the shadow knows

"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."
- VOLTAIRE
i do believe this quote by Voltaire.  It was proved to me in glaring detail when our nation decided to invade Iraq, but this is not why i use this quote today.  Today it relates to the upcoming elections and a chat i had this morning, while walking at dawn.

As the sun was rising we discussed the failings and attributes of those running for our local Governor.  Local politics are interesting because they are exactly like National politics just on a smaller scale.

Here in the islands we have the sitting Governor running for re-election against a man who was a previous Lieutenant Governor and commissioner of the Public Finance Authority.  Both representative groups are out blaming the other for gross misuse of public funds. 

The sitting governor has a security fence around his private home, built by the taxpayers that is enough of an injustice to cause some voters to vote for the other guy.  The ex commissioner had a hotel reconstructed under his watch that went millions and millions over budget that will also cause some voters to vote for the other guy.  Which misuse was graver is not discussed nor are the circumstances that led to the alleged squandering of public money by both sides.

Unfortunately these two issues, not what they both did during their careers, not how they changed things or kept things the same in government will be the deciding topics for why people will vote the way they do.

Today no one has time to really examine the politicians they vote for.  All political parties know this and capitalize upon the negative.  President Obama has been slimmed since before he took office, no one looks at his actual record.

Melee is known as a confused struggle.  Our political arena's are nothing more than confused struggles between groups of people that lack important information.

A lot of what goes on in our political discourse today and leading up to the elections next week is based upon blame.  Blame, that more often than not is irrational.

"Blaming is a way of devaluing others. The end result is that the blamer feels superior. Others are seen as less worthwhile making the blamer  "perfect". Off-loading blame means putting the other person down by emphasizing his or her flaws." (Snatched from Wikipedia)

Today in politics the blame game is the only game in town.  If you can make your constituents believe that your opponent engaged in some heinous activity you have captured their vote. 

It is as simple as that.  Blame the other guy for all the nations ills and you get back in, after engaging in two wars, wrecking the economy, and bailing out your buddies with TARP money. 

Demonize them, demonize liberals, demonize minorities, demonize Muslims, demonize immigrants, demonize LBGT people, demonize non-christians, blame them for all the nations ills.  Just don't look too closely at those you might put back in, don't ask them important questions, like who is paying them to represent them, or how are they buying their seat.

No longer do politicians take questions that they have to answer for.  They don't want to debate today...you might catch them out.  No longer do they have to prove that they can do the job.  All they have to do is insinuate that their opponent took something from you.  Make you feel abused and they have your vote.

We are a nation of uninformed voters.  Too many people go to the polls knowing nothing about who they will vote for.  So here are a few myth busters before you go to vote next week.

1) President Obama tripled the deficit.
NOT TRUE: Bush's last budget had a $1.416 trillion deficit. Obama's first reduced that to $1.29 trillion.

2) President Obama raised taxes, which hurt the economy.
  NOT TRUE: Obama cut taxes. 40% of the "stimulus" was wasted on tax cuts which only create debt, which is why it was so much less effective than it could have been.

3) President Obama bailed out the banks.
  NOT TRUE: While many people conflate the "stimulus" with the bank bailouts, the bank bailouts were requested by President Bush and his Treasury Secretary, former Goldman Sachs CEO Henry Paulson. (Paulson also wanted the bailouts to be "non-reviewable by any court or any agency.") The bailouts passed and began before the 2008 election of President Obama.

4) The stimulus didn't work.
  NOT TRUE: The stimulus worked, but was not enough. In fact, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the stimulus raised employment by between 1.4 million and 3.3 million jobs.

5) Businesses will hire if they get tax cuts.
  NOT TRUE: A business hires the right number of employees to meet demand. Having extra cash does not cause a business to hire, but a business that has a demand for what it does will find the money to hire. Businesses want customers, not tax cuts.

6) Health care reform costs $1 trillion.
NOT TRUE: The health care reform reduces government deficits by $138 billion.

7) Social Security is a Ponzi scheme, is "going broke," people live longer, fewer workers per retiree, etc.
  NOT TRUE: Social Security has run a surplus since it began, has a trust fund in the trillions, is completely sound for at least 25 more years and cannot legally borrow so cannot contribute to the deficit (compare that to the military budget!) Life expectancy is only longer because fewer babies die; people who reach 65 live about the same number of years as they used to.

8) Government spending takes money out of the economy.
  NOT TRUE: Government is We, the People and the money it spends is on We, the People. Many people do not know that it is government that builds the roads, airports, ports, courts, schools and other things that are the soil in which business thrives. Many people think that all government spending is on "welfare" and "foreign aid" when that is only a small part of the government's budget.

The above is from the Campaign for American Future

As T.S. Elliot put it:
"Between the idea And the reality. Between the motion And the act. Falls the Shadow"

Investigate the shadow before you vote, become an informed voter and vote for your interests, not those who want to continue to offshore American jobs.

happiness is contentment

Contentment is seeing a pink flamingo on St. Croix when they haven't been seen in years and years.  i know this is a fuzzy picture but seeing this tall bird in our beautiful water is mind blowing to say the least.  Having never seen one outside of a zoo, the feeling of contentment was overpowering.  That bird was magnificent.

Throughout our lives there is the outside clamoring, ringing against our psyche, which asks the question “Are you happy?”

“Are you happy?”

This has been a philosophical dilemma for millennia. 

How do we define happiness and what constitutes being happy? 

i’ve always thought that loving yourself is the first step, loving all your faults and attributes, but hell, i don’t know the answer  to "Are you happy?" any more than any one else does.

And, i’m not going to write about happiness because it is an impossible subject, one where too many go to find unhappiness.

But i will talk about contentment.

The sea gives me a warm feeling of connectedness, makes me want to celebrate, enjoy myself, have fun out there, whoop it up and tell the world if they aren't in the water they are missing out.  The mountains do the same when i hike or ski or just enjoy.  Watching nature in any environment certainly fulfills my need to be contented and at peace with the world.  Having peaceful relations with family and friends is important too, and being honest with everyone is a good thing. 

So is being at peace happiness…or is it being contented, i don’t know?

The daily drama of our lives fluctuates so much between frustration and elation that i think any definition of happiness is lacking.  No one explanation suffices for all of us.  We all have our own definitions of happiness and what makes us happy.   

Here’s mine.

Happiness is so broadminded, so idealistic, that it defies definition.

Now being content is easier, it can mean living in the moment with your family, loving having lunch with a close friend, walking in the dark with your neighbors, enjoying a swim with all your buddies, connecting when you are in the grocery store line, doing the best you can at your job and accepting what you have.

A Jewish poet and philosopher born in Spain had this to say about contentment.

“Who seeks more than he needs, hinders himself from enjoying what he has. Seek what you need and give up what you need not. For in giving up what you don’t need, you’ll learn what you really do need.”  Solomon ibn Gabirol

different folks

i was in the grocery store this afternoon thinking about how we group everyone.  Today the Vitran buses had gone to pick up the elderly that don't have cars, so they could do their shopping.  When i entered the store and saw all the old people i thought to myself this would be a slow day at the check out stand.  This would be a slow day going down the aisles.  i had grouped all the elderly in the store and declared them slow in my head.

Many of us believe that we are open and accepting of others differences.    In fact, this is not the case at all.  All of us, no matter what our background automatically divide people into groups. Some do this in a more methodical manner, white, black, rich, poor, while others are more subtle in their approach, "yes there are haves and have nots."

All of us are drawn to associating with like minded people, putting ourselves in groups we think are beneficial to us.  If you have the same beliefs and life style, alternative points of view don't have to be explored; they can easily be discarded when traveling in those "tight circles" that reinforce a particular idea,way of life, or belief about a group of people.  We all have our "tight circles" no matter who we are.

When you go out of your comfort zone, out of that limited circle, to explore the possibilities, to explore the reality of a new way of doing things; thinking about life and relating to others can make your life much more satisfying.  If you take on a higher level of understanding and truth it will affect you, your family and your peers.

Today in the store i had to check myself,  i had work to do, personal work.  i had to tell myself that not all these elderly were slow, or without cars, or would make the check out wait longer. i had to tell myself that if i got rid of my initial annoyance the trip through the store would be more pleasurable.  i had to remind myself that many of these elderly had fascinating stories to tell.

Today in the news we are inundated with issues that divide us into groups.  Immigrants, welfare mothers, rich, poor, middle class, government workers, private workers, soldiers, republicans, democrats, i could go on and on but i think you get the picture.  Each and every one of these monikers conjures up an image that is used to divide us.

Each and every one of those above categories represent individual human beings that don't fit the negative  marquee.  They don't carry the negative baggage that each of those groups names may trigger for some when the label is attached.  Every one of those groups is made up of people who don't fit the narrative.

As a path, to break yourself of dividing us all into groups, instead of humans, you have to give up the fiction that you are always right, that what you think about these groups is accurate, even if you've studied the group.  None of us are 100% right, nor are we too old or too young to learn about something new that can help change the world.  Remember we all do it, each and every one of us groups humans, even if you say you don't, you do.

So today's message is that  grouping human beings hurts all of us when the categories conjure up negative connotations. 

You don't need the social support of your peers to break out, to doubt what you are being fed about groups of people, be they rich, poor,white, black, purple, welfare moms, republicans or democrats.  You don't need their support to stop grouping people.  You don't need anyone to approve of you relating to each and every person as a human being first.  You don't need anyone to approve of you practicing it every day as a path towards stopping yourself when you put anyone into a group that you view negatively.

So go on, take those first baby steps alone and place humans first, think about the human beings in that group first, before the group image takes over and ruins your brain.

We the People

Plato had a knack for thinking in such broad terms about government that it is still relevant today.

In The Guardian's Manner of Life, he writes, that the aim in founding the commonwealth was not to make any one class especially happy.

Today, we must remember, that also was the aim of the founding fathers when they declared independence from England.  Declaring Independence was not to make any one class of people happy but to form a union that would prevent that from happening.

Back then Plato said:
"We thought we should have the best chance of finding justice in a state so constituted where the aim was not to make any one class specially happy, but to secure the greatest possible happiness for the nation as a whole.  If we were to focus on a select few the Guardians we have chosen to represent us will bring the whole state to utter ruin" Plato

Today the focus on wealth  and what it can achieve through the use of political donations is creating a nation where the ordinary voter no longer has the ability to get his message out to the masses.   Our nation is heading towards ruin, we see it everyday with the focus on profits over people and the nation.

Today, think tanks financed by oil, insurance and pharmeceutical companies dominate all facets of our communication systems. They have carte blanche to disseminate their talking points and they do.  They send out endless bulk e-mails saying the same things over and over to instill unreasonable fear. They pay their lackies to spout out fear on the nations multi media channels.  They have been given free rein to spend as much money as they can on politicians that will do their bidding when elected.  Unfortunately, the uneducated masses fall right in line, voting against their best interests.

The Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court allowed corporations to become people.  Allowed them the same rights as citizens.  Even going so far as to allow foreign corporations to donate to political groups through back door methods. No longer is our nation about representing the "voter or person" for the term person, now means corporation.  Corporations who have no one individual accountable and are considered "people," can give as much money as they want, anywhere they want with no limits.

What does this mean for our "democracy."  How can we call ourselves a nation of laws when those very laws have been manipulated to allow corporations to act as individuals?

As Plato stated...our nation was never about allowing one section of society to commandeer the reins of power for their own benefit; as he said, it will only create ruin.  Justice Stevens recognized this in his dissent when he stated:

"At bottom, the Court's opinion is thus a rejection of the common sense of the American people, who have recognized a need to prevent corporations from undermining self government since the founding, and who have fought against the distinctive corrupting potential of corporate electioneering since the days of Theodore Roosevelt. It is a strange time to repudiate that common sense. While American democracy is imperfect, few outside the majority of this Court would have thought its flaws included a dearth of corporate money in politics."

Our laws were established to represent "We the People" and i close with the preamble as a reminder of where this country is not going, for "We the People" are loosing our voice.

We the People  of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

starve the beast

i think most of you reading here have heard of Lemon Pledge.  It's a furniture wax that contains no wax.  You probably also know that recently the Republicans came out with a "Pledge to America."

Most of us regard a pledge as given by someone you hope you can trust,  someone that will keep your children and my children safe.

Well when people are confused about evolution or global climate change, they endanger your children and my children, by weakening science, by weakening education, by making it harder to deal with problems like cancer and floods that kill people and wreak economic havoc when they're not handled right.

When politicians allow crazy, nasty talk to be part of their "contribution" to American democracy, when they allow crazy, nasty talk to be part of how they participate in self-government of our country, they hurt everybody because when government doesn't work well-- when our justice system doesn't have enough judges to function, when our state budgets can't withstand a recession, when we can't even talk about health care or the deficit or tax relief for the middle class without going crazy ... we end up with a country that doesn't work so well.

There's a reason most people don't want to live in places without a working government -- Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Russia, the Wild West just to name a few. 

Because it's not safe for you, for me, for our children.

Poverty, bad education, unaffordable health care, crumbling roads and bridges, pollution in our air and water, contaminated food ...

... they don't magically take care of themselves.  We all need to be involved in making these things better for everyone in the country.

So when we can't govern ourselves because of the screaming or the misinformation or the dishonesty, people suffer, people die.  Needlessly.

That's what happens when anyone lies about the facts.  Or get them wrong.  Or get all crazy and can't have a constructive conversation about it because they are focused on some personal failing.

This new pledge is the same old pledge we have seen for the past 30 years.  Nothing has changed.
They want to drown the government in a bathtub.  They want to starve the beast.  If you want more of the same put them back in so they can continue to run this country into the ground.  This new pledge is like Lemon Pledge, it's a fake, it has no wax, nothing that will make this country run more smoothly. 

Starving the Beast(cutting taxes) means taking your Social Security and Medicare, it means roads, bridges and infrastructure will continue to deteriorate.  It's a buzz word you should recognize.  The Republicans started this a long time ago, running up the deficits, knowing that if they wrecked the economy eventually they would have to go after Social Security and Medicare.

Here's the findings on cutting Social Security and Medicare: "On Social Security, 73 percent of Republicans, 84 percent of Democrats and 75 percent of independent voters are opposed to cutting it in any way. On Medicare, 75 percent of Republicans, 80 percent of Democrats and 74 percent of independents are opposed to eliminating it."  We do agree on the most important things.

The new Pledge to American was drafted by a lobbyist.  One who represented pharmacetical compaines, oil companies and insurance companies.  If you want backward and regressive offshoring of jobs etc. then vote to see your taxes go down and your country rot. 

The job situation is not going to change with tax cuts.  High unemployment will continue even with Republicans in charge and may last even longer because they want to cut instead of stimulate the economy. 

Unemployment is a function of lack of demand; there is no other reason for it. 

If we were a country with political clarity our problems could be attacked positively.  The right claims that there are jobs just no one to fill them.  So where are the big labor shortages, have you seen any in your community, ads for all those jobs in the paper?  I haven't seen any in mine.

"Job openings have plunged in every major sector, while the number of workers forced into part-time employment in almost all industries has soared. Unemployment has surged in every major occupational category. Only three states, with a combined population not much larger than that of Brooklyn, have unemployment rates below 5 percent."  Paul Krugman

Even highly skilled people who are willing to move can't find jobs.   So where are these jobs the right says are available?

"I've been looking at what self-proclaimed experts were saying about unemployment during the Great Depression; it was almost identical to what Very Serious People are saying now. Unemployment cannot be brought down rapidly, declared one 1935 analysis, because the work force is "unadaptable and untrained. It cannot respond to the opportunities which industry may offer." A few years later, a large defense buildup finally provided a fiscal stimulus adequate to the economy's needs — and suddenly industry was eager to employ those "unadaptable and untrained" workers."  Paul Krugman

When demand increases workers will find jobs and not until then.  We need to invest in America and if you keep voting Republicans in this will not happen.  Think about your children next time you vote, do you want them living in a third world country or at least having a fighting chance that they might get to live like you did.

Increase or cut

Bush's tax cuts, Obama's tax increase, which is it?  Well we all know that during the Bush administration Congress passed legislation reducing taxes for ten years.  At the end of the ten years the tax rates were scheduled to revert back to their original levels.  So Bush and the Republican congress played politics with the expiration date of the tax cuts.  Great plan if you lose the Presidency, House and Senate.

Today, President Obama inherited a dilemma, he doesn't want the taxes to revert to their original levels especially for the middle and lower classes.  But he also understands, as do all the major economists, Alan Greenspan included, that to reduce the deficit taxes must go up somewhere.

Internal Revenue Service statistics indicate that only 3 percent of small businesses would be subject to the higher tax if President Obama pushes for the group making $250,000 and over. Innumerable studies of previous tax increases suggest that it would have a minimal impact on hiring.

According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, "Ninety Seven percent(97%) of all businesses owners do not earn enough to be subject to the higher rates, which would be levied on income over $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for families."

Now here is an interesting factoid, the I.R.S. classifies small businesses differently from the public perception of the neighborhood laundry or the small mom and pop corner grocery store. A report released by the Joint Tax Committee in July found that many of the tax returns categorized as small businesses were actually filed by wealthy taxpayers who earned business income through limited partnerships or S corporations to allow their firms to avoid paying corporate taxes.

You have heard of sole proprietors?  Well many of the above are wealthy individuals with NO EMPLOYEES and guess what else, they won't be hiring any time soon.  Those S corporations consisting of lawyers, hedge fund managers, lobbyists, consultants, actors, athletes, authors and even some doctors will certainly be enlarging their employee base...right?   How many employees do you think they have, and how many more do they need, and how exactly is that tax money going to create jobs?

Using mom and pop business's as a political tool to get more money for the wealthy won't work this time around. The tax money is not coming out of the business, it is coming out of the pockets of the individuals that made the money.  Once it is in their pocket it is no longer used in the business.  If those business owners(that might actually grow their business) were to expand, they would do it before taking the money out, which means before taxes. 

A business decision to hire new employees is based simply on the calculus that the new employees hired will make more profit for the business, and ultimately it's owner. An additional tax of 3% or 4% on those increased profits, after the  profits are removed from the business, does not affect that calculus.

If i can hire an additional employee who will make another $20,000 per year in profits for me, i will do that whether or not i have to pay another $800 in taxes on that profit.  Mitch McConnell and his conservative buddies want you, the middle class, to loose your tax cut unless his wealthy buddies get theirs.  The right is using a false pretext, using small business to convince you and make you sympathetic, to make you feel like it is coming out of your pocket. Its not.

The key to new jobs is that if demand doesn't go up no one hires, regardless of a tax break or not.

Here is another point about higher taxes.  Employers at the end of the year try to find ways of reducing their tax liability by buying things they can deduct.  In some ways that buying keeps other business operating.  Farmers buy new equipment, companies buy new computers and i think you get the idea here.  Higher taxes can actually stimulate business.  You don't pay taxes on the money you invest in the company.

Back in the day when taxes were higher companies plowed their money back in by hiring more employees and expanding business instead of paying higher taxes.  Now they are just sitting on it, putting it into bonds and waiting for the market to move.  They should really be using the money not hoarding it.

"Between 2003 and 2007 we experienced the first-ever economic 'recovery' on record where productivity and profits grew but poverty went up and median incomes fell. The middle class and low-income families did not benefit from the gains accrued over the last decade, which was due to the failed economic policies of the Bush administration and the focus on tax cuts for the wealthy that did not lead to growth in investment." Melissa Boteach

Profits and productivity do not mean more jobs.  How many friends do you have that are working double time at their jobs for fear of being laid off?  Giving tax breaks to the wealthy will not change that scenario.
                                           

Jobs in the service sectors are about the only things that can't be out sourced or moved offshore any more.  We've let China and the European countries lead the way in alternative technology that we invented.  We are no longer investing in the USA and a tax break for the wealthy will not create more jobs.  If the mom and pops are where the jobs are then lets give them the tax breaks they need to at least keep what little we have left churning at home.  Those real mom and pops don't make over $250,000 a year and they will get a break.

Eye of AllOne

Before i get into the meat of this piece i wanted to post this picture for everyone to see.  To me it looks like a large eye with eyelashes.  i thought it was so beautiful i tried getting the whole thing into the view finder but missed one portion.  It was so big and gorgeous that to get that sense yourselves you should double click on it and really give it a look.

i like it so much i'm calling it the
Eye of AllOne.  i imagine this is how ancient religions got their myths started.  One could easily equate this with any God they believed in.  So since i think we are all connected by and through AllOne here it is.

Now for the meat.......So, what could a conservative and a liberal agree on?   How about we start with government spending.  i know you want less, we all want less, liberals and conservatives alike; but how concerned are you about a massive defense establishment which spends $1 trillion of your tax money every year in peacetime?   Please realize this amount does not include counting the cost of Iraq and Afghanistan.  Also remember that our nation maintains over 700 military bases all over the world. 

For everyone out there that is concerned what would the founding fathers say about that?  All those military bases?

That $1 trillion-a-year defense budget didn't prevent the 9/11 attack, we don't like to think about that, but it didn't.  The actual attack for the perpetrators may have cost a mere half million to pull off.  So have we been wasting that $1trillion or is it being spent wisely?  Apparently the libertarian Cato Institute thinks we have been spending too much and recommends cutting the defense budget in half . 

Guess what? 

We liberals agree!

And there's probably a lot more we could agree on.

Jim Hightower recently wrote, "the true political spectrum in our society does not range from right to left, but from top to bottom.  Let's put aside the labels of left and right for a bit and figure out how to wrest power from the tiny minority who have manipulated the law, politics and the media to maintain it.  Get your facts straight and then let's work together to bring back government of the people, by the people and for the people."

The first step to changing how we interact and treat each other as a species starts with each individual deciding there is a better way. i know there are better ways. Only very rarely does something truly need force to create change.

i think we all realize there are no easy solutions.   Historical events are not linear, they don't fit together nicely.  There are many complex narratives concerning how we got here, no one example completely delivers any one pat answer, for there is none.  We shouldn't buy into the simplistic commentaries that blame taxes, welfare, war or even the wealthy.

Vast numbers of decisions that were made over time did get us here today.  We can look at how we want to do things differently in the future but that means taking stock of where we are today.

When we emphasize identity politics we create factions that are manipulated against each other to the detriment of all of us.  So keep that in mind as you read the following.

One interesting conversation of late is the income gap.  For decades we have been told that you don't raise taxes on job creators(wealthy).

Well you do know the wealthy do not spend all their money unlike the lower and middle classes.  The lower and middle classes spend everything; all of it goes back into the system, which churns the economy. The theory is that if we catered to the middle class the middle class will have money to spend and the wealthy will come out of the woodwork to provide something(jobs) to separate them from it.  According to the Congressional Budget Office this churning from 1979 to 2007 gave the top 1% a whopping 281% increase in their after tax incomes.  The bottom fifth of the nation enjoyed a measly 16% increase.

Assuming the wealthy are "job creators" what does it say about the fact that even back in 2004, after the tax cuts, the economy shed over 3 million jobs?  It tells us that in spite of just receiving a massive upper-class welfare package, the rich did NOT create jobs.  If anything, the businesses they own or are shareholders in laid off, outsourced and offshored jobs rather than create them.

When you drive the middle class into penury by giving the wealthy tax breaks that will not create jobs because there is no demand for whatever commodity they want to sell, you have to re-evaluate.

Americans are no longer employable on the global market.  Our basic cost of living is too high and we cannot compete with labor in developing nations.  Henry Ford once said that he wanted to pay his employees enough money to buy his cars. Wal-Mart wants to pay its employees so little that they have to shop at Wal-Mart.  This is where we are today and we need to remember it is today not yesterday.

The wealthy (who own and operate corporations) have a single purpose - that is to increase the size of their portfolio and corporate profits by any means necessary. 

Creating jobs in the USA stands in direct opposition to increasing profits.  The long range goal of any corporation (small business or large) is to eliminate or reduce labor costs as much as possible.   This takes us back to the cause of the civil war.  The reason the south fought was because the north threatened a source of free or low-cost labor. 

There has been no new net job creation in the U.S. since sometime in the 1990s.

The rich are not concerned with unemployment, they are concerned with profits. 

The wealthy do not create jobs in the USA anymore.

Extending the tax cuts for the wealthy is giving more upper-class welfare to people who helped create the mess we are in today.

So if you want to see the deficit reduced think a bit more about where those tax cuts are going and who they are really benefiting.  The wealthy can afford to pay.

Hope you enjoy the pictures...see ya next week.

Tax Cut or Stimulus

So the other day President Obama proposed spending $50 Billion on infrastructure projects; he wants to boost jobs and fix things around the country but Republicans are against it.

If you are on the conservative side of the coin you will probably scream bloody murder that the first stimulus program did nothing. Welllllll i hate to disagree with you but it did have an impact.

Anyone who actually examined where the money went from the stimulus understands it kept millions of people working when there were no other alternatives. Those people that actually "followed the money" understand that Republican governors all over the country took it, ran with it and held press conferences saying "Look what we did for you with it" without ever acknowledging that the it was stimulus money. They used it(stimulus money) in their communities, then bad mouthed it(stimulus money) politically. Here is a short list of some of them:
Govs. Mitch Daniels (R-IN),Dave Heineman (R-NE), Sonny Perdue (R-GA), and Phil Bredesen (D-TN),Mark Sanford (R-SC)you remember him, even went to court then quietly took the money. Gov. Pawlenty(R-MN)refused to sign a letter requesting money but his budget already included it(stimulus money), he was counting on the money to balance his budget but he didn't want to tell you that. i could go on but won't.  Forty Seven Governors signed up for the money that alone tells you how dire the situation was.

This report finds that, without both the stimulus and financial policies, the "GDP in 2010 would be about 6 1/2 % lower, payroll employment would be less by some 8 1/2 million jobs on top of the 8 million already lost, and the nation would now be experiencing deflation." Now read that again because naysayers that believe we shouldn't have done anything have to understand where we would be today if we hadn't done the stimulus. Eight and a half million more people without jobs. Isn't it bad enough already?

The reports authors Mr. Blindi and Mr. Zandi estimate the total direct cost of the recession at $1.6 trillion, and the total budgetary cost, after adding in nearly $750 billion in lost revenue from the weaker economy, at $2.35 trillion, or about 16 percent of G.D.P.

By comparison, the savings and loan crisis cost about $350 billion in today’s dollars: $275 billion in direct cost and an additional $75 billion from the recession of 1990-91 — or about 6 percent of G.D.P. at the time. This recession was not President Obamas fault, he's been trying to put band-aids on a gaping wound.

The above may have been too many facts to take for some. i understand i can get a little long winded but having information is important to understanding the issues.

Anyone who has spent any time reading here knows i'm all about spending tax dollars to benefit all of us. Putting our tax dollars to work on roads etc. will benefit some out there and if i ever drive over those roads it will help me too.

To me, the only problem with this $50 billion is it is too small to have the kind of impact that really helps enough people get jobs.

i get lots of conservative bulk e-mails and one thing i always notice is how they appeal to the emotions first. They give you a sob story to make you feel taken advantage of or fearful of something and then leave it to you to reach a conclusion that will not help your bottom line. i wish it wasn't the case. i wish more people would read both sides before reaching any conclusion, because so many buy into the crap that cutting taxes will create jobs.  It doesn't.  Delete the crap e-mails do your own research.

Now on the other hand extending the Bush tax cuts provides for every $1.00 spent $0.10 to $0.40 cents in economic activity, compared with spending a $1.00 on infrastructure and getting $1.20 in economic activity. Republicans all support extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest two percent of Americans as a means of boosting the economy but if you look at the numbers above its obvious which one gets more bang for the buck and which one will actually create jobs and boost the economy. Looks like tax cuts give a smaller economic return which doesn't support that "trickle down theory" we are always bombarded with. i could go on and on but won't. You are probably bored by now. i hope you enjoyed the pictures and please think more deeply about where this country is headed. We need to cut back the money we spend on the military(that will reduce our deficit)and invest in ourselves. President Obama can't do it alone, he needs your help, don't vote against yourself in these up coming elections.  Voting for tax cuts won't help you, but it will help those 2% at the top of the food chain.



If you need a tree cutter and you are on St. Croix Louis Broadman is your man.  He did a great job on cutting ours down.  In case you are appalled that we cut down the tree it was rotten in the middle and posed a huge threat.

Hurricane Earl

Hurricane Earl was a beauty.  Nicely formed, tightly compacted
and barreling along as a Category 3.  We have been

here before and followed it closely.  As it approached it picked up on the wind velocity and ended up walloping the north shore of St. Croix(where we live) more forcefully than anticipated. 

We had expected winds of maybe 40mph but by the time we were finished with Earl he had left us reeling.  After an early morning flooding in the living room we decided more panels were needed to protect the western side of the house; storms don't usually come in from that side but with Earl he did.  Up the panels went around 9:00am and we settled in to wait out the storm.  

Have any of you noticed that some of the names for storms this year are cartoon characters?  Fiona from Shrek, Hermine from Harry Potter, Gaston from Beauty and the Beast, Igor from Frankenstein...hmmmmm.

i've always been concerned about a tree in our front yard that if it fell could do serious damage to the cars.  i suggested moving my car but we decided anywhere we put it was dangerous.  So i suggested cramming it up against the patio just in case the tree came down.  We literally only moved the car about six feet but wouldn't you know it was exactly where the tree wanted to go.  That sweet tree didn't come crashing down it just gently leaned over during the course of the storm, finally breaking at the end.

i would have posted last Wednesday like i usually do but wouldn't you know the power was out.  We spent days cleaning debris, scooping leaves out of the pool and general cleanup.  We still have the panels up because we anticipate more storms this season and don't want to have to do it all again. 

The power went out about 1:15pm Monday and we had it restored Saturday night around 10:00pm.  We had gotten used to the oil lamps, the hand crank radio and a really nifty IKEA goose neck solar lamp i bought in San Diego.  i wish i had more of those for all my friends, they work great.  Its a wonderful feeling to get light from the sun, and its free.

We have a generator but the noise drives you mad so we only run it in the morning and evening for showers, the refrigerator, and ugh the washing.  i'm glad to have that noise silenced.

Hurricanes are stressful.  No matter how much you prepare there is always something. The most positive thing about hurricanes is the aftermath, when everyone kicks in to help each other.  Every hurricane season i remark about how wonderful it is to see so many helping others only to watch it all fizzle out once things are more normal.  i wish there was some magic elixir we could all take that kept us so communally oriented.

This is just a quickie blog, hopefully Wednesday i'll be back to normal, stay tuned.  And thank you for the lovely dish towel, you know who you are.

consent a year and a half ago

A year and a half ago outside the San Diego Zoo i overheard a loud exchange of verbal accusations.  i turned to look and saw a husband and wife arguing.  i was walking in front of them and decided to slow down to let them catch up after hearing the woman tell the man not to be angry.  He replied back to her that he would continue to be angry.

Most people would not involve themselves in a discussion of this sort but my advocates training kicked in when i asked him "Why Angry?" as they caught up to me.  He replied that he liked to win and being angry helped him win.  i asked him why he liked to win and he said because it made him feel good.  i asked if he ever wondered how those he was angry at felt and he said he didn't care how they felt because he had won.
i suggested that winning wasn't necessarily going to make his life better and in fact might make it less harmonious.  i suggested that maybe it might make the other person less apt to help him and more apt to try and thwart his efforts.  i asked him if he didn't think that gaining her consent would accomplish more than just winning.  He claimed he was like a peacock needing to display.



We talked a whole lot more about how to gain consent, and what it meant to have an equal say during an argument when the woman said you know it is Sunday.  i hadn't thought at all about what day it was, i don't normally give sermons, i just wanted to diffuse something that looked like it was going to explode. After talking for quite a while, the man said, you know you have made me look at this differently  I'm going to have to think about this in more depth.  His wife thanked me and so did the man as we all walked off smiling.  As i walked away i thought to myself i hope he understands that his beauty and happiness lies deep within his behavior.

Problems arrive in order to push us toward making choices voluntarily.  Rousing people from their apathy or anger to get them to think may sometimes seem to come into conflict with a loving attitude.  Preventing one from hurting another is a loving thing to do.  Remaining silent when those around you may need you to interfere prolongs injustice.  Next time you see a situation where you can make a difference, don't walk away from it, engage as politely as you can.

And now for one of my goofy poems that should be read like a run on sentence.  i wrote this after having a conversation with my mom.

its not roe or caviar                               

ovoid shaped food
laid by a female
and eaten for millennia
is in the news,
maybe the small rodents
left behind salmonella
in their
poop, or
bigger flapping entities
may have been sick
and left behind salmonella
in their eggs, maybe
the feathered
creatures have
eaten unhealthy foodstuffs
that contained salmonella, so
now we don't want to
eat the white spheroid
shapes resting in cardboard
and plastic
cartons in our refrigerator,
we don't want to
get sick, but we don't
want to waste either
its not roe or caviar
you know, so
toss it.

The picture to the right is one i took looking into the pool.  It is natures example of an ant colony working together to stay alive.  If you double click on it you will see that they have land in the shape of the leaf and they have a food source, the wasp at the bottom.  They link their legs to stay afloat and can do this for as long as it takes to find solid ground.  Ants are fascinating creatures but not when they are invading your home.  These Crazy Harry(hairy) Ants are taking over St. Croix and their resilience just astounds me.

Where your taxes go

Guess what, we always say we are number one in the world for all sorts of things, but did you know we are NUMBER ONE in the world for incarcerating people?  Iran, Russia and China pull up behind us in the number per capita that are in jail.

"The United States' incarceration rate is, according to official reports, the highest in the world, at 754 persons imprisoned per 100,000 (as of 2008). 

A report released in 2008 indicates that in the United States more than 1 in 100 adults is now confined in an American jail or prison. The United States has 4% of the world's people and 25% of the world's incarcerated population."

HALF of all persons incarcerated under state jurisdiction are for non-violent offenses which costs YOU the taxpayer from $18,000 to $33,000 per year to keep them in jail.  Every year, tens of thousands of nonviolent, productive, otherwise law-abiding citizens are locked in cages with the most dangerous criminals in our society for marijuana convictions.  In fifteen states you can get life in prison for simple marijuana possession if you are a habitual offender and only six years for murder.  In California the average sentence for a convicted murderer is 3.3 years.

Here is another one for ya: "U.S. military spending has risen to nearly half of the global total, but the U.S. share of global output is eroding steadily as other economies grow faster." Korb and Thomson

    "Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes … known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few.… No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare."— James Madison, Political Observations, 1795

The UN was set up to promote peace among nations through cooperation and collective security.  Its annual budget is 1.8% of the worlds military budget and even with all its problems it is grossly underfunded.  The entire world spends more on their militaries rather than contribute to international cooperation and peace.  No wonder we can't enjoy a level of security that we all should demand in this era. The reason we aren't secure is we won't pay for peace but we will pay for war. 

Defense spending increases during economic turmoil.  Some $2.4 trillion, or 4.4%, of the global economy "is dependent on violence", according to the Global Peace Index.   If only the world understood that peace delivers economic prosperity and stability maybe more would contribute to a world that is good for business.

Between spending on the prisons and the military as long as we are controlled by our fears we will fail to see how wasted our tax dollars are.  War(the drug war and the war on terror)and the machinations behind them will prevail.  Massive military spending does not lead to peace.  Incarcerating non violent prisoners does not lead to safety.  We see this every day and yet we continue to believe in failed policies.

When we invest in ourselves peace and safety are results that will benefit all.  Start evaluating where your tax dollars go, stop complaining about poor people and start investing in peace.  Join me in supporting the creation of a Peace Department. Just click on the button above to get involved.

socialized beachs

California is known all over the world for its splendid beaches.  Miles of sand beckon the walker, swimmer, tide pool explorer, surfer , bike rider and sun worshipers.  The ocean's allure affects everyone and on a sunny day the beach is packed.

The one thing i look forward to every year when i visit San Diego is walking the beach.  i can go for miles and miles watching the ocean, searching for treasure, or just people watching.  i drive there early every morning to enjoy a little bit of solitude and connection with an element that i need to soothe my soul.

i've been fortunate to meet interesting people that also share and love the beach and that is the topic for today.

Coastal communities all over the nation devote considerable resources to providing access for everyone.  All up and down the east coast, west coast and the gulf region Americans enjoy the beach. They pack up their families, picnic baskets, umbrellas and join millions of others all over the country for a day at the beach.  No one thinks about this in terms of shared value or shared assets, its just there.

Californians pay taxes to keep the beach clean, pay lifeguards to save them when in distress and provide public bathrooms and water fountains.  Most beach goers never think that without a communal regard for creating space that all can enjoy we would not be allowed on them.

Pure capitalism would allow each edifice that was built along the shore to extend fences down to the waterline.  Only the people owning those properties would be allowed to enjoy the spit of sand in front of their home, hotel or club.  People wanting access would have to pay for the right to enjoy the beach inside the fences.


i call our beaches "Socialized Beachs" and thank goodness so many of us want to keep them just the way they are.  We all pay for the right to use them but imagine if you couldn't.  What would San Diego be like without socialized beaches?

All up and down, what is known here as the Strand there could be fences breaking it up.  You wouldn't be allowed to walk uninterrupted because all those property owners would want to keep you off.  So remember, the next time you complain about paying taxes consider those socialized beachs and parks and thank your lucky stars that pure capitalism didn't prevail.

Proposition 8

Finally a clear sunny day in "sunny California".  Almost the entire time i have been here the weather has been horrible.  Every morning i awake to fog that fails to burn off, temperatures in the mid to high 60's, and a chill that means a sweater has to be part of one's daily wardrobe.
i took my mom for a long drive along the southern California coast yesterday so we could both enjoy the sunny weather.  When we got back two men were getting out of a Van with a sign that said "We Won" and a big cartoonish looking paper mache head that one of them put on.  i wondered what they won and soon found out when i got on line and saw the ruling by Judge Vaughn Walker in San Francisco.

Proposition 8 fails to advance any rational basis in singling out gay men and lesbians for denial of a marriage license. Indeed the evidence shows Proposition 8 does nothing more than enshrine in the California constitution the notion that opposite sex couples are superior to same sex couples. Because California has no interest in discriminating against gay men and lesbians, and because Proposition 8 prevents California from fulfilling its constitutional obligation to provide marriages on an equal basis, the court concludes that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional.

The gay and lesbian center is just below my mom's apartment and it was ablaze with celebration.  Where two days before they had been handing out food, yesterday they were ecstatic.  The mayor and other legislators made an appearance to speak before the young, the old, the infirm and the disenfranchised.  Yesterday, the possibility to be treated equally got closer to reality.

i of course dashed over when i saw the parade.  i wanted to give my support and was fortunate to meet two immaculately groomed men who had gotten married to each other after 20 years of living together.  One was holding a photo of their wedding day which had occurred two years ago when California passed the marriage law.  i asked them if after Prop. 8 passed did it affect the legality of their marriage.  They said no, that they were a unique group of 18,000 couples whose marriage was legal even with the Proposition.  They were jubilant about the ruling and questioned why anyone would think their marriage could threaten someone elses.

i asked if anyone had ever proven that a same sex marriage had made a heterosexual marriage any less valuable.  They both laughed and said that was the million dollar question that no one could answer.

i took the picture behind the fence because the wall is still up for many people. This ruling is the beginning of a long, long battle.  As more people focus on equality and not sex maybe these men and women who turned out yesterday will be given the rights they deserve.