Month: November 2011

Luke Russert Shines On MSNBC: His Father Would Be Proud!

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One of the pleasant developments in the media world is the rise of Luke Russert to stature on MSNBC!

The son of Tim Russert, the much respected anchor of MEET THE PRESS for two decades, who died of a heart attack in June 2008, Luke Russert at the time was a fresh college graduate who seemed like a nice young man, but who knew that he would shine and develop over the next three years?

Luke Russert has become a Capitol Hill correspondent for MSNBC and NBC News, and has done a very creditable job.

He has matured and become respected in a way that his father would be very proud of, and this morning he was anchor on THE DAILY RUNDOWN, substituting for Chuck Todd.

Don’t be surprised if he, someday soon, ends up as anchor of his own show, as he has become a major asset to MSNBC and NBC in the tradition of his beloved, honored dad!

What A Newt Gingrich Presidency Would Bring: A Wish For The “Good Old Days”

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With Newt Gingrich, the former House Speaker, suddenly rising to first place in the polls, he has become the new “Flavor of the Month” in the Republican Presidential race.

The question is will Newt Gingrich be able to sustain his first place position, overcome the odds, and become the 45th President of the United States, and what kind of President would he make?

What are his positives?

1. He is very intelligent, very articulate, speaks with assertiveness and a certain level of charisma surrounds him.
2. He has great debating ability, and would never be boring in a presidential race against a primary opponent or the President.
3. He would be more exciting to follow as a candidate for the White House than Mitt Romney, his likely major opponent for the nomination.

What are his negatives?

1. He is highly undisciplined and comes across as an egotistical, self promoter who loves the sound of his own voice.
2. He has a history of being a “flame thrower”, with reckless accusations, and utilizing character assassination and innuendo and distortions against his opponents.
3. He is seen as highly unethical in his dealings, as a “typical” politician of the worst kind, and of course, has the worst “family values” of any of the GOP candidates, all the others being only married once, not three times as he is.

If Gingrich were to end up as the Republican Presidential nominee against Barack Obama, it would cause the following scenario:

1. It would bring about a series of grand debates on the level of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, a discussion of grand ideas and concepts, fascinating to watch.
2. It would lead to the nastiest campaign in American history, as far as advertising and false accusations by both sides, since Gingrich has no limits to what he would claim about Obama, so the President would have to return the favor, with plenty of ammunition available against Gingrich.
3. It would lead to a great divide that already exists among the American people becoming wider, not more narrow, a regrettable situation.

What if Gingrich won, although it seems unlikely that would occur?

1. It would lead to an ideas oriented Presidency with a very strong, assertive executive branch, no lessening of the power of the office, and in fact, much more power would be likely.
2. It would cause a further splintering of the American political system, as Gingrich would not work to unite, and the political rhetoric would be at an all time high on both sides of the political divide.
3. It would lead to more high level corruption and scandals than at any time since the Presidency of Richard Nixon, and even, depending on the circumstances, a move to impeach President Gingrich if the Democrats controlled the Congress.
4. It would lead to likely warfare with Iran, Pakistan, North Korea and Venezuela, and growing tension between our nation and China and Russia, as Gingrich has no sense of tact in diplomacy, and would stir up tensions and confrontations, as he would cause animosities and fear that would be likely to lead to a much more dangerous world.
5. The economy would not improve, and the likelihood of abuse of civil liberties in the name of security would be likely, as Gingrich would advocate action against what he would call ‘radical, leftist elements”.

If the above is not convincing enough to make people realize the dangers of a Gingrich nomination and election to the Presidency, then we may look back on the present difficulties in five years, and wish for the “good old days”!

Newt Gingrich Favors Bringing Back Child Labor To America! Is He For Real?

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Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, the present frontrunner in some polls for the Republican Presidential nomination, has come out for the revival of child labor for children under the age of 14-16, as a way to promote the work ethic and earn some money.

Suggesting that younger children be employed to clean the schools they attend, replacing union employed janitors, Gingrich said it would promote pride in their schools and encourage learning for poor children. He called the present child labor laws, passed in 1938 under the Fair Labor Standards Act, “stupid”!

Imagine this, after a century of child labor laws, first passed on the national level under President Woodrow Wilson in 1916, declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in the 1920s, and then finally established under Franklin D. Roosevelt, Newt Gingrich wants to go back to the days of children younger than 14 working and supporting their families, which aged them rapidly, caused dropouts from school, and denied them their childhood to have fun, to learn, to play, to grow up, before going to work as mid teenagers.

It has been shown that many high school students who work do poorly in school, and often drop out at age 16 or 17 without graduating high school, which just guarantees low income and poverty for the long haul of their lives.

Newt Gingrich stands for the “sweat labor” conditions of factories and mines in Great Britain and the United States, before social justice brought about the idea that children under 14 should not be acting as if they were adults, and should be encouraged to get an education.

While it is true that work never hurt anyone, it is outrageous and disgraceful that we should be advocating a return to the 19th century and early 20th century of the Industrial Age in the 21st century!

Have we come this far to go backwards and make for a class of poor children who will, effectively, be “serfs” for our schools, and making far less than the minimum wage?

It is obscene that Gingrich would have the gall to propose such a harsh idea, particularly for one who has never known what it is to work hard, other than to bloviate ad infinitum about his own virtues, and to make a career of promoting division and turmoil in his quest for wealth and attention from the American people!

The “Near Poor”: A New Category Of Poverty

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In the past, we have known that poverty existed, and the fact that about 49 million people, one out of six in this country, are in that sad state, a large percentage of them being children.

But now the Census Bureau, through gathering of new data, has come up with a new category, the “near poor”.

This category is approximately 51 million people, making for a total of about 100 million people, one out of THREE, who are either in poverty or in “near poverty”!

Of course, the “near poor” are better off than those defined as “poor”, in the sense that they work and own a car, but they own a car with a lot of mileage, do not make enough to have a sense of “getting ahead”, and often do not have health care coverage, which means if they get sick or have an accident, it sets them back with heavy bills that can push them over the line into poverty.

There is no room for error among this group, as they teeter on the verge of bankruptcy from unexpected bills that may crop up, and they are unable to have much hope about the future.

One third of the “near poor” are elderly, and 39 percent are children. The “American Dream” is not coming through for these people at both ends of the age spectrum! The group of 51 million people is just “scraping by”, and there is a sense of hopelessness.

If one has an income under $50,000 in major metropolitan areas, he or she fits into this group if part of a family of four, and they have suffered from a decade of flat wages, as well as the economic collapse of the Great Recession. The fact that many live in the suburbs is misleading, as we are witnessing the growing poverty of many suburban communities, and the foreclosures on many homes, decimating what were once middle class neighborhoods.

As the saying goes, there is no “wiggle room” for this category of “near poor”, as they struggle every day to stay “above water”, with the danger of “drowning”, falling into poverty.

The Collapse Of The Middle Class: Threat To American Stability

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Growing income inequality is turning many middle class neighborhoods into slums or ghettos, as poverty spreads rapidly, accelerated by the Great Recession, which began in 2008.

A Stanford University study demonstrates this reality: In 2007, only 44 percent of families lived in middle class neighborhoods, down from 65 percent in 1970. And one third of families lived in neighborhoods of affluence or poverty, up from just 15 percent in 1970.

The affluent are being segregated from the declining middle class, and becoming less willing to support broad based schools, parks, and public transportation projects that benefit the general public. Fourteen percent of families now live in affluent neighborhoods, compared to seven percent in 1970.

The effects of the growth of poverty is that children from poverty backgrounds have less access to quality education and support networks to encourage accomplishment and work goals.

This reality is showing up in educational accomplishments, as the standardized test scores now show a gap of 40 percent, a bigger gap than four decades ago. And college completion of children from high income families is more than half the population, up about one third from twenty years ago, and less than ten percent among low income families, up from five percent.

As everyone should know, education is the bridge to success and social mobility, so this Stanford study is extremely troubling for the long run of social stability in America.

This is one of the major reasons for the Occupy Wall Street movement, as it is manifesting itself, not only in New York City but all across the nation.

The Republican Party Worship Of Ignorance: “Anyone” Can Run For President!

Ronald 2 Comments

The only “white collar” professional position that requires no formal qualifications is the Presidency of the United States!

The only requirements are to be 35 years of age, a citizen of the United States, and be alive when elected!

No professional job–doctor, lawyer, professor, accountant, engineer or others–allows the success of a person who is ignorant, lacking in knowledge, or comes across as weird or lazy, except the Presidency of the United States!

So Herman Cain can claim to know nothing, and lean on “experts” to come up with all the answers to every problem. It is true that a President needs top advisers, but he also should be well informed about the major issues that he or she will have to deal with.

No matter how much a fool Herman Cain, or Michele Bachmann, or Rick Perry is, they can claim they are qualified to be President! The Republicans offer us people who are ill qualified to be our Commander in Chief, and ignores the qualified candidates such as Jon Huntsman, who SHOULD be the GOP nominee and give us hope for the party’s future!

The only hope is that the voters know how to sort out who should be eliminated, as no voter should want a person who is just “ordinary” to be the leader of the free world in the 21st century!

What we need are the best among us, NOT the ignorant among us, to lead America into the future!

The Amazing Recovery Of Gabrielle Giffords

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Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, shot in the head in an assassination attempt in Tucson on January 8, has made a miraculous recovery in the ten months since that tragedy.

Having to relearn language and how to walk, and so many other things that we all take for granted, Giffords has become one of the small ten percent of people shot in the brain to recover and function.

Giffords has gone through intense therapy, and with the support of her husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, and her mother, and the blessings and good will of millions of people in Arizona and elsewhere, she is now on the road to an inspirational recovery.

A special on ABC’s 20-20 with Diane Sawyer traced her steps toward recovery, and brought tears to the author’s eyes, in thankfulness and, at the same time, wonderment, at how Giffords has survived.

Giffords will have to decide by May whether she chooses to run for another term as a Congresswoman, and the nation will be praying for greater recovery efforts that will convince her to continue her stellar public career!

Is Racism Disappearing From America? The Herman Cain Case

Ronald 1 Comment

Many want to believe that racism is disappearing from America, as a result of the election of Barack Obama as President in 2008.

Unfortunately, many of the attacks on President Obama are based on his race, not his policies. Many death threats, starting more than a year before his election, when he was not seen as a serious candidate, made him the earliest candidate ever to receive Secret Service protection. And now, a person has been arrested for shooting bullets at the White House, and claiming he had a mission to kill Obama.

And now we know that it is not just the shabby treatment and death threats against Barack Obama that are signs of continuing racism.

Sadly, Herman Cain, the African American Republican candidate for President, will now receive Secret Service protection far ahead of the election, due to death threats mounting against him.

So it does not matter if a black candidate is a Democrat, a Republican, a progressive, a conservative!

Just being black is enough to engender the terrible cancer of racism!

We have a lot of work to do in this country, and it has to make one wonder if we should be bragging that we are the greatest nation in the world, if we cannot overcome the stench of racism, fifty years after the Civil Rights laws, and 150 years after the Civil War, which ended slavery!

American Foreign Policy Challenge: The Top Ten Nations

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We live in an uncertain and dangerous world, two decades after the end of the Cold War, and the downfall of the Soviet Union.

Not only is there the threat of international terrorism, whether state sponsored, or outside the state system, but the challenges that various nations present to us are also imposing.

By areas of the world, without ranking, these would be considered the top ten nations that present a challenge to us for the long term.

Europe
The Russian Federation, with its authoritarian leader, Vladamir Putin.

Middle East

Egypt, with its revolution faltering, and the largest nation in population in the Arab world.
Iran, with its sponsorship of international terrorism in the Palestinian territories, and its development of nuclear power.
Israel, with its problems dealing with the Palestinians and terrorism, and alarmed by Iranian influence growing in the Middle East.

Asia

China, with its growing impact on the world economy, and one out of every four people in the world within its borders.
North Korea, with its maniacal leader Kim Jong Il, and his move to develop nuclear weapons that endanger the security of South Korea and Japan.
Pakistan, with its radical Islamic groups, and a deteriorating relationship with the United States, and dangerous because of its possession of nuclear weapons.
India, with the second largest population in the world, and concerned about the threat of its nuclear rival, Pakistan.

Latin America

Mexico, with its growing drug gangs, presenting an imminent threat to the United States border states, and its government unable to cope with promoting law and order within its national boundaries.
Venezuela, with its maniacal leader, Hugo Chavez, and his anti American foreign policy, and friendship with Fidel Castro

In these difficult times, we need a person who understands the world, and again, ONLY Jon Huntsman can truly challenge President Barack Obama and his strong diplomacy under the leadership and advice of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton!

New Foreign Policy Initiative: US Marines In Australia, A Challenge To China

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President Barack Obama, on his visit to Australia and Indonesia, has made a new initiative in foreign policy by arranging with Australia for the establishment of a US military presence, approximately 2,500 marines, starting in 2012, and being fully accomplished by 2016.

This is a veiled warning to China on security interests of both Australia and the United States, and an indication that the US is facing the reality that the major center of world affairs in the 21st century will not be the Middle East, as important as that is, but rather East Asia, with the growing influence of China, along with the significance of Japan, South Korea, and Indonesia, plus the South Asian nations of India and Pakistan.

The population of the nations mentioned above are a majority of the world’s people.

This is, therefore, a path breaking event, another indication of how Barack Obama is changing the course of American foreign policy and national security for the long run, beyond his time in the Presidency!