No "Scratch and Start All Over" Approach

During the Vice Presidential Debate, I had the pleasure of seeing the gentle well-composed man of Paul Ryan. I have to admit, I hadn’t taken opportunities until the debate at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky to hear Mr. Ryan speak. From my discipline of being able to suspend all prejudices of a person so that I can actually hear their actual words, I did so and found much gratification in Biden’s interjections to put facts to topics not mentioned by Ryan.

The 5-point plan was mentioned again by Ryan, so I made the effort to search it out on the web. In three tries, I finally tapped into the right website that laid out the plan, (aside from the website that indicated a 5-point plan, but I had trouble sorting it out through Romney’s swim trunks and the secret steering committee that came together to seemingly put the plan together while he was swimming elsewhere in the U.S.)

The 5 point plan sounds well thought out, and again specifics for each point needs to be elaborated upon, so I have them listed here with comments or questions by each point. You may want to raise your own comments and questions.

1. building energy independence (The U.S. is already doing this through alternative energy: wind and solar, and we will always need coal and electricity. Coal jobs are not in jeopardy.)

2. ensuring Americans have the skills to succeed (If education loans and grants are cut, AND Sesame Street, how will this be accomplished?)

3. opening markets that work for America (HOW? For each suggestion under this point.)

4. cutting the deficit (How can you do this without cutting services to the poor and homeowners?)

5. championing small businesses (Small business owners are counted as individuals—any other way would complicate matters. No unions? How is that going to put more money in a laborer’s pocket? Without unions, businesses will be able to work people for very little and they will continue cutting full-time employment so they will not have to attend to the labor laws and benefits for employees. Even with a state-wide insurance mandate, everyone will still be required to buy health insurance.)

The debate was well moderated, and the candidates minded their P’s and Q’s. They were very respectful to the moderator and to one another. On abortion, Joe Biden will not impose his personal Catholic views on any other American. Two Supreme Court Justices are to be sworn in the next 4 years, he added. Paul Ryan cannot separate his personal -faith from his professional, and was leery when asked the question if the Romney-Ryan ticket won the race should those who are pro-choice be worried.

If the Romney-Ryan ticket wins the race, then we should expect Medicare to become a Voucher plan and future seniors would have to pay more out of pocket costs. Social Security will be privatized, but those 55 and above will not be affected. So, what about those 54, 53, 52, 51, 50? Who are out of work since 2009, 2010? What kind of Social Security will they have saved to privatize? Are people starting at zero or will they get all that they have already put in to Social Security? These programs under Obama and Biden will be guaranteed services as originally promised to all. Biden went on to say that if people had had their Social Security money in the stock market during the recession, millions would have lost it all. It is too risky to gamble a person’s retirement away.

On taxes, Biden says there will be a tax increase for those making one million dollars and more. Level the playing field for middle class. Let the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy expire. Ryan says: “the 120,000 millionaires/billionaires’ taxes cannot pay for everything they want to pay for.”

On foreign affairs, in 2014 the timeline end for US troops to withdraw completely from Afghanistan. Afghans must sustain their own country and US troops are training them to do so. America is informed that Iran isn’t as close to a nuclear bomb as we were led to believe from Israeli President during the UN meeting that took place last month in New York.

The debate informed Americans of President Obama’s consistent message of moving forward and of Romney’s, “scratch” everything and start all over approach. The last thing America needs is a “start all over” approach. We have come too far to start all over again. We are going in the right direction if the politicians and special interest groups will just let us get back to work.

The Race for President 2012

How do I see the Denver, Colorado debate between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama? To sum it up, when a dog begins to bark, sometimes you just got to let him bark. Romney took to the fence and barked his head off, so much that viewers actually witnessed him turning pale at times like his neck tie was too tight, and then turning red like he was going to have a heart attack any minute. I like what Herb Cohen explains in his book, Negotiate This! when it comes to those types of people who see others who start out in a negotiation/conversation/discussion/debate being nice as a weakness. Those

’rat for tat’… operators…are [more] likely to behold your decency as a weakness and lick their chops. This minority tends to observe a soft style and easygoing attitude as a bull notices a red cape. What usually happens with these dog-eat-dog types that they charge, trying to wrap things up quickly. Often they become hostile and confrontational and use all sorts of tactical ploys…But…the countermeasures for any adversarial gambit are to slow down and not to react the way they expect you to…Flow [instead of] fight or freeze…(88-89).

Obama flowed. His message was consistent with what he had said from the very beginning, and because his message is simple regular people can recite it: tax the wealthiest at a higher rate, penalize American companies for taking their companies overseas, continue with Obamacare, invest in education, continue with coal industry [for we know we will still need coal to fuel electric plants], but invest in environmentally safe energy such as, wind and solar power.

Romney on the other hand, didn’t stop talking. He ate up air time and taking turns when it wasn’t even his turn to speak. He began and had the last word in 85% of the questions. I do believe he was trying to get Obama riled up.

Romney talks about states taking over Nat’l Health Care. Tennessee tried that, and many were cut from the roles when the state could no longer afford the health care costs. The reason health care costs over exceeded Tennessee’s ability to cover the non-insured were two-fold: 1) cuts in federal monies to the state to cover the cost, and 2) there was no mandate requiring all Tennesseans to carry health insurance.

Massachusetts, on the other hand, did implement a state-wide insurance program that required all state residents to buy health insurance. Two state public options were given in addition to the multiple private insurance company options. Ninety-eight percent of the residents were insured, which made for a successful implementation of government-mandated health insurance.

So why is Romney against Obamacare? Is he being wrangled by the Republican party’s agenda?

Another federal program on the republican chopping block is food stamps. When it comes to feeding the poor, shouldn’t states be held accountable by the federal government to make sure the poor are getting their fair share of food? And how are the states going to fund such an extensive program? Nuns on a bus traveled across 9 states and met on the steps of Congress to protest Paul Ryan’s cuts to programs that would leave those marginalized hungry, cold, and homeless. The lead nun said that every church across the nation would have to raise $50,000 extra each year just to accommodate the poor, and that amount was unrealistic.

The Republican party wants to privatize social security and defund Medicaid and Medicare, which will become state-governed programs, so there will be 50 different social security options and 50 different health insurance options as a citizen moves from one state to the next. Consistency will be null and void, and who is to say that accountability will be checked?

Selfishness and individualism are consistent themes with the Republican agenda, so Americans should get the hint that they will be left out in the dark not knowing if they will have adequate health insurance coverage since each state will separately negotiate for public options. And how easy is it going to move from one state to the next with such differences in health coverage and social security options? Programs such as these and many more will be shattered, and from the shards, we should wonder if the United States will continue to be a union or will each state be its own separate country? The choice is ours, will we give our country to the dogs or will we pull away from the fence by taxing the 1% and building products “Made in the U.S.A.,” by which, will keep a strong union that takes care of its citizens?

Paul and Santorim Are Strong GOP Candidates

Two GOP debates back to back in two weeks, one sponsored by the Bloomberg and Washington Post (10/11/11) and the other, entitled, the Western Republican Debate, hosted in Nevada by CNN's Anderson Cooper (10/18/11).

Santorim made a scramble to the top by connecting with the hispanic population as he mentioned family, faith, and jobs. Santorim also used the same theme when referring to groups immigrating to the United States and how rights protect groups from discrimination in America, but Paul reminded the audience that each individual has a civil right in America and that civil rights are not about being a part of a group, but of being an individual. Santorim disputed back by commenting the family unit is a strong unit within the Hispanic population, and continued to say the family unit is being eroded by the laws that do not protect families as Cain's 9-9-9 plan would not allow standard deductions for families with children. In otherwords, Santorim pointed out, a family would pay the same amount of tax as a single person under Cain's plan.

As Cain, Romney, and Perry all denied supporting the implementation of the TARP or the TARP, period, Paul interjected that if anyone was to be bailed out it should have been the people, not the banks and corporations and Wall Street. Paul went on to say that we cannot blame the victims, those Occupying Wall Street. Cain's insensitivity to those Occupying Wall Street was exposed when he said, "What are the banks supposed to do? Come downstairs and write them a check?"

In the Bloomberg/Washington Post debate, Cain said that he didn't experience any unfairness by businesses as an employee. A faulty assumption that has been the norm for too long and is hazardous to a public's health and well-being occurs when politicians/businessmen assume that just because they didn't experience unfairness, that unfairness does not exist for others. When we as a nation, stop thinking that just because everything is coming up roses in our own backyards, that everything is well and fine with others, we might get around to fairness, compassion for others, and equality. America does not need another person in political office who is not in tune with the public's reality.

"We the People Occupy" Activists Not "Anti-Corporation" Activists!

The activists on Wall Street need to stay until the top four American corporations sitting on two trillion dollars, more than the GDP of Canada, open up or create significant positions for those from modest families (low-income to low to middle income).

The American Dream is supposed to be for everybody, not just for the top echelon and their friends and family, yet many have worked without benefits and pay raises only thinking that one day their talents would be recognized and rewarded with a good life. Americans are now challenging the myth that people could get in with a company at an entry level and have opportunity within a company to excel. Yet for the last forty years, excelling has only been granted for those in the corporate pipeline. Those who were seldom placed in the coprorate pipeline are married low-income women, women, and women including low-income and minority males.

People are fit to be tied over the reality of unfairness, where a person has to know someone before they can even be hired at a company. People are fit to be tied over the reality of creidit history that has been devised as a vehichle for legal discrimination.

It is amazing that Wall Street has been so unaware of its indirect actions, but how directly people have been offended by them. It is amazing that Wall Street doesn't even know what the masses want or how the masses feel. So since Wall Street doesn't know what the activists want, the following list may help clarify. Occupy Wall Street want equal access to the American Dream: fairness, opportunity to excel within a company, a piece of the American Pie, fulfilled promises, American expectations, sustainable and growing incomes,vacations and job security. They want their government to care more about its citizens than about satisfying special interest and corporations. They want jobs so they can feed their families or even start a family. They want the government to tax corporations and the rich at a higher level.

Americans are tired of the politics and hoopla of media. Americans have given their all, and now Americans want government and corporations to give their all to the people. People are tired of the smoke screens, and they are tired of being used and abused. So, how did this all come about?

Surely, if our government can bail out banks and corporations with $700B, then the U.S. government can print some more money for the masses, so the masses can create the jobs needed for sustainability. This is what the people think. The $700B bailout just turned sour grapes into bitter wine. Corporations were supposed to create jobs, or so this is what the people were told, but the 4 largest corporations in America are not creating jobs, but are sitting on their trillions of dollars. Banks were supposed to help people stay in their homes, but people are still being thrown out of their homes since they cannot make the mortgage payments. More people are homeless, starving, without health insurance coverage, and facing defaults on their student loans.

Americans are ready and organized to OCCUPY until. Good for YOU, America!

Just What Does the Tenth Amendment Mean for US?

I'm not sure that I want the states to control my life, education, or health insurance -- EITHER! The states can't run our lives any better than the federal gov't, and we have to remember that we are a UNION; therefore, each state is part of a union and NOT an island onto itself. Although, for the last ten years or so, Tennessee has acted like it isn't part of a union that is about 'prosperity for all', as it has practiced slave labor and underemployment for the low-income uneducated and low-income educated person, respectively, and has reserved the best paying jobs for the status quo and their family members, forging into place an economic caste system.

We all have rights, and originally, the tenth amendment has more to do with segregation than actual equality and freedom for all, i.e., "The last major Tenth Amendment battle took place as the result of 1960s civil rights legislation, which attempted to enforce the Fourteenth Amendment against Southern states that continued to impose second-class citizenship on black residents. Subsequently, most references to 'state's rights' in the common political vernacular are actually veiled references to segregation--unfortunate, given that the question of federal vs. state's rights is a legitimate issue that the Supreme Court has been attempting to resolve for two centuries."

The states can't do any better with education than the federal government since each state has it's own 'master plan' when it comes to education. The 'master plan' explains accountability and curriculum and funding, but nonetheless, when it's all said and done, it's not doing anything useful for students. Instead, it's firing teachers. The funding the Department of Education received in 2010 from the Federal Government in an attempt to restore the economy by pumping money into it and the Department of Transportation, hasn't trickled down to the teachers or the students. It stopped somewhere in the pockets of administrators or where we don't know. What the public does know is that in 2011, teachers across the nation are getting pink slips and finding jobs overseas. So, why should 'we the people' trust the states to fairly disperse opportunity when we can't trust them to disperse Federal monies properly? If anything, the Federal Government and the people of each state should demand a detailed itemization of where each dollar the state has spent the money (stashed the loot).

And why should we entrust the state to make sure insurance is affordable to all its citizens? They've had all this time to try and they haven't tried very hard in convincing the private insurance agencies to reduce premiums. The state of Tennessee has TennCare to insure children and some adults who are medically needy; but when TennCare was first developed it covered more than those on the role now. In 2006 the state dropped many from the TennCare roles and left many to fend for themselves. Some of which were near death.

So for people to depend on their state to ensure health insurance for its people is a far cry from the national health care reform President Obama has implemented for all. America doesn't need 50 different public insurance programs, just like it doesn't need 50 different social security programs. One program for all will make the scrutiny more managable. Can you imagine moving from one state to the next and having to get used to a different health coverage all over again? Which brings another point about private insurance company constantly changing their policies and physicians just as non-chalantly as the grocery stores relocate their products so the customer has to work harder at finding things that they want, which hammers into our time and energy translating in loss of efficiency and effectiveness, and increasing frustration.

When Dr. Ron Paul gets on stage and talks about freedom and the audience applauds, it is easy to get caught up in the emotion--but we have to think about what we are getting if we settle for less and not more. Literally, we will be getting less and less and less.

After Thursday's debate hosted by Fox News and Google, Dr. Paul, Perry, and Romney are leading the pack for the GOP presidential candidates.

Who Are Talking to the Camera?

Again, when candidates talk to the camera with pre-planned or conscientious (purposeful) body language, genuine heart for the United States of America is blocked by such superficiality. At the Tea Party debate in Tampa, Florida the only one presidential candidate that did not care to expose some information that nearly all of the preconditioned engrained thinking bunch of tea partiers, nor I, had really known, except for what we had been told over and over by news media and then by our church leaders talking about Islam from the pulpits, that Americans and Christians are infidels to Islam, and Islam hates the American way of life (do you suppose such propaganda has engrained many fears and hate for Muslims and Al Qaeda and have helped to justify the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan?), was Ron Paul, e.g., in defense of his web site in regards to a statement by candidate Jon Huntsman pointing out that Paul wrote "it was the United States' fault for Al Qaeda attacks," (which Paul told the audience bin Laden said this very same thing) and gave the reasons why the U.S. was attacked on 9/11. I guess Paul has taken down that statement and those reasons, for I couldn't find them on his web site, so I looked the reasons up on Wikipedia which reads, "[i]n various pronouncements before and after the attacks,[117][118] al-Qaeda explicitly cited three motives for its activities against Western countries: the presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia,[118][119][120] U.S. support of Israel,[121][122] and sanctions against Iraq[123]," (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks#Motives). Whether or not Paul was quoting or paraphrasing what bin Laden had said or whether he agreed with bin Laden, I may never know, but it did seem that as he repeated those reasons to the audience, the host of tea partiers believed Paul agreed with bin Laden. On another note,Paul did clarify for the audience that there is a difference between military spending and defense spending, therefore, the two are not the same.

It is also amazing to me that the republican candidates now want to bring our soldiers home from Afghanistan, when so many republicans are critisizing President Obama for putting in a timeline for withdrawing troops from Afghanistan. And I am further amazed at the candidates' desire to enforce the immigration laws when it was republican President Bush who had relaxed the laws for immigrants to come into the U.S. either way they wanted: legally or illegally.

So, as the average American is fully aware of all the two-face comments by politicians, the name of the game in this stage of politics is to start eliminating candidates. Huntsman started the elimination of Paul by playing on the emotions of the robust Muslim hater's club called the Tea Party.

Which would bring us to the understanding of why Romney didn't want to say anything bad about the Tea Party Club while debating in California, knowing that the next stop was at a Tea Party central debate in Florida. In California, Romney responded that he didn't suppose anyone in the Tea Party carried an identification card saying they were a Tea Party member, yet one of the discussions at the Regan Museum debate was on "pledges," and many Americans know that those inducted into the Tea Party have to sign a pledge to the Tea Party.

Cain did explain his 9-9-9 system at this debate. It's basically a flat tax for citizens and businesses, and the third 9 represents a national sales tax. I can't believe that those fine citizens in Cincinnati don't understand the the Fair Tax is a flat tax and is more trouble (more paper work) for the business person or any person for that matter than it is worth. I do agree with Romnie that we do need to restructure our business economics and trade agreements and bring manufacturing back to America. I also agree that middle-income Americans don't need to be paying taxes on their savings.

The one person I felt sorry for the most was the Afghan born woman who posed a question at the end of the debate in regards to once the troops leave Afghanistan, of "What will you do if you become president to ensure the health and well being of women in Afghanistan?" The two male candidates that responded may as well have said, "we will do nothing," because that is precisely what they meant in their round about response. I'm not surprised that the male candidates at a Tea Party event swept off any commitment to help women anywhere in the world, for the Tea Party's mission is to make sure males in America dominate and have more opportunity than women in America. To ensure health care for women in America, according to the Tea Party, women should stay or get married or have a job. To ensure health care for women outside of America, "good luck."

The national Health Care Reform was of course another topic at the Tea Party event. As John Wolfe, candidate for Congress during the 2010 election pointed out, health care should not be a condition dependent upon employment. NBC news reported tonight (September 13, 2011) 16.3% of Americans don't have health insurance, which equals to nearly 50 million Americans. I can't believe that any potential republican president of the United States is talking about scraping the Health Care Reform act when so many Americans have plunged into poverty and have no health care coverage. But, the talk may only come at the expense of satisfying a Tea Party audience.

Another shocker is, Michelle Bauchman, denouncing Gov. Rick Perry's executive order to save young female lives from cervical cancer by mandating the HPV vaccine produced by Merck. It took an act of Congress in 1990 to even begin breast and cervical cancer prevention and research when prior to this date, most if not all cancer research was in regards to other more general cancers associated with men. As this attack was just another ploy to eliminate Perry from the competion, Bauchman declared that Perry stepped over the line when it comes to personal freedoms. Here, again, Jon Huntsman chimed in to tongue lash Perry for trying to save lives and to have the vaccine administered in the school. (Even more interesting, the HPV vaccine is also available to males. Why should just females be vaccinated?) Huntsman makes a point here, though, for everything seems to fall on the operations of the school system. Just have students visit their friendly health clinics, don't place the burden on the already over taxed school system.

Bachman, being female herself, should not help the Tea Party set back female progress. If anyone is selling out, that would be Michelle Bauchman selling out her own gender just to further her own career on the suspenders of the Tea Party movement.

The three best candidates for the republican party will be Ron Paul, Rick Perry, and Mitt Romney. Bauchman and Palin literally sound identical, and Palin should not enter the race at all. Gingrich hasn't separated himself from the pack, Cain just can't compete against Obama and neither can Huntsman. Obama is extraordinarily better.

The Reality of Jobs & GOP Hopefuls

Probably the most promising phrase introduced at the GOP Candidate forum at the Regan Museum in Semi Valley, California (9/7/11) was Romney's idea of not taxing the savings of middle and lower class Americans. My entire adult life, if I saved any money, it would be taxed. If I put my money in a certificate of deposit, it would be taxed. Perhaps the ideology behind taxing the rich a lesser percentage would make people work harder to make it to the top, so they could escape the 33% tax bracket. Yet, the problem with that is the making it to the top, especially for those living within a low-income economic household.

Those living in a low-income household are less likely to be placed in the pipeline of promotion, and are more likely to see another come in ahead of them even though they have been with the company longer and have done more for the company in the way of labor, loyalty, and dependability. Also, those living in a low-income household are not privvy that such a thing as a promotion pipeline exists, since it is in their thinking that because they are an American, opportunity will be extended to them because of their talent. This type of thinking is a false assumption and has proven to be so over the last 30 to 40 years.

The promotion pipeline agenda is a latent agenda that is riddled with silence, secrecy, and unfairness. It promotes the undeserving and the less talented, and it creates chaos and conflict in the workplace.

So this is the politics on the inside of companies, so what is the politics on the outside of business? Not much better. A weak economy warrants businesses to cut back and offers a nice political back drop for hopeful nominees to make promises they won't or can't keep. Yet, many voters still think they will make a difference at the polls and will exercise their right to vote the lesser of the two evils into office, which they should.

What I heard during the GOP debate was mud slinging, when the President wasn't even there to defend himself; yet when it came time to name names of those who are running to shut down theoretical science, no names were tagged. I guess for the nominee hopefuls, it would be too embarrassing to reveal up close and personal whom they had named outside of the debate, which goes on to show none of the GOP hopefuls have any assertive balls about them to work on behalf of the American people.

Probably one of the most funniest and vague ideas came from Cain, who introduced a 9-9-9 system when it came time to tax business. I can't go any further to explain it because it wasn't explained. Those of us watching the debate all had that Shrek look on our faces when we heard Cain say 9-9-9, you remember when Shrek goes to the carnival and his picture is taken when he isn't expecting it--you know that weird kind of "what's this?" look,that's what I'm talking about. When an audience is left to their own imaginations when a vague idea is presented, it can't be good.

The reality about jobs, is that "we the people" have to get out there and get them ourselves. No politician is going to do that or get that for us. The other reality is there aren't that many jobs out there to get unless you know someone who works for a company and they have some ties to the personnel office or to the boss. Unfortunately, being employed within an industry that has high work politics isn't always interested in talent, and talent or knowledge isn't even necessary sometimes. Sometimes all that is necessary is to have someone fill the slot, no matter who, which is why you shouldn't take it personally if you didn't get the job. So if America is only ranking 5th in competitiveness, it's amazing that we are 5th and not lower.

In order for JOBS to turn around and for Americans to feel like there is real opportunity for them, there needs to be fairness within the business realm. I believe morale has dropped so low because many Americans feel they have no opportunity. When a person feels he/she has no real opportunity he/she stops trying.

The reality behind GOP hopefuls is that if any one of them has a genuine and authentic heart for America, that heart is clouded by media and other obsticles, so much so that Americans cannot distinguish the difference between the real deal and the wrong deal.