Entrepreneurs and Anarchy
I am all for entrepreneurs. I am for our risk-takers.
Risk taking
Entrepreneurs are the ones who move the world, and any society should encourage and help them.
There are millions entrepreneurs in our country and around the world.
Entrepreneurs founded Google, Facebook, Microsoft,Intel, Tesla Motors, and PayPal just to name a few. But, entrepreneurs cannot exist in a vacuum; they are in symbiotic relationship with the whole society, a society which empowers and enables the risk-taker and innovator.
Our society cannot function nor be innovative without teachers , policemen, firefighters, carpenters, electricians and road-builders. Complex societies need an infrastructure, and one that is maintained.
We need each other.
We all enjoy arts. Our society would have no life, no vitality without the arts. It needs writers and singers, composers and painters.
Every facet of our society is necessary and is supported by its other parts.
I am an entrepreneur and small business owner. To be successful, I need customers for my services and products; I need computers; I need a functioning internet; I need marketing and shipping services, and I need food.
Yes, even entrepreneurs need food to survive.
So, my fellow entrepreneurs, in order for us all to succeed, we had better make sure that our life support system, our society, is healthy and functional. Simply put we all can't be entrepreneurs, and if we imagine the Republican dream come through and everybody will be an entrepreneur, we would have a society that could be described by one word, that word – "anarchy."
Cole’s Theory of Relative Relativity
Matt
A burly man dons a soiled vest emblazoned with Confederate flag. He foists a banner declaring, "God Hates All Fags”. I am sickened; I am angry, but my
We Ain't No Racists
systolic and diastolic readings remain steady. I errantly tune to FOX NEWS; the face of Sean Hannity despoils the screen; I grimace; I grab the remote, but I don't suffer an intracranial bleed.
Yet, I become apoplectic when a racist remark emerges from the lips of Uncle Bill, Aunt Phyllis, or best friend Bob. Temporal veins throb and engorge when Cousin Roberta states our cultural group has been endowed by the lord with unparalleled skill, learning, and righteousness. Inner rage and anger threaten to erupt when people I love support superstition over science. Time to take a walk and get some Prozac.
In the very near future I shall be attending a family reunion. My wife, who knows my passion for politics, warns me, "You must be respectful; they are family; they are good people." I know they are good people; they are our family. I get similar warnings when we go out to dinner with friends. My close friends are good people too, or they wouldn't be my friends.
We're All Family
Truth be told, I know I am limited when it comes keeping my cool, and modulating my voice when political and religious debate erupt among people I care about. The simple fact is that I expect people I know and care about to share my most dearly held values. Sometimes those expectations are not met. My own dad became a Reagan supporter. How could MY dad be so dumb?
It takes little effort to remain calm when it comes to non-value issues. I don't become crimson when we disagree about sports, or Apple vs. Microsoft. I am fully capable of speaking softly when disagreeing on some political issue like whether the Supreme Court erred in its Citizens United decision, or should the nation revise its tax code.
This year, if you are a dear family member or friend, and you are a Republican, I think we had better avoid politics. I know that you and I have led a life of relative privilege; you are educated; you are not ignorant, hateful or intolerant. I fully trust that you believe in that "do unto to others" thing. I know that greed and avarice are not your motivators. I cannot fathom your believing that the mythology of religion trumps good science. Thus it is terribly frustrating and downright painful that you could be a supporter of party antithetical to all I believe in. You are my friend; you are family. You have to know better.
It is in-your- face-apparent that the 2012 Republican Party tramples on the rights of minorities, devalues women, and treats LGBT people as less than equals. It panders to bigots, haters, gun-nuts, science deniers and the religious zealots. It employs miscreants like Rush and Hannity to garner political momentum by spreading hate and falsehood. It is either a party of greedy puppeteers playing on fear, hate and ignorance, or it is an amalgam of ignorant bigots. Either way, it is a threat to me, our relatives and the ones I love. It is a threat to all of us. It deserves my wrath; it should raise my blood pressure. The thought of these people leading my country is terrifying.
So to my friends and relatives, please don't expect me to accept any reason for your support of, or voting for, Republicans this year. Please, for the sake of your relative's and friend's circulatory health, take off the Romney button in my presence, and let's stick to discussing the Cubs or how cute Aunt Myrtle's grandbaby is.
You're Gonna Vote for Who!
Does She Know?
Anna
Can a man win the National Presidential Election if, on women’s issues, he consults his wife?
Mitt Romney: “Well, you know, my wife tells me that what women really care about are economic issues, and when I listen to my wife, that's what I'm hearing."
This phrase alone makes me think, "How much does Mitt Romney know about 99% of women?"
Financial consultant
Ann Romney is lucky to have a husband that provides for the whole family and more, and she can make a choice to stay at home and raise the children.
How many women can do that? 52% of working women feel bad at not spending enough time with their children. Does Ann Romney know what it means to make a decision to go to work instead of staying at home, because there is nobody else to provide for food and home, or because one paycheck is not enough to make ends meet? Does Ann Romney know what it means to decide to go to work instead of staying at home with the children, because you want your children to go to college and subsequently to achieve in life more than their parents?
Does Ann Romney know what it means to decide to work instead of staying at home, because this is the only way to get health insurance for one's children?
So, instead of bashing Hillary Rosen for misusing words, we should talk more about what women do care about and what Ann Romney's husband is offering.
She doesn't do it by choice.
What do women care about?
- Healthy family
- Healthy food on the table
- Decent paycheck
- Affordable and accessible healthcare
- Good education for the children
- Safe neighborhoods
- Clean environment
What can Romney as President offer to these women?
- Cuts in Medicaid for children
- Cuts in regulations
- Running the country like a business: no auto industry bail-out, letting the process of foreclosure run its course, destroying unions. “Corporations are people, my friend.”
- Market driven healthcare. Cuts to family planning programs.
- Privatizing education. If you cannot afford a college education, you should not go to college.
- Give firearms to everybody to protect themselves. No gun laws.
I was a working mom. I wanted to work. I was lucky to have a college education, to get a job that paid enough to have our children in good day care, and to be able to build an American dream.
I always admired women who decided to stay at home and raise their children. This is a much tougher job than my choice. I admire Ann Romney for having 5 boys and for raising them - they look like good boys. She should be proud of her job and achievements. But she cannot claim that she knows what average American women struggle with. No matter how many times she says that what women really care about are economic issues, we have to keep reminding our political leaders that we, the women, care about health, education, the environment, freedom of choice and equal pay.
Mitt Romney, if you want women's votes, listen to the majority of women, not just your wife.
The Train of Life
Happy time
We dream of better times.
We dream of a better life.
Sometimes it is the future...
Sometimes the past.
The future where the problems of the present are gone.
The past where the problems of the present are not yet there.
We dream about the “good old times” that are gone.
We dream about happy times that are not yet there.
Time crossroads
But we forget about the Knowledge...
The knowledge about the past's future.
And this knowledge is terrifying - the wars and disasters and suffering.
And we shudder at the thought of that Knowledge.
We realize our life in the past would be impossible with this knowledge.
We dream about the Future...
But the future of our dreams is just that - a dream because we cannot know the future.
Dreams
We are in the Present and we dream of better times.
Sometimes it is the Past.
But then we would know the Future and live in fear and anticipation.
Sometimes it is the Future.
But we don't know the future and our dream could become a nightmare.
We live in the Present and we know the Past and we dream about the Future.
I know that the future is not just a dream.
Life's Journey
We live in it every day.
We make the future.
And the future becomes the past every day of our lives.
By our action or inaction in the Present, we are building the Future and creating the Past...
And we call it Life.
We travel trough Life's Present, Past and Future and are making choices every moment of our journey.
And hope not to miss the right turn.
Mandatory Religious Test for POTUS
Sweet Jesus, let her get her period?
What the hell is that bump on my nose? Don't let it be cancer.
God, what do I write about today?
Thank you lord, I will write about you!
Wait a moment, I know nothing about you. I Google "God;" select "images" and up pops over 2 BILLION pictures. However, not one would qualify as acceptable identification for voter registration in Wisconsin.
Over Two Billion ... One must be the ONE
I could peruse volumes of words produced by PhD's, Doctors of Divinity, and clergy wearing all l kinds of funny hats to find out about you. But truth be told, not a single scolar would have verifiable firsthand knowledge. Many have debated and cogitated over how the concept of you developed and changed over time; you know, that Zeus to Jesus thing.
That's it, you are a concept. And until I am convinced otherwise, you shall exist only as a concept. If I openly declare a nonprovable concept is a tangible thing, I run the risk of being classified as delusional. I have enough problems; I don't need more tsouris.
It probably makes little difference if people believe the nonprovable. Some of my best friends and family members are delusional. Kids believe in Santa and the Tooth Fairy. Many of us pray that a loved one gets better. People ask for god's help to survive all kinds of life crises. What does it hurt? Probably little, unless, you are a parent who relies solely on god to prevent peritonitis developing from your kid's burst appendix or you have a delusional President.
We should all have gigantic reservations about our Presidents relying on god for advice on making tactical decisions. Delusional Presidents are not a good idea.
The United States Constitution's Sixth Amendment states, " no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States. " We all know this is simply bullshit. An atheist or Humanist being elected President is less likely than the Cubs winning two consecutive World Series titles. MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell recently pointed out that our media virtually never examines a candidate's religion, but it continually demands that a candidate prove that he or she is faithful. One can believe anything as long as one is a believer.
Deist-based religions possess patently ridiculous beliefs, many of which are deleterious to modernity. Rarely do they expunge erroneous beliefs until science proves them wrong or social pressure forces them to back off.
It took The Church of Latter Day Saints 129 years before allowing African-American men to become priests in 1978. Mitt Romney was 31 at the time. Of course this is rapid compared to the Catholic Church waiting 390 years to apologize to Galileo for claiming that the Earth revolved around the Sun. Thousands of years have passed, yet the rejection of LGBT people, and inequitable treatment of women continue to be core beliefs of orthodox Judeo-Christian and Islamic religions. God evidently is pretty stubborn.
Let's face it, unless a candidate is a raving, delusional zealot, he or she must be aware that some of the tenets of their religion are nuts. If humanity is to survive, it needs to separate its governance from lunacy. Thus:
I PROPOSE: the following brief mandatory religious test for all Candidates for President of the United States of America:
Religious Test for the Presidency
Judaism: "You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against your kinsfolk. Love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD."
Christianity: "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them"
Islam: “...and you should forgive and overlook: Do you not like God to forgive you? And Allah is The Merciful Forgiving.”
Mormonism :"whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them, for this is the law and the prophets"
Question 1: Do you, as candidate for President of the United States of America, believe in the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"? "(Note: you may refer to any or all of the above religious writings for guidance).
Yes ____ No _____ It depends on who the you is ____
If you answered "No" to the above question your test is complete and god help us all if you're elected
Question 2: In your own words, list three specific beliefs or tenets of your religion that violate your religion's "Golden Rule" (Hint: treatment of women, homophobia, revenge, death penalty etc)
1.________________________________________________________________
2.________________________________________________________________
3.________________________________________________________________
Extra Credit: In your own words, list or describe two beliefs held by your religion which modern science has credibly shown to be incorrect. (Hint: Genesis)
________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
If you answered the above questions truthfully, you may be our first honest President. Regrettably, you should know that you are now unelectable.
Choose you answers wisely ... Mr. Candidate
