Government of the People

Whenever I comment on some issues with my mostly progressive opinions someone with a more Conservative view would give a list of “Government” failures like Social Security, Medicare, Postal Service and the latest one the Railroads usually stating that they don’t make money or are even losing money. I could and usually do answer how each is actually a success or more a corporate failure (which is the case with the Railroads). It came to me that people think of Government as some big corporate entity trying to run their lives, but just like buildings don’t make a church the People do, so it is the same with a Government, if we create a national community working together then our Government will be a success. Now of course government services needs to be within a budget that taxpayers can afford, but priorities have to be set to what serves the America people best. We should vote for Politicians who wants to serve the people and not a party or ideology, you can’t tell me that all Republicans think alike and just Democrats differ it is hard to believe there are so many narrow minded persons in Congress what are we thinking when we elect them I don’t know.
One thing I like about the history of working people is you can see how we improved generation by generation; a lot of this has to do with how we communicate with one another with the internet common people around the world can talk unfiltered. I believe we will grow into one global community with more understanding between people with different beliefs we will be more tolerant with no need for weapons.

We the Human Family

I posted a comment on the Huffington Post on Obama's speech in Oslo someone else posted a reply

Barack Obama's Oslo Speech: A Caption-Summary With Excerpts

Commented Dec 12, 2009 at 16:02:11 in World

"The Nazi's, Al-Qaeda and the Taliban were and are not from a Galaxy far, far away they are from this planet. We created them through our feeling that we are better than other people therefore justified to murder them (make a "Just war" against them) Obama made nothing, but excuses for war when there is none."

PodiumPerfected replied on Dec 12, 2009 at 17:10:55

"Who's this "we" you speak of?"

Who's this "We" may seem like a little question, "We" the Human Family have been working on the answer for thousands of years ever since we were a small group out of Africa over 40,000 years ago and have since filled Libraries trying to answer that basic question "who are we?" Now I have the idea that PodiumPerfected knows already who this we is that I am speaking about and maybe only joking, but I will try in my very small way to try and answer it. I am pretty sure that when our family was a small group fighting to stay alive there was probably some that wanted to take more risks than others, but also realized that as individuals they would perish that they need each other to survive. Since then our dysfunctional family has struggled to understand our world and our place in it. Over time our family grew very large spreading around our planet spiting into groups with different ideas.

    The Nazi's never had an original thought they used the ideas that were already there using the churches for their own purposes The Al-Qaeda and the Taliban are both using ideas grown out of Islam which grew out of Judaism and Christianity.

    When the only communication was through word of mouth the people that lived in the same area had similar ideas, but didn't get along with people in other areas. Then as communication improved so did peoples understanding of one another, writing, Telephone, Television and now the Internet. The pace maybe slow, but we will get there if our time doesn't run out first (Global warming) there will come a time when there is no longer a need for War.

Thankful for the good Time in which to live

I have to be thankful for the time period in which I spent my life, born in 1941 the Generation before me (like my parents) had to live through Great Depressions, two World Wars and the Flu academic of 1918-1920. My generation and the ones just after it lived their lives during the Golden age in west especially the United States thanks in large part to the cold war which gave birth to the Industrial Complex and Bank credit that gave birth to credit cards. Our Generations had a good time taken advantage buying big fast gas burning cars, building large tracks of suburban single home developments and eating fast foods. We certainly had a good time while we were the Global Market, but as companies themselves became Global sending jobs from the United States to slave labor nations there by lowering their cost, so unfortunately we spent for the now instead of building a nation that can compete in future generations. China is now investing in technologies for the 21^st century our congress debates about issues we should have solved 60 years ago.

The War to End All Wars

World War one ended ninety-one years ago today which as most war was completely unnecessary war between cousins, but cost the lives of millions of common working people. Generals in that war use the wrong tactics which against new technologies like the machine gun cost them so many men they had to send back first to London then later to Washington for more troops. If this sounds familiar it is for today's Generals are still asking for more troops which shows that in the view of Generals the Value of the common Soldier has not gone up in 91 years.

The Islamic Mind set

There has been a lot of talk lately about how the Muslims view those of other religions, who they seem to think it alright or even God's will for them to kill. They view the wars in the Middle East has wars between Christians/Jews and Muslims and not has most Westerners see it in non-religionist terms. The only way peace can come to the Middle East is for this mind set to change, but you can't change anybody's mind with bombs or occupying their lands. Now I am no expert on the Middle East, but it seems to me that there are more reasonable people of the Islamic faith that can live in harmony with the rest of the world community. If we help these more reasonable people have better live for themselves and their families the likes of the Taliban or Al Qaeda would fade away. It might seem a lot slower way to go than just bombing them, but it is the only way that might work while being safer for all.

Western Europeans' went through a similar phase from about the 1500's to today where a lot of people died for or because of the faith, we are now slowly evolving out of that mind set as the growing Anti-War Movement attest to throughout the Western World. The only thing we can do is to help this same respect for human life that is just now taken hold in our community will grow faster in the Islamic community.

    

Misconceptions

While I was reading today's installment of David Rohde's experiences of being Held by the Taliban he talked about his guards misconceptions of the West. David chalked their conceptions up to being uneducated that got me thinking that he was agreeing with their conceptions that coincided with his own conceptions, but disagreeing with those that don't agree with his conception. One of the misconceptions he says they have is that the Taliban guards think that all Americans are Rich. Now maybe from where they stand most Americans they see or hear about it is true. The Uneducated he is talking about have a High School or Junior High education and are not well traveled, well most Americans fit that description. What is meant by an educated conception is learning other people's conceptions and making them your own. We all have misconceptions, things we think are absolutely true that are not true. The only thing we can do is to challenge all our conceptions by hearing out other people, looking at the issue from where they stand using reason to decide between them.

Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize

My first reaction is that it is a little early there is still two major wars going on and a couple of hot trouble spots. He did make a grand speech in Cairo Egypt for international understanding. I wonder if this is more about influencing the future than about what happened in the past. What will they do if he in fact does bring peace to the Middle East give him another Nobel Peace Prize? I think they should have waited for him to bring troops home instead of sending more to war.

Medical Care for illegal-immigrants

The President was right the Health Care bill states in plain English that even Joe Wilson should be able to understand that it does NOT cover illegal-immigrants, but Hospitals can't refuse to give medical care to someone who needs it now and the taxpayer already picks up the tab, which probably won't change.
American seem willing to take illegal-immigrants labor, but unwilling to pay them a living wage or even give them medical care. If the American people didn't exploit them to get something cheap they wouldn't be here in the first place.

Health Care Choices

Many of those who complain that a Public option takes away their choices don't really have any choices now, most Health Insurance companies are in the States with the largest population density such as Florida, New York and California, many other states have just one insurer now, so a Public Option would improve their choices and their Health care.
It seems that the people that would benefit the most from Universal Health Care are the one that are against it. The Public Option as it is called does not go far enough, but it is a start in the right direction. I personally might be more hurt since I had my Health Insurance paid by Verizon until I went on Medicare and now they pick up to secondary insurer, but I am think of my children and their children, the high cost of our present health care system as and drive companies out of the USA for it is the cost of Health care not wages that cost American jobs. What we need is a Single Payer Universal Health Care System.

Paying for Social Security and Medicare

The problem with SS and Medicare is the good times our parents had in the 1940’s and 50’s making us baby boomers and we didn’t return the favor, so now there are less workers than retired baby boomers. If you raise or eliminate the cap on Social Security and Medicare Contributions until we all die off the problem should either go away if you have a lot of kids or be someone else’s problem.

Healthcare should be paid for through single payer and benefits adjusted to those funds that would take the pressure off small businesses to hire more people at good wages, so there won’t be 40 million uninsured

Malpractice insurance is killing medical costs so must be reformed to be fair to both Doctors and patients

Sonia Sotomayor

One of the criticisms thrown at Judge Sonia Sotomayor is that she feels what effect laws have on people and not just deciding cases strictly by the law. What they really mean is a Conservative view of the law. How can any person decide a case without thinking the effects of that decision unless they are robots and who wants a robot as their Judge? When Sonia was a young lawyer said that as a Puerto Rican woman she has more qualified to be a Judge than many white men and many conservatives have jumped on this to call her racist. When you first look at this statement it looks like a racist statement, but when you put it in context, I think and hope she meant that being raised poor in the Bronx, losing her Father when she was only nine, that her life experiences mean she can Identify with more people than a White men from a rich family that had everything handed to them. Everyone views what they see by their past experiences no matter how little or how much education they may have. It can only be hoped that Sonia Sotomayor has the experience to be able to put herself in another persons shoes.

 

 

 

 

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Tax and Spend

Paul Krugman column in the NY Times on Monday May 25, 2009, The State of Paralysis in California saying that the problem with the California budget dates back about 30 years when the Voters of California Passed Proposition 13 a ballot measure that placed cap on property taxes. This leaves the California budget to depend on income taxes for most of its money and in a recession that money dries up leaving California in a big hole. Paul Krugman seem to say that putting a cap on property taxes is a bad idea because seniors are paying less taxes on their homes than younger home owners. Why can't the spending part of the budget be cut as much as I hate to agree with conservatives the income tax is the fairest of all taxes because people only pay what they can afford and doesn't throw them out of their homes. State budgets are by their nature harder to cut because they have more meat and less fat, the federal budget on the other hand has a lot of fat called the military budget. The Bush administration spent most of the budget on the military and building Iraq and cut the domestic budget to the bone. Now the Obama administration is spending on the domestic budget, but is still spending almost the same amount on the military budget so the balance between money coming in and the money going out is out of balance giving us a big deficit. If we as a country finally come to realize that we cannot afford an empire and close most if not all of our bases overseas, cut military budget in half (it is now 57% of the federal budget). We must move from a war time economy to a peace time economy then we will enough money for both federal and state spending.

Star Trek

Here we go again, the same old crew, but new actors the new Star Trek Movie is very good. My Wife, Son and I went to see it on Monday (5/11/09) and enjoy it. The actors seem to be picked to look like the original actors of TV Series. You would think it would be a poor copy of the original, but they did a good job and the movie would be enjoyable to even those not interested in science fiction.

Pelosi vs. the CIA

Nancy Pelosi who has been speaking out against torture was attacked by Republicans who said she was briefed by the CIA in 2003 about their plans to torture detainees. Nancy says that the CIA never said they were going to actually going to do it, just that it was one of the things they were thinking about doing. The CIA said that the record of the meeting says they did tell her they plan to torture at the briefing. Nancy then said that the CIA was lying whereupon the Republicans attacked her again saying that the CIA never lies. Now it must be remembered that Nancy Pelosi was in the briefing by herself, not being allowed any of her aids to company her. She not allowed to make a record of the briefing or to ask any questions, the only record was made by the CIA. One CIA agent whom the CIA record said was at the meeting later admitted that he was not at the meeting which of course backs up Nancy Pelosi that the CIA lied.

    Now I may only be a common old working lad, but even I know that the CIA is in the business of lying and rarely tells the truth only what they want you to know. The CIA is worst than useless it is dangerous, their lies lead us into the Iraq War and has killed 3,000 civilians on 9/11 and almost 5,000 in the US Military. One way I would cut the budget is to do away with the CIA and sale the Headquarters at Langley to the highest bidder.

Catholic Church Abuse in Ireland

There was an article in the New York Time on May 21, 2009 about a 2600 page report on the Catholic Church's abuse in residential schools. Tens of thousands of children (mostly orphans) were Sexually, Physically and emotionally were abused by nuns, priests and other Catholic personal. The article and one letter from the Catholic league try to minimize the blame of the church. The report is only the latest documents of abuse by the church which only covered a little over 60 years because they only interviewed people that were still alive. The abuse of the Irish people by the Catholic Church actually started in the 15^th century after the Catholic king James was defeated by the Protestants and the Catholic Church was Anglicized and told the Irish it was a sin to learn to read and they suffering made them better Christians. All the books I have read, most always has at least one incident of abuse by priest, nun or teacher, it is all through Irish History and might be coming to an end only now that the church is losing its power over the Irish people.

    If Ireland can move to be a more secular then battle between Catholics and Protestants will be over with it the abuse of the Irish people by both religions. So hopefully the future will be brighter for the Irish.

American Morality a one way street

After World War Two the United States along with others made the German people go though Nazis Death Camps so they would see the horrors their government did in their name. Then at Nuremburg the American government brought to Justice all the German officials holding them responsible for their Criminal acts they could find. Yet the American were blocked from seeing the worst pictures of American massacre of Vietnamese villages during the Vietnam War and now President Obama is blocking them again from seeing the criminal acts of their government. If we thought it would help the German people to see the concentration camps, then why not the American people. Some say it will hurt the American Forces now invading Iraq and Afghanistan, well for one thing they should be there in the first place, second it is not as thro our enemies need pictures to confirm what they already know and third if you can't do the time, then don't do the crime. These pictures are just another instance of American one way morality.

Another instance is Military Tribunals that President Obama was against, but once again changed his mind and now he is for them saying because America has a long history of using Military Tribunals, but America has a long history of doing a lot of things wrong. You are suppose to learn from history by correcting what you got wrong the first time and doing the right thing. The worst type of court is a Military court which 99% of the time already have their minds made up after all it is their enemy that is on trial.

This yet another example of why we need an international court with the power to hold existing governments responsible for their actions and not having to wait for them to fall.

 

 

    

Politicians working for themselves or for their constituency

When Vice-president Joe Biden was a candidate he said that "as a Roman Catholic he was against abortion, but most of his constituencies in Delaware were Pro-choice. So as their senator he supported and voted for Pro-choice legislation" which is the way I think it should be. The right wingers use to make a big deal out of the fact the Bush didn't listen to polls and they say that President Clinton did listen to the polls. Our Government is a representative Democracy Politician are elected to represent their Constituents not themselves. We saw with President Bush not listening lead to one disaster after another not that the people are always right, but as the public becomes more educated and it is up to each person to be as knowledgeable as they can be so they are informed voters. Now the other side of that is should you vote for politicians that changes their positions of issues to please their constituents. I guess it comes down to what their voting record is in congress if you agree with the legislation that they support you vote for them, but you have to understand the issues and now they effect you.

US Stress Test for Banks

The Test results which is more of a report on the finances' of the biggest banks to see if they can stand an even worst down turn of the nation's economy and to the surprise of no one some need more money. The report says they are strong, but need about $75 Billion more dollars of taxpayers' money (most to Bank of America 34.9 Billion). Some investors say the report was too easy and some say it is too hard on the banks and just showed what the inspectors wanted to see, but I think that is true of most if not all business and government reports tend to show what we want them to show. The real question is whether the businesses such as Banks or Auto Companies should be bailed out by taxpayers or allowed to fail or nationalized. Those are the options now bailing them out maybe only a temporary solution and add to the national debt. Allowing business to fail or what is called "Free" market would result in only one company surviving in any one industry and having no comparison. Nationalization which most Americans have a fear of because they are contently being told the government would mean a big bureaucracy which is true in any case of course, but they fail to tell you that your choice is between government bureaucracy and private business bureaucracy. One working for the people and the other for profit (the bottom line) which one do you think has your best interest in mind? If we are going to put our money into banks we might as well run them and keep the credit flowing to our country's business that create jobs here.     

Who is panicking the public?

The talking heads on the TV News were all over Vice-President Biden this week for his comment about Swine Flu the on the Today Show When he said "I wouldn't go on the Subway or on an airplane" . The talking heads who are were talking on and on about how bad the Swine flu is for about week already making it out to be worst than it is as they always do were all over Joe Biden says that he is telling people to stay off Mass transit, but that is not what he said he only said that he wouldn't if he were sick. Joe Biden is the one that took the Trains to and from Delaware – Washington DC for the 30 plus years he was in Congress. I guess they have to have someone to pick on now that Bush is gone and Joe Biden has been elected.

Obama covers up Bush’s Crimes

Barrack Obama says if crimes happen in the pass we should forgive them and move on which proves what I have been saying all along that only a international court can investigate and punish any government leaders for crimes against humanity. The only time the upper class is punished for their crimes is when they lose their power. The cover up of Bush's crimes is nothing new they didn't punish Nixon for his crimes or Johnson for his crimes or for that matter any of the forty-four Presidents. This country talks big about freedom and democracy, but when it comes down to it they are all to willing to give up their freedom for a little safety or to go against all their principles for their 30 pieces of gold. The real question is will Society ever change and I think little by little it is and the mass commutations like the internet hopefully means the world can someday change for the better.