Seans ideas and commentary

Occupy Boston

2011-12-30T22:16:00.000-05:00

I feel like I belong in Occupy Boston due to the fact that the movement in general is trying to get it out there that there is more to our economy than the Uber Rich and Large Conglomerates. At the same time I feel like the movement in general is the Hippy Movement, that has no focus or direction.

I had written a plan of action for the Occupy Movement to ponder which took roughly a month for anyone in the movement to give any feedback on it and the individual actually liked it enough to suggest that I bring it up in one of their forums. I ended up joining a couple of their email lists and found that there are people that are interested in doing more than just protesting, the problem is, that the people involved don't necessarily know how to start an organization as large as what they are trying to get going but those who were serious about the movement are genuinely trying to get an organization going.

I applaud those in the Occupy Movement that are trying to make it more than just protesting. I am more than happy to be apart of it provided they can actually get it going and are willing to take a serious look at my idea while allowing me to be apart of my idea.

https://sites.google.com/site/ideasforchangeingovernment/misc-ideas/occupy-wall-street

Jobs and the crazy weather

2011-10-19T13:15:00.000-04:00

The rich are saying that the middle class and the poor need to find jobs, while the middle class and the poor have made the point that the jobs that they are being told to get just aren't there due to the rich not creating jobs like the Republicans are saying they are doing by having a cap on the taxable income and the ever lowering taxes for the rich.

In the Midwest stretching from the Mexican boarder to the Canadian boarder that whole area has been been in a drought all year and it appears to be getting worse as time goes by.

I would like to know why no one has thought of creating jobs by desalinating water on a scale that would help the Midwest with its water problems? We have a total of 23 states that have some coastline and more than one territory that has coastlines, why not create jobs by building desalination plants along the coastlines of those states that have direct ocean access or build desalination plants a little way inland and build pipelines to the plants with there being multiple plants in each state that has the room for such endeavors.

Congress and the President

2011-09-18T14:05:00.000-04:00

The mentality of Washington D.C. in 2011 has been that of the spoiled brats that would rather whine and stamp their feet to get exactly what they want and how they want it regardless of who they have to stomp on to get it.

Some individuals may even go so far as equating the politicians to what the politically incorrect people would say is them being on the "rag" so to speak with how they how closely some politicians resemble the mood of a lady who is menstrating heavily.

Congress especially the Republicans have tended to act the ways I have mention but the President has also fed into the mentality by to some degree acting the same way but then backing down as if he is all talk rather than the man of action that he passed himself off as while he was running for the office.

The way Congress and the President have been acting is demeaning and it belittles the struggles of everyone but the super rich in America which has left the general public demoralized to the point that people are starting to get fed up with the pissing contest and it has shown in the polls that the general public is of the opinion that the politicians are not doing the jobs that they were elected to do.

If it were a corporation we the people of the United States would have little to worry about aside from those in the corporation were directly affected by the the decisions. Unfortunately the country cannot be treated like corporation that can dispense with things that it feels that it can live without and the mentality the politicians have right now is causing problems for millions of people financially and emotionally and the financial problems that they are causing for people are pushed onto the businesses who have felt pressured to reduce their spending due to a lack of want or need of the products they supply due to their customers not having the money to continue buying from them.

Remembrance

2011-09-11T18:58:00.000-04:00

Remembrance

We cannot let ourselves forget the lives that were lost on that fateful day. Our way of life was changed that day when almost three thousand people died. We need to memorialize those that were lost on that day to help ease the pain of the great loss of innocent life.

We also need to honor those who we regard as heroes that died who if were able to talk would say that they were simply doing their job like they have done like any other day. They need to be honored in ways that reflect our desire not to let them have died in vane.

Those that were lost, their names forever will be whispered on the winds and will not have died in vane as long as we do fear those who would want to scare us into cowering by attacking us from the shadows.

Those who ran in to save people and paid the ultimate price need to be revered by making sure that everyone knows that a great many more people could have and would have died if it wasn't for the first responders.

Where there were hundreds of people from all over the world in the towers when they came down that day, it is not just an American tragedy, it is a world tragedy where many died thousands of miles away from their families and the places they called home with their families not being able to do anything to find their loved ones or to help those people that their loved ones called friends and today may still not have closure.

The last tragedy that the U.S. has had to deal with anywhere close to this magnitude is Pearl Harbor which brought WWII home for us and both events will forever live in infamy.

Like when John F. Kennedy was shot the one question that will be asked of those who were alive when the towers fell will be where were you when it happened.

With all the questions that have been asked the one that stays with me is the one my niece who turned seven that day which was "Why did those bad people kill all those people on my birthday?"

Remembering D-Day

2011-06-06T18:08:00.000-04:00

Today we remember those who during World War II fought in the battles on D-Day.

On June 6, 1944 both sides showed their dogged determination in the multiple landing beaches that the allies landed on by not backing down when all seed lost until the battles were one.

The sacrifices made needs to be remembered so that no nation or groups of nations can make the same mistakes that caused such a war that produced such carnage.

We have teach people what happened and about the horrors of war, especially to those who don't want to believe that carnage like that can and does happen.

We cannot ourselves forget what has happened, and we cannot let our veterans who fought in the war in particular the battles on D-Day down.

The best history lessons come from those who have experienced the ordeal and it would be wise to have their stories preserved as part of historical records both as written accounts and as audio and video to show the human side of what they are experiencing as they tell their stories.

Without the people who stood up and fought when the world needed them the most, our world would be a scarier place than what it is now. For this they need to be honored and revered for what they did, we cannot forget the sacrifices of those who returned home draped in our flags letting others know of the sacrifice made for us.

When the last of the veterans who fought in World War II we will no longer have anyone alive for a living memory to teach us, so we must let them teach us what they have learned and explain what they have experienced for there is no higher way of honoring them other than taking care of them in a manner that let's them know we have not forgotten them or what they have done for us.

Donald Trump's commentary of late

2011-04-21T17:57:00.000-04:00

Donald Trump has been shooting his mouth off when it comes to President Obama's citizenship and saying that he himself is thinking of running against Obama. Evidently the records that Hawaii has on Obama's birth are not good enough for him to say that he is not a natural born U.S. Citizen. The fact that he will not let the matter go even with the records showing that Hawaii recognized Obama's birth as having been in Hawaii, it says that he has something against him due to the fact that if he had something tangible against Obama when it comes to his citizenship he would have had to turn it over to the proper authorities.

If Donald Trump is actually considering running for the office of President then he has to move on from the birther debate and actually start talking about why he would be a good president beyond saying that he is qualified for the position due to his fortune and his business sense. If he is going to use his business sense as a credential then he will have to answer real questions as to why more than one of his business ventures has filed for bankrupcy protection.

It is time for Donald Trump to put up or shut up before he trumps himself out of any potential presidential bid with his chosen political party.

The Government Budget impass between the Political parties

2011-04-01T13:23:00.000-04:00

I know I haven't posted in a while this is due to the fact I have been focusing on job searching rather than making comments about anything.

Lately I have been thinking of the Federal Government and the impass that the Politial Parties have on their hands at the moment. Fortunately both parties can agree that budgets need to be cut but it is unfortunate that they cannot agree on what items in each departments budgets should be cut. At the same time the budgets need to be cut the people in Congress needs to take a magnifying glass to the business practices of each individual office of each agency and department to see which practices are out dated or are impracticle, such as a redundancy that doesn't need to be there or the political cronies that are placed in different agencies that are put there over people who are actually qualified to be there.

The Job Market

2011-01-07T13:35:00.000-05:00

The job market today is a lot different than it was when I started working 23 years ago when I was 16 and working part time for school.

I had started my first job when the stock market was only at roughly 2500 which is a far cry fromthe 10000 to 12000 it is now. When the stock market went down the roughly 500 point in one day that year everyone one acted like it was the end of the world now people act like it's no big deal.

The job market itself was far different, the job market seemed like we were doing everything right when it came to putting people to work now it seems like we can't do anything right and we are floundering and faultering at the very thought that there may not be an easy way to get the lost jobs back.

The nation has come to a point where it has to think globally when it comes to the economy rather than thinking that we are the one that the world needs when it comes to the economies of the world. We have so actively tried to save money by taking jobs overseas to other countries that we are at the verge of losing our identity as a nation of manufacturers, inventors and innovators, only to become a service based nation which is what a lot of people in this country don't want.

It is ironic that the very jobs that many people don't want are leaving and those same people who didn't want those jobs are yelling and screaming that we are losing those jobs.

some ideas I had written about government

2010-12-22T19:29:00.000-05:00

After having sent ideas over the past few years to politicians I decided to post them to a website that I hope people will read.

here is a link for the website:

https://sites.google.com/site/ideasforchangeingovernment/

What are the Republicans thinking?

2010-12-07T15:39:00.000-05:00

What are the Republicans in Congress doing?

Even with most of the Republicans in Congress knowing full well that the Bush era tax cuts had a set life span of ten years due to them having been there to vote on them, they seem to think that the tax cuts specifically for the wealthiest two percent of the population is the only way to save this country financially.

Granted, the wealthiest two percent of Americans can have a greatest impact short term by spending money due to the amount that they are capable of spending but they didn't get rich by people force feeding them cash and telling them to spend that cash. The wealthiest of Americans are a mix of family money passed down and people who worked hard to get that money so when someone is willing to hand them hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars they are more likely to pocket the money than spend it like the Republicans keep insisting will happen if the tax cuts are extended.

The worst part is that the Republicans basically told ninety eight percent of the country that they don't matter when they said to the president that unless the wealthiest of Americans gets to keep their tax cuts, the poorest of Americans are on their own. By insisting on such measures the Republicans are not living up to their duties to their constituents.

It amounts to the Republicans in Congress holding ninety eight percent of the country hostage to their insistence that their mentality of the richest of Americans being the only ones that can bring us out of the recession and that they need help in the form of continued tax breaks that were designed to end in 2010.

If I'm not worth your company's time, then your product is not worth my time

2010-11-21T12:35:00.000-05:00

Recently I noticed on various websites that bring up the economy and the jobless rate for the United States. For the most part everyone is in agreement that we are not coming out of the recession as quickly as people would love especially the politicians who have put their necks out with making promised that it looks like they cannot keep.

This is due to the fact that on many websites it is coming out that there are companies some of them large international ones that have started screening the resumes to see who is currently employed. If they find a resume where they show that the individual is not currently employed, then they disregard that individual resume in favor of one who is actively trying to do a lateral move or advance their career while still currently employed.

Where it is the individual company's prerogative to hire who they want, then I would suggest that the unemployed use the same mentality against those companies who are starting to say "unemployed need not apply" and boycott those companies when and where ever possible in an attempt to say to those companies, "If I'm not worth your company's time, then your product is not worth my time".

politicians and morality

2010-10-27T20:19:00.000-04:00

Politicians while running for government office tend to say things that appeal to the morality to specific groups that they feel will give them the most votes while shunning and sometimes outright puts those groups down. The politicians would have us believe that their sense of morality is our morality for our government.

The groups that politicians tend to ignore or put down are part of their voter base as well and what they are doing is a form of bullying by belittling their desire to be part of the process. In some venues, they are an influential part of the voter base which means that they need to put their morality aside if they want to get elected.

The thing is, we each have our own sense of morality that may be different than that of the politicians and the politicians know that and it is why they change their tune when then get elected. Some do try to do what they believe while others do end up doing things that go against their campaigning, when it comes to morality.

There are some people who believe that there is no separation of church and state where the U.S. Constitution does not have the exact phrase "separation of church and state" even though there are provisions prohibiting the union of the two. Granted we cannot totally take our belief systems out of our daily lives which means some of the beliefs will spill over into our government even if it is inadvertently.

There are some people who would take a specific part of a religious text and through it in peoples faces, what they will not show is, the full text of the religous text which also includes a bunch of things that society considers normal and many politican past and present pursue as if it was a badge of honor instead of adhering to the text which goes against what they are doing.

I would like to know where the politicians get their data on taxes

2010-10-25T19:13:00.000-04:00

Given that some politicians think that giving tax cuts to the richest 2 percent of the U.S. population equates to job growth in the U.S. I would like to know where this mentality comes from? For many years there have been tax cuts in place for the richest in the nation, yet the jobs have been leaving the country or have been cut totally due to the mentality that there is higher profit if jobs are dealt in this way.

If there are to be continued tax cuts to the wealthiest of our citizens we need them to show that the mentality that has lead to the tax cuts is for real by actually creating the jobs that they have lead the politician to believe would happen.

the recent suicides due to bullying in the public eye

2010-10-17T17:26:00.005-04:00

The recent suicides in the gay community that have happened due to the individuals being bullied, shows how intolerant individuals can be towards individuals that are different than them, especially when the difference is something like sexual preference. Our society has shown through the use of written language that homosexuality has been around for thousands of years and that it wasn't liked even then. the problem is that people are using such texts to justify attacking and sometimes killing individuals that identify themselves as gay, even though some of the texts also say that attacking and killing goes against the belief systems

when it comes to beliefs, we as a society have to live up to those beliefs that we are capable of living up to rather than picking and choosing which beliefs to live up to.

The don't ask don't tell policy

2010-05-30T10:18:00.000-04:00

I believe that everyone that is physically capable of serving in the military should be allowed to do so without regards to their sexual orientation.

Not everyone is comfortable with openly talking about sexual issues whether they are straight, gay, bi or a transsexual, which means that you will always find people that are willing to talk openly about their preferences, which in of itself will cause problems in some situations whether it be for the individual or for the group.

How can you tell an individual that yes we need all the people that we can get to go fight for us, then turn around and tell that same individual that we do not need you due to who you like, regardless of what you can do to help the war effort? This only serves to belittle the individual that has signed on to do what he or she can for our country.

The individuals that are gay or bi who make the decision to join our military already know that there has to be discretion as to who to confide in when it comes to their sexuality given their own experiences and how comfortable they are in telling people about themselves, which means that they should be trusted enough to make the decision for themselves as to whether they come out while in the military.

Most people have come across individuals that have struggled with their decision due to what people may think of them.

Most people who don't want anything thing to do with the whole situation will site their religious beliefs. Here is one very specific question for those who site religious text as their reasoning:

Where the bible does use the term "lay with" with the meaning of having consensual sex and uses the term "get to know" with a meaning of rape, where specifically in the bible does it state that preferring to "lay with" the same gender constitutes an abomination?

The Gulf Coast Oil situation

2010-05-30T09:58:00.000-04:00

When it comes to the mess that has evolved in the gulf coast due to the oil rig sinking, I think that what is needed is better direction in what to do to stem the flow of the leaking oil and more resources in dealing with the ever expanding oil slick that is heading to the coastline, with the resources directed at limiting what ends up of the areas that are at most risk of distruction due to even a small amount of the oil entering into that specific environment along with clean up of the areas that can be cleaned.

Yes we do need to know what went wrong and part of that is knowing who made what decisions that helped create the problem on the rig which caused the fire in the first place and then the subsequent sinking and ever expanding oil slick. However at this point we need the people who are capable of stepping up and getting people to stop bickering about who's fault it is and to separate the clean up effort and the attempts at stopping the flow so that people who are dealing with one aspect are not bothered by the other aspect.

The New Health Care Law

2010-03-30T19:36:00.002-04:00

I applaude the fact that the democrats pushed through a bill on health care. Unfortunately they had to include pork barrel politics in it due to the fact that the republucans didn't want to be apart of the process.

Instead of trying to come up with one of their own or to tinker with the presidents bill to see something that included things both sides wanted they just judged the bill on what they didn't like.

By no means am I trying to say that it is a great bill or law, it does have its flaws for which the republicans helped point out at the same time we need something that protects those who are sick and those who have to pay the premiums into the system the livelyhood of each sector in medicine with out forcing people into hawk to be healthy.

The U.S. Census

2009-11-23T21:10:00.004-05:00

The United States is gearing up for the Decennial Census which is the major census and happens every ten years.

The Census is a massive undertaking that at times gets a bad reputation due to the fact that they have to do a nationwide survey of the population with many people being afraid to give the needed information due to the big brother mentality that is perpetuated by some media outlets and by people fearing that the information is going to be misused by the government in general.

the census workers only show up at any given address for specific reasons which are address canvassing which makes sure that the address data base is up to date, and in instances where the survey has not been returned or completely filled out.

A U.S. Census worker has to identify him or herself as a U.S. Census Employee, why they are there and make sure that they have their credentials on on them for identification purposes. If for any reason you feel that an individual isn't who they say they are then you have every right to call the U.S. Census offices in your area to see if they have an individual employed at one of their offices, or you can call your local authorities as well.

Any information you do give to the U.S. Census is legally protected by the U.S. Constitution and can not be shared with anyone.

The Census date is April 1, 2010 any one showing up before then saying that you didn't fill out your survey or it was incomplete isn't a Census worker and the Census has to wait for the surveys to come in to be able to process the information and it will be a while before you hear from the Census if you didn't fill out your survey or if it wasn't compete before returning it.

congratulations to the president

2009-10-12T13:11:00.002-04:00

Even though the Nobel Piece Prize is a surprise to many people, he deserves to be congratulated on winning it. Now that he has won it, it will make it harder for him to do his job due to the expectations that will inevitably be placed on him but it will also make it a little easier for him to bring people to the table to work things out once people stop wondering what he has done to deserve the honor.

Senator Ted Kennedy

2009-08-26T19:58:00.003-04:00

Senator Kennedy a man that may have come from a privileged family, will surely be missed for his tirelessly fighting for those who had nothing while serving his beloved constituents even as he himself faced some of the toughest adversities one could ever face, with having to bury 2 brothers who died while trying to serve our country in the manner they thought best.

He has shown that no matter the adversity you must stand up and fight, fight for what you believe in no matter the cost. For that whom ever the torch passes to, will be judged based on what Senator Kennedy tried regardless of whether or not his efforts were fruitful.

Obama's health care plan

2009-08-17T21:02:00.004-04:00

I believe that President Obama has the right idea in general in the fact that we need to reform the health care system and also to get the government involved. I feel that its not a matter of whether or not the government should get more involved but rather how they should be involved and to what degree.

the one major problem is that not everyone wants health insurance for one reason or another and you also have people who can't afford the health insurance or would rather use the emergency room as their doctors office. any and all reform has to take these into account and we have figure out how to remedy them as well.

what's with people in power in other countries

2009-06-21T12:21:00.002-04:00

with what is going on in both North Korea and in Iran it makes me wonder how the people that lead their countries got their power. One seems overly eccentric and the other seems to want to do anything to stay in power including not letting a full recount of his countries election.

jobs, unemployment, skin cancer, friends

2009-03-29T17:45:00.003-04:00

its been a year since I had been diagnosed with skin cancer. In that time I had lost a job due to the place I was working at closing, while recovering from surgery to removed I was forced to be on unemployment and looking for a new job. even though I had that going on I could not have asked for better time of year to be off where I ended up having most of the summer off from having to go to work every day so I could recover more easily from the surgery, not because of the type of surgery but from where I had the surgery.

a month or two after I was fully recovered from the surgery I ended up with a better job than I had left last spring. Even though some of the social interactions are weirder than I am accustomed too I feel as if I have found some better friends than I had in my last job aside from a couple people in my last job I still have contact with.

stem cell research reversal

2009-03-10T20:23:00.003-04:00

I am happy that President Obama reversed President Bush's decision to ban stem cell research. I believe that every life is important but I also feel that there is no gaurantee that the embryos would mature enough to be a viable life.

I feel that regardless of religious beliefs, the good of the many in most cases out weighs the good of the one but in the case of medicine the needs of the one help push forward the research that helps us deal with the needs of the many and we need to explore options that we may not always agree with. we have shown in the past that under certain conditions we will forego ethics so we can save a live during war time which means we cannot pick and choose our battles with medicine as long as we don't intend to hurt anyone.

the stimulus package

2009-02-14T18:58:00.002-05:00

The stimulus package that has made its way through the house and senate is far from perfect with what is in it but at the same time the government needs to do something. unfortunately it is still politics as usual in washington which means that it could have been a lot better but due to politicians not wanting to work at making it better for all they whined about it not being up to their standards.

the economy and jobs

2009-01-31T16:05:00.003-05:00

with the way the economy is going it looks like even with the newest stimulus package it will not stop the economy from dictating that fewer employees are needed in many area's at least in the short term. when the job market starts heating up again many of the jobs that once had a high rate of pay to begin with, will undoubtedly have a lower base pay to start than just a year or two ago. this will mean that even though someone finds a new job, they may not be out of their financial troubles due to what they are use to in terms of living standards and what they have to deal with prior financial obligations that they would still be required to live up too. this will most likely cause just as many problems as the person being on unemployment if not worsen their problems.

congratulations to President Obama

2009-01-20T21:01:00.004-05:00

I would like to congratulate Mr. Obama on attaining the office of the President of the United States. I hope that he can live up to the promises made and live up to the aspirations of a nations that hopes that a new voice can and will be the voice of change.

Israel and the middle east process

2009-01-01T18:11:00.002-05:00

Both Israel and certain segments of the Middle East in particular the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip need to approach the whole process of peace differently.

To this point any attempt at piece has been a fragile that has been easily fractured by even the smallest of events that may have more to do with a legacy of mistrust between both sides rather than a lack of wanting to end the violence.

The problem on both sides at least in one persons opinion is a lack of respect and control. The Palestinians appear to be unable or unwilling to prevent individuals from attaining weapons that are capable of being launched into Israel due to the legacy of mistrust and Israel seems to be unwilling or incapable of controlling their retaliatory response to any skirmish that may occur.

in the end both sides even though stating and making what looks like a half hearted attempt at change end up perpetuating the legacy of tit-for-tat that has been going on for countless generations.

weather related utility problems

2008-12-25T18:17:00.003-05:00

recently the area I live in experienced an ice storm, which under normal circumstances losing power is a small problem resolved in a few hours or at most a day or two. this time however due to the lack of an initial response and a lack of coordination the utility company was forced by the Governor to hand over the responsabilities associated with the repairs.

it came out that the utility company didn't want to pay the additional workers that were needed to ensure a timely recovery. there was some speculation as to why and each sinario is entirely plausible. the first one is just that they didn't want to pay the additional workers and the other is that they intentionally waited so the state would declare the area a disaster area which would take the burden of paying off of the utility company and be given to the state and federal governments.

with either sinario, there is one problem and that relates to public health. with a lack luster response to the wide spread outage it displaced thousands and forced others to get creative when it came to their ability to heat the homes and apartments during some of the coldest days of the season.

something needs to be done concerning the way the utility company managed their response to the power outage given that it was so wide spread and lack of an initial response and lack luster response overall.

an understanding of health care concerns

2008-12-06T20:07:00.002-05:00

Health care it is on everyones mind in the U.S. especially due to the costs associated with it. Even when the individual or family does have health insurance, most people still wonder if their health insurance will cover them and for how long.

Back in March of this year I received two very distinct scares that relate to health care issues one was the fact that I was being laid off of work which meant that I would have to find out if I would have to file for one of the state sponsored plans or if unemployment offered unemployment benefits, the other came a few days later in the form of results from a biopsy done earlier that month with the results being skin cancer in the form of a single melanoma that had been discovered early enough for it to still be contained in one small area.

Both of them together made me really concerned due to the fact that the results of the biopsy meant that I could have minor day surgery to have a patch of skin removed rather than having to go through the more aggressive treatments while leaving me with a sinking feeling that I may not have the health insurance available to pay for the surgery.

In the end I found that unemployment provided and it ended up being pretty much the same health insurance plan I had before I was laid off and I also found that since I went from one place that had that carrier to another place with that carrier the referals I had were still in effect which took a load off and allowed me to have the surgery in piece. The healing process was a little different due to having at least a one inch by one inch patch of skin removed, I was just thankful that I had the time off to heal even though I was in the process of finding a new job which I found a few months later for which there are some good people there.

a question to ponder on wind and solar power

2008-11-27T10:57:00.002-05:00

As a society we use both wind turbines and solar panels to create energy, with each type of energy source taking large spaces of land to create adequate amounts of energy to be used.

I have been wondering one thing which is:

has anyone thought of taking the time to see if it would be possible to create a wind farm that also has solar panels that are attached to the supports for the wind turbines and that vertical rather that horizontal?

where does it end?

2008-11-16T15:21:00.002-05:00

The writers of the United States Constitution made an honest attempt at trying to separate religion from government. Granted you cannot complete separate the two but you can set up clear boundaries for which the writers tried to do with article 6 of the constitution and with the first amendment.

Even though Article 6 states multiple things, it does expressly state that religion cannot be used to attain any government office. As written it may not constitute a separation but a number of congregations in a couple religions have decided to use their churches as a way to influence politics.

It has gotten to the point that in some instances the leaders of those specific congregations have become strong enough to challenge our politicians with being ousted from office or by not getting elected through by getting their congregations to go for or against a specific politician, which does constitute a religious test to attain office or to keep office.

with that said, proposition 8 which passed in California, in my opinion was allowed onto the ballot due at least in part to the politicians not wanting to cause problems for themselves since it was an election year.

Granted the first amendment does state that government cannot interfere with a persons right to practice religion but at the same time we must allow our government to do its job without interference from outside sources that would turn this country into a religious state.

I am all for religion but I feel that it has no business in politics and vise versa.

Where will religion stop when it comes to trying to put one view point of religious doctrine into governmental law?

Will it stop after gays do not have the right to marry through out the country?

Will it continue causing religions to try to outlaw gay relationships?

Which doctrine will these religious congregations bring forward next; how about outlawing premarital sex or outlawing blasphemy or even forcing people to go to their respective houses of worship on their Religions Sabbath?

Barack Obame - President Elect

2008-11-05T19:52:00.004-05:00

Barack Obama deserves to be applauded for attaining the office of the President of the United States. He exemplifies the hopes and dreams of many people in the U.S. especially those who have felt that they have been cheated out of the american dream.

He made history in being elected president. He is the first person to be elected that is of mixed racial background even though most see him only for his skin color.

The questions now are like that of any other politician. will he live up to his promises? will he be able to keep his promises?

education and the vice presidential candidate

2008-10-25T12:57:00.002-04:00

Where Sara Palin has a special needs infant, I would like to respectfully ask why it took her so long to come out with a speech about education where she will need the specialized services of the education system when her son get older?

instead of attacking Obama on different issues she herself should be taking the high ground and spearheading the issues of Education and also the healthcare system to help the republican ticket get into office since her son will be effected for good or bad by any decision that the next president when it comes to the added education and healthcare requirements that he will need and what the availability of those services are.

pork barrel politics

2008-10-13T07:17:00.005-04:00

the people who have the ability to do something to help the economy and the environment are all saying that we should to this or we should do that. Unfortunately, none of these people want to actually sit down and work with each other due to the mentality of "what is in it for me".

that mentality has slowed down any real attempt at helping those who would have the most to gain from people sorting things out, which only compounds the problem in the long run due to having to add pork barrel items to the solution that has nothing to do with fixing the problem only to have to deal with any ill effects of those pork barrel items at a later date if it is shown that those items just compound a problem elsewhere.

what is needed is someone standing up to those who really enjoy adding pork barrel items and stating that they have no business there if they need to paid with pork barrel items to do what they know to be right by their constituents.

there is a time and place for adding pork barrel political items. they tend to show up in area's where they have no business being in due to people trying to quietly attaching them to things that they do not relate to, just so they can pacify a persons friends or people trying to influence them in some way.

this has been shown with both the environment and the economy. If you look at the bail out of Wall Street, a few hundred million dollar if not a few billion dollars in pork barrel items had to be added to get the needed votes to pass congress. With the environment it has been shown that for many people with influence don't care about it due to wanting to go into areas that are protected to make money stripping the environment in some way to get the product that they are looking for with no real plan to protect the environment from the ill effects caused by the process of extraction. it also has been shown that these same people are catered too by not enforcing different laws that pertain to what they are doing or burying bills that would effect those people.

The bailout

2008-09-28T09:25:00.003-04:00

The fundimentals of any bailout plan has to be the protection of those who would be adversely effected by the failure of the system. This means that those who are already or will be living paycheck to paycheck are the ones that are in need of the most protection. This is not to say that there should not be protections put in place for the financial institutions either but protections for both sides should keep one protection from overriding the other.

The working poor and the middle class should not have to worry about the potential loss of their homes or retirement accounts due to people or rules that favor taking the stuff to gain short term satisfaction over working with the people and families for long term satisfaction.

when it comes to the financial institutions they should be more willing to rewrite the terms of mortgages and other forms of credit so that the people who are paying on the credit can still afford to keep paying rather than taking steps that would hurt the financial company through having property that is not generating income due to forcing the people from their home.

The other forms of credit like credit cards, the financial institutions need to look at what is going on with the way they handle interest and fees. The financial companies who provide credit cards have to reduce the interest and not be so willing to add fees to the accounts due to the fact that sometimes when a late fee is assessed to an account the account gets charged an over the limit fee as well which at times forces the interest rate to spike. The financial institutions should not be permitted to assess fees when to an individuals account when the account is at or close enough to the limit that it would adversely effect the account holder financially.

at the same time the financial institutions should have protections against people who are trying to scam people and the financial institutions in ways that adversely effect the one going for the credit and the financial institution or are willing to lie about their financial situation to get the money that they are looking for only to turn around and file for protection against creditors.

The federal bailout of Wall Street

2008-09-21T18:36:00.002-04:00

The lack of foresight with regards to mortgages has forced the federal government to step in and bail out the financial institutions. This does not directly stem from what the individuals looking for loans have done but rather what some lenders have done in order to make a quick dollar from both the individual they get the loan for but also the institution that they get to buy the loan.

The mess may not have happened or may have been less severe if the predatory lenders didn't find ways of getting the individuals and couples to leave their financial information blank so they could play with the numbers to get the people loans that they realistically could not afford

Where the federal government has to bail out these financial institutions, there should be safeguards for both the individual who gets the loan and the financial institutions that maintain the mortgage note. This would include the rewriting of the terms of the loans to protect both sides if the individual in the event that the individual is making every attempt to pay but through no fault of their own starts having problems paying, i.e. inflation rising faster than their pay, etc...

The financial institutions don't really want the property since they would be the ones who would be the ones required to maintain the property until sold and are forced to take a lose if they can't sell the house for the value of the mortgage note. At the same time the communities don't want to see a home that has become abandoned and neglected due to the family being forced to move out due to a foreclosure due to it bringing down the look of the neighborhood and the value of the surrounding homes.

The one real question is: Will we learn from what happened in the aftermath of the sub-prime mortgage lending problem?

A problem marriage

2008-09-13T16:31:00.003-04:00

my brother, had been talked into a mail order bride that he would have to help bring over here for the marriage. It didn't take much to convince him given that he always had a thing for women of that specific race and really wanted to be with one.

It took him and her family more than five years of trying to legally bring her over here. After she came she seemed nice enough and looked like she genuinely wanted to be with my brother. A couple weeks after she got here they had gotten married and then a couple months later knowing that she needed a support system he decided to move out of state to some cousins of hers that had already immigrated here a number of years before so she would have some family around to help her settle in.

after a month with her family out of the blue they moved again to another state to be with a friend of her family that had immigrated here a couple years ago. Almost immediately they then moved again this time moving out of the continent and settling in Hawaii to live with her mother.

what had happened next shocked most of the people in her family and threw my brother for a loop. everyone found out that they were being used by the lady and she let everyone know this by going to the police without any evidence to back herself up with and getting a restraining order placed on my brother so he could not go any where near her and her daughter.

It got really complicated due to the fact she also has a 13 year old son who she abandoned when she walked out on my brother. she had decided to move out of her mothers place leaving both my brother and her son there and everyone there wondering what was going on.

the lady tried to convince her family that my brother had been abusing her and her daughter but most of her family didn't believe her at all. Where they were living at her mothers place and her mother being able to see that he wasn't abusing her would not take her daughters side. she tried to convince her family in Hawaii which consisted of her mom, her two brothers and her aunt (her mothers sister) and her uncle who is married to her aunt.

the only one she was able to convince that my brother had been beating her was one of her brothers and he was still living with their mother. Now she will not talk to her aunt and uncle since they would not take her side even though they were the ones that were actively trying to get her here legally.

come to find out there had been a guy in the background that my brother along with her aunt and uncle didn't know about that setting things up for her to make an attempt to be able to legally stay in the United States with out having to stay married to my brother for the required amount of time. this was proven by the fact that almost immediately after they moved to Hawaii she left him and filed the paperwork for a temporary restraining order, which was recently turned into a restraining order that lasts just past the required time she has to be married to him to be able to stay here permanently. It was also verified by one of her brothers that she had someone here helping her in the background to set everything up.

I just feel sorry for her son who she abandoned because he didn't deserve to have this happen to him and I also feel sorry for her aunt and uncle due to the fact they have been betrayed by someone that they love.

The Visa she came over on required her to get married within 90 days of arriving in the United States and requires her to remain married for 5 full years to be a permanent resident of the United States. With the fact that she is trying to take advantage of the system my brother has to find out how to get her legally deported so she can't take advantage of the system any more than she has.

this years presidential run seems a little off kilter

2008-09-06T20:42:00.002-04:00

with the way both candidates have been going about their presidential runs you would think in some ways they are in the wrong political parties. you have a candidate in the democratic party who is willing to talk faith issues which the republican party normally talks about.

then you have a candidate in the republican party who has selected a running mate who doesn't fall under the normal conservative family due to her daughter being pregnant out of wedlock even though it has been publicly stated that she is going to get married before the baby is born.

on a personal level I do not have any problem with either of them but in my opinion as to whether or not they can effectively run the country, I feel that neither of them can do it, at least as it would be needed to put us back on stable footing both domestically and internationally.

the way I look at it we have to choose between someone who thinks for the most part like the current administration and someone who broke his promise to finish his first term as senator before running for another office.

it is almost like nature is giving a test

2008-08-31T20:56:00.002-04:00

Three years ago when Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana it was a black eye for the readiness of the federal government. this time around it looks like the same administration is being given a test to see if there is a way of saving face by nature for past mistakes.

before we begin to judge anyone lets see how things get handled this time around and then see where and when people do both right and wrong this time around so we actually know who to give credit to and who to make answer for mistakes.

The U.S. Drinking age

2008-08-21T20:49:00.002-04:00

when it comes to drinking there are a lot of people out there that feel that the higher the legal age for drinking is better. unfortunately, to some degree this is a misguided train of thought.

people have to remember part of the problem with underage drinking is the actual maturity of the individual not the general age group as a whole. what also has to be remembered is that regardless of the legal drinking age there will always be people looking to skirt the law and the only thing that actually changes is the age group involved in skirting the law.

with regards to college aged students showing symptoms of alcohol dependence, some of those individuals regardless of age are probably those who have the needed physical or emotional traits that permit the problem to take hold.

we also have to learn that when the Constitution states that these people are legal adult we have to stop treating them as children that we have to protect by forcing an artificial milestone to achieve based partially not being ready to let them learn what it means to be an adult for themselves.

new job

2008-08-11T21:18:00.002-04:00

after almost four and a half months and some ups and downs with regards to my needed job search I finally found a job and I hope that it lasts for a good long while so I don't have to worry about the job market especially with the way the economy has been going in recent months.

an opinion on the candidates

2008-08-02T22:03:00.002-04:00

as the presidential race is heating up we will inevitably be exposed to a lot of campaign rhetoric that would not sound like it is a bias against the normal set of candidates but with this campaign where age and race are involved what would normally be perceived as rhetoric will to some degree be perceived as a bias either against age or race.

the real problem is having to choose between two individuals one of which believes in the current policies which have brought our country to a breaking point domestically and internationally; the other has the ability to tell you exactly what groups would like to hear but hasn't really come out and said anything with regards to how his goals for this country will be achieved.

the economy

2008-07-21T10:55:00.001-04:00

With the housing correction and the rising oil prices everyone that has influence over different aspects of the economy have speculated on the different ways we can remedy the short comings that have been made evident when the housing correction and rising oil prices collided.

The economists would prefer a quick fix or the band aid effect when it comes the economy, but the one real problem is that there is no one specific remedy that can cover every aspect of the economy. The one real remedy is something that has aspects that relate specifically to the different aspects of the economy that can be dealt with independently rather than a blanket plan that cover all of the economy.

When the housing correction and rising oil prices hit independent of each other they adversely effected the economy negatively which shows that there is no such thing as a blanket plan when it comes to the economy. Any real plan has to be able to deal with each factor that makes up the economy so it can be corrected as needed to keep the other aspect of the economy in check so there is a lesser effect on the economy than when the housing correction and rising oil prices happened.

Every one of the people who are capable of understanding the data all has their own versions of what should be done and what should not be done. There lies the problem, what is the wrong thing to do in one person’s version may be something right in another persons version, this is due to the interpretation of the available data that they both read. With the wording in the media it sounds like they are not looking at the specifics of their plans that would cause reactions in other areas of the economy that the economists don’t feel are related to what is involved with fixing what went wrong.

We need to look at the economy not as one specific entity we have to look at all of the parts of the economy to understand how one aspect of the economy will affect another aspect whether directly or indirectly through another aspect. Without a plan to deal with each part of the economy individually we cannot hope to actually deal with the economy as a whole which means that everything that happens that can go from the top down with regards to the economy will continue to affect various aspects of the economy with no real idea as to what direction it will take or what should be done with the problem.

Regardless of what is done it will not be as quick or as palatable as people would like but it has to be done without regard to who wants what and when. By allowing interference in any real remedy, the remedy will never fully take hold and will not be adequate.

The real question is; are those who can put the plan in place willing to do what is needed when needed?

the dynamics of the U.S. Economy

2008-07-07T19:12:00.001-04:00

Given the dynamics of what has been happening with the U.S. economy due in part to the housing market collapse and the continually rising oil prices, the U.S. economy is going to end up causing long term problems not just in the U.S. but all over the world. The U.S. dollar isn’t the highest valued currency out there but it given the problems in the world markets since its slide downward shows that it is one of the major currencies that help keep the world’s economies going. This by itself has shown that as much as people like to complain about the way the U.S. does business, we have enough influence on the world stage to cause internal problems for other countries just by having internal problems of our own.

There has to be a real involvement from all public and private sectors involved in the U.S. economy in order for the real problems that are plaguing us. The unfortunate part of what is happening with the U.S. economy is the finger pointing that everyone does which only worsens the predicament that we are currently in due to everyone believing that they are not the one that is causing the problem. Everyone who has been pointing fingers at who should be blamed, tend to want everyone to entertain their ideas as if they are the only ideas that are valid.

What is needed is for an organization that has a vested interested in making sure the economy succeeds that is independent of both sides to actually see what needs to happen to protect the economy through giving protections to both sides that force each side to do things certain ways. The normal way that people on handle problems with the economy is for both sides stating that taxes should be reduced but in accordance with how they feel they should, normally with one side stating that the people who have the up front money to hire people should get the tax breaks while the other side states that the lower and middle classes should be the ones to receive them instead.

That mentality does not do the economy justice without first understanding where the underlying problems are with respect to where the most money is spent and why. Granted the top few percentages of income of the United States can out spend all other income levels per person but as income level go, in general most of the spending comes from people who have to do the grunt work so to speak which are in the lower income levels.

This would suggest that any tax breaks need to be targeted to areas that can do the most to help restart the economy rather than blanket cuts to specific income groups, even if it means that the tax cuts be for specific company tax ID numbers for companies with the most potential to hire new employees due to the availability of the products and ability to sell them at a reasonable price for the lower income levels.

We can no longer afford to dance around certain subjects as well, this would be due to the fact that each thing we negate to deal with pet projects or intentionally use as a carrot dangling in front of a donkey to get pet projects approved. Every area of the country needs to have things done and instead of trying play with the lives of people in other districts or other states, the projects that require federal funding should be prioritized so that way what is needed the most gets done first before something that isn’t as important does.

The government has been in charge of maintaining the infrastructure for the streets and highways, but in areas where there is a high volume of traffic for specific purposes the business’ there should be helping to maintain the infrastructure due to the fact that, they are the ones with the vested interest to make sure that the infrastructure is maintained to a specific level. There is one problem with it though and that is the companies that rely heavily on that infrastructure feel that it is the government’s job to maintain it but the companies squawk when they are told by the government that it is either maintain one thing or maintain something else with the money the government does have to maintain what is required of the government.

The government doesn’t help either with protocols that do not always permit interagency communication with matters and protocols that are may be needed in some form but are too costly due to man power or due to the needed supplies to maintain those protocols. What is needed is a way to allow interagency information exchange that maintains the protocols without compromising the integrity of the agency or the data that it requires to be kept inside that agency.
Both the private and public sectors have to shoulder what has happened to the economy instead of pointing fingers at each other for the short comings of both that caused the economic mess to begin with. If either side refuses to shoulder its share of the responsibility then it shows that they are more concerned with the short term band aid effect that has allowed us to limp along till now.

The one question should be; who can do what and when to reverse the negative effects of the spiraling economy?

opinion on domestic issues

2008-07-02T09:30:00.000-04:00

By no means are international issues less important than domestic issues but when it comes to what is needed for the country is a real understanding of how international and domestic issues influence each other before deciding which is more important.

At the moment international issues are greatly influencing domestic issues and policies to the point that our economy is facing a real down turn in large part to our dependence on foreign oil. With that said our policies on domestic issues have to change so that our dependence on international issues is reduced.

Our policies have been to help international issues but at the moment if we forego dealing with out own domestic issues in an effort to help international issues then we will eventually be reduced to a third world country.

With the cost of oil skyrocketing, everyone is feeling the pinch both domestically and internationally especially those companies that afford to continue to do business as fuel and energy continually goes higher. One good way of dealing with these costs is to find ways of offsetting the cost of energy production that would also prop up the economy, this may include commercializing alternative energy sources that are usable but still need work to perfect them. They could be commercialized to deal with a number of domestic issues such as reducing our dependence on oil, creating jobs and to help the environment.

If commercialized there would be more people available to learn how those alternative energies work which would allow for others to be informed enough to give input on ways to improve on the technologies involved. This could be a way of dealing with the domestic issues that would probably directly impact how our domestic issues influence the international issues especially when it comes to how people deal with issues energy issues and more importantly how the international community deals with the dependence on oil.

The commercialization of alternative energy sources can only be part of the overall package with dealing with domestic issues. We need to deal with the deficiencies we have in other aspects that directly factor into how our economy hold up such as education. It has been shown that our public school systems are lagging behind some of the nations that are not as large and influential as we are.

With out the educational foundations that are fundamental to how well our country runs then there is, no way we can effectively stem any downturn of the domestic economy. It is a proven fact that our education system is failing to properly educate the nation’s children that are in the inner cities where there is the least amount of money allocated for what is needed, even though the teachers are held accountable for the failures of the students with regards to the standardized testing that is required.

The educational system has shown that not every student is capable of learning in the standardized methods that is used through out the country and that there are students who have proven that they have learned the subject matter but they are not able to show that on the standard versions of the tests. These things have to be addressed in ways that permit them to become productive members of our communities rather than a drain on them due to the short sightedness of bureaucrats who do not have any understanding of what is needed to educate.

Without an educated population we cannot hope to deal with issues that are plaguing our domestic issues due to not having people who would be capable of dealing with the problems our nation faces.

We also have to deal with our health care issues that are directly influenced by an individual’s ability to pay for medical treatment. Yes we do have great health care in general but where there is not standardized primary care for all regardless of income, there are many people who are forced to use the emergency room as their primary doctors office due to not having the upfront money on a weekly or monthly basis to pay for the health insurance programs that are offered in an attempt to reduce the prices of the health care.

We may not need universal health care all the way through the health care system but we do need a universal set of standards for primary care so that the preventative medicine that has been shown to work at reducing pricing can actually bee given to all. Affordable preventative medical treatment is the first step in having a healthy workforce, which would bring down the number of days needed to deal with illnesses that causes the productivity to go down in the workforce for both the public and private sectors.

When dealing with domestic issues everyone in a position to help or hinder any progress has to ask one question of all issues, which is; how does affecting one issue affect another issue?

opinion regarding military service in presidential politics

2008-06-30T19:04:00.003-04:00

Given that President George W. Bush pushed military service to the forefront in the past two presidential elections it is something that is now a subject that people are going to look at. Unfortunately it is something to be used negatively due to George W. Bush since he belittled McCain’s years as a P.O.W. and then belittling Kerry’s swift boat record.

In my opinion, it should not be up to the general public to pass judgment on someone who actively served in the military. This judgment should be reserved to those who are serving, that have served and the immediate family of those serving and of those who have died.

The whole subject what brought into play eight years ago when a now sitting president who decided to use McCain’s status as a former P.O.W. against him calling into question where his loyalties lied since he was held captive and tortured. Then he used Kerry’s swift boat experience against him, saying that there was no way he could have gotten the amount of medals he did with such a short time in the military.

Those who have served should be ashamed of themselves if they come out against someone’s military service for the sole purpose of garnering support for the person going against him. If you are going to belittle someone’s service then belittle it solely on merit of service not for political posturing. If they are that intent on belittling their own then it should be an open field to play both ways and they should be dealt with in the same manner to see how it feels to have a peer belittle them for serving as they did.

In the end they need to act like adults who have commanded respect of others not as children who don’t know any better.

Ideas on how to deal with social networks and children

2008-06-23T10:01:00.001-04:00

Ideas on how to deal with social networks and children

Where the minimum required age to join most social networks is the age of thirteen, there has to be to be programming implemented that would prevent people from taking advantage of children on the social networks.

Right now there is nothing stopping children from trying to posing as adults and despite efforts to keep adults that prey on children there is no way of tracking them if they haven’t been caught and even when caught unless they are kept from going online there is no guarantee that they would fulfill their requirement of staying off of the internet or away from children online if permitted online if they can’t help themselves.

I do not know how hard it is to prevent adults from going onto the internet but in areas where there are known to be children there should be safeguards in place, like when the child’s parents set up their child’s internet access and like in social networks we can have each social network put in programming that is designed to safeguard children.

Here are some ideas:

· Make it legally mandatory to have any internet access settings for children set up over the phone rather than through the parental controls on the computer so that the child if tech savvy enough cannot get around the parental controls on the computers. The parents would still have to protect the information used to set up the access for the child’s ability to access the internet so that the child cannot call up the internet provider.
· With social networks where there is an age requirement have access geared around that age provided. If an age is given to the social network that is eighteen and above require some sort of identification like that of a state ID or a social security number to prove that the person is over eighteen which if their real state ID number or social security number are used could be sent to authorities if they have suspect content on their personal pages on that network.
· When adults set up their homepage they should be required to answer questions as to what type of content they are looking for and what they will be looking to put on their page so that the social network would have some idea as to who can access that page. If there also should be periodic checks for content on the sites to make sure that the information provided corresponds to the content on the site.
· Complete separation of children from adults on social networks shouldn’t be required but rather how they can interact with each other should be restricted due to the possibility of actually communicating with family through that social network. The restriction should be based primarily on content and age appropriateness of the person trying to look at it so that even that if someone tries to provide access to content that isn’t age appropriate to someone that shouldn’t be viewing it can be prevented from viewing the content.
· With the internet in general, the children should be able to go online and be prevented from interacting with adults who they don’t know through a way of identifying in coming emails to the child’s email address even if it means that the ISP’s have to rewrite their email protocols to include a standardized marker regarding age that can be picked up by the ISP’s network that it is ultimately going to with it being able to send an automated response back that cannot be blocked stating that they cannot send emails to that email address. Anyone not on a list of email address of adults approved by the parents should automatically be blocked and the child cannot send to anything to an adult that isn’t on that list.

some thoughts for and ideas on how to power water desalinziation

2008-06-22T19:10:00.001-04:00

When dealing with the Earths population having a shrinking water supply as the population grows, we have to deal with an issue that people think will need to happen but think it will not have to be done in their lifetime. This is desert farming; this has to be taken serious due to the fact that if we choose not to entertain the idea now we will lose even more of the rainforests which help maintain our various geographical climates.

We also have to couple this with large scale water desalinization which would primarily be for the desert farming while making sure that the water desalinization plants that are built for the sole purpose of purifying water for farming are as self sufficient as possible which would mean utilizing the power of the water as a power source.

Water desalinization has to be a top priority for every country with out regard to whether they have a coastline to utilize for the process and is especially needed in arid areas. As for the areas with established farmland where the water has to be split between crops and drinking water should have large enough quantities of desalinized water available for the farmers so that those municipalities that have to deal with the water issues don’t have to worry about finding the water to maintain their populations and the farms.

Given the facts surrounding deforestation and diminishing rainfall as a result, we need to reseed those forests with the types of trees and plants that are in that forest while making sure that we give the quantities of water that have been shown to grow and maintain those forests while making sure that the local populations that are willing to destroy the forests for money are shown that the forests if properly maintained can sustainable profits by finding markets for the stuff that the forests continually produce that is easily renewable and sustainable.

Here is a plan of action for designing desalinization plants:

· Design the system to have two aqueducts types, one for the intake of ocean water that is basically a holding tank for the water waiting to be treated, and the other for water that has been treated and waiting to be loaded into the vehicles that are meant to carry it to farms. Do this while making sure that the rate of the water flow for both the intake an outtake are at the same flow rate.
· When designing the power system, design it so that way the water itself is creating as much of the energy as possible starting with the intake. Design the intake to be a siphon to reduce the power needs while designing a water turbine that is meant to be used horizontally instead of vertically to be specifically used in the siphon. When designing the outtake design it to be like a dam with vertical water turbines that feed the plant like the turbines would on a normal dam but instead of feeding a river they would feed the desalinization plant at a constant rate that the plant can handle.
· When designing the desalinization plant itself, design it to be able to handle a constant flow of water from the aqueduct, while at every step of the way if there is a way of utilizing the water for power generation, design it to do so as long as it doesn’t contaminate the water or re-salt the water. With the areas where there is the possibility of water loss through steam, create a way of reclaiming that water while utilizing the power that the steam can offer to help with power generation.
· With the large structure that would be standing for both the aqueduct and the desalinization plant, position them so that way there are at least two full outer walls of each that has sunlight on it for as long as possible each day so that a solar arrays could be incorporated into the design of the walls making sure that as much of the walls could be covered by solar panels. Also you could design the roofing structure to have solar panels
· If there is extra energy produced by whole process then provide that extra energy to the local municipalities that could use it if they are within the area where the power can travel in the power lines.

thoughts on taxes and the economy

2008-06-15T19:58:00.000-04:00

When it comes to the economy and taxes, at the moment the mentality of giving the tax breaks to the wealthiest of individuals and families isn’t working as well as it has in the past and as intended. This is due to the fact that these individuals have the same mentality as others when it comes to more for less, instead of it being product based it is based on how much service can they get for the cheapest possible price, this would include the salaries of the people offering those services along with trying to get the people who provide services to them to do more work for the same money that they have been receiving.

Most business’s are looking to find ways of saving money in today’s economy to the point that if they have to choose where they can actually save money given the cost of supplies and the salaries of their workers. At times saving money and actually producing the product or services are at odds with each other and usually the product or the employees loses out, in favor of maintaining or increasing the profit margin for the company.

With the rising prices of products and services the biggest losers are those companies that can no longer sell their products due to the cost of their products or services becoming too expensive for their targeted market stemming from not being able to afford their products any more due to stagnating incomes and rising costs. This is even starting to happen with the everyday household necessities and it was evident with the stimulus package when the middle and lower class’s went to the places that gave them the largest product amount for their money and to stores that enticed those same customers by giving gift cards for a percentage of their rebate check or giving a sale percentage off of the total bill for spending money at their stores.

Tax cuts can be a good thing provided they are in the industries that show real growth potential and are willing to make sure that their companies have what is needed to grow which would be a workforce that is compensated in ways to keep the companies potential growing, this would include salary and health care incentives along with offering various ways of letting their employees save for their retirement.

It would be very short sighted to give blanket tax cuts or credits to everyone within certain income brackets or companies which that have really high corporate profits. A blanket tax cut causes animosity for those in lower brackets especially when those individuals and companies choose not to live up to the premise behind those tax cuts in favor for higher short term profits. Any and all tax cuts which are geared towards those upper income and profit levels should be only allowed when they the individuals and companies are geared for long term profits and corporate sustainability rather than the fast cash that would be provided by such cuts without regards to sharing the wealth to those employees that did the bulk of the work in getting the companies to those profit levels.

The economy may be based on supply and demand to a great degree, but due to the rising costs of even the basic necessities of every day life that demand is going down creating problems for those companies who are producing products based on past demographics, causing those companies to shrink their work force due to a lack of money coming in but that is just a short term fix and ends up hurting those companies long term due to the fact they are adding to the problem by forcing those employees to go on unemployment or take lower paying jobs which causes their former employees to by less of that product if it is an everyday item used by their employees.

We also need to be looking at expanding on industries which can take our economy in new and more productive directions in regards to bringing in new taxes for the local, state and federal government while producing a product that can produce positive job and salary growth. A good deal of this would be to better educate people in general and retraining people to help be productive enough in those industries that need trained people to further the growth potential for the companies. These would be the types of industries where tax breaks and credits would be helpful especially if they are set up be given to those companies willing to train or send their workers to school to learn the needed skills.

All tax cuts for companies and corporations should be set up on an incentive basis geared toward helping the employees rather than helping the pockets of those high up in the chain of command. Ways of setting up the tax breaks should be like giving tax breaks to those companies and industries that provide education incentives for their employees and more of a tax break if these industries and companies are willing to provide education incentives for their employee’s immediate families.

For those companies that have the ability to allow their employees to use public transportation instead of driving should have tax breaks in place if they have position where the hours of operation for the position fall with in the hours of operation for the public transit system and the company actively promoting the public transportation system, allowing the companies to take advantage of the same or similar laws that make it attractive for the employees to utilize the public transit systems.

thoughts on water and energy

2008-06-08T22:18:00.001-04:00

With the ever worsening oil prices and the water shortages that are becoming more common place and more apparent we have to start looking at new ways of doing things that require less water being used for non environmental purposes, while increasing the drinkable water with limiting the amount of oil based products to clean the water.

We know that eventually we will have to do large scale water desalinization but most people in a place to make sure it actually happens doesn’t see a real need at this time even though we are starting to show a real need now instead of the timetable that the people in power foresee the need.

We also have a real problem with actually desalinating the water due to how energy intensive it is to do desalinate the water and the most efficient power source we currently have is fossil fuels. We have a real need to desalinate the ocean water and a real need to start using the energy sources that are not fossil fuels in larger scales that are already in the mainstream for power generation.

Those energy sources that look promising and that are far enough along in their testing to attempt a commercial venture should be put into commercial use so that we can benefit from the power generation and to allow their developers to see where the real life can and should be for that specific power source.

With that in mind we need to use hydro, solar, wind and alternative power sources to power any and possibly all water desalinization plants with making sure that any heat generated during this process is also used for the water desalinization process through some sort of heat recovery system. We should also think about how to utilize any point where steam needs to be vented as a power source as well along with trying to recapture that escaping water to some degree.

If the power generation exceeds the needs of the water desalinization plants then that power should be diverted to the local municipalities or to the National Grid to offset any power generation that would otherwise be needed for that area. This would permit the power plants to use less of the needed fossil fuels that fuel the power generation.

Also find ways of designing newer power plants that take advantage of the commercialization of those alternate fuel sources in an attempt to move away from fossil fuels and to learn how to make those alternate fuel sources more reliable and more efficient in real life applications, while utilizing hydro power where available, along with solar and wind sources that would all tie in together to produce the energy for the given area.

Moving away from fossil fuels is a hard sell for everyone who is by nature accustomed to using them but everyone needs to realize that in the short term it isn’t as profitable due to having to start the mass production of some of the sources of energy and to build power plants that utilize non fossil fuel energy sources as their primary source of fuel.

With the way oil futures and prices are going which will oil be the most cost effective in producing the energy needs for the industrialized world in a few years?

opinion on job hunting

2008-06-02T20:07:00.003-04:00

Since being laid off two months ago due to the company I worked for going out of business, I have found that companies even though they need workers for the few jobs they want filled, for the most part they don't make the application process easy.

I have found that most companies that are willing to pay anywhere near what I would need to make expect you to apply online. Most of those companies I have found don't make it easy to apply either. some have questionaires that are as much as eighty to one hundred questions long just to be able to sumbit your resume, while others don't make it easy to navigate their careers pages.

I did however find that a handful of companies who have career pages online would still prefer you to go into one of their locations and submit an actual application. so far most of them you actually had to print out the application then fill it out, I did find one place that I just had an interview with that their application once downloaded you could open up on your computer and fill out any information that has the ability to be typed in. I wish all companies set their downloadable applications like that, due to looking more professional than an application that had been filled out by hand

Jobs, Gas, Mass transit

2008-05-20T07:21:00.003-04:00

given the unemployment rate and the skyrocketing gas prices, there has to be serious consideration given to designing job search criteria that is based on the availability of mass transit in areas that have mass transit for those who are currently unemployed and really cannot afford the skyrocketing gas prices and for those who are in general looking for a new job that are looking for jobs based on how much they can save on gas.

In areas that do have mass transit from the simple act of people willing and able to utilize the services offered by mass transit it helps both the individual using it and the service provider. The transit agency like other companies have to deal with the rising costs of gas as well as the individual that drives who could actually utilize the services of the transit agency.

If those people who could potentially take mass transit actually utilized the services offered to commute it would allow the transit agency to bring in more revenue without adverse reactions to their customer base while allowing the commuter to save on gas and all of the up keep of their personal vehicle.

The only real downfall for those looking to utilize the mass transit system in a given area is their start time at work or a lack of available mass transit service to a given area, but those companies who's hours of operation and location permit usage of any or all of the modes of transportation that the areas mass transit offers, may want to consider getting their employees to utilize the services offered to help their employees save money.

the race for the democratic nomination

2008-05-11T18:35:00.002-04:00

I don't think that any of the candidates running for office are actually going for the office of the president strictly for the sake of running the country.

In regards to the democratic candidates, I feel that even if Hilary is really running to make positive changes, she would be unable to due to the fact she thinks too much like the national level politicians that bicker more than work. Obama, he has had the habit of bringing up that he grew up poor and really hasn't talked about his mixed heritage like he did early on in the campaign, he reminds me of the people who want nothing to do with their life before they made it to where they are now and I have known a few people like that.

Hilary has to show that she is capable of not thinking like the normal politician, and Obama even though being born poor still can be an elitist given his attitude and achievements.

I do think that Hilary should drop out but at the same time I think that she be on the ticket as the vice presidential candidate to make it harder for McCain to win.

oil and food

2008-04-27T13:35:00.001-04:00

With the oil prices skyrocketing, the industries that normally use petroleum products are trying to find new ways of producing the same product with out petroleum products which is compounding another problem that already exists. This is the food shortage in some areas of the world which has been growing worse on its own through environmental factors and a growing population requiring larger amounts of food to be grown, with the industries that normally use petroleum products looking for alternatives they have found one alternative but it is causing the food shortage to grow faster than it was before.

No one seems to agree what to do to produce the needed amounts of grain that are needed for the growing world populations or for the new industries vying for those same grains to produce non food products based from the individual components of the grains.

Everyone that has done research seems to agree at least in part that we may end up having to use the deserts of the world for farming sometime in the next few generations but I haven’t heard of anyone taking the time to actually see what can be done now to start farming the deserts in an attempt to deal with both the growing population and the new demands placed on farms to produce crops for non food related products.

I know that it would not be cheap to farm in the deserts due to the fact that the farmers would need really large amounts of water to maintain their crops, which would mean that the water would have to come from desalinating ocean water so drinking water would not be taken away from the world’s population. The desalinization process itself is a costly adventure due to the energy costs that are associated with it at least when it comes to the traditional ways of producing the energy for the desalinization process.

We as the caretakers of the world have advanced far enough with trying to produce energy without the use of fossil fuels and with using renewable and green fuels. We have found that we can use both the sun and the water to create power instead of using fossil fuels but we are somewhat limited in how well we can use them due to our technology. We also tend to limit ourselves in regards to what we think can be done.

We know how to produce siphons, but I have not heard of anyone even attempting to use a siphon as a sustainable power source. What is actually stopping someone from designing a water turbine to be attached to the outtake of a siphon to create power?

Obama and Clinton

2008-04-18T19:21:00.000-04:00

When it comes to the Democratic Party and the potential problems foreseen for the general election, it may actually be a good idea that Obama and Clinton pair up for the democratic ticket for the general election. This would be due to the fact that they both have people who would rather vote for a Republican rather than the opposing Democratic candidate along with having similar platforms in terms of the issues.

The only real problem is that both are strong willed people that would rather have things done their way. It is understandable that they would prefer their own ideas on the issues done but it also gets them both into The White House regardless of which one is president. If you actually sit down and think about it, even if Clinton decides to go with being vice president Obama would have a former president available for advice when he feels he needs someone else’s opinion.

By no means am I saying that one would be better at being president than the other, all I will say is that each of them on their own they face discrimination based either on gender or race together they offset the others discrimination which may actually give a combined ticket with both of them on it a real chance of winning against McCain.

If they can get past their own presumptions on what would be the best way to do each and everything I think they can make a great team, especially if they can retool or combine different aspects of what they like about the others plan on each issue.

my memories of baseball home opener as a kid

2008-04-08T21:22:00.001-04:00

Even though it has been more than twenty years since my last opening day at Fenway Park, the memories are still fairly vivid of the day. I was a “paper boy” who sold a local paper as a kid from the age of eleven through the age of thirteen and I had the chance every year that I was a paper boy to sell newspapers in Kenmore Square on opening day.

Even though I wasn’t a big fan of baseball, I actually liked the experience due to the fact I was able to play hooky from school with my parent’s permission and actually got rewarded for it by putting a few dollars in my pocket and getting free tickets along the third baseline each year. It was an energizing experience on multiple reasons.

To begin with it was among the first situations I had to deal with large crowds with out my parents watching over me like hawks, even though my father was actually one of the people in charge of the paper boys which were not all children, as a matter of fact most of them were adults and I was one of the few kids that the paper allowed to be there since my father would be there to keep an eye on me somewhat.

For an eleven year old to have a relative free run of an area that stretched about half a city block working the crowd of baseball fans long before anyone proclaimed the fans “red sox nation” it was mesmerizing yet electric. It was all of the Red Sox fans and their families who were on planned days off or were playing hooky from work and school to show their support for the ultimate underdogs on the home opener.

After a couple hours of selling newspapers amongst a sea of Red Sox Jersey’s and baseball gloves that looked like it was a family heirloom that had been passed down through generations of hard core Red Sox fans, I was able to do what few other eleven year olds have been able to do and that is walk into the game as exhilarated as all of the other people there but not having paid for a ticket and essentially got paid to be there to watch the home team in action.

Everyone who lives in a city with a baseball franchise that has hard core fans on their first outing to their home teams opening day is lost in all of the traditions that the fans have in and around the ballpark. The very first time a fan is there you are indoctrinated into a culture all its own for which you learn to appreciate as you come to understand the team and the teams past. Even that cannot hide what goes on after everyone has found their seats and got situated for the game.

Of all of the traditions that happen on opening day that first timers have the most trouble is the tradition that the fans yell at their favorite players when they fail to get on base or fail to make that catch that looked like it was right to him as if the players could really hear them through a sea of thirty five thousand voices, then on the next at bat acting as if the last at bat was a warm up while spilling his beer all over himself of the person in front of him as he gets up yell, especially since almost everyone around you is doing it.

All of the other traditions are easy to get use to due to the traditions being more like a team event that every fan young and old participates in, this would include the Wave, the fans in the bleachers keeping track of the strikes using the large red letter K’s on the back wall of the bleachers and all of the little things that go on along the dugouts especially the fans trying to hang over the dugout roofs for autographs or to heckle the opposing team.

All in all the indoctrination of a first time home opener coupled with being paid to play hooky to be indoctrinated is truly a memorable experience that few kids get to do no matter which franchise you favor it will be something that someone can tell their kids and their grandkids.

When will people worldwide have enough clean safe water

2008-04-04T17:59:00.001-04:00

When will people worldwide have enough clean, safe water to drink? This is a very relevant question especially given the population growth. It is also something that affects not just people but the world as a whole. The one thing that everyone has to realize is that the time frame is based on factors that people have learned to control some of it based on attitudes with given societies and some is based on what we have learned in the way of science and nature.

When it comes to attitudes based in our various societies, there are a plethora of things that have to be dealt with some of which is the mentality of the leaders in a given geographical location in regards to whether or not they think of the environment as a way of helping or hurting the people who live in their countries. Some countries are more open to doing what it takes to help the environment while others use the environment as a way to hurt others.

There are also governments which believe that clean drinkable water isn’t a priority due to other things going on in their country that they would rather focus on.

With regards to science and nature we have progressed far enough to make an honest attempt to reverse the damage we have caused and can cause. The technology that we are capable of engineering doesn’t discern between the variations of clean or dirty, it just treats everything as if it needs to be treated.

Clean drinkable water, every living thing on the planet depends on it to some degree. The only two ways water can be effectively cleaned is to either let the Earth do her jobs in cleaning the water, or to have us take a more proactive approach to actually cleaning the water in ways that doesn’t take one problem and transfer it from one place to another.

One good way of dealing with creating clean water is how we have learned how to deal with our waste water that flows to the water treatment plants in many metropolitan areas. The process usually included the separation of the water itself from the sludge and trash that accompany the incoming water along with treating the water with environmentally friendly cleaners which include things that attack the bacteria and other things that can make plants and animals sick.

After the sludge is removed it is processed in a way that neutralized the bacteria and such that would be detrimental to the land environment while turning it into beneficial fertilizer that can be sold for gardens and for farming. The process itself is in essence just the speeding up of the decay process that nature has and therefore the facility can capture the methane that the process creates, which allows the facility to use the methane as fuel which allows the facility to reduce the amount of energy they need to buy from a power plant therefore reducing the power created by fossil fuels.

Besides cleaning waste water, we are capable of desalinating ocean water to create clean drinkable water which can be used in municipal drinking water and in the irrigation of farmland. The one problem with this that it is expensive along with needing a lot of energy to produce, a good way of offsetting the energy needs of the process would be to place the desalinization plants in areas where we can get the environment to help create the energy.

One good place to build a water desalination plant would be to build them where there the sun is the hottest and that is out the longest. This way you could use the solar energy, and you could possibly convert the heat to energy both to offset the cost associated with the process. Other good ways to offset the energy production needed would be to design the facility to use the water itself to create the energy.

We have to find ways of creating clean drinkable water without creating environmental problems elsewhere in a geographic region or globally.

when it comes to job seeking and articles of interest for potential employers

2008-03-31T19:38:00.004-04:00

Recently I became a job seeker due to my job of twenty years closing down so I technically became a new job seeker. Still in my early days of looking for a new job I have found that there are multiple places where you can submit your resume and use to distribute it as well.

I have found that you can let potential employers know about any education and/or experience that would enhance the possibility of getting hired, such as a degree in the field or a lot of practical experience in the field and even typing skills.

I had produced some forms for my work when it was still open for business that I would like to showcase to use as back up for my resume but on the sites I have my resume, I have found that there is nothing there to allow me to showcase my work. I would love to showcase the forms as part of an overall application package to a potential employer so I can look as good as my resume suggests but it looks like I will not be able to do so.

checks and balances of the U.S. Constitution

2008-03-23T10:01:00.002-04:00

going by the checks and balances that the constitution has in place, there is a definitive separation of powers between each branch of government that prevents each branch of dealing directly with the issues relating specifically to a given branch of government.

many see that some of the decisions that the justice system has made constitutes the courts overstepping their boundaries. If you actually look at the decisions, you will actually see that the justice system is doing its job. the courts have made decisions that essentially tell the other two branches of government that they cannot act a certain way unless it is governmental law and doesn't interfere with the protections given to us by the constitution.

If I may give a couple examples to prove my point:
Roe versus Wade concerning abortion, the U.S. Supreme in simplistic terms basically stated that until the government explicitly forbids it, it is actually legal. it is a misconception that the court actually did the job of the U.S. Congress. It is also better to keep it legal due to the fact that if women want one bad enough they will find a way of getting one even if it means a forced miscarriage.

Massachusetts the only state that has gay marriage, the state supreme court in its decision did the same thing as the U.S. Supreme Court in their decision. the court basically stated that until you do the necessary legislation on the subject you cannot treat it as if it is illegal until it is illegal. There have been attempts to legislate it and also put it on the ballot but it has not made it past a constitutional convention or sub committee due to it being such a touchy matter.

a few years ago congress passed a law requiring oversight of any activities such as wiretapping of U.S. citizens by the courts so that the rights of the citizens were not trampled by the government. The justice system per order of the president circumvented the law, which when found out about prompted the court to take action against the program forcing it to follow the rules under the law.

We need the checks and balances, and any attempt to counter that system is completely unconstitutional in nature and would never survive an attack on it. the only way the senate were to pass such a law it would be forced to take on the job of the president to enforce the law which would be another abuse of power. it would also mean that there is no more functioning constitution in this country. If the people who sit in the senate truly believe in the constitution, then they cannot legislate powers away from the other branches of government and the other two branches cannot do that to each other or to the senate either.

preserving our nations monuments and memorials

2008-03-16T12:48:00.004-04:00

Preserving the sanctity of our nation's memorials and monuments isn't as easy as it sounds. Those memorials and monuments stand as a reminder, a testament to what we have gone through as a nation from the very writing of the very first monument which is the Declaration of Independence.

Maintaining the material aspect of each isn't hard since we have the know how to maintain them and preserve them, it is another to preserve the sanctity in the hearts of the people who say they believe in the country. As time goes by the voices that were once an ever present in the hearts of those who believed in the idealism that this country was founded on has begun to fade and that idealism is beginning to tarnish.

Our memorials and monuments where built to honor those of us who have given all that they can give for this nation of ours, and deserve to be shown the respect that they are meant to display. At the moment we have a divided country, a country that is so fractured that no one cares to remember what our forefathers went through to be able to write our constitution, instead all they remember is the text of the constitution.
We as a nation have allowed ourselves to pervert the constitution in ways that the past generations would not have permitted due to thinking that it would do a disservice to those who sacrificed all that they had to give our nation a fighting chance.

In order to preserve the sanctity of our nation's memorials and monuments, we need to preserve the sanctity of the beliefs and idealism of those who came before us. We cannot preserve the sanctity until we strive to bring each of the disillusioned groups back together to work together to make sure that those reminders, those testaments stand for where we came from, what we strive to live up to and where we hope to go.

As long as we choose not to remember the lessons of the past we will continue with the fracturing of what this country was meant to stand for. If we forget our past we forget what brought us here and if we forget what brought us here then we will forget who we are as a country. With that we would end up loosing what we care about most. In the end we will end up going in the road that countless people have died to prevent and that is nothingness in regards to a government we can participate in and have faith in.

my take on job layoffs

2008-03-09T19:50:00.000-04:00

With facing the loss of a job due to termination over something you have done or if it is from layoffs you experience a great deal of frustration over the fact that you are being forcibly uprooted from a job that you may enjoy. You will undoubtedly have issues that you will have to deal with, with the most important one is the job search and whether you can afford to take your time or not while looking for a new job so you can have some well deserved down time.

When faced with a layoff, it may just be cutbacks or a company closing for which both cause people to worry. With cutbacks if you were not laid off, you wonder if you may be next and asking yourself if you should look for a new job but with a company closing you feel like you should have gotten out sooner rather than letting your world come down around you.

Right after finding out you are being laid off regardless of whether it is a layoff effective immediately or a layoff effective on a certain date, you will feel defeated and looking at your co-workers and friends for advice and if they know of any companies looking for anything remotely similar to what you are doing. Each person with have their own ideas of what you should do and how you should go about doing it based on what they know about you

When laid off you will inevitably find out how good your networking skills are if you are set on looking for a job right away and if you feel you can afford to take some time looking for a new job you may be forced to refocus what you would like to do with making the decision to go back to school for a certificate or a degree if your finances permit or if you can procure the funding if not a program that you can do for free.

If you decide to go right back into the workforce as quickly as possible then you will have to decide what you are willing to do, if you can take a pay cut and how much of a pay cut you can take with still being capable of maintaining your bills. If you decide that going back to school will be a good thing that you have the time for then you may need to decide whether you want to go to improve your skills in the field that you just left or if you would rather gain new skills that would widen the field of jobs that you can deal with.

You may feel like you can’t afford to be completely unemployed but feel that you would be better served if you made the time to go to school for at least a certificate program which would possibly working part time while going to school during the day or working somewhere close to full time while going to school nights and weekends.

In the end you have to make the decision that is best for you and your family if you have one that you have to be there for.

an opinion on the presidential primary season

2008-03-01T09:54:00.003-05:00

I do not favor one specific presidential candidate but do have an opinion on how this election season looks.

This time around even though it is still in the primary season, it looks more like the run up to the general election in regards to the campaign rhetoric from the major candidates.

the one real difference this time is that depending on the outcome it can perpetuate several different stereotypes that our society has been striving to knock down.

one is the gender stereotypes for which tend to perpetuate that people in general don't want women in what is traditionally a mans position, another is the racial stereotypes which denigrate minorities when they try to accomplish what is seen as not being capable of being done by a minority. We can't forget about the age bias either that has been floated in the past either for which is seen all over the place with regards to people past a certain age doing specific things.

There is one question however that should not have been brought up which is whether John McCain is eligible to run for president. Yes he was born on a United States Military base in Panama, what most people don't know is that when a child of a service man is born on a U.S. Military instillation in a foreign country, they are automatically both a U.S. citizen but also automatically a foreign born citizen and upon their eighteenth birthday they have to choose which citizenship they wish to have. Given where he has chosen to live his life it is evident that he chose the U.S. citizenship.

should you rent or buy in Boston

2008-02-23T08:15:00.003-05:00

In Boston there is everything from the rooming house to the condo and home owner, with enough interest each type of property to make each a hot commodity in today’s market. Each has it positives and negatives for which must be dealt with in their own time.

Deciding what is best for oneself or ones family is based on a number of factors which include the amount of space required, the costs involved, desired location, and how involved in the maintaining of the property.

In certain parts of Boston especially in parts that are in the process of gentrification (or as I would like to say it “Yuppification” since it is the Yuppies that are the ones fueling the gentrification in Boston) both the rental market and the housing market are neck and neck in the way of the overall costs regardless of how many different costs there are.

If you are in need of a three bedroom unit where you would prefer to live has everything to do with whether you should rent or buy since the location of the rental unit could be the same as or above what you would pay for a mortgage. If money is at the heart of whether you rent or buy it would be wise to sit down and sort out your finances to see in what parts of the city you would be capable of doing either based on your individual needs and what you can afford to pay for a rent or mortgage.

When deciding to rent or to buy you will also need to determine how much money you need to allocate for your savings if you are trying to save money so that way you can determine what to do especially since owning means that you may end up having to use the money that you are trying to save on the property to maintain it if you choose to buy making a rental unit more attractive as long as the location you choose to live in has what you feel to be a reasonable rent.

If saving is not a top priority, if you qualify for a mortgage you may be better served if you buy a home or a condo especially if the upfront costs with signing a mortgage are somewhat close to what you would pay upon signing a lease agreement, which is in most cases first, last and security deposit for an apartment if you don’t go through a management company or realty company for an apartment.

Depending on the type of and how much of a commute you are willing to accept you both options may appeal to you. I know people on both sides on the issue of commuting when it comes to deciding whether to rent or buy, and for the most part the reasoning behind commuting one way versus another way is pretty much the same. When it comes to people who choose to drive everyone I know regardless of renting or owning say they don’t want to be on someone else’s schedule for commuting, when it comes to public transportation they say it is to save money depending on the length of their commute.

Commuting in general most people have to do it for work, it is just a matter of how far you are willing to accept or may be forced to accept given your individual needs, how much you are looking to save, how much you can afford and how much work you want to do in regards to dealing with the maintenance of the property. However the only real difference with maintaining the property is that if you are renting, general wear and tear causing breakage of something for property related, the owner of the property has to fix it but if you intentionally break something it is like a store you break it you bought it.

thoughts on the preamble

2008-02-17T19:21:00.002-05:00

We the People in order to form a more perfect union, a noble concept in the preamble of the United States Constitution has given faith to many people though out history who thought that they could make life for their families better by making life better for all in our great nation.

Through the years we have seen many times where those words rang out resonating with a patriotic song that has gotten us through times like the world wars and the great depression. We have also see many times where those words were trampled on like they were worthless in their meaning, like how the soldiers were treated when they came home after the Vietnam War ended.

In the short history of The United States we have seen our share of leaders who have done great things for either good or bad but we as a nation of the people and by the people, are at a crossroad for which we the people have to step up and ask that our government do things that are stated in the preamble of the constitution like:

establish Justice
insure domestic Tranquility
provide for the common defense
promote the general Welfare
and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves
and our Posterity

How can we have justice if we turn a blind eye to the tyranny of certain individuals who would work against the text and the spirit of the Constitution by enacting laws that work outside the constitution or hide what they are doing?

How are we insuring domestic tranquility when people are at each others throats over issues that need to be addressed on the national level but are being pushed aside in favor of other things?

How can we provide for the common defense when most of our defense is off playing peace maker in other countries, leaving us vulnerable to forces both within or from outside that would attack us?

How are we promoting general welfare when budgets for agencies geared for general welfare are constantly being slashed in favor of larger budgets for special interests?

How can we secure the blessings of liberty when there are some who would take those blessings away?

Our posterity is our legacy and if we do not take stock in what we pass on and how we will be remembered by future generations then we would have failed in what our forefathers had established in an attempt to make life better for all who live here.

First time home buyer article I submitted for possible publication in Boston

2008-02-09T18:47:00.000-05:00

Buying a home in or around Boston, at the moment it is a very enticing option given Boston's high rental rates especially in Southie, the South End and Beacon Hill areas of Boston. I grew up in Southie and know first hand that Boston has seen its share of ups and downs in the housing market and eventually had to buy a home outside of Boston a couple years ago due to the rising costs of the housing market.

When you start your search for a new home the first thing you should look into if Boston still offers the course for first time home buyers so you can learn some of the ins and outs of Bostons housing market. While doing that you will need to assess how much more you can spend on housing, this would be due to stuff like the water and sewer along with general maintenance of the property while going through the pre-approval process that would allow you to know how much you can borrow and would let the Realtor know that you are serious about looking at the homes that he or she has to offer.

At some point you will have to decide if the desire to stay within Boston is justified given the costs associated with the mortgage, taxes, water and sewer, along with having to have remember that you have to have a resident sticker to park in certain neighborhoods overnight. Part of the decision to buy inside the city or not should be the amount of time required for travel for work along with the availability of affordable parking inside the area of Boston. Parking downtown is notoriously expensive especially between the aquarium and Haymarket while over by the World trade it can be half the price but with the building up of fan pier it will eventually be just as expensive.

Since the sub-prime loan fiasco in 2007 the most important thing anyone can do in Boston is to not let the lender fill in your financial information and to insist on going over the paperwork in fine detail and ask what are the conditions of the loan if they seem complicated on paper with the explanations explained in terms that you can understand. Understanding the mortgage paperwork is the most important step in buying the home of your dreams since you really can't buy it with out the financing.
Where there are loads of older homes and older triple decker's in Boston, a home inspector that understands what to look for in older homes and triple decker's is a must especially if you are going to buy any property along the beach between Castle Island in Southie and Tinean Beach in Dorchester.

If your don't mind a little travel time you may want to look into moving either to the south of Boston since Quincy, Braintree and Weymouth will be somewhat cheaper than Boston. If you prefer moving north you could always look to Revere, parts of Cambridge, and Somerville which are cheaper but seem to be coming into their own with housing costs. when deciding how much traveling you are willing to accept you may want to decide if the T would be a reasonable alternative to actually driving given the soaring gas prices.

If you are willing to travel to the city then the T would permit you to get through the city without being stuck in city's congested streets especially if you are trying to get to work downtown. You would be on somewhat of a schedule due the scheduling of the trains and buses but you would not have to waste time or gas which can be costly, and depending on the length and method of the commute along with the type of work you do it could allow you to work en route, but thats if you decide buying in the Boston area is better than buying inside of the city.

congratulations to the New York Giants and the New England Patriots

2008-02-05T19:33:00.000-05:00

Congratulations are in order for the New York Giants Football team for winning the Superbowl on Sunday February 2nd. They showed that they wanted the title more than the New England Patriots did even though the Patriots would have had a perfect end to their season if they had won.

either way the Patriots had a perfect regular season going 16-0 with it being the first time any American football team has done. The Patriots faced the Giants twice in total this season including the Superbowl both walked away with one win and one loss but the Giants won the game that meant the most.

Congratulations to the New York Giants for winning the SuperBowl and to the New England Patriots for being the first team go 16-0 and the first team to go undefeated in the regular season in more than 30 years for which at that point in time there was only 13 games in the regular season.

commentary on the presidential candiates

2008-01-27T10:19:00.000-05:00

Dealing with the issue of race and gender in the democratic primaries, there has been no direct commentary that I have heard regarding race or gender coming from the candidates directly. The issues of race and gender have, but others regardless of whether they were part of the campaigns or not have had commentary on both. Early on it was general commentary about gender and whether a woman was electable, not it has gone from general commentary about gender to more specific commentary that normally goes on in other public forums in regards to race and an individual’s personal actions.

Obama has consistently tried to take race out of the equation, which is a good thing since he is actually mixed regardless of who says what about his race. At the same time there are elements out there in this country that purposely inject race into what ever they can even if an opponent is going with the actions of the individual. The problem is that the people who inject race tend to equate an attack on an individual as an attack on the race itself, which causes a tit-for-tat situation which works against both sides.

If either Obama or Clinton gets the nomination for the party, race or gender will definitely play a role in the general election due to the nature of our society and the nature of campaigning. All of the candidates have to actually take a stand and show everyone that there is no room for gender or racial bias in their campaigns otherwise it will only get worse as the campaigning goes on whether or not the candidates really want that stuff injected.

All of the candidates in both parities have all been campaigning to some degree for change, the thing is that change happens with each new administration sometimes it’s for the better sometimes for worse. The thing is that going from experience a campaign just touting change is far different then providing proof that you are going to make changes if elected.

The candidates have been saying we need to change this or change that but I have not heard one iota about the specifics of how they plan to change each issue that they have been stating that needs to be changed which for them is a good thing for them but a bad thing for the voters and the electorate. It is a good thing for the candidates not to go into specifics since it can come back to haunt them if they do but at the same time it is very bad for the voters and the electorate due to a lack of information to make an informed decision on who to vote for which opens up the opportunity for here say on what the candidates mean when the talk about change.

Beyond the race and gender issues, there is a definite feel that the candidates are already acting as if this is the general election instead of the primary due to the fact that the front runners for both parties are consistently attacking each other on stuff that pertains to their own actions. The general response has been to these attacks have been the same coming from both parties with the responses being “that’s not what I said or did” or “that’s not what I meant” even with evidence in hand to show that is what was said or done.

That shows me that the candidates who are using those general lines are trying to run or hide their record especially if it goes against what they are currently stating they stand for in their campaign for president. Those candidates more than anyone else have to show what they actually stand for due to the fact that they don’t want their own past used against them and if they don’t want their past involved in the current campaign season, then they have to have the same hands off approach for the past for the other candidates that they expect the other candidates to have with them.

The one real way to show that they intend on making real changes if they get elected is to actually show that their intent to change is real and by actually showing how they intend on changing things while in office. They have to make an honest attempt to show that they are more than willing to work with both democrats and republicans in the attempt to make the changes by allowing the proposed changes to be reworked by both parties as long as the way you wish it to work remains relatively the same and can actually produce positive changes for the issues.

Change for the sake of change isn’t at all a good thing, change to make a positive change is regardless of who actually comes up with the change. Real change in relation to issues that the government has to take up, comes when we actually take the time to work out how to do things in a way that promotes positive results for as many people as possible not for a select demographics.

tax rebates

2008-01-20T18:52:00.000-05:00

Everyone understands the economics of businesses using tax savings to produce jobs which has to some degree worked in the past. the economic climate has changed to the point that those same businesses that would have produced jobs here in the United States 20 years ago are now the companies sending jobs over seas to reduce costs while maximizing profits.

regardless of how it is worked our economy and society is based on the supply and demand aspect of the free market economy. my understanding of supply and demand is if no one can afford to buy the products then there is no demand for the product which translates into no demand for workers to produce the products.

my idea on a way to help the economy

2008-01-18T04:31:00.000-05:00

In my opinion the best way to help avoid or limit a recession here in the U.S. is to no follow the rules of "trickle down economics" that the republican party likes to use when it comes to tax cuts due to the fact that the large U.S. companies have shown a willingness to make cuts to try to pad their wallets even more.

Where the economy is based on supply and demand, the best way to stimulate the needed growth to avoid a recession is to put the tax cuts into the largest section of the economy which is the low and middle income levels.

How would giving a tax cut to the income levels that account for the fewest amount of people in the nation who are looking to line their pockets be a viable option to stimulate the economy especially since those same people are cutting jobs here in favor of cheaper workers over seas?

a thought before the New Hampshire primary

2008-01-07T20:31:00.000-05:00

I am writing this before the New Hampshire Primary.

I feel that McCain will end up winning the republican winner of the New Hampshire Primary. Nothing against the other candidates but I think that McCain is the better choice on the Republican side.

On the democratic side I am not sure who is going to win, but do think it will be either obama or clinton.

Can God and Darwin Co-exist?

2008-01-01T11:42:00.000-05:00

Can God and Darwin Co-exist?

Everyone by nature takes sides on the subject of God and Darwin based on what they have grown to believe. Everyone regardless of whether they believe in religion or not feels that there is some type of higher power that keeps everything together.

Religion by nature is the belief in a higher power for which we call God. Those who believe in one of the various religions feel that they have to have faith in him or her and some to the point that the faith is so strong that they do not want to hear that God had to adhere to the laws of the universe when creating the Earth. The one problem with that type of faith is that no one actually has a real understanding of Gods power so we have no real understanding of what God is capable of.

Darwin, a scientist when on his voyages showed that there are plants and animals that were essentially the same plants and animals that he was use to seeing but with sometimes unique variations based on where he found them, this prompted him to create a theory called creationism. This theory is basically shows that over time plants and animals change based on their surroundings creating new and unique versions of existing plants and animals.

We show creationism with objects we make we do this through creating an object of some sort and then try to recreate it in ways that may make it work better for the job or jobs we want that object for. Each time we recreate the objects we provide a version of creationism that we can see and trace back to a source.

In my own opinion, there is a God who created everything we understand for which he may have had powers that work outside of the laws of physics to create us or could have created everything we understand through the laws of physics and taking the time to perfect us over time. The Bible has allotted for either due to the fact that it states that God created the heavens and the Earth in six days and that our concept of time is far shorter than Gods concept of time.

Given that we have no understanding of God’s power or knowledge, who, is to say that he created the heavens and the Earth outside the laws of physics or has knowledge of physics that is far beyond our current comprehension of physics that would have permitted him to create us.

Even though I call myself a religious person, I am not about to blindly accept what the Bible states given what we know about science and math. I feel that we can learn more about God if we forego blind acceptance of him as being all powerful and learn from what he created. This would mean accepting Darwinism and other forms of creationism as a way of learning about the material aspect of the universe.

I think that given the fact we are capable of creating things of our own and re-engineering living organisms to some degree we should not be so quick to say that science is good or bad but rather another way of backing up the claims of religion. Unfortunately those who take religion solely on the written word don’t open their minds up to learning how God could have made what we understand, which is a sorry state of being in my opinion.

If God didn’t want us to find out how he created us he would not have give us the ability to learn how to understand how the math and science work to the degree we have or the ability to see that even with slight variations that would permit us to show that things re-engineer themselves over generations no matter where you go and in many cases these changes are based on the local environment.

Although I believe in religion, I will not close my mind to what is out there to learn just because I am told to do so by people who feel that we cannot meet God until we die. I believe that over the next handful of generations we will gain the ability to meet God while still alive, it may not be in the bodies that we are accustomed to seeing ourselves in. For all we know the God may have given us the ability to understand math and science and the ability for our minds to adapt and grow beyond each generations comprehension of the natural world which would provide a natural leap in how we perceive the teachings of the bible.

the up coming primary/caucus season

2007-12-30T18:51:00.000-05:00

The up coming Caucuses and primaries for the U.S. Presidential election will undoubtedly heat up after the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary. At this point in time the candidates are still trying to woo the voters while acting as if their a shoe in to win regardless of the latest poll numbers even if they are nail biting in the shadows.

There is one thing that a couple candidates more than the others are playing to and that is the religious beliefs of the voters especially in Iowa, which is in the Bible Belt of the nation. Unfortunately no one will take them to task on the separation of church and state even though the could be taken to task and they know that no one will call them on it either.

The law clearly states in article VI of the U.S. Constitution, that no religious test can be required to attain an appointed or elected office in the federal government. The first amendment also states that the government can make no laws an establisment of religion or prohibiting the exercise there of.

Unfortunately, over time these two things even though they state in no unclear terms have been pushed aside by people who wish to push their religious beliefs onto others and state that these lines in the constitution does not constitute a separation of church and state.

chances are one of the candidates that are playing to the religious beliefs of the Iowa voters will win the caucus it is just a question of by what margin.

Benazir Bhutto

2007-12-29T07:10:00.000-05:00

It was a sad day for Pakistan when former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated. In my opinion her assassination shows the internal power struggle that Pakistan itself has due to Al Qaida looking to destablize the government and if I heard correctly (not sure if it is true) the Pakistani military prefering to be in power.

The problem with Benazir Bhutto's assassination is not knowing who wanted or needed her out of the political equation more?

Christmas

2007-12-22T12:25:00.000-05:00

I grew up celebrating Christmas due to growing up Catholic. In my lifetime which has span just 36 short years I have noticed that even though it is a religious holiday, it has become commercialized to the point that in some areas it doesn't even resemble a religious holiday at all.

I believe in the religious event that Christmas symbolizes yet don't like what it has become for many who actually believe in it. What I cannot agree with is others who supposedly believe in the holiday, using the symbolism of the holiday to push materialism and vanity rather than the faith behind the holiday.

I grew up Catholic and still call myself Catholic even though I don't regularly practice my religion by going to church regularly. I do however keep as true as I can to what I was taught and feel like Christmas one of the most revered of all Christian Holidays has been turned into something that Christianity in general strives against.

The commercialism of Christmas has caused it to go from a religious holiday to a holiday of indulgence with some of it being self indulgence. Everyone who intentionally feeds into the commercialism is taking the name of the lord in vain by showing that giving materialistic gifts out of guilt is more important than living up to the faith of the holiday.

giving gifts is suppose to show that you care about others not about how much you can spend on those gifts or on a specific individual.

presidential candidates

2007-12-15T15:33:00.000-05:00

This presidential election even though we are still in the primary season, we as a nation are in a different position than we normally are. This time around we are faced with deciding between genders and race which people have taken notice of.

regardless of qualifications, gender and race issues will arise as time goes by in this election season which will surely create tensions between various groups of people who might otherwise be on the same side in the way things get done.

the only way to get past the issues that may detract from who we feel is most qualified to be president, is to look past both the gender and race of the people who are running for president so we can actually see what they stand for and what they are hoping to accomplish as president in an attempt to find out who we think is the most qualified.

Mitt Romney's speech

2007-12-08T09:17:00.000-05:00

Presidential candidate Mitt Romney in a way had to give a speech concerning his religion and politics due to people making necessary due to faith issues.

I do not agree with what he is doing based on his past political experience in Massachusetts but he did make at least one point that I have been trying to state in message boards and in letters to the editor of multiple newspapers which is the fact that there is a distinct separation of church and state.

that is a great point but given the circumstances surrounding his gubernatorial campaign and subsequent election as the Massachusetts governor, he has shown that even though he has now stated publicly that there is a separation of church ands state he becomes a hypocrite given what he said in his campaign and subsequent tenure in Massachusetts.

in his gubernatorial campaign he expressed that his faith would not interfere with his job as governor, yet a few months into his first year as governor he started showing that he could not leave his religion at the front door of the statehouse by stating that he would not support different laws based on his religious beliefs.

given his past record with massachusetts, I cannot believe that he will not bring his religion to the table as the president regardless of how polished his campaign speeches are.

the peace talks in annapolis maryland

2007-11-26T17:42:00.000-05:00

Everyone knows that both the Israelis and the members of the Arab states are willing to talk peace, this has been shown that they have talked about different things until they were blue in the face on both sides but when it comes to actually living up to what they promised each other is a different story.

The problem lies with the fact that both sides have been fighting each other for many generations going back hundreds if not thousands of years over the same plot of land. this one plot of land is where three major religions were born and each religion that is still a dominate force over in that region insists that they are owed that land citing the same reasons.

The only way both sides are going to actually do what it takes to attain peace there is to acknowledge that both can co-exist there as equals since they share the same family tree, they started at the same place with the same family but the family members chose a different path in the way they practiced their religious beliefs, therefore creating multiple religions.

They need to have faith in their common beliefs even if practicing those beliefs are different before they can move forward with the peace process for the middle east.

in response to atlanta's worsening drought, a reworking of something I wrote

2007-11-22T09:30:00.000-05:00

Water Pipeline, solar energy, water desalinization and desert farming

By no means is water desalinization a cheap way of producing clean drinkable water but it has to be seriously considered and transporting the water in the quantities needed also has to be addressed when it comes to bringing clean drinkable water to people who need it, in an attempt to get around the geographical barriers like mountain ranges such as the Rocky Mountains of North America, and the mountain range that goes down the western side of the African continent that has made much of the African continent that acts like a barrier keeping the clouds from moving into the arid areas which are growing in size at least in Africa, I hope this is a workable idea that could be used but the people that have the capability to get it done.

In areas that are desert terrain due to mountain ranges being too tall to permit rain clouds to move past them, build water pipelines that travel over and through the mountain ranges to large desalinization plants in the deserts.
Power the desalinization plants using the technology currently being used in the solar one project (thermo-trough solar arrays) or another large scale solar power array so as not to use any type of fossil fuels.
Each desalinization plant would need to be large enough to exceed the needs of the population of the desert communities that they would be serving them to account for the water loss due to the excess heat of the desert.
In an attempt to contain the water and to provide climate controlled farming for these desert communities, build greenhouses that are based on the bio-dome concept, while compensating for the excess carbon dioxide that is more than the plants can handle in the self contained environment, install a bioreactor based on the design tested by MIT for GreenFuel Technologies Inc. which uses algae to collect carbon dioxide.
When deciding what to farm in the bio-dome style greenhouses, for crops grow food that the communities traditionally eat and would be willing to eat along with breeding what they traditionally call farm animals that have the ability to roam anywhere in the facility that is used for growing plants except for where the crops for the communities are grown.
Utilizing some of the extra desalinized water and extra growing space, provide greenhouse services for the communities specializing in plants, bushes and trees indigenous to the specific region with a section geared towards the rare foliage in an attempt to keep the plant, bush or tree species going.
When designing the system as a whole, design it to permit a minimum or maximum amount of water loss and design it to be a water dispensary so that a predetermined amount of water can be distributed to other areas in the desert communities and to create and maintain periodic placements of water facilities for travelers.
Any brine that is unusable either pipe it back into the ocean if it has little to no negative impact on the regions it is being placed into even if it means dispersing it over a wide area, or allow it to dry out to provide sea salt to those who use sea salt.

Social Security and Presidential candidates

2007-11-20T04:29:00.000-05:00

it is good that the presidential candidates are taking up the issue of Social Security since it has been a hot topic for the past couple of years. Unfortunately the proposed remedies no one wants to hears.

the first proposal is geared towards people who make more than $97,500 in annual income. The proposal is to raise the cap on taxable income for the Social Security tax for which the people who make more than that amount does not want to hear. it may not be something that will correct everything that is ailing the Social Security Administration but it does add money to it which is badly needed given that the benefits will eventually exceed the money going in.

the only other proposal on the table is to reduce benefits, which for many people already on Social Security would cause financial hardships. Given the current state of the economy, there is no viable way of reducing benefits and still having the retirees be financially capable of taking care of themselved.

The benefits need to keep up with the economy otherwise we force retirees to go back to the workforce to help suppliment their benefits which would cause even more problems one of which is the fact that retirees are penalized for making money beyond a specific dollar amount or beyond a set amount of hours worked each week. another thing is that they would be competing for jobs which would flood the job market with more potential employees which would add to the problems with job market.

The economy

2007-11-14T06:39:00.001-05:00

Regarding the economy of the U.S., the president feels that we are in a great position, which is true in some areas but the exact opposite is true in others. The economic indicators that are traditionally used are saying that the amount of jobs in the U.S. is stable if not growing, what these indicators are not saying is a fact of live for many which is the jobs being created are needed jobs but at the same time jobs with lower wages than those that had been lost due to factors like 9/11 and outsourcing jobs to other countries.

in areas where the cost of living is high such as the Northeast and parts of California, this creates a problem for families due to the fact that these lower paying jobs may not pay enough to support ones family at the current cost of living in a specific region forcing the parents to have multiple jobs to stay afloat.

education and volunteering

2007-11-10T18:50:00.000-05:00

given the fact that everywhere you go every company is asking for some sort of experience in order to qualify for a position, volunteering should be a prerequisite for high school students especially for the students in the major cities. Volunteering will give them some of the experience needed to enter the work force whether or not the student finishes high school. whether you call it volunteering or internships it is needed in todays society due to the fact that the students will not be able to gain the needed experience if they do not have the opportunity to attend a college or university.
If the high school students are not taught the skills in school then they have to be taught elsewhere otherwise all they will qualify for are the jobs that require no skills, pay little money in return and that shows no real promise unless you show an ability to move up to a managerial position. If we are to effectively fight poverty in this country we have to ensure that all high school age children have the needed skills to enter the work force.

an idea for school based websites

2007-11-03T13:32:00.000-04:00

I am by no means an educator but I do know that there are some communities which have websites for the schools regardless of whether they are elemenatry, middle school/junior high or high schools. I do have one idea based on the fact that some communities have websites for their schools. My idea is based solely on the expansion of the websites for the individual schools that would hopefully promote a better interaction between the students and their parents with the individual school at all levels. For good or bad this is just an idea that I had and could be tied into programs that help put computers in the hands of students in communities that have such programs.

Here is what I mean:

Set up websites for individual schools that don’t already have them and expand on the ones that already have them by setting up pages specifically for the individual teachers that would list by class what is currently being taught and an archive of pasted projects during that school year.
Set the students up with blogs to be used specifically for school purposes ranging posts to keep track of progress with any reports and projects to being able to turn in homework when they can’t turn in the homework in person. When setting up the blogs tie them into the school website and would only be viewable to the student, their parents, the student’s current teachers and the school administration with making sure that the students are the only ones capable of making changes to the posts but allows commentary from the appropriate teachers.
When setting up the website and blogs set them up so that on the blogs of the individual students, a link for each of the teacher that student has during the current school year and set up so that the student has to mark the post for a specific teacher and has an RSS feed to that teacher and identifies the student by name and specific class that he is in.
Set up the website to have interactive tools including resources for the students based specifically on the curriculum and grade that would be accessible to the students, their parents and the teachers.
Set the website up to automatically email the parents of the individual students regarding any issues or periodically to let the parents know what is going on in specific classes.

social networking and protection

2007-10-27T21:50:00.001-04:00

there has been a hot debate over social networking and the protection of children that use them in particular myspace which is highly popular. everyone has been talking lets do this, lets do that with no real testimate as to how to go about protecting children from online predators who utilize the social networks that are known to have lots of children on them. here is something that I hope will be of help when dealing with protecting children from predators.

set up preference tabs for content on the social networks so that content that isn't wanted will not show up for those who don't want specific content and use the age listed as a filter for those who state that they are under the age of 18 so that way they cannot view specific content. as a way of ensuring that people are the age they say they are, find a way of using the traditional forms of identification that the local, state/province and federal governments use to identify people, i.e. student id's, driver's license's, non-driving identification cards making sure that there is a way of validating the identification numbers.

mortgages

2007-10-25T20:10:00.000-04:00

when it comes to home mortgages, especially those already out there, if the housing market continues to decline the way it has since august then financial institutions that currently hold them will end up taking a substantial loss of revenue if they forclose and end up allowing the homes to be auctioned off if they cannot sell.

this is especially true if the prospective buyers that are now unable to get approved for a mortgage under the new business practices of the financial institutions. It is my opinion that the financial institutions that deal with home mortgages would do far better to rework the mortgages so that the current home owners so that they take in a lower profit margine but still end up getting the money that they had to pay out on the initial note during the purchase of the home.

global warming

2007-10-20T09:26:00.000-04:00

Global warming, everyone agrees that something has to be done to reverse the effects of it on our environment. The one problem with global warming is the fact no two climatologists can agree on how dire the situation is.
Everyone who is trying to getting get the point across should be trying to show existing ways of or coming up with ways of their own to help reverse global warming. This is especially true since we have land that we currently view as unusable due to it being to arid to be used along with limitations on our clean drinkable water.
In an effort to counteract the negative aspects of global warming and resulting climate changes, maybe we should be looking at the deserts of the world differently and look to scale up efforts at the commercial desalinization of ocean water in an effort to make arid land sustainable land for crops and small communities.
The only real problem with the world's deserts is the lack of sustained water sources to them on a regular enough, basis to keep it from being usable by our current standards. If we stepped up the commercial desalinization of ocean water to the point that we could send it to the deserts to help create usable farmland and small communities around them to help support the farms, while easing some of the congestion in other areas given a genuine willingness of people to move to those areas.

an opinion on casinos coming to massachusetts

2007-10-13T14:42:00.000-04:00

It is my opinion that casino-resorts are a good idea if you are looking to provide jobs and attract people to the state. Since gamblers will seek ways of gambling regardless of whether they have to travel for their preferred type of gambling, it would appear to make since to keep those gamblers in state. Since Massachusetts Governor Patrick is looking to fund transportation shortfalls with the projected windfall from the casino’s I would suggest that there be more than the proposed casino’s that the governor wants and in areas that would help with bringing that infrastructure back to life.

Here are some ideas that I would like to put on the table but whether anyone will listen to them is a different story.

Instead of only having one casino-resort in Boston, have a minimum of three one of which would be where Boston’s Mayor Menino wants it which is at Suffolk Downs, one – two casino-resort’s on the Boston waterfront in South Boston in or near the Marine Industrial Park that would be right on the harbor that once built would include increased Massport cruise terminal traffic and would be forced to utilize the MBTA. There should be at least one other inBoston and it should be in an area or areas of the city that could use the upgraded infrastructure and jobs the most.
To fund the expansion of the MBTA’s commuter rail, in the areas that Governor Patrick is looking to expand too, there should be a minimum of one maybe two casino’s built in the city that is proposed to be the termination point for the line provided that the city would welcome that type of atmosphere there and the influx of jobs. Allow the casino-resorts to be built there with the stipulation that they must help with funding the expansions since they would benefit from the expansion with the possibility of the terminal being right there at the casino-resort.
When it comes to the state highways, allow casino-resorts to be built over and around the highways provided that they take over the maintenance of the highway they span to a specific point especially since they would have to find ways of getting people from the highway itself to the facility.

Where Governor Patrick wants to allow casino-resorts in the state, the state needs to look at under what conditions they should be allowed and what stipulations should be given for the introduction of casino-resorts into the state. The above ideas should be treated as a starting point in how to approach the whole subject even if these specific ideas are not used, but since the governor wants to fund the transportation infrastructure this way he must allow for people to come up with ideas to offset the costs that the state would have to pick up.

atlanta drought

2007-10-10T21:20:00.000-04:00

The area around Atlanta Georgia is facing a drought situation to the point that with in the next year they could be facing water rationing to conserve water and encompasses the top portion of the state.

Given the drought situation, the state of Georgia should take the lead and start up a municipal water desalinization program to help compansate for the lack of rain in that part of the state.

the protests in burma

2007-10-03T20:02:00.000-04:00

I know that the military government calls the country something different now but the official name with the United Nations is still Burma. I found that the military in Burma caused more of an outcry for its citizens by firing on the protesters whom where trying to protest peacefully, even if the soldiers that fired on the crowd felt that it was warranted due to fearing for their own safety, I don't like the fact that they fired on monks who are generally peaceful and shy away from violent confrontations.

commentary for America's healthcare for children

2007-09-29T13:47:00.000-04:00

My commentary and ideas for children’s healthcare reform

When it comes to the nation’s healthcare system trying to provide for the poor children of this nation, there has to be some degree of socialization to standardize the care of the children. The country by nature is capitalistic which causes a disparity between social classes based on the level of income which is growing larger with time. Like any other part of our society, each social class has its own ideas of what is affordable and treat others like they can which poses a dilemma for the people who cannot live up to a higher social classes ideas of affordability on anything.

Health care especially for our nation’s children should not be subject to the social distortions of what is considered affordable and therefore has to be standardized in the care itself. What we as a society have done is put a price on a person’s overall health based on what type of medical serviced that can be rendered given the money that they can pay out for it whether it be out of pocket or through an insurance company. Even with going through an insurance company which provided health insurance the insurance company still dictates what services can be rendered based on the health insurance plan you can afford.

We need to do a few different things to bring all health care for children up to a minimum standard regardless of whether or not the child’s family can afford the care and have a safety net of some sort for those who cannot afford the medical costs.

Here is what I think should be done:

Create a minimum standard that must be adhered to by all medical personnel regardless of whether or not the patients family can afford the medical treatment or not, letting the doctors have a direct say in the minimum standards.

Research what those standards would cost families and the government for when the families cannot afford the costs, then set up the needed measures to pay for the medical costs rather than blindly funding anything that can be misconstrued into something that it is not.

Find ways of getting people to utilize preventative care when ever possible to ease the costs and waits of emergency room visits, which eat up a lot of both government and private insurance money. Do this even if it means setting up and/or expanding clinics in neighborhoods where the people can go to if it isn’t an emergency situation, where they can have a primary care doctor and possibly a triage unit to determine whether or not they should be seen in an emergency room or by their doctor there.

Rather than looking at a person’s or families income as the only deciding factor in affordability for health insurance especially for children we need to look at each region of the country and factor in the cost of living in that specific region to gain a better understanding of what is affordable rather than a blanket set of rules for the country as a whole since each region has its own unique pay scales and costs of living.

When determining what is affordable with minimum standards of medical care we have to would need to look at the price of the healthcare itself, the pay scale of the region and the cost of living for that region to see what is affordable in that area and set the requirements for government assistance accordingly.

A family in Louisiana has a far different cost of living than that of a family in New York, and just because the family In New York does make more doesn’t mean that they will be able to afford more than the one in Louisiana this is due to the fact that the costs of living are different in each region. If you look at the medical costs in each individual region the costs are reflective of the cost of living for that individual region which in turn will scale up the pay to meet the costs and therefore medical costs should not be subject to the social distortions based on income that are common through out our country.

transportation infrastructure

2007-09-25T20:57:00.000-04:00

With regards to the transportation infrastructure, it is imperative that the federal government fund it. The very fact that it is the primary way that we move everything through the transportation infrastructure should make it on of the top priorities that our nation should have. Without the needed infrastructure we would not be able to travel effectively or move the needed goods and supplies from place to place. It should be a priority in part due to the fact that if there is ever an emergency where an area has to be evacuated the transportation infrastructure would bottleneck if it were not properly maintained by our government.
At the same time even though the government should be responsible for funding it we need to fund it ourselves at the same time in the form of the needed upgrades. Anytime we upgrade the subterranean infrastructure which would include but not be limited to the utilities that put their lines underground, these companies if unwilling to do more than a patch job for the street level work done then there should be a standardized fee that would be pooled into a fund specifically earmarked for the needed work to the transportation infrastructure so that the government doesn't have to divert money from other areas to maintain the system.
Overall it should be a shared responsibility but the primary funding if not the primary controlling party for maintaining the transportation infrastructure should be the government to standardize a maintenance program which would be responsible for the oversight of the infrastructure and to direct the needed upgrades to it.

my ideas on possible casino's in Massachusetts

2007-09-19T17:41:00.000-04:00

Ideas for casino-resorts
(Ideas stemming from Governor Patrick’s desire to fund transportation projects)
Written by Sean Davis

It is my opinion that casino-resorts are a good idea if you are looking to provide jobs and attract people to the state. Since gamblers will seek ways of gambling regardless of whether they have to travel for their preferred type of gambling, it would appear to make since to keep those gamblers in state. Since Massachusetts Governor Patrick is looking to fund transportation shortfalls with the projected windfall from the casino’s I would suggest that there be more than the proposed casino’s that the governor wants and in areas that would help with bringing that infrastructure back to life.

Here are some ideas that I would like to put on the table but whether anyone will listen to them is a different story.

Instead of only having one casino-resort in Boston, have a minimum of three one of which would be where Boston’s Mayor Menino wants it which is at Suffolk Downs, one – two casino-resort’s on the Boston waterfront in South Boston in or near the Marine Industrial Park that would be right on the harbor that once built would include increased Massport cruise terminal traffic and would be forced to utilize the MBTA. There should be at least one other in Boston and it should be in an area or areas of the city that could use the upgraded infrastructure and jobs the most.
To fund the expansion of the MBTA’s commuter rail, in the areas that Governor Patrick is looking to expand too, there should be a minimum of one maybe two casino’s built in the city that is proposed to be the termination point for the line provided that the city would welcome that type of atmosphere there and the influx of jobs. Allow the casino-resorts to be built there with the stipulation that they must help with funding the expansions since they would benefit from the expansion with the possibility of the terminal being right there at the casino-resort.
When it comes to the state highways, allow casino-resorts to be built over and around the highways provided that they take over the maintenance of the highway they span to a specific point especially since they would have to find ways of getting people from the highway itself to the facility.

Where Governor Patrick wants to allow casino-resorts in the state, the state needs to look at under what conditions they should be allowed and what stipulations should be given for the introduction of casino-resorts into the state. The above ideas should be treated as a starting point in how to approach the whole subject even if these specific ideas are not used, but since the governor wants to fund the transportation infrastructure this way he must allow for people to come up with ideas to offset the costs that the state would have to pick up.

commentary and questions on the Iraq war

2007-09-15T08:51:00.000-04:00

I have no disrespect intended by thinking and writing this but I feel that if President Bush really believes that the war with Iraq is justifiable in the war on terrorism, then he must show the evidence he has to showing that Iraq has been a direct part of the terror network that he claims that the country was part of. We all know that Saddam was blatantly going against the U.N. Sanctions but in the mainstream media most of the things he was doing to hurt others pertained to hurting the citizens Iraq and not the western world so in my opinion it is required that Bush what show the evidence that convinced him to invade Iraq in such haste and without an exit strategy.

To honor the people who died as a result of the 9/11 attacks and to respect the military, President Bush must share his reasoning and not just asking to stay the course with the expectation of following blindly through it all. Even if they are kept confidential some questions should be asked and given to the people who deserve the answers to them.

the questions should be these or something along the lines of these:

what are the expectations for Iraq and Iraq's people?

Why is it that the Iraqi government isn't living up to some of the benchmarks?

What is the exit strategy for our military to leave regardless of timetable and is it defined clearly enough for the Iraqi government and our allies to understand?

Is it possible that we are going about the political process all wrong in Iraq given the Middle East in general having a different concept of what government should be?

Why is it that the country is being asked to blindly follow President Bush's agenda on the war on terror?

There is a big difference between protecting our country and being told we have to give up constitutionally given rights in order to fight an invisible enemy.

memorial for the 6th anniversary of the wtc coming down

2007-09-09T14:02:00.000-04:00

At the sixth anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center in New York, we cannot lose sight of the pain we shared on that day, not just as a nation but the world as a whole when the towers came down. The whole world mourned that day as every country lost people who had sought a better life for themselves and for their families back home and for many people they are still in mourning due to many of their loved ones never being able to be found which doesn’t allow for closure.

We can never forget what happened that day otherwise we will forget the pain we felt and who we are as individuals and who we are as a nation. We can never lose sight of the fact that the people working in the world trade center towers died because they believed in the dream that this country offered to anyone who wanted it, for if we forget we become the very thing that we have always tried not to become.

We can not allow ourselves to forget the sacrifices that hundreds of firefighters and cops made that day in an attempt to protect both the property and the lives of countless people that day with some of them making the ultimate sacrifice trying to do what they felt was right. On that day and on the days that followed those of the firefighters and cops who were still capable of being on active duty along with many hundreds of volunteers sacrificed their time and their very lives trying to look for survivors and to give closure to those who needed it.

As my then seven year old niece asked on her birthday “why did the bad people have to kill all those people on my birthday?”

a political question

2007-09-01T09:56:00.000-04:00

given all of the talk about family and religious values that American politicians are suppose to have, why is it that the republicans are the ones that get caught with their britches down?

just wondering due to the sexual scandals that have rocked the Republican Party the past few years even though I know it happens in both parties.

alberto gonzalez' resignation

2007-08-28T20:56:00.000-04:00

regardless of whether or not the allegations against the outgoing attorney general are warranted, I believe he did the right thing by resigning. regardless of his capabilities after the senate started looking into the allegations, he was unable to do his job correctly due to having the senate breathing down his neck and his underlings had little to no confidence in him due to possible credibility issues.

resigning protected the sanctity of the position and will allow a new person to take the helm and hopefully get things moving in the direction needed.

I feel that he is a qualified attorney but that he let his loyalty to the president get in the way to do his job the way it should be done.

the hypocrisy of religion

2007-08-23T18:15:00.000-04:00

How can you tell people that you haven't lost your faith in religion or a belief system?

How do you tell people that you have faith in religion but have lost faith in the people who practice the religion?

How do you show the hypocrisy that people have when it comes to living up to the doctrine while they are preaching the doctrine at the same time?

How do you not feed into the hypocrisy that now has hold of segments of religion?

Ideas for an evacuation plan

2007-08-12T20:59:00.000-04:00

Local municipalities and the states in which they are located should be working together to make sure that they have the best possible evacuation plans possible. They should also find the best ways to maintain the evacuation plans. When possible each state in a given region should try to develop a regional evacuation plan so that each state in that region can adequately deal with an influx of evacuees from the other states in that region.

· Working with the regional states and the local communities, figure out what are the most likely scenarios that would force evacuations in those regions. Then figure out which of those scenarios would fall under which level of government and under what conditions would that power, be superseded by the state or federal government for that scenario.
· Working with the cities and towns, figure out what their capacity is for taking in people that are being evacuated and if necessary add to that capacity in order to set up a network of emergency shelters. At the same time add appropriate first responder equipment and materials to the emergency shelters where possible along with appropriate training incase that specific shelter is within range of being a first responder.
· In places where there is already existing first responder equipment, materials and trained first responders, expand on or upgrade the first responder equipment and materials to the point that they are already appropriately packed, so it’s a “grab and go” response to save on time and money. In places where there is no first responder equipment and materials, figure out where to put the first responder equipment and materials on local levels.
· Organize all first responders in a way so that there, is no jurisdictional conflicts or bureaucracy to hamper the response time needed to get into the affected area or areas while having every level of responder on the same page when it comes to communications, time tables, what to do and when to do it.
· Upgrade the needed infrastructure that would allow for easiest access in and out of the areas that have a minimum population to the point that the potential evacuees have more if not better options to evacuate the area even if it means evacuating by train or by boat to reduce the congestion on the roads.
· Have periodical drills for specific types of disasters, so that the first responders keep their skills up to date.
· Have trained first responders for each scenario that, each region has the potential of needing to deal with along with having automatic activation of first responders for all scenarios and when possible, advance activation of the first responders if the scenario is foreseeable and imminent. If advance activation can be done have predetermined Alfa and/or Beta sights that they would report to when needed.
· Train the local police and fire departments to direct the flow of evacuees to the appropriate areas. Evacuees that are driving should be directed towards the roads and highways that would take them out of the area. For the evacuees that are not driving, set up temporary bus depot’s at designated points with in the local municipalities and if there are any rail systems in place, use passenger trains to aid in the evacuation even if it means bringing passenger trains in from somewhere else.
· Set up evacuation plans specifically for the elderly, people in hospitals and people in nursing homes that are incapable of leaving on their own taking into account any special needs of the people so that they can be transported as quickly and safely as possible. In doing so, send them to places that can handle them and that have the space for the elderly and any one incapacitated coming from hospitals and nursing homes.
· Utilize the available rail systems to help evacuate the population along with needed supplies for the evacuation, to bring in the any first responders if needed and for anything that is needed that would be required to go into or come out of the area where the rail system is the easiest way of moving those things.

a case for the powers for the court system

2007-07-28T13:18:00.000-04:00

going by the checks and balances that the constitution has in place, there is a definitive separation of powers between each branch of government that prevents each branch of dealing directly with the issues relating specifically to a given branch of government.

many see that some of the decisions that the justice system has made constitutes the courts overstepping their boundaries. If you actually look at the decisions, you will actually see that the justice system is doing its job. the courts have made decisions that essentially tell the other two branches of government that they cannot act a certain way unless it is governmental law and doesn't interfere with the protections given to us by the constitution.

If I may give a couple examples to prove my point:

Roe versus Wade concerning abortion, the U.S. Supreme in simplistic terms basically stated that until the government explicitly forbids it, it is actually legal. it is a misconception that the court actually did the job of the U.S. Congress. It is also better to keep it legal due to the fact that if women want one bad enough they will find a way of getting one even if it means a forced miscarriage.

Massachusetts the only state that has gay marriage, the state supreme court in its decision did the same thing as the U.S. Supreme Court in their decision. the court basically stated that until you do the necessary legislation on the subject you cannot treat it as if it is illegal until it is illegal. There have been attempts to legislate it and also put it on the ballot but it has not made it past a constitutional convention or sub committee due to it being such a touchy matter.

a few years ago congress passed a law requiring oversight of any activities such as wiretapping of U.S. citizens by the courts so that the rights of the citizens were not trampled by the government. The justice system per order of the president circumvented the law, which when found out about prompted the court to take action against the program forcing it to follow the rules under the law.

We need the checks and balances, and any attempt to counter that system is completely unconstitutional in nature and would never survive an attack on it. the only way the senate were to pass such a law it would be forced to take on the job of the president to enforce the law which would be another abuse of power. it would also mean that there is no more functioning constitution in this country. If the people who sit in the senate truly believe in the constitution, then they cannot legislate powers away from the other branches of government and the other two branches cannot do that to each other or to the senate either.

an opinion on mitt romney

2007-07-28T09:05:00.000-04:00

Mitt Romney, he has shown everyone how he made his money by showing his sales prowess. First he did it with Massachusetts when he ran for governor right after his stint running the Olympics in Salt Lake City. He knew what he was doing before he even left to run the Olympics and it showed due to the fact he knew about an obscure law that permits people to live out of state for various reasons but still reside in the state legally under a domicile law, which basically says that your legal address is still an address in Massachusetts.

Now in his campaign for president, he has done something similar in nature by using his summer home in New Hampshire on the banks of Lake Winnipesauke as a way to gain an advantage in the state, by saying that he is one of them due to his home there, which is a tactic that a native of a specific locality would use to gain local support for their ventures.

Now he has moved past the trying pulling the wool over people in areas where he owns a home, he has moved into the realm of the official nominee of the political party even though the party hasn’t had its convention yet to give support to the one candidate that they feel can win. He has shown that he is cocky enough to go straight for the photo-op and point out what he calls a success for his governorship in Massachusetts, even though he had no control over some of the initiatives or forced the initiatives down the throats of the people that it effected whether they wanted it as he had written it or not.

Mitt Romney has also taken to attack ads on the democratic front runners instead of the other republicans who he is currently running against. This shows a great amount of cockiness due to the fact he is acting as if he feels he has the republican nomination in the bag and doesn’t feel that the other republicans are a real challenge to him getting into the White House.

He appears to be trying to position himself to look better to the people who don’t know his record as a politician in regards to what his platform has been in the past versus what he has done after he used that platform to get to where he wanted. He has run for office stating he held views that pertained to one side of an issue whether it be political or religious, then doing an about face after getting what he wanted. In what could be viewed as an overly simplistic interpretation of his actions, he played the groups who offered the most potential for electing a candidate to political office rather than running on his own beliefs.

From my perspective he tends to talk to people in a way that suggests that he thinks he is better than they are, especially when it comes to talking about politics. He tends to keep saying “What I have done”, “what I am doing”, and “what I intend on doing” which may not be phrased exactly like that but close enough to show some arrogance on his part. Even though he was governor of the state I live in, I never met him but from what I have seen of him on T.V. he tends to talk down to people in a manner that would suggest that he believes that he knows what is best for you which showed when he forced the laws regarding health insurance in Massachusetts.

Mitt Romney may have had the best of intentions when pushing the legislation pertaining to health insurance but in the end he didn’t really look after the people who needed it the most which were children for which there is a loop hole basically stating that everyone eighteen and over is required to have health insurance even if it is state sponsored. It also penalizes the people who legitimately cannot afford to have it due to their salary and cost of living expenses.

He had been presented with evidence in an open forum on a Boston Television station that a family even with health coverage offered by the mothers work, the family could not afford the insurance and would not be able to afford the state sponsored insurance due to the fact that the father was disabled and had a fixed income while the mother worked full time to supplement their income. The family showed how much the family made monthly, and what they paid out monthly in bills along with the remaining money after all bills were paid with no extras. He basically stated that they would qualify for the state sponsored insurance but when the premiums came out it was still more than they could afford.