This nation thrives by buying everything using credit.  It’s the plastic! Credit cards have become part of our economic system.

When we shop at Sears or Costco or Walmart we are barraged with the “buy” mentality.  I am just as guilty as the average American.  I bought a flat screen TV last January for no money down and no interest charge for one year.  After that one year I will be charged at the rate of 24% for the balance due dating back to the original purchase date.  Why did I do that purchase?  Every time I went into Costco to buy staples (e.g. bottled water, chicken, cleaning supplies) I walked by the flat screen TV display.  I could not resist temptation.

All my friends say they pay their credit card bill every month in full.  I don’t believe them!  They are just ordinary people.  Perhaps slightly more well off than most but the evidence convinces me that at least some of them are not entirely truthful.  In September 2006 the amount owed by consumers on revolving debt exceeded $850 Billion.  A year later, this past September, the amount owed had risen to almost $925 Billion.  The source of this data is the Federal Reserve.

Why is this happening?  The United States is a consumer nation.  As individuals we have decided to buy everything we want regardless of our ability to pay for those items.  The most recent glaring example is the purchase of homes with little or no down payment.

There is a positive side to this behavior.  Americans have very comfortable life styles. We have a history of being the biggest consumers in the world.  The Canadian Broadcasting Company did a report in February of 2005 informing us that China has surpassed America < http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2005/02/16/china-consumption-050216.html> in the first years of this century in most buying categories.

 

I am a prefect example of the spoiled American.  We have two cars, cell phones, multiple television sets, two computers with two printers, stereos, washing machines for clothes and dishes, etc. etc. etc.  Unfortunately many of these items were bought on credit.

 

Consumption taxes or value added taxes will never become part of our nation.  They would defeat our consumerism.  They would reduce the consumption that makes our nation thrive.  That would result in less jobs and a lower standard of living.

 

Oh, by the way I did disappoint Chase Credit Card Services.  You see I did pay the last part of my purchase of the flat screen TV in December.  It took me 11 months to pay for the TV without an interest payment.  Chase immediately called to ask if I would like a new credit card with a special cash back feature.  No thanks, I already have three other cards and I will soon have zero balance on each. 

Las Vegas police say six young people in junior high or high school were shot after they got off a school bus on Tuesday afternoon.

Reported on local Los Angeles television on Sunday, December 9 and confirmed by the Associated Press, there were two threats to kill.  Police arrested a 21-year-old Loyola Marymount University student in connection with an online threat to shoot and kill as many people as possible on campus before being killed himself according to police.  This past Friday an Australian man was arrested after he allegedly posted a message saying a shooting attack would take place at The Grove shoppping mall near Beverly Hills.

On the same December 9 in Colorado there were three people killed at two church facilities.  At the second incident the shooter was killed by a guard.  No one knows at this time if the killer at the second incident was the shooter at the first incident.

In an Omaha shopping mall eight people were killed and another five injured on December 6.  That killer committed suicide at the scene of that massacre.

Of course we all remember The Virginia Tech massacre comprising two separate attacks about two hours apart on April 16, 2007.  The perpetrator killed 32 people and wounded many more before committing suicide; making it the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.

Another masacre was the October 3, 2006 killing of five children in a one-room Amish schoolhouse.

No one will forget the Columbine High School massacre occurred on Tuesday, April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in unincorporated Jefferson County, Colorado  near Denver and Littleton. Two students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, embarked on a shooting rampage, killing 12 students and a teacher as well as wounding 23 others before committing suicide.

There have been many other killing incidents over the past years.

The second Amendment to the Constitution says, “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed”.  Based upon that amendment this country has allowed everyone to own as many guns as they can afford.

I am opposed to the manufacture and ownership of handguns.  The second amendment would not allow my ideas to become law.  However, does a “well regulated militia” mean that everyone has the right “to keep and bear arms”?  My interpretation of this amendment is that members of a militia have the right “to keep and bear arms”, not the general public. 

The distribution of handguns is so prevalent that we cannot prevent ownership by every responsible citizen.  We can limit ownership to those who have been licensed by the government.  That licensing requirement ought to be limited to those people that have passed a written and operation test in addition to a psychological evaluation.  The testing should be similar to the testing that we give people operating a car.

I know the NRA will take exception to this idea.  My view is that our society needs to protect itself from those people who are incompetent to operate a fire arm or are not psychologically normal.  In every instance the killers have been evaluated to have troubled backgrounds.  The right “to keep and bear arms” should not take priority over the constitution’s preamble that calls for “justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare…”

I am a registered independent and I am Jewish.  As a Jew I am horrified by recent events in the Republican Party.  That party has displayed its intolerance in selecting a candidate for president.  Even worse Americans have revealed their intolerance. 

Have you heard about the latest NBC-Wall Street Journal poll?  It was focused on Mitt Romney and his Mormon religion.

• Reservations about voting for a Mormon        33% of  all  Republicans                              TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT 45% of evangelical Christians
• Not ready to elect a Mormon president           50% of all voters
• Not ready to elect a Black  president              27% of all voters
• Not ready to elect a woman president             24% of all voters

There is no religious qualification to be president.  Mitt Romney, a Mormon, has given a speech pointing out that he meets all the qualifications to be president.  That speech was promoted by Mike Huckabee who has promoted himself as the Christian candidate.

 This is no way to conduct a campaign for president.  Could this campaign path cause many Americans to not vote in the next presidential campaign?  Perhaps this will be one more reason not to vote a Republican to the presidency.   

Adults age 55 and older constituted 31 percent of the voting-age population and 35 percent of those who voted in the 2004 presidential election, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.  Currently 43 million Americans receive social Security benefits.  There are 76-million baby boomers and the first of them are just turning 62 this year.  None of us are happy about this. AARP starts sending out solicitations to everyone at age 50.  I ignored the solicitations until I was 60.

A chart published by the U.S. Census Bureau < http://www.census.gov/population/pop-profile/dynamic/AgeSex.pdf> graphically shows the increased population by age of the baby boomers and that the numbers of people born after that generation have not declined substantially.  This is a situation that will benefit all older people. 

As the 50 and older age group grows into a large percentage of the population we have the power to influence our society and our government.  This can be accomplished in both locally and nationally.  When my wife and I vacationed in Vancouver British Columbia in 1999 we found that city to provide a variety of services for the elderly including a chirping bird sound at every corner with a traffic light (for those that cannot see clearly).  Another example of helping the elderly and disabled is Los Angeles modification of many corner curbs with ramps that help crossing streets.  Social Security and Medicare are two examples of national services. 

We have the power of the vote and pen to pressure government and society to do the right thing.  Active participation in the AARP < http://www.aarp.org/> and the Alliance for Retired Americans <http://www.retiredamericans.org/> is a good way to obtain the services and support that is needed.  Both of these organizations have similar goals and both are worthy of support.  The Alliance for Retired Americans is allied with the AFL-CIO and other unions.  Active participation in either or both of these organizations will impact the voting of our representatives and the outcome of the coming presidential election.

Americans are really a generous people.  Despite our stated objective of keeping illegal immigrants from entering this country, the borders have not yet been closed to their continuing entry.  Even more surprising is that we are not sending most of them back to their native countries.  Is the reason we are not sending them back because these people, that everyone says are mostly Mexican, are doing jobs that most Americans won’t do or is this a corporate conspiracy to lower corporate labor costs?  The answer is not clear. 

Just enter the words “illegal aliens” into your internet browser and it becomes evident that opinions about these people are primarily against any legalization of their status.  Starting with http://www.illegalaliens.us/ that claims “AMNESTY means never having immigration enforcement!”, to CRIME VICTIMS OF ILLEGAL ALIENS http://www.immigrationshumancost.org/text/crimevictims.html  to World Net Daily’s claim that illegal aliens threaten the U.S. medical system. Most talk radio hosts are rabidly opposed to giving any harbor to anyone who has entered the country illegally.  Most of them stand with a crowd who do not want to grant any privileges to illegal aliens.  Still, those same people usually acknowledge that we are not likely or able to deport those aliens.

 However, enter the words “undocumented workers” into your internet browser and the first site listed is the “American Immigration Law Foundation” site that features “The Value of Undocumented Workers”, followed by many other sites that defend illegal aliens including one that states “About two-thirds of undocumented workers earn less than twice the minimum”.  Twice the minimum wage is $11.70 per hour. It is obvious to me that we are not going to arrest all the illegal aliens in the U.S. and deport them.  If we are going to permit those aliens to remain here we will have to provide them with documentation.  This does not mean we immediately put them into the pool of those now here legally who have made application for citizenship.  Here is my plan.

1. Close the border to more illegal aliens effective December 31, 2007.  This should be done with walls, barbed wire, and monitoring towers.
2. Provide identification documents to every illegal alien who can prove he/she was here prior to that date.  The identification would include social security cards that are similar to credit cards. 
3. Issue every legal resident in the country with new credit card style social security cards.  If VISA and Master Card can manage their enrolled card holders then the holders of social security cards can be managed.
4. The new social security card must be used by all employers to confirm the legal status of all current employees and new employees.
5. Enforce high fines on all employers who defy the new regulations.
6. All newly documented residents must learn English and apply for citizenship which will be granted after a ten year waiting period. Within a five year period all newly documented residents must be able to demonstrate their English proficiency.

“I just have to say in all candor that since this nation was founded primarily on Christian principles ….”  This statement by John McCain is reality.  http://apnews.excite.com/article/20071001/D8S0MO881.html. 

My wife and I vacationed to the East Coast a few years ago.  Our destination was colonial and U.S. revolutionary sites.  One of the facts that came to our attention was that only Christian land owners could hold office in colonial times.  Those Christians did not even include Catholics.  So while it is accurate to say that there is no reference to any specific religion in either the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution the nation was controlled by Christians. 

Today this country recognizes Christmas Day, Easter, and Palm Sunday as national holidays.  There are no national holidays in honor of any other religion. The American Jewish Committee (http://www.ajc.org/) may be deeply troubled by Senator McCain’s remarks but he was truthful.

What is a Jew, Muslin, Buddhist, or Hindu to do?  Nothing.  There is no persecution of any group because they are not Christians.  The founding fathers were not particularly religious and perhaps they understood that the nation might change over time.

Religion does play a significant role in this country as it does in most countries of the world.  If this country’s majority population did become something other than Christian the national holidays would change.  Primarily we are a secular nation that does recognize reality.

This commentary is all Idaho Sen. Larry Craig’s fault. This is not a topic I am really interested in discussing. I don’t like gay people. I find their behavior disturbing on two counts.  I do recognize their right to perform revolting acts. If they want to do those things it’s their business. If they would just keep it private. That’s all I ask. Instead some do their thing in public places. (Associated Press item: A defiant Sen. Larry Craig denied any wrongdoing Tuesday despite his guilty plea this summer in a men’s room police sting, emphatically adding, “I am not gay. I never have been gay.”)

If that isn’t enough, many of these people parade and announce their behavior to the whole world. Gay parades seem to have become a fad in many big cities. Three that come to mind are the parades in West Hollywood, San Diego and Toronto.  Many also seem to take specific pride in announcing to others that they are gay. The announcements are of course more prominent within the entertainment community.  I even had an individual call for an appointment for a job interview.  He advised me that he lived “a different life style.” Do I care what his sexual proclivities are?  Of course not but since he advised me, I concluded that he would be making that fact part of his behavior at work.  I did not interview him.

I have actually known men who I suspected were gay. Since they kept their sexual preferences to themselves it did not bother me.  Apparently they are the exception. Gay men want to make their sexual behavior known. I never told anyone about my sexual behavior. It’s all about women. How dull?  Well not to me.