DETROIT: Bing needs your vote!

I must admit that I am in awe of Detroit mayor Dave Bing. He is everything Detroit has ever needed; a non-politician savior of the city at a time when Detroit absolutely needs a savior.

He has not folded under pressure from the city unions who have lived large off the city and feel entitled as if the city owed them a job and benefits instead of THEM owing the city some service. The unions have now switched their support to Tom Barrow, Bing’s opponent in the mayoral race who of course has promised the unions that he would continue to offer them what they have always received from the city.

Since union members vote and most Detroiters do not, Bing could easily lose the election but he says he does not care, he did not come to the office of mayor as a politician and he will leave as a non-politician BUT he will do what is necessary to save the city and NOT what is politically expedient.

He is proposing privatizing many city departments that are plain inefficient. This has always been a smart way to save big bucks but it was political suicide. One example is the city power station that provides power to the city at $212 / megawatt hour (68 employees). When the power station is down, the city turns to DTE for power at $15 / megawatt hour – is this OBSURD or what – no it is INSANE!

Now I am not insensitive to the plight of the workers that will have to compete for jobs at the private company taking over their functions but they got fat and lazy and unproductive and now they will have to actually work for their pay IF the company deems them qualified to be hired.

The only way Dave Bing can save the city of Detroit is if he gets re-elected and is allowed to do what needs to be done. For Bing to get re-elected, regular Detroiters who usually do not vote, need to get out and vote. If Detroiters do not want the state to take over and the state WILL take over if Bing is not re-elected; they need to get the vote out.

Many of us grew up in Detroit and if we have any relatives or friends still living in Detroit, we need to get them to vote for Bing. I have an 87 year old mother that still lives in the old hood and has never missed an election – I can count on her. I will urge her to talk to her neighbors to get them to vote for Bing – grassroots effort!

ECONOMY / POLITICS: Bad tariff decision!

In comparing our great recession to the Great Depression of the 1930s, I have warned a number of times that one of the things that made that depression much worst than it had to be was a trade war that stopped exports and imports dead in their tracks.

President Obama and most economists have maintained that free trade must be maintained and that protective tariffs are counter productive even though unions see protective tariffs as keeping imports out and therefore preserving domestic jobs. They don’t realize that keeping imports out only causes a direct response from other countries that will now block our exports.

President Obama is going back on his word and doing damage to our economy by starting a trade war with China. He has raised the tariff on imported Chinese tires because the Steel Workers Union asked him to protect domestic tire manufacturing. China has responded by blocking U.S. exports of chicken and auto parts and who knows what else.

It is clear that Obama wants union help in passing his healthcare reform legislation (whatever it is) and he is willing to play tit for tat with union demands. To me this is unacceptable political maneuvering because it is contrary to what is good for our country and our economy; it’s a job killer not a job protector since cheaper tires will come from S. Korea’s Chinese tire manufacturers anyway but U.S. jobs in the chicken and auto parts industries, will be lost.

Quite frankly I am disappointed in how Obama and crew have handled or mishandled a number of important issues and have given the Republicans ample ammunition to use against Obama as someone hell-bent on taking this country into socialism and making poor decisions that do more harm than good.

Giving in to union demands is only alienating more and more of the population since union labor represents only a tiny part of the population and most Americans saw and remember what union greed did to the auto industry which they are now bailing out with their tax dollars.

Obama is not leading. He is not clear about what needs to be done and this is allowing all the bozos in this country to make up preposterous stuff since so few details and facts are available or if available, have been so poorly disseminated among the public that only a few know what is fact and what is fiction.

Obama needs to get his shit together – fast!

POLITICS: Boorish behavior...

I listened to Obama’s speech on healthcare to both houses of Congress. The speech was predictable and I will have more on that at a later date BUT what got my dander up was the Republican congressman Joe Wilson from South Carolina who made a total ASS out of himself and Congress itself by screaming at the president LIAR or YOU LIE or something like that loud enough for the nation and the world to hear.

I think everybody was stunned at the rudeness and incivility that, to my knowledge, has never occurred during a presidential address; I think the democrats did boo George Bush once. Wilson thought he was at a town hall meeting with the rest of the assholes, screaming inanely at some made up untruth.

He apologized but the damage to him and his party was done, at least in my book. His behavior has spread around the country like wildfire; it’s our new communications system using YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, etc. where nothing is unnoticed. This can work for good and for bad as truths and lies are instantly spread throughout the entire country (and world?).

The disrespect for the presidency was palpable and sad and is, I am afraid, a turning point in our country’s history; we will become shoe throwing morons in no time.

Boorish behavior is of course not just limited to Republicans but I just can’t help but add another Republican’s very recent behavior to the shit pile. His name is Mike Duvall and he is/was a Republican member of the California Assembly. He has received awards for being such a good conservative, pro-family and just loaded with family values and all that good stuff.

Our new instant communications system that knows all that happens, caught him near an open mike on video tape before a committee meeting, bragging to his fellow Republican assemblyman about his sexual exploits with a much younger female lobbyist as well as exploits with another woman and I am talking graphic – spanking, eye-patch underwear (whatever that is) among other comments that only a good family values Republican can say.

My point here is about rampant HYPOCRICY in the political ranks, much of it Republican and the lack of RESPECT for the presidency and a breakdown in civility and plain good manners in people who should know better? What the hell are we becoming…

POLITICS: Parents that may be morons!

OK here is another thing that got me riled up recently; parents objecting to having their kids listen (in school) to some words of encouragement on opening day from the president of the United States – what have we become?

As much as I hated Bush for the lying twit that he was, I would never have objected to him addressing my student children to encourage them to do well in school especially these days when student performance is down, truancy high and the drop out rate even higher and especially today when jobs are scare and an education is a must road to success in life.

These so called parents feared that Obama would give a political speech? Indoctrinate them in the ways of socialism? What the hell were these moron parents thinking he was going to say or is this just plain disguised racism?

Ladies and gentlemen, I am down on parents especially the ignoramuses that infect their children with their ignorance, prejudice and bigotry. Remember, children start out not seeing skin color or ethnicity or religion or the clothes one wears as a difference with negative connotations; the negativism comes from their wonderful parents. In fact, school is the only place where children can see and learn about a world that does not always agree with what their parents present; school is a life raft against negative parental indoctrination.

Some pundits said that this reaction is not surprising in today’s highly charged political climate to which I say bullshit; it is plain disrespect for the presidency of the United States and the person holding that office – racism!

I realize we are a divided nation but some of the people-behaving-badly scenes that I have seen on TV and read about in the papers, are very troubling. We appear to have a sub-culture of morons in our society that is larger than anyone ever imagined and that is very dangerous for our country going forward since these people obviously have spawned.

RELIGION: More on Kennedy's funeral and his faith

O'Malley defends role in Kennedy funeral - Articles of Faith - Boston.com

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I was pleasantly surprised that Boston cardinal Sean O'Malley used the example of Jesus and what he stood for to defend himself from the attack by rabid Catholics criticising him for participating in Kennedy's funeral; these Catholics consider Kennedy an anti-Catholic for his liberal social views (pro-choice) that countered the teachings of the Vatican.

I find the various commentaries about this whole issue quite interesting and telling. I maintain that the American Catholic Church is headed for a showdown with the Vatican as the current Vatican moves further and further to the right, abandoning and reversing the liberalizations of Vatican II.

This division into conservative (exclusive) and liberal (inclusive) appears to be a trend in many current religions of the world including the Episcopalians, Southern Baptists and even Lutherans. They more or less, involve similar issues and I will be anxiously following these developments as I feel, history is in the making.