PA cop killer and survivalist Frein on the run for 62 days is the extension of right wing extremism at its worst. This ultra nationalistic militaristic violent man who hates government is part of a larger group that empathizes with his views. It is chilling. While most in this nation, I believe, are not like that there are many who have embraced the government hating violent overthrow of it as their choice for social change.
Liberals, progressives and conservatives alike MUST put a governor on the boundaries of one's philosophic speech and the behavior that emanates from it. We ALL, I believe, do better when we work with each other and have at least a degree of empathy for those who occupy the nation and the planet with us.
While agnostic, still, I have always had a love for what I think is the essence of Christianity. Some of Jesus' teachings are as Judaism instructs. Jesus having been a Jew shows its influence on him. In Matthew 22:34 Jesus is asked: "Teacher which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind (Deuteronomy 10:12.) This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
I offer my own mea culpas as my anger against those I perceive in opposition to my thoughts sometimes prevails. I, too, pay not enough attention to my own verbal boundaries because I so fervently think my cause just. Most, though, think their cause just as well.
Words have power. I will try to remember my own first commandment and that is to use my words for humanitarian good. Unlike Republican Barry Goldwater in his 1964 convention speech I DO think extremism in the face of liberty IS a vice.
We are, I believe, in the end, our brother's keeper and as Jesus is alleged to have said in Matthew 25:40: "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." To those words, I concur and can only hope others do too.
In keeping with this I believe the Democratic Party in this nation is the more diverse of our two Party system. It has, at its core, humanitarian beliefs. Human beings are imperfect but our nation, the most powerful on earth, must present the better angels of what I know its nature to be. I urge you to get out the Democratic vote both here and across the nation to do just that!
Friday, October 31, 2014
Thursday, October 30, 2014
The Charlie Baker Hoax -- Crocodile tears? Please read
If
you click on The Rachel Maddow Show for tonight's show she reported on
the Charlie Baker cry out during last night's debate. It more
accurately, in my opinion, should be called The Charlie Baker Hoax. Let me explain:
In an effort to appear less wooden he was asked a softball question it almost seems to me that the station carrying the debate purposefully stuck the question in to give Charlie a chance to seem more human -- just a supposition on my part. He was asked if he ever had an occasion to cry. He warned us that by answering the question he probably would break down. Did I see any tears? No. I simply saw Charlie covering his face, turning red SEEMING to cry. I can do that too. That, though, is not the crux of the whole story.
The story delivered by Charlie was about a fisherman to the north of Boston who told him the sad story of his two boys offered football scholarships. The fisherman, Charlie said, told the boys no he would not let them play football because he needed their efforts to fish at home. They were fishermen, after all, for generations. Why those boys could not have accepted the scholarships to go to school I do not know. I'm sure Charlie had a method to his madness though I know not what it was. Reminded me of the story when a kid as the Lone Ranger came to visit sick children in a hospital. I asked him for a silver bullet the trademark of the Lone Ranger. He said "Sorry, I need them for the trail." Even a 6 year old could tell it was not true and I suggest anyone can tell Charlie Baker's story is made up -- unless, of course, we find the sons. It almost sounds Biblical. I digress.
The Charlie Baker crocodile crying seemed to work as voters wrote in their empathy with it and for him UNTIL it did NOT work. Why you may ask? Because reporters, praise God, began to ask questions. No one but no one still can find this elusive fisherman or his sons nor does anyone in the community Charlie Baker was talking about know anything about that fisherman OR his sons either.
Charlie's explanation began to crack. Well, he said "maybe it was a few years ago I don't know maybe five years ago. I meet so many on the campaign trail they get fused together." Yeah right and if I believe that one I would believe the Lone Ranger too. The Republican gubernatorial candidate lies. Now that's a big surprise -- NOT. He lied when he said he was not on the corporate board when Christie invested pension funds of New Jersey to the tune of 15 million bucks but we have the proof that he was on the board. Has anyone talked about that further? No, silence. What is true and what isn't? Charlie is never pinned down ... EXCEPT now. No one can find the missing fisherman, the object of Charlie's story, nor can they find his sons.
I kid you not. If anyone knows the whereabouts of that fisherman or his sons missing in the action of Charlie Baker's emotional story please do tell. Nothing short of a gubernatorial election could ride on it.
YET ANOTHER REASON TO GET OUT THE DEMOCRATIC VOTE FOR MARTHA COAKLEY AND OTHER DEMOCRATS. WHY? BECAUSE REPUBLICANS LIE AND THEY LIE ALL THE TIME BECAUSE THEY DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOU. THEY CARE ABOUT THEMSELVES AND ALL THE BUCKS THEY CAN MAKE BEFORE AND ESPECIALLY AFTER THEY SERVE. REPUBLICANS ARE MASTERS AT USING MONEY TO BUY ELECTIONS AND YOU CAN BET CHARLIE BAKER HAS OUTSPENT MARTHA. MARTHA DESERVES OUR SUPPORT. PROVE MONEY CAN TAKE ONE JUST SO FAR. SO IT'S SIMPLE. VOTE DEMOCRATIC AND YOU WILL NOT BE SORRY YOU DID!
In an effort to appear less wooden he was asked a softball question it almost seems to me that the station carrying the debate purposefully stuck the question in to give Charlie a chance to seem more human -- just a supposition on my part. He was asked if he ever had an occasion to cry. He warned us that by answering the question he probably would break down. Did I see any tears? No. I simply saw Charlie covering his face, turning red SEEMING to cry. I can do that too. That, though, is not the crux of the whole story.
The story delivered by Charlie was about a fisherman to the north of Boston who told him the sad story of his two boys offered football scholarships. The fisherman, Charlie said, told the boys no he would not let them play football because he needed their efforts to fish at home. They were fishermen, after all, for generations. Why those boys could not have accepted the scholarships to go to school I do not know. I'm sure Charlie had a method to his madness though I know not what it was. Reminded me of the story when a kid as the Lone Ranger came to visit sick children in a hospital. I asked him for a silver bullet the trademark of the Lone Ranger. He said "Sorry, I need them for the trail." Even a 6 year old could tell it was not true and I suggest anyone can tell Charlie Baker's story is made up -- unless, of course, we find the sons. It almost sounds Biblical. I digress.
The Charlie Baker crocodile crying seemed to work as voters wrote in their empathy with it and for him UNTIL it did NOT work. Why you may ask? Because reporters, praise God, began to ask questions. No one but no one still can find this elusive fisherman or his sons nor does anyone in the community Charlie Baker was talking about know anything about that fisherman OR his sons either.
Charlie's explanation began to crack. Well, he said "maybe it was a few years ago I don't know maybe five years ago. I meet so many on the campaign trail they get fused together." Yeah right and if I believe that one I would believe the Lone Ranger too. The Republican gubernatorial candidate lies. Now that's a big surprise -- NOT. He lied when he said he was not on the corporate board when Christie invested pension funds of New Jersey to the tune of 15 million bucks but we have the proof that he was on the board. Has anyone talked about that further? No, silence. What is true and what isn't? Charlie is never pinned down ... EXCEPT now. No one can find the missing fisherman, the object of Charlie's story, nor can they find his sons.
I kid you not. If anyone knows the whereabouts of that fisherman or his sons missing in the action of Charlie Baker's emotional story please do tell. Nothing short of a gubernatorial election could ride on it.
YET ANOTHER REASON TO GET OUT THE DEMOCRATIC VOTE FOR MARTHA COAKLEY AND OTHER DEMOCRATS. WHY? BECAUSE REPUBLICANS LIE AND THEY LIE ALL THE TIME BECAUSE THEY DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOU. THEY CARE ABOUT THEMSELVES AND ALL THE BUCKS THEY CAN MAKE BEFORE AND ESPECIALLY AFTER THEY SERVE. REPUBLICANS ARE MASTERS AT USING MONEY TO BUY ELECTIONS AND YOU CAN BET CHARLIE BAKER HAS OUTSPENT MARTHA. MARTHA DESERVES OUR SUPPORT. PROVE MONEY CAN TAKE ONE JUST SO FAR. SO IT'S SIMPLE. VOTE DEMOCRATIC AND YOU WILL NOT BE SORRY YOU DID!
The Man who NEVER EVER will be president
In case you not have heard the latest from that vile brute tub of lard Chris Christie I paste this number for your enjoyment:
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/New-York-New-Jersey-Superstorm-Sandy-Anniversary-2-Years-Later-Rebuild-Build-it-Back-FEMA-280752672.html?fb_action_ids=10152504106452075&fb_action_types=og.comments
A bigger JERK than Christie you will NEVER find. Chris Hayes (kudos to him) had on the holder of the sign in protest of Christie. The sign holder was BRILLIANT, articulate and knew EXACTLY what he was talking about unlike the BLOWHARD who will NEVER be president, Chris Liar-in-Chief Christie.
He told the sign holder to try working at the Sandy site like he did. Oh sure, Christie worked on the site. We know he worked the cones! The sign holder actually DID work for MONTHS on housing at the Sandy site and was an Independent on City Counsel at one time to boot. Christie as usual does not know what he is talking about.
The sign holder had a simple question out of the 1 BILLION that that sicko bully was given: What happened to the $800 MILLION that is left? Did he put he aside for his cronies, MAYBE?
Christie is a rude insult to this nation and he is a man who NEVER EVER will be president. He's a bully and a Republican liar just like the rest of that evil Party. They are an albatross on our nation's neck. NO ONE EVER SHOULD vote for Republican for ANYTHING not even dog catcher!
NOW GET OUT THE DEMOCRATIC VOTE OR THE SENATE WILL BE FILLED WITH OVER 50 OF THESE INSULTING BEASTS!
Pass this to anyone you choose. MAKE SURE THEY VOTE -- DEMOCRAT of course!
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/New-York-New-Jersey-Superstorm-Sandy-Anniversary-2-Years-Later-Rebuild-Build-it-Back-FEMA-280752672.html?fb_action_ids=10152504106452075&fb_action_types=og.comments
A bigger JERK than Christie you will NEVER find. Chris Hayes (kudos to him) had on the holder of the sign in protest of Christie. The sign holder was BRILLIANT, articulate and knew EXACTLY what he was talking about unlike the BLOWHARD who will NEVER be president, Chris Liar-in-Chief Christie.
He told the sign holder to try working at the Sandy site like he did. Oh sure, Christie worked on the site. We know he worked the cones! The sign holder actually DID work for MONTHS on housing at the Sandy site and was an Independent on City Counsel at one time to boot. Christie as usual does not know what he is talking about.
The sign holder had a simple question out of the 1 BILLION that that sicko bully was given: What happened to the $800 MILLION that is left? Did he put he aside for his cronies, MAYBE?
Christie is a rude insult to this nation and he is a man who NEVER EVER will be president. He's a bully and a Republican liar just like the rest of that evil Party. They are an albatross on our nation's neck. NO ONE EVER SHOULD vote for Republican for ANYTHING not even dog catcher!
NOW GET OUT THE DEMOCRATIC VOTE OR THE SENATE WILL BE FILLED WITH OVER 50 OF THESE INSULTING BEASTS!
Pass this to anyone you choose. MAKE SURE THEY VOTE -- DEMOCRAT of course!
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Dust to Dust
Headline: "White House Hit With What Appears To Be Sustained Cyberattack." What the hell else could befall this president? I do not know how he takes it. I love him still and I
do not care about those who do not. He inherited a beast in world and
domestic politics from the know-nothing Bush. Everywhere this man turns there is a huge problem a
day with a sidecar of life and death consequences. He encounters an opposition, the Republicans, who want him to fail and by extension we will fail in a nuclearized world.
The president KNOWS what to do but is foiled at every corner and cannot get even his most benign nominees to important positions approved by a cement-like Congress. I'm white and I say racism is a large part of his opposition; so endemic to this nation that it is a cancer eating away at our body politic. It is the true etiology of the Republican obstructionism which will not allow him do his job. It is their Revelation's attempt to gain power encouraging a politically biblical Armageddon.
George W. Bush gets this nation entangled in the worst foreign policy catastrophes of all time and I hear nary a word of recall against the one who ruined it all so Obama has to clean up a dump-heap mess.
Bush's puerile assessment that "Puty Pute is a good guy and I know what is in his heart" falls flat. Puty Pute decides he doesn't like us anymore. Both China and Russia see the weakened position in which the opposition has placed this president and move in for the kill while Snowden betrays his own country exposing its classified secrets to the world entire. He does not know the world is NOT as our Founders knew their world to be. The wet-behind-the-ears Snowden knows NOT what he has done.
LEAVE OUR PRESIDENT ALONE to do his job and then Democrats KNOW where the real problem lies. GET OUT THE VOTE and unseat these obstructionist Republican unpatriotic excuses for leadership and cut out their Ebolic virus from the veins of our nation.
DEMOCRATS GET OUT THE VOTE AND THEN DO SO IN HUGE numbers. If you don't vote then don't complain when you get Armageddon Bush's spawn times 10 on steroids giving credence to the words found in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer -- "Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust and to dust all of us will return" well before our time!
The president KNOWS what to do but is foiled at every corner and cannot get even his most benign nominees to important positions approved by a cement-like Congress. I'm white and I say racism is a large part of his opposition; so endemic to this nation that it is a cancer eating away at our body politic. It is the true etiology of the Republican obstructionism which will not allow him do his job. It is their Revelation's attempt to gain power encouraging a politically biblical Armageddon.
George W. Bush gets this nation entangled in the worst foreign policy catastrophes of all time and I hear nary a word of recall against the one who ruined it all so Obama has to clean up a dump-heap mess.
Bush's puerile assessment that "Puty Pute is a good guy and I know what is in his heart" falls flat. Puty Pute decides he doesn't like us anymore. Both China and Russia see the weakened position in which the opposition has placed this president and move in for the kill while Snowden betrays his own country exposing its classified secrets to the world entire. He does not know the world is NOT as our Founders knew their world to be. The wet-behind-the-ears Snowden knows NOT what he has done.
LEAVE OUR PRESIDENT ALONE to do his job and then Democrats KNOW where the real problem lies. GET OUT THE VOTE and unseat these obstructionist Republican unpatriotic excuses for leadership and cut out their Ebolic virus from the veins of our nation.
DEMOCRATS GET OUT THE VOTE AND THEN DO SO IN HUGE numbers. If you don't vote then don't complain when you get Armageddon Bush's spawn times 10 on steroids giving credence to the words found in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer -- "Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust and to dust all of us will return" well before our time!
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Two Cheers for Martha - Deconstructing the Globe Endorsement of Charlie Baker
GREAT editorial and exactly right.
Good on social issues this Charlies Baker is? We'll see. If the big boys in the RNC cash guzzeling creeps in Kochville say jump to Charlie Baker I think he might say how high? Would he? Who knows, he allegedly gave Chris the blowhard Christie 15 grand and allegedly got 15 mill in investment returns in a corporation he said he did not run but we know it says in black and white that he lied and did run it. The Globe never pursued that story. I wonder why.
Vote for a Republican? I say, why take the chance and I surely NEVER will!
VOTE DEMOCRATIC BLUE EVERYWHERE AND GET OUT THE DEMOCRATIC VOTE
Subject: Two Cheers for Martha - Deconstructing the Globe Endorsement of Charlie Baker
Good on social issues this Charlies Baker is? We'll see. If the big boys in the RNC cash guzzeling creeps in Kochville say jump to Charlie Baker I think he might say how high? Would he? Who knows, he allegedly gave Chris the blowhard Christie 15 grand and allegedly got 15 mill in investment returns in a corporation he said he did not run but we know it says in black and white that he lied and did run it. The Globe never pursued that story. I wonder why.
Vote for a Republican? I say, why take the chance and I surely NEVER will!
VOTE DEMOCRATIC BLUE EVERYWHERE AND GET OUT THE DEMOCRATIC VOTE
Read on -
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/Two_Cheers_For_Martha
Note: Stole this from Harmony !!
Reminder:
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/Two_Cheers_For_Martha
Note: Stole this from Harmony !!
Reminder:
When: TODAY October 28th at 1:00PM
Where: The Nashoba Brook Bakery at 152 Commonwealth Ave, Concord, MA 01742
Who: Governor Deval Patrick and Don Berwick
What: An event rallying folks for GOTV and election day for MA Democrats!
Thank You !!
Dhruba Grassroots Organization = Self-Organizing Teams Facilitated by Servant-Leader.
Dhruba Grassroots Organization = Self-Organizing Teams Facilitated by Servant-Leader.
Monday, October 27, 2014
Coakley UP 45-41 - New York Times - Today's Poll
An email from my Democratic campaign friend (see email below) evoked a response. Thank
you Dhruba, for the email. I have been walking around all day as if I
were stun gunned by the Globe's endorsement of Baker. It is UNTHINKABLE
in this state known for its usual smart blue slant to all of a sudden
lose its brain and think that a Republican is going to trickle down the
state to economic health. What WILL happen under Republican rule is a
heretofore healthy blue state will turn Ebola sickly red!
We above all know the utter failure of Republican politics most especially economic political policy. Why do we know this? Because Republican economic policy has been given a 30 year try not to mention the 1929 Depression under Republican do nothing presidents. Remember the Great Recession under Bush. It came from Republican policy.
In almost every case Republicans who now control the governor's office have run their state into not only political red but economic red as well. Chris overrule-science-blowhard-faker Christie has sent New Jersey's credit rating into the latrine. Scott has run roughshod over Florida as has Walker in Wisconsin, LePage in Maine, Brownback in Kansas and it goes on and on and on and on. So now according to the Glob, yes, I do mean Glob, Baker is going to save some towns that are not so prosperous in Massachusetts with his what cutting the corporate tax rate and slashing social programs for the sick, the elderly and the poor?
Oh I forgot it said he could work with Democrats. My posterior he can. Do NOT believe it.
Massachusetts, my proudly heralded state, think twice before you EVER on planet earth think of pulling the lever for any Republican. They have defined their party and it is NOT the party of most of you or really anyone else in this country.
I read Red Sox owner John millionaire or maybe billionaire Henry owns the Globe so its Republican slant should be of no surprise. If the Red Sox finishing in the cellar is a metaphor for the Globe's endorsement of Baker's success it has an ominous running the state into the red Republican glow!
GET OUT THE DEMOCRATIC VOTE PURE AND SIMPLE EVERYWHERE!
We above all know the utter failure of Republican politics most especially economic political policy. Why do we know this? Because Republican economic policy has been given a 30 year try not to mention the 1929 Depression under Republican do nothing presidents. Remember the Great Recession under Bush. It came from Republican policy.
In almost every case Republicans who now control the governor's office have run their state into not only political red but economic red as well. Chris overrule-science-blowhard-faker Christie has sent New Jersey's credit rating into the latrine. Scott has run roughshod over Florida as has Walker in Wisconsin, LePage in Maine, Brownback in Kansas and it goes on and on and on and on. So now according to the Glob, yes, I do mean Glob, Baker is going to save some towns that are not so prosperous in Massachusetts with his what cutting the corporate tax rate and slashing social programs for the sick, the elderly and the poor?
Oh I forgot it said he could work with Democrats. My posterior he can. Do NOT believe it.
Massachusetts, my proudly heralded state, think twice before you EVER on planet earth think of pulling the lever for any Republican. They have defined their party and it is NOT the party of most of you or really anyone else in this country.
I read Red Sox owner John millionaire or maybe billionaire Henry owns the Globe so its Republican slant should be of no surprise. If the Red Sox finishing in the cellar is a metaphor for the Globe's endorsement of Baker's success it has an ominous running the state into the red Republican glow!
GET OUT THE DEMOCRATIC VOTE PURE AND SIMPLE EVERYWHERE!
-----Original Message-----
From: 'Dhruba Sen' via FraminghamForObama <framinghamforobama@googlegroups.com>
To: framinghamforobama <framinghamforobama@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Mon, Oct 27, 2014 6:02 pm
Subject: Coakley UP 45-41 - New York Times - Today's Poll
From: 'Dhruba Sen' via FraminghamForObama <framinghamforobama@googlegroups.com>
To: framinghamforobama <framinghamforobama@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Mon, Oct 27, 2014 6:02 pm
Subject: Coakley UP 45-41 - New York Times - Today's Poll
What it is worth ...
That is why some say - don't pay attention to polls - unless across the board. SocialSphere looks manipulative.
Thank You !!
Dhruba
Grassroots Organization = Self-Organizing Teams Facilitated by Servant-Leader.
Dhruba
Grassroots Organization = Self-Organizing Teams Facilitated by Servant-Leader.
Friday, October 24, 2014
A Message to My Peeps
Here is an email I received from a fellow hard working Democrat. My response is the following and then read and heed his letter below it. What Obama has done for us!
Dhruba, thank you again for all your work and in this case you are
100% CORRECT in all you say. No make that 150% correct in all you say. Read
and heed, do not sow the seeds to step on your own toes and play into Republican hands. It is up to us GET OUT THE DEMOCRATIC VOTE EVERYWHERE. You should send this around to all you know.
Dhruba knows what he is talking about and has worked SO very hard for good Democratic candidates. GET OUT THE VOTE FOR YOU, FOR ME and FOR OUR NATION!!
Send this to anyone you choose! I will post it on my own Facebook, and Blog and send an email out to my own peeps. GET OUT THE VOTE IF YOU LOVE OUR NATION!
-----Original Message-----
From: 'Dhruba Sen'
My humble $0.02
Come election time, we see venom-spitting competition against Dem leaders and candidates from a section of “Democrats”.
This year is no exception.
The anti-Obama propaganda machine is ON.
What is the big picture?
Obama won the election twice – reelected during a very bad year for Democrats.
I don’t want to list all his achievements – but just a few 1) Healthcare Act 2) Withdrawal from Iraq/Afghanistan 3) Repeal of DOMA 4) Nearly 30 Executive Actions favoring prevention of gun violence 5) A huge boost to Science, Technology & Engineering. 6) Landmark action on environment protection and climate change.
And all these IN SPITE of the obstructionist Republicans in the Senate & the House.
So instead of spitting venom against President Obama I think we should take a positive approach. In our communications we should highlight Obama’s achievements (who is not only the President but also the leader of the Democratic Party), that more could have been done but for the obstructionist Republicans.
In this election cycle we need maximum mobilization of our supporters. By spitting venom against Obama- the leader of the Democratic Party – is that achieved? Or are our supporters discouraged and demoralized? Who will such venom-spitting help?
People have two years after each election to build powerful mass movements to influence the Government. Instead of doing that I see some people – mostly quiet during this period – become hyper active when elections draw near and start spitting venom against our leaders. This is a lose-lose strategy.
At the State level, the same applies. Martha Coakley is now OUR candidate. In an earlier post I had warned about SocialSphere – the company hired by Globe to conduct polls. I think they are just way off in the statistical techniques they employ and the inferences they draw. So the latest poll result of Baker leading by 9 points should not surprise you.
Also – we need to mobilize all Democrats and build a coalition to defeat Baker. Venom spitting against either Don Berwick or Steve Grossman turns off those activists who were/are passionate about them. Continued act of vilification of Steve Grossman or Don Berwick is an act of support for Charlie Baker.
MY 2 CENTS
BE WISE AND VOTE YOUR INTERESTS AND FOR MOST OF YOU UNESS YOU ARE A PART OF THE 1% ARE WITH THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY THE ONLY ONE THAT GIVES ONE THOUGHT ABOUT US.
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Baker oversaw firm where pension funds were invested -- PLEASE GET THIS IN AN AD!!!!
This Appeared in May why hasn't the Coakley campaign advertised this?
Baker oversaw firm where pension funds were invested
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/05/13/baker-campaign-acknowledges-pension-fund-money-was-invested-company-oversees/z1e4ywJpF2oVr5DjaopQEL/story.html
Oh Canada, Oh Ottawa
The words to the Canadian national anthem and a few words after it:
O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!
From far and wide,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
Our great friends to the north in Ottawa and all of Canada I know my sentiments are like so many in the beloved nation to your south even with the discord that exists within it.
We stand with you as you stand with us for human rights sketched with much blood over centuries. We see how important the rights of man are -- the right of free speech, of a free press, the right to believe in a supreme being, a God, a creator as we choose even if it is not to believe at all.
We empathize for those who receive that which the worst evils of our nature bestow. We reject violence as an expression of disagreement no matter how strong the inclination is to it as we reject all inhumanity that is uncivilized and extreme.
We defend those precious rights that can disappear on a whim. We defend them even to the loss of our own life. Why? Because they are the gift that those who came before bestowed upon us and so that their lives will not have been in vain.
Oh, Canada we, indeed, stand on guard for you and for ourselves!
Monday, October 20, 2014
A Short History Lesson
The Republicon CON Began
in 1968 when Johnson would not run -- Vietnam blunder so Humphrey took the Democratic
nomination but was albatrossed by the war; Republicon Nixon with his "moral
(mental) majority" saw the white entire south flip from Dixicrat Dem to solid Republican. The law and order crowd went with them too. It stands today.
So there is power in a BUNCH of red small states. Republicon strategy even until this day is to win a LOT of the small electoral states PLUS Texas and leave the big NE states Democratic and capturing a few. It means now for Dems to win THEY must get the black minority, Hispanic, women and other minorities' vote registered and turn out. To defeat that Republicrats have to voter suppress. They are utterly loathsome. Democrats, REGISTER despite Republicons vile attempts at suppression of the black and Hispanic vote.
The president is a human being after all and look at what the nincompoop the man who never should have been president Bush handed this president. He handed him a can of worms and the problem in the American memory is it is ever ever so short. They just do not remember even the Great Recession. They think it was Obama's fault. It WASN'T is was honed after 30 years of Republican economic policy for the rich that saw social programs cut while they cut the corporate tax rate. The megga rich NEVER created jobs. They shipped them overseas.
Obamacare works, Bin Laden by his order is dead, and DOMA is dead, the economy is better and would be better still with more stimulus and unemployment compensation and without the OBSTRUCTIONIST Republican Party wanting to gum up everything this president did. Even Ebola is doing just what the experts predicted WITHOUT shutting down the borders. Dallas Presbyterian Hospital go kick Republicrats in the posterior for cutting social programs like the CDC and NIH which was making an Ebola vaccine but had to stop because of the Repbulicon cuts. Republicans closed down the government and nearly did not pay the nation's debs everything for Republicans over sized zeal to get power, return to a white racist nation and damn the American public in the process.
The president's blunder was trying to reach across the isle to compromise with a racist white Party of Republicons who could not stand to see a black man in that ever so white house. Everyone after the 2008 horror Great Recession should get down on their knees and be thankful our nation survives. NOW GET OUT THE DEMOCRATIC VOTE and DO NOT under any circumstances let REPUBLIcrats rule. You will get rule by the 1% megga rich, they will ship jobs overseas and we the 98% will be up s ____ 's creek without the proverbial paddle yet again! REMEMBER Republicans do not give a damn about most of you.
NOW GET OUT THE DEMOCRATIC VOTE ACROSS THE NATION!
So there is power in a BUNCH of red small states. Republicon strategy even until this day is to win a LOT of the small electoral states PLUS Texas and leave the big NE states Democratic and capturing a few. It means now for Dems to win THEY must get the black minority, Hispanic, women and other minorities' vote registered and turn out. To defeat that Republicrats have to voter suppress. They are utterly loathsome. Democrats, REGISTER despite Republicons vile attempts at suppression of the black and Hispanic vote.
The president is a human being after all and look at what the nincompoop the man who never should have been president Bush handed this president. He handed him a can of worms and the problem in the American memory is it is ever ever so short. They just do not remember even the Great Recession. They think it was Obama's fault. It WASN'T is was honed after 30 years of Republican economic policy for the rich that saw social programs cut while they cut the corporate tax rate. The megga rich NEVER created jobs. They shipped them overseas.
Obamacare works, Bin Laden by his order is dead, and DOMA is dead, the economy is better and would be better still with more stimulus and unemployment compensation and without the OBSTRUCTIONIST Republican Party wanting to gum up everything this president did. Even Ebola is doing just what the experts predicted WITHOUT shutting down the borders. Dallas Presbyterian Hospital go kick Republicrats in the posterior for cutting social programs like the CDC and NIH which was making an Ebola vaccine but had to stop because of the Repbulicon cuts. Republicans closed down the government and nearly did not pay the nation's debs everything for Republicans over sized zeal to get power, return to a white racist nation and damn the American public in the process.
The president's blunder was trying to reach across the isle to compromise with a racist white Party of Republicons who could not stand to see a black man in that ever so white house. Everyone after the 2008 horror Great Recession should get down on their knees and be thankful our nation survives. NOW GET OUT THE DEMOCRATIC VOTE and DO NOT under any circumstances let REPUBLIcrats rule. You will get rule by the 1% megga rich, they will ship jobs overseas and we the 98% will be up s ____ 's creek without the proverbial paddle yet again! REMEMBER Republicans do not give a damn about most of you.
NOW GET OUT THE DEMOCRATIC VOTE ACROSS THE NATION!
Sunday, October 19, 2014
A Welcoming Pope/a Synod of Hypocrites
The headline of the story pasted below my post: "Catholic Bishops Scrap Welcome To Gays."
I dismiss the Vatican Synod of Bishops as old men out of touch with science and reality. I, a Jew, love this Pope. I have never said that about a Pope or the Catholic Church in my life!
Pope Francis, though, is a good man having to work with a bunch of Phrases-like hypocrites, the essence of what Christ was alleged to loathe. The words of Christ are humane and good but heretofore the institutions formed from them have been corrupt, cruel, uncompromising and extreme. This pope like no other, however, speaks the essence of his faith. I commend him for that.
The fact that even divorced Catholics (many in number) still must obtain an "annulment" to have the divorce recognized by the Church is mind numbing. The Church figured out a way to slither around this Catholic tenet surrounding divorce which Jesus ACTUALLY condemned unlike homosexuality in which Jesus said nothing. Some of those "annulled" Catholic marriages though acceptable to the Church show offspring from the former marriage to boot. How is that not considered a marriage? How is this an acceptable practice? Oh, I get it big bucks have to be coughed up for the "annulment." thereby netting the Church a lot of cash. Always, follow the money.
We know those who advocate advancement whether cultural, scientific or theological become the sacrificial lambs. Like Galileo this Pope, in the end, probably long after he is gone, will be proven RIGHT and the venomous hypocrites in that Church which hid pedophiles for centuries but now will not recognize the love relationships of divorced or homosexual Catholics will be proven wrong. Bishops, shame on you for overruling this Pope. I love the Christianity the Pope preaches. He is right and those who oppose him consummately wrong! A synod of hypocrites will, in my opinion, eventually not have the last word.
Catholic Bishops Scrap Welcome To Gays
Posted: 10/18/2014 2:04 pm EDT Updated: 10/18/2014 3:59 pm EDT
VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Catholic bishops scrapped their landmark welcome to gays Saturday, showing deep divisions at the end of a two-week meeting sought by Pope Francis to chart a more merciful approach to ministering to Catholic families.
The bishops failed to approve even a watered-down section on ministering to homosexuals that stripped away the welcoming tone of acceptance contained in a draft document earlier in the week.
Rather than considering gays as individuals who had gifts to offer the church, the revised paragraph referred to homosexuality as one of the problems Catholic families have to confront. It said "people with homosexual tendencies must be welcomed with respect and delicacy," but repeated church teaching that marriage is only between man and woman. The paragraph failed to reach the two-thirds majority needed to pass.
Two other paragraphs concerning the other hot-button issue at the synod of bishops - whether divorced and civilly remarried Catholics can receive Communion - also failed to pass.
The outcome showed a deeply divided church on some of the most pressing issues facing Catholic families.
It appeared that the 118-62 vote on the gay section might have been a protest vote by progressive bishops who refused to back the watered-down wording. The original draft had said gays had gifts to offer the church and that their partnerships, while morally problematic, provided gay couples with "precious" support.
New Ways Ministry, a Catholic gay rights group, said it was "very disappointing" that the final report had backtracked from the welcoming words contained in the draft.
Nevertheless, it said the synod's process "and openness to discussion provides hope for further development down the road, particularly at next year's synod, where the makeup of the participants will be larger and more diverse, including many more pastorally-oriented bishops."
The draft had been written by a Francis appointee, Monsignor Bruno Forte, a theologian known for pushing the pastoral envelope on ministering to people in "irregular" unions. The draft was supposed to have been a synopsis of the bishops' interventions, but many conservatives complained that it reflected a minority and overly progressive view.
Francis insisted in the name of transparency that the full document - including the paragraphs that failed to pass - be published along with the voting tally. The document will serve as the basis for future debate leading up to another meeting of bishops next October that will produce a final report to be sent to Francis.
"Personally I would have been very worried and saddened if there hadn't been these ... animated discussions ... or if everyone had been in agreement or silent in a false and acquiescent peace," Francis told the synod hall after the vote.
Conservatives had harshly criticized the draft and proposed extensive revisions to restate church doctrine, which holds that gay sex is "intrinsically disordered," but that gays themselves are to be respected, and that marriage is only between a man and woman.
"We could see that there were different viewpoints," said Cardinal Oswald Gracis of India, when asked about the most contentious sections of the report on homosexuals and divorced and remarried Catholics.
German Cardinal Walter Kasper, the leader of the progressive camp, said he was "realistic" about the outcome.
In an unexpected gesture after the voting, Francis approached a group of journalists waiting outside the synod hall to thank them for their work covering the synod.
"Thanks to you and your colleagues for the work you have done," he said. "Grazie tante." Conservative bishops had harshly criticized journalists for reporting on the dramatic shift in tone in the draft, even though the media reports merely reflected the document's content.
Francis' gesture, and his words inside the synod hall chastising bishops who were overly wed to doctrine and were guided by "hostile rigidity," as well as those bishops who showed a "destructive goody-goodiness," indicated that he was well aware of the divisions the debate had sparked. His speech received a four-minute standing ovation, participants said.
Over the past week, the bishops split themselves up into working groups to draft amendments to the text. They were nearly unanimous in insisting that church doctrine on family life be more fully asserted and that faithful Catholic families should be held up as models and encouraged rather than focus on family problems and "irregular" unions.
The bishops signaled a similar tone in a separate message directed at Christian families released Saturday. There was no mention whatsoever of families with gay children, much less gay parents, and it spoke of the "complex and problematic" issues that arise when marriages fail and new relationships begin.
"Christ wanted his church to be a house with the door always open to welcome everyone, without excluding anyone," the message read. (Oddly, the English translation was less welcoming than the official Italian, ending the sentence after `everyone.')
Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier of South Africa, who helped draft the revised final report, told Vatican Radio the final document showed a "common vision" that was lacking in the draft.
He said the key areas for concern were "presenting homosexual unions as if they were a very positive thing" and the suggestion that divorced and remarried Catholics should be able to receive Communion without an annulment.
He complained that the draft was presented as the opinion of the whole synod, when it was "one or two people." "And that made people very angry," he said.
Saturday, October 18, 2014
SUPREME INSULT
Yet another rancid vote (see article pasted below) by the Supreme Court unconscionables. It is a SUPREME insult. Liberals, progressives and others, you think because you are mad at the president for some policies that if you not show up to vote in the midterms on November, 4, 2014 you will be sending a message? The ONLY message you will send is a message to yourselves.
Whatever policies the Court has allowed to, in activist Court fashion, wholly reactionarily change a significantly still racist nation, it will allow us to return to a white supremist age. The New Jim Crow age has begun and will be on steroids soon if Republicans are allowed power. Gargantuan money, sanctioned by the Republican-appointed extremist five, is now, more than ever before, allowed to rule politics in this country.
Their many decisions including Citizen's United, McCutcheon, and the striking down of the important Section 4 of the 1965 Civil Rights Act ensures race discrimination and rule by the rich into the 21st century. The Texas decision supporting voter suppression not only allows the exclusion of minorities from participation in the fundamental right from which all other democratic equal rights flow -- the right to vote -- they also by their other decisions ensure oligarchic rule by the 1% wealthiest widening the Grand Canyon size class disparity and the distribution of wealth in this nation.
THIS is what Republicans are about. They are about returning to a white supremist nation, and they use Uncle Tom Clarence, the know nothing should never be sitting on the Court, Thomas to side with the race baiters to ultimately return to that age. Read the summary of how they just voted on the Texas decision and weep. Then weep some more if Democrats lose the Senate.
GET OUT THE DEMOCRATIC VOTE and SPREAD THIS AROUND!
Supreme Court: Texas Can Use Voter ID Law
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court is allowing Texas to use its controversial new voter identification law for the November election. A majority of the nation's highest court on Saturday rejected an emergency request from the Justice Department and civil rights groups to prohibit the state from requiring voters to produce certain forms of photo identification in order to cast ballots. The Supreme Court's order was unsigned, but three justices dissented.
The law was struck down by a federal judge last week, but a federal appeals court had put that ruling on hold. Early voting in Texas begins Monday. The judge found that roughly 600,000 voters, many of them black or Latino, could be turned away at the polls because they lack acceptable identification.
Whatever policies the Court has allowed to, in activist Court fashion, wholly reactionarily change a significantly still racist nation, it will allow us to return to a white supremist age. The New Jim Crow age has begun and will be on steroids soon if Republicans are allowed power. Gargantuan money, sanctioned by the Republican-appointed extremist five, is now, more than ever before, allowed to rule politics in this country.
Their many decisions including Citizen's United, McCutcheon, and the striking down of the important Section 4 of the 1965 Civil Rights Act ensures race discrimination and rule by the rich into the 21st century. The Texas decision supporting voter suppression not only allows the exclusion of minorities from participation in the fundamental right from which all other democratic equal rights flow -- the right to vote -- they also by their other decisions ensure oligarchic rule by the 1% wealthiest widening the Grand Canyon size class disparity and the distribution of wealth in this nation.
THIS is what Republicans are about. They are about returning to a white supremist nation, and they use Uncle Tom Clarence, the know nothing should never be sitting on the Court, Thomas to side with the race baiters to ultimately return to that age. Read the summary of how they just voted on the Texas decision and weep. Then weep some more if Democrats lose the Senate.
GET OUT THE DEMOCRATIC VOTE and SPREAD THIS AROUND!
Supreme Court: Texas Can Use Voter ID Law
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court is allowing Texas to use its controversial new voter identification law for the November election. A majority of the nation's highest court on Saturday rejected an emergency request from the Justice Department and civil rights groups to prohibit the state from requiring voters to produce certain forms of photo identification in order to cast ballots. The Supreme Court's order was unsigned, but three justices dissented.
The law was struck down by a federal judge last week, but a federal appeals court had put that ruling on hold. Early voting in Texas begins Monday. The judge found that roughly 600,000 voters, many of them black or Latino, could be turned away at the polls because they lack acceptable identification.
Friday, October 17, 2014
GET OUT THE GD VOTE!
If progressives cannot look at the bigger picture then they get what they deserve. I am an ardent liberal and an equally ardent Democrat. Liberals, get a brain. You want the Senate to be taken over by know nothings, racists and science denying religious fanatics? Is that what you REALLY want? And you want a total end to Roe v. Wade so women can die being poisoned by quack abortionists like it was in the good ole Mad Men days.
If progressives cannot see the forest through the trees and overlook what you do not like about the president then you will get a Supreme Court that will do all the heinous things the 5/4 Court already has done but be on steroids doing them.
Liberals, you really think Republicons are going to restore the things on which you think Obama disappointed you? THINK AGAIN. They will do the same things except worse and god forbid they get the presidency kiss health care goodbye, kiss Social Security goodbye, kiss Medicare goodbye and welcome the glories of privatization of everything .. NO safety nets because as the conservatives at one of the 2012 "debates" said “let em die” that is exactly the polices you will get.
GET out the gd Democratic vote and don’t be stupid!
Monday, October 13, 2014
WHY ELECTIONS MATTER
There
is method to my madness and thought behind my political beliefs. It is
etched in our history the knowledge of which often is sorely lacking by
the electorate.
In reductionist simple form during the 1929 Great Depression a remedy untried, until that time, saw government taking some collective responsibility for the unemployed of this nation which numbered then around 25%. That's a lot of unemployed.
Roosevelt and his team reasoned if jobs -- government jobs -- were created and the unemployed millions could get them, they in turn would spend money and eventually these perfects against the Wall Street created Great Depression could lift the masses out of their quick-sand fate. It worked for a time until the usual Republican obstructionists suspects temper tantrumed it and the "nine old men" (as Roosevelt called them) on the Court put a monkey wrench into Roosevelt's plan. So what else is new about Republicans hindering a government plan that works? Eventually, WWII and massive government spending to win the war fixed it, we thought, for good.
Our Great Recession of 2009, created again by an unregulated Wall Street gone haywire, our history and Great Depression reforms were obliterated by the Ayn Randian trickle-downers who thought the value of capitalist selfishness on steroids was heaven and just what the doctor ordered. Unfortunately it nearly killed the patient yet again.
The same 1929 remedies that needed to be perfected in 2009 were not or if they were they were created minimally. Because of the the 2010 Republican midterm sweep obstructionist politics reigned supreme. The hope of Democratic policies that the President wanted could have created jobs but instead the hope disappeared like a mirage in the desert and he was fought at every turn.
Below is an article that starkly shows why I say elections matter. Republicans and their side car Tea Bag know nothings eradicated money for government agencies like the CDC which was working on an Ebola vaccine, they eradicated an extension of unemployment which would have significantly helped the middle class stay solvent and more stimulus which would have created more jobs. More jobs means more taxes coming in, reduces the deficit and also means government can continue to help its people while the economy improves.
The article below on NBC News explains the sad state of what once was a nation of middle class hope but now is a nation mired in despair where money is solely in the hands of the 1%. It is why I say Republicans must NEVER be elected to positions of great power. It is for these reasons I scream -- GET OUT THE DEMOCRATIC VOTE ALL OVER THE NATION. REGISTER DEMOCRATS TO VOTE AND MAKE SURE THEY DO!
In reductionist simple form during the 1929 Great Depression a remedy untried, until that time, saw government taking some collective responsibility for the unemployed of this nation which numbered then around 25%. That's a lot of unemployed.
Roosevelt and his team reasoned if jobs -- government jobs -- were created and the unemployed millions could get them, they in turn would spend money and eventually these perfects against the Wall Street created Great Depression could lift the masses out of their quick-sand fate. It worked for a time until the usual Republican obstructionists suspects temper tantrumed it and the "nine old men" (as Roosevelt called them) on the Court put a monkey wrench into Roosevelt's plan. So what else is new about Republicans hindering a government plan that works? Eventually, WWII and massive government spending to win the war fixed it, we thought, for good.
Our Great Recession of 2009, created again by an unregulated Wall Street gone haywire, our history and Great Depression reforms were obliterated by the Ayn Randian trickle-downers who thought the value of capitalist selfishness on steroids was heaven and just what the doctor ordered. Unfortunately it nearly killed the patient yet again.
The same 1929 remedies that needed to be perfected in 2009 were not or if they were they were created minimally. Because of the the 2010 Republican midterm sweep obstructionist politics reigned supreme. The hope of Democratic policies that the President wanted could have created jobs but instead the hope disappeared like a mirage in the desert and he was fought at every turn.
Below is an article that starkly shows why I say elections matter. Republicans and their side car Tea Bag know nothings eradicated money for government agencies like the CDC which was working on an Ebola vaccine, they eradicated an extension of unemployment which would have significantly helped the middle class stay solvent and more stimulus which would have created more jobs. More jobs means more taxes coming in, reduces the deficit and also means government can continue to help its people while the economy improves.
The article below on NBC News explains the sad state of what once was a nation of middle class hope but now is a nation mired in despair where money is solely in the hands of the 1%. It is why I say Republicans must NEVER be elected to positions of great power. It is for these reasons I scream -- GET OUT THE DEMOCRATIC VOTE ALL OVER THE NATION. REGISTER DEMOCRATS TO VOTE AND MAKE SURE THEY DO!
This is what the Republican Party has handed you
and will continue to if they take the Senate and other echelons of
power. Democrats, in truth, need to re-take the House, keep the Senate
and give this president a chance to do what needs to be done. Read and
heed
the following article, learn why it does not feel like we have emerged from a recession and then pass this on. Highly Educated, Unemployed and Tumbling Down the Ladder
In
the upside-down, topsy-turvy world of jobs these days, even an advanced
degree can’t protect some Americans from tumbling down the economic
ladder.
The conventional wisdom
that more education bears fruit in the labor market gets turned on its
head when it comes to unemployment. For people with masters and even
doctoral degrees, long-term unemployment is especially insidious. At
best, these formerly high-earning professionals face the prospect of a
years-long climb back to their former level of income and stature, while
they delay retirement to rebuild their decimated nest eggs.
Others won’t be that
lucky. Debt, foreclosure and evaporated savings push them out of the
middle class, and some just keep falling.
“Most of these people in
this long-term unemployed category are experiencing downward financial
mobility,” said Carl Van Horn, distinguished professor of Public Policy
and director of the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at
Rutgers University.
Nearly half of the
long-term unemployed in a Rutgers survey published last month estimate
it will take up to a decade to rebuild their finances. More than 20
percent say it will take more than a decade, or that they’ll never
recover. The highly educated are “actually in worse shape because they
had farther to fall and had greater financial liability," Van Horn said.
42 and Living With Roommates
“I’ve
had to seriously downgrade my living situation,” said Alex Gomez, a
42-year-old with a master’s degree in entrepreneurship. Gomez lost his
last full-time job in 2009 and has been looking for work since a
short-term contract position ended in 2012.
Gomez’s home was
foreclosed on, so the Tampa resident lives with three roommates in a
college neighborhood. He drained his 401(k) trying to save his house,
and he has around $150,000 in student loans. His mother is tapping her
401(k) to pay his rent. Gomez subsists on that and about $200 a month in
food stamps.
“I applied to a supermarket as a deli clerk because I used to be a deli clerk as a teenager.”
“I have been applying
and looking for pretty much anything at this stage,” he said. Although
he’s looking for work in engineering or data management, “I applied to a
supermarket as a deli clerk because I used to be a deli clerk as a
teenager,” he said. He was told he was overqualified and turned down.
“Even though jobs have
been slowly recovering, these are mostly low-pay, low-wage jobs,” said
Ofer Sharone, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s
Sloan School of Management and founder of the Institute for Career
Transitions, a platform that helps the older professional unemployed
reenter the work force. “We don’t have enough jobs that require those
levels of education right now.”
In a survey of 800
jobless professionals conducted by the Institute for Career Transitions,
about 10 percent of the short-term unemployed had doctoral, law or MBA
degrees. Among the pool of long-term unemployed, more than 18 percent
held such degrees.
“I’ve seen clients who
had to downsize, sell their homes, move into a smaller apartment, take
in boarders… it changes everything,” said David Blustein, a professor at
Boston College’s Lynch School of Education. “The financial consequences
of long-term unemployment are hugely significant and very painful.”
Wiped Out by Student Loans
Student
loans are an especially thorny issue. The U.S. Government
Accountability Office finds that 3 percent of households headed by
someone age 65 and older carry student loan debt, and the amount of
outstanding federal student debt carried by this age group shot up from
$2.8 billion in 2005 to $18.2 billion last year.
“The reality is a lot of
people have gone back to school later in life, gotten MBAs or other
degrees later in life, and the student loans are still there,” Blustein
said.
“Financially, I’ve been
sort of wiped out,” said Brian Maimone, an equity researcher in New York
who, despite his MBA, has been unable to find work since being laid off
five years ago. “I’m at a point now where I’m working at a car wash on
weekends for cash flow purposes. Any job is a real job as far as I’m
concerned,” he said. “Anything that could be liquidated has already been
liquidated.”
“Anything that could be liquidated has already been liquidated.”
Reclaiming
professional and financial stability is a long journey. “If you’ve been
out of work for a year or longer, your road back is not a one shot
deal,” said Joe Carbone, president and CEO of job training and education
provider the WorkPlace Inc. “You have to look at it from the standpoint
of two or three years.”
“For those individuals
who have very advanced degrees and a good length of experience, it does
become more difficult,” said Patricia Malone, executive director of the
Corporate Education and Training program at Stony Brook University,
which trains out-of-work professionals in project management. “They are
competing against people who are 10 years younger,” she said. “It takes
longer.”
Wayne Little can attest
to this. An MBA who worked in sales at IBM for more than three decades,
the 60-year-old has been looking for work after being laid off more than
two years ago.
Little said he has sent
out “well over 1,000” resumes and regularly logs five to six hours a day
working on his job search. “I hadn’t looked for a job for 30 years,”
Little said. “The world has changed… I was not prepared for the new
world of searching for jobs.”
Little’s family is
leaning on his wife’s income, but with three kids around college age, he
has tens of thousands of dollars in student loans, and he estimates
about half of his 401(k) has been drained to pay basic expenses. Little
said keeping their heads above water means cutting out “frills,”
middle-class niceties most Americans take for granted, until they’re
gone.
“The front walk is
falling apart… Some of the things in the house we'd normally take care
of, we're not.” Little’s car has well over 200,000 miles on it; his
wife’s has 150,000. They don’t spend money on entertainment or gifts
anymore. Maintenance around the house has been deferred, he said.
“We're not desperate,
but we will be,” he said. "I've looked at jobs that pay half of what I
was making at IBM and I would've taken them in a second.”
“I was making six
figures at one point, and now I’m making $13 an hour temping,” said Lisa
Casino-Schuetz, a single mother with a master’s degree who has taken a
string of low-paying jobs to provide for her two college-aged kids.
The Psychological Toll
“In
a nutshell, it's devastating,” Blustein said. “The psychological
consequences are enormous… As people have to take lower level positions,
it does confront their own sense of worth in a pretty negative way.”
Even working,
Casino-Schuetz makes so little that she rents out a room in her house to
a boarder for $500 a month. Her home and a condo she owns are both in
foreclosure, and she has had her electricity shut off in the past.
The elimination of
emergency extended unemployment last year made things worse, since
long-term jobless professionals have to start liquidating their assets
sooner.
“Across the board, the
people who exhaust long-term benefits get a lot poorer," said Josh
Bivens, director of research and policy at the Economic Policy
Institute. New EPI research finds that only about a quarter of jobless
Americans are drawing unemployment payments, down from a high of about
two-thirds in the immediate aftermath of the recession.
I probably won’t retire. I probably will be working until the end the way things look now.”
Without
unemployment benefits, the long-term unemployed must draw down their
assets, which presents its own set of serious consequences. Once that
money is gone, these families have no financial security today or for
retirement.
“Some of them will never
get back into the work force,” Van Horn said. “Those people...
especially folks in their mid-50s and up, they’re going to be in very
bad shape financially because they can’t even take Social Security
already," he said. What's more, the benefits they eventually will be
able to draw will be less than if they had worked through retirement
without interruption.
"You’ll basically have
more low-income older Americans,” he said, who will rely more on safety
net programs like food stamps and heating assistance.
“Right now, retirement’s
out of the picture,” Maimone said. “I probably won’t retire. I probably
will be working until the end the way things look now.”
Sunday, October 12, 2014
NEGLIGENCE IN DALLAS
The pivotal question it seems to me is the utterly mind blowing mistake that Texas Presbyterian made INITIALLY when Duncan went FIRST to the emergency room and was sent home with USELESS antibiotics which antibiotics are way OVER PRESCRIBED anyway as we know but in this case USELESS in the face of a deadly virus like Ebola. That is what makes my head spin. HOW on God's earth could a health care worker KNOW that Duncan was in Africa, showing a temp of 103 degrees and send that man home with a bottle of antibiotics? It is not only a civil liability in my opinion it is CRIMINAL negligence.
The question is is this healthcare worker who now is Ebola positive part of the INITIAL health care worker contact with Duncan when they sent him home? OR is this health care worker one AFTER that when they knew Duncan had Ebola, isolated him and suited up in protective gear? Duncan's treatment is STAGGERING in its stupidity and negligence INITIALLY knowing Duncan was in Africa came back with symptoms, a 103 temperature and they sent him home. Are you kidding me? THAT is the most important screw up.
Having had polio as a child 60 years ago NO ONE but NO ONE sent me home with a vile of antibiotics which would have done nothing. I was isolated and health care workers at that time were covered. Then again I'm from Boston and was treated at the best of the best Boston Children's Hospital by doctors whose knowledge and treatment of infectious disease were unparalleled.
That doctor or nurse in Dallas Presbyterian or whoever it may be who sent Duncan home THE FIRST time with a vile of antibiotics should be FIRED and we KNOW Dallas Presbyterian will be sued to within an inch of its life if this spreads any further and even if it doesn't.
Moreover, I might add Rick Perry and other Texas politicos' implication in this because they refused to accept Medicaid from Obamacare forcing the poor to fill up emergency rooms unnecessarily.
Yet another reason science denying Republicans should not be near centers of power. We are a doomed nation if they are! SIGN voters up and get out the vote for the only Party, the Democratic Party, which accepts rational thought and science!
The question is is this healthcare worker who now is Ebola positive part of the INITIAL health care worker contact with Duncan when they sent him home? OR is this health care worker one AFTER that when they knew Duncan had Ebola, isolated him and suited up in protective gear? Duncan's treatment is STAGGERING in its stupidity and negligence INITIALLY knowing Duncan was in Africa came back with symptoms, a 103 temperature and they sent him home. Are you kidding me? THAT is the most important screw up.
Having had polio as a child 60 years ago NO ONE but NO ONE sent me home with a vile of antibiotics which would have done nothing. I was isolated and health care workers at that time were covered. Then again I'm from Boston and was treated at the best of the best Boston Children's Hospital by doctors whose knowledge and treatment of infectious disease were unparalleled.
That doctor or nurse in Dallas Presbyterian or whoever it may be who sent Duncan home THE FIRST time with a vile of antibiotics should be FIRED and we KNOW Dallas Presbyterian will be sued to within an inch of its life if this spreads any further and even if it doesn't.
Moreover, I might add Rick Perry and other Texas politicos' implication in this because they refused to accept Medicaid from Obamacare forcing the poor to fill up emergency rooms unnecessarily.
Yet another reason science denying Republicans should not be near centers of power. We are a doomed nation if they are! SIGN voters up and get out the vote for the only Party, the Democratic Party, which accepts rational thought and science!
Friday, October 10, 2014
Choosing Life
Below is the story about the just-married young woman who is choosing to set the date of her own death because she has inoperable and the most seriously aggressive form of brain cancer with a medical prognosis of only six months to live. I concur with her controversial belief that she wants to set the time and modality of her death and has set it for November 1.
I have personally seen throughout my life insufferable things done in the name of "saving" a patient and I always wondered the eternal question: save that patient for what? I have strong feelings about the humongous money spent to extend not life but seemingly never-ending pain and suffering. I believe that to be a living death sentence in and of itself and out of the question for me. I have told those I love as well as those who handle my legal and medical affairs that I never want an extension at all costs of a suffering and painful life to be my fate.
It is a personal decision and I am understanding of those who would not do as the 29 year old woman will. I, though, support her decision and would choose death when choosing a quality-life free from pain and suffering is impossible to attain. I place the story about it here or below.
I also place below two books which I think are of great interest and, related to issues about which I have thought and about which, perhaps, pertain to the issue in question here. I hope (I say hope) to read them both.
http://www.msnbc.com/politicsnation/watch/woman-with-brain-cancer-chooses-to-die-339250243741?cid=sm_m_main_1_20141009_33180226
Author: Atul Gwande
"Being Mortal and What Matters in the End"
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0805095152/ref=botm_bill_center_spotlight?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-2&pf_rd_r=09TMV9CFG6M1BYBKF5ZJ&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1934209642&pf_rd_i=390919011
Author: Sam Harris
"Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality without Religion"
http://www.amazon.com/Waking-Up-Spirituality-Without-Religion/dp/1451636016/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1412945559&sr=1-1&keywords=sam+harris+spirituality+without+religion
Wednesday, October 08, 2014
Rock the Vote -- GREAT video
TURN OUT THE VOTE FOR DEMOCRATS ACROSS THE NATION and HERE IS WHY!!!
GREAT Youtube by Lil Jon and featuring Lena Dunham, Whoopi Goldberg, Natasha Lyonne, Fred Armisen, E.J. Johnson, Darren Criss, Sophia Bush, Ireland Baldwin, Devendra Banhart, Ioanna Gika and Gabriel Valenciano. Tell us what you're turning out for on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @rockthevote, register at http://www.rockthevote.com and turn out on November 4th.
here or http://www.youtube.com/user/rockthevote
GREAT Youtube by Lil Jon and featuring Lena Dunham, Whoopi Goldberg, Natasha Lyonne, Fred Armisen, E.J. Johnson, Darren Criss, Sophia Bush, Ireland Baldwin, Devendra Banhart, Ioanna Gika and Gabriel Valenciano. Tell us what you're turning out for on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @rockthevote, register at http://www.rockthevote.com and turn out on November 4th.
here or http://www.youtube.com/user/rockthevote
Sunday, October 05, 2014
In Truth -- Thinking About Ebola
Some think I am simply an alarmist or just a
negative person. Truly, I do not want to
be but I am not one who denies or does not look at truth, no matter how
unpleasant because in truth, science is our superior brain's armor against extinction.
I posed a thought I had about Ebola (and other
viruses like D68) to a cousin of mine who is a doctor and a Stanford Medical School
graduate. I value his opinion when I try
to evaluate lots of positions I take because he is so well read and most
especially, on medical issues, because it is his area of expertise.
I ran by him things I was thinking about and asked
if I was correct in an opinion about the Ebola virus I wanted to write. He said what I said is well known and that I
should publish it. So I did below:
What I fear is not only
Ebola but is the fact that every living thing is geared for survival and
viruses are no exception. What Ebola
could do and what even AIDS does is show viruses' uncanny ability to mutate. It provides living proof of evolutionary
truth and the biological imperative of all living things -- man and viruses alike
– to survive by any means necessary.
Unable to be seen with
the naked eye aids the virus's amazing ability to survive sometimes too through
mutation and to find a host – us – who have no immunity to it. It is the mutation of these viruses into
something easier to transmit that is the possibility which chills one’s soul. Is D68 simply a mutation of the polio
virus? We do not know yet. In the case of Ebola what I have read and
what the CDC does not always say in public is they worry about its mutation.
So far Ebola is NOT
easily caught. So far like AIDS it is
spread only through contact with bodily fluids of an infected patient. Unlike AIDS, though, one is only allegedly
contagious when symptoms appear. The biggest
problem with AIDS is its ability to mutate rendering treatments and especially
vaccines improbable if not impossible to develop.
That reality is
especially worrisome. If Ebola did morph into another virus like it which could
be easily spread through a cough, a sneeze or touching the button of an
elevator then it would pose a societal existential threat. It is then and only then that we are looking
at a pandemic that could kill millions.
In addition, when our medical support system are coming down with the
disease and dying who will treat the living sick?"
My cousin labeled it
“Pneumoic Ebola” and further said it could "kill millions."
From climate change to
infections disease science rules the day.
Those who would deny it do so at not only their peril but ours and not
only their children's peril but everyone's children as well.
We must let science and
its truth lead the way and then we, who are not science proficient, should
scrupulously follow what its experts say we should do. Science and the truth it brings is the only
truth that, in truth, can set us free!
The
ONLY science deniers are Republicans and it is why we must elect
Democrats, the believers in science, to become our leaders. It is true
in the governor's office, it is true in the national Congress and it is
true in the Presidency as well. DEMOCRATS GET OUT THE VOTE. Elect
Martha Coakley governor no matter how many phoney ads Baker has trying
to trick Democratic Massachusetts voters into voting for him, a
Republican. DO NOT DO THAT. His party is the party of ANTI SCIENCE and
ANTI CHOICE whether he says he individually is not. When push to shove
he will toe the Party line because the money sits there!
Pass this to anyone you like!
Saturday, October 04, 2014
Exceptional Nation -- Traitorous Jurists
Headline:
Supreme Court To Hear Another Case On Housing Bias
“WASHINGTON
(AP) — For the third time in recent years, the Supreme Court will consider
taking away a powerful legal tactic the Obama administration and others have
used to combat housing discrimination.”
See news article
here
or the link below my opinion.
The five so
called "conservative" charlatans on the Supreme Court in the area of
civil rights are eviscerating one by one advances gained over centuries for
African Americans and other persons of color. This part of the Court has no conscience, no
empathy and no humanity if they are capable of doing such things.
I can fathom
-- sort of -- the four “conservative” white men of privilege on that court
eviscerating minority rights but Clarence Thomas, the resident conservative
token H.W. Bush black man is one of the most intellectually bankrupt and
morally corrupt hypocrites in robes to grace the Court. This is a black man who
if our national culture had not advanced in the area of civil rights through progressive
changers and liberal justices he would not be wearing the robes he does. He would be eating at segregated lunch
counters, he could not even go to the bathroom if there were not a
"colored" one available nor could he go to a movie and sit anywhere he
chose. He surely never could have gone
to the school of his choice without affirmative action and he never could have
married the white woman he did. This
hypocrite votes the way he does and eviscerates minority rights saying nothing
from the bench during argument when those (or really any cases) come before the
court.
Clarence
Thomas could never have led the life he did without justices who had the decency
to decide in favor of policies for which progressives advocated. Civil rights workers, progressive men and
women of all stripes fought and died for the right of all of us to achieve our pursuit
of happiness.
Clarence
Thomas should remember Loving v. Virginia
because that case gave all in this nation the right to marry whom they choose
irrespective of race where in some states it was illegal to do so. Clarence Thomas owes his life to the brave
civil rights workers, lawyers, and protesters-in-the-streets who received
bricks, bats and water hoses to their person so he and everyone else could have
the advantages he has had.
The evisceration
of what should be settled civil rights law by these "conservative,"
as FDR called his own nemesis court, "old men" is disgusting in extremis.
Justices Thomas,
Scalia, Alito, most times Roberts and sometimes Kennedy are traitors to those
things that truly make an exceptional nation!
YET ANOTHER REASON WHY DEMOCRATS SHOULD GET DEMOCRATS AND OTHERS TO VOTE DEMOCRAT ON NOVEMBER 4, 2014.
Friday, October 03, 2014
It's the technology, stupid --- NOT!
Mr. Duncan, the Ebola patient at Texas Presbyterian Hospital presented TWICE there with flu like symptoms and was sent home once with a course of antibiotics (useless for viruses and dispensed wily nily.) He was admitted two days later with more severe symptoms, giving him plenty of time to interact with the population. Now 100 people who came into contact with him either directly or indirectly, including children, are being tracked and/or quarantined.
The blame, now, is being taken off hospital medical personnel and is being placed on a technology glitch? Hospital big wigs are saying the computerized software did not share the TRAVEL part of the information so the treating physicians did not see it and did not know he traveled to Liberia. Now that is kind of an important question concerning Ebola one would think?! West Africa, including Liberia, is where over 3000 people have died from it!
Blame it on technology when you want to absolve humans of fault. A hugely horrible virus is out there in west Africa and medical personnel all over the world are informed of it. Travel, beyond almost ANY of the other questions one could ask a presenting patient, is one of the MOST IMPORTANT questions that should be asked everywhere. Maybe the doctors there or someone should have asked that vital question and made sure it was shared or if not ask why it was not.
Human beings are the ones who program these computers and human beings are the ones who see the data. Do you think one just ONE doctor or medical personnel could have asked an important question when they saw Mr. Duncan the first time and make sure that important information was shared? Uh, let's see, Mr. Duncan, have you traveled to west Africa? Easy question, right? Couldn't someone see they were NOT getting the most important data -- TRAVEL -- imparted to them then kick someone's posterior and say hey you know what why am I not getting travel info to help make my diagnosis of Mr. Duncan?
NO ONE RECOGNIZED the lack of travel information TO BE IMPORTANT? Oh, yeah Rick Perry, governor of Texas, let's see how you can blame it on Obamacare or how about blaming it on YOU who will not extend the Medicaid portion of Obamacare so people are not forced to use the ER for their primary care?
Democrats, get out your thinking caps and see why the head of the State of Texas, Governor Perry, his cronies and his Board of Health staff were not monitoring hospitals and the questions they ask of patients because it was known it was just a matter of time before a case of Ebola would happen here and whether a patient traveled to west Africa or not is a slightly important question to ask and then to share, doncha think?!!
EBOLA IN THE US IS IN TEXAS -- WHY THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IS GOING TO LOSE. GET OUT THE DEMOCRATIC VOTE AND DO NOT LET THESE KNOW NOTHINGS WITHIN AN INCH OF HIGH OFFICE AND POLITICAL POWER!
Thursday, October 02, 2014
The HATCHET MOMENT!!!
My
faith is being restored!! Martha still has the lead but it is very
close. She came out fighting Baker's eye popping paid for by the
Republican party's scurrilous, mendacious and mean attack against Martha
Coakley's efforts in prosecuting child abuse cases. He downright
lied. So what else is new in Republican land? That is what Republicans
do ... they LIE ALL THE TIME. Martha was was by joined by Deborah Eappen mother of Mathew Eappen who died while in Louise Woodward's care and she supports
Martha whole heartedly and calls her one of the most ardent fighters
against child abuse and for children that Massachusetts has seen and she
should know as Martha Coakley was front and center on the Woodward case and its prosecution!
I call this the "hatchet moment."
I named it after the know nothing Scott Brown who accused the great
Elizabeth Warren (who of course supports Martha Coakley) about Warren's
Indian heritage by slurring her and his cronies waxing into a RACIST
Indian war hoop chant. Scott Brown lost the election for Senate and I
believe it was at that moment he blew it and even more so because Warren
was light years better than Brown.
Likewise Martha Coakley is LIGHT YEARS better and more qualified than Baker. Baker and his Republican cronies said the WRONG THING at the worst possible time. It is going to be his downfall. He BLEW IT!! So,
GET OUT THE VOTE FOR DEMOCRATS EVERYWHERE, WORK FOR AND ELECT MARTHA
COAKLEY THE NEXT GOVERNOR OF THIS FABULOUS STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS and
send Baker packing like we did Scott the know nothing Brown!!!!
The article is in the
Globe is pasted below send this email to anyone you choose especially
Democrats everywhere to GET OUT THE VOTE! Those
who are out of state get out to vote -- and do not step on your own
toes. VOTE the ONLY party that is for the 98%, the Democratic Party!
Coakley ‘disgusted’ by TV ad, calls on Baker to condemn it
Josh Reynolds for The Boston Globe
Martha Coakley was joined at a press conference by Deborah Eapen
(left), mother of Matthew Eapen, who died while in the care of au pair
Louise Woodward, and state Rep. Jim O'Day (right).
SOMERVILLE -- A visibly angry Martha Coakley on Thursday demanded that Republican rival Charlie Baker condemn an outside group’s television advertisement that accuses the Democratic attorney general of not doing enough to protect children.
Coakley,
who at one point choked up discussing her work on behalf of an abused
youngster, called on Baker to seek the removal of the advertisement,
which is paid for in part by the Republican Governors Association. The
ad blames Coakley for failures in the state Department of Children and
Families, or DCF, which resulted in the deaths and abuse of children.
“That is absolutely over the top, it’s
outrageous, and I am disgusted by it,” said Coakley, who was flanked at
her Somerville campaign headquarters by Debbie Eappen, the mother of
Matthew Eappen, the 8-month-old who died in the care of his nanny,
Louise Woodward, in 1997. Coakley prosecuted the case against Woodward.
She was also joined today by Democratic attorney general candidate Maura Healey, a former Coakley aide.
Coakley accused Republicans of “using child abuse as a political football.”
In response, Baker’s campaign did not directly
address whether they would ask for the ad to be removed. Spokesman Tim
Buckley said in an e-mail that Coakley “has yet to explain to voters her
decision to fight child protection advocates seeking to reform a broken
DCF that has placed the Commonwealth’s defenseless children in harm’s
way. While Coakley defended the embattled agency and refused to call for
the commissioner’s resignation,” he wrote, “Charlie Baker proposed a
detailed plan to immediately fix the broken agency.”
Polls
show Coakley and Baker essentially tied in the race for governor, with
less than five weeks remaining before the Nov. 4 election.
Earlier
in the campaign, Coakley had called on Baker to sign a pact designed to
limit outside advertising, which Baker declined. Asked Thursday whether
she would insist that anti-Baker super PAC ads funded by her allies be
removed, Coakley demurred.
An aide later
said that Coakley was not asking for Baker to call for the removal of
other GOP super PAC ads, just the one discussing child abuse.
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