When Will Our Leaders Grow Up?

I don't know about you, but I am already sick of the political rhetoric flying about. This is not about one party or ideology it covers every so called leader. It reached a zenith yesterday when I listened to Republicans attack the President of the United States, relentlessly as being Un-American. They kept using the phrase, "This President". Hold on everybody, "This President" is our President. Whether you voted for him or not, he received the majority of votes and under, "our" Constitution he is our President. I did not vote for George Bush either time. I disagreed with his policies many times. The bottom line is that never, not once, ever, did I say he was Un-American. I never questioned his legitimacy to hold office. From the beginning of Barrack Obama's term, people on the right have questioned him being American. Enough!!!

Yesterday the President made a speech in which he stated, correctly, that every person who has reached a high level of success owes part of that achievement to other people. He spoke of teachers, parents, co-workers and many others that contribute to each one of us having a better life. He spoke of government creating, through research, avenues for others to come in and gain success. He used the example of government getting the Internet moving and thus opening a way for people to build companies, create jobs and become wealthy. Every factory, store, movie theatre, hospital and all other businesses, owe part of their growth to the government. The roads that lead to their business was built with other peoples money, through the government. The water, electrical and all other infrastructure is due to collective funds and work. This was his point. It is factual and valid. The right now distorts the words and states that Obama hates business. He hates it so much and has created such a hostile environment for companies, that their profits are the highest in history. I wish he hated me so much.

In fairness, the left, has done the same to Romney. When he stated, "He enjoyed firing people", it was in reference to the point, if he does not get the proper service for his money, he will fire that company and go to a competitor to get a fair return on his money. Simple, we all do this. I have changed cable companies, phone companies, insurance companies and others. This is a form of firing people. The dog carrier on the roof was as ridiculous of an attack as I have seen. This should be fodder for the late night comedy shows, but an issue in a national campaign. Hardly!!

There is fairness in debating issues, but lets do that and not attacks on a person. Let's stop taking statements out of context, to distort the facts. I would like to see the election about one thing and one thing only. Vision. Where do the leaders see America going and how would you help us get their. I have in the past and will continue to do so in the future, to push our leaders for solutions. I have pushed individuals for solutions. We have become great at bemoaning what is wrong. We all know what the problems are. What we lack is leaders who are willing and able to deal with the problems and offer solutions. It is time for Congress, the President and business leaders to come together and put solutions into actions. It is time to grow up and lead!!

Response to Jacob Svoboda Reguarding Left!

For those that do not know Jacob is a friend on Face Book and he and I have had some very spirited debates. On Sunday Jacob sent me an article that stated, the left was not willing to face up to the prominent role, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac played in the housing market failure. This is my response to him and to people on the right that want to paint everyone with a broad stroke, without asking individuals how they view an issue.

First, the article used the view of one person and then extrapolated the idea was held by all so called liberals or the political left. It also down played the role, large financial businesses, the banks, played. There is plenty of blame to dole out here.

Jacob, I want you to understand why I feel qualified to discuss this point. I worked for Bank of America for 27 years. I was a mortgage officer for 15 of those years. I was only able to do 20% down, conventional loans. Large and small banks, when I started, did portfolio loans and retained the paper, thus the responsibility of the loan. If a bad loan was made they took the loss. Simple. Then Congress, Democrats and Republicans alike came up with an idea, that became the secondary market companies, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. The banks could make more loans and much more money and do it quicker.

I do not deny the role that was created here and agree it was a disaster. The reason it became so toxic, was however driven by the banks and financial services companies that got into the home lending business. The original idea should have been, money sent back to the banks, to re lend, but on a smaller scale and the lender would have to follow strict under writing rules to do the loans. Last the institutions would be responsible for the loss. Then we would have had smart, efficient loans. I do not believe that everyone should or has to be a homeowner.

The right has to acknowledge the role played by lenders in this fiasco. To use one person's response and call all politically left people wrong and thinking the same is irresponsible. To try and make this an issue that only the left is ignoring is wrong. The right was content with this process, when they thought it was working. I believe that we need to go back to banks being banks. The Federal Reserve, needs to quit giving free money to banks. Then banks will have to attract money from savers and pay a fair interest rate. The banks should have to be responsible for their loans and keep it within its portfolio. We need to stop the money flowing to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. We need to have the housing market upright itself and assist homeowners to keep the foreclosed rate down.

There are many companies and people to blame here. Greed drove this and the people who played the right way, should not suffer, but yet they have seen their own homes go down in value, because of the actions of others. Lets all acknowledge what went wrong and then have a plan to address the issues and change the direction. I have in the past and will again in the future discuss my ideas and plans.

Lastly, I ask that the right or left or independents, stop thinking they know how the other side thinks. I look at each situation and decide from there. Look at my posts and you will get a better understanding of who I am. My largest issue with my political opponents is the fact they have in the past and continue to demagogue issues and distort facts. Is the left guilty of the same. Absolutely. So, why don't we start to work toward resolutions and not arguments.

You Might Be A Republican, If!

I am going to get everyone started and then see if you all can add to the list. This is meant to be fun, but as with most items that have humor, there is an element of truth. Read mine and then try to think of some of your own. I am sure that if any of my Republican, Conservative friends read this they may have the reverse for Liberals or Democrats. I'll  let that go into the comments also.

If , "No Taxes" is your religion and Grover Norquist is your high priest, you might be a Republican.

If you feel that giving someone a helping hand is giving hand outs. you might be a Republican.

If you feel that taking money from the rich to help the poor and middle class is class warfare, you just might be a Republican.

If you feel that taking money from the poor and middle class to give to the wealthy is good economic sense, you might be a Republican.

If you feel President Obama is a communist, socialist, Marxist, who was not even born in America, you might be a Republican.

If you compare anyone to Adolph Hitler, you might be a Republican.

If you feel Chief Justice Roberts is a traitor, you might be a Republican.

If you feel America should be involved in every war, you might be a Republican.

If you feel sorry for the top one percent, elite, you might be a Republican.

If you voted to repeal Obama care 33 times, in the last year,  you might be a Republican.

If you failed to vote one time for a jobs bill during the last year, you might be a Republican.

If you make minimum wage and yet vote to support the wealthy and corporations, you might be a Republican.

If you say, "Don't blame me, because I voted Republican", you are definitely a Republican and in need of serious help.

This is a beginning and if you have others to share, please do so.

I Don't Really Hate Conservatives!

I am sure that many people who read my blog, are sure that not only do I disagree with Conservatives and Republicans, but I must also hate them. Quite the contrary. We need to have civil discourse and discussions in America. My main issue arise when the right is unwilling to compromise. I have stated, on many occasions, that the majority of Americans are closer to the center in their beliefs than they are to the extremes on either side. The problem is that the people on either, the extreme left and the extreme right, are controlling the direction of America and are unwilling to find agreement on the issues we face.

There is not an all or nothing solution to any direction we need to go. Look at the Affordable Health Care Act. The far left wanted single payer, the far right wanted nothing done. We ended in the middle. However now that the AHC has been legally passed by both the House and Senate, then legally signed into law by the President, and lastly upheld, legally by the Supreme Court, the House now wants to waste our money and time by voting to repeal it. The extreme on the right are demanding this. Why do they not demand that we start implementing the law? Why do they not find ways to create jobs. Build and maintain our highways and create jobs. Rebuild our antiquated water systems. Rebuild our electrical grid. These would all create good paying jobs. Why are none of these being touted and voted on?

Simply put they are playing political games. Most people feel there will be no movement on anything until after the elections. Why? Are they still getting paid? Maybe we should fine them and reduce their paychecks until they actually do some work.

This is why I am pissed off at the right. They only want to win politically and are not worried about the American people. The extreme on the left are guilty of also playing politics, just not quite to the same extent. There is plenty of room for both sides to come together and start the forward movement for everyone. The extension of the so called Bush tax cuts is another example of stalemate. The Democrats are stating we should extend the cuts for all people that make less then two hundred fifty thousand dollars a year. The Republicans are arguing for all the tax cuts to be extended. Both sides agree that the breaks for the middle class should be extended, but instead of moving forward on that part the Republicans will not move on any of the cuts unless they get their way. How about this. We extend the cuts to everyone under one million dollars a year and move forward. That is called compromise. Each side moves a little in each direction and we now have something accomplished. That is how governing works. Meet in the middle. When I vote this coming fall, I will be looking for people that all willing to work together to make America better, If a politician is hell bent on everything being their way, I will work very hard to defeat them.

We have had enough obstructionism. It is time to have compromise and everyone working for the good of the people, not for the good of corporations, politicians, the wealthy elite or political parties.

We All Need To Help Our Children In Poverty!!!

When Conservatives start ideas, such as that floated by Newt Gingrich, in the Republican Primary, that children should go to work, I start to understand that people who believe that way are cruel and uncaring. I understand I am lumping them all together, but I have not heard any right wing group come forward to challenge Gingrich.

Let's look at some facts. I know how much the right hates talking facts and would be more comfortable using lies, but I will stick by the idea of facts, are better. Over sixteen million children, under the age of 18, live in poverty. That is 22% of that population segment living below the poverty level. Add on to that, seventeen million, one in four, or 25% of our children go to bed hungry each night, and do not get the proper nutrition. This is a national disgrace and one the right tries to ignore. It brings to mind the movie, "A Christmas Carol". You remember the part when the, Ghost of Christmas Present, lifts his robe to show two small children. They were want and ignorance. Scrooge asked the ghost to hide them from his eyes. That is the way many of the people in America want to handle our children. Don't make them look. Out of sight, out of mind.

Yet, this is not just a problem that we can or should ignore. Children that do not have enough of the proper food, will not be able to perform well in school. They will not get proper rest each night. They will drain the health system of funds. As they grow up, they will lack the education to get good paying jobs and maybe end up with no job. They will be more likely to end up committing crimes and thus costing us more with prison costs. the amount we would pay today to ensure they are properly fed, would be returned many times over in the future. This is just looking at the financial costs. Do we not also have a moral responsibility to ensure children are taken care of.

The right wants them to get a job. Support themselves, or decry the fact that their parents do not take responsibility for their children. Yes, I would like to see parents raise their children and support them. Make sure they have the proper food to eat and get medical care. In the real world though, many of those parents are struggling and not able to provide what they should. That is when a caring society steps in to make sure they do not fall through the cracks and end up becoming a further drain on all of us. We should make sure these children get the best education so they can break the cycle of poverty. A great society is one that helps the least within the group. In the end it will only make the group stronger and more plentiful for all. That is what the United States of America stands for. Together we are strong. Divided we all fail.

Conservatives Attack Veterans

Yes, you read it right. Conservatives, Republicans, the right, they all enjoy moving their mouths and say they support veterans, but the reality is that they will attack veterans if it serves their political agendas. Look at the facts. I know that many people on the right try to avoid facts, but liberals will continue to use them.

Max Cleland had his service in Vietnam and as a veteran's advocate used against him. Mr. Cleland, who was confined to a wheelchair, because of injuries while serving, was attacked by Saxby Chambliss in their battle for a Senate seat representing Georgia.

John Kerry was a victim of George Bush and Karl Rove, when they actually got veterans to question Mr. Kerry's service and heroism, in Vietnam, during the Presidential election. The "Swiftboat" lies were meant to call into question, Kerry's service.

The latest is Joe Walsh, the Tea Party Congressman, and his claims that Lt. Colonel Tammy Duckworth is only a veteran, and has done nothing else. He feels she just talks about her sacrifice and service to America and not about the issues. Ms. Duckworth lost both of her legs and use of her right arm in service for our country and Joe "Deadbeat Dad" Walsh has never served us in any way. In fairness to Walsh a judge dismissed the over one hundred thousand dollars in back child support this past April. Apparently his wife and Walsh settled the dispute in "private". Translation, she let the jerk off the hook, for his political career. Back to Walsh's attack on Duckworth. He wants to dismiss her as a political opponent, just to win re-election, and will do so by attacking her sacrifice for America. Walsh is the worst example of what is wrong in this country. He does not live up to his obligations and then he attacks those that have. He is a liar, but that is what politicians on the right have become.

Watch any campaign rally and there is always a group of veterans sitting behind the politicians, while they talk about supporting this group of people that have sacrificed so much for all of us. Once they are in office, they close the door on veterans and wait until the next campaign to bring them back out. It is time for the right to stop using veterans and start paying them back for what they have given to America. Most of all it is time for little worms like Joe Walsh, who has never served, to shut his mouth and only speak about Ms. Duckworth with respect. My only regret about not living in Illinois is the fact that I can not vote for Tammy Duckworth and vote against Joe Walsh.                                                                                    

These are the facts and they cannot be ignored. The right will do anything to move their political agenda ahead. They will lie, cheat, steal and even attack the people who have given the ultimate sacrifice to America, their service.

Fourth Of July!!!!!!

Just wanted to say, "thank you" to my readers and wish them a wonderful and safe Independence Day. Take a moment today and reflect on what it means to be an American and most importantly what you can do to make America better. Have fun and I will be back tomorrow. John.