Civil War

In view of recent events, if there were to be another civil war in this country, would it be a huge leap to assume it would be between the political parties as opposed to race or religion? Perhaps Saturday's tragedy in Arizona, including the death of an innocent 9-year-old will cause people to slow down and catch their breath.

Because up to now the anger that is broadcast daily is truly reprehensible. When one hears about "taking back our country" it sounds as if we've been invaded and our government doesn't reflect the will of the people. The fringe of our society, the one's who's brain's aren't wire quite right, then feel its their responsibility to do just that. Violently!

Well, we need to find better solutions than that. Our politicians were validly elected by majority vote (such that we have it set up, anyway). Should our politicians not perform to our nearly impossible expectations, then we will have the right to select those we feel will.

Most of us have a rational view this. However, increasingly many, do not. And their skewed view of our world is consistently reinforced by syndicated talking heads who have no qualms about spewing ideologies that in many cases are without merit. Remember "death panels"? As if this great nation would ever sanction such a thing.

Of course the vomit that shoots out comes from both sides of the aisle. So we must all strive to stop the "sky is falling" mentality and learn to discuss our differences with restraint and as adults. The sky is not falling. Our country will perservere as it always has despite its past political fractures. The next election will almost certainly balance out the perceived flaws of the last one. We can fight with our vote. Anger and hate and feeling that those who think differently from us are inferior is counterproductive. We're better than that.

But then, adult conversation, respect for those who feel differently and efforts to grasp another's point of view don't make for good radio or television, do they?

Creating Jobs

A big political platform, naturally, is job creation. From what I've seen and heard lately the politicians are absolutely creating jobs. Somebody has to make those little signs held up by thin wire posts. The pin manufacturing guy is helped out as is the sticker making company. Lest we forget, the bulk-mailing companies and associated print-shops. Then of course, there's the media experts who film the commercials and the salepeople who sell the radio and TV airtime.

Linda McMahon, the former CEO of the WWE is running for Senate here in Connecticut. Short of being a businesswoman I really haven't seen any credentials indicating she is up for the job. But, she did pledge to spend $50 million to win the seat! We can debate the virtues of ultra rich people buying political posts but, hey, that $50 million went somewhere, didn't it? Much of it paid someone's salary. Way to go Linda!

I voted. Please do so if you haven't. Its flawed of course, but its the best government system in the world!

Now, please - I beg you - no more ads!

Hitler? Really?

Agree or disagree with him all you want, but to compare President Obama and his health care plan to Hitler is a bit much, don't you think? I've seen quite a bit of it on the news recently.

That's precisely why so many Conservative ideas are lost on me. There are good points to be made from the Conservative front just as their are from the Liberal side. And I like to hear counterpoints to any ideas. But there must be a better way for Conservatives to get their points across than fear-mongering and the-sky-is-falling rationale. I realize it drives ratings and gets attention, but the Rush Limbaugh's and Ann Coulter's of the world seem more of a dog and pony show than anywhere near logical debate. They sell books, get ratings and make tons of money. That's fine, but when significant portions of the population buy into everything they say, it seems like a Cult. And that Cult, much like their leaders, don't seem interested in debate much less learning the truth about such matters for themselves. They turn the dial daily to their program and buy into it without question. Its ridiculous. They're certainly not converting anyone, just merely preaching to the choir. And I don't feel their doing much good for their parties either.

Of course, they say Obama supporters are a Cult in themselves. I would disagree on the most part, although a small selection does seem unduly fanatical. However, the majority are people seeking change and are willing to give his ideas a chance. Look, the old health care system isn't working and its getting worse. Ten percent per annum rate hikes cannot continue to be sustained, can they? What's so wrong, evil, and/or socialist about trying a new path? Let's see where it leads and reassess when we get there. MOST people, are still going to be under private health care not unlike what they already have. That message seems to be lost.

As an aside: Isn't primary education socialist on the most part? My daughter goes to a government run school that's funded with Federal, State and Local taxes. Where's the scare tactics and Hitler comparison's regarding that? And, like the new healthcare proposals, the rich will always have their options to go through private means.

I hear talk of getting the government out of health care decisions and on the whole that seems like warranted concern. But is the current solution of huge insurance companies, driven by profits, really better? Are THEY going to look out for us? Hell, many will cover Viagara perscriptions but not birth control? That to me tells me who's in charge of these huge companies. Anyway, its the greatest country in the world with the greatest medical minds in the world. ALL our citizens should have access to it, not just the upper class.

Will it work? I honestly don't know. Will any of Obama's other ideas work? Well, the economy has recovered 40% in 5 or 6 months. Yes, the national debt is alarming but the latest sainted President, Regan, didnt' exactly control the deficit and if I'm not mistaken the only one who's run a surplus, albeit a short-lived one, was Clinton; a "free-spending, bleading heart Liberal". So, lets see how it goes.

We want leaders to lead. Say what you want, this one's leading. Like it or not, he's taken charge from day 1 and has been moving things along quickly. Too quickly? Maybe so. But, lets give him a chance. Certainly he can't fuck it up much worse than it has been.

What's In It For Me?

My sister-in-law was laid off on Wednesday. Poor thing. She owns her own home, isn't married and barely gets by. I don't think she can survive long without a paycheck. I hope she's able to recover quickly and find work so that she doesn't lose what she's worked so hard for. What sucks is when she took this job they requested she give up her own part-time business doing the same thing.

My buddy Paul was laid off right before Christmas. He may have finally found a job, but it will require a commute to New York City. That's 2 1/2 hours folks! Yikes. I suppose he'll be all right and he such a nice guy its hard not to root for him.

I've heard that a recession is when your neighbor gets laid off and a depression is when you do. I'm on firm ground I feel but I'm not as sure about my wife. Life is full of worries and crises but I'm not losing sleep over it.

Having said all that happy, cheerful news, stocks are at least up this week. That's nice. We can't progress upwards without a few days of it to start. I'm pretty confident President Obama has us on the right track and since I'm not retiring for 25 years or so, I'm buying into my retirement cheap. Or so I convince myself.

Now, about the housing bailout stuff. I live in a modest house. We qualified for a house twice as expensive as the one we got but I thought that would put too much strain on us. So we didn't opt for the jumbo mortgage or the 110% financing. We saved, bought a condo, fixed it up tremendously, sold it at a hefty profit and poured that money into our house. I like to be able to eat out when we want to, or buy a new car or have furnace problems that don't break the bank. In other words, live life and be able to handle the hardships. Or at least recover from the quickly.

Of course I work an extra job on the weekends to have extra money and be more financially sound to reduce potential worries.

I work hard. I planned ahead. I stayed within my means. And I'm surviving. Nicely, to date. But my tax dollars are going to help some (not all) people who didn't do that? Does that seem fair?

Listen, I'm as liberal as they come. I support most, if not all social programs. I'm for national healthcare and, frankly, I don't think Americans are taxed enough. But now, my tax dollars are going to be used to perhaps subsidize someone who a) makes more money than me and/or b) lives in a nicer home?

What's wrong with that picture?

Still. I'd rather be me than someone in a McMansion applying for mortgage relief.

Too Dangerous to Start With Politics?

I'm not Mr. Political by any stretch.....but I wonder......

If as a nation, we constantly elect politicians who "won't raise taxes" aren't we in for some really hard times in the future? I mean, the government still has certain expenses that continuously go up (as most expenses do eventually). They will have to still spend money and put our great nation further in debt which in turn means a higher percentage of our tax dollars pay for interest therefore reducing the amount of money available for government needs. No new news there, everyone knows that.

It seems to me, though, that every time the Fed reduces or freezes the amount of income taxes collected it merely means less money being channeled to individual states which in turn means less money for individual towns or counties or what have you. What must states/counties/towns do when they receive far less federal funds? Well, raise taxes of course! Either real property taxes, personal property taxes or income taxes (bear in mind I live in Connecticut). So we all pay the taxes still, it just isn't as noticeable from our paychecks. Yet we vote for the guy who doesn't raise them. I don't know, doesn't make sense to me.

I could also go on and on about the amount of money we spend building and rebuilding up other nations at the neglect of our own....but let's keep it light, lol.