It has been quite a week of contrasts. First let me begin with what is right. We saw once again that our country can come together in the time of crisis. The city of Boston showed what any community does in the time of crisis. It helps those in need and does so in an unabashed fearless way that only makes one wonder why we have to wait until a crisis to see the good in people.
We also saw some of what is really wrong with the country. While 90% of the population favoring some type of gun regulation, the US Senate did not have the courage to stand up to the most powerful lobby in the country, The NRA, and voted down a simple gun registration law. They did this while the events in Boston were page one on all the media outlets. They knew that their lack of courage, which would have been spotlighted on almost any other day of the year, would go largely unnoticed as a result of the terror attack. Not even the President on the lawn of the White House with parents from Sandy Hook broke through.
But this latest failure by our elected officials is but a symptom of what we have become. This lack of leadership and more importantly an inability to do the right thing exemplified by our nation's leaders has been trickling down to those of us who try to go about our business every day and are stopped in our tracks by those who simply are in a position to put up roadblocks.
Tasks and daily chores at the city or community level that used to be taken as common courtesy are now being filibustered by small minded people who simply refuse to help or even do their job simply because they can. There is no oversight or even if so, the overseers have no power to stop those who they supervise.
I began to see this degradation in society several years ago. I wanted to add onto my home. I had gone through the entire planning and pre-permitting process before I was denied a permit to build an additional room and bathroom. Why? Because someone said my home was built closer to the next property than what now was allowed.
My home was built almost 30 years before I purchased it. I have to assume that at that time it conformed to current laws and regulations. Yet someone in the planning department just decided to make things difficult.
The addition to my home was not even on that side of the house so why should this matter. Eventually I was able to get the permit but not before I had to wait several weeks and go before a building commission to beg them to allow me to add onto my house.
When I was young teachers like to teach. They were respected. The problem was that I was lazy and did not want to study. Now for many like my daughter they know that the only way to get a head is to study. But the roles have been reversed. My daughter is begging for help from her teacher and he refuses to help. Why? He appears to be lazy but it gets even better. They are "on strike" this week and refuse to help their students who need extra time at lunch. He has also refused to help during his two prep periods. To make matters worse, the teacher gives an exam on material that the students cannot get help on and then wonder why they are not "getting it" in class.
My wife has taught art part time in the schools for almost 14 years. She has received nothing but positive scores on her performance review for the past 12 years. She had been through two principals before a third arrived two years ago. Although she had hardly spent any time with her the Principal decided to give her two poor scores on her performance review; just for the fun of it.
My wife had been teaching an optional after school art program for some of the kids who enjoyed the program but wanted more art than was being offered during the school day.
A full time teacher in the school decided that she liked art and wanted to teach after school art too competing with my wife. Now my wife is the only art teacher in the district that has to compete with another teacher teaching art in her school. To make matters worse this other teacher is now teaching curriculum that my wife teaches during school that is part of the required state standards!
The parents are paying for something that is being taught for free.
My neighbor, after seven years working at a company flies to Europe on business only to be blindsided when he is terminated upon his arrival.
I am sure you have examples of some of the inequities out there that you have been victim to. But the question needs to be asked: when did we become a nation of a**holes?
With freedom comes responsibility. What exactly does that mean? With freedom we do have free will and can do within limits what we want. But what most have forgotten is that with that freedom we need to remember to do the right thing by people. When did common decency between two people become a sign of weakness. It is that part of the equation that we seem to have forgotten and this week the spotlight has shown brightly.
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Second Time Around
We witnessed history yesterday as Barack Obama was sworn in for his second term as President of the United States of America. While everyone was very honorable in their demeanor yesterday, you and see once again the party lines being drawn.
Republicans, your shtick is getting old. I heard Fox News pundit Bill O'Reilly saying last night that the Republican party is not yet done. Well, I would agree Bill, but it is on life support if you look at it objectively. Let's review: For the past four years, during one of the deepest recessions since the great depression, the Republican Congress has obstructed more proposals and passed the fewest bills of any of its modern day predecessors. Now they are trying a new strategy: The President is a bully...he won't work with us. He refuses to socialize with us.
Here is some advice to the Republicans. You need to treat the American citizen with a bit more intelligence than you have been treating them for the past five or so years. They remember what you say and what is reported in the press.
For example, when the Minority Leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell says that their number one priority is to make Barack Obama a one term president, people remember that. They also know that when their house is under water and they don't have a job, cannot make their house payment and have difficulty putting food on the table, Republican gamesmanship is the last thing they want to hear. When the debt ceiling has been raised unceremoniously for as long as anyone can remember and Republicans put the country's debt in jeopardy and threaten a government shutdown, people remember that. When the President is dogged by extremists who say he is a Muslim and not born in this country and the Republican party or leadership does not forcefully dismiss these unsubstantiated allegations, people remember that too.
It is also time to come back into the mainstream. Women's reproductive rights, for example, is already settled law. Supporting allowing companies to dictate the type of health care services they want to provide employees because it interferes with the employers' religious beliefs is not a way to win over the majority of the citizens of this country. Demanding that benefits we already have paid for need to be cut back because the government borrowed money from the account is also not the way to win over the electorate. Finally, taking a hard line stance against restricting weapons that are just designed to do the maximum amount of damage is not a way to win over most rational thinking people.
The Republicans have a built in contradiction to their party. They have always been for fiscal responsibility, smaller government and less regulation letting the private sector dictate the direction of the country. There is nothing wrong with this philosophy. But somewhere along the line the message got turned around. Under Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush deficits skyrocketed. Government became much bigger. Under President G.W. Bush two wars were started without any way to pay them off. He put it on the country's credit card. On top of that he told everyone that they were getting a tax refund! Does this sound like the Republican party that is fiscally responsible and a strong advocate for smaller government?
Then from left field the party that believes in personal responsibility for business has told people how they expect to live their lives; women in particular. They want to limit a woman's right to choose, they want doctors doing ultrasounds for women who want to consider aborting their fetus'. Some of their party members proudly proclaimed that rape should be redefined calling it "legitmate rape." So while they are all for deregulating business, saying that environmental protection is too strict and letting the banks run wild again, socially they are willing to regulate woman's health care issues to those that existed 100 years ago. There is just a huge contradiction between their party ideology and their practice. This is what is holding the party back and the American people see it.
It is there for all to see. These are just some of the issues that the right has taken and for lack of a better term, perverted it. They are largely led by Fox News, their media arm or from lobbyists like Grover Norquist or the NRA. If the Republicans want to have a place on the national stage in years to come, they need to have a better vision and see where the country is going.
Republicans, your shtick is getting old. I heard Fox News pundit Bill O'Reilly saying last night that the Republican party is not yet done. Well, I would agree Bill, but it is on life support if you look at it objectively. Let's review: For the past four years, during one of the deepest recessions since the great depression, the Republican Congress has obstructed more proposals and passed the fewest bills of any of its modern day predecessors. Now they are trying a new strategy: The President is a bully...he won't work with us. He refuses to socialize with us.
Here is some advice to the Republicans. You need to treat the American citizen with a bit more intelligence than you have been treating them for the past five or so years. They remember what you say and what is reported in the press.
For example, when the Minority Leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell says that their number one priority is to make Barack Obama a one term president, people remember that. They also know that when their house is under water and they don't have a job, cannot make their house payment and have difficulty putting food on the table, Republican gamesmanship is the last thing they want to hear. When the debt ceiling has been raised unceremoniously for as long as anyone can remember and Republicans put the country's debt in jeopardy and threaten a government shutdown, people remember that. When the President is dogged by extremists who say he is a Muslim and not born in this country and the Republican party or leadership does not forcefully dismiss these unsubstantiated allegations, people remember that too.
It is also time to come back into the mainstream. Women's reproductive rights, for example, is already settled law. Supporting allowing companies to dictate the type of health care services they want to provide employees because it interferes with the employers' religious beliefs is not a way to win over the majority of the citizens of this country. Demanding that benefits we already have paid for need to be cut back because the government borrowed money from the account is also not the way to win over the electorate. Finally, taking a hard line stance against restricting weapons that are just designed to do the maximum amount of damage is not a way to win over most rational thinking people.
The Republicans have a built in contradiction to their party. They have always been for fiscal responsibility, smaller government and less regulation letting the private sector dictate the direction of the country. There is nothing wrong with this philosophy. But somewhere along the line the message got turned around. Under Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush deficits skyrocketed. Government became much bigger. Under President G.W. Bush two wars were started without any way to pay them off. He put it on the country's credit card. On top of that he told everyone that they were getting a tax refund! Does this sound like the Republican party that is fiscally responsible and a strong advocate for smaller government?
Then from left field the party that believes in personal responsibility for business has told people how they expect to live their lives; women in particular. They want to limit a woman's right to choose, they want doctors doing ultrasounds for women who want to consider aborting their fetus'. Some of their party members proudly proclaimed that rape should be redefined calling it "legitmate rape." So while they are all for deregulating business, saying that environmental protection is too strict and letting the banks run wild again, socially they are willing to regulate woman's health care issues to those that existed 100 years ago. There is just a huge contradiction between their party ideology and their practice. This is what is holding the party back and the American people see it.
It is there for all to see. These are just some of the issues that the right has taken and for lack of a better term, perverted it. They are largely led by Fox News, their media arm or from lobbyists like Grover Norquist or the NRA. If the Republicans want to have a place on the national stage in years to come, they need to have a better vision and see where the country is going.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
What A Mess
Happy New Year. For most of us our taxes will not be going up as of yesterday. It would seem that the circus that is the House of Representatives in a brief moment of sanity passed the bill that now averts for a couple of months higher taxes for all and automatic spending cuts to defense and what are known as "entitlements" in the US will be put off for now.
But as of this morning some of the biggest blowhard Republicans are crying that they were sold out by John Boehner and the others that voted to raise taxes on just those making more than $400,000 individually and $450,000 as a couple. Newt Gingrich tweeted that the GOP has been engaged in a two month dance of defeat and surrender. Donald Trump called the Republicans the worst negotiators in history. Other prominent Republicans were equally disdainful of the bill but in the end the President signed it and America lives on. Even Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader, reportedly hated the compromise deal so much he threw it in the fireplace and let it burn. One thing was clear: the Republican leadership was fractured by this vote with Boehner and former Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan voting for the bill and Eric Cantor voting against.
With this latest drama played out on the world stage the biggest concern for the 98% of us is that the power concentrated in the remaining 2% should be of concern to the rest of us. How can the power and leverage be so strong that what should seem like an easy decision comes down to a nail biter between our elected representatives and the American people? Who best represents this concentration of power? The lobbyists. We know that Grover Norquist and his organization, Americans for Tax Reform, has extracted pledges from most of the the conservatives on Capital Hill to never raise taxes and worked hard to protect the 2%. But there are undoubtedly many whose names we do not know how are also twisting arms behind the scenes. It is those that we need to be really concerned about.
Who was the real winner here: Compromise. This is something that has been missing in Washington since 2008. Without a filibuster proof majority this administration has had a very difficult time moving forward its agenda. An agenda at times aligned with what was at one time the Republican's own agenda. As John Boehner was appointed Majority Leader of the House of Representatives he proclaimed on CBS' 60 Minutes that he felt that he did not need to compromise. Two years later he made good on his pledge and the 112th Congress became the least productive since the 1940's passing just 383 bills while the Congress before it passed 463.
But will this be a new trend in Washington or just a momentary pause in the conservatives drive to destroy the recovery in America? The Congress is already gearing up for the next fight which will be over the sequester, automatic cuts to defense, social security and medicare, and their tying is to the tie it to the debt ceiling. That will take place in the next 6 - 8 weeks. The President has said that tying anything to the debt ceiling will be a non starter in any negotiations.
Another residual fallout from this so called mini deal is that victims from Hurricane Sandy will not receive additional aid. Influential Congressman like Republican Peter King from New York and Governor Chris Christie are outraged that members of their own party would betray them in their time of need. He squarely placed accountability with House Speaker John Boehner saying that he was responsible for continuing the pain and suffering of innocent victims of a natural disaster. Could John Boehner not only be the worst Speaker of the House in modern day history but also the laziest?
So where do we go from here? If you here it from the right wing pundits it was a crushing defeat for the Republican party and the Tea Party in particular. They say that this is nothing more than a tax increase without a spending decrease. But the news is not all bad. What is not being reported is that the deficit has been shrinking slow under the Obama presidency. What pundits and the media seem to be downplaying is if this latest deal has been a good one for the American people. The early answer seems to be yes, but we will know more in just a few more weeks. Stay tuned.
But as of this morning some of the biggest blowhard Republicans are crying that they were sold out by John Boehner and the others that voted to raise taxes on just those making more than $400,000 individually and $450,000 as a couple. Newt Gingrich tweeted that the GOP has been engaged in a two month dance of defeat and surrender. Donald Trump called the Republicans the worst negotiators in history. Other prominent Republicans were equally disdainful of the bill but in the end the President signed it and America lives on. Even Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader, reportedly hated the compromise deal so much he threw it in the fireplace and let it burn. One thing was clear: the Republican leadership was fractured by this vote with Boehner and former Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan voting for the bill and Eric Cantor voting against.
With this latest drama played out on the world stage the biggest concern for the 98% of us is that the power concentrated in the remaining 2% should be of concern to the rest of us. How can the power and leverage be so strong that what should seem like an easy decision comes down to a nail biter between our elected representatives and the American people? Who best represents this concentration of power? The lobbyists. We know that Grover Norquist and his organization, Americans for Tax Reform, has extracted pledges from most of the the conservatives on Capital Hill to never raise taxes and worked hard to protect the 2%. But there are undoubtedly many whose names we do not know how are also twisting arms behind the scenes. It is those that we need to be really concerned about.
Who was the real winner here: Compromise. This is something that has been missing in Washington since 2008. Without a filibuster proof majority this administration has had a very difficult time moving forward its agenda. An agenda at times aligned with what was at one time the Republican's own agenda. As John Boehner was appointed Majority Leader of the House of Representatives he proclaimed on CBS' 60 Minutes that he felt that he did not need to compromise. Two years later he made good on his pledge and the 112th Congress became the least productive since the 1940's passing just 383 bills while the Congress before it passed 463.
But will this be a new trend in Washington or just a momentary pause in the conservatives drive to destroy the recovery in America? The Congress is already gearing up for the next fight which will be over the sequester, automatic cuts to defense, social security and medicare, and their tying is to the tie it to the debt ceiling. That will take place in the next 6 - 8 weeks. The President has said that tying anything to the debt ceiling will be a non starter in any negotiations.
Another residual fallout from this so called mini deal is that victims from Hurricane Sandy will not receive additional aid. Influential Congressman like Republican Peter King from New York and Governor Chris Christie are outraged that members of their own party would betray them in their time of need. He squarely placed accountability with House Speaker John Boehner saying that he was responsible for continuing the pain and suffering of innocent victims of a natural disaster. Could John Boehner not only be the worst Speaker of the House in modern day history but also the laziest?
So where do we go from here? If you here it from the right wing pundits it was a crushing defeat for the Republican party and the Tea Party in particular. They say that this is nothing more than a tax increase without a spending decrease. But the news is not all bad. What is not being reported is that the deficit has been shrinking slow under the Obama presidency. What pundits and the media seem to be downplaying is if this latest deal has been a good one for the American people. The early answer seems to be yes, but we will know more in just a few more weeks. Stay tuned.
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Where Does It All Stop
It has been a little over a week since one of the darkest days in the history of American senseless violence occurred in Newtown, Connecticut. 26 people, children and educators lost their lives. That is the darkest day since the last senseless slaughter of innocents occurred in Oregon just a day or two before that. Then there was the shootings in Aurora, Colorado, the near assination of Representative Gabby Giffords and the loss of human life in on that day in Arizona. One thing is for sure, this type of gun violence occurs frequently in this country. Since 1980 there have been 61 mass shootings in the United States.
Pathetically this type of thing is now happening all too often in America. Gun rights advocates say that a the time of these senseless incident is not the right time to discuss laws to control gun sales. But at this point, with the frequency of these shootings, that means by definition you can never discuss the subject. But when it does come up you get someone like Wayne LaPierre, Executive Director for the National Rifle Association saying that armed guards should be placed at every school in the United States. What about shopping malls? What about movie theatres? What about post offices? Why don't we just post an armed guard at the entrance to every public venue like parks and businesses? This should take care of the problem.
For a long time we heard that "guns don't kill people, people kill people." These same gun advocates say that cars kill thousands of people every year and ask, "are we going to ban cars too? " My response to that is simple. Over the years cars have actually become safer. For years safety glass is now required on all vehicles. Seat belts which at one time were optional on all cars are now standard on all vehicles as is a supplemental restraint system (airbags). Developments in automotive technology like anti-lock breaks and traction control are also features that make cars even safer than they once were. One could rattle on about all the safety features added to the automobile in the past 50 years and they were not always popular with the driving public or the manufacturer. But people still get to drive cars and it is not even a right, but a privilege.
So what about guns? Have they become safer? I am no gun expert but the proliferation of fire arm incidents in this country has exploded (pardon the pun). Of the last 11 mass shooting in the US, 5 of them have occurred since 2007. Over 15,000 murders occurred in the US in 2011. Why in a country like the United Kingdom were there only 619 murders in the same year?
At this point let me make a disclaimer: I have nothing against gun ownership...if you need a gun or even reasonably want a gun. If you are a hunter, target shooter or even a collector of firearms have at it. I used to shoot trap and owned a shot gun. I don't anymore. The second amendment of The US Constitution allows for fire arm ownership in the United States. I respect that.
So what can be done? We as a society have to ask whether or not any gun is available for sale? What do we need guns for that shoot multiple automatic rounds? Why should someone be allowed to purchase automatic weapons? We need to ask ourselves whether or not the lives of innocent non-armed people are less valuable than some one's right to purchase a high powered weapon? We need to better understand why criminals are often better armed than law enforcement?
If you use the car analogy, why can't guns be sold with mandatory gun locks? Why can't a purchaser of a fire arm be required to prove that they have a safe method for storage of that fire arm? What about a background check and waiting period? Would this not be an evolutionary improvement on this tool just as an automobile is used as a tool?
This country is looking at an overall solution to violence. Video games, music lyrics, those that should not own weapon, media images and violent TV shows should all be on the table as debatable solutions to reducing violence of any kind in this country.
Maybe it is time to start looking at weapons and fire arms from a different point of view. Rather than either for or against, it is time to be rational and reasonable about owning a gun or guns. We need to take a more pragmatic rather than dogmatic approach. In our Constitutional Republic we have always compromised as a means to make for a more perfect nation. While for some compromise has become a dirty word in the past few years, compromise is what is needed to solve this very divisive issue. No one is for what is happening now. One surprising fact: gun ownership in the US is at an all time low. You would not know it by all the destruction they cause. It is time to change that.
Pathetically this type of thing is now happening all too often in America. Gun rights advocates say that a the time of these senseless incident is not the right time to discuss laws to control gun sales. But at this point, with the frequency of these shootings, that means by definition you can never discuss the subject. But when it does come up you get someone like Wayne LaPierre, Executive Director for the National Rifle Association saying that armed guards should be placed at every school in the United States. What about shopping malls? What about movie theatres? What about post offices? Why don't we just post an armed guard at the entrance to every public venue like parks and businesses? This should take care of the problem.
For a long time we heard that "guns don't kill people, people kill people." These same gun advocates say that cars kill thousands of people every year and ask, "are we going to ban cars too? " My response to that is simple. Over the years cars have actually become safer. For years safety glass is now required on all vehicles. Seat belts which at one time were optional on all cars are now standard on all vehicles as is a supplemental restraint system (airbags). Developments in automotive technology like anti-lock breaks and traction control are also features that make cars even safer than they once were. One could rattle on about all the safety features added to the automobile in the past 50 years and they were not always popular with the driving public or the manufacturer. But people still get to drive cars and it is not even a right, but a privilege.
So what about guns? Have they become safer? I am no gun expert but the proliferation of fire arm incidents in this country has exploded (pardon the pun). Of the last 11 mass shooting in the US, 5 of them have occurred since 2007. Over 15,000 murders occurred in the US in 2011. Why in a country like the United Kingdom were there only 619 murders in the same year?
At this point let me make a disclaimer: I have nothing against gun ownership...if you need a gun or even reasonably want a gun. If you are a hunter, target shooter or even a collector of firearms have at it. I used to shoot trap and owned a shot gun. I don't anymore. The second amendment of The US Constitution allows for fire arm ownership in the United States. I respect that.
So what can be done? We as a society have to ask whether or not any gun is available for sale? What do we need guns for that shoot multiple automatic rounds? Why should someone be allowed to purchase automatic weapons? We need to ask ourselves whether or not the lives of innocent non-armed people are less valuable than some one's right to purchase a high powered weapon? We need to better understand why criminals are often better armed than law enforcement?
If you use the car analogy, why can't guns be sold with mandatory gun locks? Why can't a purchaser of a fire arm be required to prove that they have a safe method for storage of that fire arm? What about a background check and waiting period? Would this not be an evolutionary improvement on this tool just as an automobile is used as a tool?
This country is looking at an overall solution to violence. Video games, music lyrics, those that should not own weapon, media images and violent TV shows should all be on the table as debatable solutions to reducing violence of any kind in this country.
Maybe it is time to start looking at weapons and fire arms from a different point of view. Rather than either for or against, it is time to be rational and reasonable about owning a gun or guns. We need to take a more pragmatic rather than dogmatic approach. In our Constitutional Republic we have always compromised as a means to make for a more perfect nation. While for some compromise has become a dirty word in the past few years, compromise is what is needed to solve this very divisive issue. No one is for what is happening now. One surprising fact: gun ownership in the US is at an all time low. You would not know it by all the destruction they cause. It is time to change that.
Thursday, December 6, 2012
No Lessons Learned From The Last Election...Reality Check
Just received this from a right wing friend.
' "A
Lesson in Irony. The Food Stamp Program, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is proud to be distributing
this year the greatest amount of free Meals and Food Stamps ever, to 46 million
people.
Meanwhile, the National Park Service, administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior, asks us "Please Do Not Feed the Animals."Their stated reason for the policy is because "The animals will grow dependent on handouts and will not learn to take care of themselves."
Thus
ends today's lesson in irony' "
OK Now For Some Reality
First of all do you think the government is really “proud” to be
distributing the greatest amount of free meals and food stamps ever?
Secondly, last I looked there was no shortage of jobs in the forest due
to a real estate meltdown, two un-funded wars, tax breaks for the wealthy and
their work is not being outsourced to the lowest bidder. They also don’t have
to deal with deregulated banks, Wall Street bandits and a do nothing
obstructionist Congress in the woods. There is plenty of food in the forest for
the animals.
Finally, real wages have not gone up significantly for workers in 30
years. The working class has had to work harder becoming the most productive
workforce in the world with little increase in pay while US corporate
executive pay has skyrocketed 728% between 1978 and 2011. Worker pay
has risen just 5.7% in the same period according to the Economic Policy
Institute. What do you think is going to happen? This has led to a lower
standard of living. I guess the working class should just buck up? Most of us
are workers. Be careful, you could be on food stamps too one day.
Thus ends today’s lesson in telling the real story.
Thursday, November 8, 2012
The Real Losers, Some Advice and Mitt Romney
Another election behind us. This one turned out Ok. We accepted Michele Bachmann and kept President Barack Obama. That is a deal I would take any day. Nothing is perfect but this is close enough.
Let's begin with what we got: America continues on the right track and will likely be headed in that direction for the next four years with or without the Republicans. The Supreme Court is safe for now with no crazies waiting in the wings to be appointed by a Republican president. We won't gut the economic recovery by selling out the poor and middle class so that the rich and ultra rich get tax breaks.
The real loser: Not Mitt Romney. He will get over it and take his quarter billion and move on. But Carl Rove how do you answer to some of the richest and most powerful people in this country (and maybe the world; we'll never know) and tell them that you wasted $390 million of their dollars? Maybe the best images of Tuesday night was of Rove telling Fox News that they should not call Ohio because it was too early only to be told by the number crunchers in the back room that they could call this with 99.95% certainty. Priceless! Rove looked over his shoulder on set a couple of times. I wonder who he is expecting?
Some advice: So here is my observation. Most of my right wing buddies, and I do have many of them only watch, read and hear what reinforces their own opinions and ideology. They go to right wing websites, right wing newspapers, right wing bloggers and the grand daddy of the all, Fox News for all of their information. They get all the red meat they need. The only issue is that they are often wrong. Just ask poor Dick Morris who is often wrong but was really wrong predicting a big Romney win. What a surprise.
So here is the advice. Look around you. The media is not what it used to be. Go to outlets that are both right and left and try to pick a couple that are pretty accurate. I for one went to CNN on election night and Fox News. I knew what MSNBC would be say. Fox was beautiful; deer in the headlights. On a regular basis I watch both MSNBC and Fox just for entertainment but I certainly don't pretend that either is my source for news. I would choose ABC or CBS for that. If you want to get blindsided next time, keep doing what your are doing. I for one hope you do.
Mitt Romney: I am sure you are a nice guy one on one. But you had a hard time connecting with people that have to go to work every day. That is understandable. But there are two things that lost this election for you in a big way. 1.) You just cannot flip flop on big ideas like health care and abortion. You cannot be for something and then against it and then kind of for it all in the same race even if it is a primary and general election race. 2.) You cannot think that the American people are stupid enough to forget your campaign manager saying that you can Etch-E-Sketch away positions. It is one thing to do it and another to say that you are going to do it. Your campaign team also said that they were not going to let "facts" get in the way of your campaign message. Again, people are not that stupid but your campaign manager thinks we are.
We need to remember that we still have a lot of challenges ahead of us in the next four years. There is a lot to do and real work lies ahead. The campaign is over and it is time to govern again. It would be great if the right and the left could find common ground to solve very real issues that face our country and our world. Part of me wants to think that it will be different this time around. But the other part of me looks at recent history and the divide in this nation and I have to temperate my enthusiasm. We wait and we will see.
Let's begin with what we got: America continues on the right track and will likely be headed in that direction for the next four years with or without the Republicans. The Supreme Court is safe for now with no crazies waiting in the wings to be appointed by a Republican president. We won't gut the economic recovery by selling out the poor and middle class so that the rich and ultra rich get tax breaks.
The real loser: Not Mitt Romney. He will get over it and take his quarter billion and move on. But Carl Rove how do you answer to some of the richest and most powerful people in this country (and maybe the world; we'll never know) and tell them that you wasted $390 million of their dollars? Maybe the best images of Tuesday night was of Rove telling Fox News that they should not call Ohio because it was too early only to be told by the number crunchers in the back room that they could call this with 99.95% certainty. Priceless! Rove looked over his shoulder on set a couple of times. I wonder who he is expecting?
Some advice: So here is my observation. Most of my right wing buddies, and I do have many of them only watch, read and hear what reinforces their own opinions and ideology. They go to right wing websites, right wing newspapers, right wing bloggers and the grand daddy of the all, Fox News for all of their information. They get all the red meat they need. The only issue is that they are often wrong. Just ask poor Dick Morris who is often wrong but was really wrong predicting a big Romney win. What a surprise.
So here is the advice. Look around you. The media is not what it used to be. Go to outlets that are both right and left and try to pick a couple that are pretty accurate. I for one went to CNN on election night and Fox News. I knew what MSNBC would be say. Fox was beautiful; deer in the headlights. On a regular basis I watch both MSNBC and Fox just for entertainment but I certainly don't pretend that either is my source for news. I would choose ABC or CBS for that. If you want to get blindsided next time, keep doing what your are doing. I for one hope you do.
Mitt Romney: I am sure you are a nice guy one on one. But you had a hard time connecting with people that have to go to work every day. That is understandable. But there are two things that lost this election for you in a big way. 1.) You just cannot flip flop on big ideas like health care and abortion. You cannot be for something and then against it and then kind of for it all in the same race even if it is a primary and general election race. 2.) You cannot think that the American people are stupid enough to forget your campaign manager saying that you can Etch-E-Sketch away positions. It is one thing to do it and another to say that you are going to do it. Your campaign team also said that they were not going to let "facts" get in the way of your campaign message. Again, people are not that stupid but your campaign manager thinks we are.
We need to remember that we still have a lot of challenges ahead of us in the next four years. There is a lot to do and real work lies ahead. The campaign is over and it is time to govern again. It would be great if the right and the left could find common ground to solve very real issues that face our country and our world. Part of me wants to think that it will be different this time around. But the other part of me looks at recent history and the divide in this nation and I have to temperate my enthusiasm. We wait and we will see.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Brainwashed
With the Democratic Convention just hours away the amount of flat out made up completely false, COMPLETELY FALSE information coming from the Republicans is at a pace I have never seen in US politics following it closely for over 30 years.
Let's go back a few days. Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan during his acceptance speech blamed the President for a GM plant closing in Wisconsin. That was a claim that was almost immediately debunked when in reality it was getting to close on W's watch before Obama was even sworn in as president. Now today he claims that he never even said what he said.
Today the Republicans are making automated phone calls to anyone who won't hang up the phone claiming that President Obama has changed Medicare and that it will never be the same. Another false claim.
My question? If the Romney Ryan ticket can't tell the truth now, do we really think they will tell the truth once they would be elected. Anybody out there think that?
What ever happened to people just simply telling it like it is. Everyone stretches the truth now and then and politicians get a bit of an artistic license on both sides. But flat out making things up. When did that become accepted? Then you wonder why our kids don't tell us the truth? That is the true trickle down. When our leaders or presumptive leaders flat out lie, what should be expected by the rest of us? It is a sad erosion of our society.
What is even worse is that I received something over the weekend regarding the Affordable Health care Act. It was nearly an 11 minute video challenging point by point Obama care. It was a beautifully produced video professionally narrated. As I went through several of the preposterous assertions I decided to actually pull up the bill itself. Since the video gave specific pages and sections and quotes, I figured that they would be easy to find. I researched the first five claims which were in the first minute of the video. Not a single quote, not a single claim on the video was true.
I know that the Internet is not exactly a bastion of truth. What was more disturbing to me was that this video was sent by a friend. This friend sent me the video as if I were just supposed to believe it was true. Two points here: either my friend believed it as true and did not question a single point or she knew that it was false and thought I was actually stupid enough just to fall for was could only be considered a complete fabrication. Inotherwords she wants Obama and Obama care repealed so badly that she is willing to risk her own personal credibility and send this piece of fiction to a friend and pass it off as dangerous.
What is even more sinister is that we seem to be doomed to repeat the past. This is the same type of tactic that the Nazis used prior and during the Holocaust. Slickly produced propaganda that gets passed off as truth. You may think it is cool to send it off to your friends and pass it off as the truth. But when the propaganda turns against your way of life, your sex, ability to make a living or worship then it becomes an issue. But by then it will be too late.
Mr. Romney, Mr. Ryan if you really think you can do a better job than the President, just tell us why. Give us your plan for a better future and let us choose for ourselves. That is one thing I did not hear last week at the Republican convention; a plan for a better America. I heard a lot of Obama bashing, some of it pretty incoherent, but not a lot of planning for the future.
I did hear about American exceptionalism, whatever that is. But if we are so exceptional, how can you be running down the country as it stands right now and say that it is so great. If we are so exceptional why are you just not telling it like it is? You can't have it both ways. Ultimately, the American people are smarter than that.
Let's go back a few days. Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan during his acceptance speech blamed the President for a GM plant closing in Wisconsin. That was a claim that was almost immediately debunked when in reality it was getting to close on W's watch before Obama was even sworn in as president. Now today he claims that he never even said what he said.
Today the Republicans are making automated phone calls to anyone who won't hang up the phone claiming that President Obama has changed Medicare and that it will never be the same. Another false claim.
My question? If the Romney Ryan ticket can't tell the truth now, do we really think they will tell the truth once they would be elected. Anybody out there think that?
What ever happened to people just simply telling it like it is. Everyone stretches the truth now and then and politicians get a bit of an artistic license on both sides. But flat out making things up. When did that become accepted? Then you wonder why our kids don't tell us the truth? That is the true trickle down. When our leaders or presumptive leaders flat out lie, what should be expected by the rest of us? It is a sad erosion of our society.
What is even worse is that I received something over the weekend regarding the Affordable Health care Act. It was nearly an 11 minute video challenging point by point Obama care. It was a beautifully produced video professionally narrated. As I went through several of the preposterous assertions I decided to actually pull up the bill itself. Since the video gave specific pages and sections and quotes, I figured that they would be easy to find. I researched the first five claims which were in the first minute of the video. Not a single quote, not a single claim on the video was true.
I know that the Internet is not exactly a bastion of truth. What was more disturbing to me was that this video was sent by a friend. This friend sent me the video as if I were just supposed to believe it was true. Two points here: either my friend believed it as true and did not question a single point or she knew that it was false and thought I was actually stupid enough just to fall for was could only be considered a complete fabrication. Inotherwords she wants Obama and Obama care repealed so badly that she is willing to risk her own personal credibility and send this piece of fiction to a friend and pass it off as dangerous.
What is even more sinister is that we seem to be doomed to repeat the past. This is the same type of tactic that the Nazis used prior and during the Holocaust. Slickly produced propaganda that gets passed off as truth. You may think it is cool to send it off to your friends and pass it off as the truth. But when the propaganda turns against your way of life, your sex, ability to make a living or worship then it becomes an issue. But by then it will be too late.
Mr. Romney, Mr. Ryan if you really think you can do a better job than the President, just tell us why. Give us your plan for a better future and let us choose for ourselves. That is one thing I did not hear last week at the Republican convention; a plan for a better America. I heard a lot of Obama bashing, some of it pretty incoherent, but not a lot of planning for the future.
I did hear about American exceptionalism, whatever that is. But if we are so exceptional, how can you be running down the country as it stands right now and say that it is so great. If we are so exceptional why are you just not telling it like it is? You can't have it both ways. Ultimately, the American people are smarter than that.
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