Heaven is a Safer Place with America"s Soldiers

On this Memorial Day, I want everyone to take a moment, drop to their knees and thank God for the over one million three hundred thousand men and women, of this great nation, who gave the ultimate sacrifice. As the call went forth, they have left their homes and families to protect America. These young men and women went where they were asked  to go and carry out their orders. They fought valiantly from the minutemen at Concord, to the charge up San Juan Hill. They carried forth through Germany, in the war to end all wars. They slugged their way from Normandy, right into Berlin. They froze, but continued during the "police action" in Korea. The American service men and women waded through the swamps and rice fields in Vietnam and Cambodia. On to the deserts in Iraq and the harsh terrain in Afghanistan. They lived in duty as they died in honor. We must honor them by not giving up on the American promise. They must not die in vain. We must remember their faces. They were sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives and mothers and fathers. They cried as their arms surrounded their loved ones for the last time. They did not know, nor did their families, that this would be the last embrace they would share. They would die alone in some far away place. Would they have still gone knowing this? Yes, because American soldiers have never turned away from duty. So on this day while you are on your knees, let God know that he is safer in heaven because the valiant soldiers of  America are at his side and ask him to bless each and every one of them.

Invest In America First!

When listening to all the pundits and politicians, while they go on about the problems we face in America, the one item that is missing is where are the investors in Americans. We are the people that have innovated and developed the most amazing country on earth and yet where are the risk takers, with money, that wants to create the next "big thing"? They all want the sure bet. They all want to make money, the new way, with the banks and financial instruments. They want to cover the bets from both sides, instead of invention. There are people all over this great nation that are coming up with new technology, games, appliances, batteries, green technology and some new gadget that I can not even think of , that need one item to move forward, money. People are not looking for a hand out, they are looking for investors. The money people get their reward when the product is sold. The new products create new jobs. The new workers now have money to pay taxes and spend. When they spend buying American products, more jobs are created and more tax revenue goes to the various governments. The cycle once started continues to feed on its own and the economy becomes strong. Where are the Warren Buffets, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates?  Where is Bank of America, Wells Fargo, CitiCorps and Chase? There are many places that should be looking to lend money and invest money into worthwhile inventions and projects, including the Federal Government. My challenge to you, my readers, is to ask questions where you bank about where they invest and lend. Tell them that it is important to you that they lend and invest in Americans. Tell your Congressperson and Senator that Americans should come first. Tell the President that you want him to lead Americans to invest here. Every voice matters. Yours matters the most. Find that voice and demand Americans to be first.

Too Big To Fail? They Screwed Us Again and Nothing Changed!

In case you missed it last night, set your DVR and watch the HBO movie, "Too Big To Fail". It is based on the Andrew Ross Sorkin book of the same name. I read the book when it came out two years ago and could not put it down. Like a lot of historical accounts, we all know the outcome but getting the behind the scenes look, gives us a better insight. Whether reading the book or watching the movie, it becomes quite clear that the arrogance and greed of the financial service industry leaders was the primary cause of the near collapse of our economy. They wanted everything for them and their companies and did not care about the rest of the country. The other note that is crystal clear, it could and probably will happen again. The paltry regulations that Congress put forth since will not prevent this. The greed has continued. The gambles that they take with our money continues. The knowledge that they will get a government bailout again drives Wall St. forward toward the cliff. We all know that they are making record profits and bonuses, while we have lost the values of our homes. We have lost the value in our retirement packages, that the average American has spent a lifetime trying to build and Wall St. sits back and reaps the rewards of mismanagement of their money. To sum up they get the bailout and we get screwed. Watch this movie or even better read the book. It will open your eyes even further to what we face in bringing America back to greatness.

Truth and Fact Something Politicians Have a Problem With

When I was about seven years old, my father had an old radio and for what every reason it sat in my bedroom. He had warned me to never plug it in because I could get hurt. Right! You guessed it, I plugged it in. A snap of electricity and the loud pop of a fuse had my mind racing as my father climbed the stairs, probably two at a time. I had pulled the plug back out and what was the thought that entered my seven year old brain. George Washington! Yeah, George Washington, the father of our country. George Washington, who could never tell a lie. George Washington, chopped down the cherry tree and because he told the truth his father let him off the hook. The one problem with my telling the truth was that I was NOT George Washington. At that time in my early life I believed that our politicians never told a lie. Our Presidents told the complete, unvarnished, unabashed truth. This was a fact. I had read about George Washington and "Honest" Abe Lincoln and knew these people were better then everyone else and if they said it, it was the truth. Wow, how naive could anyone be? As I got older I learned a very hard truth, politicians never met the truth. That is not to say that every word out of their mouths, is a lie, it just isn't the truth. Politicians and the people that work for them have better dance moves then the entire cast of, "Dirty Dancing". They sit Baby in the corner and leave her there, as they move through an interview and never say anything. How many times have you watched an interview or debate and the questioner, asks something and the response has nothing to do with the question. You sit there and say, what was the question they gave that answer to? I was talking to my friend, Paul today and I said wouldn't it be nice if a politician, today, would just give us the truth and facts. His response dripping with sarcasm, "Yeah, like that's going to happen!" We laughed,  because we all know that this is not going to happen. Politicians and their handlers have never heard a fact or true statement they could not twist to a political advantage. I have to admit a certain sadness to this. I wish I could go back to the times when, I believed that our leaders, did what was in the best interest for the average American instead of for the people that make the largest contributions to their reelection campaigns. "Like that's ever going to happen!" Oh yeah, to complete the radio story, my Dad gave me a spanking, I should have realized at that time, George, probably lied and blamed it on the English.

It Still Comes Down to Leadership and We Have None!

I don't care if you are Democrat, Republican, Socialist, Libertarian or any other political affiliation, it does now and always has been about leadership. In America I do not see any person or party that I can sit back and say, "Yes that person is a leader." The President attempts and  in some incidences, he leads, but then he slips back and lets someone else set the agenda and  will talk about it then. That is not leadership, that is following. The President of the United States, has to start the conversation, right or wrong, and have the conviction to direct it to the best solution for the country. The leaders in Congress, such as John Boehner, the Speaker of the House, and Harry Reid, the Majority leader in the Senate, need to lead for the country and set aside the interests of their respective parties. Every member of Congress needs to stop the demagoguery, the use of fear to gain political advantage, and put the interest of the country before their parties. Collectively, the entire government, needs to lead and place the country ahead of the interests of greedy, elite and corporations. At this time our politicians are led around by the corporate and wealthy needs and interests, while they ignore the needs of the average American. I want them to stand up for me and you not some billionaire, that has the money to buy their support. Looking back in history will provide some answers to problems we face and the direction we need to go. I am, like most Americans, looking for someone to lead and when that person steps forward I will be content to follow.  

Federal Government has to be involved by setting standards.

My friend Danny and I have had some excellent discussions concerning the Federal Government's involvement in our lives. I am going to responds to some concerns Danny has on this issue and explain further my stand and direction I see for us as a country. I invite everyone to chime in with their thoughts and ideas. As brilliant as I am I do not have all the answers. Once everyone stops laughing, keep reading this post. Danny when I talk about Federal Standards I look at our history and see many times when states failed to protect their citizens by imposing standards on either private citizens or businesses. Without federal intervention we would still be a segregated society. Remember the state of Mississippi refusing to admit James Meredith to their university. When many states, imposed laws to keep certain groups from voting, who stepped in to stop this abuse? Without Federal standards who would have established clean air and clean water acts? The state and local governments did not act on these issues. Who has set the standards for new drugs that are developed? The federal government. The highway system that links all of the states and allows for easy travel from area to area in the nation. Who set this up? Oh, wait again, I believe the Federal Government. I could go on but I believe I have established my point of view. Their are some issues and I believe education is one of them, that if the states were left to their own standards, we would be even further behind then we are now. In our wonderful state, Mr. Scott and a Republican controlled legislature has already slashed the amount of money spent per student. Last year we paid five times more per prisoner then student and that gap has just widened. That is what happens when we allow our "Sovereign States" to have free rein. You say we need to allow our state and local officials have more control, but where did most of our federal politicians begin? They were local and state elected officials! The corruption that begins locally has just grown to include the federal level. Now I am sure you are thinking that I am just saying give it all to Washington. No, I agree that more decisions need to be made local, but the standard has to be set at the Federal level on some issues, and education needs to be one of them. If no standard is set then the children in various states will not get a quality education because the state and local officials will undercut the spending further and make education a low priority. On Michele Rhee, the results I was talking about was that some test scores from D.C. are being questioned. All I want is for someone to be accountable for their results and not make up scores or skew them. I stated that there are many issues that I can support from her and I stated that tenure and seniority were part of them. Again you want to throw out the entire union process instead of looking at the good parts and adjusting the weaker parts of the contracts. The last point for now is my statement that instead of abandoning unions for teachers we need to expand them for others. You asked who I would want unions for? The short answer is for everyone. Right now who speaks for the average person. Nobody. The law makers hear from lobbyists for corporations, businesses and the wealthy. Maybe I missed my invite to Tallahassee, to give my opinion during the latest legislative session, but I really don't believe they wanted to hear from me now. This is the state officials that you want to place all of our faith in. Again I will agree that I do not have an invitation from the federal level, however I am working on that. One thing I know we can agree on 100% is that education, whether it is in schools or our own education on important issues and elections is paramount. This is were it should begin and end. Yes the most important part of the Constitution is "WE THE PEOPLE" and we have not just a right but an obligation to know who, whether it is at the Federal, State or Local level, is doing what and voicing our opinions loud and clear. My question to everyone is why do we turn out, still not strong enough, in Presidential elections and then in off years the numbers drops even further. I believe that if we could have strong  state and local elections and  hold them accountable, we could have more standards set locally. Then Danny and people that believe in less federal government would be happy and people like me that believes in strong standards would be happy. It is up to us.

America Is No Longer Number One in Anything. Except What?

My wife, Pat, and I were talking this morning about politics, what else, and she stated that she, "Was tired of hearing how we are drowning our children and grandchildren in debt."  While this is true, why is it only important now, when talking about programs for the average America?  Where have these brave politicians been over the last forty years, when the elite in this country was amassing huge wealth and prosperity for them? This ties in with my headline in this way. Next college football season, I want to see students shout into cameras, "We are number 25 or we are number 17." What do these kids shout? "We're number one!" The real legacy we are leaving future generations is that at best America and Americans are mediocre. We have become delusional and complacent. Look at some recent studies. The U.S. in education is #25 out of 30. Yeah, "We're 25th, we're 25th. Go America"! Infant mortality 180th out of 224 countries. Let's hear that chant! Medical Technology at or near the bottom of the industrialized nations. Infrastructure, #25 out of 30. Technology we are moving up to 10th. Now we are talking. "Hey, Hey, When When  We are only number 10. Go U.S.A." Now what are we the best at. Yeah, we are still the number one consumers in the world and we still produce more waste. Now we are talking. What really sets us apart from the rest of the world. We can kick just about every bodies ass, because we have the best military in the world. This is not to take anything away from our fighting men and women, who are the best, but wouldn't it be great to leave our children and grandchildren something more then we could beat other countries into submission, or we consumed more then everyone else? We used to be the leaders and the doers in the world. Now we follow. I heard the other day that 16 other countries lead us in "green technology". We used to have big ideas and bold thoughts. Now we meekly sit back and watch as everyone else rushes past us. The politicians have convinced everyone that we are spending too much. I say, we are not spending nearly enough. Politicians say, we have a spending problem. I say, we have a revenue problem. As we fall further behind the rest of the world, we protect the interest of the wealthy elite and corporations, while we destroy our nation. We need corporate responsibility. We need the wealthy to become responsible. We need all of us to  become responsible and rebuilt and rethink the American dream. This dream was never about being last, it was about being first. This dream was never about following it was about leading. This dream was never about individual and corporate greed, it was about the prosperity and success of all Americans. I want to end with a quote from the late James William Fulbright, who served the state of Arkansas in the U.S. Senate from 1945 to 1975.
"We must dare to think the "unthinkable" thought. We must learn to explore all the options that confront us in a complex and rapidly changing world."
Let's dare to be NUMBER ONE again!