PACs One Year Later

A year didn’t change anything - public welfare still lagging.

It ain’t just corporate America providing the big bucks to elect presidents.  Individuals can wield power too by using their “Almighty Dollars”. $42 million collected by PACs and still rising.

Supreme Court Validates Trespass

Unfortunately the question of whether police can use intrusive technology by tapping into a factory-installed GPS unit gets left for another case to see if the Supreme Court’s position becomes narrower.

This goes back a long way.

Obesity In As Opt Out P.E. Rules

Here’s some more truth tellin’. From 1962 to 1990 weight increased among our adult population by more than 20 pounds. The average weight for males is 191 lbs. while the women average 164 lbs.

Why are parents choosing to let their children opt out of Physical Education (P.E.) as early as middle school? Most educators agree that 150 minutes per week (mpw) for elementary children is good. Middle schools would have required 225 mpw, but most only require one semester in middle grades. Different waivers apply at the high school level.

Academics are very important but physical education promotes lifelong physical activities and we should show our support. If chewing gum alone boosts mental sharpness, think what physical activity could stimulate. The only downside to chewing gum are rules at schools forbidding this practice, and ‘the latest research’ found users only get twenty minutes of peak performance during the test.

Opt out for P.E. is a bad choice and politicians allowing bad rules to become the norm are accepting responsibility for the rising cost of health care in our nation.

Happy Birthday Brother

Fitting that Obama’s State of the Union address should fall on my brother’s birthday, a real political science junkie from the late ‘50’s to his death in 1993. He’d have a difficult time accepting today’s depressed housing values, why we’d repeat missing an opportunity to produce more oil and gas domestically, and the fear of borrowing cheap money to stimulate the economy; it only looks bad in the short-term. This new year, 2012, needs a boost and Wall Street would welcome a new round of stimulus. David would be beating drums for the U – S – A and leading chants, U – S – A!, U – S – A!, U – S – A! Yea, my brother knew how to throw a party and always made everyone feel at ease by his infectious laughter. Though our economy is disheartening and agonizingly slow it is moving forward. It’s a reason for celebration and you, my brother, would have made it happen. He’d also have seen the need for filthy, rich people to contribute their fair share to our government. Time for some truth-telling, brother, but too many will watch tonight’s address by our President with eyes wide shut or they’ll be at McDonald’s helping secure a record annual turnover of $27bn for Mickey D’s.

Seattle Got Woke Up

That’s the truth as we witnessed a Northwestern city shut down when a snowstorm walloped the Seattle area. It’s time for Washington to wake up too.  State governments are bent on approving government programs without letting the people know about them.  Senate Bill 7170 in Florida may usher in a new era of removing public scrutiny in regard to such measures.  In essence the public would not know what was done until it was already done!  Is this 21st Century politics?

Checking on private vendors ends and public tax dollar collections get checked later.  Even the former governor of Florida,  Jeb Bush, discovered some outsourcing caused waste, incompetence and corruption.  Not all bring proper management, efficiency and innovation.  Proposed legislation anywhere in the nation like Florida’s measure will open the door wide for more corruption. Too many backroom deals are already helping bankrupt our nation.