Retire With Dignity?

Lately many people in their late 40s to early 50s have been heard saying… “I will be working until I die.”
This statement left me in a state of sad silence, I had no response.

But now, after thinking about it a bit, these thoughts came to mind.

In the past, 100 or so years back, the majority of working people did just that. They worked until they died or became too fragile or ill to continue working. These were standard living conditions.
And then, visionaries such as the Roosevelt’s came into power. Wealthy men that had the vision to see the plight of working people in this bountiful country we live in.

Both Theodore and Franklin spent their time in power working to alleviate the suffering of the working masses and were loved by a vast majority of Americans.
Their actions gave seniors the hope and expectation of being able to retire with dignity. And those hopes and expectations were achieved and enjoyed for many years.

Additional support for retiring with dignity came from unions joining hands and forcing the oligarchs of the day to provide defined benefit pension plans for the people that did the actual work that created the product/service that brought profits to the company.

The good years for working people began their decline under the voodoo economics of “St. Ronnie”. And the attacks on working people continue to this day.

And so my friends nearing retirement age, if you wish to again enjoy the benefits of retirement with dignity, come join us. Join us in supporting both the candidates and the unions that work for the people.
Working together, we can win back our country and our dignity!

The future of television in America (the world?)

With the increased corporate control of our mainstream media we are seeing less and less of what is going on in our country and our world.
Two recent events that got little or no media coverage indicate the corporate bias being a controlling factor in broadcasting today.
The first was the largest ever climate change march in New York City.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/09/21/nyc-climate-change-march/16008009/
The second was the student protest in Colorado
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/09/21/nyc-climate-change-march/16008009/
Both of these events express the thoughts and desires of the people in our world today and yet they were also both made light of by the corporate controlled main stream media.
It is fortunate that we (the people) have the web and internet access so we can receive the real news facts of the day.
Based on these conditions future television will consist of broadcast TV showing reruns of SpongeBob square pants and other such illuminating shows. While the cable networks will be broadcasting borderline pornographic shows.
Again, let us all be thankful for internet access. Do not let them take it away from us.
http://consumerist.com/2014/09/25/newest-critics-of-fccs-net-neutrality-plan-the-fcc-commissioners-who-voted-for-it/

Isis, another dilemma my friends

Isis has killed 2 Americans, 1 British and 1 Frenchman using the inhumane method of beheading. These atrocious acts fired up the world.
Fired up enough to gain bipartisan support in the U.S. Support for arming some other potential terrorists in an effort to eliminate these nasty dudes and the imaginary threat to the U.S. Did I say bipartisan support? Yes I did, just wanted to repeat it so we totally grasp this amazing event. Almost reminds me of when we invaded Iraq with enthusiastic support of flag waving American patriots.
Now back on point.
One of our allies in this effort, Saudi Arabia, beheads criminals as a standard practice in criminal punishment. Some of these beheadings are for crimes that would not be considered for death penalty punishment based on U.S. standards. This of course creates the dilemma, how can we condemn these acts when they are being performed on a regular basis by our allies?
And to further confuse the situation we have to wonder if executions in the U.S. are to be considered humane. Or France’s use of the guillotine for executions as late as 1977. You know, killing a human by different methods does get the same results, they all end up dead.
Tell me now my friends, why the angst and volatile reaction over the beheadings?
We must also take into consideration that we are now aiding Syria’s dictator Assad. A man we wanted out less than one year ago.
Tell me also why we are doing this.
You don’t think it has anything to do with the military-industrial complex and the complicity of the main stream media do you?

Private, for Profit, is not the answer.

Just read a report of the 20 worst colleges in the U.S. This report was posted as a factual piece in response to all the 20 best reports frequently posted both on the web and sometimes in print format.
All of the 20 worst colleges were private with only a few being nonprofit ventures.
A recent report telling of the judge that received a 28 year sentence for putting teens in a private, for profit prison and receiving payment for doing so.
In Michigan we have privatized food service in our prisons resulting in everything from maggots in the food to sex with the prisoners and drugs being provided (for profit) to the prisoners.They were fined for violating the rules but the original fine was waived after some email exchanges between the company and Republican appointees. A later fine was not removed.
The private, for profit charter schools in Michigan have not shown any improvement over the traditional public schools that have served us well for years. Some are even doing worse. And they operate under no watchful eye. Our tax dollars are being spent with little or no transparency. If fraud has not already taken place, we can expect it soon.
Think about this and then, remember in November and vote the Democratic ticket.
We will again have a government of, for and by the people.
And Happy Days will be here again!

Michigan Politics

Got another one of those negative political ads in the mail today.
A few thoughts about this follow.
First it appears the Republicans have more money than we originally thought, the ads are coming almost daily. Is this Koch brother’s money or is it more local, say the DeVos money?
Hard telling, with Citizens United, just about any billionaire can buy the congress he/she wants.
Anyway this ad was in support of the Republican candidate for Michigan’s 32 district Senate seat. The candidate handpicked by ALEC or some other big money donor.
In looking at the ad we find that the Republican candidate voted to limit benefits to disabled citizens. Not clear, but one has to imagine this would include disabled vets.
We also find the Republican candidate is against affordable health care for Michigan citizens. (Big Insurance, Big Pharma influence here?)
And of course we all remember when he was in the state congress that voted to raise taxes on seniors, take property tax credits from those same seniors and cut earned income credit for working people. (Tax cuts for the rich have to be paid for someway.)
The congress that sat idly by watching Michigan cities and school districts go bankrupt from a lack of support from the state. A congress that watched Michigan’s roads and bridges crumble as they vacationed with pleasure.
This same congress, in the dark of night, passed the right to work (for less) law. It is known that in consideration of future political ambitions this dude did not vote for the law. But does anyone believe that if his vote was needed it would not have been given? Not me for sure, this guy is an ALEC puppet in the extreme.
And also of interest is the fact that not one of his mailings carry the Union bug! Supporter of unions? Hell no.
Think about these things and…. Don’t let them fool us again.
The time to regain our state from the oligarchs is now.
They have more money but we have more votes. We will win!

This guy is not the answer.

Why no Hoovervilles or soup lines?

Why no Hoovervilles or soup lines?

In the great depression of the 1930s Hoovervilles, such as pictured above, sprung up across the United States of America.
These were accompanied by lengthy soup lines throughout the country.

With the crash of 2008 still fresh in our memory we have to wonder why we don’t see this today. Well wonder no more my friends. Food stamps unemployment benefits and additional safety nets instituted by Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt have eliminated the hoovervilles and soup lines of days gone by.
But we still have growing poverty and despair in this once great country as depicted in the link below.
http://www.freedomsphoenix.com/News/081001-2010-12-29-underneath-the-happy-talk-is-this-as-bad-as-the.htm
We can and shall turn this around by voting Democratic Party in November.
Remember in November, my friends, we do not have the wealth of our opponents but we do have the votes to make a difference.

“You Are a Coward”

“You shot two defenseless men. And ran into the darkness.”
This is not an exact quote but as close as I can remember the Pennsylvania commander saying to the person(s) that shot and killed a state trooper last week.
Let me begin by declaring that no way in my wildest imaginations do I compare a human life to that of an animal.
Having said that let me continue with a thought that has been resting uneasy in my mind for a couple of days.
Sunday evening late news included what I would consider an infomercial. It was a clip about a young lady that filmed her first bear kill. The clip was wrapped around a commercial by a local gun dealer.
Now I watched the clip and saw how the young lady and her father had built a stand high up in a tree. They then set up a bait trap. A plastic barrel with some edible items in it covered by small logs.
It then showed a bear approach the barrel, knock off the logs, tip the barrel and begin to enjoy the fruits of his/her efforts.
It was not shown, but it appears that the bear was shot and killed at this time.
My question… Do people really enjoy this? The killing of defenseless animals using high powered rifles and standing above and out of sight of the clueless animal. This is considered sport?
Sounds more like the cowardice mentioned by the state trooper to me but, that’s just me.
I detest all killing.
Think about it, and then tell me why you pound your chest with bravado when you slay a defenseless animal for no reason other than the “fun” of it.

Bernie Sanders on Meet the Press

Just watched the segment and personally I thought Senator Sanders did a good job.
Chuck Todd tried to get him into talk about Hillary and the Democratic Party. Tried to get him to criticize both Hillary and President Obama.
Senator Sanders handled himself well, refused to fall for Todd’s goading. Stayed focused and talked about the millions of workers struggling to maintain a lifestyle while the Wall Street millionaires are the only ones enjoying the improved economy in America.
This man has a message that should play well with all working people in this country including the millennials that at one time supported Obama only to be let down.
Todd next went to the panel and bemoaned what he called the lack of fight in Sanders demeanor. He tried to get a fight going and was not successful in his efforts. The senator is too wise for Todd and his manipulative manners.
Later Todd shared President Obama’s 40 percent approval rating. Suggesting this is a bad sign for Democrats with the upcoming mid-terms.
I beg to differ Mr. Todd, the poor rating comes from the issues mentioned by Senator Sanders, and Democrats are poised to take this country back and will do so under the leadership of people like Senator Sanders.
If we vote, we WIN!

Open letter to Senator McCain and other WAR mongers

CC. President Obama
Sir(s)
One question haunts me regarding the current WAR in the mid-east.
Who is going to pay for this? Or, how are we going to pay for this?
We cannot afford to put it on our MasterCard© like we did the last ones.
We cannot tax the poor, welfare cheese only goes so far.
Please don’t tell me we are going to eliminate Social Security and/or Medicare. As a fixed income senior I rely on these paid for benefits.
How about we tax the rich? That is, after all, where the money is in our current economy.
So come Senator, man up and contact your cohorts in the U.S. House and tell them to get to work on a bill to tax the rich to pay for this war.
Failing to do so will just show the public that Republicans have no fiscal responsibility or even worse they are soft on terrorism.
Please let me know the course of action you are taking ASAP, thank you.

America joins Holy Wars in Mid-east

Well, based on President Obama’s speech last night and what I see on this morning’s reports, the United States is going to increase their involvement in the holy wars taking place in Syria, Iraq and behind the scenes, in other mid-eastern countries.
My thoughts are, the atrocious murders of two reporters is the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. Many war profiteers have been working toward this goal for months and they will now be reaping the benefits of their efforts. We can only hope their benefits do not come from our sacrifices. But, based on past experiences, there is really little hope for this. Be prepared to witness the loss of American lives and a major increase in debt for the United States. Wars are not only terrible things they are also expensive in both lives and dollars.
Given that this is a done deal I have a couple of questions.
Whose side are we on, the Sunnis or the Shiites?
Who is on our side, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, anyone?
“Oh, what a tangled web we weave
When first we practice to deceive!”

We have always been in harms way!
Why are we still ignoring the terrorist threat from within? The radicals that kill police officers in their attempts at starting a civil disobedience and those that aim their assault weapons at government forces?