President Obama Wins the Debate

As this debate unfolded it was clear from the start that the president was in command. This is not to say that Romney did not do a good job. He just did not tell the viewers why the voters should replace the incumbent.

Romney‘s tax plan is filled with holes. His position on women’s rights is they have no rights. His plan to bring back jobs would result in a trade war with China.

It is my understanding that Romney quickly left the theater after the debate but Obama remained for at least 30 minutes. That might be an indicator or he just wanted to get a good night of sleep. After a good debate you want to talk to reporters.

This debate will not settle the election. It will further rally the Democrats. I anticipate a further change in poll results within the next few days.

Does Islam Wish to be the Enemy of the West?

The answer appears to be YES! In communities throughout Europe Sharia law has replaced government law. In my own community Muslims refuse to obey local parking ordinances on Fridays when parking their cars before entering their mosque.

WordPress provides a daily report to me that indicates the nations of the readers of Coastcontact. Just this past Friday, October 12 there were at least seven visitors from Saudi Arabia. Many other Middle Easterners from many Islamic nations have also visited this site. I was interviewed by The Pakistani Spectator a few years ago too. However, there have been almost no comments or challenges by Muslims to my obvious Western views.

Without a dialog there cannot be a peace.

My primary target has been Islamic treatment of women. In my view they are treated like property. Many are denied education, kept wrapped in tents (called burqa), and are treated as little more than slaves or concubines.

However, many Muslims are migrating to Western Europe and America to obtain a better life without wanting to pay the price of throwing off their “old world” customs.

Pictures like this tells of a wish to convert the entire world to your way of life. These pictures are of Muslims marching through the STREETS OF LONDON during their recent ‘Religion of Peace Demonstration.’

Tell us all here in this blog what you want.

Local Congressional Race is Nasty

California’s new congressional district #30

Candidates are fighting for their political lives. Both of them ought to move on to another life!

When I was young I lived in West Los Angeles (Palms district). I was a member of the Beverly Hills Young Democrats. It wasn’t because I was a dedicated supporter. The group was made up of singles and it was a great meeting place (women). I actually met my wife at a Democratic Party BBQ.

Howard Berman and Henry Waxman were both in that group too. That young democrat group provided the impetus for their political careers. Frankly I did not like Berman because his goal from high school days was to become a politician. My view then, and now, is that professional politicians do not really represent the people. They represent themselves. The downside of their profession is having to return to the public for re-election.

Is Brad Sherman any different than Howard Berman? Probably not. However, it appears he had some other goals in life before entering politics.

Reports in the Los Angeles Times, Los Angles Daily News and Roll Call at the Races today tell of the near physical fight between Howard Berman and Brad Sherman in a debate at Pierce College.

With Berman already standing, Sherman stood up and shouted into the microphone that Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) sponsored the bill. Berman stepped toward Sherman so they were nearly nose to nose and said Sherman was wrong.

Things bounced down this rocky path when Sherman took exception to Berman calling him a liar.

“Don’t you dare stand up here .. .and get in my face,” Sherman said. He then wrapped his arm around Berman’s shoulder, looked him in the eye and — still holding the microphone to his mouth — said: “You want to get into this? Get out of my face.”

I wish I had been there.

Vice Presidential Debate

It was a Draw!

Vice President Joe Biden did what he does so well. He was the attack dog. Congressman Paul Ryan was the calmer deliberate speaker who adequately supported Mitt Romney.

The differences between the parties could not have been more stark. Both men offered some inaccurate information and both offered some accurate info.

I suspect Joe Biden’s eye rolling and silly grins were all intentional and well practiced. Even after giving a serious response to Raddatz or Ryan he returned to those big smiles and surprised facial expressions.

Martha Raddatz was an excellent moderator. She wins the award for performing an outstanding job in a difficult situation.

For those of us who are undecided the decision is yet to be made. Too little time was spent on the job of creating jobs in America. Biden skipped the topic and Ryan restated the Romney contention that their election will result in 12 million jobs being created in the next four years. How exactly will that be done? Biden or Raddatz should have asked Ryan that question.

My recent purchase was two beautifully tailored shirts that were made in China. That is the country that also makes iPhones, Dell computers, and other more expensive high tech devices.

Perhaps the next debate will provide some further reason to vote for one of these candidates.

Social Security Now Called ‘Federal Benefit Payment’

Have you noticed, your Social Security check is now referred to as a “Federal Benefit Payment”? It’s not accurate!

Not only did we all contribute to Social Security but our employers did too. It totaled 15% of our income before taxes.

If you averaged $30K per year over your working life, that’s close to $180,000 invested in Social Security.

If you calculate the future value of your monthly investment in social security ($375/month, including both your and your employer’s contributions) at a meager 1% interest rate compounded monthly, after 40 years of working you’d have more than $1.3+ million dollars saved. This is your personal investment.

Upon retirement, if you took out only 3% per year, you’d receive $39,318 per year, or $3,277 per month.

That’s almost three times more than today’s average Social Security benefit of $1,230 per month, according to the Social Security Administration (Google it – it’s a fact). And your retirement fund would last more than 33 years (until you’re 98 if you retire at age 65)!

I can only imagine how much better most average-income people could live in retirement if our government had just invested our money in low-risk interest-earning accounts. Instead, the folks in Washington pulled off a bigger Ponzi scheme than Bernie Madoff ever did.

They took our money and used it elsewhere. They “forgot” that it was OUR money they were taking.

They didn’t have a referendum to ask us if we wanted to lend the money to them.

And they didn’t pay interest on the debt they assumed. And recently, they’ve told us that the money won’t support us for very much longer.

But is it our fault they misused our investments? And now, to add insult to injury, they’re calling it a “benefit,” as if we never worked to earn every penny of it.

Just because they “borrowed” the money, doesn’t mean that our investments were a charity!

Let’s take a stand.

We have earned our right to Social Security and Medicare. Demand that our legislators bring some sense into our government – Find a way to keep Social Security and Medicare going, for the sake of that 92% of our population who need it.

Then call it what it is: Our Earned Retirement Income. 99% of people won’t forward this.

Will you?

Politics and Cesar Chavez

Cesar Chavez was the leader of the United Farm Workers (UFW). He led the famous Delano Grape Workers Strike that lasted five years. Many Latinos admire him for his organizing skills. He died in 1966. However he was not very successful in his endeavors.

His supporters say his work led to numerous improvements for union laborers. His birthday, March 31, has become César Chávez Day, a state holiday in three US states. Many parks, cultural centers, libraries, schools, and streets have been named in his honor in cities across the United States.

The truth is that farm worker are still woefully underpaid. It is well-known that many are illegal aliens because the United States does not have a program for allowing Mexicans into the country for picking food.

A UC Davis report on harvesting strawberries says, “Harvesters in 1996-97 were reportedly paid $4.50 to $4.70 an hour in the Watsonville-Salinas area, plus $0.65 to $0.75 a tray.” While choices.org includes this paragraph in their article about strawberry harvesting.

“Core tasks of picking and plant cleaning must be performed while bending, kneeling (usually with one knee on the raised bed), or crouching. Workers use both hands to gently grab, twist, and snap off the berries they select. Although they shift from one side of the row to the other, occasionally stand up for a breather, and often change positions in other ways, most of their picking time is spent in postures that are widely seen as physically demanding. Union leaders and other worker advocates have expressed great concern about long-term effects of these postures and workers’ repetitive task motions on their bodies, especially backs. Bills that they have sponsored in the California legislature would prohibit “weeding, thinning, and hot-capping in a stooped, kneeling, or squatting position” (i.e., by hand), except in narrowly defined circumstances. A petition to similarly restrict these activities through administrative regulation is under consideration by a Cal/OSHA advisory committee.”

The legal Latino population is a primary group supporting Barack Obama. To further seal that group to the Democratic Party the president visited the Cesar Chavez home and declared it a national monument.

Walter P. Reuther was one of America’s great labor leaders. Reuther was president the United Automobile Workers union (UAW) between 1946 and 1970. Under his leadership played the union played a major role in the liberal wing of the Democratic party, including the civil rights and anti-Communist movements. The UAW was especially known for gaining high wages and pensions for the auto workers. As a prominent figure in the anti-Communist left, he was a founder of the Americans for Democratic Action in 1947. He became president of the CIO in 1952, and negotiated a merger with George Meany and the American Federation of Labor immediately after, which took effect in 1955. In 1949 he led the CIO delegation to the London conference that set up the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions in opposition to the Communist-dominated World Federation of Trade Unions. He had left the Socialist party in 1939, and throughout the 1950s and 1960s was a leading spokesman for liberal interests in the CIO and in the Democratic party. Walter Reuther appears in Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. There is no national monument honoring this man!

Groveling for votes. Can Barack Obama sink any lower?

No Real change in the Unemployment Rate

Try Crunching these numbers!

President Obama received some good news last night. The unemployment rate has dropped to 7.8%. As Chris Mathews and others have said repeatedly, no president has been re-elected when the rate was over 8% since FDR. Market Watch has questioned whether the books have been cooked. I prefer to believe the data is accurate. After all, the government could have provided false data over the past year and apparently did not. How could the unemployment rate decline? More people stopped looking for jobs than those obtaining new jobs.

The problem is the focus of the data. The BLS trumpets the unemployment rate rather than the number of unemployed. It’s only after extensive reading did I learn about another piece of data that tells the real story. Table A-15 (Alternative measures of labor underutilization) of the BLS monthly report on Line U-6 provides a more accurate reflection of the true unemployment situation. That line provides “Total unemployed, plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force.”

That number is 14.7% for this past month. At its peak in December 2010 the percentage had reached 16.6%.

The president is silent on his plans and Mitt Romney has said he will create 12 million jobs in four years. There are no details on the plans. No wonder! No one employs more help without demand. Lower taxes are wonderful for the pocket book but will that make a difference in hiring?

I don’t think so!

Presidential Debate One Goes to Mitt Romney

Even before tonight’s presidential debate was over I knew that Mitt Romney had won. He strongly stated the case that Barack Obama had spent too much time on health care when jobs were the issue facing many Americans.

Romney’s ideas for creating jobs are full of holes. However, he emphasized that he could provide the stimulus to create 12 million jobs in his first four years as president. The president had no response.

The reporters and commentators on CNN agree with my assessment. James Carville was part of the CNN panel and he too agreed that Romney was the winner.

This does not mean that Romney will win the election. It does give the Republicans confidence that their man can win the White House.

Government Lies to the Public Won’t Protect Mistakes

Does our government believe the people are stupid?

U.N. Ambassador, Susan Rice, went to every Sunday morning TV talk show on September 16 to tell viewers and the hosts that the attack on the Benghazi, Libya consulate was not a premeditated act of terrorists but was simply an over zealous group of protesters. I did not believe her contentions.

Machine guns and RPGs were focused directly at that building in Benghazi and the terrorists followed the staff to a secondary facility over a mile away and continued firing their weapons. It just did not sound like an unplanned demonstration.

Finally today CNN reports, “The U.S. intelligence community has revised its assessment of the deadly attack on the American consulate in Libya, saying it now believes it was a deliberate terrorist assault.”

“At every turn Ambassador Rice provided — and said she was providing — the best information and the best assessment that the administration had at the time, based on what was provided to Ambassador Rice and other senior U.S. officials by the U.S. intelligence community.”

I cannot fathom the purpose of Rice’s appearance on all those TV programs. Had she said “we do not know enough to conclude that the attack was conducted be a terrorist group and more information needs to be obtained.” That would have been sufficient. Instead her insistence that the attack was not conducted by a terrorist group makes her look like someone who was trying to mislead the public. The administration’s sloppy handling of this event will bring on a congressional investigation.

My guess is that the administration is trying to cover up an error in judgment somewhere in the government. Someone is being protected!

Why I believe Mitt Romney Will Win the Election

Are Americans stupid or just plain desperate?

I have never voted for a Republican for president. I could not discern the differences between Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey in the first time I voted. I was correct in saying there was little to differentiate the two. Nixon imposed price controls on the economy and that was a decidedly Democratic Party kind of regulation. Richard Nixon supported a national health care plan that the Democrats refused to support.

Now we have Mitt Romney promising to “create 12 million new jobs over the next four years.” He won’t tell us how that will be done. Without the details his words are meaningless. However, Americans are desperate for a recovery so they will buy his promise.

Americans vote for the person who can offer us the promise we want to hear. Proof? “Hope and Change” but no details enabled Barack Obama to win the election four years ago.

Despite the poll trends, I believe Romney will win. It will be mostly about those jobs and the economy. He won’t win CA, NY, IL or MA. He will win a majority in the battleground states.

The result will be that four years from now we will vote for the Democratic challenger.