Simple. Where are the truly capable and dedicated investigative journalists hiding? Are they afraid of members of our national Congress? More afraid than were those who boldly dug into the President Nixon era dirty tricks? The dirtiest of tricks has been played on our terrorized nation - by our own legislators.
In the Senate's rejection of background checks and any other regulation of gun sales, there can be no doubt that large amounts of money have been transferred to members of the legislative body. Only personal greed and bribery can explain the willingness of forty-six senators to vote against 90% of their own constituencies and the citizenry of our country.
FOLLOW the MONEY! Someone with guts to go for it can find the hidden bank accounts and trail of under-the-table pay-offs. It isn't enough that we wait another eighteen months and merely UN-elect these bastards. They need to be exposed for what they are, and as soon as possible. They need to do time for criminal acts against the congress and the country. And the gun manufacturers that are doing the bribing need to be fined enough to pay for a massive campaign to educate our nation in the proper use and safety of guns.
The fury exhibited by Gabby Giffords was delightful to witness. But the true path to the eventual ability to halt the corruption among our Senate (and undoubtedly, the House as well) is to EXPOSE the BRIBERY!
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Monday, April 1, 2013
What Kind of Fool . . .
It's April 1st and the day calls loudly for a post from someone such as I - yet I am not quite ready to go into detail on my foolish mistakes and their cost to my life.
Simply allow me to admonish you youngsters who have not yet reached 65 years of age: when the time comes to sign up for Medicare, accept it, and I mean all of it. Opting for Part A only (the no-cost part)when I signed up three years ago did not seem foolish, and I can argue my innocence and in retrospect say that personal financial circumstances at the time almost demanded that I do as I did. Only now does my foolishness appear.
I will expand on this post when I am more informed on my current condition - probably cannot wait until I am less foolish!
Simply allow me to admonish you youngsters who have not yet reached 65 years of age: when the time comes to sign up for Medicare, accept it, and I mean all of it. Opting for Part A only (the no-cost part)when I signed up three years ago did not seem foolish, and I can argue my innocence and in retrospect say that personal financial circumstances at the time almost demanded that I do as I did. Only now does my foolishness appear.
I will expand on this post when I am more informed on my current condition - probably cannot wait until I am less foolish!
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Nail on the Head
Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican Party, finally said it in a more pointed (though subliminal) way than I have been able to express it.
Often I have stated, in one or another less-than-effective way, that there exists a Republican attitude and that even those who most effectively wave the GOP flag are probably unaware of it. Similarly, most people who are racists (of any and all political persuasions) are unaware when they are making racist comments.
Recently, in response to the many accusations that his party is out of touch, anti-minorities, anti-women, anti-gay, etc., etc., Priebus made the flat statement that it isn't true - that the Republican Party is concerned about every voter!
Let that sink in deeply. Without realizing it, he highlighted the very specific point I've always tried to make. They are concerned with every voter - not with every citizen, every child, every human. Even if the subject of concern for humans in general is narrowed to mean only every human in this country, the Republican attitude to which I refer keeps them from stating flatly that they are concerned. Only with each voter are they concerned - again, as always, bringing it around to the basic question of "What can you do for me?" I want what I want, and your vote might help me get what I want, therefore I am concerned for you - the voter.
The Democratic (and truly democratic) attitude is typically one of concern for the disenfranchised - indeed, for all humanity. But the party has a hell of a time translating this worthy attitude into solid action and commitment to managing things that will actually help all people. Therefore they often lose that all-important voter to the aggressive party who has a laser focus on grabbing the vote. This was best expressed by Will Rogers who stated he was not a part of any organized political party; he was a Democrat!
If you ever wondered why anyone would be an Independent, such as I am, here's the perfect reason. My self image is of one who has a lot of heart and plenty of guts to fight for something I believe is good. How could I ever associate myself with either Republicans who are heartless or with Democrats who are gutless?!
Often I have stated, in one or another less-than-effective way, that there exists a Republican attitude and that even those who most effectively wave the GOP flag are probably unaware of it. Similarly, most people who are racists (of any and all political persuasions) are unaware when they are making racist comments.
Recently, in response to the many accusations that his party is out of touch, anti-minorities, anti-women, anti-gay, etc., etc., Priebus made the flat statement that it isn't true - that the Republican Party is concerned about every voter!
Let that sink in deeply. Without realizing it, he highlighted the very specific point I've always tried to make. They are concerned with every voter - not with every citizen, every child, every human. Even if the subject of concern for humans in general is narrowed to mean only every human in this country, the Republican attitude to which I refer keeps them from stating flatly that they are concerned. Only with each voter are they concerned - again, as always, bringing it around to the basic question of "What can you do for me?" I want what I want, and your vote might help me get what I want, therefore I am concerned for you - the voter.
The Democratic (and truly democratic) attitude is typically one of concern for the disenfranchised - indeed, for all humanity. But the party has a hell of a time translating this worthy attitude into solid action and commitment to managing things that will actually help all people. Therefore they often lose that all-important voter to the aggressive party who has a laser focus on grabbing the vote. This was best expressed by Will Rogers who stated he was not a part of any organized political party; he was a Democrat!
If you ever wondered why anyone would be an Independent, such as I am, here's the perfect reason. My self image is of one who has a lot of heart and plenty of guts to fight for something I believe is good. How could I ever associate myself with either Republicans who are heartless or with Democrats who are gutless?!
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Gender Foolishness
Here I am, a male with my own set of stupid built-in prejudices regarding the sexes and our many differences, pointing out that a bit of news from the business world reveals an innate stupidity. It was the news that many businesses are reeling in their employees who had been allowed to work from home - called remote employees. The practice of allowing tele-commuting has been growing and I fear the new trend will be to gradually end this mode of conducting business that has been helpful and merciful to some workers and to a great degree, more profitable for their companies. But then, business executives are quite capable of tossing aside many things that were actually successful.
Be that as it may, my particular attention was drawn to the comment that of those who are allowed to practice tele-commuting, men are far more acceptable than women to move into these positions.
Stupid! There is no question, in my own opinion, about the likelihood of female workers being better suited to serving their employers in the remote employee position. Females almost invariably out-do males in three of the most critical capacities for business: they are more dedicated to living up to expectations, more capable of multi-tasking (by far!) and more honest in their self-disciplined activity. Oh - and then there is the small matter of employers doing the right thing. Women are the people who most need the chance to stay at home and do those paying jobs while multi-tasking to handle kids and /or many other necessities.
As a basically honest male, I freely admit that given the chance to work from home, as a younger man, I would have arranged most of my work around my personal desires rather than the other way around. Most men who are managing businesses should also grasp this general male tendency and know that if they truly want anyone working in a dedicated way while staying at home, they had best choose female employees to do so. It would be instructive to see a graph showing the total number of tele-commuters employed today and revealing a break-out of the measurable productive out-put of these workers, comparing by gender.
It's just a guess, but I would strongly assert that a thorough study would show that companies who make females their choice for tele-commuters are better served. It is also a guess, but I would predict that a side revelation in such a study might be that those companies best served by these remote employees who are female, are companies having females in upper management helping make sound decisions.
Sorry guys, but our gender has held the reins of business - and government - far too long without showing any impressive proof that we know what the hell we are doing.
Be that as it may, my particular attention was drawn to the comment that of those who are allowed to practice tele-commuting, men are far more acceptable than women to move into these positions.
Stupid! There is no question, in my own opinion, about the likelihood of female workers being better suited to serving their employers in the remote employee position. Females almost invariably out-do males in three of the most critical capacities for business: they are more dedicated to living up to expectations, more capable of multi-tasking (by far!) and more honest in their self-disciplined activity. Oh - and then there is the small matter of employers doing the right thing. Women are the people who most need the chance to stay at home and do those paying jobs while multi-tasking to handle kids and /or many other necessities.
As a basically honest male, I freely admit that given the chance to work from home, as a younger man, I would have arranged most of my work around my personal desires rather than the other way around. Most men who are managing businesses should also grasp this general male tendency and know that if they truly want anyone working in a dedicated way while staying at home, they had best choose female employees to do so. It would be instructive to see a graph showing the total number of tele-commuters employed today and revealing a break-out of the measurable productive out-put of these workers, comparing by gender.
It's just a guess, but I would strongly assert that a thorough study would show that companies who make females their choice for tele-commuters are better served. It is also a guess, but I would predict that a side revelation in such a study might be that those companies best served by these remote employees who are female, are companies having females in upper management helping make sound decisions.
Sorry guys, but our gender has held the reins of business - and government - far too long without showing any impressive proof that we know what the hell we are doing.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Which WOLF are You Feeding?
I'm enjoying a very pleasant start to my 68th birthday and later will partake of some beautiful friendship and fine food. At the day's end, I plan to sip a little very special Single-Malt Scotch (yes, in capitalized initials due to my love of these amazing spirits), because my son & family sent me a gift card usable only at a store that specializes in a wide array of liquors including dozens of single malts. I will stop there during my travels today! I can already practically taste the smooth flavor of fine Scotch to come later.
But one of my emails this morning carried this forward and I simply had to address it:
Native Americans have a story of a grandfather walking with his grandson. The boy asks the old man why there is hatred, evil, violence and broken promises in the world.
The grandfather replies. "The answer is within. Deep inside each of us is a fight between two wolves. One is evil. He is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt. The other wolf is good. He is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, generosity, truth, compassion and faith. This fight between the two wolves is going on inside of you and inside of everybody."
The grandson thinks for a moment and then asks his grandfather "Which wolf will win?"
The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one that you feed."
It occurs to me that there has rarely been wisdom such as this passed down to youth, much to our shame and gradual decline in character as a species.
Hopefully we can all feed our good wolves today; mine is hungry.
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Well, I Did It!
Somehow I'm filled with the thrill of accomplishment when all I did was to remove an irritant from my daily life. But let's face it, how often do we manage this kind of positive step?
My previous post was about fanaticism and on the spur of the moment I tossed out a simple thought while speaking of my disgust with a contact on my facebook account. That thought was "just un-friend the whole website."
So now you might call me a fanatic also, but all I am is old and cranky, easily frustrated by a few things - such as daily email messages to check this or that notice that is pending.
Today I did it! Over the year (or maybe three?) that I was a participant in that "social" media, I found it useful not at all and quite often the notices in my emails and some of the posts I did eventually see were downright irritating. I suddenly asked myself the straight-forward question: Why would I invite and encourage a daily irritant in my life? Aren't there enough of these that we cannot control? While musing on my thought of un-friending the website, I tried to recall a specific unquestioned benefit I had realized from my having joined the facebook world. Couldn't do it. Oh, it was nice being able to look at the photo album of a grand-niece's wedding, to which my brother had to guide me to locate. But he could have sent me a direct email with a few pictures attached and his sharing this highlight of family life would have been just as well served.
What I began to realize, aside from the fact I was forever deleting the incessant notices that I was expected to rush to check out, was that the whole social media claim itself was a little weak for my taste. Much of what began to be shared was anti-social behavior, and whenever I decided to respond to anything - even when I could figure out what was worth it and how to reply - it was usually something that mildly upset me to deal with. I am not by nature confrontational and so many entries on that site needed rebuttal if they deserved attention at all. It finally just got to be much more exhausting than I had the energy to address.
So not to be stymied like the cowboy in Brokeback Mountain, I looked at that mass of comments and questions, entries from far-reaching places and many folks I've never met, and said, Facebook, I CAN quit you! And forthwith, I deleted my account. Took me a while and quite an effort because as many observers know, I never was completely capable of navigating that confusing site, but I found the right place to click and I clicked. Now I feel a weight has been lifted! My world is lighter because it is less demanding of my personal attention to someone's birthday or another new baby somewhere, or to someone's goofy little cry for attention, to someone else's proverbial slap in the face that needed a return jab that hopefully might "slap some sense into him," and so much else that made that site, to me, not very sociable. More irritant than entertainment; more demand than delight; more revolting than refreshing.
So long, Facebook - Hello sense of relief!
My previous post was about fanaticism and on the spur of the moment I tossed out a simple thought while speaking of my disgust with a contact on my facebook account. That thought was "just un-friend the whole website."
So now you might call me a fanatic also, but all I am is old and cranky, easily frustrated by a few things - such as daily email messages to check this or that notice that is pending.
Today I did it! Over the year (or maybe three?) that I was a participant in that "social" media, I found it useful not at all and quite often the notices in my emails and some of the posts I did eventually see were downright irritating. I suddenly asked myself the straight-forward question: Why would I invite and encourage a daily irritant in my life? Aren't there enough of these that we cannot control? While musing on my thought of un-friending the website, I tried to recall a specific unquestioned benefit I had realized from my having joined the facebook world. Couldn't do it. Oh, it was nice being able to look at the photo album of a grand-niece's wedding, to which my brother had to guide me to locate. But he could have sent me a direct email with a few pictures attached and his sharing this highlight of family life would have been just as well served.
What I began to realize, aside from the fact I was forever deleting the incessant notices that I was expected to rush to check out, was that the whole social media claim itself was a little weak for my taste. Much of what began to be shared was anti-social behavior, and whenever I decided to respond to anything - even when I could figure out what was worth it and how to reply - it was usually something that mildly upset me to deal with. I am not by nature confrontational and so many entries on that site needed rebuttal if they deserved attention at all. It finally just got to be much more exhausting than I had the energy to address.
So not to be stymied like the cowboy in Brokeback Mountain, I looked at that mass of comments and questions, entries from far-reaching places and many folks I've never met, and said, Facebook, I CAN quit you! And forthwith, I deleted my account. Took me a while and quite an effort because as many observers know, I never was completely capable of navigating that confusing site, but I found the right place to click and I clicked. Now I feel a weight has been lifted! My world is lighter because it is less demanding of my personal attention to someone's birthday or another new baby somewhere, or to someone's goofy little cry for attention, to someone else's proverbial slap in the face that needed a return jab that hopefully might "slap some sense into him," and so much else that made that site, to me, not very sociable. More irritant than entertainment; more demand than delight; more revolting than refreshing.
So long, Facebook - Hello sense of relief!
Sunday, February 10, 2013
FANATICISM
My first heading for this was to be, Right-Wing Fanaticism, but it is a simple truism that those folks don't hold the entire franchise on fanaticism and I repudiate fanatic tendencies in general.
Facebook has become a bit more of a pain for me recently, though I still have almost no attachment to the site and rarely check in there. Some near-acquaintance from my youth sent a "friend" request some weeks ago and I, as usual in my non-discriminating manner, accepted. Since then, I haven't opened my profile without seeing piles of political crap directed toward our president and I notice that other former friends and/or acquaintances of mine are shown to have "liked" the bullshit. Today I finally cracked and wrote a simple comment stating that I don't appreciate the filling of my pages with that fanatical trash and I'm sorry if anyone or everyone else I know happens to "like" it; I emphatically do not. I do very much hope this man "un-friends" me. Good riddance! Or perhaps I will simply un-friend the website itself.
Ever notice that radicalism - fanaticism - does fall more readily into the hands and minds of right-wingers? As I stated earlier, they aren't alone in this capacity, but I am absolutely confident that there are millions more bad jokes and cruel slurs aimed at liberals by conservatives than is the reverse phenomenon. Can you recall a constant stream of invective and brutish jokes being hurled at the previous resident of the White House? I don't think there were many at all, in comparison. And if anyone ever deserved ridicule while in office, it was that imbecile who was an embarrassment to our nation. Much worse, he was destructive to all that this great nation had come to stand for, from our founding until 2001. Even Tricky Dick Nixon was far to be desired over that sorry excuse for a political leader, yet most of us who felt that way quietly suffered for eight years without constantly throwing verbal grenades at the clown. Today I will bluntly say anything a damn well please about the ignorant prick, but for eight years, all I could do was rush to grab the remote whenever his impudent face came on the television screen. At least muting him was a slight relief to me.
It occurs to me that many of the folks who are labeled "Liberal" and "Progressive" are a bit more educated, perhaps more intelligent, certainly more civil in their beings. Conservatives seem to me to have one over-arching concept of living in society: Get mine while I can, however I can, wherever I can - the rest be damned. And anyone who doesn't think my way isn't worth the air he breathes.
Yes, I do know some people precisely like this. Pity.
Facebook has become a bit more of a pain for me recently, though I still have almost no attachment to the site and rarely check in there. Some near-acquaintance from my youth sent a "friend" request some weeks ago and I, as usual in my non-discriminating manner, accepted. Since then, I haven't opened my profile without seeing piles of political crap directed toward our president and I notice that other former friends and/or acquaintances of mine are shown to have "liked" the bullshit. Today I finally cracked and wrote a simple comment stating that I don't appreciate the filling of my pages with that fanatical trash and I'm sorry if anyone or everyone else I know happens to "like" it; I emphatically do not. I do very much hope this man "un-friends" me. Good riddance! Or perhaps I will simply un-friend the website itself.
Ever notice that radicalism - fanaticism - does fall more readily into the hands and minds of right-wingers? As I stated earlier, they aren't alone in this capacity, but I am absolutely confident that there are millions more bad jokes and cruel slurs aimed at liberals by conservatives than is the reverse phenomenon. Can you recall a constant stream of invective and brutish jokes being hurled at the previous resident of the White House? I don't think there were many at all, in comparison. And if anyone ever deserved ridicule while in office, it was that imbecile who was an embarrassment to our nation. Much worse, he was destructive to all that this great nation had come to stand for, from our founding until 2001. Even Tricky Dick Nixon was far to be desired over that sorry excuse for a political leader, yet most of us who felt that way quietly suffered for eight years without constantly throwing verbal grenades at the clown. Today I will bluntly say anything a damn well please about the ignorant prick, but for eight years, all I could do was rush to grab the remote whenever his impudent face came on the television screen. At least muting him was a slight relief to me.
It occurs to me that many of the folks who are labeled "Liberal" and "Progressive" are a bit more educated, perhaps more intelligent, certainly more civil in their beings. Conservatives seem to me to have one over-arching concept of living in society: Get mine while I can, however I can, wherever I can - the rest be damned. And anyone who doesn't think my way isn't worth the air he breathes.
Yes, I do know some people precisely like this. Pity.
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