Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Even Tho I Write This Blog, You Cannot Hold Me Responsible!
While you read this post and any of the others that I have written, Please remember that I am not responsible for the content. I am watching the current fiasco with Rupert Murdoch and News Corps. He is taking the route that Florida's felon Governor, Rick Scott took in his defense, when Hospital Corporation of America was fined, the largest amount in American history, for Medicaid fraud. They did not know. They were the head of large corporations. They know facts and figures and have them at their fingertips. They knew their profits and margins, so their businesses could run efficiently. They knew every detail about their respective corporations, and yet when the crap hit the fan, they hid, like the cowards they are, and claimed they knew nothing about the crimes. These so called leaders have stood by and allowed the people that worked for them to be thrown under the bus. Years ago, when I was placed in my first leadership position, I was taught that you made a decision and right or wrong you stood by those decisions. If the choices you made were wrong, you then stood up and accepted the repercussions of that choice. You do not sit and watch the people that worked for you accept the blame. True leadership is about integrity, honesty, decision making, giving direction, sharing a vision and then directing people how to accomplish that vision. Today's business and political leaders are about one thing, profits. Get there fast and I don't care how you get there. If you get caught doing something to increase the profits and there is a problem, I will then cut you loose to save my own skin. Mr. Murdoch and Mr. Scott are definitely, two men, I would never want to share a foxhole with. As the enemy advances, they would not only flee, they would point out your position, so the advancing forces would take you down to further increase their chance of survival. My advice to both of you is this. Be a man. Step up and accept the penalties for your decisions. You have always been first in line with huge bonuses and pay increases, so do the honorable thing. Take the heat that you and your companies deserve. I for one do not believe either person will do so. That is why I call them cowards. The remark I made at the beginning of this post is just a way to point out how leaders of today try to avoid responsibility. I for one will always stand by anything I state in my blogs. If there is something wrong, and someone points out the error I will accept the blame and move on. That is how we are all supposed to do it.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Casey Anthony Is An Amateur, When It Comes To Hurting Children!
The first and most important point I want to make is whatever happened to Caylee Anthony it was and still is a complete tragedy. Nothing can change the horrible fact that a little girl died for no reason and we still do not know what happened to her. When I state that Casey Anthony is nothing but a hobbyist, when it comes to hurting children let me explain. Watching Ms. Anthony being released from prison the other night I was struck by the number of people, who turned out in the middle of the night to catch a glimpse of her and shout things like, "baby killer" and "justice for Caylee". I wander what type of person goes to this length, because of one child. I also wander where are these same people, as well as the face book Moms and Blogosphere Moms when each day there are assaults on the well being of all of our children. Why are they not standing in front of insurance companies offices and shouting , "baby killers"? Why are the not asking our political leaders for, "justice for our children"?
In Florida Felon Governor Scott has gutted education in the amount of $1.75 billion. This is destroying our children's lives and chances for a life time of better wages and a good life. In Wisconsin, the Union busting idiot governor, Scott Walker has cut to the tune of $835 million and the demonstration against him has died down. In the federal government half of the $38 billion in spending cuts have come at the expense of health, labor and education. These all have devastating effects on our children. Parents do not have jobs. They loose health care, if they even have it in the first place and of course the quality of education continues to go down. Where are the greedy businesses that are laying off people and cutting back the benefits they have offered in the past. They are flush with cash and yet instead of investing in their corporations they elect to increase bonuses and pay for the upper management people. These are the true monsters in our society today. They make decisions that effect all of our children, not just one.
My question then to everyone of you, is where is the parental protection from the greed and stupidity of our leaders. Where are the claws of Motherhood as these people take from your children. Where is the outrage that comes from knowing that your children are being destroyed, slowly. Do you only follow the story line if it involves sex, lies and videotape? Come on people show the emotional outburst that you had when Casey was found. "not guilty." If you will become involved I will drive around downtown parking garages, changing cars to throw off the news helicopters. Actually I will do just about anything to arouse the strong emotions I saw when even before the trial started, the lynch mobs were forming. Everyone should be fighting mad, because as much hurt as someone did to little Caylee Anthony, it was amateur hour compared to the damage that is being done to the rest of your children. Get angry. Get vocal. Get involved and change the direction of your children's lives, now!
In Florida Felon Governor Scott has gutted education in the amount of $1.75 billion. This is destroying our children's lives and chances for a life time of better wages and a good life. In Wisconsin, the Union busting idiot governor, Scott Walker has cut to the tune of $835 million and the demonstration against him has died down. In the federal government half of the $38 billion in spending cuts have come at the expense of health, labor and education. These all have devastating effects on our children. Parents do not have jobs. They loose health care, if they even have it in the first place and of course the quality of education continues to go down. Where are the greedy businesses that are laying off people and cutting back the benefits they have offered in the past. They are flush with cash and yet instead of investing in their corporations they elect to increase bonuses and pay for the upper management people. These are the true monsters in our society today. They make decisions that effect all of our children, not just one.
My question then to everyone of you, is where is the parental protection from the greed and stupidity of our leaders. Where are the claws of Motherhood as these people take from your children. Where is the outrage that comes from knowing that your children are being destroyed, slowly. Do you only follow the story line if it involves sex, lies and videotape? Come on people show the emotional outburst that you had when Casey was found. "not guilty." If you will become involved I will drive around downtown parking garages, changing cars to throw off the news helicopters. Actually I will do just about anything to arouse the strong emotions I saw when even before the trial started, the lynch mobs were forming. Everyone should be fighting mad, because as much hurt as someone did to little Caylee Anthony, it was amateur hour compared to the damage that is being done to the rest of your children. Get angry. Get vocal. Get involved and change the direction of your children's lives, now!
The Mother of All Yard Sales, Could This Solve Our Debt Problem?
The last few posts I have shown signs of confusion, but over the weekend I believe there was a revelation on our debt problems. Let's hold the "Mother of all Garage Sales. Within a few weeks we would invite people and representatives from around the world. It would be the social and business event of the century. Everything must go would be the mantra.
Let's start with the Pentagon. They could bring old nuclear war heads to D.C. What terrorist in their right mind could pass up a clearance sale like that. I am sure we could bring in a cool $100 million dollars, especially if we throw in a couple of intercontinental missiles to close the deal. Some old jet aircraft, with an aircraft carrier group could be sold off to the highest bidder. Let's not forget about our artillery and tank groups. More money in the pot.
Next we could look at some of our building in the nations capital. The Capital building and the Congressional office buildings would bring in a huge amount. It is not like we need it for anything. No work has been accomplished there in years. Plus we definitely have no signs of intelligent life anywhere in the area. While we are selling of the buildings that Congress uses, we could sweeten the deal by placing the fleet of limos, that members of Congress have at their disposal in the deal.
National Parks would be placed on the auction block. Hell the Republicans have been after closing them since Teddy Roosevelt. We have some nice timber and natural resource areas that big business could destroy, but at a price. They pay and reduce the debt, they can ruin any pristine parts of America. They would not have to worry about regulations that would lower their profits. They could strip trees, dig mines and drill for oil at their hearts content.
Let me think. What else could we do without. Schools, think how much we could cut the deficit, if we eliminate education from the budget. We could sell them to foreign countries. Then they could just educate their people here and have them in place to take our jobs. I know what would we do with our uneducated children? Who cares. That does not bother people now. We will just eliminate the cost and appearance of educating them.
Health Care. We could sell off our hospitals. Now I know that most hospitals are private companies or groups, so first we have to nationalize them. This way we could make a profit at the garage sell and eliminate health care costs, because no Americans would be able to use them. Simple, no use, we don't have to pay. People will die and then we don't have to pay Social Security benefits. This sale idea is sounding better and better.
Getting back to our nations capital. There are thousands of museums and memorials around the city. Some foreign countries do not have memorials for their veterans. We could sell the Vietnam Memorial to Vietnam. They lost people in that war also and they don't have to change the name. Washington Monument may not be a huge draw, unless we let them change names and pay us naming rights, similar to sports teams. The Washington Monument would become the Queen Elizabeth, Tostidos, Monument and the Lincoln Memorial would become the Hosni Mubarak, Citibank, Memorial.
At this point we are probably operating at a surplus, so get this Republicans, we can now give the big businesses and wealthy elite more tax breaks. We could lower their tax rate to zero. It doesn't get any better then this. I can only imagine the euphoria that the Republicans and Tea Party people are going through right now. John Boehner is somewhere crying in elation over this idea and Eric Cantor just wet his pants. My only question to the Republicans and Tea Partiers. Why didn't you all think of this? So lets' all roll up our sleeves and get busy. It will take several weeks to put this together. Congress could pass an extension to the debt ceiling and if we move quick enough, we could get this done before the next debt ceiling is hit. Together we can do this.
Let's start with the Pentagon. They could bring old nuclear war heads to D.C. What terrorist in their right mind could pass up a clearance sale like that. I am sure we could bring in a cool $100 million dollars, especially if we throw in a couple of intercontinental missiles to close the deal. Some old jet aircraft, with an aircraft carrier group could be sold off to the highest bidder. Let's not forget about our artillery and tank groups. More money in the pot.
Next we could look at some of our building in the nations capital. The Capital building and the Congressional office buildings would bring in a huge amount. It is not like we need it for anything. No work has been accomplished there in years. Plus we definitely have no signs of intelligent life anywhere in the area. While we are selling of the buildings that Congress uses, we could sweeten the deal by placing the fleet of limos, that members of Congress have at their disposal in the deal.
National Parks would be placed on the auction block. Hell the Republicans have been after closing them since Teddy Roosevelt. We have some nice timber and natural resource areas that big business could destroy, but at a price. They pay and reduce the debt, they can ruin any pristine parts of America. They would not have to worry about regulations that would lower their profits. They could strip trees, dig mines and drill for oil at their hearts content.
Let me think. What else could we do without. Schools, think how much we could cut the deficit, if we eliminate education from the budget. We could sell them to foreign countries. Then they could just educate their people here and have them in place to take our jobs. I know what would we do with our uneducated children? Who cares. That does not bother people now. We will just eliminate the cost and appearance of educating them.
Health Care. We could sell off our hospitals. Now I know that most hospitals are private companies or groups, so first we have to nationalize them. This way we could make a profit at the garage sell and eliminate health care costs, because no Americans would be able to use them. Simple, no use, we don't have to pay. People will die and then we don't have to pay Social Security benefits. This sale idea is sounding better and better.
Getting back to our nations capital. There are thousands of museums and memorials around the city. Some foreign countries do not have memorials for their veterans. We could sell the Vietnam Memorial to Vietnam. They lost people in that war also and they don't have to change the name. Washington Monument may not be a huge draw, unless we let them change names and pay us naming rights, similar to sports teams. The Washington Monument would become the Queen Elizabeth, Tostidos, Monument and the Lincoln Memorial would become the Hosni Mubarak, Citibank, Memorial.
At this point we are probably operating at a surplus, so get this Republicans, we can now give the big businesses and wealthy elite more tax breaks. We could lower their tax rate to zero. It doesn't get any better then this. I can only imagine the euphoria that the Republicans and Tea Party people are going through right now. John Boehner is somewhere crying in elation over this idea and Eric Cantor just wet his pants. My only question to the Republicans and Tea Partiers. Why didn't you all think of this? So lets' all roll up our sleeves and get busy. It will take several weeks to put this together. Congress could pass an extension to the debt ceiling and if we move quick enough, we could get this done before the next debt ceiling is hit. Together we can do this.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
I'm Still Confused, But What the Hell I've Been This Way For 59 Years
Listening to the debt ceiling talks, I have become confused about what is a tax and what is everything else. The Republicans are resorting to semantics in an effort to protect their jobs. My confusion stems from this. Why is it a tax increase when we take away corporate welfare, in the form of tax breaks and subsidies and yet when we increase the co-payments for Medicare and Medicaid recipients it is not a tax increase it is an increase in the co-payment. The Republicans are more then willing to increase "fees or co-payments" for average American but are not willing to eliminate "elite and corporate welfare". Please if anyone can help an old, confused man to understand this, do so. I invite my Republican friends to explain, how this works.
My next area of confusion is, of all things, related to Mr. T. Boone Pickens. Mr. Pickens will never be confused with a liberal and, yes before anyone brings it up, he will make money off of his idea. Contrary to what some believe I am all for people making as much money as they can, just do it legally and pay your FAIR share of taxes. Back to Mr. Pickens. He has proposed that we convert our large commercial trucks from gasoline to natural gas. He also proposes that the Federal Government pays subsidies on this for five years only. The cost to us is one billion a year, for a total of five billion dollars. The payback. Over the next ten years we would save over one Trillion Dollars by not having to import foreign oil to run these vehicles. Pay 5 billion to save over 1 trillion dollars, that is a great return for all of us. Mr. Pickens also supports building wind power plants to replace those using oil. He wants us to re-build our electrical power grid system, using newer and better technology, which will save us again with cheaper and cleaner forms of power. Everyone, including Republicans and Democrats support his proposal, so why the hold up? The Koch Brothers. If you are not sure who they are, read my blog from last week and understand, how these sleazes, control politicians. Pickens has invested into natural gas, wind and other domestic and cleaner industries, so like I stated earlier, he will make piles of money. The good thing is this will benefit our country and all of us. It will create high paying jobs and reduce our dependency on foreign oil. The Koch Brothers and Koch Industries are heavily invested in the status quo. They are pouring money into stopping this. Their concern is for Koch Industries and themselves, not the country or any of the peasants that live here. Again if any of my readers can help lift the vail of confusion that surrounds this, please do so.
Finally, for those that remember the Miller Light commercials from years ago, I am still pondering is it, "Tastes Great or Less Filling". Since I have to work this afternoon, I will not be able to try and solve this problem, that has plagued us for years. So I throw myself on the mercy of my readers to do a taste test today and solve the mystery. Please let me know the results. At least some of my confusion would be cleared up.
My next area of confusion is, of all things, related to Mr. T. Boone Pickens. Mr. Pickens will never be confused with a liberal and, yes before anyone brings it up, he will make money off of his idea. Contrary to what some believe I am all for people making as much money as they can, just do it legally and pay your FAIR share of taxes. Back to Mr. Pickens. He has proposed that we convert our large commercial trucks from gasoline to natural gas. He also proposes that the Federal Government pays subsidies on this for five years only. The cost to us is one billion a year, for a total of five billion dollars. The payback. Over the next ten years we would save over one Trillion Dollars by not having to import foreign oil to run these vehicles. Pay 5 billion to save over 1 trillion dollars, that is a great return for all of us. Mr. Pickens also supports building wind power plants to replace those using oil. He wants us to re-build our electrical power grid system, using newer and better technology, which will save us again with cheaper and cleaner forms of power. Everyone, including Republicans and Democrats support his proposal, so why the hold up? The Koch Brothers. If you are not sure who they are, read my blog from last week and understand, how these sleazes, control politicians. Pickens has invested into natural gas, wind and other domestic and cleaner industries, so like I stated earlier, he will make piles of money. The good thing is this will benefit our country and all of us. It will create high paying jobs and reduce our dependency on foreign oil. The Koch Brothers and Koch Industries are heavily invested in the status quo. They are pouring money into stopping this. Their concern is for Koch Industries and themselves, not the country or any of the peasants that live here. Again if any of my readers can help lift the vail of confusion that surrounds this, please do so.
Finally, for those that remember the Miller Light commercials from years ago, I am still pondering is it, "Tastes Great or Less Filling". Since I have to work this afternoon, I will not be able to try and solve this problem, that has plagued us for years. So I throw myself on the mercy of my readers to do a taste test today and solve the mystery. Please let me know the results. At least some of my confusion would be cleared up.
Monday, July 11, 2011
I'm Confused, But What Else Is New? My views including Casy!
Running off on the keyboard. My random thoughts.
I stated that I am confused, let me tell you why. During the elections last year, the Republicans and Tea Party Candidates, ran on the issue of getting debt under control. The latest proposal by the President is to reduce the debt by 4 trillion dollars. The Republicans are saying that they cannot get a big deal done and propose a 2 trillion dollar reduction. My confusion is how do you run on the issue of reducing the debt and then cut in half the amount that the Democrats put forward. Is that the difference between just beating the hell out of Middle America and saving the elite and corporations? Why is reducing the debt O.K. as long as we only take from us? What ever happened to the idea of fairness? Oh, wait I understand, it is NOT an election year! They will only talk about balancing the budget, seriously, during their re-election campaign. Let the big money continue to roll in, because you are protected once again by our political leaders. Maybe we should just let Congress leave and let the Corporations make new laws. Wait, again they already do that.
Did you see where Sarah Palin came out with the statement, "I can win." To all of the Monday morning quarterbacks out there, does that sound familiar? I can't tell you how many times, while watching a basketball game I shout at the player that just missed the free throw, "I could make that shot."
Ms. Palin is great on the sidelines, complaining because she quits half way through her term as governor, she never faces the criticism. Hey Sarah, leadership is getting into the game and competing to see if you can win. As the saying goes, "Lead, follow or get out of the way." For the good of our country I suggest you do the latter, and while your are at it, shut up until you have something intelligent to say.
John Boehner is more concerned about being Speaker of the House then doing what is good for the country. Eric Cantor is wetting himself, trying to get Boehner out and himself in. This is what I call leadership. Just go to neutral corners and come out fighting, boys. At least it would be over quickly.
It seems the NFL is able to get more done quickly then our Congress. Reports say the greedy owners and the whining players are close to a deal. If they get theirs done maybe we could talk them into going to Capital Hill and getting the country straight. "Pacman" Jones would fit right in with the crooks in Washington.
Last did you see where the banks and our wonderful leaders are trying to quickly get a deal struck on how much the banks will have to pay for the mortgage mess? The banks want this done even though the investigation is just starting. I wonder why! That would be like starting a murder trail the week before charges are brought. The other part that really leaves me shaking my head is the banks DO NOT have to admit to any wrong doing. Who do they think they are Casey Anthony!
That is just part of what is rambling inside of my head this morning. I just hope you are less confused then I am.
I stated that I am confused, let me tell you why. During the elections last year, the Republicans and Tea Party Candidates, ran on the issue of getting debt under control. The latest proposal by the President is to reduce the debt by 4 trillion dollars. The Republicans are saying that they cannot get a big deal done and propose a 2 trillion dollar reduction. My confusion is how do you run on the issue of reducing the debt and then cut in half the amount that the Democrats put forward. Is that the difference between just beating the hell out of Middle America and saving the elite and corporations? Why is reducing the debt O.K. as long as we only take from us? What ever happened to the idea of fairness? Oh, wait I understand, it is NOT an election year! They will only talk about balancing the budget, seriously, during their re-election campaign. Let the big money continue to roll in, because you are protected once again by our political leaders. Maybe we should just let Congress leave and let the Corporations make new laws. Wait, again they already do that.
Did you see where Sarah Palin came out with the statement, "I can win." To all of the Monday morning quarterbacks out there, does that sound familiar? I can't tell you how many times, while watching a basketball game I shout at the player that just missed the free throw, "I could make that shot."
Ms. Palin is great on the sidelines, complaining because she quits half way through her term as governor, she never faces the criticism. Hey Sarah, leadership is getting into the game and competing to see if you can win. As the saying goes, "Lead, follow or get out of the way." For the good of our country I suggest you do the latter, and while your are at it, shut up until you have something intelligent to say.
John Boehner is more concerned about being Speaker of the House then doing what is good for the country. Eric Cantor is wetting himself, trying to get Boehner out and himself in. This is what I call leadership. Just go to neutral corners and come out fighting, boys. At least it would be over quickly.
It seems the NFL is able to get more done quickly then our Congress. Reports say the greedy owners and the whining players are close to a deal. If they get theirs done maybe we could talk them into going to Capital Hill and getting the country straight. "Pacman" Jones would fit right in with the crooks in Washington.
Last did you see where the banks and our wonderful leaders are trying to quickly get a deal struck on how much the banks will have to pay for the mortgage mess? The banks want this done even though the investigation is just starting. I wonder why! That would be like starting a murder trail the week before charges are brought. The other part that really leaves me shaking my head is the banks DO NOT have to admit to any wrong doing. Who do they think they are Casey Anthony!
That is just part of what is rambling inside of my head this morning. I just hope you are less confused then I am.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
We Choose to Go to The Moon, The President Kennedy Speech. Watch it.
With the final Shuttle launch today, I believe that Americans have lost their role as leaders and ending the shuttle without a clear direction for our space program is an example. Watch the Kennedy speech and listen to our President, as he defines the leadership role of the United States. He could have been talking about health care, manufacturing, new technology or new, efficient energy programs. The core point of John Kennedy's speech was the United States should be the leader in all areas, and the challenge in his time was space exploration. We should continue an energetic space program, not because it is easy, but because it is hard. He challenged his generation to grab the mantle of leadership, and I challenge my generation and future generations to move us forward in the same manner. Today we shy away from the most daunting obstacles, because they are difficult. We use the excuse that there is not enough money. There is not enough time. We don't have the expertise to overcome the problems. We have an excuse for everything. The truth is we lack the drive and commitment to tackle these challenges head on. We lack the political leadership from both parties. We lack the corporate community backing the drive forward. Mr. Kennedy inspired people around this country and around the world with his words at Rice University. Today I want to use those words to inspire a new group of Americans to lead America forward. To move us to the next difficult task to solve. Not because it is easy, but because it is hard.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)