Category: Politics

Pay to Play

What a shock!  We need lots of money to run for political office but the people with the money want to be rewarded for their contributions!  The funniest part of this system of American politics is that most people are surprised by all of this.

It’s really a bribe.  We call it Pay to Play because it sounds so much nicer.  New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson is just one of many who have been accused of participating in this activity.  Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is being charged with trying to sell a senate seat.  The former mayor of Los Angeles was accused of Pay to Play activities in his run for office and his campaign to keep the San Fernando Valley from separating from the city.  These three people have not been found guilty of any crime.

When it’s a crime then it’s usually called a bribe.   Randy “Duke” Cunningham, the former congressman from the 50th Congressional District for California was found guilty of taking $2.4 million in bribes. Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska was found guilty of failing to report gifts that most of us would call bribes.  Massachusetts State Senator Diane Wilkerson and Louisiana Congressman William Jefferson are two others being charged with accepting bribes.

Campaigns are won with lots of money.  The process goes something like this. “If you will donate money to my campaign I might be able to help you with a city contract.”  Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California has been accused of supporting business interests that supported his campaign.  This is no surprise to me.  It has always been this way.  It’s the American way!

The United Nations Continues to Fail

It was with heavy heart that I withdrew my support for the United Nations in 1975 after watching Arab nations induce that body to declare Zionism a form of racism.  United Nations successes have been few.  Its failures have been many.  No one can deny that talk and negotiation is better than war.  The UN has failed to live up to it aspiration of ending wars in this world.  It has never deterred nations from going to war.

 

The current invasion of  Gaza by Israeli forces is just one of the many examples of the UN failure.  The genocide in Darfur is an even more horrifying issue that the UN has failed to stop.  When there was a war between Bosnia and Croatia it was not the UN that brought the fighting to an end, it was the United States.  When Iraq invaded and totally occupied Kuwait it was the United States that led the forces to free that country while the UN quietly stood by.

 

Perhaps the new President Obama will be able to instill life into the moribund UN.  There is always hope that a new voice will bring sworn enemies together.  I will happily celebrate that moment.  There is little evidence that he can bring about that renewed United Nations life.

The Ability to Speak Clearly

It all started when I was conducting a training class in MRP (Material Requirements Planning) about 15 years ago.  At that same employer I had to make a presentation to management on the benefits of MRP.  I sweated profusely but gave a satisfactory presentation.  Subsequently I decided that Toastmasters would make me a better speaker.  The results of that decision are magnificent.  I earned a CC (Competent Communicator designation) from Toastmasters International and have been an active participant ever since.

 

One of the things you learn to eliminate in your speaking is crutch words.  “You know” and “Uhh” are the two most common crutches most people use.  When does this happen? You are asked, at the last minute, to make a presentation or you are giving an interview and you have no prepared notes.  That is when those crutch words are more likely to come out of your mouth.  I have heard the “Uhh” or an “Umm” in many prepared speeches because the speaker had not sufficiently practiced the presentation.  That is the reason that Caroline Kennedy has been roundly criticized.  She is the daughter of a man famous for his speeches.  Barack Obama has used “Uhh” frequently in answering questions.  Mr. President-elect, you need to eliminate those words.

 

Proudly, I will tell you that when a scheduled speaker is absent at my Toastmasters group it is I who will step forward with an unprepared speech.  You know, I never do use the words “You know.”

Los Angeles City Mayor is a Failure

• Los Angeles has a $7.1 billion General City budget (this does not include the Airports, Harbor and Department of Water & Power budgets)

• Los Angeles is a full-service City government composed of elected and appointed offices, including commissions, departments, and agencies.

• Los Angeles City government has a workforce of about 37,000 employees that provide a variety of services ranging from crime control to tree trimming. 

 

The above information was copied from a Los Angeles city web site that tries to inform the citizens about how the city government functions.  Los Angeles Mayor Villaragosa says that the city will have shortfall of $24 million in its current budget.  If the administration would just cut back its department budgets to those that existed just three years ago they would save more than $100 million.  This will most likely mean that some jobs will have to be eliminated.  That reduction is not nearly enough to reduce city services in any significant way.

 

The problem is that the mayor doesn’t want to impact his Teflon surface with any damaging decisions before next year’s election.  The truth is Villaragosa has not successfully fulfilled any of his many promises.

 

Schools are ineffective, crime is a serious problem (especially gang activity), public transportation is poor in most parts of the city, traffic is impossible,  the cost of living has driven out the middle class, business has been driven out of the city due to high taxes, and the list goes on and on.

 

Antonio Villaragosa’s smiling face is better than his predecessor’s continuously glum appearance.  Jim Hahn never cracked a smile.

Imagine the United States Being Attacked – Not Israel

For the next few minutes imagine that you live in a city that is 16 kilometers (10 miles) from the border and your city is being shelled from that neighboring country.  It is just 12 miles from downtown San Diego, California to Tijuana, Mexico. Buffalo, New York is just across a river from Niagara Falls, Canada.  If either of those countries started shooting rockets into the United States, how long would it take for the U.S.A. to retaliate?

 

Israel has been the victim of continuing rocket attacks for many years.  There is a city of 120,000 people that is 10 miles from the Gaza strip.  That city and other towns near Gaza have been shelled with rockets almost daily.  That is the reason that the Israeli government has decided that it must respond.  I doubt that the United States or any other nation would have taken so long as Israel has in responding to those rockets.

 

Israel did occupy Gaza for 38 years.  That occupation ended in 2005.  Their withdrawal was done in the hope that peace would come to that area.  It has not.  Instead the Palestinians have continued their assault on Israel.  There does not appear to be a peace accord on the horizon.  It is likely that other nations will pressure Israel to stop their attack.  It is doubtful that the end of the Israeli attack will bring an end to the Palestinian rocket attacks.

 

There has been no solution to this situation since 1948 when Israel became a free nation.  As long as Israel’s neighboring nations and other Arab groups continue to wage war there will be no peace.

The Countdown to January 20, 2013

Mike Allen’s Politico Playbook and Keith Olbermann on MSNBC provide us with a countdown to January 20. An on line clock counts the seconds to inauguration of Barack Obama.  Of course the political talk shows need something to gossip about and this is an easy topic.  The problem is that so many people seem to believe that everything will change when we have a new president.  There is no evidence to support that belief.

The leading people in the Obama team are not new to federal government service.  They are just a new set of faces that are more aligned with Democratic Party views.  What brilliant new thoughts are in their heads?  There is no evidence to indicate that anything will change.

Barack Obama’s stimulus plan seems to be taken from ideas that were employed during the depression and other significant economic downturns.  Those incentive programs were mildly successful at best.  Many of the economic advisers that Obama has selected were there in the Clinton administration when the congress passed laws giving banks, insurance companies, and investment houses more freedom to enlarge their business with little or no government oversight.

Bob Gates and the military have been the machine that has brought the United States the surge in Iraq.  Obama says he wants to use the same tactic in Afghanistan.

America has been losing its manufacturing base for 30 years.  There has been no indication of any specific program to reverse the trend.  A life line to GM, Chrysler and Ford will not stop the downward spiral of those companies.  Less than one half of all vehicles sold in the United States are manufactured by these three companies.  Where was the management of those companies when they saw the downward trend over the past 20 years?  Somehow in 90 days those three companies say they are going to reform themselves.  Does anyone believe this?

Unless Barack Obama and his team have some brilliant new ideas that will be revealed after January 20, I predict we will be inaugurating a new president on January 20, 2013.

January 18, 2013

I was wrong.  Barack Obama is a master politician.  In addition he had the good fortune to run for re-election against someone who ran a poor campaign and did not relate to the average American.

Royalty in America

For a nation that was founded on the idea of no royalty we have a growing group of families that are treated like they are part of that aristocratic class.  They are the group whose names keep reappearing in our politics.  The latest is Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of President John F. Kennedy and niece of Senator Ted Kennedy.

There are other famous names like Bush (President George Herbert Walker Bush, President George W. Bush, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush), Rockefeller (Senator Jay Rockefeller, Vice President Nelson Rockefeller), Bayh, Gore, Clinton, etc.

Do these families believe they have a claim to high office?  It certainly appears to be the case. The problem is that all of these families have the money and the connections to obtain whatever they want.  It was reported that Caroline Kennedy has been a major fund raiser for New York City schools.  It’s probably true.  The reason is name recognition.  It’s obviously not exclusive to one political party.

I personally find this situation very objectionable.  We have allowed a relatively small group of people control the path of this nation.  The path is not necessarily bad but it is one that obviously benefits the controlling families.

If you look at the two political parties that have controlled this nation for most of its history you will notice that they are not too different from each other.  The Democrats do favor and support labor views while Republicans have historically been supporters of big business.  However once in office most presidents seem to shed much of their political party rhetoric and follow paths that are less political.  Many of the decisions made appear to be more in their own self interest and what is best for their families rather than what is best for America.

Barack Obama has participated in the sustaining of the royalty class when he selected Hilary Clinton for Secretary of State.  Obama is a smart politician.  He is not the great change agent that everyone bought.  There is only one way this situation will change and that is through the ballot box.

CYNICAL

“This cynical stance they took last night — they’re willing to jeopardize 3 million jobs so they could gain some advantage in their war against unions — is appalling,” said Bill Samuel, the chief lobbyist for the AFL–CIO about the Republicans who opposed a Detroit bail out.

 

What does Bill Samuel mean when he uses the word cynical?  This word has at least twelve synonyms.  Did he mean suspicious, skeptical, scornful, or one of the other nine?  I believe it’s all three that I identified.  They are certainly contemptuous (another synonym for cynical) of the unions and the companies in Detroit.

 

When Russia invaded the Republic of Georgia it might have been viewed as cynical. After all didn’t they sneer (another synonym for cynical) at the president of Georgia when his government challenged those breakaway provinces?

 

When Congress was asked to provide aid to the finance industry I was and still remain skeptical of the efforts by Hank Paulson.  I am very pessimistic (another synonym for cynical) about the Treasury department’s efforts to unfreeze the credit markets.   

 

Finally I do love the way David Letterman and  Jay Leno use sarcastic (another synonym for cynical) humor to mock (another synonym for cynical) everything.

 

Is this column too cynical?

Big City Politics is For the Politically Connected

Managing city governments is a difficult job.  The public decides every four to six years who will be their spokesmen.  If a city councilman, mayor, or other elected official believes he has the support of the public there is no way another politician or a citizen with good ideas can stand in the way. Los Angeles has known some serious battles between elected officials.  The outcomes are not easy to predict.

Michael Bloomberg has been given the right to run for a third term as mayor of New York City, even though there are term limits, because he has the public’s confidence.  It’s the reason that FDR successfully ran for president four times.

Richard Daley has been mayor of Chicago since 1989 because when all is said and done the public really likes the way he manages that city.

Yesterday the superintendent of public schools in Los Angeles saw his four year contract canceled after just two years.  He really never lived up to expectations.  It’s also true that the mayor wanted control of the schools and tough politics added to his demise.  Mayor Antonio Villaragosa is popular with the public.  That Superintendent David Brewer is Black had no bearing in the decision.  Los Angeles has had a Black mayor, Tom Bradley, and he was a popular figure.

INTROSPECTION

It’s about looking into yourself and examining your mental state and your processing of ideas and thoughts.  ABC’s Charlie Gibson interviewed President George W. Bush and we all found that he is either a liar or lacks the capacity to evaluate his decisions.


Two questions that Mr. Gibson asked were answered with the words, “That’s an interesting question.”  Question 1 was “Would you have gone into Iraq if there was no evidence of WMD?”  Question 2 was “Your only 62.  Is there one more thing you want to achieve?”


That GWB has not thought about these two events is utterly astonishing.  But as you listen to the interviews you realize that this man lacks emotion and seems to lack empathy for the millions of people who have been impacted by the Iraq War and the recession.  As to the recession, an unemotional “I’m sorry it happened” suggests that he has no clue of the impact that the current financial crises has had on most Americans.

      

If ever there was a man who represents the devil it is George W. Bush.  If there is a hell, I believe he will go there.