You Can't Make This Stuff Up

Credit Down The Toilet? You Are Not Alone

What can we qualify for in this tanking economy? Precious little.


For more than twenty years, my husband and I had decent credit with credit scores in the 650-700 range. His was better than mine but that’s because he never spent much money and when he did, it was cash. All right, I'll concede that he was financially smarter and much more frugal than I, winner of the Mrs. Consumer and Mrs. Philanthropist of the Century Awards. Hey! I was contributing to the economy, springing for lunch, contributing to every charity whose cause made me cry, and making home improvements, because, well because I could. I had a good job and so did my husband. We had as much as $200,000 equity in our home. Today, we don’t qualify for much of anything.

Then came the Fall, literally, of 2007. A number of factors were working in concert against us, including our optimism and faith in the promises and proposals of campaigning politicians; serious declines in the housing market; a major job loss (and with it, health insurance and other bennies); exorbitant attorney fees for fighting a no-win legal battle against the too-big-to-fail corporation that I worked for; an aging and ailing parent 5,000 miles away from where we lived; a second job loss coinciding with a move across country to care for that parent; recurring age discrimination (but hard to prove) by potential employers, and yes, some plain old bad financial decisions such as buying a home while retaining our old house, fully expecting we could rent it forever and make a profit when we sold it. Really bad. Really stupid. It was not a matter of WHEN we sold; it was IF we could sell it at all.

It took a year and a half and thousands of dollars to UNLOAD the home we left behind and it was vacant for more than six months before we did. Outgo greater than income equals guess what? We couldn’t even qualify for an equity loan.

Ah, well, we said, you can’t look back. Now that we’re out from under that albatross, let’s move forward. Easier said than done. Just when we thought it was safe to go back in the water, we started drowning in record time. After my husband finally landed a job in California and we moved my Mom to California from the East Coast to live out her final days with us, the second too-big-to-fail company had my husband lay off all of his workers and then they let him go as a final coup de grace. He qualified for $900 a month in Social Security benefits. Whoopee! Our mortgage is $2300.

Okay, so now what? We had zero income, dwindling savings, more debt than we could count and the bill collectors started calling, from 8:00 AM to 9:00 PM like clockwork, one after another, every thirty minutes. Under California law, they can do this ad infinitum. They just put your number on automatic dial and the machine does all the work.


Then, my Mom died. Her insurance policy was barely enough to give her a proper funeral. We now try to survive on Social Security and unemployment with freelance gigs few and far between. So, the answer is “NO.” No, we don’t have $5,000 to settle for 65% on the dollar. No, we can’t make a payment of $300 a month. No, we will not send you a post-dated check. No, we don’t have a relative we can borrow $10,000 from. No, we don’t qualify for a loan modification because even though our mortgage is waaayyyy upside down, our bank doesn’t consider SS and unemployment as real income and even if they did, our debt-to-income ratio is totally out of whack. And no, we have no prospects for work because companies are not actively seeking older workers unless they are engineers, lawyers, architects, IT specialists, health professionals or NASA biophysicists. We don’t qualify.

Still, they keep calling. The toll-free numbers change but the collectors remain the same. They’ve even resorted to using a local area code to do a “gotcha,” hoping we’ll pick up because it may just be a friend or neighbor calling from a number we don’t recognize.

Here’s the rub. Over the past six months, these folks have probably spent more time, effort and money chasing down folks like us on a fixed income of approximately $2,600 a month than the actual amount of money owed to them. They are trying to get blood out of a turnip. I tell them what we can afford to pay but it’s not enough. It’s always a different person from the same company and he or she never has any idea of the dozens of others from the same agency that we’ve already talked to. So I explain our situation again, and again, and again. We’ve downsized our lifestyle including the monthly cost of phone service. Since we no longer have a land line, every time I answer their calls on our cell phone, they get to hear the same tired story at our expense. Switch to a plan with rollover minutes? We can’t sfford the penalty from our cell phone provider.

If we ain’t got it, we ain’t got it. I suggest they focus their efforts on some deadbeat who has the money and just refuses to pay. Maybe they’re having trouble collecting from little people like us because commoners hate large banks who already siphoned off $7,000 per taxpayer when the government bailed them out. Maybe it’s because they are paying out billions in bonuses which explains why they can’t afford to extend us a reasonable payment plan that includes an interest rate reduction and a hold on fees. In an effort to outsmart the upcoming Phase II of the Credit Card Act in February, or sooner, they have increased rates and lowered limits on cards we haven’t used in a year. To rub salt in the wound, they lower the limit immediately after we make a large payment.

I remind them that we are in our sixties and we’ll probably be dead before they can collect the whole enchilada. That’s fine, they say. We’ll take it out of your estate. Are they crazy? What estate?

The next thing you know, they’ll be lobbying for a bill to revive debtor’s prison. Hmm, at least we might get three squares a day. I wonder if we’ll qualify.

Back to Basics?

Author, Robert Johnson, reminds us that the word “happiness” stems from the root infinitive “to happen.”  In other words, our “happiness” is “what happens.” Why do some third world countries seem so happy with so little?  Johnson says it’s because “They know that the art of happiness is contentment with what is.”

So what will it take for Americans to stop their frenzied chase of more of everything in their pursuit of happiness? Larger 401K matching? More vacation?  How about a thirty hour work week?

As beautiful as it sounds, it probably won't work. If employers offered employees a thirty hour work week in exchange for a five percent pay cut, it’s likely some would accept but then look for more side work to earn more money to buy more. We are so driven to acquire “stuff.”  We have a propensity for consumption, and to acquire more stuff, we work more.

In today's economy, working more is a given as employers search for any means possible to avoid paying extra dollars for vacation time and health insurance. Hiring people on a part time basis to avoid health benefits makes the most sense to the corporate office but a thoughtful analysis would demonstrate that it is not logical at all. Employees without health benefits tend to be sick more often (duh) and therefore, less productive on the job.Why can't they see that?

As much as we toil, we can't seem to save much, and what is the incentive anyway? Philosophically, the extremist view is that many of us fear that we don't have much more time on the planet anyway and almost all of us lost money in our retirement accounts. AND, ours is the only capitalist-based society that TAXES workers on savings. Absurd! The more you save, the more you pay on the interest earned. Who came up with that idea?   ANSWER: The very rich who can shelter their savings with loopholes tied to their investments and expenses.

The Japanese, for example, show a consistent growth in saving habits from 21.3% of disposable income in 1984 to 28.7% in 1998. During that same period, United States consumers, show a decrease in their savings from 10% in 1984 down to 2% in 2001. The most recent numbers show that most working stiffs, except the very wealthy, have less than one month’s salary in liquid assets. This scenario is becoming increasingly obvious as the nation's unemployment rate climbs to double digits. How can you save if you can't even earn?

We seem to be making progress in reduction of hours but the productivity factor appears to decline accordingly. For example, in 1830, most American blue collar workers put in a six day work week at 12 hours a day.  The downside is that they didn’t live very long.

In 1840, President Martin Van Buren cut the workday to ten hours a day for Federal employees. (His administration was crippled by depression and the loss of tens of thousands of jobs. He had to do something.)

By 1900, most private employers had adopted the ten hours-per-day, six day work week as labor unions lobbied for an eight hour day , five days a week. In 1938, five years after the AFL (American Federation of Labor) asked for and almost got a 30-hour work week. But the Fair Labor Standards Act was passed with a compromise—a forty hour work week with provisions for minimal federal wages and definitions of overtime. With the exception of a few amendments to reflect equal pay and minimum wage rules, that hasn’t changed in 65 years.

The theory behind sustaining the 40-hour work week is that the health of the bottom line is ensured by using as few employees as possible to do the most work. But, while the bottom line improves, more workers become physically, mentally, even spiritually, ill, and eventually they move on. This practice, in turn, sends thousands of dollars in training down the toilet. The employer has to find a replacement and start all over again. Turnover is costly and time-consuming.

Today’s average American works eight weeks per year longer than the average Western European.  We have become the longest-working nation in the industrial world but not necessarily the hardest-working or most productive. Personal phone calls, small talk with colleagues and cigarette breaks eat up a good part of the “average” day.

The real bottom line? A shorter work week may result in more leisure time, less stress, and even increased productivity. However, it could also trigger higher labor, training and administrative costs. It may not be such a happy time at all. When workers decide more is not necessarily better and give their work, if they have any, 100%, the 30-hour work-week could be a productive reality. This, coupled with reasonable and affordable health insurance, could be a win-win.

Or would the best plan be to get back to basics and accept happiness as simply “what happens.”

A OPEN LETTER TO THE CEO OF CIGNA

Dear Mr. Hanway,

As the CEO of CIGNA, if you or a member of your family were diagnosed with a brain tumor like Dawn Smith, none of you would have a problem getting the appropriate treatment at all, would you? At any cost and by any means necessary.

It is selfish,insensitive and greedy corporations like yours that need to look at a much bigger picture. When millions of Americans suffer from severe illnesses like Dawn's, or even minor illnesses for which you deny treatment, the entire economy suffers.

Each day, an increasing number of businesses are unable to provide health care for their employees because of the outrageous premiums you place on them. Each day, business who used to pay 100% or 80% or even 50% of their employees' health care premiums are announcing that they are forced to pay less because the bottom line is bottoming out. Eventually--probably sooner than later-- these business will have to opt out, leaving their employees to pay for their own insurance, which, of course, they won't be able to afford. As a result you will slowly see a devastating drop in customers.

Perhaps your PR and marketing team hasn't realized that people who are sick, can't work, or at the very least, cannot work productively. This basic tenent  has a direct impact on business in America, forcing cutbacks in staff and service and eventual shutdowns, which, in turn, results in higher unemployment.

You won't give a damn until you start to see your own business going under and then you and your cronies will look around and ask yourselves "What happened?" How can you be so ignorant and clue-less that you can't see this devastating outcome creeping up on you.

Your profits are outrageous, unscrupulous,and shamelessly diabolic. If Dawn Smith dies because you and your executives "need" to maintain their lifestyles, may God have mercy on your soul, if you have one. There is no room in America, the so-called land of opportunity (for some)  for the growing numbers of you who show no mercy for the poor, sick, and disabled, but will spend millions or billions to support congressional campaigns by lobbying members of congress to look the other way and support your special interests. It really is a for of bribery and extortion, isn't it?

I feel certain that karma will escort you off the planet in a most haunting way. And you can't take your ill-obtained billions with you. Re-think your business practices and marketing strategies Mr. Hanway and do something good for a change. Lower your rates and perhaps the world will beat a path to your door, allowing you to maintain your indecent profits in a more humane way.

I am a Christian but I am not a Bible thumper. I don't go the church regularly and I am not well versed in scripture but there is one passage I will never forget and one that you should heed: It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven.

Give 'em Hell, Grayson!

Well, well, well, we finally have a Democrat with chutzpah!

His name is Alan Grayson, a Democratic Representative in Florida who calls ‘em like he sees ‘em. It’s not the first time he’s demonstrated his nonconformist persona but it is the first time he got so much media attention in one day.

On the House floor Tuesday night he said bluntly, using simple cardboard posters on an easel, “Here’s the Republican Health Care Plan for America. Don’t get sick. If you do get sick, die quickly.”

Republicans, of course, jumped all over this. They can dish it out but they can’t take it. They asked for an apology, comparing Grayson’s remarks to those of Republican Rep. Joe Wilson who yelled out “You lie” while President Obama addressed a joint session of Congress.

Grayson compared the two situations to apples and oranges.
"I don't know how anybody can equate what I said on the floor…with rudely interrupting the president," he said.

Then he sealed it with an unexpected follow-up.

"I would like to apologize,” he said later. “I apologize to the dead and their families that we haven't voted sooner to end this holocaust in America.”

When asked by the liberal media, if he might have used a word other than holocaust, Grayson admitted he might have chosen better phrasing, although various definitions of “holocaust” include “a great or complete devastation or destruction” and “any mass slaughter or reckless destruction of life.”

With more than 45,000 people dying every year, in large part due to lack of insurance, perhaps holocaust is a strong word for the present but over time, with death rates climbing, it my be more appropriate than Congress would care to admit. The U.S. Census Bureau reported in early September, 2009 that approximately 46.3 million people in the United States lacked coverage in 2008. (Reuters) That figure is up from 45.7 million in 2007.

On the Rachel Maddow show (MSNBC, Oct 1) Grayson gave the Republicans no mercy, saying “they are utterly unscrupulous, foot dragging, knuckle-dragging Neanderthals who seek to block every piece of legislation that the Democrats bring to the table. Ed Schultz (The Ed Shultz Show) says bluntly “They just don’t like President Obama,”

“They know nothing but ‘no’” said Grayson of the Republicans. “One way or another, we have to overcome it for the sake of the nation.”

The National Republican Congressional Committee, responded with anger, accusing Grayson of being :an unstable man who has come unhinged. The depths to which Alan Grayson will sink to defend his indefensible comments know no bounds.”

My question is are these anti-reformers so stupid that they don’t realize they pay for the poor and indigent and non-insured anyway, right now! It’s simply a hidden cost via taxation that needs to be made public and accounted for.  They focus on the small particles of the bills on the table rather than looking at the big picture.

I could be wrong but I think Alan Grayson took a big step toward leading the Democratic public on an upward path of calling it like it is. Hopefully, more of the blue-dog Democrats will man-up, speak up, and grow some verbal cajones.

STOP THOSE JUNK CALL /MAIL JUNKIES

Have you noticed there’s an increase in the number of telemarketing calls you get these days?  It’s annoying enough that the calls are time-consuming and the pesky callers won’t shut up even after you tell them you’re not interested. It's even worse if they are calling on your cell phone, using up precious minutes and you are just too polite to hang up.

You can place your number on the “Do Not Call” list with your phone carrier but it takes a while to kick in and doesn’t always work. The telemarketers will switch phone numbers and now they even have their own unidentifiable toll-free area codes. You're familiar with the 800s and the 877s but when you see an area code that you don't know, you may be tempted to pick up. After all, it could just be a friend, calling from someone else's phone. WRONG! It’s “them” again. If it’s an area code you don’t recognize, let it ring or hit the off button and check your voice mail.

Sometimes you get a call and there’s no one on the other end. Frustrating. And if they’re calling you on your cell phone for which you may have limited minutes, it’s costing you money.

I received an e-mail recently that incorporated suggestions for avoiding these calls many years ago. I remember Andy Rooney giving similar tips some years ago, and his advice is even more applicable today. Here’s what the e-mail says.

When a telemarketer calls, the three little words that work, are “Hold on please.”

Then, just put the handset down and walk away. Don’t hang up. Just let the telemarketer wait.  Eventually, they will hang up and you’ll hear the “beep-beep-beep” tone meaning the caller has aborted the call. Keep doing this and eventually you will be on their do not call list. Making them wait is costing them money and garnering no sales.

Admittedly, this is a good ploy for land lines with unlimited calling. It will eat up your minutes and run down your battery if they call on a cell phone.

When you receive a call and you say “Hello” several times and there is no answer  on the other end, it’s an automated machine  that records the time of day when you are most likely to answer the call. Then a “real” person can call you later at that time on another day.

As soon as you realize there is no one on the other end, hit the # button your phone as rapidly as you can at least six or seven times. It confuses the machine and kicks your number out of the system.

There is also advice on junk mail with pre-paid postage return envelopes, you know—the ones that say you’re pre-approved for a credit line or a second mortgage. Don’t throw the return envelope away. The company doesn’t have to pay the postage unless the envelope comes back to the sender.

Put the application they sent you back in the envelope and send it to them. They get nothing of value from you and they have to pay the postage. To remain anonymous, black out all identifying information on the application. Better still, put whatever you like in the envelope—perhaps some other junk mail you received from another junk mail junkie. You can even send it back empty or with a blank sheet of paper.

This action causes a domino effect because it will increase the mail load for the US Post Office. They say e-mail is cutting into their profits” which is forcing them to increase postage rates, so let’s help them out, create more jobs, keep the postage rates down and eliminate the junk that is going into the trash anyway.

If nothing else, it’s the green thing to do.

 
 

A Letter to Glen Beck

FYI, I composed this letter and tried to send it to the contact e-mail listed on the Glen Beck website THREE TIMES before it finally went through. I don't know if the  "delivery failures" are due to an overwhelming number of e-mails to Glen, and his writer, Stu, or if the folks at FOX just filter out all the "Shame on You" e-mails as soon as they spot the subject line "Shame On You."  In short, I feel sorry for this man. He is living in the 18th Century at best. In the event you have not been keeping up with some of his (and his guests') most outrageous comments on the subject of race, just GOOGLE his name and look for Glen Beck news. He's out there in more than one sense of the phrase. And he is a devout Mormom? 

And now, my letter:

Dear Stu and Glen,

You should be ashamed of yourselves. When I listen to your hateful comments about the president and guests who actually believe inter-racial marriage is about "different species," I have to ask "Where are Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson when you need them?"  They got rid of Don Imus for a while and we LIKE Imus. At least he is an equal opportunity bigot and will admit he is wrong--some of the time.

I think the real problem is that you are stoking the coals of racism and hoping for a revolution. Terrif! Just what we need right now.  I used to be an anchor and reporter and this is the reason I got out of "the biz." It is so filled with hate, lies and speculative tabloid-mania.  I have other more productive things to do with my time, such as fostering understanding and cooperation between Americans--no matter their color or ethnicity.

We have bigger fish to fry in this country. How the Hell can Obama be a racist and hate white people when he is half white himself! You seem to deny his "other" half. Can't stand the thought, huh?  "Time after time after time...?" you say?  Give me some examples. What is your definition of racism? I think by your very words, YOU are more of a racist than Obama could ever be. You will say and do anything to bring this man down. I would like to see YOU run the country even for a day. I guarantee you could screw it up in a Washington minute.

For your information, less than one tenth of one percent of "Black Americans" for lack of a better term, are "pure" African. I am considered a Black American but I can trace my roots back to the 1700s to Scotch, Irish, Spanish  and Native American ancestors. Who the Hell knows. I may have some Mormon roots.

If I thought I had a case, I'd sue you for slander on behalf of PRESIDENT Obama. You are really showing your own prejudice, your blatant ignorance and lack of class.  Stop the hate-mongering. PLEASE! You are hurting us all! And all in the name of ratings, I am sure. Been there, Glen. But didn't do that. Not what you're doing. You are part--a big part--of the problem and not any part of the solution to this country's racial challenges.

In the words of Nathan Thurm, played by Martin Short on the early SNL, "Perhaps you should do some reading. Perhaps that would be effective."

Claire Fernanda Dobie

DON'T MAKE ME COME DOWN THERE!

I don't know. Maybe I'm way out in left field with my reaction to the inertia, the arrogance, the total disregard for OUR WELFARE AND HEALTH that Congress has assumed with this health care option proposed by the Obama administration.  BUT, excuse me, didn't we put these elected officials into office? So why then do we stand by and let them ignore us? The only action they are taking is NON-ACTION and not-very-clever ways of diverting attention AWAY from what the citizens of this country have VOCIFEROUSLY VOCALIZED-- that they want, need and must have this plan in order to survive! 

How are the Republicans and more than half of the sixty Democratic senators in Congress  spending their time and OUR MONEY?  They are looking at ways to protect their own little kingdoms and keep the campaign contributions from the lobbyists pouring in. WE elected them to act and vote and pass legislation that will benefit us and THEY ARE TAKING CARE OF THE BIG MONEY BOYZ! What about us?

THROW THE BUMS OUT!

Let them know you're going to throw them out! They don't deserve your vote.

You can find all their names and phone numbers and e-mail addresses on the Internet. GOOGLE them and write, call or e-mail. Do all three. Send a strong message. Hold them accountable.  Tell them they will NOT get your vote in the mid term elections.

OK, look, it is true that none of us (presumably) knows the full content of Obama's plan. My question is "Have you done any research?" The answers won't just land in your lap, you know. You have to get out there and dig.

It's not easy to find information but when did that ever stop you?  Demand it. Ask your Senators and Representatives  to write to you and tell you at least these four things.

1. Will the plan cover everyone?

2. How much will it cost us as individuals? Will it be on a sliding scale based on income?

3. Will pre-existing conditions be covered?

4. Will I have to fight to get a procedure that I think I need?

Also ask them what is their problem? What is it that they really object to? What is their alternate solution? HINT: They don't have one.

ALMOST 75% of Americans have said they want and NEED this legislation. How dare these ELECTED officials block a plan that affects so many people because THEY DON'T LIKE IT....

They don't like it?  They don't like it?  What they are really saying is "I don't want to pay for someone else's health care."

Do they not realize they ARE ALREADY PAYING FOR IT!  Each time an uninsured homeless person walks into the ER, they pay. They pay each time some unscrupulous practitioner abuses the system. They pay each time somebody files for unemployment or welfare. They need to withdraw their heads out of their rectal orifices.

The DSCC  (Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee) recently provided Obama supporters with a message designed  to help round up support for the President's health care bill. It was waaay  too polite. There is no more time for NICE-ities.

I substituted their message with an original one of my own. Please, PLEASE, do the same.  There is strength in numbers. NOTHING HAPPENS UNTIL A BUNCH OF PEOPLE DO SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING, ALL AT THE SAME TIME.

E-mail your thoughts on the issue to as many people as possible and tell them to send their thoughts not just to their representatives and congressmen but to as many people as they can, and so on and so on Use my words if you like, or  use yours, but make it STRONG because this  "Please, down on my knees, bi-partisan diatribe" is NOT GOING TO FLY.

The Republicans have come out and publicly announced that they are seeking to block this bill, strictly because they want to block Obama's success. Worse than that, as of this writing, some 40 DEMOCRATS are going the same route.This is not about President Obama. This is about You and Me and how long we can live a quality life without pain and suffering.

You're in good shape, right now, you say? You think you're immortal? You take care of your body and eat lots of fruits and vegetables? Good. That won't help if you get hit by a semi next week while crossing the street and end up in a wheelchair with missing limbs. Your medical bills can squeeze you right out of your pre-accident lifestyle. Unless of course, you are very rich. I'm not talking to you. You're probably too greedy and self-centered to care about little people like us--the ones who barely get by on fixed incomes or no incomes!

WE NEED TO NAME NAMES AND WRITE TO these blue-dog Democrats. They have fallen by the wayside. Worse, they are leaning to the far right. Your Congresspeople and Senators are making great salaries with incredible health care for themselves and their families. Most of them have NO IDEA of what their hown health care costs are, BECAUSE THE GOVERNMENT TAKES CARE OF THEM. RNC Chairman, Michael Steele doesn't even know who his health care insurance carrier is!  OUTRAGEOUS. But not surprising. He is an embarrassment.

This "NO TO EVERYTHING" approach  SMACKS OF RACISM and "CLASS-ism" MY FRIENDS.  There are no two ways about it. My friends know me and they know I DO NOT PLAY THE RACE CARD!  This time, though, it is too obvious to ignore.  THIS TIME, IT'S PERSONAL.

They should be ashamed of themselves. Instead, they count on YOUR INACTION and hope the whole thing will just go away.

If you can't bring yourself to do this for YOU, do it for the millions of Americans who are sick and dying.  Whether you realize it or not, it DOES AFFECT YOU! If you are an employer, you pay each time an employee has to call in sick. You pay for a lack of productivity. You pay in so many ways but apparently, you are looking at a small part of a much larger picture.

Funny thing, I thought we lived in a Democracy of the people, by the people, for the people. What a joke. This thing is so serious, it really should be a referendum that We the People Vote on directly so that we may have our say.  I'm almost ready to pack up and leave. Canada and Amsterdam and England are looking like decent alternatives, no matter how long a patient has to wait.  These Congressional naysayers in this allegedly great country of ours are  over-riding the wishes of the citizens who voted for them in the hope that they would fairly represent us.  If nothing else, make some calls and find out which DEMOCRATS are blocking this bill. They need to be held accountable.

I live in California but DC is a short flight and it is relatively inexpensive compared to the last three  months of my MEDICARE Part D insurance premium and the co-pay and the much needed prescriptions that go with it, all of which I am struggling to keep current.

Don't make me come down there!

LETS YOU AND HIM FIGHT

 

IT'S ALL HIS FAULT- THAT ONE!

Shut up, please! My head is spinning with all the advice to the President from Republicans, extreme right wing media, the non-curious who base their opinions on hearsay and critics who have never stepped out on a limb but have no problem offering up their opinions of how President Obama should "handle" major world issues? As one wise philosopher once said "Nothing is given so profusely [as advice.]

This brand of self-righteous labeling and bickering over President Obama's choices exceeds the right to freedom of speech. It is harmful, disrespectful, dangerous, and dare I say, racist at its core. The man is the leader of the free world, for God's sake. You don't have to kiss his ring but you can show a little respect.

I can't think of a president in my lifetime who has generated so much publicity blanketed with obvious jealousy and bigotry that materializes in blatant mis-labeling and hypocrisy from the other side. We are blessed in this country to say what we please without fear of retribution (unless the CIA picks up chatter wherein you have dared to utter words such as  "overthrow", "bomb", "Presidet", etc.,)  but it is shameful when it is extended to blatant, vitriolic untruths. Even President Kennedy did not have to deal with this level of unwarranted finger pointing and second-guessing. Evrything that goes wrong today despite the fact that it may have started between 2000 and 2008, is magically, OBAMA''s FAULT! Good grief, people, have you lost your reasoning and mathematical skills?  Did you ever have any?

McCain, Cheney, Boss Limbaugh et al call Obama weak , saying he doesn't stand up to the tyranny of the Iranian government. My God, people, what would you have the man do? He has clearly stated his feelings about this situation. He has decried the murders of  peaceful protesters. He has called the slaying of the innocent Iranian woman as "heartbreaking."  Would the Republicans have him lambast the "Supreme Leader" to the point of war? Yes, I'm afraid that is exactly what they are looking for. Perhaps these people should actually talk to a few Iranians. They don't WANT our interference. They are carrying signs  in English so that we will be aware, not to encourage us to send in troops. This is THEIR fight and they know it. We can empathize without meddling. It's time for the United States to stop building little empires in the name of democracy.Some countries are not ready for our way of life and we need to fix a few things here instead of trying to change the world.

Republican senators say the President's health plan will not work because it is not really an option to private health care. Everybody will want to get in on the Public Plan and the poor insurance companies will be bankrupt and homeless, they argue.  Nonsense. If it's such a bad plan, why will "everyone" want in?  Gotcha! This kind of accusation is such an obvious ploy to keep the votes coming in from powerful lobbyists for the medical profession and pharmaceutical companies that it borders on sickening. How stupid do these people think We the People are?  Know this: some of us see clearly  through your thin veil of insecurity and lies. Don't be so condescending. It is an insult to our intelligence.

The President is trying to do too much, according to one of the most recent polls. And if he were not, these would be the same people who would blast him for not doing enough.. We have already had eight years of the "vacation president." We now have a leader of the Free World who is wise and cautious, intelligent and compassionate, witty and disciplined, and he was actually elected!  He cannot be all things to all people but he will do his best to do as much as he can for all people. What is laughable is that members of his own party are now saying that he is NOT the liberal they thought he was, and members of the opposing party will always be dissatisfied, no matter what he does.

 The unkindest cut of all is the divisiveness of the Democratic party. Get in the ballgame! We have control but only if you stand your ground. Never have I seen such a wishy-washy Congress. Today's Democrats have leaned so far to the right, they are the New Centrists. The republicans, in turn, have moved to the EXTREME right with their hypocritical acts of "Do as I say, not as I do" and their brutal dissemination of hate that gives the green light for people like the Holocaust museum shooter.

These extremists are making things difficult for everyone. Our president has inherited a grand mess from his predecessor and the Republican control that has prevailed for decades, even during the Clinton era. I challenge anyone who points a finger to step in and do Obama's job. These over-exaggerated cries of foul play from every direction are distracting and counter-productive. Do and say something positive for a change. Try watching and listening to a variety of media instead of honing in on a ingle (right or left wing) media outlet. Broaden your horizons. Expand your focus. Use your brain if you have one left. Yes you can.

WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?

2007

The Don Imus hullabaloo involving racial slurs against the Rutgers University women’s basketball team blanketed the airwaves for more than a week. As with all things that eventually pass, the controversy slipped under the radar (2008) paving the way for new sensationalistic stories that America loves to talk about.

The dictionary definition of racism is “prejudice or animosity against people who belong to other races” or “…the belief that some races are inherently superior or inferior.” My personal description advances that meaning to include power and control over the “victim” of racism. If a racist act causes you to lose your job or stellar reputation, or results in bodily harm (e.g. Rodney King and other police beatings) that is power and that IS overt racism. Racial epithets directed at you, however, may cause emotional damage and lower one’s self esteem, but only the targeted victim can allow that feeling to exist. I realize, in theory, this is an idealistic viewpoint. Words can, and do hurt. But carrying this kind of emotional baggage or dropping it, is within one's own power.

For more than three years, at a former place of employment, I endured racist comments from a senior executive. I could have complained or filed charges of racial discrimination. I did neither because (a) the executive who made the racial slurs did not exercise any control over my feelings about who I was as an individual, and (b) I recognized that he was a decent person (however ignorant) who simply needed to feel better about himself by putting me down. It was his problem, not mine.

Don Imus, for more than two decades, has always been an irascible, equal opportunity offender. He has slammed Blacks, Jews, Mexicans, Arabs, and Whites with vitriolic spite and bitter venom. Insults were the core of his show. But for the record, he and his wife also run a ranch in New Mexico for kids with cancer to help their healing process. He’s a gruff man on the outside with a pussycat interior.

He was also one of the most influential pitchmen in the history of broadcasting. His program garnered an estimated two million listeners and viewers each day, and more than $50-million in advertising revenue. Politicians, journalists, entertainers, and authors reaped tremendous publicity, and financial or political gain from their appearances on the Imus program. Most of the people to whom he gave generous air time have severed their ties with Mr. Imus. expressing embarrassment with their erstwhile affiliation with him.

Imus cannot be excused for his unthinking remarks, no matter how sincere he was with his apologies to the Rutgers team.  But there is a double standard at work here. His misogynistic words are common in hip hop music, comedy, reality TV and on other talk shows that purport to dispense fair and balanced news.

Glenn Beck, for example, has used the “B” word to describe Hillary Clinton. He has referred to Katrina survivors as "scumbags" and told the first Muslim ever elected to Congress, "what I feel like saying is, 'Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies.' "

Radio host Neal Boortz repeatedly attacks Muslims, calling one Muslim leader “a phony rag-picker."  Boortz also described Cynthia McKinney (D-GA), who is African American, as “a ghetto slut," who looked like "an explosion at a Brillo pad factory.”

Bill O'Reilly regularly attacks Mexicans, Jews, gays, liberals and even cities!  Denouncing San Francisco as “out of touch” with the rest of America, he said"…if Al Qaeda comes in here and blows you up, we're not going to do anything about it. We're going to say, look, every other place in America is off limits to you except San Francisco. You want to blow up the Coit Tower? Go ahead."   

Michael Savage told listeners that gay people "threaten your very survival" and once told a caller he hoped he would "get AIDS and die.” As for foul-mouthed, sexist and racist commentary by radio personalities like Howard Stern, Rush Limbaugh, and Ann Coulter, their collective remarks far outweigh any statements made by Don Imus.

How ironic that two Christian leaders—Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson led the movement to have Imus fired. In 1987, Sharpton invented the fictitious rape of Tawana Brawley, damaging the reputations of innocent White people. He has never apologized for that incident. In 1984, Jackson insulted New York's Jewish population by referring to the city as "Hymie Town".  He did apologize. Both men continue to take up the Black cause but are generally thought of as publicity seekers and racial dividers rather than healers of racism.  

What have we learned from this fiasco?  Perhaps some good can come out of the I-man’s offensive and egregious error.  We have bigger challenges in this country to deal with. Poverty, terrorism, health care, global warming, illegal immigration, and unprecedented national debt are at the top of the list. Let’s hope the Imus incident prompts the nation's media to consider a zero-tolerance approach to hurtful language and use the First Amendment to speak responsibly, thoughtfully ad with respect.

As American As Apple Pie

 

The gifted French writer, essayist, and philosopher, Francois Marie-Arout, AKA, Voltaire, was known for his wit, unconventional philosophy, and defense of civil liberties. Many quotes have been ascribed to him, but experts in literature constantly raise the question of whether he said or wrote all that he is credited with. 

One of Voltaire’s alleged quotes is “History is nothing more than a pack of tricks the living play upon the dead.”  Ironically, the very fact that historians cast doubt on the authenticity of the attribution of the quote, proves Voltaire’s premise.

Actor/comedian, Robert Wuhl, becomes a modern-day Voltaire as host of Assume The Position, an HBO special with a live audience of college students and amusing visuals. The program’s underlying mantra: “Stories that made up America and stories America made up.”  

In the latest Assume episode, Wuhl divulges information that may have been omitted from conventional studies of our American presidents. He contends that if you closely examine the lives of some of our past leaders, the Bush administration is not so different from those of former presidents—merely forgotten or suppressed, and let’s not forget, he says, that “lousy leaders are as American as apple pie.”

Little known facts emerge from Wuhl’s Assume 201 that parallel, labels of “the worst president ever.”  Our country’s 14th president, Franklin Pierce, for example, was a dark horse until author and friend of Pierce, Nathaniel Hawthorne (The Scarlet Letter) wrote a biography on his college friend called The Life of Franklin Pierce. 

“Books were the media of the day,” Wuhl points out, and Hawthorne’s book catapulted Pierce to fame, portraying him as America’s savior, despite Pierce’s pro-slavery position and excessive indulgence in liquor. The book was released in August and by November, Pierce carried 27 of 31 states in the country.

Pierce, according to Wuhl (and several other sources) was such a bad president that he was the only incumbent who did not get his own party’s nomination for a second term. In addition, his over-indulgence in alcohol once resulted in a wild horse ride in which he ran over a woman, “thus becoming the first president to receive a DUI.”

By the way, Barbara Bush, mother of George W. and wife of George W.H., was born Barbara Pierce—a direct descendant of Franklin Pierce, thus bringing us full circle from one of the “worst” presidents in recorded history to another.

Aaron Burr served as the third Vice President of the United States and was so incensed with the inflammatory writings of Alexander Hamilton that Burr challenged Hamilton to a duel. Hamilton, it is said, aimed high but Burr went straight for the heart.  He was arraigned for treason four times. Cheney’s shooting incident was, at least, accidental (or we assume that position.)

Millard Fillmore, America’s 13th president, who took over the Presidency after the death of President Zachary Taylor, did not smoke, drink or gamble (a values-oriented president by the standards of the time) but he left a legacy of ordering enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law and  ended his career heading the Know-Nothings, a party formed to oppose immigration, especially of Irish Catholics.

Warren G. Harding, 29th president, signed peace treaties which formally ended World War I but because of  multiple scandals involving others in his administration, Harding is ranked by most scholars as the worst President ever to serve. In fact, Harding himself is often quoted as saying, "I am not fit for this office and never should have been here." There is a rumor that he lost the White House china in a poker game.

And if American scholars feel Mr. Bush is verbally-challenged, consider these words uttered by critic H.L. Mencken about Harding:

"He writes the worst English that I have ever encountered. It reminds me of a string of wet sponges; of tattered washing on the line; of stale bean soup, of dogs barking idiotically through endless nights.”  When Harding died,  poet E. E. Cummings said "The only man, woman or child who wrote a simple declarative sentence with seven grammatical errors is dead.”

I could be wrong but in the upcoming 2008 election, it is possible that we may have a woman and an African American on the same ticket.

But it won’t be the first time.

Victoria Woodhull, a white woman and suffragette, and Frederick Douglas, the famous Black abolitionist and orator were nominated for President and Vice President by Equal Rights Party in 1872. Woodhull was an outspoken supporter of sex education and free love. She ran a newspaper that advocated a woman’s right to vote, short skirts, spiritualism, vegetarianism, and licensed prostitution. Douglass, an eloquent speaker, writer and advocate for racial equality, was a freed slave and a self-proclaimed Republican.

The burning question I have always asked is “Who in his right mind (or left) would want to be president? Stewart Udall, former Secretary of the Interior in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, answers part of it for me, saying “I fear we have confused power with greatness.” And though it’s been said many times, many ways, Gore Vidal put it best when he declared “Any American who is prepared to run for president should automatically, by definition, be disqualified from ever doing so.”

I have no ambition to govern men; it is a painful and thankless office.
--Thomas Jefferson

Weeding Out the Facts

Although I am an Obama supporter, I think the president who "likes to know what he's talking about before he speaks" might have offered a better answer to the question at his town hall meeting about legalizing marijuana.

I think most people fail to see the big picture. There are people--sick people--who can benefit from legalization of pot. I do not smoke marijuana but I think legalizing it WITH WELL THOUGHT OUT provisions and caveats would not only jump-start the economy but provide those who can benefit from it medically, a means of obtaining it without being blacklisted. People who have qualified for medical marijuana status are generally discriminated against and many have lost their jobs because of their use.

People who  have cancer, glaucoma and AIDS must now take unaffordable prescription drugs to relieve their pain and suffering. Let's get real: it's the pharmaceutical companies and drug cartels who benefit from the non-legalization of this substance. People should at least be allowed to grow their own cannabis and, just as with alcohol, there should be strict enforcement of driving under the influence.

There are people who come to work high on cocaine but that substance can be flushed out of the system in a matter of 24-48 hours whereas pot can be detected for months, depending on usage. Which is worse?  Going to work high on coke (and "refilling during the day without being detected) or casual recreational use in the privacy of your home on your day off. By the way, there are thousands of people--most of them women and minorities--who are incarcerated for a single incident of pot possession--even in amounts of less than an ounce. Look it up. 

And if the legislation were handled state by state, rather than on a federal level, guess which states would prosper?