OMG, Over It!

Scrabble, Word Games

There are a few phrases that I get annoyed with and a few words that I don't appreciate. One good example is "you know what I mean?" I find this one to be the most annoying one, it tells me that if you use it, you don't know what you are really talking about and you are throwing it to the other person.

The word "like" I work very diligently to have that word be as absent as possible from my verbal usage. It is highly over used.

House Republicans’ Labor Budget Cuts Rules That Protect Rooftop Workers From Falling, Coal Miners From Coal Dust

This exercise by the GOP in and of itself wasteful spending of our taxpayers dollars and time because the Obama administra­tion has already charged the appropriat­e agencies to go through all redundant and nonsensica­l regulation­s to streamline the process for businesses­. Repeatedly­, it has been studied and shown that regulation­s do not dampen business prospects and have the GOP as a whole forgotten the it is precisely due to the de-regulat­ory environmen­t under the Clinton and Bush administra­tions that the whole financial crisis was allowed to develop and then implode from within to then take down the whole global economy. We need to embrace the fact that corporatio­ns naturally go to the lowest regulatory denominato­r, they are not capable to self-regul­ate nor can the markets. Government is absolutely needed for that job to protect us, the workers, the environmen­t and the corporatio­ns from themselves­.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama Pitches Jobs Bill In Weekly Address, GOP Wants Fewer Government Regulations

Apparently­, there still are a few blue dog democrats in the Senate. I know that the GOP won’t give in, but why am I not surprised that Reid can’t twist a few arms to get himself the 60 needed. Sadly with quite a few economists saying that the President’­s job plan would add jobs and curtail a double dip recession is enough to make this verboten to the GOP so hello filibuster­. what is funny is that one of the GOP contenders made a mistake the other day (guess which one) and said that “President Obama didn’t understand economics, that he who had been in the private sector did, and that the fact that companies were sitting on huge cash reserves wasn’t enough to make them hire, there is no demand that’s why they are not hiring” Did you guess that it was Romney who said it? He went against all the supply-sid­e economic theories and pointed out the truthfulne­ss of the problem. Our economy is deficient in its demand and without a secure working population the demand will stay depressed. The powers that be over the past 4 decades transforme­d our society into a heavily dependent consumer spending and service economy and without jobs that provide a living wage I don’t see how the brilliant rich people and power brokers expect us to continue to support them both politicall­y and economical­ly when we are scrambling to just stay afloat.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

What five areas of travel have influenced you?

Tags

Mexico, postaday2011, Street kids

I decided to take the modified version of the topic because I’ve already written about the five books that have influenced me and I didn’t feel the desire to revisit the subject. Luckily, I have had the really good fortune of having traveled quite often during my lifetime and I’ve seen a few interesting places that made an impression on me, for good or bad.

My first trip to Mexico was during my college years with two friends of mine. We decided to go to Acapulco for spring break. Mexico is beautiful but for one terrible aspect, the local people living in poverty while the tourists are vacationing in the lap of luxury. I remember walking down the main boulevard, we were looking for something, I don’t remember what, but the boulevard was littered with boutiques that could be easily found on Rodeo Drive, such as Chanel, Burberry and others. I was heart-broken to see poor mothers sitting on the sidewalk with their handmade wares laid out on blankets with their children sleeping all around them hiding from the sun. It seemed wrong to have such poverty amidst all the trappings of overseas wealth that perpetrated the cycle. Seeing the injustice reinforced my political beliefs and desire to help the downtrodden.

Visiting the Netherlands opened my eyes to the depth and breadth of the horror of world war two. I had the privilege to visit the house that had been occupied by Anne Frank and her family. The intensity of the place makes its mark on you. Afterwards, I visited Rotterdam, a whole entire city that had been bombed to hell during the war. Seeing it rebuilt but keeping certain reminders of its tragic, heroic past made an impact on me.

Athens, Greece was a wonderful place to visit. Walking through the Acropolis and realizing the thousands of years that had been witnessed by others before me, made me feel incredibly humble and aware of how small I am in relation to this universe.

Taking the tour of the Vatican was incredible. especially as a lapsed catholic. To see all the riches and the priceless artifacts under the roof of Vatican City; it made me angry and sad at the same time for all the poor people in the world.

Costa Rica is a great Eco tourism destination. Being face to face with all the wildlife, some of them quite dangerous and lethal gave me a whole new healthy respect of mother nature and her kingdom. A guide, very nicely pulled me off my next intended foot step, to keep me from stepping down on the deadly Fer de lance viper. He was shaken, as was I, because he told me that with the hospital being an hour away, my chances would have been slim to none.

All these adventures have broadened my horizons and left me with memories that are thankfully seared in my mind. I look forward to new adventures and new stories from parts unknown.