Election Primer

Issues in dispute during the current election season will be trumpeted far and wide on TV and print media. We already know much of what will be discussed. The issue is if we, the voters, understand the basis of these issues and where each candidate and political party stands. I’ll try to make it easier from time to time in this blog. For now let’s look at a few basic issues under discussion.

1. “Social Security: Did you know that the majority of the nation’s debt is owed to Social Security? Congress has borrowed heavily against the Social Security Trust Fund to pay other bills. Why do republicans want to privative the program? So they don’t have to pay you back and Wall Street can gamble with all the new money.”   ~from the Internet

I’m not sure the numbers are accurate but I know the trust fund holds over $5 trillion dollars of the national debt. Medicare’s trust fund is also holding a lot of national debt. This means combined the trust funds that guarantee the integrity of the financial operations of programs for senior citizens are being used and abused. Most people do not understand this at all. It’s part of the smoke and mirrors that congress fiddles around with. And yet they call it something else like “the programs are going broke.” No they are not. Fiscally they are sound; it is the long term future that requires some funding and benefit adjustments. By the way, the national debt is between $14 and 15 trillion.

2. Republican Position Translator:  (by ‘catch phrase’ or label)

“Family = The War on Gays

 Pro-Life = Pro-War, Pro-Death Penalty, and Pro-We Choose For You

 Religious Freedom = Freedom to Spread Christianity

 War on Religion = It’s unacceptable that our laws and culture aren’t based   

            solely on my interpretation of the bible

 Capitalism = A market economy that’s rigged towards the ‘job creators’

 Job Creators = The source of lobbying funds that keep the system rigged

 Elitist = Educated

 Liberal Bias = The facts don’t fit our narrative”  ~Facebook.com/KFV3Z

I had a roaring debate a few months ago with a neighbor who is very conservative. He ranted on endlessly insulting me and misstating my positions on various issues. Clearly he reserved the right to label everyone else but not himself. I merely told him that just because I am not as conservative as he does not mean I’m a raging liberal. In fact I am a solid middle of the roader. He would not accept that.

So the bottom line with him and many republicans and conservatives is just this: they will label everything the opposite of what most of us means it to be. Right is wrong; up is down; inside is outside. You get the drift. Try translating conservative speak using this understanding. You’ll see that it works very well!  Romney and Ryan both speak in these weird mirrored phrases. Spooky.  What is reality and what is fantasy. Apparently only they know!

3. Pulled off the Internet the other day was this gem:

“I’m from Australia. We have had FULL government health care since 1974. No death panels. We aren’t communist. We’re NOT a socialist country. We aren’t bankrupt. Our unemployment rate is half that of America. Our violent crime rate is much lower than America. Health care gets the psychos off our streets, results in less homelessness through life-threatening diseases that require punitive fees for treatment. Government health care reduces our crime rate, our homelessness rate. Ask Canadians, if you do not believe us in Australia. As for ‘anti-Christian’, did Jesus Christ ask Mrs. Lazarus for payment, or whether he had a pre-existing condition before raising her husband from the dead? How do your ‘Christian’ values of charity for the poor stand up to scrutiny when you treat health care in this disdainful manner? Tyranny? I’d rather Obama than YOUR ‘tyranny’, turning your back on fundamental ethics and your obligation to your fellow man. How do you go to church on Sundays and maintain this shit attitude?”

           

Armed with these basics you may find the campaigns a bit more clear.  Good luck!

August 16, 2012

Issues of the Day

It has been suggested that I am a broken record sounding out the same topics, positions and arguments. I plead guilty to all points. I view this is consistency! Hopefully you are not bored by consistency. If we hear the same message enough times we may remember it and live by it day by day. And adaptively. You never know when a curve ball is tossed and we have to change.

To set the record straight here are the primary issues I think we are dealing with:

1.      Personal growth; we are constantly challenged to adapt to the environment but struggle to maintain our footing and moral compass

2.      Educational effectiveness; our society has the key role of nurturing its people; education is one of those primary functions of parental responsibility; society’s nurturing role would include educational systems worthy of our continuing support

3.      Health care and support systems; this is another primary role of family and society; universal health care exists in all progressive societies; this policy is humane and efficient, too. America needs to move in that direction

4.      National governance; the ideology that supports the above while adhering to the tenets of Abraham Lincoln (“…of the people, by the people, for the people…”) gets my support every time. Twisted interpretations of the Constitution are to be avoided. To my way of thinking this makes me a Moderate, not conservative or liberal. I prefer to label myself, thank you!

5.      Freedom of Religion; this allows you to believe what you may and live your life accordingly. It also allows me to live my life by my theological beliefs. Mutual respect and tolerance for our religious differences is inherent in this value statement. Do not legislate your religious values; I don’t need such an imposition; neither do you deserve it!

6.      Economic realities and governance; the role of government includes managing our national economy for the good of its people. That requires fairness so that those who take real risks gain the most reward, while those who need the basics have them available to them. Economics ought not be managed on political grounds but on human decency and real laws of economics.

7.      Live by the Golden Rule; we really are happiest when we do unto others as we would want them to do unto us. It is very simple. Nastiness of spirit and behavior is not welcome or rewarded. Live with respect for self and others. Let your actions demonstrate this commitment.

I’m sure I can list more issues, but I think these are really the basics. Everything else flows from these topics. Science flows from a confluence of education, science and religion. Governance relies on education, economics and people living together with respect for differences of believe and circumstance.

Rocky located this quote on the Internet I thought spoke well to all of the above:

“A teacher was teaching her class about bullying and gave them the following exercise to perform. She had the children take a piece of paper and told them to crumple it up, stomp on it and really mess it up but be careful not to rip it. Then she had them unfold the paper, smooth it out and look at how scarred and dirty it was. She then told them to tell it they’re sorry. Now ever though they said they were sorry and tried to fix the paper, she pointed out all the scars they left behind. And that those scars will never go away no matter how hard they tried to fix it. That is what happens when a child bullies another child. They may say they’re sorry but the scars are there forever. The looks on the faces of the children in the classroom told her the message hit home.”

Rodney King asked us: “Can’t we just get along?”  His question still stands. We don’t get along. Maybe if we all tried harder and made sure we made this expectation real in our daily living, others would feel compelled to live up to the expectation? We can only hope. But first we have to try.

August 15, 2012

Building the Future

Teddy Roosevelt said it best:

“This country will not be a permanently good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a reasonably good place for all of us to live in.”

I doubt anything human is permanent, but the sentiment of aiming for excellence is a good thing. One thing very basic in the American experiment is and always has been equality of opportunity. Good basic living in a fair, open and good land.

Michelle Obama echoes that position with this:

“Regardless of who we are, we share this vision: hard work should pay off, responsibility should be rewarded, and everyone in this country should get a fair shot but play by the same rules.”

Decency. Fairness. Equality. Goodness. Works for me!

Of course there is discord among us, evil bumping around in the dark corners of our society. We label it with different words and meanings but most of us know those are only games. Influence peddling; politicking. Manipulation. Yep. We are good at that sort of thing. Comes with the freedom territory I guess.

I like Maya Angelou. Perhaps you know of her? A poet of sterling qualities. A past Poet Laureate of the United States. A towering intellect and philosopher. A black woman of enormous talent, now aging but still a creative genius. She has said:

“Hate has caused a lot of problems in the world, but has not solved one yet.”

Perhaps it takes a woman to see that, recognize it. Or perhaps it is being an African-American that makes it more easily seen. Whatever, Maya Angelou gets it. If we sense hate we should be on the alert to discount the rhetoric. No better time than during a political season of campaigns.

We need honesty and facts. We need to work together and solve problems. But first we need to rid ourselves of hate. Then allow our logic to select the most important problems to work on. Don’t let hateful speech identify the wrong issues to work on. Some are not problems at all; merely someone’s opinion, and often off the mark as well!

Rocky found this on the Internet, anonymous of course(!):

“Policies for a Responsible Budget:

1.      End the wars and cut bloated military spending

2.      Close corporate loopholes: no offshore havens

3.      End Bush tax cuts and add millionaires+ brackets

4.      Scrap the wage cap on Social Security

5.      Stimulate the economy and invest in the future (education, green energy and infrastructure)

6.      Medicare-for-All: improve the risk pool

7.      Get big money out of politics”

Think about those points. Every one of them has been fought by the republican congress. Each proposal by Obama and democrat leaders has been blocked in congress. The very items that would bring the economy back to life and on a continuous basis. Each of these has the vast support of working economists, those who understand how the economy works. Without ideological warping.

And each of the above points is the exact opposite of the Paul Ryan budget plan he has tried to champion in congress. The exact opposite. Telling us up is down and right is wrong.

We could work through the details in each of the seven policies for a responsible budget. We could clearly prove why each works. And that the opposite of each would make the economy worse. Too bad because in the meantime we waste time because ideologues play games.

Remember it is our joint future that is being wasted and damaged. That’s what this presidential election is all about in November. Inequality versus equality. Fairness versus special interests. Wealth versus poverty.  

I wish we could skip through this ugliness and get to the part where we get down to work and achievement. We are so hungry for both.

I’d like to close with the following quote:

“A negative thinker sees a difficulty in every opportunity;

A positive thinker sees an opportunity in every difficulty.

I wish you an optimistic Life!”  (from Spenter.com)

           

Opportunity abounds even in those nations with severe problems. But here in the USA we are blessed with so many possibilities. We were raised on possibilities. Not done for you but challenging you to respond to those opportunities surrounding you. Look up. Be positive of mind. And let the creative juices leap into the unknown so that boundless futures are born. We all can do that; because you can do that. Yes, you! Let loose what binds you and stretch for the stars!

August 14, 2012

A Good Start

Caught this quote on the Internet the other day:

“When one door closes another door opens, but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the ones which open for us.”                        ~Alexander Graham Bell

Bell knew this lesson intimately. He discovered things, invented items. He thought up gadgets and wondered how they would serve the needs of others. But the process of invention, of discovering is not happenstance. It is discipline.

Alexander Graham Bell was devoted to the scientific method. When one experiment failed he analyzed it to best understand what was good about the experience and what was wrong. Why did something work the way it did? And why did the expected not occur? What was missing? What ingredient or process step was needed?

And so he returned to the unfinished task. Not starting from scratch but starting where he left off. He pushed his limits of understanding. A door closed on an idea or process or opportunity. What other doors remained for him to try?

He did not dwell on the closed door except to wonder why it didn’t work as expected. He kept at the task and invented the telephone.

Much the way Thomas Alva Edison worked in his laboratory. Edison went from invention to invention, accumulating discoveries galore and enthusing a nation to the future. And bright future it is – was – remains! Not just because of the electric light and bulbs…but the technology and expansion of man’s understanding of his possibilities.

The same is true in relationships, is it not? It takes work to learn what works and what doesn’t. It isn’t just about the relationship either, the other person in the equation. It is about self understanding as well. We may try but we do not always succeed in knowing ourselves fully. That, too, takes discipline and hard work. Knowing self so I can know others more fully. A good objective but how difficult is it to achieve?

Rocky found this on the Internet recently:

“Keep people in your life that truly love you, motivate you,

Encourage you, inspire you, enhance you and make you happy.

If you have people who do none of the above, let them go.”

Talk about closed doors! Some people slam them in your face without realizing it. Others are the door themselves! But finding the people who represent open doors, new possibility, growth and freedom, those pieces of future we all need.

Development paths are different widths and lengths among each of us.  And all at different moments. Synchronizing with another person may not be possible at any given time. So knowing when the relationship works or doesn’t is really up to you to ponder and take action on. I have left friends and them me over the years. We could not connect properly. We got in each other’s way. It is the way the world works. Do not beat yourself up; or them!

From Facebook.com/LoveQuotes.Sayings comes this beautiful thought:

“When someone loves you they don’t have to say it; you can tell by the way they treat you.”

           

That is a good thought to leave you with this day.  Have a good week!

August 13, 2012

Calm Saturday

It has been a busy week. Healing of eye from cataract surgery (going well, nearly 2 weeks now), replacing sedan with a mini van so Rocky can get his stuff to art shows and we can move the newspaper more easily, Arts Council board meeting with some key people moving in and out of our team, a busy time for the Park District, city staff and Chamber of Commerce. All in all a busy week within a packed summer.

So here we are on a Saturday. The heat has vanished. It is 56 degrees at 5 AM, high is forecast for 78. Clear skies and lots of sun. A day that seems ready for fall! And it is a relief following a very hot and dry summer. We have had rain enough to keep things green and fresh. Flowers, shrubs and trees are billowy and healthy. The yards are good; the landscape views refreshing.

So an AA meeting this morning, hopefully a reunion with a long absent member of the tribe, and some personal intervention and counseling to help her  She has escaped an unhappy home and relationships by traveling the West; recently found her way back to Illinois. Still very troubled. She reconnected with me because she claims there is no one else she can turn to. Is that accurate? Is she that alone?

I am not a psychologist or psychiatrist so don’t know the protocols that may be of assistance to her. Family have turned her over to hospitals and other confinements. What can a layman do? How can we instill hope and future in her life? And if that fails, who failed? Is this a condition of the illness? A flaw in her character, or mine? I understand why others have resorted to third parties. Even those who claim to have loved this person in the past.

So a meeting at 8 AM, hopefully the reunion, and then a ride back to her safe place. Maybe a late breakfast or early lunch shared slowly so we can talk. Restore some calm in her life. Bring back some connection to caring people. An ear open to her cries. A mind resilient to her needs for comfort and reassurance.

Still there is work to be done. Mostly hers. An effort in which she tentatively touches order and calm; logic and fact. Reality is so evident around us when we see clearly; but obstructed by so many distortions of context. We see what we want, hear what we want, and feel what we may. Reality is only restored when we let it and discipline ourselves for it. Not easy work. No sir; not easy work.

For this good soul, she will need to truly want the calm and the serenity in order to journey on to a better way station in life. I’m not sure I can help her with that. But I will try. Besides, the journey is mine as well. It restores strength to me as well as to her.

Reaching out and helping another is both refreshment and development. Not a bad deal at all! And such a reward!

August 11, 2012

Volunteerism

Tennessee is known as the ‘Volunteer State’. I believe that stems from their early years when the citizenry rapidly deployed volunteer army squads and battalions. I don’t know if that is a state motto or an official tag line. Then, Sun City, Arizona is known as the City of Volunteers. And in fact much of Sun City’s ‘governance’ is performed by unpaid volunteers.

That reminds me of the Warrenville Village Chronicles. It is an unpaid all-volunteer community newspaper. Originally focused solely on Warrenville, it now produces one monthly issue that is shared with and covers Winfield, Illinois. And at all times West Chicago, Illinois news is included in the publication as well. Only once so far have all three communities received an issue mailed to all resident and business addresses (24,500 combined mailings). The issues are mailed to all addresses in Warrenville biweekly, and drop off points in all three communities exist for hotels, city halls, chamber of commerce and key business locations. The paper is free to readers. Ad revenue supports all production costs.

Twenty eight volunteers write for the paper and donate photos for publication. One volunteer designed and operates the website while another volunteer posts material to the website from each issue of the newspaper. Emergency and late breaking news items are uploaded to the website frequently.

Four management team members cover ad sales, layout and ad design, accounting, information technology, editing and managing editing roles. We pay the layout and ad designer a small stipend for each issue and she puts in 30 to 60 hours for each issue. Distribution is handled on a still smaller stipend to cover tolls, gasoline and wear and tear on both the vehicles and the elderly gentlemen who do the scud work!

So the newspaper is essentially all-volunteer. And that’s good. No advertiser influence is involved. Neither is government influence part of the scene. Just neighbors reporting the facts and events and eventually arriving at some sense of what those facts mean. Opinions are shared among the readers freely and letters to the editor are encouraged. Public dialogue is the objective but not achieved regularly in this day and age of fluid communications, cable news and internet blogs. But still the focus is on the local community not the region. In our case we have three communities that live close and involved lives with each other. So covering these three makes sense. No other newspaper does this in the large Chicagoland region. We’ve taken matters into our own hands.

And that is what I wanted to highlight today. Volunteers. They do a lot of the heavy lifting in each of our communities – yours and ours. The churches, charities, commissions and community service organizations are plentiful among us all. And they are all operated with enthusiasm without public dollars, without public cost, and with serious commitment to the well being of all the citizens.

If we were to take the pulse of our nation based on its volunteerism alone, I think America would earn an A+. Elders have the knowledge and experience to volunteer. They also have the time. Youth have the energy and stamina to provide volunteer ‘horsepower’. All other ages work full time jobs, or a combination of part time jobs, or full time household duties. They may be willing to volunteer but have difficulty with the logistics to actually make it happen.

One way or another key jobs do get done and mostly by volunteers. This trait of American life is a gold standard of our civility to one another. Of course there are the cynics ~ non believers and non volunteers. But I bet they come around eventually. It’s really the old adage: If you want something done you probably will have to do it yourself. 

An aside to the above: the old gentlemen distributing the newspaper are Rocky and me. Our task is to pick up the print run at the printer in DeKalb, Illinois 36 miles west of Warrenville. Then return to our garage and unload the car. Then sort into postal tubs for each mail route. Then reload the tubs in the car. Then drive to the post office.

This is done with a Ford Fusion. And the logistics are tough. The car performs valiantly but simply is not big enough or capable of bearing the weight. So back to the Enterprise Used Car lot. We switched our car for a slightly newer vehicle (a 2008 for a 2010) but this time a minivan. Flat loading surface and weight capacity to boot. This will make the job easier. Besides, Rocky needs the van for supporting his art exhibits (tents, tables, fixtures and inventory).

For us it works. The stipend pays the cost of the small increased car payment while fully reimbursing the operating costs of the van. Now if the stipend will fully cover the chiropractic services we need, we will be home free! Meanwhile the volunteer spirit abides well in Warrenville, Illinois.  Look us up sometime. We are the little community that works!

August 10, 2012

Shenanigans

The Internet has provided a wealth of information if we are committed to pursue it. For example:

“A few dates Republicans should know:

·         George W. Bush: in office January 20, 2001 to January 20, 2009

·         June 7, 2001: Bush tax cuts signed into law

·         May 28, 2003: tax law signed reducing dividend and capital gains taxes

·         December 2007: the recession starts

·         September 2008: Lehman Brothers sinks and triggers massive panic in the banking industry deepening the recession

·         October 3, 2008: Wall Street bailout passed

·         Between July 2008 and January 2009: the country lost 3.47 million jobs

Then President Obama took office:

·         June 2009: recession ends

·         February 2010: current streak of 29 months of private sector job growth begins

·         February 2012: GM posts record profits 2 years after auto bailout

·         February 2012: stocks up 100% from March 2009 recession lows

·         August 2011 to February 2012: unemployment has largest 6 month decline since 1984

·         January 2009to present: 4.5 million private sector jobs created since Obama took office

·         2011 edition of the annual billionaires ranking compiled by Forbes Magazine broke new records, both in terms of the number of billionaires (1210) and their total wealth of $4.5 trillion

All of those entries deserve some serious consideration and study from all readers. These are not Romney Facts (made up); these are facts from economic reports gathered by Wall Street, Forbes and universities.  Once you’ve committed them to memory, then listen to Mitt Romney’s oratory and recognize the flat out lies. Also, his team including supporting republican senators like Lindsay Graham. Pure nonsense they are spewing. They know it. Do you?

More importantly, do the lemmings who follow the republican junk words really believe this stuff and intend to vote for it?  Why?  I really want to know why they would do so.  I have some theories, but I’d like to know from others why these people behave the way they do.

Here’s another quote from Mitt Romney’s speech in Jerusalem:

“Do you realize what health care spending is as a percentage of the GDP in Israel?  8 Percent.  And you’re a pretty healthy nation. We spend 18 percent of our GDP on health care. And we have to find ways to finally manage our health care costs.”

Sorry Mitt but this fact jumps out at you: Israelis enjoy universal health care coverage with an individual mandate.

Yep, that’s the same universal health care you thought was such a good idea for Massachusetts but isn’t a good idea when it is supported by Obama. Now who looks foolish and the flip flopper?

Another conservative republican theory plastered all over America:

“God will judge America over abortion and gay marriage.”

Really?

“So let me get this straight…God didn’t judge America over the millions of natives that were raped and murdered and had their land stolen…He didn’t judge America over the millions of Africans that had boulders tied to their legs, were thrown into the ocean…or raped and enslaved for centuries…He didn’t judge America over prejudice and genocide of an entire culture, the intentional inequities that exist in our nation, and the fact that we ignore the needs of the poor…but He’s gonna judge us over abortion and gay marriage…Ok, now I got it.”

I really cannot imagine an intelligent person understanding and supporting the point of view laid out above. But I guess hate groups do that sort of thing because they don’t get it. That’s why Mr. Page killed 6 Sikhs in Milwaukee last Sunday. That’s why a bright medical student killed all those people in the Aurora, Colorado movie theatre. Right? We have sickos in our midst and they do crazy things to other innocent people. We wonder why. I don’t wonder about them any more. I wonder about voters who do not get it but screw our nation up regardless of logic.

Oh my! How tragic.

August 9, 2012