A Presidential State of Mind

"The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise." ~F. Scott Fitzgerald


I want my President to be able to see past the difficulties and negativity of the moment.
 
I want my President to see the positivity and potential in his decisions, knowing that he'll be vilified no matter what he does, so he makes the choice that leads to a better future. He doesn't waste time and energy wallowing in the past.
 
I want my President to lead the people, pursuading Congress to think past the pork barrel projects, past the extremists shouting outside, past their own petty concerns, and look toward a positive outcome for the people -- and not their own political survival.
 
I want my President to care about me and you and the guy down the block and the Veterans who've come home damaged by war who need more help than the government currently provides. I want my President to care about the people. His people.
 
I want my President to look past the storm and determine to ride it out, no matter what the personal cost and how hopeless it all looks right this minute.
 
Hopelessness is a state of mind and all too often, when you look back at it, you realize that you did make it through the storm. Not untouched. Often not unharmed. But you made it through, despite all the odds against you. And life is good.
 
That's what I want in my President.

No Credible Candidates

I was talking to someone today about the Republican candidates that are popping out of the woodwork -- like cockroaches.

Oh me, oh my, do the Repubs have a credible candidate one?

I don't think so.

Seriously, each of the Republicans that have thrown their hat into the ring has some kind of major flaw that's going to put off enough voters to wreck their chances at winning.

Now, don't get me wrong here, I'm not unhappy with this, being a Democrat and all...

But seriously, who is going to vote for the Mormon candidate? Who is going to vote for the candidate associated with the Tea Party? Who is going to vote for the guy who has little or no political experience (think Palin in a man's suit)? In all seriousness, I don't see a single viable candidate on the Republican side of the house. Every single one is going to have insurmountable issues when it comes to the mainstream moderate voter.

Oh, yeah, they'll jump up and down and have hissy fits, bring up all kinds of BS about our President, make false accusations and in the end, shoot themselves in their own big feet. There will be more discussion of our President being born in Kenya despite all the evidence to the contrary. There will be more carrying on and that's all it's going to be, the same blah blah blah that was completely unsuccessful in the last election.

When will they ever learn?

When will they figure out that Americans don't want to hear all that negative BS? Americans want to hear what the heck the politicians plan to do to boost the economy -- and that does NOT include lining the pockets of the rich. Giving tax cuts and incentives to the rich means just one thing -- the rich get richer and there's still no jobs...

Yeah, the Repubs are going to have to do better than they have so far if they even want to have a smell of the 2012 election.

(Thank goodness! Our President is doing the best job possible considering the horrible mess and the stonewalling of the Republicans in Congress. I know who I'm voting for and it's not a Republican candidate.)

Stigmatizing Welfare Recipients

Oh great. Rick Scott, that idiot that's running Florida, puffed himself all up. Well, now the needle is popping that balloon.

All welfare applicants must drug test -- out of their own pockets -- in order to receive benefits.

Yeah, they touted this like everybody on welfare is a shambling crack ho, spending the gov't money on drugs instead of feeding their children.

Hahahahaha! Too funny! Results so far: Of the approximately 1,000 applicants, only 20 tested positive.

Twenty.

So Florida has proved what all too many public employees already knew. Most people on assistance are trying to manage in a difficult situation. They're trying to keep a place to live and feed their kids. There's nothing left for drugs.

Don't believe me? Look up the benefit amounts in your state and try to live on them for just one month. I won't even bet you, it's not right to take easy money like that.

So, the next time someone is ranting about "those welfare leaches," do bring up Florida.

Yep, the haters have had another balloon blow up right in their faces.

FAIL!

Yeah, I smiled...

http://www.care2.com/causes/floridas-mandatory-drug-tests-for-welfare-recipients-finds-few-fails.html

Crazy Ex Blogs

Oh my goodness, I thought my brother's exs (2) were wack!

This is some seriously crazy stuff here.

And now the judge has ordered the dad, creator of ThePsychoExWife.com to take down the site and not say a bad word about her in any way, shape or form.

Well, as a parent with a wack ex myself (but he's a man of course LOL), I can see where the judge has had it up to the eyeballs with this mess. She probably screams and throws things in her chambers when she sees this pair are on the calendar.

But, but, but...

Even though I kinda agree with her decision, since the kids know about the website, dad has a 1st Amendment right to speak his mind. From what I read, only initials were used and those initials didn't even match the person's initials. So how would the kids know? According to dad, mom told them.

Oooo, that is so not nice.

Anyway, it's all over the Internet.

What do you think?
Do you think the judge was right?
The judge is trampling his 1st Amendment rights?

Or...
Do you think the judge is right AND she's trampling his rights in order to protect his kids?

Honestly, usually when people are carrying on about their rights being trampled, they're just being idiots. In this case, I just don't know.

What about the kids' rights to grow up in a healthy environment without all this drama? And can you imagine what a living hell it would be to live in the same home with these two parents?

Poor kids.

Illegal Ban On Collective Bargaining Overturned!

Yes!

Basically, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Maryann Sumi said that the Senate vote on March 9 failed to comply with the open meetings law. Such laws are enacted in many states and require adequate notice to the public. Wisconsin law requires at least two hours notice.

Now, they could just go back in, give proper notice, and then pass it again. However, the public is now fully aware that:

1. It was all a big lie. Wisconsin government workers fund 100% of their pensions. So the saving money/cutting pension argument was a complete falsehood by the governor and his cronies.


2. The public woke up and realized that once government workers were denied their rights to unionize, it wasn't a big step to deny union rights to ALL employees, public and private.


3. Recall elections are already pending. Voting on the topic again will add fuel to the fire and that's the last thing those Republicans need right now.

As the Judge wrote, quoting from a previous Wisconsin Supreme Court decision, “The right of the people to monitor the people’s business is one of the core principles of democracy.”

Good job to Judge Sumi! May you "live long and prosper"!

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/27/us/27wisconsin.html

Well They Finally Got Bin Laden...

And you'd think that the politicians would all be happy.

Nahhhhhh....

I must have had a moment of extreme obliviousness to think that.

The Republican idiot of the decade, Sarah Palin gave credit to the President, but couldn't even say President Obama, and then went on to praise former President Bush. Bush? WTF did BUSH have to do with this? Yeah, some intelligence that led us in the wrong direction for a decade.

As for Palin, say what? She couldn't even give credit where credit is due?

And she's just the tip of the iceberg.

Freaking idiots.

Partisan politics over the overwhelming sense of relief that the instigator of terrorism is dead? Are you kidding me?

Oh my freaking goodness.

Racism Is Alive And Well In The United States

If you think that racism has been conquered, I have bad news for you.

Even politicians occasionally open their mouths and reveal their true agendas.

This time it was Congressional candidate Jack Davis. He was seeking the GOP endorsement, running for Western New York's 26th Congressional District. (Recently vacated by Rep. Chris Lee after a scandal involving the Internet and a woman that wasn't his wife.) On February 20th, he said, "We have a huge unemployment problem with black youth in our cities. Put them on buses, take them out there [to the farms] and pay them a decent wage; they will work."

Yes, he didn't get the endorsement he was seeking. Instead the GOP gave it to Assemblywoman Jane L. Corwin of Clarence, NY.

I'll be honest with you, I am not surprised. I'm also not surprised that he's seeking endorsement from the Tea Party.

PULEEZE don't try to tell me that racism doesn't exist in the United States. It's pretty darn obvious that it does and worse, the ignorant fools don't even seem to realize just how rotten and offensive their thoughts about People of Color really are.

Seriously, it makes me sick just to think that Davis, a grown man who ought to know better, would think that this is OK.

Ugh.

http://www.buffalonews.com/topics/chris-lee/special-election/article367437.ece

Goverment Employees = Second Class Citizens

So, that idiot in Wisconsin wants to strip state employees' rights to representation?

I can see the handwriting on the wall on this one.

Basically, the union has already agreed to concessions. But the governor is out to bust the union. All the rest of his posturing is just that, posturing. He's blatantly admitted that his goal is to get the union out.

So, government employees don't have a right to representation?

Wait a minute. So he's saying that if you have a government job, you aren't as good as the next citizen?

I see this as yet another Republican jerk attempting to force the worker bees into a second-class citizen status. When workers are not represented, and not ALLOWED to have representation, then we're taking a huge step backwards. Unions came into being because of the way workers were treated and mistreated.

Without the union, employees could be fired for no reason at all.

Now, before you start commenting, let me set the record straight. Government employees CAN be fired. Oh yes they can! It takes a little longer, but it is done every day and in these tough economic times, trust me, they're getting fired on a regular basis. The difference is that (usually) the employee did something stupid like: didn't follow rules and regulations, broke confidentiality, or just didn't show up for work. Like durrrr, anybody can be fired for these reasons.

And when budget is tight, positions are eliminated. The seniority list is posted and if you're at the bottom, guess what? You get laid off!

Having a government job is not a job for life.

Oh, yeah, and those pension figures that they throw around, those aren't relevant to the worker bees. Most pensions, even in California, average $25,000 a year and many agencies don't pay a nickel toward the medical insurance.

Now the fat cats who are way overpaid already (since when does it make it OK to pay a County's CAO more than the President of the United States?!?), those are the pensions spouted by the anti-employee, anti-union idiots.

So, while the union may be busted in Wisconsin, we don't know yet, don't think that this can happen everywhere. The general public is against this BS. They can read the handwriting on the wall. Once the government employees are forbidden to have unions, forbidden to have representation, forbidden to negotiate, then regular private industry will follow.

And then maybe the underlying agenda will appear -- letting the politicians' fat sticky fingers plunder the pension funds.

Oh, yeah, trust me. This is more than just union busting. This is yet another ploy to steal pensions.

Can you say ENRON?

Yep. Don't be surprised if the governor's next step is to make up some rule, regulation, law, that the government is allowed take the pensions of the worker bees and drop it into the General Fund. And once it's in the General Fund, trust me, it's gone.

"Thieves in the temple."

Just wait and see just how ugly it's going to be.