PERCEPTION AND REALITY -YOU BE THE JUDGE

GOOD MORNING WORLD

I am tired.  I am overwhelmed.  I am ready to pull the covers over my head and wait for a better day.  Have you said this in recent days – or any of these?  Are your perceptions of tired or overwhelmed an actual reality?  Are you living these?  “They” say perception is reality.

Lately the talk in the entertainment world has been about Leno being ousted from NBC.  Since they replaced him before with Conan, which did not work well, the perception is that they were looking to a change the reality is that one did not work.  Does not change the perception.  I think this is soon to be a reality as Jimmy Fallon is in the wings.

Perception is that Lindsay Lohan is out of control.  Reality is proven when she is arrested again.   Perception is that spring will come early this year.  Reality is that spring comes every year.

Perception is that if a person crosses into this country he is an illegal alien renamed according to politically correct people he is an undocumented worker.  If a person is in this country illegally they are not an immigrant at all they are an illegal alien.  Sorry soft pedaling this does not change the reality.  The reality is that even our government agrees in their documents.

http://www.usimmigrationsupport.org/alienregistration-card.html

Legal Definition of Alien Registration Card:

United States permanent residents have an identification card known as the “Alien Registration Card”. Other names for the Alien Registration Card include the immigrant visa, permanent visa, permanent resident card, permanent resident visa, form I-551 or form I-551. While permanent residents are not United States citizens, they are granted permission to reside and work in the United   States on a permanent basis. Permanent residents in the United States are legally in the country, but they are still considered aliens. Unlike United   States citizens who are not required to carry an identification to prove their citizenship, permanent residents must carry their Alien Registration Card with them at all times. The government agency responsible for issuing Alien Registration Cards is the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) which was formerly the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).

Perception that a person here with out this Alien Registration Card is that they are here illegally.  Reality agrees.

Surrounding your self with like minded people can reinforce your own beliefs.  It helps you create a world in which you want to live.  Living your idea with people of similar values lets you set an example.  Since we just celebrated Easter it is easy to note here that Christ surrounded himself with people that believed in Him and followed His way to live even to today.  Christianity is still the largest religion in the world.  He also set an example for us in how to live our lives – in love and compassion.

On Sunday in the Washington Times was an opinion piece by Joseph Curl that spoke to this point of perception and reality.

http://p.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/mar/31/curl-the-obamas-live-the-1-percent-life/?page=all

In it Curl lays out the case that the Obamas are living a 1% lifestyle on our dollar.  That has been my perception as I judge they are the least qualified to live at 1600 and taking advantage of their opportunities.  Curl gives much information to bring this perception easily to a real focus.  His first paragraph was telling.

“Being president of the U.S., the most powerful man in the world, is often most about perception. The man (or, one day, woman) in the job takes actions large and small every day, but it is the perception of the man that seeps into the everyday lives of working Americans.”

He goes on to compare the Bush’s staying in D.C. until after Christmas (Curl is the first to report this he says) and not going to sports events or lavish holidays in consideration of those who worked for him.  Also part of the reality is Bush did not want to interfere with others enjoyment of events as a Presidential appearance does not come with out entourage.  We all know Bush stopped golfing as an honor to boys fighting the Iraq war.

Curl ends his piece with two scathing statements.

“But no, the Obamas don’t care a whit about that, or the perception of them living high on the hog while many hardworking Americans are struggling to get by — and hoping to save enough for just one vacation this year.

And that perception, juxtaposed with reality, more than nearly anything else, tells you an awful lot about this president.”

My belief is that I would like a reality where my President lives more like I do – less lavish.  My belief is that some of the people our President has surrounded himself with are not great.  The reality is that they have proven themselves to be inept.  I give you Anita Dunn, Van Jones and of course Stephanie Cutter.  My belief is that this President is one of the worst we have had in recent history.  The reality is he is proving my perception daily.  I can give you one word – Korea!  Proves my perception reality point.  To add to the perception/reality of eneptness the current resident of 1600 is now talking about more loans to home buyers who cannot afford them.  Didn’t we try that before???

My perception is that a day has 24 hours – the reality agrees.  I need to learn to use them more wisely to avoid the tired and overwhelmed feelings that occasionally creep in to ruin my day!

…..ONWARD TO MORE MISADVENTURE…

OBAMA OWNS SEQUESTRATION – IN HIS OWN WORDS

GOOD MORNING WORLD

I am out of the picture this morning.  I can add few words to what our President has said about Sequestration.  It is his idea.  He owns it.  If you do not believe me see what he says.  I have taken the liberty of using the bold to highlight some of his remarks.

NOV. 21, 2011

From Forbes:

President Barack Obama gave a press conference after the Supercommitteeofficially admitted it failed to reach an agreement to cut $1.2 trillion in budget spending over the next 10 years.  Obama told reporters he would veto any attempt to get rid of the automatic cuts which are set to kick in as a part of the sequester proposition, which will be triggered unless Congress reaches over the next year.

Asking Congress to “work with a scalpel, not with a hatchet,” President Obama sought to provide the people, and markets, with a little hope.  Despite the Supercommittee failing to agree on spending cuts for $1.2 trillion, Obama noted there’s still a year before automatic cuts kick in.

The sequester proposition, which will trigger $1.2 trillion in cuts in defense and domestic spending, in equal parts, will kick in if Congress doesn’t get its act together over the next 12 months, the President said.  Obama had his game face on, and took on Republicans asking them to work as hard to defend tax cuts to small businesses and middle class Americans as they did to defend tax cuts for the rich.

Threatening a veto, Obama asked Congress to reach a bi-partisan solution that would put the country’s debt situation on a sustainable path to recovery.  “I will veto any effort to get rid of those automatic spending cuts,” said Obama from the White House’s briefing room, adding “the only way to get rid of those cuts is to get Congress to come together and work on a deal.”

You can watch the whole presser on the following link to You Tube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxegPMvxgEA

Not to use one source I found this on CBS.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57329146-503544/obama-pledges-to-veto-effort-to-undo-automatic-spending-cuts/

“Already some in Congress are trying to undo these automatic spending cuts. My message to them is simple: No,” Mr. Obama said from the White House briefing room Monday evening. “I will veto any effort to get rid of those automatic spending cuts to domestic and defense spending.”

“One way or another we will be trimming the deficit by a total of at least $2.2 trillion over the next 10 years,” he said. “The only way these spending cuts will not take place is if Congress gets back to work and agrees on a balanced plan to reduce the deficit by at least 1.2 trillion dollars. That’s exactly what they need to do.”

“They continue to insist on protecting $100 billion worth of tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans, at any cost, even if it means reducing the deficit with deep cuts to things like education and medical research, even if it means deep cuts in Medicare,” he said. “So at this point at least, they simply will not budge from that negotiating position. And so far, that refusal continues to be the main stumbling block that has prevented Congress from reaching an agreement to further reduce our deficit.”

“We need to keep the pressure up to compromise, not turn off the pressure,” he said. “Although Congress has not come to an agreement yet, nothing prevents them from coming up with an agreement in the days ahead.”

2012 CAMPAIGN DEBATE

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/obamas-fanciful-claim-that-congress-proposed-the-sequester/2012/10/25/8651dc6a-1eed-11e2-ba31-3083ca97c314_blog.html

“The sequester is not something that I’ve proposed. It is something that Congress has proposed.”

— President Obama, in the third presidential debate, Oct. 22, 2012

As the saying goes, success has a thousand fathers, while failure is an orphan. And if there ever is an orphan in Washington these days, it is that odd duck known as “sequestration.”

We’ve earlier written that there are bipartisan fingerprints over the looming defense cuts that Mitt Romney has sought to pin on President Obama. Now, in the final presidential debate, Obama sought to toss the hot potato of sequestration — the process that is forcing those defense cuts and reductions in domestic spending — into Congress’s lap.

Fortunately, there is a detailed and contemporaneous look at the debt ceiling deal that led to the current budget crunch: Bob Woodward’s “The Price of Politics.” The book clearly had the full cooperation of top White House and congressional officials. With the help of our colleague, we took a tour through the relevant sections in order to determine the accuracy of the president’s statement.

The Facts

The battle over raising the debt ceiling consumed Washington in the summer of 2011, with Republicans refusing to agree to raise it unless spending was cut by an equivalent amount. Obama pressed but failed to get an agreement on raising revenue as part of the package. Woodward’s book details the efforts to come up with an enforcement mechanism that would make sure the cuts took place — and virtually every mention shows this was a White House gambit.

Page 215 (July 12, 2011):

They turned to [White House national economic council director Gene] Sperling for details about a compulsory trigger if they didn’t cut spending or raise taxes in an amount at least equivalent to the debt ceiling increase.

“A trigger would lock in our commitment,” Sperling explained. “Even though we disagree on the composition of how to get to the cuts, it would lock us in. The form of the automatic sequester would punish both sides. We’d have to September to avert any sequester” — a legal obligation to make spending cuts.

“Then we could use a medium or big deal to force tax reform,” Obama said optimistically.

“If this is a trigger for tax reform,” [House speaker John] Boehner said, “this could be worth discussing. But as a budget tool, it’s too complicated. I’m very nervous about this.”

“This would be an enforcement mechanism,” Obama said.

Short version: The White House proposed the idea of a compulsory trigger, with Sperling calling it an “automatic sequester,” though initially it was to include tax revenue, not just spending cuts. Boehner was “nervous” about using it as a budget tool.

TODAY

Am I correct in understanding that now the President is blaming the Republicans for this sequester?

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/02/remarks-by-president-obama-on-the-sequester-full-text-87788.html#ixzz2LRjXlf99

As I said in my State of the Union address last week, our top priority must be to do everything we can to grow the economy and create good, middle-class jobs.  That’s our top priority.  That’s our North Star.  That drives every decision we make.  And it has to drive every decision that Congress and everybody in Washington makes over the next several years.

And that’s why it’s so troubling that just 10 days from now, Congress might allow a series of automatic, severe budget cuts to take place that will do the exact opposite.  It won’t help the economy, won’t create jobs, will visit hardship on a whole lot of people.

Here’s what’s at stake.  Over the last few years, both parties have worked together to reduce our deficits by more than $2.5 trillion.  More than two-thirds of that was through some pretty tough spending cuts.  The rest of it was through raising taxes — tax rates on the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans.  And together, when you take the spending cuts and the increased tax rates on the top 1 percent, it puts us more than halfway towards the goal of $4 trillion in deficit reduction that economists say we need to stabilize our finances.

Now, Congress, back in 2011, also passed a law saying that if both parties couldn’t agree on a plan to reach that $4 trillion goal, about a trillion dollars of additional, arbitrary budget cuts would start to take effect this year.  And by the way, the whole design of these arbitrary cuts was to make them so unattractive and unappealing that Democrats and Republicans would actually get together and find a good compromise of sensible cuts as well as closing tax loopholes and so forth.  And so this was all designed to say we can’t do these bad cuts; let’s do something smarter.  That was the whole point of this so-called sequestration.

Obama owns this sequestration.  He fought to keep it in there.  The Congress passed the fiscal cliff by agreeing to his tax hikes.  Now what Mr. President no spending cuts?

I wonder if anyone at all remembers during the campaign that the Speaker of the House last August asked Congress to review all of this before it was too late.  In case you did not here is a letter from him and other leaders.

http://www.speaker.gov/press-release/gop-leaders-house-will-return-august-if-senate-votes-stop-all-tax-hikes-stop-defense

GOP Leaders: House Will Return in August if Senate Votes to Stop All the Tax Hikes, Stop Defense Cuts

Posted by Speaker Boehner Press Office

August 1, 2012

Press Release

WASHINGTON, DC – House Republican leaders sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) today urging him to follow the House and bring legislation to a vote stopping all of the coming tax hikes that threaten our economy – including President Obama’s tax hike on small businesses – and replacing the ‘sequester’ defense cuts that threaten our national security.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), and Republican Conference Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) pledge that if Senate Democrats take action to address these threats, the House will be called back into session during August for the purpose of sending solutions to the president’s desk.

NOTE: The House passed legislation in May to replace the ‘sequester’ with common-sense spending cuts and reforms, and will vote this week to stop all of the tax hikes which threaten more than 700,00 jobs. You can read the letter from House leaders below or click here for a PDF.

August 1, 2012

The Honorable Harry Reid

Senate Majority Leader
522 Hart Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC20510

Dear Senator Reid,

The House passed legislation in May to eliminate the threat to our nation’s security by replacing the defense sequester cuts with common-sense spending cuts and reforms.  This week the House will pass legislation to eliminate the threat to our economy posed by the approaching small business tax hike that Ernst & Young estimates will cost our economy more than 700,000 jobs.  We write to notify you of our readiness to bring the House back into session in August for the purpose of sending legislation to the president in the event the Senate should follow the House in passing such bills to eliminate these looming threats.

The defense sequester is, as you know, the result of President Obama’s desire to avoid an additional vote on raising the nation’s debt limit before the presidential election.  We passed it reluctantly, at your urging, after receiving a commitment that the president and the Democratic leadership in the Senate would work with Republicans to avert the sequester by enacting a deficit reduction package built on pro-growth tax reform and much-needed changes to strengthen and stabilize our entitlement programs.

The president and Senate Democrats failed to make good on this commitment, and it is now essential that the defense sequester be replaced with common-sense spending cuts and reforms.  Replacement is necessary to avoid harmful cuts to our military at the beginning of 2013 that President Obama’s own Defense Secretary has warned will be “devastating” to national security.  House Republicans remain committed to the full savings required by the Budget Control Act, and we passed a plan to replace the arbitrary cuts to our defenses with responsible spending cuts and reforms.  If the Senate passes its own package of alternative cuts and reforms to replace the defense sequester, it is our commitment that the House will reconvene to either consider it or to go to conference to produce a consensus package that can be sent to the president for his signature.  However, in order to avert the threat to our nation’s security that is posed by the defense sequester, the Senate must act.  A Senate vote to simply postpone the sequester, rather than replace it with common-sense cuts and reforms, is unworkable and unacceptable.

On the tax front, the House this week will act to stop the tax increase on small businesses favored by President Obama and lay the groundwork for fundamental reform of the tax code.  It is in the interest of our economy to quickly remove the threat of the entire tax hike.  As you are aware, the measure passed by the Senate last week does not stop the small business tax hike.  If the Senate follows the House in passing legislation to stop the entire tax hike — including the small business tax hike — in a manner that requires House approval before it can be sent to the president, it is our commitment that the House will reconvene immediately to ensure the measure is enacted at the earliest opportunity.  But in order to avert the threat to our economy, the Senate must join the House in acting to stop the entire tax increase.

Congress must take action to eliminate both the threat to our economy posed by the looming small business tax hike and the threat to our security posed by the defense sequester.  By the end of this week, the Republican-led House will have acted to eliminate both threats.  The Democratic-controlled Senate must follow suit.  In the event the Senate takes action, we stand ready to bring the House back into session for the purpose of enacting solutions.

Sincerely,

John Boehner
Speaker

Eric Cantor
Majority Leader

Kevin McCarthy
Majority Whip

Jeb Hensarling
Conference Chairman

If anyone remembers this plea it was little heard or fell on deaf ears.

Not sure about anyone else.  In this household when a debt is looming we do all we can to cutback and save to pay the bill.  Guess the government is lacking in common sense?  Dare I even think it might be a lack of leadership?

…..ONWARD TO MORE MISADVENTURE…

SILENCE CAN SAY MORE THAN WORDS

GOOD MORNING WORLD

Sometimes I think my thoughts and opinions can be boring and disliked.  Today I am going to let others do the talking and let you draw your own conclusions.

I researched a couple of items where the current President made a point to show his compassionate side.

PROFESSOR HENRY GATES

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=8148986&page=1

July 22, 2009

President Barack Obama says police in Cambridge, Mass., acted “stupidly” this week when they arrested Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates, someone they knew was in his own home.

In the final question of a live prime time news conference this evening that largely dealt with health care, Obama was asked about the Gates case.

“My understanding is that Professor Gates then shows his I.D. to show that this is his house and, at that point, he gets arrested for disorderly conduct, charges which are later dropped,” Obama said.

Police dispute the extent of Gates’ cooperation, saying he didn’t initially provide identification when asked and berated the police.

However, Obama continued, “I don’t know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played in that [Gates case]. But I think it’s fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home; and, number three, what I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there’s a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately. That’s just a fact.”

WHITNEY HOUSTON

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/13/obama-whitney-houstons-passing_n_1274491.html

Associated Press   02/13/12 05:17 PM ET

WASHINGTON — The White House says President Barack Obama’s thoughts and prayers are with Whitney Houston’s family, especially her daughter.

Press secretary Jay Carney says it’s hard not to be an admirer of the singer’s “immense talent.” And, he says it’s a tragedy to lose somebody so talented at such a young age.

Carney said he wasn’t sure if Obama and Houston ever had met.

The 48-year-old singer died Saturday.

TRAYVON MARTIN

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/23/obama-trayvon-martin_n_1375083.html

Posted: 03/23/2012 10:36 am Updated: 03/23/20123:39 pm

WASHINGTON, D.C. — For the first time since the controversy erupted on the national scene, President Barack Obama weighed in on the killing of Trayvon Martin, calling it a tragedy, urging cooperation among law enforcement and declaring that “some soul searching” was needed throughout the country.

“If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon,” Obama said, underscoring how the issue affected him on a personal, and not just a political or legal, level. “I think [Trayvon’s parents] are right to expect that all of us as Americans are going to take this with the seriousness it deserves, and we are going to get to the bottom of exactly what happened.”

CHRIS KYLE

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rita-nakashima-brock-ph-d/murder-of-chris-kyle-is-a-call-to-congregations-to-support-veterans_b_2639471.html

Chris Kyle, a well-decorated Navy SEAL sniper, completed four tours in Iraq with an extraordinary record of kills. Kyle’s book about his experiences in the clandestine fraternity gained him much admiration. Then, a week ago on a firing range in Texas, Eric Routh, a Marine reservist who served in Iraq, killed him and his fellow veteran Chad Littlefield.

Kyle was beloved by many because he tried to support his fellow vets in returning to civilian life, but it seems clear that Kyle himself never really left the military. He overcame his own struggles with alcohol and a fear of leaving his house by re-building a military cocoon as a means of therapy. Kyle’s idea of what worked best for returning veterans was the military espirt de corps of an active unit. He used the tools of his military experience at his Fitco Care Foundation, designing treatments built on exercise, counseling and veteran camaraderie. And he kept a live-fire range open and invited others to shoot for therapy.

The first three people were ordinary citizens that our current President chose to speak out about publicly.  He invited Prof. Gates and the officer he interacted with to the White House for a ‘Beer Summit’.  He sang one of Whitney Houston’s songs to his wife during a State of the Union address.  He said Trayvon Martin would look like his son.  Personal comments about ordinary citizens.

I could find no comments pro or con that President Obama has made about the death of military hero, Chris Kyle, who was killed February 2nd, 2013.

…..ONWARD TO MORE MISADVENTURE…

FACING FEDERAL FACTS – THE FIRST DAY NUMBERS

GOOD MORNING WORLD

It is the day after the second inauguration of Barrack Hussein Obama.  He is once again the President of the United States.  He was elected with 51% of the vote.  When he comes to work today the office will look the same as it did yesterday.  There is one difference.  He will not have George Bush to blame for the facts and figures he sees before him this day.  This country is a country of his making.  He has been in charge for the last four years.  This mess is his.

I went to several polls to see what is being said out in our country.  I went to Pew, Rasmussen, Gallup, CNN and Real Clear Politics. The facts are:

2.1 million of our citizens are not working

55% increase in the Federal Debt

79% increase in cost of gas

46% increase in Food Stamps

23% of Americans are in poverty

17% increase in the cost of insurance

57% of Americans believe enforcing existing gun laws more important than making more

65% believe that guns rights are protection from tyranny

30% think we need more taxes

49% are not interested in spending more to fight Global Warming

49% should withdraw troops from Europe

26% of Americans owe more money this year

68% say cutting government spending is the solution to spending problems

72% expect to pay more for groceries this year

62% believe in across the board spending cuts

23% believe that Congress will work together

79% disapprove of Congress – 15% approval

40% disapproval for John Boehner – 26% approval

52% approval of President Obama – 43% disapprove

56.4% say the country is going in the wrong direction – 36.8% say it is the right direction

As President Obama starts his second term his rating is on the lower end of popularity.  Clinton and Nixon were 59%. Reagan was 62%. Truman 69% with Eisenhower and Johnson in the 70 percentile.  Only George W Bush was lower at 50%.

All these numbers refer to this country.  There is little in the above figures that have anything to do with our foreign policy.  Foreign aid?  Does it make sense when we are so much in debt to be giving other countries money especially when they are shooting at us? What about Benghazi?  Immigration?  Entitlements?

The GAO (government Accountability Office) came out with their report last week.  It was not reported widely.  They join the CBO and Federal Reserve in saying that we cannot stay on this unsustainable path of spending.  It does not lead to success.  Their report can be found by going to gao.gov.  The following are a few of the outtakes from that report.

-GAO’s simulations continue to illustrate that the federal government is on an unsustainable long-term fiscal path. In both the Baseline Extended and Alternative simulations, debt held by the public grows as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) over the long term. While the timing and pace of growth varies depending on the assumptions used, neither set of assumptions achieves a sustainable path.

-Significant actions to change the long-term fiscal path must be taken and the design of these actions should take into account concerns about the near-term impact on economic growth.

-In both GAO simulations spending for the major health and retirement programs will increase in coming decades, putting greater pressure on the rest of the federal budget.

America today is the one that President Obama created.  The Senate has not passed a budget in 1364 days – one of their jobs!  The House is being called obstructionists for calling for spending reduction.  Fifty-one percent of America elected Obama.  I believe America deserves more than what we have today and again pray that he listens to the wisdom of ALL that serve as our Senators and Representatives.  They are our elected voices.  We also need to let them know what WE, the 49% as well, want.  This is a nation of the people by the people.  President Obama works for us.

In ending his speech he said, “We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate.”  As he continued his speech with a call for unity I hope he remembers his own words especially what he said about reasoned debate.

Chris Matthews called this speech his “Gettysburg Address”.  Bob Beckel said it was a great progressive speech.  Bob Woodward called it a “missed opportunity – odd speech – he threw out things in no coherent plan – a scattershot approach.”  Those were the Democrats.  Ben Stein called this speech ‘a trivial speech’ and went on to say it was small for the issues in this time. BEULLER!  BEULLER! BUELLER!

…..ONWARD TO MORE MISADVENTURE…

INAUGURATION 2013

GOOD MORNING WORLD

I wondered why should I be any different than any other news/blog/TV information area today.  It is all about the inauguration.  It really is a big deal.  Like the elected President or not this pomp and circumstance is an outward sign of the peaceful passing of  power that our founding fathers established over 200 years ago.  I found this quote from President Obama as I was looking through the news clips  He said our traditions during the inaugural are, “a symbol of how our democracy works and how we peacefully transfer power.”

I was interested to be reminded that the President has to be sworn on the 20th of the month regardless upon which day it falls.  On Sunday as this year, the President is sworn in with the festivities happening the next day.  Inauguration Day for many years was held on the anniversary of the day the Constitution took effect.  The date was changed by the Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution.  The first section sets the parameters for service.

Section 1. The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d day of January, of the years in which such terms would have ended if this article had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall then begin.

Section 2. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall begin at noon on the 3d day of January, unless they shall by law appoint a different day.

As an aside it occurs to me that the Congress meets more than once.  Wonder if that could be part of our country’s problems?

Vice President Biden was sworn in yesterday morning at his residence and President Obama was sworn in at noon in the Blue Room of the White House.  Today the President will be sworn in again ceremonially as the beginning of the days festivities of the parade and balls.

The balls are a long-standing tradition as well.  The first ball was held May 7th, 1789 in New York City for George Washington.   Franklin Pierce canceled his ball in 1853 as he was mourning his son.  Woodrow Wilson canceled his in 1913 as too expensive.  Throughout the war years FDR canceled balls as well.  They were not reinstituted until 1949.  There are now more than one ball. This year the Presidential Inaugural Committee is hosting only two balls instead of the 10 of 2009.

The discussion of the balls is usually focused on what the First Lady is wearing.  Michelle Obama has changed much in fashion as First Lady.  The dress she wore in 2009 was received with mixed reviews.  The lovely ivory feathered one shoulder gown was designed by Jason Wu, a Toledo designer.  Twenty designers have submitted ideas for consideration for this inaugural.

In looking into the ballgowns of our First Ladies I came across a site from the Smithsonian.  It shows the dresses from many of them.  Not sure which I liked best.  I think Barbara Bush’s blue would not be the top of my list.  Take a look yourselves.

http://americanhistory.si.edu/first-ladies/introduction

To see them on the women themselves the Huffington Post had some more photos in an article.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/13/inaugural-gowns-a-look-ba_n_157204.html

The other focus on these women is their hairdos.  Mrs. Obama has sported a few different ones in the four years she has been in the White House from pony tales to up dos. Now Mrs. Obama has taken the world by storm with her new bangs.  Bangs were actually a big hit and set a trend with the ‘barely there’ bangs of Mamie Eisenhower.  Jacqueline Kennedy and Lady Bird Johnson were known for bouffant hair.  Nancy Reagan was chastised for her use of hairspray.  Barbara Bush received many comments on her white hair.  Hillary Clinton wore a bob the first term and changed it up with a short cut the last 4 years.  Hillary’s best haircut was also a bob with bangs early in the first campaign of her husband.  Laura Bush wore and wears short crop cut. Viva La Difference!!!

After the festivities end the work of the government will begin again.  The inaugural speech has been used in the past to set the tone for the coming years.  George Washington address was the shortest at 135 words.  William Henry Harrison’s was the longest at two hours.  Interestingly Harrison also had the shortest Presidency.  He did not wear a hat or coat during the stormy inaugural day March 4, 1841 and caught a cold.  He became ill March 31st and died April 4, 1841 after 30 days, 12hrs and 30 minutes in office!

In 2009 Barrack Obama used the line ‘a new birth of freedom’ from the Gettysburg address as his theme.  He stressed a need for shared sacrifice, a sense of responsibility as he referred to Lincoln’s ideals of renewal, continuity and national unity.  I would say he met his goal of shared sacrifice with Obamacare and the recent tax increases.  Not so sure about the renewal and unity part as he continues to bash the Republican party.  Perhaps that is the continuity part?

One commentator asked if this speech would use the word ‘I’ less than others.  One State of the Union speech he used the word ‘I’ 96 times in 72 minutes according to the web.  I do not connect ‘I’ with the United States.  I prefer our Presidents to use the word ‘we’.

USA Today ran some numbers on the first four years of the Obama Administration.  I have included a link for the full article.  They reported that he has made 699 speeches with a teleprompter.  Other highlights are that he has had 13 vacations, 19 Cabinet meetings, visited 35 nations, 44 states, had 113 golf outings and 836 flights on Air Force One.  Check the link for the rest.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/theoval/2013/01/20/obama-first-term-numbers-mark-knoller/1849141/

In 2009 1.8 million attended the inauguration.  It is anticipated that approximately 800,000 will be there today with many of us catching it on our televisions.  It is a day of pride in our country.

There are those who will spend hours, pages, books determining whether President Obama actually met the goals he set in the last Inaugural speech where he spoke about coming together on ‘common ground’.  I do not need to do that.  I believe this man has been the most divisive President in recent history and totally missed the ‘common ground’ of which he spoke in 2009.

Today is Inauguration Day.  A day to look forward.  The President and family and the VP and family and friends are in St. John’s Church as I type. They are attending a prayer service which is a tradition started by FDR.  The Pastor spoke on a talk show yesterday about the message he planned to share.  It is going to be about unity and moving forward.  I pray it is the message that comes forth today.  As we enter our next four years under this President I wish him well.  I pray for his wisdom and ask for God to protect him.   I pray, and ask you to join me, that he understands that United we succeed and divided we fall.

…..ONWARD TO MORE MISADVENTURE…

HYPOCRITICAL OR EVOLVED?

GOOD MORNING WORLD

I could not leave the topic of hypocrisy without getting into the politics of the day.  There are a couple of issues I will touch on briefly.  The title of this post came from the President when he spoke about his change of mind on gay marriage.  He said he had evolved into this way of thinking.

When he was running for office Vice President Joe Biden said in 2008:

Sep 20, 20084:28pm

Oh, That Joe! (No. 14 in a Series) – Biden Says Obama Won’t Take His Beretta

Sen. Barack Obama better not mess with his running mate Joe Biden’s guns…or else.

In an out-of-nowhere attempt to re-assure a southwestern Virginia labor crowd about gun owners’ rights, Biden — who regularly scores “F” ratings from the National Rifle Association — warned Obama that if “he tries to fool with my Beretta, he’s got a problem.”

“I guarantee you Barack Obama ain’t taking my shotguns, so don’t buy that malarkey,” Biden said Saturday at the United Mine Workers of America’s annual fish fry in Castlewood, Virginia. “Don’t buy that malarkey. They’re going to start peddling that to you.”

Biden told the crowd that he himself is a gun owner. “I got two,” Biden said, “if he tries to fool with my Beretta, he’s got a problem. I like that little over and under, you know? I’m not bad with it. So give me a break. Give me a break.”

– Jake Tapper and Matt Jaffe

This week he presented 19 points to change the gun laws in this country.  Hypocritical, evolved, trying to keep his job to run for President in 2016?

During the most recent campaign for the Presidency it was reported (rumored) that Bill Clinton believed Obama to be an ‘amateur’, ‘incompetent’, ‘doesn’t know how to be President.  It was said that Clinton said the country was ‘in a mess’ as he tried to get his wife to run for office.  The next thing we hear is Bill Clinton campaigning for Obama saying that no one could have handle what Bush left him.  Hypocritical or evolved.

The debt ceiling debate has once again brought about the words from the past.  The following is a compilation of two quotes from a speech that Sen. Obama made during the debate in 2006.

SENATOR BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA, MARCH 2006

The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a Sign that the US Government cannot pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies. …Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here’. Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and Grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.”

According to urbanlegends.com:

Along with his entire party, then-Senator Obama voted against the increase, which passed nonetheless with overwhelming Republican support.

As President, Obama has said he regrets taking that stand. “He realizes now,” explained White House spokesman Jay Carney in a statement to the press on April 11, 2011, “that raising the debt ceiling is so important to the health of this economy and the global economy that it is not a vote that, even when you are protesting an administration’s policies, you can play around with.”

Hypocritical or evolved?

Another quote from our President recently is the following and I question the tone in light of the gun issues before us?  Does using this term mean he is hypocritical or evolved?

“I’m happy to have that conversation,” Obama said of future deficit-reduction talks. “What I will not do is have that negotiation with a gun at the head of the American people.”

Yesterday he said the following during his press conference.

“And there are no magic tricks here. There are no loopholes. There are no easy outs. This is a matter of congress authorizes spending. They order me to spend. They tell me you need to fund our defense department at such a level. You need to send out social security checks. You need to make sure that you’re paying to care for our veterans. They lay all this out for me, because they have the spending power. And so I am required by law to go ahead and pay these bills. Separately, they also have to authorize a raising of the debt ceiling in order to make sure those bills are paid.

So what congress can’t do is tell me to spend X and then say we’re not going to give you the authority to go ahead and pay the bills.”

Somehow I think he has this mixed up.  Congress authorizes spending and I think the monies come from the treasury?  How does he get in the middle of the bill paying?  In the meantime this is what he said about that in February 2010.

“You don’t go buying a boat when you can barely pay your mortgage. You don’t blow a bunch of cash on Vegas when you’re trying to save for college. You prioritize. You make tough choices.” – President Obama

Isn’t that what we must do in our government today.  Prioritize?   Our income as a country will pay only a portion of what we owe.  If a household in this country were faced with the same issue it is my guess they would put things in order of priority.

First they would pay their loans so not to hurt their credit rating.  Second they would line up the next group of bills in another order of priority.  The mortgage then the utilities would be paid next so that you have a place to live.  The car payment might come next then the rest of them according to what is left.  They may have to call to discuss options with some that you owe.  They will have to cut back their spending.

The government has the capability to do the same thing.  They can pay our loans to China and others and then with the rest of the income decide what to do and how to pay.  Our government will also have to look at cutting spending.  Sorry Mr. President we do have a spending problem in this country.  The Congress may have to look into cutting whole programs.  I think there are many places to cut.

Social Security is not one of those areas.  It actually is its own line item and luckily funded for a few more years.  I think the threat of not paying Vets or military is wasted air as salaries would be paid in one of the first sweeps of priorities.

I long for honesty to come to politics.  My opinion of Barrack Obama would have taken an extreme right turn had he said that as a Senator he was opposed to the debt ceiling then followed this by saying as President (not Jay Carney) he has another view and can sympathize with the necessity to raise it.  While I do not agree with raising this without spending cuts I would love to have heard the honesty instead of the threatening tone we are getting these last few days.

If it is the Republicans fault for blocking it then was it the Democrats fault in 2006?  Hypocritical or evolved?

…..ONWARD TO MORE MISADVENTURE…

OBAMA WON! WHAT’S NEW? WHAT HAS CHANGED?

GOOD MORNING WORLD

The election was held almost a month ago now.  I was very clear before the election that I believed Barack Obama was not the man to lead us in the coming four years.  Why would my opinion change with his election?  I have been as clear that I was devastated by the results.  Why does that make me negative?  Why is disagreement hate rhetoric?  Or spewing hatred? What is new?  The answer is nothing.

I was on a facebook thread yesterday that began with the discussion of Obama’s vacation.  I heard a fact  that the Obama’s have spent $1.4B on vacations this year while it only cost $58M to run the whole Royal Family expenses in England.  The thread then dissolved into a discussion of costs.  People who did not agree with Obama’s policies were portrayed as spewing hatred, using hateful rhetoric and having no clue.

At one point I put forth a link to the budget and the response was some capital letters with this: “Election over get over it and work together as it should be, aren’t we all on the same team????”  The answer is YES and NO.  I am on America’s team.  I am NOT on the Obama team.

For the last three weeks I have been trying to digest what happened on Nov. 6th, 2012.  I have not been as vocal as I had been previously as I have been trying to understand what happened and where the hope went with the voting public.  In the end our citizens simply voted to move FORWARD.  To what I do not know as I could not and still cannot see what the plan is that the Obama administration has for our country.  If we look at the facts and numbers we are headed in the same direction that Greece and Spain are living right now.  I cannot see numbers of facts that dispute this and am open for facts to prove otherwise.

I posted a status – the first in a long time – on my facebook page yesterday.  It said, “…..it is amazing to me that any discussion of politics or facts surrounding issues that still exist now that the election is over is seen as hate mongering and sour grapes by those that supported Barack Obama? are we all to be silent for the next four years???”  There was much discussion from friends.  The result is that if we are silent the complexion of our country could be changed forever.  Silent no more.

With this in mind I have been trying to wrap my head around the fiscal cliff issue.  I have been trying to understand by simplifying it to my own circumstances.  As I see it this cliff we are facing will put us all into financial problems.

Basically the President and Congress agreed last year when they raised the debt ceiling, if we did not make cuts to pay for this there would be a sequestration that would go into effect that would cut across the board to the $1.2Trillion amount.   These cuts would effect all Federal accounts defense and non-defense equally.  Social Security, Veteran or military pay would not be included and Medicare cuts would be capped at 2%.  Along with this the Bush era tax cuts (which I still do not understand why they are not Obama’s now as he passed them again last year) will end.  The Congressional Budget Office says we will go into a ‘significant recession’.  The CBO says that the economy will decrease and unemployment will increase.  Contractors and those depending on the government buying from them will not have any certainty.  The government could and probably would default on promised purchases of goods and services.  The tax cuts will bring in more money to DC and the sequestration will demand that since the government has made no cuts they will now have to cut arbitrarily across the board.  The effect is that with the cuts and the ending of tax relief is $607 Billion.

The Bush/Obama tax cuts have allowed my household to have more money these last ten years.  The intent was to spend it and stimulate the economy.  I was encouraged to go buy and take on loans to help our economy come back to life.  It has not done so.  The growth rate in 2009 was -2.6/ 2010 = 2.8/2011 = 1.7.

[The previous years can be found at:  http://www.indexmundi.com/united_states/gdp_real_growth_rate.html.

For information only 2000 was 5./2001= 0.3/2002 = 2.45/2003 = 3.1/2004 = 4.4/2005 = 3.2/2006 = 3.2/2007 = 2.0/ 2008 = 1.1.  For further information the Democrats took over Congress in the 2006 election.]

To try to understand this for me is to know that when the cuts expire my extra money will no longer be available.  The loans I have taken out now will be harder to pay back.  On top of this the sequestration will cut across the board in government.  It will not be expected and has not been planned for in companies who rely on the government to buy their goods or services.

For example if GE has a contract that is cut, you mean to tell me that the cost of their dishwasher is not going to go up to help their bottom line?  I hear you it may be in the defense area and may not work as simply as that.  Will they look at this and the price point of the dishwasher and say they cannot raise that cost so they cut elsewhere and that could be jobs.  That would mean more people on unemployment.  Where does this money come from to service this cost?

This Obama plan is not to effect those earning under $250,000.  That is me and yet I know that if it is effecting a company that I use to purchase products or services from it is going to effect me as their costs are going to go up.  They are going to pass that along to the consumer – me!

President Obama sent a proposal to the Congress that has been judged poorly by the Republicans.  They say he is not acting in good faith.  We need to get our house in order and I fail to see how new spending can do that.  On top of this he is asking the Congress to allow him to raise the debt ceiling as he sees fit without their approval.  Golly that sounds quite scary to me.  I am a real strong supporter of checks and balances.  I have worked for many years with groups that work with checks and balances and in hindsight clearly see the value of this way of working together.

Obama sent Geithner to put forth his plan of:

$1.6T in tax increase

$50B Stimulus Package (new spending?)

increasing taxes on the wealthy

one year postponement of scheduled cuts in defense and domestic spending

President can change debt ceiling as he chooses

How does this fix the problems we are facing?  What about the promise to fix things that everyone signed last year?  Is this still not tax and spend?  Is this still not give us the money and we will do more later?

One of the people on the thread I was on yesterday said that the blame has to recede and we have to move forward.  The Republicans did not spend four years blaming anyone.  They now can at least blame the current President for his previous four years should they choose though I believe this to be counterproductive.

Mike Huckabee is on a bus tour for his latest book,  When asked about this situation he said it best.  He said the problems in Washington are being handled by the Obama administration like a teenage boy who says to a girl, “If you just let me kiss you that’s all I want.”  He said we all know that is not true.

Benghazi – where was the President?  Susan Rice – did she lie?  Did he?  Sandy – after the initial visit NY residents are asking where is the President’s follow through on his promises?  Obamacare will now go into effect and cost each of us $2500 and companies with medical plans will pay???  Perhaps we are to be silent to get along to move along?  To what end?  Are we The Republic of the United States of America or moving into fascism?  Socialism? What has changed?  When is Obama going to get off the campaign trail and lead?  Did not see that the last four years will it be different the next?  What has changed?

…..ONWARD TO MORE MISADVENTURE…

AWAY WE GO WITH SWORDS AND DRUMS

GOOD MORNING WORLD

I have no idea where that quote came from and have heard it often in my life as people begin something new.  I looked to find the basis of it though could make no connection for the complete phrase. Found parts of it in scripture to Newt Gingrich to popular rock culture and no complete phraseology.  Found a children’s poem that had most of it so guessing someone combined the words along the way.

I am not beginning I am continuing while excited for the milestone that was reached at midnight last night.  I tried to stay awake and saw 11:43PM on the clock then 1:46AM – missed it!!!  Today is another day!

I wanted to start off the next part of my full goal with another name and newer look.  The name I chose to pursue was taken and frankly panned by some with whom I shared it.  Over lunch yesterday I thought of some other names none of which stuck.  I actually wrote down some to look at them.  The ones that did not make the cut are ‘paltry points’; ‘of little consequence’ ( as we know everything I have to say has value!); ‘provocative points’; ‘resounding revelations’; ‘ponder points’; ‘eclectic mind’; ‘calico chat’; ‘calico conclusions’.  The reason behind the search is I want a commercially more attractive name.  Ktsquared treasures is okay for now though I am certain not all I write is a treasure – close maybe!!!  Still looking and open to ideas!!!

In the coming months I am going to pursue a website.  Perhaps what I want to do can be done simply with a blog as well.  Still learning and learning is a good thing.

I am going to be going back to politics some as well.  Are you aware that this country has spent $1.4Billion dollars on the vacations/parties/lifestyle of the current President and his family in the last year?  I was astonished at this number and am going to investigate further as the Brits only spend $58 Million on the Royal Family per year.  The Royal Family surely have more costs with Castles alone???

I am currently working on a small post about the comparison of Benghazi and Watergate.  Thus far the fact that both Nixon and Obama got reelected while both scandals were raging it interesting to me.   This time 4 Americans were killed!

I will be looking at Christmas and other holidays as they come up for celebration.  Am listening to all the discussion about keeping the name Christmas with regard to lighting trees – much ado about nothing I am thinking and yet…slippery slope.

One point that is currently in my mind is the fact that Christmas is 25 days away and New Years right on it’s heels.  Where did this year go?  Gift shopping to be done.  Wrapping to be done.  Cards to be written and sent.  Enjoy the season?  All of this list must be done.

In closing this morning I apologize for the thinness of this post.  It is where my mind is right now as I look back and look forward.  I was so pleased to find a comment from a regular reader that I do not know telling me that a couple of my posts were lackluster.  Cannot imagine the comment after these past two.  I also have to apologize for the language in the Ebb Tide post.  Caught some flack for the quote from Sigmer.  Sorry – did not want to cut his own words.  I believe people need to be able to have their own words.  In some politician’s case it can hang them actually!  I give you the last election – Romney’s gaffes hung him.  Obama’s elected him.

Got to get to my regular day – yesterday the downstairs was completed.  The upstairs is calling me to work.

…..ONWARD TO MORE MISADVENTURE…

 

WEDNESDAY – REFLECTION – WINNING MEANS RIGHT?

GOOD MORNING WORLD

Today is pie day then further prep for the big baking tomorrow.  The thing I did last year that I will be doing again tonight was to make my stuffing.  It of course is way to early to put it in the bird.  If you read the comments you will see that some people cook the turkey all night long in a slow oven.  I just get up early and make the stuffing and put the bird in.

Last year I came up with a really good bright idea.  For some weird reason I decided to make the stuffing ahead.  Once I had all this stuffing I discovered that I did not have much room in the fridge for a bowl.  I put it in a large baggie as a space saver.  The next morning I was further enlightened to stuff the open end of the baggie in the bird then pushed the stuffing from the closed end of the baggie which forced the stuffing into the cavity!  No mess!  No dirty hands! One move and done! Why had I not thought of this years before?  Simple!  Easy!  Let the cooking begin!

Today will be a busy day as I will also clean in preparation for our family and guests to arrive tomorrow.  We will be 10 around our table.  There are many more that I wish could join us. I am grateful for the 10.

As I write this my mind is racing, as fast as my hands will be later, to many subjects.  Some of them are the year that has past, the fun that is to come tomorrow and this weekend and of course Christmas.  Talk about time racing past.  Today may be the day to stop after the cooking is done and all is prepared to sit and have a reflection time.  Why wait till New Year’s Eve?

I have had a wonderful year.  I have opened myself to new possibilities.  I have allowed myself the luxury of putting me first.  That, Dear Readers, believe me is a rarity though becoming more fun daily!  I stood my ground by standing for my beliefs.  I took some blows.  I was not diminished.  I think I became wiser and stronger.   What is that Old Blue Eyes Frank song – “I Did It My Way”.  Well not all true still close enough!

The most recent skirmish of course would be the election that has just passed.  The candidate of the political party that I belong to was not elected President.  I was stunned and am still sad and concerned about that.  I believe this country chose the wrong path to bring about prosperity and growth.  Does that make me wrong?  No.  Does that make the other party right? No.  There is no right or wrong there is simply choice and selection and direction.

There is still much discussion going on about how the campaigns were run.  How the media handled it all, fairly or not.  It came to light yesterday through Pew Research that MSNBC in the last week of the campaign did not run one anti-Obama ad nor did it run one pro-Romney ad.  Their viewer ship is down so not sure how much of a difference it actually made in the end.

I have heard the pundits looking back and debating and discussing the pros and cons of the results.  I look back on my posts and am very proud of the discussions I have entered into on Facebook and thoughts posted on my blog.  I have nothing for which to feel sorry and apologize for no words.  I was upset for awhile at myself for my terse response to an email I received and shared that with you..  Since there has been nothing further from them by way of further conversation or an apology,  I have deduced that they believe they were in the right and I was wrong so found no reason for further emails.

That is when it hit me.  Hearing the pundits talk about the two clear positions of the candidates and the choice, I question do the Obama supporters believe that since he won re-election that they were and are right?  All others involved in the campaign were wrong?  Is there a right or wrong in elections?  I had not ever thought of this concept.  Do Democrats believe in the black and white of I won you lost I am right you are wrong?

I find that fascinating  Is there was no room for any discussion of path or choice?  Like Obama said in 2009 ‘I won’. End of discussion!  WOW!  This was a very illuminating discovery for me.  We won the election we are right!  Light bulb moment!  This may seem bizarre to the reader.  I am sometimes very slow.  Is it truly possible that someone could believe that if a candidate loses an election that the other candidate and the party were wrong?  It boggles my mind.

I was very vocal on Facebook and here with my thoughts in multiple discussions and posts.  In any political discussion I have ever been involved with I try to keep to the facts while bringing forth my points as well as my opinions.  I like discussion not debates.  The sole purpose of a debate is to convince the other side that you are right.  I do not really care.  I prefer the sharing of ideas that come in a discussion.  Debates are competitive.  Discussions are relaxed.  I prefer the lack of competition of a discussion.

Does this mean now that any discussions or debates against the policies of the President are no longer relevant?  Are we to now simply go along with whatever he says and toe the line?  ‘Elections have consequences’?

Does this having to be right go to all things for the Democrats?  If in my discussions I do not believe in same sex marriage am I wrong?   If I do not believe in abortion am I wrong?  If  I do not believe in amnesty for illegal aliens am I am wrong?  If I do not believe in Obamacare am I wrong?  If I believe spending money and pushing up our debt is not the right path am I wrong? The answer is NO – a resounding one.  I am not wrong.   I have another opinion.  I have another vision.

I did not choose the winning candidate in this last election.  That does not make me wrong.  It simply means the Republicans did not win.  That does not mean that their ideas do not have merit.  The discussion of their positions is still very valid.  A win in an election is not an all or nothing deal.  The debates and discussions are not over they now change (hopefully) to the subject of finding solutions.  Are the Democrats under the impression that since Obama won that he is right and the world will now do everything he says?  If this is all true I am blown away by the audacity.

The recent Hostess debacle is a perfect example of wanting to be right.  A few hundred people believing that they alone were in the right, the Bakers,  took the many to no jobs.  Who is right?  No one. To ensure that the jobs remain the company has to work with the people and the people must work with the company as well to find a solution.  No jobs is no answer and certainly a no win.  Luckily there is a judge that had a cooler head.  He called them back to the table to deal from common sense.

I remain hopeful as ever that we will find our way to the unity of ‘one nation undivided’.  This will not ever happen if being right and winning is the most important arrow in your quiver.  The newly re-elected President has to move beyond the ‘I won-elections have consequences’ rhetoric of his first 4 years to find a way to work with the Congress for the betterment of our country.  As I stated in an earlier post he and his supporters own their choice and now he has to work the solution.

I wrote about Joshua Chamberlain, the Mainer who at Gettysburg is credited with turning the war around.  It was said that had he not we might look more like Europe with many little countries.  Lincoln said that the way America would defeat itself would be from within.  If being right is that important to the Democrats and they shut out the Republicans like the first four years then perhaps with the latest talks of secession Lincoln could be proven right.

To me that is not winning.  Winning is talking and discussing and finding a mutual solution for moving on working for a common goal.  The goal in this case is a prosperous America that has much for which to be thankful.

…..ONWARD TO MORE MISADVENTURE…

NOTE:  Since the poll of Silence and Hammer (thank you all for your participation) found Hammer the winner – the discussions will unapologetically continue as it has this day.   We soon will be in the middle of the one size Obamacare, the cuts to Medicare to pay for it, the Benghazi deaths investigation, the debt ceiling, raising taxes, additional taxes created by Obamacare – no end of discussion points!

SILENCE OR A HAMMER – A CHOICE

GOOD MORNING WORLD

I have been pondering the results of 11-6.  I have tried to be silent and listen to what others have had to say.  I have been scouring the news and internet.  My conclusion is that nothing at all has changed.  So I have a choice.  I can be silent and not to ‘disturb the sound of silence’ and let ‘my words, like silent raindrops fell And echoed In the wells of silence’.   Whatever is going to happen will and I will have no input.

I can be passionate and use the ‘hammer of freedom’ to speak.  Quotes from the songs “Sounds of Silence” and “If I had a hammer”.  Protest songs of the 60’s.  The protesters are no longer protesting,  They are in power and giving away our country.

Since 11/6 the headlines have been:

-THE DIVIDED STATES OF AMERICA

-STOCKFALLS 3% SINCE OBAMA ELECTED (yesterday it was 5%)

-Putin Happy with Obama Victory

-Where to put your money after Obama Victory

-More Fed Easing

-Petraeus Resigns Over ‘Affair”

-Obama Administration Shuts Down Oil Drilling Out West

-Panetta: ‘I’m Reading the Paper Like You Are”

-OBAMA DEMANDS TAX HIKES

-TEXAS GETS REQUIRED 25K SIGNATURES

There is no silence out there.  Our Secretary of Defense reads the paper to know what is going on?  The newly re-elected President is demanding?  Our questionable friend in Russia is glad to have the flexibility available and that means what?  Does anyone remember that the administration went into Libya without Congressional approval?

I went to search for silence.  Wikipedia says it is the lack of audible sound.  The word silence brought up some websites for meditation as well as a play that is on Broadway and is a musical parody of ‘The Silence  of the Lambs’.  Despite my credulity as to the enjoyment of this story, I was interested to discover it has won awards.

I looked for wisdom as it is usually good to seek knowledge to understand.  I found the following quotes.

at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/silence.html#6JqCGjCxzFf5Kqmk.99

Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence.
—Leonardo da Vinci
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
—Martin Luther King, Jr.
To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.
—Abraham Lincoln
I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.
—Elie Wiesel
When the oak is felled the whole forest echoes with it fall, but a hundred acorns are sown in silence by an unnoticed breeze.
—Thomas Carlyle
Don’t you know that silence supports the accuser’s charge?
—Sophocles

I thought about the silent majority that say nothing until they get to the ballot box – if they get there.  I thought about the times I have spoken up in my life when it would have been better to be quiet.  I thought about the times I was quiet and it would have been better if I had said something.  Still not sure where I stand on speaking out anymore.  I pretty much had my say in the email response I shared.  I can not see where my small voice will do any good at all.

Then I read the quoted words above again.  Can I remain silent when I believe David Petraeus spoke about his affair himself so that he would be beholden to no one?  When was the last time someone exposed their own bad deeds?   Can I remain silent when the same man is supposed to have said privately to a member of Congress, “Do you want the official line or do you want the real truth?”  Can I remain silent when 4 men died in Benghazi and our President did not answer a direct question that asked if he issued orders to protect those lives?  Could the 4 Americans have been saved had there been a rapid response?

The words above are saying that bad things happen when good people say nothing.  They are telling me that silence gives authority power, can be the beginning of the end, encourages bad ideas and supports bad positions.  There are already lots of acorns out there – Benghazi, Petraeus, debt, taxes, and where did the media go?

Sound of Silence or Hammer of freedom?

…..ONWARD TO MORE MISADVENTURE…

DISAPPOINTMENT TO DISTRACTION TO DETERMINATION-SENECA GUNS/NORTHERN LIGHTS/THUNDERHOLE

GOOD MORNING WORLD

Yesterday the first thing after I posted my blog I called my folks to apologize for trying to keep their hopes up that Obama would be defeated.  Of course he won re-election and I had to say I was sorry for my prediction that he would not win.  We re-elected a President who got a smaller percentage of the vote than he did the first time around!  He had less of a margin with the young vote as well.  He lost 3 points among single women.  The negatives were not deep enough.

Nothing has changed in this country except that two candidates spent a lot of money to convince us that they were the ones to lead us in the future.  We are being led only to a fiscal cliff.  We have learned that blaming works.  We have learned people like free ‘stuff’.

So how do we move forward as Obama’s placards said?  I have absolutely no idea.  The House has more Republicans than before so that is a message of some sort.  The Senate has two more Democrats so that too is a message.  Gridlock is what we have in DC and that has been hard on everyone.  Those are the facts.

What do we do with the feeling of disappointment?   This feeling for me felt like having the wind knocked of me.  This happened when I was a child and fell out of a swing onto the root below it.  We had this huge tree in our front yard.  It had a limb on it that was just like an arm reaching out perpendicular to a body.  Dad hung rope over it and we had a swing.  Unfortunately there was a root below the swing that was growing out of the ground.  It was good to stand on to get in the swing.  I discovered it hurt terribly when you fell on it.  As I lay there trying to catch my breath it hurt.  I had a pain in my back and the gasping made me light headed.  Finally someone was saying cam down and breathe slowly.  I heard just breathe…just breathe and my breathing slowed down till I got back to normal. It was a frightening experience I have not ever forgotten.  That is what I was feeling when I heard the results of this election.  It was a huge disappointment to me.  Others cried.  Others thought God had abandoned us.

How do you handle disappointment?  Do you go into a blue funk?  Are you stopped by inaction?  Do you literally or figuratively pull the covers over your head?  Or do you turn to action?  are you distracted to another idea?  Do you set a goal and hit it with a new determination? Is it a combination of all of the above?  I am the latter.

Yesterday on facebook a friend had a post asking if anyone had heard the Seneca Guns in his area.  I had no idea what the Seneca Guns were.  The joke on this thread led to too many tacos.  I simply put three question marks in the comment space. My friend said the noise was not too loud though it ratted the windows and the dogs go wild.

As he often does he share his wit and wisdom and information.  I was interested as after we were married we lived in upstate New York not far from Seneca Lake.  Of course the Seneca Indians had a history there as well.  I was off learning about the Seneca Guns.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/topics/booms.php

Seneca Guns

The term “Seneca guns” is just a name, not an explanation. It does not tell us anything about what causes these noises and shakings. The name originated in a short story that James Fennimore Cooper wrote during the 1800’s. The name refers to booms that have been heard on the shores of LakeSeneca and LakeCayuga in New   YorkState. The name has been applied to similar noises along the coasts of North   Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. Similar booms are called Barisol guns in coastal India. These phenomena have also occurred in three widely separated places around the world. That’s about all we know about the Seneca guns.

This info titillated my brain and I remembered the Northern Lights I saw from a porch in my hometown when I was a teen.  It was really something to see the sky turn a shimmering green.

http://www.visitnorway.com/en/What-to-do/Attractions-Culture/Nature-attractions-in-Norway/Let-there-be-northern-lights/

An aurora (plural: aurorae or auroras; from the Latin word aurora, “dawn”) is a natural light display in the sky particularly in the high latitude (Arctic and Antarctic) regions, caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere (thermosphere). In northern latitudes, the effect is known as the aurora borealis (or the northern lights), named after the Roman goddess of dawn, Aurora, and the Greek name for the north wind, Boreas, by Pierre Gassendi in 1621.^[5] Auroras seen near the magnetic pole may be high overhead, but from farther away, they illuminate the northern horizon as a greenish glow or sometimes a faint red, as if the Sun were rising from an unusual direction. Discrete aurorae often display magnetic field lines or curtain-like structures, and can change within seconds or glow unchanging for hours, most often in fluorescent green. The aurora borealis most often occurs near the equinoctes. The northern lights have had a number of names throughout history. The Cree call this phenomenon the “Dance of the Spirits“. In Europe, in the Middle Ages, the auroras were commonly believed a sign from God.^[6]

These distractions led me to a picture that had been posted on facebook after Sandy had hit Mount   Desert Island, Maine, my home island.  The picture showed a roaring Thunderhole.  What a wonder that is to all who happen to see it at it’s strongest.

From the website:

Nothing symbolizes the power of Acadia National Park as much asThunder Hole does.

When the right size wave rolls into the naturally formed inlet, a deep thunderous sound emanates. The cause is a small cavern formed low, just beneath the surface of the water. When the wave pulls back just before lunging forward, it dips the water just below the ceiling of the cavern allowing air to enter. When the wave arrives full force, it collides with the air, forcing it out, resulting in a sound like distant thunder. Water may splash into the air as high as 40 feet with a roar!

This is a beautiful spot to view some of the most striking features within Acadia. Northward is Sand Beach and the Great Head to the right. Southward is the majestic 110 foot high Otter Cliff, one of the highest headlands north of Rio de Janeiro.

Thunder Hole is just past SandBeach while traveling south on thePark Loop Road. The Island Explorer Shuttle Bus stops here about every half hour during normal seasonal daytime hours.

Thunder Hole GPS: Latitude 44.321011; Longitude -68.189330

For more detailed information on Thunder Hole and AcadiaNational Park, visit AcadiaMagic.com.

These three distractions led me to look for other phenomena in our country.  We have Chinook Winds, Idaho Fire Rainbow and of course the Grand Canyon.  The world has the Climbing Goats of Morocco, the Raining of fish in Honduras and Pororoca in Brazil which is the longest wave from the Atlantic up the Amazon.  Yesterday I commented on my friends facebook thread that we lived in a wonderful world.

I will let my disappointment be abated.  Half plus 2% of the US Citizenry have chosen the path we will take for the next four years.  They can own it.  I am going to allow myself to be distracted by what ever comes my way.  I end this post today with the determination to see more of this world.  I’d love to go to Idaho.  I’d like to see the Blue Hole of Belize.  I think I might start with the Black Forest of Germany – I hear they have chocolate cake.

……ONWARD TO MORE MISADVENTURE…

 

 

 

BARACK, BRAWLER, BATTLESHIPS, BAYONETS, BRONZE

GOOD MORNING WORLD

Last night Bob Schieffer was the moderator for the last Presidential debate of the 2012 election cycle.  He had before him the man who ran the country for the last 4 years and the contender.  The question is which man is going to be the President of the United States?

I found myself thinking this is rather a boring debate considering the last two outings of these men.  Then I sat there and purposely listened and watched.  As I have said in many posts listening is more than hearing the words.  It takes into consideration the attitude and tone of the speaker of the words.  The fact checkers will take care of the actual information.

The fact checkers have already done their jobs.  There were a few major areas that were called into the discussion.  One was Romney’s defense of his auto industry bail-out stance.  Obama said Romney never said he would use government funds for the auto industry.  This is in fact wrong as in an op ed Romney did have a line about government loan guarantees.

The second quite loud interchange was the discussion about education in Massachusetts.  President Obama insisted that the improvements happened before Romney became the Governor.  In fact Gov Romney created the changes with his legislature during his term.

There was the ‘apology tour’ and mention of us not being a leader to which the President disagreed and the fact-checkers say the President never said he was sorry on the tour he took to the middle East.  The UN has also said that the US has had a leadership role.

The one that hit me and made me wonder who actually was running this country was President Obama’s demeaning attitude as he mentioned that the Navy is different than it was:

“You mention the Navy, for example, and the fact that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. Well, governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets. We have these things called aircraft carriers and planes land on them. We have ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines.” He added, “It’s not a game of Battleship where we’re counting ships, it’s ‘What are our priorities?’”

Last night during the debate I understand a Marine tweeted that the Marines still used bayonets. I would offer the following for President Obama’s edification.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/17/a-statue-arrives-at-ground-zero-while-another-still-seeks-a-home/

Commuters streaming out of the PATH train station at the WorldTradeCenter in Lower Manhattan on Wednesday morning may have spotted the shrouded newcomer:
a 16-foot-tall sculpture of a Special Operations soldier on horseback. The statue is a memorial to the troops who led the American invasion of Afghanistan in response to the Sept. 11 attacks on the trade center and the Pentagon.

It is quite something so I hope everyone checks the info about this statue out.  It gives one pause to think that the President is unaware of a large bronze statue of a horse soldier.  Wonder if he is aware we used them in Afghanistan?  

The President told Gov. Romney that “Everytime you’ve offered an opinion you’ve been wrong.”  President Obama told Romney he was misinformed and ‘the1980’s, they’re now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because, you know the cold war has been over for 20 years.’ 

Romney said: “Attacking me is not an agenda .”  He also said, “I have clear eyes on this. I’m not going to wear rose-colored glasses when it comes to Russia or Mr. Putin, and I’m certainly not going to say to him, I’ll give you more flexibility after the election. After the election he’ll get more backbone.”

Those were the words and many have said that the debate was won by President Obama.

Language is more than just words.  Language is body speak as well.  Pundits have described President Obama’s face at times as smug.  His tone was demeaning and patronizing.  They said he was rude and insulting.  I saw this as well.  He was motioning almost as much as Joe Biden did. 

Mitt Romney on the other hand sat with a small smile on his face as he listened.  He had his hands clasped in a pose of a counselor listening.  When he responded he was measured as he spoke.  It appeared as if he was trying diligently not to be drawn into an argument.

President Obama reminded me of a scrappy kid on the playground with his hands up challenging his opponent to a fight.  Mitt Romney looked like the opponent with his hands in his pockets watching the little scrappy guy and deciding whether to engage or go. 

I saw two very different people on that stage.  One was a Chicago ‘brawler’ and the other was a Massachusetts ‘preppie’.  Having grown up a ‘townie’ I will choose the ‘preppie’ every time as they are usually better educated and smarter!

Years ago TONI, a beauty product that put a permanent wave into straight hair had a commercial that asked the consumer to judge between two models.  One had a permanent wave and one had naturally wavy hair.  The commercial asked, “Which one has the Toni?”  I would ask which one on the stage last night will be our President?

…..ONWARD TO MORE MISADVENTURE…

‘SPECIAL REPORT’ AND BRETT BAIER AND FOX NEWS – THANK YOU

GOOD MORNING WORLD

I have to become political again in my blog this morning much to the chagrin of some of my readers.  I have watched this sorrow in Libya unfold these past 18 says, three days shy of three weeks.  I have SAID a number of times that we are being governed by the Keystone Kops.  These last 18 days are a real example of the scattered activity the Kops used to show except this is not funny.

On September 11, 2012 our embassy in Libya was attacked.  Where were the news agencies?  Some of them reported the disturbance and the attacks due to the anti-Islamic video.  One news agency went where few reporters go anymore.  FOX News Brett Baier on Special report took the time on 9-12 to give his viewers a timeline of events so that there might be some clarity in the confusion.  He started with the attack on the United States Embassy in Libya on 9-11 and brought it forward to noon on 9-12 and to what he and his team of reporters knew up to the 6PM report of news.  It was real news in the way Cronkite or Huntley/ Brinkley/Peter Jennings would have reported.

9-11 -He had the full quote on the screen for us to read of the statement put out at 6AM Tuesday

9-11 (noon Cairo time) that condemned the protests in Egypt due to the video.  This was followed by pictures of the protestors tearing down the American flag and putting up the AlQaeda black flag.  He reported that the protesters were heard chanting “We are all Osama.”  He reported that at 5PM on Tuesday the attack on Benghazi was reported with the thought that one was dead and one wounded. He showed the tweets from the US Embassy in Egypt. 

9-12 – At 5:30AM on 9-12 the news of Chris Stevens’s death was known. 

At 9:57 Hillary says, “…this was an attack by a small and savage group…”

At 10:42 in the Rose Garden the President says, “The United States condemns in the strongest terms this outrageous and shocking attack.”  “…will increase security and bring to justice…”

In the reporting on “Special Report” Brett Baier spoke of the Romney statement and the Obama Campaign’s response.  He reported that President Obama spoke with 60 minutes that afternoon and flew to Vegas for a pre-scheduled event.

On this same report on 9-12 Mike Rogers, Chairman of the House select Committee on Intelligence and himself a former FBI agent said, “It was a coordinated military style commando type raid that had both direct fire and indirect fire, military movements involved in it – this was a well planned well targeted event no doubt about it.”

The reports on the 9-12 “Special Report’ show went on to speak about Ambassador Stevens being carried to a hospital and dying from smoke inhalation.  It reported that no Marines were guarding the US Consulate Headquarters.  It showed reporters peppering Romney with questions about his statement.  It told us that the Pentagon had sent forces to Libya and ships were on the way. 

“Special Report” has kept on the story often coming out with information not reported any place else.  Catherine Herridge has kept on the story for the last 18 days bringing information out that is real news even before the White House says anything.  When they do it has usually confirmed what Catherine Herridge has already reported.

Last night Brett Baier gave another time line beginning on:

August 2012.  At that time an unclassified report was filed.  It was called “Al Qaeda in Libya – A Profile”.   

Sept. 5-6 – The Democrat Convention focus was Osama is dead and GM is alive.

Sept. 10th – A video surfaces of Al Qaeda’s Amir and Spiritual Leader asking for Jihadists to avenge the death of a Libyan Terrorist who was killed in a drone attack in June

Sept. 11th – Expected protest erupt in Cairo after the anti-Islam video is played.  I detailed the events of this day first in this post.

Sept. 12th – also previously written.  The horror was the announcement of the deaths of 4 American citizens.

When going through this timeline last night Brett Baier said that according to sources the US Intelligence communities know knew this was an attack and listed it internally to unlock resources.  It was believed it was Al Qaeda or Al Qaeda linked groups.  This report has since been confirmed by FOX News.

Sept 12 – Obama makes an announcement, sits down with ’60 Minutes” and goes to Vegas

Sept 12th – CBS to their credit also covers news that puts the fact that this was an attack out in the open.

Sept 13th – State Dept. says security was okay

Sept 13th -Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State disavows the video

Sept 14th – Ambassador Chris Stevens and the other three courageous men return to America

Sept 14th – Sen. John McCain calls it terror

I must add a personal note here on Sept 14th we went to see the movie ‘2016’ and the last few frames showed the Middle East in flames.  We came home and saw the same thing on our own television as reported from the Middle Eat that day.

Sept 16th – Susan Rice our Ambassador to the UN goes on 5 Sunday Talk shows to say it was not terrorist involvement it was due to a video.

Sept 17th – State Dept says we have to wait to label this.

Sept 18th – On the David Letterman Show President Obama says it is not war and blames the video

Sept 19th – Matthew Olsen the head of the NationalCounterterrorismCenter said on Capital Hill, “Yes, it was a terrorist attack.”

Sept. 20th – Jay Carney says via phone that it was self-evident that it was a terror attack

My investigative add:

On Sept 20th/21st multiple news agencies online reported that the August 2012 report said, “The report details Al Qaeda plans for Libya, including growth of a clandestine terrorist network that has attempted to hide it’s presence.  The U. S. Military has concluded that Al Qaeda is in the final phase of a three step process for developing a full-blown Al Qaeda affiliate.”   It showed Al Qaeda was currently in an expansion phase.

Brett Baier continued:

Sept 20th – President Obama told Univision ‘still under investigation’

Sept 21th – Hillary Clinton says, “What happened in Benghazi was a terrorist attack.”

Sept 24th – On The View President Obama said, “…still doing an investigation, there is no doubt the kind of weapons that were used ah thth the ongoing assault that it wasn’t just a mob action.”

Sept 25th – Obama at the UN still references the video

Sept 25th – Hillary Clinton says, Al Qaeda … and other groups have launched attacks and kidnappings from Northern Mali into neighboring countries, now with a larger safe haven and increased freedom to maneuver terrorist are seeking to extend to increase their reach and their networks in multiple directions.”

Sept 27th – Leo Panetta, Secretary of Defense finally says “terror attack”

Brett Baier concluded with the fact that the FBI still is not in Benghazi. He also noted that Hillary Clinton’s statement on the 25th was just what had been in the report (I included it above 9-20/21) issued in August 2012.  Then as he does each night he ended his program with the words – ‘fair balanced and unafraid.’  

I wan to note before I conclude that in the meantime of all these days of our government acting like the Keystone Kops that CNN has been to Libya and at the scene and retrieved Ambassador Chris Stevens Diary.

I’ll leave all this information for you sadly not completed totally this morning.  Too much to review and post.  I read lots of news and do view other stations other than FOX.  In this case they were one of the few to keep their eyes on the ball and keep us informed.  Perhaps their news people really are Fair and Balanced.

…..ONWARD TO MORE MISADVENTURE…

DEAR STEPHANIE CUTTER, AN OPEN LETTER aka MS CUTTER LET ME TELL YOU I AM WOMAN HEAR ME ROAR…

GOOD MORNING WORLD

Dear Ms. Cutter;

I must add my voice to the myriad of posts out there decrying the comments you made on NPR’s The Diane Rehm Show entitled ‘Wooing Women Voters’.   You said, “That’s the other thing that you find most often with women. They’re not really concerned about what’s happened over the last four years. They really want to know what’s going to happen in the next four years, and that’s why the president’s convention speech was so powerful. So we’ve been taking that speech and really traveling across the country and delivering it. The president was just in Virginia this past week.”

While I did not vote for the President and will not this time, I do not like to see women taken for granted with statements like yours.  I believe you are being very presumptuous of the female voters.  We do care.  We are watching and we will vote accordingly.  In fact I know some women who have not yet made up their mind and your statement does not help.

These women have watched these last four years as this country has gone downhill economically.  We have more people still out of work and watched as the unemployment rate has stayed above 8% since 2009.  Your boss told us that it would be 5.6% at this time as he was passing a $700B stimulus bill. 

This stimulus bill included shovel ready jobs that ‘were not so shovel ready’ according to your boss’ own words.  He said 2 million would be raised out of poverty and 6.3 have entered it. 

He said focusing on a green economy would save us by creating jobs.  This has cost us jobs and money.  Solyndra was a huge failure and I understand we are paying $23M more, above the $528M we lost.  According to the news the U.S. government is gearing up for a fight over Solyndra’s bankruptcy plan.  There are to be a further $23 million in potential tax breaks for its venture capital backers.  According to Reuters a U.S. bankruptcy judge cleared the way for creditors to vote on the plan, and scheduled a hearing to consider approval on Oct. 17, less than three weeks before the Nov. 6 elections.  Then there were the electric cars.

He promised immigration reform in his first year and it did not happen.  He just told Univision he could not do it alone.  Thankfully they were astute enough to remind him that he had a super majority in Congress his first two years.

He said everything would be transparent and on C-Span.  I check and so far have seen nothing.  In fact when Obamacare was pushed through we were told by his Lt. Nancy Pelosi we had to pass it to be able to read it. 

Obamacare was not going to raise our taxes at all and in fact Obama said it would lower them by $2500.  Today we hear it is now going to cost us $3000.  It was not going to pay for abortions or pills and now this bill is telling the Catholic Church it has to medicate against their faith.

Your boss said he would work with all and we would be not red or blue and when he asked for help and set up a meeting where he told the members that ‘Elections have consequences …and I won.’  Inclusive – I think not.  In all my years as an adult woman voter I have not sensed more division in this country.

When I was a child I heard planes overhead during the Cuban Missile Crisis as we lived near an airbase and I was scared.  With all the unrest in the Middle East I am once again feeling those same sensations of fear.

Your boss has missed briefings, called the Middle East uprisings this month a bump in the road and we lost 4 American citizens in Libya.  Iran is still moving toward a nuke.  He said he would put daylight between us and Israel and he surely has done that.

The worst thing of all of this is he is not being honest.  This raid on our embassy in Libya was his 3AM phone call and he failed.  He did not come out to say anything right away.  He sent surrogates.  He made a quick statement blaming a video which any sane citizen knew it was not and then went on his merry way campaigning.  Where are his priorities? 

Even yesterday at the United Nations he still did not say this was a terrorist attack.  At the UN he said, “…Future must not belong to those who slander Islam.” What about Christ?? He also said “Let us remember that Muslims have suffered the most at the hands of extremists.”  May I remind you of 9/11?

 I am loath to agree with the many who say he is a Socialist and does not care about this country.  When he has people like you who have lied and been caught – do you not know that recordings and videos can be produced? – working for him it makes me wonder about his ability to choose wisely. 

 Your comment was belittling to women and is another failing for you.  Women are paying attention.  Women do care about the last four years.  Women do care about the future and will vote.  It is my hope that many of them that voted for him last time will change their minds this time.  I will not be voting for him this time either.   Let me assure you women are listening.

 Sincerely,

 KTT

 …..ONWARD TO MORE MISADVENTURE… 

 

NO RED LINE FOR ALLIES – ENEMIES GIVEN WITHDRAWAL DATE -NO CONSISTENCY

GOOD MORNING WORLD

This mornings post may be better for a small facebook post as it is full of questions.  I am terribly confused.  Are we not supposed to stand up for our friends through thick and thin?  What is going on with our government?  How can we not react to the death of a US Ambassador?  They stormed our embassy and tore down the flag in Cairo.  Where is our reaction to that?  The crisis in these areas came about due to a obscure 14 minute internet movie trailer???

The first response to these actions was to apologize for the movie?  On the 9-11 anniversary Hillary Clinton condemned the actions and the President disavowed it and Mrs. Clinton contradicted him and gave the same apology.  Who is in charge?

The President came right to the podium when Trayvon Martin was killed.  Ambassodor Chris Stevens was killed in Libya and where is the President?  We received a written statement?

Our President has refused to meet with the Prime Minister of Israel and is going to be the David Letterman show the same week?

The President spoke out against Scott Walker in Wisconsin when the unions went on strike against Walker.  There has been no word from the President on the matter of the teacher’s strike in Chicago except that he wishes to remain neutral.  Where is the consistency in this?

I have to say this morning I am very unsettled about our country and the leadership.  It has more to do with this President’s lack of experience than it does with partisan politics.  It is reminiscent of Jimmy Carter.  Weren’t there hostages taken under his 4 years in office? 

The facts scare me.  Obama’s inexperience scares me.  Our President reportedly has only attended 60% of his briefings.  He has been to 200 fundraisers.  He apologized his way across the world when he first took office.  He believes that it is okay to lead from behind.  He has spent these last almost 4 years blaming Bush for what he is not accomplishing.  This morning I heard this quote, ‘blame never solved a problem’.  We are still having problems and need leadership.  Obama is still in charge and inconsistent and I think he needs to ask for help.

I have no way to judge these situations as they are ongoing.  I only know from my life experiences that if I want people to follow me in whatever I am doing I better be saying the same thing all the time.  With children you do not say one thing and do another.  You do not tell them one thing and then have the other parent say another.  We must present a unified front.  I do not see it.

I heard Bruce Herschenshon who is an American political commentator and a senior fellow of Pepperdine University School of Public Policy and served under Nixon and was on Reagan’s transition team.   (Herschensohn has been a Distinguished Fellow at the Claremont Institute and a fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He has taught politics at the University of Maryland, Whittier College and at Pepperdine University’s School of Public Policy)  He calls these latest acts, ‘acts of war’.  He said these embassies should be as safe as our own homes.  He calls for the President to go back to work and stop campaigning.

K.T. McFarland and Victoria Clarke, both former assistant Secretaries of Defense, agree that this is an act of war.  They called for the President to get to a podium and look the American people and the world in the eye and tell everyone that this will not be tolerated. 

They also noted that it seemed odd that these occurred on 9-11.  Perhaps Obama will take time to speak sometime later today.

Perhaps we will understand this better later.  For now, I can only share that I do not want to see us go to war and am very uncomfortable with the world today.

…..ONWARD TO MORE MISADVENTURE…

FACT CHECKING BEFORE VOTING

GOOD MORNING WORLD

I was not able to watch the opening of the Democrat National Convention.  I heard that they did it up right and that every speech was more wonderful than the other.  I heard that Mrs. Obama was wonderful and looked beautiful.  I heard that her speech was fantastic.  I also heard that her speech was misleading.  I heard that others at the convention had let go of some truth.  I heard yesterday that the Democrats left God out of their platform.  I heard much and had to do some exploration for myself.  Fact checking if you will.

I saw Mrs. Obama’s dress and it was absolutely gorgeous.  I love color and border patterns.  Being a certified color analyst, the color was perfect for her.  The cut was very flattering and of course it showed off her much noted arms.  I watched some of her speech agreeing that her delivery is flawless.  Good speech until you look at some of the content. 

I am not commenting on most of it.  I am commenting on what we were led to believe was the struggle she and Barack had in their early years.  Both of them attended top notch high schools.  He attended a private high school, PunahouSchool, the best in Hawaii.  Michelle attended WhitneyYoung High School which is a magnet school and now #4 in Illinois.  Struggle?

Mrs. Obama said that when she met Barack he was driving a car with a hole in the floor board.  She said he loved his coffee table that he got from a dumpster.  He was wearing shoes that were a size too small.  The question arises is that he was interning for a top law firm the internet says.  As a college student I do remember salvaging furniture.  We ourselves have a $3.50 coffee table that we adore.  Our first vehicles could have used some help.  We did manage to buy shoes that fit.  In this sense we all struggled.  The point of this was to humanize them I believe.  After 4 years do we not know who they are?  Are we not aware of the lives they led?  Was this an out of place part of the speech? Did she doubt we believed he cares?  I believe there is empathy in the White House.   

The fact checking I did showed that there were many points in the speeches that were erroneous.  Everyone can do their own.  Here is one example of the Washington Posts fact checking:

Deval Patrick slams Romney on Mass. record

“In Massachusetts, we know Mitt Romney. By the time he left office, Massachusetts was 47th in the nation in job creation.”

— Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick

This is a common Obama campaign talking point, but Patrick’s phrasing (“by the time he left office”) makes it especially inaccurate. The 47th ranking is the average for Romney’s entire term, when in fact Massachusetts started out at 50th place and ended up at 28th by the end of Romney term.

Debbie Wasserman-Schultz has been caught in another mess.  I use the word mess as I am not comfortable using the word lie.  She has on at least three occasions made statements and then said she did not say what she said.  In all three cases including the latest one she has been proven wrong by her own words recorded or taped.  Why would she do this?  How can anyone trust someone who speaks falsely so often?

There was a time when the truth could be blurred.  Today it still can UNLESS there is proof.  In this day and age of technology there usually is proof.  I boggles my mind why anyone would even try to add shading to any statement they make.

Yesterday I was actually able to watch with my own eyes on our own TV (the best way to get news) our political parties in action.  There was a vote that had to be made to put God and Jerusalem back into the platform of the Democratic Platform.  I think it is great that we got to see what actually happens at a convention.  The voice vote was very close as I heard.  I question whether there really was a two thirds affirmative vote.  What I do not question is what the teleprompter said for the chairperson to read.  The teleprompter was programmed to say that he did have a two thirds vote.  Now teleprompters have to be programmed so this meant those words were already there?   Was this a real vote or a fix?  We need some fact checking or perhaps a role call for the vote!

I am not saying that it is just the DNC.  They are the topic de jour due to the convention.  While in Maine I was reading that there was a big issue with the RNC not seating Paul delegates.  We need to fact check.  We need to look closely for ourselves to make informed decisions. 

Our vote depends more on our own research to the answers I believe than it does to the pundits who are promoting the candidates.  Our vote is precious and we should be well informed, beyond the conventions, to cast our vote intelligently.

…..ONWARD TO MORE MISADVENTURE…

 

THE HUMMINGBIRD/BUTTERFLY EFFECT

GOOD MORNING WORLD

John Popper the front man for Blues Traveler is not going to vote for Barack Obama!  That is news for me.  John is an independent voter leaning to the Libertarian side.  He voted for George Bush  2004 and Barack Obama in 2008.  He says he is going to vote for Mitt Romney in 2012.  He says it is not the man it is his stance.  He believes Obama has done a poor job.  One more vote for the Romney Ryan team.  It will happen I am convinced as one vote at a time is changed. 

Even more highly profile people like real estate and newspaper mogul Mortimer Zuckerman and of course Brad Pitt’s mom have been vocal about their votes.  Black Pastors are openly discussing why not to vote for the sitting President.  Young voters are doing the same.  It is my belief that much of the Catholic vote that he had the last time will not be there this time.   I believe that voters are smarter then the media makes them out to be in the news.  There is no war on women.  I am not saying that Mitt Romney does not have to sell himself – he does.  I am saying that the aura and era of Obama is fading away.

I had no idea what I was going to write about this morning.  My mind was blank last night as I headed for bed. It had been my desire to rough out a submission before then.  I could not think of one thing to write.  I finally got into bed and my mind raced for some time.  This morning I was brought back to an old theme when I heard a bird saying its name – Phoe…be    Phoe…be.  At least the clock read 6:24 so I had 5 hrs of sleep!!! 

That is the struggle for me of open windows and fresh air and I love both.  After being cooped up in air-conditioning most of the summer it is wonderful to have breezes.  When I get at the cottage I open the windows wide and they do not go down again until I leave unless it rains.  I sleep better and breathe better!  Fresh air is good.  I’ll take the birds!

Another thought I had about what to write is the lack of pressure I feel in this place.  Any pressure is self-imposed.  I can almost physically feel my body unwind like a spring uncoiling.  I walk slower and move slower and evidently I think slower as ideas are not popping to my head to write the blog.  Last night for the first time I was nervous about facing this blank white page.  I began to wonder if I would really make the year. 

I thought I could write about jobs I have had.  I’m taking Dad to Bangor the VA tomorrow to see about his hearing aids and I thought I could tell stories about hearing aids as I used to sell them.  I thought perhaps a post about nicknames or clichés or hometowns.  None seemed to stick.  I was grateful for the morsel of news to start my fingers moving to cover the white.

One of the things I like most about being at our cottage is that my folks come for coffee every morning.  We planted a butterfly bush in the front of our cottage last year.  This year it is above the windows.   Daddy commented on how entertaining it was to watch as he had his coffee.  He even saw a hummingbird.  We got talking about hummingbirds and how far they fly.  Of course the information junkie in me took hold once they left.  I found the following:

 http://www.worldofhummingbirds.com/migration.php

 Each time before a hummingbird starts migration, they need to eat a lot of insects and nectar to fatten up. A hummingbird will gain 25-40% of their body weight before they start migration. If a larger bird gained that much weight, they would not be able to get off the ground. During this time you may notice a hummingbird swarm around your feeders.

While hummingbird migration occurs on the same common fly zones, they do so alone. The best analogy is that hummingbirds are like commuters on a freeway, all going the same way on the same road, but doing so alone to get to their own individual homes. Hummingbird will migrate alone for many reasons. First of all, hummingbirds are so small that most predators have difficulty seeing them. If they flocked together, they would be a larger, more readily seen, target. Also, a hummingbird must stop frequently to feed at a flower or feeder, even during migration. To have a flock of hummingbirds waiting in line for a flower to refill doesn’t work. Plus, during hummingbird flight, there is just not enough body mass to make a wake in the air currents for others.

When hummingbirds are migrating, they usually do not stay very high off the ground. They have been reported to fly just above treetop level over land or pretty much skimming the top of the water ways. It is believed they do this to keep an eye out for a food or nectar opportunity on their long journey.

While migrating, hummingbirds generally will fly during the day and sleep at night. When the Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds are flying over the Gulf of Mexico during migration, there is no place to land to sleep, so they must keep on going. Many years ago, fisherman and oil rig workers would report seeking hummingbirds zip by them out in the gulf 200 miles away from land. The hummingbirds could be seen flying low over the water toward shore. The workers started to notice this happening every year, recording the common migration routes taken by the Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds. It’s amazing to think that these little tiny fluffs of feathers would travel over 450 miles of water with a 20 mile an hour headwind (with more than 20 hours of travel time) to make it to their favorite breeding grounds. It must be love.

Many hummingbirds will also have to cross other obstacles during migration, like the Mojave Desert. There have been reports of an occasional Rufous Hummingbird falling out of the sky on the migration route to and from Alaska.

…….and there was more hope you check it out.

The urge for information is even stronger in me this morning so I looked up Butterflies and I thought they migrated as well.

 http://www.monarch-butterfly.com/monarch-migration.html

 Monarch butterflies are not able to survive the cold winters of most of the United States so they migrate south and west each autumn to escape the cold weather. The monarch migration usually starts in about October of each year, but can start earlier if the weather turns cold sooner than that.

The monarch butterflies will spend their winter hibernation in Mexico and some parts of Southern California where it is warm all year long. If the monarch lives in the Eastern states, usually east of the Rocky Mountains, it will migrate to Mexico and hibernate in oyamel fir trees. If the monarch butterfly lives west of the Rocky Mountains, then it will hibernate in and around Pacific Grove, California in eucalyptus trees. Monarch butterflies use the very same trees each and every year when they migrate, which seems odd because they aren’t the same butterflies that were there last year. These are the new fourth generation of monarch butterflies, so how do they know which trees are the right ones to hibernate in? Monarch butterflies are the only insect that migrates to a warmer climate that is 2,500 miles away each year.

The Monarch butterfly migrates for 2 reasons. They can not withstand freezing weather in the northern and central continental climates in the winter. Also, the larval food plants do not grow in their winter overwintering sites, so the spring generation must fly back north to places where the plants are plentiful. Would you like to help track monarch butterfly migrations? Visit Monarchwatch for lots of information on tracking migrations with a color map.

I discovered the migration has begun!! How topical of me!  Again check it out:   http://www.learner.org/jnorth/monarch/

It was ever so much fun to share this information with my grandniece Phoebe (aged 4) when she visited this morning with my sister, her grandmother LaLa, and her littlest sister Cassidy and cousin Jolene both 2yrs old.  It was a Phoebe day I told her from birds to butterflies!

AND there it is.  Blog written!  I faced the white page and began writing.  I stopped to enjoy family, relaxed and allowed the topics of the day take me through fear of a blank page to visits, conversations to information.  The Butterfly Effect of letting things interact not making them do so!  Life is good!

…..ONWARD TO MORE MISADVENTURE…

TIRADE TUESDAY ON TAX RETURNS

GOOD MORNING WORLD

The headline for the weekend was all about Harry Reid calling for Mitt Romney to provide more tax returns.  Sen. Reid did this from the floor of the Senate where he enjoys immunity and could make an unsubstantiated claim that he had heard that Mr. Romney paid no taxes for the last ten years.  Mr. Romney in a speech said this was not true and called for Sen. Reid to put up or shut up.  The head of the RNC this weekend called Harry Reid a ‘dirty liar.’  Are we having fun yet?  I decided to do a little looking on my own to find some facts.

Fact number 1 that to run for President of the United States of America you have to be 35 and a natural born citizen. 

Fact number 2 is you have to file intent with the Federal Election Commission.  They have a Candidate Registration Tool Kit handy and ready for you.  The paperwork alone would stop many people.  You have to fill financial disclosure forms.  These forms looked to be like the liability and assets forms we fill out when we buy a house or take out any loan.  There are other ‘Tool Kits’ for PACS and others that will help with your campaign.

Fact number 3 and perhaps the most pertinent to this post is that no candidate is required to present his tax returns to run for President.  In fact according to the Tax History Project at http://www.taxhistory.org/www/website.nsf/web/presidentialtaxreturns:

Individual income tax returns — including those of public figures — are private information, protected by law from unauthorized disclosure. Indeed, the Internal Revenue Service is barred from releasing any taxpayer information whatsoever, except to authorized agencies and individuals.

 Like all other citizens, U.S. presidents enjoy this protection of their privacy. Since the early 1970s, however, most presidents have chosen to release their returns publicly. In the hope of making this information more widely available, the Tax History Project at Tax Analysts has compiled an archive of presidential tax returns.

From what I gathered a lot of the disclosure of tax info came after Vice-President Spiro Agnew ran into trouble with his taxes and was replaced.  In the past few years many Presidents have released multiple returns.  Three or more were the norm.  HOWEVER, President Gerald Ford only released a summary of the last few years of his taxes.

Mitt Romney has released all of his 2010 taxes.  This includes taxes for (again from the Tax History Project):

Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney
2010 | 2011
Ann Romney
2010
Ann and Mitt Romney Family Trust
2010
Tyler Charitable Foundation
2010

He said he will submit his 2011 when they are complete.  That is sufficient for me as a voter.  I am not reading them.  I file long form for us and that takes multiple pages.  Cannot imagine the paperwork required for the Romney’s with all their interests.  Once all is said and done and the Romney’s took all the deductions that they are legally allowed they may not have paid many taxes.  Change the tax laws do not penalize people who use it. 

The other part of this is if Mitt Romney had not filed nor paid taxes in ten years do you not think he would be in jail or at least in court?  The IRS went after Wesley Snipes and Willie Nelson.  Would they not go after the Romney’s?  

Paying taxes aside, the Romney’s certainly give away much of their wealth.  He gave away his whole inheritance from his father.

As for Harry Reid, “Shame on you.”  The Senators are called to fill out personal financial disclosure forms.  Harry Reid has filled these out and not submitted tax returns.  This form I believe is similar to the financial disclosure that Presidential candidates are required to fill out in the ‘Tool Kit’.

I have to agree with some of the news that I have read on this issue that seem to believe that Reid is just blowing smoke.  No one from the Democratic Party has affirmed his innuendo as fact.  The Presidential spokesman, Jay Carney sidestepped it with saying that the reporters knew Harry Reid.  Is making a statement that cannot be proved like yelling ‘Fire’ in a movie theater when there is none? 

Perhaps here Nancy Pelosi may be right.  She said you have to pass it to read it so would that not translate to – let’s elect Mitt Romney then we can see his taxes?  This tax stuff is just smoke indeed! 

…..ONWARD TO MORE MISADVENTURE…

 

 

 

DISCUSSION

GOOD MORNING WORLD

Some mornings I wake up and know exactly what I am going to write about.  Some mornings I wake up and am pleased I thought ahead and have something already prepared that suits my mood.  This morning I woke with nothing in my head.  For some that would be the conclusion on any given day – that there really is nothing in my head.

I thought about the events of yesterday.  Tragedy again in our country.  A friend shared a blog on facebook.  This is the link it is a good read.  It is honest and faith filled.

http://aminiatureclaypot.wordpress.com/2012/07/20/so-you-still-think-god-is-a-merciful-god/

I have had a couple of phone calls this morning as well which sent me in the direction I am about to go.  The best phone call was from the floor installer that he will be here in a couple of weeks to do my stairs to match the floor!

The other phone calls were actually funny.  It seems when you say something that people do not agree with or do not wish to hear they no longer have time for conversation.  In our society – the polite society – we are told never to discuss politics, religion or sex.  We had friends visit last week as I shared and we joked that we could not discuss politics as we were so opposite.  Isn’t that a shame that topics are off limits with friends.  Isn’t it a shame that we cannot share what we think or feel without condemnation or dismissal?  I do not agree with you so therefore I am not willing to listen to what you have to say.  Are people afraid to share their points of view or are they afraid they will not change the others minds?  Are they afraid that their own minds might be expanded?

The most interesting thing happened here in our home last week with those friends.  We discussed politics and did not screech or scream.  We had an intelligent conversation.  Neither of us believed we would change the others minds.  All of us spoke openly and I learned some things and we offered a bit of information for further checking to our friends.  People can talk politics if they are open to listening and sharing.  Discussion does not mean that I want you to believe my way.  Discussion does not mean that you will change my point of view.  Discussion does not mean that I will change your point of view.  Discussion can be a learning experience.  Discussion can be a sharing of ideas. 

I am so pleased to have many friends with whom I can discuss religion.  I love being challenged in my beliefs.  It sends me to check if I was correct in what I said.  It tenderizes me when sharing a concept that may be challenging to others.  My firm stand on my faith does not call me to make others believe as I do.  It does however call me to be open and share as I did above the mother’s experience in theater #9.

I have also been involved in an ongoing discussion with a dear friend of ours about why he voted for Obama and will he again and what he sees as positive and negative.  It is my turn to respond and I have not yet.  I shared with him how happy I was to have this exchange with no anger or bad words.  We have not seen each other for years and I said it would be great to have this face to face and know that we will still remain close.  His retort was of course.  Fun would be the first and foremost and an exchange of ideas and opinions would not ruin the friendship.  Bless his agreement on that.

Debate on the other hand means you take a stand and a side and defend your position.  Usually debate means you are not open or willing to listen to any other point of view.  Give me discussion any day.  It is more open.  I think the two can work together for the good though we do not see much of that in our world today.  Our political process is so divided all we see is partisan politics.  We need more discussion with people being open to listening and moving one way or the other.  While there are I am sure comments on both sides to quote I am, in case no one is aware, a Republican.  The essential quote that sums up the division and lack of discourse at this time I believe came from our current President when the joint group was trying to come to agreeable terms on healthcare.  President Obama said to John McCain, “John, elections have consequences.”   What I heard in that was we will do things my way not a joint way.  That is very sad.  Where was the discussion?  Where was the civil discourse?  Where was the debate?

I believe we need to talk.  More than talk, we need to listen.  What is the saying, we have one mouth and two ears to listen more than talk?  Listening is an art and many do not know how to do it.  Listening while getting ready to make your point is not listening it is tolerance.  Listening and preparing to defend your point is not listening either.  There are books about how to listen.  Along with the requirements list for our Presidential candidates, perhaps we could issue a book about civil discourse.  I am thinking that has already been written by one of the founders.

It would be my prayer that one day nothing will be off the table and people will listen to one another.  I did not say agree.  I said listen.  The free sharing of ideas seems like a great way to live.   

…..ONWARD TO MORE MISADVENTURE…