Losing Track of Time...

Thanks to a springtime cold (or whatever it was!), and a few other things that required my attention, I haven't posted anything new in almost a week.  It's made me consider what might happen if our government took some time off.

But what might they do if they had some unplanned vacation time?

Maybe take a few day to find out what the people in their districts want from them?  Yeah.  That would be good.  Because from what I see and read, what the people want doesn't play a very big role in what the politicians are do.

Of course what 'we the people' want is hard to determine because we can't seem to get an honest version of what's going on from our news sources.  Some reports say that the majority of American's opposed the health care reform, while others say the majority supports it.  Same with the cuts to Medicare. (and for those who wonder, I won't qualify for Medicare for quite awhile yet)

So a good deal of my opinion is based on what I see and hear where I live.  People I know well, people I don't know as well, conversations I overhear.  

Most of what I've found is that an overwhelming majority are dissatisfied with the way our government representatives represent us.  

What scares me about this is that the more unhappy citizens become, the more their votes are cast from anger and fear.  In the last couple of elections, people were so upset with what one party had done that they voted straight ticket for the opposing party.  Forget what each individual stood for, even if someone outside the party we tend to support would be the better candidate.  All 'we' wanted was to put the other party in control. 

I can see that it's coming down to that again for the next one.

And all it's going to do is give either the Dems or the GOP an unfair majority.  Again.  That's not what our founding fathers intended when they set up our government.  It was supposed to be balanced. 

It is not.

But if the the government is unbalanced, certainly the citizens are, too.  We're reacting in anger, in fear, in panic. Justifiably so.  We have leaders who have stopped leading and begun controlling.  They don't listen to the people anymore.  

I honestly don't remember anyone in any position of power asking me if I was okay with cuts to Medicaid.  If I was okay with tax cuts for big business.  If I was okay with health care reform.  I don't know if your opinion was sought but mine was not.

Politicians are so out of touch with the American public that it just amazes me.  I actually heard on the news that taxing big business isn't good for the creation of jobs.  What?  Are you kidding me?  With all the bail outs, all the tax breaks, where are all the jobs that were promised?  And continuing to let these businesses slide by on a free ride is going to change that?  

I doubt it very much!

But did any political leader ask the American public what they thought of those cuts?  If those cuts had benefited them in any meaningful way?  Nope.  If they had, they'd have discovered that the only people that experienced any benefits from the very generous cuts are the business owners themselves.  

That is why politicians need to take some time to find out what we, the people, want.  Unfortunately that's never going to happen.  They have become a law unto themselves...because we let it happen.

Somewhere along the line American's dug themselves in to a rut.  A comfortable rut, until a few years ago.  Our lives might not have been great, but they were pretty good, and so we ignored what was going on in Washington and our state capitals.  And now that those lives are far from good for the majority, we don't know how to dig ourselves out of that rut.  All the majority knows to do is complain, harsh as that may sound.

The time for complaints has passed.  The only way to save America from our elected officials is to begin taking action.  We were given the right to recall officials who aren't doing their jobs.  We need to start exercising that right!

Whether you're a Democrat, Republican or Independent, it's time to stop sitting back and letting a small minority try to stand up for America.  It's time to start getting our government representatives under control again.  

The only way to do that is to start recalling every single one of them who doesn't follow through on their promises.  That is the only way.

Can We Pay The Deficit Down?

I touched on this subject in a previous blog and thought it was a good one to expand on.  Granted my opinion is that of a homemaker with budgeting experience and not that of a political or government expert.  But you know what?  I’ve learned that if we don’t spend paychecks wisely, when the money is gone, we’re in trouble.

Okay, I’ve tried to find information about this and can’t, so I’m going to base my opinion on the fact that there are endless complaints about how much wars are costing the United States.  And I can only assume that we, the tax payers, are footing the bill for intervening in the problems in other countries.

Am I saying that we should never help others out?  Not at all.

What I am saying is that we need to start demanding compensation for our costs, and the lives of our military men and women.  Even if we only break even on the war front, the countries being set free because of us need to start showing their gratitude by covering our expenses.

Secondly.  Others have said it, and I agree wholeheartedly.  When disasters around the world strike, leave it to American citizens to decide how much each individual wants to contribute to help out.  Stop spending our hard-earned tax dollars, that are needed to take care of our country, on others.  I think that American’s are a generous people, but we deserve the chance to decide when and where our charitable dollars are spent.

That brings us to number three.  Start pricing our exports the same price as a barrel of oil.  For example, wheat is measured by the bushel, so the price of one bushel of wheat is one barrel of oil. 

Next on the list, and what got me started on this particular blog, are the greedy, lowlife traitors who have moved their businesses out of the country.  They have done that for two reasons.  First to avoid paying taxes here.  But even worse, they’ve done it to get out of paying a fair wage to hard working Americans.  All because they want more and more profit, and don’t want to do any more than they have to in return for it.

Change the laws to penalize them to such a degree that they will wind up bankrupt for turning their backs on their country.  Hit them with an import tax that will make their eyes bulge. 

Continuing… 

How about if big corporations, like GE, pay their fair share of taxes.  Cutting them has proven that there won’t be enough new jobs created to make a dent in the unemployment rate, so why do taxpayers have to keep sucking up increases so the idiots running our country can cut them a break.  I’m tired of it always being at our expense.  We contribute enough already.  Why should we be forced to contribute so much as one cent to help support the lives of luxury these miserly executives covet so much?

And lastly, at least for the moment…

Stop any spending that isn’t essential!  At least until you start making a dent in the deficit.  And by essential, I mean any out of country spending.  If you can’t take care of your own, what business do you have taking care of anyone else?  Especially when you expect the people you’re neglecting to foot the bill.    

Another thing that isn’t essential are the excessive expenses our elected politicians enjoy-on our hard earned dollars.  If they want to dine out, let them use the generous dollars they vote for themselves.  If they want to throw lavish parties, or take vacations they pass off as business trips, they can start paying for it.  We don’t vote them in to office so they can have a good time.  We vote for them to do a job.

It’s way past time they start doing exactly that.

So...Congress Passed the Budget

By the skin of their teeth.   Just before the deadline Friday night.  And much like Senator Paul Ryan promised in  in February, much of it is going to affect entitlements, like Social Security and Medicare.

Really?

Seriously?  Take away benefits people worked all their lives to earn?

For crying out loud, reform Medicaid.  I’m sorry but I truly resent that there are so many people sitting back collecting welfare-and getting better medical care than my family can afford. 

But Social Security and Medicare? 

Those aren’t “entitlements!”

I realize that to get rid of the horrendous debt that administration after administration has racked up over the years (Democrats and Republicans alike), spending has to be cut somewhere.  But they need start somewhere else. 

Since they’re so bent on hurting their own people, then they need to spread that hurt across the board.  Start cutting aide to foreign countries.  Stop involving our military in wars without demanding compensation.  And maybe even a profit.  Yeah, I know, that sounds harsh, but so do many of the proposed cuts for Americans.

Here’s a novel idea.

Make some spending cuts. There’s no way to get around the fact that our government is out of control in that department.  But they need to start looking after the interests of their citizens.  Not penalizing them for the mistakes they and their predecessor have made.

How can they do that?

First of all by cutting the wages, benefits and retirement packages all of our politicians receive.  ‘Servants’ who earn far more than most of the people who hired them just isn’t right!

They can start raising import taxes on countries getting rich off Americans.  And hit the traitorous scum who have moved their businesses out of the United States so they can avoid taxes, and make more profit, especially hard.  Figure out a way to impose it on companies that stay here but farm customer service and tech support out to countries.  Countries whose first language isn’t English in particular.

Another novel idea would be to secure that blasted border!  Then round up all the illegal’s and ship them back to their real home.

But many of them have had their children here, you might argue.

Too bad.  Give them a choice.  Choice number one, leave their children here and put them up for adoption.  Or choice number two, as some very wise people have suggested, send their children with them, giving only the child the option of returning to the United States when they turn eighteen.

According to FactCheck.Org, American’s spent almost $11 billion dollars to support illegal’s in 2009, the most recent information I could find.  Some estimate that number to be double.  What it means is that American citizens are working their butts off to pay almost a billion dollars a month for people that have no right to be here!

Sure, it’s a drop in the bucket compared to the National Debt.  But in ten years, that $11 billion will top a trillion dollars.  On top of what we’ve already been forced to pay for them.

Another great way to cut spending, in my opinion, is on the prison system.  I think every prison and jail in the country needs to be modeled after the tent city jail in Arizona.  Only take it a step farther. 

Let’s start off with doing away with only two prisoners per cell.  That’s kind of like a semi-private room in a hospital.  Why not go with ‘wards?’  Twenty per room.  For entertainment, pipe in James Earl Jones reading the bible.  From the time they wake up until it’s lights out for the night.  I have a set on tape and can attest to the fact that he has a very soothing voice. 

Why do criminals eat healthier foods and have better medical care than many Americans?  What about a diet of oatmeal for breakfast, bologna sandwiches for lunch and boiled dinner for supper?  Every day.  If they want variety, they can plant and work gardens in the summer.

And don’t make chain gangs voluntary.  Make them mandatory.  One, it will give them work experience.  Two, it will save a lot of money in taxes.  And three, it will get jobs done that have been cut from budgets across the nation.

Make jail and prison time a punishment and maybe crime will go down.

Oh.  And one more thing might go a long way toward paying down that debt.  Tax big business and the wealthy so that they pay their fair share.  Stop giving them tax breaks and incentives, stop squandering our hard earned tax dollars on bailing out people who shouldn’t be running businesses in the first place.  Clearly they couldn’t handle their money the first time around.  What makes you think they’re qualified to handle ours? 

Okay, I’ll stop ranting now.  But I just wanted to point out that there are alternatives to messing with Social Security and Medicare.  Why aren’t our elected officials looking at some of those?

Over The Line?

This is actually so far over the line that the line isn’t even visible anymore. 

What’s got me going now?  An article on Yahoo News* about a Chicago public school banning ‘sack lunches’ brought from home.  Yes, folks, the powers that be have decided that their lunches are superior in nutrition to any lunch a child could possibly bring from home.

Um….

Excuse me?

And it doesn’t end there.  East Syracuse, NY schools have outlawed desserts, Bucks County, PA is recommending teachers limit treats in classrooms for birthday treats (and how do they decide which child can  A Tucson school allows sack lunches-if they don’t contain white flour, refined sugar or other processed foods. bring them?).

I fully support forcing schools to provide more nutritious meals.  I was appalled at the choices my kids had to choose from, if they didn’t take their lunch.  Basically it amounted to poor quality fast food, and it’s hard to find anything worse than that.  So yes, cut out the chicken fat, I mean nuggets.  Cut out the greasy tacos and other garbage.  Fix healthier, good tasting food. 

For students who want to eat them.

If the obesity epidemic, also a huge problem for children, is suddenly so important, then look at all the garbage the government allows to be added to the food we buy at the grocery store. 

Stop allowing MSG to be added to pretty much everything on every shelf in the store.  Stop allowing meat producers to add growth hormones to animal feed.  Those are the real culprits, which I actually addressed in a blog I’ll be posting later this week.

I was just so appalled over this that I had to rant a bit.

If it were me, do you know what I’d be doing?  Pulling my kids out of public school so fast it would make your head spin.  We’d be joining the ranks of home school households across the nation.  At the very least I’d be organizing a student/parent strike.  If teachers can foul up the school year in the name of better pay and benefits, why shouldn’t students be allowed to protest being forced to eat lousy food?

One thing I’ve learned as a parent is that it does not take a village to raise a child.  It takes responsible parents.  But when decisions as simple as what to feed your child for lunch at school is taken out of your control, you have to wonder what’s next.  Are parents only going to be able to be financially responsible, with the government making all important decisions regarding the children?

Are they going to decide what religion we’re allowed to teach them?  What television programs or movies they’re allowed to see?  Who they’re allowed to associate with?

Yeah, I sound a little over the top.  But who ever thought the day would come when the government would dictate what our kids are and are not allowed to eat?  That they would ban and outlaw things like sack lunches or a cupcake.

And yet they allow dangerous additives to be pumped into our food supply without batting an eye. Then they want to chip away at parental rights when those additives cause obesity to run rampant in America.

If the citizens of the United States don’t wake up and start demanding our God-given, Constitution-guaranteed rights, one day we’re going to be waking up and wondering what happened.

Well, I won’t be because I can see where we’re headed.  I just can’t do anything on my own.  And I’m in the same boat as tens of thousands of other people.  We want things to change, but there is no organization in making it come about.

We need all the level headed people who have had enough to step up here.  People who are finally willing to do what it takes to get worthless politicians, and now educators, out of office. 

And not wait until the next election to do it. 

*http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110411/us_yblog_thelookout/chicago-school-bans-homemade-lunches-the-latest-in-national-food-fight

American Made? Probably Not...

It looks like big business is getting wise to consumers who want to buy American-made products.  Many products now claim to be ‘distributed by,’ rather than ‘made in.’  Quite a distinction since any product could be distributed from an address in the United States, but made in China or Taiwan.  

As an experiment, I’m going to take a quick look around my office and see what’s what with stuff I use every day.

Germ-X:  Distributed from a St. Louis, MO address.  A quick Google indicates that it is also manufactured there.  Whew!   I love that stuff…

Suave Mango Mandarin hand lotion:  Made in the USA!  Yay!

Envelopes:  Uh-oh.  Made in Mexico.

Diamond stick matches:  Made in the USA!

Bags for waste basket:  Made in China.  Not cool.

Wrigley’s Extra chewing gum:  Hmm.  Wikipedia says that Wrigley has factories located in the United States, Mexico, Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, Spain, New Zealand, the Philippines, France, Kenya, Taiwan, China, India, Poland, and Russia, so it’s anybody’s guess as to where this package originated.

Theraflu Nighttime Cold and Cough:  Another uh-oh.  Nothing on the bottle but a ‘distributed by.’  Google turned up a website proclaiming worldwide offices. 

Sounds like a truth in labeling issue.  We deserve to know where our ‘stuff’ is being made.

But that’s not what prompted this particular blog.  Nope.  I was just wondering what import taxes are charged for things like my envelopes, trash bags and Wrigley’s (if it was made in another country).

I have to say that doing this impromptu inventory, and finding out the results, makes me wonder if it’s really that much cheaper to produce those things in China, Taiwan, Mexico, or any of the other countries we buy from.

After you factor in shipping expenses for these inexpensive items, how can it possibly be?

How many Americans could be put to work making these things instead?  I mean, I don’t know about you, but I go through these things on a very regular basis.  I’m sure you do, too.  We could keep companies like that in business, and keep our countrymen and women working forever.

Okay, my curiosity got the best of me.  A quick walk through the kitchen and bathroom reveal that my Ajax dish soap, disposable cake decorating bags, peroxide and Garnier shiny hair stuff, all made in the USA.  My G.E. light bulbs are made in Mexico.  The innards for the toilet tank (to be changed out this weekend) are assembled in Mexico.  Not sure where the parts come from.  Curad Band Aids-China.  Solar Sense sunscreen-Canada.

Now my Bunn coffee filters don’t mention anything about where they are manufactured or distributed from.  Pardon me while I make a pit stop at Google…  Another worldwide kind of thing so who knows.

But again, why can’t these things be manufactured here?  Even if they did cost a little more, wouldn't it be worth it to provide and keep the jobs here?

Manufacturing jobs don’t have to go the way of the stagecoach and telegraph.  Nearly  everything we use is made in some sort of factory.  So again, why can’t they be made here? 

Are we so cheap and stupid that we’d rather spend our dollars in other countries to save a few pennies?  Because that's what we're doing by buying things made everywhere but here.

Even if enough Americans started a peaceful revolution, the government can’t solve all of the problems we’re facing. 

With every purchase we make, we choose whether we support our country-or another one.  At this point it looks like our goal is to prosper the rest of the world.  We keep buying their cheaper-often inferior-products, and accepting their second class tech and customer support, and helping to drive this country to the brink of bankruptcy.

If it doesn’t say ‘Made in the USA,’ don’t buy it.  Let’s cause there to be a need for American factories to open up and manufacture the products we use on a daily basis.  Let’s put our family and friends back to work.

Change starts with a few.  Will you be one of them?

And now I think I'm going to go throw our Curad Band-Aids away.  After the scares with lead, and then poisoned pet foods, I'm not sure I want first aide products from China in my house!

Less Talk, More Action

Following the developments of all things government online eventually leads one to the comments section of most articles.  If you’re not careful you can fritter away a large chunk of your day reading posts that range from insightful, to thought-provoking, to just plain stupid, to the kind where you immediately think, ‘And what facility did you escape from?’

So many opinions, so little time…

As I read I can’t help but wonder what might happen if everyone voicing an opinion actually did something concrete about it.  Even if it were no more than writing a letter, bombarding their reps with emails, making regular telephone calls.  Something.  Anything.

But my guess is that most are content to just sit around writing complaints hiding behind the anonymity of a screen name.  Which is a wise thing to do online.  But their elected officials need to hear from them on a very regular basis.

Don’t like a particular bill that’s coming up for consideration, or a vote, take five minutes to write an opinion that might do some real good.  Then slap a stamp on it and put it in the mail.  Follow it up with a phone call or two.  Remind them that whether or not they have your support in the next election is dependent entirely upon their voting record-and that you’re going to be following it very carefully.

I used to roll my eyes when people would talk about the future, “Think about what the world will be like for your kids and grandkids.”  Now?  Not so much.

Gasoline is almost $4.00 a gallon.  Again.  Decent cuts of meat, well even the not so decent cuts, really stress the average budget.  The cost of putting a roof over your head, not to mention heating and cooling it, is sky high.  Jobs are extremely hard to come by, and those that are available require an expensive education and/or experience.  Well, that, or you can fill out a McApplication, then hope you'll be chosen to earn McWages, that might be just enough to keep you out of the McPoorHouse.  If you're lucky.

So yeah.  No more eye rolling.  Now I wonder how much worse it might get for my kids and grandkids. 

If things are this bad now, how bad might they be in twenty or thirty more years-if something doesn’t change?  If we can’t get our politicians to do the jobs they were voted in to do?   Will our grandkids be living in boxes in alleys and shopping for food in only the most upscale dumpsters?

Sounds extreme, and probably a little paranoid, but this is happening more and more today.  And the economy seems to get worse every day.  So unless the American people do something about it now, I picture a society much like some of the books I’ve read.  Set in medieval times, you have the fat, wealthy land owners.  Then you have the dirt poor ‘tenants,’ working themselves to death for a little bit of nothing.  Why?  Because the land owners like it that way.

We hear all the time that the middle class is disappearing.  Think about that.  I mean really think about that.

If they’re disappearing what, exactly, does that leave us with?  The wealthy and the poor.  Most of the middle class is obviously not getting richer so, ipso facto, they must be getting poorer.  I know that includes me, and most everyone I know.  It probably includes you, too.

Think about that.  What life is like for you right now.  Then think about your loved ones.  Or your future loved ones.  What will life be like for them?

After you spend some time thinking about it, go buy a book of stamps, some stationary and envelops, find the names and contact information for every one of your elected officials-and start taking some action.  Not just once in awhile, but regularly.  When you make your calls, you want the aides to know you by name-without you having to identify yourself.

Is there going to be a demonstration within reasonable driving distance?  Jump in your car and show your support.  Let them see the numbers of unhappy voters increasing exponentially. 

If every unhappy person posting their complaints online would actually do something about it, our elected officials will start to sweat.  Because you're tired of all their baloney and have joined the ranks of the not so silent, unhappy majority.   

But none you alone won't make a difference.   On my own, I won't either.  It won't be until most of us get tired enough, angry enough, and scared enough to stop sitting back and letting  others  take care of our business that we can take effective steps toward putting our country back to what it should be.

It’s time to wake up and start exercising our rights as American citizens. 

Let's Start Another Revolution!

The Revolutionary War.  A war between Great Britain and early American citizens.  Why did our ancestors rise up against their home country?  Because they opposed paying taxes they considered unfair, and because of laws that, in their opinion, were oppressive and improper.

Now imagine America in its infancy.  No telephones.  No internet.  No evening news, no USA Today.  The Pony Express, telegraph and railroads weren’t even in existence then.  Basically all these people had going for them was word of mouth.  Yet they somehow managed to form militias, and not only fight a war, but win their freedom from tyranny.

Now don’t get me wrong.  I am not suggesting we all go out, purchase guns and start shooting.

We have many more, very effective, tools than Colonial Americans had.  Our version of ‘word of mouth’ is instantaneous.  We don’t have to ride a horse for a day or more to let a couple of our ‘neighbors’ know what’s going on.

Most of America is disgusted with a government only concerned about making the richest citizens happy.  They’re a perverted Robin Hood, robbing from the poor to make life easier for the millionaires and billionaires.  They pass laws knowing the majority opposes them without batting an eyelash. 

Why?

Because they can. 

Because American’s have been content to sit back and do nothing for years.  Oh, we’re great at complaining about what our elected officials do.  We vow to vote for better candidates in the ‘next election.’  But the better candidates are no better than the ones we wanted to oust in the first place.

Why?

Because the new ones know they, too, can do whatever they want for a term or two.

They know they’re safe.  They can lie to get elected and there is no one they have to answer to.  They know citizens will just sit around whining and complaining until it’s time to vote again.

Colonial American’s were willing to give their lives to obtain their freedom from excessive and unfair government control.  They worked harder than we can ever imagine to organize an army strong enough to win.  And yet modern American’s just sit back and take it.

It’s well past time that we start a revolution of our own.

How do we do that?  We organize.  We stop depending on a few people to fix the government and start doing our part to fix it, too.

It’s only by coming together with a common goal, forcing elected officials to work for the majority instead of their special pets, that the United States will return to the great nation it once was.

But that’s only going to happen if we stop waiting until the next election.  

If, within six months, our government representatives don’t start fulfilling the promises they made to get elected, citizens must start the recall process.  Quickly.  For all of the politicians who don’t keep their word. 

Let’s face it.  If the common man lied to get a job like those in the government do, they’d be fired the instant their employers discovered it.  But presidents, governors, senators, and the rest think they’re exempt from consequences for their lies.

Isn’t it time to stand up and show them that they’re wrong?  Haven’t they pushed us too far yet?  How many more citizens have to lose their jobs, their homes, their lives because all the government cares about is making the rich richer and ensuring their future security?

It only took a few to start the American Revolution and it snowballed into the historical war we all read about in history class. 

That’s all it would take now.  Just a few, and spread the word through modern means.

We need an ‘army’ willing to stand up to our arrogant politicians and take America back.

We can do it peacefully, with no bloodshed.  If we care about our country as much as colonial Americans did.

What will it take to get you involved?  How much more will you take before you stand up and say, 'Enough is enough?'

Keywords:

revolution, war, government, representatives, America, vote, citizens, presidents, governors, senators