Everyone is jumping on the story of China’s great firewall. Amnesty International has been blocked from China. It was minutes after I received the email from Amnesty that I heard the story on television. There were interviews of computer geeks and reporters saying how they had found ways to encrypt and code and whatever to get over, under or through the firewall.
I have supported Amnesty International for years. And, like most of the world I am disturbed that the press and reporters had been led to believe that they would have total access to all the Internet, not just the sites approved by the Chinese government.
Additionally, I have been amused that the Chinese government has put out flyers instructing the people not to wear more than three different colors at one time. (Perhaps, we need a copy of that flyer.) I have been amused that the Chinese population has been instructed not to ask where the tourists and reporters live, not to ask what they do, and not to ask how much money they make… and not to spit on the sidewalks. Again, those instructions could come in handy in some parts of America.
All joking aside, this is a serious issue. Hopefully, some of the media will manage to get pictures and stories that they will report through encryption and coding, or at least will publish once they return home.
Yet, as I have watched the media jump on the Chinese censorship as if it is the worst censorship in the world, I thought about our own country. I’m totally against censorship in any way, shape or fashion, not matter who is doing the censoring. I was engrossed in the Amnesty International email when I was reminded that censorship is alive and well in our country, too.
How long has it been since Americans have seen the caskets of our dead sons and daughters being returned to Dover from Iraq or Afghanistan? Didn’t the Bush administration say there would be no pictures? I was reminded of Americans being escorted from and “detained” for wearing an anti-Bush t-shirt to a gathering where George 43 was to speak. I was reminded that NSA had been authorized to listen to phone calls and intercept emails. I was reminded that our country has engaged in “rendition.” I thought of Guantanamo and the “enemy combatants” who had been labeled as such so they would have no access to attorneys or enjoy the right of habeas corpus. I was reminded of waterboarding as a means of getting information from our enemies.
I thought of all the uninsured citizens in America while the President has been praised for our pledge of funding for the HIV/Aids fight in Africa. I’m all for the funding of AIDS prevention, treatment and cures worldwide, but it is a bit pompous and disingenuous to stand on the world’s stage and offer AIDS funding to the world and turn our backs on the fact that we have millions of children in our own country who cannot afford to see a doctor when they are sick.
I’m not making light of Chinese censorship. It is a terrible thing as is censorship anywhere. And, I am so proud to be an American where I can write this blog without fear of censorship, although there are times when I parse my words. By no means am I excusing or condoning Chinese censorship. We should never take the pressure off the Chinese government until the people of China, Tibet and Taiwan can live as freely as we do. Yet, I do suggest that while we sit in judgment of the rest of the world and extol our own liberties, we must not become so arrogant or pompous in our attitudes that we close our eyes to the silent censorship that goes on in America.
The “Celeb” ad from McCain and the chide about the $520.00 shoes McCain wears from the Obama campaign have brought me to the point of nausea. There are issues that are far more important than what kind of shoes John McCain wears, or if Barack Obama likes arugula. Quite frankly, none of us are going to walk a mile in McCain’s $520.00 shoes and none of us are going to sit down to soup and salad with Obama. So, please tell me why the campaigns think we really care about those little tidbits. If the economy had not been flushed down the toilet, if we, the citizens, could afford to pay the high price of gas and buy every item on our grocery lists, if all our sons and daughters were safely at home instead of prosecuting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan maybe we would have the time and inclination to care about the eating habits of one candidate and the designer shoes of the other.
It’s time to get back to the real issues, please. Has anyone noticed that Exxon had another record profit quarter?
Record earnings for the world’s largest publicly traded oil company have become almost as predictable as the surge of gasoline prices at the pump in recent years, and for the second quarter income rose 14 percent, to $11.68 billion.
It was the highest quarterly profit ever for any American company, as Exxon made nearly $90,000 a minute.
That’s just one issue. I’m not against profit. But, as Americans are paying record gas prices at the pump, it seems a little odd that Exxon is also earning record profits on Wall Street.
So, energy is just one issue. There are others. But, so far this week we have heard about one candidate’s favorite dining experience and the other’s favorite Italian shoes.
Both candidates have shown a total disrespect for the intelligence of the American voters and a lack of understanding of the concerns and issues before the people. If neither have anything more important to say that what has been reported this week, perhaps both should suspend their campaigns and donate their “campaign chests” to the American people. Let us eat arugula and buy a pair of shoes.
Okay, so everyone is entitled to a rant once in a while and this is mine for July. I haven’t been off on a tangent for some time, but John McCain has hit my hot button.
First of all, his latest negative ad is so ridiculous that he should be ashamed to have his name associated with it.
Of course, it reaches to the same depths that Senator Bob Corker dipped to in order to defeat Harold Ford for the senate seat from Tennessee in the last major election. The limbo bar was just lowered again by the McCain campaign.
As disgusting as the ad is…. even my 85 year old mother-in-law who has been known to vote for Republicans from time to time (most of the time) called me screeching at the top of her voice, saying that John McCain was as nasty an old man and as devious as Bob Corker. That says something coming from her. She lives in Bob Corker’s home town. Anyway, let’s forget the Cindy McCain interview with her saying there would be no negative ads. Let’s forget about the “high road” of the McCain campaign. Let’s forget all the “holier than thou” talk of the Republican campaign. Perhaps, that was the intention before the campaign realized that Barack Obama is a serious candidate. Now that Obama has a slight lead in the polls it is safe to say that the McCain campaign seems to have taken the approach that the end justifies the means. The Straight Talk Express just derailed again.
But, that isn’t my rant! As a woman I am terribly disturbed by John McCain’s attitude toward women and women’s issues. I have long suspected that he lacked the real mental acuity to be President. Of course, George W. Bush lowered the bar on that issue, but all in all McCain doesn’t seem to be as sharp as “W.” Let’s face it, for eight years we have known that “W” is a butter knife in a block of butcher knives. In some cases, it has been downright embarrassing to watch him and listen to him… knowing that the rest of the world is watching the “leader of the free world” mispronounce common words and act like the school yard bully.
Now, we are faced with John McCain who may be slower and more embarrassing, as devious as “W,” and all that without Karl Rove running the show… as far as we know.
Let’s take the latest look at McCain on women’s issues. Just get past the “amen” music and watch the first minute.
“We have not done enough. And I’m committed to making sure that there’s equal pay for equal work. That there is equal opportunity in every aspect of our society. And that is my record and you can count on it.” –John McCain, Town Hall meeting, Hudson, WI, July 11, 2008.
Did you see his nose grow?
According to the Washington Post… today… McCain claims to be for “equal pay” but opposes the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Bill. Now that it is on the way to the Senate, we can rest assured that McCain will vote against it.
And, his reasoning is what?
Asked to provide support for the senator’s claim that he is committed to ensuring “equal pay for equal work,” the McCain campaign cited several pieces of legislation that he has supported including the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act of 1989, which prohibits discrimination against older workers, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and the Family Medical Leave Act of 1993. However, none of these measures directly addresses the Ledbetter situation.
Does anyone else see that McCain’s reasoning makes no sense unless someone has discovered a way to rationally compare apples and oranges? None of the acts he has supported had a thing to do with fair pay for women.
McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said that the Ledbetter would “flood our already over-burdened court system and burden employers, who will have no choice but to charge consumers more for goods and services in order to pay for the swarm of new lawsuits that will only serve to fatten the pockets of trial lawyers.”
Those trial lawyers may be women, John. And to counter the bill, to offer his explanation of what is needed, McCain said
there were better ways to help women find higher paying jobs. “They need the education and training, particularly since more and more women are heads of their households,” he explained.
Ah… if we are doing the same job… the exact same tasks… wouldn’t it be reasonable to assume that McCain missed the point entirely!
Besides, as a woman, I wish to add that women are as educated as men. We are no longer chattel, John. Medical schools are at least 50-50 men and women, as are the law schools. McCain makes the statement that women need to be better educated and better trained… with the former CEO of eBay on his staff? Excuse me, John. How does Meg feel about that?
Let me just say that as a woman with a professional degree from a major university, I remember sitting in a counselor’s office and being told that “because you are a woman you can expect to earn approximately $300 a week less than a man.” That was in 1970, John. I made dean’s list, John. And, for all the hard work and the good grades, because of my sex I could expect to earn in 1970 a mere 70% of what men were earning with the same educational degrees. Unfortunately, women are still earning only approximately seventy-seven cents to a dollar for our male counterparts. And, John, you really expect those of us who fall into the category of educated professional women to vote for a man who graduated fifth from the bottom of his class? Oh, please.
So, Senator McCain, continue to vote for insurance companies to provide Viagra for the men, and to prohibit birth control as a covered prescription for women. Continue to support Supreme Court justices that dictate what I can and cannot do with my own body. And, please Mr. McCain, make damned sure that no matter how much education, training, and experience I have in the workplace, I will make only seventy-seven cents to your dollar. (Up seven cents in 40 years!)
For the high-minded John McCain, who has always claimed to put principle above self-interest, his real character may be beginning to show. Unfortunately, we have seen the down and dirty of the right in many recent elections. Given that McCain cannot seem to get a leg up on Barack Obama on the issues, he has decided to show his other side, the side that plays to win by any means necessary, including unwarranted personal attacks. We haven’t even endured the party conventions and it seems we have already seen the limbo dance begin. McCain, how low can (and will) you go? Apparently, John McCain believes the end will justify the means. And, the bar is lowered.
The television ad from the McCain campaign insinuating that Barack Obama is single-handedly repsonsible for the rise in gas prices is so far fetched that only those who still read the Brothers Grimm to their children at bedtime could appreciate it.
The negative ad is so far fetched that the ultra-conservative right will be hard pressed to take it seriously. It is almost laughable. But, if it was intended as a dig at Obama it fell short of its mission.
Feeling the need to draw attention to his campaign, since it is apparent to all that McCain has nothing of substance to say on the issues in light of recent events, McCain has now attacked Obama’s character. This latest attack followed the Bush administration’s time horizon theme for Iraq. Senator McCain seemed to have been left out in the cold on that one, as the Bush administration policy is catching up with Obama’s long time position on withdrawing troops from Iraq. And, McCain is scrambling to catch up, saying that 16 months would be okay with him. Of course, McCain says his withdrawal is conditioned by events on the ground. And, didn’t Obama say that his plan was flexible based on ground events, although not nearly as flexible as the 100 years McCain once offered?
At the same time Obama has suggested two brigades be sent to Afghanistan as soon as possible. Not to be outdone, but a little later, McCain suggested three. McCain’s policy position seems to be catching up with Obama’s as well.
Then, Senator McCain did what he said he wouldn’t do. He attacked Barack Obama personally.
“It seems to me that Obama would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign,” McCain said Tuesday in New Hampshire, a line he’s been using regularly since.
That was low, even according to some Republicans. But, that’s what the right does when it is losing ground. We’ve seen it before and we will see it for the next three and a half months. It’s nice to know this is the high ground McCain and his campaign planned to take. They seem to be sticking to the plan.
For all the reassurances we have received over the past few weeks perhaps we need to take a closer look at where we keep our money, or at least how we keep our money.
Yesterday, Friday, the Office of the Comptroller closed the First National Bank of Nevada and the First Heritage Bank NA of California. I wonder if someone in Washington is marking the names off the watch list as one by one the banks are closed or taken over by the FDIC.
The FDIC said the cost of the transactions to its insurance fund is estimated to be $862 million, adding that the two failed banks represent just 0.3 percent of $13.4 trillion in total industry assets at about 8,500 FDIC-insured institutions.
The FDIC said the 28 offices of the two banks will reopen on Monday as Mutual of Omaha Bank. Over the weekend, customers can access their money by writing checks, using automatic teller machines or debit cards.
Mutual of Omaha Bank currently has more than $750 million in assets and operates 14 retail branches in Nebraska and Colorado with commercial lending offices in Dallas and Des Moines, Iowa, the FDIC said.
We have been warned of more banking failures probably throughout the remainder of this year and next year. Of course, according to regulators none of the banks on the watchlist are expected to be the size of IndyMac, the countries third largest bank failure. However, lest we become too comfortable with that analysis, IndyMac was not on the watchlist. It was a totally unexpected failure.
It has been reported that there are about 90 banks currently on the secret watchlist. That list will reportedly be updated at the end of next month, not that we will know the names of the endangered banks.
The FDIC insures individual accounts up to $100,000 and retirement accounts up to $250,000.
