I know who she is, and most women do as well. She is "that girl" you know, "that girl" in high school, the one who was popular and pretty,, and would stab you in the back at the first opportunity. I have said this for the past 5 weeks, and the debate just sealed it for me. When speaking with my adult daughters, and I mentioned that fact, they both said....yeah, now that you mention it, that's her."
I have one grand daughter who is on the way to being "that girl" Evidently they are born with the proclivity for it, because even by age 6 you can see it. How this attitude is nurtured, I am not sure, but I think it has to do with the fact that even at a young age you know you are pretty and you learn how to manipulate people.
So, think of Sarah Palin as the manipulator. "That girl" from high school."
Women you know exactly what I am talking about. Right?
Friday, October 03, 2008
From the Obama blog today, I had to share this one, because it is so special
I had to post this because Katheryn's feelings mirror my own so closely. I too have a rainbow family and when I think of the importance and significance of my vote this year, well, it's astounding. I cried when I read what Katheryn had to say. See what you think:
________________
Residents of Oberlin, Ohio are flooding the local Board of Elections to vote early this week. Two buses from Oberlin College shuttled over 100 students to vote yesterday, and over 400 Lorain County residents registered to vote. Students are excited to make their first vote in a presidential election early - especially in such an important and historic election. Buses will continue to shuttle students to register and vote this weekend.
Katheryn voted yesterday in Oberlin and told us a little bit about what that experience was like.
I was excited to vote early. When I arrived there were many cars in the parking lot with Barack Obama bumper stickers. When I went inside to vote there was already a line and a 15 minute wait. There was a muted buzz of excitement.
When it was my turn to vote, I cried.
My family, like Barack's is a lovely rainbow. I cried for my two sons, who will vote for Barack, and for the first time in their lifetime be able to see themselves and their children in him.
I voted for my late mother, a teacher, and father, a truck driver, who instilled in all of us a sense of community, responsibility, the importance of education, and struggled to send us to college.
I voted for all the men and women and children in my family who have worked for generations to contribute to this country, and after many years, have finally found a principled leader who represents us all.
I voted for my precious grandchildren for whom I've dedicated all my work for Barack to these past 19 months.
Finally, I voted for all the lost, the lonely, the disenfranchised, the poor, handicapped, ALL Americans who never had the opportunity to vote.
Today I have joined with millions of Americans of all backgrounds who have come together to help change the United States into the honorable and extraordinary country we've all known it can be -- with the help of Barack Obama.
________________
Residents of Oberlin, Ohio are flooding the local Board of Elections to vote early this week. Two buses from Oberlin College shuttled over 100 students to vote yesterday, and over 400 Lorain County residents registered to vote. Students are excited to make their first vote in a presidential election early - especially in such an important and historic election. Buses will continue to shuttle students to register and vote this weekend.
Katheryn voted yesterday in Oberlin and told us a little bit about what that experience was like.
I was excited to vote early. When I arrived there were many cars in the parking lot with Barack Obama bumper stickers. When I went inside to vote there was already a line and a 15 minute wait. There was a muted buzz of excitement.
When it was my turn to vote, I cried.
My family, like Barack's is a lovely rainbow. I cried for my two sons, who will vote for Barack, and for the first time in their lifetime be able to see themselves and their children in him.
I voted for my late mother, a teacher, and father, a truck driver, who instilled in all of us a sense of community, responsibility, the importance of education, and struggled to send us to college.
I voted for all the men and women and children in my family who have worked for generations to contribute to this country, and after many years, have finally found a principled leader who represents us all.
I voted for my precious grandchildren for whom I've dedicated all my work for Barack to these past 19 months.
Finally, I voted for all the lost, the lonely, the disenfranchised, the poor, handicapped, ALL Americans who never had the opportunity to vote.
Today I have joined with millions of Americans of all backgrounds who have come together to help change the United States into the honorable and extraordinary country we've all known it can be -- with the help of Barack Obama.
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Oh just read the bailout language,.. it's total B.S. !
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/28/bailout-legislation-full_n_130063.html#comments
Fuck this...we are about to be screwed again, by our own government!
Brent Budowsky's article most closely resembles my feelings. I cannot explain how much I feel duped, used and otherwise thwarted. I feel as if my entire life is a lie. I served my country as a civil servant and in the US Army...for this?????
From Brent Budowsky:
For whom the bell tolls
By Brent Budowsky
Posted: 09/22/08 06:38 PM [ET]
I think of my former boss Lloyd Bentsen, who, as a senator and Treasury secretary, drew on his experience as CEO and financier with one iron and inviolable rule.
Bentsen probably knew more about finance than any person who ever served in the Senate. He never made rash decisions. He always insisted that he, and his staff, have total grasp of issues and carefully consider all options.
Today the president, the Fed, the Treasury, the markets and the Congress are violating Bentsen’s cardinal rule and acting at a dangerous moment in the most half-assed manner, in haste and panic, not fully understanding the problem, the solution, or the implications.
1. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson should present Congress with their anticipated calendar for spending the $700 billion they request. Congress should immediately pass one-third of the money with unanimous bipartisan support.
2. Over the next month the administration and Congress should collaborate on executing the program, assessing mid-course corrections, devising reforms of bankruptcy laws, enacting economic stimulus for Main Street and bringing the Group of Seven into the solution.
This would restore common sense and reassure markets, investors and taxpayers while sharing the burden with European and Asian players, lowering the cost to Americans and increasing the chance of success.
The bell tolls today for all of us, but especially, in a historic generational crime, the bell tolls for young people who will pay for the gluttony, misdeeds and incompetence of the adults.
The girl in the baby carriage, the boy on the playground, the high school kids, the college students, the men and women in uniform will pay for the sins and shames of their elders:
A disastrous healthcare system. Pollution and global warming. A trillion-dollar budget deficit . National debt well over $10 trillion. Social Security in crisis. Long-term veterans’ needs that are underfunded by $500 billion or more. An energy disaster that oil drilling will not materially improve while oil markets are corrupted by rampant and extreme speculation. Education that lags in a brutally competitive world.
This is a moral crime by the old against the young. Now, without serious debate, without checks and balances, without understanding the implications of actions, we rush in haste and panic to risk stratospheric sums of taxpayer money and to destroy the capability of the next President and Congress to address grave and unmet needs. Anyone who claims a $700 billion bailout will not mandate an enormous tax increase later is delusional or lying.
We faced a run on the bank by the rich. Then a run on the bank by the banks. Now a raid on the Treasury in which taxpayers are forced to bail out today and finance tomorrow the greed, gluttony and incompetence in the scandal of our times.
Young people are told they are not old enough to drink, but they are young enough to die in wars while our reckless behavior takes precedence over their body armor, Humvees and medical care. Government creates unimaginable debt while giving moral lectures to workers who run up credit card bills to make ends meet.
Those who have the most are not asked what they can do for our country. Those who suffer are forced to pay the cost, for those who made millions while making this mess.
Let’s step back and think about this. For whom does the bell toll? For us.
From Brent Budowsky:
For whom the bell tolls
By Brent Budowsky
Posted: 09/22/08 06:38 PM [ET]
I think of my former boss Lloyd Bentsen, who, as a senator and Treasury secretary, drew on his experience as CEO and financier with one iron and inviolable rule.
Bentsen probably knew more about finance than any person who ever served in the Senate. He never made rash decisions. He always insisted that he, and his staff, have total grasp of issues and carefully consider all options.
Today the president, the Fed, the Treasury, the markets and the Congress are violating Bentsen’s cardinal rule and acting at a dangerous moment in the most half-assed manner, in haste and panic, not fully understanding the problem, the solution, or the implications.
1. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson should present Congress with their anticipated calendar for spending the $700 billion they request. Congress should immediately pass one-third of the money with unanimous bipartisan support.
2. Over the next month the administration and Congress should collaborate on executing the program, assessing mid-course corrections, devising reforms of bankruptcy laws, enacting economic stimulus for Main Street and bringing the Group of Seven into the solution.
This would restore common sense and reassure markets, investors and taxpayers while sharing the burden with European and Asian players, lowering the cost to Americans and increasing the chance of success.
The bell tolls today for all of us, but especially, in a historic generational crime, the bell tolls for young people who will pay for the gluttony, misdeeds and incompetence of the adults.
The girl in the baby carriage, the boy on the playground, the high school kids, the college students, the men and women in uniform will pay for the sins and shames of their elders:
A disastrous healthcare system. Pollution and global warming. A trillion-dollar budget deficit . National debt well over $10 trillion. Social Security in crisis. Long-term veterans’ needs that are underfunded by $500 billion or more. An energy disaster that oil drilling will not materially improve while oil markets are corrupted by rampant and extreme speculation. Education that lags in a brutally competitive world.
This is a moral crime by the old against the young. Now, without serious debate, without checks and balances, without understanding the implications of actions, we rush in haste and panic to risk stratospheric sums of taxpayer money and to destroy the capability of the next President and Congress to address grave and unmet needs. Anyone who claims a $700 billion bailout will not mandate an enormous tax increase later is delusional or lying.
We faced a run on the bank by the rich. Then a run on the bank by the banks. Now a raid on the Treasury in which taxpayers are forced to bail out today and finance tomorrow the greed, gluttony and incompetence in the scandal of our times.
Young people are told they are not old enough to drink, but they are young enough to die in wars while our reckless behavior takes precedence over their body armor, Humvees and medical care. Government creates unimaginable debt while giving moral lectures to workers who run up credit card bills to make ends meet.
Those who have the most are not asked what they can do for our country. Those who suffer are forced to pay the cost, for those who made millions while making this mess.
Let’s step back and think about this. For whom does the bell toll? For us.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Keating 5 anybody?
Fox Cuts Off Guest for Mentioning the Keating Five
By hrebendorf - September 26, 2008, 2:19PM
This is a fun clip. Appearing on Fox & Friends this morning, conservative jackass Michael Reagan, in an attack on Obama and the Democratic leadership, launched into a rant about Enron and Worldcom. Guest Mike Papantonio, rightly figuring they were talking about history, brought up the Keating Five scandal, at which point, host Steve "Douchebag" Doocy immediately tried to shut him down. The producer can even be heard off camera calling for someone to cut Papantonio's mic:
Here is the Fox Video...
_____________________
From Ray Story the transcript:
'Cut his mike,' producer suggests
The Keating Five scandal, and John McCain's role in it, has received relatively little mention in presidential campaign coverage, and at least one Fox News host seems dedicated to keeping it that way.
Appearing Thursday morning on Fox & Friends, radio host Mike Papantonio tried to remind viewers about McCain's intervention with federal regulators on behalf of real estate mogul Charles Keating, who was trying to avoid regulations of a savings and loan he owned during the S&L crisis of the 1980s.
F&F's Steve Doocy told Papantonio to "pipe down," called him "rude" and demanded he "cut it out." A show producer could be overheard saying "cut his mike."
As Papantonio tries one last time to explain the details of the Keating Five scandal, Doocy again cuts him off.
"This is not the History Channel," he says.
Papantonio's apparent crime was interrupting fellow guest Michael Reagan, the conservative radio host, who was arguing that it would be unfair to judge McCain based on his actions 20 years ago.
"It has everything to do with what's happening today," Papantonio said before being told to pipe down.
Regardless of whether Papantonio was being rude, preserving an orderly debate certainly could not have been Doocy's goal in silencing the guest. Not two minutes before his admonition that Papantonio was "being rude," Doocy repeatedly interrupted his guest to deliver talking points that might as well have been written by the McCain campaign.
At least three times Doocy interrupted Papantonio as he argued that McCain's political gambit to "suspend" his campaign and delay Friday's debate was more a response to his flagging poll numbers than an attempt to fix the economic crisis. Doocy wasn't buying it.
"If Barack Obama wants to do so much for the economy, why doesn't he go to his day job and work in the US senate?" he asked Reagan, cutting off Papantonio's argument.
By hrebendorf - September 26, 2008, 2:19PM
This is a fun clip. Appearing on Fox & Friends this morning, conservative jackass Michael Reagan, in an attack on Obama and the Democratic leadership, launched into a rant about Enron and Worldcom. Guest Mike Papantonio, rightly figuring they were talking about history, brought up the Keating Five scandal, at which point, host Steve "Douchebag" Doocy immediately tried to shut him down. The producer can even be heard off camera calling for someone to cut Papantonio's mic:
Here is the Fox Video...
_____________________
From Ray Story the transcript:
'Cut his mike,' producer suggests
The Keating Five scandal, and John McCain's role in it, has received relatively little mention in presidential campaign coverage, and at least one Fox News host seems dedicated to keeping it that way.
Appearing Thursday morning on Fox & Friends, radio host Mike Papantonio tried to remind viewers about McCain's intervention with federal regulators on behalf of real estate mogul Charles Keating, who was trying to avoid regulations of a savings and loan he owned during the S&L crisis of the 1980s.
F&F's Steve Doocy told Papantonio to "pipe down," called him "rude" and demanded he "cut it out." A show producer could be overheard saying "cut his mike."
As Papantonio tries one last time to explain the details of the Keating Five scandal, Doocy again cuts him off.
"This is not the History Channel," he says.
Papantonio's apparent crime was interrupting fellow guest Michael Reagan, the conservative radio host, who was arguing that it would be unfair to judge McCain based on his actions 20 years ago.
"It has everything to do with what's happening today," Papantonio said before being told to pipe down.
Regardless of whether Papantonio was being rude, preserving an orderly debate certainly could not have been Doocy's goal in silencing the guest. Not two minutes before his admonition that Papantonio was "being rude," Doocy repeatedly interrupted his guest to deliver talking points that might as well have been written by the McCain campaign.
At least three times Doocy interrupted Papantonio as he argued that McCain's political gambit to "suspend" his campaign and delay Friday's debate was more a response to his flagging poll numbers than an attempt to fix the economic crisis. Doocy wasn't buying it.
"If Barack Obama wants to do so much for the economy, why doesn't he go to his day job and work in the US senate?" he asked Reagan, cutting off Papantonio's argument.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Stealing America vote by vote
__________________________________________________
I have written many posts on the current financial crisis which can be viewed at The Kendallian Voice, and which I will not repeat here.
Suffice it to say, stop the BS, don't give our tax dollars away without protecting the middle class. We will not stand for this shock disaster capitalism!
Monday, September 22, 2008
Thoughts on the financial crisis we are embroiled in...
We have had long discussions at our house regarding the current financial crisis. We both feel that anything the government rushes into can't be a good thing. We were happy to hear Rep. DeFazio of Oregon on Cspan this morning and called his office to give him our thanks, for saying that more time and more review needed to be done before anything was passed. Then we called Rep. Lamar Smith's office to state our case.
Who did you call today??
Then low and behold, later in the day, THE Goddess of Radio, Randi Rhodes posted her thoughts.....just what we had been saying here at home all morning. Thanks Randi, for putting it so well.
From Randi Rhodes:
This is THE PATRIOT ACT ALL OVER AGAIN. Anything Congress RUSHES through will be THE WRONG RESPONSE and take from you all that you have. Freedom, privacy, money, credit, all of it must go!
The massive "bailout package" has to be paid for.
How? Perhaps a massive tax increase, definitely very tight credit markets for you and for small businesses. There will be bank merger after bank merger which will limit competition for loans and bank services. The Treasury will hire "contractors" through "no bid contracts" to place a "value" on valueless paper and set the price YOU have to pay to settle all the debt. NO one will really know how to price these things. NO one will know what they're doing, but everyone will get INTO THE BUSINESS of buying and selling these worthless assets.
There will be a bail out of both foreign and domestic banks with your tax dollars, and all of this will happened without REGULATIONS or OVERSIGHT .
THE REAL SOLUTION IS THE ONE YOU KNOW. If the markets were regulated NOW and Mortgage holders would be permitted to renegotiate the principal on their home loans this would STOP dead in it's tracks. Every individual with a bad loan could offer to pay 60 cents on the dollar, more or less and keep their home.
If we could make deals with credit card companies to settle our debts this would stop now because we'd have more money in our pockets to prop up the Economy.
If we raised taxes on Billionaires who created this mess and forced them to pay for this, This would stop NOW.
If we lowered taxes on Small Businesses and gave them low cost inventory loans THIS WOULD STOP NOW.
If we lowered taxes on everyone making less than 2M a year, and raised taxes through the roof on those who had profits of over $10 Million this would stop NOW. Small businesses would pop up all over America and people could go back to work, small business would flourish and the taxes we pay at the lower rates would pay down the DEBT.
If we left Iraq NOW we would add 10 Billion a MONTH to the Treasury.
This Government Bailout of banks BEFORE they fail, including FOREIGN BANKS with Taxpayer dollars is PRE EMPTIVE FINANCIAL WAR on the American People. It is the last part of Shock and Awe.
DO NOT SIT IDLY BY. Demand that this stop. DEAD COLD.
What we need and want is REREGULATION of FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS .
Give Homeowners the ability to negotiate home loans, car loans, credit card debt .
Set up a Resolution Trust Corporation to buy back homes we can't afford to keep with a Board of Directors to monitor all purchases and sales.
Immediately force Financial Institutions to stop paying dividends to shareholders.
Sell the hard assets of failed financial institutions, offices, buildings, computers, desks, any real property they owned.
Oversight on the entire Bailout process through a Board of Directors to oversee any acution of company assets.
Charge CEOs with fraud and levy huge fines on those who profited from Fraud and Misery.
Enact a law that states that a CEO can not make more than 144 times the amount the lowest paid worker makes.
Ban NO BID contracts with shadowy people who for a profit will price and sell assets, loans, banks.
Who did you call today??
Then low and behold, later in the day, THE Goddess of Radio, Randi Rhodes posted her thoughts.....just what we had been saying here at home all morning. Thanks Randi, for putting it so well.
From Randi Rhodes:
This is THE PATRIOT ACT ALL OVER AGAIN. Anything Congress RUSHES through will be THE WRONG RESPONSE and take from you all that you have. Freedom, privacy, money, credit, all of it must go!
The massive "bailout package" has to be paid for.
How? Perhaps a massive tax increase, definitely very tight credit markets for you and for small businesses. There will be bank merger after bank merger which will limit competition for loans and bank services. The Treasury will hire "contractors" through "no bid contracts" to place a "value" on valueless paper and set the price YOU have to pay to settle all the debt. NO one will really know how to price these things. NO one will know what they're doing, but everyone will get INTO THE BUSINESS of buying and selling these worthless assets.
There will be a bail out of both foreign and domestic banks with your tax dollars, and all of this will happened without REGULATIONS or OVERSIGHT .
THE REAL SOLUTION IS THE ONE YOU KNOW. If the markets were regulated NOW and Mortgage holders would be permitted to renegotiate the principal on their home loans this would STOP dead in it's tracks. Every individual with a bad loan could offer to pay 60 cents on the dollar, more or less and keep their home.
If we could make deals with credit card companies to settle our debts this would stop now because we'd have more money in our pockets to prop up the Economy.
If we raised taxes on Billionaires who created this mess and forced them to pay for this, This would stop NOW.
If we lowered taxes on Small Businesses and gave them low cost inventory loans THIS WOULD STOP NOW.
If we lowered taxes on everyone making less than 2M a year, and raised taxes through the roof on those who had profits of over $10 Million this would stop NOW. Small businesses would pop up all over America and people could go back to work, small business would flourish and the taxes we pay at the lower rates would pay down the DEBT.
If we left Iraq NOW we would add 10 Billion a MONTH to the Treasury.
This Government Bailout of banks BEFORE they fail, including FOREIGN BANKS with Taxpayer dollars is PRE EMPTIVE FINANCIAL WAR on the American People. It is the last part of Shock and Awe.
DO NOT SIT IDLY BY. Demand that this stop. DEAD COLD.
What we need and want is REREGULATION of FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS .
Give Homeowners the ability to negotiate home loans, car loans, credit card debt .
Set up a Resolution Trust Corporation to buy back homes we can't afford to keep with a Board of Directors to monitor all purchases and sales.
Immediately force Financial Institutions to stop paying dividends to shareholders.
Sell the hard assets of failed financial institutions, offices, buildings, computers, desks, any real property they owned.
Oversight on the entire Bailout process through a Board of Directors to oversee any acution of company assets.
Charge CEOs with fraud and levy huge fines on those who profited from Fraud and Misery.
Enact a law that states that a CEO can not make more than 144 times the amount the lowest paid worker makes.
Ban NO BID contracts with shadowy people who for a profit will price and sell assets, loans, banks.
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Police illegally arrest Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!
She went to check on her cameraman and a producer who were taking videos of the protest. Her staffers were swept up by the police, even while wearing press credentials. When Amy went to ask about having her staffers released, she was arrested. Incredible, unbelieveable. What ever happened to freedom of assembly and freedom of speech? The press, as our watchdogs of democracy should not be treated like this, nor should the peaceful protesters. What a fascist state we live in!
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
We did it! Obama is the nominee!
I listened to Cspan at work (love my XM radio) and then hopped in my car to go home an could not find Cspan on XM but listened to the roll call on CNN, and by the time I got to HEB, Nebraska had cast its votes. Whoo hoo! My sort-of home state had cast most of its votes for Obama. Then I ran, literally through HEB to pick up items for dinner. When I reached the produce section, my friend June called me to tell me what had happened, we had nominated Obama! So, I stood in the produce section of HEB, crying my eyes out and excitedly discussing the results with June. I was so excited, I cried all the way home!
Of course folks in HEB thought I had lost my mind, I am sure. However, it was such a momentous occasion, I was brought to tears. We DID IT! We DID IT!
Now the work begins in earnest. We have to work to turn Texas blue. Thanks everyone for all your efforts so far, and let us go out and work even harder.
GO OBAMA/BIDEN!
I must thank Hillary and Bil Clinton for being so wonderful, and so courteous and so supportive of Barack Obama. Hillary showed such graciousness, and I applaud her for that.
Of course folks in HEB thought I had lost my mind, I am sure. However, it was such a momentous occasion, I was brought to tears. We DID IT! We DID IT!
Now the work begins in earnest. We have to work to turn Texas blue. Thanks everyone for all your efforts so far, and let us go out and work even harder.
GO OBAMA/BIDEN!
I must thank Hillary and Bil Clinton for being so wonderful, and so courteous and so supportive of Barack Obama. Hillary showed such graciousness, and I applaud her for that.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Yes we support Obama.
June 2007, we worked hard at his event and got to meet him after we worked hours in the hot sun. It was our 35th wedding anniversary, and we got personal congratulations from Barack, and a signed t-shirt!
Monday, August 11, 2008
Why I spend my free time on politics and the upcoming election
To my friends and family:
--if this is too preachy, sorry...I can only hope I am preaching to the choir....
I worked for local, state and national candidates this weekend, Then, in my spare time, I also worked on stuff from my real job. Gotta love that overtime (brought to you by Democrats, by the way). This upcoming election is so important to me that when I am not working at my job, I am working for the candidates in the upcoming election. We need to re-think America, and where we are going, and the only way to do that is to elect leaders with new ideas. Barack Obama is one of those new leaders...and there are more in your own hometown and your own state. Help them!
However, my most important job this weekend was getting the word out on our local candidates (Daniel Boone and Gwen King) and Rick Noriega (running for US Senate) as well as Barack Obama. Working for these candidates and getting voters registered is by far the most valuable thing I can do at this moment in time. This is our moment and our time....let's elect Obama and at least 60 other Democrats to the Senate. The magic number is 60!
Come -- and help us do the work that will change our country for the better. It's really not hard to get off the couch, it's just one step....then another.....towards a greater future. Join me and your friends and family...go outside and do something positive! You will feel so much better.
We can't do this without you! Please register voters, support a candidate, visit a Vet at BAMC, or Audie Murphy, contribute a bit of yourself to make our nation a better place to live. Hope to see you soon!
--if this is too preachy, sorry...I can only hope I am preaching to the choir....
I worked for local, state and national candidates this weekend, Then, in my spare time, I also worked on stuff from my real job. Gotta love that overtime (brought to you by Democrats, by the way). This upcoming election is so important to me that when I am not working at my job, I am working for the candidates in the upcoming election. We need to re-think America, and where we are going, and the only way to do that is to elect leaders with new ideas. Barack Obama is one of those new leaders...and there are more in your own hometown and your own state. Help them!
However, my most important job this weekend was getting the word out on our local candidates (Daniel Boone and Gwen King) and Rick Noriega (running for US Senate) as well as Barack Obama. Working for these candidates and getting voters registered is by far the most valuable thing I can do at this moment in time. This is our moment and our time....let's elect Obama and at least 60 other Democrats to the Senate. The magic number is 60!
Come -- and help us do the work that will change our country for the better. It's really not hard to get off the couch, it's just one step....then another.....towards a greater future. Join me and your friends and family...go outside and do something positive! You will feel so much better.
We can't do this without you! Please register voters, support a candidate, visit a Vet at BAMC, or Audie Murphy, contribute a bit of yourself to make our nation a better place to live. Hope to see you soon!
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Out in the heat promoting Democratic values
Oh my it was hot! Verrrrrrryyyyy hot. Nevertheless, we were out at Boerne Market Days, registering voters, swaying opinion, and informing voters in Kendall County. We met tourists from all over Texas and the USA and reminded them of the importance of voting Democratic this year.
Daniel Boone, running for a Texas Representative seat was out there both days, meeting and greeting potential voters.
As always the amazing Kendall County Democrats staffed the booth despite the heat, and as usual, had a great time spreading the word about the values of the Democratic party.
Daniel Boone, running for a Texas Representative seat was out there both days, meeting and greeting potential voters.
As always the amazing Kendall County Democrats staffed the booth despite the heat, and as usual, had a great time spreading the word about the values of the Democratic party.
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Dems: Grassroots to shape the platform
The "Pie and Platform" meeting generated many items that we sent to the Obama campaign, as requested. Apparently, according to HuffPo, Obama's campaign received thousands of submissions. Will they be used? Well here is what Huffpo had to say today:
I am hopeful something that we wrote gets included. Time will tell.
Attendees of the Democratic Platform Meetings co-organized by the Obama Campaign and the DNC believed their policy proposals and ideas would be strongly considered by the Platform Drafting Committee, according to reports filed by OffTheBus Special Ops. It remains unclear how the DNC and the Obama campaign will accomplish this logistical feat. Recent news reports of the Drafting Committee's progress do not mention any review of several thousand platform submissions. The draft has not been posted publicly for review, but various ideas incorporated into the document have been reported on.
I am hopeful something that we wrote gets included. Time will tell.
Monday, August 04, 2008
Racism, when Obama jokes about Presidents on our money?
Give me a break. Puhleez. Grampy McCain, et al, just get over it. Grampy mentioned the dollar bill images in June, but now it's news? Well, how else does Grampy get in the news cycle, I guess.
All the baloney in the latest news cycle brings me back to a post on another blog that I have about bento boxes. I am proud that my family encompasses more than one or two racial/ethic groups. We are quintessentially what makes up the fabric of our nation, a veritable tapestry of humanity, with many ideas, many foods, many traditions, all of which help make our country a better place -- and can do so, if we just stop bickering about our differences and instead embrace and enjoy our differences. And how do we start? FOOD. Food is what brings us together, we like food, and we like ethnic food. So if the food is so good, what is the matter with the people??? Huh???? Tell me that one. Oh...they don't look like you. Well, get over it and try to meet people that don't look like you. This might come as a shock to you, but most people in the world really just want to have a family and raise their family in peace, and with love. Doesn't matter where they come from or what their religion, etc. They just want to raise good kids. So, take a step up to the plate and as you embrace that Mexican, Cuban, Thai, Chinese, and Soul food that tastes so good, go meet the people from that country and thank them for their style of cooking that you love so much. It is a start.
My previous post on this subject, from last Easter Sunday:
We decided not to celebrate Easter twice this year. For once we will only celebrate Orthodox Easter on April 27th. It worked out great, we relaxed and the grandkids had Easter festivities at the other Grandma's house. I did get the urge to cook, when I discovered our HEB (grocery store) was closed and I had to fix lunch for Monday with what I had in the house.
I came up with a Tandoori chicken with leftover greek yogurt, and a sort-of tabbouleh with Manchego cheese, tomatoes and green onion. Mexico meets the middle east so to speak.
We are all looking forward to Orthodox Easter and our favorite foods: Pashka (cheese), Kulich (bread), Mama's blini (crepes, which I have not mastered yet) and piroshki (yeast bread rolls filled with a meat mixture). Yummy. Everybody's favorite is the bread and cheese, even my new son-in-law is a fan, and it is sure very different from the food he grew up with in Puerto Rico, but he loves it.
We are the quintessential American family comprising 6 ethnic and/or racial groups, sharing our foods and customs across the board. We are proud of our various heritages and holidays, celebrating Russian Orthodox Easter, Cinco de Mayo, 4th of July, Dia de los Muertos, Three Kings Day, Martin Luther King Day, and various saints days (Catholic, Orthodox and Episcopalian). We ARE America, we are what makes our country so special and so great....a mix of cultures, ideas, love and faith. Our children and grandchildren are the future of our nation, and the colors of our nation. We are so proud of all of them.
So, in the spirit of rebirth, in this Easter season, please take time to let new ideas take wing. It is time for us to discuss where our nation needs to go, how we put our dreams into action, and how we work for a future for ALL of us, no matter our color, or belief system.
To quote Barack Obama (who we support):
All the baloney in the latest news cycle brings me back to a post on another blog that I have about bento boxes. I am proud that my family encompasses more than one or two racial/ethic groups. We are quintessentially what makes up the fabric of our nation, a veritable tapestry of humanity, with many ideas, many foods, many traditions, all of which help make our country a better place -- and can do so, if we just stop bickering about our differences and instead embrace and enjoy our differences. And how do we start? FOOD. Food is what brings us together, we like food, and we like ethnic food. So if the food is so good, what is the matter with the people??? Huh???? Tell me that one. Oh...they don't look like you. Well, get over it and try to meet people that don't look like you. This might come as a shock to you, but most people in the world really just want to have a family and raise their family in peace, and with love. Doesn't matter where they come from or what their religion, etc. They just want to raise good kids. So, take a step up to the plate and as you embrace that Mexican, Cuban, Thai, Chinese, and Soul food that tastes so good, go meet the people from that country and thank them for their style of cooking that you love so much. It is a start.
My previous post on this subject, from last Easter Sunday:
We decided not to celebrate Easter twice this year. For once we will only celebrate Orthodox Easter on April 27th. It worked out great, we relaxed and the grandkids had Easter festivities at the other Grandma's house. I did get the urge to cook, when I discovered our HEB (grocery store) was closed and I had to fix lunch for Monday with what I had in the house.
I came up with a Tandoori chicken with leftover greek yogurt, and a sort-of tabbouleh with Manchego cheese, tomatoes and green onion. Mexico meets the middle east so to speak.
We are all looking forward to Orthodox Easter and our favorite foods: Pashka (cheese), Kulich (bread), Mama's blini (crepes, which I have not mastered yet) and piroshki (yeast bread rolls filled with a meat mixture). Yummy. Everybody's favorite is the bread and cheese, even my new son-in-law is a fan, and it is sure very different from the food he grew up with in Puerto Rico, but he loves it.
We are the quintessential American family comprising 6 ethnic and/or racial groups, sharing our foods and customs across the board. We are proud of our various heritages and holidays, celebrating Russian Orthodox Easter, Cinco de Mayo, 4th of July, Dia de los Muertos, Three Kings Day, Martin Luther King Day, and various saints days (Catholic, Orthodox and Episcopalian). We ARE America, we are what makes our country so special and so great....a mix of cultures, ideas, love and faith. Our children and grandchildren are the future of our nation, and the colors of our nation. We are so proud of all of them.
So, in the spirit of rebirth, in this Easter season, please take time to let new ideas take wing. It is time for us to discuss where our nation needs to go, how we put our dreams into action, and how we work for a future for ALL of us, no matter our color, or belief system.
To quote Barack Obama (who we support):
In the white community, the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination - and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past - are real and must be addressed. Not just with words, but with deeds - by investing in our schools and our communities; by enforcing our civil rights laws and ensuring fairness in our criminal justice system; by providing this generation with ladders of opportunity that were unavailable for previous generations. It requires all Americans to realize that your dreams do not have to come at the expense of my dreams; that investing in the health, welfare, and education of black and brown and white children will ultimately help all of America prosper.
In the end, then, what is called for is nothing more, and nothing less, than what all the world's great religions demand - that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Let us be our brother's keeper, Scripture tells us. Let us be our sister's keeper. Let us find that common stake we all have in one another, and let our politics reflect that spirit as well.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Random thoughts
My first language was Japanese. I was watching the original Iron Chef and tried to remember the first song I ever learned. After about 10 mins of cogitation, I remembered it!
Don't know what it means, and it is spelled phonetically (as I was only 5 when I knew this song)
Mushi mushi anno nay, anno nay, mushi mushi annoy nay ah so deska.
Like I said, just a random thought.
Don't know what it means, and it is spelled phonetically (as I was only 5 when I knew this song)
Mushi mushi anno nay, anno nay, mushi mushi annoy nay ah so deska.
Like I said, just a random thought.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
HBO series John Adams
My favorite lines so far:
As the Continental Congress meets, and is hesitant to declare war, John and Abigail Adams have this conversation:
Abigail Adams: Send a woman to the Congress. She might knock some sense into them.
John Adams: This is not a question of men and women Abigail. This is a matter of politics.
Abigail: Politics. Politics?
John: Mmm.
Abigail: And do women not live politics John Adams? When I go to the cupboard and I find no coffee, no sugar, no pins and no meat, am I not living politics?
As the Continental Congress meets, and is hesitant to declare war, John and Abigail Adams have this conversation:
Abigail Adams: Send a woman to the Congress. She might knock some sense into them.
John Adams: This is not a question of men and women Abigail. This is a matter of politics.
Abigail: Politics. Politics?
John: Mmm.
Abigail: And do women not live politics John Adams? When I go to the cupboard and I find no coffee, no sugar, no pins and no meat, am I not living politics?
Deja Vu
Do you remember gas lines? Inflation? I do, and it's all coming back, wait and see. Funny the "rice shortage" scare was averted so quickly, what will be next? Are we sheep to be herded from one made up fear to another?
From McClatchy...http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/41159.html, on how it's like the 70's all over again...inflation rears its ugly head.
From McClatchy...http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/41159.html, on how it's like the 70's all over again...inflation rears its ugly head.
Fed policymakers in April projected a dismal growth rate for 2008 of between 0.3 percent and 1.2 percent. That forecast implies that the slowing economy will dampen inflation's embers before they ignite into fire.
That suggests "no tightening (of interest rates) until the end of the year," said Reinhart, now a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative policy group.
But what happens if a hurricane rips through the oil-rich Gulf of Mexico later this summer? Researchers for investment bank Goldman Sachs & Co. predict that'd send oil to $200 a barrel. And $200 oil would send all kinds of prices skyward, creating the potential for 1970s style inflation.
"That really gives the Fed very big headaches, because $200 oil is going to set back the economy big time and the U.S. big time," said Gramley, the Reagan-era Fed governor. "There just aren't any easy options in this case."
SIDEBAR BOX (165 words 5")
Factors affecting inflation -- the rise in prices across the economy.
Rising oil price: Makes virtually everything that we eat or make more expensive. Oil prices affect the costs of plastic, packaging, chemicals, fertilizers, transportation and sundry other products.
Weak dollar: Makes imports more expensive, adding to inflation. The weak dollar is also partly to blame for high oil prices since foreign producers demand more dollars for the same barrel of oil to make up for the dollar's diminished value.
Economic slowdown: Bad for consumers and business, good for inflation. Slow growth moderates inflation, which ticks up as the economy heats up.
Imports: For the last 15 years, low-priced imports have kept inflation low. Shoes, clothing and electronics made in Asia cost Americans jobs, but also lower costs of products we buy. China is now facing its own inflation problem, with an official rate near 8 percent, which translates into higher-priced imports for American consumers and adds to inflation pressures here.
Recommendations for reading and viewing
This book is excellent and I suggest you read it before seeing the HBO movie John Adams. It is not crucial that you read the book first, but I think it helps.
Movie..John Adams, best price so far found on amazon.com
Movie..John Adams, best price so far found on amazon.com
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Oil prices, dark markets, ENRON-like deals
Our young people, can't afford the gas to go to work, and buy groceries. Ask around and you will hear their horror stories. Yet, nobody is protesting in the streets. Why? Ignorance of the facts. I have put a few facts together to get you started on looking up more on the subject. Your next job....support the farm bill, and tell your state and federal legislators that you want something done about oil prices, you want the ENRON loophole closed!
From Oil Watchdog:
If I told you that Venezuela's crackpot leader Hugo Chavez is responsible for crude oil hitting $100 a barrel in futures trading today, would you believe me? I hope not. But the speculators who drove up the price are pointing wildly at Chavez's spat with Exxon, at a refinery fire in Texas and at OPEC. Meantime the hedge fund speculators are hauling in dough, with a big side benefit for oil company profits. You and I and the national economy pay the price.
There is so much more to read about this....and when you do you will come to the realization that we, the lowly American citizens, the "proles" (you did read 1984 didn't you?), the proletariat, the dumb and mooing masses, are being screwed to the wall by the corporations and their shills in the White House and in our Congress.
The sponsors of the Farm Bill, Democratic Senators Harkin, Stabenow, Baucus, Conrad, Leahy and Lincoln; Republican Senators Chambliss, Grassley, Cochran, Roberts. This farm bill has a provision in it to close the "ENRON loophole."
Regulating the markets... From the Oil and Gas Journal,
Senate to FTC, CFTC: police markets aggressively
Two federal regulatory agencies are moving too timidly in response to record crude oil prices, US Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) said during a Senate committee hearing on energy market manipulation and federal regulatory regimes.
Cantwell will press both the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to regulate oil and commodity markets more aggressively, Cantwell said following the June 3 Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee hearing, which she chaired.
She wants FTC to issue an interim rule under the oil market investigation and regulation authority it received under the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act while it completes its formal regulatory rulemaking process.
She also intends to continue pressuring CFTC to revoke "no action" letters issued by its staff that allow electronic exchanges operating outside US borders to continue trading West Texas Intermediate crude oil and related commodities without being directly regulated, Cantwell said.
"Our oil futures markets were substantially deregulated by CFTC staff decisions that were made behind closed doors," she said in her opening statement.
From Oil Watchdog:
If I told you that Venezuela's crackpot leader Hugo Chavez is responsible for crude oil hitting $100 a barrel in futures trading today, would you believe me? I hope not. But the speculators who drove up the price are pointing wildly at Chavez's spat with Exxon, at a refinery fire in Texas and at OPEC. Meantime the hedge fund speculators are hauling in dough, with a big side benefit for oil company profits. You and I and the national economy pay the price.
We'll never know exactly how the trick was pulled off, or by who, because so much energy trading is done in unregulated markets created by the corporate criminals of Enron. Congress has in its hands a partial cure for the speculative excess. If lawmakers don't have the guts to act now, closing the loophole opened by Enron, they should have their heads handed to them by consumers. http://www.oilwatchdog.org/articles/?storyId=18735
There is so much more to read about this....and when you do you will come to the realization that we, the lowly American citizens, the "proles" (you did read 1984 didn't you?), the proletariat, the dumb and mooing masses, are being screwed to the wall by the corporations and their shills in the White House and in our Congress.
The sponsors of the Farm Bill, Democratic Senators Harkin, Stabenow, Baucus, Conrad, Leahy and Lincoln; Republican Senators Chambliss, Grassley, Cochran, Roberts. This farm bill has a provision in it to close the "ENRON loophole."
Regulating the markets... From the Oil and Gas Journal,
Senate to FTC, CFTC: police markets aggressively
Two federal regulatory agencies are moving too timidly in response to record crude oil prices, US Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) said during a Senate committee hearing on energy market manipulation and federal regulatory regimes.
Cantwell will press both the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to regulate oil and commodity markets more aggressively, Cantwell said following the June 3 Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee hearing, which she chaired.
She wants FTC to issue an interim rule under the oil market investigation and regulation authority it received under the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act while it completes its formal regulatory rulemaking process.
She also intends to continue pressuring CFTC to revoke "no action" letters issued by its staff that allow electronic exchanges operating outside US borders to continue trading West Texas Intermediate crude oil and related commodities without being directly regulated, Cantwell said.
"Our oil futures markets were substantially deregulated by CFTC staff decisions that were made behind closed doors," she said in her opening statement.
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Our early anniversary present
Almost one year ago, we volunteered for Barack Obama's event in San Antonio. We were excited about our candidate and we worked hours in the hot sun parking cars for Obama's event. It was our 35th wedding anniversary. How romantic! LOL.
Following the event, Barack Obama met with the volunteers and when told it was our 35th wedding anniversary, he congratulated us with gusto, and signed my shirt.
Now almost one year later, he is the presumptive nominee for our party! We are so excited, what a great 36th wedding anniversary present! Go Barack!
Following the event, Barack Obama met with the volunteers and when told it was our 35th wedding anniversary, he congratulated us with gusto, and signed my shirt.
Now almost one year later, he is the presumptive nominee for our party! We are so excited, what a great 36th wedding anniversary present! Go Barack!
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Should nurses be banned from taking gifts from patients?
My thoughts as posted on Medscape, do note I disagree with the word "exceptional", as nurses should be giving excellent care to ALL thier patients.
The question was this:
"Should nurses be banned from receiving gifts from those who received exceptional care from them? What’s your take on this?"
My Comments:
My thoughts are pro and con. 31 years ago, my co-workers and our patients threw a baby shower for me. This was on an Oncology floor, and many of our patients were not expected to survive their experimental cancer treatment. I was the first pregnant nurse in that facility in many, many years. The gifts that I recieved for my eldest daughter, many of which were hand made, are among some of the most precious things I have ever received. Even now, 31 years later, I can remember the names and faces of these patients, and the joy they had in making, or buying these items for my expected child. Many of them were still on the unit when I brought my newly born infant daughter by for everyone to see and to hold. The joy that I got from the gifts, and the joy my patients had when holding my newborn daughter were boundless.
So, yes, gifts can be wonderful. To this day I still take gifts of prepackaged food to nurses who are caring for my family members. I just think it is a thoughtful thing to do, and that it is not asking for favors, it's just a way to say thank you. It's not like getting free food, pens and post-it notes from drug companies, I think it is just a personal touch. Many will disagree with me. However, the baby gifts that were freely given to me, by my patients, back in the dark ages, are still revered at my home. Sometimes we will sit on the memory quilt made by my sister, in the (now) guest room upstairs and go through the box of things that my daughers had as babies. As I pull each item out to show my granddaughters I explain, this was from XXXX who lived in Moline, and she gave this to your mommy, and this was from a family in Iran, and this was from a reknowned newspaper food editor...and I remember each and every person, and the love and care that was expressed with each and every item given to me for my eldest daughter in 1976.
So, it can be a good thing, but is it necessary? No. Should we show favoritism for the family members that give gifts? No.
Each and every one of our patients, no matter their circumstances, should recieve the best of care from us, no matter what.
However, in recent years I have seen the less altrustic side of gift giving. Families trying to garner favor, etc. To me, this is tragic and sad.
The best rule of thumb would be to let patients and their families know that if they want to give something to the nursing staff, it should be something everyone can share, such as flowers, a tin of popcorn or things like that.
Sigh, the days of sweet and thoughtful gifts are probably gone forever. I will think of that the next time I open the (still gummy after 30 yrs) decoupaged box that was given to me by a patient's daughter. The patient, age 23, passed away soon after I was given the little box. I still use the box.
The question was this:
"Should nurses be banned from receiving gifts from those who received exceptional care from them? What’s your take on this?"
My Comments:
My thoughts are pro and con. 31 years ago, my co-workers and our patients threw a baby shower for me. This was on an Oncology floor, and many of our patients were not expected to survive their experimental cancer treatment. I was the first pregnant nurse in that facility in many, many years. The gifts that I recieved for my eldest daughter, many of which were hand made, are among some of the most precious things I have ever received. Even now, 31 years later, I can remember the names and faces of these patients, and the joy they had in making, or buying these items for my expected child. Many of them were still on the unit when I brought my newly born infant daughter by for everyone to see and to hold. The joy that I got from the gifts, and the joy my patients had when holding my newborn daughter were boundless.
So, yes, gifts can be wonderful. To this day I still take gifts of prepackaged food to nurses who are caring for my family members. I just think it is a thoughtful thing to do, and that it is not asking for favors, it's just a way to say thank you. It's not like getting free food, pens and post-it notes from drug companies, I think it is just a personal touch. Many will disagree with me. However, the baby gifts that were freely given to me, by my patients, back in the dark ages, are still revered at my home. Sometimes we will sit on the memory quilt made by my sister, in the (now) guest room upstairs and go through the box of things that my daughers had as babies. As I pull each item out to show my granddaughters I explain, this was from XXXX who lived in Moline, and she gave this to your mommy, and this was from a family in Iran, and this was from a reknowned newspaper food editor...and I remember each and every person, and the love and care that was expressed with each and every item given to me for my eldest daughter in 1976.
So, it can be a good thing, but is it necessary? No. Should we show favoritism for the family members that give gifts? No.
Each and every one of our patients, no matter their circumstances, should recieve the best of care from us, no matter what.
However, in recent years I have seen the less altrustic side of gift giving. Families trying to garner favor, etc. To me, this is tragic and sad.
The best rule of thumb would be to let patients and their families know that if they want to give something to the nursing staff, it should be something everyone can share, such as flowers, a tin of popcorn or things like that.
Sigh, the days of sweet and thoughtful gifts are probably gone forever. I will think of that the next time I open the (still gummy after 30 yrs) decoupaged box that was given to me by a patient's daughter. The patient, age 23, passed away soon after I was given the little box. I still use the box.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Saturday, April 05, 2008
Should we "Kevorkianize" the elderly?
My comments as posted on the McClatchy news page:
Basically, our so-called legislators want to rid our nation of "inconvenient people," you know, the elderly, the chronically ill....those inconvenient people who actually require healthcare.
Here's my idea. Let's challenge these idiots to line up all the inconvenient people they can find (oh you horrible oxygen users!) on the national mall. Then invite CNN and Fox to televise the proceedings as these inconvienent people are summarily executed.
Isn't that what they are really doing, quietly, and behind the scenes as they eliminate health care resources for those who need it?
As you well know, if the nation didn't see it on TV, well it didn't happen. So it should be shown on national TV; either executions of the ill, or we could put on a reality show, where we could watch people die, real time, as their oxygen, dialysis and medications were removed.
Furthermore, is Grandpa going to change out his oxygen tanks himself? Will he just plop the tank in the back of his Buick? An E cylinder weighs 13.5 lbs, but an H cylinder weighs 145 lbs. And, I am sure that Grandpa or Grandma knows how to trouble shoot the entire oxygen system that they use at home. They can change out parts, etc. after all, Grandma is a whiz with a screw driver!
Even if you buy the thing, you still need help when things don't work, or you can't manage to do it yourself. After all, not everyone can even open an E or H cylinder, it does take a bit of muscle to wrangle the wrench.
Guess we better send Grandma and Grandpa to the gym so they can work on strengthening exercises. Oh and let's send them to RT school so they learn to fix their own oxygen systems. After all, my husband learned to be an RRT in just a couple of years time, after he got his bachelor's degree. Piece of cake, ya'll.
____________________
The article:
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/226/story/32724.html#comments
Congress passed a law requiring a 36-month cap on renting equipment after the Department of Health and Human Services' inspector general put a spotlight on the disparate costs. After Jan. 1, 2009, Medicare beneficiaries who have been renting their equipment for three years will own the equipment, and the medical suppliers will get no more payments....
Critics argue that transferring ownership would be a mistake. Hundreds of small providers would be driven out of business, they say, and the elderly no longer would have their equipment serviced by the medical suppliers.
"Think of a World War II veteran," said Republican Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas. "He now has ownership of the oxygen tank. He says to his wife, Mabel, 'Mabel, how do I attach this oxygen so it works?' And she says, 'Well, it'd be a good idea, dear, if you put out your cigar.' I just don't think that that is the right way to go. This is the perfect storm."
Roberts has introduced a bill called the Home Oxygen Patient Protection Act to try to stop the change.
President Bush included the 13-month cap in his proposed 2009 budget in February. The administration mentioned the cuts again last month as a way to offset increased spending on a new farm bill.
Rep. Collin Peterson, a Minnesota Democrat who heads the House Agriculture Committee, quickly rejected the proposal.
Companies that provide home oxygen services say that Congress is targeting them unfairly. Benefits for their services are set to be cut by $1.5 billion over the next two years. That represents a reduction of more than 20 percent, said Peter Kelly, the chairman of the Council for Quality Respiratory Care, a group of home oxygen providers and manufacturers.
"That's not tinkering — that's amputation," he said. "And to consider further cuts on top of that is unwise public policy."
Kelly disputed the inspector general's report, calling it a politically motivated study. He said it was misleading to compare the costs of owning and renting equipment because the latter included service and supplies. And if elderly patients no longer have their equipment serviced, Kelly said, more of them will end up in emergency rooms, driving up costs in the long run.
The inspector general's report defended the plan, saying the machines require minimal servicing and maintenance and that the companies usually train users on how to maintain them.
"Maintenance for a portable system primarily consists of picking up empty cylinders and delivering full ones," the report said.
"Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine told Leavitt that the proposed cuts would have "a Draconian impact on states" that are serving the most needy.
"It represents broad-based cuts. ... It's going to represent 16 percent cuts for physician payments. You're cutting long-term care, hospice, home health care, hospitals, across the board," she said.
More than 1.4 million Medicare beneficiaries used home oxygen therapy in 2005, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Florida ranked first, with 125,200, followed by Texas and California, with 110,200 and 88,400, respectively. Alaska ranked lowest among the 50 states, with 1,500.
Basically, our so-called legislators want to rid our nation of "inconvenient people," you know, the elderly, the chronically ill....those inconvenient people who actually require healthcare.
Here's my idea. Let's challenge these idiots to line up all the inconvenient people they can find (oh you horrible oxygen users!) on the national mall. Then invite CNN and Fox to televise the proceedings as these inconvienent people are summarily executed.
Isn't that what they are really doing, quietly, and behind the scenes as they eliminate health care resources for those who need it?
As you well know, if the nation didn't see it on TV, well it didn't happen. So it should be shown on national TV; either executions of the ill, or we could put on a reality show, where we could watch people die, real time, as their oxygen, dialysis and medications were removed.
Furthermore, is Grandpa going to change out his oxygen tanks himself? Will he just plop the tank in the back of his Buick? An E cylinder weighs 13.5 lbs, but an H cylinder weighs 145 lbs. And, I am sure that Grandpa or Grandma knows how to trouble shoot the entire oxygen system that they use at home. They can change out parts, etc. after all, Grandma is a whiz with a screw driver!
Even if you buy the thing, you still need help when things don't work, or you can't manage to do it yourself. After all, not everyone can even open an E or H cylinder, it does take a bit of muscle to wrangle the wrench.
Guess we better send Grandma and Grandpa to the gym so they can work on strengthening exercises. Oh and let's send them to RT school so they learn to fix their own oxygen systems. After all, my husband learned to be an RRT in just a couple of years time, after he got his bachelor's degree. Piece of cake, ya'll.
____________________
The article:
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/226/story/32724.html#comments
Congress passed a law requiring a 36-month cap on renting equipment after the Department of Health and Human Services' inspector general put a spotlight on the disparate costs. After Jan. 1, 2009, Medicare beneficiaries who have been renting their equipment for three years will own the equipment, and the medical suppliers will get no more payments....
Critics argue that transferring ownership would be a mistake. Hundreds of small providers would be driven out of business, they say, and the elderly no longer would have their equipment serviced by the medical suppliers.
"Think of a World War II veteran," said Republican Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas. "He now has ownership of the oxygen tank. He says to his wife, Mabel, 'Mabel, how do I attach this oxygen so it works?' And she says, 'Well, it'd be a good idea, dear, if you put out your cigar.' I just don't think that that is the right way to go. This is the perfect storm."
Roberts has introduced a bill called the Home Oxygen Patient Protection Act to try to stop the change.
President Bush included the 13-month cap in his proposed 2009 budget in February. The administration mentioned the cuts again last month as a way to offset increased spending on a new farm bill.
Rep. Collin Peterson, a Minnesota Democrat who heads the House Agriculture Committee, quickly rejected the proposal.
Companies that provide home oxygen services say that Congress is targeting them unfairly. Benefits for their services are set to be cut by $1.5 billion over the next two years. That represents a reduction of more than 20 percent, said Peter Kelly, the chairman of the Council for Quality Respiratory Care, a group of home oxygen providers and manufacturers.
"That's not tinkering — that's amputation," he said. "And to consider further cuts on top of that is unwise public policy."
Kelly disputed the inspector general's report, calling it a politically motivated study. He said it was misleading to compare the costs of owning and renting equipment because the latter included service and supplies. And if elderly patients no longer have their equipment serviced, Kelly said, more of them will end up in emergency rooms, driving up costs in the long run.
The inspector general's report defended the plan, saying the machines require minimal servicing and maintenance and that the companies usually train users on how to maintain them.
"Maintenance for a portable system primarily consists of picking up empty cylinders and delivering full ones," the report said.
"Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine told Leavitt that the proposed cuts would have "a Draconian impact on states" that are serving the most needy.
"It represents broad-based cuts. ... It's going to represent 16 percent cuts for physician payments. You're cutting long-term care, hospice, home health care, hospitals, across the board," she said.
More than 1.4 million Medicare beneficiaries used home oxygen therapy in 2005, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Florida ranked first, with 125,200, followed by Texas and California, with 110,200 and 88,400, respectively. Alaska ranked lowest among the 50 states, with 1,500.
Monday, March 03, 2008
Bill Clinton during his campaign, vote for the person with hope
The past always comes back to haunt you. Hillary Clinton has resorted to fear mongering, but what did her husband say when HE ran?
The Silent Coup
We need a constitutional scholar to put things right, and that would be Sen. Obama. IMOH. Vote Obama Texas.
The Silent Coup:
How a Nation Ruled by Law, Becomes a Nation Ruled by Men
By Liza Persson
OpEd News
Thursday 28 February 2008
"We are living in an era of extraordinary expansion of executive authority…."
- Arlen Specter United States Senator (Republican Pennsylvania)
"[the Adminstration] asserted a broad doctrine of presidential "inherent authority" to ignore the laws passed by Congress when prosecuting the war on terror. In other words, the rule of law is suspended, and the President is above the law, for the uncertain and no doubt lengthy duration of the undefined war on terror"
- Patrick Leahy United States Senator (Democrat Vermont)
"If Congress doesn't have the power to define the contours of the President's Article II powers through legislation…//…If the President's legal theory, which is shared by some of our witnesses today, is correct…//…Under this theory, we no longer have a constitutional system consisting of three co-equal branches of government, we have a monarchy"
- Russ Feingold United States Senator (Democrat Wisconsin)
"It is our duty as loyal Americans to shut up once the fighting begins. Once the war against Saddam begins, we expect every American to support our military, and if they can't do that is to shut up."
- Bill O'Reilly
There is a battle far from getting the attention it deserves considering the stakes - the rule and governing of the USA.
You would only notice with great difficulty and after spending a lot of time viewing hearing in various congressional committees, picking up a piece here and another there, and painstakingly putting them into a historical context in a far from obvious manner.
At the center is the question of presidential power vis-a-vis the congress, a group of embittered individuals set on making right what they consider a violation of the constitution.
When many Americans saw a restoration of balance of power when Congress went after and eventually reined in the Executive Branch in the Iran-Contra Affair, others saw an unconstitutional and deeply offensive act of neutering. The same people saw the same unconstitutional usurpation of executive powers when, following the Vietnam War, laws were passed and investigations were launched attempting to explore and rein in what was seen as abuses of the executive branch's wartime powers (e.g Church Committee, Pike Committee, War Powers Act ).
Such an interpretations of congressional actions during this period, has been voiced by Robert F Turner - co-founder of the Center for National Security Law at the University of Virginia School of Law who served as counsel to the President's Intelligence Oversight Board, 1982-84. "My conclusion is the President has broken no constitutional law, but Congress in the wake of Vietnam broke many, with terrible consequences. I strongly recommend that the Committee rewrite the resolution to censure the post-Vietnam Congress which violated its oath of office of its members, undermined our security and contributed directly to the consignment to communist tyranny in Indochina of tens of millions of people we had promised to defend and to the slaughter of millions of others" One of them was Dick Cheney and the man who would become his legal advisor, David Addington.Turthout
The Silent Coup:
How a Nation Ruled by Law, Becomes a Nation Ruled by Men
By Liza Persson
OpEd News
Thursday 28 February 2008
"We are living in an era of extraordinary expansion of executive authority…."
- Arlen Specter United States Senator (Republican Pennsylvania)
"[the Adminstration] asserted a broad doctrine of presidential "inherent authority" to ignore the laws passed by Congress when prosecuting the war on terror. In other words, the rule of law is suspended, and the President is above the law, for the uncertain and no doubt lengthy duration of the undefined war on terror"
- Patrick Leahy United States Senator (Democrat Vermont)
"If Congress doesn't have the power to define the contours of the President's Article II powers through legislation…//…If the President's legal theory, which is shared by some of our witnesses today, is correct…//…Under this theory, we no longer have a constitutional system consisting of three co-equal branches of government, we have a monarchy"
- Russ Feingold United States Senator (Democrat Wisconsin)
"It is our duty as loyal Americans to shut up once the fighting begins. Once the war against Saddam begins, we expect every American to support our military, and if they can't do that is to shut up."
- Bill O'Reilly
There is a battle far from getting the attention it deserves considering the stakes - the rule and governing of the USA.
You would only notice with great difficulty and after spending a lot of time viewing hearing in various congressional committees, picking up a piece here and another there, and painstakingly putting them into a historical context in a far from obvious manner.
At the center is the question of presidential power vis-a-vis the congress, a group of embittered individuals set on making right what they consider a violation of the constitution.
When many Americans saw a restoration of balance of power when Congress went after and eventually reined in the Executive Branch in the Iran-Contra Affair, others saw an unconstitutional and deeply offensive act of neutering. The same people saw the same unconstitutional usurpation of executive powers when, following the Vietnam War, laws were passed and investigations were launched attempting to explore and rein in what was seen as abuses of the executive branch's wartime powers (e.g Church Committee, Pike Committee, War Powers Act ).
Such an interpretations of congressional actions during this period, has been voiced by Robert F Turner - co-founder of the Center for National Security Law at the University of Virginia School of Law who served as counsel to the President's Intelligence Oversight Board, 1982-84. "My conclusion is the President has broken no constitutional law, but Congress in the wake of Vietnam broke many, with terrible consequences. I strongly recommend that the Committee rewrite the resolution to censure the post-Vietnam Congress which violated its oath of office of its members, undermined our security and contributed directly to the consignment to communist tyranny in Indochina of tens of millions of people we had promised to defend and to the slaughter of millions of others" One of them was Dick Cheney and the man who would become his legal advisor, David Addington.Turthout
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Who is Barack Obama?
Watch the video, and be inspired. What do we need? New ideas and a constitutional scholar, and someone who will promote peace and justice and be respected across the world. Barack Obama is that man. Vote for Obama Texas!
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Friday, February 22, 2008
Friday, February 08, 2008
Super Tuesday AlamObama photos, we watched a winner!
BubbleShare: Share photos - Play some Online Games.
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Yes We Can!!!!!
Obama takes the following states:
Minnesota
Alabama
Delaware
Georgia
Illinois
Kansas
North Dakota
Utah
Connecticut
Idaho
Colorado
Alaska
Missouri
YES WE CAN!
Texas we are in play. Vote Obama!
It looke like Obama wins the delegate count! And we do know that expats are voting Obama for sure.
Minnesota
Alabama
Delaware
Georgia
Illinois
Kansas
North Dakota
Utah
Connecticut
Idaho
Colorado
Alaska
Missouri
YES WE CAN!
Texas we are in play. Vote Obama!
It looke like Obama wins the delegate count! And we do know that expats are voting Obama for sure.
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
AlamObama South Carolina victory party
BubbleShare: Share photos - Play some Online Games.
Yes progressivegrannie was knitting with Terrie. Gotta do something to calm the nerves, and black or white, knitting/crocheting, is a universal skill, joy, and nerve calmer.
Knitters/crocheters unite for Obama!
Yes progressivegrannie was knitting with Terrie. Gotta do something to calm the nerves, and black or white, knitting/crocheting, is a universal skill, joy, and nerve calmer.
Knitters/crocheters unite for Obama!
Friday, January 25, 2008
Interesting facts about South Carolina pertinent to the primary
The South Carolina You Won't See on CNN
South Carolina Primary Colors: Black and White?
by Greg Palast
South Carolina 2000: Six hundred police in riot gear facing a few dozen angry-as-hell workers on the docks of Charleston. In the darkness, rocks, clubs and blood fly. The cops beat the crap out of the protesters. Of course, it's the union men who are arrested for conspiracy to riot. And of course, of the five men handcuffed, four are Black. The prosecutor: a White, Bible-thumping Attorney General running for Governor. The result: a state ripped in half - White versus Black.
South Carolina 2008: On Saturday, the Palmetto State may well choose our President, or at least the Democrat's idea of a President. According to CNN and the pundit-ocracy, the only question is, Will the large Black population vote their pride (for Obama) or for "experience" (Hillary)? In other words, the election comes down to a matter of racial vanity.
The story of the dockworkers charged with rioting in 2000 suggest there's an awfully good reason for Black folk to vote for one of their own. This is the chance to even the historic score in this land of lingering Jim Crow where the Confederate Flag flew over the capital while the longshoreman faced Southern justice.
But maybe there's more to South Carolina's story than Black and White.
Let's re-wind the tape of the 2000 battle between cops and Black men. It was early that morning on the 19th of January when members of International Longshoremen's Association Local 1422 "shaped up" to unload a container ship which had just pulled into port. It was hard work for good pay. An experienced union man could earn above $60,000 a year.
In this last hold-out of the Confederacy, it was one of the few places a Black man could get decent pay. Or any man.
That day, the stevedoring contractor handling the unloading decided it would hire the beggars down the dock, without experience or skills - and without union cards - willing to work for just one-third of union scale.
That night, union workers - Black, White, Whatever - fought for their lives and livelihoods.
At the heart of the turmoil in South Carolina in 2000 then, was not so much Black versus White, but union versus non-union. It was a battle between those looking for a good day's pay versus those looking for a way not to pay it. The issue was - and is - class war, the conflict between the movers and the shakers and the moved and shaken.
The dockworkers of Charleston could see the future of America right down the road. Literally. Because right down the highway, they could see their cousins and brothers who worked in the Carolina textile mills kiss their jobs goodbye as they loaded the mill looms onto trains for Mexico.
The President, Bill Clinton, had signed NAFTA, made China a "most favored nation" in trade and urged us, with a flirtatious grin, to "make change our friend."
But "change," apparently, wasn't in a friendly mood. In 2000, Guilford Mills shuttered its Greensboro, Carolina, fabric plant and reopened it in Tampico, Mexico. Four-hundred jobs went south. Springs Mills of Rock Hill, SC, closed down and abandoned 480 workers. Fieldcrest-Cannon pulled out of York, SC, and Great America Mills simply went bust.
South Carolina, then, is the story of globalization left out of Thomas Friedman's wonders-of-the-free-market fantasies.
This week, while US media broadcasts cute-sy photo-ops from Black churches and replay the forgettable spats between candidates, the real issues of South Carolina are, thankfully, laid out in a book released today: On the Global Waterfront, by Suzan Erem and E. Paul Durrenberger.
Erem and Durrenberger portray the case of the Charleston Five dockworkers as an exemplary, desperate act of economic resistance.
Thomas Friedman's bestseller, The World is Flat, begins with his uplifting game of golf with a tycoon in India. Erem and Durrenberger never put on golf shoes: their book is globalization stripped down to its dirty underpants.
While Friedman made the point that he flew business class to Bangalore on his way to the greens to meet his millionaire, Global Waterfront's authors go steerage class. And the people they write about don't go anywhere at all. These are the stevedores who move the containers of Wal-Mart T-shirts from Guatemala to sell to customers in Virginia who can't afford health insurance because they lost their job in the textile mill.
And the book talks about (cover the children's ears!) - labor unions.
South Carolina is union country. And union-busting country. But who gives a flying fart about labor unions today? Only 7%, one in fourteen US workers belongs to one. That's less than the number of Americans who believe that Elvis killed John Kennedy.
Think "longshoremen" and what comes to mind is On the Waterfront with Marlon Brando, the good guy, beating up the evil union boss. The union bosses were the thugs, mobbed-up bullies, the dockworkers' enemies. The movie's director, Stanley Kramer, perfectly picked up the anti-union red-baiting Joe McCarthy zeitgeist of that era of - which could go down well today.
Elected labor leaders are, in our media, always "union bosses." But the real bosses, the CEOs, the guys who shutter factories and ship them to China … they're never "bosses," they're "entrepreneurs."
Indeed, the late and lionized King of Union Busters, Sam Walton, would be proud today, were he alive, to learn that the woman he called, "my little lady," Hillary Clinton, whom he placed on Wal-Mart's Board of Directors, is front-runner for the presidency. She could well become America's "Greeter," posted at our nation's door, to welcome the Saudis and Chinese who are buying America at a guaranteed low price.
So what happened those five union men charged felonious reioting in 2000? Through an international union campaign, they won back their freedom - and their union jobs - after the dockworkers of Spain, the true heroes of globalization, refused to unload the South Carolina scab cargoes.
Erem and Durrenberger ask themselves why they were so drawn to a story of five Carolina cargo-handlers put in prison a decade ago. Maybe it's because the Charleston Five show how courage and heart and solidarity can lead to victory in the midst of a mad march into globalization that threatens to turn us all into the Wal-Mart Five Billion.
**************
See video of the dockworkers' uprising and read more from the book, On the Global Waterfront, by Suzan Erem and E. Paul Durrenberger (introduction by Greg Palast) at http://www.ontheglobalwaterfront.org/.
South Carolina Primary Colors: Black and White?
by Greg Palast
South Carolina 2000: Six hundred police in riot gear facing a few dozen angry-as-hell workers on the docks of Charleston. In the darkness, rocks, clubs and blood fly. The cops beat the crap out of the protesters. Of course, it's the union men who are arrested for conspiracy to riot. And of course, of the five men handcuffed, four are Black. The prosecutor: a White, Bible-thumping Attorney General running for Governor. The result: a state ripped in half - White versus Black.
South Carolina 2008: On Saturday, the Palmetto State may well choose our President, or at least the Democrat's idea of a President. According to CNN and the pundit-ocracy, the only question is, Will the large Black population vote their pride (for Obama) or for "experience" (Hillary)? In other words, the election comes down to a matter of racial vanity.
The story of the dockworkers charged with rioting in 2000 suggest there's an awfully good reason for Black folk to vote for one of their own. This is the chance to even the historic score in this land of lingering Jim Crow where the Confederate Flag flew over the capital while the longshoreman faced Southern justice.
But maybe there's more to South Carolina's story than Black and White.
Let's re-wind the tape of the 2000 battle between cops and Black men. It was early that morning on the 19th of January when members of International Longshoremen's Association Local 1422 "shaped up" to unload a container ship which had just pulled into port. It was hard work for good pay. An experienced union man could earn above $60,000 a year.
In this last hold-out of the Confederacy, it was one of the few places a Black man could get decent pay. Or any man.
That day, the stevedoring contractor handling the unloading decided it would hire the beggars down the dock, without experience or skills - and without union cards - willing to work for just one-third of union scale.
That night, union workers - Black, White, Whatever - fought for their lives and livelihoods.
At the heart of the turmoil in South Carolina in 2000 then, was not so much Black versus White, but union versus non-union. It was a battle between those looking for a good day's pay versus those looking for a way not to pay it. The issue was - and is - class war, the conflict between the movers and the shakers and the moved and shaken.
The dockworkers of Charleston could see the future of America right down the road. Literally. Because right down the highway, they could see their cousins and brothers who worked in the Carolina textile mills kiss their jobs goodbye as they loaded the mill looms onto trains for Mexico.
The President, Bill Clinton, had signed NAFTA, made China a "most favored nation" in trade and urged us, with a flirtatious grin, to "make change our friend."
But "change," apparently, wasn't in a friendly mood. In 2000, Guilford Mills shuttered its Greensboro, Carolina, fabric plant and reopened it in Tampico, Mexico. Four-hundred jobs went south. Springs Mills of Rock Hill, SC, closed down and abandoned 480 workers. Fieldcrest-Cannon pulled out of York, SC, and Great America Mills simply went bust.
South Carolina, then, is the story of globalization left out of Thomas Friedman's wonders-of-the-free-market fantasies.
This week, while US media broadcasts cute-sy photo-ops from Black churches and replay the forgettable spats between candidates, the real issues of South Carolina are, thankfully, laid out in a book released today: On the Global Waterfront, by Suzan Erem and E. Paul Durrenberger.
Erem and Durrenberger portray the case of the Charleston Five dockworkers as an exemplary, desperate act of economic resistance.
Thomas Friedman's bestseller, The World is Flat, begins with his uplifting game of golf with a tycoon in India. Erem and Durrenberger never put on golf shoes: their book is globalization stripped down to its dirty underpants.
While Friedman made the point that he flew business class to Bangalore on his way to the greens to meet his millionaire, Global Waterfront's authors go steerage class. And the people they write about don't go anywhere at all. These are the stevedores who move the containers of Wal-Mart T-shirts from Guatemala to sell to customers in Virginia who can't afford health insurance because they lost their job in the textile mill.
And the book talks about (cover the children's ears!) - labor unions.
South Carolina is union country. And union-busting country. But who gives a flying fart about labor unions today? Only 7%, one in fourteen US workers belongs to one. That's less than the number of Americans who believe that Elvis killed John Kennedy.
Think "longshoremen" and what comes to mind is On the Waterfront with Marlon Brando, the good guy, beating up the evil union boss. The union bosses were the thugs, mobbed-up bullies, the dockworkers' enemies. The movie's director, Stanley Kramer, perfectly picked up the anti-union red-baiting Joe McCarthy zeitgeist of that era of - which could go down well today.
Elected labor leaders are, in our media, always "union bosses." But the real bosses, the CEOs, the guys who shutter factories and ship them to China … they're never "bosses," they're "entrepreneurs."
Indeed, the late and lionized King of Union Busters, Sam Walton, would be proud today, were he alive, to learn that the woman he called, "my little lady," Hillary Clinton, whom he placed on Wal-Mart's Board of Directors, is front-runner for the presidency. She could well become America's "Greeter," posted at our nation's door, to welcome the Saudis and Chinese who are buying America at a guaranteed low price.
So what happened those five union men charged felonious reioting in 2000? Through an international union campaign, they won back their freedom - and their union jobs - after the dockworkers of Spain, the true heroes of globalization, refused to unload the South Carolina scab cargoes.
Erem and Durrenberger ask themselves why they were so drawn to a story of five Carolina cargo-handlers put in prison a decade ago. Maybe it's because the Charleston Five show how courage and heart and solidarity can lead to victory in the midst of a mad march into globalization that threatens to turn us all into the Wal-Mart Five Billion.
**************
See video of the dockworkers' uprising and read more from the book, On the Global Waterfront, by Suzan Erem and E. Paul Durrenberger (introduction by Greg Palast) at http://www.ontheglobalwaterfront.org/.
The Politics of an Economic Nightmare
Check this out, Robert Reich really spells it out.......
posted by Robert Reich | 8:07 AM | 180 comments
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
The Politics of an Economic Nightmare
A possible economic meltdown is worrisome enough, but a possible meltdown in an election year is downright frightening. For months now, Republicans have been pushing the White House to take some action that looked and sounded big enough to give them some cover if and when things got worse. President Bush has now responded with a stimulus package more than twice as large as the one Bill Clinton briefly entertained at the start of 1993 but couldn't get passed.
Not to be outdone, Democrats want to appear at least as bold, which means they'll suspend pay-go rules and throw fiscal responsibility out the window. In other words, hold your noses, because the "bipartisan" stimulus package that's about to be introduced could be a real stinker, including tax cuts for everyone and everything under the sun -- except, perhaps, for the key group of lower-income Americans. These are the people who don't earn enough to pay much if any income taxes, but who are the most likely to spend whatever extra money they get and therefore are most likely to stimulate the economy. The real behind-the-scenes battle will be over whose constituencies get what tax cuts, and for how long. Don't be surprised if the only thing Congress really stimulates is campaign contributions.
Meanwhile, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke and Co. have surprised everyone with a rate cut larger and sooner than expected. The three-quarters of a percentage point ("75 basis points" in biz-speak) cut announced Tuesday morning may not sound like much, but it's bigger than any rate cut in decades. The politics here are more subtle because Bernanke and his Federal Reserve governors are supposed to be independent of politics. But as witnessed under the reign of previous chairman Alan "it's prudent to reduce the surplus with a tax cut" Greenspan, Fed chairs can have political agendas. Bernanke has been under a lot of pressure lately to cut rates big-time -- and the pressure has come not only from Washington Republicans but from panicked Wall Street Democrats, including, apparently, my old colleague Robert Rubin, formerly President Clinton's treasury secretary. (By the way, what could Rubin have been thinking when he allowed Citicorp to sell all those fancy securitized debt instruments, while agreeing to buy them back if they couldn't be resold?) Expect lots and lots more Washington activity -- enough seemingly bold strokes to convince voters that our nation's capital is doing whatever is necessary to stop whatever seems to be going wrong with the economy.
The problem is, people have different views about what's going wrong. Wall Street sees it as a credit crisis -- a mess that seems never to reach bottom because nobody on Wall Street has any idea how many bad loans are out there. Therefore, nobody knows how big the losses are likely to be when the bottom is finally reached. And precisely because nobody knows, nobody wants to lend any more money. A rate cut won't change this. It's like offering a 10-pound lobster to someone so constipated he can't take in another mouthful.
Main Street sees it as a housing crisis. As I've noted, homes are the biggest assets Americans own -- their golden geese for retirement and their piggy banks for home equity loans and refinancing. But home prices have been dropping quickly. It's the first time this has happened in many decades -- beyond the memories of most Americans, which is why they never expected it to happen, why they bought houses so readily when credit was so easily available, and why so many people bought two or more of them, speculating and fixing up and then flipping. But now several million Americans may lose their homes, and tens of millions more have only their credit cards to live on and are reaching the outer limits of what they can spend. As consumer spending shrinks, companies will reduce production and cut payrolls. That has already begun to happen. It's called recession.
How much worse can it get? As I said before, the housing bubble drove home prices up 20 to 40 percent above historic averages relative to earnings and rents. So now that the bubble is bursting, you can expect prices to drop by roughly the same amount, and new home construction to contract. The latter plunged last month to its lowest point in more than 16 years. A managing partner of a large Wall Street financial house told me a few days ago the scenario could get much worse. He gave a 20 percent chance of a depression.
Even if a stimulus package were precisely targeted to consumers most likely to spend any money they received, the housing slump could overwhelm it. According to a recent estimate by Merrill-Lynch, the slump will hit consumer spending to the tune of $360 billion this year and next. That's more than double the size of the stimulus package President Bush or any leading Democrat is now talking about. And the Merrill-Lynch estimate is conservative.
In reality, the crisis is both a credit crunch and the bursting of the housing bubble. Wall Street is in terrible shape and Main Street is about to be in terrible shape. And there's not a whole lot that can be done about either of these problems -- because they are the results of years of lax credit standards, get-rich-quick schemes, wild speculation on Wall Street and in the housing market, and gross irresponsibility by the Fed, the Treasury and the Comptroller of the Currency.
As a practical matter, our only real hope for avoiding a deep recession or worse depends on loans and investments from abroad -- some major U.S. financial firms have already gotten key cash infusions from foreign governments buying stakes in them -- combined with export earnings as the dollar continues to weaken. But this is something no politician wants to admit, especially in an election year. So we're going to go through weeks of posturing about stimulus packages of one sort or another, and then see enacted the big fat bonanza of a temporary tax break that will likely have little effect. That, perhaps along with a few more rate cuts by the Fed. The presidential candidates will be asked what should be done about the worsening economy, and they'll give vague answers. None will likely admit the truth: We're going to need the rest of the world to bail us out.
posted by Robert Reich | 8:07 AM | 180 comments
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
The Politics of an Economic Nightmare
A possible economic meltdown is worrisome enough, but a possible meltdown in an election year is downright frightening. For months now, Republicans have been pushing the White House to take some action that looked and sounded big enough to give them some cover if and when things got worse. President Bush has now responded with a stimulus package more than twice as large as the one Bill Clinton briefly entertained at the start of 1993 but couldn't get passed.
Not to be outdone, Democrats want to appear at least as bold, which means they'll suspend pay-go rules and throw fiscal responsibility out the window. In other words, hold your noses, because the "bipartisan" stimulus package that's about to be introduced could be a real stinker, including tax cuts for everyone and everything under the sun -- except, perhaps, for the key group of lower-income Americans. These are the people who don't earn enough to pay much if any income taxes, but who are the most likely to spend whatever extra money they get and therefore are most likely to stimulate the economy. The real behind-the-scenes battle will be over whose constituencies get what tax cuts, and for how long. Don't be surprised if the only thing Congress really stimulates is campaign contributions.
Meanwhile, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke and Co. have surprised everyone with a rate cut larger and sooner than expected. The three-quarters of a percentage point ("75 basis points" in biz-speak) cut announced Tuesday morning may not sound like much, but it's bigger than any rate cut in decades. The politics here are more subtle because Bernanke and his Federal Reserve governors are supposed to be independent of politics. But as witnessed under the reign of previous chairman Alan "it's prudent to reduce the surplus with a tax cut" Greenspan, Fed chairs can have political agendas. Bernanke has been under a lot of pressure lately to cut rates big-time -- and the pressure has come not only from Washington Republicans but from panicked Wall Street Democrats, including, apparently, my old colleague Robert Rubin, formerly President Clinton's treasury secretary. (By the way, what could Rubin have been thinking when he allowed Citicorp to sell all those fancy securitized debt instruments, while agreeing to buy them back if they couldn't be resold?) Expect lots and lots more Washington activity -- enough seemingly bold strokes to convince voters that our nation's capital is doing whatever is necessary to stop whatever seems to be going wrong with the economy.
The problem is, people have different views about what's going wrong. Wall Street sees it as a credit crisis -- a mess that seems never to reach bottom because nobody on Wall Street has any idea how many bad loans are out there. Therefore, nobody knows how big the losses are likely to be when the bottom is finally reached. And precisely because nobody knows, nobody wants to lend any more money. A rate cut won't change this. It's like offering a 10-pound lobster to someone so constipated he can't take in another mouthful.
Main Street sees it as a housing crisis. As I've noted, homes are the biggest assets Americans own -- their golden geese for retirement and their piggy banks for home equity loans and refinancing. But home prices have been dropping quickly. It's the first time this has happened in many decades -- beyond the memories of most Americans, which is why they never expected it to happen, why they bought houses so readily when credit was so easily available, and why so many people bought two or more of them, speculating and fixing up and then flipping. But now several million Americans may lose their homes, and tens of millions more have only their credit cards to live on and are reaching the outer limits of what they can spend. As consumer spending shrinks, companies will reduce production and cut payrolls. That has already begun to happen. It's called recession.
How much worse can it get? As I said before, the housing bubble drove home prices up 20 to 40 percent above historic averages relative to earnings and rents. So now that the bubble is bursting, you can expect prices to drop by roughly the same amount, and new home construction to contract. The latter plunged last month to its lowest point in more than 16 years. A managing partner of a large Wall Street financial house told me a few days ago the scenario could get much worse. He gave a 20 percent chance of a depression.
Even if a stimulus package were precisely targeted to consumers most likely to spend any money they received, the housing slump could overwhelm it. According to a recent estimate by Merrill-Lynch, the slump will hit consumer spending to the tune of $360 billion this year and next. That's more than double the size of the stimulus package President Bush or any leading Democrat is now talking about. And the Merrill-Lynch estimate is conservative.
In reality, the crisis is both a credit crunch and the bursting of the housing bubble. Wall Street is in terrible shape and Main Street is about to be in terrible shape. And there's not a whole lot that can be done about either of these problems -- because they are the results of years of lax credit standards, get-rich-quick schemes, wild speculation on Wall Street and in the housing market, and gross irresponsibility by the Fed, the Treasury and the Comptroller of the Currency.
As a practical matter, our only real hope for avoiding a deep recession or worse depends on loans and investments from abroad -- some major U.S. financial firms have already gotten key cash infusions from foreign governments buying stakes in them -- combined with export earnings as the dollar continues to weaken. But this is something no politician wants to admit, especially in an election year. So we're going to go through weeks of posturing about stimulus packages of one sort or another, and then see enacted the big fat bonanza of a temporary tax break that will likely have little effect. That, perhaps along with a few more rate cuts by the Fed. The presidential candidates will be asked what should be done about the worsening economy, and they'll give vague answers. None will likely admit the truth: We're going to need the rest of the world to bail us out.
Want to prevent a depression? Impeach Cheney
Want to Prevent a Depression? Impeach Dick Cheney
By Bob Fertik, Democrats.com
Posted on January 25, 2008, Printed on January 25, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/story/74754/
As we all know, Nancy Pelosi's "Capitulation Congress" will do absolutely everything it can to avoid a battle with Bush over his utter contempt for the Constitution, the rule of law and even Congress itself.
Remember Pelosi's 2006 campaign reason No. 1 for electing a Democratic Congress? "Subpoena power." So what about all those subpoenas Bush flagrantly and illegally defied in 2007? Never mind, says Pelosi.
House Democrats will postpone votes on criminal contempt citations against White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Miers, while congressional leaders work with President Bush on a bipartisan stimulus package to fend off an economic downturn, according to party leaders and leadership aides.
Senior Democrats have decided that holding a controversial vote on the contempt citations, which have already been approved by the House Judiciary Committee as part of its investigation into the firing of nine U.S. attorneys, would "step on their message" of bipartisan unity in the midst of the stimulus package talks.
Ah, "bipartisan unity." If that phrase means anything, doesn't it require compromise by both parties? So why is it that since Reagan came to Washington in 1981 -- including the eight years of President Clinton -- "bipartisan unity" has always meant Democratic capitulation to Republicans? Every progressive knows what Republican Grover Norquist famously said: "Bipartisanship is another name for date rape."
At the moment, the Washington establishment -- and Democratic "leaders" -- believe the slightest hint of constitutional conflict would terrify financial markets and trigger a depression. So if "bipartisan unity" is the issue-above-all-other-issues, why doesn't the Washington establishment demand that Bush show some bipartisanship by respecting lawful (and entirely justified) congressional subpoenas?
American business leaders arrogantly tell foreign leaders that economic growth is impossible without the "rule of law." Well, without the basic legal tool of subpoenas, there is no rule of law -- in the third world or in the United States.
Just imagine what Bush would say if Vladimir Putin defied subpoenas from his parliament. By refusing to hold Bush in contempt, Congress is allowing Bush to be more of a dictator than Putin.
Personally, I believe the single most important thing Congress could do to prevent a depression and restore the pillars of our legal-economic system is to get to the source of all White House legal obstruction -- by starting impeachment hearings for Dick Cheney as advocated by Rep. Robert Wexler. Why?
http://www.alternet.org/story/74754/
IMHO, our so-called national leaders are fiddling while Rome burns. The chicken shit Dems sit on their sorry butts, doing nothing but spouting platitudes. When oh when will they get the intestinal fortitude to DO SOMETHING????
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Monday, January 21, 2008
MLK March 2008, San Antonio
San Antonio has the largest MLK March in the nation. For those of us who don't have the day off, it means taking a vacation day to participate. Worth every minute of it.
We (the AlamObamas) had 200 in our group, as we marched with about 100,000 of our closest friends.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
My letter to the editor of the Boerne Star:
My grandson and I planned to attend the MLK march on Jan. 21, 2008, for the 3rd year in a row. I was quite surprised to find that my grandson no longer has MLK day off. Evidently this year the BISD decided that our children should attend school on MLK Day. I fought for years with other parents in the BISD to get this holiday granted to our children, and it was. Now, my grandchildren are required to attend school on this day, this year.
I am extremely angry about this. The legacy of those who fought for civil rights with MLK is now ignored and abandoned by the BISD, why?
For me, and my grandkids, MLK day and the march in San Antonio, with about 100,000 of our closest friends, is an important event. During the 3 mile walk, we pass by the markers denoting each and every landmark event during the civil rights movement. it gives me time to discuss each event with my grandchildren, review what they have (and have not learned) in school, and explain/discuss the history of civil rights in our nation. This is one of the singularly most important events for me as a grandparent. It's not Christmas or a birthday, there are no presents, it's quality time spent learning.
If the BISD won't mark MLK day as a school holiday, they should at the very least, allow children who attend the MLK march to have an excused day off from school.
My grandson and I planned to attend the MLK march on Jan. 21, 2008, for the 3rd year in a row. I was quite surprised to find that my grandson no longer has MLK day off. Evidently this year the BISD decided that our children should attend school on MLK Day. I fought for years with other parents in the BISD to get this holiday granted to our children, and it was. Now, my grandchildren are required to attend school on this day, this year.
I am extremely angry about this. The legacy of those who fought for civil rights with MLK is now ignored and abandoned by the BISD, why?
For me, and my grandkids, MLK day and the march in San Antonio, with about 100,000 of our closest friends, is an important event. During the 3 mile walk, we pass by the markers denoting each and every landmark event during the civil rights movement. it gives me time to discuss each event with my grandchildren, review what they have (and have not learned) in school, and explain/discuss the history of civil rights in our nation. This is one of the singularly most important events for me as a grandparent. It's not Christmas or a birthday, there are no presents, it's quality time spent learning.
If the BISD won't mark MLK day as a school holiday, they should at the very least, allow children who attend the MLK march to have an excused day off from school.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
WTF again...!!!!!
Anthony Stevens, New Hampshire's assistant secretary of state, said on Thursday that the hand count-computer count discrepancy was not unusual. He noted that in 2004 Democrat Howard Dean largely carried the hand-count precincts while John Kerry won most of the computer-count locales.
However, later on Thursday, Bruce O'Dell, an information technology consultant who is coordinating Election Defense Alliance's analysis, found the percentages of the vote given to Obama and Clinton, according to which counting method was used, were mirror images "down to the sixth decimal place."
"There is a remarkable relationship between Obama and Clinton votes, when you look at votes tabulated by op-scan (computers) versus votes tabulated by hand:
Clinton optical scan: 91,717 (52.95%)
Obama optican scan: 81,495 (47.05%)
Clinton hand-counted: 20,889 (47.05%)
Obama hand-counted: 23,509 (52.95%)
"The percentages seem to be swapped," he wrote, in a short piece posted Thursday on OpEdNews.com. "That seems highly unusual, to say the least."
O'Dell's report has lead many election integrity activists to conclude that New Hampshire's Democratic primary was "stolen" for Clinton. There have been numerous emails saying exactly that on a list-serve used by activists who are parsing the official primary results. Clinton beat Obama by 7,603 votes, according to the official results.full article
_________________
WTF???? What is really going on? Earlier article have referred to the vote discrepancy, but now a second article as well. Are we again being sold down the river, for corporate interests who control voting machines?
Our democracy is obviously finished. Sigh.
However, later on Thursday, Bruce O'Dell, an information technology consultant who is coordinating Election Defense Alliance's analysis, found the percentages of the vote given to Obama and Clinton, according to which counting method was used, were mirror images "down to the sixth decimal place."
"There is a remarkable relationship between Obama and Clinton votes, when you look at votes tabulated by op-scan (computers) versus votes tabulated by hand:
Clinton optical scan: 91,717 (52.95%)
Obama optican scan: 81,495 (47.05%)
Clinton hand-counted: 20,889 (47.05%)
Obama hand-counted: 23,509 (52.95%)
"The percentages seem to be swapped," he wrote, in a short piece posted Thursday on OpEdNews.com. "That seems highly unusual, to say the least."
O'Dell's report has lead many election integrity activists to conclude that New Hampshire's Democratic primary was "stolen" for Clinton. There have been numerous emails saying exactly that on a list-serve used by activists who are parsing the official primary results. Clinton beat Obama by 7,603 votes, according to the official results.full article
_________________
WTF???? What is really going on? Earlier article have referred to the vote discrepancy, but now a second article as well. Are we again being sold down the river, for corporate interests who control voting machines?
Our democracy is obviously finished. Sigh.
WTF ????
In Voiding Suit, Appellate Court Says Torture Is To Be Expected
By Greg Gordon
McClatchy Newspapers
Friday 11 January 2008
Washington - A federal appeals court Friday threw out a suit by four British Muslims who allege that they were tortured and subjected to religious abuse in the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a ruling that exonerated 11 present and former senior Pentagon officials.
It appeared to be the first time that a federal appellate court has ruled on the legality of the harsh interrogation tactics that U.S. intelligence officers and military personnel have used on suspected terrorists held outside the United States since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The detainees allege that they were held in stress positions, interrogated for sessions lasting 24 hours, intimidated with dogs and isolated in darkness and that their beards were shaved.
The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the detainees captured in Afghanistan aren't recognized as "persons" under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act because they were aliens held outside the United States. The Religious Freedom Act prohibits the government from "substantially burdening a person's religion."
The court rejected other claims on the grounds that then-Attorney General John Ashcroft had certified that the military officials were acting within the scope of their jobs when they authorized the tactics, and that such tactics were "foreseeable."
link to remainder of article
WTF???? Are these judges just nuts? Is this really what our nation stands for...oh, well, fuck the constitution and we can decide who are people and who are not? Didn't we decide the who are people thing with the emancipation proclamation, among other things?
Are we a nation of laws or of men? Obviously a nation of fascistic men. One more rung on the ladder to a fascist state has been climbed.
By Greg Gordon
McClatchy Newspapers
Friday 11 January 2008
Washington - A federal appeals court Friday threw out a suit by four British Muslims who allege that they were tortured and subjected to religious abuse in the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a ruling that exonerated 11 present and former senior Pentagon officials.
It appeared to be the first time that a federal appellate court has ruled on the legality of the harsh interrogation tactics that U.S. intelligence officers and military personnel have used on suspected terrorists held outside the United States since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The detainees allege that they were held in stress positions, interrogated for sessions lasting 24 hours, intimidated with dogs and isolated in darkness and that their beards were shaved.
The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the detainees captured in Afghanistan aren't recognized as "persons" under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act because they were aliens held outside the United States. The Religious Freedom Act prohibits the government from "substantially burdening a person's religion."
The court rejected other claims on the grounds that then-Attorney General John Ashcroft had certified that the military officials were acting within the scope of their jobs when they authorized the tactics, and that such tactics were "foreseeable."
link to remainder of article
WTF???? Are these judges just nuts? Is this really what our nation stands for...oh, well, fuck the constitution and we can decide who are people and who are not? Didn't we decide the who are people thing with the emancipation proclamation, among other things?
Are we a nation of laws or of men? Obviously a nation of fascistic men. One more rung on the ladder to a fascist state has been climbed.
Friday, January 11, 2008
happy new year!
It's time for new beginnings, and I am beginning a new venture, bento box lunches! We will see how proficient I get.
The year promises to be interesting. Bush will have to go bye bye, and the electioneering will go on and on.
My hope is that Obama wins.
Time will tell.
The year promises to be interesting. Bush will have to go bye bye, and the electioneering will go on and on.
My hope is that Obama wins.
Time will tell.
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Obama wins Iowa!!!!!
I am so excited I can hardly stand it! 4 years ago, I worked on the Dean campaign in Iowa, and the ending was marred by media B.S. and manipulation. Dean may have lost, but we, the grassroots supporters were well trained to move on and work in other campaigns. The Obama campaign shows what we learned. Kids went to caucus in PJ's (the current fashion in some parts of Iowa), and they caucused and stood their ground! Obama won!
I am still smiling. We need change, big change. It is time for the younger generation to get out there and take it away from the rusty, moldy old guys in D.C. I bow to the younger generation, and say, please, go forward and make this a better USA, less corporate, more geared for the middle class. Some of your elders (I do not include myself) have forgotten what we strived for when we were young. Perhaps younger folks can revive our old ideals and add their own, which would include caring for those less fortunate, building a coalition to develop a national health care plan, and more.
Video of Obama in Ankeny, Iowa, where I campaigned in 2004, a very nice city with great restaurants and wonderful folks with fabulous flower gardens and vegetable gardens. I bow to the Iowa women when it comes to their gardens.
I am still smiling. We need change, big change. It is time for the younger generation to get out there and take it away from the rusty, moldy old guys in D.C. I bow to the younger generation, and say, please, go forward and make this a better USA, less corporate, more geared for the middle class. Some of your elders (I do not include myself) have forgotten what we strived for when we were young. Perhaps younger folks can revive our old ideals and add their own, which would include caring for those less fortunate, building a coalition to develop a national health care plan, and more.
Video of Obama in Ankeny, Iowa, where I campaigned in 2004, a very nice city with great restaurants and wonderful folks with fabulous flower gardens and vegetable gardens. I bow to the Iowa women when it comes to their gardens.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Barack addresses Jefferson Iowa
Photo taken by my friend Jen, who is currently campaigning in Iowa for Obama. Great photo!
Tomorrow, the caucuses occur, and it's nail biting time. No matter what the media says, the Iowa caucuses are unpredictable and they are influential in the race.
I am keeping my fingers crossed for sure.
Tomorrow, the caucuses occur, and it's nail biting time. No matter what the media says, the Iowa caucuses are unpredictable and they are influential in the race.
I am keeping my fingers crossed for sure.
Monday, December 24, 2007
The Eve of Christmas Eve 2007
Last year at this time, I was worrying about my mother, and how to take her out of the hell that was the nursing home where I had placed after a short illness left her confused, disoriented and unable to care for herself.
Mom was 91, and had been doing quite well until she fell in Nov. She developed a pleural effusion, which made her breathing more difficult. Fluid was drained from outside her lungs twice, with relief noted, as far as breathing. The thing that was her undoing, was removing her from her familiar environment, which made her confused. Added to that, was the uncaring attitude of nursing professionals who could not believe (even me, her daughter) that she did not come to the hospital from a nursing home. It is sad to think that nursing professionals could not believe that 91+ women can actually function and perform self-care tasks by themselves. I guess because they only see the ill, they don't realize that there are a whole host of elders out there in the world functioning just perfectly, thank you, that don't end up in a hospital until some minorish illness fells them, and they then need care.
Wake up people! They are elders that do quite well until they are felled by minor illness and that minor illness then leads to their downfall, inability to care for themselves and then death. As a health care professional, I want my fellow nurses to wake up and realize that we need to ask families questions about levels of functioning, and find how we can best help the elder to improve and get back to independence. If we do not, we fail as professionals.
As my mother descended into the hell of inability to care for herself and into confusion, she passed away. With all I knew, and all I tried to do, nothing helped.
I hope others have a better outcome. I hope that Social Workers, Nurses, and discharge personnel will help you, but I am afraid that won't happen.
God bless of all you who take care of your elderly parents at home. We know how hard it is, and how little support there is. Hang in there!
Mom was 91, and had been doing quite well until she fell in Nov. She developed a pleural effusion, which made her breathing more difficult. Fluid was drained from outside her lungs twice, with relief noted, as far as breathing. The thing that was her undoing, was removing her from her familiar environment, which made her confused. Added to that, was the uncaring attitude of nursing professionals who could not believe (even me, her daughter) that she did not come to the hospital from a nursing home. It is sad to think that nursing professionals could not believe that 91+ women can actually function and perform self-care tasks by themselves. I guess because they only see the ill, they don't realize that there are a whole host of elders out there in the world functioning just perfectly, thank you, that don't end up in a hospital until some minorish illness fells them, and they then need care.
Wake up people! They are elders that do quite well until they are felled by minor illness and that minor illness then leads to their downfall, inability to care for themselves and then death. As a health care professional, I want my fellow nurses to wake up and realize that we need to ask families questions about levels of functioning, and find how we can best help the elder to improve and get back to independence. If we do not, we fail as professionals.
As my mother descended into the hell of inability to care for herself and into confusion, she passed away. With all I knew, and all I tried to do, nothing helped.
I hope others have a better outcome. I hope that Social Workers, Nurses, and discharge personnel will help you, but I am afraid that won't happen.
God bless of all you who take care of your elderly parents at home. We know how hard it is, and how little support there is. Hang in there!
Friday, December 21, 2007
Articles of interest
Innocent Icelandic Woman Chained, Held, Tortured by Homeland Security at Airport
link
Paul Krugman Has Housing Bubble News That Will Scare the Crap Out of You
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/#71319
Obama and Me.
by icebergslim
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/12/21/101348/30/142/424982
link
Paul Krugman Has Housing Bubble News That Will Scare the Crap Out of You
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/#71319
Obama and Me.
by icebergslim
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/12/21/101348/30/142/424982
Electronic bracelets and criminal checks before evacuation in Texas
Texans seeking to escape the next hurricane or state emergency by evacuation bus will first be submitted to criminal background checks, the state's emergency management director says. link
This is another affront to civil liberties. What's more, once they scan you and tell you which bus to get on, what will they do with you? Minorities one place, elderly another, etc. What a nifty way to disappear people.
This is another affront to civil liberties. What's more, once they scan you and tell you which bus to get on, what will they do with you? Minorities one place, elderly another, etc. What a nifty way to disappear people.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
AlamObamas Open House in San Antonio
A diverse group, working for Barack Obama. A very fun party as we opened the HQ for Obama in San Antonio.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Volunteers needed on Dec. 21 at Audie Murphy VA Hospital
I am passing out phone cards to veterans on Dec. 21st at Audie Murphy VA. Time will be 2 pm. We will meet at the volunteer center, which is the small building to the right of the main entrance. Contact me if you wish to join in! I did this last year and it was a wonderful experience.
The bad and the ugly... is there any good news out there? Nah
Some random things I found today. The information from Alternet is not complete, I seem to be having great difficulty accessing Alternet at home. Wonder if GVTC is blocking access or if there is another reason? It's the only site I have trouble getting to load.
Any way, these items are just a sampling of the things that are bugging me. It's just tougher and tougher to get our salaries to stretch through the month, and we have even decreased expenses. We don't go out, we don't rent or buy movies, and rarely buy more than groceries. What the hell will retirement be like? I shudder to think.
The American Dream is Alive and Well ... in Finland!
By Joshua Holland, AlterNet.
But new research suggests the United States' much-ballyhooed upward mobility is a myth, and one that's slipping further from reality with each new generation. On average, younger Americans are not doing better than their parents did, it's harder to move up the economic ladder in the United States than it is in a number of other wealthy countries, and a person in today's work force is as likely to experience downward mobility as he or she is to move up.
Moreover, the single greatest predictor of how much an American will earn is how much their parents make. In short, the United States, contrary to popular belief, is not a true meritocracy, and the American worker is getting a bum deal, the worst of both worlds. Not only is a significant portion of the middle class hanging on by the narrowest of threads, not only do fewer working people have secure retirements to look forward to, not only are nearly one in seven Americans uninsured, but working people also enjoy less opportunity to pull themselves up by their bootstraps than those in a number of other advanced economies....
Americans enjoy significantly less upward mobility than citizens of a number of other industrialized nations (some of the studies can be accessed here, here and here). German workers have 1.5 times the mobility of Americans, Canada is nearly 2.5 times more mobile and Denmark is 3 times more mobile. Norway, Finland, Sweden and France (France!) are all more mobile societies than the United States. Of the countries included in the studies, the United States ranked near the bottom; only the United Kingdom came in lower....
Roughly speaking, the decrease in relative mobility from generation to generation correlates with the rise of "backlash" conservatism, the advent of Reaganomics and the series of massive changes in industrial relations and other policies that people loosely refer to as the "era of globalization."...
Sawhill looked at the relationship between education and mobility (PDF) and concluded that "at virtually every level, education in America tends to perpetuate rather than compensate for existing inequalities." She pointed to three reasons for that.
First, we have a relatively weak K-12 system. "American students perform poorly on international assessments," she wrote. "Colleges are forced to provide remedial work to a large share of entering freshmen, and employers complain about workers' basic skills." A society with a weak education system will, by definition, be one in which the advantages of class and family background loom large.
Second, the U.S. education system is largely funded through state and local property taxes, which means that the quality of a kid's education depends on the wealth of the community in which he or she grows up. This, too, helps replicate parents' economic status in their kids.
Finally, Sawhill notes, in the United States, unlike other advanced economies, "access both to a quality preschool experience and to higher education continues to depend quite directly on family resources."...The decline in organized labor and solid, good-paying manufacturing jobs is another factor. Those jobs once represented a ladder;...
SNIP---
The article below is true and sums up my feelings that we are being had by ALL the politicians.
Why the Democrats Could Lose
But the smug Democratic hierarchy may be inviting defeat, again, by ignoring the fact that many Americans want leadership that appeals to them on the higher plane of principle. Instead, Democrats often treat Americans more like consumers than citizens, selling them new social programs rather than articulating an uplifting national cause.
Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York summed up this consumer-over-citizen approach when she announced her health care plan on Sept. 17:
"We can talk all we want about freedom and opportunity, about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but what does all that mean to a mother or father who can't take a sick child to the doctor?" [Boston Globe, Sept. 18, 2007]
Perhaps a different question might be: why would a presidential candidate see the founding principles of the United States as somehow at odds with the desire of parents to want health care for their children?
With her dubious dichotomy, Sen. Clinton suggests that it’s an either-or situation – and that the founding principles must take a backseat to health-care policy.
One outgrowth of this pragmatism-not-principle approach is that national Democrats have shied away from rallying the American people around the ideals of the Republic, even when they have been under assault by Bush and his administration.
These Democratic leaders don’t seem to think that ephemeral notions – like checks and balances, the rule of law, and inalienable rights – matter that much to the average Joe. In this view, health insurance and other social benefits should trump all.
SNIP----
And then this....and I am old enough to remember recession.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks sank on Tuesday after the Federal Reserve trimmed interest rates rather than slashing them, letting down investors who fear the economy might slip into recession unless the central bank becomes more aggressive.
Any way, these items are just a sampling of the things that are bugging me. It's just tougher and tougher to get our salaries to stretch through the month, and we have even decreased expenses. We don't go out, we don't rent or buy movies, and rarely buy more than groceries. What the hell will retirement be like? I shudder to think.
The American Dream is Alive and Well ... in Finland!
By Joshua Holland, AlterNet.
But new research suggests the United States' much-ballyhooed upward mobility is a myth, and one that's slipping further from reality with each new generation. On average, younger Americans are not doing better than their parents did, it's harder to move up the economic ladder in the United States than it is in a number of other wealthy countries, and a person in today's work force is as likely to experience downward mobility as he or she is to move up.
Moreover, the single greatest predictor of how much an American will earn is how much their parents make. In short, the United States, contrary to popular belief, is not a true meritocracy, and the American worker is getting a bum deal, the worst of both worlds. Not only is a significant portion of the middle class hanging on by the narrowest of threads, not only do fewer working people have secure retirements to look forward to, not only are nearly one in seven Americans uninsured, but working people also enjoy less opportunity to pull themselves up by their bootstraps than those in a number of other advanced economies....
Americans enjoy significantly less upward mobility than citizens of a number of other industrialized nations (some of the studies can be accessed here, here and here). German workers have 1.5 times the mobility of Americans, Canada is nearly 2.5 times more mobile and Denmark is 3 times more mobile. Norway, Finland, Sweden and France (France!) are all more mobile societies than the United States. Of the countries included in the studies, the United States ranked near the bottom; only the United Kingdom came in lower....
Roughly speaking, the decrease in relative mobility from generation to generation correlates with the rise of "backlash" conservatism, the advent of Reaganomics and the series of massive changes in industrial relations and other policies that people loosely refer to as the "era of globalization."...
Sawhill looked at the relationship between education and mobility (PDF) and concluded that "at virtually every level, education in America tends to perpetuate rather than compensate for existing inequalities." She pointed to three reasons for that.
First, we have a relatively weak K-12 system. "American students perform poorly on international assessments," she wrote. "Colleges are forced to provide remedial work to a large share of entering freshmen, and employers complain about workers' basic skills." A society with a weak education system will, by definition, be one in which the advantages of class and family background loom large.
Second, the U.S. education system is largely funded through state and local property taxes, which means that the quality of a kid's education depends on the wealth of the community in which he or she grows up. This, too, helps replicate parents' economic status in their kids.
Finally, Sawhill notes, in the United States, unlike other advanced economies, "access both to a quality preschool experience and to higher education continues to depend quite directly on family resources."...The decline in organized labor and solid, good-paying manufacturing jobs is another factor. Those jobs once represented a ladder;...
SNIP---
The article below is true and sums up my feelings that we are being had by ALL the politicians.
Why the Democrats Could Lose
But the smug Democratic hierarchy may be inviting defeat, again, by ignoring the fact that many Americans want leadership that appeals to them on the higher plane of principle. Instead, Democrats often treat Americans more like consumers than citizens, selling them new social programs rather than articulating an uplifting national cause.
Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York summed up this consumer-over-citizen approach when she announced her health care plan on Sept. 17:
"We can talk all we want about freedom and opportunity, about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but what does all that mean to a mother or father who can't take a sick child to the doctor?" [Boston Globe, Sept. 18, 2007]
Perhaps a different question might be: why would a presidential candidate see the founding principles of the United States as somehow at odds with the desire of parents to want health care for their children?
With her dubious dichotomy, Sen. Clinton suggests that it’s an either-or situation – and that the founding principles must take a backseat to health-care policy.
One outgrowth of this pragmatism-not-principle approach is that national Democrats have shied away from rallying the American people around the ideals of the Republic, even when they have been under assault by Bush and his administration.
These Democratic leaders don’t seem to think that ephemeral notions – like checks and balances, the rule of law, and inalienable rights – matter that much to the average Joe. In this view, health insurance and other social benefits should trump all.
SNIP----
And then this....and I am old enough to remember recession.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks sank on Tuesday after the Federal Reserve trimmed interest rates rather than slashing them, letting down investors who fear the economy might slip into recession unless the central bank becomes more aggressive.
Saturday, December 08, 2007
The hell with the NIE, more negativity on Iran
This is the validation that will be used over and over to make Bush's case to invade Iran in 2009. Mark my words.
The quote is from Secy Gates:
The quote is from Secy Gates:
He said "since that government now acknowledges the quality of American intelligence assessments, I assume that it also will embrace as valid American intelligence assessments" that Iran is funding and training of militia groups in Iraq; deploying lethal weapons and technology to both Iraq and Afghanistan; supporting terrorist organizations -- like Hezbollah and Hamas -- that have murdered thousands of innocent civilians; and continued research and development of medium-range ballistic missiles that can carry weapons of mass destruction.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
I was listening to the Ed Schultz show this morning and something a caller said really struck me. She stated that her 23 yr old daughter had decided to support Dennis Kucinich for President because he touched her. When she asked her daughter what she meant, her daughter told her that she remembered her mother's story about how she cried and cried when President Kennedy was shot, and that she wanted to have a President like that in her life time, a President that people could love and and a President that touched her as Kennedy had touched her mother. That was why she was supporting Dennis.
Well, that sure made me think. In my lifetime, what President ever gave us hope, puled us together, and rallied us to greatness as a nation? Besides President Kennedy, I don't think so.
Well, that sure made me think. In my lifetime, what President ever gave us hope, puled us together, and rallied us to greatness as a nation? Besides President Kennedy, I don't think so.
Monday, December 03, 2007
Sunday, December 02, 2007
The Secret History of the Impending War with Iran That the White House Doesn't Want You to Know
For those of us who are TCU grads, we can be happy that Mr. Leverett, actually remembered one value hopefully reinforced at TCU....ethics. At least he finally saw the light.
Below, the introduction to the article, please use the link read the remainder of the article.
Link to article
Below, the introduction to the article, please use the link read the remainder of the article.
In the years after 9/11, Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann worked at the highest levels of the Bush administration as Middle East policy experts for the National Security Council. Mann conducted secret negotiations with Iran. Leverett traveled with Colin Powell and advised Condoleezza Rice. They each played crucial roles in formulating policy for the region leading up to the war in Iraq. But when they left the White House, they left with a growing sense of alarm -- not only was the Bush administration headed straight for war with Iran, it had been set on this course for years. That was what people didn't realize. It was just like Iraq, when the White House was so eager for war it couldn't wait for the UN inspectors to leave. The steps have been many and steady and all in the same direction. And now things are getting much worse. We are getting closer and closer to the tripline, they say.
Link to article
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