REMINDER: OUR GOVERNMENT IS BY THE PEOPLE

Despite our US constitution requiring separation of church and state, we are being turned from democracy to an hagiocracy.  

People who believe they talk to God are now passing legislation on that basis and as Michele Bachmann has stated, she is running for the presidency because of her calling from God.  I do not want a country run by people who hear voices (other than their own) in their head.  For too many years I worked in a psychiatric facility which taught me that most of the people who talk to God directly are bipolar.  In the unlikely event that we have an emergency in our country that requires critical logic and an awareness of consequences to us all, I would like to have a President who thinks it out and knows the human advisers to contact, when necessary.

The world is fast growing in the number of Atheists it can count.  We do not adhere to the slogan In God We Trust.  This is a world in which man must develop skills, be educated to whatever job is being done, and make decisions on the basis of the world in 2011 and what it calls for.  Fig leaves, apples, and disbelief in evolution have no place in our governmental decisions.

Those politicians passing bills that limit abortion (a right accepted by Federal law), those who support the killing of physicians who legally perform abortions, those who are trying to redefine when life begins even prior to contraception by forbidding the use of contraceptives have no legal place serving as public servants as they clearly have no plan to follow our Federal laws or Constitution.   With so many needs to be attended to by our government, such as job creation and balancing a budget that ensures our survival as a country, these issues on which I wrote may not be at the top of the priority list.  Do we need to sit back and wait for Obama to do it all?  Where are the dissenting voices?  Why does the media not make more sources known where people can be heard to fight these Luddites who are too powerful due their election to office in our government?

GOLDMAN SACHS

Goldman is already being investigated by the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission.  Nevertheless, New York prosecutors have asked Goldman Sachs to explain its behavior in the run-up to the financial crisis, according to several news agencies.

Goldman Sachs is alleged to have made a great deal of money on  encouraging investors to buy mortgage-based products it knew would fail.  One might find that behavior quite unfriendly to the average buyer, would it not?  Initially, no one blinked twice that companies like AIG had been stupidly drawn and duped by the greed. at the top who didn't have to stay around to pick up the pieces when it all hit the fan.

It would be nice, and even show there is intelligence among the voters, if those who elect on little knowledge could follow more sources to get a richer perspective on who will really run the country. if elected. 

Perhaps these suits will shed some light on the incredible drain Wall St. firms have been on the economy of the US and its citizens.  The even throw their own under the bus, as Lehman Brothers. Research done on major CEOs of our country showed a plethora of sociopaths at the top.  This is no surprise to those of us who have seen CEO salaries skyrocket, shareholders shortchanged, and monies needed by the poor, ailing, unemployed and vulnerable, at the mercy of those involved with Wall St turn a deaf ear to the needs of those people for their own greedy gains.

WE'VE BEEN HACKED!: WAR MUST BE DECLARED!

Just as new viruses keep showing up, hackers develop new ways to steal into sites.Anyone who has a virus  prevention program knows how often the data is updated sometimes several times a day.  This means, every time a new way of intruding or dropping stuff on someone else's computer is thought up, someone else has to find a way to prevent it.

It used to be that hackers hacked as simply as mountain climbers climbed, 'because it is there.  However, to day it is not the same as kids shooting out street lights.  Today real crimes are being committed with extraordinary financial costs and losses.. And, today, , because of the massive costs it has required of some businesses, it can no longer be viewed as a prank.  The US Pentagon has decided to treat cyber hacks as acts of war.

To see the mouse and the elephant comparison in this crime, the article linked above stated:  "The worst cyber-attack against the US military occurred in 2008, when malicious software on a flash drive commandeered computers at US Central Command."

While our constitution was a very good basic plan in its time,  modern advances in technology of today require new rules. This is in conflict with the current House of Representatives and Republican State legislatures who are not only trying to stop all abortions but are also trying to do away with contraception by defining a human back to any fertilization of an egg.  Thus we have the American Christian-Taliban right here in our beloved USA.  Where will they stop or be stopped?

Adam Brookes wrote for the BBC:  "American strategists are wrestling with the big, new questions of cyber war. What constitutes cyber attack? What laws, definitions and principles should governments use to formulate their response?'  Do you think we Americans  could possibly elect a group of people willing  to make their goals reasonably attend to the goals and wishes of the majority of their constituents?

REPUBLICANS FORCE CHOICE: THE ROCK OR THE HARD PLACE

The House of Representatives seems to have lost the 'representative' task to the reason for their having been elected.  Tonight they chose to hold the country's future in hostage to get their own way.  They prefer to let the subsidies stand, the rich keep their money, and allow the poor and middle class to carry the bulk of the financial weight as the legacy left them by the previous
Republican eight years of complete mismanagement.

 "The House of Representatives rejected an increase to the statutory debt limit in a move chastised by Democrats as “a political charade,” “political cover” and “political theatre.”.   One media guest called the move by the Republicans '  One media gust described the move by the Republicans as "ideological terrorism"  This definition is the most fitting. 

Parkinson went on to say:  "The measure, which failed by a vote of 97-318 with seven members voting present, stated that “the Congress finds that the President’s budget proposal, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2012, necessitates an increase in the statutory debt limit of $2,406,000,000,000,” and would have raised the debt limit to $16.7 trillion."  The move failed to get the two-thirds majority to pass.  Click here to get the whole article.

I sincerely hope that this stonewalling move is not allowed to devastate our world reputation an make us unable to be seen as a reasonable credit risk by the world.  We must not give the Republicans the power to further destroy our economy and win their clearly stated goal of making Barack Obama's presidency fail.  Wake up, middle Americans!  Wake up, middle and poor Americans.

AN HOUR LATE AND A DOLLAR SHORT

This is what would, in WW II have been called being an hour late and a dollar short in meeting the needs of the buyers who were being ignored because there were still a few, with money, who wanted the hugs fancy gas guzzlers.  Apparently, Detroit has finally figured out that there are more poor people than rich people and they also need cars.  So now, shockingly, Detroit has seen the light and is being saved.   

Detroit blames the buyers  as not wanting smaller cars.  That must be why they turned to buying foreign cars, huh?  I regret that the powers in Detroit still cannot accept their own responsibility their failure to see where markets were going when they left American cars.

Korea fell in production because of the tsunami and the supply chain woes in Japan. They have an unacceptable to our way of life way of dealing with worker's strikes.  Perhaps cott Walker wants to emulate them to which we have said, "Not in MY back yard!"

REMEMBER OUR DEAD

Memorial Day is really a tribute to all who have lived.  However, we remember those people we knew personally, as well.

Since I do not believe in an afterlife, I avoid cemeteries at all times. i do not believe anyone I ever knew is there in the ground.  Without doubt, this is not a universal view and people who claim to be Christians have criticized me and told me I am ungrateful to God for all he has done for me.  Humbly, I suggest that whatever criticism God may have should related to me by him/them/it or whatever being that must be a higher power than man and who may exert some influence over our lives, secretly.

Nevertheless, Memorial Day, to me, represents a tribute to those and their loved ones who have given their lives in our wars and other conflicts.  I grieve in empathy for the heartless way man goes to war.   I grieve for the families who are not deceived by political nonsense to attempt to rationalize those losses.

Think of our flag and wonder who is trying to take it over at present with no consideration to the cost to those who are and were citizens and need more from America than those selfish ones who aim to turn our country into  a two class system, rich or poverty stricken, and have unfortunately come too close to success.

May we recover the words of the common man as counting something, especially at elections of those who would/should represent them in Washington but, alas, that seems to be a lost concept  by many once they are sworn in.

IS THE POLITICAL TIDE TURNIN?

• Gov Scott Walker thought he had been elected dictator rather than in an office to serve the public, especially his constituents. However, in an article for the New York Times, Steven Greenhouse writes:  "Ruling that Republicans in the State Senate had violated the state’s open meetings law, a judge in Wisconsin dealt a blow to them and to Gov. Scott Walker on Thursday by granting a permanent injunction that voided a law curbing collective bargaining rights for many state and local employees."

• In a similar thrust of power, Grover Norquist was mentioned tonight by the media as one of the most dangerous men in the country who was not voted to office.   Knowing the books he has authored tells somethng about where his vast influence has taken us.  Authored two books Rock the House and Leave Us Alone – Getting the Government’s Hands Off Our Money, Our Guns, Our Lives

• A Bloomberg Commentary on Norquist is  important to read. Most amusing to watch, however, is the race to become a Republican Presidential candidate.  The rush to politically kill off opponents is amusing to watch.  Most of them are so busy studying how to be a winning candidate, they no longer can remember what they have said to get there.