Day: October 8, 2011

The “Dark Horses” Of The Republican Presidential Race: Ron Paul And Herman Cain

Ronald Leave a comment

It is still nearly three months to the first voting in the Iowa Caucuses on January 3, followed by the vote in the New Hampshire Primary, the Nevada Caucuses, the South Carolina Primary, and the Florida Primary, all within the month of January!

The Republican Presidential race has gone from one favored candidate to another, including Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, and Mitt Romney, with three other well known candidates floundering–Jon Huntsman, Rick Santorum, and Newt Gingrich.

Meanwhile, two other candidates–Ron Paul and Herman Cain–ignored by the mainstream media and many political experts–are suddenly surging and drawing attention, and makes one wonder could either of them actually win the GOP Presidential nomination to oppose President Barack Obama in November 2012?

Paul has certainly been gaining more support, and his views on social and foreign policy issues resonate with many more voters than when he ran four years ago.

Herman Cain, who is African American and the CEO of Godfather Pizza, has been an even bigger surprise to many, and seems to arouse support in an emotional manner.

Today, at the Values Voters Summit in Washington, DC, a group of social conservatives, Ron Paul won 37 percent of the straw vote, with Cain second with 23 percent, way ahead of the other candidates.

Can this really happen–either one being the next nominee of the Republican Party? It seems highly unlikely, but after Barack Obama winning the Democratic nomination and the Presidency in 2008, who can be so sure that it could not happen in the Republican Party, and in the right (or wrong) circumstances lead to one of them in the White House in 2012?

Long Term Unemployment: Its Toll Much More Than Many Realize!

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It is very simple for someone who has NEVER been unemployed, except maybe briefly, to dismiss the issue of LONG TERM unemployment!

It is easy to blame the long term unemployed for being in that position, particularly when one has had good fortune, and never had to face the same situation!

It is easy to claim that it is, somehow, a character flaw in the person, and to choose to ignore what that means for him or her, and for society as a whole!

But when one realizes that now there are more than TWO million people who have been unemployed for more than TWO years, and 700,000 for more than THREE years, it is something that should be seen as a structural problem in America, which cannot be ignored!

Many of these long term unemployed have been people with long term careers, suddenly laid off when they are reaching the high 40s to the early 60s, with little possibility of ever regaining positions anywhere near what they had formerly earned, and this affects their wives, husbands, and children.

The long term unemployed also includes young workers coming out of undergraduate degrees, graduate schools, law schools, business schools, etc, who are facing the worst employment market in the last half century, and have looming student debt they cannot pay. This will delay or prevent plans to marry, have children, buy homes and cars, and plans for a lifetime of goals that all young people have.

This is not a laughing matter, as the “American Dream” is being destroyed, and so many have no hope for a better future, and yet the Republican Party in Congress and its Presidential candidates refuse to address these issues, and it is something that could boil over into more than just disillusionment!

The numbers of long term unemployed will grow rapidly, and there is little interest in extending unemployment compensation further, even by those who are unemployed, who strangely think extension will promote less desire to look for work, which is, sadly, a hallucinatory belief!

And when so many employers are now demanding that all job applicants be employed before applying for a job, that forecasts over time that we will see millions of people on the streets, in what used to be called Hoovervilles and Reaganvilles, going to churches and charities for minimal food supplies, and having serious medical issues that go undiagnosed!

Divorce and suicide and physical violence are also the manifestations when people have no hope and fall into depression!

And, of course, if people are not earning income, they only add to the long term dire economic outlook!

It is immoral and unethical for the opposition party, which wants to win power, to have no concern for the downtrodden, the deprived, and think all they have to do is appeal to the elite wealthy!

This is social dynamite, which cannot be ignored, as it is a threat to civil society long term! We cannot move to the future by creating a lost class of people!

Here We Go Again: New Hatred By Evangelical Christian Pastors!

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It is a sad reality that many Evangelical Christian pastors have made a career out of promoting divisiveness and hate, in the name of their conservative values and the almighty dollar!

How else to explain why many of these pastors have continued to promote hatred toward President Barack Obama, including that he is a Muslim, born in Kenya, a Socialist, and out to undermine American values?

How else to explain a so called “unifying” pastor, Joel Osteen, who runs the largest megachurch in America in Houston Texas, on nationwide TV on CNN advocating homophobia, knowing full well that it is a major crisis in America, particularly for young gay men and women who are committing suicide because of bullying, and has no problem continuing to quote the Bible on this matter, in a distorted way? And then to learn that Joel Osteen, who inherited his father’s leadership of their church, dropped out of college and has NO ministerial training at a seminary, so therefore is, technically, a phony minister, who is very wealthy because of the contributions of his congregants, and of course, like all religious leaders, avoids personal income taxes?

How else to explain another Evangelical Christian pastor at the Values Voters Summit In Washington, DC, supposedly asked to introduce Texas Governor Rick Perry, declaring that Mormons are not Christians, but instead are a “cult”, an attack directed against former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, the frontrunner in the GOP Presidential race, and indirectly against the other Mormon in the race, former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman?

It should not matter whether a candidate for President is a “good Christian”, as we have a belief in separation of church and state, and religion should no more be a barrier now than it was in 1960 when John F. Kennedy was the first Catholic to win the White House, after Al Smith, the earlier Catholic nominee in the 1928 Presidential Election, was soundly defeated because of his Catholicism. Of course, who were the leading critics of Smith and Kennedy? Evangelical Christians, who claim to be holier than thou!

It is clear that the same anti Mormon sentiments would be visited against a serious Jewish nominee in the future. These “good Christians” are excellent at promoting hate and division!

Mitt Romney or Jon Huntsman should be judged for everything except their Mormon faith. Neither is out to promote or advocate their faith, anymore than Smith or Kennedy were, or a future Jewish nominee would! Why do Evangelical Christian pastors however feel they have the right to force their congregants to think their narrow minded way?

It is time for all of the non Mormon Presidential nominees to condemn this pastor and make it clear that religious bigotry of any kind is not acceptable, and will not be part of the GOP Presidential race from this day forward! But don’t bet on that happening!