Monthly Archives: October 2012

Whose Freedoms?

October 31, 2012

I read the angry letters on opinion pages in the papers and on political blogs conveying a concern that under Obama our freedoms are being removed and our way of life destroyed. Yet as one who lives among those making such ominous threats, I’m not seeing any of it. At least not in the ways these anti-government, anti-Obama types are claiming

At age 63 I’ve awaken each morning of my life to find my basic freedoms are still intact after all of these years. You would think though that this wouldn’t be true based on some of the claims those on the right have been making since Barack Obama took office. As a white male, much hasn’t changed for me, but that’s not always been so with minorities, the elderly and women in the American social culture. Only through the efforts and struggles of others have we eventually seen gains made for these groups during the civil rights era of the 1950’s, 60’s and early 70’s.

Jim Crow laws in the South were found unconstitutional and affirmative action opened the ways for blacks to gain access to all institutions of higher education. Many of the elderly and poor children no longer fall into poverty thanks to Medicare/Medicaid that helps cover the high costs of health care which many couldn’t afford. And women gained the right to control their own bodies following the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade that would allow abortions for all women who had been raped by a stranger or relative, or simply wanted to end an unwanted pregnancy that occurred at a weak moment when passion overtook sensibility.

Yes things remain the same for me but it looks like there are those who want to take us back to the bad old days when women, the elderly and minorities are being expected to resume their inequalities.

FREEDOMS BEING THREATENED

Voter Rights

Republican governors and legislatures and right-wing extremist groups have been working overtime this year to get measures past that would suppress the vote for many and serve to reinvigorate a 21st century version of Jim Crow.

Republicans have proposed voting restrictions in a majority of states since 2011, including strict voter ID laws and limits on early voting and voter registration. Though many of the laws have been blunted, confusion about voting requirements could still make it harder for many Americans to exercise their right to the franchise. At the same time, the Tea Party group “True the Vote” — which has been accused of voter intimidation — is pledging to send one million observers to polling places on November 6, and has been filing largely baseless lawsuits to purge voters from the rolls. SOURCE

Ten states have been singled out by Steven Rosenfeld, author of “Count My Vote: A Citizen’s Guide to Voting” that have gone beyond mere efforts to require all citizens to have photo IDs to vote. All of the research has conclusively shown that voter fraud of any consequence does not exist, yet many conservatives have been convinced by GOP operatives that restrictions like picture ID’s are essential for a free and fair election.

People for reasons of health or choice who no longer drive won’t have a pictured driver’s license. Many people who have lost everything in this recession and now find themselves homeless have lost their personal records these states now require to register to vote, like a birth certificate. In some states gun owners can use their registration certificates to vote where out-of-state students with picture IDs can’t. There are also efforts to inhibit opportunities by limiting early voting times or reducing the number of voting places, especially in poor neighborhoods. Such restrictions are aimed at imposing burdens on those demographics that are likely to vote Democratic.

Depriving the economically disadvantaged.

Despite the claims of Paul Ryan in the vice-presidential debates, neither Social Security nor Medicare are going bankrupt. Yet this premise is part of a long time scheme by wealthy financial interests in order to get their hands on payroll tax money that funds these safety net programs. The promises of Wall Street are alluring but anyone watching the volatility of the markets today can see that security of investment is not guaranteed, unlike the returns on the Social Security trust fund.

These privatization efforts by the GOP are also seen as a means to reduce the elderly’s Medicare and Social Security benefits through a variety of tricks by raising retirement ages, using a different formula for establishing the cost of living allowance (COLA) and worst of all, enticing unsuspected younger voters to buy into the notion that payroll contributions into Wall Street towards their retirement are safer than the secure system that has served the needs of seniors beautifully for 75 years.

One third of the retirees in this country depend solely on their Social Security benefits to pay out-of-pocket costs for housing, food and medicine. By itself Social Security benefits will not sustain the elderly in a fashion they are accustomed to so other retirement investments need to be considered by people currently in the work force. But Social Security should not be excluded from anyone’s retirement plans.

Today’s youth need to be very leery about the promises of privatization that have robbed many a 401k pension of funds that retirees were relying on to buy that retirement condo in Florida or that 4-week cruise around the world. Take it from someone whose done this and is there now. It ain’t cracked up to be what the claims say. Investments deductions from your paycheck in the market are unreliable, unlike those deductions that have traditionally ben deposited in the Social Security trust fund.

Women’s Rights

But I guess what is perhaps the most egregious affront to me, as it should be with everyone, are those actions by people who claim to be grieved about losses of personal freedom yet who want to control the bodies of women and forbid them necessary medical attention that could in fact prevent the very thing that many of pro-life “reformers” claim they are against – ABORTION.

By creating barriers for many poorer women to purchase contraception through their insurance providers, some employers, along with the support of local and state governments, are in fact inviting unwanted pregnancies that may well result in abortions. And though the pro-life camps have always vigorously fought to repeal Roe v. Wade there were those who were still willing to allow abortions in the cases of rape and incest, along with saving the life of the mother. But that’s changing now. Today there are many, including Republican vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan, whose interpretation of scripture claims that God uses even a brutal rape to promote new life and that to abort the effects of this crime against women would be in opposition to a plan these Christians are willing to attribute to someone who even they claim they cannot understand at times.

So when I read and hear opinions from those who bemoan our loss of freedom, I know that they are NOT talking about women, the elderly and minorities. I am equally certain that they are not speaking for all older white guys like me either unless of course you are part of that wealthy 1% who owns 40% of the nations wealth. That 1% who are focused on their portfolio returns from corporate profits gained in large measure by sending jobs overseas to cheaper labor markets and avoiding their fair share of taxes by manipulating legal schemes for placing profits in off-shore and overseas accounts.

Claiming that taxes and regulations are hurting them from investing more to create new jobs is extremely misleading. The 1% has seen their earnings and profits sky rocket while most low and middle-income wage earners have seen stagnant or reduced wages. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, though the U.S. Corporate tax rate on the books is one of the highest in OCED countries, the “effective tax rate” that they actually pay after many deductions, credits, and other mechanisms by which corporations can reduce their taxes, is significantly lower than many other capitalist nations. Another report in an October analysis by Bloomberg in 2011 showed there were actually fewer new regulations under Obama than under Bush and yet we hear the hue and cry of people who are sitting on billions claim that their trickle down policies won’t work until such taxes and regulations are cut even further.

Such views are not a part of our reality so I can only conclude that these people live in another world. One where real freedom exists only for white, male property owners and where clean air and water are abundant, uncontaminated from industrial pollution. There was a time in our early past when this was the norm. Could it be that this is the world of those who support Romney/Ryan want us to relive? Is THIS the America they want to recapture?

Hey! I’m a white guy who owns some property. Why should I care? Perhaps because if one person is unduly harassed and oppressed by stronger, wealthier interests we are all on the hook to ensure that democratic principles which began over 225 years ago are not slowly eliminated in piecemeal fashion, leaving us with a system of government that is once again concentrated in the hands of an elite few.

The Morning After

Posted by lbwoodgate in Social Discourse

11 comments

This Is For Real Folks!

October 29, 2012

Will the choices we make November 6th be based on reality or fantasy

Reality meet Fantasy

Well at long last we’ve arrived at the final week before the Presidential elections and the outcome looks like its going to be a close one. Most people have made their minds up and supposedly there are still a few holdouts that haven’t been able to determine where the candidates stand on issues they feel are important to them. Really? Did they just return to Earth last week or have they been ignoring all political commentary and the debates for better TV fare like Real House Wives or Pawn Stars?

The economy is still the biggest issue for most people and many are basing their choices on how well they think Obama has handled the mess he inherited from the Bush White House. Thanks initially to Bush’s Secretary of Treasure, Henry Paulson, Wall Street is prospering while many on Main Street have yet to get past this recession. Yes, I know. Obama has carried out the second part of this bailout but he didn’t completely abandon Main Street either.

Many voters will be unduly influenced by the distortions and lies they hear from the right about taxes being too high (they’re lower for 98% of us than they’ve been in fifty years) and debunked notions about Obama’s birthright and political philosophy. Despite bringing many Wall Street types in to fill cabinet and administrative posts and continuing the Bush-era use of torture, keeping Guantanamo open and accelerating the use of drones in Pakistan, Obama is portrayed by the right as a radical who wants to impose sharia law. Beyond all of this I have heard comments from people I love very much that Obama is weak because he “bows to foreign rulers”. George W. can walk hand in hand with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia but if Obama extends a cultural courtesy to the man one time, as he did at the 2009 G-20 summit in London, he is somehow demeaning the stature of the American presidency?

Adding fuel to the doubts of some about Obama’s legitimacy to be president is a film recently released with the hope of exploiting this absurdity. The movie, “2016: Obama’s America” written and directed by Dinesh D’Souza, is what one critic calls a “shaggy, piecemeal right-wing screed” and a “crude and sloppy … piece of campaign-season partisan hackwork”. Part of the film deals with D’Souza’s attempts to exploit the fear of those duped by the nut-case, Orly Taitz, who claimed she had proof of Obama’s birthright as a Kenyan only to find out it was a forged, amateurish document.

But D’Souza’s scheme is much grander than Taitz as he tries to make the outlandish link between Obama’s “socialist” father and some anti-colonial notion that he inspired his son to spread around the world, I suppose that in the event he would someday became the leader of the free world. After all, what father doesn’t think his son can be President of the U.S. So what if the father in this case was an African national who gave his son an endearing American name like Barack Hussein Obama. Some just dream deeper than others. Others critics of this film have equally debunked the premises of D’Sousa’s.

Not wanting to be outdone and insuring that his ego doesn’t suffer, Donald Trump is back in the news again challenging Obama’s academic creds. “The Donald” is a bit of a joke to even most conservatives so I won’t waste a lot of space on this here, but will encourage you to read Jean Calomeni’s Snoring Dog blog piece about this moronic move by the reality TV host.

Obama slams Trump on Tonight Show

I fear that well-intentioned people have been led astray by these huckster’s and to the likely detriment of our democracy in the future. I have a young friend who posted the following on his Facebook page:

“I don’t care for Obama or Romney but Obama had his turn and didn’t do that good. So Romney it’s your turn buddy! Please do better then(sic) what we had to deal with the last 4 years!”

I just want to shake the young man and tell him that this isn’t a crap shoot. This is like thinking your luck at a casino will change if there’s a different card dealer. Learning all you can about poker is more apt to benefit a player than picking someone the casino selects.

Like so many others who have listened more to the angry and unfounded claims of political pundits rather than using legitimate fact checkers and reading a variety of sources that haven’t had their credibility tainted, my young friend is fixing to make a choice that has long-term consequences. If in fact Romney gets elected and carries out his campaign strategy and promises, this young man’s grandmother’s prescription drug costs will rise once Obamacare is shut down and the “donut hole” comes back.

His own parents’ medical costs will be negatively impacted when they reach the eligible age for Medicare in about ten years if this safety net program becomes the voucher program Paul Ryan wants it to be. He and his children will suffer the ugly consequences of climate change that are so connected to the increase of CO2 from fossil fuels having failed to implement policies that would convert to cleaner, renewable energy sources sooner. We’ll all be getting a demonstration of this as Hurricane Sandy makes it way along the East Coast. It will start to come inland today and meet another massive storm, becoming what weather forecasters are calling a “frankenstorm”. This monster storm that will impact anywhere between 50-60 million people has possible climate change links from global warming.

The climate change link may be more than just more precipitation. A 2010 study found“Global warming is the main cause of a significant intensification in the North Atlantic Subtropical High.” Climate Central’s Andrew Freedman explains a possible influence:

Recent studies have shown that blocking patterns have appeared with greater frequency and intensity in recent years….

While it is not unusual to have a high pressure area near Greenland, its intensity is striking for this time of year. As Jason Samenow of the Capital Weather Gang wrote on Wednesday, the North Atlantic Oscillation, which helps measure this blocking flow, “is forecast to bethree standard deviations from the average — meaning this is an exceptional situation.”

I don’t want to disrespect anyone’s decision on why they are voting for the candidate of their choice but I would find greater respect for those who do so for more concrete reasons based on careful study and conviction of beliefs. In E.A. Bucchianeri’s novel, Brushstrokes of Gadfly, his fiery, idealistic heroine Katherine makes this observation:

“…they say if you don’t vote, you get the government you deserve, and if you do, you never get the results you expected.”

As important as voting is in a democracy, it is informed voting that will garner better results and ongoing participation in the political process that ensures any likelihood that you’ll get the government you expected.

There will never be an ideal candidate that meets each person’s criteria and values and the 30-second ads during the campaign are not aimed at informing you about what you need to know. Democracy is a group effort and one that extends beyond the voting booths. Voting for or against someone because you don’t think he is American enough, or christian enough or hasn’t provided a silver bullet to make everything better is unfair to those of us who have studied the candidates and make choices based on the realties of this world as we best see them.

” … if describing what you want to see happen without providing any specific policies to get us there constitutes a “plan,” I can easily come up with a one-point plan that trumps Mr. Romney any day. Here it is: Every American will have a good job with good wages. Also, a blissfully happy marriage. And a pony.” Pulitzer prize-winning Economist Paul Krugman

To emerge out of one’s emotional cocoon and make a long-term decision that comes from plutocratic influences and narrow ideological views is a fear that the framers had immediately following the days this country joined the world as its first democratic-republic. To make a farce of it is to shame us all with those people around the world today who so desperately want to experience what it is like living under anything other than an iron fisted ruler.

Six Facts About Mitt Romney’s Plan

Posted by lbwoodgate in 2012 Presidential Elections Tags: Barack Obama, choosing a candidate, Donald Trump, Henry Paulson, myths we take to the voting booth, Orly Taitz, political realities and fantasies, Romney, uninformed voters, Wall Street

12 comments

What’s In a Name?

October 26, 2012

The depressing state of the current political campaign has been so egregious that even I can’t weigh in much longer. However that doesn’t mean we can’t have a little fun with this silly season. In the vein of the bible decoding scams I started playing around with the letters of the presidential and VP candidates’ last names to see if there was anything striking that could be divined from them. I know. Get a job right? If only.

Anyway, I was a little surprised that with the limited choices I had at how well the words I could create seem to reveal prophetic traits of the candidates.

The only rule I made for myself was that I had to use ALL of the letters of their last name to form real words.

So starting with the VP candidates here’s what I came up with

BIDEN – In Bed Politically speaking, when you are in bed with someone you are supportive and aligned with their ideas and policies. OMG! Does this speak directly to Biden or what? As Obama’s Vice-president Biden has been nothing but a loyal advocate for the POTUS.

RYAN – Now this one is really prophetic. Who is Paul Ryan’s role model? AYN Rand

Romney = R Money (Republican money). Need I say anything more other than what this 1984 photo of Romney’s Bain Capital group conveys? (Take my word for it. Those really are conservative greenbacks coming out of their orifices)

Obama – A Moab. We all laughed at the Tea Party-types when they chided Obama supporters for treating him like the anointed one but check out this revelation.

Moab was the illegitimate offspring of Lot’s daughter who became pregnant by having sex with her father after she and her sister got him drunk. Ironically, Moab was the patriarch of the line that eventually gave us King David and ultimately Jesus himself. One can only conclude, with the logic of Orly Taitz, that the messiah has returned.

“Whoa! It’s Really Him”

Posted by lbwoodgate in Humor Tags: Ayn Rand, Barack Obama, bible decoding, campaign 2012 political humor, fun with names, Joe Biden, Mitt Romney, Moab, Obama, Orly Taitz, Paul Ryan, Republican

10 comments

What a Difference Four Years Makes

October 23, 2012

The presentations by the candidates in last night’s presidential debate should have removed any doubt who has the foreign policy strengths. Obama made distinctions that Romney could only agree with.

In 2008 Barack Obama’s critics said that he was an “empty suit” compared to John McCain on foreign policy. Though it was an ugly assessment it had great merit at the time. Obama ‘s national political experience was fairly nascent in 2008 and his foreign policy savvy was almost non-existent. Had the country not been so determined to shuck the failures and abuses of the Bush administration, which by default fell on any GOP candidate for President, this foreign policy weakness could have lost it for Obama.

Fast forward to last night’s foreign policy debate with Mitt Romney and you see a Barack Obama who has mastered not only the language of a foreign policy expert but who has a broad and in-depth understanding of the matrix that is critical in setting policy here and abroad to sustain a position of leadership in global affairs. Gone was the “empty suit” that many accused him of being in 2008. Yet when Mitt Romney clearly displayed a similar weakness last night, as he has this entire campaign, supporters raved how well he displayed a “leadership” image.

Style, not substance, all of a sudden became a ringing endorsement for the crowd that always liked to point out how the GOP had the foreign policy creds. And it was this approach that apparently seemed to be the card that the Romney campaign wanted to play based on the political spin put out by his operatives following the debate. During the debate many conservative commentators were lamenting Romney’s performance.

David Limbaugh asked on Twitter, “Why do these advisers tell Mitt not to go for the jugular? Why? Laura Ingraham was essentially doing the same – Romney using kid gloves ag[ain] — WHY?!” The ever vivacious S.E. Cupp thought that “Obama is making laughable, easily argued points. But Romney’s not effectively arguing them.” I find it presumptuous for anyone to say there is any “jugular” there. Even Romney’s attacks on Libya are falling apart.

Afterwards conservative pundits were trying to portray Romney as “restrained” while painting Obama as agitated and overly aggressive. Some of us thought we saw the reverse of a Presidential debate #1 and yet conservatives now view the candidates differently. Looking presidential was more important than attacking your opponents weaknesses.

Try as he did to come off as a poised leader, Mitt Romney was often flustered in how to respond to foreign policy details posed by President Obama

Comments were similar by Romney supporters who went to the blogs to present their views on who they thought won. It was an obvious defense for a man who had now become the empty suit of the campaign. His ideas were neither fresh nor pertinent. His cold-war state-of-mind seemed to think an Iran with nuclear weapons was our greatest national security threat (something they are years away from by the way) yet who had told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer back in March this year that Russia was “without question our number one geopolitical foe” On this, Obama had perhaps one of the best one-liners of the night. “The 1980s called, they want their foreign policy back.”

What was clear about the Romney strategy last night was that since he was a light-weight compared to the President on foreign policy, his goal became, which many say he achieved, not to get entangled in details he has no knowledge about. His one strength was to try to connect a weak economy with a weak foreign policy effort. But the President was ready for him on this issue to. Obama pointed out how Romney leans towards sending troops back into Iraq and appears too eager in suggesting that boots on the ground may be required in Syria and Iran. “After a decade of war, I think we all agree, we need to do some nation-building here at home,” the President told the audience in his closing statement.

Tying Romney to a cold war, militaristic approach nullified, I thought, any attempt on Romney’s part to assure many voters, especially women, that he would not be quick to send our sons and daughters back into harms way. This point could have been driven home more vividly had Obama pointed out that the members of Romney’s foreign policy team are essentially the same who helped define the “preemptive strike” doctrine of the Bush/Cheney era.

[On] July 12, Governor Mitt Romney [was] attending a GOP fundraiser hosted by former Vice President Dick Cheney at his home in Wyoming. It’s fitting, really, since Romney has called Cheney a “person of wisdom and judgment.”

[When Romney was considering] possible running mates, it’s worth remembering that he pointed to Dick Cheney as the “kind of person I’d like to have” working with him.

Out of Romney’s 24 special advisors on foreign policy, 17 served in the Bush-Cheney administration. If Romney were to win, it’s likely that many of these people would serve in his administration in some capacity — a frightening prospect given the legacy of this particular group. The last time they were in government, it was disastrous. SOURCE

Perhaps Romney’s performance last night did present itself to many as a calm leader who would not cave under the stress of global conflicts. This is indeed a quality that exudes leadership. But knowledge and decisive action speak louder than appearances. Obama has demonstrated this capability, along with a cool-headed demeanor, and was convincing as commander-in-chief in last nights debate. Once Romney opened his mouth it became apparent that he was more concerned about having his feelings hurt by Obama while coming across as agreeing more with the President than as someone who has any bold new approach for addressing crises around the world.

If it were appearances we were going for instead of knowledge and certainty then this image of Romney would be appropriate

Horses and bayonets’ is the hot new meme

Posted by lbwoodgate in 2012 Presidential Elections Tags: Barack Obama, conservative commentators, Dick Cheney, empty suit, John McCain, Mitt Romney, presidential debate #3, romney's foreign policy team, Romney's foreign policy weakness

12 comments

The Sound of Heads Exploding

October 22, 2012

I awoke a little later this Sunday than I usually do, having a restless night and not falling asleep until close to 2am. By 7am though I was up and preparing my usual Sunday breakfast of two eggs, hash browns, one strip of bacon, two breakfast patties, an English muffin, a cup of coffee and a glass of juice. The patties however were a veggie product, though I did let the bacon grease drift over to them in the pan they shared.

After the morning’s feast was laid out on the table for consumption I opened my local Sunday newspaper and previewed the headlines before heading to the editorial page. The editorial column caught my eye but before I could get engrossed with what it had to say I began to hear dreadful noises that sounded much like watermelons splattering against brick walls. The sounds were faint but they seemed multitudinous and spread out all around me.

I went to the windows to see what I could but there was no visible signs that would clue me in to what was transpiring, so I went back to my breakfast and newspaper to finish what I had started. Then it dawned on me as the impact of what the editorial comments were conveying about the local Denton economy as to what that god-awful noise was. It surely was the heads of right-wing extremists exploding when they discovered that their fantasy world was coming unraveled. How? I’ll let the editorial comments draw that picture for you.

“Recent reports reflect a promising picture for Denton County’s economy.”

The comments go on to point out how there has been “significant gains from the first quarter of 2012 to the second quarter in sales [of real estate] as well as median and average prices.

In addition, the number of pre-owned homes on the market in Denton County has dropped 38 percent in the past 12 months.

Automotive sales are also up year over year, according to Freeman Auto Report.

[The City of] Denton’s unemployment rate dropped to 5 percent for September, down seven-tenths of a percentage point from August. In September 2011, the city’s unemployment rate was 6.3 percent.

In Denton County, the unemployment rate dropped to 5.6 percent, also down seven-tenths of a percentage point from the prior month. In September 2011, the county’s unemployment rate stood at 6.9 percent. SOURCE

Though not the economic news that would elicit such euphoria, the recent revelations of recovery are indeed something to celebrate rather than scorn

This indeed is good news for my local community but it appears that Denton is something of a microcosm of what’s going on around the nation.

For the first time in six years, the residential market is expected to add to U.S. economic growth in 2012. New home sales are up 28% from a year ago and new construction is running 35% higher.

The long-awaited recovery in the devastated real-estate market was a long time coming, but it finally looks like it’s here to stay. Barring another recession, most economists expect sales and construction to continue to rise steadily over the next few years SOURCE

Retail Sales beating forecasts support U.S. Growth. The 1.1 percent advance followed a revised 1.2 percent increase in August, the best back-to-back showing since late 2010, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. The median forecast of 77 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a 0.8 percent rise.

“This keeps the economic expansion moving forward,” said Dean Maki, New York-based chief U.S. economist at Barclays Plc. “Consumer spending is continuing to grow solidly.” SOURCE

The Franchise Business Index increased by 2.2 percent from September 2011 to September 2012, marking the industry’s best year-over-year gain since the Great Recession began in December 2007.

A drop in the unemployment rate, coupled with a slow but steady improvement in small-business credit conditions, contributed to the gains. SOURCE

Now this good news still doesn’t ignore the reality that unemployment is still at a traditional high and that wages and benefits for most American workers hasn’t realized significant growth over the last few decades but it is indicative that things are turning around from the nightmarish times of late 2008 and early 2009. As we all know the economy was tanking and government bailouts with the financial sector and the auto industry had to be implemented to prevent a death spiral that would have taken us to the depths of the Great Depression that we saw in the early 1930’s.

But based on the ominous uttering from many right-wing contributors whose letters on this editorial page asserted that we were headed for even worse conditions and that another four years of an Obama administration would take us over the edge completely makes these positive economic revelations a true cause to celebrate rather than to fret our lives away.

To be clear, those doom and gloom types assured us that unless we removed Obama from office and inserted the glossed over promises of trickle down economics that is being touted by the Romney/Ryan camp, we would, in the words of one letter writer, miss our “last chance to remain free, to save our country and ourselves.” Today’s economic positive news flies in the face of another assertion by a writer who shares the views of many who oppose Obama, saying that “A vote for Obama is a vote to continue down the road to ruin.” If this “road to ruin” continues, by the end of a second Obama presidency we may well be out of the Great Recession that we found ourselves in at the end of George Bush’s terms as president.

One can only hope that maybe these prophets of woe and misery will now see that their fears were unfounded after all. I mean, how can you refute this logic in light of this economic good news for Denton, a model that likely serves as a microcosm for most other cities in the U.S., even Paul Ryan’s hometown of Janesville, Wisconsin that has seen a drop in unemployment from 13.9% in Aug 2009 to only 8.6% in Aug this year.

Oh wait. I forget these people live in another world detached from reality. These positive numbers will likely be turned on their heads and will be declared, as were the recent job numbers and polls showing Obama ahead in the presidential race, as something being twisted by the “liberal media” and the gubermint of that Islamic socialist, Barack Hussein Obama

Obama to Romney: “Those 12 million Jobs you’re claiming will happen without you.”

Posted by lbwoodgate in Economy Tags: Denton County Texas, Denton local economy, doom and gloom economic prophecies, housing starts and retails sales are up, Obama, u.s. economy improving

12 comments

Why I Still Support Barack Obama

October 17, 2012

My comments below were documented about 6 hours before last night’s 2nd Presidential debate took place and have not been altered as a result of anything either candidate conveyed during the debate.

I have issues with Barack Obama. Many of us on the Left do. But in the heat of a tight campaign race I am not going to attack my choice for President and thus help someone who I feel will do greater harm to our economy and the future of our planet. I wish there was this pure ideal of a candidate out there that many people thinks exists, but there isn’t and we all need to get past that.

We have a two-party system that doesn’t always give us the candidates we want but it does allow our participation and it falls on more than simply voting for whoever wins the ticket to create a government that was the envy of the world when it was inaugurated back in 1789. I realize the Roberts court with its Citizens United decision has made it more difficult by allowing larger amounts of money into politics to influence voters. For at least the last 150 years, the plutocracy in this country, with the aid of the courts in some cases, have diminished the original concept of a government for and by the people of this land. But the system does still work if we put more than a faint effort behind it. So until it doesn’t, I’ll do all that I can to prevent people like Mitt Romney from making choices that can hurt me and almost every other American.

Mitt Romney will double down on the Reagan/Bush policies of trickle down economics and kill what gains we have made since January 2009. His uncertainty about whether or not the climate science is sufficient is a joke in light of the abundant data available to him and presented by a significant consensus of climate scientists. The guy makes a rash call on what took place the night the Libyan embassy was attacked before the intelligence is even conveyed to the commander-in-chief, yet somehow he doesn’t have the capability to assess the legitimacy of man-made global warming? Only a fool would subscribe to such a weak notion and I do not want to waste my vote on a fool.

There’s a certain amount of noise being made by those who have bought in too easily the imagery that has been created by the religious right, the Tea Party, FOX News commentators, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Ann Coulter and right-wing blogs like Breitbart and The Drudge Report who want to portray the president as un-American, a Muslim jihadist sympathizer, a socialist/communist/fascist, and yes, even a racist. They’ve regurgitated this nonsense so long that they have bought into it so completely, now accepting it as unquestionable and can’t understand why anyone would consider voting for the man.

Here then, not laid out necessarily in any hierarchical fashion, are the reasons I will vote for Barack Obama instead of the Republican option.

1. He has a broader constituency he considers when making public policy compared to Romney’s narrower concerns for the wealthiest 1%. He doesn’t belittle and give up on people he feels certain won’t vote for him.

2. He gets it about “man-made global warming” and though he hasn’t moved fast enough to act on what he knows, he will not be the immovable object Mitt Romney will be on this.

3. He understands that reducing taxes and cutting public sector jobs deprives the U.S. treasury of revenue for paying down our national debt and that free market principles alone will not create the job growth we need at this time.

4. He is more willing to promote clean, renewable energy as a part of an energy and jobs policy to become oil independent rather than Romney, who wants to open up more dangerous exploration for oil in offshore deepwater and under arctic ice.

5. He has shown that he is serious about reducing health care costs in this country where the Republicans have NEVER made any serious effort at this. Who wants to vote for a candidate like Romney who supports repealing the one piece of health care legislation that has at least made a dent in one of the highest expenses consumers have to deal with today?

6. He has a better feel for what poverty is really like, growing up around it and at times having lived on its threshold, making something of himself despite the absence of traditional parents. Many growing up under these conditions and feeling alienated as a mixed-race child might have given into drug addiction and a life of crime. Instead, the man has fulfilled the American dream and created a stable family life that serves as a role model for others.

7. He supports the free-enterprise system but also understands that it is subject to human weaknesses, requiring sufficient government oversight to protect those who would suffer abuses from greedy corporate interests.

8. He shares my view that values tradition yet understands that the Constitution is a living document and subject to the interpretations of the ever changing social dynamics as opposed to the rigid concept of “original intent” that claims to know what the framers over 200 hundred years ago thought would be best for the general welfare of this nation today.

9. He’s more willing to sustain a lot of what belongs to the public commons rather than turning it all over to the for-profit private sector.

10. He’s shown greater concern and support for public education while Romney and the GOP work with wealthy special interests to privatize education.

11. He fulfilled the spirit of compromise more than the GOP who refused to work for the common good and allowed itself to be hi-jacked by a radical element that voted NO on everything that didn’t meet their strict and narrow criteria.

12. I feel safer that he is less likely to send our military troops into harms way and doesn’t alienate other cultures and nations with an obnoxious level of American exceptionalism.

13. He doesn’t show the disdain and indifference for science that too many in the GOP do.

14. He thinks women should make equal pay for equal work.

15. He thinks the American worker deserves a minimum wage

16. He too thinks it is dishonest and selfish for people of great wealth to hide their fair share of taxes in off-shore and overseas accounts while voting against a livable wage for the rest of us.

17. His tax rate is more comparable to mine than Romney’s 13% and has shown ample evidence of this in releasing years of tax records to Romney’s one and half.

18. He hasn’t threatened to restrict civil rights in the form of banning gays in the military, creating a constitutional amendment opposing same-sex marriage and insisting women‘s bodies be invaded to support extremist pro-life views.

19. He supports a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians where Romney sees “no hope” for this.

20. With four of the nine members of the Supreme Court over 70 years old, the next occupant of the White House could have the opportunity to appoint one or more new justices. Don’t want Romney adding more Scalias and Thomas’. Think what would happen to Roe v. Wade

As I mentioned earlier, there’s a lot of money out there in politics and this invariably opens the door for corruption and influence peddling. When you look at both campaigns however one thing sticks out with the Romney campaign – they’re getting much more larger individual donations. In August, the average donation was $58 for the Obama camp. Ninety-eight percent of donations were $250 or less. Romney’s campaign has not been that forthcoming on what their average donation is but it is clearly higher than Obama’s . What little I did find on Romney’s was in this AP report where representatives said “about 94 percent of its donations came from people who gave $250 or less.”

You get a better idea how much more each donor is giving when you look at state and local coffers. In San Antonio the average contribution to the Democrat’s campaign was $135 while Romney was pulling in an average of $681 per donation and in New Jersey Obama’s average was $149, compared with an average of $802 for Romney. Opensecrets.org also shows Romney’s top contributors are outpacing Obama’s. Even more glaring is how many billionaires have lined up in the Romney camp.

What also repulses me about electing a Republican as President or even for dog catcher is their brazen attempts to eliminate qualified voters by pushing voter ID laws. Voter fraud is a fear mongering tactic used by those on the right and most of them know that the threat of in-person voter fraud is wildly exaggerated.

So I am voting for Barack Obama even though my vote won’t carry much weight in Texas where the GOP is sure to walk away with all the electoral college votes. There are caveats to my reasons and imperfections that can be pointed out. But they are insufficient to make me think that Romney would be the better choice. Should Obama be successful in gaining a second term then I will spend as much energy challenging his decisions I object to, like continuing the practice of torture, privacy right violations and his deadly use of drones. Issues that few Republicans would find fault with.

As president I understand that he may feel the need to continue such practices, seeing the world from a vantage point the common man or woman can’t. But if we have learned anything from the Bush White House’s reason for taking us to war in Iraq, it is that we shouldn’t hesitate to challenge the Executive branch’s claims that rationalize calls to war or human rights violations. Actions to defend any national security interests should be based on the highest legal & moral standards, not the influences of wealthy, powerful self-interests.

Posted by lbwoodgate in 2012 Presidential Elections Tags: American plutocracy, Barack Obama, corporate influence in politics, ending social security as we know it, equal pay for equal work, legalize same sex marriage, Mitt Romney, Republicans, Romney, Romney and the wealthiest 1%, universal health care, voting for Obama, vouchers for Medicare

20 comments

Can I Sell You Some Cheap Ocean Front Property in Yuma?

October 15, 2012

Hey young people! A word of caution for those taking the bait being offered by the Romney/Ryan plan to Privatize Social Security & Medicare

After being laid off in the fall of 2009 and concluding that at age 61 I was not going to get rehired in the severe recession competing with 5 other applicants, I decided instead to take the money in my 401k I had earned over the last 18 years, pay off all of our bills except the mortgage, roll the remainder into an IRA and go into to semi-retirement. I figured I could find some part-time work that would allow me to have a little spending money and within a couple of months I would be eligible to collect early Social Security benefits. I’m thankful my wife still has what seems to be a secure job as a registered nurse for the local school district because with both of us out of work this could have gone south real quick. Luckily too, both of our adult children are out on their own and are doing relatively well for the time being. It wasn’t what we planned for our lives but then things seldom work out the way you want.

We were more fortunate than a lot of people who found themselves unemployed in this Great Recession. I know, I know. The recession is actually over and we’re waiting for the job situation to recover. Wall Street is making record profits but Main Street has yet to fully recover. We could have been one of those poor souls that lost their home and health care coverage along with their jobs. But a monthly stipend from my IRA and $1500 a month in Social Security benefits along with my wife’s salary allows us to maintain the resources we need to remain solvent. Now if our luck and what savings we have will only last until we die.

Until earlier this year I was able to afford health insurance by adding myself to my wife’s benefit plan. But that changed when the school district replaced the insurance provider to keep costs down after state funding started drying up from the budget planning failures of Texas state legislators. The deficit the state faced last year “was created by a deal to lower property taxes while transforming the state’s business tax. It has never generated as much money as expected.”

When the new policy raised premiums and deductibles while lowering benefits, it became a financial impracticality to pay nearly $400 a month to keep me on it. This was my mothly premium but the new policy didn’t cover expenses until I cleared a $3000 deductible. I have instead been tucking a large part of that money into a separate account and using it sparingly until I am eligible for Medicare late next year. We keep our fingers crossed that a catastrophic health crisis doesn’t occur before then.

But I digress. The point I want to make here is to alert Americans, especially those in their twenties, thirties and forties, to view with suspicion the Romney/Ryan plan to privatize Social Security and make Medicare a voucher system. Despite Paul Ryan’s claim as being “indisputable fact” that bankruptcy for both of these safety net issues are inevitable, evidence by more rigorous authorities say nothing could be further from the truth. According to information put out by The Progress Report

[T]he possibility of Medicare going bankrupt is — and historically has been — greatly exaggerated. In fact, if no changes are made, Medicare would still be able to meet 88 percent of its obligations in 2085. Social Security is fully funded for another two decades and could pay 75 percent of its benefits thereafter. There is also an easy way to ensure the program’s long-term solvency without large changes or cuts to benefits.

What is an indisputable fact is that these programs that were instituted to keep more people out of poverty and serve as a means of last resort for people who fall between the cracks in our economy have been attacked by wealthy financial interests since their inception. In his book, The People’s Pension, Eric Laursen has detailed how specific politicians, lobbyists, and groups “have waged a steady battle to discredit and undermine” Social Security. They have aggressively pushed proposals to cut, privatize or dramatically transform” this trust fund for elder citizens.

Wall Street has been trying to get their hands on the billions in the Social Security trust funds for years. They assure us that putting your money into the stock market will see greater returns than what you’ll see after decades of payroll deductions applied to the government-managed system that has reliably paid benefits for more than 75 years. In his article, The Solvency of Social Security, Stephen J. Foster, Jr. points out what should be an obvious fact even to the casual observer.

Wall Street is known for gambling with other people’s money which has led to the Great Depression in the past and the 2008 recession. If you have a 401(k), you have experienced firsthand what can happen to your retirement portfolio when it is entrusted to Wall Street. People with IRA’s, 401(k)’s and other types of retirement accounts watched helplessly their savings disappear as the stock market took a historic tumble.

After clearing most of my debt and depositing the remaining $140,000 from my 401k into my new IRA on January 1st, 2010, the DOW was sitting at 10,428.04. Last Friday it closed out the week at 13,328.85, which was down 281 points from what it started at the beginning of the week. The DOW has gained just over 2900 points since I opened that IRA. My investments were primarily low risk investments. However, when things really started looking bad after Republicans refused to raise the debt ceiling in 2011 and the country’s credit rating was lowered as a consequence of this dysfunctional action, I shifted everything into the safer areas of bonds and money markets.

We all know the stock market is volatile and that there will be ups and downs but even with my safe investments that were being handled by a professional money management agency I have lost roughly 4% of my overall investments into the stock market from the time I opened my IRA account. Clearly Wall Street has done well while my resources are losing ground.

A 4% loss over three years isn’t much when you are just beginning your life and putting some away in your twenties or thirties but for those of us who are at retirement age or getting close to it such losses hurt, especially as your health deteriorates from age and the costs of health care and insurance increase faster than the rate of inflation.

Ups and owns in the stock market are expected but over a 40-50 year period you can realize significant gains. But when our economy takes serious hits like it did in 2000 and 2008 people like myself watched their 401k’s take tremendous losses. My 401k lost a third of its value in each recession. I never did fully recapture those losses before I was laid off in 2009.

I worked 18 years building up a retirement fund and under normal circumstances would have accumulated about $350,000 at the rate I was going. Instead, because of two economic recessions within 8 years of each other where the DOW lost more than half of its value nine months before I was let go, I wound up with less than half of that. How much more would I and others have lost if the economic crisis reached Great Depression levels? Perhaps all of it.

The only people who really do well in the stock market are very wealthy people who can afford to take the losses that occur when hard times hit. The average investor is likely to suffer irreparable economic consequences at the most vulnerable times in their life as an aged retiree. Stephen J. Foster rightfully points out that once the wealthy financiers get their hands on your money they offer no guarantee that you will come out ahead. In fact, in rough times when markets are down, as your investments dwindle they lose very little because they are using your money to gamble with.

People like Romney and Ryan like to tout the notion that people can do better when they manage their own money but they would be hard-pressed to find evidence of that with most people who work all their lives. Unless wages allow enough to stick aside most people live from paycheck to paycheck to make ends meet. And we all know wages for 95% of wager earners have not kept pace with the top 5% over the last 30 years.

If the payroll deductions for Social Security and Medicare were eliminated low and middle-income families would indeed have a little bit more money in their pockets but it wouldn’t necessarily go into a savings or a retirement plan in an economy where prices are rising faster than most people’s wages can keep up with. As much as it may hurt during those times when families are struggling to provide basic essentials for themselves, without the deductions going toward future social security benefits and health care coverage, adult children would suffer even worse, especially during economic hard times, when faced with caring for their aging parents down the road.

So I would ask all those young people who Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are appealing to – are you willing to risk this small percentage of your earnings each payday in the uncertainty of a volatile market or put it towards a financially secure, long-term investment? If you opt for those markets, how much time and energy do you think you will have to make sure your investments are as sound as they can be? When even professionals fail to read the tea leaves in the markets each day, how much better will those of us with an untrained eye do making such decisions?

When asked in a recent interview “Why should younger people of lower- and middle-incomes be especially concerned about Social Security?” Eric Laursen conveyed the following:

So many of their traditional sources of retirement income are eroding. Millions of younger workers will not be able to rely on employer-based pensions or from sales of their homes. Also, the stock and bond markets, which were supposed to be a vast new source of wealth through 401(k)s and IRAs, are treacherous. Health insurance costs and student loan payments eat away at what savings they’ve managed to acquire. Employment itself is a lot more volatile. Social Security is the one thing they have that is guaranteed. SOURCE

It’s a pipe dream to believe that the volatile stock market offers more security for the average working American than a secure fund backed up by the full faith and creditof the U.S. Treasury. One that wealthy investors want you to believe in order to increase their own capital wealth. By itself it will not meet all the creature comforts many people are used to but for an average worker, Social Security replaces about 40 percent of annual pre-retirement earnings, constituting about two-thirds of income for the average older beneficiary. Even more revealing is the fact that Social Security amounts to 90 percent or more of the income for one-third of seniors.

Making the government look like a bogey-man on this issue is part of a deception to extract even more of the remaining wealth from the 98% so when they lose their life savings and have to fall back on vital government assistance programs, they can be accused by people like Romney of being “dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them” rather than accepting responsibility for the failure to be honest with the American people about the risks involved with privatizing Social Security and Medicare.

Social Security is Under a Fierce Attack From Wall Street

Top Ten Lies About Social Security

The great Social Security lie

Historical Background and Development of Social Security

Posted by lbwoodgate in Medicare/Medicaid, Society and Politics Tags: 401(k), future of social security and medicare, Individual Retirement Account, Medicare, Paul Ryan, privatizing social security and medicare, Romney's 47%, social safety nets threatened, Social Security, Wall Street

9 comments

Are the Oakland A’s a Metaphor for What America Was?

October 12, 2012

A’s win the American League West Title with one of the greatest comebacks in baseball.

It was a heartbreaker for me to watch the Texas Rangers implode the last month of this season. Like other Rangers fans I was looking forward to a three-peat of the World Series with the Texas team going all the way this time. But as fate would have it, their old patterns resurfaced as their bats and pitching became ineffective. They were leading the American League West pretty much all season only to lose it to a scrappy Oakland A’s team that spent half the season at or near the bottom of the division.

Oakland won the last three games of season against the Rangers and clinched the division title in the final game, doing it in style by coming back from a 5-1 deficit in the 4th inning and winning with an impressive 12-5 score. In their playoff series with the American League Central champs, the Detroit Tigers, they came back after being down 2 games to none, they tied the series up 2-2, winning the 4th game 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth inning, after being down 3-1.

Unfortunately this remarkable effort to become a World Series contender from a team that has the lowest payroll in MLB baseball fell short last night as the Detroit Tigers were able to take their 5th highest payroll team and end Oakland’s fantastical rise to the top with a 6-0 win. Yet there is still much to be said about how this team of relative unknowns came as far as they did this season.

The A’s have represented baseball at its best and serve, I think, as a metaphor for life itself. This game use to be about heart, not salaries. About team work not prima donnas. About natural adrenaline, not steroid-induced heroics. About the collective effort not the self-interests of individuals. When you watch a team like the A’s beat the odds you have to love them for that trait that makes any of us remarkable – a passion for what drives us. To achieve what they have done with so little fiscally is to take nothing for granted and not see yourself as anything less than the best.

Adversity is but a road bump for those who see themselves going to the heights rather than as victims who are unable to move past disappointment. The A’s didn’t make it as a group of individuals with their own ambitions and the need to fulfill only their self-interests. Each man didn’t make the team because they were the best but because they had heart and someone was willing to give them chance to see where it would take them. They didn’t succeed alone but were successful because the other 39 members of a 40-man roster were there to catch them when they were weak and to fill the voids that happen incrementally throughout a season, career or an entire life.

I was hoping the A’s make would make it all the way to the World Series and walk off with that trophy. But even though they are not they have shown us all that success is more than just a personal will to win. As important as that is, it is still just a piece of a team effort that requires the stronger ones to carry the weak when needed with an ultimate goal of pulling everyone in that direction that makes them all winners.

I hope we can all learn something from the efforts of the A’s and see that working together is vital for success. When we put ourselves outside of the what’s best for all people we may have personal records that we can show off to others but we can’t parade that alleged exceptionalism around as a nation. Not while fewer and fewer people are living the American dream that once existed and only those at the top of the income tier are seeing gains.

Posted by lbwoodgate in People Tags: american exceptionalism, American League West champions, Oakland Athletics, overcoming obstacles, team work vs. individual effort, Texas Rangers, World Series

3 comments

Obama to Romney: “Those 12 million Jobs you’re claiming will happen without you.”

October 11, 2012

The title of my essay suggests that the President himself has informed Mitt Romney that he is on to his little deception but I am in fact writing vicariously for the President in the hopes that he takes this baton and effectively carries it to not only his next debate with his GOP opponent but for the remainder of the campaign as he travels through swing states talking to voters.

Voters need to make sure that Romney isn’t employing some legerdemain when he debates the president

Following the first presidential debates in Denver, GOP candidate Mitt Romney put a spotlight on himself that continues to reveal how he is misleading the American voter, not only in his claims about his own abilities but in how he is misrepresenting President Obama’s job creating policies.

Mitt Romney has made the economy the centerpiece of his campaign and has tried to make a case that not only has the President’s policies not worked but that they will make things worse if he remains in office. Romney has also assured us that if he is elected he will use his business skills to bring jobs back and reduce the deficit without raising taxes. In order for voters to buy into this they will have allow themselves to be mesmerized by the trickery Romney and his VP choice, Paul Ryan, will be performing for the remainder of this election year.

Ignore that man behind the curtain

If the President’s policies were not working and were in fact making things worse, then we wouldn’t be seeing the opposite of what we were experiencing during George Bush’s last year.

[O]ur economy and financial markets went into a tailspin in the second half of 2008 due to the consequences of conservative economic policies aggressively implemented by the Bush administration.

Compare this to the economic situation today:

The U.S. economy has added jobs for 31 consecutive months

The economy has been growing since June 2009

Manufacturing has been on the upswing

Corporate profits have risen sharply

The stock market has added healthy gains

Foreclosures are finally falling

Household wealth is continuing to expand

Instead of a second Great Depression, the actions of President Barack Obama’s administration resulted in our economy exiting what became known as the Great Recession of 2007–2009 within the first six months of his term. - SOURCE

Watch, as I create jobs out of thin air!

“See, nothing up my sleeves”

Mitt Romney claims, “If I’m president, I will help create 12 million new jobs in this country with rising incomes.” Really? Romney says he can achieve what only Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton have and will do it in 4 years rather than the course of two terms Clinton and Reagan needed to achieve this.

That’s pretty bold stuff. Romney has always viewed himself as something of a hero riding in to save the day. His successes at Bain Capital, passing Universal Health Care in Massachusetts (Romney-care) and the 2002 Winter Olympics may make this a justifiable view of himself. But his achievements with these were perhaps more a factor of his fiduciary skills. The claim that he will help create 12 million jobs is more a sleight of hand move that involves something he hasn’t had a hand in and which has essentially already been set in motion without any Romney heroics.

12 million new jobs will occur with or without Romney, according to several reports by Moody Analytics, the economic firm IHS Global Insight as well as the CBO’s own analysis. Strange that this is forecasted and Mr. Romney has yet to step foot in the Oval office. Romney’s imaginary part in this only comes about if he wins in November and finds himself in place when this all materializes. Voila! His promise of creating 12 million jobs comes true. But it comes true not for actions he took but for merely showing up.

These analyses likely do not take into account an Obama loss that allows the GOP to repeal Obamacare along with their failure to address the debt ceiling issue that could well push the economy over the “fiscal cliff”. Then that 12 million figure would likely drop dramatically according to the CBO’s analysis. Hundreds of thousands of jobs could be lost in the first two years alone if Romney implements most of his draconian budget cuts.

What this job creation projection does is to debunk the claims made by Romney and the GOP that Obama’s actions have not improved the economic quagmire he inherited. Though factors are in play here that no single person can take credit for, it becomes clear that if unemployment is reduced to the projected 6-7% figure by the fourth quarter of 2016, it will have done so by actions Obama has taken that have been anything but hurtful.

“ … GDP grew by 1.7 percent in 2011, producing nearly 1.6 million jobs. This is net of nearly 300,000 jobs lost in the public sector, thereby reflecting a private sector that is experiencing sustained, if not vigorous, growth.

A stronger above-trend economic recovery is not expected until 2014, after which several years of healthy growth are forecast. Thus, in the mid- to long-term, real estate markets should experience full recovery. This recovery should also lead to new supply ..

While a modest improvement from 2011, the coming year is forecast to experience continued gradual recovery, with anticipated job creation of about 140,000 per month. Longer-term, growth should accelerate. The previous employment peak should be achieved in 2014, and the unemployment rate should fall below 7 percent in 2016.” SOURCE (emphasis mine)

Obama and the Democrats have less than four weeks to convince voters who were impressed with Governor Romney’s performance following the first debate that there exuberance is based largely on distortions and lies. Unless they can convince enough people that the change they think they will get by returning the power back to the GOP is simply more of the same policies that created the great recession in the first place, this country will devolve into an economic morass that will take at least a decade to recover from. The writing is already on the wall as we watch conservative austerity programs dragging Europe down as it prevents a faster resurgence of our own economy.

And now for a side show

Watch the Daily Beast’s video of Hankeygate showing Romney employing a little prestidigitation that could violate the debate rules forbidding the use of any props, notes, charts, diagrams or other writings

Hankeygate

Romney Has No Real Jobs Plan

Posted by lbwoodgate in Social Discourse Tags: Barack Obama, fact checking romney's claims, GOP, Mitt Romney, Obama, political tricks, presidential debates, Republicans, Romney's job creation plan, romney/ryan magical mystery tour, slight of hand figures, voodoo economics

8 comments

Who’s Skewering Whom?

October 9, 2012

In a predominantly Christian culture, why do some continue to stir up the notion of “persecution” when they carry their beliefs too far?

Shooting for humor, I posted an anecdote this last Sunday that poked fun at Georgia Republican congressman Paul Broun and his interpretation of the bible and the venue he used to give his sermon. But of course what comes across as wild-eyed imaginings to some are dead serious claims by those who make them. It doesn’t make any difference that there is no factual basis for some of these claims. All that matters to “believers” is that, well, … they believe it. “The Bible says it, I believe it, that settles it.” Such contrived assurances fit nicely into their world view of things and it gathers strength when you get affirmations from other like-minded people as Broun appeared to be getting from his audience.

It’s not an argument that any non-believer really wants to get into with a religious believer. Because they have an ancient tradition on their side and a thinly credible counter argument of some “biblical authority”, you would be hard pressed to correct any rigidly held beliefs by them. But Broun makes the mistake of asserting an assumption that has no biblical authority and that flies in the face of some evidence about science that even many Christians have come to accept at varying degrees.

All that stuff I was taught about evolution and embryology and the big bang theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of Hell. And it’s lies to try to keep me and all the folks who were taught that from understanding that they need a savior. – Rep. Paul Broun, R-Ga.

It would be a stretch at best to link any bible verse to support Broun’s notions that evolution, embryology and the big bang theory are from the devil. Embryology is not even a theory or belief system but a scientific field of study that’s been around formally since at least 1827. But interests in embryonic development began with Aristotle hundreds of years before Christianity and the notion of a savior became part of popular thought. It doesn’t challenge the belief in Jesus as a messiah. It simply helps describe the marvelous development from egg to human fetus which Christians are always fond of celebrating. So why the disparagement of this from Broun?

Let the Flogging Begin

Fundamentalist views have always held that if you were properly indoctrinated with church dogma and later found a different way of thinking that only Satan and his minions could have persuaded you from rejecting biblical truths. I bought into this myself at one time as a devout “born-again” christian with the aid of C.S. Lewis’ excellent story telling in “The Screwtape Letters”. Even within the Roman Catholicism I was raised in, the Church taught us that ours was the one true branch of christianity. As my Dad used to put it, “they’re called Protestants because they protest the original church founded by Peter.”

Christians, which count for nearly 80% of the U.S.population, often cry discrimination when some of the fundamentalists elements within try to lay claim to neutral territory, raising objections from the other 20%. Much like the white settlers that came here from Europe and claimed land that was long held as the domain of various native Indian tribes, Christians today also impose themselves in the public domain that is shared by other faiths and systems of belief. They simply didn’t then or don’t today see themselves as intruders but as rightful heirs to some divine manifest destiny. A sense of righteousness often overshadows the reality that theirs is a system of faith not indisputable fact and forgets to allow others the same privilege of putting their system of faith on top of their hierarchical pyramid of choices. Point this out to them however and the wails of “persecution” ensue.

For people like Paul Broun to suggest that the science of embryology along with the theories of evolution and the Big Bang are the work of the Devil denies that people like me can make that transition out of the faith based almost exclusively on the church’s own historical record. Even the great intellectual apologetics of C. S. Lewis could not overcome the skepticism that eventually developed within me as I studied the origins of my faith in great detail. As a strong advocate of the faith years ago and a serious student of history, I discovered in my attempts to fully understand the evolution of Christianity that the institution itself was flawed and their alleged bedrock claims of superiority are marred with historical distortions and jockeying for power within the larger social context.

This revelation was not viewed by me as an attack on some unseen God that may or may not exist but on the church’s position that their insights and only their insights cannot be challenged. The dogma that has layered over the original core values the earliest Christian groups held and the organized authority of the church over time has created a barrier between the simple truths of “the man from Galilee” and postulations of those who now claim to speak for him.

It’s not that Christians in various parts of the world are not discriminated against by various elements in other cultures but should such persecutions be used to make false parallels in this country? Only in the U.S. where all other faith systems are dwarfed by Holy Mother Church is it alleged that a very small minority of non-believers are crushing the powerful influence Christianity continues to hold. The bible and its stories do in fact convey a sense of belonging and can nurture those lost souls whose self-serving values demoralize them and those they are close to. But when notions become ingrained that allow intolerance and promotes fear, any true disciple of Jesus would have to ask, “who is it here then that is really from the pit of hell”?

If the truths that are claimed to exist in the Bible are infallible then any challenge to them cannot stand up to scrutiny. Yet this is in fact the weak position many Christians like Broun have put themselves in by relying on ancient texts written by the men of that age to speak to future generations whose world is a far cry from the times the words were first laid on papyrian documents. There are many relevant messages of hope in scripture but there are also assertions that declare women as property, legitimizes slavery and killing a disobedient child. If these are infallible truths why aren’t Christians today following them? (not that many wouldn’t like to, I feel)

Scholars have found numerous errors in the Bible

To claim that the bible is “the inerrant word” of God fails to account for the fact that Cain found a wife in the land of Nod shortly after being banished by God. (Gen.4:16-17) If Cain was the first child of the two original human beings where does this woman come from? And did God rearrange the universe following the battle between the Jews and the Amorites where supposedly the Almighty stopped the Sun from rotating around the earth until Joshua and his troops had avenged themselves upon their enemies.(Jos. 10:12-13) If the Christian God is the same “as he was, is now and forever will be” how could his word be in contradiction with certain realties?

People like Broun who hold positions of power in government and declare they will enforce “God’s law” over everything else share that characteristic we see in rigid theocracies like that of the Taliban or in iron-fisted rulers by atheistic despots like Stalin and Pol Pot. If free will is indeed an inherent part of biblical teaching then what gives Broun and others the right to force their views on those who have equally strong beliefs that contest them?

Legislating Morality – Do rush to judgements hurt the character of religion?

Back in 1985 John Denver testified before the Senate Committee for Commerce, Science and Transportation on what he saw as censorship by the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) formed by Tipper Gore and other Washington wives to ban offensive lyrics that referenced sex, drugs and graphic violence in the music of that era. In his presentation Denver pointed out how some radio stations banned his song “Rocky Mountain High”, thinking the lyrics were violating a FCC censorship order about promoting drug use. Denver also claimed that some theaters refused to put the name of his movie, Oh God! on their marquees as did some newspapers ads for the movie out of concern that it may be viewed by rigid fundamentalist as “irreverent”.

If God is really in control then why do religious fanatics undercut this belief by legislating morality? I was raised to believe that we need God, he doesn’t need us and yet the actions recently taken in many conservative state legislatures aimed at forcing unwanted pregnancies to occur is done by those who claim to be acting on God’s behalf. Is the omniscient and omnipresent God of the bible no longer effectual or too overwhelmed where he was once capable of counting the very hairs on our head and placed more value on each of us than any one sparrow?(Matt. 10:29-31)

As a society it can be destructive if we all act on our own self-interests. Cohesiveness is vital for survival and this often entails finding good leadership and allowing ourselves to follow their lead as it serves our need for survival. But we are not sheep and when claims are made to herd us in to a robotic, Stepford-wife direction, then it becomes necessary to raise this concern and challenge those views that would enslave our free wills.

The bible, I found, does indeed have lessons for life and can serve as a guide for many who are as children. But as we mature we are able to look outside the bounds that an individual or an institution has set for us when it no longer seems to meet the reality of our time. Women and certain cultures are not second class citizens as ancient scriptures declared. Nor are claims of “abominations” legitimate when referring to gays today from a view held by people who believed at one time that the earth was the center of the Universe, believing that this too was the will of God.

Science is a method, not an all-powerful force or an absolute measure of what exists. It is an assortment of peer-reviewed fields of study that seek to make sense of the physical realties in our world and offer reasonably sound answers to phenomena that were once thought to exist only in the realm of the ethereal or metaphysical, such as the sun being pulled around the earth by a charioteer.

Christians can be both scientist and followers of biblical concepts and principles but they can’t claim one has preeminence over the other based on outdated data and ancient texts. They must assert themselves in light of the here and now and speak to people in a way that allows them to identify with the information both sides present. Insisting that what one has to offer should not be questioned is not a path that leads to truth but one that leads to suppression.

A couple of years ago I spelled out in an article why I could no longer practice the faith of my fathers. I concluded it with this which seems fitting for this essay as well.

“If I were to re-write that part of John in chapter 3 that posits Jesus as the final solution, I would do it in the way that I now understand it. For God so loved the world that he sent people into the world like Jesus to serve as a light and a guide to lift you up and fulfill the life you have been given. You are a slave to no man and you are above no man. It is love for the life I have given you and the companionship of others that will strengthen you in times of stress. Without love your existence has no meaning. Without sharing you are the lowest of all species. It is through your interconnectedness that true salvation is found”. - How I Learned to Move Beyond the God of My Religious Upbringing

Religious Right-to-Life, Meet Religious Right-to Kill

Posted by lbwoodgate in Religion/Science Tags: alleged persecution, Bible, Big Bang, Catholic Church, Christian, Christianity, embryology, Evolution, God, inerrant bible, Jesus, Paul Broun, religious discrimination and intolerance, rigid fundamentalism

11 comments

Monthly Archives: October 2012

Whose Freedoms?

Yes things remain the same for me but it looks like there are those who want to take us back to the bad old days when women, the elderly and minorities are being expected to resume their inequalities.

FREEDOMS BEING THREATENED

Voter Rights

Republican governors and legislatures and right-wing extremist groups have been working overtime this year to get measures past that would suppress the vote for many and serve to reinvigorate a 21st century version of Jim Crow.

Depriving the economically disadvantaged.

Women’s Rights

This Is For Real Folks!

Reality meet Fantasy

I fear that well-intentioned people have been led astray by these huckster’s and to the likely detriment of our democracy in the future. I have a young friend who posted the following on his Facebook page:

“I don’t care for Obama or Romney but Obama had his turn and didn’t do that good. So Romney it’s your turn buddy! Please do better then(sic) what we had to deal with the last 4 years!”

I just want to shake the young man and tell him that this isn’t a crap shoot. This is like thinking your luck at a casino will change if there’s a different card dealer. Learning all you can about poker is more apt to benefit a player than picking someone the casino selects.

The climate change link may be more than just more precipitation. A 2010 study found“Global warming is the main cause of a significant intensification in the North Atlantic Subtropical High.” Climate Central’s Andrew Freedman explains a possible influence:

Recent studies have shown that blocking patterns have appeared with greater frequency and intensity in recent years….

“…they say if you don’t vote, you get the government you deserve, and if you do, you never get the results you expected.”

As important as voting is in a democracy, it is informed voting that will garner better results and ongoing participation in the political process that ensures any likelihood that you’ll get the government you expected.

What’s In a Name?

Anyway, I was a little surprised that with the limited choices I had at how well the words I could create seem to reveal prophetic traits of the candidates.

The only rule I made for myself was that I had to use ALL of the letters of their last name to form real words.

So starting with the VP candidates here’s what I came up with

BIDEN – In Bed Politically speaking, when you are in bed with someone you are supportive and aligned with their ideas and policies. OMG! Does this speak directly to Biden or what? As Obama’s Vice-president Biden has been nothing but a loyal advocate for the POTUS.

RYAN – Now this one is really prophetic. Who is Paul Ryan’s role model? AYN Rand

Romney = R Money (Republican money). Need I say anything more other than what this 1984 photo of Romney’s Bain Capital group conveys? (Take my word for it. Those really are conservative greenbacks coming out of their orifices)

Obama – A Moab. We all laughed at the Tea Party-types when they chided Obama supporters for treating him like the anointed one but check out this revelation.

What a Difference Four Years Makes

[On] July 12, Governor Mitt Romney [was] attending a GOP fundraiser hosted by former Vice President Dick Cheney at his home in Wyoming. It’s fitting, really, since Romney has called Cheney a “person of wisdom and judgment.”

[When Romney was considering] possible running mates, it’s worth remembering that he pointed to Dick Cheney as the “kind of person I’d like to have” working with him.

Horses and bayonets’ is the hot new meme

The Sound of Heads Exploding

“Recent reports reflect a promising picture for Denton County’s economy.”

The comments go on to point out how there has been “significant gains from the first quarter of 2012 to the second quarter in sales [of real estate] as well as median and average prices.

In addition, the number of pre-owned homes on the market in Denton County has dropped 38 percent in the past 12 months.

Automotive sales are also up year over year, according to Freeman Auto Report.

[The City of] Denton’s unemployment rate dropped to 5 percent for September, down seven-tenths of a percentage point from August. In September 2011, the city’s unemployment rate was 6.3 percent.

In Denton County, the unemployment rate dropped to 5.6 percent, also down seven-tenths of a percentage point from the prior month. In September 2011, the county’s unemployment rate stood at 6.9 percent. SOURCE

This indeed is good news for my local community but it appears that Denton is something of a microcosm of what’s going on around the nation.

For the first time in six years, the residential market is expected to add to U.S. economic growth in 2012. New home sales are up 28% from a year ago and new construction is running 35% higher.

The long-awaited recovery in the devastated real-estate market was a long time coming, but it finally looks like it’s here to stay. Barring another recession, most economists expect sales and construction to continue to rise steadily over the next few years SOURCE

“This keeps the economic expansion moving forward,” said Dean Maki, New York-based chief U.S. economist at Barclays Plc. “Consumer spending is continuing to grow solidly.” SOURCE

The Franchise Business Index increased by 2.2 percent from September 2011 to September 2012, marking the industry’s best year-over-year gain since the Great Recession began in December 2007.

A drop in the unemployment rate, coupled with a slow but steady improvement in small-business credit conditions, contributed to the gains. SOURCE

Why I Still Support Barack Obama

Here then, not laid out necessarily in any hierarchical fashion, are the reasons I will vote for Barack Obama instead of the Republican option.

1. He has a broader constituency he considers when making public policy compared to Romney’s narrower concerns for the wealthiest 1%. He doesn’t belittle and give up on people he feels certain won’t vote for him.

2. He gets it about “man-made global warming” and though he hasn’t moved fast enough to act on what he knows, he will not be the immovable object Mitt Romney will be on this.

3. He understands that reducing taxes and cutting public sector jobs deprives the U.S. treasury of revenue for paying down our national debt and that free market principles alone will not create the job growth we need at this time.

4. He is more willing to promote clean, renewable energy as a part of an energy and jobs policy to become oil independent rather than Romney, who wants to open up more dangerous exploration for oil in offshore deepwater and under arctic ice.

7. He supports the free-enterprise system but also understands that it is subject to human weaknesses, requiring sufficient government oversight to protect those who would suffer abuses from greedy corporate interests.

9. He’s more willing to sustain a lot of what belongs to the public commons rather than turning it all over to the for-profit private sector.

10. He’s shown greater concern and support for public education while Romney and the GOP work with wealthy special interests to privatize education.

11. He fulfilled the spirit of compromise more than the GOP who refused to work for the common good and allowed itself to be hi-jacked by a radical element that voted NO on everything that didn’t meet their strict and narrow criteria.

12. I feel safer that he is less likely to send our military troops into harms way and doesn’t alienate other cultures and nations with an obnoxious level of American exceptionalism.

13. He doesn’t show the disdain and indifference for science that too many in the GOP do.

14. He thinks women should make equal pay for equal work.

15. He thinks the American worker deserves a minimum wage

16. He too thinks it is dishonest and selfish for people of great wealth to hide their fair share of taxes in off-shore and overseas accounts while voting against a livable wage for the rest of us.

17. His tax rate is more comparable to mine than Romney’s 13% and has shown ample evidence of this in releasing years of tax records to Romney’s one and half.

18. He hasn’t threatened to restrict civil rights in the form of banning gays in the military, creating a constitutional amendment opposing same-sex marriage and insisting women‘s bodies be invaded to support extremist pro-life views.

19. He supports a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians where Romney sees “no hope” for this.

20. With four of the nine members of the Supreme Court over 70 years old, the next occupant of the White House could have the opportunity to appoint one or more new justices. Don’t want Romney adding more Scalias and Thomas’. Think what would happen to Roe v. Wade