Source:LiveScience

The Best Economic System in the States: North Dakota

Why did North Dakota slip almost unscathed through the Great Republican Recession that started near the end of the Bush Administration? Here is proof positive that some socialism is a good thing for a stable economic system. This is not to dwell on the best insurance system in America, Social security and Medicare. Government CAN do things right, despite what the Right-Wing, Wall Street owned, propaganda network says.

Proof that Republicans Bring Down the Economy, and President Obama is Enabling Them.

This is something the Democrats seem to ignore, and the base of the Republican party has never heard or seen, because Faux News will not mention it.

While our infrastructure is crumbling, the wealthy pay far less tax percentage than the cecclining middle class worker and the working poor. Warren Buffet said that he should not be paying less tax then his secretary. He is one of the very few who have the personal integrity and sense of justice to fund organizations who want to raise his taxes. Also, he agrees that we have a revenue problem, not a debt problem (without the wars, of course).

Here's an article by Thom Hartmann, a man whom I trust. He correctly predicted the Bush Great Recession (by comparing Bush's policies to Hoover's and the state of the economy just before the Republican Great Depression and the similar state just before the Bush Great Recession. He also is on record predicting a second dip, for which the Republicans are pushing, and President Oballess, in his weakness, is facilitating. Hartmann is one of the more logical people I’ve had the good luck to come across. Below is a chart from his article-link showing the revenue to GDP ratio since WWII.

Note that the ratio declined steadily until the Ford Administration when the neo-con oligarchs were gaining power, and two of them, Rumsfeld and Cheney, had President Ford's ear. Note the steep incline immediately after Reagan took office and began slashing regulations and the tax rate on the Wealthy, and set about busting unions big-time. Incidentally, Reagan saw the incline, and raised taxes, but not enough.

This should say it all. Democrats are better for the economy and the average worker. The Republicans' propaganda network, however, has convinced roughly half the American public that they are fiscally responsible and the Democrats only tax and spend (The Republicans actually BORROW and spend). Unfortunately, President Oballess, in his weakness, is facilitating the Republicans' purposeful destruction of our economy. Why are they doing this?

It was Grover Norquist who said he wanted to shrink government to such a size that he can drown it in a bathtub. So, who do you think would govern America without government? The wealthy and the few. We will have an oligarchic plutocracy, where only the well off and the wealthy can vote.. Corporations will rule, and of course, the worker will have to do with ever lowering wages so the corporations can make greater profits. We will be taken back to the days of Dickens' England when they had no minimum wage law, nor child labor laws, but did have a maximum wage law that prevented workers for making over a certain amount.

That, in a nutshell, is the Republican plan.

American Values?

I am astonished and dismayed. That the majority of Americans apparently wish to deny Muslim AMERICANS the right to build a community center on their own property two blocks from the site where radical Muslims brought down the World Trade Center buildings, is a dark testament to the lack of civics education in the United States. It is also a dark testament to the effectiveness of right-wing hate-propaganda. Even C-Span is calling it the "Ground Zero Mosque." It is neither at "ground zero" nor is it a mosque. It is a community center open to everyone, and it includes a prayer center.

The very first lesson in civics should be an education in the Bill of Rights, beginning with the First Amendment, and providing a definition of what constitutes a "Right." When the Establishment Clause is addressed, students should be assigned the reading of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. It also should be noted that this Statute is the document from which the First Amendment's Establishment Clause was crafted. From this assignment, the student should develop a basic understanding of the need for a "Wall of Separation" between Church and State.

Rights are not something that can be up for vote. We cannot vote slavery back into existence any more than we can vote to deny a religion the right to build a center of worship on their own property, or anywhere a Christian church would be allowed.

For those who would deny the mosque to be built, ask yourself if you would allow a Christian church to be built withing two blocks of the bombed Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

I strongly favor the building of the community center on site within two blocks of "ground zero," This building will be a monument to the American value of Religious Freedom, and shine as an example of American values the world over.

Of course, I have little doubt that once it is built, some good right-wing Christian will attempt to destroy it, along with many innocent Muslim AMERICANS who had the misfortune to occupy the building at the time. After all, isn't that what Jesus would do, answer hate with hate, killing with killing?

Deuteronomy 21:18-23 states that anyone who has a stubborn and rebellious son should have the village stone him to death. Shall we abide by that law? I once wrote a letter to the editor of the Richmond Times Dispatch asking that same question. The day of its publication, I received a phone call from a reader who thought stoning stubborn children was the right thing to do.

Of course, I often hear the argument that Christians "have a new covenant" such that we don't have to go by the "Old Testament" laws. But, this is the very definition of situation ethics. If Christians were to abide by "Old Testament" laws, they would be exactly like radical Islam.

Moderate, educated Muslims have put away their hatred and disavowed draconian religious laws. American Christians should show the world that we have put away ours as well. Let the community center/mosque be a symbol of our benevolence. Let us lead by example. Let us act from intelligence and understanding, not the emotions of hatred and vengeance.

Hey! Here's a New, Great Idea for Arizona

Republicans everywhere! You will love this idea. I mean, hell, you already love China's cheap labor caused by a lack of regulations and oversight, which equates to little or no worker protections, little or no environmental protection, and especially the lack of consumer protections against products that are a danger to health. And, what's a few more suicides and soaring rates of sickness and injuries among workers when you can buy things cheap at Wal-Mart?

So, get with it Arizona. Build yourselves community prisons and lock up those brown people, and working-poor blacks and whites. SIGH HEIL JAN BREWER!