Art Addicted

Democrats vs Republicans - What is the difference? There is none.

Before G.W. was elected, I made a statement and whomever heard it became very upset with me. I did not know what I was talking about. How could I say such a thing? The economy was great. The national debt was down and the Treasury actually had money in it. The statement I said was - if G.W. Bush is elected, his Presidency will go down in history as the rape of America.

Well, there is no longer any money in the treasury. We pay four trillion dollars ($4,000,000,000,000) a year in interest alone on borrowed money to continue ‘Operation Freedom Iraq”. Both Democrats and Republicans know this. I hear people saying why can’t the Democrats do something about it. The answer is simple and two fold. First - they do not have a majority to stop this flood of money leaving the country. Second - all politicians of both parties are more interested in catering to the special interest groups that fund their re-elections than actually doing something positive for this country.

The more I read about the garbage being uncovered with both houses of Congress, the more I am reminded of a very old saying … Prostitution is the worlds’ oldest profession and politics is the second. Most of the time they are interchangeable and you can not tell the difference between them.

Tony Snow is leaving the White House as Press Secretary because, even though he earns approximately $150,000 a year - plus perks - he cannot afford to live on it. I felt no sympathy for him when I heard this. Many of us are trying to survive and $150,000 a year income would be fantastic. Many of us are not even earning $40,000 a year any longer, but somehow we are managing.

There is no longer any manufacturing done in this country to any large extent. Almost every job is being outsourced or companies have left this country and established plants somewhere else. Many moved to Mexico. Now they want to bring their products back to this country. Americans apparently are not good enough to work for these companies, but are good enough to buy their products.

These One Hundred companies are going to use Mexican drivers who do not know our roads, or the rules of the roads. Nothing like trying to break the Teamsters Union, which this, in effect, would be trying to do.

After the Hurricanes hit Florida a few years ago, I called the Florida Emergency Hot Line. I spoke to someone in India. I asked for an American since the person I was speaking with had a problem understanding what I was calling about. That was not possible.

I use to use AT&T. I had a problem. I called and was connected to India. There was absolutely no satisfaction to my problem. I wrote to one of the Main offices, and addressed the letter to the Director of that office. I received no reply to the first, second or third letter (which I sent registered mail). When I could not get an answer and get the false $350. charge removed from my credit card, I promptly left AT&T, even though I had been a customer for approximately 30 years.

I, personally, think NAFTA (North American Fair Trade Agreement) was a big mistake and should be repealed immediately if not sooner. I think that Tariffs should be re-established. I hear the people jockeying for the Presidency saying all kinds of things that they do not mean. I shut off the so called debates with disgust because no one is saying anything worth listening to. No one is saying how to bring this country back to being self sufficient. All I hear is pandering for votes.

I also heard how our beloved politicians want to give the illegal aliens access to Social Security even though they have not paid a cent into it. In case they have forgotten, the illegal aliens cannot vote. We can, and unless Congress starts doing something positive for this country, I say get rid of all of them. It is time the good ole boys in Congress actually went back to their constituents and faced the same problems we are all having. It does not matter if we are from the East Coast, the South, the Western states, Mid America, or the Northern states. We are all having the same problems.

I recently heard about privatizing the Post Office. I wonder how they plan to out-source mail. In one regard it is already privatized, but still using postal carriers that passed the test. With the new plan, the entire system would be run by a private company with new employees. Does that mean Halliburton is now going into the mail delivery business?

Many people say the government is a bureaucracy and I agree. It is a self perpetuating bloated entity that uses the Peter’s principle as a guideline.

It is time our government started taking care of the populace instead of giving billions of dollars in tax breaks to multi-national companies.

It is time our government broke up the news media conglomerates. It is time we heard the truth about what is happening instead of the pablum they try to force feed us.

It is time our government started listening to us, instead of the large election contributors.

We ARE in a recession. It does not matter how it is white washed, it is a recession. The worse the economy is, the higher the price of gold. As of this writing, gold is up to $700 an ounce, and expected to go higher.

The housing market has bottomed out. There are more for sale signs and foreclosures than in modern history. Every single state is affected. I heard about the government possibly stepping in and helping out the lenders. What about the people that are losing their homes? Let the lenders pay their top management less bonuses and let our government do something to help the people who are losing everything.

In this country, a child born in America must have immunization shots before entering school. It is not required of any child not born in this country. Check the diseases prevalent in Central and South America and see what our children are being exposed to. Polio and Smallpox were eradicated from this country. Must we start immunizing our children for these again?

This country belongs to us, not the corporations. When are we going to finally say - enough? We do not need $150 jogging shoes made by children in sweat shops. We do not need plasma televisions made who knows where - but certainly not in this country. We do not need big, gas guzzling cars to show off for our neighbors. We do not need toys made in China using lead based paint. As a matter of fact, we do not need toys made in China period.

Mattel, one of if not the biggest toy ‘manufacturers’ thought it was more profitable to have toys made in China than pay American wages. I wonder how profitable they are going to be having recalled millions of toys off shelves. I wonder how profitable they are going to be when people start looking where toys are made and rejecting anything made in China. I wonder what their bottom line is going to look like when children point to a toy and their mothers say ‘that toy is not good for you it will make you sick’.

Walmart took all the recalled toys off shelves, but they left the same recalled toys as decorations for children’s birthday cakes. Walmart’s philosophy is AFAB - anything for a buck.

I could go on, but I think I have written enough. It is up to us to start taking our country back.
The Preamble of the Constitution starts with - We The People of these United States. It does not say - We The Corporations.

www.athenalouise.com

http://www.athenalouise.com

Tags: congress, democrats, nafta, republicans, toys

Share This

Related Posts

• Made In China
• Green Card Lottery
• A Little About Amateur Diamond Mining
• Rags To Riches?
• Goodbye Semper Fi - Gang Violence Rising In The Military

Filed under: Uncategorized