I have more proof that Maine's politicians are the best.

Senator Olympia Snowe is highly respected (as we knew) and politicians should first serve the nation, then the state, then the voters (which my mother and I have known for quite some time).

Maine, I am proud of you.

EDIT: Video does not work, so I took it off. Here's the link.

Milwaukee County Superviser John Chianelli Endorses Sexual Assaults

Supervisors call for firing of county mental health chief
Milwaukee Offers up Mentally Ill Women as Sexual Bait to Soothe Violent Male Inmates- Candidate for Governor Supports

Let me outline everything that is wrong about this.

• One, rape and sexual abuse should never be a trade-off for anything. If Milwaukee has a problem with violence in male wards, then something should be done to curb the violence such as keeping the inmates away from each other.
• Two, essentially, what they are doing is allowing things such as rape and sexual abuse in state-sponsored facilities. I fail to see how this is in any way a good idea, as both rape and sexual assualt are illegal.
• Three, they are devauling women. They are telling women that they are expendable, tools, and it does not matter if they are hurt as long as it somehow helps men.
• Four, they are showing callous disregaurd toward persons with medical conditions. I am quite sure that people with psychiatric problems are covered by the Americans With Disabilities Act. Again, this is illegal.
• Five, sexual assault and rape are simply different forms of violence than beatings, scratching, biting, and whatever else the facility was having problems with. Trading one sort of violence for another sort solves no problem, it simply reinforces the pattern and adds even more to the things be fixed later.
• Six, it would seem that they are operating off the 1950s stereotype that women are somehow more docile or more likely to quell violence by their mere prescene. This is clearly wrong, as there are 100 men born for every 104 women and the world still has problems such as war, theft, and general violence.
• Seven, whatever causes the violence in the first place will not be magically cured, it will just be redirected. Again, this solves nothing.

Send an e-mail to Candidate Scott Walker at info@scottwalker.org, and one to John Chianelli at john.chianelli@milwcnty.com.

Deepwater Horizions Oil Geyser

Watch CBS News Videos Online"-Deepwater Horizons worker speaks out about various technical problems on the rig



There's a second video there, too.

People keep talking about America's "oil addiction". I rather think that its a power addiction. Big companies (CEOs) want to stay big (make lots of money); and politicians don't want to lose the campaing funds and/or power.

Its a money problem.

Parade and Times Magazine

I had some Parade articles pointed out to me today. Barred from responding on the website by my lack of account, I'm talking about it here.

Article One:
"Developed World Leads on Gay Rights"

Countries that have Legal Same-Sex Marriage:

1. Canada
2. Belgium
3. Spain
4. The Netherlands
5. Norway
6. Sweden
7. South Africa
8. ...Unspecified others

Countries where homosexual acts are punishable by death:

1. Iran
2. Saudi Arabia
3. United Arab Emirates
4. Yemen
5. Mauritania
6. Parts of Nigeria and Sudan

Places where sanctions seem to be easing:

1. China
2. Singapore
3. Cuba
4. Nepal

Shouldn't America be sad that South Africa, of all people, is beating them in legalizing gay/lesbian marriages?

Article Two (An Ask Marilyn Question):

I was born in the US and have worked in countries with less wealth. Americans are the biggest complainers of all the cultures I've experienced. Any ideas why?

I have an idea.

Blame the Constituion. It's almost a legal responsiblity, certaintly a legal right, to complain loudly and publicly, as often as possible. It's called the First Amendment. Americans grow up with the proud tradition of public complaining; about taxes and wars and whatever was wrong with the government that week, ingrained in them from the time they can understand what's going on around them. America was pretty much founded on people complaining.

Complaining is an integeral part of America culture, government, and life.

-

Today, I read Times Magazine's "100 Most Influential People of the Year". Here's a selection of some you've probably never heard of (and a few you have).

• President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (Brazil). Founding member of the Workers' Party, jailed for leading a strike. "What led him to politics in the first place?...it was when, at age 25, he watched his wife Maria die during the eighth month of her pregnancy, along with their child, because they couldn't afford decent medical care. There's a lesson for the world's billionaires: let people have good health care, and they'll cause much less trouble for you."
• Yukio Hatayoma (Japan). Formed a counter-party to the Liberal Democratic Party, broke it's "virtual monopoly on power in 2009".
• Prime Minister Salam Fayyad (Palestine). "...a passionate advocate of the Palestinian cause with a clear vision of the unequivocal, nonviolent path to statehood and peace with Israel."
• Mayor Annise Parker (Houston, Texas). "...lesbian businesswoman with three kids and a longtime partner." "...she would focus on her city's $100 million budget shortfall during her time in office."
• Bo Xilai (China). Former mayor, former governor, former commerce minister. "There [Chongqing] he launched a crackdown on organized crime that has seen more than 3,000 suspects arrested, including the former chief of police."
• Robin Li (China). CEO of Baidu, a Chinese search engine. "Even before Google created a furor by refusing to censor its search engine, Baidu has been handily whipping it in China."
• Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan of Abu Dhabi, President of the United Arab Emirates. Bailed Dubai out of its real estate crash. "The prince has been a sober steward of Abu Dhabi's oil wealth and is planning for a post-oil future: the emirate aims to be a world leaser in sustainable energy."
• Neil Patrick Harris (America). Actor. "The public's perception of gay men is shifting because of this guy, and they'll be too entertained to notice."
• Lea Michele (America). Actress, singer, creator of the Liv Aid breast-self-exam device. "...as Rachel Berry on the hit TV show Glee, she is inspiring young people to get involved in musical programs in schools and encouraging communities to fund them..."
• Han Han (China). Novelist, racecar driver, blogger. "He doesn't focus on the mundane details of his daily life or celebrity gossip. Instead, he zeroes in on the ills of contemporary Chinese society, his barbed posts targeting topics from official venality to the failings of a state-produced movie about Confucious."
• Elizabeth Warren (America). Chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel, attorney, law professor. "She minds the government's purse strings." "...a thankless high-profile government position overseeing the $700 billion taxpayer bailout of the US financial industry."
• Jaron Lanier (America). Composer, preformer, computer scientist, philospher, author "You Are Not A Gadget". "...he celebrates the potential of the Internet but also laments the way its misuse can suppress the individual voice."
• Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew (Singapore). Former Minister Mentor of Singapore. "Lee inspired his polyglot population to become the intellectual and technical center of the region."
• Comissioner of Rhode Island schools Deborah Gist (Rhode Island). "When Deborah Gist became Comissioner of Rhode Island schools in 2009, she pledged to make every decision in the best interests of children- something we've heard before and rarely seen happen. Then she started doing it."
• Amartya Sen (India). Author, philospher, professor. "His notion of measuring human development is now central to the work of the UN and the World Bank."
• Justice Sonia Sotomayor (America). Supreme Court Justice. "...she would bring to the bench a deep understanding of how most people who walk down Broadway, or Main Street, live their lives."
• Mir-Hossein Mousavi (Iran). Leader of the Green Movement, 2009 Presidential Candidate. "...Mousavi, 68, and those in his Green movement understand that the revolution's broken promises must be fulfilled and that their nonviolent protests for change must be Iran's true path: governments must be formed at the ballot box, not at bullet point."
• Temple Grandin (America). Animal Scientist. "...an extraordinary source of inspiration for autisitc children, their parents- and all people." "...she has developed corrals for cattle that improve their quality of life by reducing stress."
• Nay Phone Latt (Burma). Poet, blogger, recipient of PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award. "...the voice of a generation of Burmese who are finding ways around an aging regime's desperate censorship. When the junta there cracked down on Buddist-monk-led demonstrations in 2007 and restricted press coverage, Nay Phone Latt's blog was a go-to source for international journalists. For this, he was arrested and is serving 12 years."
• Reem Al Numery (Yemen). Child bride. "When I protested, my dad gagged me and tied me up. After the wedding, I tried to kill myself twice."
• Zahra Rahnavard (Iran). Artist, educator, organizer in Iran's Green Party. "The woman Ahmadinejad fears."
• Malalai Joya (Afghanistan). Ex-Iranian Parliament member, revolutionary. "To be so lucky as to become literate in a place where girls are shrouded and denied even fresh air is close to a miracle. To start underground schools and educate girls under the noses of turbaned, self-appointed defenders of virtue and forbidders of vice is truly extraordinary. But to get a seat in parliament and refuse to be silent in the face of the Taliban and warlord zealots shows true fiber. When Malalai Joya did this, her opponets responded in the usual way: expulsion from parliament, warnings, intimidation and attempts to cut her life short."
• Will Allen (Milwaukee, America). Urban farmer. "Everybody, regardless of their economic means, should have access to the same healthy, safe, affordable food that is grown naturally."

More Healthcare Reform

A Robin Hood Bill that America Needed

Had a talk with someone I knew this morning. They brought up a lot of good points about healthcare.

1. Everyone who drives is required to have driver's/automobile insurance. What's so different about being required to have healthcare isurance?

2. The government has been running federal healthcare for years. The military and all federal employees have got it. It's the plan all those Congresspeople have got.

Also: What's with the states suing the federal government?

(The States that Sued)

• Virginia
• Idaho
• Lousiana
• Texas
• South Carolina
• Nebraska
• Michigan
• Utah
• Pensylvania
• Alabama
• Washington
• Colorado
• South Dakota

Healthcare Reform

I was watching the national news today and was very dissapointed by what I saw and heard. Congresspeople screaming "baby-killer" at people on the floor, protesters chanting so loud outside the Congress building ("Kill the bill, kill the bill, Nancy, Nancy, kill the bill!")that the Senators and Representatives could hear them inside the building during the vote.

That Congresspeople should show such deplorable, undignified behavior while doing their jobs is disgraceful. Everyone should be able to conduct themselves according to their position in a polite, civilized manner. They represent the country and the American people; and with that in mind, I can't say that I like the state of the country today, or the attitude of the people.

Thank you, Olympia Snowe and few others, for having the good sense to stay out of it.

Theory on Political Insanity

Lots of people seem to complain when the same politicians get elected time after time, despite how bad they are. Here's my answer to that:
Politics is mostly showmanship.
If you put on a good enough show, then enough people won't care about your platform to vote you into office. People will vote for what they feel is right instead and/or in spite of what they know is right. Think about it:
You remember the charmers and the con artists and the charismatic people in politics. The good speakers and the ones with the good public relations. The people who know what their constituents want and/or need. The masses remember Obama's "Yes we can" and "Change you can believe in" because that's what everyone felt they needed. When everyone was worried about communism, we got McCarthy. When Germany was sore over loosing so much, the world got Hitler. How many times has there been a change in government because people felt they couldn't live with the old one anymore; and then those same people make the government just the same as before? To many times to count since the rise of even a vestige of civilization and there will be many more to come.
Politicians are elected on feelings, it seems, more times than not. Certainly there are politicians who are decent people; I certainly know of some. Given that calling yourself a 'politician' usually gives people a bad feeling anyway, saying that you are a 'legislator' may help. However, that wouldn't change the situation at all if the politicians/legislators didn't change how they worked at all. We'd just have more complaining about 'two-faced politicians'.
If people thought more, perhaps then they would complain less.