LIBYA: NOT OUR WAR

For the first time since the 'jocks and liars' of the Bush administration jumped into war with Iraq, I heard commentators quoting, I believe, Secretary Gates as saying we should not have gone into war with Iraq or Afghanistan.  The bill for those two wars to the American public is a Trillion Dollars!.And now the Republicans want to cut education???!!!

It is clear that the Republicans do not march to the Star Spangled Banner.  For all their religiosity, they do not believe in helping God to bless America, either.  Perhaps it is because 'their' America is the top 2% of the people in our population.  The rest of us feel differently and wonder where our country went.  The analogy that comes to mind is when you are faced with a parent about to murder you and are helpless to save yourself.

Once again, the 'jocks' want us to go to war with the rebels.  Obama has disappointed them as they feel his response is tepid.  However, he is supportive but, wisely when others are not level headed and go off on knee-jerk reactions, he listed the many ways we will and are supporting  the Libyan rebels today.  He asked Gaddafi to step down and froze his money assets in the US.  He will not make the mistake of risking another almost 6000 military deaths, the numbers lost in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Those who died and left widows and children can rest in peace knowing the Republicans will destroy their childrens' educational futures and job possibilities as payment for their sacrifice..

"THE MIND WILL NOT ABSORB WHAT THE SEAT WILL NOT ENDURE"

Teachers, speakers, comedians and students have long known this and are constantly aware of their audience.  It should be taught to politicians and political media political and news talk shows  There can be many sources for boredom .  Repetitive or poorly delivered content may be one.  A pleasant, sonorous, soothing voice is not good from a speaker of length.  When George H Bush ran for President the first time, I recall some know-it-all insist he would never be elected because his voice was too high and thin and lacked the persuasive quality necessary for leadership. He was proven, as so many so called 'predictors', wrong.

The temperature and air quality of a room is key that it be a comfortable temperature with lots of oxygen in the room. It is quite universally observed that most people tend to absorb and retain no more than the content of an hour of verbally imparted information, no matter how long the speaker continues.  (Charlie Sheen's manic outpourings have reached this limit.)  Pressured speech, poor diction, or heavy foreign accents make listeners tired, trying to understand what is being said.

When there is breaking news of a world disaster, the repeats and attempts of TV personalities to describe it, ad nauseum,  make it easy to miss, as the human brain may selectively tune out the repetitions.  Additionally, there is nothing that pushes out inspiration like boredom, ennui, or depression. 

Preoccupation elsewhere or ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder)  is another threat to concentration.  Slipping into daydreams and fantasies is a constant threat in boredom.  In college, many years ago, I had a brilliant professor who, unfortunately, had Parkinson's disease.  Standing behind a microphone, he used a pencil, as a maestro would a baton.  If his hand happened near the microphone, the resounding taps were like machine gun bullets.  He effectively pulled his student audience back to his subject.

For of emulating that which I warn against, let me close here......
 

ONLY OUR CITIZENS, TOGETHER,, ARE OUR HOPE AND STRENGTH

Both Gaddafi and I have two things in common.  We are alive and sentient and believe that Bin Laden is more powerful that the world has credited him.  I keep recalling his last threat; that he would destroy the US economy.  I fantasy that he has succeeded in doing so through paying off the greedy and getting a movement going with the Ultra Conservative right to privatize everything, make the poor even poorer, so that the fat cats can live off the rest of the world and enslave the poor.

Daniel Eran Dilger writes: "In November 2004, CNN reported that Bin Laden released a video monologue to Al-Jazeera where the terror-savvy, extreme fundamentalist announced plans to continue a “policy in bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy” using similar tactics to those used when fighting the Soviet Union in Afghanistan in the 80s, “guerrilla warfare and the war of attrition to fight tyrannical superpowers.”

CNN released a tape from Al Jazeera which stated: that Bin Laden planned to bring the USA to bankruptcy.  Dilger wrote:  "Bin Laden bragged at the time that al Qaeda has found it “easy for us to provoke and bait this administration. All that we have to do is to send two mujahedeen to the furthest point east to raise a piece of cloth on which is written al Qaeda, in order to make generals race there to cause America to suffer human, economic and political losses without their achieving anything of note other than some benefits for their private corporations.” ".

" Bin Laden said of President Bush that “the darkness of black gold blurred his vision and insight, and he gave priority to private interests over the public interests of America.”

 My voice is not very loud but I have raised it as loudly as I can.  To date, I have not found anyone in a position of power who has listened.  Bin Laden has appealed both to American stupidity and greed and was winning until a puppet of the plan pushed the people of Wisconsin too far.  A rebellion was started that is possibly going to make people in the Obama administration listen, at last.  It seems only people power will prevail in this fight.
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STRENGTH IN NUMBERS

Madison, Wisconsin: for well over twenty days, citizens have kept their non-violent march on.  Rather than fewer, more people are coming out and Scott Walker, 'gov' that is, is getting less and less popular.  His ratings have apparently really tumbled.

It is a wonderful testimonial to what little is left of our democracy that there has been a minimum of violence though Walker in his 'phone call with David Koch' let it be known he had considered peppering the marchers with troublemakers.  While I have little respect for Governor Walker's actions, it is commendable that he chickened out and decided not to do that.

WASHINGTON — "The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal by the University of Wisconsin at Madison of a federal appeals court ruling that could require many public colleges and universities to permit the use of student fee money to pay for explicitly religious activities, including those involving prayer.   A coalition of higher education groups backed Madison in the case and urged the Supreme Court to take the case, arguing without success that the lower court's decision intruded on reasonable university rules designed to protect the separation of church and state. By rejecting the appeal, the Supreme Court does not endorse the lower court's ruling, but ensures that it remains in effect in the states covered by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit — Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin."  Click here for entire article

When will the religious right learn they do not control the country and stop flaunting their hypocrisy about following the Constitution while ignoring separation of church and state?

BIPARTISANSHIP: A GREAT AMERICAN MYTH IN TODAY'S POLITICS

Bipartisanship is constipated in the USA today on State levels as well as Federal.  In Wisconsin, the blockage to movement is Governor Scott Walker whose idea of negotiation is 'I won the election; we do it MY way (the way the Koch brothers want it to be.)'.

When bi-partisan negotiations fail, we see, as we currently have throughout our world today, non-violent protests (when the citizenry is lucky) protests in which the protesters are killed by the  powers at the top, civil wars, assassinations, sneaky deals, lies and false information is circulated, and truth and fairness are terms from our past.

In August 2010,  Jeremy C Young wrote an article for the History News Service where the basic message was Obama's attempt at bipartisanship doesn't work.  What is not focused on in that article is that it is necessary for the public to see what the Republicans are really doing that is different than what they are saying. 

On March 5, 2011, Jim Angle, for FoxNews.com writes that "Obama Faces Bipartisan Criticism on Energy Policies.  That message is that America should fight harder to develop domestic sources of energy.  Missing is the point that they could renew the restrictions that were allowed to elapse about what Wall St can do with commodities to manipulate price.

MADE IN AMERICA

This Week on ABC featured a home where no one could find anything made in the USA.  The home was emptied and refitted with things only made in the USA,  Oddly, the most difficult to replace was the kitchen stove since only two of the most high end are made in the US, hardly within the average budget.  While many products made in the US were within reasonable price ranges, there were several issues not factored in. 

• Considering what the average budget for 95% of the people in the US is today, it is hard to compete with even an $8.50 an hour salary to one in a country that pays their workers $10 for a full day, or use child or slave labor..  Given a choice of buying in America, or buying cheap, most people will opt to get as much from their limited dollars available. 
• Not everyone can buy on line and afford the shipping cost or use the gas to shop at a distance from home.  Many people cannot pay the shipping and handling fees as well as having to pay state taxes for many products which might seem inexpensive at first glance.
• Only those around large cities have the number of choices in buying that one might wish.  There are many rural areas where choices and stores are far more limited.
• Some believe that they must seek foreign made to get a good price and have given up shopping for American made goods.  Many still aren't aware that even if a company has a foreign name, it might still be made in America as some autos are
• If we went to a single-payer health insurance through the government, businesses would be freer to pay worker's salaries.
• Regulations and OSHA don't exist as much in many countries from which we buy products

If some unions were more effective, prices could also go down. Many unions care only about their own images in obtaining benefits for their workers, turning a blind eye to the abuses their workers make of their employers.  There are those who cheat, steal product and supplies from the employer, .and fake expense accounts and time cards. When the company has to pay for it, it gets tacked onto the consumer's bill.  The company will continue to make profit.

These were some quick thoughts after seeing the show.  Hopefully my readers will make many more comments....please?

ANONYMOUS ON A NEW CHARGE: THE KOCH BROTHERS

Charles and David Koch

Anonymous, the group of hackers who have set themselves up to make our world a better place by exposing some of the greatest cheats and liars is off on a new quest.  Stephen Webster has written an article about David and Charles Koch whom Anonymous believes they are attempting "to usurp American Democracy."   He writes:

"The decentralized protest group "Anonymous" has a new target: no, it's not a middle eastern dictator, a major bank or even a bit player in the military-industrial complex.

It's none other than tea party financiers Charles and David Koch, who were being targeted, an open letter.:"

 Reasons are not visible to the average American eye.  After all, the Koch brothers give away many dollars to wonderful causes.  However, they also give money to the political parties for their own specific needs.  When Scott Walker fell for the ruse that he had David Koch on the phone, he let a coupe of 'cats' out of the bag.  It was pretty clear how he looked up to David Koch and wanted him to know what a good agent he had been for him.  Hopefully this will be the end of Scott Walker's political career soon.

While the article is not a short one, I would suggest you take a look at it and pass your own judgments as to whether Anonymous is on a wild goose chase.  That has not been a usual for them.  They don't waste a lot of time and do a lot of homework before they make their play.  Stay tuned...the democracy may get saved after all, along with a middle class in America.