IN SOME STATES IT IS ALL OR NOTHING

     Apparently maintaining a Republican majority in the House has allowed some Republicans to feel anointed by God with powers they do not have.  The greatest power they have, and have used for the past 3 years constantly, is the power to say "No' to everything that has been put before them to alleviate the suffering of the middle class, to create jobs and help the economy.
      Too many states have become one party only in the Governor's mansion, the State Senate and the State Representatives.  There will be no question that it will not hear many bipartisan decisions. The tragedy is that there will be a feeling of hopelessness that the constituents will actually have a voice.  When power is given in such absolute fashion, At least 37 states, in 2013, will be totally under one p[arty rule.  This is a 60 year high. The   full report from the NY Times can be read here.
These states will obviously have little room for compromise which is very sad because it thwarts all principals of democracy.  Autocracies have long failed to be happy places.
     Just when it seems that fairness might become a part of our country's governmental functioning, that seems unlikely, at least for two-thirds of the state governments.,

LIVE AND LET LIVE

     If the world ran my way, we would all be able to live with our own principals as the witches in all stories lived.  "Do no harm".  Of course this requires the ability to listen to others as to what might be painful to them but not to you.  It really does not matter to me whether someone believes in evolution or not.  However, it is painful to me that I would be expected to believe there is not such a thing when the evidence is so clear that there is evolution in all living things..  No one should be allowed to assume we can live without regulations since few people, if any,  can actually regulate themselves in everything.  We all tend to view the world through our own lenses. It is one of the first rules a therapist is taught.  Start where the patients are, not where you think they should be.
     It amazes me how many politicians we have elected in this country who are unable to listen to others or realize what they were elected to do in Washington or wherever they may be.  The election win did not give them license to think their judgement is better than that of others.  That is why there in no one elected official to decide everything.  Our founding father s tried to build in checks and balances but, at the time, the country was far simpler with fewer people, religions, and needs. President Obama is one of the most fair people I have seen in the office. Nevertheless the collective forces working against his goals, stated and accepted by the voters, have achieved much power  to obstruct.  To use power simply to force your religious, racial, made up morals, and whatever else constricts the lives of others unnecessarily is not what those offices intend by our Constitution,  Yet we see it all the time.  Grover Norquist is struggling to put fear and guilt on all those who signed his pledge never to raise taxes, just as others endeavor to extract promises that they wish to have remain functioning even when circumstances have changed; when to keep the promise would be detrimental .
     Perhaps, as we are learning more about the human brain, there will be a way of testing candidates for office by how their brains function.  If voters actually knew what their vote gets them rather than what is being promised, the lives of all of us would be improved.  How we do things must constantly change to adapt to the changes evolution, rising populations, infrastructural needs and so much else dictates.  Those who fight to keep the 'old ways' fight progress and change to the great injury to progress and all humanity.

SENATOR SUSAN COLLINS HAS FALLEN OFF HER PEDASTAL

     Maine Senator, Susan Collins, has long had my respect along with Olympia Snow.  However, today I heard Se. Collins politically prostitute herself to plead that Senator Kerry is the best choice for Secretary of State.  Are we now to have the Republicans choosing the Cabinet for President Obama?  Amazing that all of them who have spoken, McCain, Graham, Ayotte, and Collins as well as a few who don't make the TV, seem to think Kerry is the only choice and would have you believe it has nothing to do with the fact that it would leave a seat that most likely would fall back to a Republican in the Senate.

     It is sad for me to see Senator Collins fall into the party line to that degree.  She used to care more for the country than the party; apparently that is no longer true.

     Alex Halperin wrote an excellent article in Salon sharing all that the Senator had to say about her reaction to meeting with Ambassador Susan Rice, published in Salon.   It seems the Republicans have learned nothing by the loss of the election.  They still behave as though they believe we see their motives as purely in the best interests of the country, when in fact, they are in the best interests of only a few Republicans and Grover Norquist who has held the country hostage for so many years. 

     The Republican party reminds me of chickens with their heads cut off.  Their nervous systems keep them active for many seconds, thus the saying "running like a chicken with its head cut off".  If you can get by the first video of a man wasting your time saying thanks, hang in for the second if you don't mind reality in the food chain.  This is not for the faint-hearted, but those of us living on a farm are inured to the event.  Will they soon accept the loss and stop trying to do business as usual in the past four years at the waste of our time and causing suffering to continue for many looking for jobs?

     

WHY IS SUSAN RICE BEING TRASHED FOR POLITICS?

Who is pulling the political strings behind McCain, Graham and now Ayotte joining the 'tempest in a teapot' brigade of Republicans.  What is it all about. Are they so racially prejudiced?  Rachel Maddow is very bright but it is not rocket science to come to the conclusion which she espoused tonight.  It is clear that the Republicans want Kerry to be out of the senate to get another seat for themselves.  Therefore they tout him as the best choice for Secretary of State and are trying to make the country think that Susan Rice is incompetent.  Click here for a bit of important history.  If it weren't so serious it would be laughable.  Republican puppets who are not demonstrating competence have the nerve to disregard all explanations to beat the drum for their cause...to ruin the career of Susan Rice, an extraordinarily bright woman who has done an exemplary job behind the scenes of notoriety.

The truth is that few people really follow politics to any great degree. I've met too many people who vote by their own biases and are quick to say they base their vote on the candidates appearance and what he says on the campaign trail though they have no concept as to whether the candidate speaks truths. It is the equivalent of meeting a stranger with rape on his mind and following him because he says, "You can trust me.  I'll keep you safe and just accompany you.through this dark forest."

I truly believe that everyone should have the right to vote if they are a citizen.  But, just as one studies to become a citizen if you weren't born one, I'd like to see voters prepared properly.  If someone could devise a course on the computer for national elections.If someone like Rachel Maddow prepared it, she could make it very clear in an hour as to all the issues, platforms, voting records, etc. of each candidate.It could be run as a public service announcement if the channels were smart enough to realize it would ultimately be to their own benefit.  We were lucky this election because of the work that got put into this election by the volunteer foot soldiers who supported Obama and those who stood with him.

THE POPE CANNOT RUN THE usa THROUGH EDICTS FROM THE CATHOLIC CHURCHC

Adam Lee has written a great article about reason to boycott the Catholic Church.  Whether you agree or disagree that the Catholic Church has attempted to be too influential in controlling life for non-Cathol;ics by forcing their beliefs on others and institutions and has tried to get lawmakers on their side.  We who are not Catholics resent being made to abide by rules over which we have no choice.  As Stephen Colbert has pointed out, there is no mention of the Pope in the Bible.  How did he become so influential in decided social and cultural issues for so many?

I;m not sure that I've read much from Adam Lee, but I do think he makes some very interesting points.  This article contains enough inofrmation in one place that makes the situation easy to understand just what non-Catholics 9and even some Catholics) feel about the outdated rigidity of views that the Catholic Church holds onto as ti loser believers.

Ricky Gervais, an Atheist proved himself a better person by wishing a Merry Chistmas or a better life to Catholic, Jew, Moslin and Ahteist whic Pat Robertson was droning one with all slorts of lies about Atherists.  Pretty soon, there will be more atheists than Catholics.  It is confirming to find more non-believers in blind faith regardless of what you call them,

PEOPLE ARE WORKING ON A 29TH AMENDMENT ON VOTING RULES AND WILL CHALLENGE CITIZEN'S UNITED IN THE SUPREME COURT

At last legal brains from to[p law schools got to get her to discuss regaining our democracy.  An article by Steven Rosenfeld describes some of the current thinking.  He writes: “A cancer does not cure itself. And this won’t be cured by dinky little reforms, tiny little ideas, tinkering, crumbs at the table, who are being proposed by people who think if we just do a little switch we will magically change this system,” said Harvard Law School’s Larry Lessig, opening A 28th Amendment? conference at UCLA Law School. “What it needs is a movement unlike any we’ve seen since the Civil Rights Movement or the Progressive Movement, taking on a corruption greater than anything we have seen since we ousted George III.”

This movement must be greater than a bill which the do-nothing House of Representatives can squash as they have been doing for the past two years. We are, at last, also seeing some Republicans saying they do no any longer intend to hold the pledge to Grover Norquist as a viable commitment any longer.  Now that the election is over, the threat Norquist held over candidates heads was that they would not get the kind of money they wanted from the backers of the Republican party.  You may all remember hearing an arrogant Norquist a few months ago on national TV saying he had nothing to do with re-elections if people defaulted on the pledge.  It would be the voters who would handle it.  Well, given the number outvotes cast in this past election, that seems to hold less of a threat than it used to do.

If you would like to read all of this  interesting article, click here.

WHY REGULATIONS, OSHA, AND HAZARD SAFETY SHOULD NOT BE IGNORED

We humans have little control over Nature but we, in America, do have some control over safety in OSHA.  In Bangladesh, few safety controls exist.  Recently, 120 people died in a clothing factory.  United States is but one country receiving exports from such factories that employ two million people,  Probably some of the jobs that left the United States went there because of the cheap rice for goods that only cost human lives which seem to have little value as long as the overall profit margin for product remains high.

As long as people persist in buying stolen property, thieves will persist.  As long as people buy cheap goods with no shame even when they learn that they are made by children, forced labor in unsafe conditions, and at high human cost the situation will not change.  Meanwhile, those companies that continue to import products like Walmart, and so many others, should be 'outed' .publicly .  Perhaps of more people could see who makes those 'bargains' and at what cost....not only the loss of human life but a good portion of it in American jobs over the years, people might be more selective about buying American goods, fewer, even if they cost a bit more.

Click here to get a sense of the kinds of places about which I speak.  Dhaka citizens rely on these factories without the protection of regulations, unions, OSHA and all the things Republicans would have us also get rid of in the United States.  Instead of throwing the baby out with the bath water, perhaps some of the regulations could be tailored more specifically rather than attempts to make rules of 'one-size-fits-all'.  It would make more sense to clean up union management rather than ridding us of them; OSHA should make rules that help rather than just become ridiculous in their wide application even when not applicable.