July 11, 2012 · 3:38 am

PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE MAN BEHIND THAT CURTAIN: SEC.501(C)(4) AND THE 2012 ELECTION,By Louise Annarino,July 10, 2012

PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE MAN BEHIND THAT CURTAIN: Sec. 501(c)(4) and the 2012 Election, By Louise Annarino, July 10, 2012

We live in the Land of Oz these days; not the movie, but our very lives, Is anyone out there listening to Dorothy’s lament? She has suffered through terrible storms, as have we: climate change, unfunded wars, 9/11 attack, bank fraud, mortgage melt-down, economic recession/depression, privatization and de-regulation, destruction of the middle-class, erosion of a safety net, attacks on public servants,women, immigrants and union workers. She fears she has lost all. She sees no clear future. The American Dream seems to be merely that, a dream. She simply wants to find her way home, home to the familiar where she feels safe, where she awakes from dreams with the ability to make them happen. Unfortunately, like Americans today, she does not realize she has the power within herself to find her way.

One person finally listens to her; but only when he realizes he can benefit from bringing her within his fold.He opens the door to Oz, invites her in,and promises her exactly what she wants. She falls for the mirage created by a Karl Rovian version of a “very nice man” but “very bad wizard” who uses tricks and deceptions to build a false idea that Dorothy and her buddies must risk all, and take on the formidable Wicked Witch of the West, an enemy he fears and has been unable to contain, before he will help her go home to Kansas. He fully expects she will not survive the ordeal; thus, he is no danger of having to make good on his promises. A typical political operative.

But Dorothy, again like Americans, is determined to succeed with the help of her stalwart friends. It is her willingness to put every concern aside and throw a bucket of water on Scarecrow whom the witch has set afire, which melts away the witch, and her threats. Dorothy saves herself, her friends, the entire city of Oz, even the Wizard himself.

When Dorothy returns to Oz the Wizard plays games with her three compatriots:the Cowardly Lion is given a badge for courage, the Scarecrow is given a diploma for his brains, and a ticking clock to the Tin Man for a heart. Each of these qualities are already present within the characters, but like Dorothy, they have been unable to recognize this fact on their own.

In a memorable scene while Dorothy awaits word from the wizard regarding her return home, her dog Toto pulls back a curtain revealing a man turning gears on the machinery which has created the lie that is the Land of Oz, the lie the people of Oz have also fallen for. He shouts into his microphone, “Pay no Attention to the man behind that curtain.” The wizard sees his power crumbling, and Dorothy sees the truth. She confronts him with such conviction, not allowing him to pull the curtain closed again, and he admits his flawed humanity.  If only we had journalists, politicians, and jurists so brave as Toto, so fearless as Dorothy, so willing to pull back the curtains and reveal truth.

Perhaps we do. Despite the fact that the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) is slow to act, and probably will not do so before 2012 election, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee filed a formal complaint this week against three social welfare groups, charging them with willful violation of federal election law: Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies,Americans for Prosperity, and 60 Plus Association. THese organizations hid behind the curtain provided by section 501(c)(4) of the tax code, which grants them tax exempt status for social welfare work and allows donors to remain anonymous. Public policy is often written into the tax code. In the case of 501(c)(4)s all funds collected are deemed to serve a social welfare purpose which would likely save the government tax dollars which would otherwise need to be spent to assure the public welfare tasks performed by the  organization.

What are these organizations actually doing? Buying political attack ads against specific Democratic candidates. Crossroads (Rove and former RNC Chair Ed Gillespie) has already spent $25 million on ads attacking President Obama, and plans to spend nearly $40 million (Rove’s Crossroads GPS) attacking Democratic senatorial candidates. Americans for Prosperity (David and Charles Koch) has poured $1 million into Ohio to defeat Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown, attacks only Democratic candidates, and has chapters in at least 38 states.(see more at http://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/detail.php?cmte=Americans+for+Prosperity.) In 2009, Rachel Maddow opened the curtain on 60 Plus Association (Pharmaceutical Industry) disclosing its ties to the GOP, disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the lobbying group Bonner & Associates.  (see more at http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=60_Plus_Association) Social welfare? Welcome to Oz.

To anyone willing to pay attention to that man behind the curtain it is clear the major purpose of such groups is federal campaign activity, political benefit not social welfare. Therefore, they should not be treated as 501(c)(4) organizations but as political committees, and their donors must be disclosed. Then, each of us, like Dorothy and her companions, will be able to see the truth behind the messages, tricks, distortions and lies that are Oz; and, find our way home. As a result of CITIZENS UNITED, President Obama has for the first time accepted donations from PACS and SUPER PACS, but not from a 501(C)(4) organization. He refuses to draw a curtain over our eyes. His donors are disclosed, along with his tax returns, and bank balances. Is the Mitt Romney behind that curtain? He may be a very good man but he is a very bad wizard.

(see more at http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/c/campaign_finance/index.html) and http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/09/us/politics/democrats-want-fec-to-restrict-donor-shielding-groups.html?_r=1&ref=campaignfinance)

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July 10, 2012 · 7:13 pm

SIGN UP ON DASHBOARD

Dashboard is the brand new organizing platform for President Obama’s 2012 campaign—everything that happens in a field office is mirrored on Dashboard.  When new users sign up to join Dashboard, they are connected to their local neighborhood team, allowing online activism to translate into offline activism.  If you do not already have an account, you should sign-up by visiting www.dashboard.barackobama.com.

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July 9, 2012 · 10:00 pm

DOJ FIGHTS TO PROTECT TEXAS VOTERS,By Louise Annarino,July 9, 2012

DOJ FIGHTS TO PROTECT TEXAS VOTERS, by Louise Annarino, July 9, 2012

“He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.” … Thomas Paine

For over 20 years I worked the polls, taking a vacation day off work to help others vote. I considered it a civic duty. When I moved to Upper Arlington from Athens I started at the bottom again, sent from neighborhood to neighborhood to fill-in as needed. Within a few years I was posted to my own precinct, a republican precinct. The presiding judge was therefore  Republican. I had been a presiding judge when posted in Democratic precincts because as an attorney, and after so many years working polls, I understood the ins and outs of election law. I recognized many of the voters. In primaries, they self-identified as Democratic or Republican voters in order to vote in their party primary. The republican judge consistently refused to issue provisional ballots, make name changes or address changes, or redirect voters to proper voting location to Democratic voters. When I intervened to do so I was told only she had authority to do so. I reminded her of the law, ignored her directive, and proceeded to assure every voter was helped to cast a valid vote within state and county guidelines.

She repeated this behavior at the following election. I reported our disagreements in our problem reporting booklet, for each voter she attempted to disenfranchise. I wanted a record indicating the validity of the voter’s right to cast a vote, and the need for my intervention to assure that vote was counted. Later, I discussed this presiding judge’s behavior with the Board of Elections trainer. She promised to look into the matter. Nothing changed. Following the next election, I not only documented the problem within the reporting problems booklet, I also wrote a letter documenting each charge against the presiding judge, and sent it to several parties, including the Board of Election and the Democratic Ward Leader who assigned me to that polling site. I called numerous times to review the matter with him. Each time he promised the matter would be looked into. The next election, there she was again, smiling at me as she told a Democratic voter  they could not vote since they had moved, instead of doing an address change and redirecting and/or allowing a provisional ballot as the situation required. She made it clear she was not going anywhere, nor was she going to change. Voter fraud by appointed or elected officials is the real threat to our democracy. This is why each polling site has persons from each party working together, to keep one another in check, and to protect voters. This is why tallies are taken throughout the day and posted in the front windows where anyone who wants to check can see what is happening. This is why exit polls are so important, to measure against the posted vote tallies.

It was in Florida 2000 that we saw so intimately how party operatives can corrupt the popular vote, when republicans delayed and challenged every vote, forcing recounts that would have gone on long after the US Supreme Court declared George Bush the winner of the Florida presidential campaign, pushing him into the White House. “The reality, therefore, is that Mr. Bush’s victory in the most fouled-up, disputed and wrenching presidential election in American history was so breathtakingly narrow that there is no way of knowing with absolute precision who got the most votes. After all, there is no perfect way to decide which disputed ballots should be counted and rejected.”(see more at http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/12/politics/recount/12ASSE.html and http://www.factcheck.org/2008/01/the-florida-recount-of-2000/) Clearly,close elections are more easily subject to fraudulent manipulation, and less easily challenged.

This is the same year that tapeless electronic voting machines  which could be hacked and manipulated reared their ugly heads. MAnufactured by companies which poured millions of dollars into the Bush campaign. This is the type of fraud we must guard against. This is the real threat.

Everyone can agree that voter ID is not inherently wrong. But It is wrong when it disenfranchises voters; and we have a system in place to assure only qualified voters can cast votes and that only those votes will be counted. It works so well there is no evidence of meaningful voter fraud by voters. Dead persons on the rolls? Sure. Dead persons voting? No. Voter ID adds nothing to help eligible voters; it does disenfranchise eligible voters. In Texas, SB 14 requires voters to show one of short list of government-issued documents, excluding Social Security, Medicaid, or student ID cards. Gun licenses, however, are acceptable. 

Texas‘ own records estimate “a Hispanic registered voter is at least 46.5 percent, and potentially 120.0 percent, more likely than a non-Hispanic registered voter to lack this identification.” The DOJ found more than 600,000 Texans will be disenfranchised, most minority voters. Social security card? older voters disenfranchised. Student ID? students disenfranchised? Medicaid card? Poor and disabled disenfranchised.

Today, Texas will defend the law against Attorney Holder’s Justice Department, claiming it is needed to prevent voter fraud. “But the San Antonio Express-News reported that fewer than five ‘illegal voting’ complaints involving voter impersonations were filed with the Texas Attorney General’s Office from the 2008 and 2010 general elections in which more than 13 million voters participated.” (see more at http://thinkprogress.org/election/2012/07/06/512245/texas-voter-id-law-which-accepts-gun-licenses-but-not-student-ids-challenged-in-court/). Texas is one of more than 2 dozen states the DOJ is investigating in order to protect the right of eligible voters to cast their ballots.

What can you do? Help neighbors, friends, relatives, and community organizations identify voters in need of ID, help them obtain the ID, update yours and their voter registration with name or address changes, then get them to the polls to vote. If the margin between candidates is small, voter fraud by officials and parties is easily manipulated. Only if the margins are fairly large can such subterfuge succeed.

Help at the polls,as a poll worker, a poll watcher. Start now and attend local Board of election meetings;let officials know we are watching them and recording their comments and activities. MAke it difficult for them to disenfranchise ANY voter.

The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University College of Law (see more at http://www.brennancenter.org/content/resource/truthaboutvoterfraud/) after exhaustive study has determined that voter fraud simply does not exist. Yet, an orchestrated movement to end that which does not exists has taken off thanks to a well-financed disinformation and legislative action campaign. The 2012 reelection of the scary black man is justification enough,it seems. The only believable explanation some people have for how he was elected in the first place is rampant voter fraud. These same people don’t believe racism exists despite hundreds of years of factual data; yet believe voter fraud exists despite no evidence. This movement is not about election reform. It is solely for election manipulation by denying qualified voters opposing one party’s candidates their right to vote. In evidence: Pennsylvania State Rep.Mike Turzai (R-Allegheny) listed recent GOP accomplishments during his speech to Republican Central Committee members, including this one: “Voter ID, which is going to allow Gov. Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania. Done.” See video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87NN5sdqNt8  “If you have to stop people from voting to win elections, your ideas suck,” responded Pennsylvania Sen. Daylin Leach, D-Montgomery.

We must protect every voter: Democratic, Republican, Independent, or Libertarian. We must protect all voters or no voter is protected. We do not fear the vote of our opposition. We know President Obama’s ideas  are good ones. We believe he can win this election.

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July 6, 2012 · 4:23 pm

WE DON'T DO THINGS BY HALF, By Louise Annarino, July 6, 2012

WE DON’T DO THINGS BY HALF, BY Louise Annarino, July 6, 2012

It is 7:35 AM. It is 75.3 degrees; humidiity 87%; heat index 80.2 degrees. We expect records to be broken a second day in a row, with high temperature of 100…or more. Who knows anymore? Yesterday, Columbus broke the record high temperature set in 1911. We are now accustomed to reading 100 degrees on our car and home thermometers, no matter what the official figures are. We trust it will be too hot to care if the weatherperson hits the mark or not. It will be hot. Too hot. That is all we know.

Yesterday, I spent almost 2 hours at the Columbus Zoo with my teenage nephew. The temperature was 100 degrees; heat index 110. We don’t do things by half. The heat has made our judgment faulty. We had left a WATER exhibit at COSI to see how the animals were faring at the zoo. We forgot we are human animals. We thought ,for once, the polar bears might be in the water instead of sleeping on the rocky outcropping in their display area. Only one was on display, sleeping on the rocks with water to swim in mere inches away. The water was too hot. We are saving polar bears from global warming’s melting polar ice by placing them near water too hot to swim in at the zoo. Nice save.

We walked slowly, from mister to mister, viewing animals much smarter than ourselves, curled motionless in shady nap spots while we walked the sun alive on the pavement beneath our feet. The heat has made us stupid. The misters lost moisture before the beads of water could touch our faces. It was too hot for water to last.  Consider that it is too hot for water to last, too hot for H2O to stay beaded together until our bodies can use it for sustenance or comfort. The WATER exhibit at COSI explains water’s use and effect, and the threat of its loss . We saw COSI’s message played in real time at the zoo. It is an uncomfortable reality that water is being superheated beyond our ability to access it for human use. The polar bears already know this.

We don’t do things by half. Would that we could. Then,we could survive. But, we are made stupid by the heat. Our judgment is faulty. We don’t do things by half, even when our survival depends upon it. There are some whose anger with our president’s willingness to do things by half ,which he can do no other way, clouds their judgment of his abilities, his motives and his wisdom. Their over-heated rhetoric only makes a successful economic recovery less assured. His first half may have pleased no one on the far right, nor on the far left. But, it is those of us in the middle half who understand his many accomplishments, with half a Congress in support, half in opposition:

– Cut payroll taxes for all Americans,putting $40 per paycheck back in the pocket of the typical Ohioan.

– In Ohio, the manufacturing sector aded more than 33,500 jobs in last 2 years, while President Obama works to end tax cuts for companies shipping jobs overseas and lower tax rates for companies which manufacture goods in America.

– Created over4.1 million privates sector jobs, 123,000 in Ohio over the last 2 years.

– Rescued the U.S. auto industry, protecting 848,000 Ohio jobs and over 1 million jobs nationwide. US auto industry is once again #1 in the world.

– Created or extended 18 tax cuts for small businesses – the drivers of economic growth.

– Strengthened medicare, saving 185,000 Ohioans an average $512 on prescription drugs.

– Expanded access to preventive care with no out-of-pocket costs to 2.1 million Ohioans, including 559,000 children and 797,000 women under age 65.

– Stopped insurance industry practice of denying coverage for pre-existing conditions for  643,000 Ohio children.

– Expanded health care coverage to 82,000 young adults by allowing them to stay on parents’ health care plans until age 26.

– Required Insurance companies who failed to spend at least 80%-85% of premiums collected on health care to return an average of $127 to 3.4 million Americans who paid for their own insurance. Over $1 billion dollars will be paid back nationwide.

– Reduced our dependence on foreign oil to lowest level in 16 years. Domestic oil production is at an 8 year high, natural gas at an all-time high, and renewable energy from wind and solar has more than doubled.

– Helped Ohio produce 9 times more electricity from wind in 2011 than in 2010.

– Signed VOW to Hire Heroes Act, providing tax breaks to businesses hiring returning veterans.

– Brought Iraq war to honorable end, and is working towards same goal in Afghanistan.

– Brought 2/3 of Al Qaeda’s leadership, and Osama Bin Laden to justice.

– Ended “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”.

– Doubled funding for Pell Grants. Signed into law a tax credit up to $10,000 over 4 years to help middle class families afford tuition.

– Supported 12,500 teachers and school staff jobs in Ohio 2009-2010, reducing burden on local school districts.

The list of accomplishments made by doing things by half – with the support of half the Senate, half the House goes on and on. We are out of the hole and moving forward after years of digging the hole deeper under Republican leadership. We Americans don’t like doing things by half. But, when we must do so, it is good to have a president who knows how to do so effectively. Hopefully,  more progressive Democratic candidates will be elected to the US House and Senate more fully supporting President Obama during his second term. Don’t like doing things by half? Then, vote for Sherrod Brown for US Senate. Vote for the Democratic candidate in your congressional race. Vote for Barack Obama. Don’t let the heat of Republican attacks distort your ability to think straight and move the country forward.

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July 6, 2012 · 1:56 am

THE SCIENCE OF THE FAITHFUL IN NEED OF AIR CONDITIONING,By Louise Annarino

THE SCIENCE OF THE FAITHFUL IN NEED OF AIR CONDITIONING by Louise Annarino, July 5, 2012

 

In High School Biology class Sister Clare Louise,Ph.D. opened our minds to the endless possibilities of life within our universe and beyond it. Her brilliance and enthusiasm drew us to her class like moths to the flame. She turned us into scientists, explorers of our natural world, formulating theories as easily and readily as breathing. Professor Alrutz, biology professor at nearby Dennison University, was a frequent guest lecturer who gave us the most instructive advice of our lives: “Do what you love, despite what anyone else says, what pays best, and what seems the most reasonable course. You will only die happy by having lived life doing what you love.” Dr. Alrutz and Sister Clare Louise loved science and they gave that love to their students.

 

Our first field trip was to Cranberry Bog sitting afloat in Buckeye, Lake near Newark, Ohio. How delighted we were to row out to the island and bounce our way across its primordial surface of peat, grinning and springing bogonauts on a mission of discovery. The history of the bog’s creation, its ancient roots and connection to similar bogs worldwide took us on an historical and geographic journey as well. We collected samples of pitcher plants to study in the classroom. Today, the bog, as predicted by Prof. Alrutz is half the size it was then, the lake speed-boats’ wake a constant eroding pressure. one can no longer walk on the peat, but must cross over the surface on boardwalks. Only a few permits to visit are now granted.

 

Experiment after experiment, we learned not only the results of those experiments but the use of scientific theory to advance knowledge; and the difference between fictional theories and scientific theory. Sister discussed the problem beginning to grow within the minds of those uneducated in scientific principles who saw a conflict between science and religion. She shook her head at the simple answer; science does not challenge God, it explains his creation, it shows us who He is and how He created our universes. Understanding science brings us closer to, not farther from, His presence. Having established that, we were free to explore anything and everything. And we did. The discovery of the Higgs bosun, the so-called “God particle”, would have excited Sr. Clare Louise; not threatened her faith. Our biblical creation theory seems to be a metaphor for what physicists are now discovering as the implicit nature of creation itself.

 

Today, we live in the culture anticipated by Sr. Clare Louise. Religious leaders who fear science undercuts the faith of their flocks are being used by politicians to undermine scientific theory as a way to block legislation they do not support. Why would a politician not support legislation based on science? Money. Always follow the money to find the answer. Sister Clare Louise and my father both taught me that theory. And, I think I can prove it.

 

Marketing of political propaganda has given the words “climate change” the same derogatory implications as “Obamacare”. The oil industry will do all it can to undermine the move to green energy. Opponents of climate change are right in one respect: Climate change is not coming; it is already here. It is difficult for any politician to deal with this fact. As President Obama stated in a Rolling Stone interview (Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/ready-for-the-fight-rolling-stone-interview-with-barack-obama-20120425#ixzz1zkfyZpVv):

“Part of the challenge over these past three years has been that people’s number-one priority is finding a job and paying the mortgage and dealing with high gas prices. In that environment, it’s been easy for the other side to pour millions of dollars into a campaign to debunk climate-change science. I suspect that over the next six months, this is going to be a debate that will become part of the campaign, and I will be very clear in voicing my belief that we’re going to have to take further steps to deal with climate change in a serious way. That there’s a way to do it that is entirely compatible with strong economic growth and job creation – that taking steps, for example, to retrofit buildings all across America with existing technologies will reduce our power usage by 15 or 20 percent. That’s an achievable goal, and we should be getting started now.”

 

Even this stance will not be enough to prevent the excessive heating of the ocean and air, sever storms, and extreme fires. While a single event can’t be proven to be caused by climate change the pattern in its entirety fits the proposed model, unfortunately, at a faster than expected rate of change. Nine of the ten warmest years were within the past 12 years;the warmest until now in 2010. As Eugene Robinson explains in a recent Washington Post article (see more at http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/eugene-robinson-feeling-the-heat/2012/07/02/gJQANNZGJW_story.html), “Critics have blasted the Obama administration’s unfruitful investment in solar energy. But if government-funded research had managed to lower the price of solar panels to the point where it became economical to install them on residential roofs, all you global-warming skeptics would have air conditioning right now. I’m just sayin’.”

Nevertheless, presidential candidate Mitt Romney refuses to face the new climate reality. “My view is that we don’t know what’s causing climate change on this planet,” Romney said at a fundraiser last fall. “And the idea of spending trillions and trillions of dollars to try to reduce CO2 emissions is not the right course for us.” Then, what is the right course? To spend trillions of dollars to rebuild the eastern seaboard inland, including Wall Street which faces repetitive flooding and storm surge damage, if not complete inundation along Atlantic coast from North Carolina to Cape Hatteras. Florida is in particular peril as well. (see more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/14/science/earth/study-rising-sea-levels-a-risk-to-coastal-states.html). It is the National Flood Insurance Program set up by Congress or state insurance pools, not private insurance companies, our tax dollars, which rebuild infrastructure damage caused by these extreme coastal storms. The cost of ignoring climate change is far greater than the cost of planning for it.

American Electric Power says burying an improved power grid below ground, protected from the extreme storms of this past week, is too costly (See more:All Sides With Anne Fisher, NPR, http://www.ohiochannel.org/MediaLibrary/Media.aspx?fileId=1363750). Half a million central Ohioans lost electric service during the first storm, the second storm took another 20,000 off grid two days ago and a third storm took another 20,000 off grid last night. AEP assures us 90% of customers will have electric restored 10 days after the first storm. More disturbing is the fact that 2,000 customers whose electricity had been restored were removed from the grid by AEP for several hours to avoid a brown-out from increased demand as customers cope with nearly 2 weeks of near and over 100 degree temperatures, and night-time temperatures in the high 70’s and 80’s. So, even if there had been no prior storm loss, we AEP customers would face loss of service simply because the grid is inadequate to cope with the super-heated climate. Government would be better served to train and put to work our unemployed to upgrade the grid and build one less susceptible to exigencies of climate change.

I never feared storms. Thunder and lightening were part of the package which brought soothing rains; the dog-days of summer days de riguer. But, this prolonged super-heated storm ridden weather is frightening. It exposes out vulnerabilities as Al Gore’s lectures failed to do. Science is speaking the language of Mother Earth. It is time to listen to science, not the petrochemical industry. We cannot afford not to do so.

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July 2, 2012 · 12:32 pm

WE ARE BETTER THAN WE KNOW: HEAT WAVES AND HOT TOPICS by Louise Annarino

WE ARE BETTER THAN WE KNOW:HEAT WAVES AND HOT TOPICS,

By Louise Annarino,

July 1, 2012

 

The stress of enduring day after day of near and over 100 degrees heat with daily thunderstorms roaring through neighborhoods at 60-80 miles an hour uprooting trees, breaking off huge limbs, toppling trees and telephone poles onto cars and houses, plunging our cities and towns into darkness, isolating us from one another and formal information channels by shutting down cable television, and cell phone communication while we labor all day to clean up the mess and toss all night in the heat and humidity has been quite a test of patience and human kindness. Yet, we have endured. In fact, we have renewed our communities and our sense of belonging to one another. We have demonstrated lessons of fortitude and selflessness to our children. We are moving forward.

 

Neighbors have joined together to clear their streets and their lots of debris, pulling trees from right-of-ways, cutting them into manageable pieces, loading them on flatbeds and pick-ups, waiting in long lines to drop off their loads at city recycling lots to be turned into mulch for later on their neighbors’ yards and gardens. Citizens have worked to clear the storm debris alongside hundreds of private tree crews; while professional crews of power companies, hundreds from out of state, and city workers are able to access areas more easily and focus on doing what only they can do, what is beyond that of an average citizen’s ability, even when joined with neighbors in a common endeavor.

 

When every intersection must be treated as a four-way stop because lights are out and a normally 15 minute drive from Worthington to downtown Columbus takes merely 15 minutes more,I am surprisingly amazed. Because nearly everyone does act in communion with one another, and the few who cruise on through seem to be forgetful not self-serving, the process goes smoothly. We cooperate with one another with a mindfulness of our fellow travelers’ needs.

 

Customers are talking with one another and with the sales clerks, in darkened stores operating at half-power where the brightest light is the check-out screen on the electronic registers; and where clerks in stores with no power write up sales on a pad of paper, laughing with customers at their fumbling with this new old-way of doing things. Even the most taciturn among us join in these spontaneous conversations over where ice is still available and where gas pumps still work.

 

The mayor directed city workers to open fire hydrants during our over-heated afternoons so children can cool down, inviting them to play in the city’s fountains and water features. The memories of this struggle will be more joyful for our children and for us as a result of the mayor’s compassion and foresight. This is as it should be. This is what works. This is what moves us forward most quickly, no matter what the cause of our stress. This is what builds a strong community. We have easily shifted into a community of common interest where private citizens work alongside government workers and private company workers, and emergency personnel in government and private companies coordinate services for our common safety. While police cruise our darkened streets, National Guard soldiers go house-to-house checking to make sure our elderly are getting whatever help they need to survive the threatening heat.

 

When then-candidate Senator Barack Obama ran for president in 2007, I heard from a friend working for the Chamber of Commerce in southern ohio, and from another friend in northern Ohio that he had quietly made time to meet with local chamber leaders to discuss what Ohio needed to make our state economically strong, how business could be encouraged and strengthened, how his policies should be molded to assist small business owners in Ohio’s communities. At first, this surprised me. This was not a campaign stunt. Few people knew of these meetings. They were not being publicized, nor used as a campaign tactic for political gain. They were a sincere effort to learn more about Ohio’s business needs, and help Ohio’s employers and workers. It was, as I came to understand our president better, typical Barack: recognize we are all part of the same community, discuss our common concerns and needs, listen to the voices of others whom you know and of those whom you just met, learn from others, teach others, find common ground, plan how to improve things, offer a helping hand, work side-by-side no matter how difficult. That alone was enough to make me canvass so many hours for Barack Obama that I broke off bones in my foot from simple wear and tear.

 

How we have handled these climate-deranged days this week is a metaphor for how we must handle the challenges our nation faces as world economies shuttered and nearly stalled as a result of de-regulation and lack of institutional oversight of our business and banking enterprises, a strategy plotted, planned and financed by the U.S. Chamber of commerce, ALEC and fueled by Republican think-tanks. While Barack Obama was seeking common effort by recognizing the value of and including their ideas for a strong America, they were pledging to undermine every effort he made even those efforts which they had planned and initiated themselves under former administrations. Their goal was not to move us all forward, but to keep Barack Obama in the back of the bus.

 

If only they could have responded as our central Ohio cities and towns are responding to our latest crisis, as the good people of Ohio – Democrats,Republicans,Libertarians and Independents – are responding. Instead, our Governor John Kasich rejects transportation funds to build train routes reconnecting us to the rest of the country,tries to eliminate an avenue of communication with government workers by attacking collective bargaining, seeks to destroy and limit the economic and political power of unions representing hundreds of thousands of the government workers who keep our communities working safely and smoothly through crisis after crisis, and with his Lt. Governor Mary Taylor refuses to implement health care insurance exchanges offering Ohio businesses a structure to compete for health-care dollars. While he decries the nanny state he asks President Obama to declare Ohio in a state of emergency, to receive water, generators and other emergency supplies, cash and  other assistance from agencies he has argued should be cut or eliminated. I hope the events of these last days and weeks have thwarted the excesses of his ideological position.

But it is not just our governor, it is every governor across the nation who invites in and colludes with carpet-baggers (Tea Party) of ALEC, Koch Brothers, Chamber of Commerce to override the good judgement and wisdom of Ohio’s citizens who work hard every day to make Ohio strong, productive, and safe for themselves, their children and their neighbors. It is our state representatives and senators who attend ALEC events and introduce ALEC-drafted legislation as their own who ignore the needs and wisdom of Ohioans. Ohioans awoke to one another and the need to work together for the common good during this heat wave;hopefully, they will wake up to political reality of Ohio and throw out all carpet-baggers and those who do their bidding.

 

The insistence that taxes must be cut, and that tax cuts for individuals earning more than $250,000 dollars per year must be maintained at the expense of all our people’s employment, the education of our children and the safety of each of us and hoping for some trickle-down is a disproven approach to sustainable economic growth. Every Ohioan who endures this heat wave, works to clear up after the damaging storm, and reaches out to neighbors and strangers knows better than these elected representatives. Ohioans are better than this and behave toward one another better than this. When Barack Obama reminds us in his public addresses “We Americans are better than that”, this is what he means. We are better than that.

 

 

 

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June 29, 2012 · 6:15 pm

DEFENDERS OF ATTORNEY GENERAL ERIC HOLDER ARE A COLORFUL GROUP, By Louise Annarino

DEFENDERS OF ATTORNEY GENERAL ERIC HOLDER AREA COLORFUL GROUP,by Louise Annarino,June 29,2012

Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth. 

 – John F. Kennedy

 

 

I am so glad I was born a woman. It has allowed me the freedom to not conform. From first consciousness of a personal identity it was clear I was not an equal to any male; not simply different from boys, but unequal as well. This message was not simply from parents and family members immersed in Italian culture. It was the American cultural premise that boys mattered more: their plans must be first-met, their hopes first-fulfilled, their preferences first-considered. They never noticed what seemed obviously appropriate for their well-being. Why should they have done so? The culture fit them well. Their shoes fit. When shoes fit well, one does not notice. One only notices when the shoes pinch. I have worn shoes that pinch my entire life. It makes me cranky, angry and tired. This is not because of individual men who treated me so badly, although there a few who shall remain nameless. Men and women agreed to share this norm within our personal relationships and cultural institutions. It always take a prince to save the princess in our stories. Thank you Drew Barrymore for your portrayal of a different kind of princess in EVERAFTER: A CINDERELLA STORY.

 

I cannot compare a woman’s discomfort with that felt by African-Americans,Native-Americans, Latinos and other groups hobbling along with pinched shoes seeking the American dream. Even when they are  allowed to join in the race, painful feet make their chances of winning a race so much more difficult. The pain is different for each of us, but we recognize the restricted gait in others. For white men the race is also a struggle. They must work equally hard to train for the race. The course they run is the same we all run. The only difference is that our shoes pinch. We understand our struggles are common struggles. But our pain helps us become sensitized to issues of injustice, discrimination and abuse of power. This is not to ignore those white men who are equally sensitive to issues of injustice and would never discriminate or abuse power. In fact, they amaze me since it would be so easy for them to simply move ahead and leave the rest of us far behind.

 

As I watched the faces of those brave and committed Congressional Democrats who walked out on the Republican contempt motion initiated by Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CAL) I saw the faces of people who know an abuse of power when they see it, because they have experienced it so often themselves. And because they have never been able to conform to the white-male power model, they have been free to grow into people with   the strength of character, perspicacity, and empathy for others to speak truth to power.These men and women of color were joined by white representatives who understand the common struggle we all face, and know we must face challenges together.

 

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus, which initiated the protest, led the exit from the House floor, civil rights icon Rep.John Lewis (D-GA) at their head as the contempt vote against A.G. Holder began, along with minority leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CAL), minority whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD), and members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the Asian-Pacific American Caucus,and the Progressive Caucus who were joined by more than 100 representatives of the House of Representatives.

 

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Rep. Hoyer asserted the walkout was not about race but “to call the attention of the American people, who are angry about confrontation, angry about gridlock, angry about the fact that we are not focused on their priorities: jobs, investment infrastructure, the environment, education, innovation, building our economy.” Leader Pelosi commented that the effort was a political ruse meant to erode respect for and confidence in A.G. Holder and  impede the Justice Departments’ efforts to prevent voter suppression. This is what speaking truth to power looks like: men and women of every nationality, race, color and hue hand in hand to overcome injustice and abuse of power by awakening the rest of us.

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June 26, 2012 · 8:37 pm

WATERFALL IN DROUGHT By Louise Annarino

WATERFALL IN DROUGHT

Louise Annarino

June 26, 2012

 

Cascades balance the flow

over the edge

water goes

down to the stream far on

beyond the gate

water goes

past neighbors’ barns and homes

from the fall

water goes

and I

remain

still

dry.

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June 26, 2012 · 8:10 pm

IS IT REAL OR FICTION? By Louise Annarino

IS  IT REAL OR MERELY FICTION ?

Louise Annarino

June 26,2012

When presidential candidate Mitt Romney declared “Corporations are people, my friend… of course they are. Everything corporations earn ultimately goes to the people. Where do you think it goes? Whose pockets? Whose pockets? People’s pockets. Human beings my friend” 1, he was combining two fictions: political argument and legal principle. He made the statement to explain why he would not reduce the deficit or protect social security and medicare by raising taxes on corporations. His economic policy has always been based on a long-ago disproven “trickle down” theory, and is consistent with the above comment. Theoretically, if one becomes rich off corporate success one does not need social security nor medicare.

But a theoretically consistent analysis does not mean the premise of the theory is correct. One must ask, how many Americans will achieve such success? How many Americans are given “golden parachutes”2 when they are fired or severance packages designed to maintain their employed-level lifestyle when they retire?3  Not public employees! Yet, Romney sided with Wisconsin Governor Walker and Ohio Governor Kasich in decrying the excessive retirement benefits available to public workers.4 Governor Kasich and candidate Romney share another commonality; their pursuit of personal wealth resulted in reduction or loss of pension and retirement benefits for hundreds of thousands of workers: In Kasich’s case, Ohio public employees including state workers,teachers,law enforcement and fire personnel; and, in Romney’s case workers in companies his equity firm salvaged or savaged.

Courts have used the concept of legal fiction since ancient Rome. “This jargon refers to the law’s ability to decree that something that’s not necessarily true is true. It’s somewhat like a person in a discussion agreeing to accept an opinion as fact for the sake of argument in order to move the discussion along. Legal fiction helps to move proceedings along.”7 Corporate personhood is one such legal fiction.It is employed simply to determine the legality of corporate agreements (contracts) and business proceedings. However, we all understand that this is FICTION and not REALITY. Therefore, it is incumbent that such a discussion tool be used judiciously by our courts. Corporations have super-human qualities which must be constrained when using the legal fiction of personhood.

How do courts use legal fiction? Not always with judicial restraint. For example,In CITIZENS UNITED the U.S. Supreme Court recognized corporations as “persons” entitled to the 1st. Amendment political speech protections of human beings, opening a floodgate for unchecked billions of dollars of corporate donations. Last week in KNOX v SEIU “The five conservative justices, led by Justice Samuel Alito, and two concurring liberals,…held that, from now on, non-members have to specifically tell the union to take money out of their paychecks for political purposes; that is, they have to opt in.6,8 It makes sense that an individual worker cannot be forced to donate to a political effort he does not support. Unions allow workers to opt out of such political funds. Now, workers must opt in. This change restrains union efforts to effect political change on behalf of its members. Must corporations likewise now seek approval of each investor before donating to political candidates, campaigns, PACS, and SUPERPACS? Or, does corporate personhood override the 1st. Amendment rights of investors? Why are unions treated less like persons than corporations? Whether one agrees or not that the Supreme Court used this fiction judiciously in CITIZENS UNITED, courts ought to at least use it consistently. Stare Decisis, another legal term, requires such consistency. If such a shareholder challenge should come before the court it would help answer any question one has regarding the politicization of our highest court. Can you imagine a campaign finance system where investors must opt in before corporations can make political donations?

As politicians move to raise money and seal the deal with voters, one can merely hope the misleading conflation of legal fiction with political fiction will stop.Mr. Romney’s corporations are people comment sounded a false note; and, it may be why his comment was greeted with such disdain. Despite his intentions, It just sounded wrong to average citizens who could care less about legal fiction while dealing with real life. Most of us would agree with Elizabeth Warren’s political commentary, that corporations are not human beings, despite a legal fiction used solely for judicial argument.7 Mothers don’t tuck-in corporations. Fathers don’t shoot hoops with them. Voters don’t vote for corporations; they vote for a man or woman who understands their reality and will not harm them. The rest is fiction.

  1. .http://technorati.com/politics/article/video-mitt-romney-says-corporations-are/  Romney made these remarks at the Iowa State Fair in August, 2011.
  2. http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/business/2012/01/golden-parachutes-21-ceos-landed-100m-plus/ So-called golden parachutes are contractual provisions that compensate executives, if they are terminated without cause.
  3. http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/09/news/economy/romney_taxes/index.htm  Romney “is still pulling in millions from Bain Capital, a private equity firm he founded in the mid-1980s and retired from in 1999.Of course, it’s common for retiring executives to walk away with big retirement packages. But Romney pays only a 15% tax rate on his take, unlike executives at corporations, who typically pay 35%.Why? Because Romney was a partner in a private equity firm and some of the money he still receives from Bain — $13 million over the past two years — is “carried interest.”
  4. http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Political-Action-Legislation/Romney-Finds-Soul-Mate-in-Walker-s-Assault-on-Workers-Retirement-Security “Romney’s focus on pension cuts isn’t surprising. After all, in his role as corporate raider and takeover king at Bain Capital, workers’ pensions were often the first thing to go.”
  5. http://www.examiner.com/article/huge-lehman-brother-payouts-report-recalls-ohio-gov-kasich-s-time-at-the-firm “Former Congressman John Kasich clearly was not a banker, but he found a home at Lehman nonetheless. As a one-time Ohio State Senator and then as a Congressman for 18 years, Kasich had easy access to many doors. Among them were doors to Ohio pension funds.According to published reports at the time, Kasich opened doors for Lehman Brother’s private equity department and investment officials at the Ohio Police & Fire Pension and the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System in 2002. Kasich made the case that Lehman would be a good broker for real estate and other investments.Lehman Brothers losses at Ohio pension funds.When all was said and done, after the nation went spinning into what is now called the Great Recession, the Ohio Treasurers office, which acts as custodian but does not invest pension monies, calculated that the funds had a combined $480 million loss in market value solely from Lehman investments. Other sources, using different calculations, said the direct losses were closer to $220 million.”
  6.  http://mnlabor.wordpress.com/2012/06/25/how-the-supreme-courts-knox-v-seiu-decision-could-dismantle-union-security-around-the-country-news-politics-alternet/ “The public sector union contract has to cover all the workers in the agency, not just card-carrying members– and  all the workers benefit from the resultant pay raises, health benefits, pensions and other goodies. So non-members are expected to contribute something to the direct cost of negotiations. (Workers who don’t support the union shouldn’t get to enjoy the better pay and working conditions that their union colleagues fought for, but employers haven’t historically been willing to pay people less for NOT being union members. They much prefer to bribe, cajole and threaten workers to reject the union.).Public sector unions have been major political players, too (see: Scott Walker’s targeting of Wisconsin’s public employee unions).This is partly because fundraising for politics has been relatively simple: with everyone’s full knowledge and ample notice given (called “Hudson notices”), a percentage of both members’ and non-members’ funds could go toward political work. Anyone could opt out of this political fund, and their money would be reimbursed.”
  7. http://www.examiner.com/article/elizabeth-warren-educates-mitt-romney-explaining-why-corporations-are-not-people “Mitt Romney tells us in his own words, ‘I think corporations are people.’ No, Mitt, corporations are not people. People have hearts, they have kids, they get jobs,” Ms. Warren said. “Learn the difference…And Mitt, learn this,” she continued as she strongly delivered the night’s best line, “We don’t run this country for corporations, we run it for people.”
  8. http://www.afj.org/connect-with-the-issues/the-corporate-court/knox-v-seiu.html Service Employees International Union (SEIU) represents 1.8 million people in health care and public service. Non-member public employees are required by California state law to pay SEIU a “fair share fee” to defray the costs of union representation on their behalf. To that end, each year SEIU sends its non-members a notice, as required by the Supreme Court, which informs non-members of their fair share fee and of their right to object to paying non-chargeable expenditures including money spent for political advocacy. Those fees are calculated based upon expenses during the previous year and do not take into account unforeseen expenses.In 2005, SEIU issued a valid annual notice informing non-members of the percentage of their dues which would be allocated to union representation and gave them 30 days to opt-out of paying amounts associated with non-representation functions. The notice stated that dues were subject to change based on actual costs. A month later, SEIU imposed an emergency temporary assessment fee to defend against attacks on union plans and charged non-members who objected to the increase the percentage set forth in the initial notice as the amount associated with union representation. A group of nonmember state employees in California challenged this practice in a class action suit against SEIU.Employees claim that SEIU’s failure to send out a supplemental notice when the union imposed a special assessment violated employees First and Fourteenth Amendments rights by forcing non-union employees to subsidize union political activities. SEIU counters that its notice was constitutionally and legally sufficient because the Supreme Court has recognized that the notice did not require an exact determination of the yearly expenditures, but merely a good prediction based upon the previous year’s audits. The Court previously recognized the impossibility of anticipating expenditures at the outset of the fee year and that once the union sent the original notice it need not send a second notice speculating how a fee increase might be spent. The district court found for the employees, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed, finding that a temporary fee increase did not require an additional notice.

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June 24, 2012 · 8:54 pm

DON'T PUSH HUMPTY DUMPTY OFF THE WALL by Louise Annarino

DON’T PUSH HUMPTY DUMPTY OFF THE WALL

Louise Annarino

June 25, 2012

Democratic republics in the West did not emerge in full blossom overnight; nor will they in the East. The seeds of power within people must be planted in good soil and be kept moist despite periods of drought. Those who feed the country’s growth are ever in danger of being choked by weeds. Egypt’s journey, and that of other nations seeking some form of democratic republic, is our own.

As we watch the Egyptian military generals write and rewrite laws to secure their power base in the face of shared power with a president and parliament not of their choosing, let us recall the first parliaments in England which were made up exclusively of the privileged few, heirs to the original land barons granted fiefs by their king for military service to protect and defend his crown, and more importantly, his crown jewels. The king was loath to part with his landholdings which generated his wealth. The barons agreed to supply a percentage of crops, minerals, forest, game and resources to the king in exchange for permission to act as lord over the serfs who were attached to the land, and to  supply troops whenever called upon to do so by the king. In this way, both the king and his barons grew excessively wealthy. Sound familiar?

In 1215 King John agreed to the Magna Carta, the great charter, which gave legal rights to the Barons and Earls and mandated that the king listen to them and follow their advice. Before the Magna Carta the king called a parliament at his whim with no legal obligation to follow the barons’ advice. The Magna Carta granted no rights to the serfs; but, merely became a tool of the landed gentry (who had personal armies supporting them) to control the king in order to protect their own interests. Sound familiar?

In 1265, following a war between Henry III and Simon De Montfort, De Montfort briefly established a parliament which also included  burgesses, representatives from each county,city and town until Edward I, who killed De Montfort in battle, called is first parliament in 1275 which included churchmen,two knights from each county, and two commoners from each town ( the house of burgesses). Since 1327 parliament set the pattern we know today: House of Lords, House of Commons, Monarch.

It took another hundred years to establish that Parliament’s House of Commons controlled granting money raised through taxation to the king (usually to wage war); and wrote statutes creating the law of the land, replacing the writ to the king for favor system of an earlier day.

Overthrowing the leaders of countries does not necessarily mean more power to the people. It took great Britain several hundred years and a civil war to do so. The United States, copied Great Britain’s lead, replacing the monarch with a president. The House of Lords became our Senate; the House of Commons our House of Representatives. There are those who pressured newly-elected President George Washington to accept the appellation Your Majesty. He insisted on Mister, in a new nation where all men are considered equal. And so we say, Mr. President when addressing him.

The U.S. shortened Great Britain’s time-line: 1776 – Declaration of Independence, 1789 – Constitution and first 10 Amendments ratified, 1789 – Judiciaries Act passed, 1803 – Marbury v. Madison. Hopefully, emerging democracies can shorten the time it takes to become nations of law and not men, and avoid civil war. Building a strong middle class will help.

The industrial revolution which began in the 1500’s with the guild movement solidified in 1760-1850. It is no coincidence that the movement to end serfdom occurred on the same time frame. Prior to industrialization in England, land was the primary source of wealth. “The landed aristocracy held enormous powers [through] the feudal system. However, a new source of great wealth grew from the Industrial Revolution, that which was derived from the ownership of factories and machinery. Those who invested in factories and machinery cannot be identified as belonging to any single class of people (landed aristocracy, industrialists, merchants). Their backgrounds were quite diverse, yet they had one thing in common: the daring to seize the opportunity to invest in new ventures. It was these capitalists who gave the necessary impetus to the speedy growth of the Industrial Revolution.”1

In the United States, the Industrial Revolution made the North economically stronger than the South, which barely maintained a landed gentry system on the backs of slave labor and that of poor white sharecroppers. The bloody rise of labor unions prevented this quasi feudal-serf system from taking root in the North. Despite fighting a Civil War to end slavery, and the efforts of labor unions, we still see vestiges of the old feudal system within our economic institutions, policies and practices both north and south. Since the election of our first African-American president those differences in how we choose to govern ourselves have become more overt. Ohio and Wisconsin, as well as every other state,thanks to ALEC, are fighting to protect unions, not just to protect the unions but to protect all workers from being reduced, once again, to serfdom. 2

In China, Thailand, Guam, Africa and all over the globe multi-national corporations are locking in workers for excessively-long shifts, with little or no pay. Human trafficking in workers, slave or forced labor, is on the rise world-wide in every imaginable  industry including my favorite – chocolate. 3

What is the connection here? It is that human beings seek power over their own lives. Money is power, so they seek money. The reason taxes are a big deal to both Tea Party Republicans and Liberal Progressives, The US Chamber of Commerce and the churches, Wall Street banks and non-profit organizations, Democratic and Republican parties, the upper class-middle class- and poor is because money buys power. Money bought the King. Money bought the Corporations. Money bought the politicians. We all want money because we all value power. Why? Power brings freedom: the freedom from want, the freedom of choice over need, the freedom of association, the freedom to say no just because we want to do so. If we truly believe we are all entitled to be free, then we must also believe we are all entitled to enough money to feel power over our own lives.

When we are without money for too long we feel powerless as a result. It is this feeling of being powerless which brings out our racism, sexism, homophobia etc. Those who feel powerless resent others who seem to be acquiring power. Hidden in our psyche is the racist belief that an African-American has no business being so powerful when white men now feel so powerless. That is the crux of this election. Even Roman Catholic bishops, losing esteem and power over their flocks due to their misogynist attitude toward women and their cover-up of pedophilia within their ranks are fighting for power by attacking President Obama. Even Christian church leaders accustomed to financial power and preaching its attainment as a Gospel truth, which fell apart in the recession, are attacking President Obama. They have no qualms viciously attacking him, trying to knock him off his game. Unfortunately, his game is governing this country we all love.

What can we do? We can stop attacking people who want power, who want money, who want to feel safe; who cannot feel truly free without these things. We all want these things. We all want freedom.

We can stop attacking each other lest we all end up “Humpty Dumpty”. 4  Despite British and American love of freedom, and each country’s Civil Wars to establish equality among all its citizens and clearly unified governance, neither would suggest civil war as a positive step. We can learn from these past divisive periods. History does not have to repeat itself around the globe, nor within our own borders. We can stop being so afraid that we needlessly try to knock one another off the wall. We can recognize that there is enough wealth to share so that all feel powerful and free.

We celebrate freedom in this country without understanding its roots. No banker, no corporate executive, no shareholder, no priest nor bishop, no Tea Bagger, no liberal, no politician, no judge, no citizen will feel free until they feel financially secure. This was the beauty of a strong middle class; it made everyone feel free. It was an imaginable state of being for the poorest citizen aspiring to move higher through education and hard work; and for the richest executive who fell from grace, a safe place to land. Without a middle class, no American feels free.Not the wealthiest, not the poorest, and not the middle class.

To America and to the world a message of freedom: Build and protect the common man’s wealth, the middle class. The BRITISH COMMONWEALTH is a not a fluke. American economic success since the Civil War is not a fluke. Stop seeking to be excessively wealthy; instead, seek to build wealth within the middle class, a commonwealth within and among nations. With commonwealth comes common power. With such a sense of power comes a sense of freedom and peace. The Eurozone is struggling with this concept as I write.

Look at what Britain accomplished. Look at what the U.S. accomplished. Those lessons will serve us well. this is what President Obama has been trying to remind us.  Destroying the middle class destroys our commonwealth, pushes Humpty Dumpty off the wall; and, neither all the king’s horses nor all the king’s men can put us back together again. Life is too fragile for such nonsense.

 

 

1. http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1981/2/81.02.06.x.html

2.http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed 

3.http://www1.american.edu/ted/chocolate-slave.htm “Presently, about 700,000 children and women are trafficked around the world annually. The UN says that profits for this trafficking amount to approximately $7 billion a year (Anti-Slavery International).”

4.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humpty_Dumpty  “In 1648 Colchester was a walled town with a castle and several churches and was protected by the city wall. The story given was that a large cannon, which the website claimed was colloquially called Humpty Dumpty, was strategically placed on the wall. A shot from a Parliamentary cannon succeeded in damaging the wall beneath Humpty Dumpty which caused the cannon to tumble to the ground. The Royalists, or Cavaliers, ‘all the King’s men’ attempted to raise Humpty Dumpty on to another part of the wall, but because the cannon was so heavy ‘All the King’s horses and all the King’s men couldn’t put Humpty together again’. In his 2008 book Pop Goes the Weasel: The Secret Meanings of Nursery Rhymes author Albert Jack claimed that there were two other verses supporting this claim. Elsewhere he claimed to have found them in an “old dusty library, [in] an even older book”,but did not state what the book was or where it was found. It has been pointed out that the two additional verses are not in the style of the seventeenth century, or the existing rhyme, and that they do not fit with the earliest printed version of the rhyme, which do not mention horses and men.”

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