Category: L

North Korea has convicted two American journalists, Euna Lee & Laura Ling, for “grave crimes against North Korea” and sentenced them to 12 years in prison, the maximum possible punishment. They are to be transferred to a labor camp in ten days.

I am normally not a pro-war person, but, in the case of North Korea, I am inclined to make an exception. It is hard for me to understand why they keep doing this. I understand the concept of a communist dictator. But, one would think, he would not actively seek to provoke the international community, nor would he threaten the most powerful country in the world. And yet, here we are.

The small country of North Korean is a thorn in the side of the international community. Their only ally, China, cannot even control them. No insane, for I believe him to be so, dictator cannot and should not have the capability to kill and destroy that nuclear weapons allow. North Korea’s blatant nuclear tests, missile launches, and rejections of diplomacy lead me to a place I am rarely found; I would support going to war with them. If it were not for Afghanistan & Iraq, I believe we may have already taken that step. Chalk up yet another alarming situation caused by our former president.

Read more on the plight of the journalists and what others hope will be the eventual outcome, namely using them as bargaining chips in further negotiations with world leaders, in the following article I read on USAToday.

North Korea sentences US journalists to 12 years in prison

Yet another setback in the ongoing struggle for gay rights and equality in our country: the Supreme Court refused to hear a case challenging the validity of the prejudicial military policy “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, instead covering their behinds by stating it was up to the Congress to change or amend the practice.

What happened to that promise, Mr. President? What happened to that simple answer, Mr. Gibbs? We are all getting sick of waiting.

Thanks to @anamariecox for the heads up. Click on the link below for the full story.

Court rejects challenge to DA/DT

How come I didn’t hear about this? The New Hampshire governor on Wednesday signed into law gay marriages rights.
Full Article Here

Thanks to lazy circles for the article and info.

Seriously, why didn’t I read or hear about this before today?

In case you haven’t heard about this vomit inducing incident, read on to learn how two girls, suspected of being lesbians, were expelled from their Lutheran High School based on the precedent of the Boy Scouts case.

Really, I sometimes wonder if people are even human.

Thanks to @aplusk for this saddening story.

Today, Maine became the fifth state to allow gay marriage. View a full story by USAToday here.

I’ve tried to express, multiple times in fact, how I’ve felt these past few weeks about the Republicans in the House and Senate. Each time, my anger, frustration, and annoyance has not translated into what I’d written. So, rather than being witty and ironic, I will speak plainly.

House Republicans said they could not support the bill because they were not included in its making. They could not support it, even though it contained some of the largest tax cuts in this country’s history. They complained about a provision for family planning. (It seemed obvious to me that preventing the creation of more mouths to feed helped us in the overall struggle to feed ourselves.) This small provision was taken out, after having been widely criticized by the GOP, as a peace offering to bring them on board. But not one Republican voted for the bill. Not one, after the talks and overtures from President Obama. Not one.

I think the house Republicans realized something quite interesting about their situation. The prevailing reason why they were elected to their seats was who they represent, majority Republican districts that may never vote Democrat. They don’t need to work to help the economy. They don’t need to support the President. In fact, they score more points if they oppose the bill, because they can say, “I stood up to the majority, even when it was hard. I took on the President.” To them, the economy is second. Looking good on television, and in rallies, is first.

Now the Senate is trying to pull together a compromise. Moderates are trying to find a way to come together and pass a bill to help the American people. And yet, there is still opposition in the worst way.

There is a proposal to cut the bill in half, making the majority of it for tax cuts. Any economist will tell you, tax cuts alone will not get us out of this turmoil. If tax cuts were the solution, the $600 I received in the mail last spring would have done the trick. You can’t just give people money. You have to funnel it out in the right ways.

Tax cuts are one sided. Maybe I will spend a bit more with the extra $40 a week. I’m sure some people will. But others will save it. Tax cuts, though helpful, are not the only solution. Government spending injects money directly into the economy, and it is spent over and over again. Government spending and tax cuts, together, are the way to kick start this economy.

I am surprised daily how the Republicans are able to control the flow of government, whether in the majority or not. I am surprised that the previous administration has the nerve to criticize the current administration, even though that is never done until at least a year later. But then again, I shouldn’t be surprise. The past eight years can attest to what the GOP is capable of.

What I am surprised about is that the Democrats don’t have the balls to do it, too. I was glad when the President stopped trying to reach out to the Republicans and started talking to them like their leader. He was elected to the highest office of the land. He was chosen to steer this country in a new direction, to fix the looming problems of the past, and to usher in a new regime of change and hope, honesty and integrity. He wasn’t elected to be a hall monitor or guidance counselor. He is the principle. It is time he started weilding his belt.

You are the Majority, my fellow liberals. Start acting like it. Go on the attack. Get your message out. Don’t let the menacing minority spin the good you are trying to do. Show the world that it is really they who are harming the economy by bickering and stalling, instead of compromising and acting.

You were elected to lead. Act like it.

I recently read an article on usatoday.com talking about a new strategy to fight homelessness: helping families find foreclosed homes to squat in.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-12-10-homesquatters_N.htm

It’s a great article. I highly recommend you read it. I never thought there could be a moral dilemma with helping the homeless.

The thing that struck me the most, however, was a part near the end. The Miami activist helping to place families in the vacant homes had previously reached out to banks, trying to legally acquire the houses. His original plan was to rent the homes to the displaced families. At first, there was interest. However, once the banks learned about the TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Fund, also known as the “bailout”), they stopped taking his calls.

These banks didn’t care about the people. They cared about the bottom line. Here stood a man trying to help. Here stood an opportunity for people to come together, work together, find a way for all parties involved to help each other. Instead of rising to the occasion, being truly magnanimous, the banks chose to wait it out. They wanted their money, no matter what the cost to the families forced out onto the streets.

This article highlights another reason why our country is in such financial peril. When creating mortgages they knew the perspective home owners could not afford, the bankers didn’t think about the welfare of their customers. Instead, they went for the quick profit, the easy money maker, brushing their hands of the situation. When given a chance to help their customers, they chose to help themselves.

And what consequences did they have? Only $350 billion dollars to keep their doors open. I understand that everyone needs the bank to stay afloat. But why didn’t the government act more forcefully, asking more questions, finding out the root problem, and require the banks to give a report on how they would become profitable again? Why didn’t the government appoint a bank czar, who could force the institutions to work with each other, lend to each other, strengthening the financial market? Why were they given basically a blank check, while the auto industry has been grilled before our eyes recently?

I am sickened by the banks’ greed, but I am made nauseous by the government’s obvious classicism. White collar gets a check. Blue collar gets cheated. Paulson takes care of his buddies. Detroit is kicked while it’s down.

My feelings, by no means, excuse what auto companies have done. Save Ford, who at least thought ahead, planned for the worse, and, it is not said enough, HAS NOT ASKED for money, America’s auto companies are in trouble because of their own failings. Having said that, why wasn’t the same treatment given to the CEO’s of AIG, Merrill Lynch, Countrywide, CitiGroup, and the many others who have received piles of money these last few months?

I encourage questioning. I encourage grilling. If you’ve fucked up, you have to come clean. But punching Peter while you hug Paul doesn’t work for me. Our country is in trouble. Our government must do better to make our lives better, lest we all loose what little “wealth” we still have.

If you punish a child for an act, they are less likely to repeat it. By giving the banks a pass, the government has doomed them to make the same mistakes again. Require just as stringent guidelines and reform for the banking sector as you have for the auto sector. That’s where the trouble started. It must be where it is treated, vigorously. Maybe then we have a chance of this recession not repeating itself.

The first political conversation I can remember having was around the age of 8. It was 1991 and the political campaigns of George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton were on everyone’s mind. My family sat in the living room watching local news.

Now, before I go on, I need to preface what happens next. I was raised in a family of Democrats, only Democrats. Not everyone was highly educated, but they all were intelligent, articulate, and opinionated. From a young age, I showed promise academically and intellectually. I suppose this is why my opinions were allowed in adult conversations. Most of the time, I knew what I was talking about.

As we watched the news, I began to comment on how there was no way Governor Clinton was going to loose. Of course, there was an immediate rebuttal. “Really, why?” “Well”, I began, “I can’t see myself voting for a president who lied to everyone about taxes and then picked a Vice President who can’t spell the word potatoes. I can spell potatoes. He’s an idiot.” I left that modifier dangling, but you understood my 8 year old opinion. And thus politics entered my life and has never left it.

I am liberal. Okay, I’m ultra-liberal. I’m Pro-Choice, anti Iraq War, pro universal healthcare, anti death penalty, okay with high taxes and government aid in my everyday life, liberal. Let’s see what passionate and frustrated rants I will have in the next six weeks before the election and beyond.