I heard a woman on CSPAN refer to Barack Obama as a socialist.  I can only wish he would have more of a social agenda.  She is dead wrong.  She said that the media didn’t do their job.  If they had shown what a socialist he was, she and a lot of other people wouldn’t have voted for him.  I thought that was ridiculous.  He really is everything I expected from the election.  I always thought he was more of a Republican and that’s why I didn’t care for him.  I heard his speech the summer of 2007 at the National Education Association conference and he talked about “merit pay”.  (I watched the video on the NEA website.)  Merit pay has always been “union busting” talk from my point of view.  This has been something the Republicans have pushed for years.  It came true under a Democrat.  Unbelievable, but true!  I don’t know exactly how it will work.  I do know that if you want teachers to teach for a test, that is exactly what they will do.  The problem is; it’s just a test.  It may not mean anything when it comes down to real education for your child!  President Obama has also been absolutely insensitive to working class America.  At a time when so many people are out of work and struggling to make ends meet, he vacations continually.  His family vacations much like President Bush did.  We have seen so many pictures of the Obama family on vacation that they don’t look like they have a care in the world.  President Clinton could “feel our pain”.  President Obama looks and acts like he is clueless to what the American people are going through.  If he had a clue, he would dial down these many vacations.  A lot of people gave up their vacations.  Others haven’t vacationed in years because they can never afford it!

In conclusion, if the Democratic Party loses in November, they have no one to blame but themselves.  It’s not because the Republicans are a better alternative, far from it.  The Republicans are a horrible choice.  It is because the Democratic Party forgot the people that put them where they are today.  We voted them in and gave them their jobs.  We handed the keys to the house and expected it would be taken care of.  Instead when we got home it’s like the wayward teenager that had a party.  Some stuff got broken and it didn’t get fixed.  We’re mad as hell parents looking for answers to our wayward teen’s choices and we are getting ready to ground him.  If the Democratic Party wants us to get fired up to vote them back in, they better start coming up with better excuses for their behavior than what we have been hearing!  They better stop taking all of us for granted.  They better repair the damage they created in 2008 and they better start respecting women!  They also better stop sounding like REPUBLICANS!  If we want a Republican in office, we will vote for them.  They could take care of a big issue right now that would show what a true Democrat would do.  They could let the tax cut for the wealthy expire.  Instead we keep hearing talk of an extension which means in 2012 there will be another fight to either extend it or make it permanent.  If they would act like Democrats right now and vote to extend the tax cuts for the working people and get rid of it for the wealthy, they could maybe save their party!

Truthfully, I should be thanking the Democratic Party.  If they hadn’t stolen my vote in 2008, I might not be writing this today.  I probably would never have even considered dealing with my thoughts on this website at all.  When my son set this up as a place for me to write this past Christmas, it was largely because of the events that happened in 2008.  He knew I was online a lot and writing comments on other sites.  He thought I might like writing my own blog.  I never had really given it much thought.  Now, I have discovered my voice.  In many ways I have always considered myself to be, “Silent Kate”.  I would go online and even post many places under that moniker.  I was a silent voice looking for a home.  I now have my home.  I just don’t have my party.  This woman will be silent no longer.  There are a lot of women out there like me looking for a political party that will actually represent them.  If the Democratic Party would like our votes, they should step up to the plate and encourage more women to run for office and they should stop belittling every Republican woman that runs just because she is a woman.  So, if the Democratic Party loses in November, they deserve it!

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It Takes a Whole Village to Raise a Child

  • Posted on September 14, 2010 at 8:27 pm
Global Children

We each must do all we can to help our children reach their full potential.

Today President Obama gave an education speech to the children of America.  Our Superintendent, Rob Olsen, required that we have our students watch the speech.  The speech was well received by the students in my sixth grade art class.  We had a discussion after the speech and I truly believe the students liked what they heard.  However, one girl did moan when the president said that they must do their homework.  Listening to the speech I remembered a quote from an African Proverb:  “It takes a whole village to raise a child”.  Of course, Hillary Clinton also made this point in her book, “It Takes a Village.”

It does take a village to raise a child especially today with all of the economic upheaval many families are facing.  All of us, not just teachers and students, need to step up and make sure our children are getting whatever they need to grow into productive, happy adults.  At Sturgis Middle School, where I teach, all the staff really works hard to create a “family” atmosphere with the students.  It has been my experience that our staff of teachers, administrators and support staff all care deeply about the welfare of our students.  It isn’t just about raising scores on a test even though we all put forth much effort to create a positive testing environment.  Many teachers and staff have worked hard to make sure students get what they need when their physical or emotional needs aren’t met.  In fact our mission statement ensures that all of us get what we need to be the best that we can be.  “Sturgis Middle School is dedicated to the academic, emotional and social development of each individual.”  We have always felt that all of us need to be a part of the mission statement.  Teachers need to continually develop their craft just as students hone in on their academic abilities.  We encourage each other whether we are teachers, administrators or support staff to aim high in whatever we are doing in our lives!

When the president spoke today I think it was a very positive speech for students to hear.  They hear these same things from their teachers, family and other important people in their lives but I think there was something special about a president encouraging my students to do their best.  President Obama talked about possibilities.  He told students to stay focused on education.  He said, “Nobody gets to write your destiny but you!”  He also said, “The farther you go in school, the farther you go in life.”  My students took much of what he said to heart.  I asked the students why they think the president said it is more important now than ever before to get a good education.  This prompted much discussion about jobs going to China and such.  However, one resourceful young boy said, “We must get educated so we can take care of the pollution and carbon emissions.”  I thought for his age this was a substantial response as well as very thoughtful.  I told him how President Clinton had told my son’s graduation class from the University of Michigan about the same thing.  President Clinton implied that his generation messed up the world and my son’s generation would have to fix the pollution and such.

President Obama went on to tell the students to show up on time, pay attention in class, do their homework, and that excellence is essential for success.  He reminded them that they couldn’t just sit around waiting for luck to happen and that hard work can make the difference.  He told them that excelling isn’t about being smarter, it’s about working harder than anyone else.  He also encouraged them to encourage each other and to be proud of each other’s successes.  He encouraged them to fulfill the promise to be the best that they can be.  He told them life is precious and filled with diversity but we all should recognize ourselves in each other.  These were all inspiring words for my students.  He closed by mentioning a little girl’s letter from Georgia.  He quoted her letter by saying, “I try to achieve my dreams and help others to do the same.”

That final quote from the girl from Georgia says it all.  We must all step up and help our children and each other achieve our dreams.  We can’t give up and nor should our children when faced with adversity.  We must march on and create a life that is fulfilling and complete.  Our children should be encouraged to be the best they can be and we as adults must help them accomplish their goals.  If you don’t have a child or you are not a teacher, think about mentoring a child, assisting a coach, volunteering at a school or anything else that supports our children.  If you cannot be present then give your support through charitable organizations that help children get the clothes, heat and other essentials that they need.  We must all remember that education is not just taught by a teacher with a degree.  We can all help in the education of our youth by remembering that it does indeed take a village to raise a child!

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Where’s Waldo?

  • Posted on September 7, 2010 at 7:38 pm

Where's Obama is much like Where's Waldo?

Obama reminding me of Waldo once again!

Yesterday I heard President Obama speak.  He was in Wisconsin at a labor rally for Labor Day.  The speech reminded me of the “Where’s Waldo” books, that my son used to read as a kid, because I was thinking where has this guy been?  The guy that showed up to speak yesterday wasn’t the person we have seen this past year.  President Obama seems to be back in “campaign mode”.  He hit a lot of “right” notes especially with his 50 billion dollar plan for infrastructure and his “no privatization” of Social Security.

The problem is the “believability factor”.  He waits until just before the election to bring out a plan that he knows won’t be able to get through Congress before the election in November.  Is this the ploy?  You have to vote for “his” guys, so they can get the plan through?  Why didn’t he give this speech months ago when it could have been passed before the election?  This is why politics and political parties are looked at with such disgust and mistrust.  Waiting until the last possible moment before an election to introduce a new “plan” makes some of us wonder if this is just a “Hail Mary” pass to save the Democrats in November, or is he really planning on going through with the plan?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYPuQBSYSUE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBLAg1CU03c

From CNN:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/09/06/obama.economy/?hpt=T1

“Today, I am announcing a new plan for rebuilding and modernizing America’s roads, and rails and runways for the long term,” said Obama, who spoke on Labor Day in Milwaukee, Wisconsin — a state that has extremely competitive gubernatorial and U.S. Senate races. “I want America to have the best infrastructure in the world.”

The 50 billion is the up front money but this plan is to work over a period of the next six years.  It has been my understanding that a lot of the stimulus money hasn’t been apportioned out yet which makes this additional money just look like “more pie in the sky.”

Of course Rep. John Boehner and Representative Eric Cantor have already come out against it.  Eric basically labeled it with the word “stimulus” as though that’s a dirty word and said we couldn’t afford any more of that, which should tell everyone that the Republicans will not really invest in the bulk of this country.  They will invest in tax cuts for the wealthy and the business class but everyone else can continue to wait for it to “trickle down”, you know like in a “cold day from hell” time!  Both of these guys will send a never ending supply of money for the wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq which include money for infrastructure over there, but they won’t do anything about our infrastructure over here.  President Obama has labeled the Republicans as the party of “No” and they have lived up to everything he has said about them.

We, as American voters, must decide what to do and it is not an easy decision as neither party seems to have the where with all to get us out of the economic mess that we are in.  The Democrats are willing to try something.  The Republicans only want to take away.  They will extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy and then they will take away benefits like Social Security.  They will develop any program or tax cut that helps the wealthy or the upper echelon of businesses but if you think they will help the rest of us.  Think again!

President Obama has played his “Where’s Waldo” act too many times to be really credible.  He’s been all over the place so it’s hard to figure out where he really is on any given issue.  He say’s he wont “privatize” Social Security but he surrounds himself with people like Alan Simpson.  He said a lot of things during the election and we have had to look all over the place for “Waldo” since he’s been president.  This act does nothing to reassure the American people.  The American people don’t have the energy to search for “Waldo” and carry the water for him any more.  If the Democrats want to win in November they had better get “Waldo” back on track and “visible” and I don’t mean in another “vacation” moment.  We’re tired of seeing “Waldo” and his family on vacation as he appears to be a carbon copy of our last “vacationing” president.  Waldo has to give us more than a speech, more than just words.  We must have real action so we don’t have to keep searching for Waldo as actions speak louder than words.  A picture is worth a thousand words.  Unfortunately, President Obama’s current picture is too close to “Waldo” hiding in a crowd of nothingness.

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The Holy War of Oil

  • Posted on August 28, 2010 at 1:05 pm

My brother told me we are in a “Holy War”.  He was quite serious and took great offense to my position about the Muslim Mosque/cultural center controversy in New York City.  Personally I never thought any war could really be considered “holy”.  You know, “My God is better than your God!” stuff.  For me it’s always come down to the God of “OIL”, who has it and who wants it.  It really could be any mineral or something of value that everyone wants for that matter but in the Middle East is a vast amount of oil.

During the first gulf war Saddam Hussein went into Kuwait and it was also about oil.  Saddam claimed Kuwait was drilling at an angle into Iraq for oil.  Saddam decided to put a stop to that and we decided to stop Saddam.

I was surprised to discover this piece online:

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/us-military-weapons-inscribed-secret-jesus-bible-codes/story?id=9575794

A supplier for military rifle sights puts biblical coding on the guns sights.  Here is one of the citations:

One of the citations on the gun sights, 2COR4:6, is an apparent reference to Second Corinthians 4:6 of the New Testament, which reads: “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

This is also from the article:

U.S. military rules specifically prohibit the proselytizing of any religion in Iraq or Afghanistan and were drawn up in order to prevent criticism that the U.S. was embarked on a religious “Crusade” in its war against al Qaeda and Iraqi insurgents.

To me it is such an oxymoron to consider war to be part of any religious beliefs as most religions teach us to “love one another”.  However, we know that through out history religion has started many wars!  So I ask myself, “Is my brother right?”  Are we secretly involved in a “Holy War” for the religious right?  As a people we believe in the freedom of religion.  You can even be an “Atheist” if you choose.  You don’t have to be Christian; and you don’t have to be Christian to fight for the military as well.  So why must so many people think we are fighting a “Holy War” and how did this get started?

This weekend there is a Glenn Beck rally in Washington D.C. on the Mall.  It’s called the “Restoring Honor Rally” and I am watching it on C-Span as I finish this piece on “Holy War”.  The rally is huge, filled with a number of people that appear to be pretty white and by the make up of the speakers, “Christians”. Sarah Palin was asked to speak as a mother of a soldier, not a politician.  She introduced three war heroes, two from the recent wars and one from Vietnam.

Glenn Beck spoke and kept referring back to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  I found this rather appalling.  Glenn’s rally seemed to me to be more about a “Holy War” and pushing “Christianity” on the world than anything Dr. King ever spoke about.  However, he appeared to have the backing of all the usage of the “King” words and philosophy as Kings’ Niece, Alveda King, was a part of the rally.  She is an anti- abortion activist that had two abortions in her youth that she now regrets.  She acts as a voice for the “Silent No More Awareness Campaign.” Glenn Beck stealing the words of Martin Luther King Jr. is frightening to me.  Just this last week Glenn made a very anti-Catholic statement about social justice.  I talk on here about being raised Catholic with the ideals of social justice often.  Glenn Beck wants people to leave any church that speaks about social or economic justice, saying they were code words for Communism and Nazism.

For me Glenn Beck follows a narrow form of Christianity that probably does indeed believe we are in a “Holy War”.

Glenn talked about the origination of the “Purple Heart” and decided to take a cue from it and give out three special medals based on faith, hope and charity.  “Faith” went to a black minister who talked about sitting next to Martin Luther King Jr.  Unfortunately, I don’t remember his name.  “Hope” went to Albert Pujos who came from the Dominican Republic, scored a 100% on his citizenship test and has a foundation organized for “Down’s syndrome” and finally “Charity” went to John Huntman, Sr. from Salt Lake City, Utah.  He is a rich philanthropist that wrote “Winners Never Cheat: Everyday Values We Learned as Children (But May Have Forgotten)” in 2005.  He is worth about 2 billion and is dedicated to giving away the majority of it.  He was not there to receive the award as he was at the marriage of his granddaughter.

They began this  rally talking about the Mayflower and Native Americans, Indians and it was all about basically saying that America was founded on religion, Christianity.  I feel the underlying implication of this entire rally is that President Obama and maybe the Democrats have some how taken away our “Honor”.  They don’t mention his name but you know it’s there.  .  The rally is about heroes and God, fighting wars and religion.  I dare say it might be about a “Holy War” after all.

After watching this rally I know my brother isn’t alone with his thinking.  For me it’s such a waste of human life and resources in these never ending wars that we seem to be involved in.  Who would have thought that students that I taught in middle school classes many years ago are now preparing to go off to fight these same stupid wars?  We seem to be embattled in endless war.

While our cities, economy, and way of life are being destroyed at home, we continue to battle on in these two wars overseas.  Bush said, “We fight them overseas so we don’t have to fight them here.”  Yes, I know we have had a draw down of sorts recently in Iraq but many more soldiers have just been shifted over to Afghanistan.  At this time it appears that many oil companies are hopeful for their profits in the years to come in Iraq.  Imagine that!

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704125604575449001388136336.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Isn’t it comforting to know that this is the end result of our efforts in Iraq?

I cannot think of a good reason for constant war let alone a “Holy War”.  My favorite song in my youth was the Universal Soldier by Buffy Ste. Marie.  It may have been written in my youth but it is as important of a statement today as it was then.  I used to sing this song all the time.  Here Buffy tells how she wrote the song and then sings it.  Listen to it and you will know that we are the product of war and we continue to be the pawn of war.  It doesn’t matter what religion you are as you know you aren’t supposed to kill, but you will kill.  You will kill for whatever your government tells you is worth killing for!  And if you think this will put an end to war, think again!

Finally here is “Holy War” by Thin Lizzy.

Below are the words to Holy War:

If you will adore me
Bow before me and praise my name
If you place no God before me
Then all I have is yours to claim

And if God is in the heavens
Why did God let children die
If you don’t ask these questions
There is no reasons why

We are chosen
We are one
We are frightened of no one
And no one will win this war
This is the way
This is the law

All the visions shown before you
All the kingdoms and the thrones
All are yours if you bow before me and adore me
All this you can own

There are those that will go to heaven
There are those that will never win
No one knows what will happen
There are those that turn to sin

We are chosen
We are one
We are frightened of no one
And no one will win this war
This is the way
This is the law

(solo)

We are chosen
We are one
We are frightened of no one
And no one will win this war
This is the way
This is the law

We are chosen

The devil is in hell with the demons
This is the holy war

They lead us to our temptation
Lead us, take our souls
There is no evil in salvation
There is evil in us all

Just as Satan tempted Jesus
And Jesus slips and falls
He is a station on the cross now
He is dying to save us all

We are chosen
We are one
We are frightened of no one
And no one will win this war
This is the way
This is the law

We are chosen
We are one
We are frightened of no one
And no one will win this war
This is the way
This is the law

We are chosen
We are one
We are frightened of no one
And no one will win this war
This is the way
This is the law

We are chosen
We are one
We are frightened of no one
And no one will win this war
This is the way
This is the law

If God is in heaven, won’t you save me now
Oh lord forgive them for what they’ve done
Lost children of Babylon
Oh Allah oh no oh no (? )

This is the holy war

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Omar Khadr

  • Posted on August 11, 2010 at 3:30 pm

This is Omar when he was young. He may be 15 here but I am not sure.

This is an artist's skectch from the court case.

I must admit I have a difficult time comprehending the case of Omar Khadr, who is charged with killing a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan.  I doubt there will be much written about the case as it is troubling because of the defendant’s age at the time of the alleged crime.  I am not a fan of Guantanomo Bay.  I think it is wrong to cart people half way around the world, lock them up in pens for years and then try them as enemy combatants.  After President Obama was sworn in he had promised to close Guantanomo Bay.  It hasn’t happened and it probably won’t happen any time soon.  No one seems to know what to do with these people.  They are living in endless hell, far from home without a trial.  Our system of government is based on a right to a speedy trial.  These people do not have these rights nor do they really have any rights.

My problem with the Khadr case is the age of the “enemy combatant” at the time of the crime and the fact that he is actually being charged as an enemy combatant.  He was fifteen and the killing happened in the war in Afghanistan back in July of 2002.  I have a problem with the age of this child at the time of this crime as well as the charges against him based on when he was 10.  I find it rather alarming that a 15 year old was transported across the world to a little island and detained.  I don’t know how we as a country get by with some of this stuff.  I am not saying that the child did not do the crime.  Frankly, I don’t know what he did.

Omar was born in Canada.  His father is Egyptian and his mother is Palestinian.  They moved to Pakistan when Omar was four.  His father was thought to be an associate of Bin Laden by the U.S. government.  His father, Ahmed, moved the family back and forth between Canada and Pakistan.  During the 1995 Egyptian embassy bombing Ahmed was arrested.  The prime minister of Canada at the time was Jean Chrétien who negotiated Ahmed’s release.  After his release he moved his family to Afghanistan.  Omar was picked up after it was suspected that he threw a grenade at soldiers when they were sweeping an area that they thought was an Al Qaeda compound. One soldier died and three other soldiers were injured.  Omar was shot three times.  His father was killed in a battle a year later.

The thing that I and others find most concerning is Omar’s age.  Omar has allegedly been recruited by Al Qaeda at a very young age.  Some people feel he should be classified as a soldier rather than an enemy combatant.  This article is interesting and explains more as this was first brought up in 2007.  http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/04/terrorist_or_ch.html

What I find most troubling is that Omar never had a chance to grow up any other way if indeed he was recruited at such an early age.  This is a good article on the current status of this case.  http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2010/0809/First-Guantanamo-military-tribunal-under-Obama-gears-up

I’m not going to pretend to have any answers here but this seems to me to be wrong to have dragged this kid away from his family and placed half way around the world to spend his young years in a pen at Guantanomo Bay.  I’m not sure I understand either of these “wars” to begin with as neither one is a declared war.  They are both considered military engagements.  It seems to me we want special rules as though we are at war without actually declaring war.

Most people think we are at war because we call it war but we are not in a legally declared war as Congress has not declared war.  They did pass an authorization that allowed President Bush to invade Iraq.  However, they have fallen short to declare either war which I think puts all of these Guantanomo Bay detainees in a strange place.  I’m not a lawyer.  I don’t have a clue about all of the legal mumbo jumbo.  However, I am an educator and I can’t believe that a country based on freedom could think that a child who was obviously influenced and possibly trained from little on to perhaps be a soldier could possibly have had an opportunity to choose any other life for himself!  What choice did Omar have growing up?  Could he have run away when he was four before his father moved from Canada?  When he was ten was he expected to do anything other than what he was told by the adults that took care of him?  If a child grows up knowing only this hate is he responsible for what he may become?  This is a question that should be debated.

Our society here in the United States of America gives all kinds of breaks for the powerful.  Should Laura Bush have gone to jail for the death of her friend when she was a teenager because he died in a car crash she was involved in?  Mel Gibson and Charlie Sheen both seem to have terrible tempers where they allegedly assaulted their mates.  Charlie bought his freedom and Mel may or may not even be charged. The children of the rich and famous continually break the laws and get routine little pats on the hand for their misbehavior.  Yet, when this child, who grew up knowing nothing of what most of us consider to be a “normal” life commits a crime, he is charged as an adult, enemy combatant, and then transported away from his family and friends half way around the world.  I think what we did by that act alone was horrible and could be considered child abuse.  If we do this enough we will probably create even more monsters that hate America.  As I said before I don’t have the answers but I know we must educate people and talk about all of the choices we make as a country.  A normal life may never be an option for Omar but how many other children like Omar are still out there?  We must make a decision about Guantanomo Bay and we must live up to our own ideals as a country!

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Meet “Mayhem”

  • Posted on August 4, 2010 at 2:37 pm

I love the “Mayhem” commercials from Allstate.  If I was in the market for insurance, I might even consider Allstate just because I love their commercials.  Fortunately for me I have a low cost insurance company that I would be hard pressed to leave.  You can catch a good compilation of the commercials here.

http://www.allstate.com/mayhem-is-everywhere/main.aspx

If you haven’t seen the ads, you need to watch for them because they are hilarious.  They are a reminder of the potential “Mayhem” that exists in our lives when we are driving our car.  Too bad “Mayhem” is so handsome even if he acts deranged as real “Mayhem” is much uglier in truth.

These commercials remind me of the mayhem many of us might feel about business and politics today.  Mayhem is all around us.  Just think about the BP oil spill and now the Enbridge spill in Michigan as well.  The problem is no one is really protecting us from it like an insurance company is supposed to do.  The government keeps holding hands with BP like they are star crossed lovers and they are convincing us that everything will be okay because they got married and the baby will not be a “bastard”.  No, in fact that baby has disappeared and you know that old saying, “Out of sight, out of mind!”  However that “Mayhem” is going to haunt us for years to come with health and environmental issues.

Some have felt the deranged sting from “Mayhem” when they lost their jobs and their waiting in line filing for unemployment.  They are put in a state of panic wondering what they are going to do.  The 99ers met “Mayhem” head on and there was no insurance company to bail them out.  Their unemployment ran out before they could figure out how to deal with the mayhem this economy threw at them.

The troops in Iraq and Afghanistan probably meet “Mayhem” often.  He may be waiting in a roadside bomb or a sniper somewhere.  The soldiers do their jobs hoping “Mayhem” stays away from them and their friends.  However, “Mayhem” always finds those people that it really wants to seek and none of our soldiers are safe from “Mayhem”.  The politicians don’t protect them and don’t even put forth good policy decisions that make the soldiers know when the job is really done and they can put “Mayhem” to rest.

“Mayhem” is touching all of us in some way or another.  Our schools are under funded and cuts are being made that will certainly make it easier for “Mayhem” to enter the lives of our most vulnerable, our children.  “Mayhem” might take the appearance of an over- stressed teacher, crowded classrooms or missing programs but “Mayhem” will make an appearance.

As we are stuck defending our homes because of cuts in police protection, be prepared to meet “Mayhem” when someone decides their business is your business.  “Mayhem” happily follows the troubled and the criminal.

“Mayhem” has even entered congress.  How else can we explain the fact that everything seems to be so ineptly handled?  The unemployment extension couldn’t be passed until after the July 4th recess.  Obviously congress didn’t feel the bite of “Mayhem” personally or they would have pushed this through in any way possible as soon as possible.  The “Mayhem” that really exists in congress is the way it works or doesn’t work.  When the Republicans were in power, they didn’t need 60 plus senators to get things done.  However, now that the Democrats are in power, they struggle to get anything done and blame it on the Republicans.  Those Republicans must be very powerful to be so clever.  President Obama came into office with a boat load of people behind him.  He could have done so much but he chose to shake hands with “Mayhem” and let him take over.  It really is sad that “Mayhem” has taken the voice of people like Newt Gingrich.

Senators and Representatives will probably understand “Mayhem” better when they meet him in November.  He’ll be smiling but they will be in the fight for their political lives as most people could care less about anyone in public office today.  Would you throw a lifeline to your senator or representative?  Many people think it’s time to clean house.  The only problem is what will “Mayhem” like this bring us?  More people like Newt Gingrich?  I don’t think that’s what we need but I sure hope “Mayhem” makes everyone think before he leaves us alone after the storm!

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The Boogeyman Politics

  • Posted on July 23, 2010 at 2:47 pm

In our country we cling to the idea that one day we might be rich.  We should all just stop dreaming that fantasy and realize that very few will actually become “rich”.  You can buy all the lottery tickets you can stuff in your pants and you will still lose.  One ticket will take it all.  Are you really feeling that lucky today?  It’s time to let those that have unspeakable wealth step up and save this country.  I, for one, have no trouble taxing the wealthy.  It’s time we got the rest of the country to realize that there is no shame in a truly graduated income tax.  It’s also time to take care of those people that are struggling to make ends meet.  This can be accomplished if we set our priorities straight as a nation.

I am tired of the boogey men that we continually chase as a nation.  For years we were afraid of the “communists”.  They were the boogeyman and we had to hide under our desks at school because they were coming to get us.  Since the world trade towers were destroyed and a couple thousand people were murdered on September 11th, 2001 we have feared the terrorists.  They have been, for the last nine years, the new boogeyman.  As President Bush said many times, “We are fighting them over there so we don’t have to fight them here.”  Franklin Delano Roosevelt famously said, “The only thing to fear is fear itself.”  However, politicians have kept us in a constant state of fear for most of my life.  This fear is used to control how we think and essentially how we vote.  It determines how we view the world and whether we trust our neighbor, both those next door or those who border our countries.  In the past couple of years we have been led to believe that we are all closeted “racists”.  This, I believe, is another form of control over our thoughts and especially our actions.  The boogeyman is the fear of racism.  Since President Obama began his run for the Whitehouse, it has been difficult to separate the fact from the fiction in terms of the racial divide in this country.  While I know there are racists that think they are better than another race, I believe there are far more people that don’t really care about the issue of race.  I have said a thousand times, “Poor is poor. It has no color.”  It is time we bonded together as a nation and realized that much of our fear is man made, created by an establishment of politicians that must find a way to control its masses.  Racism is the new boogeyman.  If we don’t think exactly as predetermined, as we are told we should, we will be labeled a racist.  I really think this is all to control us.

This week we heard the ridiculous saga of Shirley Sherrod.  This woman was taken out of context and we spent the week once again defined by racism.  During this time much else was happening.  Congress finally passed the unemployment extension.  However, they did not include the tier 5 people in this extension.  These are people that have been unemployed for more than 99 weeks.  http://all247news.com/unemployment-extension-calls-for-tier-5-addressed-to-obama-congress-growing/1979/

There is no real sympathy for these people other than platitudes of praise for their on going strength in adversity.  We also didn’t hear much about this sad statistic.  http://mentalhealthnews.org/suicide-rates-among-soldiers-increases/841674/

The suicide rates in the military are on the rise.  How can our country be at war continuously for the past nine years and not expect this breakdown in morale?  While we are busy contemplating the ridiculous story about Shirley being a racist this is going on.  http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gLEgHCUafX_i3fRDvfq626CUAyWgD9H4R3LO2

It seems that we must cut funds for education and every other thing in this country so we can continue to spend money on these two wars.  The troop surge in Afghanistan is costing our nation and our children.  Just today I saw the news that Western Michigan University is upping their tuition by 7%.  While this is all happening did you notice this week when Hillary Clinton went to give aid to Pakistan?  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/19/pakistan-aid-hillary-clin_n_650776.html

The point of all of this is if we are kept busy with the current boogeyman, we will be kept out of the loop of what is really happening in our country.  We must stop fearing the boogeyman and force our country to step up and do the right thing by its citizens.  So, yes, if this means more taxes for the rich and wealthy to help pay for these things that must be done, then I am all for it.  If politicians truly can’t find a way to extract our soldiers from these two wars, then let the rich pay for it.  If politicians can’t find a way to fund health care, then let the rich pay for it.  If politicians can’t find ways to fund our schools, then let the rich pay for it.  If the rich pay enough, maybe we will get out of the wars.  If the rich pay enough, maybe they will work harder to open some factories here so they can benefit from some special tax break and hire more workers.  I’m all for taxing the rich because the rich will make sure some things get done when they feel the pinch that the rest of us feel on a daily basis.  I’m tired of hearing about yet another rich person’s wedding before I hear about real news.  Aren’t you? Today we are bombarded with the Clinton wedding garbage.  Who really cares?  Not me.  I want real news and I want the wealthy to step up and save our country.  I think if you start to have some sympathy for the wealthy, just check out what these athletes get paid and think about your own hard earned paycheck.  http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/more/specials/fortunate50/2009/index.html

Do we really need to see the wealthy and yet another of their many weddings?

This comes from the “Who Rules America” website.  http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html

In terms of types of financial wealth, the top one percent of households have 38.3% of all privately held stock, 60.6% of financial securities, and 62.4% of business equity. The top 10% have 80% to 90% of stocks, bonds, trust funds, and business equity, and over 75% of non-home real estate. Since financial wealth is what counts as far as the control of income-producing assets, we can say that just 10% of the people own the United States of America.

If you still have sympathy and feel that you can trust the political system check out this article and think about how these people vote for their own best interests.  http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/06/13/senators.finances/

It is time for the wealthy to step up and help our country climb out of this recession, get out of these wars, fix our infrastructure and take care of our economic problems.  Let’s stop fearing the political created boogeyman and start working together for logical solutions to our many problems.  Let’s stop putting the rich on a pedestal by watching their weddings, lifestyle, games, movies and start living our life elevated by being educated to what is really going on in this country and what we might be able to do to set things right.  FDR said, “The only thing to fear is fear itself.”  The truth is the only thing to fear is an inactive electorate that is uneducated and over stimulated with the lust for wealth and afraid of the current boogeyman.

I just had to add this list of the richest members of Congress….both Dems and Repubs:

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-richest-members-of-congress-2009-11#olympia-j-snowe-r-maine-1

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Rod Blagojevich: Innocent Until Proven Guilty or Free the “Blago” Tapes

  • Posted on March 7, 2010 at 11:19 am

"Birds of a Feather Flock Together"

I can’t wait to see “Celebrity Apprentice” with Rod Blagojevich.  The media has portrayed Blagojevich as just some crazy crooked governor.  I really think there is a lot more to it.  I was watching C-span last night and I really find Blagojevich extremely interesting.  He has a point with Tony Rezko.  Barack Obama has gotten a free pass on his relationship with Rezko where as Rod Blagojevich’s relationship with Rezko is considered so much more suspicious.  Rod wants the complete tapes released.  He claims that the snippets people are hearing are not the whole story.  I think he has a point.  He mentions Obama and the property Rezko helped him obtain.  The media hasn’t come down on Obama for his Rezko connection.  You never even hear about Rezko and Obama together unless Blagojevich is talking.

Rod says, “Do you have what it takes to fight back?”  I think Rod does.  He’s out there fighting.  I want to know what’s on the tapes with Rahm Emmanuel.  Don’t you?  Rod’s advice, “Surround yourself with good lawyers.”  When Rod met Sarah Palin he told her he spent a couple of years working on the Alaskan pipeline.  His college roommate was appointed Attorney General by Sarah Palin.  As far as his stint on Celebrity Apprentice he says, “We are a society that values celebrity.”  He has to make money for his family.  He felt he was railroaded out of office because he wouldn’t raise taxes on the people of Illinois.  He tried to close loop holes and tax some corporations.  He feels some of these things are the reason he was railroaded out of office.  He says Pat Quinn loans his campaign fund money at 10%.  Rod thinks that’s corrupt when the rest of us can only get 1-2% from a bank.  Rod says he never lost an election because the people placed their trust in him.  He says he’s keeping his face out there because he is innocent.  He reminded the panel that he is innocent until proven guilty.  He suggested that the media should be trying harder to get those tapes out to the public.

I don’t know the truth about this issue.  We all know about “Chicago style politics”.  I do know that my son is in Cook County and his property taxes just went up.  It’s hard to believe his property taxes would go up when he just bought a condo back in July that was foreclosed on.  I know where I am here in Michigan the property taxes are going down because the appraisals are down.  Leave it to the politicians in Illinois to dip into an already depleted source of taxation.  I do think Blago is closer to being one of us than a lot of the politicians that you see on the scene.  My brothers worked on the pipeline.  The elite don’t get their hands dirty with their jobs.  Those jobs are left to the rest of us.  My brothers were anything but the elite.  They grew up in a family of fourteen children.  I have several brothers that went up to Alaska to try to earn money back in the seventies.  Michigan, like now, was a mess economically.  My brothers had dreams of making big bucks and for the most part Alaska has been good to them financially.  Hillary Clinton worked in the fishing industry in Alaska.  That qualifies her to almost be like one of us.  She obviously was willing to get her hands dirty in her Alaskan adventure.  I suspect Blago went to try and make money whereas Hillary probably went for the adventure.   I don’t believe she needed the money.  That’s the difference between the real elite and everyone else.  The elite may do a dirty job just to experience it much like that new show where the CEO of a company plays a common worker for a week.  He knows he’s going back to his real job.  I, of course, am suspicious of that show because the common people are fed up with the rich, CEO pay, and the elite politicians.  We want common sense in politics and we definitely want to not have our civil liberties infringed upon.

How this all relates to Rod Blagojevich I’m not sure but I feel that he came from us, the people.  He wasn’t from the elite.  He started out as one of us so I think let’s just let him have his day in court and release the tapes.  Don’t just give us snippets of information that is used solely to color our minds and don’t protect people like Rahm Emmanuel, President Obama, David Axelrod, and anyone else that might be on those tapes.  We should all be questioning everything about this case as he was so close to President Obama.  If Rod is truly “bad to the bone” what does that make President Obama?  My mother always told me, “Birds of a feather flock together.”  I suspect the president doesn’t want the full tapes released because they might not show him and his people in a positive light!

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