Hi Everyone,
Two weeks ago I blogged about statements made by some Republican Presidential Candidates that were completely false. I have now waited two weeks to see if anyone would apologize for their incorrect statements. Of course that didn't happen. So has anyone else make incorrect statements since then? Of course. It seems to be a prerequisite in the GOP's race to 2012 to say anything that will stir up controversy or utter inaccurate and dangerous statements.
Michele Bachmann takes the cake for her statement regarding Texas Governor Perry's law mandating that all young girls have to take the HPV vaccine. That statement is correct. The HPV vaccine does help protect women against cerival cancer later in life. But Bachmann did say that the HPV vaccine causes mental retardation; her words not mine. Bachmann had no charts or graphs or any medical professionals backing up her statement. She heard one story from one mother and that was it. The CDC and the medical profession called Bachmann's statement a blatant falsehood. One very upset medical professional said that her statement was akin to yelling fire in a crowded theater, when there is no fire. Where is her common sense? A presidential candidate using at best an unsubstantiated claim and at worst, spreading an accurate rumor should be extremely worrisome. She has made it abundantly clear that her common sense is dead on arrival. Maybe she should be held liable for her false statement? That might stop any further falsehoods from her and any other person.
Governor Rick Perry seems to be willing to join the Bachmann club on inaccurate statements. Perry has accused the Obama administration on being weak on the immigration problem and something needs to be done. Perry wants to ship them all home except for his state. Perry signed into law allowing illegal immigrant children to get tuition assistance for any Texas college they attend. What? Using taxpayer money to help illegal children get a college degree when there are thousands of legal college age citizens who could use that money to further their education needs. What he is thinking? Oh right, when you don't have any common sense it is difficult to make the correct decision.
This new GOP has a motto of no tax increases. They stopped the expiration of the Bush tax cuts that help only the rich, but didn't create any job growth. Now Paul Ryan and Herman Cain say that the republicans will oppose an extension of Obama's payroll tax cuts for both employees and employers and let IT expire. Well, for the party who says no tax increases, they certainly want to increase taxes on the middle class and poor class of citizens, who certainly need that extra money in their paychecks. The GOP really does have it wrong when they say the Democrats are initiating class warfare when Obama wants the rich to pay their fair share of taxes. On the contrary, class warfare apparently stems from the GOP against anyone who is not rich or is a weathly corporation. You can't say that you are against tax increases and then turn your back and raise taxes on the majority of Americans. Does that make any sense? Of course not. Common sense was left by the wayside as usual. When will this madness end?
My wishes for this upcoming election season is that ALL politicians tell the truth, apologize when they say something wrong and use common sense when making any and all decisions. I would also have to include that fearmongering stop.
My last wish is for all voters to carefully listen to, read about and watch on TV, any and all information they can get to make a decision for whom they want to vote for, keeping in mind that common sense should and must be used.
Til next week.
Peter
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Sunday, September 18, 2011
The Lighter Side
Hi Everyone,
Sometimes we all need a break from our daily lives and the world in which we live, to take a look at the lighter side. That's what today's blog is all about; the lighter side of life. I found these in a free publication in our local grocery store. Imagine, something free! These are just the ones with a tad of common sense tucked into them. The following are called Ponderisms:
1. There are two kinds of pedestrians: the quick and the dead.
2. Life is sexually transmitted.
3. Healthy is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.
4. The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth.
5. Have you noticed that since everyone has a video camera phone these days, no one talks about seeing UFO's like they used to?
6. Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.
7. All of us could learn a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.
8. In the 60's, people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.
9. How is it one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire.
10. Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, "I think I'll squeeze these dangly things and drink whatever comes out?"
11. If Jimmy cracks corn and no ones cares, why is there a song about him?
12. Why does your OB-GYN leave the room when you get undressed if they are going to look up there anyway?
13. If quizzes are quizzical, what are tests?
14. If corn oil is made from corn and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, then what in the world is baby oil made from?
15. Does pushing the elevator button more than once make it arrive faster?
I hope you enjoyed these Ponderisms.
Til next week when I'll return to the real world.
Peter
Sometimes we all need a break from our daily lives and the world in which we live, to take a look at the lighter side. That's what today's blog is all about; the lighter side of life. I found these in a free publication in our local grocery store. Imagine, something free! These are just the ones with a tad of common sense tucked into them. The following are called Ponderisms:
1. There are two kinds of pedestrians: the quick and the dead.
2. Life is sexually transmitted.
3. Healthy is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.
4. The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth.
5. Have you noticed that since everyone has a video camera phone these days, no one talks about seeing UFO's like they used to?
6. Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.
7. All of us could learn a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.
8. In the 60's, people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.
9. How is it one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire.
10. Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, "I think I'll squeeze these dangly things and drink whatever comes out?"
11. If Jimmy cracks corn and no ones cares, why is there a song about him?
12. Why does your OB-GYN leave the room when you get undressed if they are going to look up there anyway?
13. If quizzes are quizzical, what are tests?
14. If corn oil is made from corn and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, then what in the world is baby oil made from?
15. Does pushing the elevator button more than once make it arrive faster?
I hope you enjoyed these Ponderisms.
Til next week when I'll return to the real world.
Peter
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Be Aware and Informed
Hi Everyone,
As hard as I try to not write about politicians and their lack of common sense, their own words are their worst enemy. What concerns me the most is that there are people who will believe anything a politician says and will take as the gospel truth.
Last Sunday, 9/4, on Face the Nation, Michele Bachman said that if elected president, she would drop the corporate tax rate down to 5%. Which she said meant a fundamental restructing of the tax code. Then she said that she would replace the lost federal money with a use tax for all Americans. In essence what this means is that corporations would pay less taxes and all Americans would pay more via a use tax. Bottom line, corporations pay less and a tax increase for everyone else. Doesn't that go against the tea party vow of no new taxes?
Bachman then said that if she was elected president, she PROMISED gas prices under $2.00 per gallon. She would allow drilling for oil anywhere in the United States, including she said, the Florida everglades. Ok there seems to be a few problems with her promises. First and most importantly, Bachman and any other president have absolutely no control over the price of oil. She should study up on the free market and OPEC a lot more to better understand how oil prices work. Secondly, even if Bachman allowed oil drilling anywhere and everywhere, it would take over 5 years for that oil to come to market and not during her presidency. Thirdly, oil drilling should not take place in environmentally sensitive areas like the everglades. Obviously, someone didn't pay attention to or learn a lesson from the BP disaster that happened to the Gulf affecting some six or seven states wet lands and beaches etc. Oil on beaches crippled those economies and killed an unknown number of fish and birds etc. According to Bachman, environmentally sensitive areas be damned. Oil wins over environment?
Still on the same Face the Nation show, Rick Perry said that Social Security is unconstitutional. What? That means that Perry wants to eliminate Social Security. It that were to happen, it would hurt tens of millions of people receiving SS who can least afford it. I don't think it would hurt the upper class millionaires, do you?
On Tuesday, 9/6 on the Today show, Perry, via satellite, said that his state, Texas had 50 wildfires and he needed lots of help from the federal government to fight the fires. Besides needing manpower, he said he needed FEMA money asap. If you remember, Perry also thinks that FEMA's budget should not be increased except when an equal amount of money is cut from the federal budget. We all know how the last federal budget reduction talks went. It took months and we ended up having our country's excellent credit rating lowered. So if FEMA's budget is strapped due to, to many natural disasters, according to Perry, the House and Congress would have to fight it out again and the affected states wouldn't get their much needed urgent money to clean up and rebuild. How do you clean up and rebuild when it could take months and months to receive the money? Most interesting is that Perry is not calling for an equal offset now in FEMA's budget since his state needs money. Go figure. Why is it ok to take the money when his state needs it, but not ok to increase FEMA's budget when its funds run dangerously low? Makes no sense does it?
Again, all politicians should use common sense before they open their mouths. Tit for tat and partisan politics must end. I made mention of these statements to let voters understand that there are some politicians who besides lacking any common sense, are also wolves in sheep clothing. Voters should be wary and vote with as much correct information as possible.
Til next week.
Peter
As hard as I try to not write about politicians and their lack of common sense, their own words are their worst enemy. What concerns me the most is that there are people who will believe anything a politician says and will take as the gospel truth.
Last Sunday, 9/4, on Face the Nation, Michele Bachman said that if elected president, she would drop the corporate tax rate down to 5%. Which she said meant a fundamental restructing of the tax code. Then she said that she would replace the lost federal money with a use tax for all Americans. In essence what this means is that corporations would pay less taxes and all Americans would pay more via a use tax. Bottom line, corporations pay less and a tax increase for everyone else. Doesn't that go against the tea party vow of no new taxes?
Bachman then said that if she was elected president, she PROMISED gas prices under $2.00 per gallon. She would allow drilling for oil anywhere in the United States, including she said, the Florida everglades. Ok there seems to be a few problems with her promises. First and most importantly, Bachman and any other president have absolutely no control over the price of oil. She should study up on the free market and OPEC a lot more to better understand how oil prices work. Secondly, even if Bachman allowed oil drilling anywhere and everywhere, it would take over 5 years for that oil to come to market and not during her presidency. Thirdly, oil drilling should not take place in environmentally sensitive areas like the everglades. Obviously, someone didn't pay attention to or learn a lesson from the BP disaster that happened to the Gulf affecting some six or seven states wet lands and beaches etc. Oil on beaches crippled those economies and killed an unknown number of fish and birds etc. According to Bachman, environmentally sensitive areas be damned. Oil wins over environment?
Still on the same Face the Nation show, Rick Perry said that Social Security is unconstitutional. What? That means that Perry wants to eliminate Social Security. It that were to happen, it would hurt tens of millions of people receiving SS who can least afford it. I don't think it would hurt the upper class millionaires, do you?
On Tuesday, 9/6 on the Today show, Perry, via satellite, said that his state, Texas had 50 wildfires and he needed lots of help from the federal government to fight the fires. Besides needing manpower, he said he needed FEMA money asap. If you remember, Perry also thinks that FEMA's budget should not be increased except when an equal amount of money is cut from the federal budget. We all know how the last federal budget reduction talks went. It took months and we ended up having our country's excellent credit rating lowered. So if FEMA's budget is strapped due to, to many natural disasters, according to Perry, the House and Congress would have to fight it out again and the affected states wouldn't get their much needed urgent money to clean up and rebuild. How do you clean up and rebuild when it could take months and months to receive the money? Most interesting is that Perry is not calling for an equal offset now in FEMA's budget since his state needs money. Go figure. Why is it ok to take the money when his state needs it, but not ok to increase FEMA's budget when its funds run dangerously low? Makes no sense does it?
Again, all politicians should use common sense before they open their mouths. Tit for tat and partisan politics must end. I made mention of these statements to let voters understand that there are some politicians who besides lacking any common sense, are also wolves in sheep clothing. Voters should be wary and vote with as much correct information as possible.
Til next week.
Peter
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Common Sense Award #5
Hi Everyone,
I hope anyone who was affected by Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene that life is starting to return to some kind of normalacy.
This week, instead of blogging about politicians and their total lack of common sense, it is time once again to blog about something good. This week I am awarding the fifth Common Sense Award. The last Common Sense Award was given out on 3/20/11, so here is the back story to today's winner.
This summer has been a terrible summer for the mid-western states, especially Texas. I believe that the year long drought affecting Texas is the worst in over 50 years. The impact has been most devasting to farmers and ranchers. Hopefully it will rain soon and end the drought. But the third largest city in Texas, El Paso, located in the far western part of the state, is not worrying about water. Why? Well it all started 20 years ago.
Over the past 20 years, El Paso has paid city residents over $11 million or $1 per square foot, to remove their grss and replace it with gravel, cement or desert plants. In addition, the city has permanent restrictions on watering days and reduced water comsumption by offering special showerheads and rebates for water-efficient toilets.
El Paso's 20 year plan has helped them to avoid a water crisis that other towns across the state now face, including the community of Robert Lee, which is currently rushing to find a new source of water before its faucets run dry within the next several months.
The foresight and common sense of El Paso of 20 years ago has helped them today. For that reason, I am awarding the fifth Common Sense Award to the city of El Paso, Texas. You see, common sense does work. So many of our problems can be solved if cooler heads prevailed and common sense is used.
Til next week.
Peter
I hope anyone who was affected by Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene that life is starting to return to some kind of normalacy.
This week, instead of blogging about politicians and their total lack of common sense, it is time once again to blog about something good. This week I am awarding the fifth Common Sense Award. The last Common Sense Award was given out on 3/20/11, so here is the back story to today's winner.
This summer has been a terrible summer for the mid-western states, especially Texas. I believe that the year long drought affecting Texas is the worst in over 50 years. The impact has been most devasting to farmers and ranchers. Hopefully it will rain soon and end the drought. But the third largest city in Texas, El Paso, located in the far western part of the state, is not worrying about water. Why? Well it all started 20 years ago.
Over the past 20 years, El Paso has paid city residents over $11 million or $1 per square foot, to remove their grss and replace it with gravel, cement or desert plants. In addition, the city has permanent restrictions on watering days and reduced water comsumption by offering special showerheads and rebates for water-efficient toilets.
El Paso's 20 year plan has helped them to avoid a water crisis that other towns across the state now face, including the community of Robert Lee, which is currently rushing to find a new source of water before its faucets run dry within the next several months.
The foresight and common sense of El Paso of 20 years ago has helped them today. For that reason, I am awarding the fifth Common Sense Award to the city of El Paso, Texas. You see, common sense does work. So many of our problems can be solved if cooler heads prevailed and common sense is used.
Til next week.
Peter
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