Category: Politics

What has happened to this country…

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Step Away from the Counter

When I was in college I clerked in a liquor store for a while.  It was a great job for a student. On weekends we worked hard, but during the week the store was not busy and I was able to study hard.

I had a legal responsibility to not sell alcohol to people that were intoxicated.  Not only did I face criminal action, but as it was explained to me I could also face civil liabilities.  It is not always easy to tell if someone was over the limit.  It is almost always an argument when you refuse to sell to them, but I did do so a few times.  Continue reading “Step Away from the Counter”

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California’s Pot Vote

The only time bootleggers and preachers voted the same was to keep Prohibition.  Apparently this is the case again in California where the legalizing marijuana for recreational use is on the ballot.  Two big opponents funding the opposition to the bill are the liquor industry and the medical marijuana industry.  Both feel they will lose some portion of the profit pie they are currently enjoying.  Medical marijuana is going for $300 an ounce.  One study predicted with legalization for recreation use, a price drop of 90 percent.  That would bring it down to 1970s prices, and even cheaper if you consider our inflated dollars. 

It is crazy to keep this substance illegal for any number of well documented reasons. Continue reading “California’s Pot Vote”

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Fool’s Gold

Fox most trusted news channel in US, poll shows

This one headline summarizes for me why I feel hopeless about this country.  The rise of Fox News is one of the most pernicious events to happen in this country in quite some time.  It troubles me beyond description that there are multitudes of people that believe Fox News is “Fair and Balanced”. 

IQ test here…Fox is to news as pyrite is to _____.   If you said gold, you passed.

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Stephen Colbert Testifies before Congress

God Bless Stephen, he never got out of character and still made his point.

It would be interesting to see what would happen if Americans had to pay a fair cost for their food. If the food was not harvested by exploited illegal immigrants, if our meat supply was done in an ethical manner, if our food supply was truly food and not laboratory products…

Click the link below to watch.

Stephen Colbert’s Testimony before Congress

Here is a link to an article where folks were upset with his testimony.

Steny Hoyer: Stephen Colbert’s Testimony To Congress Was ‘An Embarrassment For Mr. Colbert’

My personal take was it was wonderful.  If you invite a cat in the house and sharpens its claws on the furniture whose fault is it?  He was funny, yet made a lot of good points.  The one at the end was probably one Congress did not want to hear, but is very true.  Stephen was asked to leave the meeting room after his “performance”.   Those sleaze balls in Congress take themselves much, much too seriously.

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Sacrifice is for the little people

Paul Krugman’s op-ed piece for Monday, September 20, 2010.  The Angry Rich

This is why I have become so discouraged in our political system.  It may have never been about the majority of the folks in this country, but I feel it is even more skewed towards the elite today.   A quote from the op-ed piece:

“And among the undeniably rich, a belligerent sense of entitlement has taken hold: it’s their money, and they have the right to keep it. “Taxes are what we pay for civilized society,” said Oliver Wendell Holmes — but that was a long time ago.”

It is amazing how many middle class folks agree with this feeling of the very rich that the rich are entitled.  The wealth gap continues to grow in the United States, the people living in poverty is rising, unemployment remains high, our infrastructure continues to crumble, our children’s education is falling behind most of the rest of the industrialized world and deficits continue to grow. 

These folks have no real loyalty beyond their pocket books.  I would be angry, but the energy would be wasted. It saddens and discourages me beyond measure that an elite few control the political agenda of this country. 

What was it Spock said, “The good of the many outweighs the good of the few, or the one.”  Apparently not in America in 2010.

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The Raping of America

Now That’s Rich – New York Times op-ed piece by Paul Krugman

From the article:

“We need to pinch pennies these days. Don’t you know we have a budget deficit? For months that has been the word from Republicans and conservative Democrats, who have rejected every suggestion that we do more to avoid deep cuts in public services and help the ailing economy.

But these same politicians are eager to cut checks averaging $3 million Continue reading “The Raping of America”

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Yo Soy Canadiense

I was raised a semi military brat.  My father was in the Navy for a decade, and then went to work for an aircraft company.   That left us still around the military and military bases all the time.

I never wanted to go into the military, but I loved John Phillips Sousa, the pomp and circumstances of the military, their parades, the flag, and I always felt a great deal of pride to be an American.  When  I was a teenager we lived in Italy.  Folks would frequently guess my blonde self to be German, I was quick to point that I was an American. 

This continued even through my protesting the Vietnam War.  Somehow I divorced the policies of our government from the actions of my country.  I was not proud of the war, but I was still proud of America.

Something slowly happened over the next several years. Continue reading “Yo Soy Canadiense”

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The Middle Class Is Crumbling

Quote from video accessed by link below:

“Thirty years ago, the CEOs that are in ‘Undercover Boss’ were making 30 times as much as their working people. Now, they’re making 300 times as much! We’re about to become Venezuela, or Brazil, you know where the people at the top are basically behind they’re gates with guards to protect their kids from kidnapping. The middle class is crumbling and that’s the country we’re going to become… if we don’t fundamentally change where we’re going.”

Arianna On ‘Real Time’: The Middle Class Is Crumbling

A comment was made about CEOs not knowing what was going on below their levels in a company.  It is not that they do not know, it is that they do not care.  So many of those folks have a sense of entitlement to their obscene salaries.  Bill Maher is right.  We have it backwards.  The upper echelons get theirs before the folks that really produce get theirs.  I have no problems with those having more responsibilities, skills, etc getting more money for what  they do.  Heaven knows, I was a boss for 6 years and I hated every day of it.  But I am sorry, no one is worth 300 times the what the worker bees are making.

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It Is Time We Linked Arms

I was visiting with a relative the other day who was about to retire from a state job, but would not be old enough for Medicare.  It was explained to me that he could continue his insurance from the state for $500 a month.  Now that is a lot of money, but almost seems cheap in today’s health care market.

A  little math will tell you that $500 a month is $6,000 a year.  Next add Continue reading “It Is Time We Linked Arms”

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Fake Job Ads defraud Americans

The goal is is run ads advertising a job to comply with the law, but not hire Americans. They want to bring in the cheaper green card labor from overseas.

This is why this country is going to down the drain. These high power corporate types have no loyalty to this cournty.

They may be complying with the letter of the law, but this seems at the very minmum very unethical.

Again I do know how these folks sleep at night, or look themselves in the mirror.