The Government Budget impass between the Political parties

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.

some ideas I had written about government

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/

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

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".

Senator Ted Kennedy

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.

what's with people in power in other countries

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.

the stimulus package

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.

where does it end?

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

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?

The federal bailout of Wall Street

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?

it is almost like nature is giving a test

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 dynamics of the U.S. Economy

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?

When will people worldwide have enough clean safe water

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.

presidential candidates

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.

memorial day

This Memorial day we are in desperate need of something that we have been seeing little of over the past few years. This nation of ours has been preoccupied by our superficial ways and a government that is in a power struggle due to a president that does not bend to the people who elected him and a congress that is unwilling or incapable of standing up for the people who in the last federal election voted in a way that mandated that the government listen.

we need a unified stance for both domestic affairs and the war with the insurgents in Iraq. neither side is willing to listen to the other nor are they willing to cooperate to help overcome their differences.

what we are doing is making our founding fathers role in their graves by letting the different parts of the government walk over each other unabated. if we keep allowing each part of the government to walk all over each other then we will end up falling apart as a nation.