Last time I checked (which was about 30 seconds ago) US Senators were paid an annual salary of $169,300.
Clearly congress is different than any other place where people get paid a salary. The rest of us, we work. And if we don't work, we get fired. No salary.
So could someone please explain to me why we taxpayers are paying these men salaries while they interview for another job?
We're in a terrible financial situation and at least one senator is "phoning in" while he stumps in Colorado and wonders why Washington can't get their job done.
Um...because it's full of people who don't actually bother DOING their job? The one they are being PAID for?
You're fired.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Brain Cancer in Children
I have a friend named Babs who is one of those special people you don't come across very often. So when she takes on a cause I sit up and take notice.
Recently she asked her AMEX Card holder friends to go to this website:
http://www.membersproject.com/project/view/NN934A
And vote for the project Brain Child.
Every year American Express holds a "contest" for charitable dollars. Brain cancer is personal to Babs. Her mother has been fighting it for several years. Another friend of mine lost her daughter at 12 to this horrible disease. When she told me about it, even though it had been 15 years since her daughter's death, her face still showed horrible anguish and I went to bed that night praying hard that I never face anything like it.
I closed my AMEX card a few years back so I'm not eligible. But one I thought that maybe folks who read this might be.
Recently she asked her AMEX Card holder friends to go to this website:
http://www.membersproject.com/project/view/NN934A
And vote for the project Brain Child.
Every year American Express holds a "contest" for charitable dollars. Brain cancer is personal to Babs. Her mother has been fighting it for several years. Another friend of mine lost her daughter at 12 to this horrible disease. When she told me about it, even though it had been 15 years since her daughter's death, her face still showed horrible anguish and I went to bed that night praying hard that I never face anything like it.
I closed my AMEX card a few years back so I'm not eligible. But one I thought that maybe folks who read this might be.
Please, Don't Rescue Me
There are moments in my life that stand out so crisply in my mind that if I could paint them, I would. I long for the camera that captures what only I can see.
I live less than half a mile from the Pentagon. It's an impressive place. Clearly built for protection and not rescue. Every day men and women in uniform walk the sidewalks past my apartment on their way into work. I want to lean out the window and say thank you.
One of those brain-picture moments is from the 9/11 search and recovery at the Pentagon. It was evening and I was down with the care and feeding efforts for the S&R folks who were working at the site. The air was chilly and strangely silent for all of the activity going on around us. More than an hour had already passed as I'd repeatedly watched man after man come down from the building, weave their way through the debris and ground operations and make their way to the tents we called "Unity City." Inside those tents we had all the things that people give to those who are doing the unimaginable.
S&R uniforms have pockets. Lots of pockets. And our tables included candy and lots of it. They'd come to these tables, load up with candy and then head back up into the building. The candy in their pockets would help cover the taste and smell that filled their mouths and nostrils as they dug through the burned and still smoldering remains of the plane & Pentagon victims of 9/11.
I hate crowds. The reason I was there was to help plan some next steps in our organization's response. But I needed to get away from the activity and the awesome emotion of it all. So I wandered off for a bit, quietly chatting with Gerald and processing all that I was seeing. As we talked I looked up at the gaping hole in the side of this amazing building and I stopped...
...this is the picture.
A smoldering, gaping black hole in the side of the Pentagon and hanging from the roof next to it an American flag. Framing this, a starless Washington DC night sky with the Washington Monument glowing in the background. A cold breeze nipped and kissed my cheeks and I could feel my hair fluttering against my neck. I was spellbound.
I stood there staring and Gerald looked down at me and seeing what must have been an ashen face, asked "are you okay?" I told him I was. Compared to so many others that day, how could I not be?
But inside I was screaming "no, I'm not okay. WE are not okay. THIS is not okay."
The people killed in the Pentagon that day died at their desks, in meetings, on the phone, doing whatever it was that they did in performance of their jobs - jobs that were essentially this, to protect the United States of America and her citizens within.
No one will argue that they did their job perfectly every day. But they did it. And they died doing it. Mundane every day jobs for most of them. Jobs they rose for early in the morning, fought traffic to get to, and I'm sure they never thought would get them killed.
I think that there are a lot of people who look at the U.S. Government as somehow responsible for rescuing them from whatever it is they need to be rescued. Me? I want the government to help us be a better nation and to protect my freedoms while they protect us from those who don't want us to be better...or free.
I want the deaths of those people to not have been in vain.
So please, don't rescue me. Instead, protect. Protect us all. Protect us from our greed. Protect us from our neediness. Protect us from our willingness to follow blindly those who promise to rescue us from ourselves. I don't need rescuing.
I live less than half a mile from the Pentagon. It's an impressive place. Clearly built for protection and not rescue. Every day men and women in uniform walk the sidewalks past my apartment on their way into work. I want to lean out the window and say thank you.
One of those brain-picture moments is from the 9/11 search and recovery at the Pentagon. It was evening and I was down with the care and feeding efforts for the S&R folks who were working at the site. The air was chilly and strangely silent for all of the activity going on around us. More than an hour had already passed as I'd repeatedly watched man after man come down from the building, weave their way through the debris and ground operations and make their way to the tents we called "Unity City." Inside those tents we had all the things that people give to those who are doing the unimaginable.
S&R uniforms have pockets. Lots of pockets. And our tables included candy and lots of it. They'd come to these tables, load up with candy and then head back up into the building. The candy in their pockets would help cover the taste and smell that filled their mouths and nostrils as they dug through the burned and still smoldering remains of the plane & Pentagon victims of 9/11.
I hate crowds. The reason I was there was to help plan some next steps in our organization's response. But I needed to get away from the activity and the awesome emotion of it all. So I wandered off for a bit, quietly chatting with Gerald and processing all that I was seeing. As we talked I looked up at the gaping hole in the side of this amazing building and I stopped...
...this is the picture.
A smoldering, gaping black hole in the side of the Pentagon and hanging from the roof next to it an American flag. Framing this, a starless Washington DC night sky with the Washington Monument glowing in the background. A cold breeze nipped and kissed my cheeks and I could feel my hair fluttering against my neck. I was spellbound.
I stood there staring and Gerald looked down at me and seeing what must have been an ashen face, asked "are you okay?" I told him I was. Compared to so many others that day, how could I not be?
But inside I was screaming "no, I'm not okay. WE are not okay. THIS is not okay."
The people killed in the Pentagon that day died at their desks, in meetings, on the phone, doing whatever it was that they did in performance of their jobs - jobs that were essentially this, to protect the United States of America and her citizens within.
No one will argue that they did their job perfectly every day. But they did it. And they died doing it. Mundane every day jobs for most of them. Jobs they rose for early in the morning, fought traffic to get to, and I'm sure they never thought would get them killed.
I think that there are a lot of people who look at the U.S. Government as somehow responsible for rescuing them from whatever it is they need to be rescued. Me? I want the government to help us be a better nation and to protect my freedoms while they protect us from those who don't want us to be better...or free.
I want the deaths of those people to not have been in vain.
So please, don't rescue me. Instead, protect. Protect us all. Protect us from our greed. Protect us from our neediness. Protect us from our willingness to follow blindly those who promise to rescue us from ourselves. I don't need rescuing.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
My Name is Debbi and I'm
a Libertarian.
It took me a long time to admit that. I thought only friends who did drugs or were anarchists had a problem. Me? I could quit anytime.
Sure, there was this little issue of being pro-choice while being pro-life. My Republican friends began to suspect I might have a problem when I refused to go to rallies with them. It's true, I hid behind excuses. I couldn't go because I had, well, laundry...that's it...and grocery shopping for my family of six. Then more questions began to arise when it was discovered that I favor peace, I don't think the President is always right, and patriotism isn't something you mandate. I began to realize the gig was nearly up when I forgot to hold my tongue and I whispered "um, I don't actually trust John Ashcroft OR George Tenet."
My Democrat friends were even more confused. Why *wouldn't* I want laws that govern wages, speed limits, education, energy, oil, greater regulation, more social programs, universal healthcare, amnesty for all, taxes that support investment in the arts (really, a painting that is just pink?), tax payer funded abortions, welfare, or politic correctness - although I have a soft spot in my heart for the perennially un-PC (Sarah Palin is a very appealing woman) Bill Clinton.
The problem is, being a Libertarian in a two-party system is an awful lot like being a purple man in a sea of black and white. No one knows quite what to do about you.
Okay, I know I know...the Libertarians haven't helped matters at all. First, they found www.reason.com, a wonderful site full of, usually, thoughtful discussion...and then they hand us Bob Barr and Ron Paul. There was a moment during the Republican primary debates when Ron Paul raised his shaking hand and waving it back and forth said "I was an OB/GYN for 30 years and I..." and I could hear no more. My legs clamped shut and every ounce of my body began to react in "oh no No NO he did NOT go THERE!" Ewe.
But Colorado's got my attention right now and this is why: they've got an interesting ballot going. This year they are defining when "personhood" begins (at the moment of fertilization...or not), whether or not "race" needs to continue to be a deciding factor in hiring and education, and they are considered by some political analysts to be THE swing state of swing states.
Why would a State with 9 electoral votes be so significant? Because in 2004 they proposed an amendment to the state constitution that would allocate electoral votes based on popular vote. The Democrats, who originally supported it, withdrew support when it appeared to them that John Kerry would take the state. This one decision (courts aside) cost the Democrats the election in 2004. George Bush won all 9 electoral votes. He would have won 5 of the 9 (and Kerry the other 4) and not have won the Presidency.
It's time to put measures like this back on the ballot. It does three things:
a) more accurately reflects true popular vote
b) paves the way for 3rd party candidates to actually compete for a place in the race and,
c) begins to lessen the stranglehold the two parties have on the constitution - a document who's intent is now completely violated by the winner take all strategy of the electoral college.
A clear example of the correction that takes place is California. With 55 electoral votes the populations of LA and San Francisco typically drive the state to blue. But not by much. There are 6.8 million registered Democrats and 5.9 million registered Republicans. There are 688,000 others across the American Independent (277,000), Green (91,000), Reform (92,000), Liberatarian (81,000), Peace & Freedom (67,000), and Natural Law (70,000)parties. And then there are your "independents" - people like me who favor a party but reserve the right to vote their judgement and not the party line.
So as you can see, even the most "democratic" of states isn't...really. Those 55 electoral are cast to represent an entire state - and in fact represent only about half.
Correct the problems in the electoral process and it just might be okay to be the purple man.
Or the Ballsy Broad.
It took me a long time to admit that. I thought only friends who did drugs or were anarchists had a problem. Me? I could quit anytime.
Sure, there was this little issue of being pro-choice while being pro-life. My Republican friends began to suspect I might have a problem when I refused to go to rallies with them. It's true, I hid behind excuses. I couldn't go because I had, well, laundry...that's it...and grocery shopping for my family of six. Then more questions began to arise when it was discovered that I favor peace, I don't think the President is always right, and patriotism isn't something you mandate. I began to realize the gig was nearly up when I forgot to hold my tongue and I whispered "um, I don't actually trust John Ashcroft OR George Tenet."
My Democrat friends were even more confused. Why *wouldn't* I want laws that govern wages, speed limits, education, energy, oil, greater regulation, more social programs, universal healthcare, amnesty for all, taxes that support investment in the arts (really, a painting that is just pink?), tax payer funded abortions, welfare, or politic correctness - although I have a soft spot in my heart for the perennially un-PC (Sarah Palin is a very appealing woman) Bill Clinton.
The problem is, being a Libertarian in a two-party system is an awful lot like being a purple man in a sea of black and white. No one knows quite what to do about you.
Okay, I know I know...the Libertarians haven't helped matters at all. First, they found www.reason.com, a wonderful site full of, usually, thoughtful discussion...and then they hand us Bob Barr and Ron Paul. There was a moment during the Republican primary debates when Ron Paul raised his shaking hand and waving it back and forth said "I was an OB/GYN for 30 years and I..." and I could hear no more. My legs clamped shut and every ounce of my body began to react in "oh no No NO he did NOT go THERE!" Ewe.
But Colorado's got my attention right now and this is why: they've got an interesting ballot going. This year they are defining when "personhood" begins (at the moment of fertilization...or not), whether or not "race" needs to continue to be a deciding factor in hiring and education, and they are considered by some political analysts to be THE swing state of swing states.
Why would a State with 9 electoral votes be so significant? Because in 2004 they proposed an amendment to the state constitution that would allocate electoral votes based on popular vote. The Democrats, who originally supported it, withdrew support when it appeared to them that John Kerry would take the state. This one decision (courts aside) cost the Democrats the election in 2004. George Bush won all 9 electoral votes. He would have won 5 of the 9 (and Kerry the other 4) and not have won the Presidency.
It's time to put measures like this back on the ballot. It does three things:
a) more accurately reflects true popular vote
b) paves the way for 3rd party candidates to actually compete for a place in the race and,
c) begins to lessen the stranglehold the two parties have on the constitution - a document who's intent is now completely violated by the winner take all strategy of the electoral college.
A clear example of the correction that takes place is California. With 55 electoral votes the populations of LA and San Francisco typically drive the state to blue. But not by much. There are 6.8 million registered Democrats and 5.9 million registered Republicans. There are 688,000 others across the American Independent (277,000), Green (91,000), Reform (92,000), Liberatarian (81,000), Peace & Freedom (67,000), and Natural Law (70,000)parties. And then there are your "independents" - people like me who favor a party but reserve the right to vote their judgement and not the party line.
So as you can see, even the most "democratic" of states isn't...really. Those 55 electoral are cast to represent an entire state - and in fact represent only about half.
Correct the problems in the electoral process and it just might be okay to be the purple man.
Or the Ballsy Broad.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Brokering Hope
Not all that long ago I got an up close look at the inside of one of the financial institutions involved in the "bailout." It was the first time I'd encountered "mortgage backed securities" and I thought for sure that somehow I must be missing something because no matter how many ways I looked at what these were about I just could not see how they were good.
I'm not a financial wizard. I go to work every day and I make money which I then spend, over the course of every month, on life. All the things we do every day while about the business of living. Food, clothes, rent, gas, and stuff.
But with this financial crisis looking us dead on I was thinking about this former client of mine and one of the names I most encountered (and which will not be spoken here) and so I decided to see what she did with some of her most recent multi-million dollar bonus.
What she did with $10k of it last spring was donate to one of the PAC's supporting Barack Obama's campaign. A man with an extraordinarily enticing message of hope.
Which got me thinking...
It seems to me that "hope" is exactly what got us into this mess in the first place. Every homebuyer who "hoped" so much that they were willing to believe that there is no "catch" to low interest/no interest no money down mortgages. Every homebuyer who looked at houses that were gaining 30-50 percent in value a year and who honestly believed, because real estate agents, friends, and financial advisors were telling them this, that they would make money on these risky investments.
We saw similar hope during the DOT COM boom in the late '90's. Every person with a dream and an idea chased investors, fancy business plans in hand, hoping for "venture capital" to bankroll the next great "thing."
To be fair, some of these companies actually had great ideas and they worked. Google, the company that hosts this blog (for free mind you), is one of the more famous. But how many of us remember pets.com?
A high life, easy money, fast cars, big houses, and "networking" events on money that returned little, if anything, on investments.
Hope. Something we've been recovering from on the DOT Bust. That impact was a momentary thing. This ugly thing happening with our financial sector isn't that bad. No. It's much, much worse.
We did this to ourselves. We let greedy people, get rich schemes, bad judgement and hope lure us into doing something that as American's we should be deeply ashamed of.
And now every American taxpayer is looking at paying in taxes just about what this woman from my former client DONATED to a presidential campaign just six months ago.
It makes me angry that I am just one of thousands of Americans who are about to pay a price because of foolish hope and greed. The subprime mortgage market was not a good idea. You don't have to be an economist to know that.
What do I want? I want the assets of every decision maker in these financial firms seized and auctioned off. I want the US Government to buy these securities at a penny on the dollar and then hold them. I want every one of these companies to close their doors and for us to turn to the higher performing banks (credit unions, etc) to help with the movement of our money. I want the people who were duped into believing the "great american home dream" to quit whining about losing their homes - stupid is not fixed by a sob story.
And for everyone who dreams of getting rich quick I invite you to join me in my personal approach - play the lottery. I've never had to take out a line of credit for it and the return on investment is just about the same.
I'm not a financial wizard. I go to work every day and I make money which I then spend, over the course of every month, on life. All the things we do every day while about the business of living. Food, clothes, rent, gas, and stuff.
But with this financial crisis looking us dead on I was thinking about this former client of mine and one of the names I most encountered (and which will not be spoken here) and so I decided to see what she did with some of her most recent multi-million dollar bonus.
What she did with $10k of it last spring was donate to one of the PAC's supporting Barack Obama's campaign. A man with an extraordinarily enticing message of hope.
Which got me thinking...
It seems to me that "hope" is exactly what got us into this mess in the first place. Every homebuyer who "hoped" so much that they were willing to believe that there is no "catch" to low interest/no interest no money down mortgages. Every homebuyer who looked at houses that were gaining 30-50 percent in value a year and who honestly believed, because real estate agents, friends, and financial advisors were telling them this, that they would make money on these risky investments.
We saw similar hope during the DOT COM boom in the late '90's. Every person with a dream and an idea chased investors, fancy business plans in hand, hoping for "venture capital" to bankroll the next great "thing."
To be fair, some of these companies actually had great ideas and they worked. Google, the company that hosts this blog (for free mind you), is one of the more famous. But how many of us remember pets.com?
A high life, easy money, fast cars, big houses, and "networking" events on money that returned little, if anything, on investments.
Hope. Something we've been recovering from on the DOT Bust. That impact was a momentary thing. This ugly thing happening with our financial sector isn't that bad. No. It's much, much worse.
We did this to ourselves. We let greedy people, get rich schemes, bad judgement and hope lure us into doing something that as American's we should be deeply ashamed of.
And now every American taxpayer is looking at paying in taxes just about what this woman from my former client DONATED to a presidential campaign just six months ago.
It makes me angry that I am just one of thousands of Americans who are about to pay a price because of foolish hope and greed. The subprime mortgage market was not a good idea. You don't have to be an economist to know that.
What do I want? I want the assets of every decision maker in these financial firms seized and auctioned off. I want the US Government to buy these securities at a penny on the dollar and then hold them. I want every one of these companies to close their doors and for us to turn to the higher performing banks (credit unions, etc) to help with the movement of our money. I want the people who were duped into believing the "great american home dream" to quit whining about losing their homes - stupid is not fixed by a sob story.
And for everyone who dreams of getting rich quick I invite you to join me in my personal approach - play the lottery. I've never had to take out a line of credit for it and the return on investment is just about the same.
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