You are currently browsing the monthly archive for January 2011.
Is ex-president Bush hard of hearing?
At a recent SMU sypmposium he had the opportunity to take questions from a number of midwestern students, whose residencies ranged from Fargo to Texas. The moderator, C Span’s Brian Lamb said “we have enough time for one more student question”….
“Their questions aren’t stupid….”
Thinking it was a joke, Brian quickly explained I said….”S T U D E N T” question….
As if nothing was said at all, …. “I think they’re pretty good questions. Not stupid at all…..”
The host stayed silent…..
“In fact, their questions are better than yours …….” …
Things moved on… Those of us watching kinda laughed a little, remembering some episodes along both campaign trails and in front of cameras… Some things never change….
But there are a couple of things to ponder. When asked what he was most proud of, his rapid response was to increase money to help Africa with AIDS.
He did, over the dead body of his party, pursue and get passed, large increases to fight AIDS.
“It was a national security issue, or one that would become one in the next generation. Imagine a child seeing his parents dying from AIDS, and the richest country, with unimaginable wealth relative to him, stood by and offered nothing?”
“We had the capacity to do something, and with little sacrifice to us, .. we did it.”
This, not only is a window into the soul of a man but also illuminates that which makes the soul of this country, great. This nation, which was at the time preparing to unilaterally invade another country while unprovoked, was simultaneously funding the largest amount ever voted, to help impoverished African countries combat a killer disease. In other words, the US is not all bad.
And secondly, the Bush tax cuts made it two more years beyond their expiration. That is a lasting legacy. Even though I argue those cuts are the sole reason this nation’s economy is in the bed it’s lying in, even though the opposite party held all the cards, they still got a buy for two more years. That means something. One can’t say they were a worthless mistake that bankrupted the government, railroaded through both chambers by ignorant Republicans at the expense of our country.. …. because we passed them again.
All one can say now,….. it that our government is economically illiterate. 
The 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment say they cut diesel consumption in their generators from 20 gallons a day to 2.5 gallons a day, according to a Marine report.
Thanks to flexible solar panels, the sun can help run military equipment — and it may even cut down on casualties.
Marines who used the technology say it helps in three main ways:
- Fewer Supply Convoys — With less need for fuel and batteries, fewer trucks are exposed to possible attacks on the road.
- Quieter Is Safer — Units that rely on diesel generators to keep equipment running at night could go quiet while running on batteries, making them harder for the enemy to find.
- Efficiency — The foldable solar blankets are light and don’t take up much space. That should help patrols’ mobility, and save space for other supplies — like ammunition, as one sergeant says.
The recent tests showed that using alternative energy on military missions has both tactical and environmental benefits. And in both the Virginia and the Afghanistan tests, Marines praised the panels for being durable, light and simple — kind of the trifecta for field gear.
Contrary to those Republicans still wanting to throw away huge subsidies to Big Oil, employing this technology on top of every house in America, would go a long way to bettering every single American’s life and put more money in his/her pocket.
Semper Fi.
No school principal would pull all the grownups out of his school for a meeting, leaving all students unsupervised. No parent would leave his kids in a car with the engine running while they went into a gym to work out. No parent would drop their kid off at a bar while they went to tryst at a motel…
So why do we think that cutting back on government, as Ryan (R-WI) proposed in his speech after Obama’s State of the Union address, is a good thing?
What happens when there is no one to look over one’s shoulder?
All of us hate having a boss look over our shoulder; even worse we totally despise the “office rat” peeking over the cubicle at us hard at work!
But all of us would admit, that the reason we despise that feeling as much as we do, the reason it rubs us all the wrong way,…. is because we fear they might actually find something wrong with what we’re doing… Because facing our own reflection in the mirror, we all would have to admit that we get lazy some time, that trying to be perfect all the time is hard, that if no one is looking and we can help ourselves, we all do it…
Whether it’s a hoodie on 31st and Market, or whether its a bank on 12th and Market, it’s all the same. If we don’t patrol…. we don’t control…
Now, there is too much. We can pull everyone off the streets, shoot them, and have streets free of crime… That is too much. We can regulate banks and tax all proceeds so their is no incentive for creating wealth. That too, is too much…
But to use those extremes of excess, to promote laissez faire towards both categories, is criminal… Which could explain why we have so many criminals on both extremes of Market Street. Because we destroyed our tax base, we’ve cut back on those responsible for watching them…….
Was it worth the savings? Did lowering taxes save our 401K’s during the crises of 2008? Did dropping tax rates, make our lives richer? Make us richer? Or did we just have to pay that saved money out to utilities, insurance, medical providers, banks, and wind up being poorer for paying them more than the savings our tax cuts saved us?
Does having money for a Diet Coke a day from saved taxes, help us with our deregulated Delmarva Bill that’s jumped 60%? Ummm, no?
Ryan is talking out his ass. Cutting back government is the wrong way to go… Cutting back waste is the right way to go…
No one alive remembers child labor in American factories. Practices like that are what happens without a government big enough to control business. China has child labor, as does most of the third world.
Why? Because it’s cheap. If you can get away with it…. one does it. Doesn’t matter if the financing for that child labor mill came from America, where it is illegal to use minors in dangerous occupations. That plant manager has the capacity to use almost free labor; it is not illegal; if a child gets ground up you simply replace them without consequences; his/her parents were overjoyed to reap the pennies you given them so they won’t give you trouble… Really, why wouldn’t you use child labor? Cause it’s wrong? Ha, Ha, Ha. Imagine… lol… not using child labor cause it’s wrong…. What a funny!……
Well, it is wrong and that is why you need government…. Cutting government back to where it is no longer effective, is simply the same as becoming a third world nation. They have governments… but their governments are not effective. That is what we have to realize, every single time we hear the words: less government, smaller government, less regulation, no regulation.
Do you know what you eat? Do you know what BHA or BHT does? Probably not. I didn’t, until recently. Did you know that aspartame causes the brain to shrivel similar to the shrinkage in patients with Parkinsons and Alzheimers? I didn’t. But we trust that if it is made and sold here in the US, it must be ok. Because our government allows it to be sold…. Republicans want to cut back, eliminating those types of regulations.
WE, the People, of the United States of America are just now emerging from a Great Depression, that was turned into a recession by very quick Keynesian economics that took place at the change of Presidency, by both a Republican and a Democrat administrations. It had to be done.
A blue ribbon panel that looked into that disaster, has determined that it was created (if one looks at the full report), simply because we chose not to look over the shoulders of those buying and selling our nation’s futures. This actually makes the case that we need MORE government, not less as Ryan so proposes….
The report cites:
It criticizes Mr. Greenspan for advocating deregulation and cites a “pivotal failure to stem the flow of toxic mortgages” under his leadership as a “prime example” of negligence.
The decision in 2000 to shield the exotic financial instruments known as over-the-counter derivatives from regulation, made during the last year of President Bill Clinton’s term, is called “a key turning point in the march toward the financial crisis.”
The report finds that the New York Fed missed signs of trouble at Citigroup and Lehman, though it did not have the main responsibility for overseeing them.
It says regulators “lacked the political will” to scrutinize and hold accountable the institutions they were supposed to oversee. The financial industry spent $2.7 billion on lobbying from 1999 to 2008, while individuals and committees affiliated with it made more than $1 billion in campaign contributions.
The report is harsh on regulators. It finds that the Securities and Exchange Commission failed to require big banks to hold more capital to cushion potential losses and halt risky practices, and that the Fed “neglected its mission.”
It says the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which regulates some banks, and the Office of Thrift Supervision, which oversees savings and loans, blocked states from curbing abuses because they were “caught up in turf wars.”
“The captains of finance and the public stewards of our financial system ignored warnings and failed to question, understand and manage evolving risks within a system essential to the well-being of the American public. Theirs was a big miss, not a stumble.”
It quotes Citigroup executives conceding that they paid little attention to mortgage-related risks. Executives at the American International Group were found to have been blind to its $79 billion exposure to credit-default swaps, a kind of insurance that was sold to investors seeking protection against a drop in the value of securities backed by home loans. At Merrill Lynch, managers were surprised when seemingly secure mortgage investments suddenly suffered huge losses.
By one measure, for about every $40 in assets, the nation’s five largest investment banks had only $1 in capital to cover losses, meaning that a 3 percent drop in asset values could have wiped out the firm.
The banks hid their excessive leverage using derivatives, off-balance-sheet entities and other devices, the report found. The speculative binge was abetted by a giant “shadow banking system” in which the banks relied heavily on short-term debt.
Ok, so that’s a rather damning indictment for the policy of “leaving alone”..
For the record, we did leave alone and just like the last time we deregulated our financial scheme (1920′s) we got a catastrophic collapse.
Therefore what Congressman Ryan was promoting, a philosophy of cutting spending, whittling back government, limiting government, cutting back on regulatory agencies …. HAS BEEN TRIED, TWICE.
As a philosophy on the scale of global politics…. it doesn’t work…… But to hand it to him, neither does spending and taxing more to cover that spending.
Since 1900 there have only been 8 years where all parts of the economy came together, flourished, and every layer of income, got richer. That was the period between 1992 and 2000…
Taking our cue from that … what works for Main Street, is to tax the wealthy properly so they invest back into America to keep from paying taxes, and… train our government to spend only what we have to in order to make America stronger. Raising the amount of cash coming in, lowering the cost of expenses going out, will in the end, right our ship of state and send it sailing off in the right direction……
There is no better time for a federally elected legislator, than the State of the Union address… It’s the one time they taste the luster of government’s pageantry.
Delaware’s newest senator’s “date for the evening” was Arkansas’ newest senator, Senator Boozman (R). Mr. Coons was dressed for the occasion in what looked like a forest green jacket, and a red tie… Christmas in January.
Although this was Mr. Coons first time, officially at a State of the Union, his Republican “date” had been there 6 times before as a Congressman.
They spent barely a half hour getting to know each other, before heading down the aisle together…. Unfortunately, Senator Boozman mispredicted. Too many congressional delegate, way more than normal, had shown up to hear the nation’s executive, leaving too few seats for the two of them.
Mr. Boozman graciously gave his seat to Mr. Coons, and settled for standing against the back wall for most of the speech.
Senator Boozman particularly liked the new bi-partisan seating arrangements and the muted hostility, different from the years before.
“I actually got to listen to the speech,” he was overheard saying. “It was great, not having to jump up and down every few minutes like a Jack-in-the-box.”
(It is this commentator’s opinion, for that one fact alone, this is probably one of the best State of the Union experiences he’s witnessed over the past 16 years.)
photo courtesy of (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Congratulations are in order to the Dutch company ING for successfully being the first corporation, since last January’s Supreme Court decision, Citizens United vrs. FEC, to get their corporate advertising as a backdrop to the President’s State of the Union.Speech…..
One black, one white, one Orange.
Apparently decriminalization works. All evidence from Portugal seems to lead thought in that direction.
That is a far cry from when they announced they would decriminalize opium, as well as other narcotics. Tales of gloom and doom, of addicts laying in streets begging for another hit, of college students flocking to Portugal to indulge legally in recreational drugs….
It was then, forgotten…..
But two years ago the Cato institute published data on it’s effectiveness. Here are some surprises….
“Except for some far-right politicians, very few domestic political factions are agitating for a repeal of the 2001 law.”
“Data indicates that decriminalization has had no adverse effect on drug usage rates in Portugal, which, in numerous categories, are now among the lowest in the EU, particularly when compared with states with stringent criminalization regimes.”
Drug-related pathologies — such as sexually transmitted diseases and deaths due to drug usage — have decreased dramatically.
Since Portugal enacted its decriminalization scheme in 2001, drug usage in many categories has actually decreased when measured in absolute terms.
The number of people in methadone treatment leaped from 6,040 in 1999 to 14,877 in 2003, an increase of 147% . . . . The number of places of detoxification, therapeutic communities and half-way
houses, has also increased. .
The number of newly reported cases of HIV and AIDS among drug
addicts has declined substantially every year since 2001…
For the period 2001–2005, Portugal—for the 15–64 age group—has the absolute lowest lifetime prevalence rate for cannabis, the most
used drug in the EU.
For usage rates of cocaine (the second-most commonly used drug in Europe) for the same period and the same age group, only five
countries had a lower prevalence rate than the Portuguese rate. Most EU states have double, triple, quadruple, or even higher rates than Portugal’s, including some with the harshest criminalization schemes in the EU!
By freeing its citizens from the fear of prosecution and imprisonment for drug usage, Portugal has dramatically improved its ability
to encourage drug addicts to avail themselves of treatment. The resources that were previously devoted to prosecuting and imprisoning drug addicts are now available to provide treatment programs to addicts.
The Portuguese have seen the benefits of decriminalization, and therefore there is no serious political push in Portugal to return to
a criminalization framework.
This policy works. Now if it had the hell taxed out of it, we could eliminate this country’s deficit in a very short time.
The United States government’s International Trade Administration has released the statistics for exports for the year 2010 (using 2008-2009 data)…. … This report is also broken down by state… Here is how Delaware scored.
Export-supported jobs linked to manufacturing account for an estimated 5.2 percent of Delaware’s total private-sector employment. Nearly one-quarter (23.5 percent) of all manufacturing workers in Delaware depend on exports for their jobs. (2008 data are the latest available.)
In 2008, foreign-controlled companies employed 30,800 Delaware workers. Major sources of foreign investment in Delaware in 2008 included the United Kingdom, Canada, Netherlands, and Germany.(banks)
Foreign investment in Delaware was responsible for 8.2 percent of the state’s total private-industry employment in 2008.
Delaware’s export sales of merchandise in 2009 totaled $4.3 billion, up 70 percent ($1.8 billion) from $2.5 billion in 2005. That was the third highest percentage growth among the 50 states over that time period.
The state’s leading market was Canada ($1.2 billion), which alone accounted for 27 percent of Delaware’s total exports in 2009. Canada was followed by the United Kingdom ($866 million), Germany ($352 million), China ($298 million), and Japan ($264 million).
Chemical manufactures, with 50 percent of the 2009 value ($2.2 billion), dominated the state’s exports. Other important sectors included computers and electronic products ($584 million), transportation equipment ($374 million), and machinery manufactures ($281 million).
For the first-half of 2009, the metropolitan area of Dover exported $35 million in merchandise; Dover is the only metropolitan area with counties exclusively in Delaware. (The Delaware city of Wilmington is included in the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington metropolitan area, which also contains parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland. For the first-half of 2009, the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington metropolitan area exported $9.1 billion in merchandise.)
It’s a shame we didn’t get the wind farm technology off the ground in time for this recession. It would have been nice to increase our exports by shipping wind turbines out of Wilmington’s port.
Aspartame- (Nutra-Sweet, Equal) a combination of two amino acids and methanol may lead to methanol poisoning. found in ‘diet’ food such as low calorie desserts, soft drinks, jello, gum, cereal, breath mints, kool-aid, chewable vitamins, toothpaste. Thank you Donald Rumsfield.
Food colors Blue #1, Blue #2- can cause cancer in mice and chromosomal damage. not always listed on US labels. banned in France and Norway. found in beverages, baked goods, candy and pet supplies.
Food color Citrus Red #2- the dye is a carcinogen injected into the skin of some Florida oranges which is said not to penetrate into the pulp. it makes the oranges a brighter orange to enhance appearance. eating the skin may cause cancer and chromosomal damage.
Food colors Red #3, (Red #40) and Green #3- Red #3 is used to dye candy, fruit cocktail, cherries, pet food. it is proven to cause thyroid cancer. banned in 1990 in US, but still in use until supplies run out! Green #3 can be linked to bladder cancer in lab animals and is found in candy and beverages.
Food color Yellow #6- an increase of tumors in adrenal glands and kidneys have been found in lab animals. it is banned in Sweden and Norway. it is found in candy, lemonade, carbonated beverages, macaroni & cheese, American cheese. {sigh}
MSG- an amino acid used as a flavor enhancer. it can cause headaches, migraines, tightness of the chest, nausea. found in Asian foods, snacks, seasonings, most Campbell Soup products, lunch meats, frozen dinners.
Sodium Nitrite - used to color and preserve and flavor meat products. “This would be at the top of my list of additives to cut from my diet.” Christine Gerbstadt, M.D., M.P.H., R.D., L.D.N. American Dietetic Association. found in ham, bacon, lunch meats, hot dogs, smoked fish, corned beef. cooked over high temperatures creates a compound which can promote cancer.
Potassium Bromate- rare, but still legal in US. used to increase volume in white flour, breads and rolls. it is known to cause cancer in lab animals and even in small amounts can cause risk. Many bakers, including Best Foods, Inc. (maker of Arnold, Entenmann’s, and Orowheat brand breads and rolls), Pepperidge Farm, and Pillsbury, have switched to bromate-free processes. Also, some supermarket chains, including Giant, Jewel, Ralph’s, and Von’s, do not use bromate. In contrast, Interstate Brands Corp. (Wonder, Home Pride), Schmidt Baking Co. (Schmidt, Sunbeam), Tasty Baking Co. (TastyKake), and Martin’s still use potassium bromate in some of their products. Among fast-food chains, Burger King, Arby’s, and Wendy’s use bromate in buns, and Boston Market uses it in its french sandwich bread.
Transfat- a hydrogenated fat made from adding hydrogen to vegetable oil is used to help extend shelf life and foods have a less greasy feel. proven to cause heart disease, can cause kidney failure and limb loss due to vascular disease. found in commercial baked goods and some fried foods such as french fries and doughnuts and can be found in shortening and margarine.
It is hard always to be right.
Instead of investing money to bail out banks so they could buy tax free treasury bonds (which does nothing for lending money into the economy), a better plan would have been to guarantee all mortgages for a year, to be paid back upon the selling of the house. In other words a lien.
It would have resulted in less money spent, our economy would have continued to be secondarily supported, and the housing market would have dodged a free fall.
Home owner’s would have the option of paying back the lien in advance, or if they couldn’t afford to do so, it would be paid back at the sell of the house, which would probably occur after their death.
The deficit would not have swelled to simply to make the wealthy richer.
43% of Americans want the Republican Congress to focus on job creation, not repealing health care.
Only 18% thought Health Care Repeal should even be a priority. Only 14% thought the deficit should be a priority.
And among those 18% wanting Obamacare to be removed, only 50%(9%) wanted it to be rolled back completely…. 44% of those wanted to keep a lot of options in….
When asked where we should cut, and given these three choices, Military, Medicare, and Social Security, 55% said the military, 21% said Medicare, and 13% said Social Security.
Doesn’t look good for the Republicans…
Considering they want to cut $100 billion this year, which at $50,000 a year, means the elimination of ……. 2 million jobs…..
So when Americans say they think job growth should be the number one priority…. and we have a Republican Congress that is chomping at the bit to cut 2 million jobs (remembering that the first two years of Republican Bush’s term, we also lost 2 million jobs that never came back)…… Democrats grow jobs; republicans lose them.
Does anyone else see the great disconnect here? How does this nation elect officials who get in, all the while promising to do, just what America does not want done? Could money have something to do with it?
