Soldiers Are Not Heroes

The title isn't a statement of mine, its a group on Facebook.  A friend of mind joined the cause to remove that page from the social network site.  But I didn't join the cause because I think that is a blanket statement that is not likely accurate.  Here is the definition:

he·ro

   [heer-oh]  Show IPA

–noun, plural -roes; for 5 also -ros.

1.

a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for hisbrave deeds and noble qualities.

2.

a person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities orhas performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model orideal: He was a local hero when he saved the drowning child.

3.

the principal male character in a story, play, film, etc.

4.

Classical Mythology .

a.

a being of godlike prowess and beneficence who oftencame to be honored as a divinity.

b.

(in the Homeric period) a warrior-chieftain of specialstrength, courage, or ability.

c.

(in later antiquity) an immortal being; demigod.

5.

hero sandwich.

6.

the bread or roll used in making a hero sandwich.

Now, think what it means to you to call someone a hero.  And I am not talking about something personal that happened like you were on the brink or is a serious bind and someone turned it around for you.  That's a personal hero and the only opinion that matters is yours.  Stay with me if I get loopy, I got some pain meds from the dentist so I am flying a little higher right now.

Back to heroes.  So like with Sully, the guy that landed the airplane.  Is he a hero for what he did?  No.  He's not a hero because he was the pilot.  His job was to control the plane and protect the lives of the passengers as well as possible.  And he did so, admirably.  He wasn't a hero, he showed that he can maintain focus and control under pressure.  That is a fantastic and very admirable quality and so I am happy for his celebrity and hope he made some money from it, that's the American way, and I am all for that.  He also earns the distinction of me being willing to fly with him as the pilot and not get nervous, and I always get nervous when I fly.  Not that I couldn't die, but if the time came, I know he wouldn't make stupid mistakes or rash decisions, he would see it through to the end.  So I respect the hell out of the guy.  But that still doesn't make him a hero.   A hero he may be, but not for that.

That is basically my alliteration.  A Soldier is not a hero for being a soldier or even for dying on the battlefield.  Dying for your country isn't heroic, its noble.  You signed up to be a soldier, you willingly put your name on the line to have a significant chance to die doing your job.  So that isn't heroic.  Not that you couldn't die heroically.  Such as a grenade is thrown in a crowd of civilians and the soldier jumps on top of it and shields the shockwave and the shrapnel from killing and non combatants.  That makes that soldier a hero.  I would say that for any situation.  9/11, instead of jumping over the widening hole to safety, you throw someone over it and they get to the stairs and get out but the hole got too wide over that moment and you were stuck inside until the collapse.  That person is a hero.  Willingly facing death to save another, especially if you don't know them.  That's my definition of hero.  Or saving a life that would have perished without your actions.  Same deal in other walks of life, Nelson Mandela went to prison for a looooooong time to help end the Apartheid.  That dude's a hero.  He is a huge reason why a whole nation of people are free.  That does it for me, throw your ass on the line suddenly for liberty and you get hero status from me.

So any or all soldiers may be heroes, but not for being soldiers.  And not solely for dying in the line of duty, though it could be a heroic act, therefore making that soldier a hero.  That doesn't for a second diminish my respect, or reverence for our troops.  They are doing a great and noble thing willingly serving the Nation we love, and if you need someone to help you fight for one of the many things our country ought to give our soldiers, let me know where you need me to be.  Raise my taxes to raise their wage or give them better help when they come home, no problem. Whatever is needed to make sure all the soldiers have the opportunity to pursue the American dream of a life better than the one they were handed.  But doing your job, however horrific it is, isn't heroic if its your job that you signed up for.  Not in itself.

As long as I am on my soapbox can we get rid of the I Support the Troops  bumper sticker?  It doesn't make any sense.  You can get those lots of places.  They don't only come water-sealed from doing something to actually support them.  I am glad you support the troops, so do I, but the honor in that is doing it without advertising it.  Unless you are stating that you disagree with the governments decision to wage a battle or war but that you support the troops anyway.  But again, you should.  You don't get credit for doing what you already should.  Your an American, we expect more from you.  So please, by all means, support our troops in any way you can, but don't ask to be lauded for it.

Just my opinion.

GOP filibusters Zadroga Bill

I am going to have ALOT to say about this, but right now I am so disgusted I can hardly breath.  How foul that you call yourself Americans and Public Servants and yet proclaim it is more important to secure immediate tax cuts for the richest of all people, than to help care for the first responders who on 9/11 worked day and night in poisonous air to pull people from the rubble.  I can't wait till the next time one of these fowl bastards cries "UnAmerican"  I will go off on you.

Time For Predictions

So the big Republican tidal wave came in.  Not as big overall as they thought but still a very large House swing.  But they didn't touch the Senate and Harry Reid stayed in.  Add in the Tea Partiers who the Republican Establishment is assuming will fall in line and the Republicans will not likely pass any right-wing legislation.  I still don't really understand what is going on with the voters.  The economy was decimated by the deregulation of the corporate world and the shoddy work by the investment rating sector.  The Democrats have just now gotten some stability back in the system and are working to eliminate these problems.  We are back to economic growth and that is a great achievement.  Even if you had a crystal ball and did everything right, emerging from a true recession to solid job creation would take about 3 years and 6 months.  Normally closer to 4 1/2 years.  So this means that due to how severe the recession was we are looking at about mid year 2012 when stuff really heats back up.  But with our electorates short memory and unrealistic expectations tossed the Dems out and brought the old guard (in control when all the problems happened, voted out as the first signs of symptoms appeared, brought back in because the symptoms were still occuring) back.  So here are my predictions for 2 years from now.

I am proud of Boehner for saying that this wasn't a mandate but a second chance.  Thats true.  People are so sick of being jobless or severely underemployed, including me, that they tossed out reason and just voted for something different than they had right now.  Now I didn't vote for many conservatives (except for Colorado DA) but I will give them a chance to show they are actually working for the country.  What I have heard so far hasn't been promising.

First off, impeachment.  I have heard a few sprinklings of this.  Where does this come from?  You conservatives hate Obama so much you are trying to impeach him?  For what?  I have heard the stuff but it isn't anything that hurts the people, so stop your automatic witch hunts for all Democratic leaders and do what you were appointed for.  So my guess of the GOPs agenda for the coming period.  They know there is likely to be a good economy coming into view just about the time for the next elections. This will likely lead to the GOP upping its House control by 15, Senate will loose a few GOP and go more Democratic and Obama will win re-election.  Tons of people who did not vote in this election will show up in two years to re-elect Barrack and they will kick out some Senators for the GOP but will keep the GOP House thinking (as is usually correct) giving one party control over every branch is not good.  Sarah Palin will get the nomination from a growing Tea Party mania and she will get slaughtered by an electorate that is reactionary but not stupid.  They won't want someone no smarter than them in the White House.

So how about actual policy decisions?  Well the first thing they will do is push for an extension of Bush tax cuts for the Uber wealthy.  This is of course insane because it will continue to allow someone making $500 million a year to only pay 9% more than you if you earn about $90,000.  Why should they pay more?  Mostly because they are the ones who sit on the boards who decide to cut your wages, lay you off, or severely cut benefits every year to give you less and less and less a piece of the pie, while theirs explodes, especially in capital gains (money from investments) which they don't think should be touched at all.  Ok, i will bend some on Captial Gains.  How about the first $100,000 of each year isn't subject to taxes?  This means most retirement accounts will not pay a tax.  Only the Uber Wealthy.  They other reason they get to pay more is they have much more to lose.  Call it insurance, it might be a ripoff but so is all insurance.  Its a cash cow that does everything not to pay out.  And by much more to lose I mean the fact that they have the most material to lose but also that they live completely different lives from us.  They have a bubble you can't imagine.  Everything is done for them.  Finest schools with outstanding teacher to child ratios, servants in all aspects of life, don't have to worry about real punishment for breaking laws,  and the like.  I would take that for a tax raise.  No problem.  And if you pass these tax rate extensions we add $4 trillion MORE to the debt.  You the think so many said was a major issue?  So this goes up more than all the Bush War and Obama economic spending.  And once that's done they will say< "look how broke we are, gonna have to start slashing entitlements like Social Security and Medicare."  And suddenly the elderly will act shocked even though they voted overwhelming for the GOP.  Get what you asked for.  As for solvency, if you charged social security tax for all 1040 income.  You know that small amount on your check, it only gets charged up to $102,000 dollars.  Then it stops.  If we charged it to all income equally Social Security would be solvent for the next 150 years.  And thats WITH the government spending all the interest on the account each year.

Next will be unemployment.  They will as fast as possible cut unemployment for those over the original alloted time (won't matter much if they wait a year) saying it is too expensive and irresponsible.  This will happen after the Rich get another tax cut of course.  More people will default on their bill and mortgages, and after the GOP repeals the financial reform including Credit Card Predatory practices your interest % will raise immediately making it twice as hard to turn things around, not to mention harder to get a job and get off the unemployment.  Of course them spending is what churns the economic engine, but we aren't looking for logic here, this is the Republican Party.

Next is Health Care, now none of this has or will even go into effect for years (aside from not getting to drop you if you get really sick.  Hope you don't get something like Cancer.  You'll be lucky to have a dollar left if you beat it.).  Yet the GOP claims this is damaging to the economy.  Even with almost nothing in effect.  But apparently it is the reason the Corporations are hanging on to their coffers instead of hiring more workers in the face of decline productivity increases due to work overload.  Then again, maybe they are just waiting for Capital Gains tax cuts to make up for the losses of hiring workers to make conditions livable and helping the huddled masses get off the ground.  Remember, you mean nothing but the CEO who oversaw a massive loss of revenue for the company gets a $50 million bonus for their good work.  This won't be overturned but they will send at least one vote to the President to force a veto to help run on for the next election.

Next will be legal and tort reforms.  This is to reduce the ability of the average citizen to sue a business or professional for not doing their job or for violating the terms of a contract.  So like if your doctor amputated the wrong leg, or if the Debt Resolution company took a fee but never rendered services.  These things would be hard to sue over to make sure more responsibility by corporations is not taken, because this kind of regulation hurts businesses.  According to the GOP you should find every obstacle  in the world to emerging from a bad decision.  But if a business makes bad decisions or is unethical, they should be able to file Bankruptcy, keep your money and start a new business.  This is GOP responsibility.

Overall I think very little will happen.  The whole works will be frozen but this still means good things for business and with the GOP on all chairmanships they will just muck up the works to slow down regulations and keep tax cuts.  The economy will improve because that happens over time anyway and we will end up with a GOP House (gaining a few more seats) a firm Democratic Senate (around 57, 60 with the independents) and a reelected Obama.  Well, let's see how close I get.

They are calling House control to the Republicans

Unfortunately the media is calling the races for the House of Representatives for the GOP, not sure about who will take the Senate.  I still at this point cannot fathom how so many people after two years of Democrat control they have done so poorly (control includes having the President so they don't get vetoed.)  Well, I haven't heard a single intelligent argument.  And if its true that EXTENDING not enacting the Bush cuts for the wealthy will spur the economy.  But they are getting that money back now.  So they aren't spending it now?  Because they knew the cuts would expire so rather than behave normally they are hoarding it until Republicans get control?  Then that means that corporations have complete control of the country.  Think about that for a second.  That means the Republicans are bought, sold and paid for.

That means declining wages and deteriorating working conditions.  And that also means that your boss is now also your leader.  If you work corporate and you have a CEO, think how much more they pay themselves.  They are your leader.  How long before they tell you how to live?

But the Republicans look to be getting control so all I can do is hope for the best.  They can't repeal anything major since Obama would veto and they don't have the Senate votes needed.  So healthcare will go into effect in a much bigger way, enough time to vindicate the Democratic agenda over the Republican agenda.  So essentially nothing will happen for about two years unless it is really bland and completely middle of the road.  That likely won't help the Republican cause and if things do pick up in the economy Obama will get credit.

It does like Colorado is still somewhat sane.  Tancredo has lost and Bennett is ahead.  Let's hope he hangs on.  And thank goodness the conception amendment died.  Really?  Give personhood to a single celled zygote?  Sorry, no functioning brain, no person.  After that, we can talk.

Electoral College (Why?)

I was just recently trading barbs with a conservative friend of mine, and we always have a good time since our politics are completely opposite but we know how to be impassioned without getting upset.  Anyway we started talking about the Electoral College which I believe is completely antiquated and serves no purpose anymore.  My friend tended to agree, and it seems to have the opposite effect of why so many defendants argue for its survival.

Now, I usually am in favor of defending the little guy.  Probably because I am short and not that athletic and the tall burly guys tend to get their way.  Being for the little guy I always want to be sure people are up to speed so here is a short breakdown of how the Electoral College works.  So we all vote, and each state eventually declares a winner for the state based on popular vote.  The "winner" then gets his electors (which in a state equal the number of representatives + 2 votes for the Senators.  The Reps and Senators of the state themselves don't vote, but that is how they determine how many electors a state gets.  E.g. Wyoming gets 3 votes (1 Rep + 2 Senators)  and the District of Columbia gets 3.)  This totals 538 Electors (435 Reps, 100 Senators, 3 votes for D.C.) and a majority or 270 is paydirt.  Get 270 and you are President of the United States.  These electors are for each party.  That is each contestant on the ballot gets there own electors who get to place votes if there candidate wins.  They don't HAVE to vote for their guy/girl but they usually do.  A few states actually parcel out electors based on proportion of vote, but only a few.

So that is essentially how it goes.  You win the popular vote of a state, so your chosen electors are the ones that cast the electoral votes for that state, most or all will vote for you (that is why you chose them) and if you get 270 total you win.

The idea for this, is representation.  This way a state gets fair Representation in the election.  And this idea worked early on as you had to win most states to get the election but that isn't the case any more.  Technically you could win California, New York, Texas and 8 others and take the election.  Seriously.  You could win 11 States out of 50 and win the Election for President.  It would be hard to get those 11 but you can win well less then half the States and take it.  That isn't good Representation.  You can ignore a chunk of States in the Rocky Mountain region and not suffer that much as long as you get the coasts and a little of the South.  That is why I would like to see the system abolished.

In California you get a whopping  55 votes.  That is most of the Rockies right there.  Popular vote would be better now.  Why?  California votes around 55% Democratic lately.  Just over half.  But you get all the Electoral Votes.  You could say apportion out the Electoral votes by State % but that would lead to completely ignoring the Poor.  But if you had the Popular vote California would be a toss up.  It would greatly Reduce the power of the Large States.  Now dominating a small State would still yield big dividends.  Lets say you get the Non-Urban Areas of California and the majority of sparce populated States and now you have as Much as the Urban Vote getter.  More equal Representation.  Now you have to pay attention to everyone and come up with some serious ideas that lead to overall help or growth for the Nation.  You couldn't just dismiss areas anymore.  And yes if you got almost all the high population Urban Areas you would win but how is that possible?  With lots of wealthy and lots of poor you split the vote right there.  Look at California's district results map.  Republicans look a whole lot more popular.

I know there were some other reasons for its existence but most seem outdated.  There is no fear of Tyranny, with all the bickering your opponents would oust you quick as can be.  They love an opening.  Dems or Repubs.  And I don't understand a fear of Mandate either.  A President gets most of the Responsibility of his time in office, good or bad.  Jobs are great?  You were a good one.  Economy sucked?  You were a crappy one.  Money is our God in this nation whether you like it or not.  EVERYTHING is dictated by funds.  You can separate yourself from it if you wish but it doesn't change the power of money.  Money for you, against you, hating you, or loving you, it will sway opinions and controls our existence on the planet.  So remove a portion of that power and make Parties less significant.  Make a President appeal to the people because he is the President of America. State sovereignty doesn't matter there.  And it shouldn't.  The President represents the People to the world.  The Senators and the House are your State Representation to the Nation.  Make it how it should be.  I would be willing to trade the 17th Amendment for it.

The American Voting Psyche

I will just come out and admit it.  My brain functions unlike 90% of people I have met in this country.  My brain always jumps to big picture and long lasting variables.  Probably why I enjoyed my Economics courses in college.  My brain only seems to operate along linear lines of logic.  As a consequence voting philosophy baffles me.  For example, how much do you know about the person running for your local representative or Senator?  Not much, and they never explain things.  Both parties are guilty but the GOP is insane in this instance.  "I am going to bring back family values", "I will stimulate the local economy", "I will slash over-spending", "I support the troops".  For all these questions, I ask, "how"?  Family values?  Really?  How do you legislate a value?  I don't think its possible.

And the wedge issues seem so stupid.  Gays!  How could you possibly care?  How does it affect your life?  And for those of you that say its a choice, no way.  Don't you remember when you showed up to school one day and for some reason you couldn't stop looking at a certain girl and didn't even know why.  At least when I was a kid we were pretty naive about sex and I just knew I wanted to keep looking at her.  Of course I ended up with a crush on her all the way through high school but I didn't choose to.  I didn't have any options.  So if you think its a choice and you made that choice to go hetero, then you are either gay or bisexual. I am not criticizing, again, I don't give a shit.  But if you made a choice to be hetero then you aren't hetero.  Sorry, but don't worry, you will then realize that they are just people.  Like Whites used to think of Blacks, once they realized they were just people Slavery became an issue of contention, amongst the intelligent and the ignorant.  How about the abortion issue?  Maybe you think its murder and maybe you don't but outlawing it just makes it more dangerous, and if the fetus does feel pain, it will probably feel more.  I would say we all have the same goal . . . as few as possible.  So lets make the other options more desirable.  Its all about incentive.

The next issue is the one that got me to write about the Psyche at all.  The National Debt.  I have heard countless commercials and all manner of conservative radio and Fox News(no seriously, they call themselves news) about how the Dems were so bad with money that they incurred a huge debt that our children will have to pay for.  Tons of people are listing this and the lack of jobs and weak economy as the top issues driving their vote.  What confounds me is that a mere 4 years since the GOP had control of everything and we went into a horrid tailspin.  The job market, the economy, the debt.  This is all from the GOP.

It is amazing how few people understand how a national economy works.  It takes about 20 months for fiscal policy to affect the economy.  Same with monetary policy but that is controlled by the FED Bank, which is a private bank, so you don't elect the members.  Though congress does have a say in the board members, Greenspan did a terrible job and he kept the job for years.  Some folks think the FED is there to control inflation.  Well, if they are then they are terrible because we have inflation every year.  That's on purpose folks, it is necessary to increase the money supply which increases national wealth if it isn't done hyperactively.  The FED is there to try to guarantee liquidity in the market.  That means they work to keep the lines of credit open and as loose as they can to encourage lending, which, again, spurs growth in wealth.  Sorry for the tangent but some folks don't understand what the FED does, or that it is owned by the wealthiest banking families of this country.  Here this might help:

"Some people think that the Federal Reserve Banks are United States Government institutions. They are private monopolies which prey upon the people of these United States for the benefit of themselves and their foreign customers; foreign and domestic speculators and swindlers; and rich and predatory money lenders."

– The Honorable Louis McFadden, Chairman of the House Banking and Currency Committee in the 1930s

Now back to the GOP.  They did massive de-regulation of the markets to keep their promise to their contributors and remember what that causes.  Deregulation caused Enron, the California Blackouts, the Sub-prime Meltdown, among other things that caused a Financial Crisis.  Current conditions are a result of this.  Deregulation is passed.  Sometime down the line it is implemented (few bills become instant laws.  After ratification there is usually a date the new law becomes applicable.)  Then the biggest businesses begin scouring the new laws to see where profits can be exploited.  Capitalism is great in many ways but regulation is critical.  Capitalism is like a nuclear reaction.  If you don't control it it will go off big time and you will be in trouble.  It is a great efficient engine but it will feed on itself and greed is the unstable isotope.

So after all the shit they caused that nearly crippled the nation (I doubt many folks realize how close we came to catastrophe.  The highly partisan House and Senate passed the TARP legislation very quickly with few rules.  You know why?  If credit stopped as it actually did for a few hours we would have gone completely under.  Complain about the bail outs if you want, we had to do it.  Because we deregulated to the point where there were no more rules about size or monopoly.  This caused Too Big To Fail.  And that is what it is really all about.   The GOP is very careless about money due to greed and that leads to businesses that can't fail without destroying the nation.  This is why they need to be broken apart.)  Now the GOP wants me to believe they can cure the problems the Dems can't?  Give me a break.  Obama said it pretty well but I don't remember exactly what he said.  Something akin to Driving the Car into a ditch, and after a tow truck pulls them out let them start driving again.  Where the Car is the Economy.  They did a horrid job before, they will do the same now.  Except now they say back off of businesses.  More?  Most of the rules are gone, and the smaller firms have seen huge tax breaks.

Last but not least.  This has to be brought up.  Youtube some conservatives from the Boom time with Bush.  They all howl for tax cuts because times are good.  Then it crashes and they say, Cut taxes because times are bad.  Do you see the problem with the logic?  Can't have it both ways.  You RAISE taxes in the good time to prepare the country for the bad times.  Just like you do in life.  Or how we should in life.  Though many of us don't.  I am not proud of the Democrats.  I am liberal and they are mostly center.  They are too wimpy, don't fight back, and won't go outside the box.  I am also not happy with Obama.  He should have shook up the whole works and pissed off the GOP something awful while they were easy to blame.  Instead he tried to be noble and work with them.  But the GOP isn't noble, they don't do what's best for the people, only what's best for money.  They are spoiled brats who throw tantrums to get their way, that is why the country keeps getting worse.

I know the Dems aren't miracle workers, but consider the alternative.  Eventually lots of more aggressives with run for Democratic office and things will get better.  Until then don't let the temper tantrum kids run the show.  Money will always be their God, it even says so on every bill.  In God We Trust.