Skip navigation

Tag Archives: POLITICS

Michelle Obama on 2016 election


Michelle Obama on 2016 election: ‘What is going on in our heads where we let that happen’
Brooke Seipel 8 hrs ago

© Provided by The Hill
Michelle Obama on Saturday discussed the 2016 presidential election at the United State of Women summit, during which she said she is still reflecting on the outcome and asking how “we let that happen.”
“In light of this last election, I’m concerned about us as women and how we think,” she said at the event. “What is going on in our heads where we let that happen, you know?”
The former first lady was discussing encouraging young women to dream big, and how to reflect on standards for women after Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton lost the election and the United States didn’t elect its first woman president.

“When the most qualified person running was a woman, and look what we did instead, I mean that says something about where we are,” Obama said. “That’s what we have to explore, because if we as women are still suspicious of one another, if we still have this crazy, crazy bar for each other that we don’t have for men… if we’re not comfortable with the notion that a woman could be our president compared to… what, then we have to have those conversations with ourselves as women.”
She went on to add that she wished “girls could fail as bad as men do and still be ok.”
“Watching men fail up is frustrating. It is frustrating watching men blow it, and win,” she later added while discussing standards for women.
During her discussion as the keynote speaker at the United State of Women summit, Obama also touched on the importance of education for women and encouraging young girls to speak their minds.
The United State of Women describes itself on its website as a “national organization for any woman who sees that we need a different America for all women to survive and thrive.”
Thousands of women attended the summit, based in Los Angeles, this weekend which says its goal is to leave women “with new ideas and partners, hands-on training, and the tools and resources they need to make change at all levels.”

Please Donate

Advertisement

Criminals In Suits


The beginning of the war on Americans is about to start. The Ruling administration will show us what the previously seeming anti everything Congress can do for us or to us. The rhetorical time is past and now the actual work should begin. We should remember that the buzzwords do not always translate into action due to existing systems and laws. Newton’s Third law: “For every action there’s an equal and opposite reaction” pretty well sums up how the government will run for the next several years. There are many non collective ideas in the air in Washington which may or may not land during this administration. The onus is on the Congress to do the work they have avoided for years. The old phrase: “put up or shut up” comes to mind as we now watch the events of government unfold. We as voters have an early opportunity in 2 years to change the tone and possibly the direction of the Congress no matter what party is in power. It is well for us to remember that we (voters) have the power to change our government no matter what the candidates for office tell us. If we just keep tabs on what our elected officials are doing, we have the ability to keep government honest(?). A point to remember is that Criminals wear suits too.

Please Donate

Please Donate

Gear Up For Change


The beginning of a change has begun. The recent elections have brought protests across the country but more important is the reality of a Trump Presidency. There are many things the President can change unilaterally but as many or more that cannot be altered without Congress. The real issues (so to speak) are the statements made during the election, the alt-right and Racist groups emboldened by Trump along with the potential conflicts of interests with Trump’s business interests. It must be made clear that Donald Trump has dealings with  many of the countries that he has listed as the cause of lost jobs in America. The campaign rhetoric is out there and cannot be retracted or altered to suit. The issue now is preparing  or perhaps pushing for change in the Congress. The Congress is the real cause we all need to sign on to. The long serving Congress has the sense that their positions are a calling and not a service position (no difference than hotel worker). It is unfortunate that we cannot fire the Congress without an election where the lies sound good but hide what is really happening.  Look at some of the things our Congress has done to persuade (?) us that they are open and above board: C-Span-there is nothing happening on C-span that is of consequence, the real work ids done in the halls and back offices. You may or may not remember when the issue of cameras in the Senate and House of Representatives, there was much resistance to it by Congressional leaders but eventually the cameras were put in place. With the country satisfied on that issue the Congress went underground to continue doing THEIR business, not OURS. If we as ordinary people cannot see the fallacy of this past election and the gleeful hand wringing   of  a Congress that feels they have a shill to do what they want, then we are already lost. I am stating here and now that my goal is to vote against any politician who cannot definitively tell me what they have done good or bad. Sound bites and politispeak  will not work for me and they should not work for you. Congress should!

Please Donate

Please Donate

What The Words mean.


The definitions below should be looked at closely and remembered when the so called representatives of the “American People” come to call (usually election time). Taken in context we are not the power behind the throne so to speak. We tend to blame the President for everything because our local electeds tell us to. If we are the power then we need to become n  more informed about the process of governing including the tax system beyond the annual  April “tithing”. Without taxes the country, state and local governments cannot function. How those funds are spent is the bigger issue. First look at what we pay our electeds- These are the people who enacted a law securing their pay with cost of living increases. Their health benefits are better than most. The cost to keep them in Washington or the state capitol is paid by our taxes. Now before picking up the pitchfork, understand that in a unified front voters can change all of that. First step is vote them out or give them a good scare but if we voters do not step up these electeds will continue the practice of putting us in the barrel. Pay particular attention to the last synonym.

re·pub·lic
/rəˈpəblik/
noun
noun: republic; plural noun: republics
a state in which supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives, and which has an elected or nominated president rather than a monarch.

de·moc·ra·cy
/dəˈmäkrəsē
noun
noun: democracy
a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives.
“capitalism and democracy are ascendant in the third world”

synonyms: representative government, elective government; More
self-government, government by the people;
republic, commonwealth
antonyms: dictatorship
“a multiparty democracy”

btn_donateCC_LG

Please Donate

To The Non Voters


There are many of us who do not vote, have never voted and who are electing not to vote. Voting is the only and best voice you have! That decision to abdicate your right to let you voice be heard is a great boon to the politicians that you so thoroughly dislike. These elected eels dismiss the non voters as unimportant and you feel that your vote does not matter. To explain: unfortunately our 2(?) party system is broken, while we do have a couple of fringe parties, it is not enough that they present different views on the state of the country and by extension the government. If some of us do not vote, their views and yours remain largely hidden and unrepresented. The act of voting has to do with understanding first how Government works (or not) and what effect the action or lack of has on all of us. Politicians who have been in office for a long time will and do say what is required to keep that office, gaining  all the perks they can (or feathering their own nests). Your vote can mean the difference between good government and poor government. You as non voters are relied upon being a constant number  of people whose influence is negligible except as a number  to be subtracted from the general count. In this case you do not exist as a citizen! Forget the electoral college as it has nothing to do with your personal vote YOUR VOTE COUNTS!- I repeat YOUR VOTE COUNTS!. No matter who you support in this Presidential race or any other political race, your voice is your vote and  you need to use it. Good government comes from informed voters.

btn_donateCC_LG

Please Donate

A Bit Of Honesty In A Nest Of Lies.


Ted Cruz is at least honest. His speech was met by boo’s and cat calls however he at this point is one of if not the only honest Dupublican in the party. The national party  with great reluctance and reticence fallen in behind the Donald as the candidate for the Presidency. Many of his supporters are single issue voters who seemingly cannot understand what the overall view is and how the single issue vote can bring other problems along that will affect everyone. Ted Cruz (who was called “Lyin’ Ted) spoke with eloquence about his views and while we may not agree with Cruz overall, he has allowed that Donald trump is not the best choice for the party long term. Mr. Cruz is an outsider in Washington and while being radical in a radical party he is at least maintaining his stance on his beliefs. There are several (if not many) Dupublicans who are (distantly) tacitly supporting the nominated candidate for the Presidency. I would like to think these semi supporters are distancing on moral grounds but the reasoning is more about being elected. Our greatest power as voters is first paying attention to these opportunistic office seekers who are no more than fair weather representatives.  These are the office holders who have done nothing for us and continue to cover their poor records with self serving lies and assertions. Politicians who talk about what they have done rather than show it are all suspect and need to be vetted each time they are up for election. Our votes as far as I am concerned are like currency and needs to be spent wisely.

Please Donate

Please Donate

Reevaluating The Kochs


Recently The Koch’s stated that they are not and would try to stop Trump. The well known backers of outlier Super Pacs have decided to sit this election out in the sense of not backing anyone as the candidates of their personal party of choice are too awful to back. Even these staunch conservative supporters are pushing back against the extreme rhetoric of the Dupublican runners. Is it possible given the people they have supported previously, the Koch’s are not as bad as we think? Yes they have funded super pacs and backed the unfettering of unlimited political funding yet both major party’s have used this unlimited funding to gain or keep elective office. The question arises: Who is worse? the funders or the fundees? Suppose as an extreme unlikelihood, those huge amounts of money were used to build infrastructure, eliminate poverty or provide jobs. Our focus at this time needs to be on who we elect in the smaller elections which will put other people in the State houses and Congress. New people  at each election cycle will over time move the old guard out and show the willingness to vote poor performers out. This is the power that voting has and that power is in the hands of the people.

Please Donate

Please Donate

Disengenuous Benefactors


Ongoing issues of politics and public ranting’s cover the scope from real truth to outright lies and every nuance in between. We have people who are spending billions to gain an office that pays a pittance in comparison. These funds are used to essentially “buy” votes not by paying voters (even though many of us could use some of it), but by the use of media advertising, space rental and door to door solicitors. All the while the media assault drones on and on, before and after the public debates. The messages while essentially the same they are only different in the small details. Each candidate is basically a disingenuous benefactor by design or in error. Some have great intentions but no means of fulfilling them. Some have the means but have not the judgment, intention or proper advisors to fulfill those intentions. The encircling force in this is the long serving and mostly do nothing Congress. I have stated before and firmly believe that our Government is being controlled by a 535 disingenuous benefactors who have and always contend that they are doing what best for the “American People” yet they never ask us what we think is good for us. What they have done for years is “tell” us what’s good for us in spite of many letters and communications from us actually telling them what we want. We all (the American People) want basically the same thing: good Government that does what is right for all of us, a government that tells as much truth as possible and be willing to admit to mistakes. We all would like to be properly represented according to our regional needs and not on narrowly focused issues selected to garner the most support and votes. We as voters have been bombarded by BULLS**T for years while our elected (we elected them) pimps continue business as usual and ask us to support what they do under the guise of “our best interests”. We need to stop the practice of “sleep voting” and determine our own future by electing new people and be prepared to out them in the next election if they prove ineffectual. The idea of term limits is a great sound bite but that power in the in the hand of the voters. You know -“the American People”!

Please Donate

Please Donate

The Little Stuff


With all of the attention being paid to the Presidential Race not enough of us are paying attention or thinking about the activities of the smaller elections. These smaller or less publicized activities around the country. These  small events are the real things that  shape our Government. The Congress is elected in these small statewide elections. The current Congress is made up of people who were elected and re-elected on a State level. This semi-annual elected return to Washington by the States is the biggest problem. Each of these Representatives uses local issues to stay in office while doing something different on the big stage. It needs to clear to all State voters that their representatives do not and will not represent them as long as their big donors pour money into their campaigns no matter what the candidate says to their faces. For instance Coal is a polluted form of energy which is being phased out by manufacturers and producers but the Coal States representatives use the decimation of Coal as a talking point to be re-elected. This bit of misleading  information is just one part of the bigger lies that people are told by our “representatives” for their own ends, not for the people they purport to represent. The American people that the political pimps are so fond of quoting seemingly have no idea what these guys are actually doing and maybe they (we) don’t) want to know. The key to better Government is better representatives and the use of the vote to change them when it is required but this will only happen when we (voters) look behind the proverbial curtain. It’s the Little Stuff that makes the difference.

Please Donate

Please Donate

 

Outside, Inside Track


As we enter phase 2 of the 2016 election season the gloves appear to be off. In New Hampshire the latest dust up has several candidates at  each others throats. All of this to get to the stage of  being the candidate of choice for which ever party. This is without a doubt one of the most raucous campaign in a while and pretty diverse.  These aspirants are now actively attacking one another in any way at all. It is quite unfortunate that we have to have this type of infighting and muck raking in order to select (not chose) a person to run for the Presidency. It seems that too many of us do not understand how “Washington DC” works. The first thing to keep in mind is “no President can get anything done without Congress, I repeat NO PRESIDENT can get anything done without the Congress! With that statement it is reasonable to consider closely who we elect to represent us in Congress. These are the law makers and only act on bills presented by committees and or the President. It is easy to ask, beg or demand actions on our own personal desires but often those desires do not work as much for us as it does for the Representatives we elected to do what we want.  Think about politics as a Circus-the purpose is to present a show with a variety of acts that amaze, inform and many times fool us. Your real mind understands the concept but your entertainment hungry mind ignores all reason and accepts it all. Enter election time theatrics, if you look at each race as a competing circus act, you will see that the most thrilling acts will gain more attention but in reality have less material worth. We as voters have made own beds in that we have owned this quasi infotainment electioneering. Since the advent of TV politics we have just sat back , laughed, cajoled hated and loved the candidates while viewing this serious process as entertainment. The reversal of this awful process is simple, as voters you’re going to be assailed, cajoled and often assuaged with rhetoric ranging from I’m like you, I’m smarter than you and I am the same as you. Do not be fooled by these words , in the end these are no more than Snake oil salesmen who you know are out to get as much from you as possible while giving you something of often lesser value. Your only protection is read everything you can about the issues and keep in mind that just because you do not agree with other views it does not diminish the value of that view and could possible enhance yours. I have been a voter for a few years  now and have learned to look at several aspects of the races including any available information on the candidates but the one thing I have found is critical to who they are and that is their history before and after they were elected. Do your homework and you will become the type of voter who will not be fooled by Politispeak!

Please Donate

Please Donate

%d bloggers like this: