The intent of this blog is to promote human equality, human progress, human peace and justice, and optimism. To accomplish this, to encourage the discussion of ideas after identifying and discovering problems, and then creating positive solutions for "we the people," in order to provide for the "general welfare" and "domestic tranquility" of America now and its "posterity" into the future. To encourage an emphasis on separation of religion and state for all, no matter if this is for those "of faith" in a Maker / Creator (Deists, God-loving people, Christians, various people of spirituality) and atheists or agnostics.

It’s The Super Delegates!

May 29, 2016

Unless a more moderate Republican, perhaps former Governor Pataki of New York, were to be a choice for president, I will vote for the Democratic Party candidate, no matter who it is.  I would prefer to see Bernie Sanders as the candidate for president.  But I would support Hillary Clinton.

In his most recent column (http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2016/05/pragmatism_dont_know_bernie_sa.html), Leonard Pitts chastised Bernie Sanders for Sanders’s and his supporters’ tough guy response in Nevada.  Pitts compared this to the way Trump bullies people.  Not once did Pitts mention the issue of the Super Delegates and the stupidity of winner takes all.  I don’t know the details of this issue, but have heard people mention it long enough to have a sense of it.  I have also heard people from my era (Vietnam War era) mention the 1968 Democratic Party convention.  Is it true that the Super delegate issue was the root of the rioting in Chicago at the Democratic Party National Convention of 1968?

I was just a kid in 1968.  I was in 7th grade in 1968 and I remember a number of events.  The Miami-Dade teacher strikes of Feb. 1968.  My family was visiting a relative in Coral Gables.  I recall reading about the strike in the Miami Herald, Leonard Pitts’s base newspaper.  In the summer of 1968, Miami Beach hosted the Republican Party National Convention.

Two assassinations in 1968:  In April, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and in June, while celebrating a victory in the California Democratic Party primary, Senator Bobby Kennedy of my home state of New York was gunned down in cold blood.

From what I am understanding – but you see the media conveniently ignores this issue so I need to spend my time digging up the research – the Democrats were thrown into a tailspin in the summer of 1968.  The Kennedy assassination was the cause.  From my understanding – and I stand somewhat ignorant of this topic because I was in the 7th grade at the time and did not pay attention to the details of politics – Senator Kennedy’s Super Delegates were up for grabs.  There was a Senator named Eugene McCarthy, also vehemently against the Vietnam conflict as Kennedy – who attempted to grab those delegates.  Instead, the delegates, as I understand this, went to the “establishment” candidate, LBJ’s vice president, Hubert Humphrey.  That Democratic Party administration was under attack by college students in this nation for its escalation of the conflict in Vietnam.  When it looked likely that those super delegates were going to Humphrey, rather than the anti-war candidate, McCarthy, the convention erupted in rioting, which spilled out to the streets of Chicago.  It was an awful thing to watch on television, especially for a middle school student, as young people were billy clubbed by the police in Chicago (deja vu?).

Today, an establishment person has already sown up the “Super Delegates,” while the anti-war, anti-establishment person, favored by college students today, is being walloped by the “establishment.”

I object to Pitts’s portrayal of Hillary as “… a plate of Lincoln with a side of FDR.”  Like Lincoln, Hillary has strong ties to the establishment business people in New York City.  But where does she TRULY stand on the issue of civil rights?  Why was Lincoln so hesitant in freeing the slaves in a more anti-war manner?  Because of the New York City business people.  So, yes, Hillary is like Lincoln – of Illinois.  But she is NOT like former GOVERNOR of New York, Franklin D. Roosevelt.  Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt REBUKED the business establishment, as did their cousin, Teddy Roosevelt.  FDR REBUKED – BIG TIME – the role of the KKK – then a powerful source in the Republican Party, as today.  FDR paved the way for the first Roman Catholic governor in the USA – paved the way for people like Bobby Kennedy and JFK and former NY Governor Mario Cuomo and current NY Governor Andrew Cuomo; paved the way for these Roman Catholics (and others) to serve our nation in leadership roles, despite their religion and the opposition to these candidates from strong moneyed interests of the KKK.  Do not be deceived.  The KKK and white racism is rearing it’s ugly head again today, but Pitts and others won’t discuss that, will they?  Wonder why?

Here is Hillary’s record on war.  Voted in favor of a costly and deadly war in Iraq, rather than pursuing Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.  We are still paying the price of that war, after the vacuum in leadership when Hussein was pulled off his ostracized throne.

Here is Bernie Sanders’s record on war.  Voted against the Iraq war, as with many reasonable Americans who did not stand to gain financially – like Dick Cheney – for a prolonged and costly war which has demolished our Federal budget to the point that the hawks – as in 1968 – would rather give up social programs in this nation and pay for killing machines around the world.  The Hawks in this nation prefer NOT to take care of our own people by using the Army (Corps of Engineers) and other WPA type groups to re-build our infrastructure and thereby TRULY build a better DEFENSE of this nation.  If you cannot figure that out from what I just said, than you are an ignoramus.

Hillary on health care.  Capitulated to big business and big insurance lobbyists in the government.  Where does Bernie stand?  How about his advocacy of a single-payer health plan, rather than the asinine system we have now.  Private enterprise with lines to see the doctors and dermatologists and others more concerned about patients with money to pay for tummy tucks, than those who wish to avoid skin cancer – just as one example.  SO much for the idiotic remarks about Canadian healthcare and the “lines” for doctors.  It’s here in private enterprise – far worse.  We COULD fix it.

Mr. Pitts is wrong.  Bernie Sanders is the true FDR candidate.  Hillary emulates Mr. Lincoln in his ties with big business which ran more rampant than his efforts to truly free the slaves.  What is Hillary’s record on civil rights?  Is it just as bad as Donald Trump’s record?  Do we know?

I will vote for the Democrat because there is NO Republican who can come close.  I supported and advocated for JFK and Bobby Kennedy, not because they were Roman Catholic, but because they made sense.  I DID vote for Mario Cuomo in New York, not because he was Roman Catholic, but because he made more sense than Lew Lehrman did.  I voted for Obama, not because he was an African-American, but because he made sense.  I voted for Obama, too, because of the idiot female, Sarah Palin, on the other ticket.  I voted for Al Gore, but not because his running mate was a Jew, but because they made sense on the issues meaningful to the Middle Class and for humanity, culture, and civilization.  Let’s face it, George W. Bush was like me:  WASP.  But I DID NOT vote for him because he was a WASP.

I would vote for Hillary, not because she is a woman, but because she is intelligent and has more experience than any other candidate.  This, in spite of what I know about her past history on issues which are important to me.  But I KNOW Donald Trump will NEVER advocate for issues important to me.  In fact, his pooh poohing being compared to Hitler is an insult to me and all freedom-loving Americans.  But there is a younger generation which is not committed to a party.  These people will be alienated and a large portion of the Democratic Party vote lost, not because they will vote for Trump. but because they, too, see some of the same things I see and they reject Hillary hands down.

I will go out on a limb and say that, as Gore lost (did he REALLY LOSE?) in 2000 by picking Al Lieberman rather than former Governor and Senator Bob Graham, Hillary will lose if she does not put Bernie on the ticket.  At the same time, should Bernie rebuke Hillary and refuse to serve on the ticket, he is showing that he is not a team player with the Democrats.  And if Teddy Roosevelt, once a popular president, could not win the election as a third party candidate in 1912, what the hell do people who are NOT as popular as TR think they can win on a 3rd party.  In fact, Nader also spoiled that election in 2000, as a third party candidate.  If America truly wishes to topple the two-party system in America, it needs to eliminate the electoral college and THEN run the top two vote-winners in November in a runoff in December.  Otherwise, unless there is a super man or woman, third party candidates will never win at such high levels of office.

Stop hiding the “Super Delegate” issue.  Sweeping the issue under the rug is more disastrous than just DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT.  If the Democratic Party is STILL faced with this issue in 2016, then what has it learned, since 1968?  NOTHING.  That is called stubborn ignorance.

And in 1968, who won the election?  Tricky Dicky. In my life as a 7th grader into transition to 8th grade, I was bullied by a fifth-rate teacher who loved money more than the education of children.  He was boarding in my home.  He was a Republican.  He bullied me about Nixon.  When I discovered he was wrong and I needed to change my thinking, that was called earning WISDOM.  Where are those in America who are accepting the fact they are ignorant to the facts and remain resolute in their positions.  I already conceded I am ignorant about the “Super Delegate” issue.  But what is frustrating to me is that no one is investigating this issue and reporting back to the people – in the Media.  Instead, we read offensive drivel from a Miami Herald columnist trying to defend Clinton and comparing her to a Lincoln-FDR combo.  I AM very knowledgeable about FDR.  I have made a study of the man.

I invite ANYONE to contribute to the factual and objective discussion of the “Super Delegates.”  The discussion must occur without bias, too.  OBJECTIVENESS.  In fact, my support of Bernie Sanders makes my discussion less objective.  But we need the truth.  And I don’t hear that happening – so we can learn from history and move forward to progressively solve our problems (idea of Soren Kierkegaard).

bibsinger

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Too Much to See, Too Little Time to See It!

September 22, 2014

We had planned an extended vacation trip to upstate New York and along the way taking in sites in Virginia.  This was going to be about August of this year.  My dear cousin, Susan, died in July and our plans were altered.  They say there are various ways to see family:  weddings and funerals.  We once had family reunions and about the last time I saw Susan was at family picnic.  God bless Susan.

We attended Susan’s memorial service in Cary, NC, then went on to Williamsburg and Norfolk, VA.  In just a very short time, we took a ferry to Jamestown, stayed one night in a rotten hotel, went to the core of historic Williamsburg – wishing we could stay longer, stayed at a cool hotel, and headed through a tunnel to Norfolk.  In Norfolk, we re-visited areas from the past, when my friend’s father was serving in the U.S. Navy at Norfolk.  It was a trip down memory lane for him.

We returned to Florida, via North Carolina.  We had hoped we could see more of North Carolina, but we mis-calculated the time it took for travel.

On the final day of our sojourn, we returned to our home state of Florida.  Naturally, we then drove through two huge thnderstorms (what else?).  The Google Maps directions were so lousy, that we were unable to stop to see a family member in Orlando.  Google Maps had not included the correct exit number.  When we returned home,  we looked up the directions and discovered the error on Google Maps – it was not our error, as much as many people today wish to blame the people rather than the computers!  (The idea is that it’s the people who are BEHIND the computer operations.  In other words, it’s like always blaming the driver, when things might be mucked up under the hood – in the engine.

Rather than spend the entire evening searching for the address of the Orlando family member, we decided it would be best to return home.  We did so, and arrived at our South Florida home about 2 am in the morning.

Next summer will be another matter.

Mister Doug

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MISTER DOUG NOTES

September 20, 2014

Communism.  Communist Manifesto.  Karl Marx.  Friedrich Engels.

Wikipedia describes Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels as “political theorists.”  I disagree.  What came out of the “Communist Manifesto” of 1848 was more closely related to economics than to political science.

In this manifesto, was there not an attack on capitalism?  Capitalism is about economics, not politics.  Adam Smith was a  proponent of capitalism as an economic system to replace feudalism and mercantile systems which had existed up to his day.  According to the writings of P.J. O’Rourke and former Congressperson (and Republican), Joe Scarborough, Adam Smith advocated a government intervention and regulation of the excesses of banks and unbridled speculation.  That was Smith’s foray into politics, yet the ultra-conservatives today will call those who advocate what Smith advocated as being “communist.”  Marx and Engels, my friends, came some 50 or so years after Adam Smith, so check your facts, rather than striking out, like bullies, at good people, even if we, too, can make mistakes.

Marx and Engels assessed the economic systems around 1848 and concluded the systems were “capitalist.”  Even with the time period of 50 years following Adam Smith, capitalism had not fully taken root.  As a musician, I see the early 19th-century movement away from the Esterhazy (royalty) patronage of Haydn to the business independence of Beethoven.  But royalty still did run the world, whether Marx or Engels wanted to acknowledge this fact or not (or were just too dumb to see it).

Cuban and Russian exiles are also ignorant to Adam Smith and true capitalism because the czar of Russia and Battista of Cuba both presided over feudal economic systems.  Ayn Rand was mistaken in what she said because she never researched capitalism carefully enough, in order to recognize the wisdom gained by Adam Smith as he endorsed the same type of regulation which eventually became the hallmarks of Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt.  The Roosevelts have also been mis-perceived as “communist,” despite the fact I am able to prove they were following the wisdom of a capitalist named Adam Smith.

The Great Depression and the 2008 Bush Recession were both caused by over-speculation of bankers and investors. This was the same type of over-speculation which Adam Smith observed and thus advocated bridled capitalism in the 18th Century.

If people who are like Marco Rubio and followers of Ayn Rand, the Russian, are so stupid they refuse to see what true capitalism is – even when someone points it out, they remain stubbornly ignorant.  When such people conclude only from their narrow vision of economic systems which were actually reactions to feudalism, they remain stubbornly ignorant.  I don’t want people like Rubio or “disciples” of Ayn Rand running my nation – the nation of the Roosevelts.

The issue regarding the “Communist Manifesto” is about economics, not politics.  One can invoke a similar economic system as the one proposed by Marx and Engels, but have a democratic form of government.  These are called “socialist democracies.”  Tito of Yugoslavia had a more democratic form (politics) of “communism” or “socialism (economics).” Marx and Engels proposed an autocratic “dictatorship of the proletariat.”  HItler’s autocratic dictatorship (politics) remained a capitalist economic system, even if it did favor Caucasians and trashed Jews and other minorities.  But, to white honky racists who trash equality, no form of government or economics is good – except that which favors their pitiful selves.

There are parallels between Adam Smith’s proposal for a controlled capitalism and socialism.  In my mind, capitalism is better because it allows the economy to grow when products and services we WANT are provided in a competitive environment, such as that in Vermont (which denies the building of many big boxes, in favor of the local competitive businesses).  At the same time, we need to acknowledge human needs and, as a society AND government respond accordingly.  The problem is that the politicians, on the take from corrupt lobbyists, have given us a terrible system.  Like Vermont, Washington could deny lobbyist access to legislators, but the refusal to do so is written with dollar signs and green in the eyes.

Handouts from the government proliferate and such handouts are perpetuated by politicians trying to win elections by determining which politician can provide the most handouts.  Handouts are NOT capitalism and are NOT socialism.  Entitlements are more about a “return on our investments” than about handouts, but people are so damned confused about all of this.

It is unfortunate that so many “big piggies” believe there should be a destruction of the political system called democracy and we should replace democracy with an autocratic plutocracy run by corporations.  The forces behind these big piggies are “human” corporations ruling against the “numbers” (by bean counter standards – the stupid ones with MBAs and JDs), in other words, the “slaves” and “robots” – the common humans who are humans in the FLESH, not pieces of papers about corporations as drawn up by the bean counters.

“We the people,” rich in numbers of people but low in dollar signs, are being convinced we cannot overcome all of this.  Who are the ones with the psychological means and control of the Media, running on the informal money-based “Un-fairness Doctrine,” to convince us of this negative attitude?

I refuse to believe such negatives.  But I have a problem.  Without people shedding that negative attitude, I stand alone and can be damned, can I not?

Mister Doug

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THE MISTER DOUG REPORT

“We the people…”

Former President Franklin D. Roosevelt expressed the idea that the words of the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution are the greatest part of that document.  “We the people, in order to form a more perfect union…”  He recognized, especially through his wife, Eleanor, that subjection of a minority – the African-Americans – by a majority did not accomplish the goal of, “We the people, in order to form a more perfect union…”  But even FDR was afraid of the Bible-belt jerks in the South who interpreted the Bible in a negative way, with regard to African-Americans.  God bless Eleanor, because she truly had no fear of the stubbornly ignorant ones with brains baked by the sun in the South.

Even today, the sun-baked brains of some of Dixie would rather throw away the “we the people…” because they just don’t believe in social equality.

These dimwitted folks have caused pain and suffering to many of us who DO believe in social equality.  How so?  By insisting we should not have Social Security and taking measures to eliminate it.  By insisting we not have Medicare and taking measures to eliminate it.  By insisting we not have state retirement pensions and taking measures to eliminate such plans.  By eliminating corporate pension plans.  In each case, the influence of those who refuse to accept social equality have set up these systems to appear there is a lack of money.  The real reason behind this?  To deny a diverse population to receive these benefits.  These big fat stupid honkies truly believe they alone are the ones who should receive such benefits.  They have even convinced black racists of the same.  The big fat pig honkies have convinced the Uncle Toms of the pleasures of not receiving Social Security, Medicare, or pensions, only because these black folks are the ones with plenty of money to create their own retirement security.  Not all of us have such luck.

And speaking of “luck,” yesterday my sources mentioned the huge amount of money given by a casino owner – and likely a member of the Mafia – to Karl Rove’s PAC.  Karl Rove, a wealthy honky pig from Dixie.  Karl Rove is one of those who have commandeered the party of Lincoln and abolitionists and turned it into a party of cowards, bullies, and pigs.  And the dumb common people follow this party, with wool over their eyes. I resent being forced to live my life according to luck, which is what the casino owners wish would happen.  I had a great-grandmother who said luck is evil.  Until I have seen what “luck” is doing to this nation and “we the people,” by casinos and other forms of disgusting practices, I never would have believed what my wise great-grandmother said.  But then, she had grown up during the Spanish-American War, World War I, the Great Depression, World War II, and the Korean Conflict.  I respect her opinion more than I do the opinions of the fat pigs who dominate our lives today.

Yes, the Mafia of “luck” is aligned with Bible-belt jerks who apparently have missed the scriptures which discuss “luck.” Bible-belt bullies cherry-pick the Bible according to their needs of hatred and self-righteousness and judgment.  They check their brains in at the doors of churches.  They bully the rest of us, dishonoring our own faith by marginalizing us and screwing us over when we defend our own faith.

Near my home is a bails bondsman who has a huge sign in front of his business in support of Rick Scott.  Now why would he support Rick Scott?  I wonder why?  Carlie might be called, “Chain-gang Charlie,” but at least he was dealing with those already in jail.  Thieves and bullies like Rick Scott and Pam Bondi prefer to fill the jails and then deny these are “political prisoners.”  This makes for excessive profits on the part of a bails bondsman.  The more in jail, the more there are for his business.  Why would he NOT support Rick Scott?

We all support or vote for a candidate due to our own financial stability.  But the bails bondsmen and many who support Rick Scott are those who wish to achieve  windfall and excessive profits for THEMSELVES and could care less about society. These pigs do nothing for society, only for themselves – and vote likewise.

Such people are not happy with just having their own excessive profits, but somehow convince everyone that government needs to stop collecting revenues in order to balance budgets.

What about the bails bondsman’s family?  Is it the perfect picture, as drawn by James Dobson, the proclaimed “family” expert with the Bible cherry-picking tongs and the egotistical divine rights he gains from excessive amounts of money?

I, too, wish to receive benefits for myself.  But, on the other hand, I weigh the various problems and situations in our lives against what is best for more people?  Taking pensions away benefits only a small number of people – those at the top.  Common folk who don’t have pensions believe, out of pure jealousy, that those with pensions don’t deserve them.  Yet, they fail to step back to see the larger picture, jealous of the ones who REMOVE the pensions in the first place.  How stupid and unintelligent are these common folks.

For generations, my own family has existed on the idea of making a profit, but not necessarily excessive profits and those built on greed.  I grew up with a wonderful family.  I am talking about both my immediate and extended families.  Oh, there was no perfection.  My dad was a single owner of a private business – self-employed, as described by the IRS.  He did not seek excessive profits and he helped his own family along the way.

My dad and mom were once on the same road as a Republican who worked his way to wealth and fortune.  My parents supported him and provided assistance to him, when he had nothing.  However, my parents have received absolutely no appreciation for what they did to help that man along the way.  Yet, like other Republican pigs today, they insist they are “self-made” and had no help from others, especially never acknowledging the help of the government.

Rick Scott likely had similar situation in his past.  He probably passes off the “little people” after they helped him along the way.

People like Scott and the Republican I have described above – pigs – are unappreciative people.  They take and take and expect the little guy to keep giving, with no regard to a family budget.  Just be a “good family man,” as defined by James Dobson.  We family-oriented people are supposed to ignore the fact that monopolistic private enterprise can dictate high prices, worse than taxes.  And when the government is stripped down, the means for communicating with a representative government are ended.  These anti-government, egotistical, money-worshiping, money-loving pigs remove the means for the common people to stop the excessive greed of monopolistic corporations with CEOs making 200% more than the lowest-paid employee (it was 25% gap in the 1970s, before Reagan).  These pigs are destroying pension plans for the average guy.

Profit in the family budget?  Why, only those with a “divine right” and those who own most of the resources in this nation are apparently allowed to make profits (according to Rick Scott and others) – and boy, the profits they make.  Rather than SPREAD OUT the OPPORTUNITIES for the average family to benefit from the PROFITS OF CAPITALISM, the bullying greedy selfish honky pigs deny the equality of capitalism. These pigs then wonder why madmen like Castro and Stalin come to the forefront.  Even those who defend capitalism, but do not wish to have unbridled capitalism are called “communists” solely on the belief that the disagreement with the pigs labels us as “communist.”  FDR is one.  Eleanor Roosevelt was one.  I am one.  And I will quote Adam Smith from the 18th Century – many years before the “communist manifesto” was written, to defend placing some reigns on capitalism.  Adam Smith, the original capitalist, advocated the type of “bridled capitalism” advocated by FDR.  Like FDR, I, too, don’t accept ideology.  I accept solutions which will work.

I did not go into teaching because of a promise of excessive profits.  I did not go into teaching for the money.  The guy who was helped along by my parents to the fortune he has today, told me, as a kid, I was stupid – on two counts:  (1) I should not admire FDR and (2) why would I become a teacher?  I should go where “the money is…” dentistry or medicine or engineering.  I am so stupid not to recognize that the future was going to be controlled by idiots like him – with money and a perceived divine right.  What a dingleberry I was – apparently.

I have worked in both public and private educational organizations.  I have worked in a corporation.  I have worked with and without a union or tenure.  I am here to tell you that a non-union corporate model has more unethical political protections of some employees, while others got no protection.  It was not always based on how well the employees performed, either.

I obtained student loans in New York state for both public and private institutions of higher education.  The loans for the private institution were far worse than for the public institution.  Rather than purposely default and have more money available to me to invest in my future, I faithfully paid back those loans – while raising a family.  I am not griping, but just pointing out that there were those in my generation who DELIBERATELY defaulted, thus causing all of us more expense, while those people might just be the Karl Roves and Rick Scotts of the world who were able to save for their own retirement.

Many greedy, selfish, egotistical, money-loving, money-worshiping Republican bullies have no conscience to understand the human story behind what I am saying.  Money-worship blinds these pigs and they merely marginalize people like me (and Eleanor Roosevelt, in past years) as being griping lunatics.  They refuse to understand the point I make, as they then remove whatever I have been able to work hard to attain – a pension for retirement.  Under these conditions, why would I not endorse the axing of all Bush tax credits for the wealthy? Who is causing class warfare?  We have all been working smart and hard to attain what we set out to do, only to find the wealthy pulling the rug out from beneath us, while these pigs add more and more to their own coffers.

In reality, these wealthy pigs are not the “self-made men,” as they like to portray themselves.  In reality, people like me are the “self-made men AND WOMEN” of the world.  I quietly worked, became a company man when it was required, figured out how to go around hurdles presented to me, solved problems, and fathered a family.  I had many successes, but also overcame failures, too – learning from my failures.  I am not perfect and often do not toot my horn as much as greedy, selfish, egotistical money-loving, money-worshiping people do, as they attack their fellow human beings.

 

“Piggies” by Lennon / McCartney and the Beatles; White Album

Have you seen the little piggies
Crawling in the dirt
And for all the little piggies
Life is getting worse
Always having dirt to play around in.

Have you seen the bigger piggies
In their starched white shirts
You will find the bigger piggies
Stirring up the dirt
Always have clean shirts to play around in.

In their sties with all their backing
They don’t care what goes on around
In their eyes there’s something lacking
What they need’s a damn good whacking.

Everywhere there’s lots of piggies
Living piggy lives

 

“We the people…” are more important than the “big piggies” and don’t enjoy being the slave-like “little piggies.”

Mister Doug

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ENTERTAINMENT REVIEW

Wow!

Stevie Wonder on The Tonight Show with Jimmie Fallon!

Music in the Key of Life – the greatest!  “Sir Duke.”  Cool!

A man of few words says, “thank you, Stevie Wonder!”

Mister Doug

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THE MISTER DOUG REPORT PART 2

“Liar, liar, pants on fire!”

As kids, we would repeat this little chant when we knew one of our “playmates” was lying.

Rick Scott lies.  Where is the evidence?  Obamacare has NOT caused costs of medical care to go up.  That is a bunch of baloney.  For the insurance I pay, the cost has gone down, not up.  For the insurance costs of some friends who were unable to purchase insurance prior to Obamacare – because it was too costly – the cost is now affordable enough to purchase.

Rick Scott, you lie.

“Liar, liar, pants on fire!”  Go back to elementary school playgrounds where the kids could repeat this chant and millions of people would not get hurt.

Rick Scott is also a bully and a coward.  Rather than challenge Karl Rove or the Koch brothers – people on his level, he bullies people who have less power and money.  Bullying coward Rick Scott.  Take your lying advertisements and go home, Rick Scott – all the way to Kansas.

Mister Doug

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THE MISTER DOUG REPORT

September 19, 2014

Paranoia?

Were those who investigated Rick Scott’s improprieties which led to a pleading of the fifth “paranoid?” If so, perhaps someone should read the book by the late central NY psychiatrist, Thomas Szaz, The Manufacture of Madness.

Look.  Here is the situation.  I donate several small monthly amounts to various campaigns.  It just happens the credit card I use for these automatic withdrawals was breached when someone apparently made a duplicate copy and went on a spending spree in what I believe to be Rick Scott’s home county.  How did someone obtain my credit card number and then was able to duplicate the card?  Was it hacking on my computer?  I lack evidence for anything, except for one thing.  The perps went on a spending spree in Lee County, spending almost $2000 before being stopped.

This act alone has disrupted what little bit of money I am able to give each month to Democrats.  Is this just coincidence?  I don’t think so. But then, call me paranoid because I lack any evidence while I run my mouth.  What does one think the right wing is doing?  Have evidence which backs them up when they use advertisements to lie, deceive, libel, provide half-baked truths, and innuendo?

Furthermore, my sources tell me that Rick Scott has yet to appoint an African-American to any of the educational boards of trustees in Florida.  Is this true?  Rick Scott, the coward from Lee County who bullies those who have much less power and money than he does, but gladly works with those who are wealthy. Subtle bullying in which he and others can live in denial is still the same thing – bullying by cowards.

The arena of “sweat and blood,” which Teddy Roosevelt describes, is one in which a wealthy man challenges big pigs like JP Morgan.  You know.  The guy whose name is affixed to Chase Bank, the ones who hold my mortgage and other accounts.    Another account which was attacked by thieves within two weeks of the event described above.

So, with lack of evidence, I am paranoid.  OK.  So be it.  Amen.    Bullies and cowards like Rick Scott and the Koch brothers make accusations such as that.

While on this subject, let’s perhaps speculate why Charlie departed from the Republicans – something which should be of interest to both DEMOCRATS and REPUBLICANS alike.  Perhaps it was because there are several occasions when Charlie got into that arena described by TR and fought those who were on his same level.  Those people are in the Republican Party and perhaps did not like this.  But then, my wisdom is just an abstract term, is it not?

Fact is, TR fought the “bosses” and wealthy “captains of industry” who had just as much money as he did.  He got on the wrong side of the Republican pigs who led the party.  Unfortunately, TR began to avoid the “arena” and made “friends” with those he fought.  He caved in.  So when his 5th cousin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, a Democrat who picked up on the programs TR had originally proposed, TR’s Republican children turned against FDR. Turns out, it appears it was Eleanor who had the “balls” in the family.  Thank you Eleanor – TR’s niece.

Had TR still been alive during this period, would he, too, have turned on FDR?  I doubt it, but cannot say for certain, only answer the question, “what if?”  Nevertheless, cowards always stick together, like two feathers on a bird and that is what the TR clan of Oyster Bay, Long Island, did.

Mister Doug

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THE MISTER DOUG REPORT

September 18, 2014

Teddy Roosevelt

Teddy Roosevelt was a hero of mine.  The same with his fifth cousin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  I am enjoying the PBS special about the Roosevelts, learning much more than I could have imagined about this family for which I have had admiration for many years.

I am learning some not-so-good stuff about TR, but that does not change my mind.  It turns some of my admiration into heroic “fantasies.”  The one thing, however, which still remains about TR is related to labor.  TR was a wealthy man who fought with those in his own social class and defended the common man.  This, too was brought out in this brilliant video series – another one by Ken Burns (being broadcast on PBS this week; it began on Sunday, Sept. 14).

I am also reminded why TR said the following:  “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood…” Because TR took on the captains of industry and party bosses – those with comparable wealth to him – he can truly say he was in the “arena” with “dust and sweat and blood.”  He had a hard fight with those in his own social class and they did not like TR very much.  So what?

Take Rick Scott today.  He might CLAIM he is in that “arena.”  But who does he fight in that “arena?”  Rick Scott fights the common man and woman for whom TR defended.  Rick Scott fights with people with much less power and money because he is afraid to face the real power in the “arena.”  I call that a coward and a bully who picks on those who do not have as much as he does.

Plantation owners in the South were the same way.  Those who descended from plantation owners likely did not appreciate TR, either. But these descendants just adore Rick Scott because he can be the same type of bully.

If Rick Scott had any balls, he would recognize the situation for many of us.  We chose teaching, not for the money, but for the satisfaction of helping, not bullying, human beings.  We spent plenty of money on college and this was good for us.  Many of us took out huge student loans and faithfully paid them back, as we listened to apparent would-be tea party people like Rick Scott as they trashed the government.  These budding tea party people trashed the very government which provided them with the loans.  These tea bags were determined to DELIBERATELY not pay back the loans.  This helps to explain why so many tea baggers have so much money because, unlike conscientious people like me who paid every cent back while raising families, these guys had an opportunity to gain wealth.  When I weigh this against prospects of Rick Scott and Republican tea baggers destroying my pension, it irritates me.

No pensions should be removed.  “Trends” are not reasons for implementing actions.  Good solutions which work for society are the reasons to take actions.  Ideology is not a reason to take action.  Self-indulgence and self-interests are also not reasons – as pointed out by TR.  Rick Scott, filthy rick CEOs and the tea baggers use “trends, ideology, and self-interest” as reasons for destruction of pensions in America.  These self-indulgent heathens claim lack of money and people buy into the lie.  In fact, the real reason for scrapping pension plans is to, once again, give money to greedy folks – the CEOs (with their bonuses).  Are many of these wealthy self-indulgent greedy selfish dolts the same ones who deliberately DID NOT pay back their student loans, thus causing great expense to taxpayers?

As Vanguard (creator of 401(K) plans) said, 401(K) plans are meant to supplement pension plans, not replace them.  But have people such as Rick Scott heeded the warnings?  These people are money-loving self-indulgent bullies and cowards to be decent human beings and actually care about our society.

As for public pension plans, people might not know that those of us enrolled in such plans, which are coming under attack by Rick Scott and the Republicans, have been investing in supplemental 403(B) plans.  Unlike the 401(K) plans (which I was enrolled as a corporate man), the 403(B) plans do not provide matching funds from the employer.  The “matching funds” are in the pension plan, which is not the same situation as the “business model” being crammed and shoved down the throats of educators today.

Rick Scott could care less as he bullies us.  What a coward.

Mister Doug

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THE MISTER DOUG REPORT

September 17, 2014

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, culture used the word, “I dig such and such.” There was a song, “I dig rock ‘n roll music…” In the spring of 1970, I ran for a position as an officer in the high school student council. My best friend was the campaign manager and chose the slogan, “I DIG DOUG.” He made campaign buttons, flyers, and posters with that slogan. The election was between four people. The guy who won advertised as a “radical” – openly and with no reservations at all.

Recently, I began reading a book by Charlie Crist entitled, The Party’s Over. If anyone ever wonders whether they had a “twin” somewhere else on this earth, as I had often wondered. I have now been wondering about the parallels between Charlie and I, in two different areas of the USA, but at almost the same time. Is this an indicator of figurative “twins?”

One parallel involved our 1970s student council races in our respective schools. In St. Petersburg, FL, Charlie won. I lost in an upstate New York high school.

“I DIG DOUG” was a statement of respect, but ended with the conclusion of a political race.  A little over a decade ago, at Palm Beach Community College, a student worker decided it was not appropriate to call me by my first name.  So, the student decided “Mister Doug” would be the best way to address me.  This has caught on, to some extent.

Now it is time to begin a new “report” on this blog.  It seems appropriate to call this “column,” THE MISTER DOUG REPORT.

THE MISTER DOUG REPORT is to be a column which diverts from the unspoken approach to this blog, in the past.  That approach was a moderate-progressive version of the tirades of hate-monger, Rush Limbaugh.  This blog column will be a more tempered approach.  After all, moderates, progressives and liberals are much more intelligent.

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Do you Think She is Pissed? Read this!

October 10, 2013
Alan Simpson, the Senator from Wyoming, calls senior citizens the Greediest Generation as he compared “Social Security ” to a Milk Cow with 310 million teats. (Note: Simpson has not been in office since 1997 but I think there are a number of politicians that have the same thoughts.)
Here’s a response in a letter from PATTY MYERS in Montana … I think she is a little ticked off! She also tells it like it is!
 Oh sooo true!

 Hey Alan, let’s get a few things straight!!!!!

1. As a career politician, you have been on the public dole (tit)  for FIFTY YEARS.

2. I have been paying Social Security taxes for 48 YEARS (since I was 15 years old. I am now 63).

3. My Social Security payments, and those of millions of other  Americans, were safely tucked away in an interest bearing account for decades until you political pukes decided to raid the account and give OUR money to a bunch of zero losers in return for votes, thus bankrupting the system and turning Social Security into a Ponzi scheme that would make Bernie Madoff proud.

 4. Recently, just like Lucy & Charlie Brown, you and “your ilk” pulled the proverbial football away from millions of American seniors nearing retirement and moved the goalposts for full retirement from age 65 to age, 67. NOW, you and your “shill commission” are proposing to move the goalposts YET AGAIN.

 5. I, and millions of other Americans, have been paying into 
 Medicare from Day One, and now “you morons” propose to change the rules of the game. Why? Because “you idiots” mismanaged other parts of the economy to such an extent that you need to steal our money from Medicare to pay the bills.
 6. I, and millions of other Americans, have been paying income taxes our entire lives, and now you propose to increase our taxes yet again. Why? Because you“incompetent bastards” spent our money so profligately that you just kept on spending even after you ran out of money. Now, you come to the American taxpayers and say you need more to pay off YOUR debt.
 
To add insult to injury, you label us “greedy” for calling “bullshit”  to your incompetence. Well, Captain Bullshit, I have a few questions for YOU: 
 
 1. How much money have you earned from the American taxpayers during your pathetic 50-year political career?
 
 2. At what age did you retire from your pathetic political career, and how much are you receiving in annual retirement benefits from the American taxpayers?

3. How much do you pay for YOUR government provided health insurance?

4. What cuts in YOUR retirement and healthcare benefits are you proposing in your disgusting deficit reduction proposal, or as usual, have you exempted yourself and your political cronies?
  It is you, Captain Bullshit, and your political co-conspirators called Congress who are the “greedy” ones. It is you and your fellow nutcase thieves who have bankrupted America and stolen the American dream from millions of loyal, patriotic taxpayers.
 
 And for what? Votes and your job and retirement security at our expense, you lunk-headed, leech.

That’s right, sir. You and yours have bankrupted America for the sole purpose of advancing your pathetic, political careers. You know it, we know it, and you know that we know it.

 
 And you can take that to the bank, you miserable son of a bitch. NO, I did not stutter.
P.S. And stop calling Social Security benefits “entitlements”. WHAT AN INSULT!!!! 

I have been paying in to the SS system for 45 years It’s my money-give it back to me the way the system was designed and stop patting yourself on the back like you are being generous by doling out these monthly checks.

I could not have said it better myself!!!

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