Day: May 6, 2011

The Economy On The Upswing? A WPA Revival Needed on Its 78th Anniversary!

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The economy saw the addition last month of 244,000 new jobs in private industry, the third straight month of equivalent numbers of growth in private sector employment.

This should be seen as a good omen, but at the same time, there are more people seeking work than before, which therefore raised the unemployment rate from 8.8 to 9 percent.

With the decline in public employment, and the rapidly growing number of young people looking for work as they graduate high school and college, it is hard to know if the unemployment rate will hit below 8 percent by the fall of 2012, a number seen as crucial to insure the re-election of President Obama.

It is clear that the Republican Party does not wish to help President Obama economically by taking steps in the House of Representatives to create jobs through economic investment in infrastructure, such as the government took upon itself exactly 78 years ago today when Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated the Works Progress Administration, which helped to promote the building of hospitals, schools, airports, libraries, roads and other public facilities, along with encouraging artists, musicians, writers, historians, and playwrights to produce with their genius on the public payroll.

That is the only way that true economic recovery is going to occur rapidly enough, but don’t bet on it ocurring anytime soon!

The Degradation And Abuse Of The Elderly In Florida: The Tip Of The Iceberg!

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The true character of a civilization is demonstrated by how it treats its elderly, and America does not look very good in that regard, and the forecast is that conditions will get much worse, particularly in the state which has more elderly citizens than any other, Florida!

An investigation by WLRN, the NPR station in South Florida, and the Miami Herald, has revealed shocking and horrific mistreatment of elderly in assisted living facilities, with lack of regulation and oversight by the Florida Agency of Health Care Administration. This is even before Governor Rick Scott and the overwhelmingly Republican legislature set out with the present massive budget cut to put all Medicaid patients into managed HMOs, a guarantee of even worse conditions in the future.

The stories of neglect and abuse are a scandal that the state of Florida should be ashamed of, but not in the present era of Rick Scott, who became wealthy by abuse and fraud in the hospital chain that he ran in the 1990s, and avoided prison by paying a heavy fine!

Anyone in their right mind who is elderly should have to start consideration of what will happen to him or her when disability or serious illness sets in, as to live in an assisted living facility, particularly in Florida, seems a ticket to a death sentence!

Second Thoughts On Osama Bin Laden Assassination!

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In the flush of excitement over the demise of Al Qaeda terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden, some second thoughts are developing in many people’s minds.

We have learned that a lot of the early news reports were fabricated, or distorted. For instance, it was said that Bin Laden was armed, that he had a woman as a human shield, and that he resisted, and that there was a major battle of our Navy SEALS against others in the compound.

None of that is true, and Michael Moore, the film director, and John Yoo, the Bush aide who justified the use of torture, including waterboarding in the infamous memo that has caused such controversy, both–despite their different sides of the political spectrum–question why Bin Laden could not have been taken alive and put on trial in an international court as the Nazi and Japanese war criminals were subjected to after World War II. Those trials led to executions of most of the war criminals under international law.

There are some observers who claim that what the Obama Administration did was unlawful under international law, and that setting the goal of political assassination, which has been supposedly banned in America since the 1970s, is a dangerous and troubling trend.

Even the publication of the bloody scenes of the three men killed with Bin Laden, one being his son and looking very much like him, is deeply disturbing to many, as the author himself has never seen such horrific photos, and agreed with the Obama Administration decision NOT to publish the photos of the dead Bin Laden. But then, why was not the same care given to sensitivities toward the public for the other three male victims?

While certainly no one mourns the death of Bin Laden, it is much harder in the light of day to be as gleeful and excited about his death, once one considers all of the details we now know, that we did not know on Sunday night!

Al Qaeda Website Admits Death Of Bin Laden: One Conspiracy Theory Destroyed!

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Imagine thanking Al Qaeda and having them applauded for something positive!

The terrorist organization has admitted on its website that Osama Bin Laden is dead!

That is a big relief in the sense that we don’t have to spend inordinate amounts of time debating whether what happened last Sunday is true or a fabrication of the Obama Administration to end the issue, and give Obama a political victory for 2012.

Of course, some loonies out there who wish to exploit the issue for monetary gain will still try to claim otherwise, but it is good that the conspiracy theory is nipped in the bud!

However, we should not be sobered by this as far as the threat of Al Qaeda is concerned, as materials gathered at the compound where Bin Laden lived are clear in the late terrorist’s plans to continue to attack America and the West, with apparent plots to attack the railroad network on the tenth anniversary of September 11.

Even without Bin Laden, Al Qaeda remains a threat, and we will need to continue to be on the alert in the future, not let our guard down, and be particularly concerned on the upcoming September 11, when we mark ten years since the dastardly event that changed all of our lives forever!