This is an opportunity that is ours to lose

Rebuilding Haiti could be a small scale project to show us how to rebuilt our own country.  I think it is important to look carefully at this.   Frankly while I am truly pleased with the way the administration has responded to Haiti it makes me sad that for whatever reason help for main street (and for those of us 55 and older who were displaced by the firms we counted on to retire from) has been slow to arrive.  Sigh.  But perhaps Haiti will re-ignite the way ...

Disgusted with Dems/Reps/Pols in General

I just hung up from my zillionth fundraising call from the Democratic Party. That's when I realized it. I am not a Democrat anymore. I am not a Republican either. I need to start a party based around the vote of "None of the Above." Arrggh.

Current Myth-Makers

Myth-makers. Back in the days long ago, oral history created myths. Today, IMs and TV shows create, foster and perpetuate myths. So, let's look at a few of the myths we have. Myth 1: Getting the immigration bill passed will (a) help with local employment issues, (b) help with local health care and school issues, (c) cut down on deaths by drunk drivers, (d) make more jobs available for U.S. citizens...and so on and so forth. But ... ask yourself if it is true or if it is smoke and mirrors brought to you this time by those stalwart politicos on the Hill. You know...the ones who promised us Democrats ANYTHING so they could be elected and then have not done much at all except talk. Here is what no less a figure than President Theodore Roosevelt said about immigrants back in 1907...100 years ago, folks......

Theodore Roosevelt's ideas on Immigrants and being an AMERICAN in 1907.

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith

becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be

treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an

outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed,

or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming

in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There

can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is

an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for

but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here,

and that is the English language... and we have room for but one

sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

Theodore Roosevelt 1907

Until I hear a (hah) politician say these words, until I hear a politican say that the border states are not secure until the border states' governors say they are secure, until I can trust Homeland Security...

Peace

Hamlet on America Today

Nina Totenberg, NPR, C-Span and reporters in general these days are fascinating to listen to. I have listened to Nina Totenberg for years (both in the general discussion roundtable shows and on NPR). She always has an "I know something you don't know" tone in her voice. Not today. She sounded numb reporting the news that Scooter Libby might (gasp) have to spend time in prison while he waits for the President to pardon him. Here is the written transcript which seems pretty neutral but do listen to the sound clip. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10727684 It is in the hearing that I heard something - perhaps a cold or perhaps sadness. I wonder now how close these reporters are to the Executive Branch operatives? How dispassionate are they at reporting the news? I am not sure anymore. I begin to believe that as a nation we are not being told the truth about many things. It doesn't take a Watergate survivor to know that something is rotten in D.C. and in the U.S. Here is a far more eloquent and well researched gloss on this feeling of mine, written in 2004. http://www.rense.com/general59/weu.htm

Family Myth-teries

Myth-tery...or why my family said in the 60s we believed in God. My great-uncle Stephen Marvin Young was the Senator from Ohio http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=Y000053 (1959-1971). We suspected something was amazing about him when he won the 1958 campaign all the experts said he couldn't. He was elected and was such a gadfly that President Johnson backed John Glenn to run against him in 1964. Fate intervened however. John Glenn, the astronaut, fell down in a bathtub in Columbus, Ohio on his campaign sweep through the state. Oh, the shame. This incident prompted my uncle's campaign team to start asking whether Glenn fell because he was clumsy or whether he fell because he had gone into space. These questions spooked Ohio voters and Glenn lost that election. So much for Family Myth-teries. For more information, here is a less official version... http://michaelmeckler.com/books/review_091205.html

Bottom Line Immigration

I tried to call in to C-Span this morning because they were talking about the immigration bill. As usual, I couldn't get through. What I wanted to say, though, is I think the government is focusing us all on illegal immigration to keep us thinking that if we just dealt with illegals our jobs would be safe. Hah. In today's society if a plant manager can make more money for the plant by firing the legal workers who have to be paid the minimum wage and bringing in illegals, what do you think he is going to do? What we are now seeing in outsourced America, is domestic jobs being outsourced to cheaper workers. Are those workers legal? Some probably are. Some probably aren't. Is this legal? Maybe in some cases it is. Maybe in some cases it isn't. What I do believe is that this trend is a slippery slope back to a sweatshop mentality the U.S. was in at the beginning of the 20th Century. It all comes down to the Bottom Line. And because the media refuses to report on these firings to get lower cost workers, here is a report from a friend in Canada about exactly the same thing happening up there. http://thetyee.ca/News/2007/06/04/Widgets/

Namaste.

Budget Projects and Congress

Standing behind our children says the poster at the left. Hah! Our children will be digging out of this Republican budget disaster for years and years. Their children will be digging out as well. My kid was recently assigned a Budget Project for 8th grade. The project was scarey it reminded me that we all are supposed to live within a budget. We all are supposed to be able to afford the things we really truly need. However, if we overspend we go into debt. It is as simple as that. Why can't the U.S. Congress figure that out? When Congress overspends we all suffer. The inflated budget drives up the price of goods and services which affects us normal folks but Congress never feels the pinch because they vote pay raises for themselves. How can I afford to donate $$ to the Democrats when they have no clue what to do now that they are in the majority? They still act as if they were in the minority. Sheesh. Are we any better off with Democrats than Republicans? I don't think so anymore. None of them are any good.

Global Warming Tourists

Gah! I knew it would come to this. Now there is a tour going to Alaska so environmental tourists can see the glaciers before they melt. It was in an ad in the Nation magazine. You'd think the editors who put these things together would have laughed it out of the magazine. You'd think the organizers of the tour would have realized that they cause environmental damage by advocating this trip. You'd think, but you'd be WRONG. When, when, when will people "GET" it? The polluters you complain about may actually be YOU.

What You Don't Know Can ....

http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/judiciary/hju22258.000/hju22258_0f.htm
I got interested today in something I was discussing with a friend. It was about the U.S. Prison System and a hearing I listened to last year that was alarming. The link above is to the entire hearing but I have excerpted and bolded the sections I find alarming. For ease of reference those sections can be found in their entirety on pages 88-96.

Material Submitted for the Hearing Record

STATEMENT SUBMITTED BY THE U.S. CHAMBER OF COMMMERCE TO THE HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE . . .

FPI in the Free Market...Our free market system is essential to achieving and maintaining a vibrant and productive economy and is a necessary foundation of political and social freedom. The United States government is responsible for enforcing laws that promote competition in the marketplace and ensure a level playing field among competitors to benefit American consumers. Monopolies do not belong in a free market economy. ... This is exactly the situation with respect to FPI sales in the federal market. The federal government-the consumer in this case-is paying above market prices for lower quality goods and in doing so, is squandering American taxpayer dollars while completely ignoring the very rules it enforces in the commercial market. ...

The Need for Reform...In 1934, President Roosevelt established FPI as a government-owned corporation. FPI was given special ''mandatory source'' status in the government procurement process, forcing government agencies in need of a product to purchase that product from FPI. No consideration can be given to a private sector competitor unless that agency asks FPI for an exception from its own monopoly. It is ironic that there are laws prohibiting the U.S. from importing goods that are made by prisoners in other countries, yet we have laws that require our own federal government to buy goods and services from prisoners in this country.

........

Recent aggressive expansion by FPI into the services arena has caused great concern in the business community. Even though FPI's authorizing statute does not specifically mention services, FPI has interpreted that it is a ''preferential source'' for services and used this to enter into sole source contracts with Federal agencies for services. They are quickly expanding their services portfolio, which includes printing, environmental testing, recycling, mapping and imaging, distribution and mailing, laundry services, data conversion, and call center and help desk support.This expansion is alarming not only because it adversely impacts the private sector but also because it is wholly inappropriate to allow inmates access to classified or infrastructure information used in mapping projects or the personal or financial information of private citizens used in call center operations. We should be extremely cautious with the information we arm our federal inmates with in preparation for life beyond bars. ...FPI's desire to expand into the commercial marketplace is an alarming development that is seen as a call to arms by industry. The Chamber opposes FPI's move into the commercial marketplace for four reasons. First, the decision to expand into the commercial marketplace is in conflict with the clear language of FPI's enabling legislation and beyond the discretion of the Board. Second, it is a reversal of more than sixty years of public policy. Third, FPI has claimed this authority for itself without any specific legislative authority from Congress. Finally, the creation of a state run enterprise, competing with its own citizens, is a policy so at odds with the role of government in a free society that it is a decision best left to Congress.

Conclusion

The U.S. Chamber and the business community appreciate the Subcommittee's examination of FPI's impact on the private sector and urge quick consideration of H.R. 2965 by the full committee. Businesses rely on an efficient, fair competitive process to provide the federal government with goods and services to maintain and grow their businesses.

Thank you for the opportunity to submit this statement for the record.

STATEMENT OF ROGER F. COCIVERA, PRESIDENT AND CEO, TEXTILE RENTAL SERVICES ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA

Heard on the Way Home

Heard on the drive home...Father Bush. So what I used to call junior is right!!! The shrub. It is time for the opposition (Democrats, Independents or if there is actually a Goldwater Republican out there) to do some pruning in 2008.

Fully Engaged and Outraged

http://www.may4.org/ This link discusses a prior deployment of the Ohio State National Guard units in the Kent State massacre of May 1970. I lived through those days as a student in college. It was an ugly time for the country. It was outrageous behavior for a guard unit then. Police should have been the ones dealing with the student strikes. But gutless James Rhodes, then Governor of the State of Ohio, thought it was a good idea at the time to look tough. Someone needs to start paying attention to history, to psychology, to mental health, to fiscal responsibility, to the Constitution, to the real Bottom Line for America today.

Musing on the National Guard and Tornados

http://democrats.senate.gov/journal/entry.cfm?id=273668&
There are no coincidences in my life on line. I was getting ready to write about my perception that deploying state national guard units outside of the United States is illegal. And in checking through my facts on whether it is actually illegal or not I ran into this article about the reaction to last weekends' tornados through Kansas. I can only reflect as well on the fact that Katrina showed this deplorable theft of our states' reserves first. We couldn't respond faster locally because no one was home to respond. I am just sure as I can be that this deployment of troops is wrong. One wonders whether Bush would have served in Vietnam if his unit? in Texas had been called up the way he is calling up our states' units now. These policies are short-sighted in the best of worlds and if they aren't illegal today, somebody in Congress needs to get a bill onto the Floor to make them illegal. Somebody needs to do that today!!! For more reading (albeit biased) here is a link to CodePink. http://www.bayareacodepink.org/actions/cng-facts.htm And final link for this article, folks, here is an article discussing the legality (hah) of deploying these troops in the first place. http://www.etherzone.com/2007/brow041207.shtml

Ok, I'm Late in Reading Salon but ...

This article has a very cogent point I have felt for a long time. Nixon and Agnew are reincarnated in Bush and Cheney. Felt it in my bones but couldn't articulate any better than this 2004 Salon article. http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2004/03/31/dean/index.html There is a movement to replace Cheney with Olympia Snow as Vice President to improve Republican chances in 2006. I doubt a year would be enough time to accomplish this but it is an appealing notion. If Bush were as embarrassed by Cheney as Nixon was by Agnew perhaps it would work. After all, Nixon kept saying how he was 110% behind Agnew up until the time he ditched him for Gerry Ford. So why not Olympia Snow? After all, Gerald Ford was a remarkable politician and a comfort to the country after Nixon's resignation. The only thing Gerry had to do to get the job was promise immunity to Nixon after Watergate. So, who knows..... Until the US regains its saniety, Peace Please.

What Ifs

The horrible What Ifs in the aftermath of Virginia Tech really boil down to learning to listen to others. Really more than listening. Acting on behalf of others who may not want help. Forcing the parents of bullies to send their kids to counselling. Forcing the parents of the picked upon to do the same. As life in the Ed.Biz. stands at the moment, the parents of the kids who bullied my girls never apologized for their sons' behavior. We were the ones who sought help for our girls. It ticks me off. So my question is why is it the picked upon victim who gets stimatized and forced to get treatment while the bullies walk free among us? Focusing on the Virginia Tech killer is a good start but much, much more needs to be done. Until then ... peace please

Why I Hate C-Span but Listen to it Anyway

I listen to C-Span to get pre-sound-byte information instead of pablum. Lately though pablum in the form of government certified spokespersons have crept into C-Span. This weekend was no different. A spokesman for some Christian sect was talking with C-Span about Bush and the Iraq war. A caller asked him to comment about whether the war was a right expression of Faith. The spokesman tapped-danced around the issue by using one of those philosophic straw men political arguments so he could demolish it and thus win the argument. I hate that. And the moderator of the C-Span show let him get away with it. How typical. Bush has been setting up these straw men arguments for years. First the Faith Based Initiatives to help (hah) with the homeless. Now the Iraq war. According to the spokesman Iraq is faith based. Blessed. Grrrr. Who knew we could also have Faith Based Wars? But clearly what started after 9/11 was Christian Based Jihad. There is no doubt in my mind that Eisenhower was right to worry about an Industrial Military Complex. Only no one listened. No one listened in Vietnam. No one is listening now. So here we are in the new millenium going to war against an idea. Ridiculous. War on Terror. So who is the terrorist? Bush or Them? Until then...peace please.

Sighted on the Travel Channel

I had to take public transit today instead of driving. Bad idea. I hurt so much I couldn't sleep. So I started watching the Travel Channel. Weird, I know. It was about ghosts, though, so I was hooked. http://whaleyhouse.org/haunted.htm Hauntings at the Whaley House. The show claims the haunting is certified by the U.S. Commerce Department. We have government certified hauntings now? Arrrggh!!! What next? What ticks me off though is that the show didn't say: "Don't try this at home." I guess ghosts are entertainment now. Which makes them what? Less scarey, less dangerous, less, less, less? Ghost Snooping like this may not harm a person on first exposure or second or third perhaps but dabbling with hauntings is like being covered in cobwebs one strand at a time. A little is fine but by the time it gets too heavy there is no easy escape. So in the spirit of safety...May all beings wherever and whenever they are be blessed tonight and all time.

Fear is not Good Policy for Countries

What constitutes a terrorist? The Irgun terrorized everyone in Palestine but protected and revenged themselves on attacks on the Jewish settlers. The Indians in the French and Indian War were considered bad news. But were they really? Weren't they actually aligning themselves with the French who promised them autonomy and control of their own lands? So my question today is this: Is Iran the terrorist state? Or are we as Americans terrorists for attacking sovereign countries by libeling them first and then building up a bogus case against them. We did it in Iraq. We are doing it again in this fakey lead up to attacking Iran. Don't get me wrong. I am a patriot. I belong to the DAR, the Dames of the Magna Charter, a member of the Scottish Clan MacGregor, a descendant of Civil War veterans on both sides, my dad was a Marine in WWII. So, I care. My great uncle was Senator from Ohio during the Vietnam Era and voted against the Gulf of Tonkien Agreement which allocated a surge in our involvement on the Vietnamese Peninsula back in 1965. The United States is an army now--not a country. And the public is watching American Idol instead of what is happening. As Americans we need to watch American Idol less and politics more. We need to change that equation of building the stock market by having wars. We need to change it Soon. Peace Please.

Names that Don't Inspire Confidence

As you know, I don't hear well. Every time I hear the name of the current war czar in Iraq, I shake my head. What? What is that name? I keep hearing "betray us," no matter who is talking ... from C-Span to NPR to the local yokels at the radio station. Now I know it was me not hearing right and that the name is Petraeus. Sheesh.... And yet, in my first google on the name here is a link to an article in the Washington Post about the general....So, maybe, it is not just me. http://blog.washingtonpost.com/earlywarning/2007/01/the_overrated_general_petraeus.html

Standards

We have such high standards these days for jobs. Have you noticed? Even petsitters need to have certificates. When did this happen? Did I miss the memo? I just think we are collectively missing the boat here. Certificates don't always confer immediate knowledge or make me feel any safer. SOLs don't make our kids smarter. Commerce Department Certificates of hauntings don't make the Whaley House more haunted. Just certified. And we cut back on certificates that count. Like making sure slaughter house inspectors have enough money to certify all the slaughter houses. Like making sure pet food manufacturers use only certified ingredients that won't kill our pets. Like making sure we really are on the way out of the woods. Sheesh, folks, we need to get real. Paper trails don't always lead us out of the woods. Now bread crumbs? They just might. Yours in thought...

Turning Points

Tafnit - Hebrew for "turning point." See this article in the International Herald Tribune:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/29/news/mideast.php?page=2 This is an article about the peace movement in Israel, about the protest organizations against the war in Lebanon, and generally about Olmert's political problems in the country. More power to the protest group which is called: Tafnit - Turning Point. We all reach turning points in our lives. If we are lucky, we see them before we run off the rails. I pray that is the case in Israel.

Until then
Shalom