By Mary MacElveen
September 7, 2009
As a parent, I want to send a message out to other parents who may keep their children home tomorrow because President Obama will deliver a speech welcoming the country’s children back to school: You are failing your job as a parent. Keeping your children out of school in fear of what may be said by the president is sending the wrong message to your children. Basically what you are teaching them is if something is being presented in school you or they may not agree with, it is okay to skip school.
Our country’s children are expected to attend school each and everyday unless sick and to keep them out for this one speech which by the way I have read, you are aiding in their truancy. If you do keep them out, it should be noted they were absent on that day.
Any school district who fails to air the President’s speech to our country’s children, you as well are failing as educators. You are allowing your politics of fear to interfere with our children’s learning and/or you are listening to either Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh way too much.
Having been raised by a single-mother, if he complained about getting up early to learn extra lessons from her, President Obama’s mom would say: “This is no picnic for me either, buster." I do suspect other single-parents have had that same discussion with their children.
Knowing that our president has two young girls both he and the First Lady, Michelle Obama are successfully raising: do you think for one moment he would put your children in danger? Both Sasha and Malia are growing up in the public-eye and while that can be hard for children born to presidents or celebrities, and they are a delight to behold.
As many schools combat a high drop-out rates, this president’s message to every single one is to stay in school and to work hard. No subversive message there, but a message all children do need to hear.
President Obama reminds our school children that nothing is just given them in life and that they also must work hard. As many are addicted to reality TV, the President cites: “I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work -- that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you’re not going to be any of those things.” I think that dose of real reality is something our children do need to hear.
Within the text of his speech he reminds children if they want to go on in life to fulfill their dreams of becoming a teacher, a scientist, a writer or even a politician, they must pay attention to certain classes they are taking and do their homework.
The President also cites that it is okay to fail, but to pick yourselves up and try, try again. One person he does use as an example is famed author, JK Rowling who wrote the Harry Potter series. Now she is richer than the Queen of England and she came from being on welfare.
It is important for each parent to read the full text of the President’s speech to see he is challenging our children to go on and live successful lives not only for themselves but our country. After reading his speech, if you as a parent are inclined to keep your child out of school, take a long look in the mirror and ask: Am I leaving my child behind?
Author’s email address is, xmjmac@optonline.net
Copyrighted material: Should you wish to use any portion of this column, please contact the author.
Showing posts with label President Barack Obama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label President Barack Obama. Show all posts
Monday, September 7, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Sen. Jim DeMint and Bill Kristol are miscreants who offer nothing
By Mary MacElveen
July 22, 2009
As I was reading my Twitter.com page this morning, a woman from California who goes by the name, lasurfgrl asked how much “longer are you on Capitol Hill going to ignore our problems? The American Dream no longer exists in CA. We have gigantic problems here” I do suspect no matter where you live in the United States there are pervasive problems that have not been addressed in quite sometime. Like infrastructure.
Two weeks ago, the Throgs Neck Bridge in New York City was accidently set ablaze due to a blow torch which basically shut the bridge down. Travelers had to make other plans using the Whitestone Bridge as well as ferries which can take passengers off of Long Island. Some have said we are in need of another bridge. New York like California is a cash-strapped state and frankly, we cannot afford another bridge.
Then we have the ominous eight-hundred pound gorilla in the room which is healthcare. Presently, there are over 47 million who go without and that number does not include the underinsured. Yet, obstructionist senators like Jim DeMint instead of trying to deliver such aid and comfort to a people had this say: “If we're able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him."
While some decry the President’s plan as not being one to solve this crisis and it is a crisis, at least we have a President who is willing to step up to the plate and help bring relief to many millions of people. Unlike his predecessor, George W. Bush.
Forget any history lesson by mentioning Waterloo, Senator DeMint, there are countless citizens who are being broken financially due to the bills incurred when they had to seek medical treatment. This as you are covered by we the tax payers. If anything, my little mental-fantasy would be to break you by stripping you of your government sponsored healthcare package.
Not to be outdone, you then have Bill Kristol who stated: “My advice, for what it's worth: Resist the temptation. This is no time to pull punches. Go for the kill.” In referring to the President’s healthcare plan by calling it ‘Obamacare’. My reaction to his statement on both Twitter and Facebook.com was, “Go to HELL!” Sorry for such foul language but it needed to be said.
In both cases and statements it reminds me of a statement made in the movie, “The American President” when the fictional president, Andrew Shepherd had this to say: “We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious men to solve them. And whatever your particular problem is, friend, I promise you, Bob Rumson is not the least bit interested in solving it. He is interested in two things and two things only: Making you afraid of it and telling you who's to blame for it. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win elections. You gather a group of middle-aged, middle-class, middle-income voters who remember with longing an easier time, and you talk to them about family and American values and personal character."
This my friends and readers is the gist of the blowback to President Obama’s healthcare plan by folks like DeMint and Kristol. In fact, you can substitute their names when Shepherd refers to Rumson. Both offer you nothing when so many of you are hurting out there. They are zealots and miscreants as far as I am concerned when this country does have serious problems to solve and America should rise in anger towards obstructionists like them and say: “ENOUGH and SHUT UP!”
Kristol, was a student of Leo Strauss (the father of the Neoconservative movement) and he like others who believe in the Neoconservative mentality which is crap in my book, gave us only wars has cost this country dearly. These wars have now cost all of us over $1 trillion dollars and yet they wish to scare you of the sticker-shock of any healthcare package? Nonsense!
I find Kristol’s statement of going for “the kill” to be telling since he has been a proponent of these wars which have only killed our soldiers and innocent Iraqis. Yet, folks listen to this garbage?
We as a nation must remember that it was a Republican President, George W. Bush and a Republican-led congress who did nothing to address the healthcare problem, did nothing to rebuild this country as they destroyed another by illegally invading it. They shoveled your hard earned dollars out the door to level complete cities such as Fallujah, Iraq.
Do you really want to revisit those darkened years by listening to Kristol and DeMint? Nothing was done for you as you sit waiting for the next bill from any doctor or hospital to come in. That is truly their legacy. To any Democratic congressional leader who fears for his or her own reelection by going up against the President, you have no place in congress if fear is your guiding force. To me, healthcare is a civil right and a right that should be guarded and protected by every single legislator at any level of our government. People have the right to live and thrive!
Americans went to the polls in record numbers this past election to send Barack Obama to the White House to work on behalf of all Americans. While I have taken issue with some of his plans, I refuse to listen to those whose sole mission is to break the President for their own selfish desires. Their words mean nothing to me and they should mean nothing to you!
Author’s email address is, xmjmac@optonline.net
Copyrighted material: Should you wish to use any portion of this column, please email the author.
July 22, 2009
As I was reading my Twitter.com page this morning, a woman from California who goes by the name, lasurfgrl asked how much “longer are you on Capitol Hill going to ignore our problems? The American Dream no longer exists in CA. We have gigantic problems here” I do suspect no matter where you live in the United States there are pervasive problems that have not been addressed in quite sometime. Like infrastructure.
Two weeks ago, the Throgs Neck Bridge in New York City was accidently set ablaze due to a blow torch which basically shut the bridge down. Travelers had to make other plans using the Whitestone Bridge as well as ferries which can take passengers off of Long Island. Some have said we are in need of another bridge. New York like California is a cash-strapped state and frankly, we cannot afford another bridge.
Then we have the ominous eight-hundred pound gorilla in the room which is healthcare. Presently, there are over 47 million who go without and that number does not include the underinsured. Yet, obstructionist senators like Jim DeMint instead of trying to deliver such aid and comfort to a people had this say: “If we're able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him."
While some decry the President’s plan as not being one to solve this crisis and it is a crisis, at least we have a President who is willing to step up to the plate and help bring relief to many millions of people. Unlike his predecessor, George W. Bush.
Forget any history lesson by mentioning Waterloo, Senator DeMint, there are countless citizens who are being broken financially due to the bills incurred when they had to seek medical treatment. This as you are covered by we the tax payers. If anything, my little mental-fantasy would be to break you by stripping you of your government sponsored healthcare package.
Not to be outdone, you then have Bill Kristol who stated: “My advice, for what it's worth: Resist the temptation. This is no time to pull punches. Go for the kill.” In referring to the President’s healthcare plan by calling it ‘Obamacare’. My reaction to his statement on both Twitter and Facebook.com was, “Go to HELL!” Sorry for such foul language but it needed to be said.
In both cases and statements it reminds me of a statement made in the movie, “The American President” when the fictional president, Andrew Shepherd had this to say: “We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious men to solve them. And whatever your particular problem is, friend, I promise you, Bob Rumson is not the least bit interested in solving it. He is interested in two things and two things only: Making you afraid of it and telling you who's to blame for it. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win elections. You gather a group of middle-aged, middle-class, middle-income voters who remember with longing an easier time, and you talk to them about family and American values and personal character."
This my friends and readers is the gist of the blowback to President Obama’s healthcare plan by folks like DeMint and Kristol. In fact, you can substitute their names when Shepherd refers to Rumson. Both offer you nothing when so many of you are hurting out there. They are zealots and miscreants as far as I am concerned when this country does have serious problems to solve and America should rise in anger towards obstructionists like them and say: “ENOUGH and SHUT UP!”
Kristol, was a student of Leo Strauss (the father of the Neoconservative movement) and he like others who believe in the Neoconservative mentality which is crap in my book, gave us only wars has cost this country dearly. These wars have now cost all of us over $1 trillion dollars and yet they wish to scare you of the sticker-shock of any healthcare package? Nonsense!
I find Kristol’s statement of going for “the kill” to be telling since he has been a proponent of these wars which have only killed our soldiers and innocent Iraqis. Yet, folks listen to this garbage?
We as a nation must remember that it was a Republican President, George W. Bush and a Republican-led congress who did nothing to address the healthcare problem, did nothing to rebuild this country as they destroyed another by illegally invading it. They shoveled your hard earned dollars out the door to level complete cities such as Fallujah, Iraq.
Do you really want to revisit those darkened years by listening to Kristol and DeMint? Nothing was done for you as you sit waiting for the next bill from any doctor or hospital to come in. That is truly their legacy. To any Democratic congressional leader who fears for his or her own reelection by going up against the President, you have no place in congress if fear is your guiding force. To me, healthcare is a civil right and a right that should be guarded and protected by every single legislator at any level of our government. People have the right to live and thrive!
Americans went to the polls in record numbers this past election to send Barack Obama to the White House to work on behalf of all Americans. While I have taken issue with some of his plans, I refuse to listen to those whose sole mission is to break the President for their own selfish desires. Their words mean nothing to me and they should mean nothing to you!
Author’s email address is, xmjmac@optonline.net
Copyrighted material: Should you wish to use any portion of this column, please email the author.
Friday, February 13, 2009
A message to Republicans and others: This economic crisis is our new security threat
By Mary MacElveen
February 13, 2009
Lost to all as Senator Judd Gregg backed down smiting the President of the United States of America, Barack Obama to be his Commerce Secretary was this most important story I read in today’s Washington Post: Financial Crisis Called Top Security Threat to U.S.. Which I will get to in a few moments.
Upon hearing this breaking news that Gregg took his name out of consideration as Commerce Secretary was, how dare he embarrass this new president whose polling numbers are stronger than those within the Republican congress. How dare he make this move the day before the Stimulus Bill is to be voted on where hopefully the tools contained within it can turn around this dire economy. Real people’s lives are being affected who are not even a part of this political process and the games played in Washington, D.C. by senators like Gregg is paramount to all of us. With Gregg out of the nomination for that seat, it is not the president’s loss, our loss and that is what we must take away from this. Be gone, Gregg is all that I will say.
With Republicans so concerned with the price tag of this stimulus package and not seeking any bipartisanship, exactly where were they when it came to the billions upon billions spent during the Bush presidency. Instead of reaching across the aisle to seek this elusive bipartisanship, they grabbed across the aisle demanding all get in line with former President Bush or be tagged as being unpatriotic.
We are facing unprecedented times and those Republicans who rebuke this president should be shamed instead of honored for standing on principle as Gregg tried to do yesterday. The American people need all of our elected leaders help and so does the rest of the world as we face down a new and real threat called the global economic meltdown which is affecting this planet in its entirety. The citizens of this country and the citizens from each and every country do need strong leadership and not gotcha games as displayed by the Republican Party.
In listening to President Barack Obama speak at the dinner in honor of the late President Abraham Lincoln who is the father of the Republican Party: I wonder, I wonder what this late president would think of the actions of those within this new Republican Party. Not much I would say.
Now back to the original focus of this piece is the security threat due to this global economic meltdown, the Washington Post wrote, “Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair told Congress yesterday that instability in countries around the world caused by the current global economic crisis, rather than terrorism, is the primary near-term security threat to the United States.”
As we deal with this economic crisis that is endangering our national security, I invite all of my readers to read the original piece I wrote back in May of 2003 titled, President Bush, you do not defend America with a lie or a series of lies. Within it, I wrote which is pertinent to our present day circumstances, “A strong country means a country that is economically solvent, instead of insolvent. We have basically allowed a lie to put us in the red.” Little did I realize just how prophetic those words were.
Isn’t the security of this country paramount instead of playing partisan games as the Republicans are doing? They prided themselves as the party of security during the Bush years and now they decide to drop the ball? Then again, by leaving President Barack Obama with a budget deficit of over $1 trillion dollars, in that act, the ball was thrown off of the basketball court. Thankfully, we have a president who knows a thing or two or three of how to handle a ball both on and off the courts.
Let this be an ominous warning coming from Blair to these Republicans, bank executives who helped cause this crisis and to blowhards like Rush Limbaugh, where Blair stated, "Roughly a quarter of the countries in the world have already experienced low-level instability such as government changes because of the current slowdown," This economic crisis is far more dangerous than Al Qaeda and yet those who refuse to help stem this tide who think, who think the economy will be able to turn around without any intervention are the threat to our security as well.
Tax cuts, tax cuts and tax cuts cannot be the only tool used to stare down this new threat which is a clear and present danger.
Yes, elected leaders like Senator Gregg, Senator McConnell and Congressman Boehner are security threats not only to this nation but the world as a whole. Those who shout out from the sidelines like Limbaugh and Coulter as well as other notables like former Vice President Cheney are the threat and we should treat them as such.
As many within the Republican ranks stood against Immigration reform citing security reasons, I want to point out this observation made and written in this WP article, "He [Blair] also saw the prospect of possible refugee flows from the Caribbean to the United States and a questioning of American economic and financial leadership in the world." What say you, Congressman Peter King, Congressman Brian Bilbray and others such Lou Dobbs now? Will this economic firestorm cause an invasion by said refugees? These are dangerous times and I cannot stress that enough and yet folks who rebuke this popular president who has extended his hand across the aisle are playing petty politics and this is where we as Americans must rebuke them back.
What truly freaked out this columnist was this portion cited in that WP article that, "high levels of violent extremism" in the turmoil of the 1920s and 1930s along with "regime-threatening instability" if the economic crisis persists over a one-to-two-year period." Someone had better send an SOS out to those who would vote against the stimulus that it is urgent in nature that we as a nation pull together and get our house in order. Should those who fail to hear this SOS or just vote no on said principle or smite a president, they are putting self above country. Now what would the late President Abraham Lincoln say to that?
I will leave you the reader to read this ominous column published in the Washington Post in its entirety. It is about time we as a nation start paying attention to what is truly important and relevant to us all for the sake and security of this nation instead of stories dealing with celebs. Paying attention to celeb stories should and must be left behind similar to the way we should and must put the former administration behind us. Get that through your noggin, former Vice President Cheney.
In closing, those like McConnell, Boehner, Limbaugh, Coulter and any within the mainstream media who are talking down this stimulus package and President Barack Obama’s presidency itself, you are all a threat to our national security. Even those who smite President Obama such as Senator Gregg did the day before the Stimulus Bill is to be voted on are as well.
Author’s email address is, xmjmac@optonline.net
February 13, 2009
Lost to all as Senator Judd Gregg backed down smiting the President of the United States of America, Barack Obama to be his Commerce Secretary was this most important story I read in today’s Washington Post: Financial Crisis Called Top Security Threat to U.S.. Which I will get to in a few moments.
Upon hearing this breaking news that Gregg took his name out of consideration as Commerce Secretary was, how dare he embarrass this new president whose polling numbers are stronger than those within the Republican congress. How dare he make this move the day before the Stimulus Bill is to be voted on where hopefully the tools contained within it can turn around this dire economy. Real people’s lives are being affected who are not even a part of this political process and the games played in Washington, D.C. by senators like Gregg is paramount to all of us. With Gregg out of the nomination for that seat, it is not the president’s loss, our loss and that is what we must take away from this. Be gone, Gregg is all that I will say.
With Republicans so concerned with the price tag of this stimulus package and not seeking any bipartisanship, exactly where were they when it came to the billions upon billions spent during the Bush presidency. Instead of reaching across the aisle to seek this elusive bipartisanship, they grabbed across the aisle demanding all get in line with former President Bush or be tagged as being unpatriotic.
We are facing unprecedented times and those Republicans who rebuke this president should be shamed instead of honored for standing on principle as Gregg tried to do yesterday. The American people need all of our elected leaders help and so does the rest of the world as we face down a new and real threat called the global economic meltdown which is affecting this planet in its entirety. The citizens of this country and the citizens from each and every country do need strong leadership and not gotcha games as displayed by the Republican Party.
In listening to President Barack Obama speak at the dinner in honor of the late President Abraham Lincoln who is the father of the Republican Party: I wonder, I wonder what this late president would think of the actions of those within this new Republican Party. Not much I would say.
Now back to the original focus of this piece is the security threat due to this global economic meltdown, the Washington Post wrote, “Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair told Congress yesterday that instability in countries around the world caused by the current global economic crisis, rather than terrorism, is the primary near-term security threat to the United States.”
As we deal with this economic crisis that is endangering our national security, I invite all of my readers to read the original piece I wrote back in May of 2003 titled, President Bush, you do not defend America with a lie or a series of lies. Within it, I wrote which is pertinent to our present day circumstances, “A strong country means a country that is economically solvent, instead of insolvent. We have basically allowed a lie to put us in the red.” Little did I realize just how prophetic those words were.
Isn’t the security of this country paramount instead of playing partisan games as the Republicans are doing? They prided themselves as the party of security during the Bush years and now they decide to drop the ball? Then again, by leaving President Barack Obama with a budget deficit of over $1 trillion dollars, in that act, the ball was thrown off of the basketball court. Thankfully, we have a president who knows a thing or two or three of how to handle a ball both on and off the courts.
Let this be an ominous warning coming from Blair to these Republicans, bank executives who helped cause this crisis and to blowhards like Rush Limbaugh, where Blair stated, "Roughly a quarter of the countries in the world have already experienced low-level instability such as government changes because of the current slowdown," This economic crisis is far more dangerous than Al Qaeda and yet those who refuse to help stem this tide who think, who think the economy will be able to turn around without any intervention are the threat to our security as well.
Tax cuts, tax cuts and tax cuts cannot be the only tool used to stare down this new threat which is a clear and present danger.
Yes, elected leaders like Senator Gregg, Senator McConnell and Congressman Boehner are security threats not only to this nation but the world as a whole. Those who shout out from the sidelines like Limbaugh and Coulter as well as other notables like former Vice President Cheney are the threat and we should treat them as such.
As many within the Republican ranks stood against Immigration reform citing security reasons, I want to point out this observation made and written in this WP article, "He [Blair] also saw the prospect of possible refugee flows from the Caribbean to the United States and a questioning of American economic and financial leadership in the world." What say you, Congressman Peter King, Congressman Brian Bilbray and others such Lou Dobbs now? Will this economic firestorm cause an invasion by said refugees? These are dangerous times and I cannot stress that enough and yet folks who rebuke this popular president who has extended his hand across the aisle are playing petty politics and this is where we as Americans must rebuke them back.
What truly freaked out this columnist was this portion cited in that WP article that, "high levels of violent extremism" in the turmoil of the 1920s and 1930s along with "regime-threatening instability" if the economic crisis persists over a one-to-two-year period." Someone had better send an SOS out to those who would vote against the stimulus that it is urgent in nature that we as a nation pull together and get our house in order. Should those who fail to hear this SOS or just vote no on said principle or smite a president, they are putting self above country. Now what would the late President Abraham Lincoln say to that?
I will leave you the reader to read this ominous column published in the Washington Post in its entirety. It is about time we as a nation start paying attention to what is truly important and relevant to us all for the sake and security of this nation instead of stories dealing with celebs. Paying attention to celeb stories should and must be left behind similar to the way we should and must put the former administration behind us. Get that through your noggin, former Vice President Cheney.
In closing, those like McConnell, Boehner, Limbaugh, Coulter and any within the mainstream media who are talking down this stimulus package and President Barack Obama’s presidency itself, you are all a threat to our national security. Even those who smite President Obama such as Senator Gregg did the day before the Stimulus Bill is to be voted on are as well.
Author’s email address is, xmjmac@optonline.net
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Henrietta Hughes is the recipient of my ‘Founding Fathers Award’
By Mary MacElveen
February 11, 2009
I have not handed out my ‘Founding Fathers Award’ in quite sometime, but today, I bestow this personal award of mine to Henrietta Hughes who showed courage beyond belief in that town-hall meeting in Fort Meyers, Florida.
When people are forced to live under such hardships as she lives in her car, it can be a humiliating factor where one does not want anyone to know of their plight. Often-times, they feel they have failed in life and in these dire times, it is far from the truth. The government and the system itself failed her, yet she showed the courage to speak saying to the president, “Please help.”
Her pleas must not be ignored when the AFP reported that California may not have any alternative to then to lay off 10,000 workers. As Republicans in the U.S. Senate exhibit their obstructionist powers, Republican governors like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Crist and Rell back President Barack Obama. They like mayors who came to the White House pleading for help are on the front lines as these Republican senators cling to their ideological beliefs.
As I heard her pleas to President Barack Obama for a kitchen and a bathroom to call her own, the tears came. I could not believe in that any American would be forced to beg to any president, yet she did and grabbed the heart of this lone journalist. She became my hero for speaking up for millions of Americans and she must be our hero as well.
Finally our collective-misery had a face in Henrietta Hughes and we must all in our souls be thankful to her for speaking out on behalf of we the people.
As I think of her courage, the bile rises swiftly in my throat thinking of the greedy CEOs at banks and those who have benefited from our tax dollars through the first TARP bailout. As they hide, swimming in our money, this woman stood up to be the opposing voice.
Ms. Hughes does not want a junket, or any of the perks that we the people have given to them through the first bailout package which had no restrictions: She wants a bathroom to call her own.
As Rosa Parks stood up and sat in the front of that bus telling America what was emphatically wrong when it came to race relations in this country, Henrietta Hughes stood up for all of us. She became the voice of all Americans no matter what race or class you belong to. Even if you are a member of the upper-class, be mindful of the fact, you as well may be forced to live a car like Ms. Hughes.
In looking upon her tearful face, the anger seethed in me knowing how any recovery bill that goes back to the senate after conference must meet the requirements of Senators, Specter, Snowe and Collins. How dare they hold onto their ideological beliefs when people like Ms. Hughes are suffering!
If I could grab the attention of these senators and other Republican senators, I would say, grab a cot for any filibuster they may wish to enact. We the people must be heard. I would remind them of the millions in this country who do not have any cot to sleep on as Ms. Hughes reminded all of us stating she is living in her car.
Lastly, as I viewed President Barack Obama walk over to her to hear her plight, I thought finally we have a compassionate president. As he reached out to her, and kissed her cheek he carried away with him her tears. Her tears were the tears of a true hero in my eyes. Thank you, Ms. Hughes for being the voice and face of we the people and we all owe you our debt of gratitude.
Author’s email address is, xmjmac@optonline.net
I wish to add an addendum to this piece: Hours after writing that article on Henrietta Hughes, I was please to read where some help did come to her. As reported, “A White House press secretary said administration officials asked the local housing authority to contact her after the exchange in Fort Myers.” As well as this, “Meanwhile, the wife of Florida state Rep. Nick Thompson offered to let the woman stay in a house she owns that's vacant about 30 miles away. Chene Thompson isn't sure if Hughes will take her up on the offer.” Whatever the outcome is, I am thrilled beyond belief for her good fortune.
February 11, 2009
I have not handed out my ‘Founding Fathers Award’ in quite sometime, but today, I bestow this personal award of mine to Henrietta Hughes who showed courage beyond belief in that town-hall meeting in Fort Meyers, Florida.
When people are forced to live under such hardships as she lives in her car, it can be a humiliating factor where one does not want anyone to know of their plight. Often-times, they feel they have failed in life and in these dire times, it is far from the truth. The government and the system itself failed her, yet she showed the courage to speak saying to the president, “Please help.”
Her pleas must not be ignored when the AFP reported that California may not have any alternative to then to lay off 10,000 workers. As Republicans in the U.S. Senate exhibit their obstructionist powers, Republican governors like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Crist and Rell back President Barack Obama. They like mayors who came to the White House pleading for help are on the front lines as these Republican senators cling to their ideological beliefs.
As I heard her pleas to President Barack Obama for a kitchen and a bathroom to call her own, the tears came. I could not believe in that any American would be forced to beg to any president, yet she did and grabbed the heart of this lone journalist. She became my hero for speaking up for millions of Americans and she must be our hero as well.
Finally our collective-misery had a face in Henrietta Hughes and we must all in our souls be thankful to her for speaking out on behalf of we the people.
As I think of her courage, the bile rises swiftly in my throat thinking of the greedy CEOs at banks and those who have benefited from our tax dollars through the first TARP bailout. As they hide, swimming in our money, this woman stood up to be the opposing voice.
Ms. Hughes does not want a junket, or any of the perks that we the people have given to them through the first bailout package which had no restrictions: She wants a bathroom to call her own.
As Rosa Parks stood up and sat in the front of that bus telling America what was emphatically wrong when it came to race relations in this country, Henrietta Hughes stood up for all of us. She became the voice of all Americans no matter what race or class you belong to. Even if you are a member of the upper-class, be mindful of the fact, you as well may be forced to live a car like Ms. Hughes.
In looking upon her tearful face, the anger seethed in me knowing how any recovery bill that goes back to the senate after conference must meet the requirements of Senators, Specter, Snowe and Collins. How dare they hold onto their ideological beliefs when people like Ms. Hughes are suffering!
If I could grab the attention of these senators and other Republican senators, I would say, grab a cot for any filibuster they may wish to enact. We the people must be heard. I would remind them of the millions in this country who do not have any cot to sleep on as Ms. Hughes reminded all of us stating she is living in her car.
Lastly, as I viewed President Barack Obama walk over to her to hear her plight, I thought finally we have a compassionate president. As he reached out to her, and kissed her cheek he carried away with him her tears. Her tears were the tears of a true hero in my eyes. Thank you, Ms. Hughes for being the voice and face of we the people and we all owe you our debt of gratitude.
Author’s email address is, xmjmac@optonline.net
I wish to add an addendum to this piece: Hours after writing that article on Henrietta Hughes, I was please to read where some help did come to her. As reported, “A White House press secretary said administration officials asked the local housing authority to contact her after the exchange in Fort Myers.” As well as this, “Meanwhile, the wife of Florida state Rep. Nick Thompson offered to let the woman stay in a house she owns that's vacant about 30 miles away. Chene Thompson isn't sure if Hughes will take her up on the offer.” Whatever the outcome is, I am thrilled beyond belief for her good fortune.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
To the Republican members of the senate….Pass the stimulus package NOW!
By Mary MacElveen
February 6, 2009
I like many have been watching the debates concerning the ‘Stimulus Package’ for many days now and I will be brief in this open letter to all of you who are dragging your feet. We are in a crisis. Get it?! People have actually lost their jobs, losing their jobs or will lose them all together and while you grab camera-time thanks to a 24/7 news cycle, they suffer. Yes, real Americans are having a hard time out here. They have lost their homes, or are losing them. Real Americans are not able to eat as you so pontificate.
Tax cuts or cuts in taxes to corporations will not suffice. Real people need jobs in order to spend that money which will turn this economy around. The Reagan era is over with and thank goodness for this country!
In New York State where I live, a commercial is running pleading to Governor David Paterson not to close state hospitals as you so enjoy top-rate health care. That is where some of this stimulus package will go to. I tremble knowing that a community hospital that I have come to depend upon will be next on the chopping block.
I want you to envision this mental image, this economic crisis is just as devastating as 9/11 and Pearl Harbor where everyone got behind the Commander in Chief to support him and his policies. We as a people elected President Barack Obama and we demand that you get behind him as congressional bodies got behind President Franklin D. Roosevelt and President George W. Bush.
All of you who grab the cameras act as if your party won on November 4th, 2008 when the complete opposite happened. We as a people exiled you. No, you did not get your trip to Disney World, but were exiled to the farthest reaches of this planet given your past and dismal record these past eight years.
If there are elected officials that the American people should be paying attention to besides our president it would be our governors who have loaned their support behind his bill. Governors such as, Schwarzenegger, Crist and Rendell. These governors as are many are on the front lines as you whimper and plea to the American people why this bill is so wrong. They are doing the heavy lifting making executive decisions where you all huddle to in a plan to embarrass our president. Well, we the people will have none of that! As I watched Senator McCain speak of this bill, all I will say is, “Senator McCain, you lost, get over it and loan your support behind our president who was so gracious to you!”
We the people who voted in this change demand it, Senators, now it is your job to make it so. You lost and are in the minority and now is your time to back our president, President Barack Obama.
Author’s email address is, xmjmac@optonline.net
February 6, 2009
I like many have been watching the debates concerning the ‘Stimulus Package’ for many days now and I will be brief in this open letter to all of you who are dragging your feet. We are in a crisis. Get it?! People have actually lost their jobs, losing their jobs or will lose them all together and while you grab camera-time thanks to a 24/7 news cycle, they suffer. Yes, real Americans are having a hard time out here. They have lost their homes, or are losing them. Real Americans are not able to eat as you so pontificate.
Tax cuts or cuts in taxes to corporations will not suffice. Real people need jobs in order to spend that money which will turn this economy around. The Reagan era is over with and thank goodness for this country!
In New York State where I live, a commercial is running pleading to Governor David Paterson not to close state hospitals as you so enjoy top-rate health care. That is where some of this stimulus package will go to. I tremble knowing that a community hospital that I have come to depend upon will be next on the chopping block.
I want you to envision this mental image, this economic crisis is just as devastating as 9/11 and Pearl Harbor where everyone got behind the Commander in Chief to support him and his policies. We as a people elected President Barack Obama and we demand that you get behind him as congressional bodies got behind President Franklin D. Roosevelt and President George W. Bush.
All of you who grab the cameras act as if your party won on November 4th, 2008 when the complete opposite happened. We as a people exiled you. No, you did not get your trip to Disney World, but were exiled to the farthest reaches of this planet given your past and dismal record these past eight years.
If there are elected officials that the American people should be paying attention to besides our president it would be our governors who have loaned their support behind his bill. Governors such as, Schwarzenegger, Crist and Rendell. These governors as are many are on the front lines as you whimper and plea to the American people why this bill is so wrong. They are doing the heavy lifting making executive decisions where you all huddle to in a plan to embarrass our president. Well, we the people will have none of that! As I watched Senator McCain speak of this bill, all I will say is, “Senator McCain, you lost, get over it and loan your support behind our president who was so gracious to you!”
We the people who voted in this change demand it, Senators, now it is your job to make it so. You lost and are in the minority and now is your time to back our president, President Barack Obama.
Author’s email address is, xmjmac@optonline.net
Thursday, January 29, 2009
The Republicans failed at listening to the personal and shame on them!
By Mary MacElveen
January 29, 2009
In his Inauguration Speech, President Barack Obama directed these very words to the Muslim world, “To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.” As far as I am concerned, this statement equally applies to the Republican Party since not one of their House members voted yes to the stimulus bill which passed by the Democratic majority.
To his credit, President Barack Obama kept his promise to reach across the aisle to the Republicans and what did they do, they slapped his hand. Some would rather kiss the ring of Rush Limbaugh than do what is right for the citizens of this country.
Some Republican members threw a hissy-fit as they came before the cameras yesterday citing they wanted their voices heard. Not remembering that for a majority of the Bush years, they had their say and what was the end result? Millions of jobs lost where tens of thousands were lost this past week.
In reading an op-ed column in today’s Newsday, Carolyn Gusoff formerly of WNBC news in New York relayed her story to those willing to read it of her new-found-status in a growing club of sorts called the unemployed.
As we all know, with work comes a sense of dignity and pride in what we as Americans do. It is where one is able to have a conversation with another of what we do for a living. So, I was struck when she had this to say, “I am unemployed.” She goes onto say, “There - I said it… It sounds embarrassing - something you wouldn't want to shout out in a crowd. And it's something, after two decades of quite gainful employment, that I never imagined would happen to me.”
We often think those in the media are not representative of we the people, but here a former news reporter and a good one at that chronicled her feelings and I do suspect, many do see themselves in her shoes.
The reason for her job loss is at the hands of the Internet where people do not want to wait for the news and the advertising base is being lost to these local news departments. As with print news, the local news is one that I rely upon to see what is happening in my world. It is getting harder and harder to know what is happening within one’s own community.
In fact, I did touch upon this subject in a column, Cable News: I long for the days of “We now resume normal broadcasting”
Getting back to Guoff’s powerful commentary, somehow this one item written by her stood out and I do suspect that the millions who have lost their jobs could easily identify with "And what do you do?" leaves me at a loss. "I am, I was, I ... um ... and what do you do?" As I said, with a job comes a person's identity and how we show ourselves to the world, how we move within it and for millions, it is lost. Yet, these Republicans who failed at voting for this one bill simply do not get it.
In a prior piece, I wrote a similarity between the world we inherited after 9/11 to these stark and dark economic times. Directly after 9/11 both parties did come together to show a sign of strength not only to the American people, but the world in the name of patriotism. Gusoff's words spoke to the very heart of it as she listened to President Obama's speech in which she wrote, "As I watched him usher in a season of change across the nation, I hung on every word. Because for me, like so many other Americans right now, hoping he succeeds is not just patriotic, it's personal." In these bleak economic times, the Republicans by not supporting this one bill are failing the American people.
As the Republican members gathered in a mob-mentality to show themselves flexing their political muscle, what they failed to do was to listen to the individual voices of those who have lost their jobs. They failed at listening to the personal and for that, I say, shame on them!
Author’s email address is, xmjmac@optonline.net
January 29, 2009
In his Inauguration Speech, President Barack Obama directed these very words to the Muslim world, “To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.” As far as I am concerned, this statement equally applies to the Republican Party since not one of their House members voted yes to the stimulus bill which passed by the Democratic majority.
To his credit, President Barack Obama kept his promise to reach across the aisle to the Republicans and what did they do, they slapped his hand. Some would rather kiss the ring of Rush Limbaugh than do what is right for the citizens of this country.
Some Republican members threw a hissy-fit as they came before the cameras yesterday citing they wanted their voices heard. Not remembering that for a majority of the Bush years, they had their say and what was the end result? Millions of jobs lost where tens of thousands were lost this past week.
In reading an op-ed column in today’s Newsday, Carolyn Gusoff formerly of WNBC news in New York relayed her story to those willing to read it of her new-found-status in a growing club of sorts called the unemployed.
As we all know, with work comes a sense of dignity and pride in what we as Americans do. It is where one is able to have a conversation with another of what we do for a living. So, I was struck when she had this to say, “I am unemployed.” She goes onto say, “There - I said it… It sounds embarrassing - something you wouldn't want to shout out in a crowd. And it's something, after two decades of quite gainful employment, that I never imagined would happen to me.”
We often think those in the media are not representative of we the people, but here a former news reporter and a good one at that chronicled her feelings and I do suspect, many do see themselves in her shoes.
The reason for her job loss is at the hands of the Internet where people do not want to wait for the news and the advertising base is being lost to these local news departments. As with print news, the local news is one that I rely upon to see what is happening in my world. It is getting harder and harder to know what is happening within one’s own community.
In fact, I did touch upon this subject in a column, Cable News: I long for the days of “We now resume normal broadcasting”
Getting back to Guoff’s powerful commentary, somehow this one item written by her stood out and I do suspect that the millions who have lost their jobs could easily identify with "And what do you do?" leaves me at a loss. "I am, I was, I ... um ... and what do you do?" As I said, with a job comes a person's identity and how we show ourselves to the world, how we move within it and for millions, it is lost. Yet, these Republicans who failed at voting for this one bill simply do not get it.
In a prior piece, I wrote a similarity between the world we inherited after 9/11 to these stark and dark economic times. Directly after 9/11 both parties did come together to show a sign of strength not only to the American people, but the world in the name of patriotism. Gusoff's words spoke to the very heart of it as she listened to President Obama's speech in which she wrote, "As I watched him usher in a season of change across the nation, I hung on every word. Because for me, like so many other Americans right now, hoping he succeeds is not just patriotic, it's personal." In these bleak economic times, the Republicans by not supporting this one bill are failing the American people.
As the Republican members gathered in a mob-mentality to show themselves flexing their political muscle, what they failed to do was to listen to the individual voices of those who have lost their jobs. They failed at listening to the personal and for that, I say, shame on them!
Author’s email address is, xmjmac@optonline.net
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