STEPN-UP

Politics and Religion

2011-06-23T10:50:00.000-07:00

Brooks and Shields spoke on PBS last week about presidential debates recently held. The discussion on the topic by people watching was about the religion. Who was a christian and who wasn't? May I ask what the hell does that have to do with being a president? Has any president ever lived a more virtuous life because he was a christian president? Answer is NO.

I must say; it is strange for a country of mostly christians to complain about the impact of sharia law and at the same time complain about the impact of the church affiliation of a presidential candidate. Why is this even being discussed? The idea that all law is fundamentally derived from religion is ludicrous. Perhaps all religion being derived from what people conceived as the best of common law would be more appropriate. Religious people are just demented. If they truly believe the doctrine of the books they read then why after two thousand years have they made no improvement? Why do they remain as ignorant as they were two thousand years ago? Why do we continue to have wars between adjoining civilizations? Why do we have more crime? Why do we have more abuse of the poor and underprivileged? Surely people; even stupid people can tell the difference between right and wrong; so what part does religion have to do with anything other that the fear of death?

Now you may have concluded that the absence of evil is holiness, but let me tell you a little secrete, the nature of man is greed. He will do anything necessary to increase his share of the earth’s bounty. All that is necessary is opportunity. People will steal, lie, cheat, and bare false witness to increase their position or share of life’s opportunities. Position has little to do with it and prominence only encourages more deceit. The claims of christians are no more valid than the claims of jews, mormans, or islams. For a matter of fact why not accept the judgment of organized crime bosses? They are typically successful. It all has the same validity as religion.

Show me a good christian, morman, jew, are any other professed religious follower that is without sin. Why would I follow the adulterer, the child molester, the murderer, the liar, the thief, the financial expert, the civic leader jockeying for a buck or any other professed holy person just because they attend church? Give me a break; I may not be smart but I’m not completely stupid either.

Religion has no part in politics. Politics is the most powerful, grabbing all they can while making you think you are getting a job. It is a social organization not a religion. If you want to be religious then be the hypocrite; but leave the rest of us alone to be as we choose.

Israel; America’s Partner in The Mideast?

2011-05-30T09:59:00.000-07:00

With partners like this who needs enemies. What kind of friend drags you under the water while you try to save his life? What kind of friend uses your strength to threaten his enemy? What kind of friend ignores your plea for reason as he demands more and more of your support? Israel is not the friend of the USA but rather an anvil about our neck. Our Mideast policy continues to stay in shambles because of our support for the belligerence of Israel. They like to play the part of the victim; when will that end and how long is long enough? Sixty years would seem to be long enough to me.

What border is considered defensible against missiles, so why are they demanding defensible borders? The idea that you can oppress the opposition into submission and peace is absurd. Even if it worked in the beginning it would eventually fail as a policy. Never the less Israel continues the policy of repression, tyranny, and violence to suppress the anger of an occupied nation. The strange part is that we continue to support this lunacy. It resembles the Cuban sanctions; we continue an obsolete policy just because we want to prove how important we are. We want to reign supreme in our policy no matter how many people must die. Do you understand that being dead last forever?

Israel will never feel the need to make peace and allow Palestine the same right they demand for themselves, as long as they can use the power of the U.S. Military as a defense. They intend to acquire the entire region for themselves by proclaiming the right to self-protection. When the Arab world unites against this tyranny the Israel state will disappear. It will be their own making; by their refusal to compromise. They have reason to fear. Most always, uncivil behavior is rewarded by aggression from the oppressed.

National Deficit Debate

2011-05-25T11:36:00.000-07:00

So you think we should have a balanced Federal budget? Most if not all States must have balanced budgets by law. They really scramble to make it happen at times and in the end they often have shortfalls or excess. Corporations and small business all strive for balanced budgets and in so doing include handsome profit margins to encourage and reward investors. So what is wrong with not spending more than you make? Bankruptcy is a result of debt management failure. When you have maximized your potential income and you are still losing money it is time to look at production and management. Math is so simple even a child can do it; strange that adults in Congress have a problem.

Why are we talking about deficit reduction anyway when the conversation should be about debt reduction? That is the most stupid approach to the future of the countries fiscal needs I have ever seen. The idea that debt will never be paid off is the lunacy that caused the crash of 2008. The public has been tutored into seeking immediate gratification on the basis that as a percentage of income you will never have to pay the mortgage back; growth will take care of it; that’s stupid.

Solutions could be easy realized with the exception that two opposing ideologues are competing and unwilling to yield and inch. Neither is grounded in economics; rather both are dedicated to social positions. Conservatives believe poor people are stupid and lazy. Liberals are altruist. They are at opposite poles. Who is right? Who cares who is right; the fact is that these social positions do not change the math? There is a common ground that can be achieved if the rowdy ideologues would shut up and act strictly on fiscal management to achieve the maximum benefits for both partisan ideologies.

Because government is a nonprofit organization there is no logical reason to begrudge fair taxation to cover the cost of services. There is no reason to fail or default in providing services, infrastructure and management that is in the best interest of all citizens. There is only virtue in changing direction as conditions on the ground demands. The budget is not the problem; our problem is democracy by the numerous imbeciles we send to Washington; they can’t add or subtract.

In the greatest country in the world, in the richest country in the world, in the most innovative country in the world, what is wrong with these people that can’t even talk civil to one another? Can we not find a nobler motive than profits for a few and poverty for the rest? Can we not find jobs rather than unemployment and welfare for our citizens? Must we be the police force of the world killing indiscriminately in the name of self-interest and self-defense? Why do we believe corporation’s interest out weigh human rights and environmental conservation? I realize that people are lazy thinkers and prefer to be spoon fed soundbites and emotionally charged rhetoric rather than forage for facts and accountability, but it doesn’t have to be that way, does it?

Politics and Business without Honor

2011-05-17T10:50:00.000-07:00

Games have rules but there are always opportunities to exploit a weakness in the rules. That’s not cheating, is it? Call it cleaver, shrewd, innovative, bright, call it playing the big boys game no room for wimps; but don’t defend it as honorable. It is adolescent behavior in adult bodies. The ambitious are ambivalent of any consequences other than their success. As the Gods battle the debris and collateral damage is falling on the helpless. We are the victims of this foolishness.

Ethics is being taught in Harvard Business and Law School. If the student’s sole purpose, as a business major, is to make money, a class in ethics is of no consequences. Schools typically teach the purpose of education is to prepare for the job market; to get better wages. Where does becoming a mature adult fit into this curriculum? Morals and ethics are cultural characteristics passed from one generation to another. Like the skills of the father passed to his son. Morals and ethics are appropriate human interaction within a civilized society and unacceptable behavior is considered criminal. Neglected guidance in civil behavior by older generations results in erosion of character, the same as the failure of maintenance results in a bridge collapse. The combined strength of the system is compromised slowly over time by neglect. It is not the failure of a single element that results in the collapse but a domino effect as the forces overwhelm sequential dependent elements.

The structural design of a bridge is stabilizes by the integrity of the design. A discussion on honor is not the same as one on ethics and morals. Rules only define behavior but honor is the instinct of self-esteem. It is the fundamental principals we hold ourselves to with pride, unwavering, and staunchly rigid. It is honor that must be passed from generation to generation to assure mans respect for him and others do not go amiss. The absence of honor, in our culture of today, threatens the integrity of our society.

There is a debate among politicians and business men as to what constitutes acceptable behavior. It is a fool’s debate because there are few among us that fail to understand “The Golden Rule”. Those wishing to gain advantage and wealth will compromise the rhetoric but the truth of axioms remains unchanged. Honor can be no nobler than the constraints we place on ourselves. When ambition overwhelms honor we become the scoundrel. A man without honor is an ordinary animal no different than the jackal on the prairie. Wall Street and Washington is filled with these men of no honor.

Only honorable ethics can spare the innocent bystander from the folly of men and sustain civilization. Passively watching someone drown isn’t the same as holding his head under water until he stops wiggling, but is it honorable? For those who wish to participate in the excitement of competition I have no ill repute, but let them do it with honor. Duelists facing each other on the field of honor don’t chose machine guns that kill the seconds, the bystanders, the birds, and then set the field a blaze. We are not alone; we share this world with others. Our rights end where theirs begin; that is honor.

We have seen the result of misbehavior over and over in recent and past history. The erosion of accountability continues and people are baffled as to why. Laws and regulators have failed to quell the lunacy in politics or business. The wealthy and ambitious confiscate unto themselves all liberty and freedom while trampling on the rights and needs of their fellow man with impunity. These people are without honor. We who fail to stand against this tyranny are also without honor.

A view in the mirror

2011-05-15T11:13:00.000-07:00

What people see is usually what they want to see. The accusations made by opposing political views are the same with only the characters changed. Some statements are distortions, others misunderstandings, still others are outright lies and yet occasionally facts are unabridged or unenhanced. The word battle for superiority is fought without caveat in a no holds barred struggle that is solely ideologically focused; like two deaf people yelling at each other. Emotions overwhelm reason and a defensive posture becomes the impenetrable barrier to consensus.

A view in the mirror may be merely a look through a window pane. The person seen on the other side is harboring prejudices also that blur perception; a dialog between Dr. Jackal and Mr. Hide if you will. I see no harm in having opposing opinions and of course it is quite natural. The fly in the ointment is the obsessive desire to wage war rather than share the gold. The combative, completive nature of most people and how they envision their self-esteem allows ego to control all reasoning powers solely by emotions.

Media is the source of most information that the public hear and see today. Media, being capitalistic is highly motivated by controversy. Even factual information can easily be presented in a controversial manor, thus expanding the time exposure devoted to an otherwise mundane sound bite of little consequences. Sensationalizing, suggesting a threat to fear, conspiracy territories, editing context, provocative images, and other media techniques; are all intended to hold the viewers attention for advertising profits. People are in a hurry, they are easily distracted, their attention span is short, and they are happy to remain lazy. The result is subjective ignorance. It takes far less effort to act emotionally on sound bites than to be factually informed.

The conversation turns ugly when the participants are both armed with sticks and prepared to win the moment by overpowering the opposition. Dialogue is closed and wisdom suppressed in favor of vanity. I often view opposing opinions and wonder how two people could be so closed to exploring additional facts or theories. It is as though they feel threatened by anything other than their preconceived intuition. They are unwilling to defend or support their position with any data other than their opinion. Then there are others that refuse to discuss politics or religion. Hummmm.

I love discussions. Tell me something I don’t know, give me rationality I can dwell on, share a different path; all these are interesting and worthy of my time. I can’t help but thirst for that which I have yet to discover.

The Long Sleep

2011-05-14T10:39:00.000-07:00

The youth of the mid-east are stepping up to demand a change. Remaining silent is not an option when the threat of permanent impoverishment is the only path presented to you. Stability within emerging societies can not be maintained by oppression and corruption indefinitely. With growing education and exposure through modern communication media, young people are demanding action on the part of governments that improves their chances for prosperity. The veil has been lifted and the awaking has begun. Young people want to be part of the political process that determines their future. They no longer will submit sheepishly to the power of corruption and vie for the few underpaid jobs available.

The movement has yet to take root in the West. There is an unrest brewing but unlike the Mid-east it has yet to boil. American exceptionalism is being quietly disputed, corporate corruption is slowly being challenged, and the obvious decline in lifestyles has become more apparent and wide spread. Trade agreements have fueled the dark side of capitalism. It has grown like a plague throughout the world and its subverting effects on the workforce are most apparent in the USA.

The enormous prosperity in America due to the historically soaring economy created by unrestrained capitalism has been the envy of the world. It appeared to be the ultimate answer to the economic woes of society. The growth and innovation spilled beyond our shores to foreign markets eager to enjoy the new discoveries and inventions. For decades we gathered unto ourselves the wealth of the world. Today we have fallen into our own pit. With wealth came arrogance, corruption, and economic tyranny. We parade before the world our military power and flaunt our influence on the economies of other nations. We have many among us that extol our ability to bully our neighbors with our imperialistic aspirations. The new generations of young people are finding this posturing offensive.

“Almost every instance of Western military intervention abroad since 1960 has occurred in a developing country that had recently suffered "state failure" – meaning revolutionary or ethnic war, genocide, or disruptive regime change. That was the story in Vietnam in the '60s, Lebanon in the '80s, Somalia in the '90s, and Afghanistan today. In every case, US forces were eventually brought in for combat, peacekeeping, evacuation, or protection.

The limits of American power lie not in our ability to wish tyrants away, or to deploy military assets – even now – but in our commitment to back up civil society in struggling nations with the tools for self-sustaining economic growth and wealth of their own creation.” from The Christian Science Monitor.

Simply said, we need to cleanse our ethics, and begin to focus on the future of people. Our capitalistic corporate hay day mentality is immoral; always was, and always will be. The abuse has gone on far too long. There is little difference, to the common man, in a repressive dictator or an ineffective democracy. When power and wealth are concentrated in the hands of the oligarchy only a rebellion, either political or militarily, can alter the future of the people. It seem only young people can see this clearly.

Call this Journalism?

2011-05-13T14:44:00.001-07:00

Islamist terrorists are running loose in Libya. Why isn't the US paying attention?

Libyan rebels are being infiltrated by Al-Quada. God help us all we may be watching the beginning of the end. They reproduce like rats and they will be coming in hordes to exterminate the democracies of the west. Democracies can’t stand as a deterrent to the fanaticism of these religious ideologies. They will come in swarms overpowering and infecting every part of the earth they touch leaving slime and rotting corpses in the streets. Can any rational sane person believe that? Historically no power or movement has been able to accomplish that scenario. These hysteria motivated paranoid people that keep screaming gloom and doom need to be put away. There is no rational support to give validity to the premise that an eternal war between the vile and the innocent is in the making.

America

is spending themselves into bankruptcy hysterically swinging in all directions at an imagined enemy that threatens all humanity with its 1000 or so members. How this small group is going to incarcerate 6 billion people evades me. I like the theory that you don’t shoot until you see the whites of their eyes. No waste and positive results.

One man working alone brought down a building in Oklahoma City. !60 people were killed. How much money should we invest to make sure it never ever happens again? 160/320,000,000 makes the odds that your chance of dying would have been 1 in 2,000000. You are more likely to die of a mosquito bite. The world is full of danger and there is no reason to get hysterically distracted form the real challenges before us over a few young misguided crusaders that will have no virtual effect on the outcome of our future societies.

Being reasonably cautious is prudent but becoming as fanatical as the fanatics is ludicrous.

Will Jobs Return?

2011-05-07T11:02:00.000-07:00

A metaphor of pollution is fitting to modern politics. You must bare with me here. Pollution isn’t something we set out to do; it is the result of ignorance. It doesn’t rear up like a dragon from the sea, but slowly gains strength like a cancer. Political will and opinion is like pollution. It gets corrupted over time and is undetectable until one day we look around and it becomes overbearingly obvious. The depression of 1929 was the cause of a great awakening that altered the opinion of the working people in America. They clearly saw the tyranny of ignorance and how devastating it could be. They remembered long and passionately the suffering; with this understanding they fashioned policy to prevent the recurrence of such hardship on the workforce. After all it was the workforce that suffered not the perpetrators of the catastrophe. Sound familiar?

To understand the how’s and why’s of the following decades we must understand the nature of people. During and after the depression there was not only a change in financial policy but a change in the social opinions of the masses. Prior to the collapse people were doing quite well. Times were prosperous and therefore the average worker paid little attention to the impending disaster building on the horizon. He was content that government and corporate prosperity was working just fine. When the unemployment rose to 30% he became frustrated, scared, and embittered, and with this event, he was compelled to long remember his suffering.

After the recovery of what was called The Great Depression economist and politicians have tried to devise theories as to why The United States became a thriving economic force. In most of the following years the democrats and progressive republicans were the political power and controlled the government expansion for decades. The economy exploded with well paid jobs for all comers. After the recovery, regulation, unions and social programs were applauded as progressive and humanitarian necessities. Prosperity was everywhere once again and the consumer with pockets full of money spurred the growth in the economy. Slowly the public forgot the agony of the past and looked optimistically into a future that offered a comfortable lifestyle envied by the world.

In time there was a complacence to come over the people and the political scene. There came a shift in corporate philosophy which resembles the atmosphere before the depression when capitalism ruled and the fantastic growth in wealth appeared to have no restraints. Regulations and government policy slowly gave way to promises of greater prosperity if business could act on market characteristics free of interference. Innovation would, so they say, propel the economy into prosperity beyond our imagination. The public was now a new generation without memories of the devastation capitalism had cause when last unleashed.

Even more interesting is the shift in public opinion. Now they respond to rhetoric suggesting that government is suppressing their opportunity to be successful; that corporations are on the people’s side so help get government off their back and they will be able to provide those good jobs once again. All this time, sense the pinnacle of workforce wage progress in 1963, there has been a steady decline in the progress of job creation and wage purchasing power as our government continued into laissez-faire policy. All the time business has successfully diverted the public opinion to blaming the government. People are frustrated and in disbelief that they could be victims of commerce so they willingly blame government and concede to the empty promises of jobs through trade agreements. They seem to be convinced they don’t deserve jobs.

Not until the people are once again devastated by corporate criminality and leadership corruption, will the mindset once again focus on the rights of the people and the workforce. How bad does it have to get? I don’t know but it is well underway. Social services are being totally dismantled to support more transfer of wealth through tax cut to the wealthy. War is a big business and the power of the industry robs our coffers of infrastructure capital. Business is not in opposition to government it is dependent on government and uses its financial resources to gain access in influencing policy that will further their profitability. The corruption due to both immorality and incompetence is impoverishing the nation. Just as pollution slowly consumes the environment corporate interest is slowly exhausting all resources to extinction. The people are assisting in their own demise.

The answer to the question “Will jobs return?” is “Not in the foreseeable future”; not until the laissez-faire policy is quarantined and the trade policy is based on the rights and needs of the nations workforce rather that the exclusive benefits of corporate profits; not until the nation restructures its political focus to accommodate an agenda of the nations needs over corporate greed. Capitalism is like a gun, it is a tool, it doesn't kill people but it enables the ignorant and unscrupulous to pollute and corrupt when it is misused.

Let Me Say It Again...We need Jobs

2011-04-29T12:28:00.000-07:00

Columnist like Krugman argues that employment is the most challenging economic issue facing the nation. They postulate a cure for lagging employment is more robust growth and that the result of stimulus has been disappointing because business is sitting on capitol. Seldom do I hear them address the fact that the free market philosophy is responsible for this so called phenomenon where GDP growth isn’t accompanied by employment gains. It is hard to comprehend why we don’t understand this characteristic when in fact we had a decade under Bush economics to serve as an example of what is wrong.

The Bush administration was the victim of a minor recession, a collapse of the tech market bubble, the events of 911, and two ill advised expensive wars. Trade agreements proliferated. Interest was held low to stimulate investment that was intended to improve employment but all seemed to fail. The GDP grew and eventually the housing bubble brought the economy to a sudden halt. What have we learned? Nothing it seems.

Clearly the problem is the hemorrhaging of jobs to foreign labor competition. Mexican border towns flourish with new industry moving from the U.S. for cheep labor access while importing 85% of their products back into the USA without penalty. Corporate profits explode as the practice continues to force the consumer to subsist on lower wages, part time jobs, depletions of assets, and deeper debt. A federal trade and economic policy that sacrifices the workers interest for corporate profits simply will not restore adequate employment.

The Let’s Pretend Recovery

2011-04-24T10:52:00.000-07:00

Let’s pretend that jobs will return to the

United States

because the American people are far more efficient than workers in other countries. Our workers provide a huge production advantage therefore we can pay workers $15 per hour and still compete with the foreign workers that make $15 a week. We will make it up with technology, right? All we need is more education for those new jobs. We are exceptional you know..

Let’s pretend that if taxes are reduced on wealthy investors they will invest in the

United States

because all their money is made in tax savings not cheap labor. Then surely the jobs would come back. Pretend also the low tax, in Europe of 15 to 30%, is a significant savings over the

tax paid by corporations that averages 15 to 20%.

Let’s pretend that if we deregulate and let corporate management make the rules, foul the earth with waste and destruction, and strip society naked from wasteful social supports, destroy the unions, and then, if workers are willing to compete ruthlessly for the few job possibilities, business will share the wealth with the workers and everyone will have a good job. Let’s pretend that US workers are overpaid, lazy and accustomed to big brother (government) stepping in when he is in financial trouble because he lost his job. Let’s pretend that the workforce can provide for its own financial security. Let’s pretend he has not been exploited and oppressed as a worker and a consumer.

Let’s pretend that corporations are patriotic, companionate, humble and are role models for workers. They inspire the entrepreneurial spark in every man and this spirit made

America

the greatest power on earth. This nation was built by business men’s ambitions and we owe everything to the virtues of greed, lust, corruption, and ignorance. We stand out among developed nations for our resolve to see that a penny saved is literally earned by the sweat, tears and sacrifice of the workforce for the benefit of commerce. Let’s pretend corporations don’t export the only asset our workforce has to Mexico and China.

I am tired of hearing that there will be a recovery and the path to recovery is more public debt and more trade agreements. I am tired of hearing the solutions to employment is importing products and exporting jobs. I am tired of hearing that the economy is recovering but only the fat cats are making money so be patient when their taxes are low enough the jobs will return. That is simply a lie and stupid logic. There will be no recovery until government stops allowing corporations to outsource labor and import products and services. The pillaging of the workforce must first stop. We are suffering from corporate greed and political leadership stupidity. The more we embrace capitalism and corporate promises of wealth and abundance, the farther we sink into the mire of personal financial hopelessness.

Let’s continue to pretend that wealth will trickle down. Let’s pretend we don’t have historical statics that prove otherwise. Let's pretend that the threat of socialism is catastrophically more dangerous than being jobless and dirt poor, without health care or hope of senior security. Let’s pretend the jobs must come back for after all we are exceptional; we are Americans. I have heard these arguments for 30 years. Is that naive or just totally stupid?

Opportunity Knocks

2011-04-10T13:50:00.000-07:00

Ryan has a spending less plan. It will cut the growth of government and so they say the size of government. It is based on balancing the federal budget with a reduction in spending also known as a reduction in government funded benefits and regulation. He plans to also reduce taxes and close loopholes. The premise that tax reductions and subsidies encourage investments that benefits the workforce has yet to be illustrated to my satisfaction. The Bush administration was a poor example to follow. If a job, a low wage no benefits job, is what is being referred to as employment stimulus, I would conclude we still have a serious problem. If both political parties agree we must fix the budget then why is it not fixed? “You lie” They are all cowards posturing for reelection and pandering to their constituency and corporate lobbyist.

You could be lead to believe that all the gross national product is created by the business sector and the wealthy when listening to republican rhetoric on the economy and taxes. I concede that business and the wealthy manage it and to a great extent control it, but the fact remains they merely sell and exchange the labor of the workforce for their personal benefit. That’s capitalism plain and simple. Okay, so they are important and perhaps they are the engine that fuels growth, but the engine needs fuel and the workforce provides the fuel that runs the engine. It is fair to say it is that partnership that can make a successful economy.

Today the workforce is not receiving a necessary share of the profits for their labor but are being oppressed and exploited as consumers for outrageous profits by unreasonable capitalistic business practices. It is a double whammy as they say. Low wages, reduced benefits, high cost of food, medical care, and services together with an almost equal share for the tax burden. It is simply unsustainable. Only through government management of wealth by taxation and regulation will the workforce return as a vibrant consumer market. History has illustrated this simple fact over and over and the dynamics of the relationship between business and labor has always been the same over hundreds of years.

The focus of economic philosophy has always been on employment as the fundamental goal to maintaining a stable society. Because the workforce is by far the majority, it is of greatest importance both as a producer and a consumer. Balance of trade is as important to a society internally as it is in exports and imports. When all the wealth is hogged by a few, the essential ingredient necessary for exchange; equity (money) is missing in the formula. Commerce consequently grinds to a crawl. It isn’t rocket science.

How To Pay No Taxes Bloomberg News “For the 400 U.S. taxpayers with the highest adjusted gross income, the effective federal income tax rate—what they actually pay—fell from almost 30 percent in 1995 to just under 17 percent in 2007, according to the IRS. And for the approximately 1.4 million people who make up the top 1 percent of taxpayers, the effective federal income tax rate dropped from 29 percent to 23 percent in 2008. It may seem too fantastic to be true, but the top 400 end up paying a lower rate than the next 1,399,600 or so.”

The Federal Budget is out of control. Men of honor, if there are any in Washington, need to set aside bickering about social sciences, and focus on managing the economy of the nation. Revenue and spending policy is corrupted and dysfunctional beyond comprehension. So fix it. Perhaps we should outsource the duties of congress to a private corporation to set a sane policy that brings into equilibrium the financial requirements of our nation. Our reverence for the worship of corporations could show once and for all how much better, if at all, the business sector can perform over government. Oh! Come to think of it, isn’t the corporate sector running government now? I think they are doing a lousy job. Did I hear that the financial sector crashed the economy? Oh! That was only the workforce’s economy, the financial wizards are doing fine as usual.

There is no need to run deficits for 50 years nor is there a need to neglect social and economic stimulus. This country is not yet poor or insolvent due to wealth and GDP. There is no need to avoid debt reduction. There is no need for constant war, real or imaginary. There is a need to improve revenue and waste less. Policy solves problems, moves us forward, and secures the American Dream for everyone, or sends us backward into the Dark ages. Get corporations out of government. Put people above ideology and commerce. This is what we ask for, what we deserve, and this is the intent of The Constitution of The United States of America.

How did we get to the brink of shutdown?

2011-04-08T12:50:00.000-07:00

How did we get to the brink of shutdown?

http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/04/08/howell.shutdown.factors/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn

Actually the author of the above article has some very good points. I would like to add a bit more. Although neither side is willing to admit it, they each want to impose their will on people. They are eager to stray from constitutional empowerment to endorse their narrow or broad interpretations for convenience. Congressmen are horse traders by nature and are always busy scheming to gain an advantage; they easily lose sight of the purpose of their assignment. The tangled webs they so skillfully weave, in time, becomes so corrupted that it is dysfunctional. They are instructed to set the rules for conducting the business of the separate houses but they have used trickery so long that the rules are the weapons of foolishness rather that an applaudable policy for conducting the business needs of the nation. The congressional arguments commonly are about as relevant as arguing whose feces smells the worst. Democracy is just plain difficult and frustrating.

There seems to be no acceptable fixes for the flaws in democracy. The basic functional objective of democracy is to reach and rule by consensus yet democracy is the catalyst for dysfunction. “The camel is a horse designed by committee”. Who said that?

Tax Facts

2011-04-07T20:00:00.000-07:00

Separating Tax Facts From Tax Fiction By Gail Buckner, CFP

She apparently doesn’t understand the difference between living on $14k a year and $160k.

The tax disclosure was presented in a formula that appears to be fair but ignores the gross wealth controlled by the top earners. It isn’t the bottom 80% that are getting richer but they are taxed as if they were. Objectivity isn’t illustrated in her article. To understand the tax and wealth inequity; one must be objective and it helps to not be one of the privileged.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,121811,00.html
How To Pay No Taxes Bloomberg News By Jesse Drucker
“For the 400 U.S. taxpayers with the highest adjusted gross income, the effective federal income tax rate—what they actually pay—fell from almost 30 percent in 1995 to just under 17 percent in 2007, according to the IRS. And for the approximately 1.4 million people who make up the top 1 percent of taxpayers, the effective federal income tax rate dropped from 29 percent to 23 percent in 2008. It may seem too fantastic to be true, but the top 400 end up paying a lower rate than the next 1,399,600 or so.”

Facts

Did you know that of thirty-one developed countries, the total tax revenue on income in The United States is the fifth lowest as a percentage GDP? Only Mexico, Turkey, & Korea are lower and Japan is the same. Did you also know that the tax rates on incomes are now the lowest sense 1960? Did you know that very few people in the top earner bracket pay the maximum rate? Do you realize that income from dividends is a main income source of the extremely wealthy and that it is taxed at a lower rate than most middle-class wage earners? Do you realize that the wealth of the lower 95% of wage earners is almost entirely in their home, and that was depleted by the 5% of earners taking profits from investments in derivatives? The upper earners only had 10% of their wealth affected by the housing crisis.

Do you realize who pays the majority of taxes and who receives the most benefit from labor output? In the year of 2008, those making $50,000 and less paid 25% of tax revenues, the bottom 95% of worker making less than $160,000 paid 42% of tax revenues, the top 5% earning above $160,000 paid 58% of tax revenues, and the top 1% paid 38%. These are by adjusted incomes.

Compare the earnings to the taxes paid and you find that the middle-class pays about half of the federal revenue from income tax, but possesses only 15% of the nation’s wealth. Everyone is aware of the rising imbalance in the share of wealth. Corporate CEOs have increased their personal earning share from 4 times to 1028 times the base pay of employees over the past 5 decades. The spendable income purchasing power of average wage earners, adjusted for inflation, has been on a decline sense 1960 and the growth in wealth and share of the top earners has seen substantial increasing.

Did you know that the corporation tax rate is adjusted to encourage corporate behavior and as a consequence the average rate paid is about 15%. Did you know that very few corporations pay the 33% maximum rate? Do you realize that the lower corporate rate in

Ireland

of 15% is the gold standard being promoted by republicans? Do you realize that there is no substantial proof or illustrations that lower taxes will produce sustained job growth in the

U.S.A.

Do you know that with the exception of Medicare the budget for federal expenses compared as a percent of GDP has been level or falling for more than 4 decades and the level of taxation has fallen as well? Have you notices that federal spending always increases and that the republicans always increase spending when they are in power but want to slash and burn when democrats are in power?

This link is a well written article and I suggest you read it if you wish to really put the tax issue in perspective.
http://baconcubed.blogspot.com/2011/03/powers-that-be-would-like-us-all-to.html

Federal Budget Politics

2011-04-05T13:26:00.000-07:00

Too much is being made of the magnitude of the Federal Budget. Republicans currently like to state the budget in terms of all encompassed federal spending. Democrats currently like to look at the budget in terms of components. Actually when it is examined as components like that of a corporation or a family budget for that mater, it appears much more manageable. Both parties, depending on who is in power, like to spend on the basis of percent of GDP. That figure has varied little over decades except for Medicare. Legislators and administrators have acted irresponsibly and ignored the accumulation of debt and shrouded its effect with creative accounting. It nevertheless can be viewed realistically as separate obligations the same as a house payment and a car payment.

Social Security is not rightly a budget problem. Both Social Security and Medicare are insurance programs funded separately and expensed separately. The Fed guarantees’ the funding because it is the only borrower of the funds. These insurance programs have been mismanaged but Social Security is not in trouble as of yet; contrary to Republican claims. Funding is simply a matter of appropriate management of income and expenditures the same as any insurance business. The argument is about who pays and how much; therefore Republicans are unwilling to acknowledge that it is a rightful obligation of employers, they being the ones most enriched by labor.

The military budget remains enormous. We continue to spend more on military than the combined world and as a result, we are expected to be the world’s policeman. The military budget increases in proportion to the GDP rather than the increase in population or the danger of wars. We spend ten times as much as China. The absurdity of these expenditures is motivated by paranoia, hysteria and corporate profits rather than rational security demands. Lobbyist for arms corporations plays a big role in keeping the insanity coming. A rational approach would be to raise taxation during times of conflict and reduce taxes when the cost was paid off. We budget for continuous war and military hardware,.... which we might use someday,.... if it isn’t obsolete first. We are competing with ourselves by selling arms to possible future rivals and as a consequence we must invent superior weapons at great expense to be dominant to the ones we just sold. We now use $500k missiles to destroy the Toyota pickups of the enemy. Is that stupid or what?

Medicare is the other budget buster. The simple reason it happened is called privatization. When the government pays the bill to private corporations the capitalist see the gravy train (usually republicans) from miles away; every Tom, Dick and Harry with a scheme to reap huge profits climbs aboard. People blame government but the culprit is corporate greed unregulated with inadequate oversight. . The scramble for easy profit is like a feeding frenzy. Cost rise in double digits while no justification other than lobbyist arguments can be found to justify the increases. Nationalize the health care bandits and that budget problem will be mostly solved. It is irrational and just plain stupid to spend three to six times as much on services as other countries who provide equal results. Only republicans are so entrenched in the socialism hysteria, envy and punitive consequences scenario, to grasp the logic and importance of Universal Health Care. It simply is not who pays that is the problem; it is the outrageous cost being encouraged that makes health care unaffordable to individuals or government. If government should not come between me and my doctor, why then would I trust the thieving corporate capitalist Insurance executives that were complicit in the 2008 financial collapse? Yea I know but they all graduated from the same schools with MBAs.

Now! there is taxes. I have listened to all the arguments and the passionate claims of both parties. The arguments are patrician demagogy. There remains a supportable philosophy on taxes. Most people are willing to pay for services they receive. They are willing to pay well for them in most cases. Some are willing to over pay, some can’t afford to pay. People are unwilling to enrich the fat cats, they are unwilling to pay bribes, they are unwilling to sacrifice so others can waste, and they are unwilling to pay for inferior products and services. The working public (the bottom 95% of earners, those making less than $160,000 pays half of the tax revenues while owning only 15% of the nations wealth. The bottom 90% ($106,000) of the workforce shares 50% of the income as the top 10% shared 50%. Obviously the inequity is favoring the wealthy and any first year accountant 101 can understand the validity of this observation. To increase taxes on the top earners and business owners that profit most from labor is reasonable, fair and necessary.

Spending is a problem in any large institution. Always was and always will be. Ask any CEO. Be frugal, be effective and quit grandstanding. Be responsible and do the damn budget.

Let the 2012 Campaign Begin

2011-04-04T12:01:00.000-07:00

Politically Who Am I? When I look closely at the definition of conservatism I come to the conclusion I am not conservative by many of those standards, and yet I do highly value tradition, and cultural norms. I believe strongly in discipline and encourage caution over impulsive action. I accept change reluctantly. I celebrate innovation that simplifies rather than merely alters or redirects events. I believe in honor of self, of neighbor, of country, and of morality. I commend bravery in all of life’s experiences. I fervently endorse compassion, charity, liberty, equality, justice, accountability, and determination.

Conservative= unimaginatively conventional, avoiding excess, resistant to change, (Latin: conservare, "to preserve") or a political and social philosophy.

There would seem to be no need to be obstinate and ignorant to validate being conservative. If I have not been introduced to the opinion of an adversary how can I disagree with his position? How can I be totally confident of my beliefs without exploring other avenues of thought? Diversity of experiences, of thought and of source material is required to intelligently come to any rational opinion. Single source evidence may or may not be factual but conformation is more reliable from many sources. I can respect your point of view without indorsing its validity. I have often had a change of mindset when introduced to new information or philosophy. I am not cautious about expressing my opinions but I am cautious about acceptance of or taking actions on the opinions of others. Is this then the view of a conservative?

Progressive = favoring or promoting progress, favoring or promoting reform, gradually advancing in extent , A person who favors a political philosophy of progress and reform and the protection of civil liberties

I truly reject the idea of liberalism. On the other hand I can indorse the philosophic ideals of the progressive definition. Of course there is part of each definition which I enthusiastically endorse. What does that make me? Confused !

Liberal = A person who favors an economic theory of laissez-faire and self-regulating markets, (What happened to conservatives here?) A person who favors a political philosophy of progress and reform and the protection of civil liberties, Given or giving freely, Tolerant of change; not bound by authoritarianism, orthodoxy, or tradition

In 1976 I purchased a new Mustang. It was arguably the worst car Ford has ever built. It was not a design but more of a grab bag of discarded parts assembled to present an attractive package to encourage purchases by unsuspecting consumers. I sold it for $500 dollars after eight years and $5000 worth of repairs. It had rolled up only 35k miles. My purchase was based on my opinion of the carmaker and I got what a lazy shopper deserved. Our government functions much like that car; it is a hodgepodge of inept legislation by unscrupulous elected officials, presenting an attractive facade to sell their election to the public and corporate sponsors.

Political campaigns are like a magician’s diversion. They sets in place schemes, to distract your attention from shrouded actions, making the presentation appear magical. We know it isn’t real but still we react with astonishment as if it were mystical. In politics we vote emotions rather than intellect. We want to believe because that is easy. Cleaver campaign ads are designed to stir those emotions and exploit misleading sound bites and images. Slogans that are mind indelible and emotionally biased are the most effective tool to persuading lazy voter and they continue to be successful.

Let the campaign begin. The “audacity of hope” promised to be progressive but was buried by unimaginative laissez-faire and free market conservatism. Corporate wealth and power has grown to a record breaking high as progressive kowtowed to bulling threats of conservatives. The perpetrators of the financial holocaust have successfully avoided any accountability. Workers are being disenfranchised by their neighbors through union busting. Falling wages and lost middle-class equity is enriching the wealthy as low tax revenues shrink the budgets of government treasuries. Futures trading market’s continued speculation and drive price increases for essential commodities to profit corporate CEO’s and impoverishes the less privileged workforce. More trade agreements like the ones that sent your jobs to Mexico, India and China are being advertised as job opportunities for the unemployed. The profits of stimulus spending quickly ended in the pockets of corporate executives rather than in the need rise of employment. We are being told we can’t sustain the spending by government (except for corporate welfare, and tax breaks for the wealthy) so the workforce must once again step up and make the sacrifice. Are you kidding me? The tax base is the lowest since 1960 and the debt is the highest in history. The growth is GDP clearly doesn’t profit the workforce. Debt reduction is being proposed by a cut in wages, services and benefits that affect only the workforce.

Whose side are you on? If you are financially well off you probably don’t care about the problems facing the workforce until you lose your job. You don’t want to give welfare to drug users that may be mentally ill. You don’t care who lost their home unless it is your son’s. You don’t care about student loan problems unless your loan is sucking you dry. You don’t care about crime until you are mugged. You see no need to care for the intercity poverty because it isn’t in your neighborhood. If your healthy why worry over health care? You don’t care about injustice here or in other countries until there is a terrorist attack near your home.

And that is patriotism? Hummmmmmmmmmmmm

The Federal Budget Battle 2011

2011-04-03T11:37:00.000-07:00

The country is not bankrupt it is mismanaged. The debt and deficit can be solved in a single policy decision. Conservatives need to quit erratically screaming and pulling their hair out, liberals need to stop legislating social equality and kowtowing to absurdity, moderates and independents need to take charge before the problem is allowed to spiral completely out of control. Any good dictator or monarch could easily solve the social and financial challenges before us today. Our legislators behave like a bunch of children scrambling for the candy when the piñata is broken, without discipline, without commitment, without accountability, without honor and without the support of a responsible public.

Parisian bickering is as obstinate as ever. The mythology on both sides of the isle is “sustaining a debate between the deaf” as one congressman put it. A consensus is only possible among legislators when they are working for the same purpose, but when the ideological barriers obscure the rational alternatives, a stalemate is inevitable. Both sides have reduced their public rhetoric to talking points supporting only their ideological positions. I suspect the committee debates are much the same. Power posturing is predominating over management policy making.

It is safe and reasonable to assume that the deregulation, the trade agreements and the tax cuts, afforded to businesses and the wealthy over the past decade, played no part in stimulating employment within The United States. It is clear that the tax base of the workforce is required to support governments and without jobs and fair compensation that tax income and benefits will diminish. It is obvious that business has acted without regard for the U.S. interest by outsourcing labor, importing tariff free products, and moving to foreign tax havens, all for a single minded purpose of outrageous greed. The corrupting power of political financial incentives and lobbying efforts of the corporate oligarchy has stripped away fiscal accountability from congress. The apathetic and frustratingly inconsistent message by voters has allowed, if not fueled, opposing erratic policies in alternating election cycles.

Our professional politicians, relying upon expertise of special interest consultants to formulate policy and legislation, has resulted in a hodgepodge policy incomprehensible to most of us. Legislation of dubious public interest is crafted by lobbyist. Social programs flip-flop and are under attack or embraced as a godsend by patricians. Oversight is voluntary, under regulated, and incompetent. Government of the rich by the rich, and for the rich has succeeded in marginalizing the majority for the benefit of the minority. We do not have a democracy we have a republic but it is solely in the hands of the corporate oligarchy and they are making a mess of it.

While patrician voters are distracted and embracing the ignorance perpetrated on them by special corporate interest these charlatans abscond with all the goods; your jobs, your tax money, your benefits, your security, your hopes for retirement. As voters make uncivil hate filled war against one another their interest are plowed aside and buried under mounds of lies, distortions, promises, obscure legislation, wars for manufacturers benefit, foreign aid, and corporate welfare. We have little trust in government because it has been hijacked by corporate and business interest while creating a social culture of relentless greed and self-indulgence.

Voters blame government but the blame clearly is the voters reluctance to unite, support and demand accountability. Voters have failed to correctly identify the enemy. The majority of voters in America are without dispute the politically moderate. They are comprised by the independents, moderate conservatives and moderate progressives. Who do we elect, the radical fringe maniacs, the politically ambitious professionals, and the corporate criminals? From these misfits we expect representation for the average citizen. What a joke.

We can not spend our way to prosperity nor should we be so arrogant as to believe the less affluent are undeserving lazy drug addicts. We can not legislate morals nor is it the responsibility of government to do so. Not every citizen is religiously motivated and that does not mean he is a barbarian. Government is not the conspirator; the conspirator is corporate interest and a few politically ambitious would be tyrants. Our government is our only defense against the nature of capitalism and ambitious men’s tyranny. Like the cop on the block, we need to keep him, honest, honorable and on our side.

Conservative E-mails

2011-04-02T11:12:00.000-07:00

From: Curt Larsen

To: undisclosed recipients: ;

Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2011 16:31:00 -0700 (PDT)

Subject: Fw: 65 years later

Hmmmmmmm makes you think a little

What happened to the radiation that lasts thousands of years? Or the global warming creating Armageddon

HIROSHIMA 1945

We all know that Hiroshima and Nagasaki were destroyed in August 1945
after the explosion of atomic bombs.

However, we know little about the progress made by the people of that land
during the past 65 years.

HIROSHIMA - 65 YEARS LATER

DETROIT - 65 YEARS AFTER HIROSHIMA

What has caused more long term destruction - the A-bomb, or U. S. Government welfare programs created to buy the votes of those who want someone to take care of them?

Japan

does not have a welfare system.

Work for it or do without.

HMMMM!

To see another point of view continue: Rebuttal

The following information is offered as a rebuttal to the e-mail suggesting that welfare to the underprivileged and science is a conspiracy by the progressives to destroy America. It is in my opinion irrational.

The e-mail suggesting that science is not relevant, that government always lies, that progressive thinking is nerd-manic and that only rich people deserve charity; is an over simplification of serous policy problems facing American society.

The real problem in the United States is the conservative’s celebration of misinformation and the ignorance it encourages. Conservative propaganda, although well meaning in some cases and malicious in others, is too emotionally slanted to be of any educational value.

Perhaps not all the following is not totally reliable but neither is the supposition of the above e-mail. All the below references are from Google search; accomplished in one hour.

1. As for Nuclear Implications::::

The result of the meltdown at Chernobyl 25 years later

http://villageofjoy.com/chernobyl-today-a-creepy-story-told-in-pictures/

Nuclear plant accidents foreign and domestic

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/mar/14/nuclear-power-plant-accidents-list-rank

A discussion on radiation for novice

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_contamination

Why are Hiroshima and Nagasaki habitable cities. Shouldn't they be polluted for centuries? | Answerbag http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/481995#ixzz1INsrBMNc

Why are Hiroshima and Nagasaki habitable cities.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090430135323AA43jQ6

2. What about Global Warming ::::::

Documentary by National Geographic http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/

3. What about welfare ::::: question? Do you mean Corporate or social welfare

Corporate Welfare Information Center

http://www.corporations.org/welfare/

Invest in 'the world's most violent city'

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/03/201132622428384341.html

It's the Inequality, Stupid

http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/02/income-inequality-in-america-chart-graph

The remaining question is was either e-mail honest or intentionally deceptive?

Back in 1948

2011-04-01T13:55:00.000-07:00

In 1948 I would have been in the forth or fifth grade grade. Looking at the picture I think the fifth. The war was over and I was well on my way to becoming a man. At least so I thought. The picture my mother kept in an album now is no longer a moment in my mind but it inspires me to reflect on my childhood and smile about the shenanigans I participated in. Today I still have those reckless moments when I fail to engage the brain and rashly make comments that may be perceived as more confrontational than I intend. A habit I can’t seem to break.

Some events are not worth an effort to investigate or bother to pass an opinion on, but we all occasionally if not often, do just that. I work at being more relevant than participating in foolish trivia but like the other fool I somehow get caught up in correcting the thoughts of others that surely must be founded on misinformation. My friend Charles just smiles at these times and I suddenly realize, he in his wisdom, practices what I can only aspire to achieve.

Other than this distraction with childhood reflections; today began as a beautiful day with the sudden inspiration of an old man looking in a mirror and being truly happy to be alive on this morning. It has been a wonderful adventure, not all pleasant but mostly exciting, eventful and satisfying. I would not like to do it over but there is little that I regard as anything other than a blessing.

Democrat Impotence

2011-03-31T12:02:00.000-07:00

“There is nothing in the middle of the road but yellow stripes and dead armadillos” Jim Hightower.

Mr. Obama is a kind considerate man who believes that compromise will turn the tide of descent from stalemate to progress. He believes that implementing parts of a policy is better than total abolition of its purpose. It stands to reason therefore, a compromise will then accomplish the task. This postulate suggests that going only one-way to the moon would have been satisfactory and saved a lot of money. The USA voted for what we thought could be another FDR but we got another Jimmy Carter; not that I dislike Mr. Carter as a man. Mr. Obama forgot his history. Great nations are molded by strong leadership not by compromise. Proof once again; intelligence is clearly not singularly a sufficient attribute for great leadership.

Legislative impotency is rampant among progressives. I think it is in their genes. They speak of ideals, of values, of decisive action, of protecting the working class, of acting responsible, of accountability, but one bully with a stick will send them all scurrying for cover. Bluster and vocabulary is a poor defense against the bully tactics of the conservative capitalist opposition. To command, infers one must be visibly out in front under fire; ducking for cover doesn’t inspire followers it merely keeps them confused. People are willing to sacrifice, suffer reticule, delay gratification, and even die for a cause that is worthy and righteous, but falling back merely because the leaders would never offer a bloody battered stretched out hand in the scramble to the summit, is demoralizing and shameful. The multitudes of the working class have been betrayed in The United States of America, it is common knowledge.

The people of our democratic society are willing to support a leader that stands by his word, even in failure. (Often even if wrong) They don’t expect perfection but they do expect honesty, sincerity, and unrelenting determination. It is the most elementary fabric of our American heritage. Our civil progress, against all odds, has been due to the exceptionalism of the common man to endure and persevere to achieve his goals. We are a conservative species, but we believe in equality and justice for all. Government has become a millstone about our neck. We are burdened by betrayed promises of jobs, of health care, of family wages, of values, of security, of unpolluted environments, of a better tomorrow, but we get the likelihood of poverty, despair, and lies propelled by corruption.

Our future is uncertain only because those that govern are inattentive to the working class desperation. Until thousands die in mass, the ruling class sees no urgency to respond. Distracted by elaborate toys for wars, demagoguery, profits for corporations, and conveniences for the oligarchy, their misplaced priorities outweighs the urgent needs of the declining middle-class. There remains few champions for the middle-class and without a social revolution equivalent to that of the late 30’s through the 60’s the middle-class will become impoverished and the nation will fall into rapid decline. I do not believe our nation can sustain its greatness by preying on unsuspecting impoverished societies throughout the world and neglecting the fundamental needs of our country.

The future of energy

2011-03-29T10:58:00.000-07:00

The debate has heightened around the world between the supporters of excess and those who would propose conservation. It is a debate that has been shrouded for decades. Business of course demands an expansion of markets that disregard the consequences of wasted energy production, for obviously it limits future profits from developing markets. Conservationist demand sanity, to curb the headlong rush of exploitation of energy production, and sound the alarm for known and unknown consequences it may bring. Once again we face the undeniable consequences of nuclear power generation and its catastrophic consequences such as the one now unfolding in Japan. Only recently we watched as the Gulf of Mexico was polluted by oil from a drilling accident. Scientist prewarn of the dangers posed by global warming and the continued use of fossil fuels. In the last century the earth’s population of whales was depleted to extinction for the blubber oil. Huge forest have been depleted for charcoal. We devote all our resources and energy, physically and intellectually, to exploitation of energy and almost none to conservation. We are wasteful fools sealing our fate by molding an unacceptable destiny.

Technology has been our facilitator and our potential opponent in the acquisition of an advanced civilization. Men are very ingenious and creative, but he unlike God makes mistakes. His greed exceeds reason. His judgment is to often supported only by his willingness to gamble that the inconceivable will not happen. Accidents of course are the result of unachievable perfection. We can’t avoid these events but we could plan for them, that is, if we knew exactly what could possibly go amiss. It would seem we have taken a simple need of society and complicated it to the point of absurdity for commercial bounty. Sin is often defined as anything involving unreasonable excess. The wages of sin are death as are the wages of foolishness. If God does watch, he must be very amused by the foolishness of men.

The abundance of energy is by nature one of the largest resources we have on earth. It is self sustaining and its abundance will last as long as the earth exists. We have but to capture it in sufficient quantities to satisfy our insatiable appetite. No doubt the ability to develop technology to accomplish the task already exists. The alternatives remain unpopular only because the profit motive has yet to be satisfied and our government has failed to act responsibility. When the danger of inaction becomes critically evident to the general public it may be too late. The evidence, as Ms. Rice offered, may be a mushroom cloud. If we can be inventive for destructive purposes then why not rechannel that effort to enhance civilization?

The Guardian | guardian.co.uk explained, in an article today, that 30% of the people in the USA could be convenience of anything. Also, they expressed the opinion that the conservative base was gullible and emotion motivated with a total disregard for facts. We have allowed these very vocal people to dominate the debate for decades in the USA. The most boisterous bully in any crowd is usually the imbecile, so why would we let them influence policy for the mere sake of avoiding a confrontation? In what many consider the greatest nation to exist sense Rome, we are apathetic to sustaining the policies that are responsible for our achievements. The will and greatness of the American people has been eroded by corporate influence to a point it may now be on a permanent decline.

Moral Despair

2011-03-28T13:40:00.000-07:00

Events of the recent month are just overwhelming. The complexity, the tragedy, the agony, and the unending drama being played out across the globe is vexing. It appears to be the prophetic fulfillment of the end times. Tsunami, earth quakes, and a reactor meltdown in Japan; revolutions springing up all across the Mideast, and financial calamity worldwide, all these events merge to create chaos. Although much of the cause is natural anomalies the hand of man has exacerbated the magnitude of these events. Men however are unwilling to accept any responsibility for the tragedies unfolding in today’s news. It makes me wonder how man has survived his incompetence for so many generations.

I have often spoken of the moral deficit and natural cruelty of physical existence. It would be consoling to believe with certainty in a deity that in time would make all wrong right. The immorality of men, even those of intelligence, is loathsome. It would seem man is born in ignorance, motivated by survival instincts, and equipped with destructive ability, with which to impose the greatest devastation possible on those who compete against him. He is ambivalent regarding the future of his offspring’s and lives almost solely in pursuit of personal pleasure.

The absence of logic is so prevalent that history is nothing more than a reflection in a pond that is quickly distorted by the ripples resulting from a falling leaf. Perhaps the impatience of men is a result of a short life span; the natural need to accomplish their destiny before opportunity is terminated by death. Actions such as war and all other forms of bullying evident in societies may be the desperation emotion. I am discouraged that man today has not advanced as a civilized species over the many generations he has dominated the earth.

Some would say that morality comes only from God. I refute that in that man has the ability to create and destroy with equal proficiency. The influence of prophets has posed God’s will and appropriate behavior but even the professed faithful fail to rise above sin. There is no simpler phrase than ”to love one another”, yet neither the religious nor the atheist practice it. Men select their morals to suit their desires and enforce them with dominate power over his neighbor; not unlike the hierarchy in a wild dog pack. The writings and admonitions of philosophers and intellectuals are brushed aside for the sake of immediacy and ambition.

I am resigned to the fact that the world is an evil place and will remain so in the future. There is no evidence that would support the opinion that evolution and time would significantly alter the nature of man to do evil. He will continue to respond to social events and changes with fear or with aggression; in some instances both or to other events with apathy and impotence. We advance our technology and use it only to empower evil, either by design or by ignorance. In our waning years of old age we long for the innocent days of childhood to replace the chaos of the world in competition and conflict.

Combat Cruelty

2011-03-24T12:19:00.000-07:00

Reading comments of people who followed the court martial of several soldiers for killing civilians near Kandahar really gives me pause. Many pass these murders off with explanations of “that’s war, we are punishing our heroes, and they are trained killers doing their job”; others of coursed are appalled. Of those expressing approval of these soldiers murdering civilians, I wonder how they would feel if the dead civilian was their son? These disconnects between other people’s pain and that of self is uncivilized. How can’t we have so little respect for life? These young men are not “the bad ass American soldier” they are murderers for pleasure playing the ultimate hunting game.

War has no redeeming virtues. When there is no alternative to combat, I see no logic for mercy. I, on the other hand, see no justification of killing for entertainment. There is something wrong with commanders when soldiers become gangs of ruthless marauders plundering the civil population they swore to defend. The problem has been repeated, time and time again, in every conflict throughout history. How is it we believe we are more civilized than the barbarian hordes of Europe?

Intelligent men have asked these questions about cruelty over and over. We even know the answer to these reoccurring atrocities. When will people care enough about their fellow man to take measures that avert these events in the future? When readers condone the atrocities of war why would we expect honorable conduct from the men in combat? Why do we prosecute war criminals when we fail to teach our children to respect the lives of others with the same regard we have for our own?

Waste

2011-03-23T17:35:00.000-07:00

How many of the problems we face as a society are the result of over indulgence? It has been easy to get caught up in the fascination with advances in technology. There seems to be a never ending proliferation of fads, gadgets, games, and the promotion of indulgence. These changes in behavior permeate society without notice. Like a cancer they lurk below the radar until a boiling point is reached and only then do we spring to our feet and demand an answer; why was this allowed to happen?

Waste has a thousand faces. Garbage we understand, yet little is done to diminish landfills. There are the cars we fuel and the unreasonable convenience of commuting individually to almost every activity we participate in. The design of cities promotes wasted infrastructure, administration and maintenance. We waste the airways with entertainment for children texting and phone calls designed for no productive purpose other than entrepreneurship. We waste our forest, our water, our air and pollute the earth with our industrial and private waste. We demand more and more and give no thought to reasonable conservation of anything. Not time, not products, not resources, not knowledge, not compassion; nothing.

The waste is promoted by businesses all focused on a single goal; Profit; the biggest possible in every way. Advertising invades our personal lives at every turn; it is inescapable and in your face 24/7. From product packaging to billboards the materials and time spent encouraging people to consume without restraint is generating waste that much of the time, has no social or functional benefit to society. A throw-away society of built-in obsolesces; waste the labor of the workforce, the finances of the working-consumer, and creates residue that must be disposed of, yet the companies that create this garbage, is allowed to be indemnified of the cost for pollution and disposal as they continue to pocket their profits.

Ignorance often plays a leading roll in these wasteful activities. It is understandable as man has always been easily distracted; remember Adam and Eave? Why do we continue our shameful behavior knowing that those that will come later must sacrifice as a result of our unethical self-indulgence? We conduct our life as though the future is non-existence. We seem to have decided that building cities for future generations has no value. We no longer demand our children be disciplined scholars. We let others represent our interest without our input. We have no time to devote to civilization. We are busy entertaining ourselves and indulging in self gratification. From private lives to public policy the corruption of what was once a successful middle-class has gone into decline. The example the Japanese have displayed in the face of disaster should make every American stop and evaluate where we are and where we are going. Is our conduct as responsible as it could be?

In God We Trust

2011-03-07T12:10:00.000-08:00

The topic of an E-mail this morning was “NBC survey indicates only 15% of the participants support the removal of “In God We Trust” from our currency”. With a picture of a bearded man with long hair presumably Jesus and an image of folded American flags, it was suggesting that there was a connection between religion and patriotism. I think the greater implication was intended to imply that the minority was trampling on the rights of the majority. Now the thing that attracted my attention was the message below suggested the topic was not open for discussion. I returned the mail to sender with my response that it appears the supporters of this message must intend to promote ignorance if the debate is closed to discussion.

The religious conservative rightwing may not be open to discussion because facts or other opinions are considered blasphemous and threatening. The majority of religious advocates in America are of some denomination of Christians. So if the debate is closed, is there not clear evidence this is the same prejudice they hypocritically deplore toward Muslims and other religions? Isn’t the insistence by a majority that Christianity be a part of government the same as the Church of England solely dominating religion and politics in the past? Isn’t this the reason The Constitution guarantees the right to freedom of religious belief? Isn’t the thwarting of discussion the same as censorship which again is forbidden by The Constitution? How is to discuss and disagree unpatriotic and blasphemy?

Democracy is dependent upon the freedom to debate and come to a consensus. If the prejudices of theocratic principals are to be established standards thrust upon all the citizenry the most basic principals of democracy are dismantled. Democracy can not exist in a society structured to repel by force any philosophy, science, theory, religion or opinion that is in conflict with popular schools of thought. We fought a war to release us for this type of tyranny. Contrary to the opinion of the religious rightwing, morals and ethics are not dependant on the belief in Jesus or even God. A study of intellectual people in our past history will bear me out.

Constitutional freedom and liberty has an interesting implication often neglected in opinion discussions. The Constitution implements its guarantees to every one of our citizens and therefore the rights of one individual ends at the beginning of the rights of another. To claim additional rights based on prejudicial opinions and dogma is tyranny. It is an affront to democracy. The Supreme Court is often embroiled in these difficult often controversial disagreements but by reliance on constitutional law rather than religious dogma they judicate according to the laws of man not those presumed to be of man’s God. This means your preferences, no matter how noble, may not trespass on my freedoms any more than mine on yours.

When we attempt to deny to others the respect and liberty we demand for ourselves we are attempting to destroy the most revered characteristic of democracy. The majority does not always support policy that is in their best interest and I can see no room, even though it is small, for the prejudice of theocracy in our democracy. I am not asking you to disregard you religious dogma; I am asking you to refrain from demanding, that I support your personal beliefs and agenda through political legislation.

Liberally Angry

2011-03-05T12:44:00.000-08:00

What the @#%% is wrong with people? What does sanctity of marriage have to do with governing? With all the serous issues facing governments from the federal down to community levels; we see politicians blustery contentious posturing on social disputes of little or no governing consequences. With the economy in the ditch and unemployment crippling the nation, these imbeciles squabble over laws designed to create discrimination that support their personal religious creeds. Divisive emotional hypocrisy at its finest, by intellectually diminished minds, will serves absolutely no fundamental legislative purpose in a democracy.

I do not understand why fanatical conservative ideology that attempts to legislate social liberties and morals is even considered as a mandated responsibility by law makers. The people without jobs, the people without health care, the people unable to afford an education for their children, the people that lost their homes, and the people who have sons and daughters on foreign battle fields scream for intellectually responsible government and are ignored while these elected officials play with their disgusting political schemes. Have they no shame, have they no compassion, and have they no aptitude for their duty? It appears they simply don’t care and that’s why voters become angry.

The absurdity of these religious opinions being an issue of government significance is infuriating. Even before the atrocities of the Middle Ages fanatical groups have attempted to force their individual cultus morals on society. The tyrannical and appalling inhumanity these fanatics perpetrate should be a history lesson for today’s civic dialog.

Democracy is being challenged by those with the loudest voices shouting for liberty, but these are in actuality the oppressors of secularism, that which is freedom’s essential ingredient. Theocracy makes no compromises that allows for democracy and it has no provisions for restraint. Make up your mind and make a choice; obviously government can’t act responsibility in support of two diametrically opposite political ideologies. It is long past time to get our priorities in order.

Not Class War But Still Tyranny

2011-03-04T11:13:00.000-08:00

I have been reading a book on George Patton; earlier one on Hirohito. It is interesting to see how the really wealthy live and raise their children. In this book, it not only describes the Patton family but those they come in contact with that contributed to the family wealth. To understand how rich these people were they owned sleeper cars for rail traveling. The train comes and picks up your private car parked on spurs. It must be a tough life, spending the summer on Catalina Island sailing your sloop about.

My real thought wasn't their outlandish wealth but the way they raised their children. Most of the families were snobs; they in fact, believed they are far above the lower classes. They taught their children to be the same way and expected a social discipline that gave them an intellectual advantage as well as economic advantages. Although it was a social discipline it is military like and demanding in that it suggested not only are you better but you have a responsibility to act and achieve in conformity with the expectations of your parents and peers. After reading 2 books and watching a movie, it suddenly made me fully aware of the privileged and the enormous advantage they have over the common person raised in a working class family. Even with the free education that is inept in comparison; the children of working class families will not likely be able to achieve the success of children from a wealthy family. They never are introduced to the culture of the wealthy and are unlikely to discover its existence. So when wealthy politicians and business executives explain their humble childhood, be cautious. Their definitions of humble environments are different than ours and even affluence is not the same as wealthy.

Many wealthy businessmen and politicians will proudly proclaim how they made their fortune by lifting themselves by their bootstraps. In fact some did, but most came from at least affluent families that could provide fine educations and a family life without real sacrifice. There is little comparison in the social advantages made available to those of the wealthy and the very affluent to those of the working families. The disparity in wealth is reflected also in the disparity of social opportunity. “Who you know” is more important in most circles than what you know and your dedication to success may never find a suitable outlet, having been stifled by competing elitist. For a very small few, grants for education and financial assistance opened that door to financial and social opportunity; “The American Dream” is however and will always remain a fairy tale for most Americans.

The average American worker has almost no expectations for the pursuit of happiness in comparison to those of wealthy and affluent families. The middleclass at times believed they were wealthy because they could purchase material goods that in some cases transformed their life; still there was no attempt to rise above the class restraints into the luxury status of the elite. Social class and educational limitations are the real barriers to upward mobility. Expectations seldom rise above the level of exposure we have to higher education and opulence. I think the privileged wealthy feel threatened or bored by a growing middleclass and either intentionally or inadvertently restrains its growth.

There remains one more observation. The wealthy have almost no understanding of poverty or the struggles of the middleclass. The view from the top of a mountain to the valley far below looks very peaceful; consequently they see no reason to intervene in a society of inferior working people. An abundance of working people is poorly positioned to be essential to the business of the wealthy. Only the tools of democracy can alter the natural tyranny perpetrated against working families.

You need to read this /2011/02/income-inequality-in-America

The Winds of Progress

2011-03-01T17:45:00.001-08:00

I judge that a change is beginning to occur in American society. It may be a response to a world movement toward more equitable societies. These types of movements often quickly lose momentum and dissolve into history hardly noticed. Far too long now there has been a downward spiral in equitable distribution of wealth, casting labor against the entrepreneurs on a worldwide basis; a class war it is being portrayed as. The middle and poverty classes have reached an unsustainable position where they can no longer support the commercial demands of capitalism and a lifestyle that makes them labor captives. Rebellions are beginning to breakout and although most are nonviolent, never the less, it is a curious unrest I for one have never before witnessed.

For years the conservative religious right has induced a conservative ideology and theology on the policy makers. Being belligerent and boisterous they have been conciliated to maintain a peaceful political nuance. The consequences of accommodation are beginning to become apparent, and the picture coming into focus is not a pretty one. Incivility is rampant, ignorance is elevated to a virtue, theology threatens a secular constitutional interpretation and the oligarchy is behaving without ethics or morality. Treacherous economic and legislative theories have been allowed to determine policy even in the face of overwhelming evidence of failure; collapsing a crucial function of social structure. The youth are beginning to ask why.

A growing disparity between the wealthy and the middleclass has been eroding society and rewarding capitalist for decades. The consequence of this process is destructive to a middleclass. The middleclass is the engine of progress and the fodder that drives successful capitalism. Its demise brought about by entrepreneurial abuse and ignorance will eventually lead to day of social reckoning and economic Armageddon unless channeled into a new direction. That day may be near. A single-minded unaccommodating conservative ideology, that stifles progress, has a long destructive history of unwanted consequences. The fear of the unknown or the discoveries of tomorrow can paralyze progress. The reward for stagnation of growth in mind or matter is demise.

It is incredible that patriots and fellow workers would be willing to ignore basic accommodations for themselves and their neighbors in order to adhere to a conservative ideology that has not served them well for four decades. There continues to be a disconnection between the frustrations of the populous and the implementations of policy by the wealthy ruling class. The message of the middleclass gets distorted and lost in the noisy rhetoric screamed by conservative fanatics and any effective action on the part of progressives is nonexistent. People would do well to examine the true history of the modern world and avoid repeating failed experiments. A conservative solution should be to investigate and return to proven progressive policy necessary to lift the middleclass back to an esteemed segment of our society. Without the potential for upward mobility in a society there is no incentive for advancement. It is simple, without rewards, the workforce will stall the consumption paradigm thwarting growth in the gross national product necessary to resolve the economic crisis.

Effectual administration by government and adequate tax bases must be a mutual concern of the workforce and business. To focus on foolishness for political power and popularity, has never and will never produce a policy that advances society. Intelligence coupled with knowledge has led man to the pinnacle of success and its disregard has led him to the precarious edge of collapse.

A New Labor Movement

2011-02-22T13:11:00.000-08:00

Recessions bring out the best and worst in people, and understandably so. The best is their desire to change injustice, and the worst is they may resort to violence to do it. Like the sudden collapse of a Ponzi scheme as seller’s market wanes, recession emphasizes labors unrest, the meager existence of the workforce is pushed into the gutter by wage and job cuts from government and corporate budgets. The workers the world over have been exploited by business greed for decades. Depressions push those on the margin into poverty and often, without government assistance, into desperation. Today the cries of desperation are beginning to surface and the waters are beginning to boil with unrest. When people become desperate the pot boils over. Workers have nothing left to loose much like the drowning man grasping at straw.

It takes very little insight or objectivity to recognize the critical demands forming. Conservatives insist on no social structures funded by government. Conservatives effectively support the enslavement of the workforce by crushing union descent and further empowering the oligarchy by dismantling regulations and government agencies that safe guard the public from the power grab of the wealthy. They worm in their ideology as patriotism, freedom, and liberty to gain support of the unsuspecting inattentive workforce. Conservative envy and discrimination is working like a cancer to slowly destroy the common sense policies, put in place over the first three decades after WW2, to establish and reinforce The American Dream. Today only a youngster or a fool can look back in our recent history and believe we are not in a freefall, a downward economic spiral, one that is literally destroying the workforce’s ability to participate in the rewards of their labor.

Conservative propaganda has successfully deceived the populace into believing that government is their enemy and corporations are their comrade. They have successfully exported your jobs and blamed the result on liberal policy. They have stolen your wealth and made you think, too much regulation was the cause. They have inverted logic by screaming in your ear that the boggyman liberal ideology caused this problem. They even deceive themselves by pretending their policy wasn’t given a chance to work. So I ask you.....What happened to the good paying jobs promised by free trade? What happened to the less expensive products imported from sweat shops around the world? What happened to environmental standards adopted by Richard Nixon? What happened to our national debt when taxes were cut across the board? What happened when corporate breaks in taxes were manipulated to subsidize private business? What happened when regulations were removed for the investment bankers? What happened to the education system, the health care profession, and the countries infrastructure? This recession, the worst since the depression of the 30’s was in no way caused by labor, it is the result of conservative policy begun by Ronald Reagan and continued to this very day. It is the result of a failed economic philosophy. Even liberals embrace this policy designed by corporate fools.

Conservatives are good at selectively targeting a minority group for discrimination, one that they can easily sway support against. It is a proven strategy that allows them to pick away piece by piece the social structures they wish to eliminate under the guise of patriotism and responsible government. A man called Sergeant York explained to a comrade how by picking off the tail goose in a flock, the others would be unaware that they were being shot at and with a good rifle you might get the whole flock. How long will it take for people to awaken to the damage being perpetrated by poor government policy and corporate tyranny?

I don’t care what the religious right neoconservatives say; God will not fix their mess, we must fix it. God did not cause it; greedy fools caused it. The only thing natural about what continues to happen, in our economy, is the despicable manifestation of capitalistic natural greed. This problem can not be fixed by more of the same; it requires change and not the one we got from Obama, but one that brings back into equilibrium the distribution of wealth. We have no champion for the people; we have fools running our country. The object of organized society is to serve the people not special interest. That is not a difficult objective or an impossible dream. Entitlements are not the problem, war, greed, ideology, and lack of intelligent political will is. When I hear the politicians speak it is obvious many are morons. Providence is not at the will of God it is the result of our collective actions. That isn’t communism nor socialism, it is rationalization.

Absents of Morals and The Oligarchy

2011-02-21T12:17:00.000-08:00

The issue of ethics and morals is one thought by most of us to be a religious matter. Obviously, not so, for we see far too many judgments made by people of religion that are clearly lacking the values we associate with moral purity. These examples of digressions from values are explained as the sinful nature of people or by me as just hypocritical charlatans. Greed seems to always trump integrity when anything that resembles logic can be offered as a defense for financial exploitation of people.

Bullies are almost universally despised. They conduct tyranny from childhood on play grounds, from church pulpits, from government post, in law enforcement and in military ranks. They prey on the minority, the weak, the disadvantaged and often with the support of their peers. They come in many forms, the dictator, the corporate CEO, the union boss, the syndicate mob godfather, but they all have the same characteristics. These people love power over other people. They revel in the submission by the less powerful. They retain power by not overstepping the breaking point of public toleration.

The breaking point comes only when mob mentality is inflamed. It comes when the injustice is perceived as affecting each and every person. Corporate and political abusive tyranny is perpetrated against individuals and as long as the bystanders do not feel personally threatened and unite, it can continue for years. Even unbearable conditions can plaque large groups of society without it fanning the flames of rebellion. Inevitably the day comes when the tyrant takes one too many liberties and the image of the peoples hate surfaces to expose the true villain of their oppression.

Rebellions come in many forms; some are armed uprisings, passive demonstrations, boycotts of products, labor strikes, voter turnout, and media attacks among others. Today we see the people of The Mideast rising up to demand liberty. During the Great Depression labor battled management for jobs and fair wages. In the South blacks died to demand equal rights. On the horizon is an infirmity in our society that is created by corporate and business greed. It is in your face abuses of power and wealth that permeates pain in the lives and welfare of the people of

America

. Business has confiscated every benefit, every security and every hope for posterity that rightfully should be shared with the workforce. Business has established an oligarchy controlling government for their personal interest of greater power and wealth and I want to shout it out so people will hear the truth and break the bondage they are under.

No longer are retirements paid by business. No longer is the work week decreasing. No longer are people allowed to unite to negotiate for fair wages and benefits. No longer is the workforce enjoying upward mobility and purchasing power increases. No longer are schools and infrastructure well funded. No longer are jobs plentiful. No longer are there corner groceries and pharmacies because big business squashed them. No longer are parks and roads maintained. No longer are there police officers walking a beat. No longer do taxes cover all the services and structural requirements of society. No longer is there hope on the horizon for the American Dream. You may ask why. The why is because business and the wealthy don’t like to pay taxes; taxes that support all those things we once took for granted. Yes ! we once enjoyed all these things.

You have been lied to. You have been deceived. You have been marginalized as individuals and slowly deprived of the fruits of your labor. You are kept separated from the crowd and shown a carrot that keeps you focused on trivia. You have been distracted with credit suggesting you still have purchasing power. You are abused by advertising, by political promises, corporate outsourcing, offshore banks, depletion of resources, pollution, unfunded consumer protections, monopoly practices, and wage stagnation. You are the stupid crowd wandering around lost hoping for a handout. You believe the lies and distortions posed as business propaganda to keep you controllable.

All these things we once enjoyed are being deleted so the wealthy can pay lower taxes. Health care is beyond our means to pay so business created insurance to cover the big profits of the industry. Then insurance became unaffordable so government stepped in to help and business raise the cost to absorb that as well. Then business no longer wants to contribute to healthy workers so now that is disappearing. They say government hasn't the revenue to support the infrastructure needs or schools, or the unemployed even as they continue to lower the tax rate on the wealthy. Low taxes don’t create jobs if that were true we would be experiencing a boom time for employment. Are you so stupid you can’t get the picture? Bend over with your back to me one more time. When will they ever learn?

There comes times when even the weak rise up in their own defense. There comes a time when people feel they have nothing left to lose. Sometimes they get angry and unite too fight back the injustice encumbered on them. They no longer accept the promise of future better times, or the future offer of freedom, or the assurances of equity to be apportioned. Revolutions spring forth to crush the tyranny of wealth and power. A revolution of the workforce is coming in America. One day the oligarchy will let their greed exceed common sense and the workforce will be inflamed. It may be bloodless or a bloodbath but the day is coming.

Distractions of immediacy

2011-02-11T13:00:00.000-08:00

The technology of electronics has made a contribution that has not yet exhausted its applications and with it comes a frustration and chaos too much overlooked. We are so conditioned to the fast pace of modern society that we fail to remember or never experienced the tranquility and benefit of silence and meditation. Multitasking has consumed our life in almost every respect. I see people watching TV, with headphones attached to a music player, a cell phone for texting with friends lying on the table, eating a sandwich, and reading a book all in the same time frame. People are hooked on instant gratification, so much so that they can’t find time for simplicity. A text message response can’t wait until lunch if finished? The need for background sound to interrupt silence? How long has it been that you could walk in public, without the distracting conversations of people talking to a device or falling into manholes as they text a message? Look at the driver in the car beside you; he is having a phone conversation, right? Try to watch TV or have a simple conversation over diner with out the interruption of a phone call or someone playing a video game on a hand held device.

In the mornings I have coffee as I relax in my recliner and survey the world about me. I was for some time, accustomed to watching CNN TV to catch up on morning news, that which happened over night as I slept. I recently became aware that I had fallen into a subconscious habit of distraction. The time spent in creating distractions from a quiet moment was immediate gratification through stimulation of the senses. I had unconsciously sacrificed an important portion of my life to distractions of no useful consequence. When I was a child I spent many hours alone walking the banks of the creek that meandered through the wooded area beyond the barn. It was my place and my time to create the great adventures of the immigration, a beautiful activity of childhood play. At times I would set for long periods of time, staring into the still waters and let my mind venture where it willed. It was quiet there and no distractions, no phone, no sounds of traffic, no radio or TV, and no people; just the peaceful sounds of nature, the rippling water, birds singing, and the occasional rustle of a leaf. Today I miss those moments and like my parents before me I long for their return.

The world is truly an exciting place; much like going to the amusement park by the boardwalk. Lights flashing, sounds of clattering cans, the rustle of people’s feet, the chaos of people in random frantic activities, all these fill the air with dust, smells, and the noise of excitement. It is like being the ball in a pinball machine, dancing through the field of obstacles over and over, yet having no objective other than bouncing through a short obstacle course for entertainment. Our society has become that pinball playground and we are the ball that mindlessly bangs its way over and over the same field without conscious awareness. We have become a victim of immediate gratification and unable to focus of the big picture due to the distractions we manipulate in order to appease the emotional needs of absurd habits.

People have become so infatuated with immediacy that they have moved to packaged foods to preserve the preparation time for entertainment or work. They buy all sorts of automated tools to perform the simplest of manual task. They attempt to pack ever waking minute with excitement and stimulation as they hurry about without a clue toward advanced planning. They have no time for the future and give it no real consideration. We have become a reactive society. Oh, we believe we are accomplishing more and doing more but it is an illusion; we are reacting to distractions constantly and our actions create an immediate response. It can’t be a thoughtful response because we have too many distractions that prevent any real focus or analysis. We live as though we were the pilot of a fighter jet engaged in combat making instant decisions of life and death on impulse. I don’t think people generally have sufficient training to attack the problems of life and society in such a manor and I think that the frustrations we now encounter are a reflection of these distractions in disarray.

It is time to turn off the cell phone, the TV, the game console, the music player, and look around at the place where you sit or stand. I don’t mean a quick glance that says “been there done that” but a real conscious observation of the world in which we now live. It may be the flowers, the sofa, the toys scattered on the floor, the picture of family on my desk, the waiter clearing a table, or a car out of control headed your way. We take for granted that we are safe as we jog down the street with earphones on, unaware of the growing noise of danger behind us. We take for granted that there will be a safety barrier at the curb if we fail to see it because we are texting or playing a video game. We believe that elected and paid officials will make the correct decisions so our study of the issues of governance need not consume our time. We allow our children to grow up raising themselves as we pursue the affluence of wealth. We encourage them to entertain themselves with electronic gadgets excitement and chaos. No time for solitude and reflection, no time for the creation of memories, no time for thought and imagination, and no time to appreciate the simple things that are free for the taking.

It is easier to discover the failures of society that to correct them. Custom and traditions that form over time are obscured by emotions. Yes we reason at times but those habits and emotions that have long been embraced are the obstructers of intellectual advancement. Until we mitigate the distractions and begin to analyze the real world, we risk running over the cliff’s edge. It isn’t a matter of giving up the convenience of our modern life, but rather taking control of our time and applying priority to our actions. Knowledge is buried in history and without it we are no more than a machine, a pinball, domed to be the victim of society. We have the ability to change, create, to grow in intellect. We have been distracted much too long.

There is the argument that the intelligence of people has advanced to a state where the influence of multitasking, the pace of video games, and the complexity of technology all contribute to an advanced human intellect. I propose this question; why are school children failing in basic education, why is the job market moving to other countries, why is the business sector controlling the politics of governance, and why are people giving up on the future of the American Dream? The frustration of distraction has left them ill equipped to deal with the real world in an effective way. They have abdicated their responsibility for instant gratification. They have done this under the intoxicating influence of technology. They have been duped into complacency. They believe a pill will make them well, a drink will make them happy, money will buy their future needs and technology will solve all the scientific mysteries. It will be the miracle of progress, as it has always been. I hope that is true but my rational mind says “not likely”.

I beg you listen closely and heed this message. The wisdom I find in diligent study and silent thought is far more powerful than any technology. Man has advanced only through reasoned conscious effort. His knowledge is his protector, his means to happiness, his guide to the future. The failure to take time to explore the creative ability of his mind leaves him the fool, blinded by ignorance, merely to satisfy the emotional immediacy of distractions. We need to celebrate once again that through knowledge is the ability to discover the mysteries of the cosmos and the abilities to mold a greater society. Life is more deserving than that of 15 second sound bites, slogans on Tweeter, graffiti on tee shirts, and single sentence paragraphs for Facebook. Language skills go well beyond texting acronyms on Iphones. We can’t sleepwalk into a future utopia. Finding knowledge isn’t like finding gold scattered in a stream it is like cultivating a field of roses that flower in the summer. Knowledge is free but you must make the effort to harvest it.

World Turmoil

2011-01-29T10:57:00.000-08:00

Events in Egypt and other Arab countries where social riots are disrupting governments are all over the media today. There is a looming concern, given the economic problems worldwide of unemployment and social injustice; that the resemblance to the 20’s and 30’s is striking. There burns a fear in the pit of the stomach that history may be repeating itself. Economics and politics go hand in hand. If one has failed you can bet the other played a part. Tyranny either deliberate or unintended has the effect of depravity and impoverishment. I fear The United States plays big in these unintended rebellions, by our compulsion of meddling through foreign policy, and as the worlds largest economy we cast a wide shadow on the world’s economy.

Despite the apparent recovery of capitalism after the 2008 collapse, there remains skepticism as to the lingering effects on the working class worldwide. People become fatigued and disillusioned. They are angry and rightfully so of the inequity between the oligarchy interest and the public’s interest. The Middle East is not alone in its anger. Europe and the

Americas

are also stressed by unrest that could boil over at any time. An elite commission to analyze the cause of the financial collapse has made their finding and nothing new has been discovered. The conclusions give partisans a basis for debates but the facts are quite clear. A culture of unethical greed caused this fiasco. Unrestrained capitalism is to blame, the same as many times in the past. Laissez-faire it is called.

The world is a smaller place today and too interdependent. For business that would seem to be an advantage but to politics it is problematic. The unintended result of the elite trying to control the political and economic structures of inter-related countries, create systemic failures that can destroy the lives of people. I have a growing concern that a fire of unrest and dissent may be igniting and spreading across the Mid-East. Political unrest is like a virus and even more so today with media hypertensions fanning the flames. Our relentless quest for democracy and free-trade may have ultimately fueled a political and economic holy war that could once again entangle the world.

A disruption in oil rich Arab countries could quickly impact the now fragile economies of other nations. Oil prices can create a further contraction in the U.S.A., one that at this point in time we can ill afford. What was once friendly regimes, may begin to fall and the dissent of the people, to foreign interference of the past, could jeopardize relations and seriously disrupt oil supplies.

People are often content with tyranny as long as they can sustain themselves. When the marginally vulnerable reach a breaking point, trauma grows into crisis. That point may have arrived on the Arabian continent. The hypocrisy of U.S.A. supporting monarchs and dictators may have brought the chickens home to roost. I’m sure the Washington diplomats are holding their breath.

It is about jobs.

2011-01-26T11:24:00.000-08:00

A corporate tax cut may in fact encourage corporations to locate their offices in The United States. That might give a bump to the income from corporation taxes if we could get a huge number to relocate. I doubt that the trade-off would offset the reduced income per capita but it might be worth a try. The tax incentives, now allowed, keeps most corporations in the lower brackets for corporate tax and when compared to foreign countries the end result is said to be about the same. It seems oil corporations pay us no taxes yet we are among the world’s largest consumers. Never the less it is obvious that the tax codes in all areas could better be designed to meet the needs of both business and government. How this could encourage jobs still evades me.

The problem with the job market is simple. There is no mystery surrounding it. Business simply prefers to have products and services performed for the lowest possible cost. The American worker has made all the concessions possible, and still that has been insufficient to keep the jobs in America. People have worked for lower wages, reduced benefits, longer hours, more intense stress, less vacation time, two people salaries, buried themselves in debt and still with the economy in the ditch, that has not been enough to produce the needed jobs. What jobs are available are underpaid service jobs, with substantial cuts in compensation. It is clearly obvious that the only encouragement for the hiring of American workers, that will be acceptable to business interest; is for the wages of Americans to be less than the wage level of cheep foreign labor markets; simple economics 101. History has been full of examples, so to continue to ignore this simple reality is silliness.

What then can be done? Americans need jobs to be consumers. The U.S. economy can not grow and provide jobs without American consumers and without jobs. Consuming is almost impossible absent government welfare. Corporate growth can however expand without U.S. workers, and that leaves the U.S. economy stagnating. The idea that we can stimulate consumer buying with government spending is a questionable solution and at best would be a very short range stimulus. The result of stimulus only places more money in the pockets of business and the wealth transfer continues from the bottom to the top. This is not the same economic environment we saw in the post war years. This business model of a spiral for labor to the lowest denominator must be broken, if we expect to recover to a vibrant growing economy.

If business can’t be bribed to provide jobs for the consumers and protect its consumer markets in the U.S.; it must then be intimidated to do so. No magic in this conclusion. We tried deregulating to gainer the promised jobs. We tried more Free Trade Agreements for the promised jobs. We tried tax breaks of all sorts for retaining jobs. Now we are faced with the cold hard facts that business in The United States will never concede to paying more for labor. Regardless who says different or what reasoning they use, they being republican or democrat, the facts remain clear. Corporations are not in business to be patriotic nor is it essential to their success.

For years, The United States worker/consumer has subsidized the world’s consumer in order to sell exports in depressed economies of other nations. All that is necessary to verify this is a simple price comparison of cost. Drugs are a good easy subject. We also allow countries a trade advantage to gain access to their consumer markets but more importantly today, business wants access to cheep labor markets in order to re-import into high priced consumer markets. China has a simple solution; to gain access to consumer markets you must manufacture and use local labor in the service and production of the products equal in quantity to the sales you generate. Imported products and services are discouraged and State incentives and disincentives are used to benefit the Chinese laborer and consumer. It is a clear example of what works.

Economic Policy Failure

2011-01-14T20:02:00.000-08:00

Supply-side economist, continue to insist on, what has proven to be questionable, if not a total failure, a policy focused solely on production and rapid economic expansion. They seem to believe that all the ills of unemployment and government deficits can be solved by reduced regulations and low taxes for the high earners and business moguls; the resultant burst in entrepreneurship will, they claim, raise all ships on a wave of progress. They mistakenly ignored the fact that the wave of progress is, in reality, the consumer workforce that powers a successful sustainable capitalistic economy.

No explanation has been offered as to why this Reagan supply-side policy failed to produce sustained growth but instead relapsed into financial bubbles followed by market collapse. No explanation by conservatives has been offered to account for the sustained growth post war period that saw the greatest growth in personal workforce income and sustained business expansion. This fact is inconsistent with the rhetoric of job killing taxes, regulations, and big government. Today’s taxes are lower, unions have been abolished, regulations diminished, wages lowered and yet the economy collapsed due to business abuse and consumer instability.

The Laffer curve failed to produce sufficient revenues to prevent deficits and the investment incentives produced the jobs in foreign cheep labor markets. Dropped regulations, unleashed unimaginable greed. Trade agreements allowed all the manufacturing to relocate to foreign shores to avoid clean air, safe working environments and exploit cheep labor. Our trade and budget deficits have exploded. The poverty rate is rapidly growing and the middle class is being annihilated by lack of jobs, low wages, predatory business practices and cost for health care. Still the conservative supply-siders continue to tout the virtues of their economic policy as if the continued repeating of a theory will make it so.

In all fairness there has been a laughable effort by congress to manage the nation’s economy and both parties deserve a fair share of the blame. Every special interest request that is backed with campaign funds becomes a serous issue and partisanship is valued above the common good. Lost in the shuffle is the work force. The people that create the economy both as consumers and as a labor force. The emphasis has been moved from creating a sustainable vibrant economy to rapid growth and individual profit adventures. As with all greed it is self exterminating by rampant abuse. The inevitable day of reckoning has arrived and still the conservatives deny its existence. They continue their fascist style march against human dignity and adamantly, they demand a commerce controlled society skewed to wealthy corporate exploitation of the workforce and environment.

Theories that have been tried and fail must give way to more progressive and equitable policy if the nation is to continue to exist in the context of a democratic society. Clearly jobs and manufacturing must return to

U.S.

soil. No manipulation of economics by exotic tax policy and subsidies can replace this most basic requirement for financial stability. Paranoia and unnecessary involvement into the sovereign interest of other countries should be curtailed and the constant non-proportional military build-up obsession must be tempered and budget appropriations need to be more realistic. Killing people is a disgusting policy and is not essential to our survival, health care is.

There are plenty of economic policies that can be supported by consensus. We must focus on these and stop this obsession with the accumulation of excessive wealth. When we focus our policy on the peoples needs rather than the self interest of corporations and a few power hungry tyrants we will easily be able to confront and solve the dysfunction of government and industry. We as a culture have lost patience with discipline; as a result the foundation of our admired society is not being reinforced but continues to erode. No longer are we envied by other world neighbors, but viewed with disdain as arrogant, undisciplined, hypocritical and dangerous. The big picture of today is obscured by division and radical polarization of ideology that must be reconciled or we will soon perish. Time is running short people. Soon the pit will become too deep to be escapable.

Happy New Year 2011

2010-12-27T11:28:00.000-08:00

There will be a lot of chatter this week about the events of the year. It truly is a memorable one. I'm glad it is gone because it definitely was not my favorite. I have never thought much about what was my favorite year, but I think it deserves some consideration. We remember events but not often in the context of time. Time can project a whole different perspective to events and how we remember them. I guess it would be more interesting to frame the year rather than to single out individual events. It might be like diluting an unsavory cough medicine in a glass of apple juice, or composing an optimistic speech to cheer up the audience. Our life is usually filled with more good times than bad. More like watching the whole movie rather than just the trailers.

So; I guess that is my new years resolution. I will look at the broad picture and minimize the benefit or distress of events and place it in the context of all the years I have lived. I have had a wonderful life and even with the mistakes made and the disappointments that naturally occur, there is much to be grateful for. There is nothing better than a movie with the appropriate ending. Impossible odds are over come, the cowboy gets the girl, the sun slowly sets to music, and the whippoorwills are calling in the distance. It’s a Wonderful Life.

Dysfunctional Ideology

2010-12-17T13:58:00.000-08:00

“What happens when an ideology backed by vast wealth and immense power confronts inconvenient facts? And the answer is, the facts lose. Paul Krugman.” The conservative ideology of the Reagan era is more pronounced than ever among Republican leadership. It has grown in an evermore expanding ignorance among its followers and has become as radical as religious mystical faith supporters in its posturing. These people have distorted and obscured facts so long that they are firmly entangled in a regiment of political and social policy based mostly on fantasy. You ask why they would do this? For some it is power and for others it is the result of propagating ignorance by their predecessors. .

When leaders in there exuberance for power become motivated only by ideology, a radical policy emerges. Not only does it distort reason it continues to feed on a dysfunctional premise that accelerates reliance on presupposed ignorance. The inevitable result is a collapse of the philosophy as a basis for future policy but in the interim the lives of millions of people may be devastated. The Iraq war has provided us with a clear opportunity to learn first hand, the result of such foolish misadventures. Again the crumbling of the world’s financial network is evidence of failure due to ideological policy. The list of failed policy is continually growing as conservative ideology continues to bully its way to the forefront of political policy making.

We learn by being curious. Base values are commendable and should be treated with great reverence, but not censure the desire to expand knowledge. People are naturally competitive and the struggle for power and recognition has historically been both an inspiration and an atrocity. The will to win over any obstacle without regard for moral or physical consequences drives the emotions of many competitors beyond reasonable limits. The benefits are wealth and power and the consequence is the trampling of justice and equality. Without the pursuit of wisdom as a restraint to ideological obsession a malignancy of ignorance is perpetuated.

The congress of the United States is today laboring with the dysfunctional ideology of conservatism. The conservative philosophy supporters are conducting a crusade that disregards all facts, logic and rational reasoning. They seem intent and determined to destroy the foundation of all social policy that attempts to give opportunity for the ruled class to rise above their current status. Their lack of compassion, tyrannous envy, total paranoia and rule by contempt, derail any attempt at compromise in public policy. They confiscate the entire political process with the ruthlessness of a barbarian and suffer from delusions that they are the patriots, in much the same context as the city magistrates during the Salem witch trials. They have the fanatical conviction of terrorist and no desire for exploration of opposing opinions.

Democracy is rule by consensus. That is not meant to be consensus of the bullies, the rich, or the powerful, but consensus of the ruled. Opinions are debated and a vote is cast. There are always winners and losers, but the purpose is civility. There are other political systems that avoid bloodshed, like dictatorships, but none have been as successful as democracies. I and many others have labored over the solution to ignorance and the digressive nature it perpetuates. As long as ideology is more convenient than intelligent investigations into policy decisions, our culture and lifestyle will continue to be threatened and in dire distress.

When the threat of extinction is present the time for war is dictated. Failure to defend principals elementary to social civility will result in fanatical rule, maybe even those as monstrous as Nazi Germany. Today we are being dominated by the plutocracy emerging through the natural greed of corporate culture. It is not the first time nor is it an evil attempt to destroy America but rather a careless ideological policy that is fueled by insatiable greed. Freedom to hog all the resources is irrational. Only through government intervention are the rights of all citizens guaranteed. That intervention should be guided by intelligent debate and not by convenient ideology.

The Tax Debate of 2010

2010-12-03T10:28:00.000-08:00

Compensation to individuals in the form of welfare is repulsive to conservatives. When they speak of big government they are almost always referring to social programs that benefit mostly the working and poor people of the nation. Social security, Medicare, child care, public education, unemployment assistance, and other programs are the target. Conservatives believe that adversity is a builder of character and that accountability begins with the individual. Helping those that help themselves is the preferred slogan and conservatives are big on shibboleths.

The conservative sense of fairness extends evenly to every aspect of life. Taxes for instance should be evenly measured and not progressively structured. Services available to one must be available to all without intervention. By the same logic it is concluded that if one person can manage to pay for his own education then everyone should or if one can avoid unemployment assistance then everyone should. It is a simplistic position and emotionally supportable to most of us. The arguments that are omitted from these debates create a far different picture than the one perceived by conservatives.

We hear the talk of compassion by conservatives and I am confident it is genuine. I am not sure on the other hand that the less privileged really want charity. The vast majority of unemployed merely want a job that pays fair wages. Workers loyalty is expected by business as a condition of employment, but business fails consistently to reciprocate. Trade agreements take the jobs away and the rich are further enriched as labor is placed into poverty and unable to care for their basic needs. The issue of fairness is therefore skewed and distorted to a degree that the working class is decimated by greed. The security of employment has been marginalized by government interference on behalf of business and yet business wants to ignore the damage they have imposed on the workforce. That is not compassion nor is it reasonable.

If I dam a stream and use all the water for irrigating my fields, do the previous downstream recipients have a legitimate complaint? Two solutions can resolve that issue. One will be to allow most of the water to flow through the dam. The other would be to pay the farmers below the dam restitution. The middle class working citizen of this country is struggling to stay afloat, and sure there are many reason they have penalized themselves but the real cause is inequity. If business would take adequate care of their workers interest, then the small government they advocate would be possible. People migrated from agricultural security because of promising futures through manufacturing technology. Greed has laughed in their face and reneged on the promise and at the same time they exploit all the power of government to confiscate completely the profits of labor. They are like water hogs.

The picture is clear to anyone willing to examine the whole of the evidence. The rich and powerful always abuse their power. It is the nature of greed to make wealth and to have a narrow view of opposition that limits excessive wealth. When the field is tilted a ball will always roll down hill. Leveling the playing field is the purpose of government; otherwise government isn’t needed at all. So when conservatives speak of small government they give the water hog a free ride and willingly destroy everyone’s future by enabling excessive greed. It isn’t only a debate about fairness it is also a debate that is essential to prevent complete eradication of a middle class in The United States.

Kick The Can

2010-11-24T11:51:00.000-08:00

A game poor children played when I was a child is still fondly mentioned by orators and writers hoping to emphasize a point about indecision. Kicking the can further down the street is an abstraction but a good metaphor none the less. Procrastination never solved a problem but then again, today is always the day before.

Problems have a way of growing when put off until tomorrow. That’s not to say that being hasty is preferred to thoughtful deliberation. Debt is such an issue along with other worthy candidates. People put off the inevitable as long as possible and it comes home with a vengeance. The can starts out as a Campbell’s soup can, and when kicked down the street it morphs to a coffee can. Tomorrow it is a gallon bucket, and one more kick it becomes a five gallon lard can. The next day we kick it and it has become a fifty gallon oil drum and hardly moves, then the reckoning. The small debt has now grown into a five hundred gallon sewer tank and when you kick it you only break a toe. Kick over and over and the effort is to no avail. This is what America has done with private and public debt and the reckoning will come.

Predatory lending has come also to China, would you believe it? The debts begin small with payday type loans to people that have insufficient income to repay the loan on its due date. The lender gladly makes another loan that now includes the principal and the interest and the next and the next until a two hundred dollar loan becomes impossible to repay with a two thousand dollar balance. It is legal usury by banks and lenders that have no intention of helping the poor, but only look to profits by abuse of the system intended to help. It proves there is no mercy by the scoundrels, even on a global scale, that are willing to fleece the shirt off your back to satisfy their insatiable greed for easy profits.

In The United States we have skilled trained MBAs from leading universities that run in packs like wild dogs and vultures looking for victims. Every government initiative designed to assist the less privileged is quickly exploited by privatization aiding businesses to confiscate the public funds available and impoverish the unsuspecting borrower and consumer. Health care, Student loans, HUD home loans, Payday loans, and credit card lenders that have no ties to banking are all good example of these exploiters. General Motors failed not due its automobile business but by lending in a speculative housing market to rack up easy profits to satisfy its corporate greed. Banking activities have always been criminal by intent and are supported by bad government policy, put in place by the elected leadership. When economies collapse the banking and investment sector always played a major role. When easy money is available, you can bet the scavengers will flock to the feeding grounds.

The solution is simple. Be responsible borrowers and lenders. Have consumer protections in place to protect the ignorant and careless while holding the scoundrels accountable. Stop corporate welfare. See that’s not so hard.

Risk and Priority

2010-11-23T11:03:00.000-08:00

War and the prospects of war have been with us as long as history has been chronicled. We spend huge sums of money on defense; in fact more than rest of the world combined. Being the most powerful and most technically modern military force in the world, has not resulted in people feeling secure and unthreatened. It seem quite the opposite affect has been created. War readiness has been the number one priority of the Republican Party for more than three decades, if not forever. After trillions of dollars invested in protection planning, detection equipment, strike capability, and general defense spending we are easily vulnerable to the simplest of non-technical aggression.

Setting realistic priorities for protecting a nation’s people would seem a prudent endeavor. When we are in a position of clear and present danger we should spring into action. The magnitude of the response should equal that of the threat. Preparedness with planning for dangerous threat possibilities is just common sense. The magnitude perceived by our leadership appears to be out of proportion in most cases and we waste billions upon billions of dollars on war machinery and high tech equipment that never comes to be used. .

Terrorist activities are threatening perhaps a few hundred people a year in the U.S. and we spend billions attempting to exposes those plots and protect the public from possible deadly events. When the hurricane struck New Orleans we spent billions on billions to restore the city and make it once more habitable. More than a thousand lost their life and tens of thousands were displaced. Still today, money is pouring into the city for recovery efforts. At a time when fifty thousand people died each year in traffic accidents we finally spent billions installing seatbelts in automobiles to decrease the death rate and it worked. We categorize police, first responders, firefighters and the military as essential services. We know that they are idle much of the time but when and if an emergency comes along they are ready to serve and no cost is spared.

Preparedness in humanities and social sciences are seen differently. Social services are underfunded and unfunded. No priority position is given that equates to the magnitude of the immediate clear and present danger by ignoring the need for social safety nets. While we prepare for disaster events that might happen; while we prepare for war that might present a threat; while we deregulate to improve the wealth of a few, we continue to ignore the immediate and enormous tragedy that the inaccessibility to affordable health care and growing unemployment pose to the people of The United States. We continue to remain unconcerned with the permanent and devastating effects on the public, including loss of live on an abhorrent scale. Social science is scoffed at by the conservative political base and yet the threat to live is far greater than the subjects at the top of their priority list. We are the leading economy in the world without question but fall 37^th in health security. If terrorist could inflect as much havoc and destruction on the innocent public as our complacent leadership has done, they would be celebrating in the streets of Washington along with the conservatives in congress.

America! Dream On

2010-11-13T12:17:00.000-08:00

Bretton Woods Conference July of 1944 sowed the seeds of open markets and free trade agreements. “In Henry Morgenthau's farewell remarks at the conference, he stated that the establishment of the IMF and the World Bank marked the end of economic nationalism..... The foremost industrial democratic nations must lower barriers to trade” Wikipedia. This idealistic theory has circled the globe and dominates the thinking of world leaders each vying for a bigger piece of the pie.

Businesses advocate for free markets with claims that the U.S. needs to have access to foreign consumers and as a compromise we should give them access to our markets. We also could buy their products cheaper than we can manufacture them and in turn sell them our products that we can create by our far superior technology. Free trade is the powerhouse that will create U.S. jobs but protectionism destroys jobs. Cheap labor will reduce consumer prices. I guess that is why it now cost $3.50 to manufacture a pair of Nikes in Indonesia but $95.00 to purchase them at department stores in American cities.

Corporate promises do not materialize. In the past just after WW2 the United States was a leading debt holder of the world. Our industrial might made us the worlds leading exporter of manufactured products. As a result of exports the middle class prosperity was born. Industry was booming and willing to pay higher wages to obtain the needed labor. Out of the wage increases grew the foolish consumer mania we see today, but soon Japan emerged as competitors, and it has all been down hill from there as more and more countries emerged from war liabilities and became competitors. Our advantage became compromised; our cheap resources depleted, and labors rising cost now leaves us struggling in a loosing battle for trade balances.

The advancement in education after the war due to G.I. Bill assistance may have played a roll in the technology leadership we once dominated, but today that advantage like all the others has been mitigated by foreign competition educated in

U.S.

universities. Our corporations gave away every advantage in their relentless quest for ever larger profits by out-sourcing to foreign labor markets any possibility of remaining a world leader.

Today the workers in The United Stated are being crushed under the weight of foreign imports. There is no sector of the economy in which we can compete without regression in wages. We are facing the reality that we can not continue supporting the accustomed life style of the middle class. The decline in purchasing power has been in constant decline sense 1980. Not until the emerging nations catch up will we be able to move forward reestablishing the decimated middle class if we continue on the path of free trade.

You were hoaxed America. You were lied to by economist that propagates this theory of a single world economy as a pathway to world peace. You were lied to by corporations seeking favorable legislation for increasing profits by using cheap foreign labor. You were lied to by politicians that are clueless about simple economics and the history of markets. The working class has been exploited for the greed of CEO’s. There never was a benefit for the American middle class. It was a smoke screen. It still is.

Don't Tread on Me Either

2010-11-12T11:04:00.000-08:00

Bullies are always looking for the passive and timid as targets of their attacks. It must be a need within them to be better, meaner or more powerful than someone, and anyone will do as long as they don’t fight back. Being small in stature makes a person like me a perfect target because even if we do fight back the bully is confident he can overpower the smaller person. People never seem to grow out of this oppressive behavior. Adults often behave like children and the big loud guys walk on the scene like the Bull in a China closet, and even those that are well liked and charismatic or obviously comfortable in their intimidation due to an imposing size.

Then comes the little Napoleon bullies that are set to tare up the ground with anyone that dares glance their way. They are blustery and pompous behind their facade of fear. These people are loud, disrespectful and a pain in the neck, but seldom are they much of a threat but never the less they are dangerous. The show of unlimited confidence may attract a following but they remain inferior except in a verbal fray.

Most of us prefer a peaceful, non-threatening, relationship of harmony, but where ever we go there is the bully, waiting for the victim of the day, to validate his or her ego. Not all bullies are intentional misfits. At times it is circumstances that encourage this behavior; the need to be part of a group, or perhaps just lapses in good judgment for the moment lets primitive instinct prevail. Posturing for adversity is easily recognized while interpreting body language. Being civil and respectful isn’t a sign of weakness but is viewed as such by bullies more often than not.

Conservatives seem to fall into the bully category much of the time. They believe adversity is a character builder and one should take the position of offense as opposed to defense. Be the bully and you will not be bullied. The fault with this strategy is that posturing is emotion based and seldom can be factually corroborated. They spend too much effort on posturing and too little on intellectual valuation leaving their goals unaddressed without acceptable solutions. The same errors are repeated over and over with the expectation of a different result. Like what you say. How about the ideas, that lower taxes for the wealthy will always stimulate business, increase revenues for government, solve the problem of unemployment, and raise the living standard of workers.

I hate confrontation but the time has come to put a stop to this insanity. We don’t need a military twice the size of the world’s total military capacity. We don’t need to police the world. We don’t need to buy products we are perfectly capable of producing locally. Without borrowing, we can provide social services through taxation that is necessary for a civilized complex society. We don’t need to subsidize farm production, industrial production, or other forms of corporate welfare when it is detrimental to the American workforce.

The political bullying must stop. The wimps need to stand up and represent the American people with some common sense and deliberate actions. The loud mouth fanatics need to be silenced and sent home. We will have differences and that is understandable but this is a democracy. We rule by consensus as provided in The Constitution not by bullies and hypocrites. If this radical conservative agenda of insanity isn’t corrected this nation will lapse into irreversible decline in the very near future.

Tax reductions for the Wealthy

2010-11-11T10:01:00.000-08:00

I can’t wait to go back to work even though I have been retired for 10 years. My nation needs me and I will meet the call even from my wheelchair. The wealthy need a tax cut and Social Security and Medicare needs to be privatized so there will be more money for corporate growth in China and India. We need more bombs and missiles to fight off the dreaded army of Toyota pickups used by our enemies. I realize there are few jobs available but surely if they cut out the minimum wage some jobs will open up. Perhaps I could move to China and get one of those jobs building the high-tech green machines that can’t be outsourced to the United States.

I am tried of the bullshit spread by the Democrats and the President. How they will support the middle-class and how they will be fiscally responsible. They are educated beyond their intelligence and are cowards to boot. They are the skinny little kids that get shoved around by the bullies on the play ground because they are afraid of getting a bloody nose even when they out number the bullies two to one. They came through for us without a single scratch. They waved the flag until the battle began and when the enemy doesn’t run but charges, they throw down the flag and run like hell.

We might as well capitulate and elect Tea Baggers and Republicans because the Democrats will not stand their ground. The working class is being oppressed beyond belief and they must be democrats because they just continue to take it and cow down in a dark corner. The GOP gangs run around in their new gas guzzlers with guns waving, money bulging their pockets, and flashing threatening signs as the wimps stand on the curb looking down at their bare feet. Please toss me a crumb they say as they beg on the corners. The laughing bullies toss them a dog turd as they race down the street.

I can’t say who I despise the most; the GOP for being ignorant plutocrats or the Democrats for being spineless cowards. One thing for sure, you are own your own if you are an American worker because the two parties have clearly demonstrated they consider you expendable and your needs too expensive. So much for the political process. Perhaps the Tea Party is right only the second amendment solution will work. The people have spoken but only with a whimper.

We are Americans

2010-11-06T12:25:00.000-07:00

Most of us have a conservative nature. We cling to our beliefs from childhood and experiences. We fear God because that was pounded into us. We respect our elders for the same reason. We avoid confrontations on religion and politics. We work hard and ask little in return. We are the American heartland peasants. We are reluctant to change and expect everyone to be accountable. We know little about politics and even less about economies. We trust the political representatives to work on our behalf. We believe that wealthy people and politicians are smarter than we are. We are not interested in being rich just being reasonably comfortable will do.

History is littered with the vile and evil deeds of well intentioned people that follow the rally cries of leaders claiming they alone have the key to the door of all kinds of salvation. Many of these leaders truly believe the rhetoric they propagate. Ambition and vanity overwhelms their senses and they become tyrants in history. People even today follow these charismatic speakers as they did yesterday; trusting and obediently. Jones slew his following in South America. Hitler brought destruction to his country and followers. Charlatans of medicine may have killed hundreds if not thousands with their snake oil remedies. Trusted priest abuse and ruin the lives of children on a regular basis. Money managers have swollen vaults while leaving debt for the taxpayers. We have been drawn into numerous wars on fraudulent claims by the ambitions and lies of political leaders. Still the people tag along in ignorance having forgotten or never learned of the treachery of ambitious men.

When two or more political ideologies are vying for the minds and souls of the people, one or more may be very wrong. Performing the same action over and over while expecting a different result, is mindless. A change in direction when the path gets treacherous is reasonable but going down an alternate one that previously lead to disaster is foolishness. Politicians are pressured and enticed to serve the interest of wealthy merchants whose proposals seldom includes benefits for the public, even though they make great boast of public concerns. Still people who know nothing of history file blissfully off the cliff like stampeded cattle, chasing a dream presented by charlatans.

Conservatism is not evil, however its radicalization is. When people become mindless emotional followers of puritan philosophies they tread on dangerous ground. There is an inherent emotion of paranoia in conservatism. It can stifle progress, is fearful of strangers, is violent against opposition, and has few allies. Fear is its motivator for obedience. Even in the face of overwhelming evidence contrary to their position they are rigid against change; being fearful of possible consequences. They remain stuck in a cycle of fear, hate, aggression, and beliefs without foundations.

Liberalism may have many dangerous implications as well and failure to learn the lessons of the past has resulted in unacceptable cultural deterioration. They cultivate passive reactions to dangerous threats that can result in catastrophe. They spend far too much time analyzing a policy and by the time a solution is forth coming the problem has become unmanageable. Action by impulse can sometime save the day even if it isn’t the best decision, emergencies demand an immediate response and that is why they are called emergencies. The peace maker will inherit only the remnants of the earth after being destroyed by the aggressors.

It is quite clear that neither of these political philosophies is without flaws. They each survive only because the opposition of the other keeps their radicalization in check. The pendulum of power swings back and forth as they vie for the position of power. A constitution was created to govern in a political environment of opposing opinions. It is rule by consensus and is intended to accommodate the advocates of opposing positions; that of course is up to interpretation as well. Democracy is an agreement by the people to abide by majority opinion. The majority is sometimes wrong and the court is in place to protect the system from self destruction. It was a clever system of centralization that provides essential checks and balances, but not without a full measure of conflict.

No system is without faults. There is a danger in complacency and apathy. Power vested in the wrong leadership at the inopportune time can be fatal, just as the decision to purchase a home without proper accountability has been devastating to families, businesses and governments. The policy, that lead to abuse and economic failure, will be debated for years to come. The cause is quite obvious to even a casual observer. Mistakes were made in government. Protections for the innocent were ignored in an experiment for business freedom. Taxes were reduced below rational revenue demands in an experiment that had no checks and balances. The needs of citizens were to be accommodated by financial growth rather than corporate or government safety nets. The pendulum swung too far and too long in favor of the conservative economic philosophy which was flawed. Now we try to pick up the peaces and move on.

The conservative voice is screaming absurdities even as the facts clearly indicate their policy failed miserably. The liberals want to move on but the public demands the injustice and inequity be corrected and punished by leadership. People in frustration with the fierce battle for superiority in congress, are grasping at straws in a churning ocean of conflicting policy propaganda. The political puritans add chaos to the otherwise difficult process with rational only they can comprehend, but find support among a tired depressed population.

Will we fail? I think not. We have faced serious adversity before. Storms of wars and depressions has devastated the world in the past yet the sun came again. This troubling time too will likely pass, hopefully before more serious harm is done. It is a fearful time and we should learn from our mistakes. We should tell our children lest we forget. Individually we should be accountable. We should debate, listen and come to a consensus and when it is reached we should unite to make our policy come to full fruition.

Welcome to the Dark Ages

2010-11-05T12:50:00.000-07:00

The election of 2010 may go down as the most significant in recent history. A policy of oligarchy has been proposed by main stream republican leaders and a policy of libertarianism proposed by the radically rightwing “Puritan” Tea Party. The resulting rule by the minority rich is not new but rather has been the shadow force behind most policy in government for centuries. The result again will be that government only addresses the needs of the working man as an accidental benefit while it is focused on the wants demanded by wealthy businessmen. The meager incidental benefits will again be the forfeiture for worshiping powerful wealthy fat cats by a workforce hoping for crumbs of charity.

From time to time the public insist that government respond to some of their needs and with great anguish the oligarchy capitulates but never for longer than necessary to regain an unwarranted trust of the workforce. Business greed would be considered an abuse of power except that the public is cowing in a dark corner hoping for mercy rather than stand against corporate tyranny and their worshippers of the conservative persuasion.

The status quo is defended by conservatives in religion and in politics, as long as it is their values that are protected by inaction. Compromise is therefore out of the question for it is their mission of principal and to them it is a crusade. This thinking is consistent with the dark ages and were we to embrace it, there is where we would have remained.

The electorate has spoken and they have placed their trust in the people that ravaged the economy, created two wars, shipped jobs abroad, contributed obscene national debt, lowered our standard of living, ignored our wanting infrastructure, created lawful predatory lending, destroyed labors ability to negotiate, violated international law, lied and conspired against the interest of its people, and now present themselves as Robin Hood.

Conservative Health Care for The Privileged Only

2010-11-04T13:04:00.000-07:00

Heath care costs have been steadily rising sense the 1960’s. The issue was addressed for the social security dependants by enacting Medicare. The intention was to assure that citizens that were retired on a fixed income would not be deprived of care due to the rising cost for services. The insurance industry jumped on the opportunity to increase profits at taxpayer expense and has devastated the national budget with their relentless greed. With cost rising on the average of 14% to 24% a year the industry has arrived at a breaking point for the financial capability of the nation, yet they continue to escalate the cost without hesitation.

Insurance corporations were quick to see the potential for profit and created a network of health care management organizations. The exorbitant escalation of cost forced the entire population, except the very rich, to face bankruptcy or buy protection. The trap was set and the industry milked it for the past 40 years on the backs of the working class. People that see insurance as a savior or a safety net are suffering from ignorance and delusions. Insurance is not the solution it is the problem. Government isn’t the problem it is the only alternative available to fight back against corporate obsessions with profit.

The republican chant of “government takeover of health care” is a distraction by people that intuitively believe that government botches everything it manages. Why we should believe that government takeover will be worse than corporate takeover is baffling. At least we have a vote in government but we are at the mercy of Wall Street Morality when we concede to corporate takeover. Perhaps the public has been deaf to the horror stories that have been exposed about abuse by the insurance corporations. Why would we believe that government would abuse its charge even more is again baffling.

An argument that the cost of public funded care to government is unsustainable is ridiculous. The cost is either to be born by the public as a tax or by wage earners as reduced income. The problem is not who pays but how much is a reasonable cost. Government regulation would not be necessary if cost were reasonable. Other countries have fixed the major issue of who deserves health care, and the people of the world have concluded that it should be a humanitarian benefit to all not just the wealthy. It is obvious that without intervention in a few short years the cost of health care will grow beyond the reach of most working families unless corporate greed is restrained by regulation.

The principal of liberty or freedom is not threatened by regulation but by the lawless unreasonable activity of unregulated capitalism. We, as people, band together and establish government to provide an environment of mutual benefit. The ambitions or greed of a few need not condemn the majority to poverty or oppression. The purpose is to interfere as little as possible but to protect the needs and interest of the majority, otherwise government is completely unnecessary. Those that would, because of envy and elitism, deny aid to their helpless fellow man have no redeeming human values. Such reasoning is depraved.

Those that wish to take back the country are the same people that have brought you two wars, unemployment, declining middle class, depleted resources, failing infrastructure, depleted home values, increased poverty, escalating bankruptcy, foreign ownership, campaign bribery, divisive hate propaganda, predatory lending, invasion of privacy, and a staggering national debt for which only the wealthy benefited. It is time to stop and really think this situation through.

Just the Facts Please

2010-11-03T13:18:00.000-07:00

In the aftermath of the 2010 elections I have spent hours trying to get the statistics that simply indicate who won or who lost. The internet is a source that has more information than just about anyone can handle, yet there is no website for a simple chart listing the results. All the post are opinions of what happened, why, what is to come, and other news commentary. The media seems to believe, we as viewers are too ignorant and under-educated to grasp the results without interpretation by a pundit. Perhaps they use this method of non-information to control the media for an advertising platform. The other possibility is that they are as ignorant as they believe we are.

I am offended by this lack of honesty by the internet news media and bloggers that use it. As a responsible adult of average intelligence I am confident I can determine who won by the mere vote count. I don’t need to know why people made choices or a pundit’s opinion of where this will lead us. Why not give me just the facts?

There is a serous problem in today’s society. It is overwhelmed by commercial activity and ruled by greed. Media propaganda and manipulation is inescapable and invades every aspect of our personal lives. People scream at the intrusion by government into personal matters but ignore the far more intrusive corporate oligarchy. It is either a brainwashed or brain-dead mentality. Pointing out that people are stupid isn’t couth so I will say they are unduly preoccupied with commercial diversions.

Sanity is a missing element in media presentations. No longer is it an information business but is instead a platform for advertising profits first and foremost. They feed us tidbits of entertainment and we are victimized as a reward. We even pay cash for the privilege of being abused. How sad is that?

Chamber of Commerce and Government

2010-11-02T13:18:00.000-07:00

People are frustrated with government and the influence that business interest exerts. Government should have the sole interest of the public at heart but they are easily distracted by the rhetoric of the business sector lobbyist that at the moment sounds so sensible. If they would focus on the overall problems both the labor force and the business interest would be best served. Being the moderator and facilitator is the proper roll of government. The appropriate question isn’t the size of government or low taxation but effective functioning administrative decisions. The public’s division on matters of common good in favor of business is unconscionable.

Point No.1. Business has a political interest that attempts to limit controls by government in order to increase profits and grow a market share. They use their money as an investment to influence the policy directions favorable to business activity. A reduction of taxes decreases government’s ability to intervene with regulation enforcement, yet I believe that tax reduction that financially benefits corporations is less crucial to profits than the effect of limiting regulation. Anything that bites into profits is of course a target; pension plans, health care, wages, safety compliance, minimum wage controls, taxes, quality controls, law suites, labor disputes, environmental regulations and more. It is freedom from unwanted regulation that is the goal of business.

Point No. 2 Business is in constant search of cost cutting savings. The main cost is employees and employee expenses. It is natural to keep this in check. Historically labor has always existed on the least income absolutely necessary for survival. Government policy has allowed business to pay a perpetually smaller portion of subsistence to labor by embracing welfare. Welfare allows business to leverage labor expense by deferring the cost of necessary social services from business to government. By doing this, business gains an ally. A distracted workforce has a self interest allied with business in opposition to personal taxes. The issue of low wages is effectively misdirected and the rebuking of government is magnified with anger and ignorance.

Point No.3 When labor is organized like business, the workers interest are represented in the overall economic system of production and wealth accumulation. It is the organization of needed elements that creates success in business. Any one aspect that can be omitted will be. Labor unions have been attacked because they represented a limitation threat to business liberty; the same is true of government. The inequity therefore inevitably follows. Traders always try to get the most advantageous deal for themselves and will argue for hours over pennies. Business and unions pay lobbyist and negotiators to get the best deal available. If one side is poorly represented the end result is predictable.

Point No. 4 War between labor and business misses the point and a reactionary policy clouds the issue so badly that progress is impossible in government. A patch work of band-aids is used by government that swats at flies while the systemic problem persists for both business and labor. The wealthy get richer and the middle-class poorer because the political system is failings both interest. This is not an oxymoron because the math must add up. When all the wealth has moved to one sector the purchasing power is stifled and business profits must become stagnant. Wealth can not grow beyond the absolute. When the wealthy have amassed all the cash and certificates of debt in lieu of money, they encumbered the nation almost to the limit. No more wealth is up for grabs and all that is left is the worthless assets of consumer’s folly.

Point No. 5 Trade agreements are intended to enhance commerce by trading products. It is obvious that we can’t sell our luxury products to poor countries. We could sell products that allow them to improve their economy without depleting ours. We have the means to assist other economies without the destruction of our own. Greed has sent our economy to the edge of the cliff. Thoughtful regulation would have benefited all but the greedy bastards that ignored the obvious consequences. It isn’t a question of liberty or freedom it is a question of competence.

Point No.6 The brain has billions of possible thoughts and each pose arguments. How we sort through this matrix is individualistic. The result of thinking is opinions that then must be rationally qualified and often compromised. A compromise is usually reached and the person with the most patience and or time usually gets the advantage. Those without expendable time will compromise their goals, needs and objectives. The structure of business policy presumes that individuals are responsible for their actions and decisions. Business policy is not inherently intentionally evil. It is singular in purpose by nature and is focused on financial rewards. There is little time devoted to the needed benefits of workers and that function is delegated to individuals, labor unions and government.

When business offers workers employment that is oppressive they are forgiven because the worker is dependant on a job. When government offers an alternative to that same business proposition the public is skeptical. The government is us and we stand opposed to our on best interest.

Is Someone Watching?

2010-10-28T11:03:00.000-07:00

When I write I think other people aren’t watching and I make comments that given a little more thought might be prophetic, then maybe not. I guess all people have some relevant private thoughts from time to time but we don’t often make them public. With the advent of the internet we let our private thoughts be aired by the public. I secretly think that no one reads this stuff so I can say almost anything without being offensive to other people, but ever once in a while I get a comment from someone that I don’t know and maybe is across the world away. It is like awaking from a deep sleep suddenly. Oh my! Someone is watching and it ain’t God.

I like making new friends even if I can’t visit with them in person. It is always nice to know that there are people that agree with me on some issues and takes the time to see what I have to say. I like to hear from those that have other points of view as well, for it keeps me more careful as to what I say. I must admit it is somewhat unsettling at times depending on what I have written.

I try to write about issues and subjects of more interest to readers but I usually end up venting my frustrations by talking politics and religion mostly because I’m not consciously aware of any interested readers. I find that I repeat my ideas and get discouraged when they don’t seem to satisfy my anxiety. You may have noticed my blog isn’t widely known. I wonder how many people drop by and quietly decide to try another blog on the internet.

At one time I fanaticized about being a popular opinion maker. I soon came back to the reality that one needs writing skills to do that by blogging. Now I settle for making me feel better by getting things off my chest so to speak. At times it isn’t enough to think on an issue. The only way to clear the mind and move-on is to write down my thoughts. If you read this you are entering into the unknown world of the mind of another person. For some of us that is interesting but to others it is frightening.

I don’t read a lot of blogs. A lot of fanatics out there you know. I do just cruse through some at times to see what people talk about. It is like eaves-dropping into family conservations or looking through windows into the private lives of others. It is a warm feeling when I view families, their pictures, their holiday gatherings, and their obvious affection for other family members. It restores my good feelings about my fellow countrymen.

You ain't me,But we can agree

2010-10-27T13:14:00.000-07:00

What happens when we lose all faith in our fellow citizens? Is that what is occurring? I don’t think so. We have times when rational thinking is obstructed by emotional events and what occurs is frustration nearing chaos. It doesn’t last forever and when the choices must be made we pause and once again become responsible adults. Well, most of the time.

I listen to the rhetoric of people in conversations and even in philosophical clashes they usually have mutually supported opinions even though they try to appear to be in total opposition. It is really difficult to hate your fellowman’s behavior so much that you would ignore his need when he is desperate for help. We all hate taxes but understand the need for them. It is the perceived inequity and waste that is the real debate and the facts are not always clear in these discussions.

Over time people change their opinion and commonly they drift to the center. I have no doubt that most people could come to a reasonable consensus if given real opportunity. The division among people is exaggerated and encouraged by media for viewer excitement and entertainment. Ratings make the corporation more money and they do what ever it takes. Distractions from issues are removed in the voter’s booth. Without some idiot screaming in your ear, we get down to the real business of expressing our opinions.

Big government is typically belittled, but on the other hand we all want better protection from criminals in our society. We want clean food, safe products, clear water and air, good roads, fair lending practices, good foreign relations, and an endless array of services and infrastructure that only a central government can support. There would be fewer cities in the more remote regions of our nation without unearned financial help from the fed. Sure there is waste. Corporate waste is just as serious and it adds to the cost of the products we purchase yet we ignore this costly indulgence as if it were someone else that pays the purchase price.

We want reasonable cost health care but continue to trust corporations to give us a fair deal yet for 40 years they have robbed us blind with wasteful practices that drive the cost out of site. We only hear the loud voice of dissenters to public controls of health care even though these people are the lobbyist of the corporations. If we have the same needs and same goals why would we oppose the obvious?

Swing voters control elections not the noisy radicals that protest with obscenities and despicable signs and slogans. These are the people that keep the country on the tracks. We have some accidents from time to time and the wreckage is really a mess; however it is time to stop pointing fingers and do what has to be done. Demand satisfaction from representatives. They will respond to letters and public opinion. We as citizens have to be engaged if sanity is to prevail.

Job Creation is a Joke

2010-10-23T12:18:00.000-07:00

Globalization. The benefits of more and better U.S. jobs promised by corporations pushing for trade agreements with impoverished countries never existed. They took all the good paying manufacturing jobs to cheep foreign labor markets to exploit the impoverished people of the world. It was never their plan to create jobs in The United States but to make outrageous profits on the back of U.S. consumers. It is a corporate culture of excessive greed and competition that will rape the world with their unethical immoral attitude of “F%#K YOU” and it is not confined to the U.S. corporations but has spread like a malignancy throughout the business community worldwide.

The campaign promise of jobs touted by politicians is a farce. There can be no family wage job creation without regulation and taxation that creates an equitable balance in the economic wealth of the nation. Anyone that professes otherwise is either lying or is ignorant in economics and basic math. Consumers can not make purchases without income. Corporations must constantly search for new consumer markets because they exploit markets to extinction with low wages and high prices.

Job management has been a constant focus of economic theory over the last two centuries. Wealth is created by jobs because it finances consumption. Without jobs stagnation overwhelms the economy. All job creation that has occurred over the last twenty years was quickly off-shored or out-sourced to cheaper foreign labor. The promise that education will create opportunity for new and better paying jobs has left the young and middle-aged workforce bewildered as the jobs disappear over the horizon. Every effort and sacrifice made by U.S. workers has been thwarted by corporate greed and the middle-class settles for lower and lower wages. The countries economy will continue in despair until the republican economic policy is rejected and the nations wealth is more equitably distributed.

For decades we have borrowed to support corporate greed. The National debt continues to grow as corporate profits are increased on low employee wages and personal employee debt. Government debt enables corporate profits. They cut all the remaining benefits once afforded the workforce by corporations and shift the liability to government programs now being funded by additional debt. All the time the coffers of the wealthy continue to exponentially increase.

Republicans and corporate leaders tout what was once referred to as voodoo economics (supplyside). They continue even today in the face of the complete failure demonstrated over the past ten years and culminating in financial collapse. Low taxes, reduced regulation, open borders and trade agreements have benefited only the wealthy, destroyed the manufacturing base that was the envy of the world, left the worlds finest infrastructure in shambles, sold our country to China, and left the American worker in desperation. They show no remorse for the lies and abuse they have afflicted upon our country. They continue this foolishness as though stupidity is a virtue and use their wealth to influence the unsuspecting ignorant public. They show no compassion or shame.

Hope is comforting until starvation sets in. Hoping the wealthy business sector will become moral is unrealistic. Hoping the government will come to our rescue is looking like a lost cause. Countries don’t fall because the workers are too lazy and over paid; they collapse due to the insane greed of the wealthy and powerful. People are wearing blinders today and remain in a state of denial. Beware! for the ignorance advocated by conservatives has no historical record of success and the jobs will not come unless first, change is demanded.

Happiness is Natural

2010-10-19T11:46:00.000-07:00

Happiness is an awareness of natural events and features that contribute pleasure to our personal world. In moments of reflection we rediscover happiness. It is in these moments we clear our mind of worry and trauma, and become awash in contentment like sunshine on morning dew. We experience it during a walk on the beach, the holding of a new born child, and in moments of solitude. Given the pleasure it brings I question why it isn’t a deliberate activity of more people.

Each morning I have a cup of coffee and read the worlds newspapers. Morning ambience varies as the weather shapes the beginning of the day, but rain or shine provides equal opportunity to envision happy moments or to just marvel at the beauty that surrounds us. I can feel it as though it penetrates every pour of the body. It is these quiet times that brings a smile as I watch a Robin searching the ground for morsels provided by nature. The cat curled up on my lap as I read a book, relaxes my sole and makes me warm inside. Days when the storm rages, the winds howl, and the rains pound the earth, there too is a beauty to behold.

Recreation is the tool most often used as a distraction by an overactive impatient society. All too often it has the opposite affect of emotional cleansing and creates more clutter. People seldom speak of the happiness emotion and its benefits. Authors with talented words occasionally paint a soothing picture that stirs our senses and create the mirror that can render our fondest reflections. We need more moments of inward happiness in our busy modern life. We need to cultivate our awareness to enjoy them often. It is the free therapy provided by nature that gives rest to a troubled mind and makes us happy to be alive.

The First Amendment

2010-10-10T14:23:00.000-07:00

E-mails by simple minded people who have failed to investigate the issues they adamantly defend or bewail, are very sad. The best way to diminish frustration is by doing some serious thinking and investigation rather than lashing out irrationally at an imaginary enemy with rants in E-mails. I hate looking foolish but at one time or another most of us experience the fate of being totally wrong in a conclusion or unjustified in our actions. Usually little harm occurs but other times it is devastating. We may have supported the wrong banner, repeated a lie, reacted on intuition or emotion, only to discover our hasty enthusiasm was utterly without merit. Condoning war before we think has taken our country into

Mexico

Vietnam

, and

Iraq

. Millions died without justification on the word of an idiot and condoned it by mass public opinion that was just plain wrong.

Being an architect I have had occasions to design homes. People that attempt the design of a home without any expertise are likely to make serious errors. It is presumptuous to believe that because one has lived in a home they are qualified to design one. Many challenges of life, have unsuspected consequences because we fail to be objective and informed in our opinions. Emotional decisions may prove correct but it is a careless person that embraces magic as anything more than an illusion.

There is reason to be skeptical. There is reason to be cautious. There is reason to hesitate before we speak on topics we know little about. Creating division among our neighbors by being confrontational has no merit. Creating more enemies is not a logical solution to problems and it is especially so if the problem is only imaginary. The suspicious person may be wise in being conservative but he can express his concerns without going ballistic. Exaggerations, lies, deliberate distortions and omissions are childish arguments and create no solution to address legitimate concerns.

It is not always possible to sit and think an issue through. A single source of information may be compelling but the prudent observer will want more. The courts will not base a conviction on a single piece of evidence without supporting facts and arguments so why would I base my opinions on the single word of an e-mail author or a TV pundit? Society is amuck today with unscrupulous people willing to corrupt the public opinion with lies, conspiracy theories, paranoia, and distorted propaganda. I don’t know why. I suspect some are just ignorant and want to be viewed as important, some perhaps will profit from the publics apathy, some no doubt seek power, and some are just plain evil. I think it has always been that way.

The media plays a huge role in the transfer of information. Once it was trusted and mostly reliable, I think. That time has past as corporate profits have polluted the sanctitude of honesty and pride. Today honor is not a prized virtue the only valued attribute is wealth and power. The purveyors of deceit and division are the stalkers in the shadows that exploit distractions among working people and the ignorant. In the haste of our distracted modern society, a frenzy exist and methodical reasoning is over looked for the sake of expediency. The result is errors of monumental magnitude. Financial collapse, unemployment, failing schools, aging infrastructure, war, pollution, poverty, crime, bigotry, hypocrisy, terrorism, and a declining society we can’t seem to get onto solid ground.

Perhaps we never were as great as we imagined, after all we are a young country who had an abundance of resources. As we wasted the resources and the population grew, opportunity was naturally diminished and the lifestyle that was thought once to be without end is now being threatened by natural forces of competition. We were not the worlds most intelligent and productive, we were the worlds richest and the worlds most wasteful. Perhaps it is time to pay the piper or sit right down and try thinking.

Reasons

2010-10-06T11:27:00.000-07:00

Life is a journey. A journey without a map. Sometimes we cross great plains where we can see all the way to the horizon. Sometimes we are in the mountains climbing to the peaks to see what lies beyond. We ask others along the way where they have been and what road we should travel. At times we are lost in the jungles or cast about in the stormy sea. For some, the perils of the journey over come us and we die while others find treasures and abundance on the path they took. For some the journey is a great rewarding adventure and yet to others it is a challenging adversarial path filled with perilous obstacles.

Some would have us believe our good fortune or our misfortune is our own making, but how is this so when all signs say” this way”? Some will tell us life’s outcome is within my control, but I think life is random. Who lives and dies in war is most predominately random. Who can say only the weak died and the futures best leaders were saved?

The outcome of events is both random and predictable. Fortunes are accumulated often by the greedy and seldom by the deserving. Morality is a virtue of the mind not a reality of nature. Wisdom is simply a collection of truths and not all people are effective collectors. Knowledge enables us to make logical predictions. Water runs down hill therefore if we can recognize the lowest place that is where the water is most likely to end up. Mostly true but there are numerous exceptions. Some of us play our cards with skill and logic, improving our odds, but in the end the winning hand is still luck because there are other players beyond our control.

Do not despair. Opportunity may be at hand. Rivers change their course. Optimist are happier than pessimist, for the same reason water runs down hill. Just because. I know of nothing in this world that is static. Everything changes. Every so slowly the mountain erodes into the sea and in a blink a volcano creates a new mountain. Happiness is contentment and contentment is wisdom.

Condemnation of people is likely a fool’s observation. We have a lot of those in the world.

Avoiding Extinction

2010-10-04T13:14:00.000-07:00

I have in mind a story. It is really funny how people can see the same thing and come to completely different conclusions. It happens everyday and to everyone, in politics, in religion, and in just ordinary conversations..

I live on the coast of Oregon. The wind is really strong when winter storms blow ashore. Many of the very old

Cyprus

trees along the bluffs overlooking the beaches are weathered and worn from the bombardment of the elements. Limbs and leafs grow to the leeward side and are all leaning with the direction of the wind.

Observers can come to two different theories of what this means. One would say it is an example of the benefit of adversity. The trees grow strong to withstand the punishing environment. It is a violent home they have chosen but because they endure the adversity they become increasingly stronger and their mighty structure is a testament to their courage and adaptive ability. Like the weight lifter they challenge the adversity and because of it, they are better, older, and they survive.

Then there is another more scientific and scholarly opinion that one might put forth. The trees have a natural DNA that creates a strong powerful root system as it bores into the soil in search of water and nutrients. It didn’t adapt to the environment in merely looked for a spot to call home and because it has naturally strong powerful characteristics it does well in this location. As a sprout it builds first a powerful root system and that characteristic gives it an advantage in the hostile weather.

The trees existence is factual in either case because the tree is there, but the lesson has a completely opposite implication. Now we can argue for years the truth and appropriateness of our theory without ever considering the other persons point of view. The real and more interesting question is why these two opinions are at odds and how did this come about? I will not suggest that both could be right nor will I suggest the two will ever resolve their difference in opinions.

When we stop inquiring we stop learning and if we stop learning we will always be living in a degree of ignorance. Knowledge is sometimes very scary but mans relentless quest for knowledge is the reason we are not yet extinct.

State of The Economy

2010-10-02T13:23:00.000-07:00

Economists have come to a consensus but politicians fall far behind the curve. The public pulls out their hair in despair. Is there no real answer to our financial problems? Of course there is, but only when the discussion is in the context of rational thinking. The problem with the rhetoric is, it has no basic foundation. Problems are seen as so complex that only computers are capable of analyzing the matrix. Dysfunctional markets have betrayed the workforce.

Rather than comprehensive solutions we would do better to break the problem into manageable elements. Something we can understand and grasp. Not all problems have solutions and if these are inserted into an argument, they become the rotten apples in the barrel. Attempting to save the barrel with numerous remedies of preservatives is a fool’s errand when obviously removing the bad apple is the place to begin.

The state of our economy is in trouble at every level of government. The lack of administrative discipline and citizen support for responsible management has reached a breaking point that was inevitable. The focus of politicians is not on solutions but on getting elected, hence the basis of the systemic failures. A successful business model is structured in a step by step approach that builds into a manageable organization. Military campaigns also have a well defined design for success. In either of these plans, when events negate the assumptions, alternatives are incorporated to prevent collapse or failure of the overall plan, because failure is not an option.

It is imperative for political will to be strong and competent. When leadership is focused on all the marbles rather than a practical quantity, they gamble and the odds become poor. We the people become the losers. In the past, the Federal Government was the only entity that could constantly operates at a deficit. As long as the population continued to grow and prosper at proportional rates to debt growth, the model avoids failure, much like a Ponzi scheme. Complacency however invades over time, like the fungus of the apple, and while we are distracted the entire contents of the barrel is lost.

The single greatest challenge to our economy is corporate greed. Corporations were created to serve people not oppress them. They are the apple in the barrel. Like the dictator, as power grows so also does corruption and greed. Unemployment is not a lack of production demand, it is a result of greed creating job displacement. The severity of inequality of wealth is stagnating the purchasing power of the individual and the government.

The rapid cost inflation of basic life sustaining products and services has overwhelmed the individuals and the government budget means. We wonder why revenues of government can’t keep pace with expenditures. It is because some costs are rising at 20% per year while the inflation rate remains near flat. Cost for food, for health care, for insurance, for education, for interest, for management salaries, and corporate profits, are all out of proportion to inflation and to that extent they endanger the very structure of the economy. The accumulation of these imbalances must be reconciled or total collapse is inevitable. If government fails to act and in a responsible manor the laws of market functions will make the correction needed and the common worker will suffer the consequences of poverty.

History has stories upon stories that show how greed and ambition slowly eats away the foundation of a vibrant social and economic environment. We do need to take back our country but the enemy is not the government, for we are the government, it is the ethics and morals we have allowed to infect the barrel. We must take the country back from corporate executives, wealthy investors, and corrupt politicians. We must be prepared to be self accountable and demand the same from our leadership. We are united to protect our individual interest from abuse by the powerful, yet we attack our own guardians rather than the real stealth enemy. The day we show united support for intelligent responsible leadership and legislation that protects and enables the workforce, then that is the day we will begin to restore The American Dream.

Lest We Forget

2010-09-26T15:33:00.000-07:00

Fifty years ago a debate was being viewed for the first time in history between the Republican and Democratic candidates for president of The United States. Both made their case for the reasons they and their party should lead the nation in the upcoming years. After listening for 58 minutes it became clear to me that the issues of political policy have not changed in the least over the past fifty years.

Republicans are confident that people are capable of self sufficiency and need little from government. The most treasured belief is that business must be free to act in the best interest of its investors. They assume that a prosperous business environment is the catalysis for improving the standards of living of the nation’s people. Benefits will include good jobs, homeownership, educational benefits, pension security for the elderly, and the finest health care in the world. If government will stand aside, the people’s natural ingenuity and determination will propel them into greater and greater accomplishments. Adversity is required to inspire people to move forward and avoid complacency.

Democrats believe that stability and progress in societies is gained by insuring every person has the opportunity to excel fully within his capability. The propagation of the collective strengths of all the people will have greater benefits in society than those offered by the ambitious minority. People’s greed can be destructive if left unregulated. The best interest of the community must out weight the self-serving rights of an individual.

The rhetoric of both parties has always been to secure for the people of The United States an opportunity for financial security, freedom from danger and the most advanced lifestyle in the world. The actions of the party leaders have not demonstrated a commitment to the goals of their respective doctrines. The struggles for power are nasty, reckless, destructive, and an insult to the faithful support bestowed on these candidates by the people of our country. Politicians typically betray their pledge to serve, and their duty to reach a consensus in the countries best interest. They appear to have an obsession with the next election and the most popularity of the moment that they can amass.

When governments fail people suffer and even die as a result. While the ruling class looks down from their ivory towers, the workers go without jobs, without health care, without safe food, without housing, without educations, without opportunity, without hope and without the representation they were promised. The wealthy ruling class can afford to experiment, to take financial risk, to reduce their earnings to send the jobs off shore and to delay legislation that mostly benefits the working class. They can afford to go to war when they are not the foot soldiers. When government fails it isn’t the party in power that failed it is all the people that have contributed to the dysfunction that is dishonorable.

Today the debate continues but much less respectful than the debates of Kennedy and Nixon fifty years ago. History has provided the examples of successes and failures but the media hypertension fails to report it with clarity and honesty. Partisan politics spins and distorts history beyond any recognition. The benefits of history are cast aside by idiots with no real dedication to the American people. Unlike the men and women in military service that place their live in jeopardy politicians are not willing to even sacrifice their ambitions.

The pride, we as a country once displayed with honor, integrity, compassion, and bravery has been displaced with greed, deceit, and self interest. We have grown apart and corrupt rather than maturing into a community envisioned by our founding fathers as they crafted The Constitution. We display arrogance and call it patriotism. We celebrate wealth as wisdom. We are more comfortable with ignorance than knowledge. We see no shame in behaving as spoiled children.

If God has blessed The United States he must have a keen sense of humor. To ask God to bless the

U.S.A.

is the height of Christian hierocracy when we have failed so miserably to follow Christ teachings. Some how I still have hope we will preserve the dreams of our fathers and become a nation with purpose for the benefit of all people. This was the calling and the dream of all those who came to these shores. We have an obligation to fulfill their hopes, justify their sacrifice, and preserve the banner for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness

Life Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness

2010-09-22T12:04:00.000-07:00

Tea Party advocates and conservative values

You clearly have a right to your opinions but you do not have the right to demand I share this insanity.
Embryos have a right to life without exceptions for physical, mental, or criminal implications. Also: Criminals should be executed, health care can be withheld, business can pollute with lethal chemicals, and war can kill indiscreetly without consequences. Only adults can de deprived of the right to life.
Religion and politics are equally personal. Also ;They are not dependent on factual support, vary by individual interpretation, and are traditionally intolerant and occasionally deadly.
Equal rights are discretionary.
Unemployment is a result of a lazy spoiled population.
Human welfare is not an appropriate function of government. Social services are not an appropriate function of government.
Government has a single function and that function is to provide physical armed force to protect the general population. (Half of the federal budget is devoted to military services)
Christianity is the official American religion. All faiths have the guarantee of the constitution except for Islam, Catholics, Jews, Buddhist, Hindu, and other fringe cults.
Equality is another guarantee of The Constitution, except for Gays, Blacks, Immigrates, Women, children and accused Terrorist.
Courts are legislating from the bench when they don’t support the philosophy of the political party making the accusation
Political power is more important to a successful government than adherence to the democratic will of the majority.
The Laffer curve The lower the taxes the higher the tax income is due to increased productivity. (not a factual description but preferred) Small government is essential to freedom. Wealth creates the most jobs, small business creates the most jobs, and everyone should be taxed at the same percentage rate because they all use the services at the same percentage rate.
Small government (what ever that is)
Corporations are the best regulators of their own industry.

Freedoms you now enjoy:

(business and corporations are referred to as equivalent}

Corporations are free to avoid taxes and sanctions by having undisclosed subordinates and fake headquarters.
Corporations have the freedom to seek labor in foreign markets but sell products in the U.S. without tariffs.
Corporations are free to set prices on products, commodities, and services without restrictions or regard for the public welfare.
Corporations are free to raise the cost of life dependant drugs 20% or more per year
Corporations are free to import harmful products but domestic products must be regulated and must monopolize the market to protect the public.
Insurance companies are free to raise the fee for health services @ 15 to 24% per year
Business is free to discriminate against union organizing, wage increases, benefits like pensions and medical care.
Business is free to break employee agreements to fund pensions.
Business is free to layoff employees and let government absorb the cost for essential human services
Your privacy is protected from government but corporations are free to gather and publish private information
You are free to carry guns in public places
You are free to lie, insult, and slander people you don’t like.
You are free to participate in obscene behavior
You are free to use all public services, buildings, financial incentives, education, roadways, natural resources and more.
You are free to form churches, cults, rallies, clubs, extreme sports and opposition organizations.
You are free to travel any part of the country without permissions.
You are free to change jobs if you can find one.
You are free to buy on credit and Banks are free to cheat you
You are free to claim damages in a court and not pay if you lose
You are free to buy on credit and not pay for the products and services.
You are free to buy elections, influence, politicians, competitors, power and pornography.
You are free to sell products and services that may and often are harmful to human health
You are free to avoid taxes by moving to a foreign country.
You are free to petition for changes in laws and regulations you don’t like
You are free to read the constitution and encourage its execution to fit your sole opinion.

Exceptions: You are free to join the military unless you are gay

..............................You are free to live anywhere unless you are black

..............................You are free to get equal job opportunity unless you are a woman, black, gay, ...............................or a immigrant.

..............................You are free to join any club unless someone objects

..............................You are free to drive if you get a license

Freedoms you don’t get

You are not free to defecate on public streets, or on property other than your own.
You are not free to disobey laws created by democratic consensus.
You are not free to avoid complying with regulations created by democratic consensus. (includes taxes)
You are not free to cause financial or body harm to self or others (unless you are a corporation).
You are not free to participate in criminal activity as defined by laws made by democratic consensus.
You are not free to use, abuse, or confiscate for yourself publicly owned resources without consent of the public.(unless you are a corporation)
You are not free to discriminate, beat your wife, torture your pets, create a public nuisance, be a public drunk, drive while texting, and so forth and so on.
You are not free to be the sole and final authority on all issues public and private and continue to live in the Democratic Republic of the United States of America.

So what the hell is your fuck’n problem?

So ! send this around the chain mail propaganda web internet.

Thank you, from this outraged conservative.

Guns,Drugs and Immigration

2010-09-19T20:58:00.000-07:00

The drug cartels in

Mexico

must be preparing for all out war. The e-mail I received this morning demonstrates the xenophobia being promoted by anti-immigration people. Arizona’s attempt to close the borders is somewhat understandable when we see pictures like this. The accusation that the

U.S.

is not enforcing our laws on the other-hand is a misdirected reaction.

These recent weapons stashes were found in

Mexico

near Nogales not in the

U.S.

It is reasonable to suggest that when it is legal to produce weapons and sell them in legal gun and ammo stores found on the streets of

U.S.

cities, the enforcement of illegal sales is impossible. The problem obviously is not law enforcement but the business of manufacturing. The manufacturing and sale of military weapons has been and most likely will remain an extremely lucrative shadow business creating profits in the multi-billions of dollars per year. Its success depends on war and crime for continued success. So far there has been no shortage of clients.

We get alarmed when we see images that clearly are outrageous. We direct our outrage at law enforcement for allowing this to happen. The fault lies in business practices and the law makers that turn their backs on sanity and allow the corporations that make huge profits from arms sales to continue exploiting and abusing the right to be in business. The NRA is the industry spokesperson and biggest propaganda specialist for the gun murder industry. Some believe it is a constitutional right to carry guns and sell them for as much profit as one can demand of criminals and dictators. Insanity has no boundaries.

Illegal immigration is not a fault of law enforcement; it is a fault of business practices and social acceptance. Drug cartels find a multitude of willing buyer in the

United States

. People that hire illegal’s and people who buy drugs aren’t just thugs, misfits, and greedy corporations, but also your friends, your neighbor, your attorney, your congressmen, and your local respectable businessmen. The greed, moral integrity and the lack of patriotic community and family values is the enemy. I have seen the enemy and it is us.

I'm Tired Too

2010-09-18T14:05:00.000-07:00

I received an e-mail some time back I have thought on it. It deserves to be rebutted. Republican propaganda is undeniably without compassion or objectivity. I have placed my comments in red. Think about it.

Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam veteran who served five terms in the Massachusetts State Senate. Robert A. Hall is not the actor who plays the coroner on CSI as claimed in the introduction of this e-mail. He wrote this on his blog “The Old Jarhead” Feb.19,2009 “I’m Tired “and it has sense been passed by e-mail by conservatives as an example of patriotism. His claims have been abbreviated but the context is clear.

“I make a good salary, but I didn't inherit my job or my income, and I worked to get where I am”. A State Senator? Perhaps if you had been less fortunate and been born of questionable parents, in a dirt poor neighborhood, celebrated gang rule and never knew an education was important…. You just might have a different opinion base of real life obstacles. Being unemployed doesn’t make the worker a lazy culprit, it is far more likely the greed of capitalism raising its ugly head. All well off people think they earned all the privileges they possess and social services played no roll in their success, think about it!

“I'm tired of being told that I have to "spread the wealth" to people who don't have my work ethic. Given the economy, there's no retirement in sight, and I'm tired. Very tired.” The reason there is no retirement is sight is you can’t make it on increasing personal debt and low wages to support the unsatisfiable greed of wealthy capitalist. If you will work for twenty five cents an hour I would smile all the way to the bank too. Being wealthy doesn’t equate to intelligence.

“I'm tired of being told that I have to pay more taxes to "keep people in their homes.” If you are wealthy you are being ask only to pay fair compensation for the prosperity that the American workers bestowed on you. You were the greatest recipient , you should pay the greatest portion of the cost to keep you from impoverishing the work force. If not, then you are not being ask to pay more taxes nor does home have anything to do with it.

“I'm tired of being told how bad America is by left-wing millionaire.” You like it fine when it is being done by right-wing billionaires.

“I'm tired of being told that Islam is a "Religion of Peace," Given the history of Christianity and the hypocrisy of republicans, how can you ignore the sins of one to ridicule the sins of others?

“I'm tired of being told that "race doesn't matter" I bet you’re white?

“I think it's very cool that we have a black president I just wish the black president was Condi Rice, or someone who believes more in freedom and the individual and less arrogantly of an all-knowing government”. I recommend Freedom for all and equality for all, and opportunity for all. Must I sacrifice my freedom of speech, my voice in government, so you can claim to be the shepherd of liberty? Today’s government is the result of 30 or more years of republican control so if there is fault who is the greater perpetrator?

“I'm tired of being told I must lower my living standard to fight global warming”, You are being ask to save a little for your children’s generation rather than to be a hog of all resources like we have practiced in the past. Now that we have squandered our resources and enriched the wealthy the bill has come due. We call it trade deficits.

“I'm tired of being told that out of "tolerance for other cultures" we must let Saudi Arabia use our oil money to fund mosques and mandrassa Islamic schools to preach hate in America.” I’m sure the American corporations that created and profited from the oil fields care about your xenophobia. Buy the way your desire to maintain your lifestyle at the cost of global warming is a fine contribution to Saudi cartels. They thank you. What difference is there in who preaches hate..you or them?

“I'm tired of a news media that thinks Bush's fundraising and inaugural expenses were obscene, but that think Obama's, at triple the cost, were wonderful; that thinks Bush exercising daily was a waste of presidential time, but Obama exercising is a great example for the public to control weight and stress; that picked over every line of Bush's military records, but never demanded that Kerry release his; that slammed Palin, with two years as governor, for being too inexperienced for VP, but touted Obama with three years as senator as potentially the best president ever. Wonder why people are dropping their subscriptions or switching to Fox News? Get a clue. I didn't vote for Bush in 2000, but the media and Kerry drove me to his camp in 2004”. This is so ludicrous I won’t even respond. Take it back… Bush and Palin both have the same brain disfucntion.

“I'm tired of being told that drug addicts have a disease, and I must help support and treat them, and pay for the damage they do”. I think we should shoot them, let them die on the streets, let them sleep in their own body waste on the corner of your neighborhood streets, pretend the problem doesn’t exist, build another slum for them to live in. Does that work for you?

“I'm tired of illegal aliens being called "undocumented workers," especially the ones who aren't working, but are living on welfare or crime”. I doubt they even come close to the native born citizens engaged in illegal and immoral acts counter productive to a stable society. With a declining population who will pay the taxes to support your social security? How do you feel about the honest hard working ones exploited by U.S. businesses?

“I'm tired of latte liberals and journalists, who would never wear the uniform of the Republic themselves, or let their entitlement-handicapped kids near a recruiting station, trashing our military”. Only about 5% of American citizens have military histories. Being dead has questionable merits. When we quit demanding other people worship the U.S. policy wars may be far less necessary. I don’t think killing is always justified because we are American exceptionalist and never wrong to be imperialist.

“I'm tired of people telling me that their party has a corner on virtue and the other party has a corner on corruption”. The hierocracy of politics is never ending. Looks like the pot is calling the kettle black again.

“I'm tired of people with a sense of entitlement, rich or poor”. I’m tired of people that make unsupported statements and touting ignorance as a virtue.

“I'm tired of hearing people with air-conditioned homes, color TVs and two cars called poor”. I am tired of the well off robbing the less affluent into poverty and pretending it is only good business practice.

“I'm real tired of people who don't take responsibility for their lives and actions. I'm tired of hearing them blame the government, or discrimination or big-whatever for their problems”. This is a oxymoron? Isn’t that exactly what you are doing?

http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/imtired.asp

By the Way I am 73 and I too served in the military. Reluctantly. I owe my education to personal initiative and private study after completing high school. I too am conservative but I prefer to support my fellow countrymen not big business greed although I was in business for 40 years. Tolerance and the quest for truth and equality is not a liberal idea it is just common sense. Xenophobia isn’t the answer it is the problem.

A World Gone Mad

2010-09-17T11:33:00.000-07:00

Most of us want to find a little sanity to what increasingly seems to be a world gone mad. The media pounding at controversial topics that create ratings, candidates belittling opponents to garner vote superiority, corporations spending billions on deceptive advertising, and radical citizen groups with obscene signs shouting for insurrection, all are signs of the times. It sucks and most of us are tired of hearing this B.S. Most of us are trying to earn a living and get a little ahead for the future. Meanwhile the radical left or right and the redneck morons are raising hell on T.V. or radio 24/7.

I hear about the moderate swing voters probable impact on elections but of course the constant polls with loaded questions claiming to represent public opinion is just another money making scheme that reflects more disgust with politics than of rational peoples real concerns.

The conversations in the

USA

are mostly misdirected with political interviews on selected subjects meant to be divisive for conversation sake. Most people don’t want to fight, they want to have a job, go on vacation, have a healthy life, and retire in modest comfort. Is that too much to ask? What do I know about fiscal requirements for interstate commerce due to corn subsidies? What do I know about the dangers posed by nuclear proliferation in the Mideast under IAEA’s oversight? What do I know about the potential crime rate escalation due to poverty on Chicago’s west side under the current political party? The average person has no time to devote to this kind of research.

What I do understand is that there is no discussion as to why corporations are subsidized to seek employees in factories of

China

and elsewhere? Why did the federal central bank allow speculators profits to destroy the economy with the approval of the

U.S.

congress? Why is health care allowed to be a commodity that only the wealthy are entitled to? Why are politicians allowed to buy elections and prey on the ignorance of the public? Why is the prison population the largest in the world by exponential margins and schools failing to educate our children? Why can’t we provide jobs for the less intelligent and less educated members of our society? Why must the middle class lifestyle regress so the wealthy can pay low taxes that impoverish the nation? Why do we need to be the police of the world and spend more on weapon than the rest of the combined world? Why can’t we keep our infrastructure, “the envy of the world”, in good repair? Why is representation at every level of politics allowed to be corrupted by business interest and workers rights to any security ignored?

The misdirection of the issues rather than the topics of survival are overshadowed by media and politicians for personal ambitions. The Tea Party is just a bunch of angry people that have been crapped on once to often. They are easily stampeded by emotional presentations of charlatans. The rest of America’s workforce are working to make up for the declining economy, lower pay and benefits, longer hours, escalating living cost, and unemployment. The wealthy of course don’t have this problem so they continue to keep the public focused of B.S.

Freedoms Celebration of Poverty

2010-09-14T10:43:00.000-07:00

When the sun rises again and the recession is ended the long shadow cast by the poor will be the disgrace left over by capitalism. The continuation of unrestrained capitalism will leave a wake of destruction once referred to as the middleclass that resembles the oil spill of the Gulf in disarray. Not only the

United States

but all westernized civilizations will suffer the same fate. Employment opportunities will exist only for the underpaid poverty stricken, desperate individuals willing to sacrifice dignity for a few morsels of food for their family.

Why business believes that retaining all the profits of labor for the fat cats as necessary, is astonishing. Even a moron can count and it isn’t rocket science to understand you can’t sell products and services to people who have no money. Absents of common sense in lieu of fanatical greed is ludicrous. As always leaders of industry claim they must compete in order to provide job to Americans and meanwhile they ship more and more job opportunities out of the country so the CEO’s bonus is enhanced by stock share projections.

The reckless behavior of business and congressional leaders is destroying the economy and even given the knowledge in statics and examples they turn a blind eye. Those of the opinion that the climate has not changed due to human events are the same imbeciles destroying the economy. The republicans are right “it is all about jobs” unfortunately they are the prime reason no family wage jobs are on the horizon. They have placed all the resources in the hands of the wealthy as if the charitable benefactor spirit of the rich will lift the poor out of the wallows of poverty. The rich believe they have earned everything they have and that workers are just lazy vagrants looking for charity. Being rich doesn’t make people immune to stupidity, it only makes them comfortably stupid.

Class warfare was declared years ago when Regan broke the unions. The wealthy have sense molded the world into a gaming casino of there liking. It provides the excitement and benefits of wealth to the wealthy and desperation to the workers. Republicans aren’t bad people they are ignorant people fundamentally lacking the understanding of the need for equity. So, I recommend if you want to live in the ghetto and work for $5 an hour, while building shelter for your family of cardboard boxes then vote a straight Republican ticket. You will get exactly what you deserve. Poverty.

We’ve Lost Cultural Value

2010-09-10T17:40:00.000-07:00

Extraordinary social changes take place over long periods of time. The change is not obscured from the public eye but is diminished in importance by its low level priority. When minute segments of change take place no alarm is sounded because more demanding immediate issues are also occurring. Slowly, just as the river erodes the footings below the bridge, the foundations of society have been altered and in some instances will have devastating effects.

The effect of change is so slow that often only older people can even distinguish them. When viewed over time, change becomes obvious to those that experienced the lost values. How many times do we see the disbelief of younger people when they are admonished by their elders? What we have not experienced is difficult to understand. We learn from our elders. A stable society is dependent on our elders to intelligently pass to the newer generation the learning experiences that are essential to social stability and desirable growth.

Values that do not reflect the latest trends in society are often cast aside and sneered upon. Old fogy youth will proclaim. So as each generation competes to gain higher recognition than their predecessor, change occurs. Change has two sides and some is welcome and others slip by unnoticed at the time. Social values that reflect previous public support in time become defined as conservative, others that reflect newer values are considered liberal. That of course is a regression because often the new is only a revitalized previous out lived or rejected value. These are common in politics.

The corporate culture of capitalism has been steadily gaining acceptance in our western society. It isn‘t the first time but it is our time. The greed element has become acceptable in business, in politics, in social inequities and in the homes of families. Restraint and accountability has slipped into the ditch and people have lost the map of civility. The celebration of wealth and ignorance is being touted as policy and people are beginning to scramble around like sheep lost in a storm. Protest and rage is being used by groups that recognize a problem exist but haven’t a clue as to the cause or its solution.

When we compromise core values in time we drift to extremes if not in frustration then in ignorance. Returning to sound principals takes time, will and perseverance. That is something a stampede fails to take the time to recognize. In time the dilemma grows to untenable proportions and survival demands corrections. The cycle then begins again.

American Exceptional-ism

2010-09-01T10:50:00.000-07:00

Ground zero…what kind of description is that? The targets that day were multiple so what makes the Tower sight so special? The Pennsylvania crash sight should be The National Monument and called for “The Greatest American Valor” for not one survived. So what’s with this mosque mania?

The outrage about the Tower attacks is irrationally greater than that for the loss of more than 4,000 lives in a pointless inexcusable war of choice in

Iraq

. Such attitudes are unconscionable and totally bizarre. The structural damage we inflicted on an innocent people pails the damage we experienced, and we dismiss casually the disgraceful loss of civilian life. How we can look in the mirror each morning without shame, evades me.

Sixteen million people died in World War Two and from the American propaganda you would be led to believe they were all American.

Korea

saw the death of several hundreds of thousands and 50,000 were Americans.

Vietnam

saw the death of millions but about 50,000 were Americans.

Iraq

has killed at least a half million and 4,000 were Americans. In The United States we killed more of our countrymen in a Civil War than all the other wars put together.

Haiti

saw the death of 250,000.

Indonesia

lost 200,000 or more.

Pakistan

almost yearly see a hundred thousand perish in floods and earthquakes. Targets in Europe have had terrorist attacks on a regular basis. I have a difficult time in elevating a couple of buildings in New York to the devastation seen by other people in their countries. God regularly kills many more people than terrorist.

The New Revolution

2010-08-18T10:26:00.000-07:00

Some of us have yet to understand what the problem is. Some of us understands the problem but are too greedy to make the required adjustments. Some of us are gambling that somehow the problem will solve itself and we will not be required to sacrifice our time or effort. Some of us think we can kick the problem down the street far enough that others will have to deal with it. Some of us are dancing around in a fantasy land and haven’t a clue that our destruction is imminent. It is totally insane and the frustration of the public is almost to the point of boiling over.

When political will is marginalized to enhance personal ambitions of politicians the public eventually gets so frustrated that they strike back. Much like a child having a temper tantrum their actions may be senseless and irrational but it is the only demand voters make that politicians seem to understand. Some people have to be fired before they get the message that the job requires compliance with the desires of the boss. Some people have to get run over before they understand it is unwise to stand in the middle of the street. Some people don’t know how dumb they really are. It is almost inconceivable that politicians can retain their office when they have been so completely incompetent.

The revolution is against incumbents good and bad without discretion. Only my foolish hope for dedicated competent leadership keeps me from joining the fray. The people who may be sent to replace the establishment are lunatics. These Tea Party libertarians make even less sense than the idiots now in office, but it is a change for sure. Perhaps the house must be totally demolished before the restoration can come about.

Russia

had to collapse before they got the message and The United States is headed down the same road. You know! The one with the cliff at the end.

Hypocrisy or Foolishness

2010-08-17T11:59:00.000-07:00

They want to take back their country and kick out Disinters, Undesirables, Muslims, Blacks, Gays, and Attorneys.

We need small government….taxes must be reduced to starve government and the unemployed….eat food at your own risk and eliminate the FDA…don’t regulate pollution it isn’t harmful….trade agreements promote American jobs…Unions create lazy overpaid workers…regulations kill jobs and innovation….science is a theory…..charity (welfare) encourages unwed mothers and loafers….taxes suppress the economy….government should create jobs quickly (when unemployment is high)….we have the best health care in the world….our infrastructure is the envy of the world…..man can do nothing that will threaten his extinction…. FCC should regulate obscenity.…protect my freedoms and liberty to the death….enforce all laws we like…..regulate birth and reproduction of other people..…regulate morality (against Gays)….pass no laws of which the Right disapproves…..The Right is always right…..honor all warriors as our freedom defenders….Americans are always superior…..Corporations are the engines of wealth for all….government always fails and private enterprise is always better….hold all people accountable….God controls the future…..man creates his destiny….there ought to be a law…..education is inferior to instinct…..liberals are educated but street stupid…..conservatives are realist…..the wealthy have earned their money and power….people that are poor deserve no better…. The United Stated should be declared a Christian nation….wealthy people create most jobs….the only purpose of government is for defense….all people have equal opportunity....deny civil rights to accused terrorist and illegal immigrants.....Glen Beck is an intelligent, honest, sincere God fearing, liberty loving patriot and (a filthy rich charlatan masquerading as a humanitarian). Did I leave out anything?

They are a small noisy minority of xenophobic irrational people with lots of hysterical anger.