Hand Out or Hand Up??

Here we are again, debating yet another bail out!
Now the auto industry wants a piece of the Poulson Pie~ claiming the economy has sent them into the abyss of potential mass lay-offs and factory closings.
The 'Big Three' slithered into the Capitol begging for relief, yet they arrived in style on a Private Jet!?
Hey if your gonna need to make an impression of poverty upon the likes of Henry Poulson you better do it in a over priced suit, a private jet and a personal income of 23 million a year! yep...that will do it~
I don't know about you, but when our government starts rewarding bad business practices our economy is doomed for sure. The price of free enterprise will sky-rocket and the middle-class once again will be footing the bill.
Instead of asking our government for a hand-out, how about cutting those CEO wages, selling those jets, sending a hatchet into corporate? Imagine the MILLIONS you would save then!
These automakers do NOT need a bail out funded by you and me, they need a good ole fashioned brow beating and sent home with wallets emptied!
Of course those pathetic, self-centered, egotistical white collar money mongers are not about to give up their cushy wages to save their own companies...why should they? If the factory closes they may be out of a job but you can guarantee there is some Golden Parachute standing in the wings to cushion their fall.
On the flip side, if they don't get their 'bail out' money we still pay the price for it!
With over 20thousand jobs hanging in the balance you and I will still be held by our purse strings to cover the cost of such a catastrophe. Sure some will get unemployment benefits, but those of us in the real world know that is a minimal compensation for supporting a family. Food assistance and medicaid programs will have record enrollment and although we are not in Michigan, keep in mind those programs are funded with matched Federal dollars~aka YOU & ME!
So either way we pay for it!
I tell ya what I am gonna sit myself down today and write up my own proposal for a Bail Out, and I am not going to include all the years I have paid my bills on time, or that I have always lived within my means~ that doesn't matter to our government....nope. I am going to list all the credit cards I am going to decide to just stop paying on, the mortgage I have had for the last 7 years and how I am just going to NOT pay it anymore, then I am going to make a list of all the bad things that are going to happen to my local economy if I go bankrupt. How the 2 people I employ will be without jobs, how all those houses will be left with filthy, dirty carpets without my business to clean them. And of course since I won't be working anymore I won't need to put gas in my vehicle as often, and as one who always fills up locally my neighborhood convenience store will miss me. Just like the 'Big Three' want us to ignore the great success of Toyota in the U.S, I am going to ignore the facts my competitors are doing well. They don't matter...what matters is ME!!! I Will have to buy less groceries, no more movie nite, no more donations to local charity's, and to hell with the little kids at my door trying to sell me candles for band equipment!!
Yep..then I am going to file for assistance benefits, food stamps, medicaid and whatever else I can get my hands on...you know ...cuz I can.
Then I am going to make my final plea, I will board a charter plane (hey I don't have a private one), fly into Washington and insist that the millions of dollars I pay myself (just because it sounds good) is justified and necessary yet without a millions of dollars hand-out my company just wont make it.
Hey...isn't that the NEW American Way???
Henry Poulson has already proven he IS NOT responsible either when it comes to managing that kind of money~not a single dime spent thus far has stopped a single foreclosure, saved a single blue-collar job or stimulated a single economy! Yet he continues to be in charge of all that money!
WTF??!!
The pundits screamed that Obama was going to turn us into a Socialist Nation...hmmm perhaps their own reflections were confusing them!
Our government now OWNS 80% in the Largest Insurance Company in America..you know otherwise we couldn't give them all those millions of dollars to fund that snappy vacay they all took before the ink was dry! Now we are buying up an interest in hundreds of Banks.....hmm perhaps the Auto-industry is next!! and all BEFORE Obama takes office....
I can't help but wonder how many people, 4 years from now, will remember it was the Bush Administration that started all this? How many will only remember Obama for being the 'Bail Out President'?
Nothing like a hurdle at the starting line of this winding road ....

A New Day~

And so it begins~
We each awoke to the dawning of a new day, with hope, inspiration & an eager desire to embrace the change we loudly requested on Election Day & we bask in the light of a sun many have not seen for years.
However, the stage is not yet set, the passing of the torch not yet complete. 2008 must first roll out, much in the same fashion as it rolled in. The country's least favorite former cheerleader still presides over our fate. Many cannot help but to continue the backward glance, watching, wondering what the curret administration will fail to pack up, what will they insist on leaving behind? What hidden surprises will they hide in the nooks & the cranny's, what boobie traps await the next President?
Will the Bush Administration slip some major locked in spending under the rug so that they can blame the next Administration for being inept at handling our money?
Will the infamous Bail Out come back and bite Obama? Will America forget how President Bush & HIS Secretary of the Treasury INSISTED on its passage?
The indictment of Paul Schlesselman and Daniel Cowart for the alleged plotting & planning of a mass murder that would have included the assassination of Senator Obama reminds us all that while we have certainly made great strides in our country we have yet to reach the mountain top. There is much work left to do & I emplore each of you to do your part to bring Equality & Peace to our own country.
It is unfortunate as well that while race is still a very real issue in our country, even in light of this historic election, unfortunately other prejudices still run rampant in our world as well. Yesterday voters in the state of California are claiming victory to ban same-sex marriages in their state. While not all the votes have been counted, some 300 absentee ballots remain at large, a law to legalize discrimination in California very well may be written.
I have no doubt what this win was fueled by, as supporters of Proposition 8 stood on every corner within the vicinity of every polling booth waving their signs of HATE & spewing their words of FEAR. Proclamations of 'gays teaching your children how to be gay' stung the ears of voters & again I am reminded the top of that mountain is barely in our sights.
It is my greatest wish that on this day of renewed HOPE & on this day of new beginnings that we as a Nation rise up and embrace one another so that our children will one day embrace their neighbor without hesitation or fear!
The holiday seasons are now upon us; Hannukah, Yule, Christmas & Kwanzaa~ may we each go into the season wiser, more hopeful, more accepting & more thankful for our FREEDOMS & those that fought to protect them~

ahhh this winding road~new asphalt is always smooth in the beginning......

On This Great Day~

It is my greatest wish today, my loudest prayer
that every god the human race has ever prayed to
that this Universe protect this man
Protect this man so he may finish the work Dr. King began
So that he may take this Great Nation by the hand
and guide us to rise up
to rise up as One
That our voices may be heard
That the echo of our Unity reverberate across the world

In this defining moment in our history
May we each join in
May we each be inspired in that
We each can aspire to greatness!

May our children watch in their innocence
And may they now know all things are truly possible
May our children seek each day to remind us
we are truly blessed
And as a Nation we have certainly given them
the foundation to GREATNESS!

ahhh this winding road has found a new direction....

The Content of His Character~

Tonite history was again set into motion in the United States of America~ and along with the celebration of what is to become we find ourselves standing in awe, perhaps hearing in the distance that familiar voice, the words of a southern preacher as he shares his dream~
For the day has come that a man TRULY was measured '...by the content of his character and not the color of his skin...'!!
As is the American way, when times are hard and things begin to look bleak we stand up, we reach out and we UNITE!
A dream is realized on this 4th day of November 2008, a dream that THE American Dream truly belongs to ANYONE!
My daughters can now see that hard work, standing for what you believe in, even when its not popular, rising above the rhetoric, embracing those who do not agree with you, You CAN rise up, you CAN aspire to GREATNESS~
One man and a MILLION VOICES rose up tonite, they rose up in a harmony never heard, they rose up TOGETHER for a common purpose and a common goal~the echo resounding around the WORLD.....
AMERICA ROCKS!!~

The American Bowl

and so the race begins....what you say?? begins? Haven't we been watching this race for 22 months??
Didn't anyone tell you? That was just the 'pre-game' !!!
7am this morning was the Official Kick-Off and both sides are on defense. By noon we will surely be in the 2nd quarter and still scratching our heads with mouths agape trying our best to decipher the plays we've seen thus far.
Everytime we jump from our seats and cheer our support for what looks like a lead the groans will ring loud and the ball will be fumbled, the tackle out of nowhere will drop us to our knees and we again find ourselves at first down!
5pm will certainly bring us a half-time show like no other!!! Advertising will not be humorous, funny or enlightening. The songs will not entertain both sides of the field and the sportcasters will be lost in the rhetoric.
We will not find ourselves running to the fridge, instead the majority of the Nation will certainly be stuck to the bleachers, beverage in hand, foam fingers raised high and certain a win is still insight.
When 11pm rolls around and the pacing of the previous quarter will have all but ceased, we will find ourselves not so glued to our seats and freely roaming about the sidelines, rubbing our hands together, well more like wringing as we slowly realize the newscasters were right and this game is headed for some major overtime!
No matter what team you are rooting for today, I do hope you show your support and VOTE!
Remember it is NOT a priviledge...it IS a Responsibility & an Obligation!
And when the final score flashes on the screen please join me & your neighbors & reach across the field, shake hands, congratulate them on a great game and let's all move forward UNITED!
GOOOOO AMERICA!!!!

The Risks of Our Vote....

I was visiting with a couple of friends the other day and as usual politics came up. They know I suffer from electionitis and am political junky...have no idea where they got that idea!
Senator Obama came up, of course, one is a supporter and one is not...
The supporter stated to me "..if he doesn't win we live in a country of racists!" and before I could respond the non-supporter says "oh I sure hope he loses, we don't need a radical muslim running our country"
I sat there a moment shaking my head, wondering if this is what it felt like when Alice went down the hole with the rabbit, was this real? Over 20 months have passed and people actually still believe this crap?
After I regained my thoughts I immediately set out to well...set them BOTH straight.
It was easy, I only needed to point at the latter to show the first why Obama's being black was the least of his worries. I told him this is the ONLY reason Obama would lose, people NOT educating themselves on the FACTS.
I then tried to go on and inform them that the senator is NOT a muslim etc etc...
then what I heard shocked me even more....
The non-supporter says to me "ya well I just can't take the chance. You know Al-Qaeida stated they would get us from the inside"
WOW!! the blinders some people wear still totally shock me!
Does anyone really believe that 45 years ago Bin Laden called up Senator Obama's parents and told them this boy will grow up to be President of the USA and then we will take it over!?
Seriously?
and if for a minute you really think they did, and that Obama is their Manchurian Candidate then explain to me PLEASE....why would anyone go through the trouble of waiting all these years, waiting for a boy named Barack to grow up, go to college, then successfully get into politics....all of this to put a man in a position to take over America....if they did this...then tell me please why would they risk their beloved 'secret weapon' by attacking the U.S on 9/11/2001??
Why would they risk his chance at the presidency by sending a surge of fear into the spines of all American's making them fear Islamic Muslims??
Does that really make any sense to anyone?? Seriously!!??
Senator Obama was already in the legislature, a successful politician in Illinois when the attacks happened. Does anyone really believe Bin Laden to be that stupid?? The man successfully attacked Americans ON American soil....there is NOTHING stupid about this radical dictator!
It is the stupidity of those that would 'rather not take a risk' that will prevent this Senator Obama from moving our country forward. Was a Republican President not in office when the attacks happened? Was it not a Republican President that ignored the warnings?
Senator McCain claims he can find Bin Laden, he knows how!!! but he just isn't going to do it unless he's president??? uhh what part of American Hero does that? ohhh I bet its the same one that ran below deck after his aircraft caught fire and chose to watch his comrades lose their lives fighting that fire on a closed circuit television than actually be up above helping to save their lives! The same 'hero' that ignored the warning signals on his aircraft because he wanted to be a 'hero' and got himself shot down. The same hero that wants to tax our health care benefits? The same hero that boasts about being a Maverick yet voted over 90% of the time with President Bush?
Well I am willing to TAKE A CHANCE so that my child may have the right to a CURE, that she will keep her right to CHOOSE and that she will keep her right to live in her OWN community.
Americans use to vote on the issues that were important to them and their families, our votes should never be based on fear,lies, twisted facts or hatred.
Our VOTE is our ONLY true VOICE in this country, the one that speaks LOUDER than anything we ever do.
I encourage each of you, regardless of whom you support, to STAND UP, to SPEAK, to send your VOICE across the miles and VOTE!
VOTE on the issues that matter to you, but do so with FACTS, show the world we are NOT sheep and that we don't follow anyone's bandwagon, we search the FACTS, we are EDUCATED, and no matter the outcome we are the UNITED States of America!
The road is sometimes bumpy but it is always winding.....