Thoughts on the United States

18 Thursday Oct 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in United States

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Barack Obama, List of Posts on US, Michelle Obama, Mitt Romney, Republicans, United States

Fruit still life with shells, by Balthasar van der Ast, 1620

Balthasar van der Ast (1593/94–1657)

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have been working on a blog, now nearly finished. However, it is difficult for me to concentrate on a subject other than current events in the United States. We are nearing the elections and I cannot even send my five dollars to help the Obama/Biden campaign. I am not an American citizen. My grandfather was, but that does not count.

However, I share the distress expressed by various individuals (President Obama, President Clinton, Michelle Obama, etc.). The Republicans have the money to buy their way into the presidency of the United States, but President Obama is not in that position.

Obstructionism and Scapegoating

Since July 2011, I have been watching the United States. One of the phenomena I noticed is considerable obstructionism. Please read the Daily Complaint‘s article. Since the 2010 mid-term election, Tea Party members have sat in Congress saying no to all that President Obama was advocating. And they did so systematically.

This is a game and a nasty one. Individuals, in this case extremists in the Republican Party—such as Tea Party members—prevented (obstructionism) President Obama from bringing remedial action to a severe problem and now, come election time, they are blaming (scapegoating) President Obama for not having taken action which they prevented him from carrying out. I am speaking of the stimulus package.

The Debate

During the debate that took place on October 16th, 2012, Mr Romney found so many faults in the manner the President had managed the economy that it sounded as if the Democrats had fought two useless wars and brought the United States to the brink of a financial collapsed. As my nieces would say: gross!

In the early fall of 2008, I lost a third of my pension fund. I have now recovered that money, but at the time, I considered stepping off the planet. I could not afford to lose that money because I could not go back to work. TARP saved me as it saved many citizens of the United States and the citizens of its financial partners. Now my losses occurred at the end of a Republican administration, not during the presidency of Mr Obama.

So Mitt Romney…

So Mitt Romney cannot possibly attack President Obama where the economy is concerned. President Obama was not allowed the stimulus package he requested and there have nevertheless been improvements. My pension fund has climbed back to its August 2008 amount, but I cannot trust the Republicans.

In my view, Mr Romney and other rich Americans who are deposit their money in offshore accounts are harming the United States. One has to pay one’s taxes: that is the “freedom we surrender” (Thomas Hobbes). So, given that he hasn’t paid his dues as a citizen of the United States, I wonder if Mr Romney should be seeking the Presidency of the United States. Mr Romney was part of the problem. As matters stand in the United States, he has not been paying his fair share of taxes.

Regulation

I perceive a need for robust regulation in many areas, one of which is taxation. Just how much money can one keep under the table. Moreover, there should also be a limit to the number of jobs the rich can export. Deregulation can hurt and it has.

Here is a list of the articles I have posted on the US. It may not be complete, but I have difficulty making such lists, so I would ask for your indulgence. I will try to collect the missing posts and will listen to the Debate once again. I didn’t like President Obama’s “you’re lying,” but there are times when provocation invites a fiery response.

The list

2011

The US Economy (July 19, 2011)

On Raising the Debt Limit (July 26, 2011)

First things first: President Obama’s address (July 26, 2011)

A Great Favor (July 28, 2011)

The Damage so Far (July 29, 2011)

The Compromise (August 5, 2011)

Leaders and Education (August 8, 2011)

The Right to Vote: “It is wrong – deadly wrong… “

06 Friday Jul 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in Uncategorized

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

1964 Civil Rights Act, Abraham Lincoln, Florida, George W Bush, Jeb Bush, Republicans, United States, Voting Rights Act

: The Creation of Adam, The Sistine Chapel, by Michelangelo; Michelangelo Buonarotti (6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564) Photo credit: Wikipedia; It is wrong – deadly wrong – to deny any of your fellow Americans the right to vote in this country. (Lyndon Baines Johnson on the 1965 Voting Rights Act.)

In a speech related to the 1965 Voting Rights Act, President (1963-1969) Lyndon Baines Johnson, LBJ, (August 27, 1908 – January 22, 1973) stated that:

“Rarely are we met with a challenge…. to the values and the purposes and the meaning of our beloved Nation. The issue of equal rights for American Negroes is such as an issue…. the command of the Constitution is plain. It is wrong – deadly wrong – to deny any of your fellow Americans the right to vote in this country.” LBJ on the 1965 Voting Rights Act

1) Yet, after the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which followed the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Democrats ceased to be elected into office in the southern states where there is a greater concentration of African Americans than in the northern states. Since 1965, in these southern states, Republicans have been elected into office.

2) Mr George Zimmerman, who stands accused of the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, has received donations that will give him a better chance of being found not guilty of the afore-mentioned crime. Why was Troy Davis executed when all pointed to his innocence?

Related blog: Troy Davis: the Lex Talionis

3) In 2000, Al Gore won the Presidential elections.

Let’s go back in time: “Shortly before 8 p.m. EST, all of the major television networks estimate that Gore has beaten Texas Gov. George W. Bush in the key state of Florida — but as the night goes on and results come in from the state’s Panhandle region, networks are forced to retract the estimate.” (CNN, December 13, 2000)

What happened is as follows. When the time came to close the doors on voters, Jed Bush, then Governor of Florida, “worked to rule” and closed the doors to voting facilities even if many among one’s “fellow Americans,” in this case persons of colour, had yet to vote. There was queue of persons still waiting to vote. It appears that the Florida recount was not altogether the Florida recount.

There is the letter of the law, but then there is its spirit. In a just society, the spirit overrides the letter.

4) And now I hear that a voter purge is presently taking place in the State of Florida, under the direction of Republican Governor Rick Scott which could eliminate persons of colour from the list of voters. Consequently, I am inclined to take seriously the comments contained in the following video. This is perturbing.

Ignudo, The Sistine Chapel (detail), Michelangelo

Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo

This video cannot be embedded. Please click on Sistine Chapel to view it. It is beautiful.

6 July 2012

WordPress

A Glimpse at the Obama Years: Statesmanship

30 Saturday Jun 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in United States

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Barack Obama, Democrat, Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, George W Bush, Henry Paulson, Republicans, United States, United States Secretary of the Treasury

The School of Athens, by Raphael

“Sprezzatura,” I can’t believe it! This is Wikipedia on Raphael’s paintings:

“They give a highly idealised depiction of the forms represented, and the compositions, though very carefully conceived in drawings, achieve “sprezzatura”, a term invented by his friend Castiglione, who defined it as “a certain nonchalance which conceals all artistry and makes whatever one says or does seem uncontrived and effortless …” (Wikipedia)

“The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.” Plato

A few weeks before the 2008 Presidential election, President George W Bush was told that the economy was about to collapse and that Americans and their financial partners in what has become a global economy were sinking faster and deeper than the Titanic.

Much to his credit, Henry Paulson (R), the 74th United States Secretary of the Treasury, went to President Bush and explained that a crisis was imminent and that unless something were done immediately, we would be entering a recession that might well dwarf the Great Depression (1929-1939). At this point, Henry Paulson (R) talked to Senator Christopher “Chris” Dobb (D) who drafted the necessary legislation.

The Democrats listened and unlike Herbert Hoover (R), who did not veto the proposed Smooth-Hawley Tariff Act, but signed it into law on June 17, 1930; in the fall of 2008, both Republicans and Democrats decided to act immediately and in the interest of the people. On October 3, 2008, TARP (the Troubled Asset Relief Program) was signed into law by President Bush, bless him, as the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.

It was a huge expense: “The TARP program originally authorized expenditures of $700 billion. The Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act reduced the amount authorized to $475 billion.” (Wikipedia) But had it not been for TARP, Americans and yours truly here in Canada would be going to soup kitchens and the family pooch would suffer.

I would suppose that approving TARP did not help Mr Paulson’s career. But had Democrats and Republicans not acted jointly and responsibly, people like you and me would have suffered and it may have been for a very long time

In short, TARP saved the United States and its trading partners. Yet when President Obama was elected into office, he did not say a word against his predecessor. The previous administration’s wars had nearly ruined the US economy and, by extension, our global economy.

And now, thanks to the Supreme Court, the Health-Care reform program Mitt Romney brought to Massachusetts and which President Obama more or less adopted has been deemed “constitutional.” Mr Romney, please tell the truth. If you say you will do away with health-care reforms, it will seriously endanger your credibility. As a matter of fact, it has already. In today’s Beast (June 29-2012), I read that Mitt Romney, “[t]he presumptive Republican nominee was quick to promise a repeal of the health-care act if elected president, but he proposed no alternative—throwing out only the usual Medi-scare, deficit-bomb, and ‘government takeover’ bromides.” (John Avlon)

At this stage in life, I know that, in the pursuit of power, candidates will attack one another. But, I have heard Mr Romney discredit President Obama’s health-care reforms when these are the reforms he brought to the people of Massachusetts.

—ooo—

The US made a very smart decision on November 4, 2008, when it elected into office a man of integrity, a superior mind, an educated intellect, a person eminently qualified for the position, a Nobel-prize laureate and the President-elect who asked Senator Hillary Clinton to be his Secretary of State. He trusts her and she has been magnificent.

So back to the economy and other matters of state, allow me to say that given the obstructionism and scapegoating he has had to face for the last three years, Barack Obama’s record as the duly-elected President of the United States of America is very impressive.

The music is by Vangelis (film: 1492 Conquest of Paradise).

June 29, 2012

WordPress

: President George W. Bush and President-elect Barack Obama meet in the Oval Office of the White House Monday, November 10, 2008. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A Glimpse at the Obama Years: Statesmanship (michelinewalker.com)

It’s Etch a Sketch & Praise for President Obama

22 Thursday Mar 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in Uncategorized

≈ 21 Comments

Tags

Barack Obama, Etch A Sketch, Hector Giacomelli, Mitt Romney, Obama, Republicans, Summer Solstice, United States

: Bloomsbury Dictionary

It’s Etch a Sketch

I am so sorry. It’s the Etch a Sketch Day, not Etch and Sketch, as I called the last event in the race for the leadership of the Republican Party, US. Obviously, life is keeping me humble, which is very good.

Art: Hector Giacomelli (April 1, 1822 and died in Menton on December 1, 1904)

As some of you know, I have long battled Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and the symptoms are: getting lost in mid-sentence, not remembering how to spell a word, you have been able to spell since age 8, difficulty concentrating, constant fatigue, poor balance (one tends to fall). Poor (short-term) memory causes me to repeat what I have just said.

Such a condition is a burden. But the mind is otherwise unaffected and, as one of my dearest readers put it so aptly, one needs to put a long night’s sleep between days. I do. The nights will now grower shorter and shorter until the Summer Solstice (about June 24th: St John’s Day). This year, 2012, the Summer Solstice is on June 20th. Canadians have long relied on the Old Farmer’s Almanac to know when to plant their vegetables.

So Etch a Sketch it is and it is making waves. Personally, I find the whole kerfuffle very sad. It is possible to be a head-of-state and remain honest and gracious. When President Obama was elected into office, he did not blame anyone for the difficulties his administration had inherited. Moreover, he is capable of expressing sorrow when Americans do something very wrong.

Would you believe President Obama has been criticized for apologizing on behalf of the US for last week’s killing of innocent Afghans? They are calling him weak.

It was not weakness. It was strength, wisdom and good manners. President Obama did his duty, both as President and a decent human being. Moreover, he reminded viewers around the world that the US had to get out of Afghanistan.

I have work to do and a post in preparation, so I must go. A good day to all of you. Yesterday’s post featured daisies by Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté, and today, the painting is featured at Art.com. It is a coincidence.

Hector Giacomelli, Le Perchoir / The Perch

Beethoven (1770–1827 ): 7 Ländler Dances D-dur Woo 11

(please click on the title to hear the music)

Ländler (a folk dance)

March 22, 2012

God punished Washington or Michele Bachmann and Natural Disasters

01 Thursday Sep 2011

Posted by michelinewalker in Uncategorized

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Angst, Democrats, French enlightenment, God, Leibniz, natural disasters, punishment, Republicans, Voltaire's Candide, Washington

So God punished Washington! Could that be? I suppose there has to be a way of making sense of the senseless, i.e. natural disasters.

However, there is a problem. Just which Washington did God punish? A Republican Washington or a Democratic Washington? And to make matters worse, which God meted out this punishment? I was raised to think there was only one God, but I have since realized that people pray to different Gods.

French philosopher Voltaire (1694-1778) wrote his masterful Candide ou l’Optimisme in 1759, shortly after Lisbon suffered an earthquake and a tsunami that killed between fifty to one hundred thousand persons. Candide, the main character of Voltaire’s witty picaresque tale (picaresque because of its forever-travelling and motley characters) is a naïve young man.

Candide was raised in the Castle of Baron Thunder-ten-tronckh, in Westphalia, Germany, and is probably the illegitimate son of the Baron’s sister. One day Candide is chased out of Paradise, the Castle Thunder-ten-tronckh, when he is caught kissing Mademoiselle Cunégonde, the Baron Thunder-ten-tronckh’s beautiful daughter.

At one point in the novel, the naïve Candide just happens to be in Lisbon with his mentor, Pangloss, on the very day, November 1^st, 1755, Lisbon was devastated by an earthquake and a tsunami that claimed nearly one hundred thousand lives.

Candide and Pangloss survive, but Candide cannot understand why such a disaster has befallen the citizens of Lisbon. Fortunately, his beloved mentor Pangloss, a disciple of Leibniz (1646-1716), reassures him by saying, as he always does, that all is for the best in the best of possible worlds: “Tout est pour le mieux dans le meilleur des mondes possibles.”

It is unlikely that Lisbon’s Great Earthquake and Tsunami alone, if at all, moved Voltaire to write Candide. Voltaire was the most prominent among the philosophers of the French Enlightenment, and philosophers usually discuss philosophy, not current events. However, the earthquake had to be on Voltaire’s mind or it is unlikely he would have led his characters to the site of the disaster at the very moment said disaster occurred: kairos, or time in its vertical and opportune dimension, rather than chronos, the unaging and horizontal dimension of time.

Although he was a lumière, Voltaire was also a deist, albeit unconvincingly, and very much aware of the human condition. Late in his relatively long life (he died at the age eight-four), Voltaire wrote that he was “slowly nearing the moment when philosophers and idiots suffer the same fate.” “J’approche tout doucement du moment où les philosophes et les imbéciles ont la même destinée.” Death was the equalizer.

But unlike Pascal, a believer who tended to fear reason, Voltaire was a “philosophe” guided by reason alone. So it was as a “philosophe,” i.e. he felt no angst, that he accepted, humorously and with considerable wit, that humans were mortals who knew they were mortals. Moreover, he undoubtedly did so while dining at the table of some great aristocrat or prince. He loved luxury.

Voltaire was nevertheless an outspoken advocate of equality, justice and tolerance and was emprisoned for his views. He is therefore considered as a precursor of the French Revolution. But not for one second, however brief, would he have understood the “terreur,” or the year 1793, when both Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette were summarily guillotined.

Yet, although he places Candide and Pangloss in Lisbon on the day of the Great Earthquake and Tsunami of 1755, it is unlikely Voltaire would have seen this enormous disaster as a manifestation of God’s disapproval of anything or anyone.

As for last week’s earthquake and hurricane Irene, these were natural disasters and natural disasters cannot be prevented nor do they take sides. Because meteorologists can now follow the path of hurricanes and measure their velocity, the rich could flee from Irene, which would not have been possible before satellites were built. But God could not have discriminated between Republicans and Democrats as both are temporary denizens of Washington. Besides, if there are several Gods, they are probably fighting among one another. Godliness is in trouble.

When, after trials and tribulations galore, Candide is reunited with his beloved Cunégonde, she is no longer the beautiful Cunégonde of yesteryear, but literally repulsive. Candide marries her regardless, but has learned that all is not for the best in the best of possible worlds, and that he had better stick to cultivating his garden: “il faut [we must] cultiver notre jardin.“

So my question remains. Just which Washington did last week’s earthquake and hurricane Irene punish? Furthermore, just which God (money being the mightiest) held the rod?

First things first: President Obama’s address

26 Tuesday Jul 2011

Posted by michelinewalker in Uncategorized

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nationhood, President Obama, Republicans, US Economy

In last night’s address to his nation and to the world, President Obama made it perfectly clear that the US could not default on its financial obligations. One has to pay one’s debt and, in the case of America’s current debt, not raising the President’s debt ceiling might bring disaster. Kindly remember the Great Depression. Well, it could be that it will seem a mere dress rehearsal compared to the harm generated by defaulting on the country’s immediate financial responsiblities.

There can be no doubt that the US needs to make changes to its spending priorities. Moreover, it must tax the affluent. However, first things first. The US cannot default on its debt. We are looking at an impending economic crisis of such magnitude that it leaves little room, if any, for politicking. The time has come for several Republicans to rethink the concept of nationhood. If they fail to do so, let them leave Washington and suffer at leisure the consequences of their own ill-considered actions.