I am pissed off, but why aren't you.

Yesterday, Pat and I watched, "Waiting for Superman", and I want to challenge everyone that follows me on face book or America's Voice to watch this documentary. If you are not as angry as I was, then you do not care and if you are as angry as I was then we need to start now to fix our education system. First, I want to say to all of the excellent teachers out there, I do not, for one moment ,want to hurt you. The incompetent teachers are another matter. The union that supports the people that do not want to work hard for our kids is another matter. Automatic tenor has to be taken out of the contracts and the great teachers have to be rewarded for their efforts. Teachers are only a portion of the factors that have placed us in the position we are in now. Politicians have, for decades, given not much more then lip service to  helping the children learn and the teachers, teach. They always say the answer is not money. That is what politicians and corporations always say when they are about to take away money and screw you. Money is not the ending, but it certainly should be a beginning. In Florida, the average cost for a prison inmate is $34,600 per year, while the cost per student is only $9,100 per year. Think of that for a moment. We spend almost 4 times more on a felon in prison then we do to educate our children to keep them out of jail. The national average is $33,000 per inmate and $10,300 for students. Great improvement there, we only spend 3 times more on a national level. Real progress. Each president and governor has come in and wanted to be known as the education president or the education governor and yet we keep slipping further behind. Our leaders in Washington and the state capitals are all talking about the economic crisis. I agree. What is their solution. Cut education. What, so we can pay 3 to 4 times more down the road when we fail to educate our kids. Are we trying to fill our businesses with qualified employees or fill our jails with more criminals?  In the movie, we subject our students and their families to the concept, that if you want to attend a good or great school, you have to win a lottery. That's right, we hold lotteries to either give someone hope of a better life or throw them into a life of failure. Maybe we should hold lotteries for our prisoners to determine whether they get into a good prison or they have to go to the worst prisons we have to offer, and then give all children a world class education. This is America and we don't give a damn that our children do not get an education. It broke my heart to watch students and parents sitting with fingers crossed, praying that they will have an opportunity to a better life. It was emotional to watch them break down crying and the look of desperation in their faces when they were not selected. I want everyone to watch this, and I am sure you will be as moved as we were. Then let's talk about ways we can work together to change the direction of our education system. We can not wait one more year, month, week, day or minute. It is the most important item we can address.

Where is the leadership, Mr. President?

Anyone that has been following my blog knows that I support President Obama. That support is still there and will continue. I will, however look at politicians and when I feel the need to criticize or offer an opinion, I will. Unlike some groups I will not look away from either party. Right now I want our president to lead. Whether you agree with his point of view or not, we need direction. We should know where our elected leaders stand on each and every issue. There are times when an important problem has no clear cut, black and white solution, but we should aways know where politicians stand. The problem with politicians, and right now the president they are looking at ways to answer questions and stay in the middle. They are waiting for someone else to make the first reccomendation, so they can attack the other side. Enough with the politicing. The president has to stand up and say, "We must start making changes to Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare." He must address the need to shut down two wars, not later but now. He should lead the way on tax reform. I want him to stop the practice of corporate welfare at the expense of the average American. He should lead the way on election financing reform. There are so many issues we need to move forward on. He should stop the practice of waiting for Congress to set the agenda. The president is there to LEAD, not follow. He let Congress control the conversation on health care, don't ask don't tell, the oil spill, the wars and now the budget. Mr. President it is time to do what we sent you to Washington, to do, lead. Americans will follow, if we are told what direction we are going to and how do we get there. That does not mean we will follow blindly, but we do want direction. Take the "bully pulpit" and use it in the way it was designed. You stated that your concern was not whether you were re-elected, but in doing what is needed to move America forward. I will support you to another term, but you have to support all Americans with leadership. There is an old saying, "Lead, follow or get out of the way." Now is the time to decide what you are going to do, Mr. President.

If you really CARE about your children do this!

I have been writing this blog for a few weeks now and I have to be honest, as much success as I have had so far, it pales to where I want this to be. First off, this is not so much for me personally, although I certainly enjoy writing this and will continue to do so, as it is for all of you that read it. Right now there is a concerted assault on the American citizens and it is being done by the people we hire to serve us. The governors in several states, including Florida, are balancing budgets by portraying our state workers as lazy, money grabbing oafs. They want us to believe that the teachers who each and every day help our most valuable resource, our children, are unworthy of making a living wage. The police, firemen and all state and local workers are living extravagant lifestyles and are looking to retire with unsupported pensions. This is nothing more then a clear attack on the very people that sacrifice to help us each and every day. These are our neighbors, our friends and yet we are doing nothing to support them. I am also on Facebook, but that is not how I spend countless hours talking about nothing. Facebook and the social value it has is fine. Spending some time each day to reach out to our friends is fine. However we also have a moral obligation to use this network to educate ourselves and to change our lives and the people around us that we love so much. I am not only challenging everyone of my friend to read this and act, but to also pass this on down their friend list to get them involved. We must start first by contacting our representatives and letting them know that instead of starting the budget cuts at us and our neighbors, we need to start and demand that they start to have the wealthy and corporations pay their fair share. Most corporations pay little to no taxes. They get subsidies and credits,(corporate welfare) to reduce or eliminate their taxes. Why not start there. The felon that we elected as governor in Florida whats to cut corporate taxes while he stands there and cuts pay and benefits for state workers. He turns down billions of dollars to build high speed rail, and thus turn away from the hundreds of thousands of jobs, but states that we need to cut corporate taxes to create jobs. Pure and simple BS. Right now companies are sitting on trillions of dollars in cash and not creating jobs. They will just sit on the additional money and pay themselves hugh bonuses. We must start now! Start with letter and E-mails. Let them know that their jobs are in danger. If this does not change their minds we need to then look at civil disobedience. We have to stop the assault on middle America. It is up to all of you. Your children, the children of the country, the teachers, the firemen, the policemen and each and everyone of us need to stand now. If you sit in silence we will all lose. If you do not act we will never affect change. If you do not act we all fail. If you do not act we cease to exist. They are taking everything they can and if you do not act they will take it all. Lastly if you do not know how to get in touch with your state and federal representatives let me know. I will help you. WE MUST ACT NOW!  United is our strength.  

President Obama is a citizen, it is time for the adults to come forward.

Think about this for a minute. On August 4, 1961 a man and a woman had a son. They knew some day he would want to run for President of the United States. Since he was born in Kenya they had to sneak him into the country. Hawaii was the logical place because they could pay off two independent newspaper editors to list him in their birth announcements. They smuggled him past immigration authorities. They get the state officials in Hawaii to make a fake certificate of birth. All of this because they knew 40 years later he would need this information to become president. Oh, yeah did I mention that he is half black. They still knew that Americans would elect him. This past week Speaker of the House John Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, both were asked directly about the ridiculous beliefs of many Republicans that the President was not born here. Instead of coming out directly and saying not only is he an American, anyone who believes any other way is a complete idiot. While serious people try to work on solving the problems in our country I still hear all of the childish,  idiotic garbage that is out there about our leader. The problem with too many people is they do not believe in our democracy. They believe that if you didn't vote for someone and don't agree with someone, then they are not legitimate leaders of our country. The election is over. Our president is Barack Obama. People need to grow up and realize that all of the stupidity, and what they think, are funny remarks is counterproductive to moving us forward. We debate the election and policies, then we vote and finally we do something constructive. The, so called adults, who only want to tear down and feed into rumors are one of the greatest threats to America. So my final word to all of the kids out there, that want to take their ball and go home, is start setting an example for the real children in this country and show them how adults move forward. In other words, grow up and stop you whining.  

Egyptian Democracy without American Soldiers

You had to feel good for the Egyptian people yesterday when Hosni Mubarak finally stepped down and opened the way for a Democratic society to be born. The great thing is that it was accomplished without the intervention of American troops and a very low number of casualties. Unlike the wars, that we have been fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Egyptian people accomplished this without outside interference. The people that lead the revolution did so without them creating casualties. It is a tragedy that over three hundred people lost their lives, due to the pro-Mubarak factions, but in a country of over 80 million people that is a relatively small number of deaths in order to restart a country's direction. The hard part of the Egyptian experiment will be what happens next and how quickly they move forward with a new Constitution. We should all be watching with great interest as Egypt move ahead and also what happens in the other Middle East countries that suffer under tyrannical rule.

Iternet cutoff, we have to stop this.

Last week Danny mentioned the bill, about Internet cutoff, proposed by Joe Lieberman I-Conn., Susan Collins R-Maine and Tom Carper D-Del. I had not seen this and have since researched the bill. Thanks, Danny for pointing this out to us. Anyone that has viewed my blog, knows that Danny and I do not aways view the government in the same way, but this is another one of those times that we do see somethings the same. The three sponsors of this bill cements the fact that dumb politicians do not all come from the same place. We have an Independent, a Republican and a Democrat. Their concern is that in the case of a cyber attack on our systems the government will then be able to cutoff the Internet and "save us all." Sorry but the first word that comes to my mind is, bullshit. This is an opportunity for politicians to "legally" control something for our own good. This is frightening, because they could also pull off what Mubarak did last week in Egypt, when he cut access for the people there. We can not give up liberties and freedom because some politician wants to "protect us". Over ten years ago, after 9-11, the patriot act was passed. This allowed government officials to wiretap and view our private information without permission from us. This week the extension of the Patriot Act was defeated, but only because the Republicans tried a procedural vote that required two thirds majority to pass. They will get the extension passed through regular voting procedures. Please contact your Representatives and Senators to tell them the Patriot Act and Internet cutoffs are two types of safety and protection that the American public does not need. We have to maintain our rights and freedoms. One voice. Be that voice.

Cutting Bombs or Teachers.

Yesterday, Republican leaders met with President Obama to discuss the deficit and budget. According to both sides the meeting was positive and they found some areas of common ground to work on. Of our national budget over 80%, according to some sources, is defense, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. So far neither the President or members of Congress has shown the courage to actually cut into these programs. The people who follow my blog on a regular basis may be surprised when I talk about cuts to entitlement programs, but the reality is that if we are to continue these necessary programs, changes have to start now. The longer we wait, the more chance we have that the cuts will be severe and hurt people more. We can do this and the effect can be as simple as extending the retirement age out further. The defense budget is huge and even Bob Gates, the Secretary of Defense has come forward with ways we can start to make cuts there. We can start by ending two long, costly and unnecessary wars. We can reduce the number of bases around the world. We can put the money to use here to help all of us in America. I am not promoting an isolationist agenda, only the idea that if countries around the world want the military protection of America they should be paying for the privilege. Right now our leaders are talking about cuts in the areas that we need to be putting money, such as education, infrastructure and health care for our citizens. What can we do? Exactly what I have been asking your to do from the beginning. Call or write your Congressperson, Senator, State Representatives, State Senators, Governor and the President. Let them know what is important to you. Express you opinion and follow up. We have numerous avenues to contact the above people. Don't let your voices be silenced.