All right folks, this coming Tuesday marks the two-week point until the elections. If you aren't registered by tomorrow, you can't vote this time around. If you are indeed registered, time to make decisions regarding all the various races and propositions you will be asked to choose from.
All of you by now should have received a local voters pamphlet. I ask that you put in the time to read it, and start forming your opinions. I can tell you that I have been reading up on my National and Local choices, and am pretty much set on my voting decisions.
I implore each of you to please be knowledgable on your votes prior to going to the polls. If you don't think you'll remember, then write down how you're planning on voting, and take it with you to the polling station. Then, when Election day arrives (on Tuesday, November 4th), make no excuses and get to the polls. The earlier the better. Polls are typically open from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. That gives you lots of time before or after work, school, etc.
PLEASE remember that every vote does indeed count. So PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE get out and vote!
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Sunday, October 12, 2008
The National Debt
Today a headline appeared bemoaning the fact that the National Debt Clock had run out of spaces for more digits. This alarmed me because of how completely confounding this whole situation is. We (the USA) are operating on a debt the likes of which we have never before seen. The current $10,000,000,000,000 (that's ten trillion dollars) deficit is so big that, barring any further deficit spending, it will take us 35-50 years to pay off--if we ever get it paid off.
What really amazes me though, is just why the American people are not demanding answers as to the why's of this thing. How did the debt get so bad?; who authorized all that spending?; when did Congress ask for input from the American people on the current spending?; Why is our President standing by and allowing this to happen instead of demanding a stop to the madness?, etc, etc.
A little info here...
Every one of the Fifty States are required by the Federal Government (and their own State Constitutions) to carry a Balanced Budget. At the end of every year, they must be balanced, or in the black. Yet, the Federal government is under no such rule. They typically carry an ever increasing deficit.
During the Clinton Administration, the White House and Congress hammered out a cohesive, cooperative plan to balance the Federal deficit by the year 2010. Social Security was saved, the military was strong, social programs were intact, and by the end of Clinton's Presidency, the US was not only operation on a yearly budget surplus, we were actually able to decrease the deficit blance by some $450 Billion. We were well on our way to fiscal freedom (and should by now, be a little over a year from it).
At the time, our national Debt had decreased to around $2.5 trillion (down from $3 trillion) over the previous 4 years), and we could all see the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel.
Then, in steps George W. Bush and Cronies. One of the first things they did was plunder Social Security to pay for pet projects. Deficit spending ramped up once again, and all the work that a two-term President and Bi-Partisan Congress had done to ensure the financial well-being of this country was suddenly, inexplicably tossed out. Why? Congress seemed to roll over and not care that all they work that had been done was for nothing. They demanded no answers. They demanded zero accountability.
So, two ongoing wars later, plus an ongoing energy crisis, plus the rape of our lands for profit benefitting energy companies, plus unprecedented deficit spending, and we are in a hole that our great-grandchildren will be paying off (or at least, trying to...).
What a wonderful legacy this lame-duck President is leaving for the American people. I bet he doesn't lose a bit of sleep knowing that while his pals in Energey, Special Interest Lobbies, and Mining companies are making tens of millions, the average American family is having to choose between feeding themselves, paying bills, and having a place to live.
I sure am glad he can sleep knowing what he and his Administration have done over the past 8 years. Good for him...
What really amazes me though, is just why the American people are not demanding answers as to the why's of this thing. How did the debt get so bad?; who authorized all that spending?; when did Congress ask for input from the American people on the current spending?; Why is our President standing by and allowing this to happen instead of demanding a stop to the madness?, etc, etc.
A little info here...
Every one of the Fifty States are required by the Federal Government (and their own State Constitutions) to carry a Balanced Budget. At the end of every year, they must be balanced, or in the black. Yet, the Federal government is under no such rule. They typically carry an ever increasing deficit.
During the Clinton Administration, the White House and Congress hammered out a cohesive, cooperative plan to balance the Federal deficit by the year 2010. Social Security was saved, the military was strong, social programs were intact, and by the end of Clinton's Presidency, the US was not only operation on a yearly budget surplus, we were actually able to decrease the deficit blance by some $450 Billion. We were well on our way to fiscal freedom (and should by now, be a little over a year from it).
At the time, our national Debt had decreased to around $2.5 trillion (down from $3 trillion) over the previous 4 years), and we could all see the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel.
Then, in steps George W. Bush and Cronies. One of the first things they did was plunder Social Security to pay for pet projects. Deficit spending ramped up once again, and all the work that a two-term President and Bi-Partisan Congress had done to ensure the financial well-being of this country was suddenly, inexplicably tossed out. Why? Congress seemed to roll over and not care that all they work that had been done was for nothing. They demanded no answers. They demanded zero accountability.
So, two ongoing wars later, plus an ongoing energy crisis, plus the rape of our lands for profit benefitting energy companies, plus unprecedented deficit spending, and we are in a hole that our great-grandchildren will be paying off (or at least, trying to...).
What a wonderful legacy this lame-duck President is leaving for the American people. I bet he doesn't lose a bit of sleep knowing that while his pals in Energey, Special Interest Lobbies, and Mining companies are making tens of millions, the average American family is having to choose between feeding themselves, paying bills, and having a place to live.
I sure am glad he can sleep knowing what he and his Administration have done over the past 8 years. Good for him...
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Suing Over A National Day of Prayer
I read today that a large group of athiests in Wisconsin is suing the President, the Governor of Wisconsin, and several others over the country's 'National Day of Prayer.'
These citizens think that they are actually being forced to participate, and that they are excluded politically and societally because of their beliefs. So this group of whatever number they are, are seeking to tell every person in this country what to do and think. What the #@&%!!!
Instead of wasting taxpayer dollars in pursuit of the non-existant "Separation of Church and State" clause, why don't these good folks just decide they won't participate? It is certainly their right to, or not to, take part in the National Day of Prayer. Why sue over what really comes down to as a matter of personal choice?
Hmmm...Let's see...the thinking is probably going something like this..."I'm athiest. I don't believe in God, or prayer. Now, here's the government telling me I have to pray on a specific day.How dare they do that! I'm not going to be forced to pray to a god I don't believe in! I think I'll sue and tell everyone in the country who DOES believe in God that they can't pray to whomever they believe in."
...and the rhetoric would continue. My point again is freedom. Freedom to choose to participate, or to NOT participate. Why do people feel it is essential to enforce their atheism on a majority of Americans who do indeed believe in a Divine being? Remember, this country was founded on Christian principals, by religious, God-fearing men who sought Divine inspiration every morning [through prayer] before continuing their work of framing the government.
The current Government of the United States does NOT endorse any specific religion, it does NOT force anyone to attend church services, it does NOT demand that its citizens pray to any specific Diety. The illusionary separation of Church and State is still intact; the country goes on.
These mamby-pamby atheists have zero business telling me that I can't pray. It is a personal choice to believe, or not believe, in any diety in whatever form.
In the bogus fight over (once again) the non-existant Separation of Church and State, the vast majority of Americans are being told (through Court decisions) they can't pray in public places; they can't worship in public places or on Government owned land; they can't see a display of the Ten Commandments (a set of guidelines which really only help all of us to be better people) pretty much anywhere outside of church buildings; and that the Founding Fathers really never brought religion into the development of this country through legal action, historical distortion, historical omission, rewriting fact to fit their agendas, etc.
Listen folks, this really is about the freedom to choose. Freedom to pray, or to NOT pray. Freedom to choose to participate in a particular event...or NOT. But instead of choosing to NOT participate, these folks are looking to enforce their personal beliefs on everyone else so they don't have "to feel uncomfortable in politics or society."
These citizens think that they are actually being forced to participate, and that they are excluded politically and societally because of their beliefs. So this group of whatever number they are, are seeking to tell every person in this country what to do and think. What the #@&%!!!
Instead of wasting taxpayer dollars in pursuit of the non-existant "Separation of Church and State" clause, why don't these good folks just decide they won't participate? It is certainly their right to, or not to, take part in the National Day of Prayer. Why sue over what really comes down to as a matter of personal choice?
Hmmm...Let's see...the thinking is probably going something like this..."I'm athiest. I don't believe in God, or prayer. Now, here's the government telling me I have to pray on a specific day.How dare they do that! I'm not going to be forced to pray to a god I don't believe in! I think I'll sue and tell everyone in the country who DOES believe in God that they can't pray to whomever they believe in."
...and the rhetoric would continue. My point again is freedom. Freedom to choose to participate, or to NOT participate. Why do people feel it is essential to enforce their atheism on a majority of Americans who do indeed believe in a Divine being? Remember, this country was founded on Christian principals, by religious, God-fearing men who sought Divine inspiration every morning [through prayer] before continuing their work of framing the government.
The current Government of the United States does NOT endorse any specific religion, it does NOT force anyone to attend church services, it does NOT demand that its citizens pray to any specific Diety. The illusionary separation of Church and State is still intact; the country goes on.
These mamby-pamby atheists have zero business telling me that I can't pray. It is a personal choice to believe, or not believe, in any diety in whatever form.
In the bogus fight over (once again) the non-existant Separation of Church and State, the vast majority of Americans are being told (through Court decisions) they can't pray in public places; they can't worship in public places or on Government owned land; they can't see a display of the Ten Commandments (a set of guidelines which really only help all of us to be better people) pretty much anywhere outside of church buildings; and that the Founding Fathers really never brought religion into the development of this country through legal action, historical distortion, historical omission, rewriting fact to fit their agendas, etc.
Listen folks, this really is about the freedom to choose. Freedom to pray, or to NOT pray. Freedom to choose to participate in a particular event...or NOT. But instead of choosing to NOT participate, these folks are looking to enforce their personal beliefs on everyone else so they don't have "to feel uncomfortable in politics or society."
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