PEOPLE'S SUMMIT: Don't blame the protesters!

Another writer for the Detroit News, Nolan Finley, from the conservative side, wrote a column about the Detroit Economic Summit, the People’s Summit and his view of what is going on in this country economically. "In Ren Cen, CEOs tilt at windmills" 6-18,2009.

He kind of echoed my sentiments about the protestors; I called them old communists and he called them “habitual protesters”.

I said these protestors chant the same old slogans without any plans at achieving their goals. He agreed with me but he actually went there in person and asked the protestors what they wanted. They answered national health, more welfare money, end to free trade, punish the corporations, re-educate CEOs and slash their pay, nationalize industry and take from the rich and give to the poor; these people just want, want and want for someone else to just give, give and give.

Nolan Finley though, believes that the wishes of the protesters are actually being listened to and realized by our government. I guess he feels that we are witnessing a shift to socialism / communism; just what the protesters are screaming for.

Well I don’t think there were enough protesters to even make a statement the media would take seriously but if he wants to deny business did not have a hand in fucking up our economy, he is dead wrong.

I wanted capitalism to work like it is suppose to work with bad businesses going broke and good businesses doing well. That was too much for our government to allow and thus the intrusion of our government (BUSH & OBAMA) into areas they should normally stay out of.

If I was to blame anybody for our economic dilemma, it would be the idiots in Washington that allowed regulations to slip, setting free, speculators and plain greedy crooks to ruin our economy. Now that our government is trying to right the wrongs of the past, Finley is complaining the government is interfering too much – you can’t have it both ways.

Finley complains that business and business people do not matter anymore going forward; it’s all government. I believe Obama when he says he will get out as soon as possible but in the meantime, businesses and business people need to get their asses kicked but good and rules have to be in place to regulate businesses because obviously, they cannot be trusted, ever again, to do the right thing - I don’t see a problem here.

The “habitual” protesters will always be with us wanting everything for the people for nothing, from the people that have something BUT on the other hand, those business types that wanted everything from people that had something, all for themselves and no one else, are just as ridiculous to me but way more dangerous then those slogan chanting but hurting no one, old communists.

UNION LABOR: Change or die!

I have been talking about the lack of jobs in Michigan and what can be done about that. I have also been talking about the “new” middle class that needs to emerge not based on factory floor employment but on a “knowledge” or “talent” basis, so it was interesting to read an article in the Detroit News titled “Unions take a different approach to film industry” by Nathan Hurst.

As you know, Michigan is very tax friendly to companies shooting films in the state. Since we have offered these generous tax incentives, hundreds of films have been and are being, shot in our state creating opportunities for many residents to either work on the movie or provide whatever the crew needs (food, hotel space, etc.).

In fact, the promise of future moviemaking in Michigan has spawned a bunch on new business projects from studio building to filmmaking education and training.

BUT what struck me in the article was a description of a meeting being held in Allen Park, MI (future home of UNITY STUDIOS) at the LIFTON INSTITUTE FOR MEDIA SKILLS where the director was describing the potential jobs that would be made available by this new Michigan industry. As soon as he said that these jobs would not be 9-5, 30 and out career jobs, many attending the meeting walked right out.

As I mentioned before, the UAW union has spoiled Michiganians into expecting the usual auto worker benefits and rules but I also said that THOSE JOBS ARE GONE FOREVER AND WILL NEVER RETURN SO FORGET ABOUT IT.

When the speaker also mentioned that yes, workers are unionized but work hours would not be guaranteed and seniority did not count for anything, quality of work did – more people walked out.

Michigan has a BAD union reputation and that is why auto manufacturers coming into the country are looking everywhere BUT Michigan. In fact, even many non-auto manufacturers are also looking elsewhere especially at states that have “Right- to- Work” laws because of the past history of Michigan unions. Many are calling for Michigan to become a right-to-work state.

The people walking out of the meeting describing what workers should expect to see in the “new” work environment shows us that we have a long way to go just to change the ingrained attitude that union workers can “demand” more and more benefits without having to show that the quality of their work is adequate or even improved, hence deserving a raise?

The attitude that the longer you are at a workplace gives you some kind of security irregardless of the quality of your work, has to go and that will be hard for these workers raised on the principal of seniority to accept – but that is the new reality.

I see no problem with younger workers, educated workers, etc. getting used to the new work ethic but I don’t see the older workers, the former auto workers, accepting it quietly and easily but on the other hand, I don’t see that they have another choice.

If Michigan is to survive and prosper, it MUST change the way it operates and the way its workers think; listen and learn.

AUTO INDUSTRY: We need New Middle Class!

During our current auto manufacturing crisis here in Michigan, I have often heard the UAW workers that build our autos say that they created the modern MIDDLE CLASS and once they go, so does the middle class.

In today’s Wall Street Journal there is an interesting article by William McGurn titled “Michigan and the Knowledge Economy” 6-16-2009.

Yes, the auto workers did create a middle class in Michigan from ~ 1946 till now. This middle class was mostly populated by uneducated laborers who, in many cases, earned more than degreed individuals like teachers, etc.

This was a great life but as we now know, unsustainable in the long run mainly because labor costs made Michigan / U.S. auto manufacturers uncompetitive in the new world marketplace.

As the auto industry crashes around us and desperately tries to re-invent and reorganize itself to be more competitive, the middle class created by auto workers in Michigan has sunk to its lowest level in recent history coming in 33rd in the nation in per capita income which is 11% below the national average.

McGurn reports that John McCain was correct when he said as he campaigned in Michigan, that some jobs are just not coming back and boy did he get a whipping for saying that. Many in this state actually still believe that those jobs are coming back, maybe when the union gets back in power (card check legislation) but that is just plain silly and ignorant; those days are gone for good and unfortunately for those who were counting on a good middle class life based on factory floor manufacturing, will be very disappointed.

People in the know say that a NEW MIDDLE CLASS must be created and will be created but this time based on a “knowledge” economy where people with a specific knowledge base (engineering, etc.) will be making the big bucks and those without any specialized knowledge will be making what their type of labor is actually worth.

I am not talking strictly about the auto industry because the auto industry will no longer support a whole state. Michigan must diversify as quickly as possible and create new non-auto jobs based on this knowledge economy.

Many are saying that we still need MANUFACTURING and I agree. We need to create products that the rest of the world is willing to buy. My small company manufactures clinical laboratory tests and has since 1981 (28 years). We sell those products to labs, hospitals and clinics all over the world and I mean every country out there. We are successful because we make good products that are highly valued out in the world market because that market values AMERICAN MEDICAL PRODUCTS above those of other countries, even Germany.

My people make realistic wages, get medical coverage, 401(k) matching contributions and perform relatively light manufacturing tasks. We also have jobs in sales, marketing, finance, management, etc. There are many companies in Michigan like mine and on a national level; small companies are what drive our economy not the big behemoths.

Michigan needs to make itself attractive to small, knowledge based, innovative companies. These companies and their workers, will create a “need” for workers offering specialized products; healthcare, insurance, finance, education, etc.
It is sad to watch an era come to an end but this end was seen coming a long time ago and no one should be surprised.

Americans are resilient and our society has and will adjust because it has to and once again we will show the world what we are capable of, especially creating the “good life” that so many people around the world desire so much.

ECONOMY: Detroit Economic Summit Protest?

I wrote about the ECONOMIC SUMMIT in Detroit with big shot CEOs talking about what to do to get us out of our economic doldrums. I also talked about my wife participating in a PEOPLE’S SUMMIT / TENT CITY to get economically deprived people to protest the meeting of the very people who basically pushed us into this mess.

An article in the Detroit News by Laura Berman laments the end of the era of protests since very few people showed up to protest and you would think that as many people bitch about their economic circumstances, there would be many trying to make their voices heard.

The few people that did make it to the tent city to protest were mainly old people; old socialists, communists, revolutionaries, anti-imperialists and now Green Party members. The common lament was that young people are just not joining and don’t even care.

Young people care through Twitter, Facebook, Blogs and emails. They care in the seclusion of their rooms with an electronic voice; their only protest tool.

Yes, masses of people marching in protest have been and still are very effective at bringing change to something they perceive to need change but here at the economic summit they remain silent and absent.

People seem to be mad as hell about what is going on in this country, about what is happening to our economy and at the people that caused this mess in the first place BUT is it fear about their own welfare and a basic ignorance as to what is really happening to them that keeps them sitting quietly at home – maybe.

I noticed that the protest organizers did not have any strong agendas they were promoting. Most of what I saw was old, tired socialist / communist slogans; they were not relevant to today’s problems. Others were just echoing things they would like to see with no ides how to make them actually happen: stop foreclosures, save jobs, no plant closings, no gas and electric shut-offs and on and on…

Other economic summits around the world have attracted violent mobs of young people screaming for anarchy and down with capitalism, etc…………..but here in Detroit, the summit is poorly attended because people can’t afford to come and its only a “discussion” forum so no binding decisions will be made - so why protest?

HEALTHCARE: Start the Debate!

This week in Congress, the great HEALTHCARE debate is to start and Obama is to announce his ideas about how to pay for healthcare reform which appears to be to pay hospitals less for their services and to tax the coverage workers get now from their employers?

I have written about this issue many, many times and because we have Democrats (read Socialists) in power, we have to be extra careful on what we allow to happen.

I truly believe that a compromise between Democrats and Republicans is possible because, basically, we all agree that something needs to be done and we are even agreeing on some of the steps that need to be taken.

The fundamental sticking point is what the role of our government is to be in the new health system. MEDICARE & MEDICAID are proof that our government should NOT run any health plan. For those that don’t know how mismanaged, inefficient and downright corrupt those plans are, you will just have to take my word for it.

We all agree that all Americans need to posses health coverage – whether they like it or not! The forty (40) million uninsured figure that is usually bandied about includes twenty (20) million young people that just plainly don’t want to part with their beer money to pay for something they feel they do not need – right now.

So what we are left with is 20 million that either cannot afford coverage or would just use the free ER care which they are legally entitled to.

So we all agree that we, as a nation, need UNIVERSAL COVERAGE but we all MUST also agree that enlarging MEDICARE to allow all these uninsured millions is NOT the way to go because as I said before, our government cannot run or administer that program and we have solid proof of that.

There are Democrats (Ted Kennedy for one) that have always dreamed of a single-payer, government run system known as SOCIALIZED MEDICINE (U.K / Canada) and they will try to resurrect that idea. That effort needs to be slapped down fast and hard like it was when Hillary tried it some years back.

So let’s start by all agreeing that MANDATORY UNIVERSAL COVERAGE must be instituted and those that really cannot afford coverage must be SUBSIDIZED in some form or fashion.

ECONOMY: Summit in Detroit

My wife is the wife of a capitalist, me - but has a socialist streak that manifests itself often. She understands why we need capitalism but she thinks that capitalism neglects the common man who is so dependent on the U.S. capitalist system for his economic survival.

This weekend there is an ECONOMIC SUMMIT in Detroit where hundreds of CEOs from some of the biggest firms, together with other business big wigs are coming together to discuss and lecture on the U.S. economy and what must be done to improve it.

My wife is involved in the protest that is planned to bring attention during the Economic Summit, to the working man that is being ignored and trampled on. The protest will include a “tent city” where the unemployed, the laid off, the foreclosed on and many others directly affected by our current economic conditions, will gather to make their voices heard.

My wife will run the kitchen to feed all these protestors so I won’t see her for about three (3) days. I was amazed at the food she amassed from donations by various merchants and impressed in how she has planned to run a “field” kitchen so to speak that will feed “masses” of people.

I have been reading some of the socialist / communist drivel that is coming from the protest organizers and I am happy to see that my wife is not buying into that nonsense BUT she has raised some valid points about how our government is handling our current economic crisis.

The standard socialist program screams for the workers to take charge and run everything for the good of society (workers) and not for profit (dirty word). Obviously this has been tried and has failed miserably mainly because the workers can’t run shit and without a profit motive, there is no incentive to succeed at anything so goes the phrase from the Communist era – “you pretend to pay us and we will pretend to work”.

I keep reading and hearing from the protestors that job creation is paramount and right now all they are seeing is job destruction. OK, you can say that but how about some ideas as to how to create jobs? Oh, I see, it’s up to the capitalists to come up with new jobs as if it’s their duty while the workers scream at them for causing all this turmoil in their lives – interesting?

Here in Michigan, the writing on the wall has been visible for many years but everything was going so well, no one had the balls to do what was necessary; not management, not the unions, so now we all pay the price.

I am asked if I blame the workers but I have to say that it was a team effort that killed the goose that laid the golden egg and yes, I know many workers are suffering right now so I will be following this Economic Summit to see what ideas emerge from it.

IRAN: Time for Change Now!

A quick note on the Iranian elections this weekend; Obama’s Cairo speech was timed perfectly to be heard BEFORE the Iranian elections. The speech hammered away at the need for basic freedoms in Muslim nations. This was not specifically directed at Iran but it definitely did apply there.

Iran has a large population and that population, unlike other Muslim populations, is smart, young and modern and they have experienced the “good life” once before and long for its return.

This election was supposed to get rid of the total idiot MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD that has failed on a number of fronts including getting Iranians out of their economic doldrums. He has, on the other hand, made himself into an international joke and an international threat BUT he obeyed his religious leaders who were/ are in total control of him and the government.

The challenger MIR HOSSEIN MOUSAUI was a re-former supported by young Iranians who want change.

There was a huge turnout for the election with polls having to remain open for an additional six (6) hours in some places. This was a good sign for the reform movement as many of those voting were young Iranians who for the first time saw an opportunity for change.

The next day, the religious leader of the country and, for all intents and purposes, its king and supreme ruler (AYATOLLAH ALI KHAMENEI), declared a “landslide” victory for AHMADINEJAD; an obviously rigged election.

You see, the new guy would not have been easy to control by the theocrats and therefore a danger to their theocracy so a victory for MOUSAUI could not be allowed.

Since the election was so obviously rigged, supporters of MOUSAUI are rightly pissed and are showing their displeasure by burning some tires in the streets and other doing other “minor” rioting actions.

The Iranian “Revolutionary Guards” will not put up with any rioting or protesting or any threatening gestures to the theocratic rule of the clerics and will use all the force they need.

BUT maybe, just maybe, the people have had enough of life under the thumbs of the clerics and maybe, just maybe they are willing to do something about it other than through political action because obviously the political route will never work since the Ayatollah declared Ahmadinejad’s victory a “divine assessment” which basically means, God wants him to win and we know what God wants and therefore we will do what God directs us to do and since you did not vote as God wished, we spit on your votes.

Believe it or not, I have a brother who was born during WWII in Teheran, Iran and died there as an infant of pneumonia and is buried there so I have a connection with Iran and wish the people the best and hope they will rid themselves of the idiots controlling their destinies.

AUTO INDUSTRY: Understanding the Word INEVITABLE

I have written quite a bit about our economy and the failing auto industry. This Sunday I have been reading articles about how our government (Obama) “forced” bankruptcy on GM and Chrysler.

I have to point out that I called for bankruptcy quite some time ago as the only rational “capitalist” thing to do. I am not the only one who saw bankruptcy coming, many saw it as inevitable so why the big uproar now?

Obama appointed an “auto task force” that was to study the situation and make recommendations. These were not stupid people (Steve Rattner) so of course they would see the inevitable right away even though GM and Chrysler were saying we can stay out of bankruptcy.

Obama was in a predicament here. On the one hand, the American people did not want a bailout of the auto companies because all the people could see was a greedy union, greedy, spoiled workers and a greedy, incompetent management that would not change things when things needed to be changed.

On the other hand, Democrats wanted to preserve jobs (votes) and unions (money & votes) so what is a president to do.

He gave the auto companies some money but told them to build a sustainable business model quickly or go into bankruptcy with his financial help, and build a sustainable, business model after getting out of bankruptcy. In this way, he placated both sides.

The difference with Chrysler is that Obama forced a sale / merger to / with FIAT and that maybe problematic in the long run basically because no one knows how stable Fiat is BUT I don’t think Chrysler could have done the bankruptcy thing on its own, they may have needed to be liquidated which would be a real shame.

Some are complaining that the unions have made concessions and that bankruptcy was avoidable. I say, no way. Everyone involved with the auto companies knew what needed to be done yet they refused to do it. Now that they are forced they are griping that they would have done it – bullshit – no more playing around; its crunch time!

Note: I have warned in the past that I am a little leery of our government getting a little too involved in the business world. Sure Obama keeps promising he will be out as soon as possible so I hope he keeps his promise and let the business system return to normal.

MUSLIM WORLD: Education is Key!

As predicted, Obama’s speech to the Muslim world has brought some comments of interest.

Some, usually very serious commentators have said that the speech was great but words cannot and will not change the ingrained idiocy of people taught from childhood to hate, hate and hate. The writer pointed out a recent suicide bombing in Pakistan that killed some 40+ people praying in a mosque of all places.

This was a Muslim on Muslim crime without regard or care for anything that humans hold dear like life, family, future, friends, etc. How can people capable of doing such things ever be persuaded with mere words.

Well, the writer is correct. There are people, thousands of them that are brainwashed beyond any hope of ever being rehabilitated enough to share the world with real human beings.

But what is the option; just to annihilate them all? I don’t think so.

Obama’s plan (as I see it) is to reach the young, the students that are still reachable. He talked about allowing more and more students from Muslim countries to come and study in the United States. Here they can see what really happens and how people really behave and think instead of just listening to the non-stop condemnation of the U.S. by fanatical religious twits. Each student graduated from a U.S. school will become an ambassador/ teacher to hopefully, thousands of their fellow countrymen.

Education is the key and not the education offered by Islamic schools like the MADRASAHS of Pakistan where the kids learn nothing else but their religion and about the infidels that are planning to steal their religion away from them; the Satans of the West. I am talking about decent public schools.

Key also is allowing females to be educated in public (not religious) schools. An educated female translates to an educated family (children) and that can keep on going for a good, long time, if not indefinitely; all that is needed to start is to start educating girls.

Simple – not in a world where in some areas women are looked on as less valuable than the family donkey – but a plan nonetheless.

AMERICAN INDIANS:Peru's Indians Fight Back!

In reading the Sunday New York Times, I came across a story of fighting in the jungle of Peru. What attracted me to the story was that the fighting was between the government forces of Peru and Peru’s indigenous Indians living in the jungles of Peru.

Recently I blogged about the South Dakota Indians called Lakota and their sad history of maltreatment at the hands of the American government and public. The unfolding story of the Indians in Peru today is interesting in light of my statement that most indigenous people that existed in the pre-Columbian New World were similarly treated by the invading Europeans and eventually were assimilated into the new, prevailing culture and I wondered why our Native American Indians were not.

In Peru, the government there has contracted with oil companies to go into the jungle and drill for oil since oil is the new gold. Well, the Indians living in these regions have objected and are fighting back just like our Indians did against the Western migration of European, white settlers who were running the Indians off their “own” lands.

Here is the kicker; some of the Indian tribes in the jungles of Peru are “un-contacted” which means they have lived in isolation from the modern people of Peru – wow!

What is happening is exactly what happened here with our own Indians in the early history of our country and obviously, continues to this day.

I am very interested to see how this develops and if the Peru government will actually do some thinking about their next steps instead of just sending in the army to protect the oil workers as we did to protect gold miners, trappers and settlers.

Historically, the Indians were not Christians and were therefore viewed as heathen savages which made them somehow sub-human and therefore did not have to be treated as civilized humans. It was easier to justify killing savages who were more animal than human, than killing civilized Christians.

I would hope we have moved on from that type of thinking although I am not quite sure all of us have moved on and that is why I would hope a wide exposure of the situation in Peru may bring some pressure on the government there to do the right thing BUT since only the New York Times seems to report such stories, I doubt the Indian’s plight will be widely known.

The interesting question here is can these Indians be eventually assimilated, should they be or should they be left alone, undiscovered and isolated from the “civilized” world?

Note: My company makes and sells clinical laboratory testing products. For a number of years now, we have sponsored an American female doctor who runs a clinic in the Peruvian jungle. We have donated our products so she can treat, as best she can, the indiginous Indian population of the jungle. her stories are facinating to read.

SOUTH DAKOTA: Vacation pictures

AMERICAN INDIANS: South Dakota Vacation

I did say that I would have a few words about my vacation trip to South Dakota and especially about the American Indian history there and their continuing story.

Besides the Mt. Rushmore memorial to four U.S. presidents, there is an ongoing project called the CRAZY HORSE MEMORIAL which is an attempt to tell the Indian side of history. Both memorials are mountain sculptures.

There is no question that the Indians in these states, the Dakota, Lakota and others, got a raw deal. The Lakota lived off the buffalo (bison) and traveled wherever the buffalo roamed which was far and wide since there were millions of buffalo. Enter the Americans / Europeans and bam! No more buffalo.

The U.S. Government gave them a good part of South Dakota as their nation - land (get it – we gave them their land) but then gold was discovered in their sacred Black Hills so a gold rush ensued and to hell with their land rights; the cavalry under Custer had to protect the white prospectors so they shot the Indians (remember the Wounded Knee Massacre?).

My point here is to say that I don’t see how things could have turned out any different than they did (for the Indians) no matter what we (the Americans / Europeans) did.

In all fairness, the land was theirs even though they shared the land and fought over the land with their fellow Indian tribes. They did not recognize land ownership as such and felt the land belonged to all who used it BUT they were there first and “lived” there so according to my logic it was theirs.

But you can say that about all the lands making up the American continent; there were native populations in existence for centuries before the Europeans landed and took over – they had the guns.

The Lakota Indian life of living in tee-pees and following the buffalo (which provided 100% of their sustenance) was undoubtedly an idyllic life for the Indians for many ages BUT became unsustainable with the arrival of immigrant settlers.

What usually happens is that the native population after trying to keep the invaders out for as long as they could eventually “adapts” to the new way of life and is assimilated into this new culture. All Americans are immigrants except for the Native Americans, who brought with them their own cultural roots (Poles, Germans, Italians, Irish…) and many kept those ethnic ties alive while being assimilated into the great melting pot that is America – but not the Indians.

We visited an Indian museum financed by Kevin Costner (Dancing with Wolves movie) who is a staunch advocate for the Indians here. An Indian guide explained to us the old days of the Lakota and how their lands were taken from them; the man had an obvious “chip” on his shoulder even though quite young.

Traveling through the beauty that is South Dakota, we discussed why the Indians did not assimilate and even though they have millions of acres of (worthless) land and are considered a “nation” with their own laws, etc., they still remain poor, sick, drunk and without a viable future – why?

I don’t know why even though there are isolated instances of Indians that broke out and became successful, even famous. Some say their nomadic culture could not adapt to a stationary life. Some compare them to Mongolians who to this day follow the yak herd from pasture to pasture, something they have been doing for thousands of years.

OK, maybe in Mongolia but actually, when I looked at the vast prairies of South Dakota, I wondered why the Indians did not continue their ancient way of life. Yes, buffalo herds would have to be regulated as not to deplete the grasses but hey, it could have been done – so why hasn’t it even been tried or has it?

Today, the U.S. Government manages a very large herd of buffalo in South Dakota as a means of preserving the natural history of the land – why couldn’t the Lakota been doing this and selling buffalo meat like ranchers sell beef?

Well, one trip to South Dakota is not going to answer any questions but it sure got us thinking…

MUSLIM WORLD: Obama delivers a magnificent message!

While exercising in the early morning, I usually watch CNN and therefore was able to watch Obama’s speech in Cairo to the Muslim world. The speech was simply MAGNIFICENT.

You knew it was going to be good when Osama bin Laden released a message on the day before the speech trying to downplay the speech before it was even given. He knew that if anybody was able to bring understanding, respect and hopefully peace between Muslims, Christians and Jews, it would be Obama and that scares the shit out of bin’ Laden because then, he would be out of a job.

One statement by a Muslim that stuck in my mind was that, for the first time, a president of the United States looks like half of the Muslim world look and that is a big factor in getting the Muslims to at least listen to the message. Also, Barak’s personal life, with a somewhat Muslim father, a Christian education in a Muslim land (Indonesia), all make him more recognizable to the Muslim world as opposed to that white, somewhat protestant, drinking’ ole’ boy who could not pronounce country names or international leader names, named Bush.

Obama’s message was translated into about every language and dialect imaginable and broadcast through every channel imaginable so even Muslims living in tents in the desert would get to listen, read or see his speech and what a speech it was…

Obama did not skip any issue; he numbered them and then addressed each one. He did not sugar-coat the message; he told it like it is and I think the audience appreciated that because TRUTH is sometimes hard to say and hear.

I won’t go into detail but I will agree with a lot of the people that heard the speech when they said, great speech, now let’s see some action.

I think the Jews might be the problem in getting talks going because under NETANYAHU, they just don’t want to give up their settlements and they really HAVE TO if any progress towards peace is to be made.

OK I have to tell you what I really liked about his speech. He quoted the Koran, Bible and the Talmud to show people that WE REALLY ARE ALL ALIKE AND OUR RELIGIONS ARE TOO.

He said that we all believe in to the precept that WE SHOULD TREAT PEOPLE AS WE WANT TO BE TREATED and I have been speaking about U.S. Christians who have big mouths about what should ne done but they are the ones that DON’T LISTEN TO THEIR GOD JESUS AND HIS TEACHING TO LOVE YOUR FUCKIN’ NEIGHBOR AS YOU LOVE YOURSELF.

Obama’s trip includes a German concentration camp that his grandfather helped liberate ( a message to that Holocaust denier from Iran) and a trip to Normandy, France to celebrate that huge WWII action that led to the end of WWII because of AMERICAN BLOOD AND SACRIFICE (message to the Muslims that Americans have saved the world more than once and are not all Satans as portrayed in their media by their leaders who thrive on the ignorance of their people).

Obama has brains and people with brains that work for him and our country and he has a plan that makes sense – finally – thank the lord or somebody – quick!

SUPREME COURT: The Ethnicity Factor?

OK, my last comment about the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor for Supreme Court justice has to do with her Puerto Rican ethnicity and how it influences her and how she uses it.

Conservatives have latched on to a quote where she says something about making better judicial decisions as a Latina woman with Latina experiences than a white man with no minority experiences – or something like that. Obviously, people take words out of context and use them for their attacks knowing full well that the same words heard in context take on a totally different meaning – should be a crime!

Anyway, she was talking about white jurists like Oliver Wendell Holmes who was considered a great justice and yet he voted to uphold race and sex discrimination laws even writing papers where he told women to mind their place in society.

Sam Alito during his confirmation hearings stated that coming from an immigrant Italian family gave his a lot more sensitivity to the plight of immigrants and minorities. Is that the same as the sensitivities of a Latina woman?

It appears to me that the conservatives are up against an uppity, big mouth; big smile, pushy broad and they don’t like that.

My only concern here is that she obviously benefited from “affirmative action” but she actually took that help and ran with it unlike some who are promoted only because of affirmative action and really have not earned the promotion.

I have been against affirmative action based solely on race from the beginning and have fought against the University of Michigan cases as basically racist as in reverse-discrimination.

The case of the firefighter’s promotion exam in New England in which she ruled for the state gives me concern. In the case, white and Hispanic firefighters passed the promotion test BUT because not one black firefighter passed it, the state nullified the entire test meaning all promotions were put on hold until, if logic follows here, a black fighter passes the test and gets promoted?

The white and Hispanic firefighters have appealed the case and it is now before the Supreme Court and if Sotomayor is made a Supreme Court justice, she would have a chance to vote on the case AGAIN!

I have a problem with people that feel they can trample all over the rights of whites in an effort to help certain minorities; it is just not fair and I have argued this point many times in the past.

Sotomayor will have to represent all Americans as a judge on the Supreme Court and she will also have to uphold the Constitution and other laws of the land. If she cannot carry out her duties as an objective officer of the court (remember the blind-folded statue of justice), than she will be flawed as a justice and that is not what is required of the position (ideally). I am not saying that the other justices on the court are all objective jurists (far from it) but I guess she will bring somewhat of a balance to the court and that is what Obama is looking for.