Shall a Clown Lead us?

Can a clown make America great?  Perhaps it would make a circus out of a great nation.

A Bankrupt America in our Future?

Trump insists that his business acumen can save America.  I wonder, is that the same business acumen that sent four of his companies into bankruptcy? Rather than saving America I fear that Trump would make matters worse.  Check out his record here on Politifact

Trump and Silvio Berlusconi

Whenever I think of Trump I can't help but think of Silvio Berlusconi.  A quick search on the internet finds that I am not alone in making this comparison.

Here are just a few stories about the similarities.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/09/21/donald-trump-is-americas-silvio-berlusconi/

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/28/were-donald-trump-and-silvio-berlusconi-separated-at-birth.html

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/03/opinions/trump-the-new-silvio-berlusconi-opinion-benghiat/http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/03/opinions/trump-the-new-silvio-berlusconi-opinion-benghiat/

Is this what we want for Our Nation?  Will this make America great or will it destroy our greatness?  Is this the best we can do?

Tradgedy into Political Hay

Trump must be getting dizzy as he tries to spin a national tragedy to his political advantage.  It is disgraceful how he is behaving, what he is saying.  Muslims I have met have been quiet, respectful and even shy.  Some, as do some Christians, use there faith to justify violent actions that have their genesis in their own mental health issues.

Check out this CNN story to read how Trump spins tragedy to his own advantage 

Taxes, National Debt, Unemployment benifits

Taxes, the national debt, unemployment insurance, all difficult issues about which many people have strong feelings, including me. I would love to see tax cuts for the wealthy expire, even if that means my taxes go up. We'd get by but we are retired and don't have house payments, children to feed or many of the other expenses that way on the middle and underclass that would be affected by an increase in tax cuts. I am not sure that it is worth the suffering that many will endure to let all tax the Bush tax cuts expire.

Unemployment benefits, for some reason these have become controversial. I can remember when our family was hit by unemployment, the struggle to find a job. There may be some who will stubbornly try to continue in their previous field but in our case a whole new career was entered into with much lower pay; any job that had the prospect of keeping food on the table and a roof over our heads was acceptable. Do we want to see families on the street, lined up in front of food pantries day after day?

The Republican Party in the Senate has veto power over any initiatives of the Democrats in Congress or the President may have to aid the majority. Voters were short sighted in giving them this power and now we must all suffer the consequences, tax cuts for the super rich in exchange for a sop to the middle class and unemployed.

The National debt, now that is a biggie, a problem we have been putting off and are in danger of putting onto our children, grand-children and great-grand-children. I see no way out of this with out raising taxes on everyone. The wealthy need to take the biggest hit, they who have gained the most from the excesses of the previous decades need to pay the biggest price. I, for one, would rather take a reduced standard of living than to see my children struggle to survive.
The public has been sold an empty bill of goods by Fox Television and the Republican Party. They say "let the rich keep their money and they will use it to create jobs; they haven't and they won't. They say we are "over taxed", we aren't we have some of the lowest tax rates in the world and in our own history.

It is time for the voting public to think less about their own selfish interests and more about the future of their nation and their children. The truth is that it was a Democrat, Clinton, who balanced the budget and made inroads on the national debt. It was a Republican, Bush 2, who insisted on irresponsible tax cuts and headed us in the direction of economic disaster.

Time to vote!

It seems to me, though, that democracy is being subverted by big money interests. Obscenely wealthy men are buying airtime in support of extremist candidates; Candidates whose primary interest is in consolidating power in the hands of a few and promoting a system that will keep the middle class from prospering. I mailed off my ballot, voting is an essential part of our democracy.

We have some very real problems. The deficit is an issue that must be addressed for the good of our children. The problem is that those screaming the loudest are the very same ones who were willing to fight an off budget war based on lies. They are the same ones that think billionaires are over taxed even though they pay the lowest taxes of any developed country. They say that higher taxes will keep the wealthy from creating jobs. They aren't creating jobs now so why should we think they will do it if they keep their tax breaks.

Do your homework, go to the League of Women Voters http://www.lwv.org/Elections/index.html to check out the ballot issues and go to Fact Check.org http://www.factcheck.org/ to check out the truth of political ads and then vote.

We Should Encourage Same Sex Unions

Now that a judge has enjoined the enforcement of "Don't ask, don't tell" it is a good time to take a look at same sex unions.

Anti-homosexual bias dates from a time when tribes wanted to increase their numbers so that they would be advantaged against their enemies, a time when people led short lives, a time when many hands were needed to help grow crops. In short, the bias stems from conditions very different from today.

Laws and tax codes were written to encourage families to stay together for the protection of children. That is still a laudable goal but society has other needs as well.

As our population ages there is a need for committed relationships for the protection of the elderly. Who hasn't seen an aging couple supporting one another enabling them to live independently? Even young people need the support of another, someone to help them when times are hard or when they are sick. It is not society's business what goes on in the bedroom, it is only the welfare of its citizens that should concern the rest of society. Let people designate any one as their life partner, have them make a civil commitment (the only thing government can grant is a "civil" right) and give that couple all of the rights and obligations we now reserve for marriage.

Get the conservative right out of other peoples bedrooms and take sex out of the discussion.