2 rr's missing 3rd R

Our United States current Democratic Party administration of President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden learned with the rest of our citizenry last week who their primary opposition’s vice presidential candidate would be.

Given that this man has been a very visible U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, actively involved in offering very controversial budget proposals in the past year or more, I am constantly amazed when I keep hearing news reports that many in the general population have never heard of him.  I find this more than just troubling, since I am always interested in knowing what government leaders are doing, or not doing, on my behalf.

When I think of  what this nation, people in every little town and on every farm have endured during the days of Wall Street and the banking world’s upheaval – the challenges we continue to face – how could people not be aware of or concerned about individuals such as him who are potentially instrumental in formulating plans they claim are needed to extricate us from this maze?

During the approximately 11 weeks remaining until our November election, we have the opportunity to thoroughly acquaint ourselves and others with as much as we can learn about these candidates, their beliefs, past actions, and plans that will significantly affect our lives and that of our children, grandchildren, future generations.  

A most succinct fact presentation of pertinent issues with information about these  candidates has been provided at Ronni Bennett’s “Time Goes By” yesterday and the previous day (8/14 and 13.)  

Whatever ones views about how to resolve our nation’s budget crisis, or if one has no view yet, I strongly urge you to read and give serious consideration to the facts she presents about Social Security solvency, Medicare’s and Medicaid’s healthcare dismantling.  The radical surgery proposed for these programs may not only be unnecessary but if done, and this was a true medical procedure, could be considered malpractice.  

Following is a slightly edited comment I was motivated to leave at TGB on those subjects.   

There can be little doubt about the goals of Republican Party Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney, now that he’s selected Paul Ryan as his Vice Presidential running mate I concluded independently before reading here (TGB.)   [Romney has since been trying to distance himself from Ryan’s positions to keep from losing support.] 

Clearly the 2 rr’s (Romney and Ryan) every effort is directed toward channeling citizen monies to those wonderful financiers on Wall St. who did so much to bring us the Great Recession. The financiers and bankers are doing fine, but the same cannot be said for too many Americans.

I think it's incredibly naive to think this nation would have recovered much better under an administration run by the 2 rr's, or would now with what they propose.

I agree with an approach of gradually reducing this nation's debt and not at the wholesale expense of reducing/eliminating support for those whose life experiences have necessitated their needing assistance as the 2 rr's budget would impose.
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I believe there is value in offering individuals a hand up to get back on their feet when circumstances have created such a need. After reading one comment, [possibly from a troll] I do have to wonder why anyone would assume their children and grandchildren would sit around and not work just because assistance was available to others in need?

I, too, recall family members stories that old folks feared going to the poor house before the creation of Social Security as a safety net.   They knew of those who despite  lives of hard work, had unexpected health, accident, or business upsets that destroyed their financial base leaving them destitute.

I know of individuals who suffered such life setbacks.  They would likely have ended in a poor house had it not been for the safety net of social security and/or disability with Medicaid insurance coverage.  Incredibly to me was that they continued to support  the political party and candidates who were the very ones persistently trying  to undermine those safety net programs.  Those  beneficiaries were intelligent reasonable people in other ways, though locked into their ideology, but were blind to life's realities -- their own reality, right in front of them. 

Were they living today they would probably vote for the 2 rr's who I think of as capable of readin' and 'riting but lacking a 3rd R in 'rithmetics higher functions -- those that combine mathematical complexities with practical reasoning through rational thought. 

I see nothing that the 2 rr's propose that hastens the creation of jobs and begins to return to prosperity a decimated middle class in this nation.

I believe the 2 rr’s will try to privatize portions of Social Security  -- this would be a disaster as we should have learned from the recent financial markets collapse.  

I do see the 2 rr’s power play $$$ grab to consolidate control of our government into the hands of the uppermost  % of the wealthiest citizens and corporations – however unintentionally, or intentionally.

We must ask ourselves if this is the American Dream we want to leave our children, grandchildren and future generations?

ROAD TO RECOVERY

Here's another slightly edited commentary I wrote recently at BlogHer in an effort to reach readers outside my regular reader's frame of reference.  Perhaps, some of you may be doing the same there or other places.  I would be interested in knowing about your experience in doing so.  

Well, we  have the beginnings of some effort to provide health care to all Americans in this nation.  Let's hope we can constructively build on that rather than having Congress waste time and energy trying to dismantle the program. 

Since this is a Presidential election year, is it too much to expect our Congresspersons to concentrate on creating meaningful legislation instead of all these phony political posturings I'm seeing them take?  If many of them received job performance reviews they'd be quickly judged to be engaging in "busy work" that offers no value to the recovery of this nation from one of the worse financial situations our country has endured.

But then, many of them are millionaires in their own right or will be, so have an increasing disconnect with the majority of Americans like you and me.  Some do still identify with us and are capable of fully appreciating  our work situation, health care needs and living choices.  Others don't have the faintest notion of what ordinary survival living entails, including one Presidential candidate who never experienced such a life in his privileged childhood, much less as an adult.  Unfortunately, by his own repeated words and actions, he seems unable to empathize or even imagine what a regular American's life is really like, since he had been busy investing the monies of already wealthy individuals to make them even richer.  No matter if a few companies and workers jobs were lost in the process -- just the price of doing business to earn investors more money. 

The country's problems can be attributed to those in both major political parties, our government and even some of our ordinary citizens seeking to fulfill the American Dream.  Yes, and us, too, because we didn't carefully monitor and make certain those we entrusted were functioning in their positions as they should.  As the popular Pogo comic strip of years ago said, "We have met the enemy and he is us."

Contrary to what we would all like to believe, or is being promised by various candidates, there is no quick fix.   There is much that can be done to aid in the recovery but not if ideologs fail to refocus their attention from self-interest.  We each need to closely scrutinize what activities and actions engage each of our Representatives and Senators.   We need to directly contact them to express our expectations to these individuals who are our employees and hold them accountable in this Nov. election and those elections to come.

We need to pay attention to sources that reveal where our Congressperson derives his/her financial campaign support -- "Follow the money!"   How do those $$$ correlate with his/her legislative positions?   Take SuperPac ads content as a grain of salt, if you're unable to avoid seeing or hearing them,  since they are suspiciously secretive about revealing their contributors.  You can be confident they have an agenda for what is in their funding sources best interests -- but not likely in the best interests of the average American.  

If you limit the intake of your news sources to a select few whose views mostly coincide with your own, or who promote emotional rants and rhetoric  as a way to distract from the facts, do yourself the service of listening to calmer more rational reports so you can discern what is really happening.  There are neutral non-partisan  fact-check sites you can easily access on the Internet to verify truth from fiction.  There's a lot of fiction being spread.  We must do our homework -- men and women have died protecting our right to have these  freedoms we enjoy. 

Some of you live in critical States said to be the ones to determine how this 2012 election will conclude.  I don't happen to live in one of those States, but it's vitally important to me that you take your responsibilities seriously, know the facts for what and whom you vote since your actions, or lack thereof, will affect me and my family.  I know my Congresspersons and their stance on issues, how to contact them to provide support and/or express my wishes (not that they're always followed,) but the point is the action is vital for this Republic to survive.

I do not want to live in a plutocracy (a nation run by the extremely wealthy,) or a theocracy (a nation dictated to by any religious group,) or any such combination thereof, much less a faux republic/democracy.

Let's move forward toward the gradual rejuvenation of this nation in a manner dedicated to re-building our middle class.....

...creating jobs that are not limited to just the service industry as being good enough,

... insisting our government take action to rebuild our nation's infrastructure,

... re-assessing the allocation of government funds that do not penalize the least among us,

...expecting all, including the most wealthy among us.  to pay their fair percentage of taxes,

...determine government budget cuts in many unnecessary subsidized areas,

... institute budget cuts the military/Pentagon has even specified as being appropriate,

... reassess the allocation of all foreign aid within the context of today's world government alignments, 

....revolutionize drug purchasing practices with pharmaceutical companies for Medicare/Medicaid/insurers, 

...demand accountability for the financial industries giants and corporations through the regulation with which they do not self-police and our officials have been negligent in enforcing.

Let's do more than just yell out the window... "we're .mad as hell and not going to take it any more!"

What are you doing or what all do you think we need to do?  

SUMMERISH SPRING DAY

Sunlight seeped through the curtains to awaken me this morning so I could commence another day. My arm reached across the bedside table with fingers extended to give a customary one tap on my radio. This activated voices from the all news station with sound intentionally set on low volume so as to not jolt my system. I continue to enjoy the occasional luxury in these semi-retirement years of lolling in bed a bit, half awake, gradually acclimating myself to the world.

Today the radio newscaster reported California's Democratic governor announced negotiations with the minority Republicans had collapsed. The Republicans continue to rigidly refuse to allow a needed four of their number to join Democrats voting in favor of an election voting initiative. The proposal would give the voting public the opportunity to select which one of several actions we would choose to address our state's extremely serious budget deficits. None of the choices are desired but some action must be taken. I wonder about the allegiances of those politicians who don't want to let the people decide by vote where we would accept needed budget cuts.

Then I heard startling news that Newport Beach's library was going all digital. They would retain their children's library and activities in addition to a few other services. Throughout the day I thought about the ramifications. I considered the implications if all information everywhere was available only digitally and required a power source for the access devices. What if ... all power systems ceased to function? Those individuals retaining memory bank knowledge they could share would be prized elders in every community. We would have come full circle with our early ancestors, but would just be on a different level from them. Tonight's news reported the story was incorrect with the true facts misunderstood. Meanwhile an interview with the library's representative discussing an alarmed Australian communique on the change revealed her amazement the library had been receiving these inquiries from all over the world.

By this time, I've arisen, engaged in the usual morning personal self-care activities. Then comes breakfast preparation, retrieving my daily newspapers that I still prefer reading to computer scanning. Meanwhile, another room's radio continues with news, weather and traffic reports. I ignore traffic information unless some significant event could impact my driving area -- a freeway chase, roads closed for repair or major accident. I've already learned weather conditions before I dress. Typically their effect on clothing attire is simply do I need a jacket or not, an umbrella or raincoat -- a far cry from all those midwest years ago preparations for ice and snow.

News reminds me again the Governor has stated our 3-year water drought is over. Our annual rainfall and mountain snowpack exceeds the norm expected. We are admonished to still use conservation measures though the critical necessity has passed for now.

By now I've left home and am driving into the retirement community I serve, I enjoy the landscape of flowering plants including shades of pink, red and lavender. Dark green shrubs tinged with light yellowish tips are striking as are the emerging green tree leaves and red maples. This day I have only one patient to see, which I follow with a phone call to the patient's spouse confirming I'm ending therapy.

Exiting the facility I notice sudden movement in the bushes ahead. Suddenly a red squirrel with a fluffy arched switching tail darts across the walkway. A pursuing squirrel companion emerges, then stops short, unsure if I pose a danger. I casually walk on by, confident this pair will soon resume their Spring courtship activities once I'm out of their sight.

My thoughts are pondering whether I have time to drive to another nearby retirement community where I usually leave my previously completed end-of-the-month reports. I drive through the intersection where I would have turned if I was going directly for my hair appointment, so conclude I've made the choice by default. Driving cross town in another small college community I notice the greening arch-like canopy provided on this tree-lined street, how the symmetrical tree shapes suggest they're been recently neatly trimmed.

During this trip the radio resumes the all news reports. The newswoman repeats the not unexpected news I first heard early this morning, Japan nuclear officials are expanding the distance they now tell residents to stay from the increasing number of plants with dangerous emissions -- 10 times above the accepted limits -- water affected, but not their drinking water, some farmland and vegetables, cow's milk contaminated. In the U.S. Spokane continues to evidence "trace" amounts of radiation in milk and now that's true in California, too, but not in an amount to be of concern -- reported 5 times below the accepted limit.

I remember a days earlier news report about the San Onofre nuclear plant that's 51 miles from my home. An ex-plant manager has filed a whistleblower suit against utility Southern California Edison Company for wrongful termination in response to his efforts to expose safety violations at that nuclear plant.

"As Reuters reports, the firing came after the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission sent a warning letter in March, 2010, to Southern California Edison, the principal owner of the San Onofre plant. It rebuked the utility for a workplace climate that, the agency said, had the “chilling effect” of preventing employees from raising safety concerns."

My thoughts refocused as I drove the heavily travelled Route 66 Foothill Boulevard eastward to my hairdressers. Small business offices, one used book store, banks, restaurants plus mini shopping centers with department stores lined both sides of the roadway. I remembered this was the Route that my husband and friends traveled west from Ohio to L.A. in the early fifties. This whole area had been citrus orchards and would have been filled with bloom-covered orange or lemon fruit trees.

My younger native Southern Californian hairdresser knows this area well. She sometimes entertains me with her memories of when people, cars and freeways were not so prevalent as now -- her then back road driving trips past now landmark sites, the beach and nearby snow-covered mountains with young friends fortunate to have a car.

Haircut finished, with more gray and white strands visible as my aging process continues, I drive home. The radio weatherwoman's morning predictions have been confirmed by my car's thermometer -- 91 degrees outside. Two days ago and earlier we were having daytime 60+ degree temperatures. Tomorrow will cool down with a return to 60+ degrees and rain by Sunday.

Preparing dinner, later viewing the PBS News Hour I listen to talk of Middle East uprisings with speculations repeating no one knows what the outcome will be. Problems in Africa when a leader refuses to relinquish his office to a popularly elected replacement. The day is coming to an end. Tomorrow I'll shop for grocery items I need in the house to prepare for an upcoming colonoscopy. The preparation experience always seems worse than the procedure.

I guess today passes for being relatively normal but certainly slower paced than so many years of my life. There continues to be so much to think about. I didn't even mention what's happening, or not happening, in D.C. where we still don't have a budget. More than a few other critical items are pending there. Perhaps tomorrow some issues will move closer to resolution, or not.