Well, I have to pat myself on the back again, UNFORTUNATELY, because – as I’ve been saying for the previous (almost) 3 months of the Obama administration – my fears have proved true. Last night I was watching the Keith Olberman show on MSNBC and it was reported that not only is the Obama administration defending the illegal wiretapping done under George Bush, but – if I understood what was said correctly – they’re taking it one step further. That is to say, where the Bush administration was using some legal maneuvering called “State Secrets” to prevent the courts from hearing cases regarding their warrantless eavesdropping on the phone calls of virtually ALL AMERICANS, not only is the Obama administration upholding those baseless claims but they’re suggesting that anyone who has been wiretapped has no legal basis to challenge the government in court! As I said in an earlier post – if this happens I will – WANT MY MONEY BACK.

I’m actually going to follow through with this and write a letter to the Obama website asking for my money back. I wrote them during the campaign when Obama inexplicably supported the FISA bill which granted the retro-active immunity to ATT&T and Verizon (and maybe others) and I was assured that (should he become) President Obama would “fix” the problems with this bill once he gained the office of President. Well, he has apparently “fixed” the problems alright – he’s (if this reporting is true) MADE THINGS WORSE! I’ve said it before, what motivated me to start writing on this so-called “Blog” was the reprehesible behavior of our 43rd President and his administration. Behavior that was openly and arrogantly in violation of the constitution and, not only our domestic laws, but international laws as well. They re-instituted the “Nixon doctrine” which states: “If the President does it, it must be legal.” Well, that “doctrine” was no more ridiculous then (during Watergate) than it is now, and it’s high time that we find some leaders in this nation to stand up and say something about this! Now, I know about 20 people per day view this blog. As I’ve mentioned many times, I have no idea who you are (I’m talking directly to you, because – not trying to be presumptuous – I’m going to assume that if you’re reading this, you’re one of the people who I don’t know who you are :o) – but if you at all agree with my disgust with President Obama on this issue – please do two things. First: call or write your representatives in Congress (Republican or Democrat) and express your outrage – DEMAND CONGRESS TO STEP IN AND PUT A STOP TO THIS – and Secondly, email the address of this blog (https://www.dfpiper.com) to some friends who might do the same. I have either known or suspicioned this was going to happen for three months. I’m just a 6th grade school teacher, so I think it’s safe to assume that many members of the media (what’s left of it) and members of Congress either knew, or should have known, that Obama was going to continue this outrageous government behavior. REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS ALIKE NEED TO JOIN ARMS IN PROTEST OVER THIS CONTINUED VIOLATION OF OUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO PRIVACY. Here’s a fantastic opportunity for the bipartisanship President Obama is seeking – I’d love to see a veto-proof majority of both houses of Congress enact legislation stopping this violation of our basic rights.

Let me give you an example of why this is so important – THAT IT BE DEALT WITH IMMEDIATELY. Everyone knows that the economy is in the tank. As a teacher, my salary is dependent on the health of the state economy because about 75% of my salary is paid by state funds (either from state generated funds, or funds passed to the state from the federal government). The state of Washington (my home) has a shortfall of around 8 or 9 BILLION dollars! It stands to reason that there is not enough money to continue funding education at the levels that it presently is “enjoying.” We are going to be taking a “haircut” – to use the vernacular I’m hearing regarding investors committed to companies like GM who are fighting to stay out of bankruptcy court. I am a member of one of the few remaining unions in this great country (which, I might add was made great largely on the backs of union workers the last time we went through a major financial crisis about 75 years ago). I am also the de-facto union rep from my school, so I attend all the union meetings, and understandably there is a lot of intensity in the bargaining process which is getting under way for our new contract. As you might imagine, both sides in the “talks” regarding the teacher contracts are taking the position that we should do what’s best for the students (and whether or not the “sides” are genuine in their “stance,” I certainly believe that is the proper stance to take – because the reason we teach is for the benefit of the students).

Well, the “haircutting” began with the moneys delegated from the state to the district that I work in. First of all, the amount of money teachers will receive next year (and maybe the next two, I’m not sure if the state talks are for one or two years) will be reduced by somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 to 7 percent (the disparity comes from the fact that a legally mandated COLA has been cancelled – this is money that we were supposed to get, but an argument could be made that it’s not a reduction because we haven’t technically received it yet so based on our 08-09 salaries the cut from the state is “only” 3 percent. Well, in the face of millions of Americans being without jobs – THERE’S A LOT TO BE THANKFUL FOR! Now, we go to bargaining with the district which has a shortfall of somewhere between 5 and 8 million in their state allocation and they, of course, want the teachers to take additional cuts. In fact, what they want the teachers to do is provide what we call “give backs.” That is, to give up benefits that have been bargained for in previous years. I apologize for the length of this analogy, but I’m getting to my point. The union has been through this before and the reason they are reluctant to “give back” is because history says that once you “give back” after the crisis is over, the district will not be willing to undo the “give backs” and we’ll find ourselves going through battles again that have already been won.

The question becomes how much are we willing to “give back” in order to save jobs for our compatriots who are basically going to be the younger teachers (yes, the beauty of unions – at least from the perspective of someone who has committed a large segment of his adult life to teaching – is that experience matters). And, I believe there will be a willingness to sacrifice if it is truly “shared” which is what the administration of our district is proposing – it’s just that the sacrifice and the “give backs” have to be across the board. The reality in this situation and the one I’m trying to make a point on is that LEADERSHIP COMES FROM THE TOP – CHANGE COMES FROM THE BOTTOM! (that is, the people at the top should make the largest “sacrifice” – they should set the example)

OK, back to my main point. Just like where our union doesn’t want to “give back” because once you do this whatever you give back is basically, for all intents and purposes, GONE! The same holds true – AND IN SPADES – with our constitution. I remember Republican friends of mine when the illegal wiretapping first became common knowledge saying stuff like, “It doesn’t matter if they’re listening to my phone calls, because I’m not saying anything for them to worry about.” To me, that is classic STUPIDITY! Let me give you a scenario based on one of the guys who was defending the government’s intrusion into our computers, cell phones, and landlines. (Keep in mind that it’s been documented that the Bush administration was closely monitoring communications of numerous members of the media – newspaper reporters, columnists, and TV personalities ie people like Olberman). One of the “water carriers” for Bush and, for that matter, anything Republican was Rush Limbaugh – the de-facto head of the now pathetic Republican party. Is Rush going to be defending this policy NOW when he finds out that Barrack Obama is listening to HIS phone calls (and I’m not talking about the ones when he’s on the air) and monitering his emails, credit card transactions, and who knows what else they’re doing? I DON’T THINK RUSH IS GOING TO LIKE THIS! And, for once, I’m going to be on the side of one of the people that I despise the most.

I have 3 grown children, one grand child, another on the way, and potentially several more. I don’t want them to inherit a country which has abandoned the constitution which held this nation together for over 200 years, the constitution which has allowed this nation to grow into the greatest nation in the history of the world, the constitution which has had untold men and women give their lives so that the rest of us can live in a state of relative FREEDOM! If we give this up, DOES ANYONE REALLY THINK OBAMA WILL CHANGE COURSE ONCE OSAMA BIN LADEN IS CAPTURED? If you do, I respectfully would suggest that you’re being a bit naive. And what comes next? We give up our right to privacy and then – maybe – FREE SPEECH? I mean Bush managed to get a law through our spineless congress allowing him to basically identify anyone he wanted as an “enemy combatant” and cart them off to some secret prison somewhere and leave them indefinitely without being charged with a crime, without habeous corpus, without any rights at all. IF THIS ISN’T GETTING YOUR ATTENTION, WHAT WILL????

I supported Obama, I am one who wants him to succeed. But, I don’t think many of the people who voted for him understand the position he’s taking on this – at least I hope they don’t. And I certainly hope that they will take a firm stand against what he’s doing on this when they find out. That is why I’m asking you to email this “post” to as many people as you can – Republican or Democrat (I’m not trying to become famous, I just don’t want Uncle Sam listening to my phone calls or reading my emails or – more importantly – those of my children). To me, THIS IS SCARY! Truly the implication that our government is becoming BIG BROTHER is real. If we don’t get this stopped NOW – every day the chances of permanance becomes more real. And believe me, if they get away with this, it is just the TIP OF THE ICEBERG. I’m outraged, I’m encouraging anyone who might read this to be outraged! Illegal warrantless wiretapping is WRONG whether being done by a Republican President or Democratic President!

When I started this “blog” (I’m not sure if it’s technically a blog because so far no one has made any comments except me) I wasn’t sure if I would write 2 posts, let alone almost 120 as I’m writing tonight. Additionally, I have always felt that I’m writing to myself, kind of like an online journal, for the purpose of allowing me to express my political views without making all my coworkers turn and walk the other way each time they see me. For several months I had no idea if anyone was “watching” until one of the guys at 1and1 (my service provider) showed me how to get the “web statistics.” These techno geeks can do amazing things these days – I know people are occasionally visiting (my highest count for one day is 49) – I just have no idea where they’re (you if you’re reading this) coming from. That all being said, it appears that I’m going to continue writing for awhile. In fact, I’m almost finished with the new book by Thomas Ricks, the guy who wrote FIASCO – one of the best books I read on the Iraq occupation. The new book is called the Gamble which is about the so-called Surge in Iraq and soon I will have several comments about that book and by extension the surge itself.

That all being said, for the last couple days I’ve been thinking of the word “habit(s).” My previous post was based on the word greed and I’m sure you can speculate on that post if you’ve been on this site before – at least what my take would be on it (if not, read the post :o). In a “nutshell” I believe greed is a MAJOR problem in the United States and has driven us to the brink of becoming a second rate nation. Despite the efforts of Republicans to “help” President Obama “fail,” I believe the future of this nation for at least a generation depends on his success. That is, I feel certain that the rest of the world is loosing patience with America and the policies that the Bush administration (and the Republican party for the past 30 years) was following. They are looking for change almost more than we are. One of the problems that Obama has to overcome is, in my view, the bad habits we have developed as a nation.

For example, take the banking crisis. A small number of “risk managers” – at least as I understand it – took some ridiculous “risky” risks, and the result is huge losses for millions of Americans in their stock portfolio’s, their retirement accounts, and in the value of their homes and other real estate. Now, at least as far as the real estate, it didn’t take a genius to see that prices were escalating at WAY to “brisk” a pace – around where I live upwards of 20% per year for several years. The problem was that as a property owner it’s easy to get in the HABIT of thinking that real estate ALWAYS goes UP! In fact, not only had people in the real estate business (brokers, and sales agents) been convincing one buyer after another that this was the case, but the banks got in the HABIT of believing their own ridiculous rhetoric and they started making absurd loans to just about anyone who could write their name on the bottom line. It was not unusual for me to get several “You’re Prequalified” offers to loan me 125% of the value of my home – EACH WEEK! Thank God, I didn’t fall for it – but unfortunately millions of Americans did – because we have developed the HABIT of living on credit – and our homes became like cash machines.

I am guilty of this (abusing credit) myself. I bought into the 0% credit card scheme that the banks were “pushing” 3 or 4 years ago and ran up huge credit card debt – almost destroying my marriage in the process (well, there were some actual marital issues that were involved as well, thankfully now resolved) – but my point is that it was easy for me to borrow as much as I wanted to borrow. I kept making the payments, so all these credit card companies kept increasing my “credit line.” Ultimately, I could have paid off my house with credit from the credit card companies – which fortunately (again) I’m not that stupid. I had enough equity in our home to pay off the credit cards with a low interest refinance – but had I waited another year to address my stupidity, I would have been caught up in the crisis which is now nearly destroying our nation’s financial standing in the world.

Remember, much of the debt being carried by this nation is held by foriegn countries with China, I believe, holding almost $2 Trillion itself, and who knows how much being held by the oil suppliers of the middle east. This HABIT of constant borrowing is VERY BAD! Then there’s the HABIT of thinking that we are the world’s greatest democracy and we should be turning every other country in the world into a democracy. In fact many people think we are obliged to do this (they think occupying Iraq is a good thing and actually believe we will someday turn Iraq into a thriving Democracy). The problem, as I see it with that line of thinking, is that these people would bring us more of what Bush gave us, and they’re terrified of what Obama is bringing to the table. Tonight I talked to a gentleman who is a great guy (he fixes my garden tractors), very honest and excellent at what he does. He made a comment that led me to believe (I chose not to “get into it” with him) he’s listening to the right wing “talkers” as he drives around from one broken lawn mower to another – saying we are no longer a democracy because we have the “Muslim” Obama as the President. Now, I know this guy is smart enough to know better than that, but we have a bunch of people spewing “garbage” on the radio and television air waves (which are “owned” by “we the people”) which is undermining the very government we all depend on. These talkers aren’t just disagreeing and proposing alternatives, they are “riling” people up with venomous talk that is, not only completely untrue but, seditious.

And these right wing talkers, based on the statistics I’ve seen, control about 90% of the air waves. I know several otherwise intelligent people who listen to them and actually believe what they’re hearing. THEY HAVE A HABIT OF TRUSTING PEOPLE LIKE RUSH LIMBAUGH for their information! This used to be annoying to me, but it is getting to the scary stage. When I start hearing the talk about the President of the Untited States “is going to take your guns away,” or “The United States is no longer a democracy – it’s a Muslim nation with a Muslim President,” or “President Obama is a Communist” I believe the people have gone too far. I realize there are a lot of institutionalized racists in this country who are never going to accept a Black President, despite the competence he’s showing, but this venomous talk going over the air waves is getting to be over the “edge” for me. I believe it’s beyond free speech and someone is going to have to deal with the results of it – SOONER RATHER THAN LATER as far as I’m concerned. Based on what I’ve heard the three police officers who were killed in Pittsburgh over the previous weekend are victims of this venemous rhetoric.

I mentioned a few weeks back that the Republican leaders who are associated with “Walker Texas Ranger” – Chuck Norris – should be forced to either agree or disagree with his successionist remarks IN PUBLIC. Mike Huckabee in particular should be called on this (I often saw Norris at Huckabee rallies during the 2008 election). The guy in Pittsburgh was evidently listening to these extremist whackos who are claiming Obama is a Communist, he’s going to take everyone’s guns away, and he’s going to destroy this nation. These right wing whackos on the air waves have developed a bad HABIT of making vile comments almost routinely with no concern as to what the results might be. REMEMBER TIMOTHY MCVEIGH?? Have we learned nothing since the bombing of the federal building in Oklahama City? Are we going to have another major trajedy before we call these people on this seditious rhetoric? Another really bad HABIT in my view, and this one is on the Democrats – and that is looking the other way when people are breaking laws because they don’t want to “rock the boat.” THIS IS BIG!!! So far, they’ve let the Bush administration walk all over the constitution with little hope that there will be anything close to a full accounting – the Democrats seem to be getting manipulated by what few Republicans remain in the Congress – and I don’t see much disgust with all this armed revolt, successionist, talk coming from Republicans (remember, Sarah Palin’s husband was part of a successionist movement in Alaska and she spoke at their convention – with little or no consequence to her national standing in the Republican party – THAT IN ITSELF SHOULD BE A DISQUALIFIER!)

So I hope we, as a nation, can get out of the HABIT of putting up with these bad HABITS. We all need to start thinking “green” (I didn’t even mention our bad HABITS regarding the environment), stop abusing credit, and definitely stop allowing people with access to the national airwaves to spew anti-American garbage. I put up with eight years of George W Bush and never once suggested anything besides people needed to work together to change things at the polls. That is how things have worked in this great nation for the past 200+ years. These people like Norris, Limbaugh, Hannity, Palin, Savage, and the others who are making comments suggesting that people take up arms against our own government ARE WAY OVER THE LINE! And it’s time the Democrats developed a spine and started enforcing the existing laws which have provisions for whackos like this. Let’s not wait for another Oklahoma City trajedy before we hold people accountable for seditious rhetoric!

Greed, this is the word that keeps coming to mind as I’m trying to get my mind wrapped around where we’ve come as a nation, and what we need to do in order for “the good times” to return. And, I suppose there could be a spirited debate just on that. What constitutes the “good times?” Trying to put myself in the shoes of the business people who have so lavishly benefitted from the previous administration and the past 30 or so years of trickle down economic theory in vogue with our leaders in the federal government – I would guess more of the same. In fact, we’ve proven in the last 6 months (at least from the perspective of our government leaders) how valuable these people are. As taxpayers, we are replacing their losses from bad “gambles” virtually dollar for dollar, because they are supposedly “too big to fail.” We – and by we, I’m assuming there are a lot more people besides myself – have discovered how much money many of the people on Wall Street and the Corporate elites (remember these people referring to Barrack Obama as an elitist during the last election – laughable then, pathetic now as I look back) actually make. The CEO of GM was recently “fired” by the government because he’s led GM into what for all intense and purposes amounts to bankruptcy – and he walked away with a severance package worth over $23 million. And, of course while it’s still fresh on anyone’s mind who might happen by this site, the AIG bonuses for executives who created a large part of the so-called economic meltdown receiving “retention” bonuses in the millions because they are too important to “fixing” what’s wrong with the company.

What makes these CEO’s and Wall Street bankers so important? I “get” that many of the multinational corporations are huge with hundreds of thousands of empoyees in some instances and that a few people can have a large impact on the “bottom line” of these corporations. I’m just wondering what has brought us to the place where the guy at the top is worth hundreds, maybe thousands, more than the guy at the bottom? In my younger years I played lots of sports, mostly basketball. I managed to continue playing basketball for several years after my college playing days ended. One of the things that sticks out more than most others from that experience is remembering how the good coaches I played for always emphasized that the team was no better than the guy who sat on the end of the bench. Even if his job was just making the “starters” better by working hard in practice, he was an important part of any success the team experienced. That seemed to be the business attitude in America in the 60’s when I graduated from high school and entered the work force. The guys at the top of the corporations made maybe 5 to 10 times what the guy at the bottom made. In those days peple who had very high salaries paid a much larger percentage of their income – I believe once it went over a certain amount – in income taxes. There were incentives, in the form of tax write-offs which encouraged these people to invest in churches and other non-profits with their excessive incomes. Of course, this led to many illegal tax schemes, but the point was that there wasn’t this desparity between the “haves and the have-nots” as it exists today.

I have watched over the years as the Republican party has become virtually sold out to the large corporations and the executives that lead them. They (the corporations) figured out how to give money to the politicians as an investment that paid exponential returns. This has led, in my view, to a society that is being destroyed by GREED. I have wondered over the past 20 years or so, how much is enough for these people? I have personal friends who I feel are caught up in the same cycle of GREED and don’t even have a clue what is happening to them. And, the one thing that is common between all the people I know in this “cycle” – they are all, 100%, Republicans. When I talk to them they sound like the Republican politicians in Washington DC. Any discussion relating to politics ends up with complaints about paying taxes. I’ll give you one example. I have a very good friend (I know a few details about this person because I used to have a Real Estate business and helped him buy some properties) who is a very successful businessman. And, I’ll give him all the credit he deserves – In my mind, I actually worry about him because he works too much – he is very good at what he does, but I actually pray for him that he won’t work himself into an early grave (I’ve never told him this – probably should, but I don’t think it would do anything except strain our relationship – which I value). I’m guessing that his business brings him a profit in excess of half a million each year and I helped him purchase several properties many years ago which he still owns. One of them, a 10 acre piece of land, was purchased for the then absurd price of $9,000 per acre – based on my advice (I’m only including that part because I could never follow my own advice due to the fact I couldn’t afford to) – and today he is selling it for something in the neighborhood of 60 times that amount. I’m only pointing these things out because everytime we get together he complains about all the taxes he pays.

Now, I get that a small businessman such as my friend does pay a lot of taxes. I look at my paycheck and see all the payments my employer makes “matching” my FICA and Medicare payments, the Labor and Industries taxes, retirement (I’m certain my friend pays into a retirement account for his employees) and expenses for health care which I’m sure seems like another tax for him (he is a very honorable man – despite being a Republican :o). But, the bottom line to me is that the people who are in this position (and I do agree that there needs to be tax incentives to encourage people to have small businesses) benefit more than guys like me from all the services that our taxes pay for. We need roads, we need police and firemen, in general we need organized functioning communities with vibrant “mini” economies for these small businesses to flourish. Right now, all across America, we are witnessing the result of what happens when the GREED factor puts too much money at the top of the “food chain” and these businesses start running out of customers who can pay for their services. Now, in the case of my friend, I’m not at all suggesting that he’s greedy – in fact he’s just the opposite in the sense that he performs an important public service, very professionally, at a far better price than his competitors. It’s just frustrating for me, in this instance, that he believes that the Republicans are the “answer” because of their annual push for tax cuts for the wealthy (he’s a Christian so maybe part of his rationale is the Republican’s disengenuous use of the abortion issue for the past 30 years). I, personally, look at it more like my basketball coach. When the guy at the bottom can purchase my friend’s services the economy is then flourishing and he will make even more money!

Where the real problems set in is when the small business people like my friend give credence to the Republicans who then pull the strings for the large businesses resulting in damage to the “infrastructure” or fabric of our society. These large corporations have no sense of patriotism – EVERYTHING IS BASED ON THE BOTTOM LINE. I was listening to a discussion today about how a corporate “head” was rewarded for bringing India nationals into the US to be trained to do a certain job and then shipped back to India where they took over a “public relations” part of the business at a fraction of the cost – allowing this person to “eliminate” several US jobs in the process – thereby increasing the bottom line for his company, increasing the unemployment rolls in America, and – most importantly to him I’m sure – increasing his bonus. Words like loyalty, longevity, and community are no longer part of the mantra of many of the large corporations in America. Hewlett Packard was once a very employee friendly company. Years ago one of my friends who worked there said they had NEVER laid off one worker! Enter Carly Fiorina (one of John McCain’s economic “advisors”) – who, over the strong objection of the Hewlett Packard (original) family, created a merger with COMPAQ corporation, a company HP was in direct competition with, for the express purpose of eliminating jobs. Another of my friends who still works for HP said the workers stopped what they were doing and cheared when it was reported that Fiorina was ousted – but the damage had been done – and HP is now a “modern company” where the workers don’t know from one week to the next if they will still have a job. It’s like we have traded the idea of loyalty for the notion of constant accountability with your job being on the line.

And the reality is, just as with General Motors, the American workers are the best in the world. They are the most productive, the most reliable, and the most skilled. It is the executives who usually make the huge mistakes and it is the workers who pay for their mistakes. I wonder what the hard working blue collar men and women of GM think about their former boss taking $23 million away with him while the company is going down the tubes – thanks in large part to his reluctance to make prudent decisions about the focus of the company. This idea of “squeezing” the workers has permeated most of American society at this point. I don’t know how we turn this around without some kind of major change in thinking by the general public (the place to start, in my view, is to get rid of the Republican party and replace it with something more in tune with the needs of the average American – we desparately need an opposition party to the Democrats).

I would just remind anyone who might read this about the theories of Karl Marx. Now, he is a bad word in most of American culture, but the reality is that Marx was a philosopher and his theories about capitalism are ringing quite true in America these days. It is greed that funnels the money upward until you “hit” the breaking point, which is when the “proletariat” rebel. Our economy is getting way too “top heavy” – and there needs to be an orderly redistribution of the wealth. Despite the fact these greedy ultra rich will, in most instances, fight this tooth and nail – what made the United States the greatest nation on the earth was a strong and vibrant middle class. Entreprenuers, Small businesses, and hard workers are the backbone of what made this country what it is – and we need desparately to get back to that “model.” These large corporations have gotten way too powerful and they’ve received way too much favorable treatment from our government. I believe rules need to be put in place which protect workers and cause these corporations to have to participate more in the society that produces their profits. There needs to be caps placed on the salaries of the top executives – even if it’s in the form of higher taxes on the higher levels of earnings. And this idea that people on Wall Street, or across America, can make huge profits gambling on stocks has to change as well. Rules have to be put in place where the stock market is returned to a place where people make long term investments in companies and the people who are gambling as day traders and the like, should be taxed more heavily. What they are doing produces nothing (except grief for the real working class in this country).

And the idea that corporations can do business in this country and not pay taxes has to end. Corporate “tax havens” off shore need to be “discovered” and ended. Companies like Halliburton, who bilk our government for billions with favorable “no-bid” contracts, shouldn’t be allowed to operate in this country if they want to move their headquarters to places like Dubai in order to avoid taxes and government oversight. WE COULD GET ALONG JUST FINE WITHOUT HALLIBURTON – SOMEONE WOULD FILL THE VOID. We live in a great nation, we should all be proud of that and be willing to pay our fair share to keep it that way. I accept that my fair share is more than my son who is young and is just getting started in life. Once he’s more established in whatever carreer he chooses then his “share” will increase. We are sending the wrong message to our children when we complain about taxes, we borrow to the hilt, and we support a government which does the same. It is time for the general mentality to be changed – the old “attitude adjustment” – where we start thinking collectively about preserving and maintaining the infrastructure of this nation (and I mean the physical infrastructe as well as the internal – meaning the institutions, government ideals, education system, etc.) and placing more importance on those who facilitate that than those who generate huge profits for their companies and stockholders. Our schools, our bridges, our forests, our environment, and our principles are all FAR more important than the shareholders of the major corporations in this great nation!

Today I watched some of the reports on the so-called G-20 Summit that is happening (or happened) in London – Barrack Obama’s first “foray” onto the international “stage” as the President of the United States.  While I’m absolutely certain the Republicans of this nation will find many things Obama did that were “anti-American,” by all accounts he was a very refreshing change to the people of the rest of the world who were probably more sick of GW Bush than we were.  I am trying to keep an impartial view of how Obama is doing, as best I can, because I am so happy that we have finally removed Bush and the Republican party as it is presently constituted from the mainstream scene.  Despite the few misgivings I have about his first 75 or so days in office, I was pretty impressed with what he accomplished during this London conference (and his wife was even more impressive – based on the results I saw).

The first complaint I saw that was stirring Republicans was that Michelle Obama evidently put her hand on the Queen’s shoulder (while the Queen was putting her hand on Michelle’s back) and I thought these people have no boundaries which they will stoop to in order to attempt putting a negative “face” on what President Obama is trying to achieve.  Now, as I’ve stated on a couple of my earlier posts, I’m not all that happy with everything that’s coming out of the White House since Obama’s inauguration.  For example, I’m sure there are many who are happy that the stock market has taken a strong move upward in the past 3 or 4 weeks.  I have to say that I’m very concerned that we will judge the “recovery” based on the health of the stock market – in other words, Wall Street will continue to “rule.”  I really hope that is not the case – it feels to me that we are pouring so much money into Wall Street, in an attempt to (for some reason) allow them to escape from their misdeeds in one piece (while GM is headed for bankruptcy) and, as I’ve said before, I hope that we start measuring the health of this nation by somehow measuring the health of the middle class.

We are seeing first hand the obscene salaries of the “moguls” on Wall Street, and if we prop up a system that is so top heavy in rich people – that is, continue to support an economic system that funnels money to the few at the expense of the many – my take is that we haven’t learned anything.  Everyone knows that the family unit has been deteriorating in this nation for a generation, and, in my view, the only way to turn that statistic around is to “retool” in a way that better rewards “work” and productivity, and more realistically rewards bankers and executives.  It is hard for me to “get” that a Wall Street banker is worth a bonus which is 50 times my salary as an experienced teacher.  They talk about the huge risk involved in their jobs – but what kind of risk is it when you can fail and still receive an obscene salary.  The truth is the risk these guys are taking is with other people’s money – and when they lose, it’s the other people who lose and they apparently walk away as if nothing happened.  People got up in arms when the 160 million of AIG bonuses were dished out recently, but they didn’t say much when $3.5 Billion in bonuses went to the executives who “crashed” Merril Lynch (and millions of American’s retirement funds) or the other $15 Billion in bonuses to banks receiving so-called TARP funds from the government.

Internationally, we saw the results of this greed personified with the protestors at the Summit meeting President Obama was attending.  People around the world are hurting and the recession is intensifying – no matter what Wall Street says.  I really want Obama to succeed and, as I said above, I was very impressed with how he handled himself at this summit – but I caution anyone who reads this blog that there is a lot left to solve before we are on sound footing again.  And we need an opposition party in the United States – one that can participate in the dialogue of how to get out of the mess left behind by the Bush administration (I honestly don’t know how he sleeps at night).  Some of Obama’s supporters are sounding too much like the Republicans under Bush – whatever he says is going to be OK with them.  If that is the case, then we haven’t gotten very far in the struggle to get this nation back on the so-called “solid ground.”  And, as the Republican party is constituted today, it is a joke.  They either need to completely change their leadership and their message, or we need another party to emerge to keep the Democrats from feeling too good about themselves.

I mean, I didn’t read the Republican budget, but I listened to the guy who was chosen to present it, and all I could think about was that it was April fools day, and this must be a joke.  These people are unbelievable!  More tax cuts for the wealthy (maybe they should just propose no taxes for the wealthy and get it over with) and a reduction in spending.  And, of course, their budget proposal would increase the deficit even more than Obama’s despite the desparagy in government spending.  On top of this they are being led by people like Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, Eric Cantor, Mitch McConnell, and Dick Cheney (the guy will probably only go away if he’s put in jail, where he belongs).  Well, I forgot to mention John McCain – the man who proved his incredible incompetence as Obama’s “foe” in the previous election – and Mitt Romney, the liberal Republican turned Conservative (he’ll be whatever you want him to be – mark my words – as the public views become more internalized by Republicans Romney will be like the Prodigal and he’ll return to his “liberal Republican” ways – whatever might get him their nomination) – and then there’s the one they would really want, Jeb Bush, but I don’t even think the Republicans are stupid enough to put another Bush in front of the voters any time soon.

What we need are Republicans who will actually stand for family values – not for rich people.  Republicans who will take the anti-abortion fight to a realistic place where they attempt to find programs which minimize the demand for abortions and where support for unwanted pregnancies goes beyond the birth of the baby.  That is the party needs to get some empathy regarding the average people in this country – and the plight they face in today’s world.  They need to actually stand for fiscal responsibility and get off of this platform that “deficits don’t matter.”  For them, the only time deficits matter is when a Democratic President inherits their ridiculous deficits – then you hear them squacking about “tax and spend” liberals – when they are actually the guilty party.  They need to stand firm for the constitution and stop manipulating it as a document that only has meaning to the “little people.”  The other day the present Attorney General set a great example of how they should treat our constitution and system of justice when he vacated the convicion of Republican Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska because of “unearthed” prosecutorial misconduct.  He didn’t allow partisan politics to interfere with a fair judicial decision.  That is the way Republicans should act – with fairness to the system we all depend on.  Instead of wanting Obama to fail, Republicans should be standing for traditional values which will make this a better nation when he succeeds.