WCGreen
WCGreen's JournalI gotta post this here.. 22 Reasons Why the US is Still the Best Country in the World....
A great way to start off a middle summer Sunday morning...
22 Reasons America is Still the Best Country in the World
Posted on July 4, 2012
Lately, it seems there’s been some talk that America is losing its edge when it comes to being awesome. To prove this theory wrong, here are 22 irrefutable pictures that prove America is still the best country in the freaking world.
http://www.pleated-jeans.com/2012/07/04/22-reasons-america-is-still-the-best-country-in-the-world/?utm_source=theslingshot&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=22-reasons-america-is-still-the-best-country
Number 5 is my personal favorite...
5. We provide extremely detailed instructions:.....
A Brilliant Strategy
Running those Romney attack ads targeting his outsourcing right before this furor over his "I did not have Financial Relations with that Company" moment is right out of controlling the political message for brilliant tacticians.
Think about it.
In a subliminal way, people are now connecting the truth with president Obama and the Democratic Party, and the opposite with, well, we all know what the opposite of truth is with those "other guys."
It also speaks unspoken volumes about the professionalism, or rather lack, of those pasty faced GOP stalwarts. If they have run their businesses like they approach this election, is it any wonder the economy tanked under their watch?
This is much more than a Romney problem, it is also a huge problem for the GOP because it looks as if they will do anything, anything to grab onto power and hold onto same power.
Of course there are millions of people who "admire" that trait in a candidate.
Fortunately for the rest of us, it seems, more people are getting sick and tired of being treated like morons by an increasing cavalier smarmy jaunt by the leaders GOP.
And every day that Romney refuses to comply with the groundswell of show us the tax returns brings us one day closer to the death of the petty bullshit that passes for a political ideology on the right side of the aisle.
The American public knows this is what those in the political professional call a realigning election, an election that will set the tone and course of the country for the next twenty or so years (this is probably the real reason why Roberts voted with the way he did, he wanted to be on the right side of history).
The last time that happened the country lurched to the right with Ronald Reagan. The attack on the Twin Towers delayed the next redefining moment for eight years.
(If you don’t believe me, look how far away Reagan’s approach to the country was from Nixon’s combination of projecting a big stick with the commies and signing into law a very liberal domestic agenda. For example, it was the Nixon/ Ford administration that brought in the Earned Income Tax Credit, arguably the most successful tool to help the working poor in US History. Five years later, the GOP was conjuring Welfare Queens using food stamps to purchase Cadillacs.)
If the GOP somehow manages to depose president Obama, we are in for decades of bat shit crazy. But if candidate Obama pulls this one off, as it looks right now that he will, then the US will get this craziness out of our collective systems for the foreseeable future and start acting like the country that was the shining city on a hill, that metaphor for a just country Winthrop coined way back in 1630, will finally come to fruition.
This had to be said....
In a business, the CEO is interested in turning a profit for the shareholders. Period.
In government, the elected leader is to make sure that the essential social covenant between voters and the general public is full filled.
These two are not the same.
The skills to run a business are not at all related to the skills needed to oversee a governmental entity.
That is all,
The American Navy: A Global Force for Good...
Well that is the slogan. But what does it really mean, a global force for good.
Perhaps the commercial is claiming that these aircraft carriers bring goodwill to the ports of the world.
Perhaps they are claiming that the US Navy, funded by the future earnings of American taxpayers, makes sure that it is safe for the massive container ships moving about the oceans laden with all those cheap imports to the US as well as oil to the US and other markets around the world.
In other words, we, the American taxpayers, are subsidizing the undermining of the US economy.
You see if we weren't borrowing so much money just to keep those shipping lanes open, the balance of trade would be much much lower.
That means the dollar would be worth more and could actually improve the chances of things being made here again in the good old US of A
Also, who are we keeping those trade lanes open for anyway.
Well there is that oil But it really is to keep all those trinkets and other doo dads that we need to feel like we are worth something.
A little esoteric for a friday night but pain killers and cough medicine brings about a certain kind of clarity that should not be stifled.
Anyway, think about it the next time you see that commercial for the US Navy. Makes you feel proud, or does it make you feel uncomfortable about subsidizing the free traders of the world who are doing their best to undermine the way of life for millions of Americans.
Of course Mitt and his "hard" line cronies get real excited when they see that commercial because they know that there is another mile driven between those pesky downtrodden masses and the enclaves their wealth has built has erected in the in between.
Or maybe it just makes you feel great that we have more aircraft carriers than the rest of the world combined.
They cost about $4.5 billion to make and at least half that much to keep out at sea. And remember, that doesn't cover the cost of the aircrafts that must tally up in the billions because they are specialty aircrafts.
The question we should all be asking is "Do we really need more aircraft carriers and the support ships that travel with, than all the rest of the world combined?"
China enjoys the safe transit of all those goods to the US for practically nothing as we supply the safety. Now I wouldn't mind if we were getting a little something for the effort, you know....
Don't get me completely wrong, I do find pride when the US is the first responders to natural disasters all over the world, in that sense we are a force for good...
Well it's late, the pain is creeping back so I want to fall asleep before it gets too much to sleep.
You want to know why the main stream media has shifted so far to the right....
Just look at the demographics.
The people who still watch the network news are 50 plus while the cable news channel skew the same.
Just look at what they advertise and you will get a real good idea of who watches this crap.
Is it any wonder that the market dictates the message? Give the watchers what they want.
So many people 40 and younger have never watched a evening news broadcast that the powers that be know this could very well be the last stand of the white male elite.
Hundreds of homeless Gulf War area vets in every big city and yet....
not one banker is spending any time in jail...
These guys who look the other way when the vets come home are the same who look away at the monetary cataclysm these bankers inflicted on our economy...
Forgot the most important word in the title...
Recommended just because it is another example of how privatization is changing
everything in our culture....
Think about it, once a profit motive is introduced into an activity that should be result based regardless of profit, the outcome will be skewed from what is good for the people involved to what is in the best interests of those who invested in the scheme...
I've been in and out of various hospitals over the last 30 years or so....
At last count I have been in the hospital for a total of 125 days, give or take a couple of hours for drunken wounds and childhood mishaps...
I am amazed at how much stuff has changed.
I remember being able to smoke in the stairwells back in the 70's.
Tonight I have my computer with wifi at real great speed. I also have cable with a couple pay stations for free.
There is great competition amongst the different hospital systems here in Cleveland, Ohio. It seems we are a sick bunch of people. But the world famous Cleveland Clinic, I am at a satellite hospital right now, is always flying in big shots from all over the world to get worked on.
The one thing I can abide though is how bland the food has gotten over the years.
MrsWCGreen was kind enough to bring me granola bars, vitamin waters and crackers and peanut butter to get through the crappy food.
I remember when I was in the hospital in Columbus I would order pizzas to be delivered to my room that I shared with another bed, sometimes full, sometimes empty.
Last night I watched the second episode of The Hatfield's and McCoys off the history channel website. Good headphones I brought in and it shuts down the din that ebbs and flows through the day...
Why are Americans who can trace their roots to Ireland
Called Irish Americans...
Shouldn't they be called American's of Irish Decent.
Same with all the different nationalities.
Under the current way of identifying myself I would consider myself a Polish-Irish-German-Welsh-Russian American...
Or, as I prefer, an American of Polish - Irish - German - Welsh - Russian Decent.
But what I really am is an American who is a product of and enjoys the rich cultural diversity that we all here in this country are lucky enough to born into...
All those soldiers that fought and died under the American Flag that we will remember this coming Monday took to the battle field as Americans. Whether we agree or disagree with all the wars that were fought in our name and on our behave, make no mistake about it, it was American soldiers fighting together under the Stars and Stripes.
After two hundred and thirty odd years on, the United States of America is as much an idea as it is a country, a state of being, a conglomeration of many cultures and many beliefs that somehow works together toward a shared experience.
No other country in the world is quite like we are.
I just wanted to throw some of my thoughts about this country before Memorial Day passes on and gives way to the summer...
Way back last year I had a post about Rob Portman being the VP...
This is the next guy the GOP elites want to put out there.
He is a popular republican in a swing state, Ohio. He is a, relatively speaking, "moderate" who supposedly isn't threatening to independents.
He does have the baggage of being a part of the Bush financial brain trust, as if that isn't an oxymoron of epic purport.
And he can afford to lose while garnering national exposure with Mitt.
He is a stiff, though, not all that natural in front of non known crowds. But that shouldn't hurt him in this age of carefully staged spontaneous events.
He will win reelection in 2014 just because the Ohio Democratic Party is in a habit of picking the worst candidates possible. This isn't the candidates fault, although they are certainly collaborates in this whole mess, but rather the feeling that someone is owed a shot while good solid candidates are banished forever to the wilderness of state agencies or better still, move out of state as soon as possible.
Ohio is a swing state only because there are a whole bunch of democrats scattered around in the states large urban areas. But it's getting harder and harder to field a well funded slate of candidates which is another huge problem for the Democrats here in the Buckeye states.
I know I am taking a while to get to the point but I have to take my mind off of taxes for a minute or I would be going insane. (I prepare tax returns, in case you didn't know.)
Anyway, Rob Portman is going to be one of the serious contenders to run for president in 2016. He will be the first viable presidential candidate, I know I know, but Kucinich never really had a chance, from Ohio since Bob Taft back in the 50's.
He can win the state. He trounced Lee Fisher, the darling of the Cleveland money men. Because of that, I am afraid that these reliable sources of money are going to cry poverty now that Fisher is finally off the stage.
Portman is the prototypical republican candidate. He is principled, for a republican, and he has never wavered on key issues important to the base like straw man extraordinaire, Mitt Romney.
I am saying this here right now: Rob Portman will be the presidential nominee for the republicans in 2016.
The only person I think who is on the scene right now that can beat him is Hillary Clinton.
Have at it, DU....
Adios, back to the task at hand, getting refunds for working folks...
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Gender: MaleCurrent location: Cleveland Ohio
Member since: 2003 before July 6th
Number of posts: 45,558
