Less Government: Hunger

"On the tiny farms on Mashonaland, which once provided the entire region with food, villagers have been reduced to eating crickets and beetles"
(full story and credits here:  BUGS )


Don't listen to just the soundbite.  Be careful what you ask for.

Less government: Rivers shouldn't burn

Time magazine. August 1, 1969:


"Some River! Chocolate-brown, oily, bubbling with subsurface gases, it oozes rather than flows. "Anyone who falls into the Cuyahoga does not drown," Cleveland's citizens joke grimly. "He decays". . . The Federal Water Pollution Control Administration dryly notes: "The lower Cuyahoga has no visible signs of life, not even low forms such as leeches and sludge worms that usually thrive on wastes." It is also -- literally -- a fire hazard."




Here's what "self regulation" looks like.  Are you sure you don't want any regulation?

Are career politicians ruining our democracy?

I've been doing a lot of thinking about this debt ceiling crap going on in Washington. (And no, there is no limit to the things that interest me! Politics. Quantum Physics. Constitutional law. Quilting. Knitting. I'm never bored.) I guess I'm thinking about it so much because I watch so many political commentary shows.

The debate about the debt ceiling has magnified congressional ridiculousness. We cannot afford this pettiness. Imagine what the collapse of the US economy would do to world markets. If you thought your 401K/investments looked bad in 2008, imagine what they'll look like if our politicians don't get on with the people's business. Why now? Why pick this fight now when raising the debt ceiling has been pretty much a no-brainer for years? I mean, it's not like we can say "Nevermind. We're not gonna pay our debts." If Congress really has some desire to get spending under control, then go ahead & raise the debt ceiling then get on with the business of cutting spending. (Actually do the people's business - what a concept!!).

It's all due to career politicians, I think. I know our process is broken. Our democracy has turned into a risky game of "king of the hill". It no longer matters what's right for the country, or what a person's ideology is: if the other party said it, it must be bad (even if it was a good idea 6 months ago). I don't know the cure, but I have some ideas. OK maybe one idea. Term limits.

If you really listen to what our politicians are saying - and I mean really listen - you'll always end up hearing "I'm doing what I have to do to get reelected". Hmm. I'm voting for these folks to do what is best for our country. If they've lost the courage to make the tough decisions, they aren't doing me any good by being my representative. Imagine if they didn't have to think about being re-elected. Oh, there would be some down-sides for sure but I do think the positives would far outweigh the negatives.

If our politicians weren't concerned about being re-elected, maybe they would learn to compromise again. Isn't that what governing is all about? We're pretty much a split country (Democratic, Republican), so why should any one party get all the decisions? When I hear any congressperson say "the American people want this", I wonder which "American people"? Which half wants this? Our two party system used to serve us well when the politicians would actually agree to compromise. (Ever studied the stories of the the writing of our Constitution? Talk about a lot of compromise!!!!) If we limited everyone to one six-year term, we'd eliminate the root cause of a lot of the problems in Washington today.

Imagine campaigns where huge corporations couldn't buy the election. Imagine our candidates not being indebted to those corporations. Imagine the Congress actually doing the business of the people instead of jostling for camera time which will translate to campaign dollars. Our Constitution was put in place so we would not elect kings (and queens), but unlimited terms and unlimited money seem to be doing just that.

I wrote to my congressfolk to express my frustration with their antics. You should do the same. Here's a link for you to easily email any of your elected representatives: email my rep

If you're interested in starting a drive to implement term limits, leave me a comment or email me. I'd be willing to lead the charge!

More on open- (or closed-) mindedness

It makes no difference to me if my next-door neighbors are male/female, male/male, female/female. If they love each other and want to commit for a lifetime, why shouldn't they get married?

I do not see what possible impact the marriage of same-sex couples could have on male/female marriage. (And before you go "quoting" the Bible on me, be sure you want to abide by all those other things that are abominations. Like seafood.)

Look inside yourself & see if you can find any real reason to be opposed.

With all due respect to Shakespeare ...

... the more pertinent question is "How ought we live?" That's the question all us political philosophers like to debate.

Today I'm thinking about the current talking-heads noise over Paul Ryan's budget plan and it's implications to Medicare. Lots of opinions on that these past couple of weeks. So I come to the question (of the day): do you want to live in a society that takes care of its people, or just leaves them to their own devices? Although I love political debate and welcome all comments, I ask only that you look inside yourself for the answers. Do we want a government that ignores those less fortunate than us? (In this instance that would refer to those that would have no access to health insurance if Medicare became a voucher system.)

Never being one to keep my opinion to myself ... the idea of "each man for himself" makes me think of corrupt countries with corrupt dictators who show no mercy to those who are unable to take care of themselves. Those dictators do not care if their fellow countrymen are suffering as long as they can continue to be in power and live in the lap of luxury. Besides - seems to me that the good ol' U.S. of A. will come in and provide for the suffering. So why are we against helping our own?

Is the system broken? Hell yes. Any system that has been around long enough gets its share of bad apples. But it seems to me that saying we should turn it into a voucher system does nothing to fix the "brokenness"; it's kind of like saying we should all be in jail because some people commit crimes. Maybe if we had socialized medicine ....... just saying.

Dialing down the vitriol by looking inside ourselves

A couple of days ago I read a story about a 16-year old being threatened with rape for daring to criticize Michele Bachmann. (see story here:

http://www.politicususa.com/en/sophomore-threatened-with-rape-for-criticisms-of-michele-bachmann )

I'm not naive about the level of vitriol in our political discourse but I am now way beyond disgusted. Can you imagine the hate it takes to threaten a 16-year old?

I make no secret of being a liberal and no secret that I therefor disagree with a lot (but not all) of the politics of the conservatives. I wish them no harm, however!

Something about Barack Obama has really set off the right, though. There was the Birther issue (now resolved by the publishing of the long-form birth certificate, although there are those that still will remain unconvinced), the "czar" issue (as if this president were the first to appoint a "czar"; he was not. President Reagan created the first drug czar, by the way (although this still was not the first time the term "czar" was used)), and, for many, anything that comes out of Obama's mouth.

The Obama-haters should, in fact, look at the similarities between our current President and President Reagan (who is a demi-god - or maybe just a god - to the right). Many of Obama's ideas echo those of Reagan (leading this liberal to wonder if Obama is a secret Republican :-). So here's my question of the day: do you disagree with the ideas of Mr. Obama, or do you just disagree because it's Obama? Did you disagree when a Republican president proposed the same idea?

In my own small attempt to put some of this vitriol back in the box, I would ask you to look inside yourself and see why you disagree with Obama's ideas. If it's because you have an intense dislike for him, fine: at least admit it to yourself. But if you dislike the idea because of the idea itself, ask yourself if you disliked the idea when a Republican presented it. At least be honest with yourself. I know not everyone can look into themselves this way but I hope at least some of you will try. Maybe then the future voters will not learn to be afraid of voicing their opinions.

Another Infamous Day

Well .... I've been wrong before, and I'll be wrong again, but I think I'm right about this: with no intent to insult my Republican friends, today will be marked as the day that elected Republicans, collectively, went too far.

In a surprise move - that has nothing to do with the budget - Wisconsin went ahead & stripped the unions of most of their collective bargaining rights.

Michigan will now allow a city to be taken over in a "fiscal emergency" (with a way-too-loose definition of fiscal emergency), and then the person that takes over can fire any or all of the elected officials, strip unions of their bargaining rights, nullify contracts, and take over schools.

Republican governors, "coincidentally", have all decided that collective bargaining needs to be done away with (you DO remember reading about life before unions, don't you?)

Florida wants to eliminate almost all taxes on corporations then fire 9000 people to make up for the loss of income.

All of this while giving huge tax breaks to the wealthy and to hugely profitable corporations.

Looks like all the noise about President Obama being a socialist was nothing but a smoke screen to cover up the fact that our rights are being stripped away from us so quickly and so boldly it's frightening. I think all of us better pay more attention, open up our windows, and shout out that we're not going to take it any more. Then .... we have to not take it anymore & keep protesting until rights are restored, the wealthy pay their share, and corporations give back to the country that made them wealthy.

Today's moves are truly disgusting.