11 Temmuz 2012 Çarşamba
10 Temmuz 2012 Salı
9 Temmuz 2012 Pazartesi
Are We Anywhere Close to Containing the Costs of Healthcare?
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At the Wall Street Journal, "The Crushing Cost of Care":
Some patients are going to cost more, despite all the treatment to prevent infections and so forth. And when you get a patient like Mr. Crawford, no one's going to recommend that we pull the plug, because that's not what we do. The problem is that overall healthcare costs are out of control and ObamaCare will not address the problem and is expected to make matters worse.
On Valentine's Day 2009, Scott Crawford, 41 years old, received the break that he thought would save his life. A surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore removed his ailing heart and put in a healthy one. The transplant was a success.Continue reading.
But complications put the former tire-warehouse worker in intensive care for almost a year. Surgeons removed his gall bladder, his left leg and part of a lung. And Mr. Crawford soon became one of the most expensive Americans on Medicare.
A sliver of the sickest patients account for the majority of Medicare spending - and young people can often have the highest costs. WSJ's Janet Adamy discusses the case of Scott Crawford, who became one of the most expensive Americans on Medicare.
As his condition turned grave, one of his doctors questioned whether to keep treating him. Nurses reported feeling "moral distress" over his unrelenting pain. Still, medical opinion was split, and Mr. Crawford's family, with the backing of his transplant surgeon, pushed forward.
A few days before Christmas 2009, Mr. Crawford died, leaving behind a young son.
According to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Medicare data, the government spent $2.1 million on his inpatient and outpatient care in 2009. That was the fifth costliest of all Medicare beneficiaries that year and the highest among those who died by that year's end. Medicare covered Mr. Crawford's costs through federal disability insurance.
A primary goal of the 2010 health-care overhaul that the Supreme Court upheld last week is to slow the growth of costs. Even so, the law does little to address a simple fact: A sliver of the sickest patients account for the majority of U.S. health-care spending. In 2009, the top 10% of Medicare beneficiaries who received hospital care accounted for 64% of the program's hospital spending, the Journal's analysis found.
Younger patients like Mr. Crawford were more expensive, representing just 18.5% of the beneficiaries who received hospital care but 23.7% of the total cost. Seniors vastly outnumbered them, however, and consumed 76% of the total hospital costs.
As for Medicare's long-term cost trajectory, it is relentlessly upward. The program's net expenditures totaled $486 billion last year, according to the Congressional Budget Office, or 13.5% of all federal expenditures. In March, the CBO projected that Medicare expenditures would grow an average of 5.7% per year through 2022 and equal 16.2% of all federal outlays.
Medicare patients rack up disproportionate costs in the final year of life. In 2009, 6.6% of the people who received hospital care died. Those 1.6 million people accounted for 22.3% of total hospital expenditures, the Journal's analysis shows.
But efforts by policy makers to tackle the question of end-of-life care have foundered recently. In the debate over President Barack Obama's health-care overhaul, an initiative to help Medicare beneficiaries plan end-of-life care sank after opponents labeled it a "death panel."
"We're always going to have patients in the Medicare program that need a disproportionate number of resources," said Jonathan Blum, deputy administrator and director for Medicare. As for Mr. Crawford, "A lot of the costs were driven by complications that could have been avoided," he said, citing an early infection as an example.
Some patients are going to cost more, despite all the treatment to prevent infections and so forth. And when you get a patient like Mr. Crawford, no one's going to recommend that we pull the plug, because that's not what we do. The problem is that overall healthcare costs are out of control and ObamaCare will not address the problem and is expected to make matters worse.
Andy Murray's Gracious Speech Following Wimbledon Loss
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I promised an update at my previous post: "Andy Murray Worn Down in Heatbreak Loss to Roger Federer at Wimbledon."
As noted, there was a rain delay during the third set. It takes almost an hour to close the stadium at Wimbledon so during that time ESPN anchor Mike Tirico introduced a news segment on Andy Murray's background, especially on the tragedy in his hometown of Dunblane, Scotland. In 1996 a shooter entered Dunblane Primary School and killed 16 young children and one teacher before turning a gun on himself. The kids were 5 and 6-year-olds. The Wikipedia entry for the shooting is here. The ESPN segment included news clips of emotionally distraught parents running down the street to the school. Dunblane's a small town of 8,000 or so residents. And the shooting was one of the worst in the history of Great Britain, so that background is a big part of the huge emotional support for Andy Murray.
The New York Times reports on Dunblane's support for Murray, "Scottish Town Rises And Falls With Andy Murray":
Plus, some reactions to Murray's emotional speech. At Telegraph UK, "Wimbledon 2012: Tearful Andy Murray loses on court, but wins the nation’s heart," London's Daily Mail, "Murray lost to a master of the universe, the tennis equivalent of Pele or Ali - tearful Andy's hopes dashed as Federer wins 17th Slam," and the Guardian, "Andy Murray: the fans' tears."
And a critical reaction at USA Today, "ESPN dropped the ball on Murray's reaction." And the Chattanooga Times Free Press, "Roger Federer, Andy Murray both won."
As noted, there was a rain delay during the third set. It takes almost an hour to close the stadium at Wimbledon so during that time ESPN anchor Mike Tirico introduced a news segment on Andy Murray's background, especially on the tragedy in his hometown of Dunblane, Scotland. In 1996 a shooter entered Dunblane Primary School and killed 16 young children and one teacher before turning a gun on himself. The kids were 5 and 6-year-olds. The Wikipedia entry for the shooting is here. The ESPN segment included news clips of emotionally distraught parents running down the street to the school. Dunblane's a small town of 8,000 or so residents. And the shooting was one of the worst in the history of Great Britain, so that background is a big part of the huge emotional support for Andy Murray.
The New York Times reports on Dunblane's support for Murray, "Scottish Town Rises And Falls With Andy Murray":
DUNBLANE, Scotland — Inside Dunblane Youth Centre, strangers hugged, fists were pumped and children cheered. Boys lay on chairs shaped like tennis balls. Girls with Scottish flags painted on their cheeks wove through the crowd chanting, “Let’s go, Andy!” The room was so crammed with people breathing stale, warm air that personal space seemed more an extravagance than a basic courtesy, but no one seemed to mind because up there, on the giant projection screen, was one of them.More at the link.
The people of this village 30 miles northeast of Glasgow have congregated before, have packed its pubs and its social halls and its gathering spots, to watch their most famous son compete at Wimbledon. For three straight years, Andy Murray had reached the semifinals, and for three straight years, Murray had lost. They lauded his effort — “the Scots love a valiant loser,” said Gordon Sloan, of nearby Greenloaning — but yearned for glory.
“We’ve been teased a lot these past few years,” David Macaskill of Dundee said. “A lot of Scottish hearts broken.”
That chance for glory came Sunday, against the indomitable Roger Federer. An island that had produced a men’s Wimbledon finalist for the first time since 1938 wondered if Murray would actually win. A country prayed. A town hoped.
In the town center, two popular pubs, the Village Inn and the Dunblane Hotel, heaved with people 45 minutes before the 2 p.m. start. Crowds spilled onto Stirling Road, which was not a problem because few cars were out driving anyway. Those who could not spend their afternoon planted in front of a television still tracked the score. Outside the youth center, a coffee van blared the radio broadcast of the match. At Simply M&S, the supermarket next door, cashiers asked customers for updates.
Sitting at a table in the Dunblane Bowling Club, Doreen Rose tried convincing herself before the match that Murray could win, should win, would win. “He’s won 8 of 15 matches against Federer,” said Rose, of nearby Callendar. “But they’ve never played on grass. Oh, I don’t know. I’m so nervous, I can’t think.”
Murray captured the first two games of the first set (“Come on, Andy!”), then lost the next two (“Go get ’em, Andy!”). When Murray broke Federer to go ahead, 5-4, Malky McLachlan of Dunblane was standing against a wall. He was cradling his 16-month-old son, Magnus, who was sleeping through the commotion — and through what was Murray’s first set won in a Grand Slam final. “Maybe he’ll see more history when he wakes up,” McLachlan said.
Magnus woke up about a half-hour later, when Murray was toiling through an arduous second set. Federer broke Murray at 5-6, and Sheena Herley of Dunblane sensed a shift in the mood.
“It’s a wee bit subdued now,” Herley said.
Plus, some reactions to Murray's emotional speech. At Telegraph UK, "Wimbledon 2012: Tearful Andy Murray loses on court, but wins the nation’s heart," London's Daily Mail, "Murray lost to a master of the universe, the tennis equivalent of Pele or Ali - tearful Andy's hopes dashed as Federer wins 17th Slam," and the Guardian, "Andy Murray: the fans' tears."
And a critical reaction at USA Today, "ESPN dropped the ball on Murray's reaction." And the Chattanooga Times Free Press, "Roger Federer, Andy Murray both won."
Victoria Secret Model Alessandra Ambrosio Takes to the Beach in Malibu
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She looks great --- and she just had a baby in May.
See London's Daily Mail, "Keep your eyes on the ball boys! Alessandra Ambrosio plays beach volleyball in a crop top and bikini bottoms," and "What a pair of angels! Bikini-clad Victoria's Secret model Alessandra Ambrosio frolics in the sea with her gorgeous daughter Anja."
Also at the Blemish, "Alessandra Ambrosio in a Bikini Two Months After Giving Birth."
See London's Daily Mail, "Keep your eyes on the ball boys! Alessandra Ambrosio plays beach volleyball in a crop top and bikini bottoms," and "What a pair of angels! Bikini-clad Victoria's Secret model Alessandra Ambrosio frolics in the sea with her gorgeous daughter Anja."
Also at the Blemish, "Alessandra Ambrosio in a Bikini Two Months After Giving Birth."
Obama to Push Extension of Middle-Class Tax Cuts
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From Laura Meckler, at the Wall Street Journal (via Memeorandum):
Well, it's just more class warfare, in any case. And if Team Romney gets its act together they'll be out with rapid reaction taking points hammering Obama on his ObamaCare tax boondoggle, and all the rest of the costs this administration has imposed on average Americans. See more at the Foundry, "Obama Finally Enters the Taxmageddon Debate—With a Tax Increase," and at the Weekly Standard, "Obama Tax Increase Would Hit Business Owners Hard."
Plus see all the coverage at Memeorandum.
President Barack Obama on Monday proposed a one-year extension of the Bush-era tax cuts for families earning less than $250,000 a year, an effort to shift the conversation from the sagging economy toward tax fairness.And here's the headline at Wizbang, "Obama to Shift Focus From Dismal Jobs Outlook to Raising Taxes."
Mr. Obama appeared in the East Room, surrounded by people who would benefit from the extension. It is another display of the power of incumbency, which lets a president command attention for his ideas in grand surroundings not available to his challenger.
President Obama is launching a push to extend tax cuts for the middle class, Sara Murray reports on Markets Hub. (Photo: Getty Images)
His campaign will amplify the message with a series of battleground-state events this week, and Mr. Obama will make the same case on a campaign trip to Iowa on Tuesday.
The president has long supported a permanent extension of the tax cuts for families earning less than $250,000 and has called for cuts aiding wealthier families to expire.
But Monday's event marked the first time he specifically called for a one-year extension for the lower-earning group.
"Let's not hold the vast majority of all Americans and our entire economy hostage while we debate the merits of another tax cut for the wealthy," Mr. Obama said.
Senate Democrats plan a vote in the next month on the proposal, which will amplify Mr. Obama's message, though it is not expected to pass. Indeed, no resolution on the issue is expected until after the November election.
Well, it's just more class warfare, in any case. And if Team Romney gets its act together they'll be out with rapid reaction taking points hammering Obama on his ObamaCare tax boondoggle, and all the rest of the costs this administration has imposed on average Americans. See more at the Foundry, "Obama Finally Enters the Taxmageddon Debate—With a Tax Increase," and at the Weekly Standard, "Obama Tax Increase Would Hit Business Owners Hard."
Plus see all the coverage at Memeorandum.
The Timely's and the Godsend's
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The year before J1 was born, we bought the house we still live in today. I remember my sister telling my mother "Aw, he bought her a dollhouse.", and that's exactly what it is. She, referring to my dollhouse, sits proudly in an old neighborhood, that's nice and flat, and is covered in a canopy of Oak and Walnut tree's that are older than she is.
When J1 was 18 months old, he met his lifelong friend Z. They met at what I like to call "Baby Harvard" which is the best child care center in the city. The center is housed up on the hill, where both Z's mother and I work. Soon after we met, they moved their family to my neighborhood, and our kids have gone to all the same schools. They are the Timely family.
A year or so later, the Godsend's moved into the old yellow and white Victorian across the street. The house had been broken into two units for decades, and the Godsend's, with all their children, grandchildren, and extended family, restored it to it's original glory of a single family home.
Together, our village has weathered many storms, both figuratively and literally, and we've all been there for each other. Recently, the Godsend's announced that they would soon depart our sweet village, and while I know that change is the only constant, it's a day I've always dreaded.
Once, when we were teenagers, my sister told me she dreamt that I had gone down the drain in the kitchen sink as a big blob of slime. No surprise there, but then she said I suddenly flew back out as a butterfly. I've never forgotten that dream.
I think I'm ready to talk about the long storm I've weathered, because I believe I'm coming out the other side. But this I know for sure, I would have never survived without the support of my village. And for me to tell these stories, you've got to know who the Timely's and Godsend's are, because none of it could have happened without them.
The year before J1 was born, we bought the house we still live in today. I remember my sister telling my mother "Aw, he bought her a dollhouse.", and that's exactly what it is. She, referring to my dollhouse, sits proudly in an old neighborhood, that's nice and flat, and is covered in a canopy of Oak and Walnut tree's that are older than she is. When J1 was 18 months old, he met his lifelong friend Z. They met at what I like to call "Baby Harvard" which is the best child care center in the city. The center is housed up on the hill, where both Z's mother and I work. Soon after we met, they moved their family to my neighborhood, and our kids have gone to all the same schools. They are the Timely family.
A year or so later, the Godsend's moved into the old yellow and white Victorian across the street. The house had been broken into two units for decades, and the Godsend's, with all their children, grandchildren, and extended family, restored it to it's original glory of a single family home.
Together, our village has weathered many storms, both figuratively and literally, and we've all been there for each other. Recently, the Godsend's announced that they would soon depart our sweet village, and while I know that change is the only constant, it's a day I've always dreaded.
Once, when we were teenagers, my sister told me she dreamt that I had gone down the drain in the kitchen sink as a big blob of slime. No surprise there, but then she said I suddenly flew back out as a butterfly. I've never forgotten that dream.
I think I'm ready to talk about the long storm I've weathered, because I believe I'm coming out the other side. But this I know for sure, I would have never survived without the support of my village. And for me to tell these stories, you've got to know who the Timely's and Godsend's are, because none of it could have happened without them.
8 Temmuz 2012 Pazar
Serena Williams Wins 5th Wimbledon Title
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That's Cliff Drysdale with the analysis at the clip below, and there's another video here (she hugs her family).
And at the Los Angeles Times, "Serena Williams wins fifth Wimbledon singles title":
And see London's Daily Mail, "Serena beats Radwanska to level Venus' Wimbledon tally with fifth crown at SW19."
And at the Los Angeles Times, "Serena Williams wins fifth Wimbledon singles title":
Serena Williams, who had already eliminated defending Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova and second-seeded Victoria Azarenka, who had won this season's first major title at the Australian Open, took down third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska on Saturday to win her fifth Wimbledon title and her career 14th major championship.More at the link.
Williams, who had last won a Grand Slam title here two years ago, first overpowered and then outlasted the 23-year-old Radwanska, 6-3, 5-7, 6-2. Radwanska was playing in her first Grand Slam final.
Shortly after Williams, 30, dominated the 2010 Wimbledon championships, she had a foot injury that required surgery and then a pulmonary embolism that combined to keep her away from tennis for almost a year.
She made her return to majors tennis here a year ago but was upset in the fourth round. Williams suffered an unexpectedly decisive loss in the finals of the 2011 U.S. Open to Samantha Stosur, then lost in the fourth round of the 2012 Australian Open and in the first round of the French Open last May.
But Williams, seeded sixth, overpowered the field here. In the second game of the second set against the Radwanska, Williams set a new Wimbledon women's record with her 90th ace and that stellar serving kept all her opponents off balance.
And see London's Daily Mail, "Serena beats Radwanska to level Venus' Wimbledon tally with fifth crown at SW19."
Anthony Glen Gorospe, Mentally Disturbed Hoarder, Arrested in Shooting Standoff With Long Beach Police
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My college is located in North Long Beach.
See the Long Beach Press Telegram, "UPDATED: Police arrest North Long Beach shooting suspect after seven-hour standoff."
And this is what SWAT-ting looks like. A dangerous situation:
And see London's Daily Mail, "Hoarder terrified police and housing officials were going to take his possessions 'shot inspector in the head'."
The inspector is extremely lucky to be alive. The bullet grazed him right next to the eye.
BONUS: Back at the Press-Telegram, "Scavengers stealing from home of alleged hoarder."
See the Long Beach Press Telegram, "UPDATED: Police arrest North Long Beach shooting suspect after seven-hour standoff."
And this is what SWAT-ting looks like. A dangerous situation:
And see London's Daily Mail, "Hoarder terrified police and housing officials were going to take his possessions 'shot inspector in the head'."
The inspector is extremely lucky to be alive. The bullet grazed him right next to the eye.
BONUS: Back at the Press-Telegram, "Scavengers stealing from home of alleged hoarder."
Online Harassment Against Feminist Blogger Anita Sarkeesian
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Robert Stacy McCain reports on Think Progress's Alyssa Rosenberg's defense of feminist blogger Anita Sarkeesian. See: "‘Concentrated Campaign of Harassment … to Terrorize People into Silence’- UPDATE: Parallels to Rauhauser." (Via Instapundit.)
Rosenberg's essay is here: "The Escalating Campaign Against Anita Sarkeesian and The Long-Term Weakness of Sexist Trolls." It's a good piece. These people are definitely cowards. It's not clear though that the attacks are right-wing attacks. Go back and read Robert's essay. Apparently Helen Lewis of the New Statesman indicates that the 4Chan hackers might be involved in the attacks on Sakeesian --- and I remember distinctly how advocates for 4Chan claimed the group's activists have no ideological motivation to their attacks. I argued in contrast that the troll-hacker types were anarchist and inherently leftist. I'm not saying much more than that here. Simply that until we see some folks on the left getting SWAT-ted like Patterico and the others, I'll continue the hold that it's the left that's mounting the prominent campaign of online intimidation to silence speech.
PHOTO CREDIT: Anita Sarkeesian via Wikimedia Commons.
ADDED: Bob Belvedere reports with this reference to The Other McCain:
Rosenberg's essay is here: "The Escalating Campaign Against Anita Sarkeesian and The Long-Term Weakness of Sexist Trolls." It's a good piece. These people are definitely cowards. It's not clear though that the attacks are right-wing attacks. Go back and read Robert's essay. Apparently Helen Lewis of the New Statesman indicates that the 4Chan hackers might be involved in the attacks on Sakeesian --- and I remember distinctly how advocates for 4Chan claimed the group's activists have no ideological motivation to their attacks. I argued in contrast that the troll-hacker types were anarchist and inherently leftist. I'm not saying much more than that here. Simply that until we see some folks on the left getting SWAT-ted like Patterico and the others, I'll continue the hold that it's the left that's mounting the prominent campaign of online intimidation to silence speech.
PHOTO CREDIT: Anita Sarkeesian via Wikimedia Commons.
ADDED: Bob Belvedere reports with this reference to The Other McCain:
Also, do check out Stacy’s report on a case of Leftist-On-Leftist Thuggery, how [sur-frickin'-prise] high hypocrisy reigns among the ‘respectable Left’, and how Neal Rauhauser comes into play [he's like shit, it seems: he's everywhere].See the full report: "The #BrettKimberlin Report D+43."
Anniversary of London's 7/7 Terrorist Attacks
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With all the Olympic planning, not to mention the new terrorist threats, there's virtually no remembrance of the terrorists attacks of 2005.
But see the Economist, "London bombings: Seven years since 7/7":
RELATED: At London's Dail Mail in 2009, "I've just seen hell on earth: Four years after 7/7, a never before seen picture of the horror that confronted police on the Tube ripped apart by terrorists."
But see the Economist, "London bombings: Seven years since 7/7":
SEVEN years ago London suffered one of its worst terrorist attacks when four Islamist terrorists detonated bombs in the morning rush-hour: three in quick succession on the city's underground railway network and a fourth in Tavistock Square aboard a red double-decker bus. Fifty-two people died, including the four bombers, and over 700 more were injured.Continue reading.
The following is an interview with a 7/7 survivor, now aged 26 and working as a PA in Notting Hill.
RELATED: At London's Dail Mail in 2009, "I've just seen hell on earth: Four years after 7/7, a never before seen picture of the horror that confronted police on the Tube ripped apart by terrorists."
Linking (Giving Credit) is a Critical Part of Web Culture
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I love this piece at GigaOM, "Why links matter: Linking is the lifeblood of the web."
I'm probably an over-linker, but sometimes when I find a widely available YouTube I don't always give a hat tip. It depends on where I find the video. Bloggers like to link their friends and diss their enemies, so that explains a lot of it. (For blog posts, I mostly link to the blog where I find the reported information initially, and thus sometimes the person who broke the story might not get the link --- and again, the friends/enemies distinction might come into play here.)
I'm probably violating some of the correct norms, but then again, I think that's how most folks roll, actually. For the most part, I probably link to much. Folks have even complained about that to me in fact.
I'm probably an over-linker, but sometimes when I find a widely available YouTube I don't always give a hat tip. It depends on where I find the video. Bloggers like to link their friends and diss their enemies, so that explains a lot of it. (For blog posts, I mostly link to the blog where I find the reported information initially, and thus sometimes the person who broke the story might not get the link --- and again, the friends/enemies distinction might come into play here.)
I'm probably violating some of the correct norms, but then again, I think that's how most folks roll, actually. For the most part, I probably link to much. Folks have even complained about that to me in fact.
7 Temmuz 2012 Cumartesi
What's Mitt Romney's Stand on Witchcraft?
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With gay marriage back in the mix as a political issue for 2012, I've been thinking a lot about religion, morality and human rights. I've been thinking a lot about Mitt Romney.
I'm a liberal and I support gay marriage.
That doesn't mean I'm some "godless" communist, as the crazies on the far-right like to put it any time they encounter someone with whom they happen to disagree. I'm just some ordinary guy, doing the best I can to understand the world around me.
So it sparked my interest when the New York Times ran a story about rhesus monkeys and how they're overrunning New Delhi in India, biting pedestrians and stealing groceries out of bags as people stroll along the streets. Monkeys, it turns out, are believed to be the living representatives of the Hindu god Hanuman and tradition holds that Hindus should feed them accordingly, Tuesdays and Saturdays, every week.
There was a similar story about Mr. Romney in the Times not long ago. Not about monkeys. No. Romney is a good Mormon. His church teachings hold that ancient Israelites fled to America many centuries before Christopher Columbus arrived. These ancient Israelistes developed their own civilization, which later fractured in a bloody civil war, involving two groups, the Nephites and Lamanites, the latter triumphing in the end and going on to become the people we call today the "Native Americans."
Conservatives tend to be sure they're right because they have (or think they have) religious truth and the U. S. Constitution on their side. Liberals, of course, tend to skeptical. So I might not buy the Hindu take on monkeys. I might not buy Mormon teachings about Nephites and Lamanites, either. Yet, as a good liberal, I understand that what Mr. Romney chooses to believe in no way harms or influences me.
Now we hear voices raised in certain conservative circles, warning that we must not allow gay marriage. Some Christian extremists (and all religions breed occasional extremists) insist, "God hates fags." If we allow gay marriage, Reverend Pat Robinson likes to warn, God will punish our great nation. It's right there in the Bible, they tell us. See Leviticus: 20:13: "If a man lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death: their blood shall be upon them."
I'm a liberal, see. And if nothing else, I'm skeptical about putting homosexuals to death.
Now, let me say, that some of the very finest people I have known are Christians, or were, including my mother, a devout Roman Catholic until the moment she passed away. I hope they all get to heaven in their own fashion; and if conduct and compassion are a guide, I believe they will, and so, in whatever manner God intends, I hope they'll all be happy. With a bit of luck, I might even join my Mom and Mr. Romney.
But I do wish, if people were going to base their entire stance against gay marriage on Biblical principles, that they would explain their position on other issues the same way. If Mr. Romney is against gay marriage based on ancient religious teachings, shouldn't he also take a stand against witchcraft, and not just change his position whenever it suits him to gain a little in the wiccan vote? This matter is addressed in Leviticus, too, 20:27: "A man or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them."
I'd like to hear him address the plague of children cursing parents in troubled modern times. Mr. Romney doesn't curse much, himself, according to reporters. He has a reputation as a fine father, too, and his children probably don't do much cursing, either. If other boys and girls do, however, what would be Dad Romney's stand when we look at Leviticus 20:9? "For every one that curseth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death: he hath cursed his father or his mother; his blood shall be upon him."
In the end, if you're going to base your case for intolerance toward homosexuals on what men and women were originally taught two or three thousand years ago, then I'd have liked to have seen someone ask during the Republican primaries this spring: "Mr. Romney, Mr. Gingrich, you both oppose gay marriage. What is your stance on adultery?"
I'd like to have seen Mitt lay it on Newt, and watch Newt squirm, when Mr. Romney quoted Leviticus yet again (20:10): "And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and the adultress shall surely be put to death."
I don't think it makes me a godless communist to admit I'm puzzled by such matters. I can't see how gay marriage is a threat to me, or to my my wife's happiness or mine, or how it harms my straight neighbors if they mind their own business. If Mr. Romney wants to sit in church and study his particular version of the truth, I don't see where that would be my concern, or anyone else's, be they observant Jew, devout Baptist or practicing Muslim.
If a loving pair of men or loving pair of women want to go to a different church and stand up before God and marry, and maybe later adopt and raise good kids, I don't understand how society has a right to block their way.
I'm just your average liberal.
That means, as far as I have the capacity to understand these questions, that I'm for religious freedom and personal liberty, too, as far as both can be extended in any society, without harm to the common good.
If you want to feed the monkeys, that's your business, too.
P. S. Based on one angry conservative reaction (so far), let me note again the sentence above that says I am for "religious freedom and personal liberty" both. You do me no harm, no matter what you believe, Buddhist, Tao, Fulan Gong, Presybterian, Methodist, Sunni, Shiite, etc.
I'm just a guy who can't figure out how gay marriage hurts ME.
I think the angry conservative needs to stop seeing mirages; or maybe take reading lessons. If my writing is unclear, I apologize for that.
With gay marriage back in the mix as a political issue for 2012, I've been thinking a lot about religion, morality and human rights. I've been thinking a lot about Mitt Romney.I'm a liberal and I support gay marriage.
That doesn't mean I'm some "godless" communist, as the crazies on the far-right like to put it any time they encounter someone with whom they happen to disagree. I'm just some ordinary guy, doing the best I can to understand the world around me.
So it sparked my interest when the New York Times ran a story about rhesus monkeys and how they're overrunning New Delhi in India, biting pedestrians and stealing groceries out of bags as people stroll along the streets. Monkeys, it turns out, are believed to be the living representatives of the Hindu god Hanuman and tradition holds that Hindus should feed them accordingly, Tuesdays and Saturdays, every week.
There was a similar story about Mr. Romney in the Times not long ago. Not about monkeys. No. Romney is a good Mormon. His church teachings hold that ancient Israelites fled to America many centuries before Christopher Columbus arrived. These ancient Israelistes developed their own civilization, which later fractured in a bloody civil war, involving two groups, the Nephites and Lamanites, the latter triumphing in the end and going on to become the people we call today the "Native Americans."
Conservatives tend to be sure they're right because they have (or think they have) religious truth and the U. S. Constitution on their side. Liberals, of course, tend to skeptical. So I might not buy the Hindu take on monkeys. I might not buy Mormon teachings about Nephites and Lamanites, either. Yet, as a good liberal, I understand that what Mr. Romney chooses to believe in no way harms or influences me.
Now we hear voices raised in certain conservative circles, warning that we must not allow gay marriage. Some Christian extremists (and all religions breed occasional extremists) insist, "God hates fags." If we allow gay marriage, Reverend Pat Robinson likes to warn, God will punish our great nation. It's right there in the Bible, they tell us. See Leviticus: 20:13: "If a man lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death: their blood shall be upon them."
I'm a liberal, see. And if nothing else, I'm skeptical about putting homosexuals to death.
Now, let me say, that some of the very finest people I have known are Christians, or were, including my mother, a devout Roman Catholic until the moment she passed away. I hope they all get to heaven in their own fashion; and if conduct and compassion are a guide, I believe they will, and so, in whatever manner God intends, I hope they'll all be happy. With a bit of luck, I might even join my Mom and Mr. Romney.
But I do wish, if people were going to base their entire stance against gay marriage on Biblical principles, that they would explain their position on other issues the same way. If Mr. Romney is against gay marriage based on ancient religious teachings, shouldn't he also take a stand against witchcraft, and not just change his position whenever it suits him to gain a little in the wiccan vote? This matter is addressed in Leviticus, too, 20:27: "A man or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them."
I'd like to hear him address the plague of children cursing parents in troubled modern times. Mr. Romney doesn't curse much, himself, according to reporters. He has a reputation as a fine father, too, and his children probably don't do much cursing, either. If other boys and girls do, however, what would be Dad Romney's stand when we look at Leviticus 20:9? "For every one that curseth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death: he hath cursed his father or his mother; his blood shall be upon him."
In the end, if you're going to base your case for intolerance toward homosexuals on what men and women were originally taught two or three thousand years ago, then I'd have liked to have seen someone ask during the Republican primaries this spring: "Mr. Romney, Mr. Gingrich, you both oppose gay marriage. What is your stance on adultery?"
I'd like to have seen Mitt lay it on Newt, and watch Newt squirm, when Mr. Romney quoted Leviticus yet again (20:10): "And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and the adultress shall surely be put to death."
I don't think it makes me a godless communist to admit I'm puzzled by such matters. I can't see how gay marriage is a threat to me, or to my my wife's happiness or mine, or how it harms my straight neighbors if they mind their own business. If Mr. Romney wants to sit in church and study his particular version of the truth, I don't see where that would be my concern, or anyone else's, be they observant Jew, devout Baptist or practicing Muslim.
If a loving pair of men or loving pair of women want to go to a different church and stand up before God and marry, and maybe later adopt and raise good kids, I don't understand how society has a right to block their way.
I'm just your average liberal.
That means, as far as I have the capacity to understand these questions, that I'm for religious freedom and personal liberty, too, as far as both can be extended in any society, without harm to the common good.
If you want to feed the monkeys, that's your business, too.
P. S. Based on one angry conservative reaction (so far), let me note again the sentence above that says I am for "religious freedom and personal liberty" both. You do me no harm, no matter what you believe, Buddhist, Tao, Fulan Gong, Presybterian, Methodist, Sunni, Shiite, etc.
I'm just a guy who can't figure out how gay marriage hurts ME.
I think the angry conservative needs to stop seeing mirages; or maybe take reading lessons. If my writing is unclear, I apologize for that.
Mitt Romney Takes on Teachers' Unions!
To contact us Click HERE
I WOULD ARGUE THAT TWO RECENT STORIES ABOUT Mitt Romney and his family have a direct bearing on the subject of U. S. education.
The first focused on Ann Romney's love of horseback riding. The other outlined her husband's first big speech about schools, and the policies he would implement if elected president, to address America's supposed "education crisis." Governor Romney, who once famously said that he loved Michigan because all the trees were "just the right height," wanted his audience to know that when it came to schools, he was less sanguine. Apparently, America's teachers aren't the right height or don't have enough leaves.
In any case, Mr. Romney's main points can be boiled down as follows:
A. teachers' unions are really, really bad (and, by the way, support President Obama)
B. all parents are really, really good (and should vote Republican) and totally committed to their children's education
C. therefore, we can fix everything if we set up more charter schools and have more parent choice
D. ...because, if we didn't already mention it, all parents are really, really good and committed to their children's education
E. and teachers' unions are really, really bad and frankly, most of their members are scumbags
F. so, we should grade all schools; then parents, all good, all committed, can choose schools wisely, and, of course, all parents will choose wisely, because, well...you get the idea
F. and since private enterprise is always good, and because unfettered business cures all ills in all societies, it would be great if we turned public schools over to for-profit companies, which would mean we'd end up with nothing but "A+" schools, because companies could break teachers' unions (which support President Obama)
G. and have we mentioned yet that teachers' unions are responsible for every problem in U. S. public education?
NOW, DON'T GET ME WRONG. In most stories I've read, Governor Romney comes across as a gentleman. He's a devoted husband, good father, regular church goer, a good human being. Ann Romney seems like a likeable, lovely woman. But it would be stretching the truth beyond recognition to assert that people like the Romneys understand the kind of realities that confront families farther down the economic scale, teachers who work with children of those families, public school teachers, in general, or the issues that most affect America's public schools as we enter the coming election season.
Indeed, like so many others who claim to want to fix the public schools, Mr. Romney's family long ago decided that the public schools weren't quite good enough for their son and sent him off to an elite prep school at the end of seventh grade. So Mitt never had to walk down a high school hallway, in some city, say Detroit, and rub elbows with any gang members. Not many homeless kids could afford tuition at Cranbrook School, where young Romney was insulated from contact with society's less fortunate individuals. And you can bet he wasn't hanging around with classmates who came to school hungry in the morning, or who went home to neighborhoods crawling with drug abusers at night.
The problem now, when Mr. Romney talks education, is that his isolation from reality is still complete. He and his loved ones live in rarified air, and Mrs. Romney, for example, is able to indulge her love of horses. She competes in riding events at an elite level. She has a dressage tutor, who helps her with form--a top man in his field, so successful he has been known to serve guests at his riding school from $4,000 bottles of wine. In fact, on their tax returns for 2010, the Romneys were able to claim a $77,000 loss related to part ownership of a horse named Rafalca.
That's more money than most families see in a year.
Meanwhile, Mitt and Ann's four sons, raised in a home where they had every possible advantage, including good parents, fared well in school. But a recent study by John Hopkins University tells us that not all students come from the same kind of homes. Instead, 15% of U. S. students have problems with chronic absenteeism.
That is: they miss 10% of all class time, or more.
I taught in a fine district until I retired. But I could explain to Mr. and Mrs. Romney, rather quickly, that not all parents are good, no matter how fine the district. Not all parents are like them, or like Mr. and Mrs. Obama, or the majority of moms and dads I met. I had Abe in class one year. Abe was absent or tardy 107 times in a 180-day school year. When he did arrive, often late, for first period history, I had trouble educating him not because I was a member of a teachers' union, but because Abe had a devil of a time staying awake. I remember once when he told me his mother let him play video games until four a.m. the night before.
So, Abe's mother wasn't an Ann Romney. She wasn't like the mothers Mitt Romney has in mind when he talks about fixing U. S. education. Abe's mom soon added several lines to her goofy parent resume when she came down to school to pick up her older son, who happened to be getting suspended for fighting, and got into a battle with our school resource officer, leading to her own arrest.
THIS MAN, ROMNEY, WHO WANTS TO BE PRESIDENT, who says he knows how to fix the schools, sees the world through the green-tinted glasses of the top 1%. My wife, a speech therapist, still working in the public schools, could reveal grimmer truths. She once worked with a child with severe emotional disorders who lived in a rusted out automobile with Uncle Buster, a regular marijuana user, but still his best option, because mom and dad were long gone from the family photo. She worked with a nine-year-old boy, a victim of sexual abuse by his father, who had what medical people call encopresis, or leakage from the anus, around partially-formed stool, a common problem in cases of abuse. So he had accidents at his desk almost every day. On yet another occasion a mother "interested" in her child's education came to school to see the principal. Mom was carrying a butcher knife and said she was "tired of being followed." Then she chased the principal down the hall, out of the building, and across the parking lot.
It's not just anecdotal evidence Mr. Romney might consider. Take Chicago, where in 2010, the average student missed 26 days of instruction. We know that tens of thousands of teens in the Windy City belong to gangs; and in one twelve-month period 245 school-age kids were killed or wounded in gang-related violence.
What solution does the Governor offer for that?
Let's grade schools!
Mr. Romney might even pick up a newspaper and see what he could discover. It's never hard to find sad examples, of parents who fail; but here's one of my "favorites," a story I stumbled across in 2008, involving a Pennsylvania mom named Elizabeth Ann Fox. Ms. Fox was charged with child endangerment after leaving two sons, ages 4 and 2, home alone for hours. Police were notified when the boys managed to crawl out a bedroom window. One officer entered the home but was driven back immediately by the overpowering smell of garbage and human feces, which littered the kitchen floor. A second officer located mom--at a fast food restaurant, of all places--where she was enjoying a hamburger and a shake.
Mr. Romney ought to try to work those kind of examples into his next speech about what must be done to fix America's schools.
In the end, Governor Romney is blind to all the ugliness, because he travels only in circes of wealth and privilege. Or perhaps, because he hopes to score political points, he doesn't care to look for any ugliness.
Too bad, too, because we know there are 1.6 million homeless children in the United States today. We know that in 2010 more than 70% of black children were born to single mothers. We know on certain Indian reservations poverty, depression and hard drinking add up to mean that one in four children will be born with fetal alcohol syndrome. We know that here in Ohio, one out of every ten children in Scioto County, where illegal use of painkillers has spread like plague, is born with illegal drugs in their blood streams. And we know that at any given moment, 1.5 million American children have a parent in prison.
If Romney and the critics wanted to see the full picture they wouldn't stop there. What about parents who kill their children? Even these stories are not hard to find; and nothing Mr. Romney has to offer, so far, when he talks about education, would ever do the unluckiest children in our society the slightest bit of good. Consider one example, out of many, a case from West Palm Beach, Florida. It involves Jorge Barahona, accused of murdering his stepdaughter, Nubia, and for the attempted murder of Victor, his ten-year-old son. The boy showed evidence of prior injuries: broken collarbone, broken arm, burn scars on buttocks and abdomen, rope marks on wrists. Emily Rodriguez, Victor's first grade teacher, later told reporters she remembered how Nubia used to visit her class at the end of the day to see how her brother was doing.
Does Mr. Romney really believe the key here would be to focus on Rodriquez because she's in a teachers' union?
YET, THERE THE GOVERNOR WAS, telling an audience last week: "Wouldn't it be great if we could look back on the last four years with confidence that the [school] crisis had been confronted and we'd turned the corner toward a brighter future?"
Nope. The problems won't go away. Blame it on President Obama. And blame his evil allies, the teachers' unions.
They just can't seem to alter harsh realities.
I am pleased to say that this post was viewed almost 13,000 times on AddictingInfo.Org.Teachers are getting fed up with all the attacks we face.Mitt Romney and a whole lot of others who criticize us have no clue.
The first focused on Ann Romney's love of horseback riding. The other outlined her husband's first big speech about schools, and the policies he would implement if elected president, to address America's supposed "education crisis." Governor Romney, who once famously said that he loved Michigan because all the trees were "just the right height," wanted his audience to know that when it came to schools, he was less sanguine. Apparently, America's teachers aren't the right height or don't have enough leaves.
In any case, Mr. Romney's main points can be boiled down as follows:
A. teachers' unions are really, really bad (and, by the way, support President Obama)
B. all parents are really, really good (and should vote Republican) and totally committed to their children's education
C. therefore, we can fix everything if we set up more charter schools and have more parent choice
D. ...because, if we didn't already mention it, all parents are really, really good and committed to their children's education
E. and teachers' unions are really, really bad and frankly, most of their members are scumbags
F. so, we should grade all schools; then parents, all good, all committed, can choose schools wisely, and, of course, all parents will choose wisely, because, well...you get the idea
F. and since private enterprise is always good, and because unfettered business cures all ills in all societies, it would be great if we turned public schools over to for-profit companies, which would mean we'd end up with nothing but "A+" schools, because companies could break teachers' unions (which support President Obama)
G. and have we mentioned yet that teachers' unions are responsible for every problem in U. S. public education?
NOW, DON'T GET ME WRONG. In most stories I've read, Governor Romney comes across as a gentleman. He's a devoted husband, good father, regular church goer, a good human being. Ann Romney seems like a likeable, lovely woman. But it would be stretching the truth beyond recognition to assert that people like the Romneys understand the kind of realities that confront families farther down the economic scale, teachers who work with children of those families, public school teachers, in general, or the issues that most affect America's public schools as we enter the coming election season.
Indeed, like so many others who claim to want to fix the public schools, Mr. Romney's family long ago decided that the public schools weren't quite good enough for their son and sent him off to an elite prep school at the end of seventh grade. So Mitt never had to walk down a high school hallway, in some city, say Detroit, and rub elbows with any gang members. Not many homeless kids could afford tuition at Cranbrook School, where young Romney was insulated from contact with society's less fortunate individuals. And you can bet he wasn't hanging around with classmates who came to school hungry in the morning, or who went home to neighborhoods crawling with drug abusers at night.
The problem now, when Mr. Romney talks education, is that his isolation from reality is still complete. He and his loved ones live in rarified air, and Mrs. Romney, for example, is able to indulge her love of horses. She competes in riding events at an elite level. She has a dressage tutor, who helps her with form--a top man in his field, so successful he has been known to serve guests at his riding school from $4,000 bottles of wine. In fact, on their tax returns for 2010, the Romneys were able to claim a $77,000 loss related to part ownership of a horse named Rafalca.
That's more money than most families see in a year.
Meanwhile, Mitt and Ann's four sons, raised in a home where they had every possible advantage, including good parents, fared well in school. But a recent study by John Hopkins University tells us that not all students come from the same kind of homes. Instead, 15% of U. S. students have problems with chronic absenteeism.
That is: they miss 10% of all class time, or more.
I taught in a fine district until I retired. But I could explain to Mr. and Mrs. Romney, rather quickly, that not all parents are good, no matter how fine the district. Not all parents are like them, or like Mr. and Mrs. Obama, or the majority of moms and dads I met. I had Abe in class one year. Abe was absent or tardy 107 times in a 180-day school year. When he did arrive, often late, for first period history, I had trouble educating him not because I was a member of a teachers' union, but because Abe had a devil of a time staying awake. I remember once when he told me his mother let him play video games until four a.m. the night before.
So, Abe's mother wasn't an Ann Romney. She wasn't like the mothers Mitt Romney has in mind when he talks about fixing U. S. education. Abe's mom soon added several lines to her goofy parent resume when she came down to school to pick up her older son, who happened to be getting suspended for fighting, and got into a battle with our school resource officer, leading to her own arrest.
THIS MAN, ROMNEY, WHO WANTS TO BE PRESIDENT, who says he knows how to fix the schools, sees the world through the green-tinted glasses of the top 1%. My wife, a speech therapist, still working in the public schools, could reveal grimmer truths. She once worked with a child with severe emotional disorders who lived in a rusted out automobile with Uncle Buster, a regular marijuana user, but still his best option, because mom and dad were long gone from the family photo. She worked with a nine-year-old boy, a victim of sexual abuse by his father, who had what medical people call encopresis, or leakage from the anus, around partially-formed stool, a common problem in cases of abuse. So he had accidents at his desk almost every day. On yet another occasion a mother "interested" in her child's education came to school to see the principal. Mom was carrying a butcher knife and said she was "tired of being followed." Then she chased the principal down the hall, out of the building, and across the parking lot.
It's not just anecdotal evidence Mr. Romney might consider. Take Chicago, where in 2010, the average student missed 26 days of instruction. We know that tens of thousands of teens in the Windy City belong to gangs; and in one twelve-month period 245 school-age kids were killed or wounded in gang-related violence.
What solution does the Governor offer for that?
Let's grade schools!
Mr. Romney might even pick up a newspaper and see what he could discover. It's never hard to find sad examples, of parents who fail; but here's one of my "favorites," a story I stumbled across in 2008, involving a Pennsylvania mom named Elizabeth Ann Fox. Ms. Fox was charged with child endangerment after leaving two sons, ages 4 and 2, home alone for hours. Police were notified when the boys managed to crawl out a bedroom window. One officer entered the home but was driven back immediately by the overpowering smell of garbage and human feces, which littered the kitchen floor. A second officer located mom--at a fast food restaurant, of all places--where she was enjoying a hamburger and a shake.
Mr. Romney ought to try to work those kind of examples into his next speech about what must be done to fix America's schools.
In the end, Governor Romney is blind to all the ugliness, because he travels only in circes of wealth and privilege. Or perhaps, because he hopes to score political points, he doesn't care to look for any ugliness.
Too bad, too, because we know there are 1.6 million homeless children in the United States today. We know that in 2010 more than 70% of black children were born to single mothers. We know on certain Indian reservations poverty, depression and hard drinking add up to mean that one in four children will be born with fetal alcohol syndrome. We know that here in Ohio, one out of every ten children in Scioto County, where illegal use of painkillers has spread like plague, is born with illegal drugs in their blood streams. And we know that at any given moment, 1.5 million American children have a parent in prison.
If Romney and the critics wanted to see the full picture they wouldn't stop there. What about parents who kill their children? Even these stories are not hard to find; and nothing Mr. Romney has to offer, so far, when he talks about education, would ever do the unluckiest children in our society the slightest bit of good. Consider one example, out of many, a case from West Palm Beach, Florida. It involves Jorge Barahona, accused of murdering his stepdaughter, Nubia, and for the attempted murder of Victor, his ten-year-old son. The boy showed evidence of prior injuries: broken collarbone, broken arm, burn scars on buttocks and abdomen, rope marks on wrists. Emily Rodriguez, Victor's first grade teacher, later told reporters she remembered how Nubia used to visit her class at the end of the day to see how her brother was doing.
Does Mr. Romney really believe the key here would be to focus on Rodriquez because she's in a teachers' union?
YET, THERE THE GOVERNOR WAS, telling an audience last week: "Wouldn't it be great if we could look back on the last four years with confidence that the [school] crisis had been confronted and we'd turned the corner toward a brighter future?"
Nope. The problems won't go away. Blame it on President Obama. And blame his evil allies, the teachers' unions.
They just can't seem to alter harsh realities.
I am pleased to say that this post was viewed almost 13,000 times on AddictingInfo.Org.Teachers are getting fed up with all the attacks we face.Mitt Romney and a whole lot of others who criticize us have no clue.
Stunned GOP Leaders Discover Latinos Don't Like Them!
To contact us Click HERE
SUDDENLY, MITT ROMNEY and other GOP leaders find themselves in a pickle. Or in Spanish, you say they're in "el encurtido."
In the Bible, which these same GOP folks love to quote, it's known as reaping what you sow.
With President Obama's recent decision to halt deportations of young Hispanics, 30 years old or younger, those who came here before age 16 and have lived here at least five years, those who have no criminal records and remain in school or serve in the U. S. military, who were two years old, or five, or eleven when they came to the United States with parents, the GOP is scrambling to lay out some kind of coherent position to appeal to Latino voters.
Well, what is the Republican Party position? The Party of the Fence? You know: halt the waves of dark-skinned people with a wall. Maybe electrify it for good measure? Thank you, Herman Cain.
And when Cain backed away from that position during the recent Republican primaries, hinting that he was joking, there was crazy Michelle Bachmann, insisting, no, this was no time for levity, or compassion, for that matter.
We needed to complete that border fence. Maybe add a little razor wire, a few guard towers, a machine gun or two.
Now: Imagine you're an undecided Latino voter. You think to yourself, "Mitt Romney doesn't seem so bad." So you go to YouTube and type in something like "Tea Party and securing the borders" and start looking at scary videos, demonizing people like you, warning that you and your wife and aunts and uncles are intent on driving white people out of this country, and then read such intellectual comments as this from dakota 7609: "Filthy nasty Illegal shit smelling spics..Make anyone want to Vomit just from looking at them."
Well, still...that wasn't Mitt Romney speaking.
So you swallow another dose of right-wing rat poison and go to the video of a broadcast by Michael Savage, titled "Is Obama Trying to Start a Race War?" You look at the first still image, portraying all Mexicans as criminals, and think you know who might be ready for a little race war and think it isn't Mr. Obama. You listen to Savage rant about "Hispanic rabble," and how they plan to riot in the streets and marvel at what passes for conservative philosphy, when CHHSE1986 adds a comment on illiterate Hispanics, calling them "illegal vermin."
After GOP candidates in the craziest primary season in memory spent months, collectively, demonizing Latinos, after Mitt Romney and Gingrich and Trump and Perry all came out against the Dream Act, as if you and your type were cockroaches, after Romney said he favored some bizarre phenomenon called "self-deportation," after the loudest barking attack dogs on the right spent two years defending the Arizona immigration law that basically required anyone who looked Latino, who looked like you, to carry papers proving your citizenship and put up with the humiliation of a search any time a police officer said you appeared suspicious, how could you NOT want to vote for the GOP ticket?
Now Republicans are crying because President Obama is "playing politics" with the immigration issue--an issue they've been playing politics with for years. They wake up, with shock and amaze-ment, to discover that among all likely voters, of ever race, color, shape or size, initial polls find that 64% approve of President Obama's position.
Only 30% oppose; and many of those are angry old folks in funny tri-corner hats.
It's even worse when the GOP looks at polls of Latino voters, worse yet for all of those haters in the political sewer where GOP leaders have been bathing (and we might point out to these poor benighted souls that now we are talking only about legal citizens of this great nation), especially when we keep in mind that this poll was taken before Obama's recent policy decision. Latinos favor Obama over Romney, 66% to 23%.
Curioso!
Mitt Romney might be a decent fellow, albeit a man without any convictions. He might not be able to say, when asked this weekend, if he'd overturn Mr. Obama's order if he was elected president. Really, Mitt's problem is that he doesn't know what he thinks on the issue because he's not sure what to say if he wants to be elected. His problem is that most of the voters he needs to court want him to say he's for electric fences, want him to act like Latinos are all drug-runners and criminals and dark-skinned vermin.
And Romney and GOP leaders can't figure our why Hispanic voters don't like them?
HISPANICS AREN'T BLIND, DEAF AND DUMB; and almost all who can legally vote speak plenty of English. They don't want to elect Mitt, the man of a thousand gutless answers, and they don't want to put a party into power that kowtows to gun-toting facists who want to seal the borders with gunfire and bloodshed.
Or turn on the electric fence and keep out those dangerous children.
In the Bible, which these same GOP folks love to quote, it's known as reaping what you sow.
 |
| Mitt will think of something on immigration: as soon as he figures out what will help him get elected. |
Well, what is the Republican Party position? The Party of the Fence? You know: halt the waves of dark-skinned people with a wall. Maybe electrify it for good measure? Thank you, Herman Cain.
And when Cain backed away from that position during the recent Republican primaries, hinting that he was joking, there was crazy Michelle Bachmann, insisting, no, this was no time for levity, or compassion, for that matter.
We needed to complete that border fence. Maybe add a little razor wire, a few guard towers, a machine gun or two.
Now: Imagine you're an undecided Latino voter. You think to yourself, "Mitt Romney doesn't seem so bad." So you go to YouTube and type in something like "Tea Party and securing the borders" and start looking at scary videos, demonizing people like you, warning that you and your wife and aunts and uncles are intent on driving white people out of this country, and then read such intellectual comments as this from dakota 7609: "Filthy nasty Illegal shit smelling spics..Make anyone want to Vomit just from looking at them."
Well, still...that wasn't Mitt Romney speaking.
So you swallow another dose of right-wing rat poison and go to the video of a broadcast by Michael Savage, titled "Is Obama Trying to Start a Race War?" You look at the first still image, portraying all Mexicans as criminals, and think you know who might be ready for a little race war and think it isn't Mr. Obama. You listen to Savage rant about "Hispanic rabble," and how they plan to riot in the streets and marvel at what passes for conservative philosphy, when CHHSE1986 adds a comment on illiterate Hispanics, calling them "illegal vermin."
After GOP candidates in the craziest primary season in memory spent months, collectively, demonizing Latinos, after Mitt Romney and Gingrich and Trump and Perry all came out against the Dream Act, as if you and your type were cockroaches, after Romney said he favored some bizarre phenomenon called "self-deportation," after the loudest barking attack dogs on the right spent two years defending the Arizona immigration law that basically required anyone who looked Latino, who looked like you, to carry papers proving your citizenship and put up with the humiliation of a search any time a police officer said you appeared suspicious, how could you NOT want to vote for the GOP ticket?
Now Republicans are crying because President Obama is "playing politics" with the immigration issue--an issue they've been playing politics with for years. They wake up, with shock and amaze-ment, to discover that among all likely voters, of ever race, color, shape or size, initial polls find that 64% approve of President Obama's position.
Only 30% oppose; and many of those are angry old folks in funny tri-corner hats.
It's even worse when the GOP looks at polls of Latino voters, worse yet for all of those haters in the political sewer where GOP leaders have been bathing (and we might point out to these poor benighted souls that now we are talking only about legal citizens of this great nation), especially when we keep in mind that this poll was taken before Obama's recent policy decision. Latinos favor Obama over Romney, 66% to 23%.
Curioso!
Mitt Romney might be a decent fellow, albeit a man without any convictions. He might not be able to say, when asked this weekend, if he'd overturn Mr. Obama's order if he was elected president. Really, Mitt's problem is that he doesn't know what he thinks on the issue because he's not sure what to say if he wants to be elected. His problem is that most of the voters he needs to court want him to say he's for electric fences, want him to act like Latinos are all drug-runners and criminals and dark-skinned vermin.
And Romney and GOP leaders can't figure our why Hispanic voters don't like them?
HISPANICS AREN'T BLIND, DEAF AND DUMB; and almost all who can legally vote speak plenty of English. They don't want to elect Mitt, the man of a thousand gutless answers, and they don't want to put a party into power that kowtows to gun-toting facists who want to seal the borders with gunfire and bloodshed.
Or turn on the electric fence and keep out those dangerous children.
Let Big Business Save Our Schools and Our Children!
To contact us Click HERE
IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN TRENDS in U. S. education you've probably noticed the push, led by politicians and business leaders on the right, to privatize America's public schools.
The rational for change goes pretty much like this: We have a "school crisis" in America. Based on test scores from the most recent international comparison, U. S. students rank 14th in reading, 17th in science, and 25th in math. Clearly, the schools are failing. This, in turn (or so the right-wing theory goes), is wrecking our economy because U. S. kids can't compete on a world stage with kids in Finland and Japan and South Korea. The underlying problem, according to the right, is that all our teachers belong to evil unions.
What can we do to fix this mess? We bust all the unions and turn the schools over to business people to be operated with business efficiency. Business methods are always superior to public sector sloth and waste. Government is never a solution. Government is the problem. Businessmen and business-women are innovators, engines of wealth creation.
Business people are our newest national heroes.
WELL THEN, LET'S SEE HOW BUSINESS PEOPLE in other fields are doing and try to get some idea where our schools will be heading. Consider the pharmaceutical companies and their methods as a model. No lazy union members here! Just efficiency and innovation and maybe a little tidy profit in the end.
Oh, and a $3 billion dollar fine for corrupt practices. This week, GlaxoSmithKline, plead guilty to criminal charges, related to illegal promotion of a variety of drugs, including Paxil, a best-selling antidepressant. It was prescribed with increasing regularity, in recent years, for teens and younger children.
Certainly, many doctors were on board. GlaxoSmithKline made sure of that by paying them to attend conferences in exotic locations, lavishing them with expensive gifts to gain their backing. Sales people were paid bonuses according to how many prescriptions they sold and almost everyone involved lived happily ever after. Of course, Paxil had a variety of side effects that the company glossed over or tried to hide from consumers, including a pronounced increase in the risk of suicide among teenagers.
It's not just one company, either. Abbott Laboratories paid a $1.6 billion fine in a similar case; and Johnson & Johnson has set aside $2 billion in anticipation of penalties related to its sales tactics for Risperdal.
In November 2008 The New York Times sounded a note of caution. The use of antipsychotic drugs in children was increasing: “Powerful antipsychotic medicines are beingused far too cavalierly in children, and federal drug regulators must do moreto warn doctors of their substantial risks, a panel of federal drug expertssaid Tuesday.”
More than 389,000 children, the Times noted, had been treated with Risperdal in 2007, two thirds twelve years of age oryounger. (Zyprexa, Seroquel, Abilify andGeodon were also of concern and use of these drugs had increased fivefold infifteen years.)
Reporters explained: “The growing use of the medicines has been driven partly by thesudden popularity of pediatric bipolar disorder.”
The leading advocate of this diagnosisturned out to be Dr. Joseph Biederman, a child psychiatrist at Harvard, a man with the kind of credentials you'd think you could trust. But a Congressional investigation revealed thatBiederman had failed to report $1.4 million in outside income from the drug manufacturers. In the meantime, 1,200 children suffered serious health problems after using Risperdal. Thirty-one died, including a 9-year-old who suffered a stroketwelve days after beginning treatment.
The Times followed up with a series of stories. It seemsDr. Biederman had pushed Johnson & Johnson to fund a research center, which he would head, withone stated goal: “to move forward thecommercial goals of J & J.” Thecompany (relying on a practice called ghostwriting) prepared a draft summary ofa key drug study and Biederman signed it. Presto! Between 1994 and 2003 the diagnosis ofpediatric bipolar disorder increased forty-fold.
Unfortunately, Dr. Biederman and the drug companies had been tap-dancing round the truth. A report in 2002, for example, called for more study ofmedicines prescribed for children. Without proper data many experts would question the use of such medications,“especially those like neuroleptics, which expose children to potentiallyserious adverse events.”
“Adverse events” apparently meaningdeath.
And profits.
DON'T FORGET THOSE PROFITS! Turning our public schools and our children over to business people? It's going to be great.
P. S. No one seemed to notice that the "school crisis" in America was still limited almost entirely to the poorest inner cities and poorest rural areas.
No one seemed to notice that in the very best public school districts, teachers were still unionized.
No one noticed that Japan always ranked near the top in education; but that the Japanese economy stalled out in the 1990s and hasn't grown a bit since. And none of the right-wing thinkers bothered to explain how--if schools were failing--we were losing jobs to Mexico and Bangladesh and not Finland and South Korea.
The rational for change goes pretty much like this: We have a "school crisis" in America. Based on test scores from the most recent international comparison, U. S. students rank 14th in reading, 17th in science, and 25th in math. Clearly, the schools are failing. This, in turn (or so the right-wing theory goes), is wrecking our economy because U. S. kids can't compete on a world stage with kids in Finland and Japan and South Korea. The underlying problem, according to the right, is that all our teachers belong to evil unions.
What can we do to fix this mess? We bust all the unions and turn the schools over to business people to be operated with business efficiency. Business methods are always superior to public sector sloth and waste. Government is never a solution. Government is the problem. Businessmen and business-women are innovators, engines of wealth creation.
Business people are our newest national heroes.
WELL THEN, LET'S SEE HOW BUSINESS PEOPLE in other fields are doing and try to get some idea where our schools will be heading. Consider the pharmaceutical companies and their methods as a model. No lazy union members here! Just efficiency and innovation and maybe a little tidy profit in the end.
Oh, and a $3 billion dollar fine for corrupt practices. This week, GlaxoSmithKline, plead guilty to criminal charges, related to illegal promotion of a variety of drugs, including Paxil, a best-selling antidepressant. It was prescribed with increasing regularity, in recent years, for teens and younger children.
Certainly, many doctors were on board. GlaxoSmithKline made sure of that by paying them to attend conferences in exotic locations, lavishing them with expensive gifts to gain their backing. Sales people were paid bonuses according to how many prescriptions they sold and almost everyone involved lived happily ever after. Of course, Paxil had a variety of side effects that the company glossed over or tried to hide from consumers, including a pronounced increase in the risk of suicide among teenagers.
It's not just one company, either. Abbott Laboratories paid a $1.6 billion fine in a similar case; and Johnson & Johnson has set aside $2 billion in anticipation of penalties related to its sales tactics for Risperdal.
In November 2008 The New York Times sounded a note of caution. The use of antipsychotic drugs in children was increasing: “Powerful antipsychotic medicines are beingused far too cavalierly in children, and federal drug regulators must do moreto warn doctors of their substantial risks, a panel of federal drug expertssaid Tuesday.”
More than 389,000 children, the Times noted, had been treated with Risperdal in 2007, two thirds twelve years of age oryounger. (Zyprexa, Seroquel, Abilify andGeodon were also of concern and use of these drugs had increased fivefold infifteen years.)
Reporters explained: “The growing use of the medicines has been driven partly by thesudden popularity of pediatric bipolar disorder.”
The leading advocate of this diagnosisturned out to be Dr. Joseph Biederman, a child psychiatrist at Harvard, a man with the kind of credentials you'd think you could trust. But a Congressional investigation revealed thatBiederman had failed to report $1.4 million in outside income from the drug manufacturers. In the meantime, 1,200 children suffered serious health problems after using Risperdal. Thirty-one died, including a 9-year-old who suffered a stroketwelve days after beginning treatment.
The Times followed up with a series of stories. It seemsDr. Biederman had pushed Johnson & Johnson to fund a research center, which he would head, withone stated goal: “to move forward thecommercial goals of J & J.” Thecompany (relying on a practice called ghostwriting) prepared a draft summary ofa key drug study and Biederman signed it. Presto! Between 1994 and 2003 the diagnosis ofpediatric bipolar disorder increased forty-fold.
“Adverse events” apparently meaningdeath.
And profits.
DON'T FORGET THOSE PROFITS! Turning our public schools and our children over to business people? It's going to be great.
P. S. No one seemed to notice that the "school crisis" in America was still limited almost entirely to the poorest inner cities and poorest rural areas.
No one seemed to notice that in the very best public school districts, teachers were still unionized.
No one noticed that Japan always ranked near the top in education; but that the Japanese economy stalled out in the 1990s and hasn't grown a bit since. And none of the right-wing thinkers bothered to explain how--if schools were failing--we were losing jobs to Mexico and Bangladesh and not Finland and South Korea.
Why Vote for President Obama in 2012?
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YOU MIGHT HAVE SENSIBLE REASONS not to vote for President Obama in 2012. You might be a billionaire, for example. But when you read a few blogs, check out the political pages on Facebook, and listen to nutjob right-wing news, you quickly realize there are two bizarre strains of thought when it comes to voting against Obama in November, or not bothering to vote for him.
1. The crazy right-wing types insist Mr. Obama is a commie, a Kenyan, a tyrant in black sheep's clothing (emphasis on "black") and warn he wants to destroy America with gay marriage licenses and crippling taxation.
2. The grumbling types, including a few disgruntled liberals, complain that President Obama hasn't carried out all his promises and so say it makes no difference whether he or Mitt Romney is elected.
In the end, most Americans choose the candidates they support based in part on fact, in part on opinion. So let's start with a fact in his support. Osama bin Laden, the man responsible for the death of 3,000 innocent Americans, sleeps with the fishes. The nutjob right-wing types sneer, saying: "Obama didn't kill Osama, the Navy Seals did." But they're lying through the right side of their teeth if they try to say they wouldn't have gone loco if the nighttime raid into Pakistan, ordered by Mr. Obama, had failed.
It's also a fact that the previous administration, headed up by a rock-ribbed conservative crew, didn't kill Osama, either. They got us involved in the wrong war, at the wrong time, in the wrong place.
Not convinced? Say what you will about flaws in the Affordable Health Care Act. It may be like having watched legislative sausage being made. But it's a start. It's at least an attempt to address serious problems that beset our current health care system. And right now--this very day--if you have a type-1 diabetic in your family, an uncle with lupus, or a wife with multiple sclerosis, your loved ones can no longer be denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions. That's not all, as they say. If your family has an adult son or daughter, age 19-25, without their own health care coverage, they can now be covered on your family health plan.
Millions of young Americans are better off, as a result.
In fact, if Mr. Obama is a communist, business leaders haven't noticed. Corporate profits in 2011 reached all-time highs, even as wages stalled or declined. (More on that later.) When the U. S. economy crashed in 2008, the Dow-Jones began a long plunge from 14,164 (October 9, 2007) down to 6,440 (March 9, 2009). Trillions of dollars in investments were wiped off books before the "with-out" a valid birth certificate could recite the first line of the oath of office. Since then, whatever the nutjobs say about the "communist" in the White House, stock market valuations have doubled and the retirement plans of many an angry Tea Partier have been saved.
Remember when Mitt Romney and Republican leaders made fun of "Government Motors" and said it would be a far better thing to "let the U. S. auto industry die?" Talk to a GM or Chrysler worker today, men and women with families and bills to pay, just like you, still collecting their paychecks and now earning a bit of overtime. How are those "bailed out" companies faring? June 2012 sales figures for General Motors were up 15.5% over 2011, and with 248,750 vehicles sold the company had its best month since the 2008 collapse. Chrysler did even better with sales gains of 20.3%, and its best June figures since 2007.
Speaking of the auto industry, what about howls from the right, blaming Mr. Obama for rising gas prices? As recently as March, Rush Limbaugh was almost apoplectic. Other right-wing types went to great pains to point out that on the day Obama took office a gallon of gas sold for $1.81. Of course, they ignored the fact it was selling cheap in January 2009 because the world economy looked like it was about to go bust.
So, let's go back to 2008 for a broader perspective. On May 28, 2008, crude oil sold for $135 a barrel and the average price of a gallon of gas was $3.94. Four years later, under Mr. Obama, the average cost of a gallon of regular unleaded has dropped to $3.50 and a barrel of crude is selling for $84. So, congratulations, President Obama.
Really, all you right-wing nutjobs. Go look it up.
NO PRESIDENT, DOMESTICALLY OR IN FOREIGN AFFAIRS, can put up a perfect record. Unemployment is too high and Obama has struggled to bring it down (just like President Reagan during his first term.) He hasn't closed the prison at Guantanamo Bay. Nor has he managed to push through the Dream Act. Unlike Mitt Romney, however, he hasn't emphatically stated that he'll veto it if it should ever pass. Meanwhile, he has pushed hard to deport illegal immigrants with criminal records; but he has decided not to deport young Latinos, who came to this country as children, who grew up here, who look in their mirrors and see themselves as Americans. Mr. Obama supports gay marriage, too, a far cry from haters on the right who want to put gay people behind barbed-wire fences. And in Libya, we helped take out Moammar Gaddafi, a dictator responsible for an array of terrorist attacks on Americans, including the Lockerbee bombing (December 21, 1988), which numbered 189 U. S. citizens among its victims, and occurred while Ronald Reagan, the patron saint of conservative thinkers, was still in office. President Obama rallied NATO behind him and won the full support of our allies for military action and not ONE American serviceman or servicewoman died in Libya as a result.
In addition, all U. S. troops are out of Iraq.
In recent months a parade of conservatives has marched across the screens on Fox News, spluttering with indignation, because Mr. Obama won't stick Uncle Sam's red, white and blue nose into Syrian affairs; but now that country is spiraling toward civil war--and if we are saddened by the loss of life, at least we aren't stuck in the middle. And these same conservatives, who said we could easily march into Iraq, find weapons of mass destruction, and march right back out again, fault President Obama for not taking a stronger line regarding Iran.
They might tell you President Obama wants to destroy our nation. But Obama is careful not to involve our nation in wars we can avoid. Since January, the U. S. and it's allies have ramped up diplomatic and economic pressures on Iran and even Iranian leaders admit that the international sanctions are biting. We're also building up naval and air assets in the Persian Gulf region, sending Iran and our ally Israel signals that we have not ruled out military intervention to keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Iran's oil exports, which support 80% of it's national budget, have dropped from 2.5 million barrels daily to 1.5 million. The Iranian banking system has been cut off from all electronic connection with the rest of the world and the Iranian currency has lost half it's value.
SURE, SENSIBLE PEOPLE MIGHT VOTE AGAINST President Obama; and let them all vote openly, fairly, by all rights. But there are good reasons for most Americans to vote for a second term for Obama and here are a final few for the day. The decision of the U. S. Supreme Court in the case of Citizens' United, with five conservative U. S. Supreme Court judges holding for the first time in history that corporations are "people" and can pour unlimited funds into political campaigns, means that those same corporation "persons" will soon be in position to buy up politicians in bulk. It's a decision as bad as any since Plessy v. Feguson, with the potential to corrupt our entire democratic system; and it proves that it is imperative to keep Mitt Romney from having the chance to fill the next high court vacancy. Last but not least, if you're a union worker in this country, you should be clear by now, and should understand that the GOP won't rest until it breaks all unions, public and private sector alike.
And if you're a non-union, blue-collar worker today, you should think twice about which party you're supporting and keep in mind that the average union worker makes $10,000 more every year than you do, and ask yourself, what do the Republicans ever really say or do to help you get any increase in wages?
Think Bain Capital. Picture Mitt Romney and friends pioneering the outsourcing of good American jobs.
1. The crazy right-wing types insist Mr. Obama is a commie, a Kenyan, a tyrant in black sheep's clothing (emphasis on "black") and warn he wants to destroy America with gay marriage licenses and crippling taxation.
2. The grumbling types, including a few disgruntled liberals, complain that President Obama hasn't carried out all his promises and so say it makes no difference whether he or Mitt Romney is elected.
In the end, most Americans choose the candidates they support based in part on fact, in part on opinion. So let's start with a fact in his support. Osama bin Laden, the man responsible for the death of 3,000 innocent Americans, sleeps with the fishes. The nutjob right-wing types sneer, saying: "Obama didn't kill Osama, the Navy Seals did." But they're lying through the right side of their teeth if they try to say they wouldn't have gone loco if the nighttime raid into Pakistan, ordered by Mr. Obama, had failed.
It's also a fact that the previous administration, headed up by a rock-ribbed conservative crew, didn't kill Osama, either. They got us involved in the wrong war, at the wrong time, in the wrong place.
Not convinced? Say what you will about flaws in the Affordable Health Care Act. It may be like having watched legislative sausage being made. But it's a start. It's at least an attempt to address serious problems that beset our current health care system. And right now--this very day--if you have a type-1 diabetic in your family, an uncle with lupus, or a wife with multiple sclerosis, your loved ones can no longer be denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions. That's not all, as they say. If your family has an adult son or daughter, age 19-25, without their own health care coverage, they can now be covered on your family health plan.
Millions of young Americans are better off, as a result.
In fact, if Mr. Obama is a communist, business leaders haven't noticed. Corporate profits in 2011 reached all-time highs, even as wages stalled or declined. (More on that later.) When the U. S. economy crashed in 2008, the Dow-Jones began a long plunge from 14,164 (October 9, 2007) down to 6,440 (March 9, 2009). Trillions of dollars in investments were wiped off books before the "with-out" a valid birth certificate could recite the first line of the oath of office. Since then, whatever the nutjobs say about the "communist" in the White House, stock market valuations have doubled and the retirement plans of many an angry Tea Partier have been saved.
Remember when Mitt Romney and Republican leaders made fun of "Government Motors" and said it would be a far better thing to "let the U. S. auto industry die?" Talk to a GM or Chrysler worker today, men and women with families and bills to pay, just like you, still collecting their paychecks and now earning a bit of overtime. How are those "bailed out" companies faring? June 2012 sales figures for General Motors were up 15.5% over 2011, and with 248,750 vehicles sold the company had its best month since the 2008 collapse. Chrysler did even better with sales gains of 20.3%, and its best June figures since 2007.
Speaking of the auto industry, what about howls from the right, blaming Mr. Obama for rising gas prices? As recently as March, Rush Limbaugh was almost apoplectic. Other right-wing types went to great pains to point out that on the day Obama took office a gallon of gas sold for $1.81. Of course, they ignored the fact it was selling cheap in January 2009 because the world economy looked like it was about to go bust.
So, let's go back to 2008 for a broader perspective. On May 28, 2008, crude oil sold for $135 a barrel and the average price of a gallon of gas was $3.94. Four years later, under Mr. Obama, the average cost of a gallon of regular unleaded has dropped to $3.50 and a barrel of crude is selling for $84. So, congratulations, President Obama.
Really, all you right-wing nutjobs. Go look it up.
NO PRESIDENT, DOMESTICALLY OR IN FOREIGN AFFAIRS, can put up a perfect record. Unemployment is too high and Obama has struggled to bring it down (just like President Reagan during his first term.) He hasn't closed the prison at Guantanamo Bay. Nor has he managed to push through the Dream Act. Unlike Mitt Romney, however, he hasn't emphatically stated that he'll veto it if it should ever pass. Meanwhile, he has pushed hard to deport illegal immigrants with criminal records; but he has decided not to deport young Latinos, who came to this country as children, who grew up here, who look in their mirrors and see themselves as Americans. Mr. Obama supports gay marriage, too, a far cry from haters on the right who want to put gay people behind barbed-wire fences. And in Libya, we helped take out Moammar Gaddafi, a dictator responsible for an array of terrorist attacks on Americans, including the Lockerbee bombing (December 21, 1988), which numbered 189 U. S. citizens among its victims, and occurred while Ronald Reagan, the patron saint of conservative thinkers, was still in office. President Obama rallied NATO behind him and won the full support of our allies for military action and not ONE American serviceman or servicewoman died in Libya as a result.
In addition, all U. S. troops are out of Iraq.
In recent months a parade of conservatives has marched across the screens on Fox News, spluttering with indignation, because Mr. Obama won't stick Uncle Sam's red, white and blue nose into Syrian affairs; but now that country is spiraling toward civil war--and if we are saddened by the loss of life, at least we aren't stuck in the middle. And these same conservatives, who said we could easily march into Iraq, find weapons of mass destruction, and march right back out again, fault President Obama for not taking a stronger line regarding Iran.
They might tell you President Obama wants to destroy our nation. But Obama is careful not to involve our nation in wars we can avoid. Since January, the U. S. and it's allies have ramped up diplomatic and economic pressures on Iran and even Iranian leaders admit that the international sanctions are biting. We're also building up naval and air assets in the Persian Gulf region, sending Iran and our ally Israel signals that we have not ruled out military intervention to keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Iran's oil exports, which support 80% of it's national budget, have dropped from 2.5 million barrels daily to 1.5 million. The Iranian banking system has been cut off from all electronic connection with the rest of the world and the Iranian currency has lost half it's value.
SURE, SENSIBLE PEOPLE MIGHT VOTE AGAINST President Obama; and let them all vote openly, fairly, by all rights. But there are good reasons for most Americans to vote for a second term for Obama and here are a final few for the day. The decision of the U. S. Supreme Court in the case of Citizens' United, with five conservative U. S. Supreme Court judges holding for the first time in history that corporations are "people" and can pour unlimited funds into political campaigns, means that those same corporation "persons" will soon be in position to buy up politicians in bulk. It's a decision as bad as any since Plessy v. Feguson, with the potential to corrupt our entire democratic system; and it proves that it is imperative to keep Mitt Romney from having the chance to fill the next high court vacancy. Last but not least, if you're a union worker in this country, you should be clear by now, and should understand that the GOP won't rest until it breaks all unions, public and private sector alike.
And if you're a non-union, blue-collar worker today, you should think twice about which party you're supporting and keep in mind that the average union worker makes $10,000 more every year than you do, and ask yourself, what do the Republicans ever really say or do to help you get any increase in wages?
Think Bain Capital. Picture Mitt Romney and friends pioneering the outsourcing of good American jobs.
5 Temmuz 2012 Perşembe
The Return of Marxism
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I don't think the new communists will pull off the full scale proletarian revolution, but there's no doubt that Marx's revolutionary program has seen a resurgence in global politics. And I only disagree with the Guardian's Stuart Jeffries in assuming that the phenomenon is something new. Communists the world over cheered Barack Obama's campaign for the presidency, and when the markets crashed in 2008 the left saw that as the classic crisis of capitalism. In any case, see "Why Marxism is on the rise again":
Capitalism is in crisis across the globe – but what on earth is the alternative? Well, what about the musings of a certain 19th-century German philosopher? Yes, Karl Marx is going mainstream – and goodness knows where it will end...
Later this week in London, several thousand people will attend Marxism 2012, a five-day festival organised by the Socialist Workers' Party. It's an annual event, but what strikes organiser Joseph Choonara is how, in recent years, many more of its attendees are young. "The revival of interest in Marxism, especially for young people comes because it provides tools for analysing capitalism, and especially capitalist crises such as the one we're in now," Choonara says.Read it all at the link (via Memeorandum).
There has been a glut of books trumpeting Marxism's relevance. English literature professor Terry Eagleton last year published a book called Why Marx Was Right. French Maoist philosopher Alain Badiou published a little red book called The Communist Hypothesis with a red star on the cover (very Mao, very now) in which he rallied the faithful to usher in the third era of the communist idea (the previous two having gone from the establishment of the French Republic in 1792 to the massacre of the Paris communards in 1871, and from 1917 to the collapse of Mao's Cultural Revolution in 1976). Isn't this all a delusion?
Aren't Marx's venerable ideas as useful to us as the hand loom would be to shoring up Apple's reputation for innovation? Isn't the dream of socialist revolution and communist society an irrelevance in 2012? After all, I suggest to Ranci̬re, the bourgeoisie has failed to produce its own gravediggers. Ranci̬re refuses to be downbeat: "The bourgeoisie has learned to make the exploited pay for its crisis and to use them to disarm its adversaries. But we must not reverse the idea of historical necessity and conclude that the current situation is eternal. The gravediggers are still here, in the form of workers in precarious conditions like the over-exploited workers of factories in the far east. And today's popular movements РGreece or elsewhere Рalso indicate that there's a new will not to let our governments and our bankers inflict their crisis on the people."
Katy Perry Performs at Macy's 4th of July Fireworks Celebration
To contact us Click HERE
My wife loves Katy Perry and wants to see her live in concert. Hey, I'm not going to fight it.
At Celebuzz, "Katy Perry Performs on ‘Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular’ (VIDEO)."
Also, at Toronto's Globe and Mail, "Why is Katy Perry an unstoppable hit machine?"
BONUS: At London's Daily Mail, "Keeping abreast of her calls: Katy Perry places her phone in her cleavage as she enjoys July 4th bike ride around Venice Beach."
At Celebuzz, "Katy Perry Performs on ‘Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular’ (VIDEO)."
Also, at Toronto's Globe and Mail, "Why is Katy Perry an unstoppable hit machine?"
BONUS: At London's Daily Mail, "Keeping abreast of her calls: Katy Perry places her phone in her cleavage as she enjoys July 4th bike ride around Venice Beach."
Americans Say Presidential Campaign Will Be 'Exhausting'
To contact us Click HERE
Presidential campaigns are too long and have gotten longer the past too election cycles. (I think the GOP primary debates stretching back as far as mid-summer of 2011 is a first.) The good news from the Pew survey is that folks think the campaign will be informative. See, "Partisans Agree: Presidential Election Will Be Exhausting":
Republicans and Democrats find little to agree on these days, but they have some similar reactions to the 2012 presidential campaign. Nearly identical percentages of Republicans and Democrats say the election will be exhausting. On the positive side, there also is widespread partisan agreement that the campaign will be informative.I'm a bit surprised Republican identifiers are now finding the campaign dull. Earlier polls showed 90 percent enthusiasm for Mitt Romney's campaign, and there's a burning fire of opposition to this administration and especially ObamaCare. But if Team Romney keeps blowing the messaging they'll no doubt turn off more potential voters. That Wall Street Journal editorial on that today really nailed the point. As Ben LaBolt demonstrates at the clip, the White House is freaking about the tax issue in the ObamaCare ruling. So it's up to Romney to get it right on the messaging and to fire up the troops for the long battle.
The national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted June 7-17 among 2,013 adults, finds that just 49% expect the election to be exciting. Nearly six-in-ten Democrats (59%) say the election will be exciting, compared with 51% of Republicans and just 41% of independents.
The expectation that the election will be exhausting is in line with perceptions of the campaign so far. Most Americans say the campaign has been too long and dull (56% each), while 53% say it has been too negative. At the same time, an overwhelming majority (79%) views the presidential campaign as important.
Comparable percentages of Republicans, Democrats and independents say that the campaign has been too long and too negative. And more than eight-in-ten Republicans (85%) and Democrats (83%) say the campaign is important, as do 77% of independents.
However, there are partisan differences in views of campaign 2012. Notably, fewer Republicans than Democrats say the campaign is interesting. Republicans are less likely to say the campaign is interesting – and more likely to view it as dull – than they were in late March, before Mitt Romney effectively wrapped up the GOP nomination.
Currently, 33% of Republicans say the presidential campaign is interesting down from 52% in late March (March 22-25). The share of Republicans describing this year’s campaign as dull has spiked from 42% to 60% since then. By contrast, Democrats are finding the campaign increasingly interesting as the general election gets underway. Currently, 45% say it is interesting, up from 36% in March.
Radical Activists Seize on San Onofre in Fukushima-Style Attack on Nuclear Energy Programs
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This plant has been around as long as I can remember. I've always been personally fascinated with it, and nuclear energy generally, and haven't worried that much at all about a nuclear disaster. Years ago, right at Basilone Road (which follows along next to the plant), my skate buddies and I used to run across the 5 Freeway to reach some huge Ameron pipes being built there. The last thing we were worried about was radioactivity. We used to skate with Tony Alva down there, and he talks about it at this essay.
In any case, see the report at the New York Times, "Troubles at a 1960s-Era Nuclear Plant in California May Hint at the Future":
These people are freaks --- and their "green" energy alternatives have proven to be boondoggles time and again. You gotta beat these people back like flies. It's ridiculous.
PHOTO CREDIT: Wikimedia Commons.
In any case, see the report at the New York Times, "Troubles at a 1960s-Era Nuclear Plant in California May Hint at the Future":
SAN ONOFRE STATE BEACH, Calif. — More than seven million people live within 50 miles of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, which is about halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego. But for decades, residents here largely accepted, if not exactly embraced, the hulking nuclear plant perched on the cliffs above this popular surfing beach as a necessary part of keeping the lights on in a state that uses more electricity than all of Argentina.It's always something with the loony left.
“I don’t think about it too much,” said David Vichules, 55, who has been surfing here since before the plant opened in 1968. “I guess it’s risk and benefit.”
All that changed, however, after the Fukushima Daiichi meltdown in Japan last year, followed in January by a small leak of radioactive steam here caused by the deterioration of steam tubes that had been damaged by vibration and friction. The twin generators at the San Onofre plant have been off-line for five months, and the plant has subsequently become a point of contention in the fight over nuclear power in the United States.
The leak has galvanized opposition to the nuclear plant among local residents, who are calling for San Onofre to remain shuttered for good.
Antinuclear activists from across the country have seized on problems at San Onofre as an opportunity to push California toward a future without nuclear power.
“A lot of people have gotten involved since Fukushima, and now especially since San Onofre has been closed,” said Gary Headrick, the founder of San Clemente Green, a local environmental organization. “It’s really not worth living with this risk. We should shut it down.”
The plant will remain shut through at least the end of the summer while the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Southern California Edison, the utility company that operates it, investigate the cause of the leak from the steam tubes.
Officials have said repeatedly that the generators will restart only if they are deemed safe.
Still, any efforts to permanently close the nuclear plant face the ever-growing appetite for electricity in Southern California. San Onofre, the largest power plant in the region, produced 2,200 megawatts, enough to power 1.4 million homes, and also helps import power to the region.
These people are freaks --- and their "green" energy alternatives have proven to be boondoggles time and again. You gotta beat these people back like flies. It's ridiculous.
PHOTO CREDIT: Wikimedia Commons.
The Timely's and the Godsend's
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The year before J1 was born, we bought the house we still live in today. I remember my sister telling my mother "Aw, he bought her a dollhouse.", and that's exactly what it is. She, referring to my dollhouse, sits proudly in an old neighborhood, that's nice and flat, and is covered in a canopy of Oak and Walnut tree's that are older than she is.
When J1 was 18 months old, he met his lifelong friend Z. They met at what I like to call "Baby Harvard" which is the best child care center in the city. The center is housed up on the hill, where both Z's mother and I work. Soon after we met, they moved their family to my neighborhood, and our kids have gone to all the same schools. They are the Timely family.
A year or so later, the Godsend's moved into the old yellow and white Victorian across the street. The house had been broken into two units for decades, and the Godsend's, with all their children, grandchildren, and extended family, restored it to it's original glory of a single family home.
Together, our village has weathered many storms, both figuratively and literally, and we've all been there for each other. Recently, the Godsend's announced that they would soon depart our sweet village, and while I know that change is the only constant, it's a day I've always dreaded.
Once, when we were teenagers, my sister told me she dreamt that I had gone down the drain in the kitchen sink as a big blob of slime. No surprise there, but then she said I suddenly flew back out as a butterfly. I've never forgotten that dream.
I think I'm ready to talk about the long storm I've weathered, because I believe I'm coming out the other side. But this I know for sure, I would have never survived without the support of my village. And for me to tell these stories, you've got to know who the Timely's and Godsend's are, because none of it could have happened without them.
The year before J1 was born, we bought the house we still live in today. I remember my sister telling my mother "Aw, he bought her a dollhouse.", and that's exactly what it is. She, referring to my dollhouse, sits proudly in an old neighborhood, that's nice and flat, and is covered in a canopy of Oak and Walnut tree's that are older than she is. When J1 was 18 months old, he met his lifelong friend Z. They met at what I like to call "Baby Harvard" which is the best child care center in the city. The center is housed up on the hill, where both Z's mother and I work. Soon after we met, they moved their family to my neighborhood, and our kids have gone to all the same schools. They are the Timely family.
A year or so later, the Godsend's moved into the old yellow and white Victorian across the street. The house had been broken into two units for decades, and the Godsend's, with all their children, grandchildren, and extended family, restored it to it's original glory of a single family home.
Together, our village has weathered many storms, both figuratively and literally, and we've all been there for each other. Recently, the Godsend's announced that they would soon depart our sweet village, and while I know that change is the only constant, it's a day I've always dreaded.
Once, when we were teenagers, my sister told me she dreamt that I had gone down the drain in the kitchen sink as a big blob of slime. No surprise there, but then she said I suddenly flew back out as a butterfly. I've never forgotten that dream.
I think I'm ready to talk about the long storm I've weathered, because I believe I'm coming out the other side. But this I know for sure, I would have never survived without the support of my village. And for me to tell these stories, you've got to know who the Timely's and Godsend's are, because none of it could have happened without them.
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