POLITICS: Chaney needs to be challenged!

This Sunday, Dick Chaney went on TV to spit out his drivel about the Iraq War and what Obama is doing to endanger this country. Most of all he is trying to re-write history, repeating the already discredited bullshit him and Bush were spouting when they were in office.

I was happy to see that the White House IMMEDIATELY (the same Sunday) sent VP Joe Biden to counter Chaney’s horseshit.

I cannot believe that the networks are allowing Chaney to even have air time. He still tells the host about Saddam’s WMD (weapons of mass destruction) that have never been found and do not exist. Chaney still mumbles that the War on Iraq was justified when it has been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that the war was a HUGE mistake that cost thousand of American lives and countless BILLIONS of dollars and has NOT resulted in any benefit(s) to the U.S. or the world.

In fact, as we speak, the three (3) factions in Iraq (Sunni, Shia and Kurds) are getting ready for a civil war; there will never be a democratic government, there will only be a Shia dictatorship and everybody knows that. Obama is deluding himself if he thinks otherwise.

BUT back to Chaney, why is he not being challenged by respected news people? I expect FOX to agree with him because they know how to manufacture their own news but ABC? Challenge the old fucker, show him to be senile. You notice Bush isn’t talking – he knows better – real history will be bad enough for his legacy of imbecility.

ECONOMY: What jobs?

The topic of jobs or unemployment has come up in discussion on a number of occasions especially what Obama is doing to generate jobs and bring down the unemployment rate.

One of my friends posited the idea that many of the jobs that have been lost in the last few years were jobs created by the credit bubble and will never return. He makes a compelling argument which I have seen firsthand; I know of a number of people who quit their normal jobs to become mortgage writers / originators. In those days anybody could get into the mortgage business, all they had to do was write a mortgage, get it signed, and sell it to a mortgage holder who would pay the originator a commission. The originator did not have to worry if the mortgage was sound or if the person signing could ever have a chance in hell of paying it back – they took the commission check and moved on to the next one – they made a ton of money.

I would imagine that there were countless thousands of people who became mortgage originators or worked as clerks for mortgage originators and now they are all out of work and those jobs are never coming back because we hope federal regulators will prevent something like that from ever happening again.

The loose credit also encouraged people to spend foolishly buying all sorts of things they could not afford and that in turn created jobs for people making the shit that people could not afford – when credit dried up so did the manufacturing jobs – people stopped buying things they could not afford.

So I guess the question is what will these people do that have lost jobs that are never coming back? More and more people are entering the job market each year while older workers are scared to retire in our economic downturn and will hold on to their jobs as long as they can. Where are the new jobs coming from? My friend suggests that we may be facing a “permanent” 10% unemployment rate.

People are going back to school to learn new skills but what are the skills one should learn to get a job; we will eventually have enough nurses or cops or we may have enough already. Even now, I am getting resumes from skilled workers applying for non-skilled jobs that I have openings for; hamburger flippers with master’s degrees?

Some are saying that “new” industries like energy generation will create new jobs but how many? If we continue to engage in constant warfare we at least will always have openings for soldiers?

This is a topic I am sure every economist is talking about and Obama is all ears but what are the solutions. I will keep on looking…

OBAMA: Not what I expected?

Just got back from Turks & Caicos where I had a good change of scenery and a little rest from the weather at home and the storm at work; the storm at work is obviously huge since I have not been able to write to my blog like I had for a number of years now – hopefully things will return to normal soon…

There are a lot of issues to discuss but let me start by saying how disappointed I am in Obama. I guess I was duped by his rhetoric; reminds me of John Kennedy who also duped the public with his “charm” and his “family” but no substance.

I have mentioned before that I felt he took on way too many projects all at once and did not concentrate on what needed to be done FIRST.

Now he is actually back-tracking on issues he was firm on and that makes him look wishy-washy. He was jolted by the Massachusetts voter revolt and now is questioning his own resolve on some issues but maybe he should have taken a harder look at some issues before leaping into the fray the way he did.

He has backed down on healthcare, he has backed down on trying terrorists in NYC’s civilian courts and he has backed down on dismantling Bush’s “faith-based” charities getting federal aid and he probably should have waited bringing up the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays in the military.

Let me just touch on the “faith-based” charities issue first, the rest later. Bush’s faith based charities policy gave federal funds to religious organizations that discriminated on the basis of religion i.e. they hired only members of their own religion which is against federal law which demands zero discrimination on any basis from firms receiving federal funds. Obama promised to dismantle the obviously illegal and unconstitutional relationship between the federal government and religious organizations BUT now he thinks the relationship is OK because he needs support from the religious right – bullshit!

Obama was always pro-union as are most Democrats but I did not think he would abandon all rationality just to give them a chance to get stronger by getting rid of all legal obstacles to unionization; I had to actually depend on the Republicans to keep union rule in check and so far they have done a good job forcing Obama to take another look at his blatant unionism and the damage that stance can do to the nation’s economy. Actually, one of the factors that prolonged the Great Depression was FDR’s pro-union legislation that kept unemployment very high for too long.

I have not given up completely on Obama but things need to change and he needs to change; maybe he should change some people around him who obviously are not giving him good advice.

Hope to have time to talk about specifics this month…

HAITI: Christian Missionaries???

While on our way to the Turks & Caicos Islands in the Caribbean we noticed a number of what we call Jesus groups with T-shirts stating that they are going to do missionary work in Jamaica, Haiti or some other “poor” country.

Although I believe some missionaries actually accomplish some good for the people they go to serve, I still believe that the main impetus behind all this “good” work is to get a good place in heaven for themselves, add converts to the faith and spread the Word.

I have been watching the Baptists missionaries imprisoned in Haiti for child smuggling and I am trying to get a handle on what they were really up to. I don’t for a minute think they were collecting children to sell but what were they really doing, since most of those kids were not orphans? I guess you could say they were trying to give those children a better life…?

I read one report saying that Haiti needs help to establish itself as a viable culture; you cannot rebuild what has never been built in the first place. Haiti does not need Jesus people taking their kids away; they need help as a society to get to a position where they can take care of their own children as well as themselves so back to the Jesus people…

The leader of the imprisoned group is Laura Silsby from Idaho. It seems she is a single parent with a house in foreclosure and a business in bankruptcy with employees filing suit against her for various reasons. She says she heard God’s call to go to Haiti and led a group of people who have since told authorities they were mislead by Laura as to their actual mission there, to collect children and take them to an orphanage that she controlled (?) in the Dominican Republic.

I guess what aggravates me, and this is turning into a much larger aggravation then I originally envisioned, is people like Silsby who seem to know what God wants or what His plans are. I am now reading about missionaries baptizing people (Voodoo people I presume) and issuing them a baptismal certificate which happens to be the only legal document these people have to identify themselves - so they are issuing identity cards if you agree to be baptized a Christian?

I am reading that the Haitians are being told that God was so pissed at them for practicing Voodoo that he sent the earthquake to punish them and if they become good Christians and abandon Voodoo, their lives will improve dramatically and no more disasters.

I realize that the Haitians need help desperately, in fact, their whole culture needs help; they need to change the way they think and the way they act and that may mean switching from one superstition (Voodoo) to another (Christianity) since Christian communities have a history of social and commercial success whereas I have never heard of a Voodoo culture / community building a Wall Street.

On the one hand I hate to see those self-serving Christians handing out Bibles to desperate people in need of food but on the other, I don’t know how to change their culture so they can become productive people with a future for themselves and their children.

ECONOMY: Job creation or charity?

I have heard Obama’s State of the Union speech and I have heard his emphasis on JOBS but quite frankly, I don’t think he and his team really know what to do about creating jobs for Americans; if that is even possible.

I have looked where Obama’s stimulus dollars are going and they are going to “support” existing programs and in fact, they are nothing more than “welfare” dollars with nothing to do with creating jobs.

I will admit that some of those stimulus dollars are “saving” exiting jobs like the State Troopers in Michigan which were laid-off due to budget cuts and that is important and productive BUT giving money to YMCAs around the country or Food Banks or Libraries…

Don’t get me wrong, these are noble institutions but if your aim and goal is to create JOBS, you are missing your target by a mile!

During the Great Depression, FDR tried to create jobs through the government and many of the projects those jobs created are evident today in our national parks, hydroelectric dams etc. He allowed charitable giving to take care of the food banks and support organizations that helped the unemployed and those suffering through the Great Depression.

Even though I voted for Obama, got caught up in his rhetoric and believed that he truly knew what needed to be done and how to do it, I now feel he has bitten off more that he can chew or in other words, trying to do too many things at once.

The economy is paramount and jobs need to be created, hen why is he doling money out to support organizations that will NOT create jobs? He is supporting the unemployed instead of trying to employ the unemployed. I realize that this is a fine line but why should I support food banks with my donations when our government is doing that for me?

I am no economist but some things make sense and others do not and the Obama administration does not appear to know what to do and in fact they are making things worst. My two (2) cents in this matter is spend tax payer money on projects and organizations that will create jobs, even if not permanent jobs, just jobs that will put people back to work and pay them a wage that they can spend and therefore stimulate the economy – kapish?

POLITICS: Republican takes Kennedy's Senate Seat

Martha Coakley lost a Senate seat from Massachusetts that has been in Democratic hands (Ted Kennedy) for over 46 years, why?

Many are saying that independents in the blue state are sending a message to Obama and Democrats in general that they don’t like what is going on and want a change; ironic that Obama ran on a “change” platform.

How quickly people forget how bad it was under Bush and the Republicans and now they want to go back?

A big factor in the Democratic loss (I think) was the candidate Martha Coakley; she was a bad candidate.

I have grown very leery of government prosecutors whether state or federal. They are a breed of attorney that has higher office in mind and thus they will do anything to attain that office even if they have to compromise on justice. For them winning big cases gets them closer to that higher office and they will win them by hook or by crook.

In our state of Michigan we have had many of this type including David Gorcyca who tried to railroad a young male school teacher on sexual molestation charges. He nearly succeeded until a smart defense attorney revealed how certain evidence that could exonerate her client was being hidden; Gorcyca is not running for higher office any more. There are many more examples of these unscrupulous people in power all over the country.

Martha Coakley, in my mind, is another Gorcyca. She was involved in the famous Amirault Family Fells Acres Day Care sexual molestation case. This was at the height of the day care sex abuse scare where children were goaded into revealing the most prurient deeds which on closer examination were just that, ideas placed in children’s heads by prosecutors that wanted to win a sensational case no matter what the truth actually revealed.

This total disregard for the truth and basic justice has turned me against prosecutors and unfortunately I am skeptical about even the goods ones since some good ones must exist.

Talking to some business associates from Boston who flew in today after the election, they said that as bad as Coakley’s character is, her loss let in a fundamentalist, conservative Bush nut that we already have way too many of in Congress. I guess the people of Massachusetts picked between two evils and gave their nod to the Republican. Were they wrong? Only time will tell.

HAITI: Where are the Americans?

The scenes from Haiti on the evening news are pretty gruesome. It is hard for me to understand how come it is taking so much time for basic supplies like food and water to reach the people that desperately need them when the news networks keep showing supplies coming in the tons, plane after plane, but not making it off the airport tarmac; something is amiss.

The past two nights, the networks were showing doctors using garage saws to cut off limbs and rum to sterilize those saws; where are the medical supplies?

Last night, ABC News showed a field hospital from Israel. They came the night before, set up and started treating patients – huh?

Not only was this a field hospital, it had specialty tents; one for pediatrics, a maternity tent, an orthopedic tent and even an ICU (Intensive Care Unit). Where in the hell was the American field hospital?

I was trained as a medic during Vietnam and we were trained to practice field medicine. Field hospitals were organized in a triage mode where you treated those that could be treated and passed on those that were too badly hurt; remember MASH (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) on TV from the Korean War?

During the Iraq war, the field hospitals basically saved everyone no matter how critical; we got that good at field medicine so where are we in Haiti? Maybe we are so thinly stretched by Iraq and Afghanistan that we don’t have any more field hospital units left; look how we handled Katrina on our own soil.

The French unit “Doctors Without Borders” were in Haiti and the French government was sending a complete field hospital and the Israelis were there as seen on the news but the only American doctor I saw on the news was Richard Besser, the ABC medical correspondent who couldn’t help anyone because he was just reporting and trying to look hunky for the cameras.

I guess I am just disappointed in our effort so far. All I see is Bill Clinton walking about, highly paid reporters and news anchors walking about trying to show compassion and next will come the politicians from around the world trying to personally asses the situation on the ground – what happened to passing out bottles of water?

Everyone is collecting money for Haiti, staging all sorts of money making events for the victims in Haiti. Yes, in the long run there will be a big need for money to build up the city and country again but right now it is as simple as getting the supplies off the airport tarmac and into people’s hands; we will rebuild later.

I would be very careful where I donate my relief funds since there are many shysters out there that sound very legitimate; I don’t even trust the Red Cross which has been known to use money donated for a specific cause like Haiti relief, for other Red Cross needs such as administrative costs.

There will be a need for housing; a lot of housing to shelter the people before serious rebuilding can be undertaken and lots of food and water for a very long time – now that will take some money.

HAITI: A religious issue?

I was waiting for some religious nutcase to link the Haiti disaster to a punishment by God and Pat Robertson, a certified nutcase, did not waste any time.

It is true that the island of Hispaniola is divided into Haiti on the left (West) and Dominican Republic on the right (East) and yes, the Dominican Republic has resorts like Punta Cana (loved our vacation there) and Haiti, on the other hand has nothing but poverty, corruption, squalor and now massive destruction and death.

Both countries are poor (we went off the resort to visit the countryside and it was pretty bleak) but Haiti is especially poor and the reasons for that poverty can easily be explained by their type of corrupt, non-functioning government and that the few rich, dominate and exploit the poor, just like in colonial slave days.

Pat Robertson seems to know something about history since he blamed Haiti’s plight on a historic rumor of a pact made with the devil to help them overthrow their French masters, how else could they have overthrown the Christian French; their Voodoo religion is obviously a satanic religion.

This historic myth, long discredited by historians, was promoted and spread by Christian colonial powers and colonists to explain how this could have possibly happened. Those same powers then blockaded the new country, plunging it into chaos and poverty.

The point here is not what really happened in history; it is that a supposedly educated American could possibly have equated the Haiti disaster to a punishment by God. Well, all disasters have been equated the same way, remember 9/11 was for us allowing abortions and Katrina was for us allowing gay marriage. So what does this tell us about fundamentalist Christian leaders and the masses of followers that they control. To me, these people are regressing to a time when such stupid notions were taken as fact and I will throw in the never disappearing stain of racism that some people cannot and will never wash out of their being.

How does this make us look on the world stage; as religious cave men living in the richest nation on earth?

Also, did you notice all the Christian missionaries in that country – what gives? Why are they trying to convert all those people to Christianity – what good will that do them – the Christian God brings disasters on Christians – lots of them – so what good is it to become a Christian?

Brit Hume of FOX NEWS told Tiger Woods that he needs to convert to Christianity from his Buddhist faith if he wants forgiveness for his misdeeds and a chance at heaven. This is a highly educated, very rich man and he is spouting off such nonsense? Do people loose their rationale minds when they become Christians?

I am not down on Christians, I am down on religion which is preventing this world from becoming a human world with all humans as brothers and sisters of earth, willing to help each other because they are fellow humans and not because their respective gods tell them that that is what they should do to enter into heaven.

AFGHANISTAN: Obama's big problem!

Senate Report Says Bin Laden Was Within Reach of U.S. Troops

I have been having some heated discussions with my wife about the Afghanistan War and what President Obama is going to do about it; he will announce his plans this Tuesday.

She wants Obama to stick to his promise and end the war and bring back our troops. Money is also a factor as the cost of the war is unsustainable given our very poor economy; we could be spending the money for other things?

As a student of history, I have to first point out that after 9/11, the Afghan war or more precisely, the elimination of al-Qaeda and bin-Laden as a threat to the U.S., could have been accomplished years ago if it wasn’t for that lying sack of poop BUSH (see link to story). He pulled our troops, who were winning the war and about to annihilate al-Qaeda, out of Afghanistan and into the totally wrong, never should have happened, war in Iraq. What is worst, BUSH allowed al-Qaeda to actually strengthen and become even a bigger danger to the U.S.?

The war in Afghanistan has now grown extremely complicated involving the Taliban insurgency, a corrupt Afghan government and tribal tensions; it’s a mess.

Please remember that Obama inherited this mess from the BUSH era so don’t blame him; he now has the unenviable task of fixing something that probably cannot be fixed completely or very quickly.

In my mind, he really has no choice but to follow the original mission in Afghanistan; eliminate the al-Qaeda threat completely. With Pakistani forces battling al-Qaeda on their side of the border, U.S. troops need to do the same on the Afghan side of the border – squeeze play.

Once that is done let the Afghans handle the rest.

POLITICS: Sarah Palin's Supporters Scare Me!

Sarah Palin wrote a book and went to Grand Rapids, Michigan for a book signing. Thousands of people showed up, many standing in line to get her signature and tell her how much they loved her and would vote for her when she ran for president – NOW THAT IS REAL SCARY!

She picked cities like Grand Rapids, Michigan for a reason. They are filled with right wing; religious fundamentalists who see her as one of them and believe when she becomes president, the nation will once again be under the control of ultra conservative, Christian fundamentalist wackos.

Palin’s book has been panned as a fiction masquerading as a factual account of her life and political campaign with John McCain. She obviously is trying to position herself correctly for the 2012 presidential elections in the eyes of her supporters and people that are thinking of supporting her.

I have no problem with people liking Palin; she is cute, energetic and outspoken but to take her seriously as a potential president of the United States is patently absurd but what does it say about those people that support her efforts.

Well, those people will only believe things about Sarah Palin that they want to be true; facts do not matter here. These people are not objective and will just shutout any criticism of Palin as a campaign by the left to smear her reputation. But it is not only the left that is being criticized, these Palin supporters also are not happy with the current Republicans who they view as way too liberal and also jealous of Palin’s popularity.

The Republicans have a tough road ahead of them as evidenced by recent Congressional races in upper New York State where a moderate Republican was told to step down in favor of a conservative wacko type Republican who Palin supported. The wacko lost to a Democrat but the split in Republican ranks was palpable and a sign of trouble ahead.

I realize the nation is divided but the extent of the division and the type of division is quite concerning but maybe the media (FOX) is just making it up as they do all their news – don’t laugh – it is a proven fact that they have apologized for many times – just tune into the Daly Show with John Stewart on the Comedy Channel; he actually catches them at making up the news all the time.

GAY MARRIAGE: Can be made into non-issue!

When we were vacationing in Maine this fall, we saw a pretty intense campaign going on about gay marriage. People in Maine are mostly secular so we were surprised to hear that the gay marriage proposal was defeated.

I was also surprised to see that the Mormon Church which defeated the gay marriage proposal in California now endorsed an anti-discrimination proposal in Utah which allows gay partners to share in economic benefits now given only to married couples.

On the same topic, the Catholic Church in Washington, DC which provides social services to the poor under contract with the city said it will not be able to provide those services to gay couples once the city recognizes gay marriage even though it provides those same services to divorced and remarried couples which it also does not recognize.

As I see it, many people feel that gay committed couples do deserve to share in the benefits allotted to heterosexual couples but they gag at the idea of legalized gay marriage since to them the word marriage is a religious ceremony blessed by God.

Europe has no problems with gay marriage because over there ALL COUPLES wanting to get married must be joined in a civil union at the court house for their union (marriage) to be legal. After the civil ceremony, the couple is free to have a religious ceremony performed at the church of their choice; the church ceremony is not the legal ceremony, the civil one is.

In our country, the church ceremony (marriage) is the legal one since priests and ministers are allowed to perform legal unions. We also have secular civil ceremonies.

In my mind, the solution to all of this is simple. Make civil unions the only legal unions and take away all legal powers to perform marriages away from priests and ministers. Churches would still perform religious marriage ceremonies but they would not have legal standing only religious standing; in this way, the issue of gay marriage would become a non issue.

HEALTHCARE: The abortion issue!

I have been sort of following the healthcare reform debate in Congress and in general, feel that the Democrats are really making a mess of the whole healthcare reform issue.

BUT my blood pressure really hit the roof when I heard Bart Stupak (Michigan) and a number of other like minded Democrats, added an anti-choice amendment to the healthcare bill prohibiting abortion coverage for people receiving federal subsidies or using government health insurance coverage.

Now, I will make myself clear right of the bat; I am not for or against abortion itself, I am PRO-CHOICE.

Pro-choice means that I am not going to dictate to anyone what they should or should not do when faced with a decision as to abortion. IT IS A LEGAL PROCEDURE in this country and as long as it is legal it is illegal to block access to the procedure so the Bart Stupak amendment is ILLEGAL and should be immediately removed.

The Stupak amendment makes no sense on a number of levels besides being illegal. As far as FISCAL logic, poor people that are on federal (tax payer) support are the ones that need abortion coverage the most. They are the ones most susceptible to suffer from self attempted abortions or from botched back alley abortions when they try to end unwanted pregnancies. Those that actually take their unwanted pregnancies to term deposit their unwanted babies at tax payer’s feet to support them for life.

From the so-called religious conscience opposition to legal abortion position which Stupak claims, all I have to say is that we are a secular society and our government is constitutionally obligated to be non-religious so why are people’s religious views getting into our laws?

The American Catholic Church, in all its mighty arrogance, is playing a major role in demanding an anti-choice position in the healthcare legislation. This is unacceptable and pro-choice Catholics need to start making their views known. I realize that the Catholic Church is not a democracy but a religious dictatorship BUT they can be influenced when the money trail stops; make your voice heard through the collection plate.

In my opinion, no one should be allowed to tell me and my wife what to do with OUR creation. Yes, our sperm and egg and if you want to somehow throw God into this let me remind you that your beliefs and superstitions are just that; they are YOUR beliefs based on YOUR faith and not on any evident fact or truth that I accept so please do not suppose that you have some holy right to tell me and my wife what we can or cannot do with our own bodies.

DETROIT: Election results; good or bad?

I am very pleased that Dave Bing has received another term as mayor of Detroit so he can continue to drag the city out of its financial hole. Voter turnout was low and I feared city unions would garner enough voters to vote Bing out but it appears that many votes were by absentee ballot and those votes were mostly from older Detroiters who were not swayed by union demands and voted for the man they felt could finally make a difference in city government.

As far as the city council is concerned I mentioned before that I liked the fact that many candidates were young, smart and eager to bring change to the city but then I was dismayed that many of those candidates had personal financial problems like foreclosures and many were delinquent in paying their taxes. I reasoned that if they could not manage their own money, how would they find the know-how to manage the finances of a large city?

A member of the old city council who got caught under-paying her property taxes laughed at it and said - did you want me to call the city and tell them that I am way under-paying my taxes? This from a council member that castigated businesses and individuals for not paying their fair share of taxes – shall we call her a hypocrite?

I have shared my musings about a Detroit black political and probably social culture in many previous blogs. I was seeing how “sticking it to the man” (government) was actually applauded with our former mayor Kilpatrick being the biggest practitioner of that culture even though HE WAS THE MAN. So we may say he was sticking it to the taxpayers who kept re-electing him even though they knew he was sticking it to them.

In the nearby city of Ecorse, black mayor Herbert was re-elected even though he was arrested by the FBI for conspiracy, bribery and fraud together with his comptroller Hollonquest.

Barbara Braceful a deputy corporation counsel of Detroit under then Mayor Kilpatrick owes $198,000 in delinquent state, federal and property taxes. She continues to work for the City of Detroit under a different title and job.

I realize that many, many white people and people of different races are delinquent in paying taxes and are out and out crooks all you have to do is look at New Jersey, the center of white corruption and there are many mostly black cities like Atlanta that scoff at Detroit and its residents. I am merely trying to get a handle on why Detroit is Detroit and why it keeps digging a deeper and deeper hole for itself.

The first thing the new president of the Detroit City Council did was to go to payroll and get an affidavit from them that he will be making a salary. He will take that information to his bank just in time to stop foreclosure on his condo in the city. A man that desperate for money has to make a perfect target for bribery – do you think?

On the other hand our totally corrupt and incompetent Detroit Public School Board saw its members re-elected even though the newspapers have documented what a bunch of crooks they are and how they steal from the children they are elected to serve.

The same voters approved another $500 million bond sale for the school system after these same board members basically squandered the previous bond fund’s millions on themselves and their friends. How can voters knowingly vote this way? Don’t they care about their children’s future or are they getting a kick-back?

It’s hard to figure out Detroiters and what is on their minds and why they vote like they do but I do see a ray of hope. One smart thing they voted for was to change how the members of the city council are elected. So far, they are elected as “at large” candidates which meant they all can live in the same apartment building. The new way would be by wards or districts which would force candidates to actually represent a specific area of the city. This will bring in Latinos, Muslims and others that form blocks in the city.

I don’t think it’s the race of the individual that will matter but the fact that the candidate will have responsibility for a very specific area and a very specific group of people as well as the city of Detroit as a whole.

Overall, I am hopefully optimistic for the city especially with Dave Bing as mayor. Lets see what happens next as he kicks union butt…

SOCIETY: Child labor in blueberry patch?

You may have recently read about a blueberry farmer in Michigan who was castigated for using child labor to pick his crop of blueberries (Michigan is biggest grower of blueberries in the country).

Kroger, Meijer and Wall-Mart immediately cancelled all orders for blueberries from the farmer. The news media was all aghast at the inhumanity of it all. We were aghast also until we did some thinking.

On closer inspection, the blueberry pickers were from Mexico; they make this seasonal trip to Michigan every year for the harvest as do hundreds of Mexicans. They brought their children with them as they always do because they did not want to leave them behind and they may actually help the parents a little. In the rural days of America, this was also the custom where kids went to school after the harvest was in.

The grocery chains and the media may actually have done more harm to those kids than the physical labor they performed. The farmer now has no market for his crops and so the Mexican families now have no job – great!

The farmer hired the Mexicans to pick his crop. He did not hire the little kids, they just happen to be part of the blueberry picking family.

We are just so quick to jump at perceived wrongs that we just forget to think. I blame the media for that; they just lead us to conclusions that may not be fair or even true but hey, it made for a good human interest story even if it cost people jobs they really needed.