Independent Talk

Sentate passes a $149 billion aid billThe Senate passed a $149 billion in jobless aid and tax breaks. On a side note, I just read that the 3 richest men in the world have $53.5 billion (Carlos Slim), $53 billion (Bill Gates), and $47 billion (Warren Buffett). You see where I’m going with this.

This is a lot of money. It’s coming out of our own pockets, essentially, because the tax breaks mean we’ll be missing the money later and the giveaways mean that we’ll hold less value later. And the crazy part is that with around 300 million people in the U.S., that works out to like $4.50 per person. I mean, not that that’s how it works, but it’s crazy to think about. What if they just sent checks for $4.50 to everyone. Or envelopes with the money in it. Jingle jingle with the fifty cents.

Oh, come on... Read more

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2010/03/09/penhaul.chile.unlikely...

The above video, brought to you by CNN, shows incredible heroics by two patients in an asylum in Chile, one living with a learning disability and the other schizophrenic. This occurred when a tsunami struck the facility in which they lived. They acted, and saved many of their fellow patients.

This is a great story of goodness coming out of a tragedy, and shows how strong these individuals are in a time of confusion, panic and need.

There actions are very admirable, and I applaud CNN for bringing this positive news story to our attention. A great break from a lot of negativity that is continually broadcast on many of our news stations.

200 Agree- But does is mean anything...China and India have informally agreed to join the Copenhagen Accord, says the New York Times.

This is big news for the Accord, which has received lukewarm reviews and sporadic endorsement since President Obama flew over to the COP15 conference to try and put together a deal to save the UN meeting. China and India are the last two major economies to sign up. Of course, the world is still waiting on the U.S. to sign up for Kyoto…

To refresh: The Copenhagen Accord is 3 pages long and non-binding. 200 countries have signed on now, which makes most of ht world. The basic idea is that everyone who signs on agrees that:

1)   the world needs to limit global temperature rise to no more than 2 degrees celsius beyond pre-industrial levels, and Read more

A Catholic school in Boulder, Colorado is kicking out a preschool student because the child's parents are lesbians. The school, Scared Heart of Jesus Catholic School, according to ABC News 7 of Denver that, "The Denver Archdiocese posted a statement Friday that the parents are living in open discord with Catholic teaching." The statement then went on to say that "students in Catholic schools are expected to have parents who abide by policies of the school and church," and said "students with gay parents in Catholic schools would become 'confused.' "

One has to admire the open arms of the Catholic Church, right? Kicking a child out of a school based on the sexuality of his or her parents is ridiculous. Any institution, including churches, that blatantly discriminate against sexual orientation, especially in this day and age, is operating way behind today's times. This is just another example of the disgraceful and hurtful practices of the Catholic Church. Read more

Give and take...This year the Social Security program did not hand out cost of living increase checks to folks. There are a variety of bills in Congress at a variety of stages arguing that the government should cut $250 checks to each individual who is on social security to help cover the cost of living increase.

I agree with a recent article I read that this could be a bad idea.

“Though the Senate recently rejected an amendment that would give each recipient $250, President Obama has signaled support for the idea, and an identical bill in the House is gaining support.

This is a mistake. With the deficit expected to reach 10.6 percent of gross domestic product in 2010, it’s important that we spend every dollar wisely.”

Why do I agree? Read more

An incredibly sad story comes out of Seoul, South Korea, as an infant has died due to parental neglect, but it gets much worse. One of the reasons of the neglect, was that the parents were in an internet cafe for long extended periods of time, playing a game called Prius. This game, ironically, relies on the player to nurture a young girl, who grows and gain attributes as the game progresses.

CNN reports that, "They (the parents) instead played an online game in which they raised a virtual character so as to escape from reality, which led to the death of their real baby," Chung Jin-won, a police officer in Suwon, told Yonhap News Agency.

The irresponsibility of this tragedy is beyond alarming. People need to live in the real 'reality' that is their lives, and do what is right for the people that need them for support. An innocent little life was taken by people getting lost in a virtual reality false world. It is maddening, and beyond sad. Read more

The Tea Party. Are they that different from the 60's Hippies? The Radicals?

I’m fascinated by the Tea Party- a fascination laced with horror, of course, since I don’t share their beliefs and sort of can’t understand where they are coming from. I keep waiting for them to laugh and be done with it. Sarah Palin as your keynot speaker? Glenn Beck is a thought-leader? Is it still Halloween and I didn’t notice?

It’s probably similar to the way the majority of conservatives looked at the hippies in the 60’s- wondering what those kids were up to and what they were smoking out there- that’s probably the best thing I can think about to describe what I think when I see a report on the Tea Party- “What are you smoking?” Read more

Where the decision will be madeWait, oh, hold the presses everyone- the UN Security Council is ready to do something about Iran. You know, the Iran that everyone seems to think has nuclear ambitions. The one that the U.S. has been pushing for tighter sanctions on for months. The one that Israel said they may have to break from the U.S. policy-wise just to deal with.

Wait…I spoke too soon. The UN Security Council is ready to LOOK AT PROPOSALS for new sanctions. The U.S. diplomats are working on China. Read more

Highway Construction Teams will be back to work tomorrowGolf clap, guys, golf clap. The senate has agreed on something for the first time in about 10 years- that they should extend aid to those who are jobless. I don’t know that there was ever really another option- what would you do? Go back to your constituents and say, “Hey, we talked about it and it just isn’t in your best interest to have a job or to get benefits from the government. Trust us- we know what’s best for you. And could you vote for me? How about a campaign contribution? YOU know times are tough- I gotta get mine, you know?”

Or something.

Do you like my headline? Bipartisan? It was, afterall. Read more

The Coffee PartyFor those of you are leery of the Tea Party with their sometimes extremist views and death threats, but are angry at the power corporations have over the United States government and its citizens and the continual in-fighting in congress, the Coffee Party was created as another grass-roots alternative.

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