REPUBLICAN TRAITORS HAVE THE COUNTRY IN SEQUESTER

The Republican House might as well have declared war against their neighbors.  As Stephen Colbert suggested, the results of loss of jobs and pay should have happened to the Representatives and maybe they would have understood the results they voted in as to what they were causing their friends, neighbors, and more importantly their constituents., 

Colbert also had a great analogy regarding this move.  He likened it to the Mafia threatening to do a knee cap...on their neighbors...as punishment for their position on sequester.

When I am most frustrated by this move and the Teapartiers (and Koch brothers behind it), I realize that a party who supports people who do not believe in science, evolution or rape, or equal right for all Americans, should bring no surprise.  However, surprise and passivity should not be the only response.  When a Nobel prize winning economist like Paul Krugman is ignored, it makes me wonder if the powers granted to the Congress are far beyond their limited intelligence to comprehend.  While I cannot speak favorably of Justice Scalia, as I listened carefully to his statement (frightening as it was) he questioned whether the Congress should have the power to make such bills.  He should also question the Supreme Court's powers which have recently been overreached.

OUR OVERWHELMING TIMES

A grandmothers who killed her own two granddaughters, then herself.. our legislators working against the best interest of their country constantly, gun manufacturers so greedy they are now marketing automatic weapons for children, Republicans shutting out Chris Christie because he worked cooperatively with the President, producers of food that is toxic to nutrition and health, a total lack of compassion in so many people, a powerful group who care more for a fertilized egg than a living human being, and this list could go on and on.

We hear so much more today with a media that bombards us with truths and lies and has no expectation that we are affected negatively by the discrepancies.  It seems there are two kinds of movies, those for pure sublimation and documentaries meant to be a recording of history.   The boundaries have been obliterated and future generations will see movies that are misread to be documentaries and they will find it difficult to find movies to relax them and allow a few hours of living within a dream.

We must add to that the many things we must learn daily just to survive in this exciting new era of technological advances.  Youth will have little difficult as the human brain is a sponge for information.  A problem arises for older humans for whom the spnge seems to have little space for absorbing more.

Having reached a 'ripe old age' as some might call it, so many around me seem to no longer have the ability to learn.  I find this tragic for them and those who are around them.  It takes me back to the days when music was played on round disks with grooves.    If a groove became slightly damaged, the same phrase was played over and over.  We developed descriptions such as 'stuck in the groove', repeats like a 'broken record', and success as being 'in the groove'.  

Lastly, when one doesn't behave as prescribed by others, right or wrong, we are described as 'marching to a different drummer'  Without some of us marching to the drummer within rather than a drum beat set by those for  whom we have neither agreement or respect, it takes courage to maintain one's own identity and beliefs. For many, all this must be down while worrying how to survive with enough food, a roof overhead, and medical care when needed..  Life is no longer the American dream for the majority of Americans.

OUR CONSTITUTION NEEDS TO BE BROUGHT INTO THIS CENTURY

The Constitution of the United States has had a very long run but it is now three centuries behind in many ways.  It seems that our Constitution is as irrelevant today in the same ways as the Bible has become.  Just as we do not go around killing people who displease us or live by 2000 year old morals, some of the aspects of the Constitution need r4eadjustment and explanation , as well as limits. 

When the Constitution was written, the guns available were muskets, one shot then a reload.  It took time to shoot a second time.  That doesn't come close to the 1200 shot magazines that gun owners can buy today.  We need to reinterpret the equality of our citizens as well.  Apparently Justice Scalia, during the hearing on the Voting Rights Law,  described protecting the vote for blacks as an 'entitlement'.  He believes there is no longer discrimination.  He is living proof as to why Supreme Court Justices should not have life appointments.  It is obvious he is not living with an awareness of the common citizen in the4 US today.

If the Constitution is a 'how to book', it is in urgent need for revision as most 'how to' books don't last more than a generation.  Even cookbooks are outdated.  Manuals are outdated for technology products whose life span today is less than ten years.  What can our leaders be thinking?  I'm still wondering at the evil behind the Republicans who clearly do not have democracy in mind as our guide.  It is shocking to see the violation of people's rights, the twisted priorities of those elected officials, many of whom are only interested in holding onto their seats and not the best interests of the country.

Will it ever change in our lifetime?  What will it take?  Will the Republican continue to remain the 'stupid' party as described by one of its own members?  When the Supreme courts delivers its decision on the voting rights act we will know whether our country is lost if the law is not upheld.

CHUCK HAGEL CONFIRMED AS SECRETARY OF DEFENSE

Secretary of Defense

It is beyond me why Lindsay Graham and John McCain held up the nomination long enough for the ne3w Secretary of Defense to miss an important meeting in Europe last week in which it would have beenb helpful to our country for him to have taken part. 

Tom Vanden Brook of USA Today wrote:  The vote was 58 to 41 in favor.  "

"I will be counting on Chuck's judgment and counsel as we end the war in Afghanistan, bring our troops home, stay ready to meet the threats of our time and keep our military the finest fighting force in the world," Obama said in a statement. 

Hagel immediately inherits a budget crisis. Last week, the Pentagon announced it plans to furlough the majority of its 800,000 civilian employees to help meet a $46 billion shortfall caused by automatic spending cuts that begin March 1 and its stopgap budget that prevents shifting funds to urgent needs."

McCain and Graham, two who were most  vocal about their wish to hold up the nomination showed either what seemed to be their spite or envy as there was absolutely no basis for them holding up the nomination to get answers about Benghazi.  That was totally irrelevant for Hegel.  He was not in nomination for Secretary of State but of Defense.  Their position shows them as either being petty, poor citizens of the goal to do the best for the US, or just plain irresponsible.  For the complete article for USA Today, click here   

Regardless of their past, I am forced to question the current patriotism of these two men.  They ended up voting in his favor, I believe I heard,  after being vocal about their plan not to vote for him.  Is this the way that men who are no longer particularly important try to maintain the air of importance?

I'M LIVING PROOF THAT ONE IS NEVER TOO OLD TO LEARN NEW THINGS

Today as I sat in a chair, looking out the window at my neighbors roof, The sun was melting the snow fairly quickly and it struck me that it was much more fun that watching the grass grow.   It is a lot more fun than reading manuals but a friend gave me some tips to call Apple rather than take the time to study manuals which only frustrate me.

I've finally mastered retrieving my mail.  Since i have my own domain I don't want to receive it on a Cloud program not do I want to get my mail through the Web from my ISP provider.  I like to be able to filter it so I don'[t have to read it all at once.  I'm almost there except that I haven't figured out how to get addresses into the address book.  It should be easy, I know, but if I can't find a way to do it, it loses the adjective of easy.

Even WIN 7 on my laptop is getting to be more familiar.  Every day is a new day and one day closer to spring!    Those of us with S.A.D. can rally appreciate the dawn of the day when energy begins to return.

The news is full of Hollywood and the Oscars, who wore what.  The real world is talking Sequester.  The brinksmanship is unfathomable.  I can't believe that Republicans can be so blind to the common man's plight.  It certainly convinces me that the first things which should go are a lot of the Legislators' perks.  Let them pay for their medical insurance and everything at the rate that working people pay.  I obviously cannot include them as working people since I don't consider spending all your time trying to get re-elected can be considered work.  Three more days and we will no longer be hanging on the cliff.  

We may have fallen off it by then but then we can think about the next step.  Hopefully some of the voting crazies may see the elected crazies and realize their errors   We should never lose hope that the evil ones will not prevail, should we not?

THE POT CALLING THE KETTLE BLACK

Karzai orders US special forces out of Afghan province.  It makes me think of all the money my taxes have been wasted  in Afghanistan.  To learn about why the deaths of our people in that country do not matter at all, click here.

The decision was being taken due to allegations of disappearances and torture by Afghans considered to be part of US special forces, said a spokesman for Hamid Karzai.  Is it true or another conspiracy theory.  We the American people will be last to know and the last who really should know war strategy/.  The legislators do not seem to understand that they do not have to know everything though they seem to have missed the description of their jobs.  Some believe they have all the powers of the Presidency and act as thought they are his boss.  In fact, they are not his boss, but by cheating in so many ways they have put a strangle hold on Democracy and we are living with it, slowly seeing our country choked.

Perhaps we shall soon know if the Republican party will survive beyond the 2014 elections.  We can only hope that it will only survive as the Republican party of the past which so many of us admired.  I found the Al Jazeera version more useful and complete on major issues,  It is well worth the read.  Click here.  

Had we stayed in Afghanistan instead of being led by the GW Bush regine to a useless war in Iraq, what might it have been like today with so many more Americans alive and able to focus ?on the critical war.

 

 

 

GOOD REPORTING ABOUT AMERICA DOESN'T ALWAYS COME FROM THE USA

Since I was not home to watch the secondary race in Daytona Saturday, I looked for news at home.BBC News, my home page, was asking for spectators who may have seen the accident to provide details.  My second look was Al Jazeera.  Click here.  That sounded like a pretty complete write-up.  I do not need to know the names of the injured but I was interested in which driver might have been hurt.  These were not the drivers who will be racing the major Dayton 500 which runs on Sunday, traditionally.

Then I decided to see what good old USA media did with the story.  Huffington Post had complete video of the entire mess.  Click here.  Nevertheless, foreign news prints had the key details without the added color.  In fact, the drivers are better protected than the spectators. it seems.  The driver walked out of his car with no problems.  The cars however would have totaled what a small family could retire on.

My first Indianapolis races were in the mid-fifties and early sixties.  This was before all the safeguards for the driver and safety for the car had been invented and modified to where they are today.  The proof is in that the driver could walk out of a crash that sheared off the front end of his car and stand by it a few moments later unscathed.  Race car drivers are less of a danger than those on the highways who think they are drivers like the pros and that speed is the only object.  The traffic on a racetrack is made up of other pro drivers.  Our roads are old people who want to go slowly for safety, new drivers who are not yet aware of everything they should be watching, those who are disabled, handicapped, slower in reaction time, and all sorts of reasons that make it important to drive race cars on a race track with other racers.  The rest of us, the typical Sunday drivers as we were once called, may just enjoy the sport from the stands (not too close to the track because you can't see as much from there) and feel the thrill of the race from the car cams which we follow.