Executive Compensation

The salary of the chief executive of a large corporation is not a market
award for achievement. It is frequently in the nature of a warm personal
gesture by the individual to himself.

- John Kenneth Galbraith

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Debates: How can we get the right asnwers...

If we can't even ask the right questions? In the upcoming presidential debates the news organizations asking the questions had to agree to ask only questions the candidates agreed to answer in advance. If not the candidates have a right to remove that person from the debate panel and replace them. Even in the 'Town Hall' debate the 'citizens' asking the questions must have them pre-approved. If they deviate from their pre-approved question the moderator will cut them off. I don't know about you but there is a reason I don't go to Political rallies or watch the President's speeches on TV (regardless of who is President), that reason is that it is all pre scripted propaganda. The real person shows through when he is asked a question for which he or she wasn't prepared. Are these candidates so unimaginative or afraid to slip up (or both) that they cannot speak extempoaneously. Must they have all the answers before the questions are asked ( last time I knew someone that prepared they were suspended from high school for cheating ). Let them do what I did in school, study and be ready for any question that may come. If I want something scripted I'll watch a movie or go to the theatre.

Political Correctness vs Family Values

I am getting weary every time someone asks that another person be polite or considerate or when someone gets offended the 'Politically Correct' card gets played and those of us on the left get blamed. While I agree some folks could be a little less sensitive or less easily offended, I find it amazing that no one jumps on the conservative version of political correctness. Namely, 'Family Values'. The conservative folks have been cloaking their religious, moral and political agenda under the cape of 'Family Values'. After all who would want to be 'Anti-Family'? Not me. On the other hand the ideology usually advanced by these folks rarely reflect the values of my family, or for that matter most of the families I know. I agree families are important and a good set of positive values are also important. If you want to really help families however try equal pay for men and women for equal work. Better still, how about a wage that would allow one of the parents to stay home and allow both of the parents to work a 40 hour work week and not need overtime and/or a second job just to make ends meet. While I am at it how about justice and fairness for ALL Americans not just those who can afford it. (After that we can begin working for justice and peace in the rest of the world). These are things that would be valuable to all families.

Ashcroft - 0 for 5000

Remember back right after 9/11 when Attorney General Ashcroft was touting all the suspected terrorists they were arresting in the Justice Department sweeps? Do you remember how many convictions there were out of all of those arressts ( 5000 of them ). Here's a hint more than zero less than two. That's right 5000 suspected terrorists arrested 1 conviction. But wait! There's more! on Sept. 2nd of this year the courts overturned that conviction. So now there are no convictions. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada. None. Our Attorney General has gone 0 for 5000 at catching terrorists. Whee! Ain't the war on terror fun. Don't you feel so secure when we can arrest 5000 people and not one of them is a terrorist? Does Ashcroft and or the Justice Department have any idea what they are or should be doing? If you need me I'll be hiding under my bed.

Atheist Fundamentalists

I recently read a book in which the main character was an atheist. Generally speaking, I have no quarrels with atheists. I don't share their beliefs but so what. Generally speaking. This character however proselytizes atheism. The character seeks to convince his antagonist to convert. Make no mistake atheism is a religion too (if you consider religion to be a belief system) . I have known an atheist or two like this character (although most atheists I have known don't get into the "why" and "how" of their beliefs unless asked) and I enjoy a free and open discussion however these folks have anything but a free and open discussion. Fundamentalists of any ilk by definition feel that they have all the answers and it is their duty to get everyone else to adopt their beliefs. Fundamentalist atheists are no more welcome by me than Fundamentalist Christians or Muslims. Atheists get this absence of evidence is NOT evidence of absence ( the inability to prove God exists is not proof of God's nonexistence). Also atheism is a belief system as are other religions. Knock yourself out if that is what gets you through the night but understand the rest of need not buy in just to validate your faith.

Bush Lied & People Died

Once and for all I would like to settle and argument or two with some of my more conservative friends. Bush lied about reasons for invading Iraq. First there were the WMD's we didn't find any and some have defended this by saying well they moved them while we looked for them or something of that general nature. We didn't need to look for them. According to Colin Powell speaking to the UN before the invasion we KNEW Iraq had WMD's and we knew EXACTLY where they were. What should have been said is we are pretty sure they have some and we kinda know where they are. Secondly the link between Al Qaeda and Iraq (Hussein specifically) well, ummm... there isn't one. Bush is simply "Kicking the Dog" (this refers to a Monty Python bit in which the wealthy matron of a family passes gas and rather than risk offending her and being written out of the will each time she flatulates the family members kick the dog). The real funding and cultivating of Al Qaeda and terrorists comes from Saudi Arabia but we don't want to piss them off. For this ours sons, daughters and neighbors are dying.

Church And State

I hear on a fairly regular basis people calling for a lifting of the ban on 'Prayer In School'. NEWS FLASH - Prayer has always been allowed in school. The school leading the students in prayer however violates the constitution. The 'Wall of Seperation' between church and state should be maintained for two reasons:

1. The Constitution says so.
2. Mixing Religion into the government is a phenomenally BAD idea. (I will present evidence of this momentarily).

I know at least a few of you are thinking that the 'Wall of Seperation' is a recent invention (because a year or two ago alot of people went on news shows and said it was.) and that our founding fathers didn't refer to the 'Wall' (same reason as above) but the person who coined the term 'Wall of separation between church and state' was in fact Thomas Jefferson. James Madison another of our founding fathers and pricipal author of the Constitution was a vocal church and state separatist. It wasn't uncommon when our country was young for a person to be singled out and arrested, or pilloried for being of a religious denomination different from that in the majority of the area they were in. Our founding fathers though they may have been religious did not want the church and the goverment to be involved with one another.

As for reason number two let me just list some of the notable countries in the world where church and state are strongly intertwined if not one and the same. Saudia Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Jordan, Syria, Israel. Before anyone says none of those is Christian let me add Ireland and Northern Ireland. As you can see not exactly the most peaceful places in the world. If that is what mingling chuch and state bring I'll pass thanks.

Why Capitalism Isn't Working Right

I had someone tell me once that Communism doesn't work because there is no incentive for workers to do their best. Everybody has the same, so why work harder. As politely as I could I said BULLSPIT!. Communism doesn't work properly for the same reason Capitalism doesn't. They were both dreamed up and theorized in IDEAL conditions. Under those ideal conditions both work perfectly. In the real worl however both fail. How many times have you heard the expression " A rising tide raises all ships"? I have heard it a lot. Mostly to justify corporate welfare and tax cuts for the wealthy. That expression shows how Capitalism is supposed to work. An owner starts a company and as it prospers so does the owner AND the employees who worked and contributed to the company's success. What we tend to see these days is companies whose revenues, profits, and executives salaries outpace inflation but whose workers wages don't. Running businesses this way can't go on forever. I don't have all the answers but the sooner we get one for this economic problem the better off we all will be.

Something I Don't Understand

Florida is a "Right to Work" state. That means that unions generally aren't very strong here and it is easy for management to keep them out. Florida is also an "At Will" employment state meaning an employer can fire an employee at any time for any reason or for no reason at all. What I have a problem understanding is why more workers don't band together and unionize. I know many working class folks who are anti-union. I suspect there are one of a few reasons for this.
One would be that they buy into the anti-union garbage that they have had preached at them over the years (unions are pricing themselves out of the market, unions are communistic, etc.). Those are all lies. Another is that they have never belonged to a union and therefor do not understand what a union really is. The last is that they blame the union for some unfortunate event in their past.
For anyone out there who doesn't truly know what a union is let me offer a few examples of what a union can do. One of the things everyone seems to latch on to is the higher wages. This is generally true. I worked for a telecom company from 1991-1994 and was a member of the IBEW. When the office I worked in closed I made 9.86 per hour as a directory assistance operator. (in 1994 in Florida that was outstanding pay for that job.) By contrast in 2002 I worked for an outsourcing company taking customer service and billing calls for a natural gas company (much more complicated work) and made 9.00 per hour. So the wage benifit was definitely there. But there is more than just cash. Job security was another. Yes I eventually lost my job when they closed the office, but before that the union contract averted a major layoff. Also it was good to know that my boss could not just walk in and fire me on any given day because he had an argument with his wife that morning. Another benefit was fairness. Rules in the union contract enforced the equalization of overtime and a grievance procedure if an employee was wronged. All these things and more were worth well more than the small dues I paid to be a union member. The union helped to give me some control over the direction of my work. The union contract is a negotiated agreement between the workers and management. What could be more fair than that? I really wonder why more people don't wake up and realise that they would be much better off with a union. How else do you ever to get your fair share of the money you bring into your company and be sure you get a fair shake from the management?

Message To Kerry Forget About Vietnam

Bill Clinton, appearing on The Daily Show, hit the nail on the head. The reason, he said, that the Republicans are attacking Kerry's Vietnam War record was because neither Bush, nor Cheney served in Vietnam and Kerry did. This makes Bush/Cheney not look so good so they attack it to make Kerry look bad and avoid talking about the real issues confronting the nation. If Kerry or any of his people only ever read one of my blog posts I hope it is this one. Forget about Vietnam. You have addressed it and the record speaks for itself. Move on to real issues. That is the last thing Bush wants you to do. Bush has failed so miserably that he dare not really speak about his policies. Talk about how you would handle a terrorist attack and how you would deal with Iraq. Since you can't do worse than Bush any other plan would be an improvement. Please, for the sake of the country don't get bogged down in the attack abyss. Address the attacks, respond appropriately then get immediately back to the issues. Bush can't touch you on the issues. That makes it a safe place to run a campaign from.

Florida 2000 Vote: Not The Greens' Fault

As a registered Green I caught a lot of flack from my Democrat friends over the 2000 election in Florida. As a Floridian I caught a lot flack from the rest of the country over the 2000 election in Florida. I would like to set the record straight. Gore won in Florida in 2000. After the Supreme Court appointed George W. Bush as President the Media Consortium completed the recount of the votes. What was found was that had the recount been finished Gore would have won. The Consortium counted ALL the votes. As certified by Katherine Harris, Bush won Florida by 537 Votes. The recount, which included votes not previously counted such as hanging chads and votes found after certification showed a net gain for Gore of 644 votes which means Gore won by 107 votes. Ironically if just the hanging and dimpled chads had been recounted ( as Gore to some degree was pushing for) it would have only widened Bush's margin of victory but a straight up recount (as Bush advocated) would have resulted in a Gore victory. Clearly there should have been a recount as the margin of victory was smalller than the margin of error. What the Supreme Court should have done was rule as to what the recount should have been not just appoint a president. Don't blame the people of Florida for the outcome. Most of us voted for Gore. The Supreme Court threw out our votes.

Voting In Florida: BACKUP!

I have worked for an accounting firm, a catalog order company, and a Psycologists office. One thing they all had in common, Computers. Another thing they all had in common, a backup system. In each of those cases if our cumputers went down we still had a way to retrieve records and/or continue to do business without the computers. My ex-wife works in a hospital as a nurse and though much of the charting is computerized, there is still a paper backup system. Why then has the state of Florida steadfastly refused to initiate a paper receipt backup for the new touchscreen voting system in the event of a need for a recount? It is insane to think that the order of some trinket is important enough to warrant a paper backup system but our votes do not. It would also seem that after the debacle in the 2000 election (more on this in a future post) in this state over recounts that the governor and the government would go FAR out of the way to remove doubt, reduce error and increase veracity and accuracy. The state should be doing all they can to instill trust and confidence in the new system. Instead, the governor's steadfast refusal to add a paper trail gives many (myself of course included) a feeling of uneasiness about the new system. Jeb, Give us our paper trail. Make this system as safe and as verifiable as possible. PLEASE!