As I was trolling the various internet news sites I tend to read, I came across a rather ‘touching’ story about 45 millionaires who have, evidently, sent a petition to President Obama asking him to “tax them more”. They claimed to feel cheated by not being allowed to pay more in taxes to the Federal Government during this time of crisis. They used catch words like “patriotic” and “duty” and phrases like “giving back to those who supported our businesses”.

Well, I have a suggestion to these 45 millionaires that I would like to share…
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For the majority of my life, being a male, I never really gave too much thought to the idea of abortion. I used to always take the stance of, “it’s not my sin, it’s not my problem”. As the years have gone by, I’ve gotten married, had children of my own, and I have seen, first hand, the miracle of life. The experience caused a change in my lifestyle, my attitude, and the way I looked at life.

In all fairness, my first child being born was only a part of my attitude change. As news of ‘pro-life vs pro-choice’ proponents poured through my television screen, my wife and I would continually argue over a person’s right to choose. She has always felt that aborting, what could potentially be a child was murder and that people who aborted babies (no matter what the cause) should be treated as criminals under the law. What an extreme viewpoint, huh? That was exactly my retort.
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Many have already seen they “the rent is too damn high” party. I, now formerly have decided to put forth the idea of creating a “Do your damn jobs!” party. The idea is easy, email your State Senators, District Representative, and President Obama with the following message, “Do your damn jobs!”

To members of the Court System – You are to represent social justice by not only making sure law is enforced, but is Constitutional and legal under the powers with which it was written. We all understand you are biased one way or another, but leave it out of the courtroom.

To members of the House of Representatives – Cut federal spending by promoting and encouraging Americans to participate in the YouCut program. Honor your commitment to deny to hear ANY bill on the floor that includes pork spending. Push repeatedly to substantially decrease the capital gains tax to allow the United States to attract foreign businesses and entice domestic business to hire. Finally, get busy on re-writing a fair and understandable tax code that include all citizens (including yourselves).

To members of the Senate – I want to see debate, damn it! You people are the ones who are responsible for the balance of voice for every State in the Union. I cringe every time I see a Senator capitulate, under pressure, to sign a bill that could potentially infringe upon it’s, or another’s State rights. If you keep allowing the Federal government to dominate the rights of individual States, your jobs become utterly meaningless.

To members of the Executive branch and President Barak Obama – Admit that the health care law you passed was flawed. Do the right thing and repeal it yourselves. Work with Congress to lower capital gains taxes and bring companies from India and China to the US to employ workers and create products, this will allow businesses to ‘relax their collective clenched buttoxs’ and begin hiring. Drop the rhetoric of demonizing the wealthy that you are collectively a part of, and join in making things better for ALL Americans.

To all members of the Court, Congressional, and the Executive Offices – First, and foremost, conduct yourselves like Statesmen. Stop degrading the offices you were entrusted to uphold. Discuss your points of view and do not back down from your core principles. While personal attacks may  prove effective, they are childish and detract from the discussion of issues. Issues are what we face, as a nation, not personal characterizations.

This *COULD* be the legacy of the 2010 Democratic and Republican Parties if you people would stop playing games with the American public and (come on, say it with me) “DO YOUR DAMN JOBS!”

This last election has shown us much more than Republicans sweeping into House of Representative and Governor seats, it’s also shown very distinct differences in the mental attitudes between liberals and conservatives.

I chose these two clips as examples because I felt the reporter asked good questions and allowed both parties involved to speak on the issue.
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The following is a follow-up to my rant on Arizona being reported to the United Nations as human rights violators.

On August 20th, 2010 the State Department and Department Of Justice allowed a report to be distributed to the United Nations in regards to human rights violations with the following reasoning :

The administration has engaged in an intensive effort, including holding town hall meetings with Muslims, Native Americans, African Americans and other minority groups, to assess the extent of domestic rights violations. In August, it gave the U.N. rights council a 22-page report documenting U.S. abuses, including practices by federal and local police and corrections and immigration officials, and defending President Obama’s counter-terrorism policies. Friday’s meeting provided the first opportunity for states to comment on the report.“Our progress has not been linear, but in the story of the United States, the arc of history has bent toward justice,” said Michael Posner, assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor. “As our report acknowledges, though we are proud of our achievements, we are not satisfied with the status quo.“

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Are education reform attempts in this country actually doing more harm than good? On April 28th, 2009, President Obama clearly stated that the “No Child Left Behind Act” was not fixing the gap in education. This legislation has had eight (8) years to prove it’s worth and has failed miserably.

Let’s look at a few things the legislation does…

States are forced to participate in a Federally imposed education program or face giving tax money collected from their State to another State who chooses to participate. This puts the State who chooses not to participate at a loss for education revenue because it’s constituency is paying for the Federal program whether the State wants to participate or not. Essentially, the States must comply or they lose revenue that should be rightfully theirs to begin with. On top of that obstacle, the State must then raise State taxes on it’s constituency to pay for it’s own education program.

This is no small amount of money we are talking about either. Currently, the Federal government collects nearly half-a-trillion dollars a year in taxes to fund NCLB. As a nation-wide average, this represents approximately ten (10) thousand dollars per student, annually. These NCLB compliant schools under-perform, but still complain that they are underfunded. Yet, many private schools who have no State or federal funding operate at approximately half the cost per student on an annual basis while achieving higher academic standards and fewer drop outs.

Aside from the financial impact of this Federal legislation, there are the teacher, student, and classroom aspects to consider. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (Kennedy & McCain) lowered the passing percentage to 40 so more students would pass. This means that you can still pass if you don’t understand 60% of the material in the NCLB test. What kind of standard is that? Is understanding the material in this test important or not? I’ve heard teachers complain that they have to spend all their time preparing students for this test and how important it is for their school that the children can pass these tests. Yet, not understanding 60% of it is okay? Lunacy!

Okay, enough ranting, let’s problem solve.
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