A modest proposal for a new century . . .

Then, Victor, it seems as if you agree with my assessment.

I'm outclassed. I'm just a simple country boy who grew up believing what I was programmed to believe. When I left home and joined the USAF, my education began. What I was taught didn’t calculate with the real world. The more I learned, the more I wanted to know. The more I knew, the more I realized that I had much yet to learn. I married a foreigner against the wishes of my church and family. A non-believer just wouldn’t fit in, and they were right. I was even encouraged to get a divorce from a “non-believer”. So, I took my wife and we moved away and started a life alone, but together. The long road we travelled took us to other countries where we lived and worked. We met people of other cultures and religious persuasions. We found that they were much like us. They wanted the best for their families and to live in peace. We experienced hardship. We experienced war. We experienced love for humanity. We began to thrive on the differences of people. We learned that black was not entirely black and that white was not entirely white. We learned how politics affected everyone to some degree. As Americans, we were judged by the political leanings of our country. We saw how Americans were viewed from afar – both good and bad. We learned how Americans viewed the people of the Middle East based on news reports, most often biased and false. Learning to live together is an experience. It is can be easy or hard depending on ones attitude. We learned that revenge and retaliation for many was a way of life. Action and reaction can be expected. Who is retaliating against whom is not easy to distinguish. Who made the first move causing retaliation to begin gets lost. In the final analysis, it doesn’t matter who started it, what matters is the loss of innocent lives. I say innocent in that the victims didn’t care about politics, they just wanted to live in peace and provide for their families.

Wars can be prevented. Talking is better than shooting. Politics exist and will not go away. How we choose to deal with this reality is a choice we make for ourselves and our family. We know there has never been a perfect President, but we do know of some whose actions reflected concern about the citizens they governed. Our vote is a choice for the best available on the ticket. Even that is a gamble. We roll the dice and hope for a win.

This rambling is from a simple minded human who wants to live in peace. This person doesn’t care what color your skin happens to be or what religion you profess. If you live your religion, I admire, congratulate and respect you. If you use it as a title, I despise you.

That’s who I am. A simple-minded human who wants to live in peace with his fellow man.

9/14/2012



Abe.....

............. Good Post !

Cheers..Joe...

E. Don,

I absolutely agree with you, though the destination we are herded towards is not the same. That is what I wish we could focus on rather than the scenery.

Abe,

I am a new comer and don't know you yet as well as I would like, but I know there is nothing simple, let alone simple-minded about you. And unlike me, you never ramble. Soldiers are often those who yearn the most for peace, and self-righteous indignation and the demonizing of those who think differently than us has real consequences as such is the fertile ground where the seeds of hatred grow and thrive. One caveat, though, is that turning the other cheek does not work when people are trying to saw off your head with a dull knife and diplomacy by itself cannot stop a bullet or an improvised explosive device.

The vast majority of people around the world are remarkably similar aside from whether or how they choose to worship. The pangs of hunger acknowledge no boundaries, nor does the thirst for justice as one perceives it. As you point out, very few things are black and white; we live, work, and die in shades of gray. If we could concentrate in marginalizing the extremists who live, work, and happily die within the narrow boundaries of the black and white that is their universe, within and outside of our borders, humanity would be the better for it.

9/14/2012

Just saw on the news that Alcada is asking all

Muslims to kill all American Diplomats, I think

it's time the State Dept. or Hillary Clinton tell

all diplomats and aides leave at once , all 20

countries in the middle east, if they don't their

ignorant and stupid and if anymore diplomats are

killed it's on their heads and the American public will

be furious and they won't forget when Nov.comes around !

Joe........

I can't add anything. Today I started my volunteer stint with the Democratic party - a bright-eyed and idealist organizer, 23 years old was my teacher. I felt good doing something besides writing about my feelings.

I agree with this page of posts in context. It's just that I want to do something. Right now, I want to keep the affordable care act because it is already benefiting so many people who desperately need it; I don't want legislation that harms women's choices; I don't want war but as a last resort after all diplomacy fails and then not as a unilateral U.S. responsibility; I appreciate that the stock market is the highest of the last five years benefiting a few people working hard with a little to plug in a 401K; I appreciate the changes to Pell so graduates can go into teaching and social service and still pay back loans over time; I appreciate a positive look at immigration - and I appreciate that President Obama has been there long enough to learn the job - I don't want Romney fumbling around throwing out the baby with the bath and only caring about the balance sheet and not the people it represents. So, I'm volunteering. I know that those most qualified to be President are already making $billions running international conglomerates and will never take such a hateful and unappreciated job. So, President Obama is the best I see in line. I can't stand Ryan; at least Biden has some solid experience too. I think in times of domestic and international crisis it's not the time to change who's in charge.

I disagree with one of the points made. By virtue of the last 3 plus years on the job, President is not a lightweight. He may have been when he was elected, but he's not anymore. He's made several hard decisions, and for the most part he's made them right. He's taken on the GOP Congress at every turn, and even though they have proven to be relentless in their single minded purpose of trying to unseat him, he continues to take the fight to them.

No person can reside in the highest office in the world for over 3 years and remain a lightweight.

I didn't mean to imply he was a lightweight and I'll give you that one. I just mean overall the best qualified don't run for office. He is presidential and a statesman in my eyes, a president that makes me proud to be an American. I haven't forgotten Bush. I have not forgotten the aftermath. President Obama has taken the country in the right direction against great odds - even added 4.5 million jobs and counting. No arguments from me....

E. Don Harpe wrote:

I disagree with one of the points made. By virtue of the last 3 plus years on the job, President is not a lightweight. He may have been when he was elected, but he's not anymore. He's made several hard decisions, and for the most part he's made them right. He's taken on the GOP Congress at every turn, and even though they have proven to be relentless in their single minded purpose of trying to unseat him, he continues to take the fight to them.

No person can reside in the highest office in the world for over 3 years and remain a lightweight.

I agree.
President Obama has acted like a statesman through more guff than any president I have ever seen and ever hope to see.

Wasn't you DK, that said that. Sorry if it seemed as if I was posting to you.

9/15/2012

Let's just say the govt., is STUPID!!! Two more soldiers

murdered in Afganistan, they haven't told the diplomats

in those twenty countries to leave at once !! Are they waiting

for more diplomats to be murdered ? What's wrong with the State

Dept., are they retarded , dumb, or stupid all wrapped up

together ? I say pull all diplomats, STOP ALL AIDE NOW !!!!

These people hate us, why because we back tyrants, it's

all about oil...

Cheers..Joe...

I said that both Obama and Romney are lightweights and am unpersuaded to the contrary. History will ultimately judge whether I am right or wrong. He has battled with congress for a year and a half after squandering two years of a veto proof majority in both houses, losing the House and losing the super-majority in the Senate that prevented the use of the filibuster to derail the health care bill pushed through by parliamentary procedures. He could have done almost anything he wished and could not blame the Republicans as they were sidelined for two years unable to stop whatever he wished to do any more than they could stop Obamacare. He has added six trillion dollars to the national debt and we are not significantly better off for it. I don't blame him for the mess he inherited, only for the ones that he created due to his inability to work with his own party and lead. He chose to ignore Republicans and strong-arm his bailouts, his health care plan and the various failed stimulus packages that have not done what he promised they would do. If he wins, he will get nothing done unless the Democrats can regain the House and a super-majority in the Senate--something that is absolutely impossible this year and unlikely in the next several years.

Both candidates are decent men in my view. But the country deserves far better and there will be no winner in November, alas. Reasonable people are free to disagree, of course. It is the judgment of history that matters and none of us can know what it will be, though we can extrapolate from the facts available to us.

DK & E.Don. My feelings are more closely in line with those you expressed.
I think we all can agree that there is no easy fix and that it takes time to undo the damage. Plotting a course is one thing. Getting people to help make it happen is another. Unfortunately a President must deal with the political opposition. The opposition, from what we have clearly seen, is more concerned about power. The citizens suffer while the powerful jockey for position. That is the ugly part of our political process.

As for Obama, I don't think anyone could have done a better job under the circumstances with the exception of Al Gore. He was elected by the people, but denied the job by our political system. I often wonder how things would have been had he been President instead of GWB. For one thing, we wouldn't have gone to war with Iraq. That alone would have changed our world and the economic problems with associated debt we have today.

Now we have a man running for President that has made it clear that he would support a war with Iran. Sometimes the hate placards we read about America have much truth in them. We may not like what we read, however must understand that there is a reason for hate. Either we prove them wrong or prove them right by our actions.

When we are entrenched in our points of view we see the same glass of water and view it half full and half empty - with different contents.

President Obama was elected with the mandate to implement universal healthcare. The need was reflected in the rhetoric of republicans and democrats alike. It was not an easy task and took the best minds to put it together and still get the support it needed. Though imperfect, it did meet the basic needs of the people who had been seeking such a policy since long before the Clintons attacked it and Hillary was pilloried for her intelligence. It was widely sought after by small businesses so they could offer insurance to their employees, considered a benefit to help small businesses grow.

The plan was practically a copy of the plan put in place as a signature act of Romney's governorship. However, the republican party found a weak place in the U.S. psyche to use the successful universal health care, a singular major accomplishment desired but not done by any previous administration, to create a propaganda slur like no other against President Obama. They rode into the House and Senate in 2010 on the propaganda machine that turned health care into an issue; and in the background this slur campaign was funded by the special interests whose excessive profits and fortunes are made at the expense of the U.S. health care system.

You don't let go of a good thing; the Republicans have held onto this anti-healthcare like a mantra and it has been adopted by the religious right and is spoken from the pulpit. Even as they access the benefits of the Affordable Care Act, Republicans still speak anti-Obamacare because of the careful path worn in their brain. They speak against the very system that is saving their lives and those of loved ones and making health care affordable for everyone. It is a travesty that so-called Christians would speak against a program that serves "the least of us," what I thought was a mission of the Christian churches.

As for the debt, I am tired of hearing about it. Catch my drift: full employment will end the debt. Austerity does not contribute to full employment. The stock market is the best it's been in five years - and that was before the Fed announcement. Given his jobs program and a modicum of support, President Obama will bring full employment and the debt will be a moot issue. Why do you think the Republicans and their hate machines have fought so hard against any Obama administration jobs proposal? At the expense of unemployed U.S. citizens, the republicans could not allow the full employment and reduction in the debt - they would lose their ticket to the White House.

You all probably forgot the ongoing debate with LC who hated the Mexican immigration as killing the country's finances; I said when we stopped hiring Mexicans they would stop coming. We didn't need to hate them and truck them out and build fences - all we had to do was stop advertising for Mexican workers and stop employers from hiring them. Bingo! Mexicans crossing the border has come to nearly zero and our crops are rotting because no white person will do the level of manual labor required in the heinous working conditions at the heinous rate of pay. However, all those hate messages about the Mexicans burdening our health care system and taking jobs from real Americans - well they were garbage. The "Mexican problem" is also a moot issue. At least for a while they brought their energy, their family values, their ability to find joy in life through celebrations and extended families, and a work ethic that is amazing to enrich our land. I thank them for coming and appreciate those who have remained.

So, the Republican band wagons seem to fall on creating an aura of hate over issues that can be solved naturally with the policies set forth by the current administration. They just don't happen overnight. The Republicans put their energy into damning today and finding solutions suitable for a century ago, but not for the modern era and its real problems, not for the citizens of tomorrow. As they have said themselves, the Republican Party is the Party of the old white guys - the ones who are afraid of diversity and change and progress - and are losing the demographics battle, the ones who have become wealthier as the poor have grown in numbers. No matter how they legislate against women and minorities, the old white guys' children will be the minority. The strength of this union will be in the youth of the new immigrants with the energy and education to take us into the new world.

I still think Romney wants the presidency as a gift to his adoring wife - so she can live in the White House, the ultimate gift for someone that has everything money can buy. He is uncomfortable with campaigning while his pretty wife fits the role splendidly. He's just a place holder for the special interests who need the presidency to promote their continued rape of the land for profit, their need to totally be free from regulations to earn excessive profits to stash overseas, and their need to end programs that meet the needs of the least fortunate and are a drain on the corporate, international profits. When it comes to international issues, he's what's known as a "loose cannon," good for the arms industry but bad for the country and relations across the globe.

It's no wonder he is wishy washy in his command of policies - he has to change according to the interest group of the moment.

Victor D. Lopez wrote:

I said that both Obama and Romney are lightweights and am unpersuaded to the contrary. History will ultimately judge whether I am right or wrong. He has battled with congress for a year and a half after squandering two years of a veto proof majority in both houses, losing the House and losing the super-majority in the Senate that prevented the use of the filibuster to derail the health care bill pushed through by parliamentary procedures. He could have done almost anything he wished and could not blame the Republicans as they were sidelined for two years unable to stop whatever he wished to do any more than they could stop Obamacare. He has added six trillion dollars to the national debt and we are not significantly better off for it. I don't blame him for the mess he inherited, only for the ones that he created due to his inability to work with his own party and lead. He chose to ignore Republicans and strong-arm his bailouts, his health care plan and the various failed stimulus packages that have not done what he promised they would do. If he wins, he will get nothing done unless the Democrats can regain the House and a super-majority in the Senate--something that is absolutely impossible this year and unlikely in the next several years.

Both candidates are decent men in my view. But the country deserves far better and there will be no winner in November, alas. Reasonable people are free to disagree, of course. It is the judgment of history that matters and none of us can know what it will be, though we can extrapolate from the facts available to us.

I respectfully differ with you. It is my opinion that President Obama will be quite fondly regarded as a man who kept his word and got a health care plan through. Only uncivilized nations do not provide health care. I am so happy for the little girl facing her third heart surgery and don't think a decent person would try to deny her insurance.

Thanks DK. You said what needs to be said.

I don't think Romney is a decent man or even a half-decent man.


I know he wants to be President and he wants my vote.

He will lower taxes--I don't want that.
He will get rid of health care--I don't want that.
He will ignite trouble with foreign countries--I don't want that.
He will increase military spending--I don't want that.

He is only determined to replace Obama.
Why would I want him?
How will he help matters?
Someone tell me--Please. Thanks!
In your answer please explain how lowering taxes on the rich will help anyone, but the rich get richer.

Well no one is answering me so, I have more questions.

Romney is old--65. His ideas are very old and never worked before so why try them again?

Has Romney ever had his head examined?

What were the results?
Why would he want tax cuts for the wealthy?
Isn't 200 million enough for him to live on?

9/16/2012

Oh to have 600 Million Dollars, I would start a

Foundation in myother's name, give to Pet Shelters,

St. Jude Foundation and some children's Foundation.

Each would get 10 Million Dollars a year...

Cheers...Joe....

Joe,

You are trying to change the subject.

alice wrote:

Joe,

You are trying to change the subject.

I'm beginning to get the idea that nobody wants to talk about what is really happening at the moment, Alice.

Ann

9/16/2012

Just throwing that in...I'm 64 and I think I'm still young,

vibrant, virile to run for president, but no $$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Cheers..Joe...

By the way, Romney stuttered when he took center stage for the Middle East Crisis to lambaste a president who at that time needed the support of patriots in the eyes of the world, not division and attempts to make him look weak as a political campaign ploy. On top of it, during a time of grieving for loss of life and the names not even complete or the families notified. How utterly pragmatic and totally insensitive and without character or class. No, I have no respect for Governor Romney. Joe Biden may be heavy in years, but he is young in words and very experienced in government and foreign policy. Besides, we have a young president, and Joe Biden is vice president.

Romney is just an old man who made a lot of money on his father's name (do you think he started Bain capital as "Joe blow? And as he said at his convention he wanted to go it on his own - but neglected to say "on his own" was at Harvard). When was the last time Romney actually did any real work? Made any real decisions? I think he is rusty as an old nail. He needs handlers, but they can't seem to hold in one direction. He has sure memorized a few catchy things though to repeat. It's when he gets a real question - that he stutters.

He's the real "Dave" that the handlers wanted in the movie by the same name - a place holder in name only to implement the special interests. Only, unlike Dave, Romney is tied to the money, honey; and he ain't going to follow any other direction. Besides, he has changed directions so many times that he probably doesn't know where he stands himself or why.

Unfortunately, Romney's potential second in command is far worse; he can't even remember how long it took him to finish the one marathon he ran (though he intimated he ran many). None of his bills passed that I know of. His budget is a disaster for the elderly, for youth, for disadvantageded - for the country in general except for the very wealthy, indeed, who already have done exceptionally well while the rest of us suffered. And he and Romney can't keep straight on exactly what is in "their" budget. So far all I can figure out for sure is that they are toying with eliminating the housing mortgage, charitable deduction and state tax deductions - but they haven't really said so because that would get them huge no votes from the middle class if they were - dear me imagine - specific about anything.

So far, all I hear is "I am a successful businessman with a lovely family who deserves to be president. Trust me, I'll fix everything. You don't need to know how. " That may be how he ran Bain, but it isn't how the country is run. Every citizen counts in the United States. Every number represents a human life. You don't just run the numbers and cut overhead.

DK,

He was stuttering because he was lying through his teeth. He has a conscience and was barely able to spit out the lie.

I refuse to have Obama dragged down to his level.

Thank you for your rousing defense , DK. I can count on you.

alj wrote:

alice wrote:

Joe,

You are trying to change the subject.

I'm beginning to get the idea that nobody wants to talk about what is really happening at the moment, Alice.

Ann

Ann,

You are so right except for yourself, DK and me.