The Shame of Katrina Neglect

The recent article in Newsweek about the health of the children that are refugees from Katrina is a shameful reminder of the corruption, negligence, and inhumanity of the current administration. The study by the Children's Health Fund found 41% of the children with anemia, 42% with respiratory problems, and more than half with mental health problems. While the corporate dinosaurs go to spas and fly on corporate jets on taxpayer money, the poor children of refugees are horribly neglected. This is an abomination. The bureaucrats who let this happen should be tried and imprisoned for their negligence. Shame on you and may you become anemic, sick, and traumatized like the children you have abused.

Conditions for Big Three Bailout

After the stupidity and greed of the US automakers have made them jump into their corporate jets and crawl up to the Hill with a tin cup in hand, the government needs to tie any bailout to conditions. Their collusion with Big Oil to curtail mass transit in cities for the madness of more superhighways and more gridlock has put our country in a deep hole at the mercy of OPEC and increased CO2 emissions. Their tack of making bigger metal rather than fuel economy was a short term boon that led to a long term disaster. And, their scheme to kill the electric car has left the foreign automakers way out in front in that technology.The conditions for the bailout should be:1. The automakers will change their development strategy to produce plug-in hybrid cars.2. They should develop trucks and buses that run on natural gas.3. They should enter the field of mass transit systems and develop mass transit strategies for large cities.4. They should cap management compensation at 25 times the salary of the average worker.5. They should agree to minimum worker standards in their overseas plants.Their short-term greed strategy has put the country into this mess and to hand them over our tax money without oversight would be criminal.

"Change" the world needs

Dear President-elect Obama,
Congratulations on your election.
Please consider instituting the following in your new administration:

!. Join the International Criminal Court
2. End the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
3. Re power America with subsidies for plug-in hybrids, a smart grid system, wind farms in the Midwest corridor, solar farms in the southwest, natural gas system for trucks, conservation tax credits, carbon tax, etc.
4. Appoint a special prosecutor to investigate fraud leading to the economic meltdown
5. Raise the minimum wage to $10 an hour and tie increases to the cost of living index
6. Introduce a single-payer, private delivery national health care system
7. Repeal tax cuts for the wealthy
8. Appoint an independent debate commission that is not controlled by the Democrats and Republicans
9. Cut the bloated military budget
10. Devise a national program to rebuild the infrastructure
11. Tie all international trade agreements to worker rights
12. Close Guantanamo prison
13. Outlaw all torture by Americans, and allowing detainees to be taken to other countries for torture
14. Support U.N. efforts with funds and troops to Dar fur and Congo
15. Legalize medical marijuana and decriminalize marijuana possession
16. Outlaw all electronic voting systems and go to paper ballot systems

President Obama: Join the International Criminal Court

Reagan's "shinning city on the hill" has become a bunker with guard dogs, searchlights, razor wire, and gun towers. Will President Obama prove that we are a nation committed to laws and not just the power of men in office? It is imperative that Obama show this to the world by joining the International Criminal Court as soon as he attains office. Bush and Co.'s argument that Americans should only be judged by Americans is unacceptable when confronted with war crimes. In order to become the "shinning city", the United States has to demonstrate that the rule of law is a cornerstone to civilization.

CNN the new Fox News

I just heard a "pundit" on CNN call Al Franken a lunatic and it was not challenged by anyone on the panel. This just shows that CNN is nothing but the new Fox News clone and is nowhere near the "center" of American politics. Shame on you CNN.