The election of November 2012

This year’s election is already starting to present itself as a very interesting one .
Regardless of the fact that this will be, just like most recent ones, a close election, we will probably witness some unusual and some previously seen methods of making the final tally more complex.
The previously methods we’ve seen are the purging of honest voters, such as in Florida, with Governor Scott trying to purge almost 190 thousand voters from the list, targeting primarily Hispanics, African-Americans, and seniors, the group of people who would probably vote for democrats. This, as I said earlier, is not the first time that it happens. In the infamous year 2000 Katherine Harris, former Secretary of State, and her accomplice and boss, Governor Jeb Bush, the brother of the candidate for president for the Republican purged hundreds of legitimate voters in Florida. The confusion that this created, together with the machine problems and with the US Supreme Court stopping the recount gave us president Bush. We know that Florida is a "banana" state. 
In this election we have all the newly elected republican governors in 2010 making it almost impossible for legitimate voters to come out to vote. Many of these voters are minorities, poor and seniors, possible voters that may come out to vote for democrats. Such states include Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio and Nevada. Maine was trying to do the same but Maine’s electorate in a referendum through this out.
As if this wouldn’t be enough we have the decision made by this intrusive Supreme Court: “Citizens United”.
President Obama is having his work cut out for himself, and this is true not only for him but for every future governor and president who runs under the Democratic umbrella, because millionaires and billionaires will throw the kitchen sink at the re-election of the president, just like we are seeing out of state wealthy donors defend Governor Walker in Wisconsin outspending his opponent 25 to 1.
If the president is defeated, and there is a very good chance that it will happen next November, the next president may be selecting one, possibly two, justices to the supreme court, pushing it further to the right, and allowing more unregulated money to corrupt the system, elimination of the safety net that people have enjoyed for almost a century, and also elimination of regulations that stop wealthy corporations from polluting the water and air, just like Texas is suffering now.
If people like a plutocracy what the forefathers rebeled against, the crown, over 200 years ago, may be going to waste, as we seem to be heading down that path ourselves, and we know how Louis XVI ended up.

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness (Part 4)

Conclusions

In this series of blogs I have found that there could be a some common denominators that fit into the three issues, and those are education, health, background, and I could include race into the equation as well.

Education is a major factor that allows the possibility of upper mobility. Having my daughter and wife in college I can see the high cost of education. With higher education cost increasing at a much higher rate than inflation or the cost of living, and republicans trying to cut education and thus making it harder for people to borrow to go to school this only concentrates the power in the very few at the top, and therefore making sure that upper mobility becomes almost impossible, except for rare cases such as Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, or other extremely successful individuals. When looking at education I know that there other models out there in the world, with many countries having free or very affordable universities.

Health. We think of it, and treat it as a commodity. It isn’t. Most people go about their business and don’t follow the stock market or the cost of other commodities on the stock exchange. But they do know how precious their health is, and that, if need be, they will lose their house and other material goods when their health and life is on the line.

Background. We talk about liberty, but if someone is born from parents who live in the “wrong” neighborhood their education is going to be limited compared to the child born in the “right” neighborhood. Now that child did not chose to be born in that family and that neighborhood, it just happened. Same thing could be said about race. Many people say let us dismantle the public education and fund private or charter schools. There is no proof that charter schools are better. They just simply make somebody wealthy, usually at the cost of public education. A woman that I used to work with used to say I don’t want my taxes going to the poor neighborhoods, I want them only for my town. The way the system is setup through property automatically creates a different tier of education, and thus discriminates “legally” against the people that are not able to afford a better area.

In conclusion, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are all greatly tide up with the education possibilities and what doors can be opened in their lifetime to achieve the pursuit of happiness that people would like. Same can be said with the health that people can receive and at what cost.

I, for one, as a believer, think of my happiness coming from knowing that, although I did nothing to deserve it, somebody died for me, and through that forgave my sins, no matter how big those are, through that demonstration of love I have liberty of my sin, as it is not through the constitution but through my creator and my savior I receive these rights, here in the US and anywhere else I may live.

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness (Part 3)

The Pursuit of Happiness.

As I was writing this blog I wondered what the forefathers thought what “pursuit of happiness” meant to them, and I came about an article that said:  “In composing the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson understood that it's up to the individual to decide what pursuits will cause him or her happiness. However, the Founding Fathers also understood that government has a responsibility to create a society where one's right to pursue happiness is guaranteed by social and legal protections.”

I find this very interesting. I, for one, find the whole issue totally subjective, because many of us think of happiness as something  temporary at times, and others view it as I state of mind, a choice. A friend of mine used to say: “if a problem has solution why worry about it, it has a solution; and if it doesn’t why worry there is nothing you can do”.  As I said earlier that seems to be a choice, that some of us have a hard time living with it. We used to say that he lived in utopia, or as we used to call it in Spanish “la onda lira”.

I guess that Jefferson’s view, together with the others who signed the declaration of independence, had a very different view from the people whom they owned, and whom they did not consider themselves their equal.

I will not elaborate more on this one because in my conclusion in the next blog

to be continued

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness (Part 2)

Liberty.

We love talking in this country about liberty.

Let us read what the dictionary says about the meaning of the word liberty:

1. freedom from arbitrary or despotic government or control.

2.  freedom from external or foreign rule; independence.

3. freedom from control, interference, obligation, restriction, hampering conditions, etc.; power or right of doing, thinking, speaking, etc., according to choice.

4. freedom from captivity, confinement, or physical restraint: The prisoner soon regained his liberty.

5. permission granted to a sailor, especially in the navy, to go ashore

Having lived here for a while and also having lived half of my life in my country of birth I can see some differences and some similarities.

People seem to focus US on the Bill of Rights and primarily a few of them such as the 1^st one (Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression) that says: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances”, and the the 2^nd (Right to Bear Arms): A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

They probably know a few more but these are their primary focus.

We know that the forefathers had in mind during the declaration of independence that only white, land owners, males were included in these “liberties”. They did not include slaves, of course, and they did not include women, as they had no right to vote. Nowadays people love to fill themselves with the idea of liberties, and that we need to defend them at any cost, even if that means with huge Department of Defense budgets, with no regard that that may push part of their population into poverty, having a military cost equivalent at the rest of the world combined, being brainwashed with fear at the expense of erosion of their liberties such as the patriot act, and other measures taken by federal and state governments, conducting ethnic erosion of privacy for the “safety” of the population, or being frisked for no reason, or invading other countries because they disagree with us, all in the name of safety.  People who demonstrate in most instances are arrested because they “disturb” the peace and quiet of the rest of the citizens. The press cannot take pictures of their fellow citizens who are brought back in caskets from Afghanistan, not that the press seems to care nowadays in informing the public about the news, as I had pointed out in another blog, they are more interested in pushing their own interests and their own agenda.
I am a believer, like some countries around the world, in euthenesia. I don't believe that the government should consider it illegal. It does not mean that I believe in commiting suicide, it just means that I believe that we should have that right, if we decide to end our own life.
We also love to talk about freedom of choices. What choices? Swiss or American (cheese)? Pepperoni o sausage (pizza)? Big Mac or Chicken stripps (Mcdonald's)? Macdonalds or Wendy's?
Even when we vote many times the distinction between both candidates and both parties is somewhat fuzzy, depending who the candidate is, what state you live in, etc, as both major parties receive in many cases money from the same lobbysts just to make sure that they can mold the laws to their own convenience.

So where are the liberties?

to be continued

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness (Part 1)

Before I start this blog I will say that I am happy living in the USA, and there is probably no other place I would live in.  I also know that many people will disagree with what I am about to say in the four blogs that I am writing here.

This series of blogs is about my view of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, the three pillars of the declaration of independence.  Here is the quote: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Life. 

Many people in the US love to talk about life. They seem to think of life, as something we should defend before birth. Block and penalize any possibility of an abortion, even in the case of rape or incest, defund Planned Parenthood, eliminate it at whatever cost, even if they are one of the largest healthcare providers for women. They also seem to be against doctors who perform abortions to the extent of killing them, and that it seems is the right thing to do. What makes it ironic is that the moment that that unborn comes out of womb we turn around and say screw it.

Everything that we went bizerk about when it was in the womb flips over to the other extreme. Cut healthcare, cut public housing, cut education.

Wait a minute. Let’s stop and think what the hell happened with all this idea that we need to take care of the unborn? Now that it came out, dump it. That poor baby just transitioned from receiving his oxygen and food through an umbilical cord to breathing on his own, and the views and options have changed dramatically. That baby now seems to be at fault if he was born with the “wrong color of skin”, lives in the wrong neighborhood, has not the means to make it on his own, or the same possibilities as the one in the next town or even on the other side of town. The same people who defended the right of that fetus to live, now are willing to put him to death as an adult. We are willing to send him to harm’s way, but not to pay for his education, unless he enlists in the army and is willing to put his life on the line. Something doesn’t add up. What happened with the whole concept of life? Or was it just a bunch of b.s.?

At the end of the day what is the whole concept of Life? Is it just  the biological function, and that’s where it stops? What about the spreading of wings and being able to take off like a bird with the sky being the limit? That may have been the original idea why the independence was written but it looks like the powers at be have put some hurdles in this concept.

To be continued

Senator Lugar and the Tea Party

Yesterday U.S. Senator Lugar for the state of Indiana was defeated by a tea party backed candidate. The senator had a 77% conservative record. He had served for 36 years or 6 terms.

Conservatives across country including pundits said that the citizens of Indiana wanted a new face representing them. The real reason is because 23% of the times he compromised with the opposition.  It is extremely unfortunate that somebody who has a sense of governing, which includes finding middle ground with the people who disagree with you, was defeated. We can say that the Republican Party has been hijacked but we wouldn’t be saying anything new.

The approval of Congress is 8%, the lowest in its history. Here is one of the reasons. The Tea Party is not interested in governing, in having their citizens well represented. It is only in the business of creating disruption and chaos. That is not governing. The US is on a rapid decline slope because of reasons like this one, where a fringe of society, with the backing of people who want to create instability, is not responding to the needs of its people.

The Tea Party has confused the concept of governing, chaos and bullying. For them everything is the same. Their methods are the ones of a totalitarian system in which the will of some is imposed on the rest, like the Al-Assad family is doing in Syria, and the Sunni minority is doing in Bahrain, and we know how they these end.     

War on women

I have recently written about how Republicans cross country are in a war against women. They are on the defensive now because women realize that they are being attacked in every way by legislation that hurt them.

Since the elections of November of 2010 over 600 laws have been passed in states in which republicans control both chambers and the governor’s office.

The latest two are the Governors of Arizona and of Texas.

These are two of the most radical in the nation. Brewer was caught in a picture disrespecting President Obama as he descends from Air Force One.

And what can be said that has not been said about the former hopeful to president Mr. Perry, including the many gaffs during his run.

Both of them are obsessed with the dismantling of Planned Parenthood, an organization that helps women cross country, they are the number one institution that provide means to mammograms for women.

Their obsession is because Planned Parenthood helps in many states means for women to get abortions.

In Texas the law says that no public funds can be used to provide abortions. Governor Perry is not contempt with just this. As I said earlier, he is determined in closing them down.

Governor Brewer is obsessed with doing exactly the same.

The Federal Government should tie the funds that it provides to both states in the existence of organizations such as Planned Parenthood, as it provides a service that helps primarily the less fortunate in society.  It is the law of the land since 1972.

Bye Bye Sarkozy

Over the weekend France and Greece elected two socialist governments.

Gone are the days of Mr. Sarkozy and his conservatives views. He came to run the France with many objectives, one of them, to try to downgrade the power of the unions.

The French people are used to a certain standard of living, where the middle class enjoys big benefits, they have the number one rated healthcare system in the world.

Mr. Sarkozy’s achievements included a downgrade in France’s credit, trying to force austerity measures.

Austerity does not work. The proof is in Spain and the UK. The UK with its austere measures in back in a recession. Spain has a 25% unemployment.

Having grown up in Argentina the I.M.F. (International Monetary Fund), a club of rich nations who were always interested in recovering their loans, or at least strangling poor nations with mob type interests, would always ask for austerity measures. The only thing that austerity measures provoke is just a shrinking in the economy, increasing unemployment. because the pie get smaller instead of increasing.

For years we heard this recording that the belt needed to be tightened. The reality is that it tightens with the needy, the haves get richer during those periods, never end up paying their fair share, and the bill is always picked up by the less fortunate. Even though it may sound familiar this is how Argentina and many other nations found themselves trapped by the idiotic and unrealistic measures of the IMF.

The French made a decision that they feel may work better for them than the austere measures that the elite club and their representatives tried to impose on them.

Time will tell if France will grow its economy faster than the UK and other European nations.

These elections may also put the future of the euro in serious jeopardy, not that it was on safe grown before, as the European elections within the community further down the year may end up challenging the authority to Germany.

I have predicted the end of the euro for a while because it is unsustainable to most of the European nations to abide with the strict guidelines that it central bank imposes.

Time will tell if I am mistaken.

How Romney chickened out

Today Mitt Romney was asked by a crazy person at an event if President Obama should be tried for treason, and he stayed quiet.

Romney is proving today that he is not qualified to be president. If he doesn’t have the “cojones” to stand up to a loony in the audience, how do we expect him to stand up to any leader or non leader around the world.

Romney is so used to dealing in the board of directors, hiding from the workers, like most board members in corporations across the country, gutless members who hide behind dark windows in the penthouse of American large companies. 

He only knows how to fire people, send jobs overseas, but he has not guts, no balls to tell anybody that they are going overboard. 

He should be ashamed of himself.

During the Clinton Administration years republicans were fulling themselves with the fact that character is what makes a leader.

Where are those same republicans when we have a flip flopper  with the back bone of an ameba running for candidate of their party.

Let us look at the meaning of the treason:

Oran's Dictionary of the Law (1983) defines treason as "...[a]...citizen's actions to help a foreign government overthrow, make war against, or seriously injure the [parent nation]." In many nations, it is also often considered treason to attempt or conspire to overthrow the government, even if no foreign country is aided or involved by such an endeavour.

 Outside legal spheres, the word "traitor" may also be used to describe a person who betrays (or is accused of betraying) their own political party, nation, family, friends, ethnic group, team, religion, social class, or other group to which they may belong. Often, such accusations are controversial and disputed, as the person may not identify with the group of which they are a member, or may otherwise disagree with the group leaders making the charge.

When I read this several things come to mind: One would be what the republicans in the house of representatives did with Clinton in the 90s; another would be what the republicans have done to bring down the Obama Administration and hurt the American people in the process; and third I cannot forget how the Bush Administration lied to the American people about the “Weapons of Mass Destruction”, that would include Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and others who orchestrated all kinds of lies about the threat of Iraq to the U.S.

Which leads me to believe that the people who say that President Obama should be tried for treason either don’t know the meaning of the word, and/or have lived in another planet during the previous administration.

That still doesn't take away the fact that Romney doesn't have the temper to put these people in their place.

Governor Christie and his priorities

I recently wrote about how bad Governor Christie was for the State of New Jersey. He has done nothing to lower property taxes, he has gone after teachers, he is a union buster, he has gone after teacher’s pensions, with the help of a few d.i.n.o.s (Democrats in name only) in the Assembly and Senate of the state, has bullied the opposition, even abused verbally people who disagreed with him, on TV, and to a Iraq vet. He campaigned in California for the republican candidate during the last governor race. But the thing that has done it for me is the fact that now he said he will help Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin in his campaign this coming June. Governor Walker is facing a recall for his horrendous job in Wisconsin, he is a union busting, has given millions of dollars in tax cuts to his friends at the expense of cutting education and other services. The campaign against him to recall him got over a million signatures to call for another election. Governor Walker promised that he was going to create jobs, but he has only been responsible for losing 160,000 jobs in his state. He has the worst record in the union for job creation. Governor Christie seems to share some the same mentality as the Governor of Wisconsin as the State of New Jersey lost 16,000 in the month of March. 

Governor Christie is also very enthusiastic about Governor Romney, and probably will help the republican candidate for president during his campaign.

Maybe Governor Christie may want to consider moving to Wisconsin permanently, as he is so fond of Scott Walker, or accept a possible candidacy for Vice-president, or take a leave of absence with no salary for the rest of his term, and thus allowing the citizens of this state to move on with their lives, try to move forward, and start prioritizing the things that this state needs, instead of having a governor who is more concerned with the lives and candidacies of other republicans. He would not be missed. I wonder if during the next few months that he will be campaigning in other states if he will do it at no cost to state including no salary.

Obama, Osama, the Navy Seals, who deserves credit and who is ultimately responsible

Republicans are crying foul that President Obama is taking credit for the assassination of Osama Bin Laden, and that he should not run adds pointing out how Mitt Romney criticized in 2007 when then Senator Obama and candidate for the Democratic Party said that if the intelligence showed that Osama was in Pakistan he would go and catch him.

President Obama took a chance, as he had his vice-president, the secretary of Defense, the Secretary of State and the head of the joint chiefs of staff advising him not to go ahead with the mission, and the president went on his own on that. I said he took a chance because if the mission would have failed his head would have rolled. We know that the ultimately the ones who landed in Pakistan were the United States Navy Seal, an elite group of the brave armed forces of this country, but the president was the one who gave the order, and thus he is responsible for the outcome. So although we have to give credit where credit is due, we cannot take away the weight that the commander of chief has.

As far as the republicans I find all this hilarious. I say that because in 2004 then President Bush campaigned on the “failure” of the administration with the attack of 09/11, and why we should trust him on the war on terror on his “success” of 09/11. In 2008 more than one of the hopefuls during the republican primary also campaigned about 09/11 as if they should be proud of it, primarily Rudy Giuliani. I was under the impression that you can brag about your successes and not your failures, and 09/11 was a screw up of the Bush Administration, not a success.

I guess republicans, at the end of the day, are jealous that it was President Obama who put the Navy Seals in harms away for a sensible mission, and not like President Bush said in 2002, only a few months  after the attacks: “Who knows if he’s hiding in some cave or not. We haven’t heard from him in a long time. The idea of focusing on one person really indicates to me people don’t understand the scope of the mission. Terror is bigger than one person. He’s just a person who’s been marginalized. … I don’t know where he is. I really just don’t spend that much time on him, to be honest with you.” President Bush had opportunities of catching Bin Laden but it was President Obama who gave the order.

Republicans will have to live with this.