Union President !

I started to teach in 1975 after four years in the Air Force and five years in college.  After being on the job only two years I was asked to become a building representative for my teacher association called B.L.E.A.

After the association was allowed, by Ohio law, to become a recognized union I ran for the job as vice president. After serving in that capacity for a couple of years I was elected President of over 120 members.  We had a master contract and my job was to protect our teachers and make sure the administration followed the contract and did not violate teacher’s rights.

Late one night in 1981 or 1982 I received a call from a teacher who was attending a meeting of O.P.S.E. That was the Ohio Public School Employees. That union represented all other employees in the school district. This union was comprised of cooks, secretaries janitors repairmen and bus drivers. The teacher who called me was also a bus driver and a member of both unions.

He told me that because they had no contract they were going on a wildcat strike the following morning. I was a little peeved not to hear from their President ahead of time. I didn’t know much but I did know that I could not let the teachers show up for work the next day and see picket lines and not know what to do.

I called the members of my executive council and started a phone chain to all members. I also obtained the use of a union hall near the school for a 6:00 meeting the next morning.  After much soul searching I had decided to tell all of the union members to go to work and not to cross the picket lines. After a heated discussion teachers were advised to get out of their cars and wait 30 min and then return home. It had been decided that our union would respect the picket lines of our brother union.

I knew we had a legal contract and that I was taking a big chance. The school board could and would sue our union if this mess went on longer than a day or two. I went home too and as soon as I entered the house my phone rang and the Superintendent was on the line. He yelled at me for a while and insisted that we all report to work the next day. I informed him that I did not scare easily and it would be in his interest to settle his dispute with the outer union. He told me that he could have me put into jail. I had no idea if he was right or not but I told him he was wasting valuable time talking to me when he could fix this problem by sitting down with the other union.

After he hung up I spent a tension filled day fielding calls from teachers wanting to know what was going on. I was a little worried because I only had a two year contract and I was putting my job on the line to support our union brothers and sisters.

To my relief I received a call late that night that said the strike was over and things could return to normal. I started the phone chain again and all seemed well. I felt good because I thought that by supporting the O.P.S.E. Union we had forged a bond with  a union who would support us when and if we ever had need. Boy was I wrong: To be continued.

Gods Punishment ?

I just don’t see myself to be as judgmental or negative as some of my conservative friends. I never attacked George Bush personally. I never questioned why, as a Christian, he seldom went to church. I never thought that he was evil or un-American or that he was out to ruin the nation.

I did take part in the loyal opposition the Constitution talks about. I think Democrats worked with him on tax cuts and gave him a lot of leeway when it came to going to war without raising taxes. They did manage to keep the President from destroying Social security but allowed him to expand Medicare without funding it properly. I always called him my President and never treated him with any disrespect.

I did have some problems with some Republicans because of the way they attacked the Left as unpatriotic or un-American. I had trouble with the way evangelical preachers would blame Aids on the immoral lifestyle of gays or blame each and every natural disaster as a revenge act from God to teach us a lesson.

That is why I find this week’s statement by the owner of Chic-Fil-A that gays are not traditional couples but people that are not following a good Christian lifestyle.  Then this morning I read that Donald A. Perry, the vice president of corporate public relations for Chick-fil-A, died of a heart attack on Friday morning.  I do not connect this death with the position of the owner or see it as punishment from God.

I have a feeling though that if this had happened to a Democratic gay rights supporter the Right would not be as kind.

Lies ,Falsehoods,and Other Stupid Charges.

I have been getting into discussions with people I don’t even know. When friends on Facebook make a comment I get to see comments of their friends and then the trouble starts. I just can’t leave falsehoods and lies alone. I have to stick my nose in and get involved in arguments with morons I don’t even know.

Recently a retired military man started to spread stories about President Obama. He wrote a comment that said that the President was not an American citizen. Experts of the “Donald “said his birth certificate were fuzzy. This individual also stated that the reason the President’s school records were sealed was because in order to get a Fulbright Scholarship to attend Occidental College the President used his birth certificate from Kenya. He also said that the President had the SSN of a dead man from Connecticut. I wrote a comment back that asked him if the school records were sealed how did he know about them! He never did answer me so I did a little research of my own and found out that all of these charges resulted from an investigation done by Donald Trump. 

Here are a few of my findings. First of all the Fulbright Scholarship is intended for graduate students only and the President did two years of undergraduate work at Occidental before transferring to Columbia so he wasn’t even qualified for this scholarship because he was not foreign born or a grad. Student.

The SSN was not from a dead man but a dead man who actually had a different number. All of the charges were stupid and ridiculous. This is the reason I never answered their charges. You can’t argue with an idiot. I just blocked their posts and walked away. They probably think I gave up to superior debaters but I don’t care what they think. I just could not lower myself to argue with crazy people. I can’t waste my time either.

I am sorry but I always thought that Right wing radio and TV would confuse voters and be the death of this country. Add the morons from the Tea Party and we, as a country, are headed for a real mess.

Y.M.C.A !

If you read one of my last military posts you will recall that after I left Radar school I was sent to an isolated remote radar base in Northern California.  It was called the 776^th Radar Squadron and located in Point Arena California. Although it was located only 135 miles north of San Francisco it took over five hours to reach it on the famous and beautiful Highway 1.  The first six months there I was still saving for a car. It was hard to go anywhere without any transportation. There were times when my friend in Motor pool, David Giagos, would sign a van out to a group of us to travel to San Francisco for the weekend. We were allowed to drive it from one military base to another so we had to check in at the world famous fort; the Presidio.  We would leave the van at the fort and catch a cab to the heart of the city. There were usually five or six of us. We had little money to waste so we always went to the Y.M.C.A. for a cheap room that would accommodate all of us. The cost was only about $2.00 a night per person. The other guests, all men, were a little shady but we were in a large group and spent very little time at the  facility.  Usually we would get drunk and attend a concert a Bill Grams famous Fillmore Auditorium. After the concert we would go to more bars and generally wonder around the city on foot. Once we were at White Castle at closing time and they served these little pies. One night at closing time we were in the parking lot when a worker carried a tray of pies to the trash bin. We asked him what the heck he was doing and he informed us they had to destroy all pies at the end of each day. We asked if we could have some and he said it was against the rules. In they went. No problem for a bunch of young, stupid drunks. We just climbed in and ate what we wanted. They were not bad.

One night we were on our way back to the Y when we had to go through a bunch of prostitutes who gave us a little trouble. One of our Latino Airmen started calling them dirty whores and grabbed the breast of one of them. We pulled him away and went to our room on the fourth floor. Out little Mexican buddy opened the window and started a verbal war with the ladies of the night. They yelled at him and showed him their middle finger. Being quite drunk he yelled back and grabbed a fist full of those little hotel soap bars and started to fling them at the young women. Next he started to throw pillows and finally we had to intervene when he had half of a bed out the window. The police were called and entered the room just as one of us was in the process of reliving ourself in the sink.  Naturally we were asked to leave. We spent the rest of the night on the street.  We ate an early breakfast and caught a bus back to the presidio. We never were allowed to stay at the Y again. We also never went anywhere with our little Mexican buddy or got him drunk again.

I took many more trips back to the city the next two and a half years with many more stories to tell and a few I can’t

The Salem News ?

I recently read an opinion on the Affordable Care Act in the Salem News. Being a Right leaning paper they called it Obama Care. They asserted, in their opinion, suppositions as facts. It became clear to me that they either never read the act or were just feeding their readers talking points of the Republican Party. I did not write a letter to the editor because they never seem to print mine. I did email this piece to the managing editor and owner. I am awaiting their response but not hopeful. I mean what can they really say?

First of all, under the health care bill, Medicare spending continues to go up year after year. The health care bill tries to identify ways to save money, and so the $500 billion figure comes from the difference over 10 years between anticipated Medicare spending (what is known as “the baseline”) and the changes the law makes to reduce spending. The savings actually are wrung from health-care providers, not Medicare beneficiaries and that is one of the false statements in your article. These spending reductions presumably would be a good thing, since virtually everyone agrees that Medicare spending is out of control. In the House Republican budget, lawmakers repealed the Obama health care law but retained all but $10 billion of the nearly $500 billion in Medicare savings, suggesting the actual policies enacted to achieve these spending reductions were not that objectionable to GOP lawmakers as they seem to be to your paper.. The Obama health care law also raised Medicare payroll taxes by $113 billion over 10 years, further strengthening the program’s financial condition, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Your papers article titled “Our Side” has no facts and very little truth. Shame on you. It is your job to tell the truth and present all the facts to your readers. There will be no reduction in spending on services for seniors in this bill. The Ryan plan will really cost future retirees in the future. Why don’t you write about that? I would just like to say what a crappy article for a newspaper to print. Do a little research next time so your readers can be informed not indoctrinated.

Gary Andres

Since 2000. 100,000 have been killed.

My niece took her son to a Cavs basketball game two years ago. They parked in an expensive lot across from the arena. In front of their eyes they say a man park in a handicapped spot and an armed lot attendant stopped him at the lot exit and told him to move the car or it would be towed. The man went to his trunk and took out a handgun and shot the attendant to death. This was in front of my niece and her young son. They just wanted to see LeBron James and the Cavs play. They hid in their car until the police came. To make a long story short she had to testify at trial because the killer was quite rich and claimed self-defense.

Yesterday a man entered a packed movie theater and killed or wounded over 70 people with the help of a semi-automatic weapon with a clip that held 100 bullets. The President and his challenger said nothing about our gun laws and said we should all pray for the fallen and injured. I read a comment on face book that asked all users not to mention politics on a day of sadness such as this. The NRA web page said nothing.

I must admit that I am not anti-guns. I was trained as a boy scout to shot at the local hunt club. I shot two years for medals. I was trained to shoot in the military. I own a Jennings semi-automatic hand gun for home protection. It has a clip for 8 bullets. I also own a 20 gauge pump shotgun for home protection. Both guns have safety locks and have never been shot. Both guns have never left my home. I believe in the right of Americans to protect their homes and property. I do not believe in the new concealed and carry laws and would never carry a gun in public.

Having said all this I would like to condemn both President Obama and Mitt Romney for their fear of the NRA and their supporters. This is the time to speak up and to yell  from the highest mountain top. GUNS KILL PEOPLE!  We have no need for military style attack weapons need stringent gun laws to stop the production and sale of these weapons.

In the U.S. you are 40 times more likely to be killed by a gun than in Canada or England.  If the United States had the same gun murder rate as England or Canada, approximately 8,500 American men, women and children who were killed by gunfire in 2011 might still be alive today. If the United States had the same gun murder rate as England since 2000, 100,000 murdered American men, women and children might still be alive today.

Of course, it is not only the NRA and its supporters who are accountable for this state of affairs. It is also our elected representatives in Congress who have lacked the common sense and courage to renew the federal assault weapons ban, which expired in 2004. This is, by any reasonable measure, a failure of them as leaders of our country...

In the face of this national tragedy, President Obama says this is not the time for politics but for prayer. But this is the time for politics, before we do what we always do after such massacres -- shed some tears, express our grief, say a few prayers, and then quickly go on to do what the NRA wants us to do -- change the subject. I am sorry but I refuse to follow the script and want to scream as loud as I can,” Stop this insanity "

Get Off MY Chest !

There are a few things that I would like to get off my chest today. The dislike and even hatred of gays is one of them.  I often wonder why some people are so disgusted by gay people. I grew up with a couple in my class and knew they were gay when we were all just kids. I never gave it a second thought. I met a couple of gays in the military and a few in college. They never seemed to be a problem to me or my life. I met a few more during my work years and again my relationship with them was just the same as everyone else.  What bothers me is the number of people who go out of their way to ridicule and generally make their lives full of misery. Why?  Could it be that some of these haters have some guilt over latent homosexual feelings they have had sense they were young? I really can’t see any other logical explanation for this dislike to the point of trying to deny happiness to this group of Americans.

Another thing that bothers me is the language, lies, false statements and disrespectful treatment of the President of the United States. Let’s agree to two simple points. Mitt Romney is not and never has been a neo con or a far right crazy. Just look at his record as Governor and his policies and stances on issues before he ran for President. He is, in fact a little right of center.  The president is not a Socialist or a far left communist. Just look at his record and his term as Editor of the Harvard Law Review. He is by all accounts a little left of center.

Another issue that bothers me is some people’s attitude toward the poor. I taught school and received my pay from the taxes paid be citizens from my state. They paid for half of my retirement annuity and I paid for the other half. I must admit that I owed my living to a Government program that required everyone to contribute money to educate all children whether you had any yourself. I could never wine or cry about people on disability or food stamps. This tax money came from the same place as my salary did the tax payers. It just bothers me when Government employees complain about government spending. They are spending some of it on you. Some will say “I earned it”. I would say “yes you did”, but also point out that their retirement is, in most cases, partially paid by tax payers. I also include all government employees no matter what they did.

There are a couple of things bothering me today but I have to go and eat. I guess I will finish another time.

Are Some Wealthy People Stupid ?

In order to get rich most people have to be single minded. They must never become distracted from their goal of making more and more money. In some ways this does make them stupid. They have no idea how people who have devoted their lives and the majority of their time to living and being happy actually enjoy their life.  The must be stupid! Why else would a man with great wealth spend the waning years of his life running for office instead of retiring and spending time with friends and family in beautiful homes and vacation spots? I would be in my new Corvette on HW#1 driving up the coast or in my luxury box of my favorite team or in my multimillion dollar vacation home or on a world tour or on my plane on my way to Hawaii for a day or two. Why make all this money and not enjoy it? I could see if he wanted to give it away to build schools and Hospitals to help people but run for President? I just don't get it.

In order to get rich most people have to be single minded. They must never become distracted from their goal of making more and more money. In some ways this does make them stupid. They have no idea how people who have devoted their lives and the majority of their time to living and being happy actually enjoy their life.  The must be stupid! Why else would a man with great wealth spend the waning years of his life running for office instead of retiring and spending time with friends and family in beautiful homes and vacation spots? I would be in my new Corvette on HW#1 driving up the coast or in my luxury box of my favorite team or in my multimillion dollar vacation home or on a world tour or on my plane on my way to Hawaii for a day or two. Why make all this money and not enjoy it? I could see if he wanted to give it away to build schools and Hospitals to help people but run for President? I just don't get it. Who cares if your name goes into the history books? Am I missing something here?

Would someone please tell me why wealthy men, who are also old, want to give this man millions to run for office instead of doing something worthwhile with it?

Would someone please tell me why wealthy men, who are also old, want to give this man millions to run for office instead of doing something worthwhile with it?

In Desperate Times

In desperate times false Gods abound and people put their faith in the preacher who speaks the loudest.  With the help of Citizens v United that seems to be Mitt Romney who is supported by super pacs who, with the help of the electorate will say and do anything to wrestle power from the voter. They will even try to deny voting to large numbers of people who they deem not worthy. Our Republic is at a cross roads and needs our vigilant attention to combat these false statements made by candidates and corporations who have the most to profit from their victory.

It is up to, us, the average American workers to figure out who is on our side and who wants to use us.  My advice would be to follow the money! and vote against it. Never vote for a wealthy man. Ask yourself why he wants to be elected to office when he is already wealthy. The answer is simple POWER!

Florida again !

Thousands of eligible voters were purge from the roll in 2000; this means they were denied their right to vote. How can this not be a problem, you have to have rocks for brains if you do not see this as an attempt to suppress the vote. It reminds me of the kid who gets away with stealing a candy bar, as soon as he gets the chance to do it again he does. Same here stole one election, now it’s time to steal another. If the republicans are so right why not just run on their record, wave the Paul Ryan budget plan for all to see. Why are they not talking about it every day? Their only chance of winning is to suppress the votes and lie to voters to get them to vote against their own self-interest. When Romney and Obama have their debates that's when the whole world gets to see the many faces of Romney!!!

This is the only hope left for a dying party. They can't win on issues, so they must prevent people from voting. Election fraud is FL is more rampant than voter fraud. Republican operatives were convicted in 1987, they stole it in 2000, and they will continue election fraud as long as the voter fraud smoke screen goes unopposed.

Use your head - if you were an illegal, would you really chance the consequences of getting caught to vote? Also, 67 election administrators - republican and democrat - defy governor's orders because they know it's wrong to kick legitimate voters off registrations where they would have 30 days to request an appeal. Bush spent $70 million on investigating this, and the only results of voter fraud were felons who had served their time are never allowed to vote again in Florida and Texas and then only because they didn't know better because it sends them back to jail for one year for violating parole. Republicans cannot prove voter fraud. This is about winning the election.

If 3 million people voted in FL and 2 people voted fraudulently the republicans

will use that as an excuse to remove as many more people as they can

who don't vote the way they want off the voter registry.

It is about control of the vote, not the integrity of the vote. It doesn't make
difference that they know thae list they're using is flawed. The goal is
to do everything they can to increase their odds in winning an election
they know will be close.
They are using every tool at their disposal to win control of gov. by hook
or crook, deception or deceit, they don't care. When you are dealing with
people who don't care how they win as long as they do, you've got two
Choices.
Either match them blow for blow and take the fight to them, Or bend over. Your future, literally, depends upon what choice you make. This election will change America to a time when segregation between wealthy and poor was the norm not the exception. When will middle class and poor people realize the wealthy look at you as a pest like a bug or crap on their shoe. They have already said that they can’t abide the thought of dirty poor uneducated people having the power to vote and help mold the future of “their country”

Here I go again !

I hate to keep posting on this subject but give me d friggen break . I don't understand how people can be so blind as to deny the reality of global climate change. It's just so stupid to just try to grasp at something, anything, a speck - to deny the reality of what's happening to the planet. They try to counter worldwide climate data with 'they just didn't clear the undergrowth'!,that's why we are having all these wild fires this summer.  Give me a break.

I hear the Congressmen of the coal producing States cry about how the EPA regulations are killing their State economies. On the next page I read about the black lung epidemic among miners. One page over,  I see the data on the huge amount of pollution caused by coal fired energy and industry. It is fact that burning coal is the biggest air polluter we have. Maybe they just didn't dig the mine deep enough....

Oh, oh ..Wait! I know! God gave us the planet and dominion over the earth. So we can pollute it and wipe out other species at will? Nah. I'm not buying that one, either.

We better get a handle on this before it is too late for any change we make to change the outcome. Already I fear we are too late. People will believe almost any shit.  They believe the lie that people in Canada can't get medical care when they require it. They believe the crap that President Obama caused this world wide recession because of his spending. They believe the lie that cutting taxes will make everything better. They believe that unions are bad and corporations like Walmart are good for America. They believe that the new ACA will make their health care worse and create death squads or that 89% of Doctors will quit because of health care reform. People in this country will believe almost any shit they are fed over and over again. Wake up and look around you ! 

Why do we have "two sides" on what is basically a fact issue? We don't have "two sides" on gravity, on the boiling point of water, planetary rotation, electricity. I can't believe the permafrost is melting, wildfires in Siberia and we now have shipping channels through the Arctic and this is still an issue?

If I am wrong all we have done is waste a little money. If I am right then the future of the planet is at stake.  Whose side should a smart person be on ?

The ESPY Awards

I made the mistake of watching a rerun of the ESPY Awards last night. I usually don’t watch ESPN much because generally their shows are crap. I just tuned in for a few minutes while channel surfing and herd  Host Rob Riggle of "The Daily Show" and "The Hangover" fame zinge some of the famous faces in his opening monologue.

He then went on to make fun of the city of Cleveland and their fans following a trend, which ESPN has been using, ever since LeBron left.  He said, among other things, that what 25 yr. old wouldn’t want to leave Cleveland for Miami. He also pointed to Jin Brown in the crowd and said that Jim retired at 29 so he could get out of Cleveland. He also stated that a whole team actually left the city only to move to Baltimore. To Baltimore, he repeated, the city where the Wire was filmed. The zings just kept on coming.

I just wonder why ESPN feels it has to disparage the city of Cleveland. They often make fun of it on the air and always report the Indians wins last on their shows or like today not at all.  They go out of their way trying to repair King James’ reputation. They treat cities like Miami and LA like they were the greatest places on earth.

Recently they made a big point to report Chris Perez and his rants about Indian fans.

I could write about what a great city Cleveland is to visit but what would be the point. Instead I would like to write about the job ESPN and host Rob Wriggle did on the show.

Judging by the number of laughs Robb received from the audience I would say that he stunk up the joint. He was not funny and even had trouble with the English language. His writers were just as stupid.  This show was a stinker from the start to the end, ESPN needs to hire some pros to plan and direct their award show. Clearly their present writers and directer are not up to par.

I just remember the year Albert Bell had a higher batting average, home run total, more R.B.I.’s and more doubles. The sport writers gave the MVP Award to Boston’s Mo Vaughn. You never herd a word of protest from the experts at ESPN.

In closing I feel like crap today so I would like to say to ESPN and Robb that both of you suck. I can tell that when it comes to having class the fans and people of Cleveland can teach you both a thing or two or three or four. In Street language you can better understand “YOU SUCK"  The Jersey Shore ans Sponge Bob does a better job and I am sure have better ratings.

Senator Inhofe is Full of Hot Air.

Those denying climate change are not experts in the field and are dangerous to listen too.  Here is why.

Inhofe's list includes 413 people. (Score one Inhofe; the math holds up.)

84 have either taken money from, or are connected to, fossil fuel industries, or think tanks started by those industries.

49 are retired

 44 are television weathermen

20 are economists

70 have no apparent expertise in climate science

Several supposed skeptics have publicly stated that they are very concerned about global warming, and support efforts to address it. One claims he was duped into signing the list and regrets doing so.

I just like to use common sense in this debate. If Climate Change is real and we, as a country act now, we will divert a disaster while at the same time creating alternative energy for the future. We will be ahead of other countries and when fossil fuel does run out we will be in a position to continue a high standard of living with clean air and water. If we are wrong we still will benefit from our use of alternative energy, which is the wave of the future. If the climate deniers are right we will still run out of fossil fuels and not be in a position to make use of alternative energy, we will also have destroyed our world for our children and their children.

I feel like crying ,

Lord in heaven are we in trouble.  I just had a long conversation with people I know that had a child born premature. This child had a tough go to pull through and still has therapy and other medical issues. Although they had health insurance they eventually owed almost three million dollars to hospitals and Drs.  They actually had to declare chapter 13 in order to keep their house. The husband works very hard for a small firm and because of his child the firm had to get cheaper insurance. This couple still has ongoing medical bills of over $20,000 a month.  They are just hanging on by a thread and I admire them for their bravery and calmness.

I did find it odd when I broached them with the Idea of a national health care plan. The first thing the wife said was “I hear they have trouble in Canada seeing a DR. They say the wait is very long” The husband chimed in with “once this Obama care starts things will only get worse “

I almost cried. If these people are going to vote against President Obama what chance does our country have? If these people are against a single payer system and the ACA, what chance does reason have in the future of our country? I really do feel like crying. I feel so depressed

Where do I vote This Year?

This crap about having to have a photo ID in order to vote is not designed to prevent voter fraud. In order to vote a person must register ahead of time and then await confirmation from your local county board of elections to give you the location of a local polling place that has your nane and address in a book. You must identify yourself and sign in. The signatures must match. A photo ID is a joke. Almost any underage teen can either buy or make one themselves.  This is just the latest attempt to purge Democratic voters from the roles.  Voter fraud ,by indiviuals,is a thing of the past. Anyone wanting to change the results of an election has a much easier time changing the number count ,done by computers, or fixing the voting machines themselves.

There is another problem that I have been having living in a Republican run city, county, and state. I have voted at the same polling place for over 20 years. It is a VFW hall located in the middle of my ward.  It has plenty of parking, in a paved lot, behind and mega room on the street. It is also equipped with a new wheel chair ramp.

Last year I received notice from the county elections board that my voting place had been changed to a church. I checked and found out this new voting place was actually in another ward. I called the elections board and was told that the wheel chair ramp was a few degrees too steep for federal regulations. I remember telling the person at the elections board that this ramp is ok for wounded vets but not anyone else in a wheel chair. They played dumb and said they had no idea.

I had no choice so I voted at this church, in another ward, and the parking lot was not paved and there were pot holes everywhere.  The path to the voting area was down a couple halls with narrow doors. To make matters worse it was raining.

This year I received another notice that for the third time in three years I have to vote in another building, city hall.

I wonder what the hell is going on and if some voters get confused and just gave up trying to figure out where to vote.

I know that inner cities have a lot of Democrats have no driver’s license because there is no need to own a car or they are too poor to afford the monthly parking.

I feel the Republicans are not only trying to buy this election but also purging Democratic votes using a variety of methods. Oh !  did I tell you I live in the only Democratic ward in my city. Makes one wonder dosen't it.

I wonder

I often wonder how stupid the average American is. The middle class wages have been stagnant since the early 90’s. Health care costs have eaten the savings of retirees. Banks no longer offer decent interest for savings. The media is biased in their assessment of facts and problems we face.

Republicans will not address any problems and see a chance to topple a President so they can dismantle the Great Society of President Johnson.  They also want to dismantle the New Deal started by FDR.

Will any of the Republican ideas help the lives of the poor and middle class? I think not.  I see an America where all workers are treated like Wal-Mart employees. 

I wonder why no one complains about the cost of health care or the Republicans reluctance to address this problem.  I wonder if Americans are really going to vote for a wealthy man who has off shore bank accounts and investments. I wonder if Americans are really going to put a party in charge that wants to kill programs like the ACA, Social Security, Medicare, and food stamps, Public schools, among others. I wonder why union members will vote for a party that wants to dismantle their unions. I wonder if people are listening to what the Republicans are saying to them. I wonder why Average Americans don’t seem to care that the Republicans seem willing to fight to the death to protect the tax cuts for the wealthy. I wonder if Americans can really be swayed by the lies of all the neg, ads that will flood the air ways this summer and fall.

I wonder if America has any future at all or if this is the start of the end of our great experiment.

I just wonder if we are really as dumb as I think we are. I may soon have that answer and that scares me.

Chris Perez Sucks.

This morning I woke up to the Ray Allen trade. He is going to Miami for 3 million dollars a year instead of staying in Boston for 6 million a year.  It seems his feelings are hurt because before the all-star game this year Boston was looking to trade him. His feelings were also hurt because the fans booed his poor first half play.

As a Cleveland Indians fan I am still dealing with the Chris Perez rant. He is upset because the fans are not going to the games in large numbers and often boo the team. His feelings seem to be hurt from the first game of the season when he blew a save and was booed. I saw an interview that he complained about the fans yelling and booing players.

I have had 17 jobs in my life starting out babysitting and ending up teaching. In each and every job, I have been taken to task for mistakes. In many cases yelled at and punished for mistakes. Most people who work for a living have been at the mercy and whims of their boss.

The average stiff going to see these professional games make anywhere from $20,000 to $50,000 a year. Most of us work hard and have to preform or we get fired or laid off.  We pay a lot of our meager earnings for tickets, parking and food. We have to pay $10.00 for a beer in Cleveland!  We sit in the hot sun for three hours while the wealthy sit in air conditioned loge boxes and eat decent meals made be chefs.

When a player strikes out with the bases loaded or blows a save what should we do? Should we clap for their failure or boo them?

Many of them receive millions in salary. They have food waiting for them after each game. They have trainers who give them rubdowns and wash their uniforms. They fly first class to the next city and receive free hotel rooms and meals. They get treated good compared to the rest of us. Yet they become upset or their feelings get hurt when they get booed.

I state today that I would love a job making millions a year with great benefits. I would take the booing any day I disappoint my fans. I would deserve it. I guess I would like to say to Chris Pérez, “grow up and kiss my behind”. “Get a real job buddy”.

Talk Radio !

Progressive Americans across the nation are wondering how could it be that a small fringe of the extreme right has so captured the nation's airwaves. And done it in such an effective fashion that when they attack folks like Tom Daschle, he and his family actually get increased numbers of death threats? How is it that ex-felons like John Poindexter's protégée Ollie North and Nixon's former burglar G. Gordon Liddy have become stars? How is it that ideologues like Rush Limbaugh can openly promote hard-right Republicans, and avoid a return of the dead-since-Reagan Fairness Doctrine (and get around the desire of the American public for fairness) by claiming what they do is "just entertainment"?

Program directors and station managers all claim they have to program only hard-right hosts. They point out that when they insert even a few hours of a centrist or progressive talk host into a typical talk-radio day, the station's phone lines light up with angry, flaming reactions from listeners; even advertisers get calls of protest. Just last month, a talk-radio station manager said, "Only right-wingers listen to AM radio any more. The lefties would rather read." 

That sums it up in a nut shell.  People with an open mind do not waste their time listening to talk radio. I know that every time I try I get turned off by all the ignorance and negativity.  Haters seem to think that they have all the answers and Liberals are all Socialists and um-American.  Many Conservatives all agree on the same issues, they never take the time to learn any of the fine points about issues.  They would rather listen to some gomer like Rush, Glen, or Sean tell them how to think. They even seem proud of this fact by unabashedly calling themselves Ditto Heads. I talked to my barber today and he said he was against the new Affordable Care Act. He asked me what I thought about it. I told him that I had looked up all aspects of the bill. I informed him of the sections in affect and when the others came on line. He seemed surprised that the infamous donut hole in Medicare part D gave a $250.00 rebate to people who had reached the hole.  He did not know that this year people who reached this donut hole would receive a 50% discount on drugs and that the percent would go up until it is completely closed in 2020.

My point is that Conservative radio does a piss poor job of informing its listeners. These hosts just tell lazy dumb people how and what to think. Progressives, like me, who can read have taken the time to educate themselves on the sections of this health care bill.

What can be done?

If you're in the business, or if you listen to radio, call your local stations (both talk and music) to let them know that you want to hear progressive or Democrat voices, and will even patronize the advertisers of such shows when they run them.

It's time to revitalize democracy and rational political discourse by returning balance to our nation's airwaves, and the profits to be made in this huge unfilled market of Liberals may just be what Station managers need to hear.  I like to read but would not mind listening to the facts instead of having to look them up all the time

Happy Birthday America !

On this Fourth of July I woke up and turned on the news to watch average Americans try and answer questions about their country. What a mess.  I thought that I would spend my morning writing about the founding of this country.

We must all remember that the revolution that started this country was a top down revolution.  By that I mean it was started by the well off and the educated men who were already leaders In their community. They formed a group called "The Sons of Liberty" whose aim was to protest the taxes that were paid to England without any representation in Parliament. They were really upset, not by taxes but, paying them to England with no say in how they were spent. As their decent was ignored by King George they fostered the idea of a revolution and a new nation.

When the Revolutionary war was over these learned men had to form a federal government to run the country. Many Americans think they formed a Democratic government. That is not the case. They did form a Republic for a very good reason.

By definition, a republic is a representative form of government that is ruled according to a charter, or constitution, and a democracy is a government that is ruled according to the will of the majority. Although these forms of government are often confused, they are quite different. The main difference between a republic and a democracy is the charter or constitution that limits power in a republic, often to protect the individual's rights against the desires of the majority. In a democracy, the majority rules in all cases, regardless of any consequences for individuals or for those who are not in the majority on an issue.  This was done for two reasons. The founding fathers did not want majority rule because they themselves were not in the majority. The other reason was that a true Democracy could, in time, turn into mob rule.  It was because of these two reasons that they tried to stay away from a true democracy,

A true democracy is rare because of the potential for it to turn into what might be called "mob rule." This occurs when the majority makes decisions that benefit itself at the expense of the minority. For example, a racial, religious or socioeconomic class that consists of more than 50 percent of the voting population could — theoretically — vote to give itself certain benefits or to oppress or restrict those in the minority. In a republic or a constitutional democracy, however, the charter or constitution typically guarantees certain rights to individuals or groups, which prevents those rights from being taken away or infringed upon by the will of the majority.

The representative republic they formed, as outlined by the Constitution, allowed representatives of the people make decision for the good of the citizens.

Make no mistake these founding fathers and other state leaders did not want to give the citizens too much power. They were very careful in the writing of the constitution.

The Electorate only had the power to elect members of the house for two year terms. Senators were appointed by the states.  The President was not elected, and is not today, by popular vote but the Electoral College. The Judicial branch of the Federal Government is also appointed. In effect we have very little control of our leaders. The 17^th. Amendment did change the constitution to allow the majority to directly elect their Senators because men of means often just bought a seat in the Senate.

I just wish we could add another amendment to allow for direct election of our President by popular vote. If we had that power George Bush would never been president because more Americans actually voted for Gore.

 We are not a democracy but a representative republic.  Happy 4yh. Of July everyone.

Movie Night !

In 1968-69 I made extra money  in the Air Force, showing movies.  I was stationed at a little Radar Squadron called Point Arena.  It was situated about 135 miles north of San Francisco. The 776 radar Squadron was on top of a mountain.  Like most service men I usually needed extra money. I took over operation of the base movie theatre that was held in our giant break room next to the BX.  I was trained by a Sgt. Dewey Welch. I received movies once a week and had two showings. One was during the week and the other was on the weekend. The movies were shipped to me and there were usually three to four reels. My projection booth was like a birds nest. I climbed a ladder to get to it and it held two projectors and had a metal railing around it.

I would usually use a phone and have the base operator hook me up to the base speaker system and I would broadcast the name of the movie and the start time.  I had to charge $, 25 to $.50 per ticket. I got to keep anything over $7.00. The movies were all new releases and were very popular. We only had around 250 to 300 people on the base but the turn outs were good.

I remember showing the movie “Grand Prix”. It was very exciting watching all the great races and tracks around the world. Many of us owned a sports car because we were living on a mountain top and they were very practical navigating all the turns and switchbacks.  After the movie I was so geared up that I could hardly wait to get into my Austin Healy to take a high speed drive down the hill. As I turned on my car I started to head off the base when I noticed about ten other guys with the same Idea. It was kind of our own race down the hill.  I often wondered how no one ever got killed.

Another movie I got to show was” Wait Until Dark “, I think. I had to lean forward to switch from one projector to another. I had them set up for a seven sec delay. I would prepare myself near the end of a reel and look for the first white dot on a frame that clued me to start the second projector. When the second white dot showed up I would shut the light off from the first projector and turn the second one on. Hopefully no one would notice the change if I did my job right. During this movie Audrey Hepburn was blind and had just killed an intruder who wanted to kill her. Everything seemed to be safe as she walked away the supposedly dead intruder came flying into the scene to grab her leg. The sound track and unexpected movement made many in the audience scream and yell in surprise. It was very dramatic. Since my attention was on the projector switches I caught the action out of the corner of my eye and almost fell out of

the booth. It scared the crap out of me but I did recover in time to make a flawless projector change!

A weekend of crap.

I am upset today after a weekend of news and crap journalism from our media. First off I received a link to a pie chart that showed that all three major networks had guests that were Conservative to a three to one rate. That’s 75% Republicans attacking the Affordable Care Act. I watched the news on MSNBC.

One of the guests said he had coffee with about ten of his smartest friends and none of them knew what was in the bill. I wanted to ask him why he did not prepare or study the bill before he went on national TV to spout his shit opinion!  I would refer all of you and them to this Government link. (http://www.healthcare.gov/law/timeline/index.html )  This should explain everything in easy to read and understand terms

I know that the CBO said this bill would save money over the long run. Trying not to be a partisan I would be skeptical of these assertions. Everything the Government does usually cost two to three times their estimate. Having said that I think that money spent on health care for Americans is a better use of tax dollars than more tax cuts as suggested by Governor Romney. My estimate would show the possibility of this bill spending 1/3 of the money that his tax cut would cost this country in revenue. That is only if every section of this bill is not implemented 100%. I don’t believe it will. Reading all the cost saving methods I find it hard to see how they can all be enforced 100%.

I would also like people who are against this bill to remember a better cheaper health care plan was rejected by the Republicans without any discussions. This, in effect, is their bill so if they are having problems with it they should blame themselves.

The second item on my mind today is the obscene wealth of the five heirs of Wal-Mart. They each have a net worth of between 25 and 30 Billion dollars. To put it in different terms 30 Billion is the same as 30 thousand millions.This is the reason we need a progressive tax system that taxes this kind of wealth at a high rate. These people cannot spend this kind of money in their lifetime. Carnegie built libraries, Bill Gates has already given away 60% of his fortune and so is Warren Buffet.  Nobel started peace prizes with his fortune.  What have the Walton’s done? Built an underground city to protect their families in case of riots or war.

These kinds of people hurt the economy. They actually take money out of circulation by accumulating their wealth. If this keeps happening they will just keep getting a bigger and bigger piece of the pie. Last year Wal-Mart employees contributed to an emergency fund for sick employees that needed help. They were able to donate six million from their measly wages. The Walton’s did chip in $6,000 of their own fortune to help really!
If the five Waltons would have given 1/5 of their income to the health care of their workers they could have covered all of their workers. They are too evil to do what is right. I feel it is the job of the Government to tax heavily corporations that make this kind of obscene profits.  These are not good people, are they?
In my own little way I wear my Anti-Wal-Mart shirt and try to convince people that by shopping there
They are hurting all people around the world. STOP feeding the evil beast! I would be happy to pay 15% more for products if they were made in America. I would even pay more if they were made in China and Walmart shared it's profits in the form of better wages of a good health care plan.

That’s all I have to rant about today. I am giving myself a headache and I am not sure I am making any sense at all. Peace Out!

The Founding Fathers

The Founding Fathers “were not the common men of their day,” a claim Tea Party members have embraced in the past.  I my opinion I would like to point out that rather than being common men, the Founding Fathers were intellectual, liberal elites, something Tea Party members often claim to despise .

Today is the Fourth of July, a time when we as Americans celebrate our nations independence. Conservatives across the country are pretending to be patriotic. Liberals on the other hand are celebrating the biggest achievement that appears on their resume’: the founding of America and its government. You see, the Founding Fathers were, and always will be, liberals. And here are seven reasons why:

1. Although Thomas Jefferson didn’t know it at the time, when he wrote the Declaration of Independence, he created the document that would be used as the basis for universal human rights, which liberals wholeheartedly support.
2. Conservatives always claim that liberals are the supporters of big government. Well, the Founding Fathers also supported big government.   Small government had failed. So, the Founders had an idea. They met in secret in 1787 and wrote the Constitution which created a bigger, stronger central government. Conservatives would call that growing the government.
3. Within the Constitution, the Founders gave power to the Congress to levy taxes as necessary. The Founding Fathers never had an issue with taxes. On the contrary, the founding generation waged the American Revolution because they felt that they were not properly represented in the British Parliament. The legislative branch established in the Constitution, however, properly represents every American. We vote for who represents us. Therefore when Congress raises taxes, they are doing the job we voted for them to do.
4. The Founding Fathers made it possible for us to change the Constitution when necessary. That is the beauty of the document. But Republicans are only lobbying to change the Constitution so that only the original document applies. They would repeal most of the amendments and many of the rights. Liberals on the other hand are all about change for the better and seek to perfect the Constitution which is what the Founders intended.
5. Republicans have claimed time and time again that health care mandates and government run health care is unconstitutional. They have also consistently slammed liberals for being the ones that introduce such programs and laws. What they fail to recognize is that health care mandates and government run health care dates all the way back to the Founding Fathers. In 1798, John Adams signed the very first health care mandate into law. The law required sailors to pay a tax to the United States government which in turn would provide medical care to them. The next President, Thomas Jefferson, apparently approved of this program as well, since he never challenged it, nor did he ever try to repeal it. According to Republican logic, Adams and Jefferson are a couple big government liberals.
6. Republicans are currently owned by corporations. They have not only defended corporations but have worked tirelessly to push corporate sponsored legislation through Congress. The Founding Fathers feared this kind of relationship and viewed corporations with suspicion and largely kept them at arms length. In fact, one reason the founding generation went to war with Britain is because of the influence that the East India Trading Company had on the British Parliament. A corporation even once governed Massachusetts on behalf of England. The Revolutionary War ended this practice. After the nation’s founding, corporations were granted charters by the state as they are today. Unlike today, however, corporations were only permitted to exist 20 or 30 years and could only deal in one commodity, could not hold stock in other companies, and their property holdings were limited to what they needed to accomplish their business goals. And perhaps the most important facet of all this is that most states in the early days of the nation had laws on the books that made any political contribution by corporations a criminal offense. When you think about it, the regulations imposed on corporations in the early days of America were far harsher than they are now. Still not convinced? Here is some advice from Thomas Jefferson that all Americans should take to heart.
7. Separation of church and state is not just a liberal concept, the Founding Fathers made it part of America’s sacred foundation. Freedom of Religion was not included in the Constitution just to protect Christianity. Freedom of Religion protects ALL religions, even if you do not practice any religion at all. The idea that a wall between church and state doesn’t exist is absurd and the idea that the Founders meant America to be a Christian state is equally absurd. Nowhere in the Constitution can you find God, Jesus, or any mention of a specific religion whatsoever. The only mention of religion is that we all have the freedom to practice whatever religion we want and that government cannot make any law that puts one religion over the other, even Christianity.

Each of these seven items represent precedents set by the Founders. Their vision has carried us forward and we owe it to them to not let that vision die.
The Founding Fathers were not conservatives as Republicans would have us believe. Not even Republicans began as conservatives. Early Republicans believed that they were doing what the Founders would have done. That is precisely why they fought against slavery and fought for women’s rights. In the ever continuing quest to perfect the American experiment, the liberal Republicans of the 1850′s and 1860′s took over the torch that the Founders lit and carried it forward to brighten the future.