what if?

A Letter to Morgan Freeman

A polite and earnest letter from one young, black Tea Party member to an older, highly admired black actor.

Dear Mr. Freeman,

My name is Ali Akbar. I’m a 26 year-old African-American small business owner and a tea party activist. I’m not writing to rake you over the coals in the way that many conservatives have done in the last 48 hours. Heck, I wrote a passionate open-letter refuting many of your claims already, but this is not that. This is an honest and standing invitation. I do believe that you are wrong in what you said about the tea party, but I would rather prove it to you than castigate you for your comments.

I also understand that your reflexive comments came from experience. You grew up in a different America than the one that I was blessed to be born into. We both grew up in the south, but I never saw ‘White Only’ signs. I’ve been called a name or two in my three decades, but racism has always been the exception in my life, not the rule, as it probably was in your youth. I understand your suspicion of conservative political movements. It is rooted in pain and fear and memory, and though I never saw the horrors of segregation that you did, we share that cultural heritage. …

I’ve attended dozens of tea party events. I’ve helped organize them, and I’ve even spoken at a few. The tea party is not what is often depicted in the news. It is people of all colors who are terribly concerned about the direction that America is heading. We don’t trust big government to make decisions for us. And we fear that the present administration’s spending is going to lead our country down a path to insolvency, much like what Greece is currently facing.

Mr. Freeman, I’m not asking you to adopt my political views. You’re in your seventies, and a political shift is not in your future. I’m reaching out to you because I want you to think better of your fellow countrymen. Barack Obama is in the White House, and Herman Cain just won the Florida straw poll. America is the land of opportunity for black Americans like never before.

I’m hoping that you’ll come to a tea party in Tennessee — the place of your birth. Really anywhere in the country that works for you; I’ll set it up with the one of the thousands of activists I know around our great country. I’d be delighted to introduce you to good people who will welcome you with open arms, disagree with you, and then feed you some of the best barbecue you’ve ever tasted. …

Sincerely,

Ali Akbar

If only we were all so thoughtful and respectful and caring about those with views different from our own.

What If?

What if I had a great group of girlfriends who planned an incredible suprise 60th surprise party for me?  What if they had gourmet yummy food, loads of hysterically funny cards, plenty of wisdom about going over to the "dark side" (I was the only one not yet in the 60's!) and - most importantly - their most special friendship?

Most fortunately for me, I don't have to wonder "what if?!"  Today, I enjoyed a real surprise party with all of the above and more.

Lucky me - and to all my friends - thanks from the bottom of my heart!

Time Out

When I talk to my liberal friends about over regulation in our government today, I get hammered.  "You're anti-government" - "You're pro-business and anti-people"- etc., etc. I hear from them.

But I'm not anti-government - at least, not the proper function of government.  And although I am pro-business... Business is made up of people.  I'm pro-business because I am pro-people!

Yet, from all that I have read, excessive regulation is killing our economy.  Read this column from Senator Susan Collins, and then see if you do not agree with me.

Right now, federal agencies are at work on more than 4,200 rules, 845 of which affect small businesses, the engine of job creation in our country. More than 100 are major rules, with an economic impact of more than $100 million each.

No business owner I know questions the legitimate role of limited government in protecting our health and safety. Too often, however, our small businesses are buried under a mountain of paperwork that drives up costs, prevents the hiring of workers, and impedes economic growth.

The EPA rule on boilers is a good example of why we need a regulatory time-out. According to a recent study by the American Forest & Paper Association, if the rule went into effect as written it could, along with other pending regulations, cause 36 American pulp and paper mills to close. That would put more than 20,000 Americans out of work—18% of that industry's work force.

Once those mills close, the businesses that supply them also would be forced to lay off workers. Estimates are that nearly 90,000 Americans would lose their jobs, and wages would drop by $4 billion—just because of over-regulation.

Hate?

Or fear of this happening?

I have a number of Muslim friends from bridge.  Nice people - and I know that they would never, ever promote what you see in the news clip above.

Nevertheless, this really is occurring in London and Europe.

So - perhaps those who are fearful of Islam are not necessarily hatemongers - but simply people who do not wish to lose their way of life nor their freedoms.

Out of the Closet

No, this is not a post about any of my gay friends.  This is a post about those who really do need to hide these days for good reason:  conservatives.

At some parties that I have been to, I have found some conservatives. They tell me in hushed tones under their breath. They are afraid people might find out. It would compromise them professionally, and personally. It’s far easier to be gay and come out of the closet than it is to be a conservative in the city of Chicago.

I have been invited to parties as the “token Republican” in a room full of fire breathing liberals. Once, as I was riding in the elevator down from one, a professor said, “Wouldn’t it be better if only people like us could vote.”. When I mentioned to him his statement sounded like the poll taxes and Jim Crow laws he was not amused.

One time I was at a dinner. At the end of the dinner a far left lawyer asked my daughter, “Do you get both sides at home?”. I retorted, “No, she goes to school. She gets the other side in the classroom.”. Probably a bit caustic. I don’t think the lawyer understood, but that is the nature of the left these days.

It’s always fascinating to me that liberal Democrats are supposed to be all accepting, and the live and let live party. However, in practice I find they are less tolerant, and want to tell and direct everyone more than the right wing Christian conservatives they love to pillory.

And, for those who think that all conservatives are fire breathing members of the religious right:

Moving to the city from the suburbs made me a libertarian. It’s eye opening. I really do appreciate the diverse views I have gotten while living in the city. I changed my views on gay marriage-I hope if you are reading this and don’t think it is right you will too.

Sixty Minutes

  

No, I'm not reporting on the Sunday evening news show.  I'm reporting about me.  Sixty minutes left to my birthday - a Big Birthday.  Yep; as of today, I'm now sixty years old.

I can remember a time when thirty sounded damn old!  And now - here I am; double that amount of years!

Yet, it's strange.  I, and most of my friends, don't feel sixty at all.  We feel thirty eight, or forty two, or maybe fifty three.  But sixty?  Nah. 

For the most part, at my ripe old age, I feel pretty fortunate.  Although my work (Realtor - what work?!?) is quite challenging these days, I am fortunate to have some savings.  (Well, I did a few weeks ago!)  Overall, not too much to complain about in the health department.  I have avocations I adore - bridge and photography.  And I have a collection of friends that is second to none.

I am also most fortunate to still have my folks - not a small feat at age sixty.  They are starting to face some challenges of their own.  But - that is why they had me *_*....

So - as a dear friend of mine wrote thirty years ago - bring on the ice cream and cake, and I suppose one of these days, the grey hair and orthopedic shoes.  I'll take birthdays over the alternative any day!

Their "Fair Share"

A superb comment following the most recent bag 'o trash from Paul Krugman about "fairness", taxation and the wealthy.

For all the pontification about fairness it seems shrill and hollow to attempt to close such massive gaps in wealth with the tax code. This is the most empty part of the liberal argument. What liberals propose has nothing to do with fairness & it isn't going to magically make middle-class America "richer". This is all liberal ideology that makes liberals feel good. But a 40% rate rather than a 35% rate doesn't change anything. A 30% rate on dividends and capital gains changes nothing from a 15% rate. (please note liberals that dividends have already been taxed at the corporate level in order to be passed down to shareholders. The dividend tax is double taxation and it has nothing to do with "rich people". There are millions of regular good old retired Americans who "live" on these dividends.)

The liberal ideology makes business people monsters but somehow billionaire athletes & hollywood stars are OK with their big paychecks. It's horrible that a CEO makes millions but it's OK that a football player makes millions. How does this make any sense? The fact is top-level skill and talent in our society is in high demand and the price for this talent is bid aggressively by the people that need the talent.

Peyton Manning doesn't deserve 20 million a year, it's not fair. Isn't a fireman more important than a NFL quarterback? But Peyton has earned the money because he posses unique skill and talent.

Liberals, 1950s America is not coming back. Europe is not in shambles from WWII. The global economy now exists. The relatively unskilled blue collar worker salary is going DOWN because these jobs are easy to perform and the value of this work is being bid on the open global market. These skills are not unique and hence other countries can do them for a lot less than here. Nothing about the tax code will change this reality. But class warfare does make liberals feel good about themselves.

 

 

Dial C-H-R-I-S-T-I-E

I'm with this guy.  Most of 'em would be better than President Obama (sorry, can't say this about Michelle Bachmann).  But, none of them are "be still my heart" kinda candidates.

Anyone have Chris Christie's phone number?  Anyone... anyone?

Ed Morrissey at Hot Air weighs in, too.

Perry went for an obviously rehearsed attack on Romney as a flip-flopper.  There’s nothing wrong with that as a debate strategy — if you can deliver the attack. If not, you end up with a spectacular failure, as we have here.  He needs a debate coach, and if he already has one, he needs to fire a debate coach and hire another.

Some might argue that debates don’t prove anything about how a candidate will function as President, but that’s not entirely true.  First, one has to win the election, and offering incoherent ramblings on television is no way to do that.  Second, voters have to have confidence in a candidate’s abilities to win their support, and anyone watching this part of the debate had to be wondering whether Perry is really up to the task of debating Barack Obama, or dealing with the media in a press conference, which is most certainly part of the job.

The Intercontinental Railroad

This is the guy who is supposed to be the fabulous orator?

"We’re the country that built the Intercontinental Railroad," Barack Obama.

That's what the president of the United States flat-out said Thursday during what was supposed to be a photo op to sell his jobs plan next to an allegedly deteriorating highway bridge.

A railroad between continents? A railroad from, say, New York City all the way across the Atlantic to France? Now, THAT would be a bridge!

It's yet another humorous gaffe by the Harvard graduate, overlooked by most media for whatever reason. Like Obama saying Abraham-Come-Lately Lincoln was the founder of the Republican Party. Or Navy corpseman. Or the Austrian language. Fifty-seven states. The president of Canada. Etc.

If you talk as much as this guy likes to talk instead of governing, if you believe you are a Real Good Talker as much as this guy does, you're gonna blow a few lines. But this many?

The Death Penalty - Politically Incorrect

For days, I kept on seeing anguished posts about the upcoming execution of convicted cop killer Troy Davis.  A great many people I know said he was innocent.  As such, killing him with the death penalty was a travesty.  This is but one of dozens of articles I've seen on the topic.

Let me say first, that I did not follow this case at all, other than to see my friends' posts.  Let me also express my personal view about the death penalty.  I believe that there is nothing at all immoral in principle in executing someone who has been found guilty of a most heinous crime.  And, for many years, I was a supporter of the death penalty.  For some time now, however, I no longer am.  It is not because I have altered my belief about the morality of the act.  It is for two reasons.  First, I do believe that too many people of modest means do not receive adequate representation in the judicial system.  Second, due to the years of appeals and expense involved in actually putting someone to death, I think that overall, society would benefit more from keeping that person in prison for life rather than executing them.

OK; that being clarified, here is my politically incorrect question.

If all these people who were so upset at the execution of Troy Davis in part because they believe the death penalty to be wrong and immoral, then why were they not protesting the execution of Lawrence Brewer, one of the men involved in the horrific torture and murder of James Byrd Jr., a black man dragged to his death in Texas?  I mean, if the death penalty is wrong - shouldn't it be wrong for everyone, irrespective of the crime?

I think I can answer my own questions, at least in part.  First, the Davis supporters believe that he was innocent, and that Brewer was not.  (Actually - Brewer claimed that although he did participate in the torture, he was not responsible for Byrd's death.)  Second, one would be hard pressed to find almost anyone who didn't agree that the Brewer crime was grisly and horrific; the purported Davis murder was "just" a killing.  Third, Davis was a black man and Brewer a detested white supremist.  Much easier for all of the above to protest the Davis execution and not Brewer's.

Still, I return to my original philosophical question.  If the point is that capital punishment is wrong, then shouldn't there have been protestors against Brewer's execution, too?  Are we to say that our principles don't matter, when the object of them is some hated and despicable person?  If race is a factor - why should black and other minorities be protected from the death penalty, but not white people? 

At least I warned you it was all politically incorrect.

Settled Science?

I continue to have strong arguments with friends and family who believe that man made global warming is as settled science as the fact that gravity exists.

It is not.

Would Ivar Giaver, Nobel Prizer winner in physics resign from the American Physical Society because he so disagrees with their "official" policy on this issue if Giaver thought the issue settled?

I think not.

Round Up

Here are a number of columns and news stories that I saved, yet never got to post.  They are worthwhile reading; check 'em out if you can!

What does it mean to be poor in America today?

Why was a Jewish professor forced to defend himself against charges of anti-Semitism?  (A scary tale of how college students do not understand language!)

ONE JOB created for every five million?  A true recipe for destroying any shreds of our nation's fiscal health.

The sex lives of others.  Why is it that false stories from decades ago seem to get reported - but only about Republicans.......?

A dangerous threat to the U.S.  Don't believe those who say that Saddam's plans did not present a clear danger to our nation.

Enjoy!

Hollywood's Bigotry

No.  It's not about blacks or gays or women or Hispanics or transsexuals or Muslims ...

It's about.... them.  You know.

Conservatives!!

"Jobs on Hold"

Can someone on the left please explain to me why all this new regulation is so necessary and good?  Watch this video - then let me know.

In my own business, securities regulations have prohibited me from hiring brokers for more than three years. I was even fined fifteen thousand dollar expressly for hiring too many brokers in 2008. In the process I incurred more than $500,000 in legal bills to mitigate a more severe regulatory outcome as a result of hiring too many workers. I have also been prohibited from opening up additional offices. I had a major expansion plan that would have resulted in my creating hundreds of additional jobs. Regulations have forced me to put those jobs on hold.

The Chicago Way

Chicago is the city in which I was born and raised.  I love magnificent Lake Michigan, the incredible architecture, the incredible diversity and delicious restaurants, its museums, art institutes - and all its wonderful people.

Yet, Chicago was never perfect; not when I was a child and not today.  The traffic of my youth is the 24 hour snarls of today.  Some of the crime is mind boggling.

And the graft?  It was there years ago.  Today - it's been raised to a new art form.

All it took to give nearly two dozen labor leaders from Chicago a windfall worth millions was a few tweaks to a handful of sentences in the state's lengthy pension code.

The changes became law with no public debate among state legislators and, more importantly, no cost analysis.

Twenty years later, 23 retired union officials from Chicago stand to collect about $56 million from two ailing city pension funds thanks to the changes, a Tribune/WGN-TV investigation found.

Because the law bases the city pensions on the labor leaders' union salaries, they are reaping retirement benefits that far outstrip the modest salaries they made as city employees. On average, their pensions are nearly three times higher than what the typical retired city worker receives.

The Fifth

Is anyone surprised?

That’s not what they said would happen last week. Remember? Philip Klein, September 13:

[GOP Rep. Cliff] Stearns, speaking to bloggers at the Heritage Foundation, said the executives called the committee staff yesterday and asked whether they would be allowed to delay their testimony until next week. If they were granted the additional time, they said they’d agree not to exercise their Fifth Amendment right not to answer questions.

“We’re a little flexible if they’ll come next week and testify freely and openly and transparently,” Stearns said. “I can’t say for sure, but most likely they’ll come next week and I think it would be very worthwhile for them to speak transparently and without taking the Fifth.”

Fast-forward a week and there are now four separate federal investigations into the company ongoing. Count ‘em: (1) The FBI’s been probing in conjunction with the Department of Energy; (2) the Treasury Department launched its own inquiry just a few days ago; (3) the House Energy and Commerce Committee is the body that’s been negotiating with Solyndra execs to appear before it and testify; and (4) earlier today Darrell Issa said his House Oversight Committee would start looking into the matter. That’s a lot of heat for a busted solar firm to absorb. And so, the inevitable:

Solyndra LLC’s chief executive and chief financial officer will invoke their Fifth Amendment rights and decline to answer any questions put to them at a Congressional hearing on Friday, according to letters from their attorneys obtained by Reuters.

In the letters sent to the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, attorneys for Solyndra CEO Brian Harrison and CFO W. G. Stover said they advised their clients not to provide testimony during the hearings.

 

Anyone?  Anyone?

 

Wrong; Not Evil

When GWB was president, we saw scores of attacks about him.  Some of those who disagreed with him didn't simply say that the man was governing poorly; they claimed that he was evil - like Hitler.

Ludicrous.

Today, there are some on the right who make similar comments about President Obama - that he is attempting to destroy the U.S. and ruin all that is good about it.

Wrong.

For those who think that many of the actions of the Obama administration have harmed our nation seriously - I'm with you.  Nevertheless, I strongly agree with this column by Andrew Klavan.  Obama is not purposely working toward creating harm.  He simply believes in principles and philosophy that do not work in practice as their supporters purport they do.

A Mystery

I have no clue why these coins are made, costing the taxpayers God knows how much money annually.

Yet I can only wonder - how many other ridiculous government decisions like this are out there?  And - why does stopping insanity seem hopeless?

Laugh of the Day

Some of us, when we think information is being given out that is false, will argue why it is incorrect or provide data proving that the information is faulty.

Lefties?  They just make it up.

Read this Mother Jones article about Solyndra.

Solyndra was working on a solar technology that promised to be cheaper than silicon, and at the time of the loan it looked really promising both to DOE and to private investors. But then the market turned: Silicon prices dropped, and China started producing super low-cost silicon PV. That spelled doom for Solyndra. They had a good idea, but it didn't work out.

In any case, Solyndra is a tiny fraction of DOE's green-energy loan program, and Solyndra's loan guarantees are dwarfed by those of both fossil fuel and nuclear companies, which range into the multiple billions. There was no scandal in the loan process, and there's nothing unusual about having a certain fraction of speculative programs like this fail. It's all part of the way the free market works.

Then, read the entire article to which I linked in this post.

In Solyndra’s case, outside auditors from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) found that condition to be dire. “The company has suffered recurring losses from operations, negative cash flows since inception, and has a net stockholders’ deficit,” the PWC accountants concluded. Even with the gigantic Obama loan, Solyndra was such a basket case that PWC found “substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern.”

Does it sound to you like this company "looked promising" to anyone except to the politicians who had the power and ability to give tax payer funds to political contributors?  Does it sound to you like it was a "good idea" that just was unlucky not to have worked out?

Plus, I hate to break it to these progressives.  But the "free market" in general is not funded by the government.  Private investors decide whether or not to back companies in the free market - and their success rises or falls upon how well the investors have judged and how hard and how smart the company works.

Like I said - the left just Makes It Up.

Different Universes

With a few exceptions as I first entered the working world, I've been self-employed.  Thus, for me, "benefits" were non-existent.  If I wanted retirement assets, that meant that I had to save what I earned.  If I wanted health care, I had to find an individual policy and pay for it.  My (second) husband did own his own company and paid for insurance for the two of us through that group.  But, when I was on my own, no "company" did anything for me.  I was "the one."

Have costs gone up dramatically for people like me?  Uh - to put it coarsely, does a bear shit in the woods?  As of my next pay period, my cost for health insurance rises to just over $750 a month for myself only.  Given that I am a struggling Realtor, you do not want to know what percentage of my current income this is.

"Why not go without?" you may then ask me.  Don't think it hasn't crossed my mind.  But - the "good news/bad news" is that I do have savings that I have accrued over the years.  So, if I remained relatively healthy with nothing dire arising, I would be far better simply forgoing insurance.  Yet - what if something awful happened?  One incident could be $50,000 - or far more.  Ongoing cancer treaments could enter the hundreds of thousands.  So - I write the checks each month, wince - and plan to do far more research in the near future to see what other options might be out there for me.

Thus.... when my friends who belong to unions or whose employer is government start to moan and wail about paying a portion of their income toward their benefits - please forgive me while I want to upchuck.

Thursday's news harks back to 2003, the last time Southern California grocery workers and their employers faced a standoff over labor issues. The 141-day strike and lockout that began that fall left many union members with staggering debts. It reportedly cost the employers an estimated $2 billion and gave competitors an opportunity to step into the gap.

Now, as in 2003, one key sticking point is healthcare. What's at issue is a painfully common refrain in corporate America: medical costs are rising.

Under the latest offer from the employers, grocery workers would pay $9 a week for individual coverage and $23 a week for a family, company and union officials said.

The grocers say these premiums are necessary to help offset rising healthcare costs and augment the amount Vons, Ralphs and Albertsons are agreeing to pay into a trust fund that purchases healthcare for workers. But union officials say that what the employers have proposed to pay during negotiations on the complex deal is far short of what is necessary and would ultimately gut the trust fund. Instead, union officials say, the employers need to pay more in order for the fund to be viable long term.

 $9 a week for health insurance, huh? I think one of my ancestors paid that in the late 1800s.