CAN MITT DO ANY BETTER?

In November, we the citizens of these United States, in order to further our union, will vote for the office of president, the most important job in the nation.

When Obama was running, the right wingers complained that he didn't have enough executive experience to prepare him for the highest executive office in the country.

OK, maybe that was a valid point. So now, another man comes along who says he has lots of executive experience and who says he can change the direction of the country--create more jobs, get the economy back on track.

This man, Mitt Romney, will likely be running on the Republican ticket, after the GOP convention. Romney has held several big executive positions, including the governorship of Massachusetts.

So let us take a look at what Mitt Romney actually did as governor. What was his record? What did he accomplish? Not much, it turns out.

It is weird that you don't see this information in the newspapers all the time, and you don't hear it on the radio and TV news. You'd think it would be everywhere. 

First of all, Romney didn't do what he said he was going to do.

Romney said he was going to increase job growth. Massachusetts went from #37 to #47 in job creation while Mitt was governor. Down, the numbers went down. That was not supposed to happen, but it did.

What happened to all that big-time expertise? He said he was a successful businessman who knew how to grow an economy. That is what he said then, running for governor, and that is what he says now, running for president.

When he was governor, Romney cut spending for education, probably the most important item for the future of any society.

Question: How to do attract new high-tech businesses when you don't have an educated workforce? Answer: You don't.

Romney raised fees on "everything from college students to mortgages, from buying a boat to opening a bar," according to Paul Begala, a columnist for Newsweek:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/04/29/paul-begala-what-s-mitt-romney-hiding-in-his-record-as-governor.html

"Fees for university students shot up 63 percent," according to Begala.

What is the difference between a fee and a tax? I don't see any difference. Do you? If it walks like a duck....

Romney's record as governor was bad. Real bad. He cut job training, workforce development and trade assistance, according to Begala.

Looks to me like Mitt Romney was a weak, misguided, ineffective governor, and I believe he would make a worse president.

Oh, he talks a big game. A big game.

But will he deliver? What do you think? Look at his record, and you tell me.

Does he walk like a duck?

-- Roger

Copyright © 2012, Roger R. Angle

executive

WE ARE LOSING FREE SPEECH

If corporations didn't dominate our lives before, they do now, as a consequence of the Citizens United decision.

Take a look at this article in The New Yorker about the Supreme Court decision to open the floodgates so corporate wealth can dominate U.S. elections:
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2011/04/11/110411taco_talk_toobin

In the decision, Justice Kennedy and the majority did just what Kennedy said he did not want to do, took the right to speak from some people and gave it to others, depriving the disadvantaged of a fundamental right in a participatory democracy.

They took the right to speak from the poor and the middle class and handed it to rich corporations who do not have the best interests of the country at heart.

There are no checks and balances here. Is this the America our ancestors fought for? I don't think so.

If you want to get involved, check out this website:
http://unitedrepublic.org/?akid=116.80736.S1FeYK


-- Roger

Copyright © 2012, Roger R. Angle

JOHN EDWARDS, DIRT-BAG

Who is the biggest dirt-bag you can think of?

I nominate John Edwards, former presidential candidate and 2004 running mate of John Kerry, a man whom I respect.

Edwards acted like a man of integrity, talking about two Americas, one for the rich and one for the poor. He lied to his then-wife, who was dying of cancer, and did the same thing that Newt Gingrich did, had an affair with another woman while his wife was sick.

Who is the bigger dirt-bag, Gingrich or Edwards? Who cares? They are both trashy people. I wouldn't trust either one of them as far as I can throw the White House.

What are we to think about politicians, when we have been hoodwinked like this? It is tempting to think they are all dirt-bags. I am trying hard not think that. But it isn't easy.

Here is a link to a story today about the trial of Dirt-bag Edwards:
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-defense-rests-its-case-in-john-edwards-trial-without-rielle-hunter-20120516,0,1710368.story

I hope he gets convicted and goes to prison for a long time.

-- Roger

Copyright © 2012, Roger R. Angle

STUPID MONEY? MAYBE NOT.

It amazes me that Democrats and Republicans live in such different worlds. A Texas gazillionaire, Harold Clark Simmons, has given $18-million so far to defeat President Obama for re-election:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2012/03/22/biggest-gop-donor-has-given-18m.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_morning&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_morning&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet

Isn't that amazing?

He calls Obama a "socialist." Where in hell does he get that? Obama filled the White House with people from Wall Street, for Christ's sake. Is Wall Street full of socialists?

Good God. What planet is this rich dude living on? (Well, he does live in Texas.) To him, the moon must be made out of green cheese and dark must be light and day must be night. Amazing.

You've heard the phrase "smart money"? This is just the opposite.

Wait. You know what it is? He's trying to protect his wealth. He's giving away millions to keep his tax rates low, and so people like him will be able to keep screwing the poor and the middle class.

Sure. Too him, any form of equality is socialism. He called Obama "the most dangerous American alive."

Funny how these rich people equate their own selfish interests with that of the country. Blinded by their own greed, I guess.

I wish these people would be more open and honest about this kind of thing. Why doesn't Harold Clark Simmons just come out and say it? He wants to stay rich and get richer, and he doesn't give a damn about the rest of us.

NOTE: My young friend James points out that other right-wing fat cats have given far more:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenbertoni/2012/02/21/billionaire-sheldon-adelson-says-he-might-give-100m-to-newt-gingrich-or-other-republican/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/03/koch-brothers-100-million-obama_n_1250828.html

They will go to any lengths to protect their wealth. Guess they don't want to give up their multiple mansions and their private jets.

-- Roger

Copyright © 2012, Roger R. Angle

AFGHANISTAN: WHY?

I watched the two political talk shows today that are on every Sunday morning, on NBC and ABC. They were talking about Afghanistan as if it has some strategic importance to the USA. But I don't see why.

I never agreed with George W. Bush's idea of going in there to get Osama bin Laden and the people who planned the attacks of 9/11. Those attacks were also planned in Germany and Southeast Asia and Florida, and I never saw us invade them.

I did some research on the Web--a Google search for "USA strategic interest in Afghanistan" and every variation I could think of. I got nothing that made any sense.

I looked through the New York Times and various other news websites and found nothing that explains what we have to gain by being there. Or what the Afghan people have to gain.

I called a buddy of mine and asked his opinion. Help me, I said, to justify the USA staying there. But he couldn't help. And he is a very smart guy.

We have spent billions of dollars and about 1,700 American lives. For what? I don't see that we have helped ourselves or the Afghan people. I think it has all been a waste.

The only reason to be there, it seems to me, is to clean up George W. Bush's mess. And we seem to be doing a lousy job of that. I think we should stay if we could do any good in the long run, but I don't see how.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't see the point in staying there. I think we should do whatever it takes to not waste anymore blood and money. We should stop killing innocent people, ours and theirs.

-- Roger

Copyright © 2012, Roger R. Angle

SAVE A BUCK, HARM A HUMAN

I just read this Mother Jones story about the stupid, penny-pinching, back-breaking, hurry-up world of working for a warehouse that delivers on-line goods: 
http://motherjones.com/politics/2012/02/mac-mcclelland-free-online-shipping-warehouses-labor

This is what happens when you don't have unions and everyone wants to save a buck.

These low-wage jobs are hurting the economy, I think, as well as ruining the lives of thousands of people who have no choice but to take these jobs.  

I think I am at fault, too. Think I'll start paying for shipping on Amazon. I'd be willing to pay 10% or 20% more for the goods I buy, to prevent this kind of exploitation of working people.

This wage-slave world is Mitt Romney's world, where corporations are supposedly people, and we all sacrifice ourselves so the rich can have big houses and expensive toys.

We are becoming a third-world country thanks to this kind of thing.

Welcome to the new America.

-- Roger 

Copyright © 2012, Roger R. Angle

GRUMPY OLD MAN

It is weird getting old. I am 73 now. Knock on wood. Older than my dad ever was. He died at 72, on the crapper, which was somehow fitting. He had trouble with constipation for years.

He was shacked up with an 18-year-old girl whom I met one time. Hurray for him. He had the right idea.

When he divorced my raving hysterical critical bitch of a mother--I started to type "monster," god rest her soul--he bought a Cadillac and a boat and found this young woman. Bless him. Wish he'd done it sooner. Unfortunately, he only lived two more years to enjoy his freedom.

Now, here I am, getting older and grumpier every year. Everything pisses me off. Everything hurts. My hands, my knees, my shoulders. Sometimes, I'll be sitting still, minding my own business, when for no reason I get a sudden jolt of pain, about a five or six on a scale of one to ten, with ten being enough to make you pass out.

I never thought growing old would be fun, but I pictured it as a time of leisure, relaxation and satisfaction. I assumed that you would not feel as much pain, that your pain receptors would somehow be dulled. Good luck with that.

So I'm grumpy. In fact, my son calls me Grumpy, like one of the seven dwarfs.

And he's right. I am grumpy. You would be, too. Or will be. 

-- Roger

Copyright © 2012, Roger R. Angle