State of the Union and Broken Foot

A friend recently posted a question of Facebook asking friends whether they were like to sit on the right or the left as the watched the SOTU. Most replied they just weren’t going to watch it but one said it would read it thus avoiding listening to applause. Unfortunately that is likely a majority opinion. As committed citizens we just don’t want to be informed but will others digest it for us and give it their spin.

My wife Doreen just recently broke her foot. It seems an apt comparison to Obama’s presidency. Since and even before he took office, numerous members of the GOP vowed to not work with him on anything becoming the party of “no”. Remember minority leader Mitch McConnell in January 2009 saying, “If he was for it, we had to be against it." (It might have been one of his minions, not matter.) Now note that most of the GOP complaints about Obama’s SOTU speech was that he wasn’t acting in a bipartisan way. It’s rather like Attila the Hun complaining the other side just won’t play fair with him.

I have often written about my belief in a strong two party system for a strong democracy. We need different points of view well stated to find common ground to work for the common good. And, it used to be that way. But for the last 30 years we have become more and more intolerant of beliefs other than our own and refuse to work together. In essence the U.S.A. and its elected officials have a broken leg and we just limp along.

Frankly I’m amazed what Obama has been able to do in such a political climate, such as, pass the history making Affordable Health Care Act. But it has been an exception to the rule and was largely accomplished without political compromise.

All of this has created a climate of distrust in the country. Sadly we just don’t trust any political leaders even though are those who honestly work for the good of the people; but they don’t get much press. So, we just say, “You can’t talk about religion or politics” and go blindly on our way. The opposite needs to be true, but it has to be a honest dialogue with people from opposing sides.

Jon Steward probably got it best here  

You add to this mix the dominance of big money taking over the political process making the broken leg worse.

So, we complain and don’t trust politicians, but that does us not good and solves no problems.

We need to ask important questions: How do we create trust in our society? If you were president, what would you do?

The president facing a broken leg congress has made it clear it will go on with programs in spite of a crippled congress. I wish him luck. I pray that members of the GOP will at least get a walking cast and work with him.

But still the big question, what would you do if you were president or a member of congress and what will you do as a citizen of this country?

Can You Tell the Difference Between Real and False Fox News Poll Questions?

1)

2) “In the aftermath of the attacks on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Libya, the Obama administration falsely claimed it was a spontaneous assault in response to an offensive online video, even though the administration had intelligence reports that the attacks were connected to terrorist groups tied to al Qaeda… “Which of the following do you think best describes why Obama administration officials gave false information?”

3) “Do you believe the Obama administration should stop raping and pillaging the FOX news department?”

4) “The Internal Revenue Service admitted it targeted Tea Party and conservative groups for extra scrutiny. How concerned are you that the government’s surveillance program designed to track terrorists using phone and Internet records will be used in the same way to target specific groups and individuals that may disagree with an administration’s policies?”

5) “Do you believe Bill Moyers should stop picking on Rush Limbaugh for his clear concise reporting, rational reporting, and gross obesity?”

6) “Do you think the United Nations should be in charge of the worldwide effort to combat climate change and the United States should report to the United Nations on this effort, or should it be up to individual countries and the United States would be allowed to make decisions on its own?”

7) “Former President George W. Bush stopped golfing after the start of the Iraq war. Do you think President Barack Obama should stop golfing until the unemployment rate improves and the economy is doing better?”

8) “Do you believe the Bill O’Reilly looks much better in pants suits than Hillary Clinton?”

9) “Do you believe that Obama has converted to Roman Catholicism in that he has not labeled Pope Francis a Marxist communist?”

10) “Did Arnold Schwarzenegger call his illegitimate child a ‘girly girl’ in a bid to get back into the affections of his ex-wife Maria Schriver?”

11) Democrats (41 percent) are much more likely than independents (29 percent) and Republicans (22 percent) to say they plan to “watch or listen to the speech carefully.”

12) “In the interest of clarity and openness should we change the Pledge of Allegiance to: “I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the of United States of America, and to the Republicans for which it stands, one Nation, under the Christian God, divisible with liberty and justice for the upper one per cent”?

13) Do you agree with Rush Limbaugh that anyone who believes in God ‘cannot believe in man-made global warming’. ‘They’re [liberals] perpetrating a hoax, …They are relying on the total dominance of the media to lie to each and every day about climate change and global warming.’?

Royal Cats

[The following remarks are from Lamont’s private journal and reproduced here for our readers.]

We cats are psychic you know. It should be obvious to all human servants but it isn’t. Do they ever wonder why we can all show up on a moments notice if a bit of catnip arrives and only one of us is there and moments later we all are enjoying these wonderments? We can easily read human minds, which should be equally obvious. Don’t they ever notice that we can walk closely enough in front of them to practically make them stumble but if they dare but try to kick us out of the way we are never there and they are more likely to fall on their huge hinnies?

In my own particular case I also have the ability to manipulate human minds. As some of you know my full name is Lamont Cranston, and in the comic book world my secret hero identity is “The Shadow.” And, for the extremely well edified even Lamont Cranston is my nom de plume for Kent Ballard. I was a well-known aviator who was a part of the French Air Force during WWI with another alias, “The Black Eagle.” If you are fully confused at this point I, when incarnated as Kent Allard merely assumed the identity of a young bon vivant Lamont Cranston when young Cranston was traveling about the world. I have also been known as Henry Arnaud and Isaac Twambley.

  

But I digress. I merely point out the above information to show the reader of my facile ways of dealing with people and my ability to manipulate them according to my will. Such is the case in these Cat Stories, that my human servant, Meugh (or Hugh as other human critters know him.) I tell the stories to Meugh via my psychic abilities and he merely pens them on his computer. Despite his lack of expertise as a typist as evidenced by his many typos, he serves his purpose. I enjoy sharing my and my sister’s exploits in our household and trust that others have been edified by our adventures and interesting personalities and thoughts. This is all done for the greater good of interspecies relationships.

However, I have learned that Meugh besides sending this stories to his friends he also has published them as an ebook, "Cat Tales", and is expecting what he calls “royalties” from this publication.

This appears to be a great wrong to me. If anyone is royal in our household it is my sisters and I. Meugh and his wife Mewreen are merely our domestic servants, not royals in any sense at all. It is a matter of justice and clarity to show that my sisters and I are the royals and all should know this. We must clarify these mistaken concepts when they occur.

Excuse me for a minute sister Patchtricia is trying to get my attention.

What? Really? Is that true?

Excuse me dear journal, it appears that I have made a small mistake in this monograph. It turns out that the “royalties” in question are not marks of status or social class; they are mere crass remuneration for written material, in this case by some Amazons. I’m not sure why strong warrior women in Asia Minor want to give Meugh money for my stories but so be it.

Nevermind.

Gov. Scott Walker State of the State Address

Gov. Walker got 80 rounds of applause and 42 standing ovations during his State of the State address recently. Expectedly the Republican applauded more than the Democrats (Democrats clapping 32 times and standing ovations 18 times. There clapping was mainly for guests at the event such as Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Gary Wetzel.)

Of course Gov. Walker claims great success in his materialistic vision for Wisconsin in more jobs.  You will remember in claimed he would create a quarter of a million jobs for the state. He reached about 42% of that claim. And he has a state surplus which he wants to give back in tax income and property tax refunds; always popular if not well advised.

So I decided to do a bit of fact checking. Following is some of my research.

Rutgers Reginal Report Issue paper Number 30 August 2012: lists Wisconsin in the 10 states with the lowest private sector job recovery rates.

The Cap Times: Updates job growth numbers but Wisconsin No. 44 among states since 2011 (March 19, 2013)  Check here.  

Chamber of Commerce puts Wisconsin in Tier III (Poor)  on “The Impact of State Employment Policies on Job Growth: A 50 State Review. (2011) 201103WFI_StateBook (1).pdf  Check here  

If you check the recommended sites you will give some very good charts listing details. Unfortunately I could not capture them a pictures to add here. 

Back to the surplus; Gov. Walker had a great opportunity help education which through his efforts is where most of the surplus came from; or not investing in the future of Wisconsin. But that doesn’t sell well, especially with those well-healed backers he has. Walker does not work on income equality and provide plans to help Wisconsinites improve their quality of life and gain a better chance of realizing the American Dream.

A lot of political spin but not much real progress for the majority of Wisconsin citizens.

Walkers address reminds me the of reported Russians newspaper account of a two car race between a Russian Car and an American car. The Headline ran "Russians car comes in second, American car comes in next to last."