It has been passed by the Senate. The house had earlier passed but today several Republicans including our two Maine Senators voted to repeal DADT and follow the Pentagon's suggestion that the policy be repealed.
So over the next year or so we will see this policy disappear. I think that while we as parents do not wish our children to be gay that we want them to have a good life if they are. Part of a good life is feeling whole and valued. This tells those people that they are welcome as Americans.
Was there ever a case to be made that it was not so.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Obama vs the Democrats
The President is in trouble. Believing that he has to get something done to gain back the independents that left him in droves in the midyears he has compromised with the Mitch McConnell and the evil empire.
The Democratic base is livid. Some of this is surely posturing but as I have wrote about recently Obama's willingness to fight for something, anything is in doubt.
I do not want to bang the drum over and over but this seems like it was a fight that he could have won. Maybe it is because we know Clinton did win a similar fight. Obama has said that next year the new Congress will give the Republicans more control but the truth is Obama has all the cards. He has the power of veto.
Put the pressure on Republicans. Pass the bill over and over without the tax cuts for the rich and the 5 million exemption on the estate tax and let the defend their position. It is untenable for them but he acts as he does not know it.
Perhaps the most unrecognized and most dangerous part of this compromise is the deal to lower the social security tax rate withheld by two percent. While the purpose is to stimulate the economy the Republicans will admit that when this cut expires in a year they will portray this as a tax hike. How can we talk about the deficit, the trouble coming for Social Security and reduce its funding for a year by 30 percent. Surely this is the Republicans setting Obama up again.
Incompetence. Obama may or may not have values but they cannot communicate them and does not fight for them.
At his press conference yesterday he commented in answer to a question that he did have things he would draw a line in the sand on, however the answer sounded hollow when measured against his campaign promises in regards to the Bush tax cuts. It becomes apparent that lines in the sand can be covered by the wind that blows. Perhaps we should give Obama some permanent markers.
The Democratic base is livid. Some of this is surely posturing but as I have wrote about recently Obama's willingness to fight for something, anything is in doubt.
I do not want to bang the drum over and over but this seems like it was a fight that he could have won. Maybe it is because we know Clinton did win a similar fight. Obama has said that next year the new Congress will give the Republicans more control but the truth is Obama has all the cards. He has the power of veto.
Put the pressure on Republicans. Pass the bill over and over without the tax cuts for the rich and the 5 million exemption on the estate tax and let the defend their position. It is untenable for them but he acts as he does not know it.
Perhaps the most unrecognized and most dangerous part of this compromise is the deal to lower the social security tax rate withheld by two percent. While the purpose is to stimulate the economy the Republicans will admit that when this cut expires in a year they will portray this as a tax hike. How can we talk about the deficit, the trouble coming for Social Security and reduce its funding for a year by 30 percent. Surely this is the Republicans setting Obama up again.
Incompetence. Obama may or may not have values but they cannot communicate them and does not fight for them.
At his press conference yesterday he commented in answer to a question that he did have things he would draw a line in the sand on, however the answer sounded hollow when measured against his campaign promises in regards to the Bush tax cuts. It becomes apparent that lines in the sand can be covered by the wind that blows. Perhaps we should give Obama some permanent markers.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Shopping With the Family
With kids 15, 13, and 11 it is rare that we do anything as a family. Between the kids events, friends, schedules and their sometime reluctance to go with us in public it is rare we are all together.
The night before Thanksgiving we went to Olive Garden for a family meal. This has become a bit of a family tradition. I am not an Olive Garden fan but the kids like it and an evening like this is about the kids. That evening we actually took the goodwill further and spent a little time in the mall.
My oldest son is usually not with us the most as his schedule is the busiest but a funny thing is when he does he enjoys it the most. He can, when the mood strikes, be very silly.
Today with a snow day we went out for a couple of errands and we all went. Again at Walmart, the place where no one wants to be, we had a family trip and it was again quite fun. I was having trouble getting around as my hips and legs are terrible right now, but my cane is helpful. T was silly, Drew was funny and Morgan was Morgan, cute, and it was a nice trip.
Of course when the register came up at $90.00 I learned why the kids are rarely with us when we go shopping. We would be broke.
The night before Thanksgiving we went to Olive Garden for a family meal. This has become a bit of a family tradition. I am not an Olive Garden fan but the kids like it and an evening like this is about the kids. That evening we actually took the goodwill further and spent a little time in the mall.
My oldest son is usually not with us the most as his schedule is the busiest but a funny thing is when he does he enjoys it the most. He can, when the mood strikes, be very silly.
Today with a snow day we went out for a couple of errands and we all went. Again at Walmart, the place where no one wants to be, we had a family trip and it was again quite fun. I was having trouble getting around as my hips and legs are terrible right now, but my cane is helpful. T was silly, Drew was funny and Morgan was Morgan, cute, and it was a nice trip.
Of course when the register came up at $90.00 I learned why the kids are rarely with us when we go shopping. We would be broke.
Don't Ask Don't Tell
If a person wants to join the military and defend and support his country should he or she be allowed to if they are gay. It seems to be an argument that does not go away.
Bill Clinton kicked this can down the road in 1993 when DADT was put into place. It seemed better than the policy in place at the time, and it was.
Now we are in a position where the Pentagon has said it is time to get rid of DADT. Interestingly a majority of the American people are in agreement, as are a majority of those serving in the military today.
Increasin gly the sexuality of a person in the armed forces seems not to matter. Do we really think that gay men would be checking out straight men and forcing them to have sex. It does not happen in other professions. It is a silly idea.
John McCain has become the leading voice against repealing DADT. This is interesting as when he ran for President in 2008 he stated that he would support the repeal when the Pentagon and Joint Chiefs favored it. They now do but McCain now in his grumpy old man stage has changed his mind and faulted the studies that have led to this conclusion.
I consider myself a moderate. I will go back to my previous comments, if we feel that being gay is not a choice but how we are wired how can we tell them they cannot be as patriotic as you or I.
Bill Clinton kicked this can down the road in 1993 when DADT was put into place. It seemed better than the policy in place at the time, and it was.
Now we are in a position where the Pentagon has said it is time to get rid of DADT. Interestingly a majority of the American people are in agreement, as are a majority of those serving in the military today.
Increasin gly the sexuality of a person in the armed forces seems not to matter. Do we really think that gay men would be checking out straight men and forcing them to have sex. It does not happen in other professions. It is a silly idea.
John McCain has become the leading voice against repealing DADT. This is interesting as when he ran for President in 2008 he stated that he would support the repeal when the Pentagon and Joint Chiefs favored it. They now do but McCain now in his grumpy old man stage has changed his mind and faulted the studies that have led to this conclusion.
I consider myself a moderate. I will go back to my previous comments, if we feel that being gay is not a choice but how we are wired how can we tell them they cannot be as patriotic as you or I.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Christmas Trees
We went to a Christmas tree farm today to cut down a tree. It was a pretty well run operation. They give you a saw and a tarp and off you go. When you come up they bale it and help you get in on or in your vehicle.
It would have been nice to have some snow. Still the experience was a good one. The spot itself is pretty, the barn that serves as the office is nice and warm, apple cider awaits all that would like it.
My oldest son cut down the tree, my middle son helped and my daughter well she was cute and chirpy on the way out and fell in a puddle on the way out with the tree leading to consoling hugs from Dad.
Still it was a good experience, one we will attempt to make a tradition. I enjoyed it, our family is getting older and these times are going to be less likely to happen.
I love that part of Christmas. The whole shopping and thinking of gifts is a stretch for me. This tradition filled experience, this is what Christmas is about.
It would have been nice to have some snow. Still the experience was a good one. The spot itself is pretty, the barn that serves as the office is nice and warm, apple cider awaits all that would like it.
My oldest son cut down the tree, my middle son helped and my daughter well she was cute and chirpy on the way out and fell in a puddle on the way out with the tree leading to consoling hugs from Dad.
Still it was a good experience, one we will attempt to make a tradition. I enjoyed it, our family is getting older and these times are going to be less likely to happen.
I love that part of Christmas. The whole shopping and thinking of gifts is a stretch for me. This tradition filled experience, this is what Christmas is about.
Friday, December 3, 2010
Tax cuts Part II
News out of Washington is that President Obama is about to cave on the Bush tax cuts. Perhaps he will get unemployment benefits extended, and some tax cuts extended for the middle class but this is to me and inexplicable mistake.
You do not get many chances where you can clearly illustrate the difference in your party and the opposition as clearly as this. Democrats want to extend unemployment benefits as unemployment continues near ten percent, and to cut the Bush tax cuts for those making more than 250 K a year.
Somehow Republicans with a minority in both chambers of the house and a case that cannot win over the American people have Obama running scared.
Each day we see stunned analysts say they cannot believe that Obama cannot or will not go to the public and paint this picture. To illustrate that the Republicans want to complain about the deficit and add 700 billion to it to extend these tax cuts.
Each day he does not and now it appears he is about to cave.
I am not a liberal. I am a moderate. Obama has disappointed his base but one should not ignore he has lost me too. I think he might well be worse than a Republican, at least they would get blamed for their mistakes. Obama is the worst President in my lifetime.
Perhaps my frustration will abate. There is nothing so frustrating however as having a majority and an agenda and frittering and compromising it all away.
Disgusted. Call me disgusted.
You do not get many chances where you can clearly illustrate the difference in your party and the opposition as clearly as this. Democrats want to extend unemployment benefits as unemployment continues near ten percent, and to cut the Bush tax cuts for those making more than 250 K a year.
Somehow Republicans with a minority in both chambers of the house and a case that cannot win over the American people have Obama running scared.
Each day we see stunned analysts say they cannot believe that Obama cannot or will not go to the public and paint this picture. To illustrate that the Republicans want to complain about the deficit and add 700 billion to it to extend these tax cuts.
Each day he does not and now it appears he is about to cave.
I am not a liberal. I am a moderate. Obama has disappointed his base but one should not ignore he has lost me too. I think he might well be worse than a Republican, at least they would get blamed for their mistakes. Obama is the worst President in my lifetime.
Perhaps my frustration will abate. There is nothing so frustrating however as having a majority and an agenda and frittering and compromising it all away.
Disgusted. Call me disgusted.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Winter Activities
We are in for a busy winter. Both my boys have made their respective basketball teams. My daughter who is not sports minded is continuing her ballet, chorus and art club regimens, and will be soon joining a book club and in the spring trying out for the school musical.
I love it all. My wife was commenting that a colleague of hers at school was commenting that they would rather poke their eye out then go to all of these events that we go to. My ex wife goes to as much as she can but she too at times would like it to be not as much.
I do not claim to be a better parent, in truth it is not a huge sacrifice or any sacrifice at all for us to have our kids doing these things. I want them to get out in the world. We enjoy seeing their efforts. We wish them success and encourage them when they are frustrated and always applaud their efforts. If they stumble in areas of respect or sportsmanship we use them as teaching moments.
My middle son, my wife and I went out for dinner a week ago and he was commenting on his desire to own his own business. I was explaining to him that he would need to be independently wealthy or be able to gain a line of credit. Further explanation advised that a line of credit was gained by having a business plan and so on. My wife advised that with me the kids will never have a problem understanding that their is a real world out their.
it is a fine line. You want to shelter them as long as you can but you also want to develop character qualities that lead to success.
We love their games and activities. We consider ourselves lucky they want to stretch and branch out for these events. As we say soon enough it will be just us and the animals. Not a day we are looking for.
I love it all. My wife was commenting that a colleague of hers at school was commenting that they would rather poke their eye out then go to all of these events that we go to. My ex wife goes to as much as she can but she too at times would like it to be not as much.
I do not claim to be a better parent, in truth it is not a huge sacrifice or any sacrifice at all for us to have our kids doing these things. I want them to get out in the world. We enjoy seeing their efforts. We wish them success and encourage them when they are frustrated and always applaud their efforts. If they stumble in areas of respect or sportsmanship we use them as teaching moments.
My middle son, my wife and I went out for dinner a week ago and he was commenting on his desire to own his own business. I was explaining to him that he would need to be independently wealthy or be able to gain a line of credit. Further explanation advised that a line of credit was gained by having a business plan and so on. My wife advised that with me the kids will never have a problem understanding that their is a real world out their.
it is a fine line. You want to shelter them as long as you can but you also want to develop character qualities that lead to success.
We love their games and activities. We consider ourselves lucky they want to stretch and branch out for these events. As we say soon enough it will be just us and the animals. Not a day we are looking for.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
The TSA Patdowns
This country has major issues facing it from deficits to North Korea to unemployment. What story has received the most coverage by far over the last 10 days? The new passenger screening procedures that the TSA has implemented.
I have not flown recently and of course would not want my children to be scared so perhaps I make light of this. I am certain that in some rare instances customers are embarrassed and feel awkward. I am sure that little boys who have their shirt taken off and those with urine bags that get popped and other cases such as those feel badly.
Overall however when we step on a plane we want to be safe. The TSA, should someone get on a plane, and commit a terrorist act will be criticized heavily. They are in a no win situation.
I believe that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have been poor choices. I think the amounts spent on all security measures are too much and think we all need to realize that the issue of security has been heavily politicized. However we do want the folks on the plane with us to be screened.
I think the agents need more training. I think the reasoning for what we are doing needs to be explained more clearly. Overall, however I think people need to grow up. If you are " felt up" it is to protect us. It is the world we live in. Do the terrorists win in the sense that we are inconvenienced? Yes. It is better than they having a successful attempt to take over a plane.
I have not flown recently and of course would not want my children to be scared so perhaps I make light of this. I am certain that in some rare instances customers are embarrassed and feel awkward. I am sure that little boys who have their shirt taken off and those with urine bags that get popped and other cases such as those feel badly.
Overall however when we step on a plane we want to be safe. The TSA, should someone get on a plane, and commit a terrorist act will be criticized heavily. They are in a no win situation.
I believe that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have been poor choices. I think the amounts spent on all security measures are too much and think we all need to realize that the issue of security has been heavily politicized. However we do want the folks on the plane with us to be screened.
I think the agents need more training. I think the reasoning for what we are doing needs to be explained more clearly. Overall, however I think people need to grow up. If you are " felt up" it is to protect us. It is the world we live in. Do the terrorists win in the sense that we are inconvenienced? Yes. It is better than they having a successful attempt to take over a plane.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
The Fonz Says
Flipping through the dial yesterday I came across a commercial for reverse mortgages with the spokesperson being Henry Winkler.
I am old. You are old when The Fonz is speaking to senior citizens trying to shill for a reverse mortgage company.
Couple this with my frequent landings on the new cable channel The Hub on Happy Days reruns and one falls into an oh my goodness moment I am old moment.
Watching the commercials Winkler still talks like the Fonz. It is jarring, a gray haired Fonzie telling us that by calling we have ( imagine Fonzie voice) " absolutely no obligation"
Wisdom comes slowly in life but realizing we are getting old sneaks up on you like a freight train or in this case like an old sitcom actor selling reverse mortgages.
I am old. You are old when The Fonz is speaking to senior citizens trying to shill for a reverse mortgage company.
Couple this with my frequent landings on the new cable channel The Hub on Happy Days reruns and one falls into an oh my goodness moment I am old moment.
Watching the commercials Winkler still talks like the Fonz. It is jarring, a gray haired Fonzie telling us that by calling we have ( imagine Fonzie voice) " absolutely no obligation"
Wisdom comes slowly in life but realizing we are getting old sneaks up on you like a freight train or in this case like an old sitcom actor selling reverse mortgages.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
The only thing worse than a Crazy Conservative
Recently WZON The Sports Zone radio station in Bangor, owned by Stephen King, changed its longtime format away from sports radio to become The Pulse a left leaning Progressive radio station with national shows hosted by Stephanie Miller, Ed Schultz and the like.
In fairness to Mr. King it is his station and he does still appear to be committed to broadcasting local sports events and Dale and Clem do still have a show on each afternoon.
However being a left leaning moderate I can now say without a doubt that the only thing more annoying than listening to a crazy conservative is a whiny liberal. I find that the people on both extremes might well have an opinion I agree with the but the delivery of their message is such that they lose me. Liberal Democrats are the worst when on a forum supported by people of a like mind.
Recently I heard a caller talk about the need for Bush to be tried for War Crimes that he clearly has admitted to in his recent book. The host did not disagree but did offer that seemed an unlikely scenario.
I think Bush was a bad President and I agreed with few of his decisions but to suggest that we would try our President for war crimes is a ridiculous thought.
Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and the kooks of the right are as bad if not worse and this illustrates the point.
Just as television is fragmented and radio now is a series of niches talk radio is just a bunch of people who agree augmenting each others opinion.
What we need is an old early days of FM radio culture. A melting pot where people grow together. Those days are gone.
Spare me and spare us all from the talk radio mentality that threatens to make each and every rumor fact and each and every action filled with an evil intent.
The Presidents trip to India cost 200 million a day ..is just another example.
We all need to take a step back.
In fairness to Mr. King it is his station and he does still appear to be committed to broadcasting local sports events and Dale and Clem do still have a show on each afternoon.
However being a left leaning moderate I can now say without a doubt that the only thing more annoying than listening to a crazy conservative is a whiny liberal. I find that the people on both extremes might well have an opinion I agree with the but the delivery of their message is such that they lose me. Liberal Democrats are the worst when on a forum supported by people of a like mind.
Recently I heard a caller talk about the need for Bush to be tried for War Crimes that he clearly has admitted to in his recent book. The host did not disagree but did offer that seemed an unlikely scenario.
I think Bush was a bad President and I agreed with few of his decisions but to suggest that we would try our President for war crimes is a ridiculous thought.
Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and the kooks of the right are as bad if not worse and this illustrates the point.
Just as television is fragmented and radio now is a series of niches talk radio is just a bunch of people who agree augmenting each others opinion.
What we need is an old early days of FM radio culture. A melting pot where people grow together. Those days are gone.
Spare me and spare us all from the talk radio mentality that threatens to make each and every rumor fact and each and every action filled with an evil intent.
The Presidents trip to India cost 200 million a day ..is just another example.
We all need to take a step back.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Blue Dogs and Olympia
The Blue Dogs are a group of conservative Democrats that have won election in districts that tilt Republican. In this time of extreme right and extreme left in Washington they are an endangered species and the last election made them more of one.
Blue Dogs caucus with Democrats but in order to remain viable in their own district they vote as much Republican as Democrat and force watering down of bills their Democratic party seeks.
I am a moderate and I want moderates in office. But from a legislative standpoint having to serve a too conservative Democrat to get a bill passed makes your legislation you pass not as successful as those who voted for you in the first place wished. See health care and financial reform.
And in this polarized climate they lose in the close election back home anyway. A Blue Dog Democrat is an endangered species. They walk a line that is too small and trying to please everybody they please nobody.
Olympia Snowe one of the infamous Rhino's by conservative standards is going to face a primary challenge in Maine. My guess is she will survive it as Maine is not as radical as some states but in two years it could be. The primary system allows for small groups of energized voters to unseat candidates that will be stronger in the general election....see Christine O'donnell.
Orrin Hatch is another candidate who will face a primary challenge. When Orrin Hatch is not conservative enough I am not sure what one can do.
Olympia Snowe even if she wins reelection is going to be in such a minority in her own party that she will lose more and more power. Her only chance to remain a viable important Senator will be to flip to the Democratic side. So much for that Republican big tent that Ronald Reagan talked about.
Blue Dogs caucus with Democrats but in order to remain viable in their own district they vote as much Republican as Democrat and force watering down of bills their Democratic party seeks.
I am a moderate and I want moderates in office. But from a legislative standpoint having to serve a too conservative Democrat to get a bill passed makes your legislation you pass not as successful as those who voted for you in the first place wished. See health care and financial reform.
And in this polarized climate they lose in the close election back home anyway. A Blue Dog Democrat is an endangered species. They walk a line that is too small and trying to please everybody they please nobody.
Olympia Snowe one of the infamous Rhino's by conservative standards is going to face a primary challenge in Maine. My guess is she will survive it as Maine is not as radical as some states but in two years it could be. The primary system allows for small groups of energized voters to unseat candidates that will be stronger in the general election....see Christine O'donnell.
Orrin Hatch is another candidate who will face a primary challenge. When Orrin Hatch is not conservative enough I am not sure what one can do.
Olympia Snowe even if she wins reelection is going to be in such a minority in her own party that she will lose more and more power. Her only chance to remain a viable important Senator will be to flip to the Democratic side. So much for that Republican big tent that Ronald Reagan talked about.
Free versus Fair Trade
I am not an economist. I am sure that I do not understand trade. I know what I see however. We do not make anything in this country anymore.
In Maine our mills are going or gone. When I was a boy there were shoe making shops, chicken processing plants and many other things. These are not great jobs. Few people want to grow up to do these jobs and most who did wanted better things for their own children.
However not everyone can be a computer programmer. Paul LePage, who I do not support as Governor had a good idea in supporting vocational and technical education for that segment of the students who could gain by it. But we do not make anything.
So this morning I hear that China puts a 30 percent tariff on machinery that Caterpillar imports. As China is a huge growth market it is essential to Caterpillar to compete. With that tariff however they have to choose to build there.
Free trade is a joke. The United States is the biggest market in the world. China would collapse if they could not sell to us. If we stopped buying from them the whole China growth story would collapse as well. Oil prices would go down as they would not need as much. What would happen. I do not know what would happen but I know this if to be sold in America without a 25 percent tariff it had to be made in America it would be made in America.
No company or seller of consumer goods can do without this marketplace. They would have to stop moving jobs out of the country.
Many say this would bring about a trade war and collapse the world economy. How is that so. We sell less than one half of one percent of our overall trade to China and they sell a gigantic percentage to us. How do we lose that battle.
We are in a trade war now, just one we are losing badly and being good sports.
Everyday I wait for someone to say it is a National Security issue that we have to make things here and tariff things that are not. No one ever does.
I will wait
In Maine our mills are going or gone. When I was a boy there were shoe making shops, chicken processing plants and many other things. These are not great jobs. Few people want to grow up to do these jobs and most who did wanted better things for their own children.
However not everyone can be a computer programmer. Paul LePage, who I do not support as Governor had a good idea in supporting vocational and technical education for that segment of the students who could gain by it. But we do not make anything.
So this morning I hear that China puts a 30 percent tariff on machinery that Caterpillar imports. As China is a huge growth market it is essential to Caterpillar to compete. With that tariff however they have to choose to build there.
Free trade is a joke. The United States is the biggest market in the world. China would collapse if they could not sell to us. If we stopped buying from them the whole China growth story would collapse as well. Oil prices would go down as they would not need as much. What would happen. I do not know what would happen but I know this if to be sold in America without a 25 percent tariff it had to be made in America it would be made in America.
No company or seller of consumer goods can do without this marketplace. They would have to stop moving jobs out of the country.
Many say this would bring about a trade war and collapse the world economy. How is that so. We sell less than one half of one percent of our overall trade to China and they sell a gigantic percentage to us. How do we lose that battle.
We are in a trade war now, just one we are losing badly and being good sports.
Everyday I wait for someone to say it is a National Security issue that we have to make things here and tariff things that are not. No one ever does.
I will wait
Obama and the Bush tax cuts
What is wrong with this President. When was he neutered? Can you imagine Bill Clinton with an opportunity like this.
The opposition party has just won big gains in the midterms and their number one issue is to make sure that tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans are extended. Better yet if they do not get these extended they will let the tax cuts given to the other 98 percent of Americans expire as well. That is you and me and everyone we know.
What a blessing. Can you imagine it. I have a bill right here in my hand that will extend the tax cuts for all but those who make less than 250K. But our Republican friends feel it is more important to protect those who have profited the most and suffered the least in this recession than to protect you.
Deliver a speech, go on television. You cannot lose on this issue. The Republicans will blink. It is a certainty that they will.
Here is the issue. Obama does not want to politic. I believe he thinks it is beneath him. I do not think he enjoys it. He is in the wrong business if he does not. When you are handed an issue like this and you let your chief advisers float a trial balloon that you know you have to compromise on this issue you are getting bad advice.
America likes a fighter. Fight. You will not get a better issue to extol the differences between the two parties than this.
The opposition party has just won big gains in the midterms and their number one issue is to make sure that tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans are extended. Better yet if they do not get these extended they will let the tax cuts given to the other 98 percent of Americans expire as well. That is you and me and everyone we know.
What a blessing. Can you imagine it. I have a bill right here in my hand that will extend the tax cuts for all but those who make less than 250K. But our Republican friends feel it is more important to protect those who have profited the most and suffered the least in this recession than to protect you.
Deliver a speech, go on television. You cannot lose on this issue. The Republicans will blink. It is a certainty that they will.
Here is the issue. Obama does not want to politic. I believe he thinks it is beneath him. I do not think he enjoys it. He is in the wrong business if he does not. When you are handed an issue like this and you let your chief advisers float a trial balloon that you know you have to compromise on this issue you are getting bad advice.
America likes a fighter. Fight. You will not get a better issue to extol the differences between the two parties than this.
The Deficit
So now according to the election, the Tea Party, the Republicans and even a reluctant Obama the greatest issue facing this country is the National debt.
It is a problem, a major problem. But for the most part this is just posturing from the Republicans. For a party to campaign on adding more than a trillion dollars to the debt in 10 years by extending the Bush tax cuts, rule out any tax increases and call for a balanced budget is just foolish.
Of course Americans get the government they deserve. Independents and moderates also are spooked about the debt. Rightly so.
But in regards to the debt we have a huge case of NIMBYism. Social Security cannot touch that I retire in three years, Farm subsidies no, cut defense well what if the shipyard in my state gets cut.
The truth is without defense and entitlement reform you will not fix the budget. Our military budget amounts mostly to a profit making institution for defense contractors and a jobs program for the towns and cities that make the products. Everyone wants America out of Afghanistan ( rightly so) but they do not want them out of New Haven, Bath or Long Beach. It is a farce what we spend on unneeded weapons in todays world. As Bill Maher says the Russians of 1982 will not be attacking anytime soon.
Social Security will be in the black until 2037. That in itself will tell you that Social Security concern is just a stalking horse for cutting entitlements across the board. You could extend that 10 to 20 years by raising the cap amount that can be taxed for social security. This is not a problem. Plans to fix social security are a hoax being perpetrated on a public that should know better. Reagan, Reagan of all people fixed social security for 50 years with a payroll tax adjustment and if Reagan can we can.
Medicare is a problem as is Medicaid. Let us not forget however that the one way to fix all this is with single payer. Clearly that is not happening anytime soon.
Here is the fact. Americans have an all volunteer military, over the last 20 years our brightest minds have gone to Wall Street to make a quick sleazy buck and not into science, medicine and technology as they have in the past. We are selfish. It is not just us, Europe is fighting this same fight only they have a huge safety net that is being trimmed. We had a modest safety net that is some would like to gut.
Can this be fixed. It would seem likely it will. Thomas Jefferson said that once citizens learn that they can vote themselves the treasury a country is in trouble. We are in trouble.
The average American thinks not of his country or his state or his town. There is no shared pride and no shared experience and certainly no shared sacrifice.
It is a worry
It is a problem, a major problem. But for the most part this is just posturing from the Republicans. For a party to campaign on adding more than a trillion dollars to the debt in 10 years by extending the Bush tax cuts, rule out any tax increases and call for a balanced budget is just foolish.
Of course Americans get the government they deserve. Independents and moderates also are spooked about the debt. Rightly so.
But in regards to the debt we have a huge case of NIMBYism. Social Security cannot touch that I retire in three years, Farm subsidies no, cut defense well what if the shipyard in my state gets cut.
The truth is without defense and entitlement reform you will not fix the budget. Our military budget amounts mostly to a profit making institution for defense contractors and a jobs program for the towns and cities that make the products. Everyone wants America out of Afghanistan ( rightly so) but they do not want them out of New Haven, Bath or Long Beach. It is a farce what we spend on unneeded weapons in todays world. As Bill Maher says the Russians of 1982 will not be attacking anytime soon.
Social Security will be in the black until 2037. That in itself will tell you that Social Security concern is just a stalking horse for cutting entitlements across the board. You could extend that 10 to 20 years by raising the cap amount that can be taxed for social security. This is not a problem. Plans to fix social security are a hoax being perpetrated on a public that should know better. Reagan, Reagan of all people fixed social security for 50 years with a payroll tax adjustment and if Reagan can we can.
Medicare is a problem as is Medicaid. Let us not forget however that the one way to fix all this is with single payer. Clearly that is not happening anytime soon.
Here is the fact. Americans have an all volunteer military, over the last 20 years our brightest minds have gone to Wall Street to make a quick sleazy buck and not into science, medicine and technology as they have in the past. We are selfish. It is not just us, Europe is fighting this same fight only they have a huge safety net that is being trimmed. We had a modest safety net that is some would like to gut.
Can this be fixed. It would seem likely it will. Thomas Jefferson said that once citizens learn that they can vote themselves the treasury a country is in trouble. We are in trouble.
The average American thinks not of his country or his state or his town. There is no shared pride and no shared experience and certainly no shared sacrifice.
It is a worry
Monday, November 8, 2010
The Election
As we are nearly a week out from the mid terms it is time to take a look at what this election meant and did not mean. There are those that argue that Obama by trying to please everyone, to get Republican cooperation, did too little on stimulus, financial reform and health care and thus did not get the results he wanted as in the stimulus or the ability to tout his achievement such as in financial reform and health care. Indeed Democrats ran away from those bills in the election.
It is as if you were a contractor and spent a year building a huge house and yet did not advertise that when you sought to be hired for your next job.
Others would argue that Obama's left leaning agenda just is not palatable to what is repeatedly stated to be a center right country.
I think the failure is widespread. First and foremost the economy was a wreck when he took office. Obama won a clear majority and the public was on his side. FDR when he took office in the throes of the Depression did not try to work with the right, Ronald Reagan raised taxes when he took over California in 1966 knowing that in that first year everything he did he could blame on having to fix the previous administrations mistakes.
Simply put the stimulus was too small. Much too small. Republicans who lined up against it should have been called out. If they had used the filibuster on a larger amount he should have gone on television and stated his case. He would have won.
The health care bill was a wreck because he did not participate until the very end and by then the words death panel and government takeover were in the lexicon. Orchestrated resistance from the right scared some Democrats and it simply took too long. If he wanted this to be his signature achievement he should have sold it. Again how hard would it have been to go on TV and in a populist measure say that all Americans should have the same access members of Congress have. Or to blame insurance companies. I have said in my own statements that anything the insurance companies are against must be good for the average citizen. This is true. This could have been an easy populist sell but he lost control of his message.
Perhaps for me the biggest disappointment was the financial reform bill. The bill that passed was gutted. Too big too fail still exists. Paul Volckers suggestions were not heeded. How easy could it have been to come out as a populist standing against Wall Street who caused this whole economic downturn. The bonuses after the fact and yet the Republicans rallied against the financial reform bill saying it would allow more bailouts. Again, message stolen. The bill is lukewarm and useless.
Obama is likable but one gets the sense that he has never dealt with adversity in the political arena. I told a Democratic friend of mine that I had doubts about how he would do against a strong Congress and it seems to be the case.
Now he has lost his majority and will have to negotiate or let nothing happen. The time for being tough was when he had his mandate. He did not need Republicans and he could in those first six months have gone over the Republicans head to the American people. He did not.
The only thing that prevents me from considering him a likely one term President is that we do not know how the whole Republican party schism that is pending with the Tea Party will play out. Sarah Palin getting the nomination seems insane but were that to happen one has to assume that independents would flock to Obama and her nomination would energize the left.
But a strong Republican governor would seem to be a more likely candidate and the electoral math for Obama is very poor indeed.
A final note. It is only two years in and things can change. However ex presidents usually have a voice. Jimmy Carter has been an envoy around the world. Reagan was revered by his party. Bush the senior has done many good things and Bill Clinton is still the Rock Star of the Democratic party. As I think about Obama I cannot think anyone would ever value his opinion on political matters except as an example of what not to do.
Is their time to fix this. Yes. But I do wonder if he has the political instincts and just as important the political will to do so.
It is as if you were a contractor and spent a year building a huge house and yet did not advertise that when you sought to be hired for your next job.
Others would argue that Obama's left leaning agenda just is not palatable to what is repeatedly stated to be a center right country.
I think the failure is widespread. First and foremost the economy was a wreck when he took office. Obama won a clear majority and the public was on his side. FDR when he took office in the throes of the Depression did not try to work with the right, Ronald Reagan raised taxes when he took over California in 1966 knowing that in that first year everything he did he could blame on having to fix the previous administrations mistakes.
Simply put the stimulus was too small. Much too small. Republicans who lined up against it should have been called out. If they had used the filibuster on a larger amount he should have gone on television and stated his case. He would have won.
The health care bill was a wreck because he did not participate until the very end and by then the words death panel and government takeover were in the lexicon. Orchestrated resistance from the right scared some Democrats and it simply took too long. If he wanted this to be his signature achievement he should have sold it. Again how hard would it have been to go on TV and in a populist measure say that all Americans should have the same access members of Congress have. Or to blame insurance companies. I have said in my own statements that anything the insurance companies are against must be good for the average citizen. This is true. This could have been an easy populist sell but he lost control of his message.
Perhaps for me the biggest disappointment was the financial reform bill. The bill that passed was gutted. Too big too fail still exists. Paul Volckers suggestions were not heeded. How easy could it have been to come out as a populist standing against Wall Street who caused this whole economic downturn. The bonuses after the fact and yet the Republicans rallied against the financial reform bill saying it would allow more bailouts. Again, message stolen. The bill is lukewarm and useless.
Obama is likable but one gets the sense that he has never dealt with adversity in the political arena. I told a Democratic friend of mine that I had doubts about how he would do against a strong Congress and it seems to be the case.
Now he has lost his majority and will have to negotiate or let nothing happen. The time for being tough was when he had his mandate. He did not need Republicans and he could in those first six months have gone over the Republicans head to the American people. He did not.
The only thing that prevents me from considering him a likely one term President is that we do not know how the whole Republican party schism that is pending with the Tea Party will play out. Sarah Palin getting the nomination seems insane but were that to happen one has to assume that independents would flock to Obama and her nomination would energize the left.
But a strong Republican governor would seem to be a more likely candidate and the electoral math for Obama is very poor indeed.
A final note. It is only two years in and things can change. However ex presidents usually have a voice. Jimmy Carter has been an envoy around the world. Reagan was revered by his party. Bush the senior has done many good things and Bill Clinton is still the Rock Star of the Democratic party. As I think about Obama I cannot think anyone would ever value his opinion on political matters except as an example of what not to do.
Is their time to fix this. Yes. But I do wonder if he has the political instincts and just as important the political will to do so.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Governor LePage
Leading in all the polls it was still a long night for Paul Lepage. Around 11 AM on the day after the election Elliott Cutler conceded. Lepage, trailing when all the cities sent in their votes slowly picked up ground as the vote counting in the rural areas came forth.
Clearly at this moment in time my political views are not in the majority but it does amaze me that the areas of the state with the most economic problems are those that vote Republican the strongest. That would not seem to make sense.
However clearly a message has been delivered. People are scared about their futures and are willing to try something new. LePage will have a state senate that is dominated by Republicans and should be able to get some of his ideas through.
What those ideas will be remains to be seen but it is my experience that being upset over his victory will do not good. Most people once in office govern to the center and I suspect LePage will do the same.
It will be interesting to see how it plays out.
Clearly at this moment in time my political views are not in the majority but it does amaze me that the areas of the state with the most economic problems are those that vote Republican the strongest. That would not seem to make sense.
However clearly a message has been delivered. People are scared about their futures and are willing to try something new. LePage will have a state senate that is dominated by Republicans and should be able to get some of his ideas through.
What those ideas will be remains to be seen but it is my experience that being upset over his victory will do not good. Most people once in office govern to the center and I suspect LePage will do the same.
It will be interesting to see how it plays out.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Moderates anyone?
A recent survey has just shown that candidates identified as moderates on both sides of the political spectrum are facing more and more challenges to win their seats this year in the Congressional elections.
In the primaries this past spring both parties, especially the Republicans, lost moderate Republicans to much more conservative and it the case of Deleware, Nevada, and Alaska, Kentucky and others establishment candidates lost to tea party insurgents.
What this means long term is that more and more candidates in office are on the extreme right and extreme left. Not coincidentally the people most likely to vote are those that are strong right or strong left.
This is the problem.
Until the vast center of Americans in the middle choose to get involved and active, not just in November elections but in the primaries themselves we will continue to get extreme candidates who listen to those extreme voters that elected them.
This will not be a good thing.
There is hope. While I do not like Joe Lieberman the fact that he as a Democrat when he ran as an independent after having been taken out in the Democratic primary ended up regaining his seat shows the middle counts. It also illustrates how in the primary a small group of inspired voters can upset the applecart.
Mike Castle in Delaware can attest to that.
Lisa Murkowski an Alaska Republican taken out by a tea party Republican is running as a write in candidate in Alaska and according to polls leading. Even in Alaska it would seem those closer to the middle can in the right circumstances win.
Another example is Charlie Crist, one time Presidential contender in Florida lost in the primary to a tea party candidate and running as an Independent can now win only if the Democrat Kendrick Meek gets out of the way.
There is room for a third party. However this will only work if those people in the middle get involved early in the process.
In the primaries this past spring both parties, especially the Republicans, lost moderate Republicans to much more conservative and it the case of Deleware, Nevada, and Alaska, Kentucky and others establishment candidates lost to tea party insurgents.
What this means long term is that more and more candidates in office are on the extreme right and extreme left. Not coincidentally the people most likely to vote are those that are strong right or strong left.
This is the problem.
Until the vast center of Americans in the middle choose to get involved and active, not just in November elections but in the primaries themselves we will continue to get extreme candidates who listen to those extreme voters that elected them.
This will not be a good thing.
There is hope. While I do not like Joe Lieberman the fact that he as a Democrat when he ran as an independent after having been taken out in the Democratic primary ended up regaining his seat shows the middle counts. It also illustrates how in the primary a small group of inspired voters can upset the applecart.
Mike Castle in Delaware can attest to that.
Lisa Murkowski an Alaska Republican taken out by a tea party Republican is running as a write in candidate in Alaska and according to polls leading. Even in Alaska it would seem those closer to the middle can in the right circumstances win.
Another example is Charlie Crist, one time Presidential contender in Florida lost in the primary to a tea party candidate and running as an Independent can now win only if the Democrat Kendrick Meek gets out of the way.
There is room for a third party. However this will only work if those people in the middle get involved early in the process.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Aqua Buddha
First off it should be noted that it was highly unlikely Jack Conway was going to win as a Democratic candidate for Senate in Kentucky. His opponent the Tea Party favorite Rand Paul however opened the door to give him a chance.
Some of Paul's statements against the Department of Education, revamping the tax code and questioning the Civil Rights Act may not play well in most of the country but in Kentucky they are not automatically disqualifiers.
About 10 days ago Conway, perhaps overreaching, ran an ad talking about Rand's proclaimed Christian faith and comparing with his actions in college when he joined a " secret society that asked women to kneel and worship Aqua Buddha." I do not know what is true but most people who went to college did some things they would prefer not to talk about 30 years later and if you ever pledged a fraternity I am sure that is true.
Parents everywhere who ever smoked marijuana in college struggle with what of the truth to admit to as their kids come of age.
I actually have an acquaintance from college who is now active in Republican circles in the state of Maine. I remember things he did in college that he would not want talked about in a campaign should he ever run for office. The question is does it matter. I think not.
I don't think Aqua Buddha matters either.
Some of Paul's statements against the Department of Education, revamping the tax code and questioning the Civil Rights Act may not play well in most of the country but in Kentucky they are not automatically disqualifiers.
About 10 days ago Conway, perhaps overreaching, ran an ad talking about Rand's proclaimed Christian faith and comparing with his actions in college when he joined a " secret society that asked women to kneel and worship Aqua Buddha." I do not know what is true but most people who went to college did some things they would prefer not to talk about 30 years later and if you ever pledged a fraternity I am sure that is true.
Parents everywhere who ever smoked marijuana in college struggle with what of the truth to admit to as their kids come of age.
I actually have an acquaintance from college who is now active in Republican circles in the state of Maine. I remember things he did in college that he would not want talked about in a campaign should he ever run for office. The question is does it matter. I think not.
I don't think Aqua Buddha matters either.
Bill, Juan, NPR and the ladies of the View
In the last couple of weeks a couple of incidents have occurred that could be construed as issues of free speech while others would classify them as shouting fire in a movie theater.
I am a Democrat. A moderate Democrat, a moderate anything is a rarity these days but a moderate one at that.
Still, surprisingly I guess, in the last couple of weeks I find myself coming down one hundred percent on the side of Bill O' Reilly and Juan Williams in their recent controversies.
O' Reilly while on The View expounding his opinion on the " Mosque at Ground Zero" and the fact that President Obama's actions had not been as strong as they could be. His main thrust of his argument was that Obama had equivocated stating that he would not challenge the right to have the mosque built at Ground zero but would hold off on his own judgement. Which was a prevaricating answer trying to offend no one. O' Reilly's point was that Americans are overwhelmingly against the mosque which, no matter what your individual opinion is on the issue, is a true fact.
Joy Behar was offended and stated that she agreed with Obama and she was an American and felt that O' Reilly was wrong. As the discussion got more heated at one point O' Reilly states " Look people can have that opinion, it was Muslims who blew up those planes." This caused Behar and Whoopi Goldberg to march off the set and to this moment I still do not understand.
It was Muslims who blew up those planes. Not all Muslims any more than all Christians who are responsible for the bad things people have done in the name of Christianity. Still for folks to think Muslims to have a mosque on the site of a terrorist attack by Muslims is not unreasonable.
I personally think that the mosque is Ok. But to get upset over someone saying Muslims blew up those planes is just ridiculous. Do we have to temper it by saying extremist Muslims. Does that somehow make it more acceptable.
Still worse was the Juan Williams fiasco. Williams on O'Reilly's show as a contributor per normal was talking about Bill's trip to The Viewand stated in support of O ' Reilly that when he gets on a plane and he sees people in Muslim garb getting on the plane he gets nervous.
For this he has been crucified and NPR fired him for these comments. Maybe I do not know anything but I have felt that way. I think that 95 percent of people have felt that way and might still feel that way under the circumstances.
I think Juan Williams comment was an honest admission. It was part of a larger comment that was not inflammatory in anyway.
A special note. Years ago Juan Williams criticized white jewelry store owners in the Baltimore metro area who stated that they were nervous when black men came into the store. By that statement his statement about Muslims is hypocritical but in my opinion this is nothing more than a man walking in the shoes of someone he previously criticized. He was after all a black man.
So is it understandable for Muslims not to like these comments. Of course it is. Does it make them less honest and true and part of a legitimate discussion. No it does not.
I am a Democrat. A moderate Democrat, a moderate anything is a rarity these days but a moderate one at that.
Still, surprisingly I guess, in the last couple of weeks I find myself coming down one hundred percent on the side of Bill O' Reilly and Juan Williams in their recent controversies.
O' Reilly while on The View expounding his opinion on the " Mosque at Ground Zero" and the fact that President Obama's actions had not been as strong as they could be. His main thrust of his argument was that Obama had equivocated stating that he would not challenge the right to have the mosque built at Ground zero but would hold off on his own judgement. Which was a prevaricating answer trying to offend no one. O' Reilly's point was that Americans are overwhelmingly against the mosque which, no matter what your individual opinion is on the issue, is a true fact.
Joy Behar was offended and stated that she agreed with Obama and she was an American and felt that O' Reilly was wrong. As the discussion got more heated at one point O' Reilly states " Look people can have that opinion, it was Muslims who blew up those planes." This caused Behar and Whoopi Goldberg to march off the set and to this moment I still do not understand.
It was Muslims who blew up those planes. Not all Muslims any more than all Christians who are responsible for the bad things people have done in the name of Christianity. Still for folks to think Muslims to have a mosque on the site of a terrorist attack by Muslims is not unreasonable.
I personally think that the mosque is Ok. But to get upset over someone saying Muslims blew up those planes is just ridiculous. Do we have to temper it by saying extremist Muslims. Does that somehow make it more acceptable.
Still worse was the Juan Williams fiasco. Williams on O'Reilly's show as a contributor per normal was talking about Bill's trip to The Viewand stated in support of O ' Reilly that when he gets on a plane and he sees people in Muslim garb getting on the plane he gets nervous.
For this he has been crucified and NPR fired him for these comments. Maybe I do not know anything but I have felt that way. I think that 95 percent of people have felt that way and might still feel that way under the circumstances.
I think Juan Williams comment was an honest admission. It was part of a larger comment that was not inflammatory in anyway.
A special note. Years ago Juan Williams criticized white jewelry store owners in the Baltimore metro area who stated that they were nervous when black men came into the store. By that statement his statement about Muslims is hypocritical but in my opinion this is nothing more than a man walking in the shoes of someone he previously criticized. He was after all a black man.
So is it understandable for Muslims not to like these comments. Of course it is. Does it make them less honest and true and part of a legitimate discussion. No it does not.
Trees
Maybe it is a sign of age but I find myself just mesmerized by trees. It is not just this fall though watching the trees just in our neighborhood turn is for me an almost religious experience but through the summer as well.
Watching the trees come to life in the spring. The buds and then almost overnight we look up and it is green everywhere.
The trees before a summer thunderstorm when they turn in a bit before the rain and the wind from a tropical breeze such as when a tropical storm passed to the south of us this fall.
For me trees have become something that makes me wish I had more land just so I could have one of every kind of tree. I find myself spotting certain trees on routes I frequently take and adding them to my inventory of trees I look forward to watching all year.
I feel like my grandfather with this feelings but they are real.
Maybe it is part of the overall new spirituality I feel since my sickness. Maybe as we get older we are jealous of the trees and their copying the cycle of life each year while we only get one chance.
Whatever it is for me a tree is part of my life that makes me stop and wonder. That is a very good thing.
Watching the trees come to life in the spring. The buds and then almost overnight we look up and it is green everywhere.
The trees before a summer thunderstorm when they turn in a bit before the rain and the wind from a tropical breeze such as when a tropical storm passed to the south of us this fall.
For me trees have become something that makes me wish I had more land just so I could have one of every kind of tree. I find myself spotting certain trees on routes I frequently take and adding them to my inventory of trees I look forward to watching all year.
I feel like my grandfather with this feelings but they are real.
Maybe it is part of the overall new spirituality I feel since my sickness. Maybe as we get older we are jealous of the trees and their copying the cycle of life each year while we only get one chance.
Whatever it is for me a tree is part of my life that makes me stop and wonder. That is a very good thing.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Carly Stays on Message
Sunday morning as my wife and I started our day and ate a late breakfast I was going around the Sunday morning news programs and landed on Fox's Chris Wallace interviewing California Senate candidate Carly Fiorina.
The candidate, the former CEO of Hewlett Packard challenges Barbara Boxer the three term Democratic Senator.
As is the case with Republican candidates this year Fiorina talked about cutting the deficit as a number one concern along with lowering taxes. Wallace, to his credit, did not let the candidate slide. Repeatedly asking her to explain just what she would cut to balance the budget with this scenario she repeatedly danced around the subject.
Wallace pressed and she feinted. This was not what she was promised on a Fox interview. Finally pressed she loaded up for a quasi answer. I looked at my wife and reminded of the old Hi Bob drinking game said to her " Here it comes, we are going to cut waste." 10 seconds later she spoke of estimates of as much as 50 billion dollars of waste in the budget that needed to be corrected.
Wallace, congratulating her on what each candidate says, Obama too by the way when campaigning talked about cutting waste, advised her that we had a 4 trillion dollar shortfall with the Bush tax cuts extended.
She never did answer. They never do.
Here is the truth. The military budget must be cut. Drastically. It is a jobs program for the arms makers and for the cities and towns that house them. As Bill Maher says we need to undertand that we have an army ready to fight the Russians in 1982.
Another place is Social Security and entitlements. Can someone explain to me why I have to pay X percent of my income as do most people as we do not make more than 100 K a year but that those above that amount pay a progressively lower percentage of their income as their income rises. How about keeping that percentage steady all the way thru the income brackets.
If you see France in the news right now with protests over raising the retirement age from 60 to 62 then you see the problems coming down the road. Our issues are not trim around the edges issues. We need a hacksaw not a chisel, the problem is the patients family wants you to save everything not cut off a leg to save the body.
Good luck to all those elected this year. Let's hope Carly is not one of them.
The candidate, the former CEO of Hewlett Packard challenges Barbara Boxer the three term Democratic Senator.
As is the case with Republican candidates this year Fiorina talked about cutting the deficit as a number one concern along with lowering taxes. Wallace, to his credit, did not let the candidate slide. Repeatedly asking her to explain just what she would cut to balance the budget with this scenario she repeatedly danced around the subject.
Wallace pressed and she feinted. This was not what she was promised on a Fox interview. Finally pressed she loaded up for a quasi answer. I looked at my wife and reminded of the old Hi Bob drinking game said to her " Here it comes, we are going to cut waste." 10 seconds later she spoke of estimates of as much as 50 billion dollars of waste in the budget that needed to be corrected.
Wallace, congratulating her on what each candidate says, Obama too by the way when campaigning talked about cutting waste, advised her that we had a 4 trillion dollar shortfall with the Bush tax cuts extended.
She never did answer. They never do.
Here is the truth. The military budget must be cut. Drastically. It is a jobs program for the arms makers and for the cities and towns that house them. As Bill Maher says we need to undertand that we have an army ready to fight the Russians in 1982.
Another place is Social Security and entitlements. Can someone explain to me why I have to pay X percent of my income as do most people as we do not make more than 100 K a year but that those above that amount pay a progressively lower percentage of their income as their income rises. How about keeping that percentage steady all the way thru the income brackets.
If you see France in the news right now with protests over raising the retirement age from 60 to 62 then you see the problems coming down the road. Our issues are not trim around the edges issues. We need a hacksaw not a chisel, the problem is the patients family wants you to save everything not cut off a leg to save the body.
Good luck to all those elected this year. Let's hope Carly is not one of them.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Elliott Cutler for Governor
This past weekend the Bangor Daily News endorsed Elliott Cutler for governor. Not that surprising really when one considers the candidates running.
More of a question is can he win. I think much will depend on turnout. I get the sense people in Maine are not that worked up about this election. I also get the sense that the same small group that got Lepage as the winner of the Republican primary will be sure to vote this November. Lepage's followers are true believers.
Libby Mitchell is like Lepage from the extreme base of her party and just not a good candidate. A fine person as is Lepage I suspect but neither are equipped to do what must be done.
The question is can he win. This race reminds me of the 1974 election of Jim Longley. Being a young child at that time I do remember his commercials in the last week saying People tell me they think we could win if we just had one more week to get the message out. Cutler's adds seems sharper and the unfavorable ratings of the two party candidates keep rising.
Of course very soon an attack ad will be placed against him. This is a double edged sowrd as it means that he could be hurt by it but it will also be an acknowledgement from Mitchell because I believe it will be her that he has a chance.
Lepage should ignore Cutler or even build him up as Cutler clearly hurts Mitchell more while Mitchell has to make people believe a vote for Cutler is a vote for LePage.
According to recent polling that may not be true.
I am going to vote for Cutler. We need a good governor as this is going to be a terrible time to be Governor. Lepage and Mitchell are not equipped to do what needs to be done.
More of a question is can he win. I think much will depend on turnout. I get the sense people in Maine are not that worked up about this election. I also get the sense that the same small group that got Lepage as the winner of the Republican primary will be sure to vote this November. Lepage's followers are true believers.
Libby Mitchell is like Lepage from the extreme base of her party and just not a good candidate. A fine person as is Lepage I suspect but neither are equipped to do what must be done.
The question is can he win. This race reminds me of the 1974 election of Jim Longley. Being a young child at that time I do remember his commercials in the last week saying People tell me they think we could win if we just had one more week to get the message out. Cutler's adds seems sharper and the unfavorable ratings of the two party candidates keep rising.
Of course very soon an attack ad will be placed against him. This is a double edged sowrd as it means that he could be hurt by it but it will also be an acknowledgement from Mitchell because I believe it will be her that he has a chance.
Lepage should ignore Cutler or even build him up as Cutler clearly hurts Mitchell more while Mitchell has to make people believe a vote for Cutler is a vote for LePage.
According to recent polling that may not be true.
I am going to vote for Cutler. We need a good governor as this is going to be a terrible time to be Governor. Lepage and Mitchell are not equipped to do what needs to be done.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
What If It Was Your Child
I like to think I am a pretty regular parent. I want what is best for my kids. I would like to help them avoid mistakes that can be avoided and hope the mistakes they do make are ones they learn from and that they do not bruise to much from.
When I hear about all of these young people killing themselves because they are gay or lesbian, or have been outed as such, or bullied as such it makes me rethink how I would react.
As a man well into middle age we usually do not change much. I have always of course said I would love my kids no matter what but we so often hear about parents who disown their kids, kick them out of the house etc. I could not imagine it before. Now I do not even think that is sufficient. Now I think as parents we have to be proactive. Now my ex wife one day in passing said don't make it seem like it is too OK you will encourage it.
To me that is just not a real worry. Gay people are born. Now I know we all have seen the Girls Gone Wild things and yes it is true that seemingly many young people ( mostly girls) experiment a bit with same sex activities while in college. But for those people who are gay or lesbian based on the laws of attraction I do not think there is any real doubt that these people are made this way by nature. Is it a faulty chromosone or something I do not know. I think it is also pretty clear that not many people would choose to be gay.
What I wrote in the last paragraph about a defective gene would make some folks who are gay upset. Any implication they are defective is hurtful to them and understandably so. Still if they ask the heterosexaul majority to understand science proves they are who they are not through choice then they must understand that scientifically and biologically we are supposed to be heterosexaul. From a scientific perspective that is our purpose. To procreate.
Beyond all that however I am done saying that if my child is gay or lesbian I will love them. The other night I said to my two boys " Not that I think you are but listen to me if you ever find yourself feeling like you are gay I want you to know that it is not the end of the world, we love you and support you. Do not do anything stupid. " I am a man that is about as delicate as I can be. I also told them and listen guys just as importantly there is a real chance somebody you know, a friend might be and might tell you...for goodness sakes be supportive and help them and be a friend."
I would not wish my child to be gay. I want their life to be as easy as possible. But the thought that my child or anyone's child could feel so alone as to hurt themselves over who they are attracted to. We need to really think about what we are doing.
The way to fix things is not by worrying about crazy people like the minister who pickets funerals saying how God hates fags. We need to make sure that we the huge majority of people in the middle are doing all we can to let those we love know we love them through thick and thin.
So yes in middle age I guess I am now a person who strongly believes in gay rights. DADT and laws forbidding same sex unions I don't know. I guess I have moved beyond it. If two people love each other the world is a scary place. I know lesbians who have adopted. One of the nicest people I ever worked with was a gay man.
The world needs more love. It needs less hate.
Just think if it was your child would you rather have them come to you in fear or know that no matter what you would be on their side. For me the choice is easy
When I hear about all of these young people killing themselves because they are gay or lesbian, or have been outed as such, or bullied as such it makes me rethink how I would react.
As a man well into middle age we usually do not change much. I have always of course said I would love my kids no matter what but we so often hear about parents who disown their kids, kick them out of the house etc. I could not imagine it before. Now I do not even think that is sufficient. Now I think as parents we have to be proactive. Now my ex wife one day in passing said don't make it seem like it is too OK you will encourage it.
To me that is just not a real worry. Gay people are born. Now I know we all have seen the Girls Gone Wild things and yes it is true that seemingly many young people ( mostly girls) experiment a bit with same sex activities while in college. But for those people who are gay or lesbian based on the laws of attraction I do not think there is any real doubt that these people are made this way by nature. Is it a faulty chromosone or something I do not know. I think it is also pretty clear that not many people would choose to be gay.
What I wrote in the last paragraph about a defective gene would make some folks who are gay upset. Any implication they are defective is hurtful to them and understandably so. Still if they ask the heterosexaul majority to understand science proves they are who they are not through choice then they must understand that scientifically and biologically we are supposed to be heterosexaul. From a scientific perspective that is our purpose. To procreate.
Beyond all that however I am done saying that if my child is gay or lesbian I will love them. The other night I said to my two boys " Not that I think you are but listen to me if you ever find yourself feeling like you are gay I want you to know that it is not the end of the world, we love you and support you. Do not do anything stupid. " I am a man that is about as delicate as I can be. I also told them and listen guys just as importantly there is a real chance somebody you know, a friend might be and might tell you...for goodness sakes be supportive and help them and be a friend."
I would not wish my child to be gay. I want their life to be as easy as possible. But the thought that my child or anyone's child could feel so alone as to hurt themselves over who they are attracted to. We need to really think about what we are doing.
The way to fix things is not by worrying about crazy people like the minister who pickets funerals saying how God hates fags. We need to make sure that we the huge majority of people in the middle are doing all we can to let those we love know we love them through thick and thin.
So yes in middle age I guess I am now a person who strongly believes in gay rights. DADT and laws forbidding same sex unions I don't know. I guess I have moved beyond it. If two people love each other the world is a scary place. I know lesbians who have adopted. One of the nicest people I ever worked with was a gay man.
The world needs more love. It needs less hate.
Just think if it was your child would you rather have them come to you in fear or know that no matter what you would be on their side. For me the choice is easy
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
I Am Not a Witch
When a candidate for the United States Senate seat from Delaware has to start a campaign advertisement by saying " I am not a witch" perhaps we have gone down into The Twilight Zone.
Christine O Donnell is not a bad person. She has some sincere beliefs and like most of us she made a few mistakes when she was younger. That said she is not a viable candidate for Senate.
The real issue this year is that the Tea party candidates won elections in primary season with a very low turnout. In Delaware Republicans totaling 10,000 voted for Christine O Donnell and that was enough to win. More than anything this should alert people affiliated with a party that primaries matter and they can no longer assume anything.
The next test of ethics is if Republicans will embrace these candidates such as Christine O Donnell, Joe Miller of Alaska, Rand Paul in Kentucky. The answer is a resounding yes. The Republicans will deal with any devil they have to to reach a majority. Should any of these candidates win the most interesting thing may be is how they affect the Republicans they join.
Christine O Donnell is not a bad person. She has some sincere beliefs and like most of us she made a few mistakes when she was younger. That said she is not a viable candidate for Senate.
The real issue this year is that the Tea party candidates won elections in primary season with a very low turnout. In Delaware Republicans totaling 10,000 voted for Christine O Donnell and that was enough to win. More than anything this should alert people affiliated with a party that primaries matter and they can no longer assume anything.
The next test of ethics is if Republicans will embrace these candidates such as Christine O Donnell, Joe Miller of Alaska, Rand Paul in Kentucky. The answer is a resounding yes. The Republicans will deal with any devil they have to to reach a majority. Should any of these candidates win the most interesting thing may be is how they affect the Republicans they join.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Term Limits
After FDR served his four terms Republicans wanted to make sure that nobody could do that to them again. In the eighties at the height of Republican power they wished Reagan could run again.
In very few cases of the fickle American public would it even be a viable option. But in these days of younger Presidents and longer lifespans would it not make sense to have an option of a President serving later. In Maine you may only serve two terms but then after sitting out a term you can run again. Often that former popularity will wane in your absence as Joe Brennan's repeated attempts to regain the magic show..but does anyone think that Bill Clinton would not be a better President today with his experience than he was the first time.
His empathy, his ideas, his intelligence, all of these things would make him the only candidate that I could get excited about. And yes his humanness. Bill Clinton would be a wonderful President. This cannot happen and perhaps that is for the best.
However I think with the problems we have anything that eliminates someone would be an effective leader from consideration is a mistake.
In very few cases of the fickle American public would it even be a viable option. But in these days of younger Presidents and longer lifespans would it not make sense to have an option of a President serving later. In Maine you may only serve two terms but then after sitting out a term you can run again. Often that former popularity will wane in your absence as Joe Brennan's repeated attempts to regain the magic show..but does anyone think that Bill Clinton would not be a better President today with his experience than he was the first time.
His empathy, his ideas, his intelligence, all of these things would make him the only candidate that I could get excited about. And yes his humanness. Bill Clinton would be a wonderful President. This cannot happen and perhaps that is for the best.
However I think with the problems we have anything that eliminates someone would be an effective leader from consideration is a mistake.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Who will be Governor
We in Maine are in trouble. The candidates for Governor are about as weak a lot as you will ever find. This week the ads started appearing on television. We have Paul Lepage telling us how running Mardens qualifies him to be governor and Libby Mitchell advising that she is an environmentalist. I believe in saving the environment too but I am not sure in an economically depressed state that should be the lead for your candidacy. Then we have some fellow named Sean Moody who is running as an independent. All I know about him is he has an accent like the fellow in the CMP adds telling us that no line is safe to touch evah.
Seriously what a terrible group. Elliott Cutler has no adds out yet. This makes me wonder if he has no money.
With the problems facing this state as regards its budget it is no wonder no one wants to be governor. I think we would be better off if these clowns did not either.
Seriously what a terrible group. Elliott Cutler has no adds out yet. This makes me wonder if he has no money.
With the problems facing this state as regards its budget it is no wonder no one wants to be governor. I think we would be better off if these clowns did not either.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Conspiracy Theories
Was it the murder of President Kennedy that changed us. The King. Then Bobby. Did we start to believe that we could believe nothing. Or perhaps it as some say is that the mind reels that one man, one lost soul, can forever alter the future of all people with a senseless act. Thus the belief that it must be something bigger.
I ask this as we listen to the constant drumbeat that Obama is not of this country, that he is a marxist, a socialist and all the like. First we should acknowledge that no one would do this stuff, along with any other thing that happens in the political world if it did not work.
We must ask ourselves why it does. Is the atmosphere in Washington more toxic than ever before. Some say yes, some say no. What is very evident however is that what drives that all pervading toxicity is the 24 hour media frenzy.
Too many people are getting rich making opinions and too much money flows into the political coffers from lobbyists. This has always been so too.
Today we believe everything is a conspiracy. There is a sizable group that believes 9/11 was an inside job. As ludicrous as that is too you and me the fact is that there is a market for all thought, no matter how crazy.
I tell my kids that they should give each other the benefit of the doubt. If my son sits in a chair my daughter was in right before she left the room to get a drink of water he has no malicious intent, he just came into the room not knowing she was in it. Now in many cases that is not true, he is deliberate in his intent, but the world works better if we practice not thinking the worst of each other.
So much of what goes on in Washington is for show. Fake votes to get a vote on the record that will be used as a weapon.
I am reading a book on Ronald Reagan right now. Far from a Reagan fan I still want to know more about how he was successful. In the book I have just read a story about a bill passed in the California legislature. In this instance the votes were tight, one state senator who was 3 hours away and thus missing the vote, announced he was going to vote for its passage thus breaking the deadlock. So what happens. Out of courtesy one of the previous no votes changed his vote to a yes so that that Senator would not have to have the inconvenience of rushing back to cast his vote.
Tie that against a Republican Senator saying he thought we should pray that something happened to prevent one Democratic Senator from being able to vote on the Healthcare bill.
Things do change, in this case not for the better.
I ask this as we listen to the constant drumbeat that Obama is not of this country, that he is a marxist, a socialist and all the like. First we should acknowledge that no one would do this stuff, along with any other thing that happens in the political world if it did not work.
We must ask ourselves why it does. Is the atmosphere in Washington more toxic than ever before. Some say yes, some say no. What is very evident however is that what drives that all pervading toxicity is the 24 hour media frenzy.
Too many people are getting rich making opinions and too much money flows into the political coffers from lobbyists. This has always been so too.
Today we believe everything is a conspiracy. There is a sizable group that believes 9/11 was an inside job. As ludicrous as that is too you and me the fact is that there is a market for all thought, no matter how crazy.
I tell my kids that they should give each other the benefit of the doubt. If my son sits in a chair my daughter was in right before she left the room to get a drink of water he has no malicious intent, he just came into the room not knowing she was in it. Now in many cases that is not true, he is deliberate in his intent, but the world works better if we practice not thinking the worst of each other.
So much of what goes on in Washington is for show. Fake votes to get a vote on the record that will be used as a weapon.
I am reading a book on Ronald Reagan right now. Far from a Reagan fan I still want to know more about how he was successful. In the book I have just read a story about a bill passed in the California legislature. In this instance the votes were tight, one state senator who was 3 hours away and thus missing the vote, announced he was going to vote for its passage thus breaking the deadlock. So what happens. Out of courtesy one of the previous no votes changed his vote to a yes so that that Senator would not have to have the inconvenience of rushing back to cast his vote.
Tie that against a Republican Senator saying he thought we should pray that something happened to prevent one Democratic Senator from being able to vote on the Healthcare bill.
Things do change, in this case not for the better.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
How to Fix the Deficit
With all this talk of the deficit being too large, and it is, a few things need to be said. In 2001 when he left office and for the three years previous to it Bill Clinton had overseen budgets with surplus balances. In 1993 when Bill Clinton passed his budget which included tax increases not one Republican voted for it and a catastrophe was promised.
People have short memories and we get the government we deserve. Republicans are better at campaigning than Democrats. Today Barack Obama for whatever his attributes may be is not passionate and will not get out the faithful in an off year election.
How do we fix the budget. It will be hard but first we must face some facts. Keep in mind, no one wants to face these facts. 20 percent of our budget is on military spending. We need a military about half the size we have now and even then it would be bloated. Sound easy? Now imagine all those bases closing, all those planes, ships and other things that are made by civilians for the military. It is politically impossible but there is a reason all these smaller countries surpass our standard of living. They do not act as the worlds police free of charge. Think about it. Canada knows if they were ever attacked we would defend them. The Monroe Doctrine makes it clear.
Medicare and Medicaid at some point will need to be wrapped up into a single payer health care system. We are not there and are nowhere close. Why? For much the same reason the military cannot be trimmed. Too much money is being made the way it is now. Eventually when demographics catch up with the Republican party we will have to make these changes.
Social Security needs small modifications. Raising the top amount that can be contributed is the easy fix. Tell me why I can make 80000 and pay X amount and a person who pays a million dollars and pay X in the social security. In other words it is a regressive tax. The more you make the less as a percentage of income you contribute. This would not balance the program but it would help...
See three tough decision and much of the problem is fixed. Now take someone who cuts some more ridiculous programs. Coporate welfare is a disgrace, petrolum subsidies, agricultural subsidies designed for family farms being extended to monster corporate farms.
On the other side of the political spectrum welfare reform was done 10 years ago and has been successful. Foreign aid is a minute part of the budget but again what we give Egypt and Israel would be better spent on converting to energy independent resources so that we are not so needing to be militarily involved in the middle east.
Common sense is gone. Reading about folks like TR and Truman who did what they did and considered it an honor to not be reelected if they did what was right and lost their job.
It can be fixed but the courage to do so is not present at this time.
People have short memories and we get the government we deserve. Republicans are better at campaigning than Democrats. Today Barack Obama for whatever his attributes may be is not passionate and will not get out the faithful in an off year election.
How do we fix the budget. It will be hard but first we must face some facts. Keep in mind, no one wants to face these facts. 20 percent of our budget is on military spending. We need a military about half the size we have now and even then it would be bloated. Sound easy? Now imagine all those bases closing, all those planes, ships and other things that are made by civilians for the military. It is politically impossible but there is a reason all these smaller countries surpass our standard of living. They do not act as the worlds police free of charge. Think about it. Canada knows if they were ever attacked we would defend them. The Monroe Doctrine makes it clear.
Medicare and Medicaid at some point will need to be wrapped up into a single payer health care system. We are not there and are nowhere close. Why? For much the same reason the military cannot be trimmed. Too much money is being made the way it is now. Eventually when demographics catch up with the Republican party we will have to make these changes.
Social Security needs small modifications. Raising the top amount that can be contributed is the easy fix. Tell me why I can make 80000 and pay X amount and a person who pays a million dollars and pay X in the social security. In other words it is a regressive tax. The more you make the less as a percentage of income you contribute. This would not balance the program but it would help...
See three tough decision and much of the problem is fixed. Now take someone who cuts some more ridiculous programs. Coporate welfare is a disgrace, petrolum subsidies, agricultural subsidies designed for family farms being extended to monster corporate farms.
On the other side of the political spectrum welfare reform was done 10 years ago and has been successful. Foreign aid is a minute part of the budget but again what we give Egypt and Israel would be better spent on converting to energy independent resources so that we are not so needing to be militarily involved in the middle east.
Common sense is gone. Reading about folks like TR and Truman who did what they did and considered it an honor to not be reelected if they did what was right and lost their job.
It can be fixed but the courage to do so is not present at this time.
Maine Governor's Race
This is an interesting group running. Richard LePage the former CEO or maybe current CEO of Marden's. Libby Mitchell and to a lesser extent, maybe Elliott Cutler.
I have an acquaintance through my son, her son has been a good friend of mine for years and years who is active in Republican circles. She stopped by as she is running for a local office and I realized that no matter how much you like someone, you may not agree politically. I, did not disagree with her, there is no sense and I do like her. I may even vote for her as on a local level having someone you know and can contact is worthwhile but this Lepage cat. I believe he is one of these who are much like our Republican friends in Washington. There whole theory is trickle down economics and the smartest thing a Bush ever said was old George with his " Voodoo Economics" comment about the Reagan economic plan.
Recently I read in the local paper that this race is considered LePage's to lose. I find it hard to believe that a state as blue as Maine would elect a candidate as red as Lepage. Whoever is the governor is going to have a very tough job. He may be setting himself up to be the most unpopular man in the state.
The real question will be does Elliott Cutler have the money to make this a real race.
I have an acquaintance through my son, her son has been a good friend of mine for years and years who is active in Republican circles. She stopped by as she is running for a local office and I realized that no matter how much you like someone, you may not agree politically. I, did not disagree with her, there is no sense and I do like her. I may even vote for her as on a local level having someone you know and can contact is worthwhile but this Lepage cat. I believe he is one of these who are much like our Republican friends in Washington. There whole theory is trickle down economics and the smartest thing a Bush ever said was old George with his " Voodoo Economics" comment about the Reagan economic plan.
Recently I read in the local paper that this race is considered LePage's to lose. I find it hard to believe that a state as blue as Maine would elect a candidate as red as Lepage. Whoever is the governor is going to have a very tough job. He may be setting himself up to be the most unpopular man in the state.
The real question will be does Elliott Cutler have the money to make this a real race.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Unemployment Has Many Faces- Here is One
I saw an Arizona Senator not named McCain the other day say that unemployment extensions and the cost of them should be offset in the budget to keep deficits under control. In the next sentence he stated that the Bush tax cuts should be kept in place( they are set to expire) but that of course there would be no reason to offset the cost of these as tax cuts do not need to be paid for. I do not think anything quite so illustrates the feeling that Republicans are looking our for your interests --providing of course that you are wealthy.
I saw a fellow I have known for years at my sons baseball game the other night. One of the most upbeat people I have ever known you can imagine my surprise when I asked him how things were and his response was " Well, ok considering." I did not know what that meant so when he told me a few moments later he had been let go from his job it all came into focus. He had worked the same job for 29 years. Since high school. His company was closing his department, outsourcing it. As you can imagine working 29 years he was making a pretty good salary. I too went thru unemployment last year as my company was purchased by a much larger company. In effect we had been so successful turning our companies fortunes around and thus the stock price that we made it very profitable for our company to sell out...and thus make our jobs go away. It is a sad thing, all this merging and combining. 100 years ago Teddy Roosevelt broke up the trusts and put in place departments like the FDA. Since Reagan and thru Clinton, enthusiastically thru Clinton it must be noted, deregulation has brought about mergers and acquisitions which have brought banks, airlines, petro companies, insurance and many other interests. None of this has been good for you and me.
So this friend of mine was six weeks out still hurting. Bitter and not understanding of how this could happen he was not himself. We all go thru tough times and he certainly will recover. But like me, having been someone who worked always, never missing time and was proud of his work ethic this is a shock. His son is going away to college in the fall and now his happiness about that is tinged with worry. I know that feeling, we are now a one income family. My situation is a little different, as I am no longer unemployed but am now disabled. I have to wonder sometimes if I would have got sick if I had not lost my job. It is a genetic condition that i have, I was born with it. But as the adult onset version of this one does wonder what switch was tripped. Was it the stress from the events, one will never know.
Like all things however once events are set in motion a life is changed. My friend is not out of work and even should he be fortunate to find a job he will make much less and never feel secure. This man is raising a fine family with three boys, is active in his community, does all the right things. He in the last two months has had globalization and the merging and outsourcing problem take a piece of him away.
I used to tell another good friend that all big business was evil. He would laugh and for the last 5 years tell me who do you think produces the things that make this country work, including jobs. Well the sad fact is the jobs they produce is like getting energy from the production of coal. You get something you need but at what cost is this. Last year when he and I were let go of our company --and the way that it was done, made clear to him that I was right. Big business is evil. When you realize you are just a cog, even a very good cog, in the machine and how unimportant and replaceable you are you lose a sense of yourself.
Loyalty is a big part of my life. I believe in it strongly. It is disappearing from American life. My friend had the lack of loyalty hit him in the face this spring. I hope that he recovers. Even if he does however, he will never be the same.
I saw a fellow I have known for years at my sons baseball game the other night. One of the most upbeat people I have ever known you can imagine my surprise when I asked him how things were and his response was " Well, ok considering." I did not know what that meant so when he told me a few moments later he had been let go from his job it all came into focus. He had worked the same job for 29 years. Since high school. His company was closing his department, outsourcing it. As you can imagine working 29 years he was making a pretty good salary. I too went thru unemployment last year as my company was purchased by a much larger company. In effect we had been so successful turning our companies fortunes around and thus the stock price that we made it very profitable for our company to sell out...and thus make our jobs go away. It is a sad thing, all this merging and combining. 100 years ago Teddy Roosevelt broke up the trusts and put in place departments like the FDA. Since Reagan and thru Clinton, enthusiastically thru Clinton it must be noted, deregulation has brought about mergers and acquisitions which have brought banks, airlines, petro companies, insurance and many other interests. None of this has been good for you and me.
So this friend of mine was six weeks out still hurting. Bitter and not understanding of how this could happen he was not himself. We all go thru tough times and he certainly will recover. But like me, having been someone who worked always, never missing time and was proud of his work ethic this is a shock. His son is going away to college in the fall and now his happiness about that is tinged with worry. I know that feeling, we are now a one income family. My situation is a little different, as I am no longer unemployed but am now disabled. I have to wonder sometimes if I would have got sick if I had not lost my job. It is a genetic condition that i have, I was born with it. But as the adult onset version of this one does wonder what switch was tripped. Was it the stress from the events, one will never know.
Like all things however once events are set in motion a life is changed. My friend is not out of work and even should he be fortunate to find a job he will make much less and never feel secure. This man is raising a fine family with three boys, is active in his community, does all the right things. He in the last two months has had globalization and the merging and outsourcing problem take a piece of him away.
I used to tell another good friend that all big business was evil. He would laugh and for the last 5 years tell me who do you think produces the things that make this country work, including jobs. Well the sad fact is the jobs they produce is like getting energy from the production of coal. You get something you need but at what cost is this. Last year when he and I were let go of our company --and the way that it was done, made clear to him that I was right. Big business is evil. When you realize you are just a cog, even a very good cog, in the machine and how unimportant and replaceable you are you lose a sense of yourself.
Loyalty is a big part of my life. I believe in it strongly. It is disappearing from American life. My friend had the lack of loyalty hit him in the face this spring. I hope that he recovers. Even if he does however, he will never be the same.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Cap and Trade
I am not a big believer in the Global Warming crisis. I do not doubt that the world is warming. I imagine that humans do play a part in that. However I do doubt how much can be done about it. I read recently that all of the fossil fuels used in the world amount to less than half the carbon released by the cutting of the rain forests. If this is the case it may not be something that we can so much stop as limit.
So the cap and trade policies that the Obama administration talks about may seem not important. I disagree but for a different reason.
Our country currently has a massive oil spill they cannot control and a dependence on foreign oil which costs us billions each year in secondary costs.
A cap and trade policy would make energy efficient means cost comparable to fossil fuels and thus more cost efficient and in fact once that happened probably lead to future discoveries to reduce cost even more.
Reducing our dependence of foreign oil should be a Populist credo. The same should be done with foreign products as well. Obama I believe is too much of a one world guy to go down that road.
It is unfortunate. Perhaps Americans have not been asked to sacrifice for the good of the country in so long that they could not do it. I like to think shared sacrifice would work. I favor it.
So the cap and trade policies that the Obama administration talks about may seem not important. I disagree but for a different reason.
Our country currently has a massive oil spill they cannot control and a dependence on foreign oil which costs us billions each year in secondary costs.
A cap and trade policy would make energy efficient means cost comparable to fossil fuels and thus more cost efficient and in fact once that happened probably lead to future discoveries to reduce cost even more.
Reducing our dependence of foreign oil should be a Populist credo. The same should be done with foreign products as well. Obama I believe is too much of a one world guy to go down that road.
It is unfortunate. Perhaps Americans have not been asked to sacrifice for the good of the country in so long that they could not do it. I like to think shared sacrifice would work. I favor it.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Senators Collins and Snowe
It must be a tough spot to be a moderate Republican. Our Senators have bolted with their party and agreed to work with Democrats to extend the unemployment benefits expiring for millions of Americans.
It would appear that eventually these things will be approved. What is quite remarkable however is that in the past when a group wanted to fillibuster they were made to do so. They would have to speak all night and it would be a great hardship. Now it is just a matter of voting. In the past a President would hold a Senate in place if something was not done, delay a recess. Not today.
If Republicans want to be obstructionist on all things and it is clear that they do I think it is time that they be made to suffer the cost. If they do this we can at least admire their fortitude.
It would appear that eventually these things will be approved. What is quite remarkable however is that in the past when a group wanted to fillibuster they were made to do so. They would have to speak all night and it would be a great hardship. Now it is just a matter of voting. In the past a President would hold a Senate in place if something was not done, delay a recess. Not today.
If Republicans want to be obstructionist on all things and it is clear that they do I think it is time that they be made to suffer the cost. If they do this we can at least admire their fortitude.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Unemployment Extensions
Unemployment continues to hold well above 9 percent and 90 percent of the job growth in the last quarter have been census jobs. Those jobs will go away soon. The administration has all but admitted they do not know how to promote job growth.
Currently with extensions provided by the Feds workers can get up to 99 weeks for unemployment benefits. This is a long time. I was unemployed for quite sometime. For most folks however the benefits are not close to what they were making. I, for one, do not believe that a majority of people will stay home if they can find work. The question is at what point must a worker go back to work for a lesser paying job than they had before. If the only jobs available are jobs that are paying what a person can get on unemployment the problem is not the extension of the unemployment benefits but the failure of the economy to produce jobs that pay well.
And yet Republicans and not a few Democrats are not wondering about the extension of benefits. Certainly the government cannot continually support folks, but until the government does something meaningful to produce jobs bailing on those that need help might seem to be a bit premature.
Currently with extensions provided by the Feds workers can get up to 99 weeks for unemployment benefits. This is a long time. I was unemployed for quite sometime. For most folks however the benefits are not close to what they were making. I, for one, do not believe that a majority of people will stay home if they can find work. The question is at what point must a worker go back to work for a lesser paying job than they had before. If the only jobs available are jobs that are paying what a person can get on unemployment the problem is not the extension of the unemployment benefits but the failure of the economy to produce jobs that pay well.
And yet Republicans and not a few Democrats are not wondering about the extension of benefits. Certainly the government cannot continually support folks, but until the government does something meaningful to produce jobs bailing on those that need help might seem to be a bit premature.
Disgust with Washington
As a lifelong Democrat I have to say that I am very disheartened with what is going on in Washington.
Reading an article about how the Financial Reform bill was gutted by both Democrats and Republicans led by Committee chairmen Chris Dodd and Richard Shelby, and now how as it is conference the parts of the bill dealing with executive pay have been gutted by the Obama White House.
The Oil Spill and our governments inability to deal with it and Bobby Jindalls plan to build Berms that everyone knows will not work in an effort to do something.
It is evident that both sides of the aisle can get nothing done.
Reading an article about how the Financial Reform bill was gutted by both Democrats and Republicans led by Committee chairmen Chris Dodd and Richard Shelby, and now how as it is conference the parts of the bill dealing with executive pay have been gutted by the Obama White House.
The Oil Spill and our governments inability to deal with it and Bobby Jindalls plan to build Berms that everyone knows will not work in an effort to do something.
It is evident that both sides of the aisle can get nothing done.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
The Race for Governor
I had seen quite a few signs for Paul Lepage for Governor but never having heard of him I did not consider that he had much of a chance. With so many candidates and his followers being clearly the most passionate he did win he primary. He is considered the candidate of the tea party and is quite conservative. What remains to be seen is how he is painted by the opposition. Most important will be voter turnout. If it is low he will have a chance.
Surprising that Susan Collin's office boy Abbott only gained 13 percent of the vote. Shows again that primaries are for the more extreme members of the party.
On the Dem side Libby Mitchell defeated a crowded field. A longtime legislator who has lost a couple of statewide races I do not know anything that makes me think she will be a good governor. She is a nondescript liberal politician.
I do not know if any governor can make a difference. I think again Maine is ripe for an independent. With the right and left extremes nominating the candidates it seems to me that a independent in the center could win.
Elliott Cutler a former Democratic administration official from the Ed Muskie, Jimmy Carter era is running as an independent. If he rises one would assume he will hurt Mitchell more than Lepage.
It could be interesting. What is most sad is not one candidate is worth being excited about.
Surprising that Susan Collin's office boy Abbott only gained 13 percent of the vote. Shows again that primaries are for the more extreme members of the party.
On the Dem side Libby Mitchell defeated a crowded field. A longtime legislator who has lost a couple of statewide races I do not know anything that makes me think she will be a good governor. She is a nondescript liberal politician.
I do not know if any governor can make a difference. I think again Maine is ripe for an independent. With the right and left extremes nominating the candidates it seems to me that a independent in the center could win.
Elliott Cutler a former Democratic administration official from the Ed Muskie, Jimmy Carter era is running as an independent. If he rises one would assume he will hurt Mitchell more than Lepage.
It could be interesting. What is most sad is not one candidate is worth being excited about.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Memorial Day
I went to a baseball game on Memorial Day. My oldest son played a game for his school. It was a beautiful day, one of those Americana days. Baseball, Hot Dogs, bright son.
Being Memorial Day we had a moment of silence before the National Anthem. Looking at the boys lined up on the foul line ( not touching the chalk please) I wished for my camera. Their heads bowed their numbers lined up with the flag in the distance over centerfield would be a perfect shot.
Then a better one came into view. Beyond centerfield a group was playing volleyball at a net set up in the park beyond the field. When the National Anthem started the players, many of them shirtless and in shorts stopped what they were doing and turned to the flag we were turned at ( thus facing us), stopped their game and paid their respects to the flag as well.
It was moving. Maybe in my middle age I am more sentimental about such things but it choked me up. So much is wrong with this country it can make one feel like we may never see things get better.
Small moments like this however make me see that we should have hope.
Being Memorial Day we had a moment of silence before the National Anthem. Looking at the boys lined up on the foul line ( not touching the chalk please) I wished for my camera. Their heads bowed their numbers lined up with the flag in the distance over centerfield would be a perfect shot.
Then a better one came into view. Beyond centerfield a group was playing volleyball at a net set up in the park beyond the field. When the National Anthem started the players, many of them shirtless and in shorts stopped what they were doing and turned to the flag we were turned at ( thus facing us), stopped their game and paid their respects to the flag as well.
It was moving. Maybe in my middle age I am more sentimental about such things but it choked me up. So much is wrong with this country it can make one feel like we may never see things get better.
Small moments like this however make me see that we should have hope.
The Draft
I do not know if we should be in Afghanistan. It seems to me that you cannot bring reform to a people that do not have a country or moreover a real central government. One could argue that all the men and women we have lost and money spent has prevented another terrorist attack. I do not know the answer.
What I do know is that the deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq have been many. Correctly American support their solider when they leave and when they come home. There are no more chants of babykiller even though many civilians are killed in our war activities.
Most of the time we hear people say that they knew what they signed up for. That is true to some extent, we have a volunteer military.
If we had a draft however would it be different. Would the people dieing be more important if they had not wanted to be soldiers. If a soldier dies he is dead no matter how he got there.
I think the best way to have an educated citizenry is to reinstate the draft. Perhaps if everyone's son or grandson could be eligible we would not be so willing to patrol areas of dubious merit.
I do not pretend to know if we should be in the military activities we are engaged in. I think that we all should know. I think we all should be engaged. I think the draft would do that.
What I do know is that the deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq have been many. Correctly American support their solider when they leave and when they come home. There are no more chants of babykiller even though many civilians are killed in our war activities.
Most of the time we hear people say that they knew what they signed up for. That is true to some extent, we have a volunteer military.
If we had a draft however would it be different. Would the people dieing be more important if they had not wanted to be soldiers. If a soldier dies he is dead no matter how he got there.
I think the best way to have an educated citizenry is to reinstate the draft. Perhaps if everyone's son or grandson could be eligible we would not be so willing to patrol areas of dubious merit.
I do not pretend to know if we should be in the military activities we are engaged in. I think that we all should know. I think we all should be engaged. I think the draft would do that.
The Biggest Change Comes With Age
I wrote a paper on Kent State when I was in college. I think it was pretty well written but I clearly felt that the students were in the right. And of course to this day I do not feel that they should have been killed or fired upon. It was a crazy time however in America. People felt threatened.
Now at middle aged with three children, a wife and a mortgage I wonder if I feel differently. I do not about Kent State , my opinion is ingrained. I do though with age see that sometimes things that are done with the potential to escalate are sometimes better not done at all.
I read somewhere that nothing cures crime like age. I believe it to be true. I think of things I did driving as a youth and as my sons get close to driving age know that I was stupid. I hope they will not be.
With twenty years more life would those students have went up that hill against armed soldiers. I would think not.
A life lesson might be consider the worst and best possible results before any action. I think a movie I watched said something like make sure the juice is worth the squeeze.
Is getting to school before the bell worth that dangerous pass, is being on the hill worth getting shot if a soldier panics. When talking to our young people let us hope that they remember we want them to drink lots of juice over thier lifetimes.
Now at middle aged with three children, a wife and a mortgage I wonder if I feel differently. I do not about Kent State , my opinion is ingrained. I do though with age see that sometimes things that are done with the potential to escalate are sometimes better not done at all.
I read somewhere that nothing cures crime like age. I believe it to be true. I think of things I did driving as a youth and as my sons get close to driving age know that I was stupid. I hope they will not be.
With twenty years more life would those students have went up that hill against armed soldiers. I would think not.
A life lesson might be consider the worst and best possible results before any action. I think a movie I watched said something like make sure the juice is worth the squeeze.
Is getting to school before the bell worth that dangerous pass, is being on the hill worth getting shot if a soldier panics. When talking to our young people let us hope that they remember we want them to drink lots of juice over thier lifetimes.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Obama Vs Carville
Democratic strategist is in no uncertain terms attacking President Obama's handling of the gulf oil spill. He is 100 percent correct. Again we are left with no illusion that Obama is a strong leader. One needs to only ask what the Democratic reaction would be were this the administration of George Bush. Democrats would be beating their breast and calling for investigations of all types.
This is the pattern of Obama. A seeming inability to get in the fight, to get his hands dirty, to perish the thought have someone not like him. Great Presidents are feared and then respected. Obama does not get this. I do not think he ever will.
If you had a dreaded illness and were told you could have a solution that hurt alot in the short term but would cure you or could have solution that changed your life around the margins but still worked which would you pick. Most, if not all, of us would choose the latter. Five years later when you were sicker than before with less chance of recovery how would you feel when you found out you were sold snake oil before. This is that Obama is doing. He is selling snake oil with good intent. His ideas are unquestionably better than the Republicans. But they are still snake oil. He has thus far shown no ability to fight. He has blown his election capital.
Thus far five weeks in he has stayed away from the spill geographically and personally. It is as if he has decided that taking control of the problem makes him responsible for the problem. In a sense he is right. However he is at that pay grade
Off shore drilling needs to be stopped. As Carville says why has he not commandeered tankers, why is the Army Core of Engineers not there, why is BP being allowed to use a toxic agent in an attempt to clean up, why did BP's attempt to mitigate losses right away by sending out swarms of agents to have people sign off not looked at, why was BP allowed to not perform and enviromental study before drilling, why is the US the only major country involved in oil drilling not to make a remote kill switch mandatory. A device that cost 500 K on a 60 million dollar oil rig. The truth is that Obama is not responsible for much of the regulatory mistakes of the Bush era.
He is now. And as of yesterday the government was still allowing companies to get permits to drill and bypassing the standard enviro process just as in the Bush years.
Obama has been so disappointing. When women date a man who is a womanizer they feel bad when he hurts them but they half expect it. When they date a man who looks and proclaims to be all the good things and then turns out to be just be the bad things only he tries to be good. That is even worse.
Obama is fast becoming a do gooder president without the brass to actually do good.
I truthfully cannot put in words how from health care settling without a public option, the financial reform bill which does nothing about TBTF, and this unmitigated disaster of an oil spill Obama disappoints. And then does it again.
This is the pattern of Obama. A seeming inability to get in the fight, to get his hands dirty, to perish the thought have someone not like him. Great Presidents are feared and then respected. Obama does not get this. I do not think he ever will.
If you had a dreaded illness and were told you could have a solution that hurt alot in the short term but would cure you or could have solution that changed your life around the margins but still worked which would you pick. Most, if not all, of us would choose the latter. Five years later when you were sicker than before with less chance of recovery how would you feel when you found out you were sold snake oil before. This is that Obama is doing. He is selling snake oil with good intent. His ideas are unquestionably better than the Republicans. But they are still snake oil. He has thus far shown no ability to fight. He has blown his election capital.
Thus far five weeks in he has stayed away from the spill geographically and personally. It is as if he has decided that taking control of the problem makes him responsible for the problem. In a sense he is right. However he is at that pay grade
Off shore drilling needs to be stopped. As Carville says why has he not commandeered tankers, why is the Army Core of Engineers not there, why is BP being allowed to use a toxic agent in an attempt to clean up, why did BP's attempt to mitigate losses right away by sending out swarms of agents to have people sign off not looked at, why was BP allowed to not perform and enviromental study before drilling, why is the US the only major country involved in oil drilling not to make a remote kill switch mandatory. A device that cost 500 K on a 60 million dollar oil rig. The truth is that Obama is not responsible for much of the regulatory mistakes of the Bush era.
He is now. And as of yesterday the government was still allowing companies to get permits to drill and bypassing the standard enviro process just as in the Bush years.
Obama has been so disappointing. When women date a man who is a womanizer they feel bad when he hurts them but they half expect it. When they date a man who looks and proclaims to be all the good things and then turns out to be just be the bad things only he tries to be good. That is even worse.
Obama is fast becoming a do gooder president without the brass to actually do good.
I truthfully cannot put in words how from health care settling without a public option, the financial reform bill which does nothing about TBTF, and this unmitigated disaster of an oil spill Obama disappoints. And then does it again.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
A Game to Forget..but we won't
My second son is in his last year of little league. Because of his small stature baseball has been more of a challenge for him than his older brother. That, in itself, must not be much fun. However this year he has earned a starting position playing each game at second base, getting his share of hits and making solid plays in the field. But like every boy after enjoying starting for 2 games he has made known he would like an opportunity to pitch.
After making his wishes known to his coach to his credit the coach gave him an opportunity last weekend. It was a day that did not go as scripted. After a 3 and 2 count he walked the first batter and that opened the floodgates. Eventually one hit, one hit batsman and enough walks to score 9 runs later the inning mercifully ended. What happened, pitching is hard. For a 12 year old trying to prove himself, though we as adults know he does not need to, the pressure got too much. He hurried, he forgot to bend, he did not know his release point ---and it just did not work. He was upset, would not we all be but he too after a period of time handled it well. His biggest concern would he get another chance. You have to admire the spunk. If that had happened to me at 12 I suspect pitching again would be the last thing on my mind.
Youth sports is hard. You want your kids to succeed. You want them to learn life lessons. More times than not however the life lessons involve at some point learning to deal with disapointment and not meeting success. This is not lesson a 12 year old or a 15 year old wants to learn standing on the mound on a sunny day.
After making his wishes known to his coach to his credit the coach gave him an opportunity last weekend. It was a day that did not go as scripted. After a 3 and 2 count he walked the first batter and that opened the floodgates. Eventually one hit, one hit batsman and enough walks to score 9 runs later the inning mercifully ended. What happened, pitching is hard. For a 12 year old trying to prove himself, though we as adults know he does not need to, the pressure got too much. He hurried, he forgot to bend, he did not know his release point ---and it just did not work. He was upset, would not we all be but he too after a period of time handled it well. His biggest concern would he get another chance. You have to admire the spunk. If that had happened to me at 12 I suspect pitching again would be the last thing on my mind.
Youth sports is hard. You want your kids to succeed. You want them to learn life lessons. More times than not however the life lessons involve at some point learning to deal with disapointment and not meeting success. This is not lesson a 12 year old or a 15 year old wants to learn standing on the mound on a sunny day.
The Village and Baseball
My oldest son made the JV baseball team this spring. This is of course good news and we are happy for him. However, it has been not the positive experience he had hoped for. His playing time has been limited and though he made the team as a pitcher he has only got into two games for limited time. He has always been one of those who played most of the time and certainly has always had a regular turn in whatever rotation he was in. This, therefore, has been a challenge.
For the most part he has handled it well. I think he is mature enough to have a sense of himself outside of sports, to know that he is not going to make the major leagues someday, and to be realistic about his talent. I have told him that while I might disagree with the philosophy of not using a JV team to play more players more innings I cannot argue that he has more talent than those boys that are playing more than him. I might think he has the potential to be but in the very limited opportunities he has had he has not shown it. Of course one could argue the issue of having every at bat magnified when one only gets one every two or three games but that said one must take opportunity when it presents itself. His bseball career may come to an end over the next two years. It is a very competitive sport and at this point while he loves all the sports he plays he may be disadvantaged in that everything has come so easy to him he still has to learn the drive to want it more than the next fellow. Wanting it meaning that he will work for it. We shall see.
However besides the maturity of his outlook we have also seen that he has made many good impressions with his previous " baseball adults." Little league coaches, Juniors coaches, junior high coaches, All Star coaches and even opposing coaches from the past have all reached out to him or me for him to have him know they believe in him and that they believe his opportunity will come. It has been actually a little remarkable the support these people have volunteered for him. I have to assume this means the boy has done some good things in maintaining these adult relationships.
I am proud of his growth this year.
For the most part he has handled it well. I think he is mature enough to have a sense of himself outside of sports, to know that he is not going to make the major leagues someday, and to be realistic about his talent. I have told him that while I might disagree with the philosophy of not using a JV team to play more players more innings I cannot argue that he has more talent than those boys that are playing more than him. I might think he has the potential to be but in the very limited opportunities he has had he has not shown it. Of course one could argue the issue of having every at bat magnified when one only gets one every two or three games but that said one must take opportunity when it presents itself. His bseball career may come to an end over the next two years. It is a very competitive sport and at this point while he loves all the sports he plays he may be disadvantaged in that everything has come so easy to him he still has to learn the drive to want it more than the next fellow. Wanting it meaning that he will work for it. We shall see.
However besides the maturity of his outlook we have also seen that he has made many good impressions with his previous " baseball adults." Little league coaches, Juniors coaches, junior high coaches, All Star coaches and even opposing coaches from the past have all reached out to him or me for him to have him know they believe in him and that they believe his opportunity will come. It has been actually a little remarkable the support these people have volunteered for him. I have to assume this means the boy has done some good things in maintaining these adult relationships.
I am proud of his growth this year.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Miranda
When we were little kids, maybe second grade, fresh from watching Adam 12 and Dragnet we little boys would go up to each other playing cops and robbers and mirandize each other. You have the right to remain silent....etc.
With terrorist activity over that last few years and especially since he Christmas bomber and recently the Times Square bomber we have had a groundswell of politicians claiming we need not give these Miranda rights to these people. I am not a lawyer but it seems to be that if we are going to grant certain rights to American citizens that we have to do so.
I think almost anybody would agree what when you start saying we will allow these rights to everyone but this group you are treading on slippery ground. What if they decided not to allow miranda rights to Jewish folks, or Catholics, or IRS agents or thoes that criticize the administration.
People who do these things are horrible. But an American citizen is an American citizen. No less a constitutional scholar than Glenn Beck has stated recently that unpopular as it is we have to give miranda rights to these people. He is right.
Attorney General Eric Holder recently stated the Administration would be willing to explore ways to reduce Miranda protections to suspected terrorists. This is short sighted and playing politics. Obama and his administration should be stronger than this.
Benjamin Franklin said " Those who would sacrifice Liberty for Security deserve neither." He was right then. He is right now.
With terrorist activity over that last few years and especially since he Christmas bomber and recently the Times Square bomber we have had a groundswell of politicians claiming we need not give these Miranda rights to these people. I am not a lawyer but it seems to be that if we are going to grant certain rights to American citizens that we have to do so.
I think almost anybody would agree what when you start saying we will allow these rights to everyone but this group you are treading on slippery ground. What if they decided not to allow miranda rights to Jewish folks, or Catholics, or IRS agents or thoes that criticize the administration.
People who do these things are horrible. But an American citizen is an American citizen. No less a constitutional scholar than Glenn Beck has stated recently that unpopular as it is we have to give miranda rights to these people. He is right.
Attorney General Eric Holder recently stated the Administration would be willing to explore ways to reduce Miranda protections to suspected terrorists. This is short sighted and playing politics. Obama and his administration should be stronger than this.
Benjamin Franklin said " Those who would sacrifice Liberty for Security deserve neither." He was right then. He is right now.
Averting a Diaster --Is that a Good thing
Jon Meacham is an author of biographies such as a recent effort of Andrew Jackson. It was a wonderful book about our seventh President.
He also is the editor of Newsweek magazine and I look forward to his essay each week. Last week he wrote about how President Obama seems to have kept America's economy from falling into an even bigger sinkhole than it did in the last two years.
He then wonders if long term this is a good thing. As he says it is wrong to wish for more people to lose their jobs, homes, etc. Certainly as one who has lost his job I do not wish that on anybody.
However he points out that great changes only happen under great duress. We, as Americans, are so complacent and of course there are so many money interests to manipulate opinion short of a catastrophe we cannot act.
Look what the simple idea of health care reform to bring us up to speed with the rest of the world brings about.
Meacham's point is that at some point change has to happen. Unemployment at 20 percent. God forbid. Two summers ago gas got up to $4.25 a gallon. My friend who commuted to work in a truck that burned more gas than a fleet of volkswagons made the decision to buy another car for his commute. This car with the payment still was cheaper than what he was spending on gas for his truck.
If gas had stayed higher more folks would have made that decision. Perhaps working from home would become more of an option for some. Perhaps suburbs would become less attractive.
What we do know is that behaviors do change when forced to. But not until. Our economy crashed. People are attempting to save more and spend less. This is a good thing.
And to get government policy changed their must be a demand. What happened in the last few years was not enough to cause the changes we need.
It makes one fear what it will take
He also is the editor of Newsweek magazine and I look forward to his essay each week. Last week he wrote about how President Obama seems to have kept America's economy from falling into an even bigger sinkhole than it did in the last two years.
He then wonders if long term this is a good thing. As he says it is wrong to wish for more people to lose their jobs, homes, etc. Certainly as one who has lost his job I do not wish that on anybody.
However he points out that great changes only happen under great duress. We, as Americans, are so complacent and of course there are so many money interests to manipulate opinion short of a catastrophe we cannot act.
Look what the simple idea of health care reform to bring us up to speed with the rest of the world brings about.
Meacham's point is that at some point change has to happen. Unemployment at 20 percent. God forbid. Two summers ago gas got up to $4.25 a gallon. My friend who commuted to work in a truck that burned more gas than a fleet of volkswagons made the decision to buy another car for his commute. This car with the payment still was cheaper than what he was spending on gas for his truck.
If gas had stayed higher more folks would have made that decision. Perhaps working from home would become more of an option for some. Perhaps suburbs would become less attractive.
What we do know is that behaviors do change when forced to. But not until. Our economy crashed. People are attempting to save more and spend less. This is a good thing.
And to get government policy changed their must be a demand. What happened in the last few years was not enough to cause the changes we need.
It makes one fear what it will take
IRS Agents
Why do we despise IRS agents. They are, after all doing their jobs. If you and your neighbor both buy a new car and go to pay the taxes on it but he lies about what he purchased would you think that is fair.
Yet 40 percent of Americans cheat on their taxes. You pay your full share. I do. Yet do you despise your neighbor who cheats? No we demonize the agents. If everyone paid their fair share based on the existing tax codes, all of us would pay less in the future.
I do not like taxes. No one does. I do not think the government spends money wisely. No one does. However we can vote, we can be active to changes these decisions.
Recently a man flew a plane into an IRS office. A U S Congressman said that he could understand the frustrations Americans feel about their current tax system. If that man driving the plane had been named Mohammed it would have been a terrorist attack. If his name had been Mohammed and he had disliked paying taxes he would have been a terrorist. This man was a terrorist.
IRS agents, in my eyes should have a process and protocol book they should follow and they should work on a commission based system. No one runs a red light when they see a police car behind them.
There are bad agents, there are bad clerks at the Shop and Save too. The point is demonizing any agency doing government work makes their employees less than they are. What they are are people with families, lives and dreams. Just like you and me. One of them, an older gentleman was killed at work when a man frustrated by the IRS flew a plane into his workplace. It is good to know the Congressman from Iowa understands...why the terrorist felt as he did.
Unbelievable.
Yet 40 percent of Americans cheat on their taxes. You pay your full share. I do. Yet do you despise your neighbor who cheats? No we demonize the agents. If everyone paid their fair share based on the existing tax codes, all of us would pay less in the future.
I do not like taxes. No one does. I do not think the government spends money wisely. No one does. However we can vote, we can be active to changes these decisions.
Recently a man flew a plane into an IRS office. A U S Congressman said that he could understand the frustrations Americans feel about their current tax system. If that man driving the plane had been named Mohammed it would have been a terrorist attack. If his name had been Mohammed and he had disliked paying taxes he would have been a terrorist. This man was a terrorist.
IRS agents, in my eyes should have a process and protocol book they should follow and they should work on a commission based system. No one runs a red light when they see a police car behind them.
There are bad agents, there are bad clerks at the Shop and Save too. The point is demonizing any agency doing government work makes their employees less than they are. What they are are people with families, lives and dreams. Just like you and me. One of them, an older gentleman was killed at work when a man frustrated by the IRS flew a plane into his workplace. It is good to know the Congressman from Iowa understands...why the terrorist felt as he did.
Unbelievable.
Press 1 for English
This is one my wife and I do not agree on. She thinks being frustrated by having to Press one for english is wrong and silly. In truth, usually it is not press 1 for English it to press 1 for Spanish. I understand that.
I know that I am old fashioned. We were all taught that immigrants came here, our ancestors, and immediately they immersed themselves in the culture. It seems to me that a large proportion of immigrants today ( who I support being here this is America, the land of dreams) only want to be here not live here in what has been the culture of English.
I get frustrated when I call Bank of America and speak to someone in India. I get frustrated when I speak to someone with a Southern accent so thick i cannot understand them. It just seems to me that English is the language of this country. I do not care if its your second language or you just as a first language do not speak it properly. I think this is a problem in a phone based communication.
I am sure I am wrong and at least impolite for saying so
I know that I am old fashioned. We were all taught that immigrants came here, our ancestors, and immediately they immersed themselves in the culture. It seems to me that a large proportion of immigrants today ( who I support being here this is America, the land of dreams) only want to be here not live here in what has been the culture of English.
I get frustrated when I call Bank of America and speak to someone in India. I get frustrated when I speak to someone with a Southern accent so thick i cannot understand them. It just seems to me that English is the language of this country. I do not care if its your second language or you just as a first language do not speak it properly. I think this is a problem in a phone based communication.
I am sure I am wrong and at least impolite for saying so
Could I speak to a person
It is amazing to me that big companies even stay in business. I called my mortgage company today to get some information on changing my homeowners policy. I should say I attempted to call them. I never got a person. I tried a few different numbers. I did not want to apply for home loan assistance and remortgage services. I did not need to make a payment. I did not want to talk to Jane who appeared to be not be speaking to me from my local office. Come to speak of it Jane did not appear to be speaking from any office in America. But that is a different story.
These businesses make it impossible to contact them. They do not want to talk to their customers.
I used to tell my good friend that big companies were what was wrong with this country. That we were close to being back to the Robber Baron days of pre Teddy Roosevelt times. He laughed. Our company got bought, a year later we were out on the street. He, nor I , was laughing anymore.
It is a disgrace what the banks are allowed to get away with
These businesses make it impossible to contact them. They do not want to talk to their customers.
I used to tell my good friend that big companies were what was wrong with this country. That we were close to being back to the Robber Baron days of pre Teddy Roosevelt times. He laughed. Our company got bought, a year later we were out on the street. He, nor I , was laughing anymore.
It is a disgrace what the banks are allowed to get away with
Does Bill O Reilly bet a bad rap?
Is it possible? Certainly he makes mistakes and I do not agree with much of what he says. However on many occasions I have seen O Reilly be much more responsible than his colleagues such as Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh. I do not even think O Reilly is as far to the right as Olberman is to the left.
When interviewing Democrats who dare to come on his show such as the President Obama is cordial and polite. His interview was a demonstration of restraint compared to Brett Bair.
His recent admonition to Oath Keepers that the constitution and the judicial process is the remedy to their concerns not the process they are following.
O' Reilly may not be your cup of tea, he is not caricature he has been made out to be.
When interviewing Democrats who dare to come on his show such as the President Obama is cordial and polite. His interview was a demonstration of restraint compared to Brett Bair.
His recent admonition to Oath Keepers that the constitution and the judicial process is the remedy to their concerns not the process they are following.
O' Reilly may not be your cup of tea, he is not caricature he has been made out to be.
John McCain
We need to control these immigrants because they come here and cause traffic accidents on purpose.
When the Joint Chiefs are in favor of liberalizing Don't Ask Don't Tell I will be.
We can suspend Miranda rights for American citizens.
I never considered myself a Maverick.
On and on it goes.
Mr McCain, even more so is perhaps the greatest political disappointment in my lifetime.
Mr McCain what else can you justify to get elected?
How sad
When the Joint Chiefs are in favor of liberalizing Don't Ask Don't Tell I will be.
We can suspend Miranda rights for American citizens.
I never considered myself a Maverick.
On and on it goes.
Mr McCain, even more so is perhaps the greatest political disappointment in my lifetime.
Mr McCain what else can you justify to get elected?
How sad
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Arizona Immigration
I was talking to a friend about the new immigration law in Arizona and asked " Is it really that bad?"
The state is at the forefront of the illegal immigration crisis. If someone is illegal is catching them bad?
But as I stated this and said all it meant was that if police had reason to suspect a person was here illegally they were obligated to inquire deeper and investigate. Then it hit me, what would make a person seem like they might be here illegally. Might it be looking hispanic, or having the name Gonzales. It clearly is a license for a Latino version of Driving while Black.
Immigration has been handled on a federal level, this would now give local police the responsibility for this issue. It is a recipe for disaster.
I do not think that the law is anything more than a manifestation of the frustration of state over a problem the Federal government seems incapable of leading on. It could not come at a worse time for John Mccain as he wages a primary battle in Arizona where his fairly liberal ideas on immigration reform do not need to be a headline if he wants to win.
Last night Laura Ingraham on the Bill O Reilly show stated that Obama was moving immigration to the forefront to capitalize on the heat of the issue. Lindsay Graham the accused conservative homosexual ( unconfirmed and unimportant) now says he will not play ball on climate change legislation if immigration is not pushed back until the issue calms down. But yet Obama is playing politics with a heated issue while Sarah Palin urges gun activists to be motivated to vote with crosshairs on the democratic congressional districts.
Who is responsible. I am not sure. It seems to me that the Arizona issue is a perfect time to talk about the issue. It may be too late to have it be an unemotional debate. Let's hope no one ends up with a target on their back.
The state is at the forefront of the illegal immigration crisis. If someone is illegal is catching them bad?
But as I stated this and said all it meant was that if police had reason to suspect a person was here illegally they were obligated to inquire deeper and investigate. Then it hit me, what would make a person seem like they might be here illegally. Might it be looking hispanic, or having the name Gonzales. It clearly is a license for a Latino version of Driving while Black.
Immigration has been handled on a federal level, this would now give local police the responsibility for this issue. It is a recipe for disaster.
I do not think that the law is anything more than a manifestation of the frustration of state over a problem the Federal government seems incapable of leading on. It could not come at a worse time for John Mccain as he wages a primary battle in Arizona where his fairly liberal ideas on immigration reform do not need to be a headline if he wants to win.
Last night Laura Ingraham on the Bill O Reilly show stated that Obama was moving immigration to the forefront to capitalize on the heat of the issue. Lindsay Graham the accused conservative homosexual ( unconfirmed and unimportant) now says he will not play ball on climate change legislation if immigration is not pushed back until the issue calms down. But yet Obama is playing politics with a heated issue while Sarah Palin urges gun activists to be motivated to vote with crosshairs on the democratic congressional districts.
Who is responsible. I am not sure. It seems to me that the Arizona issue is a perfect time to talk about the issue. It may be too late to have it be an unemotional debate. Let's hope no one ends up with a target on their back.
Sarah Palin puts Dems in the crosshairs
Sarah Palin, though I hate to give her any credit, may be the most polarizing figure in America. She is an unintelligent, hand reading, hate generating imbecile from the outback of Alaska.
She also put on her website recently congressional democratic districts that were targets of Republican efforts this fall. She used crosshairs to demonstrate these targets.
This as militia violence and movements increase by the day in the United States.
A list of the statements made by Sarah Palin would take all day and make us all dumber. A candidate who shuns the elite and in fact speaks to the masses is dangerous. For all the Hitler references and I do not by any stretch think Sarah Palin is Hitler like Hitler attacked the elites as well. Sarah Palin is a caricature of herself and will fade away. However what comes after her could be even more dangerous.
She also put on her website recently congressional democratic districts that were targets of Republican efforts this fall. She used crosshairs to demonstrate these targets.
This as militia violence and movements increase by the day in the United States.
A list of the statements made by Sarah Palin would take all day and make us all dumber. A candidate who shuns the elite and in fact speaks to the masses is dangerous. For all the Hitler references and I do not by any stretch think Sarah Palin is Hitler like Hitler attacked the elites as well. Sarah Palin is a caricature of herself and will fade away. However what comes after her could be even more dangerous.
Lindsay Graham
Lindsay Graham the Republican Senator whose conservative credentials include leading the Impeachment against Bill Clinton when a member of the house was deemed to be not conservative enough this last week by his Republican friends.
At a conservative conference a speaker urged Graham to come out of the closet as a homosexual so that they could be sure he was not being coerced to make the stands he has been. Graham no friend of Obama policy wise has made the mistake of being civil and at least offering a pretense of being willing to work with the Democrats to try to gain some Republican ideas into legislation
I do not know if he is gay or not. It seems a harsh way to treat a man who has been nothing but an honorable Senator.
At a conservative conference a speaker urged Graham to come out of the closet as a homosexual so that they could be sure he was not being coerced to make the stands he has been. Graham no friend of Obama policy wise has made the mistake of being civil and at least offering a pretense of being willing to work with the Democrats to try to gain some Republican ideas into legislation
I do not know if he is gay or not. It seems a harsh way to treat a man who has been nothing but an honorable Senator.
Responsible Republicans
Anyone? I have strong Republican friends who have great common sense who I would trust to run the government. For the most part anyway. I know it is a product of the extremist rule on both sides but it still amazes me that Republican leadership can be so craven as to align themselves with Wall Street in the battle over financial reform. Of course many of these same leaders who decried Obama's stimulus money and then appear at local events with the large checks being presented for project's paid for by Obama's stimulus. Something is wrong in Washington. On both sides of the aisle mind you but the right is so over the top right now it is hard to fathom.
John McCain has been a Maverick and proud of it as recently as the last election. He is not anymore, denying the term as he runs for reelection in Arizona.
The system is broken. Republicans who reach across the aisle are targeted in primaries. Ask Charlie Crist what happens to those that do not follow the conservative line that Obama cannot be worked with.
If moderates cannot win only radicals on the right and left will win. They will win by disguising themselves in the election but once they win they will move toward whatever they were hiding. This is not the way for us to govern
John McCain has been a Maverick and proud of it as recently as the last election. He is not anymore, denying the term as he runs for reelection in Arizona.
The system is broken. Republicans who reach across the aisle are targeted in primaries. Ask Charlie Crist what happens to those that do not follow the conservative line that Obama cannot be worked with.
If moderates cannot win only radicals on the right and left will win. They will win by disguising themselves in the election but once they win they will move toward whatever they were hiding. This is not the way for us to govern
Monday, April 12, 2010
How to Fix Education
We visited with some family this weekend joining them Saturday night for an evening of relaxing, watching the Sox and then a Sunday filled with great food and an energetic WII contest. It was for all a very good time. Over dinner as we are often wont to do we discussed many subjects including the crisis in education and how to fix it. My wife, being a teacher and a great one at that, has fairly strong opinions on this subject.
The problem with the subject is there are no easy answers but there are lots of simplistic assumptions. And as I tell my children those who look for simple answers had better look for simple problems. On the surface holding teachers" accountable" for their students performance sounds like a logical idea. We all know there are bad teachers out there and yet the tenure systems props them up. There is no doubt this is true. However when we say accountable we must decide what we are measuring and how. In my wife's school it is without doubt that that students needing the most help go to the teachers who are the best at what they do. The teachers who perform poorly or at least not as well get the students that need the least help. Is this correct? I am not sure but what I do know is that if you make teachers accountable only to test scores why would a teacher want to help a troubled student.
I do not have the answers. I am not sure there are answers to solve America's issue in education. The answers in some cases may not be politically correct.
My observations might be wrong but here they are
If measuring teachers you cannot measure test scores but in some cases you could measure improvement. Kids are not in a vacuum before they come to a teacher and certainly not when they go home at night. Any system that will punish teachers for taking on higher risk students so as to keep a stronger test score is a system that will not work.
If our concern is that tenure protects bad teachers we are to some extent correct. However if we remove tenure we must realize that as education is an easy target in budget trouble times now so too will be the experienced teachers who make a higher salary in troubled times. In short would you like to work 15 years and then be let go so that two lesser teachers who make much less than you can be hired. Now we know this is what happens in the real world outside of education but we do not see this as a good thing. What this is a result of is that unions have lost much of their power to protect, let us not begrudge this group who has been smart enough to hold their union together. We all should have done so.
Testing is great but my children spend at least 6 to 8 weeks a year on testing. This seems excessive. And again if we tell teachers they will be judged on tests only they will teach only to the test. Do you know how much history is on that test? Not much. Yet the same people screaming on Fox News that children do not know their countries history or what the state capital of Michigan is ( this is a big deal to me) are the people screaming that teachers have to be held accountable. The two paths do not meet. If you over emphasize testing you will not have children learning as wide a range of information. Incidentally we as parents are guilty of this too. When we see our children only searching for the answers to a question in a book they were to to read rather than reading the whole book we are endorsing No Child Left Behind. In short only the test mattes not what you really absorbed.
Of the students that go to college for education now 80 percent of those students are in the bottom 20 percent of students who go to college in test scores. We are not attracting the best people to teach our students. What this means is that you have some wonderful teachers and thank God for them and then you have alot of placeholders. There are not a lot of ok teachers. You are great because you have a passion that means more than the money you could make elsewhere or you are there because the pay is solid and you get summers off. We need to encourage our best and brightest and that means money.
We all can remember teachers who made a positive or negative influence on me. These people are some of the most important people in our children's lives. We would do well to do all we can to support them,
The problem with the subject is there are no easy answers but there are lots of simplistic assumptions. And as I tell my children those who look for simple answers had better look for simple problems. On the surface holding teachers" accountable" for their students performance sounds like a logical idea. We all know there are bad teachers out there and yet the tenure systems props them up. There is no doubt this is true. However when we say accountable we must decide what we are measuring and how. In my wife's school it is without doubt that that students needing the most help go to the teachers who are the best at what they do. The teachers who perform poorly or at least not as well get the students that need the least help. Is this correct? I am not sure but what I do know is that if you make teachers accountable only to test scores why would a teacher want to help a troubled student.
I do not have the answers. I am not sure there are answers to solve America's issue in education. The answers in some cases may not be politically correct.
My observations might be wrong but here they are
If measuring teachers you cannot measure test scores but in some cases you could measure improvement. Kids are not in a vacuum before they come to a teacher and certainly not when they go home at night. Any system that will punish teachers for taking on higher risk students so as to keep a stronger test score is a system that will not work.
If our concern is that tenure protects bad teachers we are to some extent correct. However if we remove tenure we must realize that as education is an easy target in budget trouble times now so too will be the experienced teachers who make a higher salary in troubled times. In short would you like to work 15 years and then be let go so that two lesser teachers who make much less than you can be hired. Now we know this is what happens in the real world outside of education but we do not see this as a good thing. What this is a result of is that unions have lost much of their power to protect, let us not begrudge this group who has been smart enough to hold their union together. We all should have done so.
Testing is great but my children spend at least 6 to 8 weeks a year on testing. This seems excessive. And again if we tell teachers they will be judged on tests only they will teach only to the test. Do you know how much history is on that test? Not much. Yet the same people screaming on Fox News that children do not know their countries history or what the state capital of Michigan is ( this is a big deal to me) are the people screaming that teachers have to be held accountable. The two paths do not meet. If you over emphasize testing you will not have children learning as wide a range of information. Incidentally we as parents are guilty of this too. When we see our children only searching for the answers to a question in a book they were to to read rather than reading the whole book we are endorsing No Child Left Behind. In short only the test mattes not what you really absorbed.
Of the students that go to college for education now 80 percent of those students are in the bottom 20 percent of students who go to college in test scores. We are not attracting the best people to teach our students. What this means is that you have some wonderful teachers and thank God for them and then you have alot of placeholders. There are not a lot of ok teachers. You are great because you have a passion that means more than the money you could make elsewhere or you are there because the pay is solid and you get summers off. We need to encourage our best and brightest and that means money.
We all can remember teachers who made a positive or negative influence on me. These people are some of the most important people in our children's lives. We would do well to do all we can to support them,
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Student Loan Changes
Recently the President signed a reform and restructure of the Student Loan program. To me this was a no brainer but again our Republican friends found cause to disagree. I simply do not understand. Under the former plan the government paid banks to administer the student loan program and then also provided protection to the banks should the students default on those loans. In short the banks would make a profit no matter what, and if things went poorly the government was left holding the bag. What's more being that banks are for profit the driver was profit not getting kids in college.
Under the new plan the government has taken out the banks as a middleman. Loans for students will now come directly from the government and as the government is surely non profit the extra money not spend on overhead will be plowed back into the student loan program.
If the loans go south the government is no more and no less on the hook than they were with the banks, and in this way the government can affect loan balances when the the borrowers do things such as teach in poor schools, provide rural medicine and other things deemed of value to society as a whole.
For those who are against social engineering this might not ring well but the real worry here for Republicans is that that last thing they need is a bunch of young people exposed to a government program that takes out the profit making middleman and allows the government by running a program to eliminate the corporate interests and reduce the administrative overhead by a ten fold percentage. If people saw this happening it might make them think twice about ...well you get the picture.
Under the new plan the government has taken out the banks as a middleman. Loans for students will now come directly from the government and as the government is surely non profit the extra money not spend on overhead will be plowed back into the student loan program.
If the loans go south the government is no more and no less on the hook than they were with the banks, and in this way the government can affect loan balances when the the borrowers do things such as teach in poor schools, provide rural medicine and other things deemed of value to society as a whole.
For those who are against social engineering this might not ring well but the real worry here for Republicans is that that last thing they need is a bunch of young people exposed to a government program that takes out the profit making middleman and allows the government by running a program to eliminate the corporate interests and reduce the administrative overhead by a ten fold percentage. If people saw this happening it might make them think twice about ...well you get the picture.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
The Parties
As I watch the news updates since the healthcare bill was signed by President Obama and see the Republicans refusing to work beyond 2 PM it does make me wonder if we are headed toward real political strife in America. The things that we take for granted; free elections, peaceful transfer of power, civil discourse, should we really expect these to happen consistently in the future.
I read alot of American history and there have been many times in this country where the discourse between the opposing parties has been as bad or worse than it is today. Taking solace in this however is dificult in a modern country where there is so much that needs to be helped in our country.
What is most disconcerting to me however is that it seems like the Republican leadership is taking its followers down the road to extremism. This is not to say the Democrats have not done this as well. When George Bush was in power few Democrats had any good thing to say about him and most felt that he was someone to rally against. Jokes about his intelligence, vocabulary and speech patterns were commonplace.
The comments about the President however might be considered more dangerous. Looking at signs at Tea Party Demonstrations recently I have seen comparisons to Hitler, pictures of guns and rifles, vote No OR ELSE. A survey of Republicans and their attitudes after the Health Care bill show that 57 percent believe he is a Muslim, 45 percent believe that he was not born in the United States, 35 percent believe he is comparable to Hitler, and 24 percent believe he is the Antichrist.
What do these numbers mean. I am not sure it means we are in a tougher time. I do believe in today's modern media age folks that have a way to move public opinion need to do so in a responsible way. Rush Limbaugh calling the President a thug is not acceptable. Is there a difference between calling the President stupid and calling the President a thug.
Keith Olberman on the left and Glenn Beck on the right in many ways cancel each other out. Interestingly I consider myself an intelligent person and not one who can be moved by arguments without merit. Yet while I am a left leaning moderate I still when watching Glenn Beck can find merit to some of his discussion points. Beck talks often with a hint of nostalgia and for those looking for a simpler world they remember and faced with the insecurities of todays world this can have an appeal. Olberman from the left is as bombastic as Beck, his sense of moral outrage is no more appealing than is Beck's.
Coincidentally in all of this Bill O' Reilly who often is the paragon of evil in the left's opinion I have long held is somewhere in the middle. He is a conservative, I think that much is true, but I find his opinions to be respectful. When he has interviewed the President I think he gave him a fair shake. I watched him interview Glenn Beck recently and I came away feeling that even Bill thought Beck was too extreme. In fact O'Reilly has been commenting that the Republicans need to make thier comments more productive by not appearing too extreme and personal. It is not a measure that they are listening to.
When the opposition is demonized to the point where one cannot consider negotiatiing with them how does a group of opposition Senators do anything to better thier country. Living on the east or west coast it is easy to forget that much of this country in the south and in the middle is virently different than us. It may be nothing more than an accident of history that we are a united people and as the demographics of the country shift over the next fifty years the future is uncertain. Acting as they do now neither party is making the future safer. A sense of responsiblity in government is not present.
I read alot of American history and there have been many times in this country where the discourse between the opposing parties has been as bad or worse than it is today. Taking solace in this however is dificult in a modern country where there is so much that needs to be helped in our country.
What is most disconcerting to me however is that it seems like the Republican leadership is taking its followers down the road to extremism. This is not to say the Democrats have not done this as well. When George Bush was in power few Democrats had any good thing to say about him and most felt that he was someone to rally against. Jokes about his intelligence, vocabulary and speech patterns were commonplace.
The comments about the President however might be considered more dangerous. Looking at signs at Tea Party Demonstrations recently I have seen comparisons to Hitler, pictures of guns and rifles, vote No OR ELSE. A survey of Republicans and their attitudes after the Health Care bill show that 57 percent believe he is a Muslim, 45 percent believe that he was not born in the United States, 35 percent believe he is comparable to Hitler, and 24 percent believe he is the Antichrist.
What do these numbers mean. I am not sure it means we are in a tougher time. I do believe in today's modern media age folks that have a way to move public opinion need to do so in a responsible way. Rush Limbaugh calling the President a thug is not acceptable. Is there a difference between calling the President stupid and calling the President a thug.
Keith Olberman on the left and Glenn Beck on the right in many ways cancel each other out. Interestingly I consider myself an intelligent person and not one who can be moved by arguments without merit. Yet while I am a left leaning moderate I still when watching Glenn Beck can find merit to some of his discussion points. Beck talks often with a hint of nostalgia and for those looking for a simpler world they remember and faced with the insecurities of todays world this can have an appeal. Olberman from the left is as bombastic as Beck, his sense of moral outrage is no more appealing than is Beck's.
Coincidentally in all of this Bill O' Reilly who often is the paragon of evil in the left's opinion I have long held is somewhere in the middle. He is a conservative, I think that much is true, but I find his opinions to be respectful. When he has interviewed the President I think he gave him a fair shake. I watched him interview Glenn Beck recently and I came away feeling that even Bill thought Beck was too extreme. In fact O'Reilly has been commenting that the Republicans need to make thier comments more productive by not appearing too extreme and personal. It is not a measure that they are listening to.
When the opposition is demonized to the point where one cannot consider negotiatiing with them how does a group of opposition Senators do anything to better thier country. Living on the east or west coast it is easy to forget that much of this country in the south and in the middle is virently different than us. It may be nothing more than an accident of history that we are a united people and as the demographics of the country shift over the next fifty years the future is uncertain. Acting as they do now neither party is making the future safer. A sense of responsiblity in government is not present.
Monday, March 22, 2010
How we deal
I have a friend who has just been told that he has been put on the active transplant list to have a kidney transplant. This has been a long battle for him, he has been going through dialysis for at least two years and I think longer. I met this gentleman at work, he worked in our department and was frankly struggling with his performance.
I did not know him well, until he was transferred to my team. This was not unusual, my team usually being the place of last resort for those individuals who are struggling and have not met the success we would like. I made a mistake and assumed that I knew all I needed to know about him judging by his performance. I did not. I was wrong.
I hold no misconceptions about the goodness of American commerce. I knew that I was just a faceless cog in a machine that cared nothing about me. However I did my job well; I always said I did it well out of a desire to be good at something, set an example for my children of hard work and perhaps as much as anything out of loyalty to my immediate managers who treated me well. Any idea of loyalty or desire to please the faceless giant that employed me had long seeped out of my soul.
When this man came to work for me as I got to know him I became frankly quite impressed with him. He was a man of character, doing the best he could in a job he had been sort of duped into. He had followed a friend to our company, the friend had allowed that this job would be a stepping stone to another job for which he was better suited. Unbeknownst to him the friend had not been doing so well at his job, was now gone and here was stuck on the island. I never heard him complain and resolved to do my best to help him bring his performance up to speed.
He was undergoing dialysis at this time. Days you could tell it was just killing him. Still he came to work each day, he went through some issues with his fiance and they broke up. Still he came to work each day. In the end what can any of us do but deflect and deal with all of the issues that life throws at us. To be stoic and silent and to just keep moving forward each day, it does not seem like much, sometimes it is the bravest thing we can do.
Did he get better at his job. Yes he did. Did I do much to help him get better. Perhaps a little, not much really, I think that if anything treating him with respect and letting him know that I valued him as a person and respected his effort in the face of adversity may have given him a sense of calm. He however made me better. I like to think I was a fair manager, one who did not play favorites, gave opportunities to all. This gentleman helped me to know however that success can be measured many ways.
Sometimes getting up and fighting each day is braver and more of an accomplishment than anything you see on the news. My friend would not agree that he was anything special and perhaps he is right. He was just doing what he had to do with the cards that had been given him.
Then why does it feel like that is a rarity today. Is he special or have we become so far from special that what used to be ordinary is now special. I do not know the answer.
What I do know is my friend is about to get a new kidney and I very happy for him. That is my good news of the day.
I did not know him well, until he was transferred to my team. This was not unusual, my team usually being the place of last resort for those individuals who are struggling and have not met the success we would like. I made a mistake and assumed that I knew all I needed to know about him judging by his performance. I did not. I was wrong.
I hold no misconceptions about the goodness of American commerce. I knew that I was just a faceless cog in a machine that cared nothing about me. However I did my job well; I always said I did it well out of a desire to be good at something, set an example for my children of hard work and perhaps as much as anything out of loyalty to my immediate managers who treated me well. Any idea of loyalty or desire to please the faceless giant that employed me had long seeped out of my soul.
When this man came to work for me as I got to know him I became frankly quite impressed with him. He was a man of character, doing the best he could in a job he had been sort of duped into. He had followed a friend to our company, the friend had allowed that this job would be a stepping stone to another job for which he was better suited. Unbeknownst to him the friend had not been doing so well at his job, was now gone and here was stuck on the island. I never heard him complain and resolved to do my best to help him bring his performance up to speed.
He was undergoing dialysis at this time. Days you could tell it was just killing him. Still he came to work each day, he went through some issues with his fiance and they broke up. Still he came to work each day. In the end what can any of us do but deflect and deal with all of the issues that life throws at us. To be stoic and silent and to just keep moving forward each day, it does not seem like much, sometimes it is the bravest thing we can do.
Did he get better at his job. Yes he did. Did I do much to help him get better. Perhaps a little, not much really, I think that if anything treating him with respect and letting him know that I valued him as a person and respected his effort in the face of adversity may have given him a sense of calm. He however made me better. I like to think I was a fair manager, one who did not play favorites, gave opportunities to all. This gentleman helped me to know however that success can be measured many ways.
Sometimes getting up and fighting each day is braver and more of an accomplishment than anything you see on the news. My friend would not agree that he was anything special and perhaps he is right. He was just doing what he had to do with the cards that had been given him.
Then why does it feel like that is a rarity today. Is he special or have we become so far from special that what used to be ordinary is now special. I do not know the answer.
What I do know is my friend is about to get a new kidney and I very happy for him. That is my good news of the day.
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