What Should They Do?

My personal vote for what I would most like to see our government do:  cut defense spending 5%.  Just 5%.  It's 55% of the Federal budget as it is.  Just 5% and we could restore the NEA and public media funding and create some infrastructure and green jobs.  I'm not asking for the moon (we aren't funding NASA anymore in the first place).  Just 5%.

But there are other things they could do -- like tax the rich or corporations more.  Or lower oil company subsidies (God knows they don't deserve higher ones after what they did to the Gulf of Mexico, which essentially destroyed business and real estate on those coasts).  Or make our bloated health care system contribute more.

What is the one thing YOU'd like to see the government do?  It's your call...

How Ya Gonna Keep 'Em Helping Those on the Farm After They've Seen Paree?

I observed a discussion among a bunch of Billy Bragg / Leon Rosselson fans, mainly from the British Isles (read: European liberals) on youtube today.  The results were interesting to say the least, because actual knowledge, thought and feeling about politics were involved (like a conversation among Poli Sci graduate students on a college campus), in contrast to the average American conversation about social issues.  Here is one example: 


SOCIALISM is the only way this planet is going to survive humanity.  Otherwise it will destroy us - there is a finite amount for us to consume and if capitalism keeps driving consumption on, the end is nigh a lot sooner than it should be.


The argument was another opinion:


False; anarchism is another way, but I wouldn't spit at a free socialist state, it's definitely better than what we've got...


And another voice piped up with:

The state of nature is brutish and cruel. People are not nice enough for an  anarchic paradise.

This was my response (the ending to which was limited by the length allowed by youtube):

The problem with "isms" is they are all beliefs and all must believe in them for them to work. Even "socialism" is doomed to fail because it presupposes common belief in the survival of the entire society, not just the fittest or the fattest. The will to dominion has existed since the first human realized our brains and hearts give us an edge over brute animals. It's been subjugate/annihilate ever since as far as the strongest or the richest are concerned.

(But don't forget, I spoke as a thinking, feeling AMERICAN - and I know how and why Columbus went for the gold; just 2 pages of Howard Zinn's PEOPLE'S HISTORY will tell you that.  In fact, I'm wondering which natives (from the handful left) should rename this country.  I'm tired of calling it after Italian Amerigo Vespucci.  Tired and disgusted.)

But another voice said this:

If we made an effort to teach people that they are human, and should therefore act as caring adults -- don't harm others, be kind, and help others in need -- we'd be alright.  Of course, we'd also need to create a way of life that promoted those things, instead of promoting the dick-sucking of the rich for "crumbs" of their monetary "feast".  If such a way of life could be promulgated, all our lives would be less brutish and cruel.  I don't know about you, but I've never had an honest thought to inflict brutish or cruel behavior on anyone, and I'm a human like everyone else.


Now, I personally believe wholeheartedly in what the last guy said, but the question is, how do we get that to happen when those in power like their power and exercise it absolutely with guns and money?  How you gonna keep 'em helping those on the farm after they've seen Paree?


Feel free to weigh in...

The Final Jeopardy! Answer: "What IS The Debt Limit?"

I don't like Fox (or as my friends call it, Faux) News, but I have to admit:  once in a while I feel they "dumb down" their approach for the RIGHT reasons -- because the population at large really IS that dumb, i.e. ignorant of the issues that surround us and of why they should know about them.  (Remember the old one-liner about "What's wrong with ignorance and apathy?"  "I don't know and I don't care!")  Anyway, on the opening to today's John Stossel show on Fox, they asked "What IS The Debt Limit?" and they actually interviewed The Man In The Street -- who, of course, didn't know what it is or why the politicians are fighting so hard over it.  (As we approach a relatively consensus-driven vote to pass a new ceiling, Chuck Schumer gave the soundbite to NY1 News, "I think people [in Congress] are relieved."  You think you're relieved?!?)

So -- "What IS The Debt Limit?" - and what I want is to hear EVERYONE WHO READS THIS weigh in: either "I don't know" or "It's..." and be as CONCISE as possible; I don't want to hear about "Reagan started this with..." or "Bush started letting the debt climb in 2004..." -- I want to hear "The Debt Limit is..." and IF you want to weigh in with "and this is why Congress has been so deadlocked over it" that's FANTASTIC -- but BE CONCISE.

Okay?  The Final Jeopardy! answer is...  "What IS The Debt Limit?"  What's the Final Jeopardy! QUESTION?  Weigh in with 30 seconds to go...

What Did YOU Major In?

You never know what scalawags (look it up!) your friends are until you visit their pages on Facebook.  A friend of mine entered "Fucking Shit Up" as his area of study at Rutgers.  Another studied at E CANNABIS UNUM University.

Staying on the safe side, I told the truth:  Lawyer's Assistant Certificate Program at Adelphi.  I know, "Bo-ring!" (Actually my Lit major at SUNY-Binghamton was closer to my heart, but so was my Women's Studies Certificate...)

So what did YOU major in?  (Feel free to be a scalawag... it's more fun...)

Easy Questions Time!

I've been taking one-day Summer blog breaks recently, so the 7/27/11 blog question follows...

Just to see who's paying attention, I'm going to ask a question with a one-word answer:  Chocolate or Vanilla?

My personal A:  Vanilla.  It's creamier-tasting than Chocolate.  (It's GREAT frozen yogurt.)  It was one of Haagen-Dazs' founding flavors and IMHO is still 1 of the best (although their Vanilla Swiss Almond IS pretty outrageous...)

What's YOUR preference?

What ABOUT That Domestic Economy Thing?

Back in 2008, some presidential candidate named Barack Obama made a noise about "Green Jobs."  Now he is leading the country into an economic deluge, with not a word about those "Green Jobs."  So here's my question for today:  What Public Works project (a la those enacted during a certain similar-sounding crisis called The Great Depression) would YOU like to see happen first (pick one):

(a) Wind generator plants in Detroit and Milwaukee
(b) Solar panel factories out West
(c) Hydroelectric dams on the Mississippi

Time for you to weigh in...

Should The Victim Be Vilified?

Our Question for Today:  Should The Victim be Villified?

The hotel maid who alleges Dominic Strauss-Kahn forced her to perform oral sex on him at his Sofitel suite [Blogspot won't let me enter her name because it's not in their dictionary], has given ABC-TV and Newsweek interviews detailing her allegations, which Strauss-Kahn publicly denies.  Fox News has given much time to video sound bites from her TV appearance and implies the interviews are a bid for publicity on the part of the victim.  I feel such an implication vilifies the victim involved.  According to her account, she was forced, she was frightened she might lose her job, and she was more frightened afterwards, when she realized the powerful position of the man she had legally accused of assault (not having known who he was at the time she lodged her complaint).  She feared she might be lethally targeted for her accusations (she is now under police protection).

What do you think?  Do you feel her coming forward is a mere bid for publicity, or an effort to avoid a stain on her name resulting from the highly-publicized legal proceedings?  Should this victim be vilified?