The American Way; The Butt of the World

Once again, in an effort to GET THEIR OWN WAY, our duly elected Congress has moved to make the USA the butt of the joke in the global community. They have approved an action to sue the President for not being a good president.

The idea does have some intriguing possibilities. These Congressmen (and women) might want to think carefully about what doors they are opening. Imagine if we could all start suing politicians for being liars or for not keeping their promises!
Although, of course, they would limit the sue-ability to the president, I'm sure.
As they have done/are doing with the term limits question. (In case you missed it, it is okay to limit the tenure of the presidency, but term limits for the Congress are unconstitutional.)

But that isn't the issue.

The issue is that they are making the American Way of government into a Joke and a Failure in the eyes of the world. Something that, were they doing their jobs, they would be making great efforts to resist.
But it's okay. They can blame it all on the president, and the gullible (and mostly nonvoting but vociferous) citizens of the USA will jump on the bandwagon and Facebook and yell "Hell Yeah!"

Don't get me wrong. I do not think Mr. Obama is the world's greatest president. I did not vote for him. He wasn't my choice. He isn't my choice.
And, (speaking of term limits) he will be gone in a brief but endless couple of years. We've survived six years; we can endure two more.

But he was the choice of the percentage of the population that cared enough to get off their butts and actually vote. I have to respect that. If I can't respect the results of an election, why am I voting?

Once elected, the President should have the public support of his (our) Congress, and of the, for the, and by the people who cared enough to elect him.

Privately, there is always room for discussion, argument, discord, dissent, and any other word you want to use for being adamantly opposed to everything you disagree with.
That's the American Way.

I object to the American Way being made a mockery of.
I object to the American Way being made a joke in the eyes of a world watching to see if a democratic republic is a viable form of government for longer than a couple centuries.
I object to the American Way being exploited for financial gain and publicity by some rich white guys having temper tantrums when they don't get their way.

Oh, didn't you know?
Most of the Congress is lawyers, judges, etc.
They make up their own laws and collect their fees.
At your (and my) expense.

If you don't like this president, get off your duff and vote for someone you do like.
THAT is within your power.

In fact, that IS your power.

Just do it.

Is "Snow Emergency" Legally Valid?

We're in the grip of our first snow emergency of the 2013-2014 winter. Winter Storm Cleon. With Dion already following closely.

Now, this isn't about what makes a snow emergency in any specific place. Minnesota and North Dakota would probably laugh at what Cincinnati calls an emergency.Maybe even at what they would call a significant snowfall.

But, the fact is, Cincinnati communities are calling snow emergencies of various levels.

Big whooping deal. It means, for the most part, that communities can write tickets and write off damage to cars parked on the streets.

They say not to go out unless absolutely necessary.
But who decides what is necessary?

I can tell you who does NOT decide.
Service industry workers. They have to go to work or lose their jobs.
The owners of various businesses don't care much if the police say don't go out.
The police don't care much, either. If you are driving slowly and carefully, they aren't likely to chase you down and possibly cause an accident, as well as keeping you both out when you could be getting in somewhere.
But the gas stations HAVE to stay open.
McDonald's MUST stay open.
Facilities such as hospitals and nursing homes, by their very nature, need to stay open. But must they insist on workers coming in in a "snow emergency"?
(I don't know what they could do instead. They should work up snow emergency protocols. Reduced staff, maybe sleep-breaks for people who will remain instead of go out I believe some hospitals do do that.)

Not only do these businesses insist on insisting, they punish those who don't risk life and limb to serve coffee to idiots. (Road personnel excepted from this category.) They write them up(disciplinary action); they brand them as unreliable; they reduce their hours; they even fire them.
They do not pay the fines for tickets received.
They do not pay for damages caused by an accident when their employees should never have been on the road in the first place.
They do not compensate for extra gas burned in longer, slower drives.
They don't pay hospital bills for slip and slide crashes.
They do NOT pay for funerals.

It's not just the service industry. There are factories with this same mindset. Never mind that their product is nonessential -- they have quotas that must be met, come hell or high water. (Hell or high snowdrifts?) The work must be done.

No mere employee can protest any of these disciplinary actions by pleading a snow emergency. The designation has no standing in labor law.

So, a "Snow Emergency" is a money maker for the municipality.
A "Snow Emergency" is an out for insurance companies, who will not pay (easily) for an accident caused when the driver wasn't supposed to be driving.
A "Snow Emergency" is no reason to not go out; thus says American Industry.

So, I ask you, why bother.
Why bother?

Brown Thursday? Are you kidding me?

I mean, what makes it brown? The shadiness of forcing minimum wage part timers away fro their families so the rich can get richer? That is shady, to say the least.

It's been a big item in the news and on social media this last week.
Boycott Walmart -- after you start a riot over a tv.
Don't shop K-mart, Target, Big Buy, Best Guy, etc --make sure you bundle up while you wait in line even before Thanksgiving.
Other news stories about how more people than ever will be eating out. Well, they wouldn't/couldn't if the damn restaurants were closed, could they?
Unless they want to line up two frigid nights ahead of time.
Oh, gee, if I want to wait for a meal I can just go "Home" for the holiday and spend it with family!
Silly me.


I would love to blame the media.  Heaven knows they feed the frenzy. Out interviewing the idiots waiting in line on Wednesday. In the stores , with cameras and publicity and regalia and rigmarole on Thursday.
But, in this case, they are doing their job, somewhat. They are reporting on the news.
Not that there is anything "NEW" going on -- this is the fourth or fifth year for this nonsense.

I think they could help.
They don't need to report their precise location when they are broadcasting the Idiot's Lineup.
They don't need to tell everyone which mall they are covering.
They don't need to reveal sale items.

People want to be on tv (and You Tube) and they want to be known for getting good deals.
The stores want all the free publicity they get, and the News Outlets give them that in spades. They don't have to pay a penny.
It's all profit for them.

And that's all you are, if you are foolish enough, or maybe desperate enough (if you happen to be one of the slave wage laborers.)
You are profit.
You are dollar signs.
You are dollars.

You are not a person.
You are not a parent.
You are not a valued ... (customer, consumer, member of the team, part of the staff-- you choose.)

You are profit.

So -- how do you see yourself?

And did you spend your Thanksgiving stuffing your face or stuffing their already bulging wallets?

JUST Do Your Job

Another government shutdown looms.
Why?

Well, many will tell you it's the president's fault.
Or the Speaker's.
Or the guy who talked for hours without saying anything.
Or -- someone else.

First of all -- who cares? Fix it NOW, fix the blame later.

We elect people to govern this country.
And THAT is their job: to govern the country.

So what if the president doesn't agree with their plans and doesn't sign?
Don't they know that that is covered in their job description?
They have the power to do their job without the president's approval.

How?

By going ahead and doing their job.
 Again.
Day after day, hour by hour.
Just like you and I when we go to work (or went to work, in the days when employment existed.)

Had they been DOING THEIR JOB all along, things would not have got down to this -- again. They would have learned from the last debacle, and the one before that, and the one before that.
Instead, they are either placing blame or throwing their hands in the air saying "What's the use? It's not going to be signed anyway."

Presidential vetoes can be overrode by a united Congress that is doing its job. (Not signing IS a veto. A/k/a  a pocket veto.)


If these people worked in the private sector, they would have been fired after the last time this happened.
Many of these people have fired employees for less.

I think they should be fired.

Remember, when election time comes, that it's not their fault, it's someone else's, that they are NOT doing their jobs, and you -- Yes, YOU -- decide whether or not they get fired, or if you will allow them to give themselves a raise and blame it on the figurehead.

Bull about bullying

It's wonderful (?) to see the advertising about stopping bullying. It really is.
It's just too damned bad none of them offer any advice worth the breath
Every one of them starts -- and usually ends -- with the words "Tell an adult"

Ha! Haha! Hahaha! Fill this page with a maniacal (as in maniac) laugh.

If telling an adult was a solution, bullying would have been stomped out a long time ago.

Adults want proof, and witnesses. Most bullying happens away from witnesses, on purpose.

Adults, especially within the school system, don't believe beat-up and defeated kids. They just don't. You have to be 'famous' or pretty or well-dressed to have any credibility in the eyes of the authority. And if you are the big star or the beautiful one, you could not possibly be the one doing the bullying.No athlete has ever thrown someone into the wall, no pretty girl with pretty clothes has ever dumped the books of the smart ones that are ordinary looking.

The anti-bullying campaign is a good thing. I'm not arguing with that. But there need to be new solutions.The current 'solutions' are what has allowed bullying to become as out of control as it is.

Tell an adult, yes. But tell an adult from somewhere else. If you are being bullied at Red School, go talk to someone at Green School. And then Blue School. You'll get the same no

"no proof, no witness" speeches, but an outside source is more likely to write a report, or make a phone call in a professional capacity. No pats on the shoulder and instant dismissal of the very notion.

And cyber-bullying? Well, if no excuses, no tolerance became the standard -- if ALL our children were held accountable for ALL their behavior -- if there were CONSEQUENCES -- there'd  be a lot less of that.

Parents and principals -- quit making excuses.
You are the guilty ones; you are too blame. Children are children, or at last start out that way. It is you who create the monsters by closing your eyes.

It is NOT the victims' job to prevent the crime.