#OWS

 Funny how Police have little problem arresting Occupy Wall Street Protesters, when you consider the Protesters are taking action on their behalf, as well as others of course.

   The Protesters seek a fair distribution of wealth, as in, Big Business pay your fair share.  Which can be directly traced to Police pay and benefits.  When Big Business pays its fair share, Police get the pay they deserve. More pay less worry. The less you pay the more the Police and their families suffer.  Freezes in hiring, elimination of overtime, cuts in their benefits and retirement.  The "Thin Blue Line" gets even thinner.  How safe are our streets then?

   When the Police kowtow to Rich people who think they're superior and above the Law it gives the impression of a Puppet Master pulling strings, or a Rich guy with pockets bloated with cash holding a sign that reads, "You don't get your scraps unless you do what WE say"! Looking at it as a matter of self interest, the Police are protecting the wrong people, merely because they hold the purse strings.

   The solution becomes very simple.  The Police are on the wrong side of the picket line.  Which begs the question, How long until they figure this out, or have they already?  If that's the case, I have to ask, will they cross the line and stand with the people and not the Corporations? How long before enough is enough?  What will it take for them to stand with their friends, family, and neighbors?  The family next door, the girl across the hall, their sons and daughters?

   How does one choose the side that won't let you into their neighborhood or building, unless you're wearing you're uniform, over the people you live with?

Republican Gun Control

 So let me get this straight, Republicans in the United States Senate are introducing a Bill to limit the amount of ammunition the Government can buy?

 A Senate Bill co sponsored by Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.)  Will Limit the amount of ammo the people we rely on to defend us can buy and possess.  Agencies like the Department of Homeland Security, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

   Need I remind you that these are the same Elected Representatives that want the common Citizen to be able to purchase and stockpile as much ammunition as they want, which includes some convicted felons, thanks to these same brainiac law makers.

   So lets do the Math.  The Department of Homeland Security has 240,000 employees, if Wikipedia is correct.  Lets say half of them need to carry guns, and that's being generous.  According to the U.S. Census Bureau.  217 million of which are over the age of 18.  2.2 million of those are incarcerated in one form or another that leaves just over 214 million adults.  Let's say half of them are ineligible, for different reasons.  That's being more than fair.  So what do we have?  That leaves us with roughly 107 million legal U.S. Citizens qualified to own  as many guns, and as much ammunition as the see fit.

   Not to worry.  Even if just 1 percent of them are Fanatics, that's only 1 million 70 thousand  crazies running around with all the guns and ammo while 240 thousand well meaning Homeland Security Agents are chasing after them blowing whistles, and waving their arms telling them to stop because they don't have what they need to keep themselves safe, let alone you and me.

   Even if my math is off and I'm sure it is, it's my worst subject, you have to admit allowing civilians to have more guns and ammo than the cops is a stupid idea!  It is as idiotic as the people who thought of it!  If these Senators had to work in the real world, and presented a proposal like that to their bosses in the Corporate world, they'd be fired.

   No matter how you run the numbers, or how often it all adds up to the same outcome. Stupid will always be Stupid!

   Let me drive home the depths of the Grand Old Party's stupidity.  The people who will stop at nothing to make sure America will never have gun control is advocating gun control for the people who know how to use guns!

Bridges Tunnels and Roads, Oh My!

  I have said it before many, many times. And I'm not the only one.   Federal stimulus is needed to repair roads and bridges across this Nation.  I have driven extensively across America and have witnessed first hand the disrepair of our Nations infrastructure.

  I'm not saying I've been everywhere in this Country, or on every road and bridge but I don't have to.
You don't have to go far from home, no matter where you live, to see pot holes in roads and concrete crumbling on bridges and overpasses.  Eight years ago it was suggested to stimulate a sluggish economy.  Four years ago it was pleaded for by many as a means to kick start a recovery from  "The Great Recession".

  It should not take a bridge collapse like the one in Washington state to get Congress and the President talking about it again.  And it doesn't seem that is has!  The only people talking about it are the Press, Media, and working folks like you and me.  Everyone but the the proper authorities.

  It is very simple math, safe roads benefit everyone and come with no disadvantages.  Safe roads keep the American traveler safe, increase interstate commerce, and provide for the "General Welfare of the People."  Which is a term expressed many times by our founding fathers over two hundred years ago.

  So no matter what your political affiliation, you can not argue that the "General Welfare of the People" has, and always should be, at the forefront of everything this Country stands for.

  Federal stimulus for roads, tunnels and bridges has been a tried and tested means of economic stimulus.  And it remains that way even today.
 

Reaction Is Not Response

  You know those commercials where if you need something you can just push the Easy Button?  I wish they were real!

  Newtown CT. School shooting is tragic and horrifying to all of us.  It is important after the normal process of grieving  outrage, and reaction, to take a step back and talk about tragedies like this with a calm rational perspective.   Not the usual talking that takes place during the event, which is talking at each other.

  Shouting over one and other to be heard and not listening is a normal part of dealing with such incomprehensible actions.  But we often forget an important part of the healing process, which is to listen.  This is probably the most important part of the healing process, arguably anyway.

  For example, Sussex County Delaware has to decided to put Guards in all it's schools to combat any future such events.  What they failed to do is take a step back and discuss the problem in an intellectual manner.  Which is ironic because all School systems in America are supposed to be based in intellectual thought.

  The words Guard and Combat should never be used as a solution for Schools.  Delaware has a created it's own reputation of putting metal detectors, guards, and police officers in it's High Schools, and as a result they have grown increasingly more violent.

  Yes, as a result!  A Schools intent is to develop and shape young minds.  And that's just what Delaware has done.  By treating Students as inferiors through searches, threats and constant scrutiny, we have developed in them a prisoner mentality.

  Walking through metal detectors and being searched does not make anyone feel safe.  We know it makes us safer because we are rational adults with the ability to discern the proper coarse needed to be safe.  But we don't feel it, we discern it.  Yet we expect children to be able to do the same.  They can't. Not yet anyway.  Not without experience.  And experience is what separates the men from the boys so to speak.

  I don't know what the correct answer is for making our Schools safer and no one person does either.  That will take rational adult conversations with as many people as possible, and the most important ingredient of all "listening".

  What I do know is, a child does not see the world as adults do.  Daily exposure to guards, gates and detectors will never inspire creativity.  Which is something else Schools are meant to do.  You can't open minds by locking doors.

  We don't currently have an answer for tragedies like Newtown, and we are not likely to have one any time soon, until we stop Reacting and start Responding.

The Tragic Events in West Texas

  Tragically the West Texas Fertilizer Plant Explosion has become a model example for what can happen if the Republican lead Congress succeed in their De-regulation Agenda.  It also points out the desperate need our Nation and our Economy has for strong united Unions.

  Unions have done more to limit dangers in our work place, and ensure work place safety for all Americans through Education and Legislation. 

  It is impossible to count the number of workers alive today thanks to the diligence of Unions.

  I understand a statement like this is easily dismissed, but before you do, ask yourself, would you rather have an actual number of workers who's lives were not saved, like in West Texas?  

The Part They Left Out of Falling Unemployment Benefit Applications

  As news of falling unemployment benefit applications begin to fan the embers of economic recovery, it's important to note that some of those numbers are people giving up on a system that has failed them.

  Some find jobs, low wage, part time work.  Which makes them ineligible for further unemployment benefits.  After a time they are laid off and have to re apply.  Going through the entire process of proving their eligibility all over again.

  The ones who don't find work are subject to repeated call backs to come in to unemployment to verify and re verify then verify some more, only to find out they are not getting a check because the 'hand off' of paperwork was missed by someone.  And you have to go back in to prove it wasn't your fault.  Then wait another week for a check you should have gotten this week.

  But it's okay. It's only money, right?  (Sarcasm) What is important to remember is, to just keep quiet, do what the people with all the money tell you to do, and be grateful for the crumbs they throw you.  After all we got Obamacare. (More Sarcasm)

  Yes people are finding jobs, but not the jobs of yesteryear.  Not even close.  Hundreds of applicants line up for the same job.  In many cases a job that does not offer enough to dig ourselves out of the debt we have unwillingly accumulated since the "Great Recession".  Yup they are officially calling it the Great Recession.

  Are unemployment benefit applications going down because our economy is recovering?  Yes I guess they are.  But it's also because people are walking away.  They're tired, worn down, and beaten.  Is it okay tor Society to sweep these people under the rug?  I don't think so.

  Some...feels like most actually, see them as bums or panhandlers.  When in fact they are the ones who have done everything asked of them, just like you and me.  And when they asked their elected officials to do something for them, those same officials were to busy arguing over who is to blame.

  To say giving up and walking away is not accurate.  It makes them sound like they had a choice, when in fact they did not.  I don't know of a way to accurately describe what happened to these people.  It's like trying to bale out a sinking boat with bucket riddled with holes.  Eventually you sink.

  The people we chose to send to Washington to run things are doing the exact opposite.  They are doing nothing.  If they had to enter the work force like the rest of us, they wouldn't be employed long with that kind of work ethic.

A Commentary by Ben Stein

Gone, are the day's of rational behavior!

Where does the voice of reason reside?

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.

 My confession:

 I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat...

 Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.

 In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

 In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc.. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school... The Bible says thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK

 Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about.. And we said okay..

 Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

 Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'

 Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

 Are you laughing yet?

 Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.

 Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

 Pass it on if you think it has merit.

 If not, then just discard it... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.



 My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully,

 Ben Stein