ROMNEY'S ARROGANCE MESSING WITH FOREIGN POLICY

Romney could not wait to be voted into office before he started to act 'presidential' and acted, without knowing what consequences there would be to his actions.  He accuses Obama of being divisive..  He behaved in an unbelievable divisive manner and only fed fuel to the hatred towards Americans.  Not only was that non-partisan but it was destructive far more than his insistence to not raise taxes on the rich.

I have been speaking of the need for good judgement in exercising use of free speech.l  One of the pundits was heard to talk about judgement and responsibility with regard to the film trailer that was so offensive to Muslims.  I understand it was taken off YouTube.  Now I will never know what the flap was all about.

The media should not give so much air time to the known nut jobs who appear all too frequently on the 'other' side to keep the shows 'fair and balanced'. Cynthia Tucker and Ron Reagan, on MSNBC, says Romney has lost out on judgement and character and miss his chance to demonstrate leadership.  With all the evidence laid before us by Romney himself, how can we explain the few with willingness to vote for him???

FREE SPEECH AND GOOD JUDGEMENT

To many, free speech means you can say what you want.  This is not entirely true.  You may not defame someone;s character or be sued.  You may not yell, "Fire" in a movie house for fear that a stampede will kill people as it has in the past.  We saw 'free speech' when a teen girl was bullied to the point that she chose her own death rather than continue the torture.  All these examples show that the right to free speech comes with a caveat.  Use it to express yourself freely, not as a tool to cause pain, defamation, or lies and destruction.The Republicans seem to have missed the part about lying.

The Constitution offers:  The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances.
 It further states: Incitement
The Supreme Court has held that "advocacy of the use of force" is unprotected when it is "directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action" and is "likely to incite or produce such action".^[1][2] In Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969), the Court struck down a criminal conviction of a Ku Klux Klan group for "advocating ... violence ... as a means of accomplishing political reform" because their statements at a rally did not express an immediate, or imminent intent to do violence.^[3] This rule amended a previous decision of the Court, in Schenck v. United States (1919), which simply decided that a "clear and present danger" could justify a congressional rule limiting speech. The primary distinction is that the latter test does not criminalize "mere advocacy".<sup>[4]

It refers to speech critical of the government and there is much more no commonly known to the public.  As there is no free lunch, there is not totally free speech.  You are free to express opinions, clearly labeled as your own.   The most important factor in the right to our free speech is to use good judgement.  This is what Romney lacks.  He proved that once again this week as he did when he thought it would be best to let GM go bankrupt.</sup> 

ROMNEY HAS FLUNKED HIS ACTING PRESIDENTIAL TEST

It is not clear to me what people think is being presidential.  Since half of the people are below average, I assume they think it is a cushy job That even they could do with no preparation or training for the job.

Did Romney think he was presidential when he suggested that we should let the automotive industry just die and go into bankruptcy?.  That may have been the only way he had learned to make money but it hasn't done the country much good.

Do foreign policy blunders count>  He certainly pulled plenty of them at the time of the Olympics and his trip to Europe to act like an Ambassador.He seems to pull gaffs quite frequently.  (from the Merriam-Webster dictionary:

⁴gaff  (noun)  Definition of GAFF1

1, a : something painful or difficult to bear : ordeal —usually used in the phrase stand the gaff; especially : persistent raillery or criticism

b : rough treatment : abuse

2.a : hoax, fraud

b : gimmick, trick

 

In other words, they are not good moves.  It was not a good move to bet Gov. Perry $10,000 on some small matter of pride during the debate.Talking about his wife's two Cadillacs was not convincing people he understands the common man.  It was not presidential with our current economy and the cost of college tuition to suggest that anyone who wants to go should just go ask their father if they can borrow $20,000.  The 99%  does not usually have that kind of cash available to lend to their kids without borrowing it themselves.There are parents who have mortgaged everything they own to disallow repayment during their lifetime.

 

It is not presidential to tell voters you will not show your tax records because people will only use the information to attack him.He has not actually been a job creator but has been an excellent money maker for himself.  He has shown nothing but disrespect for President Obama and that, to me, says he does not respect the country since the country voted him in as their leader and it is customary to support the President while in office.

THOSE WHO WOULD VOTE FOR ROMNEY: WHAT ARE THEY VOTING FOR WHEN HE HAS SAID NOTHING

Romney remains a master at obfuscation.  Lawrence O'Donnell calls them 'Romney words'. A person could be quite confused trying to follo9w Romney's responses.  He says what he thinks people want to hear and withholds that which he doesn't want people to hear.  Is this really the man want as President. It would be like being taken from your parents and sent to a foster home with a bad reputation.

Even the Wall Street Journal, a Murdoch (Republican holding) even writes on Romney.  Dylan Byers writes  "
Less than two months out from the November election, the conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board still hasn't warmed on Mitt Romney.
Today, the WSJ board slams Romney for being too light on details regarding health care policy, a question that tripped him up during a recent interview with NBC's Meet The Press: "Mr. Romney's pre-existing political calculation seems to be that he can win the election without having to explain the economic moment or even his own policies," they write. "As this flap shows, such vagueness carries its own political risks." ".

One might think that when your own party is asking to give up some positive ideas for the future, you might respond.  However, an empty container has nothing to give up.

DENIAL OF FACTS AND UNTRUTHFULNESS PERVADE OUR REPUBLICAN POLITICS

It was unfortunate that the occasion when I could finally have an intelligent discussion about politics was at a Celebration of the Life of a mutually loved and departed friend.  Too often I have talked with people who disfavor Obama and are full of misinformation. The person who sees the world as I do is unlikely to be someone I may ever see again though we can exchange emails.

tonight someone told me she was against Obama because he was too 'liberal'.  With obvious shock in my face, I asked what he was too liberal about.  Her inability to name one thing other than she thought he spent too much money, I again (figuratively gritting my teeth) asked what she thought he was spending money on?  You, my readers will not be surprised she could not say.  When I pointed out that the Stimulus package was started by Bush and that he had spent us into trillions of dollars of debt having come into office with a balanced budget I could have been talking Chinese.  She claims to have no racial prejudice, she has just never liked Obama and thinks Mitt Romney is the better candidate but admits she really doesn't know any of his policies.

Since she has no 'facts' and, as an intelligent person. has made no attempt to obtain any, I can only assume her objections must be emotional as they are clearly not based on logic.and fact.  There must be a better way to elect candidates than they lying and cheating we have seen in the past few months.

I can understand people want to stick by their integrity and deep religious faith, though I confess that some go beyond my ability to comprehend since they have abandoned all ability to think on their own.  I cannot accept ignorance from otherwise intelligent people.  When the truth is in front of you, how can you not reach out for it?  There are those in our society who will always operate on denial.  I missed that gene.  I also missed the ability to tolerate untruthful people and find it impossible to respect them.

DETERMINATION TO STAY HEALTHY AND LIVE LONG

When my father was a few years older than I am currently, I taped him in a conversation with a psychologist friend of mine who was a dinner guest.  I didn't stay around to listen to the conversation and when I heard it, I was too young to understand it as i  now can relate to everything he was saying.

At the time he must have been around 90 years old.  He had outlived his parents and five younger siblings.  He had outlived most of his friends, at least those who were within ten or fifteen years of his age..  When I speak to people about planning for their older age, one of my first comments is that 'you must look for younger friends'.  

I recorded that conversation my father had a long time ago and as I converted it to a CD, I recently heard it again.  My father was a very wise man.  He lived 107 years.  I realize that there are genetics which are now correlated with longevity, but he also was in tune with his body in a way I never had been.  

My father at age 96

The man ate only what he wanted and no more than would satisfy him.  (My mother stuffed all her children and I believe I lost the ability to listen to my body when I was young),   My father, in the 70s, used to tell me to eat lots of beans because they will keep you in good health,,,long before medicine decided they helped to keep cholesterol low.  He chinned himself daily until he was 90 and was extremely active and exercised long after his work demanded much activity. 

It wasn't until late in his life, when I asked him why he was so into health when so many of his friends drank too much, smoked, and stopped exercising...unlike my father.  He told me that when he was delivered by his mother in the hills of Greece in 1880, his mother's cousin served as a midwife.  As shocking as it may be to our American ideas of life, his mother thought he was too puny to survive and suggested that he be tossed down the mountainside (which is what happened in those years to defective children as there were no hospitals or treatment for them to survive in that demanding environment.)  The midwife said he was, indeed, little (his mother was a very tiny woman) but he looked healthy and suggested she give him a chance.  He heard this story while growing up and told me he was motivated to prove his mother wrong.  I guess he succeeded though she would never have known it, having passed away in 1929 while he lived to 1987.  Isn't it amazing what determination, caution and impulse control can achieve for us in our lives?