“Words! Words! I’m so sick of words!” from My Fair Lady. 

President Barack Obama is a fabulous speaker.  His Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in Oslo only reinforces that fact.  He told us all his views of America in a well worded presentation.  Many outspoken Republicans have said complimentary things about the speech.  None the less, Rush Limbaugh may have his hopes fulfilled.  President Obama is struggling to find some success. 

1. It has been reported that President Obama wants to spend $200 Billion of TARP money on a second round of government sponsored stimulus.  The first $$787 Billion has not been spent.  It’s obvious that the money spent to date was not used for “shovel ready” projects.   “There are plenty of ways to stimulate small businesses, including three-quarters of the stimulus money we have not spent yet without adding billions and billions in debt through TARP, which is basically a line of credit,” Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona, Obama’s opponent in the 2008 presidential election, said at a news conference. 
2. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are viewed inconsistently by Obama.  In his desire to please anti-war Democrats and please moderate Americans his position is a moving target.  When the war in Iraq was going poorly he stressed his opposition to the 2007 troop surge but later when the surge was successful he grudgingly acknowledged success.  Just last week, in a speech at West Point, the plan to stop the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan will be accomplished using a 30,000 man troop surge but without using the word “surge.”  To please those opposing the war he says that troop withdrawals will begin in July 2011 but the secretaries of defense and state say that we will only review our commitment on that date. 
3. Health care for all Americans has been a cornerstone of Obama’s vision.  He says he wants it to be deficit neutral, cut costs, and improve quality.  The reality is that he has never outlined his vision of how to achieve these goals.  There is nothing in the plans proposed by either the House of Representatives or the Senate that addresses these objectives.  Instead there is a Democratic Party objective to pass a law for the president’s signature even if no objectives are met. 
4. Few of us fully understand climate change issues.  Politicians are trying to impose more control everywhere in the world to save humanity.  It’s a nice goal as long as it doesn’t cost me any money is the view of most people.  Neither Al Gore nor Barack Obama have made the case in ways that most Americans will understand.  I understand air and water pollution but I do not understand the need to control CO2.  Cap and trade?  I do not understand this idea at all.  I oppose things I do not understand.  

Unless the president delivers some real accomplishments he will have a difficult time being re-elected in 2012.

Tiger Woods, Kobe Bryant, Manny Ramírez, Magic Johnson, Barry Bonds, Mark Sanford, Bill Clinton, Hugh Grant 

What do all of these famous people have in common?  The have failed to keep their faith with the world.  They believe they can behave any way they want and still live their lives as stars.

The latest excuse for Tiger Woods’ misbehavior is he has a “sex addiction.”  If this excuse is accepted by the general public it could also be used by rapists and sexual predators as a legal defense.

Whether its sex or drugs or an overwhelming desire to win, someone will attribute behavior as a medical condition.  Apparently that gives the perpetrator a free pass for his or her behavior.

Tiger Woods is already receiving his reward for bad behavior with the canceling of his many advertisements.  Unfortunately Manny Ramirez was applauded by fans when he returned to the Dodgers.

We need idols that really do have standards.

This reported on the BusinessWeek web site. “Kenneth Feinberg, the U.S. paymaster for rescued companies, will exempt some executives at American International Group Inc. (AIG) from a $500,000 salary cap after at least five employees threatened to quit because of the limits, people familiar with the matter said.”

“A person close to Feinberg said the exceptions allowing for salaries greater than $500,000 were unrelated to the five executives’ threats to leave.” In other words Mr. Feinberg is being forced to back down from his ruling.  There is no discussion of repaying the money all of us paid to prop up this “to big to fail” company.

There are no reports about this situation on any other web site.  More money for the wealthy?  Who cares?  Feinberg will remove the salary cap and hope that Barack Obama, Tiger Woods, climate change meetings, and Afghanistan will bury this situation on page 23.

The Huffington Post reports that “AIG was rescued with a bailout valued at $182.3 billion.  To date, the government has only received $19 million of the $45 million in retention payments AIG had pledged to repay.”

As I put all of this together there is only one conclusion that can be reached.  Money does buy happiness.  The wealthy never say “no” to the wealthy.  Americans have agreed to a society that rewards greed.  We got what we wanted.

After I graduated from college I immediately went to work.  This decision led to money in my pocket and a city of beautiful women.  I was not rich but I had enough money to wine and dine all the girls who would spend time with me.  Two of those many girls actually proposed to me and many other wanted a proposal.  None were “trophy wives” but all were attractive young women.

Now we come to the case of Tiger Woods.  His love is golf and because he is so wealthy he can buy a trophy wife.  He did!  No one told him that money does not buy love.

He may own a mansion and be a billionaire but he has no one to share his successes in life.

I was contacted by Repair California with a request to use my name and provide a 50 word statement.  Of course I complied.  It was difficult to shrink my opinion to 50 words.

My slightly longer statement goes like this:

California, the Golden State, is literally falling apart.  The streets, freeways, levees, and even the water distribution system are all breaking apart.  Add to that the deteriorating educational system, the high taxes, the over budget government systems, and the legislative deadlocks and you begin to understand the depth of our turmoil.

The state districting has been so gerrymandered that there is little opportunity to unseat incumbent legislators without an extraordinary uprising of the electorate.

District boundaries are merely a symptom of the overall management of California.  Republicans and Democrats have carved up the state in a manner that ensures that when an incumbent retires his successor will be in the same party.

Everyone in this state needs to become involved!

We can all buy as many guns as we want.  It’s in the constitution

From YAHOO Answers:
How many people are killed by guns in the United States?
It is illegal to have a gun in Korea. so there is little possibility of Korean being shot by guns. I’d like to know how many people are killed by guns in the U. S annually. Have a nice day.

After some searching, these are the most recent statistics I’ve found:

Number of people killed by guns in the United States in 2004: 29,569

Percentage breakdown by US gun deaths in 2004, by type:

* 16,750 suicides (56% of all U.S. gun deaths)
* 11,624 homicides (40%)
* 649 unintentional shootings, 311 from legal intervention and 235 from undetermined intent (4%).

That averages out to 81 people dying everyday from guns. And also some gun ownership stats:

More than 100 million handguns are owned in the United
States primarily for self‐defense, and 3.5 million people have permits to carry concealed handguns for protection. Currently, the population of the U.S. is around 300 million people.

– 

People are reported killed everyday on the internet.  Today it was four policemen in Washington State.  Even killing a president does not change our ways.  Feeling Alone and Feeling Lonley just buy a gun to feel better. 

Must I buy a gun to protect myself from crazy people?

Sarah Palin is a fruitcake (dictionary look up: looks pretty and sweet, but nothing in their brain) but very attractive.  She wants national media attention. Newsweek magazine is suffering from falling advertising and falling subscriptions.  The formula for both is her picture in a running outfit on the cover.  Both the magazine and Palin benefit from this photo.  It’s all about the buzz.

We all love these diversions.  This one hurts no one and puts money in the pockets of the publisher of Palin’s book and in the pockets of Newsweek.  Can you imagine the noise we would hear if she were a blonde?

I went to a town hall meeting conducted by the primary congressman in the San Fernando Valley (Los Angles, CA).  Brad Sherman of the 27^th district is a good communicator who maintained a calm demeanor. He is not my congressman thanks to Gerrymandering.  The Local paper reported on the event and says there was 1,200 people in attendance.  I was one of the 400 who had no place to sit.  It was mostly a respectful crowd that booed and cheered as Mr. Sherman spoke.

The group was primarily made up of older people.  My guess is many of them are retired or are approaching retirement very soon.  I spoke to Virginia Brodek who lost her job in a public school and has taken another “temporary” job at $16,000 per year.  Her health insurance costs $7,500 and she now lives with her mother. 

The Daily News reported that Beverly Pegram, 65, was stunned by the outspoken audience. The North Hollywood woman had come to the afternoon meeting to catch a glimpse of Sherman, who she admires. She left shaking her head.  “I know everybody is entitled to their opinion, but these people are crazy,” she said.  I left early too.

I am not politically correct!

General George Casey is!

I resent terms like “African-American”, Jewish-American”, and “Mexican-American” because those hyphenated groups balkanize our nation.  My view is that if you are a citizen of the United States you are an American.  We need to be blind to ethnic, racial, and gender identity.  Of course that is difficult to do if you are Black or Oriental (oops, I am not supposed to use that word) or Indian.  So at least try.

 Army Chief of Staff General George Casey appeared on Meet the Press today talking about the massacre at Fort Hood.  This is part of his interview with David Gregory.  I have underlined in bold the sentences that really upset me.   

GREGORY:  What about your concerns about backlash against our Muslim soldiers who are in the Army, as a result of this incident?

GEN. CASEY:  Yeah.  I think those concerns are real and I, and I will tell you, David, that they’re, they’re fueled partially, at least, by the speculation about–based on anecdotal evidence that people are presenting.  I think we have to be very careful with that.  Our diversity not only in our Army, but in our country, is a strength.  And as horrific as this tragedy was, if our diversity becomes a casualty, I think that’s worse.

GREGORY:  Do you have any reason to believe that having Muslims in the Army puts them in a very difficult position and makes the more conflicted fighting a war against Muslims in Afghanistan or Iraq?

GEN. CASEY:  I think that’s something that they have to look at on an individual basis.  But I think we as an Army have to be broad enough to bring in people from all walks of life.

In other words the loss of 13 lives and the maiming of 31 other people is not as consequential as diversity.  What happened to our duty as Americans to protect American lives?  Why is diversity so all important?  General Casey is responsible for protecting all of his people.  He failed.

Our war with terrorists is a fight to protect our nation from those who want to destroy the American way of life.  For those who do not like the way we live there are many other nations to call home.

I could not help notice the face of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, in a photo in Vancouver, Canada.  She looks miserable.  Perhaps it was because there was a rain and wind but I think it was more than that.

Look at this set of photos and you will see a pained face.  Her smiles are more grimaces than real indications of happiness. When she was young and having an affair with Prince Charles, even before his divorce from Princess Diana, you knew she thought she had found her own paradise. 

OK, maybe she isn’t Cruella but she looks like that character.  Perhaps she does like Dalmatians. 

As for Prince Charles,  he appears to be in his own world.  It is truly astonishing he could not see the beauty, grace and dignity in Princess Diana.