12/7/09 Whitehouse.gov
A supporter need not be blind

Dear Mr. Obama, Your Presidency is becoming one of the most ineffective presidencies of all times. The fifth grade history book translation would be that your Presidency was a failure to actually put forth any meaningful change, but so much talk of wonderful possibilities. Obviously the graduate history major would delve deeply into the geo-political, economic, legacy problems, broken government agencies, inequities, etc. In short, the grad student would probably conclude that you did ok given the environment. An editorial comment here: I am one of your biggest supporters and fans, if not just for your having broken a racial barrier. For that accomplishment alone, because I believe that America could never become a "modern" nation until that wall came down, I thank you. Against all hope, the headwinds you face are probably too great to accomplish much else. With the menacing likes of Boehner as well as aforementioned problems, the probability of your administration's success is becoming miniscule. Some may say that healthcare reform and the wars are your failures, but I suggest that the power of the Presidency is limited to persuasion. Most importantly, what you can and should control is your administration and keep your house in order. Your strength is undermined, diminished and diluted when your White House staff does stupid things and you must admit that your administration has generated a slew of stupidity news of late. Noone can place confidence in an organization that can't manage it's own internal affairs.

11/20/09 Whitehouse.gov
It's time to STOP the stupidity before it creeps into every nuance of this President's legacy. I mean it, the stupidity has to stop. Think government screwups and imagine just how many insults we can take. Suggesting women shouldn't use the most conservative approach to breast cancer detection because the few women it saves are statistically insignificant. "My mother is dead", thank you. Announcing a number of jobs created down to the single job is impossible as the erroneous details reveal, but to suggest the number was compiled with jobs from districts that don't exist? It is just plain stupid administration. Finally, though not stupid but just as damaging, we should be concerned about our nation's warrior mentality. Plain and simple we've been at war for too long. We've got a whole generation of children who know American as a warrior nation. Death, destruction, policy, strategy, and rallying around the war is becoming who we are. A strong nation we should be, but a pervasive warrior mentalitiy will destroy us. A healthy, progressive nation should focus on art and education, health and happiness, not bombs and bombing, not implements of destruction. Your administration is entering the period by which history will judge it best. Will it be great progress or greater destruction. Will it be governing for the people or will it be a bemoth administrative mess. Will it be a visionary presidency or a mix mash of untenable aspirations. Remember never to insult the American public, don't take on more than the administration can handle with confidence and give us a healthy outcome to strive for.

8/18/09 NFL.com blog
Yea, like many of you I also believe that Michael is a changed man. In fact, he didn't know what he was doing was wrong. It was something in his upbringing that caused him to take a minor detour in life. He's really a sweet guy, very compassionate and loving, wouldn't hurt a flea kind of guy. All this dog fighting stuff is really just not his fault. I think it was something in his past that caused him to veer off the right path. I've got it, yes I've got the explanation. His father didn't take him to a ball game when he was a youngster. No, maybe his mother didn't read him a bedtime story. Yeah that's it. Ok, I saw the 60 minutes interview. I also remember seeing Vick deny that he had any involvement with dog fighting before his conviction. I heard stories that he pointed the finger of guilt at his own family member rather than take the heat himself. But through it all, I like many of you believe that this is an upstanding guy, someone who deserves our support. Hey, here's one for you. Anyone can say anything. Let's say a really evil person rapes, maybe kills your family member. Ouch! Well that person "serves their time" and they come out to say they've remorsed - they're really sorry. They say on TV and with a very long face. They even admit to crying over it while in prison. Now what's wrong with you for still hating them. What's wrong with you for not forgiving them, after all they're really sorry --- and they've changed. They've really changed.

8/17/09 Eagles contact
It's all very unfortunate if Michael Vick did these terrible things. These are things normal people would never contemplate much less act on. To torture and kill; to not only join in , but to promote and celebrate such a torturing says everything about the constitution of this man. By constitution we're not talking about learned behavior, we're talking about the soul a person is born with, their core. It's unfortunate if Vick is so flawed at his core. It's unfortunate that dogs were abused in such a hideous manner. It's unfortunate that Philadelphia will be the place to welcome this behavior. It's most unfortunate that such a great franchise as the Eagles will overlook the moral character of its player. I haven't heard of any other Eagles players who have done such terrible things and for that matter I believe Vick will not play out well for the Eagles. Why? Because Vick has deep inner troubles. Ask yourselves, isn't that obvious? If not, ask yourselves how many people you know who would enjoy watching dogs tear flesh from flesh; blood splattering everywhere, howls of pain and anguish long into the night and the smell of blood permeates the air. Or how many do you know who would electrocute or drown a dog. Who do you know who would do these things? Not one single person, right? That's because it's just not normal behavior. You can't wish it didn't happen, you can't make statements of remorse, you can't spin a good marketing campaign to make it all go away and performance on the field won't change any of the underlying problem. My point is that Vick may speak about remorse and change, but he has no control over these deeply troubled regions inside himself. It is truely unfortunate that the Eagles have chosen to align with this person. It's poor judgement which over time will almost certainly prove to degrade the Eagles image and become known as a poor business decision.

8/7/09 to Whitehouse website contact
I'm concerned about what's transpiring around Health Care Reform. It's becoming a mob environment and it's not healthy. Debate and information sharing is healthy. Don't just blame the right, because that sounds like you're saying it's not real. Maybe it's not completely genuine, but believe me it's real. And I'm concerned that you, Mr Obama, are losing your mojo. I'm asking you to regroup now and remember how you got to the Presidency. If there's a time you'd like to get back to campaigning, I would say it's now, RIGHT NOW! Let's take a look back and rediscover how you won the American heart. First, Bush was a miserable failure, and then you shared a message with Americans. You reached out in a grassroots effort to get into the lives of Americans, to meet them in their homes, streets, schools, churches, text messaging,... You and they seemed to simultaneously discover that government didn't have to separate. Note well, the miracle for many was that discovery and that we seemed to go through it together, you and us. Let's do that again (and again and again).

Health Care Reform isn't reaching the people. It's not a process that we're discovering together. We're divided and it's getting worst and I know that's not what you want.

Let's do something really crazy. Let's put the HCR to a vote. No, not a Congressional vote, an American popular vote. I know. It's risky at best, but if it's voted down then you'll have to run another campaign, and maybe another before it's passed by the people. Can you imagine the impact of that? Can you imagine just how empowered Americans will feel. Can you imagine how creative your folks will have to be as they once again put on their campaign shoes like they mean it!

8/6/09 to squawk@cnbc and powerlunch@cnbc
Hey guys, what do say we break this story wide open!

For wide release: CNBC is not a financial news reporting medium.

They've been infiltrated by Fox, and we all know what kind of reporting that mentality leads to. On July 23, 2009, a blogger at gawker.com writes about "How CNBC Dennis Kneale Begged For Blogger Bile". The article isn't important except to say that in that article Ryan Tate writes, "After Kneale's repeated on-air outbursts against bloggers, ..., Kneale told our sources who spoke privately with him that the crusade [to beat up on bloggers] was dreamed up by his [CNBC] producer, former Fox News man Jerry Burke ..."

First of all, isn't NEWS as in fox news really a quite a euphemism? I'd prefer to think of news as in unbiased reporting of the facts. Therein I suggest we at CNBC stop hiding in the shadows and just come out.

I've been writing on occasion to complain about the likes of Larry Kudlow and his tainted partisan ranting. I've never questioned his intelligence, but he's about the farthest thing from a reporter and he's a very poor facilitator. While interrupting and even shouting over his guests, I say he's down right rude. He'll cut them off and cut to his final comments when he doesn't like their point of view, which is distastefully similar to Bill O'Reilly's behavior.

So, if we're not reporters at CNBC and we're really just sounding boards for the far right, then let's be honest about it. I don't ever feel quite this way about Bloomberg, hmmm.

In fairness, there are plenty of very good reporter/anchors at CNBC. Becky, Carl, Joe, Rick, Steve, Bill and Sue are among them. These folks aren't there to push a political agenda. A hint of their bias may peek through, but that would be done tastefully and I've NEVER heard any of these aforementioned rudely interrupt a guest! Check my facts for yourselves, just run the tapes. Do it, because your program's success depends on it. You can take your choice, do you appeal to the intelligent investor or some other class of viewer. I can tell you that many of us are way too busy to be fed partisan garbage. Get off it and get back to providing real information to your viewers.

7/24/09 to Whitehouse website contact
Dear Mr. Obama,
You're doing a phenomenal job and health care reform is, as you say, needed, but -- You haven't gotten individual Americans to join the party. Sure you've been hearing from people asking for help and their stories are compelling, but --
You're campaign for health care reform speaks little about individual responsibility to participate. Individuals must be called on to sign on with a commitment to taking control of their lives, a commitment to living more healthfully. It's pretty well known that medicine and medical science is improving our lives while individual health is declining. I'm referring to controllables like smoking and obesity at near epidemic levels, just two of the most threatening ailments facing Americans and our economy. Without a campaign to get Americans to participate in this health care bill with their personal commitment by taking responsibility for their health, this and any other bills will be doomed. Let's make education a key component of this bill.

Finally, I can't agree more with your mission. WE need a healthy population in order to have a fully functioning society. There, I said it, and you should too. You should say it loudly and clearly and often so there's no mistaking your motivation in promoting health care reform. Say that we need a healthy population in order to have a fully functioning society. Health Care Reform as well as education reform and equality reform are as important as healthful food and public safety. These are essential elements underlying a "Fully Functioning Society". There's no debate here, we will all benefit. I hope you'll see how this message is being lost in the political debate we hear about every day.

4/29/09 to Senator Hutchinson contact
Topic: Demagogy and Ms. Kay Bailey Hutchinson rhetoric
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah is all I ever hear when Ms. Hutchinson shows up on a news broadcast. She often appears on CNBC in the morning. As soon as I see her face I know it's just party line blah, blah, blah.

I know the republican leadership has been struggling to understand why the public has turned against the party, well listen to the likes of Ms. Hutchinson for a clue. I think Ms. Hutchinson may have written the book on how to patronize an audience.

Between Ms. Hutchinson, Jeff Beck and Rush Limbaugh you can really get an idea of where this party is heading. Just read this definition of demagogy which is right out of "The republican party handbook on how to ruin a country in two decades or less."

demagogy: refers to a political strategy for gaining political power by appealing to the popular prejudices, emotions, fears and expectations of the public — typically via impassioned rhetoric and propaganda, and often using nationalist or populist themes.

On the eve of another do or die decision for the "Big Three" automakers, Congress is poised to act and Phil Lebeau of CNBC is hard at work interviewing automaker executives. Two of the more disturbing interviews were disturbing because of the ineptitude of management and the twisting of truths.

In a February 16, 2009 interview conducted on the floor of the Chicago auto show, a Ford vice President was asked to describe what he understood about the wants and needs of the American consumer. He promptly stated the consumer's desire first for fuel efficiency and then styling. Right on brother, he nailed that one! Next the interviewee turned to present his fleet's pride and joy, a Mustang GT500 and he exclaimed, it packs a 550 horsepower engine! Now aren't you thinking the same thing I'm thinking, --ah, what did he just say?

The second ridiclous and even more annoying interview was with the leader of GM, CEO Rick Wagoner. He was asked to respond to people who ask why they're coming back for more bailout He balked at that, saying people have it all wrong and his facts are that they didn't get all of the money that they and Congress had agreed to and they could come back for more. Well, his response is a little off the mark and maybe he should go back and check his recollection against the transcripts. To borrow a phrase, the inconvenient truth is that Congress didn't really want to fork over the money in December without a recovery plan, but they did with the stipulation that these automakers would come back in March with proof that they'd achieved a level of success as measured by positive net present value. Without that proof it seemed likely that Congress would have little choice but to allow the markets to decide the automakers' fates, because without some measure of success additional taxpayer dollars would be throwing good money after the bad.

Remember that it was these executives who had come before Congress on November 18 woefully unprepared. Watching those hearings you couldn't help but ask what these guys were thinking when they showed up looking for billions in taxpayer assistance with no plan to speak of. Remember question after question being deferred with answers like, 'we'll have to check on that', or 'we'll get back to you.' Other cute answers like 'we'll have to do the research,' and the most numbing of all, 'we didn't prepare anything on that.' They showed up in Congress for a second try on December 4th which did lead to the bailout money. But recall that in that instance the Congress emphasized that the money would come with strings attached. Congress asked that the American taxpayer dollars come with the promise that the automakers would work on a plan. We taxpayers thought this was a bit backwards at the time, because in any loan we've ever applied for the plan had to be presented first. But the belated plan was nevertheless a requirement for the automakers to show that they, in fact, had returned to a positive net present value by March. Ok, net present value is a very subjective number derived in a multitude of ways and basically easy enough to manipulate to tell a story of your chosing. In short, it's an estimate calculated using other estimated numbers. What's more, the agreement didn't place the more stringent and frankly more cut and dry requirement for the automakers to achieve net positive cash flow. That's one that everyone knew they couldn't achieved, too bad because that's one we can all understand. Yes, net positive cash flow is simply what happens when you spend less than your paycheck.

Bottom line as always, these top guys are ruining our industries. Maybe that's unfair to say, because maybe they've already ruined them or maybe they inherited the ruins of their predecessors. Whatever we do, whatever concessions we have to make, all of us, including the Congress, the American taxpayer, the labor unions and the hardworking suppliers must forever hold these top executives responsible and we should never forget that it was they who haven't managed well and, as evident by just two recent interviews, still haven't a clue. The stakes are very high and it's the bad management who must pay.

The children never forget

Has anyone seen the January 25, 2009 episode of 60 Minutes? Correspondent Bob Simon visited a Palestinian home in Gaza. The most unfortunate situation exists whereby Israeli Army soldiers have taken up residence in this home as if by eminent domain. The soldiers have actually taken up residence in the Palestinian home uninvited. In fact, the soldiers would not speak with Bob Simon, not let him in and forced the Palestinian family to turn him away lest they lock out the Palestinian family's children who were returning from a day at school.

Ack. How disgusting I thought. After thinking a bit more I imagined what this is like for those children. They're just children you know. They haven't created this world, they haven't been here long enough to make a meaningful impact on this world and yet they suffer. They suffer from seeing their parent's dominated, their homes violated and so they learn a lesson of hatred. Who are their teachers? Of course it is the Israeli soldiers. For these children, the Israeli soldiers are ambassadors of bad will. Most unfortunately, it is the young who will not soon forget.

You can see the 13 minute report here at: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4752349n

Watch CBS Videos Online

Praying in War

I saw a picture of an Israeli soldier praying alone with a book and a cloth over his head. This obviously is the way he was taught to pray. I asked myself what might he pray about or what might he pray for. Might he be asking for an end to bloodshed in his region? Might he ask for forgiveness for having caused bloodshed in his region? Ask that his enemy be struck down so that he and his comrades might go home quickly? Ask that he not be injured? Ask that his comrades not be injured? Ask that his god punish his enemies? Ask that his god punish all enemies present and future? Ask for a good lunch for himself, his comrades, his family and friends? Ask that the enemy might starve, the enemy's families might starve?

News prints and blogs never suggests that Israelis pray for conciliation between themselves and their neighbors. And that raises another question regarding the problem with a religious state like Israel; of course not unique to Israel. When a religion is applied as the supreme underpinning of a state we see two very different functions lose their individuality. Both religion and government are very necessary for human existence. A religion is for our souls. It is for our highest thoughts.

How then can a government be a religion? A government is to deal with necessities. It must protect its population and may justify a means of doing so on practical grounds. The military government easily fulfills this definition. The military acts out of necessity in protecting the people under its domain. The military can be brutal and can act without remorse for the terrible things it does. After all, it is a functional institution.

A great problem arises when a government is sanctioned by a religion. When government becomes the pragmatic arm of the religion we sing psalms of our glory to the heavens, for it becomes righteous to fight and kill our enemies. In fact, it becomes our duty and our greatest honor to serve our religion in this way. It becomes our point of entry into fanaticism, an unwavering belief that we are correct, righteous and just in all that we might do in the name of our religion. We are expected to act beyond mere words. In a modern day we speak these truths in bombs and bigger bombs; bombs so powerful they could make even god blush with shame.

So today we are once again faced with children dying in the Middle East. Does it matter why or by whose hands? We kill humans and we should be ashamed. Maybe it is the shame that Israeli soldier was praying about.

For The Love Of Israel

I will admit that the complex history of U.S. and Israeli policies have been a mystery to me. Since Israel's inception there has been a tangled web of controversy and boat loads of money provided to ensure the survival of that state.

I'm concerned now more than ever that the U.S. is over-spending on Israel. The question need not be whether Israel has a right to exist, instead whether it has a duty to do so under its own volition. Whether the existence of a state is more or less about rights of the state to exist or rather more about its duties in how it manages its interrelations and affairs.

Israel's behavior has often been the target of great controversy. The fact that Israel is a strong U.S. ally in the middle-east region is a compelling reason to support them. For the pleasure of this relationship the U.S. sends Israel great sums of money every year. With U.S. help Israel has developed one of the world's most advanced military and are quite capable of protecting their territory. With additional assurances by way of standing backup support from the U.S. in case of an invasion, Israel faces no overwhelming threat. If Israel were to take a more aggressive posture in the region, say settling in areas outside their territory, taking new territory or simply controlling the territory of others, we might ask ourselves what it is that we are helping to protect.

At a minimum, the U.S. should not support a military regime bent on controlling the region. If the U.S. provides support and assurances to support such a regime under all circumstances, then we may well be the cause of their overzealous ambitions. In fact, those ambitions might be far less aggressive in nature had they to think more and act more on their own volition.

Why I Blog

Harold Pinter is dead now (1930 - 2008). I didn't know the man and yet, after seeing this video I somehow feel a great kinship.

He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005 and recorded this acceptance speech in lieu of actually attending the ceremony in Stockholm. He was dying.

Possibly only a man facing death would speak with such honesty, but Pinter was known to speak his conscience. His speech is about the horrors and the audacity by which the U.S. government has executed its policies throughout the world, especially with respect to South America and the Middle East of late.

I began this blog with Pinter in mind. He calls on us as citizens, to find what he calls the real truth of our lives and society.

You must see this video. Please follow this link to  NobelPrize.org

The Plague Is Next

What else? It'll just have to be something big. Lately news has been bad, bad and badder. A slurry of bad news. Automakers on Capitol Hill, layoffs on Wall Street and Main, unemployment approaching 8%, consumers unhappy, retailers less happy and just in time for the New Year, voila Israel and Hamas are at it again.

I'm not certain about how we get through these days, but we do and the news, well it keeps us amused. So thanks for tuning in and I hope you enjoy the banter.