Yeah, I realize that I'm just one citizen, just one tiny voice in the vapor, but I'm gonna say this ... I wish upon a star that the Federal government would return to regulating those things that used to protect us from outright piracy.
Recall one of the great pilot episode in all of television comedy -- that of The Cosby Show, wherein Cliff is trying to explain to his son, Theo, that he needs to work harder in school. Theo pushes back and says that that fact that his father is a doctor and his mother a lawyer doesn't mean he must go to college. He might be a bus driver, he says, and therefore won't need to go to college. He might be among "Regular People."
Cliff Huxtable then uses Theo's Monopoly game's play money to show Theo the most important lesson in the whole scene - after setting a salary amount for Theo, he grabs a third of it back and says, "The government comes for the regular people first."
And the audience applauds.
What I want to see if the government pausing from corporate rescue for just a minute to reinstate the maximum consumer lending rate to 18% ... like it used to be before Reagan "deregulated" it to being without cap. Now, you can pay 30% and more on a credit card ... ensuring that once you have a substantial balance, you'll virtually never pay it off.
These aren't loan sharks using these rates ... it's Sears, JC Penney and Wal-Mart. And they are screwing American families, starting with the "Regular People."
Barack, Joe ... are you listening? Can you make this happen? Can you rescue the Regular People?
Thing one: Trying to write about what happened yesterday or lately with any insight is really, really hard even though you KNOW what happened. Thing two: Trying to predict the future with its many moving parts is just plain crazy. I'm sticking with thing one and predict that in the future, I'll still be doing that. - Jean Bolduc, Freelance Reporter (Chapel Hill News|News & Observer), Frequent Humorist, Happily married since forever, Renowned Philosopher (Mother of two).
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Palin Wailin'
Don't know? Alaska!
The fine uppity women of Alaska make themselves heard ... Sarah doesn't speak for them.
Check out this slide show (with music) from a demonstration over this weekend.
My favorite is "Don't insult my pit bull!"
The fine uppity women of Alaska make themselves heard ... Sarah doesn't speak for them.
Check out this slide show (with music) from a demonstration over this weekend.
My favorite is "Don't insult my pit bull!"
Monday, September 08, 2008
Had enough of Palin yet?
As for those snotty cracks about Obama's being a community organizer (wasn't Jesus Christ a community organizer?) how's this for embarassing timing?
FIRST LADY LAURA BUSH TO PARTICIPATE AT SERVICENATION SUMMIT ON SERVICE AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT IN NEW YORK SEPT. 12 * * *September 8, 2008 [New York, NY] – First Lady Laura Bush announced that she will participate in the historic ServiceNation Summit in New York, on Friday, September 12, helping to kick-off a national campaign to expand voluntary community national service opportunities for all Americans. The two-day bi-partisan Summit will begin the evening of Thursday, September 11, with a primetime “ServiceNation Presidential Candidates Forum” at Columbia University featuring Presidential nominees John McCain and Barack Obama, who will discuss in-depth their views on service and civic engagement in the post-9/11 world. The following day, Mrs. Bush will join hundreds of notables attending the day-long Summit at the New York Hilton from the worlds of government, academia, arts, business, and not-for-profits, including: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg; Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger; Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton; Martin Luther King III; Bobby Kennedy, Jr.; Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan; Caroline Kennedy; Wendy Kopp of Teach for America; Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and many others (full program and list is available at: http://www.bethechangeinc.org/servicenation/summit/schedule). “We are excited to have Mrs. Bush join us at such an historic event,” Alan Khazei, CEO of Be The Change, Inc. said. “As someone who has promoted volunteerism and civic engagement for the past eight years as First Lady, Mrs. Bush has a wealth of experience that will make the ServiceNation Summit that much more meaningful and help us further elevate service as a core ideal of our democracy.” The Forum is being organized by ServiceNation (http://servicenation.org), a dynamic new coalition of 110 organizations that has a collective reach of some 100 million Americans and is dedicated to strengthening our democracy and solving problems through civic engagement and service. The two-day event will bring together some 600 leaders of all ages and from every sector of American life —from universities and foundations, to business and politics—to celebrate the power and potential of citizen service, and lay out a bold policy blueprint for addressing America’s greatest social challenges through expanded opportunities for volunteer and national service. The September 12 Summit Day will open with welcoming remarks from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and close with a Call to Action with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
FIRST LADY LAURA BUSH TO PARTICIPATE AT SERVICENATION SUMMIT ON SERVICE AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT IN NEW YORK SEPT. 12 * * *September 8, 2008 [New York, NY] – First Lady Laura Bush announced that she will participate in the historic ServiceNation Summit in New York, on Friday, September 12, helping to kick-off a national campaign to expand voluntary community national service opportunities for all Americans. The two-day bi-partisan Summit will begin the evening of Thursday, September 11, with a primetime “ServiceNation Presidential Candidates Forum” at Columbia University featuring Presidential nominees John McCain and Barack Obama, who will discuss in-depth their views on service and civic engagement in the post-9/11 world. The following day, Mrs. Bush will join hundreds of notables attending the day-long Summit at the New York Hilton from the worlds of government, academia, arts, business, and not-for-profits, including: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg; Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger; Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton; Martin Luther King III; Bobby Kennedy, Jr.; Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan; Caroline Kennedy; Wendy Kopp of Teach for America; Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and many others (full program and list is available at: http://www.bethechangeinc.org/servicenation/summit/schedule). “We are excited to have Mrs. Bush join us at such an historic event,” Alan Khazei, CEO of Be The Change, Inc. said. “As someone who has promoted volunteerism and civic engagement for the past eight years as First Lady, Mrs. Bush has a wealth of experience that will make the ServiceNation Summit that much more meaningful and help us further elevate service as a core ideal of our democracy.” The Forum is being organized by ServiceNation (http://servicenation.org), a dynamic new coalition of 110 organizations that has a collective reach of some 100 million Americans and is dedicated to strengthening our democracy and solving problems through civic engagement and service. The two-day event will bring together some 600 leaders of all ages and from every sector of American life —from universities and foundations, to business and politics—to celebrate the power and potential of citizen service, and lay out a bold policy blueprint for addressing America’s greatest social challenges through expanded opportunities for volunteer and national service. The September 12 Summit Day will open with welcoming remarks from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and close with a Call to Action with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
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