Head in the Sand

Well, President Obama wants to give a speech directed at our school children to encourage them to try hard and be all you can be. Many parents all over the country are outraged that some schools are choosing to air this speech during school hours. Many don't want their children exposed to what he has to say or his views and policies. Many are threatening to keep their children home even at the expense of an unexcused absence. Parents, GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF THE SAND. He is the president of the United States and your children are members of this society, so it should be important for them to be exposed to what he has to say. Although I don't agree with many of his policies or views about our nation it is what is for now and we should be abreast of it. Sheltering high school aged kids from this information is a terrible parenting stategy in my estimation. So parents, inform your children and let them be informed so they may be fully equipment with views from all sides to make decisions in the near future that will shape them and our country.

Daddy

Health care reform

All this hub bub about health care reform and I haven't heard a peep about reforming one of the biggest underlying causes of our health care mess. Tort Reform. Lawyers make money suing people and companies and doctors and insurance companies and hospitals and any body else they can throw into the mix. They don't care if they win or lose - it doesn't matter. They make money either way. Rarely does any one challege a suit because the lawyers always structure their suits so it is cheaper to settle than to fight. I have a legislation proposal that would quickly a effectively solve this issue. Now the hard part-getting our elected officials to read the proposed legislation. I've got the solution to that too. It won't take long to read and is concise enough that a two year old can understand it. Are you ready for this? I'm going to type out the entire draft proposal and as you can propably tell, I'm a lousy typist. Here goes. LOSER PAYS. Think about it and leave a comment as to what you think. Hospitals are going broke charging $100.00 for an aspirin, doctors are quitting because they can't make any money (compared to 10 or twenty years ago), insurance companies are pulling out of non profitable markets. Seems like that only leaves one component of the equation- the lawyers. So long for now.

Yahoo news headline- Freshman Democratic senators and representatives torn between party lines and the voices of their constituents. Wow, is that newsworthy. Historically, newbies tend to still have some convictions about why they are polititions and try to read legislation proposals and make decisions based on several factors presented to them. It takes them awhile to realize that they are there to conform to the party platform and abosrb as much power and clout as they can with as little effort as possible. The notion that they are pressured into voting party lines despite majority constituent opposition will fade with time. It is now time to balance keeping all the senior politicos appeased while still being able to get re-elected. That's hard work. I have an idea. Let's change the whole system.

Here is my suggestion:

Fire all the polititions
Dedicate TV stations and internet related web sites to governmental matters
Let the citizens cast their vote on their remote.
Everyone knows how to vote on their remote ( just look at American Idol).
They know how to count votes
Majotrity wins

But wait- the very common man (me) doesn't know the complexities of governing
and doesn't really know what's best for him.
To answer that I will refer to an earlier post that I mentioned John Conyers saying that he doesn't read the health care reform bill because it is to long and complicated. The article that info came from indicated that a very small percentage of the legislation that comes before our elected officials is actually ever read. So in conclusion, we may not know the intricacies and complexities of government but it doesn't sound to me like our officials do either. I rest my case

Ramblings of a very common man

Today I want to convey some thoughts and obsevations from the perspective of a very common man (me). I don't claim to understand the the inner workings of mega business but I'd like to comment on the Government Motors (f.k.a. General Motors) situation. Again, bear in mind I only involve myself to the extent of what I hear on the news and read on Yahoo but here is the twist I get on the situation. Last year GM sought help from the federal government to the tune of 15 to 20 billion dollars to stave off certain failure. According to the government failure was not an option because our auto mega business had become to big to fail and the ripple effect would be too devastating for our society to bear. Well, GM burned through that money in record time and still ended up filing bankruptcy. Despite objections from some sustantial private bond holders the bankruptcy plan was approved and implemented in record time and the new and improved Government Motors emerged lean and mean. So, private investors got the shaft, organized labor made token concessions and the government gets a 55% stake in the company. Next shows up a cash for clunkers stimulus program that was funded with a mere 3 billion dollars and all of a sudden production can't keep up with demand. I suppose if someone pardoned me for all my indebtedness and obligations, gave me a clean slate, a 15 billion dollar credit line and then gave the general public a raging incentive to by my product I'd probably be in pretty good shape too. Somehow I think this goes against some fundamental aspects of true capitolism. And by the way, as a taxpaying citizen of the majority stock holding entity of GM am I entitled to any dividend or return on my investment? I didn't think so. As a very common man I have been led to believe that I don't have an informed enough opinion of the universe to know what is best for me and my family so my government is making these decisions against what I consider to be good judgement but alas cooler and smarter heads will prevail and all will be well.....I hope. Enough of all this sacasm- lrt's have a thought for the day.



Subject: New from Government Motors Corp-I'm getting one of these and you should also!



Thought for the day.
When we were pregnant I had enough people who had children tell me that "You will never know love until you hold your baby in your hands. I felt like if I heard that one more time I was going to get sick right on the floor. Well, they were certainly right and now I'm a preacher of that wisdom like no other, which brings me to my thought of the day. My parents both passed away before Katherine was born and I never had the opportunity to share my family with them but it gave me an insight I would like to share. Contemplate and understand the love you have for your child, then know that your parents have that same love for you. Your appreciation and love for your parents will grow ten fold.

Saturday morning's are a special time for me. I generally pop one eye open and my feet hit the ground running to face the day. Saturday is no exception except after that initial urgency to get at it subsides, I realize that its just not that important that it can't wait till Monday. I've spent the better part of my life thus far thinking that if a day ended in Y, I had to be going at it 110 with my hair on fire. Nowadays it's nice to take a breath and comtemplate the truly important things in life like my beautiful daughter and the bountiful day ahead of her.

Thought for the day- No matter how urgent the tasks of the day may seem they are never urgent enough to pass up the opportunity to to stop and ponder for a moment the wonderful things that have been bestowed to you. Have a wonderful day.

OK, down to business. The Fed says the economy has bottomed out and recovery is eminent. Great news-finally some relief. Woops- July home foreclosures reach record highs. Oh well. Wall Street is back, the banks are flush, I have no job and I'm going to lose my house. The Obama Administration is amazed that there is some much animosity and disgruntlement among citizens over their health care reform proposals. Small wonder to me. Consider the governments track record on running anything effeciently and then entrust them to orchestrate a trillion plus dollar program-not. The very large majority of our elected represenatives haven't even read the proposal let alone understand it. John Conyers ( head of the Senate Judiciary committee was quoted as saying "It would take me two days of reading and two days of attorneys trying to explain it to me, so why waste the time". I'd like to know how such a complex solution to an age old problem simply appeared in 100 days complete with a price tag. That in addition to aquiring a mega insurance company, numerous banks, and an automobile manufacturer. That's impressive.

OK- enough gloom and doom. Here is my thought for the day.

Journey through life as though your sleeping daughter's head is resting on your shoulder. Quietly with strength and absolute determination. I love you Katherine.

Daddy

Hi,

I'm Katherine and I'm 2. Welcome to my daddy's place. He is a little shy about this blogging stuff but he's got a lot of good stuff to say and I think he'll warm up to this just fine. Please feel free to comment and let's see if we can get this thing going.