Simple Solutions

American businesses are sitting on $2 trillion in cash. Republicans say that if we cut taxes, particularly on what they refer to as "job creators" and slash regulations, businesses will magically be willing to put this capital at risk. The problem is, no amount of tax or regulatory cutting will incentivize a business to hire an additional worker when there is no additional demand for their product. That would be stupid, and American businesses are not stupid. It seems most likely that the result of cutting taxes on "job creators" is that American businesses will be sitting on $3 trillion in cash. The first step is to identify the problem. The problem right now, at this moment, is lack of demand caused by the consumers in this country simply not having money to spend. They don't have money because: 1) they don't have jobs; 2) they are underemployed; 3) they are being paid less than they used to be paid. In order to address this, several steps should be taken immediately: 1) cut taxes on the middle class; 2) institute real infrastucture spending. Additionally, the tax code should be reformed to accomplish several major policy goals: 1) stop rewarding businesses for moving jobs "offshore;" 2) reward businesses for hiring more employees. Simple solutions...things all Americans should agree on.

When Did We Stop Abiding by "The Rule of Law"

Okay, let's see, we just survived the worst economic meltdown since the Great Depression...and yet, for the first time in modern history when an economic meltdown has occurred, no one was charged with a crime...even though millions of Americans lost trillions of dollars due, in part, to lies by financial folks. We just went through a period of time when our friends and neighbors know that some of us tortured prisoners in the "War on Terror." In fact, Jose Rodriguez, former head of the CIA's clandestine services, who destroyed the videotapes of some of the torture said, "I was concerned that the distinction between a legally authorized program as our enhanced interrogation program was, and illegal activity by a bunch of psychopaths, would not be made." Yet no one was charged with a crime. We claim to be a country guided by "The Rule of Law." My question is, was that ever true, and if it was, when did it stop being true? Was it true when President Clinton was impeached by Republicans in the House of Representatives for lying in a deposition about an extra-marital affair that obviously had nothing to do with his role as President? Or was it true when President Nixon was pardoned by a Republican for his role in a criminal conspiracy to undermine our democracy through the coverup of political crimes that had everything to do with his role as President? Finally, is it true when young inner-city men get life sentences for a few ounces of cocaine, yet many financial thugs who commit billion dollar crimes do not face prosecution, from Republicans or Democrats? It seems we have abided by "The Rule of Law" by making corruption legal.

Why I am Sad...

It seems like white men over 50 are becoming more mean, hateful and bitter day by day. Why is this so? Maybe it is because they feel their power and dominance slipping away. Maybe it is just as simple as they are mean, hateful, bitter human beings. Go to any right-wing (I prefer to call them wrong-wing) blog or website and the hatred is unbelievable. I think they were always hateful, it is just easier to see in this techo-world. Why am I sad? Because they think I am one of them. I hear comments all the time from other old white men who think, because I look like them, that I am like them. I asked a new liberal African-American friend who had seen me for months, what he thought my politics were. He replied "let's see, old white guy with short hair from the south who used to be in law enforcement - yeah, conservative." I am not like them.

Sam Donaldson - My New Hero!

Neil Munro of the Daily Caller interrupted President Obama's speech yesterday, an act of rudeness and disrespect for a President I have not witnessed in my 50 years of political observation. Munro's boss, Tucker Carlson, defended his reporter's actions by comparing it to Sam Donaldson's tough questioning of previous Presidents. Donaldson took exception to this by pointing out that he never interrupted a President's speech and only asked questions during the appropriate time for questions. Donaldson's response follows: "Never once did I interrupt a president in any way while he was making a formal statement, a speech, honoring awardees or in any other way holding the floor. Yes, almost always when he was finished in the Rose Garden or in the Briefing Room or at a photo opportunity with other world leaders I tried to question him (only rarely was it a shout on the rope line, more often a more normal tone of voice) and other reporters of course did the same thing along with me. What this man did yesterday is something new, to me wrong and unusual. I think it is probably the result of the growing incivility of the times, the competition among reporters and news organizations to be noticed not only for the work product but for the theatrics of the gathering…and there is one more factor, let’s face it: Many on the political right believe this president ought not to be there – they oppose him not for his polices and political view but for who he is, an African American! These people and perhaps even certain news organizations (certainly the right wing talkers like Limbaugh) encourage disrespect for this president. That is both regrettable and adds, in this case, to the general dislike of the press on the part of the general public. For Tucker Carlson to say that he would if he can give this man a raise for this rude attempt to interrupt the president is reflective of what I’ve said above and, to me, lowers my opinion of Tucker." Sam Donaldson had the guts to challenge the conservative lie - they can't stand having a black President. Let's face it, they treated President Carter terribly, then they treated President Clinton even worse, but nothing comes close to the disrespect they have shown President Obama. They should all be ashamed of themselves.

Let's Talk Facts About Global Warming

Updated on 12/2/2019

Did you know...a gallon of gas weighs 6.3 pounds, yet burning it produces almost 20 pounds of carbon dioxide?

Gasoline is basically 87% carbon and 13% hydrogen. When gas burns, carbon is released and combines with oxygen in the atmosphere to form CO2 (hydrogen is also released and combines with oxygen to form water and water vapor, but this does not create the same problem as CO2 formation). Carbon has an atomic weight of 12; oxygen has an atomic weight of 16; so CO2 has an atomic weight of 44. Therefore, each new CO2 molecule weighs 44/12, or 3.7 times as much as the original carbon atom. 87% of 6.3 = 5.5; 5.5 X 3.7 = 20...that is 20 pounds of CO2.

The average person on earth produces 4 tons of CO2 per year (counting everything we do...burning gas, burning wood, deforestation, etc.); multiplied by 7 billion people means that, in addition to naturally occurring carbon dioxide, we add 28 billion tons of CO2 to the atmosphere per year. Although this may not sound like a lot since naturally occurring CO2 amounts to 700 billion tons per year, the earth can handle the naturally occurring CO2, and it can even handle some of the man-made CO2, but it is the portion of the excess we create that is not being naturally "exchanged" that we must be concerned about. Part of the problem is that the "half-life" of CO2 is about 27 years, so although about half of the CO2 humans are currently creating is "exchanged" or absorbed by the earth, half is not. Due to the fairly long "half-life" of CO2, the result is the level of CO2 in the atmosphere has increased from 280 ppm (the level it has been fairly stable at for the past 10,000 years) to 415 ppm since 1750. Almost two-thirds of that increase has occurred in the past 50 years, so the level of CO2 measured in the atmosphere appears to be accelerating. The level of 415 ppm has not been seen in the past 20 million years. You may have heard lies like, "The volcanic eruption of Mount Pinatubo released more CO2 than all of man's activities in history." In fact, average volcanic activity produces less than 1 billion tons of CO2 each year, and, according to volcanologists, the super eruptions like Pinatubo or Mount St. Helens added the equivalent of CO2 produced by humans in one day.

We know that CO2 can increase temperatures, especially night-time lows and winter temperatures. We know that increased temperatures can result in climate changes, including melting of glacial ice that can increase sea levels. We know that if the temperature on the planet increases at the upper range of scientific forecasts, we could see dramatic (as in bad) changes in agricultural production, mass species extinctions, flooding of low-lying coastal areas, weather extremes and even challenges to our very survival on the planet within the next 100 years.

These are the kinds of scientific facts we should be considering as we plan the future of this planet for our children and grandchildren and discuss the causes of "global warming" and what we can and should do about it.

Why I am for President Obama Still

In spite of the most unprecedented obstruction from the Republican Party in modern times...in spite of inheriting the worst economy in almost a century...in spite of those who oppose anything this man proposes, I am for President Obama still because he has delivered an amazing list of accomplishments. Just a few include: 1) He got Osama bin Laden and has wiped out most of the al-Qaeda leadership; 2) after inheriting the worst economy in 90 years, we have had 27 months in a row of job growth; 3) ended the longest war in US history in Iraq that he didn't start; 4) ending the war in Afghanistan that he didn't start; 5) Lillie Ledbetter Act - fair pay for women; 6) ended DADT; 7) efforts to reform healthcare in spite of obstruction from the Republicans who did nothing to reform healthcare under Bush except give half a trillion dollars to Big Pharma; 8) got a tax break for working Americans in spite of Republican opposition; 9) increased infrastructure spending; 10) ended the wasteful F-22 saving billions; 11) Race to the Top beginning improvements to education; 12) saved the US auto industry and millions of jobs; 13) stimulus saved millions of jobs; 14) expanded SCHIP healthcare to 4 million additional children; 15) enacted the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; 16) allowed increased embryonic stem cell research; 17) New Start arms reduction pact with Russia; 18) protected us from terrorists within the bounds of the Constitution; 19) new weekly unemployment claims at 4-year low; 20) hiring initiatives for veterans; 21) permits Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices ending Bush practice of paying top prices to Big Pharma and saving hundreds of millions; 22) ending tax breaks to companies that send jobs offshore; 23) ended torture programs; 24) provided additional fairness to gay citizens; 25) came out in support of marriage equality; 26) Dodd-Frank Act to bring sane regulation back to our financial institutions; 27) continued to protect our environment including demanding a sane review of the issues related to the Keystone Pipeline; 28) prioritized immigration enforcement resources implementing a policy to allow productive law-abiding young people to stay in the country; 28) while serving as an incredible role model for fathers and husbands. These are just a few of the reasons that I am thankful for what this man has done for my country.

Homo Sapiens Sanus

I was discussing politics and policy with a liberal friend of mine the other day. We were talking about the fact that conservatives tend to take positions that only favor themselves and their closest family and friends, while liberals tend to take positions that favor everyone, including groups of which they are not even a member. This becomes glaringly evident when people like Nancy Reagan change their position on stem cell research, but only because her husband developed Alzheimer's; or Dick Cheney changes his position on gay rights, but only because his daughter announced she is gay. My friend asked, "Why are we the way we are and they the way they are?" I thought about his question, and the answer became obvious to me.

Why is homo sapiens the dominant species on the planet Earth? We are smaller, weaker, slower, and have poorer vision and hearing than most other animals. The reason is obvious, it is because of our brain, we are smart! But it is not just our intelligence. How did we survive attacks from bigger, stronger and faster predators? We survived because we banded together into tribes. Alone we would have been eaten; but together we protect the group and survive. However, the same traits that protected us from predators, that resulted in our survival; our tribal instincts, also became one of our least admirable traits once the predators were overcome. That tribal instinct that became dominant through natural selection became the same instinct that resulted in war, death and destruction once the external predators were gone. We ended up taking the trait that enabled us to survive when we had enemies and turning it on ourselves, making us our own enemy.

Evolution is ongoing and inevitable. Our tribal instinct is no longer a good thing; in fact, it is a bad thing. The trait that will serve the future is a completely different trait. This new trait is non-tribal. Actually it is a trait that coincides with a global reality, a trait that has at its core a respect and concern for the planet we live on, a trait based on cooperation, not competition.

It is a trait that liberals have and conservatives do not. The reality is that a new species of human I call Homo Sapiens Sanus, the Sane Man, has arisen. Evolution continues in its inevitable way. The day of the previous dominant species, with a strong tribal instinct, is coming to an end. The beginning of a new day, for a species that cares about the earth, cooperates rather than engages in conflict and war, uses natural resources in an efficient way designed to leave something for future generations, protects the entire species rather than just the tribe, has come.

Of course, as is the case anytime a dominant species is in its last days, and a new species time has come, there is a period of transition when the "dinosaurs" try to hang on. The "dinosaurs" we deal with today may be called many things, the "Tea Party" being just one.

It is not just our imagination. We are the way we are for a genetic reason. Since the Liberal-Sane (LS) gene is dominant and the Conservative-Tribal (CT) gene is recessive, according to Mendel, the possible permutations are as follows: CT/CT; CT/LS; LS/CT; LS/LS. Therefore, mathematically speaking, 3 out of 4 offspring will be Liberal-Sane. So the Age of Homo Sapiens, the Conservative Human Being who cares only about their own tribe, is ending and the Age of Homo Sapiens Sanus, the Liberal-Sane Human Being who cares about the Earth and everyone on it, is dawning and inevitable.