BUTLER FOR MICHIGAN SENATOR?

Sunday, January 29, 2006

To: The Canton Observer
Re: “Butler says he can attract independents”, Jan. 29


Senate candidate Keith Butler appears like an attractive Republican candidate to challenge Debbie Stabenow. As a Republican, I can understand his anti-choice stance. As a Detroiter, knowing full well about the countless unwanted infants that end up tortured and murdered in the city, I would think keeping abortions legal and available would be the compassionate thing to do but then I forget that for anti-choice crowd its’ all about the fetus; they don’t really care what happens to the child after birth.


Janusz M Szyszko

EVOLUTION IN MICHIGAN

Sunday, January 29, 2006


To: The Detroit Free Press
Re: “Bill may stir Darwin probe”, Jan. 28

Representative Brian Palmer (R-Romeo) wants to require all science teachers in Michigan to challenge all scientific theories, “Bill may stir Darwin probe”, Jan. 28.

Will Rep. Palmer require teachers to challenge Newton’s Theory of Gravity or Einstein’s Theory of Relativity or does he have a specific theory in mind, say Darwin’s Theory of Evolution?

I think Michigan science teachers are quite capable of teaching the subject without direction from a politician that does not appear to understand the concept of “theory” in a scientific context.


Janusz M Szyszko

THAT OLE' SPYMEISTER BUSH

I am all for spying. If we did it right, we would not be in the shit that we are in right now. How about this - if the CIA and FBI just did what they are paid to do, we would not be in the state we are in now. The CIA and FBI are just plain incompetent. For that matter, our whole government is incompetent and a bunch of crooks at that. Don't get me started...

Anyway, it appears BUSH has been spying on Americans for some time now WITHOUT following legal procedures in place for just such occasions. He says he has the right...

I don't know about all that and a bunch of lawyers could argue that fact for eternity without coming up with a conclusion. I see only one problem.

BUSH has lied on many, many occasions. He lied about the War on Terrorism - Bin Laden is still doing his thing and we are in Iraq cause he lied about Saddam and Iraq and WMD. He lies all the time!

If he was anybody else, I would have allowed him to sidestep our laws to keep us safe BUT I can't trust a word he says and therefore I WANT a judge or somebody to OK his spying. I want BUSH to be made to respect the Constitution and our Laws and FOLLOW them or be made to follow them. If he refuses, impeach the asshole.

Janusz

MICHIGAN GOVERNOR HAS SOME GOOD IDEAS

I have just listened to the State of the State address by Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm - my wife made me.

Although our governor has some definite socialistic tendencies as all Democrats do, she did have some ideas that may actually benefit the state.

One was to have the State of Michigan administer 401(k) plans for business' that do not have any pension plans - at all.

The old guaranteed pension plans that are killing old companies, should be thrown out. Honor the existing ones but do not allow any new hires into the plan - give them the 401(k). This is pre-tax money coming out of the employees pay and stored tax free for retirement purposes. Companies that chose or are able to afford contributions to said plans would only enhance the employees pension savings.

The 401(k) does not cost a company anything but administrative time, which is also cost. Many small companies do not bother to offer a 401(k) for those very reasons.

The State is proposing to take care of those administrative duties for companies that do not want to. This would supposedly entice more companies to offer the plan. This would benefit the employee because the employee would have some kind of pension plan instead of no plan at all.

This would not cost the state much since companies like Fidelity do most of the work for them. I consider the 401(k) plan by Granholm a "good" idea worth pursuing.

Another of her ideas was providing medical insurance for the "working poor" that do not now have any insurance because their employers do not offer any. She plans to do a State and Federal plan. I am not sure how something like this could be structured but I think the overall idea is sound.

I have long maintained that the problem with our health care in this country is the uninsured. By law they have to be treated, usually in ER and therefore super expensive. All people that have insurance are paying for these uninsured through higher and higher premiums.

My solution has been MANDATORY HEALTH INSURANCE just like auto insurance. Many plans would be offered from bare-bones to deluxe. Everyone would have some type of coverage.

Before you say impossible let me point out that the elderly are already covered MEDICARE. The really poor are also covered MEDICAID. Many workers are covered by their employer's plan. Who does it leave?

Well it leaves the working poor that cannot afford the expensive policies offered by Michigan companies because they are, by law, prohibited from offering cheap, bare-bones policies.
Governor Granholm's proposal would cover the working poor. So who in the hell is left?

Well, young people that feel they will never get sick. Cheap policies and the fact that they HAVE to have insurance would take care of that. Who else?

Well, you also have those that just don't want to spend their beer money to buy insurance - give them a ticket for violating the mandatory insurance law or throw them in jail - problem solved.

Janusz

LEAVE WAL-MART ALONE !

I have been hearing a lot of negative comments about WAL-MART for a long time now. My wife is part of the anti-Wal Mart brigade and shops there only in emergencies - they always have what you want.

I am not saying that Wal Mart is not guilty of some of the accusations but I draw the line when State Legislatures are passing laws that compel businesses like Wal Mart to do certain things. In this case, the laws are mandating companies with 10,000 employees or more, to contribute 8% of their payroll to employee medical insurance coverage.

I am a business owner and a firm believer in our capitalist system and in a free marketplace. I have always provided health coverage to my employees (25 years) but lately have found it necessary to ask them to pay a small percentage of their health insurance premiums because those premiums are getting way out of hand.

No one compels me to offer health insurance but most business owners will tell you that it is the best way to find and keep good employees. I will continue to provide health insurance to my employees as long as I can afford it.

Now, States like Maryland have passed laws mandating 8% of payroll to health benefits. West Virginia, Wisconsin and MICHIGAN are looking at passing similar legislation. They are obviously supported by various UNIONS in those States.

This to me smacks of SOCIALISM / COMMUNISM. What made America great is our capitalist system. We are the envy of the world - why would you want to fuck it up. Remember what happened to the Soviet Union?

Wal Mart is a business and like any business has to do everything in its power to survive in the business world. If it is a public company, it is responsible to its shareholders - they are the owners of the business.

Wal Mart employs thousands (1.5 million) of people throughout the country. The employees are free; they are not forced to work at Wal Marts. They can leave for better jobs anytime they want.

Wal Mart is a successful business - it makes money. Wal Mart management is doing a good job. Once State government starts dictating what Wal Mart has to do, management can no longer do its job - the company is now compromised.

In Quebec, Wal Mart was forced to accept a union - they closed and left 200 without jobs. Wal Mart may have to do something similar in the United States. In Michigan, Wal Mart employs some 20,000 people. What would happen if it basically closed up shop. I think the State of Michigan would get the message and so would every other state in the union.

Yes it is playing hardball, yes it is brutal but what would you have them do. The entire capitalistic system in the U.S. would be in danger and with it the welfare of all Americans.

Remember that here in Michigan, auto companies are basically fucked because unions have made health care expenses so unmanageable that some firms may now face bankruptcy. Why do we want to do the same to Wal Mart? Are we that stupid?

Janusz

SAM ALITO ANOTHER BUSH PLANT?

My last blog talked about John Roberts and the fact that he probably is a loyal BUSH man who will represent the far right in his Supreme Court decisions as evidenced by his stance against the Oregon Death With Dignity law with Scalia and Thomas.

If Sam Alito is a Roberts clone - we are all in trouble.

Originally I thought that Alito, a son of immigrant parents, was probably raised well and taught the value of common sense and fairness and could think for himself and was not brainwashed by any one philosophy. Listening to him at the Congressional hearings I took his side and believed that he was a decent guy who would make the right decisions based on the Constitution and his conscience. Lately though, I have been having doubts.

More and more information is coming out about his judicial history and it does not look good.
Are his ideas and opinions set in stone? He says they are not but do we believe him?

We must remember that previous nominees who appeared to be very conservative at the outset, have turned out to be wise and fair once they got on the bench. We have to believe that once on the bench, appointed for life, Alito would not be bound to anyone person, group or philosophy - he could be his own man. It has happened before, can it happen in this case?

The problem is that our freedoms are at stake. I feel more threatened by BUSH and his kind than I have ever felt threatened before. Bush is even scaring Republicans because he is not a true Republican, he is on a mission from his god and will use whatever means to accomplish his mission - that is toooooooooooooooooo scary. Alito could give Bush unbridled power over the country.

Anyway, there is not much we can do to prevent Bush from loading the Supreme Court with these right wing fanatics. We are at his mercy. We can only hope that the next president will get a chance to appoint judges that will counter these fanatics and prevent them from doing too much damage to our country.

Janusz

JOHN ROBERTS SHOWS HIS TRUE COLORS!

John Roberts, Chief Judge of the U.S. Supreme Court has sided with the minority (6-3) on the OREGON SUICIDE LAW. This one act shows he is a BUSH man all the way through. Roberts joins Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas in the minority dissent - what a group to be in.

Let me explain what the Oregon "Death with Dignity" law is all about and why was it brought before the Supreme Court.

First, the people of Oregon have voted a "number" of times to make legal their "Assisted Suicide" law. The law allows the terminally ill a procedure where they can ask to be put to death with drugs. The law has been in affect for quite a few years. Not many people have used the law - I think around 200 over the years.

The law has many safety features and the fact that all the bad things people predicted would happen if this law passed - never came true. The people of Oregon wanted this law and are happy this law is on their books.

In comes BUSH and ASHCROFT. They don't like the law and they don't give a shit what the people of Oregon like or want. They say U.S. Federal Law says you cannot use drugs to kill people. Lower courts say the State law takes precedent over the Federal Law. The Supreme Court obviously agreed with that decision.

The troubling part with this case is that BUSH and his cohorts does not care for what States and their citizens want. They want the Federal Government to be god and govern all the people whether they like it or not. I find this attitude dangerous and a threat to all our freedoms. This is similar to the TALIBAN where only they know what is good for us.

We already know that SCALIA and THOMAS are pure conservatives that react only one way to cases brought before them - knee jerk conservatism. To see ROBERTS join this group is very disheartening but not surprising. One can only hope that ALITO will not join this group or this country is in deep shit.

Janusz

GAYS AND THE PRIESTHOOD

There has been a lot of talk about the Catholic Church's problems with sexual abuse by priests and the cover-ups practiced by the Church administration for many years. Many priests have been put on trial, many have been thrown out of the priesthood (some in our own community) and many went to jail. Millions of dollars have been paid to victims. Some parishes have declared bankruptcy and the sex-abuse scandal is still not over.

The Vatican remained quiet for quite some time about the whole situation. Some in the Vatican claimed it is specifically an American problem and the American Church needs to take care of it.
Recently the Vatican under Benedict has started to make some noise. Most of what I have been hearing is about homosexuality and the priesthood.

I think the Vatican realizes that many of its priests are gay. That was OK in the past as long as they remained celibate. Now it appears, the Vatican is starting to connect the sex-abuse scandal in the U.S. with homosexuality and is starting a campaign to eliminate homosexuals from its ranks of seminarians (students for the priesthood) while leaving existing priests alone (for now).

A number of gay priests have come out to challenge the Vatican on this policy while certain theologians have come out in support of the Vatican policy.

One local theologian, Monica Migliorino Miller, PhD., associate professor of theology at St. Mary's College of Madonna University, states that the sex-abuse scandal is basically a homosexual problem. She bases this on the fact that the victims were basically boys over 13. Yes they were all boys but I am not sure about the ages, I think some were younger. One local letter writer mentioned that in those days alter boys were all boys and therefore easy targets but not of homosexual men but of pedophiles that can be either homosexual or heterosexual.

I don't pretend to know a lot about homosexuality but I think adult, normal males of either persuasion would know that molesting a boy or anybody for that matter, is somehow wrong. Pedophiles are people with an abnormal psychological makeup - they are mentally sick. I don't agree that the sex-abuse scandal is a homosexual problem.

I think the priesthood has, through the years, attracted a certain male element because of the celibacy requirement and the all male makeup of the priesthood.

Heterosexual young men with raging hormones would have a very hard time envisioning a life of celibacy. Some, overcome by spirituality, may succumb to the so called calling, but many of these probably leave the priesthood once they meet a female they cannot resist. It appears that there are many married priests that would immediately step back into their priestly roles as soon as the Vatican allows priests to marry.

Young men with unresolved sexuality may think of the priesthood as a forced (celibacy) non-sexuality. Some gay young men may consider celibacy as a way to stay out of sinful relationships and there are those that see the all male priesthood as an opportunity for many partners.

There probably is no valid data about the sexual orientation of the Catholic priesthood, mainly because priests probably would fabricate their answers to hide their true sexuality.

As far as the United States Catholic clergy goes, many say the majority are probably homosexual with obviously some pedophiles still lurking in the shadows.

Back to the Catholic theologian, Dr. Miller. She argues that priests should not be homosexual because the Church considers homosexuality as "objectively disordered" meaning that sexuality is inherently marital (procreation) and "other" sexuality therefore would be immoral.

She also argues that one priestly duty requires marriage counseling where the homosexual priest would have difficulty with the concept of marriage. I have been to this kind of counseling and I could never imagine ANY CELIBATE priest teaching me anything about relationships or marriage - they have NO EXPERIENCE.

Dr. Miller then goes on to talk about the priest as a husband of the Church or father to his flock and I am afraid that is where I turn the page - mumbojumbo.

No matter how Dr. Miller argues against homosexual priests, the fact of the matter is that most priests are homosexual or at least lean that way so we would have NO PRIESTS if the requirement was for heterosexuals only. We may get to the state of no priests eventually anyway - it sure is looking that way already.

Personally, I feel the way out of this jam is to allow heterosexual priests to marry (like other clergy around the world). That way you would have a NORMAL person looking over a flock of Catholics (adult and children).

Since the Vatican is adamant against married priests we have to live with the reality of gay priests - celibate and some not (as long as they are not pedophiles).

Can gays be good priests. As long as they are normal, mature adults, I don't see why not. Spirituality, I feel, is indeed a calling and as long as you feel that way, you belong in the priesthood.

Prediction: as there are fewer and fewer priests, married men will step into the priest's role, as they do now, out of necessity. The makeup of the Church will change because it has to...

Janusz

CHRISTMAS OR HOLIDAYS?

Boy I have sure read a lot about the "War on Christmas" lately. Actually the attacks have been by Christians on people and businesses that do "Happy Holidays" and not "Merry Christmas". To Christians that smacks of paganism and cannot be to tolerated. To my knowledge, NOBODY has been attacking Christmas but the religious zealots have invented a war so they can fight somebody.

The American Families Association (AFA) has gone so far as to threaten to boycott Target Department Stores if they don't start recognizing the religious significance of Christmas - now that is serious. Target has spend millions of dollars defending itself in local papers as a community minded business that gives to charities and supports local community projects. To me this is religious terrorism and has to be fought just like any terrorist act but let me address this with some historical perspective.

December 25th or that time of year, is called the "Winter Solstice". This is the time when days stop being shorter and start being longer - a new year. This special time has been celebrated by people for thousands of years. We have records going back 4,000 years to Mesopotamia.

The celebrations were varied but they included gift giving, helping the poor, decorating houses with evergreens and lighting wax candles to signify increasing light. Basically, people partied like they do today for New Years'. Please keep in mind that Christianity has not been invented yet.

The Romans called this holiday SATURNALIA and other countries had different names for the holiday but all celebrated at the same time for the same reason - another year is here!!!

Enter the Christians - we can't have all this pagan celebrating going on! Lets Christianize this holiday and call it Christmas as in Jesus was born on this day. Well, no one knows when Jesus was actually born and for that matter, where. Bethlehem was mentioned by the Gospel writers because if you wanted to be from the House of David you had to be born in Bethlehem and the Gospel writers wanted Jesus to be from the House of David as predicted in the Old testament but that is a future blog. Historians believe Jesus was born in Nazareth.

No matter how the Christians tried they could not stop the people from celebrating in their pagan manner, i.e. trees, candles, presents, party, etc. And to this day we have Santa, Christmas Trees, candles, presents and spending a lot of money on ourselves, our family and on the less fortunate - just like they did thousands of years before the Christians arrived.

So what is my point in all this. The time of year known as Christmas, Winter Solstice, New Years, Saturnalia, etc. is a time celebrated by all people for thousands of years. It does not belong to any one group or one religion. It is a "natural" celebration in that it celebrates the natural passing of time, in this case, one year. It is a joyous celebration because a new year has started so Spring is on its way.

The Christians have artificially injected Jesus' birthday into this time and now expect everyone to recognize and celebrate only that fact - bullshit.

The Christians do not own Christmas. They should celebrate it the way they want BUT leave everyone else alone to celebrate in what ever way they want to - not everyone is a Christian.

President Bush sent out a Christmas card in which he said "Happy Holidays". He is getting a lot of grief for that. Since the President sends his card to many people, not all Christians that also celebrate this time of year, it only makes sense to say Happy Holidays.

Some Christians are getting just too eager to cram their religion up everyone's butt - I feel a war coming on.

Janusz

UNBAPTISED BABIES GO TO HELL?

I was raised a Catholic in the 1960s' - grade school and highschool - nuns - get the picture. One of the items we were taught was that if you are not baptized and you die, you go straight to hell. Even little innocent babies if they die on their way to get baptized - hell! No ands', ifs' or buts' - that was the law. It never made any sense to me even then and I concluded that if God is such a stickler for rules than I don't really want him as my God. Other Catholic schools taught that the babies went to Purgatory instead; a place of limbo, in between heaven and hell but still bad.

My parents threatened to kidnap my kids and get them baptized for this very reason; they fervently believed that my kids were doomed to eternal damnation in hell if they somehow did not take matters into their hands and have them baptized. I told my parents that if baptism meant so much to them then go ahead and baptize them - I had nothing against it.

Last week the Vatican said it is revisiting the whole issue. It appears John Paul II had problems with it and set up a panel to address the issue. The panel was headed by then Cardinal Ratzinger, today's Pope Benedict.

The idea of Purgatory or Limbo was a Middle Ages (read dark ages) invention - 700 years worth of Purgatory.

The Vatican wants to plainly banish the very idea of Purgatory / Limbo. Pope Paul II in his 1992 Catechism said that babies that die without baptism go into God's hands. That is a little bit better.

My problem with all this is how in the hell did they even come up with the idea of Purgatory - did God tell them or did they get drunk one night and dreamed this up like many of the Church rules. I think it had more to do with selling "indulgences" that got your loved ones (babies included) out of Purgatory - a great money making idea that went on for centuries.

What bothers me is that they scared the hell out of people to this very day with their "un-baptized babies go to hell" crap. Catholics really believe what their Church says and I'm saying you cannot believe those morons cause they really don't know what they are talking about - NO ONE DOES when it comes to God.

I can rant all I want to but loyal Catholics will accept everything the Church throws at them just like meek little sheep - doesn't anybody have a brain or at least some independent thought?

Janusz

FORD THREATENED BY CHRISTIANS

Ford Motor Company of Dearborn, Michigan was told by the American Family Association (AFA) of Tupelo, Mississippi to end their gay friendly ways or the 2 million AFA members will boycott the company by not buying any Ford products.

The company is really hurting for sales this year and by all indications, has made a secret deal with the radical, Christian group to do just what they ask - become anti-gay.

An obvious indication is Ford's pulling of their advertising for Land Rover and Volvo from gay publications. Other anti-gay moves have not been announced by the company although it denies vehemently that all their decisions are strictly business and have nothing to do with the gay issue and the boycott.

The AFA issued a statement saying they are happy with the Ford response and are calling off the boycott.

The problem, as I see it, is that these wacky Christians will impose their twisted views on us by hook or by crook. They are using their numbers to wage economic terrorism on businesses to make them conform to their way of thinking or they will put them out of business. Even though it appears to be against the law - it is not.

On a side note, the gays who have way more purchasing power than the twits from Mississippi, can also threaten a boycott and we would find out who can hurt Ford more economically.

This is obviously not good for Ford either way but Ford has already opened Pandora's Box by making a secret deal with the AFA, so now they will get what is coming to them but alas my family is a Ford family and I hate to see them suffer BUT maybe that is reason enough to fight this terrorism by the Christian Right.

I am not lumping all Christians to the AFA and the way they operate. I have already had a run-in with this organization. They seem to have a strong agenda.

How do we combat these Christian terrorists - only with other Christians since most of the country is Christian and the other religions do not want any part of this battle, fearing they might be called un-American. I hope normal Christians will see the danger here and unite to fight these idiots.

The core of the problem is that many Christians feel Christ or the Bible are specifically anti-gay or consider the gay lifestyle as a sin and an abomination and therefore to be opposed and eradicated from the face of the earth. I will have more on that in a follow-up blog.

Janusz

SO WHAT THE HELL DO WE DO NOW IN IRAQ

Yes Bush lied to all of us about why we need to attack Iraq. Yes Bush made a huge mistake in attacking Iraq and neglecting Bin Laden and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Yes Bush is responsible for thousands of U.S. deaths as well as Iraqi deaths and there is no end in sight. And yes Bush is responsible for unifying and strengthening Al Qaeda terrorism worldwide with no end in sight. Yes Bush has fucked up the world royally BUT....we must go on.

So what now. Congress is pushing for an end to this madness and so in the nation - they have had it and don't want to take it anymore. Can we just leave? Iraqis themselves are asking us to leave - why? They want to get started with the civil war as soon as possible so the winners can start ruling Iraq.

Is a civil war inevitable - YES! The Kurds want independence and the Shiites want power. The Sunnis are in the wrong place at the wrong time - they need to just leave and live somewhere where other Sunnis live - Saudi Arabia?

What about the terrorists? Don't worry - the next dictator will take care of them just like Saddam did. If we left Saddam in power Bin Laden and his group would have been kept out of Iraq - but don't get me started.

So do we just leave? Naw - others would come in. Just let them get their goverment going and get an army and police force that can actually do their jobs. We should have just used their existing armed forces and police BUT don't get me started.

Start pulling our troops out in 2006 making sure we warn everybody else to stay out of Iraq and let nature take its course.

Janusz

DETROITERS DESERVE WHAT THEY HAVE SOWN?

Well, well, well. We really hoped Detroiter's had more sense but alas it turned out not to be. Well let us analyze this whole election campaign and see what went wrong for poor Hendrix.

I guess one can always say that this was a squeaker, basically 50/50 so not all Detroiters are total idiots; just a slight majority. In all fairness, we have to limit the idiot label to only the actual voters.

Freeman Hendrix had a sizeable lead going into the election. He started dropping at the end and registered a dead heat on election day - why.

Ole Kwame is part of a political family. Their plans for him are huge and they will not allow him to lose a mayoral race when they want him to climb the political ladder (president?). They obviously hired some smart dudes that knew exactly what needed to be done.

The facts were in on Kwame; incompetent, party boy, corrupt..................all the traits that endear him to the younger blacks. Add the fact that the white establishment is picking on him and you give him an actual edge.

The Detroit media mercilessly revealed every flaw in the man, detail by detail. They had solid proof for every transgression. In response he published a "lynching photo of a black from the bad ole days of the South" and said the media is trying to lynch him just like the Southern whites lynched blacks in days gone by; a brilliant move!

He also pointed out that Hendrix is only half black / half white which means he works for the whites and will give city jobs to whites . Kilpatrick even got the black Baptist Pastors of Detroit to believe that they will somehow lose political clout in city matters when Hendrix wins even though Hendrix belongs to a prominent black Baptist church. The pastors urged their flocks, under penalty of eternal damnation, not to vote for Hendrix.

A TV clip that ran near the end depicted Hendrix having a big black female protestor thrown out of a school Board meeting - the message was that he did not care if Detroiters controlled their own school system - let the whites in State government do it. The facts are that this particular woman was disrupting all school board meetings and not allowing school business to be conducted . She was a major pain in the ass and he did the right thing but that is not what Detroiters saw - they saw what Kilpatrick wanted them to see.

Kwame then went after the young who probably never voted but did this time. He basically represented himself as the black man that made it out of the ghetto (which he was never in) - by the way, this group also includes pimps and drug dealers. Group members dress well, eat well, have many women, wild parties, lots of money and stick it to the establishment / read white man, every chance they get. Young blacks don't care that he is royally screwing Detroit and Detroiters - he looks like a cool dude and acts like a cool dude and therefore should be re- elected.

It is quite obvious that Kwame played dirty politics as well as the race card but he played it against his own people. He appealed to a segment of the black population that still holds basic black stereotypical instincts that normal blacks have long abandoned as backward and down right stupid. These people don't trust anyone that is not just like them; plain ole niggers and Kilpatrick portrayed himself as just that and he portrayed Hendrix as just the opposite.

Kilpatrick's people did their homework and they won to the detriment of the city and its people. Polls say many Detroiters are ready to leave the city. That number will increase now as any hope the city could recover under new leadership has gone. The last person leaving Detroit, please shut off the light and close the door.

Janusz

BACK FROM SCOTLAND

Went over to Scotland to celebrate my daughter's wedding again but this time in Scotland where her husband is originally from. We went to PERTH and attended the reception held in a "Scotch - Whiskey" distillery. Everything went well. We even learned to dance a few Scottish dances after which the band played "Proud Mary" and other standard wedding songs.

Drove on the "wrong side of the road" which was pretty scary for me. The wheel was also on the right hand of the car. My son acted as navigator and saved me many a time from going into the wrong lane. They have many, many "roundabouts" which are suppose to be the best traffic controllers but are a little difficult to get used to.

The Scots are very polite and therefore we did not get into any political discussions but I knew they were concerned about the world situation. Many of them are world travelers and therefore concerned about the increasing dangers of world travel.

All in all, I think the Scots do like Americans and travel here often on vacation. They especially like our accents.

Janusz

HARRIET MIERS & THE BUSH THEOCRACY

President Bush nominated his White House lawyer for a seat on the Supreme
Court.

The Catholic Democrat turned fundamentalist Protestant Republican shares Bush's views on religion and basically on how the world and nation ought to be.

His message to his fellow conservatives about his nomination was that she is religious, just like we are, and will vote just like we want her to vote.

In a nation that constitutionally mandates the separation of Church and State, emphasizing her religion as a qualifying factor, is down right unconstitutional. But then again Harriet IS expected to rule according to her religious beliefs and not according to the dictates of our Constitution.

Is President Bush insulting the intelligence of every American citizen with his nomination? I think he is but then he CAN get away with it because he controls Congress or does he?

Some conservatives are actually opposing Harriet. They feel she is not a totally verifiable religious nut case - she may have an independent brain cell somewhere in her head and that would be dangerous. When she was a young Catholic, she actually was pro-choice. Could she revert back to her evil past?

The conservatives want someone that will guarantee them a vote to repeal Roe vs Wade and take away that and many more freedoms granted to Americans by previous Supreme Courts - hell even Rush Limbaugh is against her nomination. On the other hand, Pat Robertson threatened to kill / assassinate or is it just pray for their death, anyone that opposes her nomination.

What we have here is a conservative circus. The sad thing is that Democrats and the rest of the country can basically do nothing about this situation - it is out of our hands. Did we ever think we would come to such a sad point in our history?

Bush's nomination demeans the high court, demeans this nation and demeans the image of this country in the eyes of the world. Bush is a dictator, plain and simple and in the span of two terms in office, he will destroy the American aura that the world has held for so many years. We are now just plain stupid, mean and self serving. The more religious we get the more ignorant and superstitious we appear. Hell we are trying to bring Creationism into our science classes - how dark age can you get.

Something needs to happen. If we care anything about this country and our future, we will need to actually pay attention to what is going on in Washington and use the only tool we have - our vote.

I feel strongly that for the next election we will actually have a Republican candidate that will not be from the same school of idiocy as Bush. That man is McCain and he can have my vote anytime. Will he be too late? Bush has a long way to go and can do a hell of a lot of damage. Lets take away Bush's power base. If your Republican Congressman is pro Bush - get him out of there - now!

Janusz

DELPHI BANKRUPTCY AND HISTORY

Delphi, a auto parts supplier that has billions and billions in annual sales has declared bankruptcy and I think it is a pivotal time in the history of the auto industry in the United States as well as in the economy of this country as well as the world - THIS IS BIG!

Delphi was spun off from GM in 1999. Visteon is a similar company spun off from Ford Motor.

Delphi employs thousands of workers here in Michigan, the U.S. and around the world. The bankruptcy affects only the U.S. Delphi units.

Newspaper headlines were huge when Delphi asked its American employees to agree to a 63% pay and benefit cut - $27 per hour to $10 per hour and pay 27% of their health premiums from 7%.

Delphi declared bankruptcy before the new, much more stringent bankruptcy rules came into affect in the middle of October.

I say that this move is HISTORIC because it will change the way American Auto Companies function and the way the UAW union functions.

When I was growing up, some of my high school friends did not want to waste their time on college - they could get a job that paid more than college type jobs, had security, paid a pension, paid all healthcare benefits and you could get in without any experience or education AND you could not get fired because the UNION protected you. You could not lose by working for the BIG THREE or four, at that time.

Things were going well in post WWII America. The middle class was growing, people were buying new cars, the auto workers were buying new cars and the auto companies were just trying to out do each other in style and engine muscle. The workers were buying newer homes and later cottages and the president of the U.S. declared that as goes GM, goes the country (or something like that).

GLOBALIZATION started slowly. The Japanese learned our industrial techniques and then refined them and made them better. We were too full of ourselves to notice.

The UAW wanted more and more, every contract period. Why not, the auto companies could afford it and after all the UAW had a powerful weapon - strike or better known as blackmail. They would target one company to strike, allowing the others to continue to do business and maybe actually steal some business from the struck company which could not provide product - they always caved in.

The unions became so powerful that if a company needed to lay off workers, the workers would go into a idle workers pool and were still paid 90% of their regular wages. The companies could not lower their costs even in a downturn - they were stuck.

As globalization made its presence known, U.S. auto companies tried to deal with the challenge. The UAW started seeing the danger too but could not move or were willing to move fast enough.

Delphi, a huge parts manufacturer was spun off from GM but with "legacy" issues, i.e. their workers were still part of the UAW, made the same wages and benefits and that could not be changed- by contract.

Other competing parts makers were not unionized, had lower costs and could compete very well with companies like Delphi in fact they kicked Delphi's ass.

Now Delphi has hired a turn-around expert and he had the balls to make the only call remaining - bankruptcy.

He will sell most of the U.S. factories and the buyers will not accept existing UAW contracts .He will keep the Mexican and other overseas units that make a profit.

Is this fair to the workers and retirees that may lose their pensions and benefits - absolutely not. They trusted in their union bosses to keep doing what they always did - get better and better contracts. The auto companies make their shareholders happy by maintaining labor peace and profits and dividends rolling in. Both entities were short sited and dumb as shit.

Everyone knew this crisis was going to happen. The signs were unmistakable. Analysts predicted it but no one paid attention - now they have to.

An ironic moment happened when the UAW president said that workers would not be able to afford the cars they make with the new, low wages demanded by Delphi. They should remember that it probably was because of their pay and benefits that autos became unaffordable to the rest of the country and foreign autos became more affordable and better built.

The fact that this crisis was not foreseen and adjustments made to meet it head on - all hell will now break loose. Michigan's economy as well as the economy of the whole country will be affected. The cut in wages and the unemployment will be catastrophic to the service industry and to state and local governments. It will take years to get back to economic health in Michigan.

A recent poll among parents showed that very few considered higher education for their kids as a priority, mainly because they could always go work at the auto company. Those days are GONE parents so you might as well tell your kids to stay in school and learn a skill - unskilled labor will no longer pay as much as it used to.

Janusz

POPE NOW OK WITH GAY PRIESTS

Word is out that the Vatican is now changing its mind on the sweeping ban on homosexuals in the priesthood or more exactly, in the seminaries (schools for priests).

The huge uproar from Catholic Men's Orders, which are probably filled with gays, has softened the Vatican's stance.

The new directive will allow homosexual priests to be ordained IF they were chaste for three (3) years. The old directive was that homosexual men could not be ordained even if they remained celibate.

This is all getting very confusing for me but imagine how confusing it must be for the Vatican and for all the priests and monks out there - one day they are to be burned at the stake and the next they are welcome - wow!

THE BIG QUESTION I HAVE IS ARE GAY PRIESTS PREFERABLE TO MARRIED HETEROSEXUAL PRIESTS?

I have nothing against gay priests but celibacy is abnormal for both gay and heterosexual priests and will eventually compromise the man's essential biological nature making him abnormal and therefore unqualified to guide people in their daily lives.

I will do some research on the Vatican's stand on homosexuality and see where all this is leading to.

Janusz

IS THE WORLD REALLY 6,000 YEARS OLD?

Recently, our local paper carried a story about an individual building a museum in Ohio dedicated to the premise that the earth is really only 6,000 years old as per the Bible. He wants to show the reality of that fact in his museum - he is absolutely serious and will spend millions on the museum. He will also make millions because millions will come to his museum to have their beliefs verified as true - how - don't ask.

The gentleman mentioned above and his supporters belong to a Christian group that takes the Bible literally (every word is true) and therefore believes the Creation story in the Book of Genesis in the Bible.

Many Christians consider these particular Christians as an embarrassment to their religion because they are so obviously wrong as to be objects of ridicule.

I actually know a few of THEM and like them very much. The one person I am thinking of was a college graduate and a devoted Baptist. In conversations with her (she liked to talk about her religion) she maintained that the earth is indeed only 6,000 years old and that archeological/ scientific evidence that places the earth into the millions of years is plain false, a plant, a conspiracy and the work of the devil. Obviously we could not discuss the subject because there was no room for discussion.

The Book of Genesis actually has two (2) creation stories. It is not the earliest creation story. Civilizations in Egypt and Mesopotamia had earlier ones. Scholars actually can show where the Jewish Creation story came from, usually mentioning the Epic Of Gilgamesh among others.

Most civilizations had creation stories so they could answer questions from the people as to where did we come from and how did all this come to be. Interestingly, most creation stories have a "flood" story too indicating that a huge flood probably did happen.

Scholars call these creation stories "myths" and most cultures have them. Modern people recognize why the stories were written and consider the stories as "wisdom literature" because they usually had a moral or lessons for life tucked into it.

Creationists or Fundamentalists believe that God actually wrote the book or at least inspired someone directly to write it.

Scholars note that the evidence is overwhelming that the stories were written many, many years later. Some of the evidence includes mentioning "things" that did not exist until many years later and could not be known to people of that time.

A whole course on the Bible would explain how, when and by whom the Bible was written. It is a must for people trying to understand all this.

My National Geographic just sent me a book describing the wall paintings in a French cave that are 17,000 years old. Dinosaur bones have been found and dated to millions of years ago and I can keep talking about the evidence for a good long time.

The question is basically who is right. I don't think you can ignore scientific evidence as somehow phony or a conspiracy - believe me.

So where does it leave the 6,000 year group.

I call them that to differentiate them from Creationists who believe that God created the world and everything in it but not necessarily according to the Book of Genesis.

I really don't know what to think about so called educated people believing something so obviously false. I guess I have to research this a little bit more.

Janusz