I wish he'd lived and done a second term , but its a what if.....
Fifty years after John F. Kennedy fell victim to an assassin's bullet while visiting Texas with his wife, people at home and abroad paused Friday to remember the 35th president of the United States. Collected here are memories of the slain president, details from the day of his death and live updates from the memorial service at Dealey Plaza in Dallas. President Kennedy was one of America's 'What if's...' Had he lived what would it have been? Bill O'Reilly said it right from his book:
“Most people live their lives as if the end were always years away. They measure their days in love, laughter, accomplishment, and loss. There are moments of sunshine and storm. There are schedules, phone calls, careers, anxieties, joys, exotic trips, favorite foods, romance, shame, and hunger. A person can be defined by clothing, the smell of his breath, the way she combs her hair, the shape of his torso, or even the company she keeps.
All over the world, children love their parents and yearn for love in return. They revel in the touch of parental hands on their faces. And even on the worst of days, each person has dreams about the future-dreams that sometimes come true.
Such is life.
Yet life can end in less time than it takes to draw one breath.”
President Kennedy is remembered for many things. Perhaps his most famous line, delivered as a war hero himself, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”It is said, that President Kennedy’s most enduring legacy is the establishment of the Peace Corps. Through the Peace Corps, President Kennedy sought to encourage mutual understanding between Americans and people from different countries and cultures. He believed that the Peace Corps could serve an a unique instrument and weapon in the war against communism. By improving the quality of life in less developed countries, the people of these nations would become more resistant to communism and convinced of America’s sincerity and ability to help them. Today the Peace Corps is no longer considered a weapon against communism. It has proved to valuable organization for the United States. It has outlived the Cold War and continues to send participants to different nations. What If ..... President Kennedy had lived?
No President Lyndon B. Johnson
Kennedy's assassination was great for Johnson's political career, as it saved him from a coming scandal. "A corruption investigation into the vice president, also very real, was shelved by the editors at Lifemagazine in the sensitive weeks after Kennedy was killed
No Civil Rights Legislation
Would Kennedy have passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, or the Fair Housing Act that Johnson undertook?
JFK Is Not Well Regarded
Even assuming all of those things are true — he isn't killed, he gets his second successful term, and retires comfortably — it's still likely that he wouldn't be viewed nearly as warmlyHistorian Jeff Greenfield imagines that the president’s “reckless” personal life would have eventually caught up with him -- and that reports of his extramarital affairs may have become public. “It almost became public in the weeks before Dallas,” Greenfield said. “There were reporters looking around, because the recklessness of Kennedy's private life, including having a mistress who's also the mistress of a mafia boss, dallying with a woman who was a suspected East German intelligence agent.”
While the Kennedys would have ultimately squelched the reports from going public, Greenfield contends in his book, it would have almost certainly taken a major toll on his marriage. And Greenfield raises the question of whether the first lady might have sought a different life at the end of an imagined second Kennedy term. “I speculate that she may have confronted John Kennedy with the hard realities of what she's been living through for 8 years,” he said. “By ‘68, the women's movement was beginning to take shape and maybe Jackie Kennedy might have looked for a different kind of life at the end of the term.”
Remembering President Kennedy: The Quote we SHOULD all carry with us.
"Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future." —John F. Kennedy
After a week of outrageous comments Ms. Winfrey gains on the race card . Here awarded the Medal of Honor by President Obama.
Well it took a while , President Obama has had his list of defenders . So here I am going blog them all here . They may not be related . From MSNBC's
Martin Bashir, take a look at any program these days on TV . It pretty much heated up with specialty between 'Conservative' against ' Liberal' . Each side had their week on spewing controversial words. Ed Schultz, Chris Matthews, Rachel Maddow, Alec Baldwin or Lawence O’Donnell all are looking sad these days . What set them off this week? Together with all the hype recently I wanted to comment on what Ms. Oprah Winfrey said in an interview with a British reporter , how else to explain her comments to a BBC host that she thinks President Obama is disrespected because of his race? I wanted post my view that from an angle it looks like that Mr. Obama has had a rough ride , and it looks like that there might be a just hint of "rejection" on the part of GOP , but from so many angles what looks like any form of 'racism' against Mr. Obama as viewed by Ms. Winfrey may be on her part, her failure to recognize that the President made some mistakes and is being attacked for his failures rather than his skin color . This is what what made me a bit jumpy about Oprah . On BBC, Oprah Winfrey made a bold statement about President Obama: “There’s a level of disrespect for the office that occurs… because he’s African American.” “There’s no question about that. And it’s the kind of thing no one ever says, but everybody’s thinking it,” she continued. In an attempt to “prove” her point with an example of “racism,” Winfrey brought up the time Republican Congressman Joe Wilson shouted “You’re a liar!” at Obama during a 2009 speech.- Americans Hate Obama Because He’s Black. OK, next she said this that “for racism to end, racists must die“. Winfrey also said “People are terrorized because of the color of their skin, because of the color of their black skin.”, and that “there are still generations of people, older people (White people), who were born and bred and marinated in it – in that prejudice and racism – and they just have to die.” Next comes Black leader Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson is challenging Oprah Winfrey to put up or shut up. He this to Oprah “Oprah Winfrey is sending a destructive and racist message to black youth,” said Peterson in a statement Tuesday.“I’m calling on Oprah to back up her claims and give proof of blacks being terrorized by whites. She can’t – because it’s not happening.Winfrey made the remarks in an interview with the BBC last Friday on the subject of her movie “The Butler.”The only way for racism to disappear, she said, would be for “older [white] people who were born, bred and marinated in prejudice and racism to die.”Oprah states in this video that “People are still judged by their skin-color, and that’s the problem.” Yet in saying “all whites are racist” (and, does she KNOW what she is saying?! Must “DIE” because of it?!!). She, herself, is judging (the character; thoughts, words and deeds) . Interestingly, Oprah failed to mention that Obama enthusiastically campaigned (twice) to be subjected to the so-called "level of disrespect"that accompanies the office, and was twice successful.Oprah,came from humble beginnings and stand as testaments to America's exceptional nature. She has to "thank" the whites that helped her become what she is, and should best put her talents on helping poor African Americans here in America .
I am starting to feel sorry for Mr. Obama. Can he do anything right?
President Obama has had his worst week in years , he finally admitted and took the blame and said "We fumbled.........." .Fumbled? That's like saying the Hindenburg suffered a little static electricity.So finally he relented .What?! He didn't blame Bush? He didn't blame the GOP? He didn't blame anybody else?He actually took responsibility?! The Republican party and the ultra right must be "spinning donuts" , and having a ball with this. I have to say in this post is I saw it coming . The shaky start is all the result of poorly drafted non -partisan approach , Obama-care was not going to just have a smooth start . I wrote about what President Obama did wrong in a last posting , he failed to address the nation in his first term , on how it was going work. Another factor which I am speculating is that Pres. Obama did not know a word from the ACA law when he signed it , was caught off guard when the snow ball started rolling. You have to say is wake up dude!, but this just equals inadequate leadership skills. He should have been on top of this from beginning to the very roll out . Also what I find here so disturbing is that the President of the United States is telling the insurance companies what to do , our commander - in - chief has now been reduced to a big insurance broker who is over riding a law he to helped pass . The accusation that the Administration knew that millions of people were going to be dropped from their HMO's is vary nasty , it made Obama look as if he spoke a lie ( or as the other media ) say "he miss spoke" and so on . Either case President Obama can't escape this one . Worries surrounding the politics and the policy are colliding. The president’s most immediate threat could come from a rebellion inside his own party, fueled by his own sinking approval ratings and a growing sense of dread among Democrats about being blamed for failures of the federal government.. “I feel deeply responsible for making it harder for them rather than easier for them to continue to promote the core values that I think led them to support this thing in the first place,” the president said in another of his apologetic statements. Meanwhile Some insurers called Obama’s fix unworkable. “Changing the rules after health plans have already met the requirements of the law could destabilize the market and result in higher premiums,” said Karen Ignagni, who heads the trade group America’s Health Insurance Plans.Well, Mr. President, the sole authority on standards in healthcare (Which he picked up where, exactly?) Why is it that this little patch only works for one year? Why not extend it indefinitely? I don't get it.. You just went from saying "If you like you can keep it" to "If you like it, you can keep for a year."
NOTES AND COMMENTS:
I have to cut President Obama some SLACK here , I know that he was 'trying to fix the American Health Care System " . I applaud his effort to allow people with "pre -existing conditions" to get covered . I believe that it would have been solved with better legislation from a federal level , but there are issues with the law that I find hilarious , first I don't find the ACA "affordable" to consumers since it's the vary same insurance companies who are offering what looks like a good deal for coverage , if you think about it the Insurance companies have lobbied Washington D.C. and their in "league" in effect with the "devil" to quote a saying . Prices are not going down . I don't like that you will be forced to 'buy' health insurance with no guarantee with price affordability . Forcing people people to buy is a must for the Insurance companies , it equals more revenue for them . What a rip folks.............
Increasingly desperate survivors of Typhoon Haiyan should blame the Philippine government , and not the storm.
OK, Here is my two cents on Global Warming .There is an old saying, "If you don't like the weather just wait a few minutes and it'll change." The nature of weather is all about change. One day it's warm and sunny, and the next day it's cold and rainy. In the past few years America has had weather that has been so extreme that there is no way it could be defined as normal.The weather in California to some has been a bit outta place for November. It has not rained in 50 days , we look up and see wispy clouds roll by . In the early morning hours its almost 48 F , by mid noon its 73 , but it feels like it's 80. Take a trip back in time , do any of you "remember" that in 1992 was one of the coolest in the U.S. for the past 100 years. But the winter that preceded it was the warmest. Heavy rains in February flooded California. Before that, the state had been in a six-year-long drought. A lot of people are wondering if something is wrong with our weather. I am to say this , but it's going to blow your mind . WE HAVE ALWAYS HAD THIS KIND OF WEATHER., the Scientists have know this , they have records like ice core samples and tree rings and written documents going back many thousand and maybe (millions ) of years that give insight on our weather. Our problem is all psychological , the new younger generation of past X-ers and their yuppie 20 year old's see this weather and they just act like as if 'astonished' as PROOF of Al Gore's prediction . Sure enough Governments and Scientists have been warning us about the Carbon emissions that give rise to temperatures world wide , yes its going to get warmer in the next decade , but lets look at the last 65 million years since the dinosaurs the Earth was a balmy 80 F as far as the North Pole . We had our Ice Ages , our Volcanic eruptions and our massive floods that may have wiped out human communities as far as 11,000 years ago . the Philippines — as for example . Had plenty of Time to evacuate people . I am not not just trying to "chew" up another human tragedy like what happened in 2005 with Hurricane Katrina , again even how massive a storm , and we have had many more worse in the last 200 years . There was time to evacuate and warn people in both storm cases , another is how much the media exaggerates the weather phenomenon is something to be questioned . Anyhow lets hope for now that I can put my two cents for Rain for 5 days straight in California.
NOTES AND COMMENTS:
There is a lot of debate as to if weather patterns are changing, or if this is just nature being it’s cyclical self. I’m not going to get into that debate here, because there are many opinions and theories regarding weather patterns; we are each entitled to our thoughts and opinions.
The landslide re-election as governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie surges some 'mixed' kinda hope among the far right and GOP. There is no question on my mind that the Republican party has to 'reconstituted' . It's hardly the party with any thing new these days. Between now 2013 and 2016 there is going have to be a lot of work to turn this party around. TIME magazine recently has featured Christie on its cover twice , not much as the 'Come back kid', but as the ' Can he do it kid' . The magazine cover of Christie is a silhouette of his face that reminds you of Alfred Hitchcock theme, titled " The Elephant in the Room" . Chris Christie's weight has always been an issue , Christie's record as Governor has not always been on the bright side of economic growth either for his state . Christie has been attacked by most conservatives Yes, he is a conservative; a very conservative conservative. The problem people are having is that Obama and many of the other democrats in our government are also conservatives. Unlike most others in his party, Christie recognizes this, and understands that he could advance the agenda effectively by working with the "liberals," rather than oppose them when they advance conservative ideas, as the republicans tend to do. , as you know Christie has lashed out at his party favorites like Ted Cruz , none the less for the Democrats he is their 'favorite' so swimming in Democratic money as he ran for reelection. His Democratic opponent, Barbara Buono, is ignored by the national press and the sort of people that would usually be writing checks for the Democratic challenger to a Republican governor in a large, liberal state. It had the opposite effect . Christie's most unforgivable and possibly politically fatal move was his bro-hug of President Obama in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Obama visited Christie in New Jersey just six days before the 2012 presidential election, and not only did Christie greet him warmly but he also praised him for his leadership! It was a shocking move, particularly in such a hyper-partisan age, and he will have to summon his considerable oratorical skills to explain his way out of this during a 2016 Republican primary fight. Voters like candidates who are comfortable with who they are. In that sense, Christie’s weight could be a plus. He’s a big guy, with a big personality, and big ambitions. His size is distinctive, like Ronald Reagan’s hair, or President Obama’s ears. There’s nobody who looks like him in US politics.
In the end, his physical presence will just become one part of the total package voters weigh. He’s indeed the elephant in the room. What remains to be seen is if he becomes the elephant in the Oval Office.
Can you tell the difference between a toy gun and a real one?
In the wake of mass shootings , our nation has a problem with trigger happy police. The word 'Trigger Happy" may not be the right words for Police officers who risk their lives daily in the performance of duty on a daily basis . There is a point however to pause for a moment , and look at the circumstance . Yes a 13 year old boy was shot and killed , but obviously I do feel sorry for the Lopez family . I have to look at things from a different angle . How would you know if Andy Lopez if you saw him that day know that he was carrying a toy. Can you tell? The Police reaction first of all is like the two sides of the coin The shooting is the latest in a long line of incidents of police shooting — and sometimes killing — people whom they have mistakenly thought to be armed with a real firearm. Last year, police fatally shot a Texas eight-grader who was carrying a pellet gun that resembled a black Glock. The year before, Miami police shot and killed a 57-year old man who had a realistic replica gun after getting 911 calls about the ostensible weapon. “This is not the first time,” says Karen Caves, spokeswoman for a California state senator who has pushed stricter regulations on imitation firearms. “It happens every year.”. They commanded he ( Andy ) "drop the gun" twice, the boy turned towards their voices (the cops were behind him) and they fired as he turned to face them, because turning towards the cops also turned the toy gun, held under his arm, towards them. so they told him twice, and rather than drop it, he turned around towards them with it still in in his arms......towards them as you say. yup, his own fault he's dead ? Second, it is unclear whether or not the deputies used excessive force as it's not been revealed whether or not the boy pointed the weapon at them. Though it's fully reasonable for the deputies to have assumed the supposed weapon was real in the interest of public and personal safety as it did highly resemble the gun it was supposed to replicate, especially with its state mandated blaze orange tip removed. The fact that it was a young person carrying said "replica" does nothing to negate the aforementioned either as it's known that worldwide kids and adolescents are brought into gangs and combatant activities where they are supplied with firearms. Furthermore, the AK-47, which the replica was modeled after, is a high powered assault rifle whose rounds can pierce most low level body armor and is capable of fully automatic fire and is something that is naturally approached with warranted prejudice because of the substantial threat it can pose. It seems now The FBI is investigating of the fatal shooting of 13-year-old Andy Lopez by a sheriff's deputy in Northern California after it emerged that police took no more than 10 seconds to open fire on Lopez after seeing him with a toy pellet gun. So here are the sad consequences , regrettably . There were numerous California laws broken here and I blame the parents for not a) Supervising Andy's (a minor) use of a weapon (yes, a BB gun is a weapon), and B) Enrolling Andy in a firearms safety course. Had these no-brainer precautions occurred, this tragedy would have never happened.
NOTES AND COMMENTS:
California has extensive BB gun laws. California defines a "BB device" as: "any instrument that expels a projectile, such as a BB or a pellet, not exceeding 6 mm caliber, through the force of air pressure, CO2 pressure, or spring action, or any spot marker gun."
Broken law number 1: It is a misdemeanor in California to sell, loan, or transfer a BB gun, or "BB device" to a minor. Andy was a minor and unsupervised.
Broken law number 2: (And this one's a big fat "duh" and says it right in the second part of the last statute line). Federal law requires imitation guns (including most BB guns) to have special colors or markings. These markings allow law enforcement officers to identify them as fake firearms, and can prevent the shooting of a person armed with a fake gun that looks real. The orange barrel marker on Andy's gun was removed.
Broken law number 3: It is unlawful to carry a loaded rifle, shotgun, or handgun in any public place or on any public street in an incorporated area or an area where firing a firearm is prohibited. Furthermore the open carry of any handgun, loaded or unloaded in an incorporated area has now been banned. What the hell was Andy doing transporting an uncased weapon, especially one that looked real?
The President failed on certain points before implementing the new health care law.
Today I was writing down some 'key' points on what and how it went wrong for Obama on this healthcare initiative . As feeling a bit sorry for Mr. Obama for trying , and easing our over expensive American Health care system , he may have aided the problem rather than fixing it. Trust me , President Obama is in his second term, it's 2013 . We essentially have 3 more years of him if you don't count this year . ANYHOW what got me spinning on this . Way back when Mr. Obama was elected and it was the first year in office . The President "failed" to communicated with the American people President Obama assumed too much as to what the people wanted out of 'healthcare reform' . During that time the air was abuzz with a healthcare system that would be called 'single payer' . WELL the single payer system should resemble mostly Canada model . HEAR this most Americans were dreaming for free state provided healthcare , but ALAS . Not so , they were duped . SECONDLY , President Obama did not before Passing the Affordability Health Care Law ever engage in any table talk conferences with the Republicans on a bi-partisan level to draft any legislation with them . He pushed it through Congress via Nancy Pelosi . There seems that there should have been TIME to study the new law as drafted , before any implementation.People had the chance to read this bill, all 2200 pages AND people thought and have accused they the TEA party for crying wolf and ignorant. Even though you may have employer insurance, you involved with ACA without your knowledge. This has become a pleading of the majority in the senate and the minority in house, wanting to get on the now that the flood is coming.Perhaps this has one redeeming value...people will now become more involved with want government is doing and finally make demands that our government becomes a do as I say and not what you want to do.( some accuse President Obama of 'borrowing' Mitt Rommey's own idea on state mandate healthcare ) Either case. I fear the "federal' healthcare will back fire , and may have to go back to the table with some major revisions . I also Believe that the State Exchanges will be MORE successful in covering people over the Federal version . Besides the "sticker shock" that many will see with ***Obama-care,Americans who sign up for Obama-care will be getting a big surprise if they expect to access premium health care that may have been previously covered under their personal policies. Most of the top hospitals will accept insurance from just one or two companies operating under Obama-care. There’s a catch, though. The US Supreme Court ruled that states don’t have to expand Medicaid under Obama-care if they don’t want to. Right now, 29 states are moving toward expansion, according to the consulting firm The Advisory Board. You’ll need tocheck to seeif your state is among them. Now we come to Americans who buy their health insurance themselves on the open market. This is about 5 percent of the population, or 15 million people. Typically, these people work for small firms that don’t offer insurance, or they work for themselves, or they don’t work but don’t qualify for Medicare or Medicaid. Another issue is that the STATE exchanges are going to cost a 1 billion dollars to each tax payer, and there lots more problems reported . Under the Affordable Care Act, subsidies are only available for state exchanges. But through regulation the Internal Revenue Service has extended subsidies to federal exchanges too. The implications are immense. Family plans will cost $20,000 a year in 2016, according to the IRS. If Americans on the federally run exchanges do not qualify for health-insurance subsidies, few will sign up. Plans will be simply unaffordable. Obamacare will collapse not because of Congress, but due to flaws in the structure of the law.
It's a long ways off , we just have to buckle up and take a back seat till 2016. NOTES AND COMMENTS: *** Regarding the "name" of the Affordable Health- Care Act . Dubbed " Obama-Care", I think it's dis-graceful to use the Presidents name as a label to the new legislation . I don't know why , but its nausea for me . It's like calling Social Security the Franklin D Roosevelt retirement plan.....
