Tag: United States

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God Bless Bernie

“Hillary’s hair gets more scrutiny than my hair? Is that what you’re asking?” Sanders responded. “Ana, I don’t mean to be rude here. I am running for president of the Unitedbernie States on serious issues, OK? Do you have serious questions?”

Attempting to categorize her question as a gender-based one, Sanders cuts her off.

“When the media worries about what Hillary’s hair looks like or what my hair looks like, that’s a real problem,” Sanders said. “We have millions of people who are struggling to keep their heads above water, who want to know what candidates can do to improve their lives, and the media will very often spend more time worrying about hair than the fact that we’re the only major country on earth that doesn’t guarantee health care to all people.”

http://www.thewrap.com/bernie-sanders-shreds-reporters-hair-question-i-am-running-for-president-on-serious-issues/

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Lawsuit Claims Obama Discriminated Against American Workers.

The CF continues.  Apparently the Obama administration is in bed with InfoSys.  To quote from the article from Computerworld in this link Court case offers a peek at how H-1B-fueled discrimination works :37.1784

“The passage of the Affordable Care Act brought with it a burst of IT spending and hiring. The District of Columbia, for instance, hired offshore outsourcing firm Infosys for $49.5 million to build its Healthcare Exchange.

The India-based Infosys brought in H-1B visa holders to work on the government project. And of the approximately 100 Infosys employees working on the healthcare project, only three were American, according to a civil lawsuit filed in federal court.”

Just to be clear the discrimination they are referring is against citizens of the United States in the IT field.

To quote from another article Lawsuit: Tech Company Hired to Build D.C. Obamacare Website Discriminated Against Americans Continue reading “Lawsuit Claims Obama Discriminated Against American Workers.”

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Sitting Bull’s Speech Still Rings True

indian_heroes_1210I was raised a military brat.  I was born the year that Eisenhower started his presidency, and thus my early education was in the 50s and 60s.  The result of the two was a deep pride of country, and an admiration of our history.  As I grew older, as I studied more and as I read more I retained an admiration for our founding fathers.  They were remarkable men alive at a pivotal point of history, but they were still men.  Many things that happened then were the sausage of compromise. So much of our history after that point was colored by the institution of slavery and the genocide of the native populations.  Those two, in my mind, make the history of the United States less than glorious.  So much of our history from Vietnam onward is less than efflugent.  We have a sense of global empire that bothers me deeply.  Our government has basically been hijacked by the corporations and the mega-wealthy.   I would love to have a sense of pride and admiration in my country again, but it does not seem to be in the cards.

In my work commute of 54 miles round trip in big city traffic this week, I have been listening to the audio book, Indian Heroes and Great Chieftains by Charles A. Eastman (Ohiyesa).  In this book he included a speech by Sitting Bull that rings true even today for our society.  I have included it here with Eastman’s  introductory paragraph:

His bitter and at the same time well-grounded and philosophical dislike of the conquering race is well expressed in a speech made before the purely Indian council before referred to, upon the Powder River. I will give it in brief as it has been several times repeated to me by men who were present.

“Behold, my friends, the spring is come; the earth has gladly received the embraces of the sun, and we shall soon see the results of their love! Every seed is Continue reading “Sitting Bull’s Speech Still Rings True”

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No More Teddy Bears

No more candle light vigils.  No more piles of teddy bears.  No more stacks of flowers.  No more fences covered with ribbons.  No more platitudes or speeches of remembrance.  We react compassionately to tragic events after the fact.  They fade from memory and we fail to act to prevent the next one.

There were probably a multitude of factors that collided in the Tucson shooting that left 6 dead and many more wounded.

First, it is much, much too easy to get guns in this country.  I read recently that there are 85 guns for every 100 people in the US.  If they were evenly distributed that would be almost be a gun for every man, woman and child in the US.

Secondly, access to health care in this country is atrocious Continue reading “No More Teddy Bears”

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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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He is your President for Goodness Sake!

I will have to admit as a card carry liberal (I’m still thinking about putting a bumper sticker on my vehicle that says, “If’n you ain’t Liberal, you ain’t shit”) I have been very disappointed in Obama.  In many ways I find him much too conservative for my taste.

Then on the other hand the response of the Republicans have been appalling, while I am not a big fan of the Democrat party the alternative is totally unacceptable.

My own explanation for the recent election is the aging population and the fact that they must be suffering short term memory deficit.   How else can you explain that many folks are blaming the economy on Obama and have forgotten the obnoxious behavior of the Republicans in Congress and especially in the Senate.

Our current political morass has me sticking my head in the sand as I cannot stand to watch it.  It just plain hurts too much.  Sadly.

Here is a link to an article in a Canadian newspaper that makes incredible sense.  He’s your President for Goodness Sake!

I personally think it is such a good read and an important read I have included the whole text below. Continue reading “He is your President for Goodness Sake!”

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Must read article – “Why We Must Fix Our Prisons”

Senator Jim Webb wrote an article for Parade Magazine Why We Must Fix Our Prisons  Click link to read full story.

Some quotes from the article:

“With so many of our citizens in prison compared with the rest of the world, there are only two possibilities: Either we are home to the most evil people on earth or we are doing something different–and vastly counterproductive. Obviously, the answer is the latter. “ Continue reading “Must read article – “Why We Must Fix Our Prisons””

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Would this treaty be signed today?

From the book, Doubt:  A History, by Jennifer Michael Hecht:

As second president of the United States, Adams signed into law the Treaty of Tripoli (1797), which declares that “the government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion” and is in no way an enemy to Muslims.  On this basis “it is declared…that no pretext arising from religious opinion shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.”  Further, “The United States is not a Christian nation any more than it is a Jewish or a Mohammedan nation.”  It was carried unanimously by the Senate.

I just have a hard time believing that a treaty containing such language would be passed at all today, let alone unanimously!

I could even see the Okie delegation storming out in protest.