Category: Politics

What has happened to this country…

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Wealth Inequality = Social Problems

Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times Equality, a True Soul Food

He is summarizing a British report on the societal effects of wealth inequality. Currently in America “the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans possess a greater collective net worth than the bottom 90 percent.”  I do not understand why everyone, except the 1%, is not shocked and up in arms over this fact.  But that is me.

The basic premise of the study, backed up by tons of data is this.  With great wealth inequality you create a wide variety of personal and social stressors.  There are increases in crime, Continue reading “Wealth Inequality = Social Problems”

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The Big Lie

From Robert Reich’s Blog…

The GOP Is Spreading a Big Fat Lie About the Economy — We Need Obama to Put an End to It

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A New God Given Document

A friend sent me the following link: Scalia: Women Don’t Have Constitutional Protection Against Discrimination

The gist of the article is this.  The 14th Amendment, specifically the Equal Protection clause,  requires the states to provide equal protection to all people within its jurisdiction.  Scalia is arguing that the Constitution and this amendment does not prohibit the passage of laws discriminating based on gender or sexual orientation.  Continue reading “A New God Given Document”

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I Want to Buy American

I was in Lowe’s the other day.   The fact that it was Lowe’s is only incidental.  It could have been any of the many big box store chains that dot Generica.

They provided to me a pretty clear snapshot of the some issues that are troubling me about American business.  It all seems to boil down to corporations being willing to sell out this country because they are more concerned about the quarterly profit statement and executive pay than anything else.

My first observation is that Spanish is nearly as prominent in the store as English.  The lettering was not quite as big as the English, but it was only a small percentage less so. Continue reading “I Want to Buy American”

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Illegal Immigration – Pros and Cons

I am still trying to figure out how I feel about all the illegal immigrants in this country and the various action plans floating around to deal with them.  My gut reaction is not kind, but I know there is much more to the picture than what my knee-jerk emotions are telling me.   I do know that many legal immigrants that I have spoken to resent the illegal immigrants that have not jumped through all the hoops they have, yet seem to be able to stay in this country unbothered.

Towards the end of clarifying my thought process I thought I would gather up some of the arguments, favoring and oppositional.

We have a tendency due to our dysfunctional political system to not act, to drift, to let the status quo rock on.  This should not be the case with immigration reform as the current system is full of abuse, personal and systematic.   Continue reading “Illegal Immigration – Pros and Cons”

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Winner-Take-All Politics

Winner-Take-All Politics by Hacker & Pierson available at Amazon.com

The book is subtitled: How Washington Made the Rich Richer – And Turned Its Back on the Middle Class

This book needs another review like a hole in the head.  Typing the full title into Google resulted in close to 30,000 hits.  But hey, why not!

First and foremost, while I found the book deeply troubling and depressing, it is an important book to read if you want to really understand what is happening in Washington currently.   This book really did not tell me anything that I did not intuitively already know from decades of watching the American political scene.  It did reaffirm and document my intuition. Continue reading “Winner-Take-All Politics”

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Fair and Balanced…Not

There is so much I could say.  What scares me is that Fox News is the most popular cable “news” source.  What scares me even more is that those folks that watch Fox News seem to accept it lock, stock and barrel.  Plus they absolutely are clueless as to why someone would not.   I do not think it a coincidence that NASCAR fans are by and by, big consumers of Fox News.  There seems to a major dearth of critical thinking and self examination in this country.  I have no idea if it is a new phenomenon, but it feels like the extent to which it is happening does seem to have reached new bounds.

I’m not sure what their overarching goal is a Fox News, but it is not the long run good of this country or the majority of its citizens.  The country that Fox News and its bought and paid for political candidates envision is not a country I want to live in.   I doubt it is a country Thomas Jefferson would want to live in.

Below is a link to a commentary on the study.  Obviously from their headline they are a little harsher than I might be.  When I read the study the impression I get is that we are all sadly misinformed or captive to our belief systems.  My personal opinion is that for democracy to work really well, the voters should be informed and involved.  We really have neither.  And there are more than a few sources intent on spreading misinformation aka propaganda.

Study Confirms That Fox News Makes You Stupid

The full study from World Public Opinion.org

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Kangaroo Care…KISS

A simple low cost solution for caring for premature babies in 3rd world countries, and in this country.   Holding the baby against the mother’s chest continually, termed Kangaroo Care.

It was developed (relearned?) by Dr. Edgar Rey  in Bogota, Colombia who lacked enough incubators.  Clinical trials has shown that it is effective.  The babies do well,  start breastfeeding earlier and put on weight quicker.  Besides the physical benefits there is the emotional and social benefits.  Mothers and other caregivers, who spell her, are bonding better.  This leads to fewer abandoned babies.

What is the old rule of thumb…”KISS – Keep It Simple Silly”

Below is a link to the article on the New York Times website.  It is well worth the read.

The Human Incubator – NYTimes.com

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An Irishman abroad tells it like it is !! :-)

The moral of this story is…do not ask an elderly Irishmen what he thinks unless you really, really want to know.

He did pretty much nail it on the head regarding the current financial cluster f***.

Enjoy…if you are in the workplace or small children are around you might want to put on headphones!