A Political Editorial

A POLITICAL STATEMENT
How can you tell when a politician is lying?
His lips are moving

Today we will depart from our usual format and write an editorial about the sad state of our country. I do not profess to be a political scientist. Perhaps I am naïve regarding the give-and-take of political gamesmanship. I was shocked a decade ago when voters of my country elected a president that in my mind was an ex-drunk, ex druggie, millionaire playboy who had accomplished little in his lifetime. Leaders with such qualities are elected in banana republics but not in America, or so I thought. When our country was attacked we lost all reason. Had the administration said we should drop 99 hydrogen bombs on every country east of Germany, they would have had a 99% approval rating. Congressmen from both parties stumbled over themselves to get to vote “Yea” for anything that was proposed in the euphoria that followed the attacks on the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers. So we attacked a sovereign country who had never attacked us, was not a part of the bombing in New York City, and whose vaunted “Republican Guard” spent most of its time with its hands in the air – not giving thanks, but surrendering.

The Administration had no plan, no exit strategy, and not much of a standing army to invade. Thus with grossly inadequate numbers in our standing military our National Guard and Reserve Army were pressed into service. Of those two entities the Guard is designed to help with domestic crises like floods, tornado cleanup and such, and the Reserves are former active duty soldiers on standby. Both groups are weekend warriors with lives far removed from formal military action. Several months later a made-for-TV ad complete with the president flying a fighter jet onto an aircraft carrier and a “Mission Accomplished” banner welcomed him. Yet our troops continued dying and being crippled and our country continued spending billions of dollars into that military black hole for nigh a decade.

The hope of change came with a bright young man not soiled by years in politics who came suddenly on the scene and pledged to counter everything the “ins” were doing wrong. He would focus on the future, not the past, bring our troops home, get rid of the vermin in the nation’s capital who call themselves lobbyists, improve job numbers, and save the nation’s economy, bringing it back from the brink of ruin. Although members of the opposition followed the path that Karl Rove and hatemonger TV and radio pundits blazed, the fresh young voice of hope prevailed and a new leader was elected.

It is now nine months since the election and the new president has accomplished some things. His first 100-day report card showed improvements at Health Care Reform, more open communication, the Department of Transportation approved 2,500 highway projects, a $2,500 tax credit for those seeking a college education was passed as well as energy stimulus and funding for anti-gang initiatives. He engaged world leaders and their populations in an effort for peace, and made strides toward reduction of greenhouse gasses. Those are all good things, of course, but the specter of politics has begun to raise its ugly head.

An astute scholar such as the president should have learned from the blunder of one of his predecessors whose famous line, “Read my lips. No new taxes,” came back to bite him on the buttocks. During the campaign he hammered his opponent on taxing health care benefits but it appears he’ll have to do that, he seems to be backtracking on his anti-NAFTA stance, his pledge of openness and transparency is becoming blurred, and pork barrel projects continue to slip into legislation as easily as before his election. Lobbyists still rule their addicts by keeping them hooked with money. Some of his faux pas might be the politics of survival but no matter how pretty you dress up a pig, teach it to sing or to dance it is still, after all a pig.

I love my country. I’m not one of these ultra-right wingers who say, “My country, right or wrong!” And I’m not one of the blindly fanatic groups that considers themselves ultra-patriotic and claim the U.S.A. is the best country in the world. Quite simply, we aren’t (pause for gasps from the right). From a recent newspaper report: "U.S. Teens Trail Peers Around World on Math-Science Test." Of 30 industrial countries we ranked 16th behind Finland, Japan, Canada, and Korea among others.

The U.S. ranks 34th in infant mortality behind Croatia, Poland, Cuba, and Estonia among others.

Of the world’s 30 richest nations we have the highest percentage of children living in poverty and the most people in prison. We have 5% of the world's population but 24% of the world's prison population.

Overall life expectancy in America ranks behind Australia New Zealand, Canada, Japan, all Western European countries as well as Israel, Greece, Singapore, Costa Rica, and South Korea. We spend twice as much money on health care as any of the 41 countries ahead of us but live shorter lives.

The World Health Organization ranked the U.S. 37th in the world in overall performance of our health care system behind (in order) France, Italy, San Marino, Andorra, Malta, Singapore, Spain, Oman, Austria, Japan, Norway, Portugal, Monaco, Greece, Iceland, Luxemburg, Netherlands, UK, Ireland, Switzerland, Belgium, Sweden Columbia, Cypress, Germany, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Republics, Israel, Morocco, Finland, Canada, Australia, Chile, Denmark, Dominican Republic and Costa Rica.

We rank 39th in Environmental Performance, 31st in gender gap economic performance, 46th in suicides. We rank behind Denmark and Sweden in technology.

We are not a perfect country. Our leaders have made mistakes and there is no shame in apologizing for those mistakes. I do not purport to be able to solve all our problems, but to my mind this would be a start:

1. Recall all U.S. troops from around the world. The Middle East, Europe, Asia.... bring them all home. The military budget has nearly doubled since 1991 to just under $ 1 TRILLION!
2. Increase the size of the Peace Corps. Export peace around the world instead of war. It is cheaper, more effective, and teaches young people values and thrift as they lead by example.
3. Put the world on notice that we will adopt an Israeli-style defense plan. If Americans anywhere in the world are molested, abused, imprisoned, or tortured, the offending group or country will have 72 hours to make things right or we will unleash a force that will obliterate them. It matters not if the offending country is Iraq, N. Korea, China, Russia, or Mexico. Our goal is peace, but inside our velvet glove is an iron fist with a nuclear warhead.
4. The days of ground troops fighting are behind us. We need to develop more drones that will patrol our interests abroad.

Today we are a country divided and on the brink of bankruptcy. But with a few adjustments we can be on the road to recovery.

A little blogging music Maestro... “We Are Family” by Sister Sledge

Dr. Forgot
http://drforgot.com

Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

I just received the email below from a friend in California. Not sure of the author, but plenty of things in California are already extinct - or headed that way fast, such as a good 5 cent cigar, single digit sales tax, roads, schools, librarians, and public services. But the author comes up with a couple of dozen other items - some I agree with, some I'm not so sure. Read it and weep.

24 THINGS ABOUT TO BECOME EXTINCT IN AMERICA

24. Yellow Pages
This year will be pivotal for the global Yellow Pages industry.
Much like newspapers, print Yellow Pages will continue to bleed
dollars to their various digital counterparts, from Internet
Yellow Pages (IYPs), to local search engines and combination
search/listing services like Reach Local and Yodel Factors like an
acceleration of the print 'fade rate' and the looming recession
will contribute to the onslaught. One research firm predicts the
falloff in usage of newspapers and print Yellow Pages could even
reach 10% this year -- much higher than the 2%-3% fade rate seen
in past years.

23. Classified Ads
The Internet has made so many things obsolete that newspaper
classified ads might sound like just another trivial item on a
long list. But this is one of those harbingers of the future that
could signal the end of civilization as we know it. The argument
is that if newspaper classifieds are replaced by free online
listings at sites like Craigslist.org and Google Base, then
newspapers are not far behind them.

22. Movie Rental Stores
While Netflix is looking up at the moment, Blockbuster keeps
closing store locations by the hundreds. It still has about 6,000
left across the world, but those keep dwindling and the stock is
down considerably in 2008, especially since the company gave up a
quest of Circuit City. Movie Gallery, which owned the Hollywood
Video brand, closed up shop earlier this year. Countless small
video chains and mom-and-pop stores have given up the ghost
already.

21. Dial-up Internet Access
Dial-up connections have fallen from 40% in 2001 to 10% in 2008.
The combination of an infrastructure to accommodate affordable
high speed Internet connections and the disappearing home phone
have all but pounded the final nail in the coffin of dial-up
Internet access.

20. Phone Landlines
According to a survey from the National Center for Health
Statistics, at the end of 2007, nearly one in six homes was
cell-only and, of those homes that had landlines, one in eight
only received calls on their cells.

19. Chesapeake Bay Blue Crabs
Maryland's icon, the blue crab, has been fading away in Chesapeake
Bay. Last year Maryland saw the lowest harvest (22 million pounds)
since 1945. Just four decades ago the bay produced 96 million
pounds. The population is down 70% since 1990, when they first did
a formal count. There are only about 120 million crabs in the bay
and they think they need 200 million for a sustainable population.
Over-fishing, pollution, invasive species and global warming get
the blame.

18. VCRs
For the better part of three decades, the VCR was a best-seller
and staple in every American household until being completely
decimated by the DVD, and now the Digital Video Recorder (DVR). In
fact, the only remnants of the VHS age at your local Wal-Mart or
Radio Shack are blank VHS tapes these days. Pre-recorded VHS tapes
are largely gone and VHS decks are practically nowhere to be
found. They served us so well.

17. Ash Trees
In the late 1990s, a pretty, iridescent green species of beetle,
now known as the emerald ash borer, hitched a ride to North
America with ash wood products imported from eastern Asia. In less
than a decade, its larvae have killed millions of trees in the
Midwest, and continue to spread. They've killed more than 30
million ash trees in southeastern Michigan alone, with tens of
millions more lost in Ohio and Indiana. More than 7.5 billion ash
trees are currently at risk.

16. Ham Radio
Amateur radio operators enjoy personal (and often worldwide)
wireless communications with each other and are able to support
their communities with emergency and disaster communications if
necessary, while increasing their personal knowledge of
electronics and radio theory. However, proliferation of the
Internet and its popularity among youth has caused the decline of
amateur radio. In the past five years alone, the number of people
holding active ham radio licenses has dropped by 50,000, even
though Morse Code is no longer a requirement.

15. The Swimming Hole
Thanks to our litigious society, swimming holes are becoming a
thing of the past. '20/20' reports that swimming hole owners, like
Robert Every in High Falls, NY, are shutting them down out of
worry that if someone gets hurt they'll sue. And that's exactly
what happened in Seattle. The city of Bellingham was sued by Katie
Hofstetter who was paralyzed in a fall at a popular swimming hole
in Whatcom Falls Park. As injuries occur and lawsuits follow,
expect more swimming holes to post 'Keep out!' signs.

14. Answering Machines
The increasing disappearance of answering machines is directly
tied to No 20 our list -- the decline of landlines. According to
USA Today, the number of homes that only use cell phones jumped
159% between 2004 and 2007. It has been particularly bad in New
York; since 2000, landline usage has dropped 55%. It's logical
that as cell phones rise, many of them replacing traditional
landlines, that there will be fewer answering machines.

13. Cameras That Use Film
It doesn't require a statistician to prove the rapid disappearance
of the film camera in America. Just look to companies like Nikon,
the professional's choice for quality camera equipment. In 2006,
it announced that it would stop making film cameras, pointing to
the shrinking market -- only 3% of its sales in 2005, compared to
75% of sales from digital cameras and equipment.

12. Incandescent Bulbs
Before a few years ago, the standard 60-watt (or, yikes, 100-watt)
bulb was the mainstay of every U.S. home. With the green movement
and all-things-sustainable-energy crowd, the Compact Fluorescent
Lightbulb (CFL) is largely replacing the older, Edison-era
incandescent bulb. The EPA reports that 2007 sales for Energy Star
CFLs nearly doubled from 2006, and these sales accounted for
approximately 20 percent of the U.S. light bulb market. And
according to USA Today, a new energy bill plans to phase out
incandescent bulbs in the next four to 12 years.

11. Stand-Alone Bowling Alleys
BowlingBalls. US claims there are still 60 million Americans who
bowl at least once a year, but many are not bowling in stand-alone
bowling alleys. Today most new bowling alleys are part of
facilities for all types or recreation including laser tag,
go-karts, bumper cars, video game arcades, climbing walls and glow
miniature golf. Bowling lanes also have been added to many
non-traditional venues such as adult communities, hotels and
resorts, and gambling casinos.

10. The Milkman
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in 1950, over
half of the milk delivered was to the home in quart bottles, by
1963, it was about a third and by 2001, it represented only 0.4%
percent. Nowadays most milk is sold through supermarkets in gallon
jugs. The steady decline in home-delivered milk is blamed, of
course, on the rise of the supermarket, better home refrigeration
and longer-lasting milk. Although some milkmen still make the
rounds in pockets of the U.S., they are certainly a dying breed.

9. Hand-Written Letters
In 2006, the Radicati Group estimated that, worldwide, 183 billion
e-mails were sent each day. Two million each second. By November
of 2007, an estimated 3.3 billion Earthlings owned cell phones,
and 80% of the world's population had access to cell phone
coverage. In 2004, half-a-trillion text messages were sent, and
the number has no doubt increased exponentially since then. So
where amongst this gorge of gabble is there room for the elegant,
polite hand-written letter?

8. Wild Horses
It is estimated that 100 years ago, as many as two million horses
were roaming free within the United States. In 2001, National
Geographic News estimated that the wild horse population had
decreased to about 50,000 head. Currently, the National Wild Horse
and Burro Advisory board states that there are 32,000 free roaming
horses in ten Western states, with half of them residing in
Nevada. The Bureau of Land Management is seeking to reduce the
total number of free range horses to 27,000, possibly by selective
euthanasia.

7. Personal Checks
According to an American Bankers Assoc. report, a net 23% of
consumers plan to decrease their use of checks over the next two
years, while a net 14% plan to increase their use of PIN debit.
Bill payment remains the last stronghold of paper-based
payments -- for the time being. Checks continue to be the most
commonly used bill payment method, with 71% of consumers paying at
least one recurring bill per month by writing a check. However, on
a bill-by-bill basis, checks account for only 49% of consumers'
recurring bill payments (down from 72% in 2001 and 60% in 2003).

6. Drive-in Theaters
During the peak in 1958, there were more than 4,000 drive-in
theaters in this country, but in 2007 only 405 drive-ins were
still operating. Exactly zero new drive-ins have been built since
2005. Only one reopened in 2005 and five reopened in 2006, so
there isn't much of a movement toward reviving the closed ones.

5. Mumps & Measles
Despite what's been in the news lately, the measles and mumps
actually, truly are disappearing from the United States. In 1964,
212,000 cases of mumps were reported in the U.S. By 1983, this
figure had dropped to 3,000, thanks to a vigorous vaccination
program. Prior to the introduction of the measles vaccine,
approximately half a million cases of measles were reported in the
U.S. annually, resulting in 450 deaths. In 2005, only 66 cases
were recorded.

4. Honey Bees
Perhaps nothing on our list of disappearing America is so dire;
plummeting so enormously; and so necessary to the survival of our
food supply as the honey bee. Very scary. 'Colony Collapse
Disorder,' or CCD, has spread throughout the U.S. and Europe over
the past few years, wiping out 50% to 90% of the colonies of many
beekeepers -- and along with it, their livelihood.

3. News Magazines and TV News
While the TV evening newscasts haven't gone anywhere over the last
several decades, their audiences have. In 1984, in a story about
the diminishing returns of the evening news, the New York Times
reported that all three network evening-news programs combined had
only 40.9 million viewers. Fast forward to 2008, and what they
have today is half that.

2. Analog TV
According to the Consumer Electronics Association, 85% of homes in
the U.S. get their television programming through cable or
satellite providers. For the remaining 15% -- or 13 million
individuals -- who are using rabbit ears or a large outdoor
antenna to get their local stations, change is in the air. If you
are one of these people you'll need to get a new TV or a converter
box in order to get the new stations which will only be broadcast
in digital.

1. The Family Farm
Since the 1930s, the number of family farms has been declining
rapidly. According to the USDA, 5.3 million farms dotted the
nation in 1950, but this number had declined to 2.1 million by the
2003 farm census (data from the 2007 census hasn't yet been
published). Ninety-one percent of the U.S. FARMS are small Family
Farms.

A little blogging music Maestro: "So Long, Its Been Good to Know You," by Woody Guthrie.

http://drforgot.com

Open Letter to President Obama

A partial Solution to the Budget/Economic Crisis

Dear President Obama:

I’m not as smart as many of your current appointees but I may be a little smarter than some from the previous administration. I’m just an American, grandson of four immigrants whose legacy helped build this country and whose sons and grandsons fought to protect it, bled for it, and worked to improve it.

Somehow, sometime after the Korean conflict, we seemed to have lost our way in America. A cancer began to creep into our culture. People lauded the Great Society but did not realize that with greatness comes responsibility. We began to expect things – social security was designed as a supplement but became the primary source of income for many retirees. Welfare programs designed to give people a temporary boost became the primary source of income for multiple generations. As the government began to assist people, too many started to feel entitled to the help and many churches and benevolent organizations pulled away from their responsibility to help their fellow man. We as a nation grew to be less dependent on each other and to feel less responsibility for each other. The era of responsibility continued to slide until we no longer took responsibility for our own needs.

The wealthy felt entitled to tax cuts. Businessmen felt entitled to government contracts. Suppliers of goods and services felt entitled to top dollar regardless of quality. The middle class felt entitled to rich work contracts complete with lifetime health benefits and guaranteed retirement funding. The poor felt entitled to the various forms of welfare to which they had become addicted. Everybody felt entitled. Nobody felt responsible. The recipe for financial disaster had been written and needed only time to run up huge mortgage Ponzi schemes, housing bubbles, stock market returns built on what corporations refer to as “blue sky,” and hospitals that charged hundreds of dollars for a single aspirin or other items available for pennies in a regular grocery store.

The Health care system became bloated. Doctors ceased to become physicians and became corporations who limited the time with patients according to insurance company dictates and cut corners for maximum profits. Health care became a misnomer, for only the tiniest portion of manpower and time was devoted to patient care. The vast majority was spent filling out insurance forms, meeting with drug salespeople, and taking part in outside business enterprises. The patient became the least of the concern of the medical profession, inc.

Schools which once produced students who were the envy of the world now have dropout rates that often surpass 50% and those who do complete their education rank at the bottom among graduates from so-called first-world countries. Parents sue teachers because their children are entitled to “A” grades regardless of the level at which they achieve. Teachers are pressured to have their students score at certain levels on standardized tests regardless of abilities, lest the school fail to meet “Adequate Yearly Progress.” Disruptive students are required to attend class with their peers who want to learn. Classrooms are bursting at the seams with overcrowding and budget cuts threaten to exacerbate the situation.

Much noise has been made of the billions of dollars that have been spent in support of a war that has been fought largely by the 21st century equivalent of Hessian soldiers; that is, “security forces” such as those supplied by Blackwater and other favored corporations, often with no-bid contracts and frequently with little oversight of either where money is spent or the behavior of the non-military combat security.

So here you are Mr. President. A few months into your term and so many problems dumped into your lap. You have offered plans which have been lauded by some and attacked by others. However it must be noted that those who would attack your plans do not offer viable alternatives. You have asked the public as well as some of the greatest minds in the country to offer suggestions. I cannot offer a panacea to the problems or even a plan for more than one issue at a time, so I will take a stab at how we might jump help the economy.

According to globalsecurity.org, U.S. troops are located in nearly 130 countries around the world. Some of the deployments have lasted 50 years or so. More than 150,000 American troops are posted in Germany, South Korea, and Japan. Another 25,000 or so are stationed in Italy and Britain and miscellaneous other countries for a total of about 200,000 troops in Europe and Asia and another 200,000 or so in Iraq. Our “peacetime” budget for American troops, mostly abroad, exceeds half a trillion dollars per year. In case you are unable to grasp that figure, let me write it out: 500,000,000,000.

Every troop worldwide must be fed, clothed, and housed. Local foreign economies worldwide thrive on the commerce brought to them by our troops and of course, ultimately the taxpayers. During WW-II soldiers cooked, cleaned, and were generally self sufficient. No longer. Nearly everything needed to support a large contingency of soldiers is outsourced, with contracts often going to favored companies and many times with no competitive bid required. When all contingencies are added in the half-trillion dollars spent annually increases dramatically.

According to a Heritage Foundation blurb, “Many of our installations in Germany and South Korea are remnants from a bygone era. For example, Yongsan Army Garrison in downtown Seoul was built by the colonial Japanese army long before World War II. Tank and artillery ranges where our forces train in Germany were first used by the Bavarian army more than 100 years ago. Today, these training areas are wholly inadequate to accommodate the extended reach of our current generation of weapons and the rapid pace of modern maneuver warfare.”

Many foreign bases do not support our mission and some countries are openly hostile to our troops being stationed in their country. Imagine how you would feel if Chinese or Russian troops were posted on our soil. But costs do not end with the keeping of bases on foreign soil. For those in combat, additional costs are incurred for material and arms destroyed, soldier deaths, and injuries which often require treatment for the rest of the life of the afflicted veteran.

So Mr. President, my suggestion is to start by reviewing all the antiquated policies. Your G-20 trip might be a good time to start. Just because U.S. troops “have always been there” does not mean they must always be there. We are the most powerful nation in the world, but not the only one. We must maintain a strong army on alert in the event of attack, but we are not the world’s policemen. Bring home most of our men and women from around the world. End the U.S. combat involvement in Iraq and if you must do so temporarily, keep the required number of non-combat troops in Afghanistan. Those actions alone would pay for upgrading our education system and infrastructure. Continue to rework the moribund health system, and to the persistent naysayers, who go off hourly like a cuckoo clock, ignore them.

I’ll close with a musical suggestion:

A little blogging music Maestro… “Time to Say Goodbye,” by Andrea Bocelli

Dr. Forgot
http://drforgot.com

A Nation of Snipers

WE’VE BECOME A NATION OF SNIPERS

What’s wrong with America: We have become a nation of snipers, whiners, and bellyachers. How quickly we have fallen from the America that stood together as one after the 9/11 attacks on our country. We stood tall in that great time of crisis with strangers helping strangers and the good of the country placed ahead of the need of individuals. Heroes came forward on some of the doomed flights and on the ground. We helped our neighbors who were harmed or even inconvenienced by the tragedy. We rallied behind our president and leaders. Before that during the 1950s we banded together to become the champions of the world in everything. Seems that everybody with any entrepreneurial spirit fought, clawed, or swam their way to the greatest country in the world.

Before that it was the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor that awakened that giant of American knowhow summed up in the Navy Seabees motto, “Can do.” But that was before cable television, and talk radio and Rupert Murdoch style journalism that discovered the disease of “demean and attack and they (listeners and viewers) will come.” Examples of what is wrong with America are legion.

Strasburg, Illinois: Strasburg has been hit hard by the recent economic turmoil. So when their school district needed a new electric sign the booster club raised funds to buy it and local volunteers erected it at no cost to the school district. So why is that wrong? Seems the Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL) are charged with enforcing the state’s Prevailing Wage Act which states, “laborers, workers and mechanics employed on public works construction projects [must be paid] no less than the general prevailing rate of wages (consisting of hourly cash wages plus fringe benefits) for work of a similar character in the county where the work is performed.” That means those who volunteered their time, including members of the sign company, were lawbreakers? Makes one wonder how the volunteer programs that are part of President Obama’s recovery plan will work in Illinois.

The opinions expressed here…: From the floor of the stock exchange CNBC reporter Rick Santelli went on a rant that included the following statements, “The government is promoting bad behavior,” as well as “How many of you people want to pay for your neighbor's mortgage that has an extra bathroom and can't pay their bills?” This was followed by a floor trader who yelled, “How 'bout we all stop paying our mortgage? It's a moral hazard.”

Talk show host Rush Limbaugh recently stated, “Trying to understand (a member from the opposing party) is like trying to understand a murderer or rapist.” Time’s magazine listed 25 people to blame for the Financial Crisis.” Columnist Ann Coulter stated that talk show host Chris Matthews, “…wants to have sex with (President) Obama.” Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann claimed that Barack Obama and his wife Michelle held anti-American views and couldn't be trusted in the White House.

Right to free speech: Of course the very rants, raves, off-the-wall expressions, and hate comments expressed above, along with hundreds of others are protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution and that is how it should be. Thus my opinion that we have become a nation of crybabies and whiners, ala Sean Hanity and his ilk, and bullies, ala Bill O’Reilly and his ilk, is equally protected. It is not even that those mentioned above say the things they do, as much of it is shtick and designed to gain market share among listeners. But what concerns me is the million of sheep-like followers who proudly, as in the case of Limbaugh, even refer to themselves as “Dittoheads.” In other words, they do not bother thinking for themselves, but simply parrot the words of the loudest, most outrageous comments made by their icon. As an undergraduate student at one of America’s most conservative universities nearly a half century ago I used to listen in amazement as we were repeatedly told that “There will be wars and rumors of wars…” (Okay, that is so at any period in history and in any country in the world, so that was an easy one), and “…the constitution will hang by a thread,” (I’m still not sure what that one means), and “…the country will collapse without a shot being fired,” (that one seems to be the scariest of the homilies).

What’s right with America: One of the very liberties that we enjoy in this country, perhaps the one I hold most dear, is our right to free expression. So unlike those on the far right of the political continuum I count freedom of speech and expression as two of the most sacred issues that are among those that are right with America. In my previous post I cited areas in which the U.S. of A. is not the champion of the world. But despite the economic collapse – which is worldwide, not just within our chores, our economy is almost as big as the next four largest economies on Earth - Japan, Germany, China and Great Britain combined! If California were a country, its economy would rival that of France. Illinois has the same GDP as all of Mexico. New York matches the entire GDP of Brazil. Florida's economy is as large as South Korea's. Texas has a GDP roughly equal to Canada's. Michigan's economy is as large as the entire country of Argentina.

Many of our colleges and universities have open enrollment and others offer scholarships for the best and brightest. Political connections are not required. We spend more on health care per person than Switzerland, Germany, or Canada. Peaceful transfer of power is what is right about America. In January 2009, Barack Hussein Obama became the 44th president of the United States. Essayist Michael Lind opines, “Barring catastrophes, the US in 2050 will be much more racially integrated; will remain culturally and linguistically quite homogeneous; and will be much richer, easily able to afford to pay for social security and decent healthcare. And partly as a result of this unity and prosperity, the US will continue to be a major power, though not a solitary hegemon.”

So What is an American to do?: We can disagree without being disagreeable. The genius of our founding fathers is that they set up a government that allowed for healthy debate. Challenge what sounds off key to you but draw your own conclusions – don’t blindly follow the loudest voice and don’t quake with fear at the most intimidating voice. If a view or philosophy differs from your own challenge the philosophy. Don’t simply echo. Don’t simply take opposition because an opinion was voiced from the other party. Don’t blindly follow simply because the position stated was a member of your own team.

Our leaders are fallible. To blindly follow means to also be fallible. That includes blindly forwarding hate emails without first checking out their veracity. To blindly follow is to also become fallible. Challenge but think.


A little blogging Maestro… “Thinking Man” by Eddie Cash

Dr. Forgot
http://drforgot.com

United We Stand

Can Good History Repeat Itself?

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it: Spanish born American philosopher George Santayana who was born in the 19th century and lived halfway through the twentieth said it. Perhaps if immigration laws had been in effect in the nineteenth century we would not have had the benefit of his speculative philosophy and literary criticism. But that’s another story. The quote is oft repeated but it came to mind for me as the result of an email from friend, college professor and football coach in California. He asked what my solution would be to solve the energy crisis. I posed the question to a higher authority, Mrs. Dr. Forgot, and her answer was simple and eloquent. Spouses often have that uppity way of citing history to make a point (“You didn’t empty the trash and now we have ants everywhere.”) What follows is the upshot of that conversation.

A Reflection of America in the 1930s: After the excesses of the “Roaring Twenties” in America, the stock market crashed, having been bolstered by speculators. Food became scarce due to the dust bowl, banks repossessed homes and farms as the real estate market crashed when people were unable to pay their mortgages (starting to sound familiar yet?) and the United States joined the rest of the world and became one more country plunged into a worldwide depression. Many lost hope. Some took their own lives. As the decade came to a close war erupted in Europe. Hitler invaded Spain and began his campaign of terrorism in Europe. America vowed it would not be dragged into another World War as it had been a few decades earlier in the “War to End All Wars” later to become known as World War I.

Pearl Harbor Bombed, December 7, 1941: The lazy atmosphere of Hawaii was shocked and awed early one Sunday morning when Japanese bombers attacked the U.S. Naval base at Pearl Harbor. President Roosevelt’s speech described it as “A day that will live in infamy.” Still the U.S. was ill-prepared to go to war. Weapons were outdated, most of the Navy’s ships had been damaged or destroyed, the Army Air Corps (pre-runner to the Air Force) had few pilots and fewer planes, and Army troops still used WW-I era weaponry. The country was in crisis and the American people, many of whom were immigrants or first or second generation Americans, set aside their own needs for the good of the country. Factories began to produce military vehicles instead of passenger cars, steel mills produced steel for everything from tanks to guns to ammunition. Americans came together. Children saved tinfoil and string and their parents accepted rationing of gas and food because it was in the best interest of the country. A few years of American sacrifice resulted in America becoming a major world power.

Opportunities Gained, Opportunities Lost: The growing up of America as the result of her sacrifices for the good of the country proved the ingenuity and power American’s possess. Seventeen years after the end of World War II the Soviet Union sent an unmanned satellite named Sputnik into orbit. Four years after that event America faced another crisis when Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space. Again, America showed its mettle. At the urging of a young charismatic President John Kennedy, in less than a decade U.S. astronaut John Glenn walked on the surface of the moon.

America again faces crisis: On September 11, 2001 a group of terrorists bombed the World Trade Center in New York. Another young charismatic president had the trust of the people to deal with the crisis but as it turned out his administration mismanaged the issue badly. Seven years after the bombing its perpetrator roams free, a country that posed no threat to the U.S. was invaded and remains occupied by our troops, more than 4,000 brave young American men and women have perished as well as hundreds of thousands of the invaded country's locals. The occupation has lasted longer than nearly any other war in our country’s history, and an oil crisis threatens to bring us to our knees economically as we teeter on the brink of bankruptcy. Instead of coming together after the 9/11 tragedy (as we did initially) the country has become more divided than any time in our history since the Viet Nam war. The United States faces another dire emergency. Now we must learn from history.

Take a page from America The Capable: America needs to examine her successes. Instead of demeaning presidential candidates with slime and filth, we must unite as we did to prepare for WW-II, put a man on the moon, and many other examples of things our country has done that no other was able to accomplish. We must suspend our sniping over differences of political parties, racism, sexism, gay marriages, global warming, where to drill for more oil, and all the other phantom political issues, and instead act as one. We must put all available resources into developing renewable energy sources. If we could put a man on the moon in less than a decade, Americans are capable of developing vehicles that operate on sun power or hydrogen and that do not pollute, or some other form of affordable renewable energy. If we were able to develop a hydrogen bomb in fewer than 18 months Americans can develop cheap and efficient methods of providing power to our homes and businesses. When and where can this dream of unity happen? The time is now and the place is America. It is this writer’s hope that the energy crisis is a severe enough crisis to motivate Americans to put aside individual and political differences and work toward a common goal. We’ve done it before and I believe we can do it again.

A little blogging music Maestro... “America the Beautiful.”

Dr. Forgot
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