Day: September 6, 2010

The Danger That Pastor Terry Jones Of Gainesville, Florida Represents: Planned Burning Of Koran On September 11 Denounced By General David Petraeus!

Ronald Leave a comment

It is amazing how a so called “Man of God” can be so intolerant, but as is well known, this is not all that unusual! 🙁

Pastor Terry Jones of Gainesville, Florida, a community that houses the renowned University of Florida, is about to besmirch that university town, the name of organized religion, and arouse world wide Muslim resentment, as he plans a burning of a copy of the Koran, the Islamic holy book, at his church on the ninth anniversary of September 11!

General David Petraeus, our renowned general in charge of the war in Afghanistan, has spoken up against this action, concerned that American soldiers will be more endangered by this action, and that it will sour our efforts to improve our relations with the Islamic world, which represents a billion people in the world!

This is as evil an act as Adolf Hitler ordering burning of books during the Nazi period in Germany in the 1930s and 1940s, and should be seen as “a clear and present danger”, as the Supreme Court termed it in Schenck V. US in 1919!

The action should be prevented by local authorities by any means necessary, and if actually perpetrated, should lead to immediate arrest and prosecution of Pastor Terry Jones as undermining national security!

There is no room for this kind of action in the delicate world situation we face now! Pastor Jones will be responsible for possible death and harm, and all good Christians and Jews must immediately protest his planned action! 🙁

Is Barack Obama Becoming Harry Truman? It Is About Time!

Ronald Leave a comment

President Barack Obama has just finished a rousing Labor Day speech in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, stirring a crowd with a strong, inspirational speech, which included strong attacks on the Republican opposition, while calling for a major investment in infrastructure repair and expansion to create an economic revival!

He said that the opposition was “talking about me like a dog!”, and made it clear that he did not appreciate that and would not tolerate it!

It is about time, Mr. President, for you to get out there and denounce the opposition which has contributed to the slow revival of the economy because they preferred to see you fail, rather than help the American people! 🙁

It is hoped that this speech, with its fiery delivery and passion, is the beginning of a two month campaign matching the level of Harry Truman in 1948, giving that revered President the title “Give Them Hell Harry!”

Enough of trying to work with people who don’t wish to cooperate, and enough of being a gentleman! Time to become “Give Them Hell Barack!”

What Labor Day Means: Has It Been Forgotten? Sadly, Yes! :(

Ronald Leave a comment

Today is Labor Day, a holiday first developed in the 1880s to honor the contributions of American workers to the development of our economy!

Workers then were in the process, a long struggle, to develop labor union organizations to represent the interest of workers, something bitterly fought by corporations and government, as a “conspiracy in restraint of trade!”

Only slowly, starting with the administration of Theodore Roosevelt at the beginning of the 20th century, did labor begin to be treated with dignity and respect, but still with many setbacks during the conservative 1920s!

During the Great Depression and Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, labor union organizations finally gained acceptance as partners in collective bargaining, but remained the “enemy” in the South and in many interior states across the nation!

Labor unions at one point had one third of all workers, and their influence led to state and federal legislation that made life better for union workers, as well as non union workers! Their peak could be said to be in the 1960s and early 1970s, followed by a long period of rapid decline in influence, particularly due to the administration of Ronald Reagan, ironically a labor leader himself (the Screen Actors Guild)!

Today, organized labor has only about 12 percent of the labor force as members, and workers in general have seen backwards steps in relations with their employers, particularly in these difficult economic times of the Great Recession! 🙁

Labor is now struggling to be more significant, and to help promote the agenda of the Obama Administration and the Democratic Party, but ironically, many workers continue to avoid voting, or find the emotional appeal of the Republican party on issues such as gay rights, abortion, illegal immigration, and Islamophobia as their major motivation, a sad development! 🙁

So the work of the labor movement, which is always bad mouthed by conservatives and Republicans, remains a challenge for the future!

An Important Step Long Overdue! Massive Public Works Programs Promoted To Accomplish Economic Revival!

Ronald Leave a comment

President Obama, belatedly, is coming out for a massive investment in public works projects, to expand and renovate the infrastructure of the United States!

He will announce on Wednesday the promotion of $50 billion investment on long term construction projects on roads, rail lines, and airport runways!

The projects would be over six years, with the goal being 150,000 miles of roads, 4,000 miles of railways, and 150 miles of airport runways. The investment would be over six years, with more funding as the years went by!

The problem is to gain Congressional backing, which means, unfortunately, it is unlikely any action will be taken this year, and should the Republicans win control of Congress, maybe they will refuse to support such legislation at all!

So the future of public works is debatable, just at a time when it is so urgent! 🙁

The New Deal concept of Franklin D. Roosevelt to promote public works improvement programs is essential for a long term revival from the Great Recession!

The House Of Representatives Battlegrounds: Can The Democrats Keep Control?

Ronald 1 Comment

The NY Times has published a detailed look at the battleground states in play for the House of Representatives, which most polls now predict will go Republican in November.

As the Times portrays it, each party has 168 safe seats, with the remaining 99 in play!

However, the projection is that the Democrats lead in 47 and the Republicans in 19, with 33 seats a tossup. So if you count those that lean to one party or the other, the Democrats would have 215 seats, and the Republicans would have 187, meaning the Democrats would only need 3 more seats to keep control of the chamber!

Of course, leaning to one party or the other does not mean it is a guarantee that the elections will work out that way, and voter turnout and enthusiasm will be, as always, a key factor in the results! At this point, the enthusiasm and turnout has favored the Republicans, a bad sign for the Democrats in November if it continues! 🙁

When one looks at the key House races which are tossups, it is noticeable that Pennsylvania has four contested seats; while Florida and Illinois have three competitive seats; and Indiana, Michigan and New Hampshire each have two battleground seats! So 16 of the 33 tossup seats are in states which Barack Obama won. That plus 10 other seats in states which Obama won (Hawaii, Iowa, Maryland, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin) would mean a total of 26 seats, and if these all went to the Democrats, it would give them a total of 241 seats, meaning a loss of 16 seats, a mild loss!

But this is all speculative, and we will simply have to see if the Democrats can change the public mood in the next eight weeks and retain control of the House of Representatives and keep Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House!