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Past is Prologue

  • Posted on June 24, 2011 at 1:41 pm

My mind works in mysterious ways.  I decided to take the “Way Back Machine” ride.  On the news yesterday there was much talk about what President Obama said about troops coming home from Afghanistan.  It sounds like too little, too late to me.  I was thinking about something I heard recently about the cost of the wars.  The amount I remember is two billion a week.  That is one hefty sum which led me to the internet to do some research.  I came across a recent document from the Congressional Research Service entitled, “The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Global War on Terror Operations Since 9/11.”   http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL33110.pdf

Inside this document there is Table 1 that breaks down the yearly cost.  I highly suggest looking at the document as there are some strange things within it.  Considering these figures, I went on to look up some other information as it pertains to the U.S. National Debt and I came across some interesting old articles.  http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/

The cost to continue these wars is staggering.  On CSPAN yesterday morning Rep. Marcy Kaptur, a Democrat from Ohio, said that it costs $400.00 a gallon for gas for those troops on the front line in Afghanistan.   http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/63407-400gallon-gas-another-cost-of-war-in-afghanistan-

If you read this article you will also discover that it costs a billion dollars for a thousand troops.  Just think about that!

The day before, I also heard Senator Manchin from West Virginia say that the Chinese are mining copper in Afghanistan.  They benefit from our troops in the area but they don’t pay for them!  What are we mining?  Probably more terrorists that hate us!  Representative Kaptur also had a discussion with President Obama.  She wants to take 1% of the defense budget and put it into a jobs program.  She wants to utilize unused bases around the country to start these programs for rebuilding communities hit hard by these economic times.

What I’m trying to get at are a couple of different things.  First of all the Republicans have taken back the tax level for the wealthy to the fifties.  (They have said it’s not just for the wealthy but that we all benefit.)  As a woman, I used to joke about how the Republicans want to take us back to the fifties.  However, it is no joking matter.  Back in 1999 for the first time in 25 years, the US Government planned to reduce the size of the national debt.  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/411973.stm

Towards the end of the Clinton term in September of 2000 he said this, “Like our Olympic athletes in Sydney, the American people are breaking all kinds of records these days. This is the first year we’ve balanced the budget without using the Medicare trust fund since Medicare was created in 1965. I think we should follow Al Gore’s advice and lock those trust funds away for the future.”

Everything was looking promising.  Of course we all now know how much fun everyone made of Gore’s “lockbox” statement.  There is more here on what he had to say on the subject and it is worth remembering considering the current state of things.  http://www.ontheissues.org/celeb/al_gore_social_security.htm

So, what changed everything?  As far as I can tell there were four episodic things that changed the direction of our country.  First were the 2000 election and the decision by the Supreme Court.  Second were the Bush tax cuts.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_policy_of_the_George_W._Bush_administration

Third was the tragedy of September 11th.  Finally, fourth were the decisions to go to war and remain entrenched in Iraq, Afghanistan and now Libya for basically ten years.  Now some would say I forgot about the sup-prime mortgage problem.  However, I think like dominoes, when you put in motion all of the other things, well, shit happens!  It’s like what came first, the chicken or the egg?  In my mind the Bush tax cuts have put an unbelievable strain on our country that can be felt across the nation.  We feel it on our roads, in our schools, and worrying about our jobs.  While many people may think they want to keep their tax cuts, most are probably not thinking about the true cost of those cuts and who benefits the most.  The tax cuts are tricky because they have embedded into them something for families.  So, when the wealthy get their big cuts, people with children are probably okay with it because they get their cuts as well.  Most people don’t think about how those cuts have cost our country in so many ways.  As the federal government does less and less for us, they push more and more back onto the states.  We all know the result of that, cuts and more cuts locally.

States seem to be getting desperate.  I learned about “Project 60” proposed by the governor of Idaho.  Hmm, what could that be?  There is talk on the internet about a Chinese company building a self contained city and bringing their own workers over.  Could we be that desperate?  Here is the message from Governor Otter.  http://www.project60.idaho.gov/message.html

I went to the Project 60 PDF file.  The link is on the page.  Embedded into the nice brochure is this:

Establish an Idaho EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program which grants visas to foreign nationals investing $500,000-$1,000,000.

I ended up at this blog today and I am wondering about all of this.  http://wallstreetpit.com/78558-who-really-owns-america-now

One guy called in on CSPAN yesterday and he stood out because of what he said.  He called us a “plantation nation”.  The wording could have been slightly different than that but I do remember the plantation reference.  He basically feels that business in their pursuit of all things global have made out country and its citizens into a plantation like setting.  We are like a slave nation.  We are the good little worker bees and big business is the owner of the plantation.  He wants the slaves to revolt!  Our children are being told that they are going to have to compete globally.  I don’t think the wages in China are going to bring our own wages up here.  There is no loyalty any more to country.  The loyalty seems to be to business.  Business will go wherever they can produce their product cheaper.  It doesn’t necessarily have to be better but the bottom line is the bottom dollar.  If business can use programs like “Project 60” to import cheaper labor, they will do it.  That means that all of us that thought our jobs couldn’t be out sourced to another country better start thinking about the past and how it relates to the future.

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War, What is It Good For?

  • Posted on June 16, 2011 at 1:03 am

I just have to know if anyone knows how many soldiers died last week.  I was watching ABC Sunday morning with Christiane Amanpour a week ago and she posted the deaths at the end.  There were 14 soldiers in Afghanistan.  I find this so troubling because it simply will make no difference if we stay there two years or two weeks longer.  We got Bin Laden so I say, “Bring the troops home!”

A couple of weeks ago one of my ten brothers called me.  He is a big Obama supporter.  He knows how I feel about the 2008 election and the corruption I see in both parties, but ever hopeful, he asked me if I was going to vote for Obama.  I thought for a minute and I told him two things.  I said the problems with the 2008 primary in Michigan have never been addressed by Obama or the Democratic Party in a way that is believable or satisfactory to me.  Here in Michigan my primary vote was stolen and given to Obama!  However, I told him that if Obama wants my vote, he could do one key thing and probably get it.  He could bring the troops home and end these wars!  I don’t mean a little slight of the hand trick of putting troops in another country and saying we have left the other country, like troops from Iraq placed in Afghanistan.  I mean bring them HOME!

And please tell me what is up with the media?  I get it.  Arnold is a bum.  John is a low life, swindling attorney that you couldn’t trust with your ugliest girlfriend.  Anthony is a fourteen year old boy with a hard on for the secret, or not so secret, life of the internet.  So, why does the media care so much?  It never ceases to amaze me how sex becomes more important than being lied to by an American President who took us to WAR!

In our country, either the media thinks we are more interested in politicians’ sex lives or we are that interested.  I for one am not more interested in the secret lives of politicians than the back deals that they make with corporations to pick pocket the American people.  I’m going to tell you right now I don’t care who you are sleeping with.  I don’t care if you take naked pictures of yourself and send them to other people that probably send some of their own back to you.  However, I do care if you pass legislation that takes us into war, strips money from education and gives it to the defense department, or takes money from the WIC program and gives it to other defense contractors.   http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/166653-republicans-looking-to-gut-wic-food-programs-in-amendment-debate

After all Republicans never met a defense bill that they couldn’t resist passing and Democrats never can truly stand up to the Republicans, not even for the American people.  Talk is cheap in Washington D.C. but heaven forbid if you have a sex scandal.  You can secretly be a bum, but if the world finds out that you are a bum, well, that’s a problem.  My mother used to call that the “Spartan rule” but being a Michigan State Spartan, I now take offense to that reference.  Arnold, John and Anthony perhaps thought that “When in Rome do as the Romans do.”  I don’t know if all three were just doing what other politicians get away with on a daily basis, but I have to wonder why some politicians can be forgiven their bad behaviors and others cannot.

So, back to my original thought, will I vote for President Obama or not in 2012?  I have to wonder what things will look like in the fall of 2012.  Will we still be involved in three different wars in the Middle East?  Will I see my hard earned tax dollars go to more war funding?  Edwin Starr sings it best for me!

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The Obama Legacy

  • Posted on December 20, 2010 at 11:50 pm

With the recent passing of the extension of the “Bush” tax cuts, I’ve been thinking a lot about the Obama presidency and how it will be remembered in history.  I was thinking that the first “black” president is mostly going to be remembered for being the president that lived in the shadow of President George Walker Bush and the continuation of the Bush presidency.  As much as President Obama used to talk about “change you can believe in” the truth is not much has really changed.  We have heard about these tax cuts for years.  The Democrats knew years ago that the deadline for these cuts was looming.  However, they have failed to grasp that fierce “urgency of now”.  President Obama in seeking to be more like his predecessor has ended up diminishing his own presidency.

Many people may be thinking that the American people wanted these tax cuts because we have been indoctrinated with this information for the past couple of weeks.  We have all heard about the polls and how people are for the tax cuts.  I am doubtful that most people even understand what is in the tax cut deal.  They probably don’t know that much about it.  They just may be happy that they got “their cut”.  I don’t know, nor do I presume to understand the masses.  I just know that there is a breaking point and kicking that can down the road means something else is going to have to go soon.  The budget is good until March but rest assured something will have to give soon and I suspect it won’t be good for the little guy.

In my mind, President Obama has become that “token” black president that ends up being just another “Yes” man to the whims of the wealthy and the corporations.  Was he chosen just because he was black?  Was that to appease those of us that clamor for social justice?  Is this what one of my brother’s meant when he said Obama was “black enough”?  I never really understood what that meant.  I am so disappointed in the direction that our country continues to be going that I am dumbfounded as to how this “historic” presidency has become nothing more than another tribute to the wealthy and corporate America, much like the last presidency.

Here is what Obama said about change during the election:

“We can’t be fooled because John McCain – I’ve been talking about change since we started this campaign- some of you were involved. I talked about change when we were up, I talked about change when were down,” Obama told the crowd of 1,700, “But now suddenly John McCain and his running mate Sarah Palin, they’re out there saying ‘we’re for change.’ ‘We’re for change too.’  Well I’m glad that they now agree with me but we’ve got to change America.” But let’s be absolutely clear about what change means – change isn’t just a word.”

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/09/obamas-change-s.html

Change isn’t just a word.  Frankly, I don’t see any real change.  During the campaign his motto was “Change we can believe in.”  In September of 2008 he changed that motto to “Change we need.”

He talked about more of the same versus change.  It’s our turn he said.  Barack said “Change is coming to America.”  He talks to these Iowans with such platitudes about what change is and how it is coming to America but I feel like most people probably now think all they got from his election was some crappy t-shirt.

Here is Obama on passing the tax cut bill:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NiBh7tr9bU

When Bush was president he squandered the good will of the people after September 11th.  We all were one and the whole world was with us.  Much could have been done at that time to bring our country together and do some good but instead that good will was squandered.  We went to war in Afghanistan and ultimately Iraq on borrowed money.  We didn’t sacrifice a thing.  We went on a proverbial drunken spree while the corporations ran amuck through our money and pilfered goods left and right.  No bid contracts were given to corporations like Halliburton, Dick Cheney’s love interest.  Money was flowing from each of our pockets into the deep pockets of corrupt corporations that didn’t care so much about the care of the soldiers as they did about their bottom line, the money that they could make off the war and recently Congress cannot even see to it that the first responders from 911 who have given so much are taken care of.  They would rather pass tax cuts for millionaires than pass anything for the people that really sweat to save and build this country!

Now in walks Obama ready to continue all of the insane policies of the Bush presidency.  From the two unfunded wars to Guantanamo, torture and even now for the tax cuts.  We have all been told that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result.  These tax cuts haven’t created jobs.  We have lost jobs under those Bush years.  Some may think about their own tax cut and think it can be justified, just for that reason.  I have this feeling that we will all suffer greatly for the lack of will that we have today.  The day of reckoning is coming closer and I’m not talking about 2012 and the end of the world.  I’m talking about the end of the dream our country has had for so many years.  As we continue down this path of self destruction we are creating a debtor nation.  I, for one, am sick of the Chinese junk that keeps being sent to our country.  Nothing lasts any more.  When my dad died he had a washing machine that he owned for over 30 years.  We’d be hard pressed to get 10 years out of the current washers.  We are consuming junk and that has become the new norm.  Nothing lasts and neither can our democracy if we continue to let the corporations have control over congress and our country.

President Obama should be ashamed of the direction he is taking our country.  Like his predecessor he had a moment of clarity when he had the whole country and even the world ready to follow him.  He has proven to lack the leadership necessary to talk truth to the people.  He has chosen to align himself with the corporations and big business and has forgotten the plight of the poor.  He continues politics as usual with the same lethargic ideas of the past.  He has forgotten the little guy and has dined with the wealthy and now, like Bush, those are his base, his people.  He is more interested in his next vacation than in the plight of the American poor, homeless, jobless and working poor that think they’re middle class.  He shows no compassion for the needy.  We hear Michelle on TV asking us all to step up and send money to Haiti when we have Haiti on the streets of every city in America.  President Obama cannot seem to recognize this and has removed himself from the plight of the American people.  Maybe he thinks that the poor will always be there, so why bother.  Whatever it is, he is not a president of the people or for the people.  He is a president for the wealthy and the corporations.  It always comes back to business, the business of the wealthy, not the business of the people.  Even his talk about education is all about business.  Everything is about business and creating the future little worker bees to step up and do the work for business.  It isn’t about the life of our country and our freedom, because we have given up some of that freedom to be safe in this crazy insane place, which has a pyramid scheme where the wealthy and business are at the top and the poor are at the bottom.  However, just like a real pyramid those at the top need those at the bottom to help them stand tall.  This has been forgotten under the Obama presidency.  We are back to more “trickle” down theories that never seem to have enough trickles at the bottom to really affect the lives of the poor.  Change we can believe in has been forgotten.  Hope has been replaced with the hopeless.

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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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Wealthy Americans: Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country!

  • Posted on July 21, 2010 at 5:43 pm

What are you willing to do for your country?  We have been asked repeatedly to step up for our country.  During WWII people had to step up by going to war in a foreign land, women had to take on more manual labor, people were encouraged to buy bonds and restrictions were made on the consumption of goods.  My parents had many children.  To get shoes for their children, they would trade gas rationings with my aunt so they could buy shoes.  Today with so many people living as “expatriates”, I wonder what people are willing to do for their country.  The poor always give.  Often times they give because they see no other alternative.  This is why many join the military.  The economy is poor and they are struggling to find work.  However, we have a war economy, so they join some branch of the military.  It might not be their first choice but they may see it as their only alternative when the economy is poor and they are not wealthy.  As you read my take on things, please think about what you are willing to do for your country.

I have two political groups that are nipping at my heels trying to get me to contact my senators for their causes.  Both of these causes are worthy:  One is to save education jobs and Pell grants and the other is for the passage of a clean energy bill.  Both of these causes and their supporters are feeling the crunch because Congress will go into recess in August.  Now as a teacher I have the summer off but I always find it interesting that although Congress just had a big July 4th break they are now going to take all of August off.  For the pay they receive, I find this amazing.  I don’t think the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have that option.  Nor do most of the other government employees that work for all of our states.  If every government worker took August off, a lot wouldn’t get done.  However, senators and congress people are a completely different breed.  While they expect everyone and his brother to change with the times, they remain stuck in some centuries old concept that was based on “beating the heat”.  Is there any wonder that not much really gets done for the people in modern congressional sessions?

So it looks like Harry Reid is waiting until the last possible minute to bring up the climate bill.  http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/39677.html I don’t presume to understand the politics behind this but it seems to me that it will be brought up and voted down as there won’t be enough time to discuss it before the August recess.  On the other hand, if they get it done just before the recess they can talk about it in their campaign speeches.  It’s just so sad that these votes are so political and not handled in the best interest of our nation.  Whether it is voted up or down after the November election who knows who will control congress and what excuses they will give then for being a “do nothing” congress.  Thomas Friedman has an interesting take on the energy bill and it’s worth a read.  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/21/opinion/21friedman.html?src=mv

The American Federation of Teachers is contacting the public to try in get some assistance on saving teachers jobs and Pell grant money.  I received this link.  http://action.aft.org/c/44/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=382

Unfortunately, I don’t know what the bill is.  I know that Senator Harkin had this bill in April and it seems to have gone no where.  http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s111-3206

Teachers are being cut all over the country.  I think these types of bills are temporary fixes to the problem.  Both of these issues, energy and teacher jobs,  would have better chances of passing  or in the case of the teacher problem being corrected, if three distinct things happened in my opinion.  If we withdrew our troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, I think that would free up a considerable amount of money that has been pouring out of our country.  We should also let the Bush tax cuts for those making $250,000 or more run out.  I’m tired of the politicians that claim these wealthy people will hire less people if this happens.  It’s quite apparent that since these tax cuts were voted in there has been a constant bleeding of American jobs.  The truth is any politician that tries to convince anyone with a brain that those tax cuts some how “trickle down” to the American people should be voted out of office.  Finally, the social security cap should be lifted on people making over $250,000.

I am a pragmatist but I have always felt that we have to do everything that we can for the best interest of our country.  The poor have always given to their country with the sweat of their brow in labor and even their lives in war.  It is only patriotic to ask those that have so much to give a little more to help our country when times are tough.  The toil of the poor and their labor built this country.  The poor have always been asked to step up during challenging times.  We now need to ask the wealthy to do their part.  We know they are unlikely to give their children for war or even labor for that matter.  They can give their money to help fuel our economy so that all can prosper in this great country.  I challenge the people making over $250,000 to ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country.

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Interrupted Peace

  • Posted on April 6, 2010 at 9:31 am

I was sitting on the deck this morning in my nightgown drinking my coffee and marveling at the peacefulness of the day.  The sky is rather gloomy looking but so quiet and calm.  The only perceptible sound was the soft chirping of birds as I sat thinking.  I wanted to let my new puppy explore the backyard.  He seems so timid.  Just prior to going out I was lamenting how achy I felt.  As I sat there I noticed my aches lessening and my mind drifted to other thoughts.  I was thinking about random things like how I bet it isn’t so peaceful for people in Iraq or Afghanistan.  As I looked around my backyard I saw the dried up brush from last years flowers but I also saw the potential of the new growth as it is beginning to break through after the cold winter months.  I had a sense of hope about the potential for this coming year beginning with a new puppy and a sense of being at peace with myself.  I thought about how hectic some people make their lives with rushing around and speeding up their lives with all of the new technology gadgets.  I even thought about that saying, “Stop and smell the roses.”  By the time I was finished with my coffee and I decided to take the dog back in I was ready to contemplate my day and decided to write about my peaceful experience. I walked back into the reality of my day by taking an Aleve tablet and then sitting down to type.  I popped up Microsoft Word and thought, “What’s that smell?”  The reality of the day is Brody, the new puppy, had for the second time pooped in my downstairs bedroom.  I can’t imagine when he snuck in there to do it as I immediately took him out before and after his meal.  I thought what a contrast in my morning, peacefulness to frustration with doggy potty training!  Cats are so much easier to train.

Brody, the new puppy, guilt free after his little deception!

Snow Bella, always a quick learner, and always distracting me from what I want to do!

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