The Note

Revenge

2012-02-07T12:51:00.000-08:00

This past Friday a rather sleazy producer passed away. I regretted ever working for him and wish I wasn’t so driven because everything he was associated with somehow was below par for me and he even forged my signature on a document allowing his company to show frontal nudity. Extremely painful and deceitful and wrong, as both a man and director and producer he was just despicable so when I heard he had battled cancer and died I was overjoyed. Seriously I was tickled pink and feel he fully deserved his end and everything that happened to him. I know horrible me.
I have always thought I was a forgiving person who mainly forgave because I’d have mostly forgotten whom ever had done me wrong and there is a long list(sadly) plus I also accept my own responsibility for my experiences both positive and negatively so I get that I am 50% responsible for the bad stuff too. Still I am shocked at my joy at the misfortune of someone else. I do believe it plunks me to the bottom of the list of enlightened souls. OH boy am I busted. I delight in his death and feel like he deserved every miserable moment of pain because he is or was an evil bad man. Where is my Buddha hood now? Missing in action I admit and I laugh or giggle at my viciousness what a revengeful minx am I. Revenge isn’t good but it certainly is powerful and listen I didn’t have to work with him exposing myself to his vibe and company and films it was all my fault. So I need to cleanse and get going with my own teachings because obviously I have a LOT of work to do. Wow.

My New Years wish for all of us...

2012-01-30T12:04:00.001-08:00

Recently I cut out sugar and booze (any kind) and gluten and fats that don’t come virgin or cold pressed. Added more fish and beans and veggies and fruit, yup I have lost weight (quite a bit actually) and weirdly I seem energized and quite happy about the way I am feeling. They say when we clean up our diet we have a health crisis. I notice I play a bit too much tennis and need to balance out the sport with more cross training and a day extra of easy active rest, my health "crisis" is tennis elbow and sore knees, ouch. Still I seem to be unable to take complete rest since I have two giant dogs that need to move everyday and they prefer me to go along with them, lucky me. My point is we are constantly reminded to eat food in magazines and ads that flood the airwaves both on television and online. Late at night the television is flooded with food commercials promoting sugary high fat foods that if eaten will be detrimental to us at anytime, especially at night.It seems evil to me that these ads are legal. It's at night when we are alone and sleepy and probably most vulnerable to want bad things. Shouldn't we be protected? Food commercials followed by commercials promoting pharmaceuticals for almost every ill that if you were to list what those ailments are they stem from eating too much of the wrong food. These pills with the fast voiced warning read by the fastest speaking voice-over genius warning of death. These potential side effects are pretty bad most are even worse than the original ailment. Are we insane? So let’s get this straight if we reduced what we consumed by half without cleaning up the menu we lose weight, it’s a fact. So if we clean up what we eat with say less processed foods, more live organics and maybe stay away from gluten and sugars we lose weight and feel better. If we reduce these foods by half we lose weight and reduce the chances of diabetes among a long list of potential ailment its fascinating, it’s a fact. I know curing illness isn’t a simple dietary fix but from being free of sugar and booze and gluten (30 days so far)I feel amazing and I sleep deeper and longer. I think the foodies who are religious about a veggie based diet may be onto something. Don’t get me wrong I know not all illness comes from a crap chemical filled diet, still it does seem that those who consume processed food 100% of the time are getting sick a lot. Just imagine you are filtering some dangerous chemicals into your body daily that the FDA support not because they are safe but because it is big factories like General Mills with lobbyists in Washington spending millions on policy who don’t have our best interests at heart. So maybe it is simple to think just clean up your diet and you will look and feel better and ward off cancers of all kinds or not. I know that I am a big fan of good wine the taste of interesting reds but I dislike the next day after effects. The hangover, the bloat, the weight gain. I dislike feeling fat and chunky and never seeing the scale budge lower. Will I ever take a sip of wine? Yes, probably but I have a goal weight, will I make my goal? I hope so, I am certainly open to getting there and open to failing too because I am not perfect. Still I think we deserve to have a processed food free media and portions sizes could be reduced by 2/3rds. It pains me to sit down at a good restaurant and look at a plate that could feed four comfortably yet it is meant for me alone. Yes, my husband and I we share an entrée’s when we eat out otherwise it feels like a huge waste. So my New Year’s resolution isn’t just for Obama’s reelection or world peace and an economic recovery? I want those things too but I also want or wish for all of us to be inspired to eat better, be more active and love our bodies by eating clean. Health, Wealth, Love and perfect Self expression I wish this for all of us. Ho!

I love Jon Stewart!

2012-01-28T09:30:00.001-08:00

In case you have been paying attention here is a comedy nugget to tickle your senses…

Enjoy!

The man in the Hoodie

2012-01-12T14:32:00.001-08:00

I was seated inside a booth in a fashionable hotel bar. I was waiting with my then boyfriend for another couple who were joining us for dinner. It was late afternoon almost 5:30 when he walked in. He was wearing a hoodie underneath a dinner jacket the hood was up on his head. The bar was quite dim lighting was low and it wasn’t easy to see his features but I happened to look at his face as he passed and was shocked to see it was the same shape as the Elephant man, he had the same disease Neurofibromatosis. I noticed that one of his eyes seemed to be dangling down near the bottom of his chin. I controlled the gasp but I did gasp as he passed. My boyfriend didn’t see him and would not be able to because the man sat directly behind our booth. I was suddenly so sad trying to instantly imagine what life would be like to have such a devastating condition that cannot be easy to live with. He like John Merrick (the elephant man) had the most melodious beautiful voice I was mesmerized. I couldn’t help but listen to him; it was a meeting with a lawyer who was concerned about how he would get back home. The man let the lawyer know that he preferred traveling at night less people on the subway.
The couple we were meeting arrived and we shoved off to dinner elsewhere. I wondered what his life was like and how hard it was to have a body that was grotesquely deformed. We who are “normal” have no idea what life is like when children scream and adults gasp when they catch a glimpse of him. This was Toronto in the late 1990’s. Canadians are kinder or better mannered and I like to think stare less. Still there is always one who is an ass no doubt.
I wanted to stare at him and examine his face his features but I could not I could only try and understand the big picture the broader perspective. If there is a god that loves us as we are told in every religion then the logic should go that there is a good positive reason that this man with the deep sweet voice is living a life that will serve his highest good. I need to think this because if there is a God and he isn’t all loving and the deformed man with the acute intelligence and the gorgeous insides suffered for what? I like to think hardship is asked for so we can evolve and become more whole. I like to think that life is the only place where the rubber hits the road and our souls evolve. In the after life there is no such growth or it isn’t as swift. People with this condition don’t live long and I am grateful for that it cannot be easy living life with that.

New lows

2012-01-11T14:24:00.001-08:00

We seem to have created a new low in politics; I know that is an oxymoron, politics by nature are low as in nasty, still the level of lying, the lack of character and other sad desperate measures to win votes is impressive. Every time Mitt opens his mouth I cringe, same with Gingrich and Santorum. I will say I am tickled in a “he’s my weird uncle way” with Ron Paul and I am disturbed by his brush off of his self published racists pamphlets it is all so strange. I wonder if it ends will me miss the shenanigans will we? I think maybe, I am saddened by the lies and the attacks on Obama and I know Obama is a flawed person and flawed President but I have deeply enjoyed his successes and I like where the country is headed under his guidance plus I will accept the pace of our recovery. I am happy to say we are spoiled, all of us by his elegance and his intelligence and class. His lovely openness to bipartisanship and his willingness to try it, we are spoiled. He reads unlike the last buffoon who ruined us absolutely thrust us into chaos. How will we manage under Mitt or Newt? Scary thought. My husband says we will win, Obama will get re-elected. I hope so.

Paul Krugmans Op Ed piece from today! Enjoy!!!

2012-01-07T09:52:00.001-08:00

Bain, Barack and Jobs
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: January 5, 2012

America’s recovery from recession has been so slow that it mostly doesn’t seem like a recovery at all, especially on the jobs front. So, in a better world, President Obama would face a challenger offering a serious critique of his job-creation policies, and proposing a serious alternative.
Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

Paul Krugman
Go to Columnist Page »
Blog: The Conscience of a Liberal
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Nicholas D. Kristof: Waiting for Mitt the Moderate (January 5, 2012)
Maureen Dowd: Oedipus Rex Complex (January 4, 2012)

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Instead, he’ll almost surely face Mitt Romney.

Mr. Romney claims that Mr. Obama has been a job destroyer, while he was a job-creating businessman. For example, he told Fox News: “This is a president who lost more jobs during his tenure than any president since Hoover. This is two million jobs that he lost as president.” He went on to declare, of his time at the private equity firm Bain Capital, “I’m very happy in my former life; we helped create over 100,000 new jobs.”

But his claims about the Obama record border on dishonesty, and his claims about his own record are well across that border.

Start with the Obama record. It’s true that 1.9 million fewer Americans have jobs now than when Mr. Obama took office. But the president inherited an economy in free fall, and can’t be held responsible for job losses during his first few months, before any of his own policies had time to take effect. So how much of that Obama job loss took place in, say, the first half of 2009?

The answer is: more than all of it. The economy lost 3.1 million jobs between January 2009 and June 2009 and has since gained 1.2 million jobs. That’s not enough, but it’s nothing like Mr. Romney’s portrait of job destruction.

Incidentally, the previous administration’s claims of job growth always started not from Inauguration Day but from August 2003, when Bush-era employment hit its low point. By that standard, Mr. Obama could say that he has created 2.5 million jobs since February 2010.

So Mr. Romney’s claims about the Obama job record aren’t literally false, but they are deeply misleading. Still, the real fun comes when we look at what Mr. Romney says about himself. Where does that claim of creating 100,000 jobs come from?

Well, Glenn Kessler of The Washington Post got an answer from the Romney campaign. It’s the sum of job gains at three companies that Mr. Romney “helped to start or grow”: Staples, The Sports Authority and Domino’s.

Mr. Kessler immediately pointed out two problems with this tally. It’s “based on current employment figures, not the period when Romney worked at Bain,” and it “does not include job losses from other companies with which Bain Capital was involved.” Either problem, by itself, makes nonsense of the whole claim.

On the point about using current employment, consider Staples, which has more than twice as many stores now as it did back in 1999, when Mr. Romney left Bain. Can he claim credit for everything good that has happened to the company in the past 12 years? In particular, can he claim credit for the company’s successful shift from focusing on price to focusing on customer service (“That was easy”), which took place long after he had left the business world?

Then there’s the bit about looking only at Bain-connected companies that added jobs, ignoring those that reduced their work forces or went out of business. Hey, if pluses count but minuses don’t, everyone who spends a day playing the slot machines comes out way ahead!

In any case, it makes no sense to look at changes in one company’s work force and say that this measures job creation for America as a whole.

Suppose, for example, that your chain of office-supply stores gains market share at the expense of rivals. You employ more people; your rivals employ fewer. What’s the overall effect on U.S. employment? One thing’s for sure: it’s a lot less than the number of workers your company added.

Better yet, suppose that you expand in part not by beating your competitors, but by buying them. Now their employees are your employees. Have you created jobs?

The point is that Mr. Romney’s claims about being a job creator would be nonsense even if he were being honest about the numbers, which he isn’t.

At this point, some readers may ask whether it isn’t equally wrong to say that Mr. Romney destroyed jobs. Yes, it is. The real complaint about Mr. Romney and his colleagues isn’t that they destroyed jobs, but that they destroyed good jobs.

When the dust settled after the companies that Bain restructured were downsized — or, as happened all too often, went bankrupt — total U.S. employment was probably about the same as it would have been in any case. But the jobs that were lost paid more and had better benefits than the jobs that replaced them. Mr. Romney and those like him didn’t destroy jobs, but they did enrich themselves while helping to destroy the American middle class.

And that reality is, of course, what all the blather and misdirection about job-creating businessmen and job-destroying Democrats is meant to obscure.
A version of this op-ed appeared in print on January 6, 2012, on page A25 of the New York edition with the headline: Bain, Barack And Jobs.

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proftom
newberg OR

Well said. Mitt and his buddies made their money by taking the value from my job. He helped create declining job values. To me he often seems like he's a hero in his mind. Like a lot of rich kids it's all about them, not all about us.
Jan. 6, 2012 at 2:39 p.m.
Recommend147
capncuster
California

Paul. Don't you get it? Romney's rich, therefore he is a job creator, therefore he deserves more tax breaks.
Jan. 6, 2012 at 2:39 p.m.
Recommend60
carlos lascoutx
mexico

...no more juniors for the white house, we've barely recovered from the last oaf,
whose last words were: when i leave this office, no one will ever know what
happened here. present Junior is just warming up his lies, and looking for
the fools who will believe him.
Jan. 6, 2012 at 2:39 p.m.
Recommend52
Chuck Vekert
Highland MD

There is another logical fallacy in Romney's whole talking point. Does he intend as president to take over failing companies and downsize them from the Oval Office? Or does he intend to increase the incentives for Bains Capital and the like to take over companies and downsize them? Even assuming that he did create more jobs than he eliminated, how is this going to translate into Romney's actions as president.

To put it another way, I would not let the greatest neurosurgeon in my mouth to do a root-canal.
Jan. 6, 2012 at 2:39 p.m.
Recommend72
timesreader
Roslyn Heights, NY

It seems all politicians lie at some point as demonstrated by Politifact and FactCheck. These organizations have also demonstrated that some do it more than others. Most of the lies are about things the politicians use to substantiate their policy positions.

There must be something in the nature of politics and human nature that causes this phenomenon.

It forces voters to choose leaders based on guessing games about what they think they will do when elected.

We can only hope Lincoln was right when he said, you can fool some of the people some of the time, and all of the people some of the time,but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.
Jan. 6, 2012 at 2:39 p.m.
Recommend16
John Scanlon
Collingswood, NJ
NYT Pick

There seems to be a disconnect between Mr.Krugman and the NYT reporter staff. It seems that the US factory worker with benefits is competing well against foreign competition. Krugman would benefit President Obama more if he acknowledged the President's ability to adapt to new realities. Get real, Mr.Krugman.
Jan. 6, 2012 at 2:38 p.m.
Recommend6
JD
Pottwtown, Pa
NYT Pick

I voted for Obama but won't this time.
He seems depressed all the time and lacks confidence that a business leader needs.
Running our country is like running a business and Romney is more confident, therefore will help our economy more than Obama.

So this time Romney looks better.
Jan. 6, 2012 at 2:38 p.m.
Recommend15
Victor O
NYC
NYT Pick

Mr. Krugman's criticisms of Mitt Romney come across as those of a petty, petulant little schoolboy.

In what universe does a woolly-headed college teacher have standing to judge the actions of those in the practical world of real accomplishment, a world where actions have consequences and where accountability is the coin of the realm.
Jan. 6, 2012 at 2:37 p.m.
Recommend17
Javier Bocanegra
Rio Medina, Texas

The GOP and the presidential candidates don't have any ideas on how to govern, so they attack with their culture wars with the same topics: be afraid of, gays, brown people, black people, spending out of control, tax money being given away to poor people, too much regulation stifling business, etc. But we know all the talking points by now and we all know the truth, so only the very impressionable will follow them.
Jan. 6, 2012 at 2:36 p.m.
Recommend94
Phyllis Kritek
Half Moon Bay, CA

This editorial is strangely comforting. I have tried to follow the messaging of the GOP presidential candidates and am increasingly astounded at their content. I try to measure the messages against the facts as best I can discover them, and cannot discover linkages. It sometimes seems these messages are merely sly manipulations directed at the fears of those in the US who sense that the world is changing quickly and unequivocally, mostly aging white folks (of which I am one...).

The first unsettling question is : Do they really think that we are that dumb?

The second unsettling question is: What if we are?
Jan. 6, 2012 at 2:36 p.m.
Recommend135
Sandy Reiburn
Brooklyn, NY

Those "good jobs" ever dwindling...those ever "bad" jobs increasing. The immigrant laborers being chased out of the US in harsh and unconscionable ways, who did much of the farm work which Americans disdained, have now left and offered new job opportunities...
Jan. 6, 2012 at 2:36 p.m.
Recommend13
zb
bc

Well let me just add lying to the list and btw, in my book a half truth is the same as a lie. Time and again Romney has proven he is a lying spineless flip-flopping draft dodging chickenhawk who wants to go to war with Iran and send other peoples children to fight while he and his children sit with their millions, give themselves tax cuts, and send jobs to China.

The guy is as bad as all the rest of the Republican/Tparty Clowns and maybe even worse if that's possible. While they do nothing but talk, Obama cleaned up the Bush/Republican economic mess, got Bin Laden, got out of the Bush/Republican 10 year trillion dollar fiasco in Iraq. stabilized Afghanistan, and cleaned out Libya for next to no cost, and no lives in just 6 months.

Meanwhile, what did the Republican/Tparty do: gave tax cuts to the richest people while the nation went to war and others are doing all the fighting. And now they want more of the same tax cuts. Shame, Shame, Shame on them!
Jan. 6, 2012 at 2:36 p.m.
Recommend127
gskalsky
Cleveland, Ohio

The jobs "created" by the great job creators of our time are not so bad. Just ask any Advanced Degree holding youngster who's fast tracking it in a big box store's General Manager Trainee Program if they think life could get any grander. Or the Bachelors Degree seeking part timer who dreams of meaningful, secure, maybe even- if they are fortunate enough to be a Liberal Arts type- self actualizing work but who instead will probably face a Sallie Mae mortgage and maybe a couple more part time situations to help them get a better foothold in the "real world". To quote (sic... paraphrase) the great job creating social philosopher Sonnie Dubya Bush: "Isn't this a marvelous country, where you regular folks can have 3 jobs like that... only in America... isn't that marvelous?"

Until all or plenty of us who see the absurdity of this ongoing economic model's vision and consequences organize effectively to truly create an alternative path into our collective futures- I fear all our columns and essays and comments (not to mention our variouis "occupy" events/be ins) are merely whistling in the dark. We should start by supporting a grass roots Congressional District by Congressional District organizing effort to confront with Constitutional Amendment level reform- or re-Constituting, if you will- our Campaign Finance, Electioneering, Lobbying, money in politics, and corporate charter laws.

Till such time enjoy this silly sporting event election and its banal mainstream coverage.
Jan. 6, 2012 at 2:36 p.m.
Recommend35
mgreczek
Texas

No one denies President Obama created jobs. But he threw $800 billion at the problem with very little to show for it on a $/job basis. This makes the President look incompetent. Plus the revolving door of" experts" like Romer, Summers, Goolsby, et.al. haven't given rise to confidence either. And what of "shovel ready jobs" and the laughter Obama displayed when he dismissed the later critiques with the trite "a lot of those jobs weren't so shovel ready afterall" ? These things do not add to the command that a President is supposed to display. In fact, they greatly subtract from it. Hence, a majority of the voters are now tired of the sameness of this act and the incompetence of the display.
Jan. 6, 2012 at 2:36 p.m.
Recommend11
RDV
Pennsylvania

The Obama campaign staff would be fools not to start lining-up people who were laid-off from Bain acquired companies for appearances in TV commercials.

If Romney claims second-hand success-by-proxy, then he should be prepared to get full credit for the failures as well.
Jan. 6, 2012 at 2:36 p.m.
Recommend69
Enough
Northeast

In March 11, 2003, you wrote a piece entitled "A Fiscal Train Wreck":
"With war looming, it's time to be prepared. So last week I switched to a fixed-rate mortgage. It means higher monthly payments, but I'm terrified about what will happen to interest rates once financial markets wake up to the implications of skyrocketing budget deficits. . . ."
Skyrocketing budget deficits worried you then?!?! Oh my, you must be on a cycle of changing your position every 8 or 9 years depending on who is in office.
Jan. 6, 2012 at 2:36 p.m.
Recommend6
R. Karch
Silver Spring, Maryland

The trend in this country has been toward fewer and fewer good jobs, that is, jobs that pay good wages or salaries, and good benefits. The shift has been toward the best jobs, and then the most money becoming concentrated among a smaller and smaller class of people. And along with this trend, it is no wonder that there is now a lopsided concentration of wealth among the richest 1 %, and the richest 0.1 % . The lopsidedness gets worse the richer people are, and the more the rest of the whole lopsidedness in wealth distribution is, the worse this disparity gets at the high end.

But you wrote: ' The real complaint about Mr. Romney and his colleagues isn’t that they destroyed jobs, but that they destroyed good jobs.' In view of what 'good jobs' have been doing for this country, why is that not the right result, of the other failures?

How can this country keep having nothing but 'good jobs'? People have become accustomed to the ideas proclaimed by politicians that everyone should be able to share in an 'American dream', meaning continued same levels of wages and benefits.

Meanwhile the cost of oil, cost of corn, wheat, and other commodities have all been rising. It means all the systems a modern economy depends upon: transportation, heating, manufacturing, and construction, cost more. Something had to give. But people demand continuation of same standard of living.
The costs have been absorbed in unemployment, employment nowhere near population growth!
Jan. 6, 2012 at 2:36 p.m.
Recommend1
Dave
TX

If Mitt was such a skilled and successful job creator why is his fortune of roughly $260M so small? He would have done better as an insurance company executive. Sounds more like he was a mediocre parasite living off other people's money.
Jan. 6, 2012 at 2:36 p.m.
Recommend13
Janieliza
Peoria Illinois

There is no border to the dishonesty Romney presents as truth. It is all one fabric these days. And very little of it is what he intended six months ago.
Jan. 6, 2012 at 2:36 p.m.
Recommend15
collhic
miami beach

Can we get one, just ONE, op-ed who will objectively on these issues. Yes, Mr Krugman, we know...you like Democrats & Mr Obama, it's plain as the nose on your face and the pom poms in your hands. How about impressing everybody (and restoring your credibility for the moderates) and writing an unbiased piece that distills the essence of both candidate's sides of the argument and issue? And then let us make up own minds on the subject?

Now, that would be a rare op-ed worth reading.
Jan. 6, 2012 at 2:36 p.m.
Recommend11
kgeographer
Santa Barbara, CA

It is truly gratifying to hear someone of Krugman's stature no mince words. Now, as the Yiddish saying goes, "your mouth to God's ear." And the ears of the former middle-class and middle-class aspirants who are under attack from the capitalist hydra now just at its peak power and just don't know it -- courtesy of Faux news of course but also the spineless among the journalist profession.
Jan. 6, 2012 at 2:36 p.m.
Recommend24
Socrates
Phila.

Fair comparison?

Ok.

How many jobs did Obama create before he was president?
Jan. 6, 2012 at 2:36 p.m.
Recommend10
kant
Colorado

Right on the button again, Dr. Krugman. I am almost becoming your "groupie!" It is astonishing to me that except for a few like you, most in the corporate-controlled media never ever challenge these false claims and run such people out of town for outright lying, as they used to do in old days. There is no stigma attached to making such blatantly false claims and a certain party has gotten so good at it that it has managed to redistribute the national wealth to "job creators" instead of the common public. The media must be blamed mostly for this, since they present these claims as facts, without ever challenging them directly and shaming the claimants. Anyone with common sense ought to realize that you don't become 250 million dollars rich by doing what is best for the common folk. That money came from somewhere and I am sure in Romney's case, it did not come from "capitalist wealth creation." It came from buying companies, selling off valuable assets and trashing the companies and their employees, all the while pocketing the proceeds! Just take a look at the photograph in which Mr. Romney is handing out money to his colleagues with a wide grin on his face. That is not "jobs" he is handing out for sure. How can we let these things happen in the name of democracy and unfettered capitalism, and commit national suicide in the process? Wake up America! Please!!!
Jan. 6, 2012 at 2:36 p.m.
Recommend45
Michel
France

In France we are also in presidential campaign. Every day we hear new affirmations, in a sentence, one wronger than the others.

Many people believe them. One needs articles like this one, bright and clear, to explain in what they are wrong. Problem is that it is easier to hear, and to believe, a sentence than to read a long article.

Election campaigns are the "zero degree" of intelligence, unfortunately for us. The only objective of politician often is to saturate the media space rather than make people clever.

It's true for republicans in States this last year but it's also true for the right in France. We share at least this !!!

Unfortunately for us.
Jan. 6, 2012 at 2:36 p.m.
Recommend31
James
San Clemente, CA

It's clear that Governor Romney, at best, had a neutral impact on job numbers during his tenure at Bain, and it is equally clear that most of the jobs Bain created during that period were lower-paying than the ones that were destroyed. It would be useful, however, to have more precise figures on this as the Presidential campaign moves ahead.

With regard to a comparison between George W. Bush and Barack Obama, we do have precise figures, which give the lie to Republican claims that the President is a job-destroyer. Generally, one starts holding a President to account beginning with the first fiscal year in which his first budget is passed, not the beginning of his term, when the previous President's policies are still in effect. By this standard, employment during the eight George W. Bush years declined by 1,792,000. During the first three Barack Obama years, employment has increased by 1,608,000. In September 1981, total U.S. employment stood at 131,518,000. In September of 2011, total U.S, employment stood at 131,334,00. So, over the past 10 years, U.S. employment has been stagnant, with employment declining under the Bush Administration and rising an equal amount under the Obama Administration. Those are the true figures.
Jan. 6, 2012 at 2:36 p.m.
Recommend89

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Happy, Hippy, Hoppity, New year Y'all!

2012-01-04T10:54:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year, I hope this year brings every dream and hope and wish to fruition and May each of you get closer to the source and may you welcome the love into your hearts, the love that is our natural divine state. How about that prayer….source what do I mean. Well I will leave it up to you because each of us has something we like to give credit to that provides comfort and strength and a sense of togetherness. Both my husband and I have been following the primary for the race to the Presidency and have deeply enjoyed the clown car that is the republican race and we have also had moments of fear at the thought of an America whose leadership is against contraception or homosexuality or freedom to marry and a host of other weird rights that are in jeopardy if any of these people get to the white house. It seems as if thinking and intelligence and facts are missing in the rhetoric and ugly attacks on Obama prevail, attacks that are racial and personal and plain untruths. Sure he has made some huge mistakes but he has done a lot of fabulous things and we are on the road the high road to a real recovery. The liars club be damned. So I am guilty a bit of deep pleasure at knowing one of the whack a mole candidates is folding her campaign Ms. Bachman, she of the subsidized anti homosexual camp whose husband is probably sexually ambivalent (see gay) and whose delusional sense of self greatness only exceeded her bizarre idea’s for this country. Good riddance may she get some help and find herself integrated into a community that is focused on tolerance and love and truth. My goodness this has been a crazy cycle and I am of the understanding that it has just begun….stay tuned and enjoy the ride!

A White Christmas

2011-12-25T08:10:00.001-08:00

This is a big subject that takes a lot of research to get the statistics right but I feel compelled to write about it as I finish the last chapters of the book by Isabel Wilkerson “The Great migration” if you haven’t had a look at it buy it and read it is a splendid journey. So I was thinking about how does one approach the subject of fairness and opportunity and the idea of what we interpret as a fair playing field without noticing that decade after decade since the first African set foot on these shores, that the opportunities have been almost nonexistent as far as the average everyday man and women looking for a peaceful safe place to live and good employment. How would others who were like the Jews but the far worse off African Americans have survived? Would they have ghetto’s like they did in Poland but still desperate and in full force today in every American city, would they resort to a life of crime to support a life addicted to drink and drugs because how much resistance and unfairness and debasing hatred can one man face? Honestly how would an average white American man survive say Jim Crow? How would the average white American man survive the unfairness and cronyism that exists keeping him out of any type of employment that would indeed lift him out of poverty? He would be in the exact ruin that the average African American man who is uneducated and possibly ghetto dwelling, post jail or worse a death curse, death before 30, this is what he faces today. So I say it is miraculous we have such a bright light in President Obama who is fighting the very system that has continued to keep us (who are blessed to be of color) down. What is the face of the billionaire? He is 50 plus white and entitled. How many Billionaires of color who are African American? I can think of two Oprah and Johnson from BET. There has to be a few more. This is out of hundreds and I think it is reflective of the unspoken cronyism, the racist radical, okay not all conservatives are racist maybe but I will say it; The racist radical conservative RIGHT. Yes Mr. Murdoch. Now as I think this I hear my friend Julie say nothing is viler then the smug liberal who fancies him or herself not racist but in fact is the worst kind. They are closeted in their racism…Okay so this lack of opportunity it bleeds over to woman and children this dominance but it is still so present and damaging and sadly difficult to see it changing either because it may be biological the survival of the fittest. Or so systemic it will take decades to shift. Go Occupiers! Finally in sports a sanctioned form of slavery where some athletes are compensated but not until they break free of the shackles of college football and ownership of NCAA where billions are made for a chosen few on the backs of talented majority African American athletes. Again another horrid imbalance of power sanctioned by institutions across America, when people hint that racism is dead, I laugh and say look to the street look into every corner of every American city and see the color of poverty, it is brown and it is female and it is children. Look at the faces of privilege, what color is it? It is White.
Tell me with a straight face that racism is dead…I think not. It is a gloomy message but the holidays bring it out of me because there is something systemically wrong about Victorian Christmas when so many are suffering. Peace.

Ouch!

2011-12-12T16:49:00.000-08:00

It just occurred to me that this country the USA has a daddy fixation and it is expressed through the GOP race. We want a big cat to come and rescue the economy like magic. Just wrinkle their big daddy nose like bewitched and save us. Only the caveat is we cannot feel the effects of the newness. I know for fact that most mortals would not be able to do or be doing a good job(as the President) with this political climate or structure or deficit. Nonetheless we expect our president to do just that and I feel the deal with the devil (Newt Gingrich)that seems to be the GOP race will in fact present a threat to President Obama. Imagine a Newt world seriously just sit back and imagine the most racist divided weird world were all of us have to carry our passports to say visit Manhattan? Misery! I am going to say something I mean with my whole heart. I want all of the racist baby boomers to expire and open up the field so the younger generation can fix this mess. It is true we need a giant overhaul we need to exclude corporations from the process. Until that becomes the normal we will never see prosperity in this country because tax loop holes designed to protect corporations will prevent us from getting our fair share of taxes that support our programs that encourage our young and protect the old and needy so until those loop holes are closed we will never get out of the red. Pray for us.

Integration...at home.

2011-12-05T06:29:00.000-08:00

Is it racism that is underneath the deep hate for Obama and maybe hate is a strong word, maybe its aversion? To what you ask? To his intelligence, his swagger, his soft stance, in his style or his passive aggressiveness where on the surface we think he is treading water but in fact he is rooting out dictators and despots being a ninja badass. Unlike his predecessor he is actually doing something to help us... I have a few friends who are staunch conservatives which is code for they don’t have any friends intimate friends of color who want fiscal prioritizing meaning profits at all costs who dislike this man in office because he is “other”. Now I hold faith that these people are possibly ignorant for fear of the new and I hold that one day we will each be more tolerant of the differences we each have. Till then I am amazed by the entrenched racism and how many of us are blatant in practicing it. Maybe I am a bigot against bigotry which isn’t good either. Still we have an economy to build up a country to help and love and support and it is important that it start at home in our smaller circle, it’s important that we examine our hearts. Do we have a diverse group of friends? Do we help others who need us by volunteering for the less fortunate? Are we quick to extend friendship where it isn’t going to benefit us? Do we fear the intelligent and the informed? I pray the conservative right can rescue themselves in morality and ethics and all things good because watching the run up to the GOP primary listening to the republican candidates makes me shudder in fear. I find myself holding “them” in judgment like I fear they hold us who are liberal and of “color” and who support Obama for another term.

Winter Solistice

2011-12-01T06:08:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I was walking my two dogs both large breed sport dogs, Abby and Jeppe. We had almost finished our walk when we turned a corner to go home, after sprinting up a steep but small hill, there in a stand of bushy young pine trees that are approximately 12 feet tall hiding in the dense young trees was a young buck, a two pointer with a bright white tail and a full thick coat. Now I wasn’t expecting him or him us but my female shot ahead and was running after him as he bound and leapt above her head. When I realized that the noise wasn’t the two dogs but one chasing a deer I was lucky to see it. I looked up to full body view of the young two point buck leap over and away from us as my female gave chase for a moment. My male didn’t quite register what was happening because he had his head buried into the back of my body which he does occasionally as we run up the hills. He does this and it makes me think he is pushing me or helping me run up those hills because compared to them I am very slow. So by the time he registered the deer it was way too late. This buck looked like Santa’s and it made me realize that the creator of that myth did a good job in describing the way they move. This creature shot up in the air as if defying gravity it was thrilling for the milliseconds I saw it in front of me. Later that day I took the doggies out again they do need to walk as much as possible as do I. There in the same stand of trees or bushes was a creature, something big and I suspect it was our young buck. He is now our young buck and we like him. This must be his nest and it spooked when it heard us walk back there again. It was in the exact area of where we saw him earlier. We didn’t actually see it as it shot through the stand of trees down the hill in the opposite direction as we were going. It made me squeal as we obviously disturbed him. Now I am hooked and as we went further into the woods I saw females, three of them near the part of our park I call the low land. We have a park where I live that is made up of three attached parcels of land that make up a 60 acre wood and it is all ours. I walk in it every day and I love it and realize I am lucky to have a “park’ and boy do we know it. I get to relax and enjoy nature. I am happy to announce that we share it with a big beautiful buck, and more very healthy looking deer and I bet that is why I sometimes we see proof of hunters in my wood. We have a lot of deer so I support hunting with permits of course and conservative practices. Still I am delighted to imagine that our wood is home to many beautiful creatures and what a blessing it is to share this magical wood with them. No matter how frustrated and cranky or put upon I feel I smarten up when I remember my good fortune and I have a lot but what really jolted me was seeing that creature as it shot high into the air just above my head. It was as if winter was announced as being almost here.

Gratitude is rampant in my house!

2011-11-24T07:39:00.001-08:00

Happy holidays to you and yours! May everyone enjoy love, patience, kindness and joy with a lot of laughter and exercise before, during and after the upcoming feast.
It has been the most entertaining election cycle and I have been watching it like a reality show. I cannot believe how many candidates have turned away from ethics and honestly any semblance of morality, instead they have thrown everything representing good character out the proverbial window to get elected President. I am certain this has been a huge teaching moment for America and I hope it will make the young people watching if they are watching learn how NOT to be.
I cannot believe I am going to say this but I completely agree with Ron Paul regarding the war on drugs. Thank you Mr. Paul for risking your election hopes by voicing the obvious; the war on drugs is a sham and a failure as large as the two wars we are still tangle up in.
Why oh why the republicans don’t give Huntsman more attention is baffling someone suggested he is too intelligent.
I know there are republicans who think and have intelligence, okay maybe it is just Dick Cheney and company that have brains, not true, I kid. Still this crop of characters running for office is shameful excluding Huntsman and someone needs to call them out with the flip flopping, the lies and the misinformation being spread.
Oh and please can’t they stop Norquist already, do you know he does standup comedy?
If you haven’t been watching the debates please do; they are fantastic I urge you to tune in if you want to see how it isn’t done how to sacrifice truth and how to blindly grasp at something at the expense of character.
Every once in a while I watch Fox news to see how they spin things and they do…in fairness MSNBC does the same although I do believe we on the left try to stay on point and in fact we do like truthiness…thank you Steve Corbert.
Life is good, be kind and make someone smile…love to you.

Monsters

2011-11-14T10:17:00.001-08:00

What a weird tragic filled week of news and drama first I wanna focus on something Herman Cain’s wife said on the radio this morning about her husband and I quote: She said” Herman would have to be a split personality to have done the things he is accused of” I think she is speaking the truth in that part of her sentence and statement he is split a big wide split that makes sense when you watch and listen to him speak. Also when he speaks he blinks a lot which is a ‘tell’ that we know about in acting it is usually when we are lying and unsure of the territory we are going into we start to blink and cannot control it because it is born this insecurity from the deepest part of our consciousness that cannot tell a lie. Where even Psychotics cannot dupe that part of the cerebral cortex/limbic systems; Monsters don’t think they are a monster which is how they do the damage they do somewhere they see themselves as equal to or worse off than their victims like the pervert Jerry Sandusky. We as a society cannot grasp the depths of depravity people can go and so we deny its existence. Maybe this is a safe guard to defending against uncomfortable feelings but it excludes the most vulnerable of society women and children. I do believe Coach Paterno is guilty as an assessor to Sandusky’s crimes and therefore deserves to be brought up on charges. He protected himself at the expense of hurting severely children; Hitler like in its insensitivity. We are so lucky because two vital examples of monster hood have been outed and that is grace now it behooves us to punish the guilty fair and square.

Protecting institutions...

2011-11-10T07:14:00.000-08:00

So the debate was highly entertaining but one thing struck me as extremely important regarding what the republicans are saying and what society seem to be saying; the rape and abuse of women and children is no big deal. So if this is the message I am deeply troubled and I think we have a lot of soul searching to do regarding the above.
I am hoping this is not the case but listening to Herman discuss and defend himself reminds me of the classic abuser who is in denial an there is the outside chance that his split personality may be real and he may not remember especially if it is under the influence of booze his actions. Still I am pretty certain just by the feelings I get in my gut he is guilty as charged.
That this coach defended and protected his program above the welfare of little boys like the Catholic Church and maybe more institutions of abuse is once again unforgivable and systemic.
That Arizona has prisons for profit that supported Richard Pearce who was just voted out of office who has direct ties to white supremacist groups who wrote the "papers please law" that targets ethnics especially Latino citizens and then you see the size of the populations in these prisons which are heavily tilted toward Latino and Black inmates I say HELLO! Close these places down and arrest these men and free the inmates who are not there for violent crimes but because they’re illegal’s? Let them go…where is the over sight?
Finally the people are speaking with their vote, Halleluiah. Still I am worried and don’t want to be smug regarding president Obama’s chances at re-election yet it is looking good for us. This country has a big ask yes job creation and the economy but we have moral and ethical issues too and I suggest we start with our ideas and beliefs regarding the violence toward women and children and then the prison population in Arizona and then I believe we need to outlaw prisons for profit it reeks of Jim Crow.
I can smell Dick Cheney in there call me crazy but something tells me this is his industry and if my memory serves me he invests in prisons for profit, of course he does.

Voting and early registration issues every where; please copy, paste and post...

2011-11-07T16:41:00.000-08:00

This is a report written and compiled by Bev Harris; She give permission to copy and paste and post to all...so please spread the word.

By Bev Harris: Part 2A of a 5-part series on voter list data

There is still time to correct these problems by 2012. This story is not just about Shelby County, Tennessee, where I believe the elections commission is competently addressing these problems for 2012. Last-minute dumps of new voter registration forms was a national problem in 2008, and across America voters reported that when they showed up to vote, their name was missing from the list.

The 2008 presidential election brought millions of new voters to the polls, with enthusiasm especially high among youth and minority voters. Yet in Shelby County (the home of the great city of Memphis), over 15,000 voters, disproportionately young or Black voters, were omitted from the list of valid voters at the time of early voting; by Election Day, the names finally made it to the list.

These omissions correlate with an influx of last-minute voter registration forms. This study highlights the importance of third-party registration groups promptly submitting new registration forms. In some states, 48-hour submission is now a legal requirement, with somewhat draconian fines for failure to comply. Regardless of whether prompt submission is the law, it is important to emphasize the need to educate voter registration groups to promptly submit new registration forms. Like taking checks to the bank for your employer; like an insurance agent who must promptly submit forms for those he insures; like a real estate agent who has to submit bids immediately, voter registration groups have a fiduciary-like duty to the voter, who has every reason to believe they will be registered timely after signing forms and entrusting them to a responsible person.

In Memphis, approximately 30,000 new registration forms flowed in during the last five weeks before the 2008 presidential election. Only half of these made it onto the voter list by the start of early voting. Apparently, the number of new forms being submitted was greater than they could enter into the database on time.

OMISSION OF VALID VOTERS FROM "WHO CAN VOTE" LISTS

In 2008, Actor Tim Robbins showed up to vote in New York, and was told he was not on the list. After asserting his right to vote, his registration was eventually located and he was allowed to vote a normal ballot.(1)

Reports flowing in to Black Box Voting indicate that the "Tim Robbins" problem happened all over America. In fact, it happened right next to me. When I went to vote, the woman beside me was told she was not on the voter list. She was deaf, and the poll worker made no attempt to explain anything comprehensible to her, so I assisted. Instead of telling her to vote a provisional ballot, the poll worker told her to register and come back next year. After I asserted her right to vote a provisional ballot, the poll worker found her registration after all and she was allowed to vote a normal ballot.

*Registered voters who are told they are not on the voter list may vote a "provisional ballot", an important right, but provisionals are second-class ballots. Provisional ballots are examined after the election and if deemed legitimate, are counted. Unfortunately, poll worker errors sometimes cause these ballots to be rejected; also, poll workers sometimes fail to inform voters of their right to provisional ballots; and provisional ballots are not factored in to Election Night winner projections.

We have not been able to learn much about how these errors take place, or quantify how many people were left off the lists. Until now. I obtained 87 Shelby County voter lists from 2006 through 2010. Examining these lists reveals a staggering scope of voter list omissions. Two and a half percent -- 15,199 total voters -- were left off the early voting list. Of these, 9,080 weren't submitted until the last day of registration.

THE IMPORTANCE OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTING IN ELECTIONS

As a self-governing people, we have the right to authenticate the basic accounting in our own elections. The most essential parts of this accounting are:
1. Who can vote (the voter list)
2. Who did vote (the participating voter list)
3. Chain of custody
4. The count

Obstructions or inaccuracies in any of these four areas can create an unfair election. Inaccuracies in the voter list will certainly affect the count if valid voters cannot vote, and may affect the count if invalid voters can vote (I will quantify invalid votes for 2008 in Part B of this report).

WHY WERE VOTERS LEFT OFF THE LIST?

Voter lists show a "Registration Date." In Shelby County, the last day to register to vote for the 2008 presidential election was Oct. 6, 2008. The later the voter registration forms were submitted, the fewer voters made it on to the voter list at early voting:

Spidey sense...

2011-11-04T11:01:00.000-07:00

Signing a pledge to never raise taxes ever at first sounds understandable but then again we have so many loopholes that keep corporations from paying their fair share of taxes never raising them or making corporation pay them sounds ultimately self destructive. This happens because they promise to hire people and build and keep large production facilities in some parts of the US but then again they haven’t always done that. No, in fact they take subsidies and don’t pay taxes and they move off shore…they lie. In fact they all have some part of the corporate hands in tax payers’ pockets and still the rich refuse to have taxes and loop holes made fair. No, seeking a balance, leveling the tax field because life isn’t fair. Someone asked me why middle or lower middle class elders the actually voting majority keep voting against their own interests? Their own issues? Good question in other words why do the poor and the middle class vote for no taxes for the rich and taxes for themselves and program cutting and Medicare cutting which directly affects them?
... A behavior scientist said because everyone dreams of being rich “someday” so they protect the American dream or what is sold to them as that. I wonder if Grover Norquist is breaking the law by making politicians sign pledges for their constituents; I don’t know. I am certain Obama has made huge mistakes but I still feel confident he is better than all of them combined. I also hope he can survive and usher us through another 4 years although I am certain most of don’t deserve his intelligent leadership because in a climate where dumb and dumbest is considered good and intelligence is considered elite we are in trouble. I don’t think being a country bumpkin who is uniformed is safe or smart or funny and I certainly don’t want that representing me in Washington with his hand anywhere near the “Football” I mean the nukes. So I am hoping and working hard to make sure we never have another debacle like Bush in office again and I am also hoping with all my spidey senses that we can impeach congress and make them suffer for hurting our economy and blocking the jobs bill. I think they all should be booted out of the halls of government TODAY! It is a cluster f*&k of the highest order up on the hill and I hope they pay like we have been as main stream or the street or the silent majority. Stay alert people stay alert!

What is our history, again?

2011-10-25T09:43:00.000-07:00

So let me get this straight people like Pat Buchanan wax poetic about America's lost greatest as a past thing because when he was growing up and immigration wasn't an issue and white Anglo Saxon protestant and or Catholics outnumbered blacks or other ethnic races. Where as diversity in our population today according to his thesis marks the end of "The great White dominance"and the end of all things good, makes me think he is a bigot and has rose colored glasses because being from the ruling class insulated him to the oppression of the Jim Crow laws and other socioeconomic discrepancies. When I look at his thesis and I think of this countries history I see a woeful abuse of the underclass and horrible inequality not just racially but sexually as well. I think from the very first European foot fall onto these shores when it was 100% native Americans we have witnessed genocide. It is a matter of perspective what is good or bad, and yes to some integration is natural, it is a good thing that we evolve. So we now have begun to see the warmth of different cultures infiltrate America, it is a good thing. This isn't Europe or Scandinavia if you want to surrounded by that type, go there...but even they cannot escape the inevitable spread of pigment. Not that diversity is just epidermis, it is cultural too. I am delighted to imagine an America with more brown skinned folks of differing cultures, bring it on. For me being brown it is a blessing and I am delighted to protest anyone who claims it was better 40 years ago. It was very different and it wasn't good for anyone of color or for woman and everyone who laments those times as good times are racist sexist relics. America should be ashamed of its history of abuse toward people of color America should hang it's head in shame, especially in the south but the north has blood on its hands too. Right up to and past Rosa Parks refusal to go to the back of the bus. People who are not part of the 1 percent know what its like to feel left out. That is a good thing hopefully we can embrace our future of deep diversity for the wealth that it is and not lament a darker more inequitable past for its shamefulness and its inequality. When the first European settles arrived and tamed the savages it was a crime. Just because retribution has NOT been meted out for the initial genocide of early natives doesn't mean it won't be. Life is about balance and in the end America will most likely be predominantly brown skinned just like it was before first contact, because karma has patience.

Please spread the news!

2011-10-22T17:11:00.001-07:00

A 5 year-Old Black Girl Disappears and No One Cares
Posted by Jacqueline Burt
on October 18, 2011 at 1:25 PM

Comments (486)|
Likes (48)

jhessye shockley
Missing 5-Year-Old Jhessye ShockleyThere are several striking similarities between the disappearances of 10-month-old baby Lisa Irwin and 5-year-old Jhessye Shockley. Both children are girls, both were last seen in their homes. Lisa has been missing for over a week, Jhessye has been missing for nearly a week. Police investigating both cases have been challenged by strings of dead-end tips and a lack of evidence in general. The mothers of both Lisa and Jhessye have made tearful televised pleas for their children's safe return.

Right about now you may be wondering why you haven't heard more about Jhessye Shockley, or maybe even why you haven't heard of her at all, when Lisa Irwin's story has been plastered all over the news.

The fact of the matter is, you probably haven't heard much about Jhessye Shockley because of the one striking difference between her and Lisa Irwin:

Lisa Irwin is white. Jhessye Shockley is black.

I know it's a hard and ugly truth to swallow, representative of a reality we don't want to believe exists anymore. But sadly, nothing else explains why the country is currently obsessed with finding Lisa Irwin and largely unaware that Jhessye Shockley is even lost.

We know everything there is to know about Lisa Irwin's mother, Deborah Bradley, from the details of her divorce to what she had to drink the night Lisa vanished. Meanwhile, Jhessye Shockley's mother was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2006 for "injury to a child" and deemed a "threat to the well-being of her children," and no one seems to know or care how or why she got out of jail early.

Jhessye's three siblings are now in the custody of Child Protective Services, while Lisa Irwin's two brothers are at home, being sheltered from the press.

The main thing, one might argue, is that both girls return home safely, not how much attention their individual cases get. But when it comes to missing children, often the higher profile a disappearance, the higher the likelihood that child will be found.

The situation is already tragic. Now it's tragically unjust.

Do you think Jhessye Shockley's race is the reason why she isn't getting as much attention as Lisa Irwin?

The rewrite

2011-10-18T13:42:00.000-07:00

Is it me or are we in the weird age of saying something and then denying it publicly even though “statements” are filmed captured to be pulled up and displayed at will. So what I find fascinating is how public figures can blatantly deny intent when re-watching them shows that in fact they were not “joking” but it seems all of the current crop of republican candidates do it. Very strange lesson to be teaching our children if they are paying attention to the ramp up to the next election which something tells me they are not, so telling us the public that they meant one thing whilst it is obvious to anyone watching they certainly meant the opposite, when we can see plain as day what “they” mean. So this is what we are today in America, we rewrite immediate history. I dislike Herman Cain because he is a coward and ashamed of his heritage and a denier…everything he represents including his bully name of his pizza business spells “Asshole” to me. That he would go public and say Rosa Parks should have sat in the back of the bus knowing full well she was a catalyst to the most important movement in America that he said this is shameful. I mean the rev. Jefress is a bigot straight up and it is absolutely entertaining to see him implode Rick Perry chances and they are imploding. My father says Jefress looks like Warren Jeffs. He does another lunatic running a church instead of being locked up in an asylum. So we wait and watch the one candidate that is smart and hasn’t wavered or sold out to some cult is Huntsman and I have decided the one thing these Republicans hate is intelligence and Huntsman has it in spades and they hate him. Fascinating so in reality this country could go back to the challenged thinking that defined GW Bush tenure. I for one cannot imagine a worse scenario and I for one hope and am willing to work for another 4 for Obama. I know full well he isn’t perfect and they screwed some things up but at least he reads and is doing the best anyone would have done with brains. So we need him for 4 more and then we need to pray Hilary will run or Elizabeth warren and then again maybe this protesting will undo the whole shebang and we can reset and become a truly great nation instead of one on the brink of extinction. We have the ability to be true global leaders for the right things and sure it still beats China America but watching our political process grind to a halt because it is corrupt saddens me and I begin to feel like we do need a revolution and it isn’t one that is drunk with Biblical un-facts but a revolution that is pro-humanity and tolerance and dignity and intelligence. I know dream on…one can hope can’t I?

Bad Judgement

2011-10-03T12:31:00.000-07:00

Why hasn’t the public or the courts arrested and tried Joe Jackson for terrorizing the family; crimes against Michael and his family? It is sleaze and money and influence that only this doctor is being called out. Joe was a pimp and used his children to get rich. Hello? This is a witch burning which is a waste of tax payer’s money when in truth it is the Father Joe Jackson who is guilty and should be in court for being an abusive task master who damaged his family irreparably. That we are wasting time on this Doctor both in the media and in court is lame. What is he guilty of really being greedy and maybe having questionable ethics etc…do we care and must he be tried for murder? How rich is it that Joe was the loudest one to bang the drum to get this guy in court ewwww. Someone please call Joe Jackson out. Watching a bit of the Martin Bashir documentary of MJ was sadder the second time. He was obviously so split. Shattered both as a human being and within his sexuality (straight/ gay) and it was obvious he had deep psychic scars. MJ was a brilliant show man a professional dance and song machine. Yet he suffered as well as his family, all of them from a long list of defensive coping mechanics. It is a truth that extreme abuse creates coping mechanisms. On the show with Bashir, Michael lists some of it (the abuse) and tries to diminish some of it too and it is obvious it was horrid. Just look at how secretive they are and weird the entire family every single one is damaged. I suppose watching this trial unfold and its wastefulness is another part of how we hold celebrity to a different standard than the average person and now we waste millions trying a man that the wealthy celebrity hired; a medical doctor to administer his drugs that eventually killed him. Seems cut and dry really, do we have to imagine that MJ wasn’t trying to destroy himself, is it a stretch? I am of the school that the only man who should be on trial is Joe the father who battered the boys into submission to fill his greasy pockets. It is shameful and this trial a gigantic waste.

Mama's and Papa's and you...

2011-09-28T12:51:00.001-07:00

I have a theory if you are raised with a mother that is present and yet very powerful and demanding and tough and in ones business I wonder if it doesn’t predispose one to anorexia. Because in some cases (not all) the ability to control one’s body and appetite is a way to regain a sense of power, being creatures who long for a sense of self or autonomy unless damaged beyond hope. Recently I was reading about one such mother a tiger mom only she wasn’t Asian and her daughters were both recovering from Anorexia. Still if we are raised in an abandonment situation where mothering or parental influence is lacking or nonexistent then I think the opposite of anorexia holds. One is hungry all the time and food or drink or both is the go to expression and consequently being overweight. I wonder if this is a correlation to an eating disorder. I have to discipline myself and step away from the table and let’s face it I am not always successful and I didn’t have that Mother thing. I longed for both parents severely. Whereas I say this again I know not everyone conforms to a general theory such as this one I am presenting but I have a hunch I may be on to something. Now if you take a person who doesn’t have pressures that create disharmony in the childhood and life just burbles along and they are parented in a balanced way those people and they are precious or rare they have a pretty balanced relationship with food. It is a marvel as I meet people in my travels who describe their backgrounds as simple or sweet and drama free they have an easy go with food. These people just relax and enjoy it but don’t fret and or get compulsive. So if you are a parent and have little ones be careful to manage your states and energetic vibration so they can have a chance and be healthier when it comes to their bodies…please.

Simply put

2011-09-16T08:03:00.001-07:00

It is heartening to hear some of the Democratic politico’s discuss their horror over the raw jubilation the GOP party had recently at a debate when the audience erupted in applause over the death of an uninsured man, the man died of an impacted wisdom tooth infection. It also is important to note that it makes all of us more aware of where in our thinking we don’t pay attention to things that hurt others. I do this every day I will be unedited and I will say something sensitive in an insensitive way and I will realize only after what I have done. It is my life’s work to become better at compassion. What we are talking about is kindness and compassion which isn’t in vogue in America and I think is considered weakness. So I applaud the men and women who are pointing out where we have reduced our thinking and beliefs to below humane and even monstrous levels. Celebrating the death penalty for innocent men and woman and promoting biased views without the help of experts hurts us, deeply as a whole and as individuals. Climate change is on…it doesn’t take a scientist to see the changes and most of the shenanigans in Washington are race driven and hurting us , you and me as citizens. I want safe water, air and less chemical exposure and I want it today forever. I want safe updated improved schools and I would LOVE to see us weaned off fossil fuels. I would love ethanol to be the norm and majority. I want values that are not religious but intelligent and I welcome tolerance for those who need religion including not excluding our brethren who follow the Koran. Biking to work, walking to school and staying home and eating in…fun stuff that promotes health and love for the simple things.

The Advocate

2011-09-12T07:44:00.001-07:00

Who will be the advocate in Hollywood of African American woman in Media? Who is it? Not Oprah who has shown the world that she advocates for herself and people she wants to be like or feels reflects her ideas. Not the various men and woman who occupy the studio leadership and make the green light decisions. Most are white males a majority white Jewish men who are allowed to fulfill there childhood fantasy on screen those men and woman called Goyem, (white Anglo-Saxon men and woman) in Yiddish. Unmet childhood needs color our likes and dislikes so maybe we all would b guilty of casting from there. Who is the advocate for the many hues both physically and emotionally and socioeconomically of the African American woman? Not Tyler Perry who dresses in drag and whose portrayal of women is both strong and degrading and popular I suspect because this is all we are going to get. Not Spike Lee whose movies are like him taut, angry and male centric. It is fascinating that the only director of note to step into the Black woman fray is a foreigner…Luc Bresson (see Columbiana) here’s to you Luc. Who is going to open up and let us in? Will we ever be allowed to express ourselves on screen in any other capacity than hard luck over burden domestics? If it were not so enjoyable to watch “The Help” it would be revealed as yet another story where white people are helping black woman or men survive. I am exhausted and sad and fully aware of my own place in the larger scheme of things. I sit in my house away form the palm trees of Sunset Blvd and the lies of the establishment because I just don’t have it in me to fight and I have too many faults to be a contender. I had a shot and it didn’t matter. Win an Oscar it still won’t matter (see Halle Berry)
I see that no matter what something will keep us down. Oprah the last great black hope and yet all we really are left with is her unmet childhood needs in the form of Oprah isms. Oprah on every magazine cover and central to any and all her shows, only always.
…UGH. A level playing field in both movies and shows that reflect who we are the multifaceted beautiful and sometimes not so pretty woman and men, who will be the brave one and when will it happen if it will happen or maybe should we refuse to move to the back of the pile of scripts and books sitting undeveloped on every major studio bosses desk. There are thousands of unread undeveloped stories worthy of the talent that is moldering in Hollywood and in NYC, stories that are worthy of our essence, of our unique spectacular mystery. Who will be our advocate and see this to fruition?

A taste of President Obama's health care reform and what it holds...for us.

2011-09-08T03:57:00.000-07:00

I decided to show a small but important part of the law regarding President Obama's health care reform law and what it is since I suspect those complaining about it have NOT read it. Below are some of the facts;

About the New Law Relief for You Myths and Facts Healthcare News 50 States 50 Stories
The Affordable Care Act

The Affordable Care Act, passed by Congress and signed into law by the President in March 2010, gives you better health security by putting in place comprehensive health insurance reforms that hold insurance companies accountable, lower health care costs, guarantee more choice, and enhance the quality of care for all Americans.

SEE: How it works Starting Sept. 23, 2010 A bridge to 2014 Reducing Costs Progress
How it Works

The Act will not be implemented all at once. Portions of the law have already taken effect like provisions that implement a new Patient’s Bill of Rights that put an end to some of the worst insurance company practices.
The New Law

Ban Lifetime Limits
Bans Dropping Your Coverage When you Need It Most
Helps Cover Young Adults on Their Parent’s Plan
Prohibits Discriminating Against Children With Pre-Existing Conditions
Restricts the Use of Annual Limits

Before reform, cancer patients and individuals suffering from other serious and chronic diseases were often forced to limit or go without treatment because of an insurer’s lifetime limit on their coverage. Insurance companies can no longer put a lifetime limit on the amount of coverage enrollees receive, so families can live with the security of knowing that their coverage will be there when they need it most.

Up to
20,400
people who typically hit their lifetime limits will benefit from this provision.

Along with nearly
102 mil.
consumers who will no longer have a lifetime limit on their insurance policy.

Benefits Starting on September 23, 2010

If you purchase or join a new plan on or after September 23, 2010 insurance companies must:

Cover recommended preventive services without charging out of pocket costs: Services like mammograms, colonoscopies, immunizations, pre-natal and new baby care will be covered, and insurance companies will be prohibited from charging deductibles, co-payments or co-insurance.

Provide an opportunity to appeal coverage decisions: Consumers will be guaranteed the right to appeal insurance company decisions to an independent third party.

Guarantee enrollees their choice of primary care provider: Consumers will have their choice of provider within the plan’s network of doctors, including OB-GYNs and pediatricians, without a referral, as well as out-of-network emergency care.

These three provisions will benefit up to 88 million people by 2013.
A Bridge to 2014

Other changes including new benefits, protections and cost savings will be implemented between now and 2014.

The Affordable Care Act builds a bridge to 2014 when a new competitive insurance marketplace will be established. The new marketplace will include state-run health insurance exchanges where millions of Americans and small businesses will be able to purchase affordable coverage, and have the same choices of insurance as Members of Congress.
Reducing Costs

The Affordable Care Act will bring down costs, improve the quality of health care delivered to all Americans and expand coverage to 32 million Americans.

Independent experts have found that the new law helps reduce costs for families and businesses, cuts the deficit and strengthens Medicare, adding years to the trust fund while maintaining seniors guaranteed benefits.

The Congressional Budget Office, the government’s non-partisan scorekeeper, said the Affordable Care Act would save over $100 billion over the next ten years, and over $1 trillion in the following decade.
Progress

Many provisions in the Affordable Care Act are already being implemented, and other changes will be implemented through 2014 and beyond. The law is already strengthening our health care system. Provisions of the law that have already been implemented include:

Important consumer protections and a new Patient’s Bill of Rights that end some of the worst insurance company abuses.

New resources for states to help crack down on health insurance premium increases, protect consumers and develop health insurance exchanges where consumers will have the same health insurance choices as Members of Congress.

The establishment of the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan to provide coverage to Americans who have been uninsured because of a pre-existing condition.

Launch of the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program to make it easier for businesses to provide coverage to retirees who are not eligible for Medicare.

Distribution of important information that will help small businesses claim the law’s small business tax credit.

Cost saving measures, including provisions that will make our system more efficient.

Oracles

2011-09-05T07:46:00.001-07:00

Oracles are fascinating in how we use them and how much weight we put in to them. From tarot cards, to playing cards (Destiny system) to astrology to dousing with a crystal it is being superstitious. So how we interpret the results matters and can influence our mood. Is there provable science behind any of the tools I mentioned, no probably not but for me it helps me relax and I feel connected to the mystery that is THAT. So I will settle down and clear my mind and ask an oracle a thing or two. Recently I ask about the political environment and how Obama will do in the re-elections and it is not being definite which in my interpretation means the jury is out and he could lose. I get riled when I hear the attacks on him which I feel are unfair and racists even though his tenure has not been without huge mistakes I am thoroughly convinced no one else especially on the GOP side could have done a better job given the circumstances he inherited. Still he must watch his back our backs as it were since we are under attack and it is from within. The small or meek shall inherit the earth? Well the fundamentalists are after America and although they seem to have a good plan with reverting America to the olden days of slavery (Michelle Bachman) I want progress, personally. I wonder if our president were to take a fantastically radical stance I wonder how long he would be alive. That he is so center I think has been the good and the bad of his tenure as president. I wonder if he had gone all the way with one pay medical would he still be breathing. It is a good question, I pray we are NOT subjected to 4 years of the old Bush mania with the likes of Perry and Bachman it was not a great time for this country no matter how much one argues it was. Even my staunch conservative associates cannot fully explain why we invaded Iraq? It is rich that Dick Cheney who must have stood to rake in billions has not been arrested and tried for pillaging American tax dollars with his various companies who profited from Iraq’s destruction. I wonder if there is a statute of limitation. We must mobilize and fight for keeping America on track and I pray this President has another four years to keep the cart pointed in the right direction and still I do want him to be more boastful and effective and show his pair because I think they are pretty big.