Campaign Reform... Well, where are the enforcers

OK, so here is yet another example of the out of control issues with campaign financing that is going on.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/ns/nightly_news/

It is no wonder that we have people in Washington willing to just spend and spend and spend!!! They feel they have an unlimited supply of money to do whatever they feel like. If any of us ran a business this way, we would be out of work and in jail for fraud and deception.

I would really like to see our politicians to really come up with a smart solution that would allow us to slowly pay down the National Debt, and still allow for essential services to go on, but allow us to stay within a budget.

I still like the idea of limiting the amount the Politicians can spend, to a small amount. Let's see how creative they can get ON A BUDGET that makes sense. Then allow the Politicians to have fund raising parties, and get other interest groups to donate funds, and take the extra and put into place the ideas and plans they are promoting and actually show us what they are going to do.

See my prior post -

http://kiss-politics.blogspot.com/2010/09/oh-my-hell-what-on-earth-are-they.html

Obama! A Modern U.S. President (musical spoof)

This is so funny, and since I really like Musical Theater, Gilbert and Sullivan is a perfect way to poke fun at our politicians....

http://www.youtube.com/user/ronniebutlerjr#p/a/u/0/y54FRMedT_s

Enjoy!

Campaigning... what a crock!

OK, so I am really getting on my horse (call him high if you want) and I am going to wave this flag!!

The theme in my prior post "Who is to blame", talks about the need to reform campaign ads. I stated that I feel that with some of the campaign ads, they are close to being abusive or could even be considered Cyberbullying. Well, I found a reference on wikipedia that has the definition of cyberbullying. I know that it states that it is adolescence that do it, but I am thinking that we are setting a bad example if we do it among adults and then expect our children to act any different.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberbullying

Just this evening, I have counted the number of slanderous campaign ads just in 1 hour in the Sacramento, CA media area... the numbers are staggering (these were counted from 5:30pm to 6:30pm Oct 20.)

The sheer volume is unbelievable......

Number of political ads - 28
Number of Political ads considered to be a positive message - 5
Number of Political ads considered to be slandering of the opponent - 16
Number of Political ads considered to be neutral (proposition ads) - 7

In an article in the Daily Finance, an AOL Money and Finance Site, http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/media/political-ad-spending-TV-broadcasters/19644734/

"In total, TV station political revenues may hit $2.5 billion in 2010, a 25% increase above 2006"

This is not including the revenue that will be generated in Radio, Internet Ads, or for static advertising such as billboards, yard signs and vehicle ads.

Let's see, what can we do with 2.5 Billion Dollars... for this election time

• Helping our public education system: The average teachers salary (lets say for High School) is $43,272 rounded down to $43,000. (according to PayScale.com) Now double it for the 2 years they will be in office if they get elected. That is $86,000 in salary, of course there is other expenses, but let's just keep this as simple as we can. 2.5 Billion Dollars puts 29,000 more teachers to work in public schools, an average of 581 per state. The average student/teacher ration for the US is 16.2:1, (I know that it is a lot higher in some states like CA) so that would allow for another 9000 students to be taught in a state.
• Helping protect our borders: The average border patrol officer salary is $55,000, so that would put an additional 44,000 border patrol officers along our southern border to protect us form the onslaught of illegal immigrants coming in. If we just stationed them along the border with Mexico (which is our biggest problem right now, and I am not being racist, that is just the fact) which length is 1,969 miles, that puts 22 officers PER MILE. According to Globalsecurity.org, the proposed fence that would protect the southern border with Mexico could possibly be finished (using the low cost version fencing) with those funds, slowing the 400,000+ illegals from getting into to our country per year.
  

This is just two examples... I am certain there are many more that could be thought of. I say we put some legislation in place to limit the political campaign spending, and have the funds go for something good for a change.

Who is to blame

I find it pretty maddening over the past few weeks that all of the political ads have nothing, and I mean nothing positive to say at this point. They are played so often that I feel completely bombarded right now. I mean do I really want to hear their whining 1 to 2 times every 8 minutes on TV, or the radio about how blah blah blah is such a bad choice or they will ruin our lives....

OK, I get it, you differ on some items, that is fine, tell us how you differ by showing us some of your solutions, how the hell are you going to fix this, I want to know!!! Tell us the way you will stop over spending, or balance the budget without raising taxes, come on, I am listening... I really would like to know!!

We have cracked down on companies that do misleading advertising techniques called "bait and switch" There is punishments and fines associated with it.... Well, I feel this is very similar when a politician tells us that they will balance the budget, or lower taxes, or better our school system, and then after getting into office don't get anything done like that. To quote a famous politician... Pedro Sanchez - "If you vote for me.. all your wildest dreams will come true". I swear that as absurd as this sounds, it is just about as bad today in our political environment.

Here is another thing with this... We have heard so much in the media lately about youth committing suicide due to bullying, cyber-bullying, and verbal abuse due to being different or gay. This is something that is completely unacceptable, but what are we showing at every moment during a commercial break right now... Oh yeah that is right, let's verbally abuse someone, even to the point of lying or stretching the truth and we call it campaign ads. GIVE ME A BREAK!!! It is verbal abuse!!! And it should stop!!

I really want to propose to someone that will listen to put an end to campaign spending like this. Do you really think that us as a voter base are really going to take you seriously about lowering spending, when you are wasting all of our time and an incredible amount of money on stupid campaign ads that only try and tear down their opponent. I think politicians think we are just that stupid.

I feel like someone needs to take up the banner on this one, and I guess it might just have to be me if there is no one else in political position that will. Please comment if you would like, I would love to hear your comments on this.

Issues We Face As A Nation!

Most of the posts on this blog have been some form of rantings by yours truly... I really do not want this to just be a place for me to post things that I do not like about what is happening in our Nation, but also a place to share ideas on how to solve the issues at hand. I know that all of you out there that may read this have your own thoughts of what needs to be fixed, and I hope that you have thought through some solutions to these.

Here is your chance to speak up. I would love to hear from all of you out there on what you feel the most pressing issues are in our Nation today. I would like to have a platform that we can start discussions from and be able to share input on solutions for these.

Fiscally Responsible America

I have to admit that I fit in the category of not being as fiscally responsible as I should. I am not tightening the spending habits of myself or our household to a point where it may feel like it is limiting, and we are spending more than we should, and that leads us to live paycheck to paycheck.

I was alarmed to read the following article and see the percentage of Americans that are living paycheck to paycheck, and am really concerned.

http://www.theworkbuzz.com/current-affairs/are-savings-accounts-a-thing-of-the-past/?cobrand=msn&siteid=cbmsnmnbuzz

Just in the last year it has risen 16%, that is a huge number of Americans that are new, to having to live paycheck to paycheck. I fall into this category, but we have been working our way out of being unemployed for a number of months last year and earlier this year. We have been talking about it and looking for opportunities to implement it, and as I sometimes do, not think about it when I have time to work out the plan and implement it. Well, for me anyway... now is the time. I look at this article and realize that if over 3/4 of the US is living paycheck to paycheck and our Gov is more in debt and spending more than they bring in every single minute of every day, then we are definitely headed for a financial meltdown that could really cause everyone to suffer. I know that there is talk in Washington about fixing the deficit, (not certain how that will be accomplished) but I do know that it could mean higher taxes. If they raise taxes to help offset the budget free fall, and most Americans are living paycheck to paycheck then where is the extra going to come from?

I see it a couple of ways..

1. Those living paycheck to paycheck will start spending less and get more and more under the poverty line. When they do that it in turns slows spending at retailers and other services which (we have seen over the past few years) directly effects that stock market and causes mass panic in and around the economy, causing companies to layoff and tighten their belts. This could be cause of more people on unemployment and will have a harder time finding work.
   
2. People will have to lower their expenses (not that this is a bad thing) but they will stop buying bigger homes and nicer cars. Both the Housing and Auto industries are embattled already and will take further hits, causing more widespread issues in the economy. These are two of the industries that Obama tried to fix in dolling out over 700Billion. Nice to have all that money go to waste... NOT!

I am going to try and do my part in getting our own financial prowess fit, trim, and ready for the storms ahead. It will not be easy, or pleasant to think more about saving than what is it that I could get with this extra each month, but it will much better for our family, and I think in some very very small way, will help the country. If we all were working at this (which I am sure many many are) then we would ease the financial roller coaster that we are all on. I know that most of the people in that 77% are so deep right now, or have had situations out of their control that have gotten them there. I do know that in some cases there was things they could have done before the downturn of the economy this last time that would have lessened the impact. I hope that each of us can take the time to get financially fit for the rough times ahead and that starts with me.

Impact on our Nation

Do we really understand what the impact of us not having a relationship with God is having on our Nation?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39397251/ns/us_news-life?gt1=43001

You may feel.. "So what? So there is a bunch of people out there that really don't understand religion today." Why does that have anything to do with politics?" "Why should I care?"

I am certain that if more of us were taking the messages from God into our lives and honestly trying to live by those teachings we would all be much, much better off. Whether you believe that is from the Bible, Quran, Hadith, Tanakh, NWT, Book of Mormon, or from modern revelation through God's servants here on earth today, I feel it would make this a better place to live. We should also be actively seeking understanding of others and their beliefs as well.

I feel it is a product of not really knowing, or studying the word of God that puts us in a place where our pride and selfishness gets in the way, and we rely on Man to direct our paths. Personally I know that I do not have the answers for all of the issues we are facing or will face, but I do know someone that does and that is God, and I hope that God will impart some of that knowledge to me if I stay close to him and try and live his teachings. I feel that this is important for us to keep up the communication with God if we are to truly fix the issues we are facing as a Nation now and in the future. We all have the ability to think for ourselves and to put our minds to these issues, but it can only help us to get divine help in the process.

I know there was the old adage that states that one should not talk about Politics and Religion, but why not? I really enjoy talking to others about what it is that they believe, why they believe that, and how they came to that belief. I feel we all should take more time to understand our neighbors and the people around us, and what motivates and drives them ethically. I also feel that it is good to talk about Politics, it is something that if we get passionate about it, maybe we will do something about it.

I feel that until we are willing to accept God's help we will always struggle to find ways to solve the issues that we are facing as a Nation. Let's include him and get these issues fixed sooner than later.