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Tag Archives: As I see It

None of Us Really Know


As I read the seemingly endless stream of rails against the President by well known pundits, legislators and half knowledgeables, I am wondering if any of these nattering nabobs have a sense of what being the President is? Without excusing any errors made by this administration, we have a war to conclude in Afghanistan and several “hot” spots elsewhere in the world that have used up time and effort that should have been used in the US for repairing the economy. The Congress (some of them) are looking for POTUS to do something about Syria, Egypt & yes the economy, however rash actions will not help us at all. Sidewalk superintendents have never constructed a building so why are we to believe the sideline Pundits can run the country? It is imperative that all readers of the news, magazines and media viewers understand what being President means and how long it takes to get any work done. We  should remember that all of these things are occurring at the same time. We are experiencing  laws (new and changed) that the second President Bush started, some issues have ended, others have not started. There are some that the current President started but has just begun (the affordable health care act). The initial start has helped many, part of it has been implemented but has some flaws yet these flaws could have been worked out if the Locked bowel Congress would have spent any time in really reading the proposed law and making changes as needed. The idea that our representatives spent valuable time in the media ranting about how bad the act was instead of making it better indicates that our Congress is more the issue that the POTUS. The outright resistance to an elected CIC because?-Race. Party or what? is definitely why we need to replace as many as we can through elections as soon as possible.  How can we believe in elected officials who do not believe in us?  We have for years listened to the political rhetoric, vague promises, adverse statements against the other guy that we have come to think it is true, This is real life not a televised soap opera and there are no commercial breaks or cliff hangers to be resolved next week. I recently wrote to the local newspaper about the printing of nationally known pundits whose agenda does not involve  most of us but still affects what we do. The modern political machine does not exist for the voters, it exists for the politicians and their backers (big money). Think about how many billions of dollars was spent on the last election and how much was received from the public in comparison to what was spent by the “big money”. The only thing we have going for us is quantity, the numbers of average Americans who are willing to vote against the status quo. It may take several election cycles but it can be done.  The question is “do we have the will”?

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How is Your Health?


OK, now I want to present an idea I had  written about before. Obama care, affordable Healthcare or whatever you want to call it is law. There are some parts that are in effect and doing good, some parts have yet to start and have some issues. There has never been any laws that have been perfect but previous legislators (the ones who really were in it for the glory) looked at these laws and made corrections. They debated the different” ideas and made the required adjustments. The current legislators have become engrossed in staying in office and maintaining the status quo of their biggest backers and the constituents who follow their “different” ideas. They have done nothing to improve the law but everything to try to repeal or defund the law to the detriment and harm of the people who are currently being helped by the law. Congress had ample time to do what they should have done several years ago but instead they made a media circus of it with offerings of misinformation as to what it will cover and what it will not. Now the people who should be involved in this are not, therefore making the law ineffective for all. This law was made to assist ALL Americans but our “honorable” Congress decided to “stick it” to the President on the backs of the people. Thank you Congress, each one of you will eventually need the people and we will not be there for you as we will take a page from your playbook. Thanks for the lesson.

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Change IN Reading.


I came across this article while researching “Dixiecrat”. I had complained to the local newspaper about two prominent commenters (“pundidiots”) who under the guise of conservatism have penned articles which appear to me more like segregationists and extreme tea partyists than unbiased reporters (no disrespect to reporters). These 2 (possibly of many) Ann Coulter and Charles Krauthammer have penned columns that would have made Hitler happy. Their unilateral views are not reflective of true American views but they have the forum to advance their views. Any interviews with Coulter has been a war of words where she openly espouses her views to the world even when proven wrong. I believe their objectives are purely to become known for their no wing propaganda which has n more entertainment (?) value than real content.

    Tue, 02/05/2013 – 12:57pm

How Dixiecrats Became Republicans

I’m still shocked (not) at how many Kansans come here to post on political matters and still don’t know about the major shift from Democratic to Republican over civil rights matter and other things in the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s.

It’s a matter of history, a matter of record. You can find it all over the internet in reputable areas. It’s just a fact.

I grew up and registered the first time into the old Democratic Party, which was a remnant of the old Dixiecrat Party. They hated blacks. They hated Jews. They hated Catholics. I grew up listening to it. I personally knew KKK members. In fact, a boy I dated had an older brother in the KKK (big time Democrats). That older brother’s name is online in articles that talk about the Bogalusa Race Riots of the 60’s. He had his white sheet on, with at least a half dozen other KKK members that worked for my father and were at our home a lot. He tried to pull a black man out of a car to beat him up and the black man shot him.

You certainly don’t have to tell me about the old Dixiecrats. I lived amongst them.

Today those same people I knew who hated black people and Jews and hated everything about civil rights are all Republicans. They’re not JUST  Republicans, they’re far right extremists.

I get their emails almost daily – emails full of lies about Obama, with caricatures of Obama and his family – and so much more. Lies, hatred and ugliness that is hard to imagine that a person can carry around in his or her heart.

Kansas, do a little research and find out how and when they all switched to Republican after the Civil Rights laws came around.

You think Eisenhower’s actions mean that the Republican Party is the one for civil rights because you missed a major shift in politics that happened twenty years after Eisenhower. Btw, today if Ike ran for president, the Republican Party of today would not have him. You know it, and I do, too.

Start your re-education on politics by googling Dixiecrats. I won’t do it for you because you need to choose your own source.

Because it was a fluid and changing situation for parties, and really always has been and will continue to be into the future, you won’t find it easy reading, but if you are going to talk politics you need to educate yourself to the history of the parties.

Civil Rights laws passed in the 1950s and especially in the 1960s, were championed by NATIONAL Democrats, but caused splits in the Democratic Party. Many in the South switched allegiance to the Republican Party which was seen as more conservative. With Reagan the shift in the South was fairly complete.

We’re in Kansas, so you might not think that’s important, but surely most of you do know that the base of the Republican Party today is in the south. That’s why you lost the last election. Your party tried to put a man in office who is everything the southern Democrat hates.  Romney tried, twisting in the wind with one lie today and another lie tomorrow, to appeal to both the southern Democrat (who absolutely represents a huge bloc of the Republican votes today) – while trying not to turn the deep pocket Republicans off. It was a Herculean task. It was like Sisyphus pushing that rock up the hill, only to see it slide back down every time. I don’t like Romney because he’s more  Libertarian than a moderate Republican. He wants a corporatocracy to rule America. He’s like Brownback on that.

But that’s not why he lost. He lost because too many old Dixiecrats in the south who now belong to the Republican Party refused to go vote for him.

That’s a matter of record.

As long as your party harbors and gives sustenance to the old Dixiecrats (and they are, by far, no longer just in the south – Kansas is full of them) – your party is not going to win a presidential race, again. The Hispanics and the African Americans and the Asians have woken up. They know now how important a single vote can be.

Will there be shifts in the future between parties, again? Hell, forget the future. It’s happening right now. You’ve got moderate Republicans all over this country dumping the GOP and registering as Independents. It’s only a matter of time that they’ll go all the way into the Democratic Party.

Of course, as history repeats itself, in time the Democratic Party will, like the Republican Party has done, get too full of itself – try to go to the extreme as the Republican Party has tried to do. Then the tide will begin to ebb the other way.

What you need to recognize today is that the parties have had a sea change over the last 60 years. None of us belong to the same party that they were  when Civil Rights was rearing its head – from Lincoln to Reagan.

It’s all different. And from any given year to any given year,  you can find evidence of small ebbs and flows in the parties.

As a Republican, you need to ask yourselves, are you happy being a member of a party that rivals the old Dixiecrats and their Jim Crow laws and attitudes? If so, then stick with it all the way to the bottom, ’cause, my friends, you are going down.

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The Sinking of Sears & Kmart


The gradual downward spiral of 2 well known names and their associated brands is well documented. The real problem appears to be with board of directors and the CEO. None of them appear to be savvy enough to pull these companies out their tailspin. From the viewpoint of a consumer their stores have the look of a used or overstock operation. The current upper management has devastated the working force with pay, benefits and retirement hits. These major changes have done nothing to increase profits but morale has decreased accordingly. Many workers can no longer afford to retire after 30 plus years of work, the health benefits hardly cover basic needs such as annual exams. The stores have had no upgrades in years and are so poorly managed that  the seasonal changes appear more like one long one with clearance  items clogging the aisles. The CEO and board members are surely receiving their compensation as if they are performing at a high level but the real while the real  work force is taking it on the chin. This situation is now one of desperation which could see the end of 2 major national companies and Icons of what America is about. What will happen to the thousands of employees (including management) and the customers who rely on these stores? The burden is on the Executive suite to correct this situation by going back to the basics of retail, which apparently they have forgotten or never knew.

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The Postman Never Rings Twice


With all of the conversation and media coverage on USPS (United States Post Service), I was reminded of a 40’s era movie about a drifter and the wife of a diner owner who become involved in an illicit love affair which ends badly for the drifter. Currently the possibility of door to door postal delivery  ceasing is near. Does this mean that  everyone needs to get a sidewalk postal box? Does it mean that the postman will bundle the mail and toss it over the fence like a newspaper? Does it mean that the postman will leave a notice to pick up your mail in your mail box  (or on the house or sidewalk)?   Would a better choice be  to continue the normal mail delivery and cut out Saturday delivery (except in residential areas). In any case if it saves jobs for the USPS or helps their deficit (which could save jobs) could we bite the bullet and suffer through five days a week delivery? Remember the postman Used to ring twice!

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Coloring Inside The Lines


The continuing coverage of the wide assortment of political and social activists (some of whom are serving in Congress) is enough to a make your head spin. Personally they all scare the heck out of me. The ideas presented have been presented to no seeming end but none of the presenters can meet to flesh out these programs and proposals. The scary part is that they are all closer in context than each advocate can (or wants to) see. If these assorted yet related ideas are this close then why can the advocates not come to an accord? This is equivalent to Coloring inside the lines or outside. Inside the lines make a nicer looking picture but is not always real. Outside the lines shows a humanness due the combined neatness and errant moves outside the lines. What we have in the words from a well known movie” is a failure to communicate”.

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The Rains of Justice


What is justice? Not many of us really know! WE have an understanding of the meaning but it does not necessarily mesh with what we  personally think it is. Justice can be revenge in disguise, it can be causing harm to someone through neglect or over attention or just correction through the legal system. In any case justice is purported to be blind yet is often perceived as biased. The real justice is the justice garnered through legal action and the results making the seeker happy. If the positive result does not create even a temporary euphoria then it may not be justice. When it rains justice (hardly ever happens) then the actual justice may not be justice but merely a result of the presented information being overwhelming even if it is not completely or not at all correct. So goes the justice system as we know it.

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TIred or Should Be.


Aren’t we all tired of ongoing and seemingly never ending media farming and   political rhetoric coming out of Washington? Since the advent of internet, tweets, face book and other electronic media the politicians have assailed us with “their side” of things. During all of the media deluge, where are the results of their so called work in the legislature? These folks can readily appear on TV, radio and give interviews but they cannot seem to do what they are paid to do. They all have staffers who are supposed to do the “grunt” work but it appears that these staffers have an agenda of their own and not necessarily in the public interest. Many of the legislative work is done by staffers so the legislator can get a synopsis of the bill to vote for not, offer changes or other pertinent information. These dilutions result in flawed legislature that “bites” the citizens in the butt. We already have the likes of Bill O’Reilly, Karl Rove (by the way the spelling is Teutonic), Ann Coulter and Mr. Krauthammer  proselytizing the downside of the current administration but every administration has a downside (even Lincoln’s ). Our job is to take an overview of all of the media output and dismiss half, filter a quarter and make a  judgement on the last quarter. This will give you a starting point to be an informed voter. It is the purpose of all of these pundits to sway us to their cause but didn’t Jim Jones and Charles Manson do the same?

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We Know More.


Has anyone noticed that we know more about the workings of our government since Mr. Obama took office. This is  probably due the extensive attempts to foil the President’s  efforts at changing how Washington works, making a workable health care plan and other changes that did and does not sit well with the long serving Congress ( Dupublicans and Scamocrats). Through the constant media blurbs after any Presidential speech, presentation or even just an acknowledgment of a national tragedy, it has become clear that some of us would rather have a poorly functioning government than one headed by a non white. The some are  fewer than in years past yet our elected officials have  not arrived in this century. This is well after  several Presidents who have been competent at the job and some not so competent. Looking at the job itself, there is no manual or list of do’s and don’ts, just on the fly training with a lot of people wanting to be served (sometimes at the detriment of others). What we as voters need to take note of is: Our Congress has  and is spending more time covering what is in their litter box than actually governing. That is enough to pay particular attention to them from now until their next election cycle and we can then send clear messages about what we like and dislike. Given that our Constitution is a flexible document which allows it to used  for all of us and can change as times change. The interpretation is the big issue, some parts are written in stone and others are not. The hard part is to have the Governing bodies really understand the document  as it was written and apply it with the same intent as it was written. There have been and will continue to be challenges to the Constitution but most will fail if the instrument is considered as it was written. My opinion is: The current Congress has failed and been failing for years, now some of the sitters are attempting to use the Constitution to subvert any changes to the status quo (which means any change to “their” status quo). It is my hope that we all (voters) know more about what the Constitution is, how it works  and its content. Please remember the establishment known as Congress will never make any changes to their status Quo (pensions, perks, etc.) not to mention step down at any point or set term limits for their seats. We as citizens are as much at fault as the 500 plus Seat fillers because we  want what we  want and have no thought  of how we get it and what effects it has elsewhere. If you remember 1973 when prices rose to where they should have 15 to 20 years before, we were all outraged but very happy when we were living in a “manufactured paradise” of low prices. Now we know more than we ever knew before and we do not like it but as always the truth is not always pleasant but always the truth.

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Trayvon Martin-Maybe Not My last Word


I was listening to ON Point on Wbur rehashing and adding to the Trayvon Martin tragedy. I have listed the information on this discussion:

Race In America Today_ go to http://onpoint.wbur.org for the whole discussion. I think all of us pro or con should read or listen to it.
Thanks
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