I have always viewed politics and politicians with a skeptical eye. Do not misunderstand, I have always been interested in the American political process but had never been so interested that participation in the process encouraged anything more in me than voting. I remain instinctively skeptical of anyone who spends tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars to get elected for a job paying a salary in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. There is something wrong with that math indeed. I suppose I can equate my skepticism to my feelings toward something like…multi-level marketing where someone may spend hundreds, if not thousands of dollars and is guaranteed to earn absolutely nothing except: sequestered family members and friends in hiding to avoid hearing yet another sales pitch about a fantastic “business opportunity”...
Finish this Blog Post at http://wiseguyeddie.blogspot.com/
I read an interesting question and answer earlier today from a relatively famous graphic designer and wanted to post it here.
Stefan Sagmeister's website has a pretty unique interface and has posted several questions that were sent to him from students. Here's the one I found intriguing:
Q:Do you think you could defeat a politic campaign trough a design campaign? Can a design campaign decide an election? Is a politic campaign a design campaign?
A: No I actually think not. Now I know that Saatchi always claimed he put Margret Thatcher into office and he is full of shit. We have the annoying habit to constantly overestimate our power.
Design and advertising has a huge impact where the consumer cannot possible see a difference between products or services (say: Vodka) but is surprisingly less powerful when the average person does see that difference (say: cars or politics).
First in the interest of full disclosure I must let you know that I personally support Barack Obama on this and my daughter will be in school to see the speech. I hope others read up and not "listen up" before making any decisions on sending their child to school on Sept 8.
To gain some perspective we all must first know that in 1988 Ronald Reagan did the same thing as did President Bush 9 ( 41 ) in 1991. They both delivered a message of staying in school and doing your best much like President Obama will. There is nothing wrong with that message no matter what your political perspective
President Reagan even managed to slip in some information about tax cuts to the nations students who can't even vote.
While there were some grumblings from the left there was nothing like what is going on now. Have we become so partisan that the President of the United States can't address students about staying in school?
Now President Obama will be giving a 15-20 minute speech to school students on Sept 8. The speech is abut setting goals and doing well in school. For some that is a problem. They are claiming that the lesson plans which have been revised are the issue.
These SUGGESTED lesson plans for teachers and students were provided for lessons after the speech. Now many on the right are rising up and saying that this is some type of indoctrination or brainwashing of America's students. Some are saying that this is an introduction to President Obama's "Socialist Agenda". Some talking heads are even suggesting that parents keep their kids at home on Sept. 8.
While that is a parents choice I believe it should be made on actual information devoid of political idealogy and not the far rights hatred of President Obama or liberals. Don't late talk radio make this decision for you. Use the links below to read the actual lesson plans and then decide whether or not you want to send your kids to school on Sept 8.
George Cook www.letstalkhonestly.com
Lesson Plan 7-12 grade
As time goes on in the various coverages, I find or hear more interesting takes and stories about the Senator.
One of the folks who lined the route to the Library said something about her father telling her they would be safe as long as Sen. Kennedy was around.
I think many of us felt that for quite a while now.
His death is a great loss to the country; especially to those who have the least.
His political excellence will be greatly missed for so many reasons.
http://kannasthoughts.blogspot.com/
Tell the Gang of 6: Give back your dirty insurance money
Have you heard about the six senators who are out to kill health care reform? Of course, that's not how they'd phrase it. Sens. Baucus, Bingaman, Conrad, Enzi, Grassley and Snowe say they're striving for "bi-partisan compromise." But what they're actually doing is working to make sure reform won't include a public option or mandatory employer-based insurance - two key policies needed for effective reform. There are 100 members of the Senate, but these six, inexplicably, seem to be holding all the cards when it comes to health care. So you probably won't be surprised to learn that all six have taken a huge amount of money from the health insurance industry and pharma - more than $3 million between them. These six senators -- who, by the way, represent only 2.74% of Americans between them -- are writing bad policy, and they're doing it while they take money from the very companies who stand to benefit the most. I just signed a petition to tell the "Gang of 6" to give back every dime of their dirty insurance money. I hope you will, too. Please have a look and take action. http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/gang_of_6/?r_by=5220-1983015-GiBIiLx&rc=confemail Daily action is our apple a day. We can't let up. Lobby money and anti-reform money is pouring into this fight. Republicans have announced a plan to spend at least 1 million dollars to kill reform using ad campaigns during the three week Congressional break. Please take 5-10 minutes for action every day as we battle for our lives on this issue.Thanks -
Mr. President, I worked very hard, spending many hours and had contributed monetarily as much as I could afford on a fixed income, to get you elected. Now, I feel you have let us all down on so many of your promises; especially, concerning affordable health care for all. Please, if you can find the time, go to this link and hear my (and most of the people in our nation's) pleas...
http://thinkingblue.blogspot.com/2009/06/petition-to-pres-obama-god-bless.html
EXCERPT:
"I have been signing petitions such as this one for healthcare reform, for years. Still the problem exists. What I would like to know is... Why? Why does such shameful neglect and uncaring occur in a country like ours? Why are so many of our people left to suffer?
We are no longer a country “of the people, by the people” we are a country of “the big business/big lobbies, by the big business/big lobbies”. They are the true owners of this land and greed will continue to step on and over those who outnumber the greedy few at the top, millions of times over. Even when they flagrantly and arrogantly fail, they succeed and go on conducting their greed in the same manner.
God bless America, MY FOOT!" http://thinkingblue.blogspot.com
Also on: http://www.youtube.com/user/thethinkingblue
Is it just me- or is anyone else starting to feel 'had'?
Covering up and not prosecuting the torture scandal?
Going back on one of the most ringing campaign promises regarding transparency? And I get weekly requests to donate more money from the Obama campaign? Maybe I was just a dumb wide-eyed child.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31373407/ns/politics-white_house/
Irena Salina’s award-winning documentary investigation into what experts label the most important political and environmental issue of the 21st Century - The World Water Crisis.
Salina builds a case against the growing privatization of the world’s dwindling fresh water supply with an unflinching focus on politics, pollution, human rights, and the emergence of a domineering world water cartel.
Interviews with scientists and activists intelligently reveal the rapidly building crisis, at both the global and human scale, and the film introduces many of the governmental and corporate culprits behind the water grab, while begging the question “CAN ANYONE REALLY OWN WATER?”
Beyond identifying the problem, FLOW also gives viewers a look at the people and institutions providing practical solutions to the water crisis and those developing new technologies, which are fast becoming blueprints for a successful global and economic turnaround. (Excerpt from main website)
Please visit the official website for more information: http://www.flowthefilm.com
Click the Fullscreen Button for a larger version.
http://politicalpete.com/forum/index.php
http://politicalpete.com/
D.C. Awakening--my interview with Jen Nedeau, Women's Rights blogger at Change.org.
Jen Nedeau blogs about Women's Rights at Change.org. She's not a seasoned feminist who has it all figured out; in fact, her feminist awakening began only a year ago. But she understands that women of her generation have grown up with a "dangerous sense of equality" that does not sync with real-world politics. This interview was recorded in March of 2009.
Get it at iTunes.
Come aboard and let us start preparing now, for the 2012 election. Let's ensure the democratic party retains the white house, so that we can all get America where she needs to be.
click on link: http://commonsensecrisis2.blogspot.com/
As we celebrate President Obama's first 100 days in office, we can take a look back at a job well done. It's great to see a President keep all of his campaign promises to some degree. When we compare him to President Bill Clinton, or President George W Bush, it's like night and day. Here's a man that wants to hear from his followers and takes the advice of everyone who is willing to voice their concerns.
It was a genius named Christopher Hughes who helped develop this community site, so that for the first time in history we could talk about the things we love about the United States. A place where we can create a community, raise money and blog about politics.
It's the information age, and President Obama is young, fresh and jubilant as a leader. A great mentor and one we can look up too. I love the fact that he uses his blackberry and posts notes on Twitter every now and then.
A modern day President, one who addresses the problems of the nations and travels around the world to set up a web of communication with all the super powers of the world. At first the Taliban seemed to sit back in surprise, here was a man to contend with. One who shows great wisdom, brings people together and unites us all as one strong unit. Its no longer one countries battle against terrorism, it's the world (population 6,706,993,152)against a small group of people that refuse to be peaceful on this earth.
All this fighting and war that goes on affects the vibrations of the earth. Does the Taliban care about the earth or it's people? Don't they believe in Karma? What they do to others, it shall be done to them. Maybe everyone should pray that the powers that be will deal with these evil men who are hurting innocent people to prove a point. All we see is a bunch of men who like to murder innocents, if they are trying to get across a "religious" message, it's not working. I'm sure they are very wise men in the Taliban, perhaps they should take a step back and look at what's going on in the world. Instead of bringing destruction to the earth, they should try to resolve their differences and help to bring peace instead. What is it that they need and want? Does the Taliban just want our attention? Is this the basis for the violence that they insist on placing on the shoulders of our world leaders?
Only goodness can win, even if evil rears it's ugly head, united nations will stand and those that are evil will fall. And all will be naught. It's best to work with the world and not against it. Peace is what we all want. We want our family, children and loved ones to be safe and not have to worry about biological diseases caused by weapons of war.
I know we are all impressed with President Barack Obamas way of dealing with every issue and the problems left behind by other presidents. He takes each problem as a grain of salt and works to bring resolution to problems that have plagued the US Government for 100's of years. It's nice to know that President Barack Obama can be trusted. We can believe in this man that he will do as he says. Let's all jump on his band wagon of life and help him achieve his goals, we will all benefit from it, I'm sure!
I have posted more articles about President Barack Obama's First 100 Days on http://ideasaboutlife.today.com/2009/04/29/the-44th-president-barack-obama-brings-change-to-the-oval-office/
The Taliban: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taliban
Every good past President has looked to the future, while every failed administration has suffered with the past, in part by their own misunderstandings of the failure(s) and to fully concentrate on moving their own agenda’s forward! Consequently, we the American public are as much to blame, for their failures as they are.
Today in office we have elected a forward looking Chief Executive, tasked with the mission of tackling the previous administrations failures and deceptions; while moving onwards his own vision of how America should be.
To me, this means let the president delegate responsible, for corrective action on the issues concerning Gitmo, torture, Rove, FOIA and FISA to his appropriate cabinet members and select committees within congress.
We as diligent citizens and supposed caretakers of our country should and must be focused on issues such as health care, getting out of Iraq, the economy and perhaps an over looked issued by many, an improved, affordable plan to enhance our current educational system of higher learning.
We have seen hundreds of thousands of jobs disappear over the past several months, will these jobs ever come back? The answer is “No”!
Soon we will have thousands of veterans returning from overseas, will they remain in the military service? Again, the answer is possibly “No”!
So what are the solutions to the aforementioned issues within the Obama Administration? I feel the president has chosen the most correct choice by relying on what made our nation what it was in the “past” – “Education”.
But, as we all know, including the president, both the cost and quality are the downsides for most of us, even the slightly “upper middle class”.
As quoted by President Obama (President Obama on Higher Education and Reforming Student Loans):
Over the past few decades, the cost of tuition at private colleges has more than doubled, while costs at public institutions have nearly tripled. Tuition has grown ten times faster than a typical family’s income, while inefficiencies in the student loan system provide lenders billions of dollars in wasteful subsidies instead of making college more affordable for all Americans.
When we review the 60’s, the days of placing a man on the moon and the golden times of NASA; education was at our country’s forefront, even while the Vietnam War was in progress, education was considered a must for survival in the Cold War overall and personal success in life as an individual(s).
We must not accept taking a backseat within the international community, as we have and again noted by the President in his Remarks by the President at the National Academy of Sciences Annual Meeting:
Our schools continue to trail other developed countries and, in some cases, developing countries. Our students are outperformed in math and science by their peers in Singapore, Japan, England, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, and Korea, among others. Another assessment shows American 15-year-olds ranked 25th in math and 21st in science when compared to nations around the world. And we have watched as scientific integrity has been undermined and scientific research politicized in an effort to advance predetermined ideological agendas.Complementing while confirming the aforementioned is the following from Gallup Polls with an article entitled: “Public Discontent With Quality of U.S. Education, where we can see the American public over the past eight years have been frustrated with the Bush Administration’s progress on education:A three-year aggregate of Gallup data (2002-2004)* on attitudes toward the public schools indicates that 44% of Americans are very (11%) or somewhat (33%) satisfied with public education, but a slight majority, 55%, are either very (25%) or somewhat (30%) dissatisfied. Despite these negative perceptions about the quality of the U.S. education system, past surveys have demonstrated that most Americans are happy with their own educations and the educations their children receive.
Our schools continue to trail other developed countries and, in some cases, developing countries. Our students are outperformed in math and science by their peers in Singapore, Japan, England, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, and Korea, among others. Another assessment shows American 15-year-olds ranked 25th in math and 21st in science when compared to nations around the world. And we have watched as scientific integrity has been undermined and scientific research politicized in an effort to advance predetermined ideological agendas.
Complementing while confirming the aforementioned is the following from Gallup Polls with an article entitled: “Public Discontent With Quality of U.S. Education, where we can see the American public over the past eight years have been frustrated with the Bush Administration’s progress on education:
A three-year aggregate of Gallup data (2002-2004)* on attitudes toward the public schools indicates that 44% of Americans are very (11%) or somewhat (33%) satisfied with public education, but a slight majority, 55%, are either very (25%) or somewhat (30%) dissatisfied. Despite these negative perceptions about the quality of the U.S. education system, past surveys have demonstrated that most Americans are happy with their own educations and the educations their children receive.
So, should you subscribe to the fact our nation’s higher learning institutions are to expensive and our primary education system(s) of public schools are not performing as they should; how is the president and perhaps more selfishly “us the American public” going to resolve the educational systems and turn their services into “jobs” and an increased standard of living for all of us?
The President has prepared congress for needed changes, staring with his Fiscal Budget for 2010 with major investments in broadband networks, clean energy technologies, and health information technology, as I’ve quoted him here (Fact Sheet A Historic Commitment To Research And Education):
President Obama has already made science and technology a top priority: The Recovery Act includes $21.5 billion for research and development, the largest increase in our Nation’s history, and well as major investments in broadband networks, clean energy technologies, and health information technology. The President’s FY10 budget includes sustained increases in basic research, $75 billion to make the research and experimentation tax credit permanent, and funding to triple the number of the National Science Foundation’s graduate research fellowships. The President is committed to restoring integrity to science policy, and making decisions on the basis of evidence, rather than ideology.
Also, the President has enacted steps within his own Executive Branch (President Obama Meets with Family Struggling with College Costs, Underscores Need to Eliminate Wasteful Spending in Federal Student Loan Program, Reinvest Savings in Making College More Affordable):
Today, President Barack Obama met with a family struggling to afford the cost of college and underscored his commitment to cutting wasteful spending on federal student loans by ending taxpayer subsidies to banks. President Obama discussed the strain that rising tuition costs are placing on middle class families and his proposal to end the private Federal Family Education Loans program that lines the pockets of the banks who serve as middlemen while costing the American people $5 billion a year.
As I elated to earlier, since this is a failure of past administrations to attend address the president has wisely delegated this national concern to Vice President Joe Biden, who in my own opinion as been doing an outstanding job for the president in seeing all measurers are brought to the forefront on getting legislation authored and past in a bipartisan manner.
Vice President Biden has implemented “Middle Class Task Force” to find solutions and assist him in seeing colleges become more affordable through a series of town hall meetings. Here in an excerpt from such a meeting in St. Louis, the excerpt is entitled: “Middle Class Task Force Report: College Affordability”
Middle Class Task Force Report: College Affordability
An obstacle to federal student aid is the unnecessarily complicated application process that is often intimidating to families and students seeking loans. In order to qualify for aid, students or their parents must first complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form, which contains well over 100 questions on income, assets, family characteristics, personal characteristics, and other items. Completing the FAFSA requires families to sift through paperwork and transfer numbers from tax forms that they may or may not have readily available.
The following is a downloadable pdf report, which bears reading, regarding steps being taken by the Obama administration to lower college cost to the middle class desiring to enter college and making the application procedure more simplified and friendly:
Middle Class Task Force Staff Report (pdf)
So, what’s the Point:
Much “to do” recently has been made in the media over the release of torture memos and the president’s first 100 days in office, which are all constructive concerns and self-servicing pats on our own backs for electing the “right person for the right job”, but lets not get hung-up on the issues of witch hunts and arrogance that got us into the trouble we’re in today.
Lets keep pressing forward in correcting mistakes and apathy of the past with “new ideas” and approaches that will insure we’re never in the fix we are in today.
After all wasn’t it President Bush who said “Fool me once and you’re a fool, fool me twice and I’m a fool”.
The following selections of videos cement President Obama’s commitment to the middle class and his devotion to insuring every American is entitled to higher learning:
Opening the Doors of Higher Education
Taking a defiant stance towards those banks defending the status quo, the President proposes cutting out the middle man in student loans for a savings of almost $50 billion over ten years.
Additional Videos:
Real Tax Cuts Making a Real Difference
Flanked by Americans who have benefited from his Making Work Pay tax credit, President Obama speaks about his tax policy and how it is helping people across the nation.
Taking on Education
The President explains the urgency of changing the way we educate our children, and offers four pillars of reform.
Meet Secretary of Education Arne Duncan
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan talks about the source of his passion for education reform — and why he thinks it’s about more than education, it’s about social justice.
Additional postings regarding this topic and others may be found here: