By Patricia L Johnson

Do you feel the same way about our Flag that you did before this administration took office? 

I wish I could say I do, but that would be a lie.  I used to have the utmost love and respect for our flag, what it stood for and what our country represented, not only to me but what it represented to people in other countries. 

It was a source of immense pride and honor and when you saw it waving in the wind it would tug at your heart strings because you knew it was made of more than just stars and stripes - it was representative of all the blood, sweat and tears of service men and women that have fought for it so gallantly all through the years.

After the 9/11 attack there were flags everywhere and I felt honored to have one on my front door, my back door, and one hanging outside Mike's shop.  I bought flag decals and placed them everywhere.  I was PROUD to be an American and wanted everyone to know it. 

You could only describe that period as a coming together or Americans - no matter what we thought about anything else, whether we were black, white, yellow or purple with pink polka dots, we agreed  we were united in the war on terror, and in support of our troops, by displaying our flags everywhere. 

Then we attacked Iraq and approximately 45 days later, May 1, 2003, President Bush was standing on the deck of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln declaring 'Mission Accomplished'. 

I remember writing an article approximately two years later.  By that time we knew, for sure, that Iraq didn't have weapons of mass destruction and all we were seeing was the casualty reports coming out on our troops and the articles coming out about the dismal living conditions in Iraq. 

We could compare the conditions and assistance we were providing to these people against the assistance we were providing in getting and keeping the oil flowing at a higher rate than it had been while Saddam Hussein was in office.

While there was no stone left unturned to protect the oil, there was virtually no help for the people  I remember stating in the article that the Mayor of Baghdad, Alaa Mahmoud al-Timimi was threatening to resign due to the daily suffering of the then, 6.45 million people residing in Baghdad.  These people were still suffering bombings, kidnapping and serious shortages of basic services like water, electricity and fuel.  In some neighborhoods the water was foul because of the fact sewage was mixed in with the water.

The day I wrote the article new warnings were released from the U.S. State Department advising against travel to Iraq.  There was virtually no place in Iraq that wasn't considered "dangerous".  This was approximately six months after the joint Johns-Hopkins study on the 100,000 civilians killed by coalition troops, was published in the Lancet.  This was a full two years after "Mission Accomplished".

The stories turned my stomach and made me look at the flag in a different light.  It was no longer a source of pride - it became an icon for all the pain and suffering this country had brought upon innocents in other countries.  The innocents were the men women and children of Iraq, along with the men and women in our military that have given life and limb for their mission.

Someday this administration will be out of office and the new administration can start putting the pieces of America back together again.  The new administration will hopefully begin to reach out to those in foreign countries in an attempt to rebuild the coalition of countries that were once honored to be our allies.  The new administration will offer support and assistance to countries and people in need, instead of acting like the schoolyard bully and placing unreasonable demands on countries and people.

Someday this country, and the people in it, will once again be loved and respected as it was under the Clinton administration and the American flag will once again be the symbol of liberty and justice for all.

By Richard Walrath      

There was a time when the American flag stood for peace, protection, help, security, truth, justice, liberty and freedom.

That's just my list. Yours is probably much longer. People all over the world felt the same way about it.

But that was before Bush.

By Richard Walrath

Bush looked pretty strained when he was talking about how good the economy was last week.  Dow down over 500 in the last two days.  He really needs to go out during a recession, which is long over due.  Most people think that's what we've been having since he took office.  That's what it's felt like unless you're rich.  Even the rich aren't quite as rich today as they were just last week.

We've got the inflation already.  Exporting jobs and importing illegal immigrants have done everything possible to keep incomes down in this country, but it's not enough.  Bush tax-cuts for the rich and Big Bidness plus five -- or is it six -- years of war have pushed spending to the point that something has to give.

By Richard Walrath

Government expenditures for arms to Israel, Saudi Arabia, and (think of some other country that is not our enemy) are going to show big increases for the rest of the Bush term.  The economy is teetering on the brink of recession, and that would be disastrous for both Bush and the Repugnants.

By Richard Walrath

WE heard the calls on 9-11, but how do we know where they came from?  They came over the air, but from where?  Was that Barbara Olsen's voice?  I never heard her voice before.  I can't tell.  The plane at the Pentagon?  What plane?  They never found one.  Passports in mint condition found near the towers after the inferno? 

And those things are just off the top of my head.  What looks really bad is that every now and then you'll see someone try to explain these things away.  The explanations are even worse than the things that they're trying to explain away.  But there has to be some connection between this "famous" phone call made from a cell phone on a plane before it hit the Pentagon on 9-11 and the ban on the use of cell phones on planes since then.

By Patricia L Johnson  

While reading an article today, I came across the following - what do you think?  Is the statement the author made an accurate representation of the facts?

Author comment

"Right-wing economists like Greg Mankiw, the former chairman of Bush's Council of Economic Advisors, who infamously suggested that assembling cheeseburgers at a Stuckies should count as a manufacturing job ..."

THE FACTS:

Greg Mankiw did not suggest flipping burgers should count as a manufacturing job; his burger comment was actually a question in reference to the Economic Report, directed to the government agencies that collect data on manufacturing jobs.  He was making the point that the definition of what constitutes a manufacturing job is so blurred it is difficult to make a distinction between what is a manufacturing job and what is considered a service.

"The Definition of Manufacturing

This year's Report contains a chapter on the challenges facing manufacturing, discussing both the longer-term trends and the recent business cycle downturn. There is no question that the recent downturn was particularly hard on manufacturing industries. Manufacturing was affected by the latest economic slowdown earlier, longer, and harder than other sectors of the economy. We discuss why this has been the case and how the President's policies will help to restore and maintain growth in manufacturing and other job-creating industries.

A box in the Economic Report discusses an important consideration in assessing policies that apply to manufacturing: the definition of what constitutes manufacturing is far from clear. For example, when a fast-food restaurant sells a hamburger, is it providing a service or combining inputs to manufacture a product?

The government agencies that collect data on manufacturing are well aware that the distinction is blurry. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, bakeries, candy stores, and custom tailors are all part of manufacturing. But one could walk into such a retailer and see many service activities taking place. Sometimes subtle differences can change how an activity is classified. Mixing water and concentrate to produce a soft drink is classified as manufacturing. If that activity is performed at a snack bar, however, it is considered a service.

In the past, it has not mattered to firm owners whether government data collectors classified a business as a manufacturing firm or a service provider. But the blurriness of the definition would matter if policies were based on it."

By Patricia L Johnson

Do you believe everything you read in the papers?  I think most people do - they consider certain members of our news media to be 'experts' of sorts and have a tendency to listen very closely to what they say.

The two places in this country where individuals can earn enough money overnight to be considered 'wealthy' is in real estate and the stock market. 

Did you ever wonder why certain items are released to the public and others are not?   When you think about it what does the average Jane/Joe who is going to work every day trying to support their family care about how many houses were sold last month or the month before?

Unless Jane or Joe are planning on selling their house in the near future, it has basically little impact on them, so why fill up the newspapers with report details?

My answer is the market - the reports are 'key' to investors that earn their living playing the stock market.  Reports, depending upon whether the news is positive or negative trigger market sales - yesterday was a prime example.  The New Housing sales report came out indicating only 834,000 homes were sold in the U.S. during the month of June 2007, which is a 6.6 percent drop from the prior month and a 22.3 percent drop from June of 2006.

The DJIA dropped 311 points and the newspapers will now be filled with doom and gloom reports of how the sky is falling. 

The sky may be falling, but probably not over housing - the way I see it the new housing market is doing pretty good and my opinion is based on a couple factors:

At the end of December 2006 there were 535,000 new houses for sale in the U.S.  At the end of March 2007 there were 548,000 new houses for sale in the U.S. and at the end of June 2007 there were 537,000 new houses for sale. 

The numbers tell me the new housing market is remaining pretty stable.

In 2005, there were 1, 283,000 houses sold per month. We already know that many, many of these homes were financed by banks and mortgage companies to individuals and/or families with poor credit.  These people were offered mortgage deals they couldn't possibly afford which have resulted  in thousands upon thousands of sub-prime mortgage failures.  This trend will continue until such time as the housing market has been adjusted for these poor decisions.

As with everything else this administration presents; the methodology used for calculating new home sales has been tweaked and twisted so it's very difficult to make month to month or year to year comparisons and receive percentages that are accurate representations of the facts.

By Patricia L Johnson

The following paragraph was recently written by you.

Consumers don't understand supply and demand.  They control demand, but that fact just doesn't register on them.  Prices of gasoline will start to fall when consumers start using less of it.  Drive less, use less, buy less.

It seems to me that economists look at "what should be", while accountants look at what is...

Perhaps years ago, when United States production of oil was close to consumption of oil, consumers did 'control demand' and the supply and demand would fall into place if consumers purchased less, but consumers no longer control demand.  When it comes to oil U.S. consumers control zip, zero, nada! 

The following figures are from March 2007 - Source - U.S. Department of Energy

U.S. Petroleum Consumption

20,802,000 barrels/day

U.S. Crude Oil Production

5,178,000 barrels/day

U.S. Crude Oil Imports

10,126,000 barrels/day

Dependence on Net Petroleum Imports

60.3%

U.S. Motor Gasoline Consumption

9,159,000 barrels/day (384.7 million gallons/day)

Total World Oil Supply (2006)  

84,511,000 barrels/day

Total World Petroleum Consumption (2005)  

84,538,000 barrels/day

By Richard Walrath

Refineries understand supply and demand.  More gasoline from ethanol increases the supply. 

What to do?  Don't refine as much gasoline. 

Consumers don't understand supply and demand.  They control demand, but that fact just doesn't register on them.  Prices of gasoline will start to fall when consumers start using less of it.  Drive less, use less, buy less.

Remember the two egg theory -- refuse to buy eggs by the dozen, just buy one or two at a time.  And, in a short time, the price of eggs will go down to where you can afford to buy a dozen.

By Richard Walrath

I just don't get that excited about all the shoe bombers and dirty bombs. 

 What is really dangerous to this country is in the White House.  WE are stuck with a man who thumbs his nose at Congress and is going to do whatever he feels like, and it appears that nothing can stop him. 

Contempt of Congress means nothing.  If it goes to court, some right-wing judge Bush has appointed will rule in his favor.  If he should somehow lose, the case will end up in the Supreme Court, and everybody knows how that will turn out. 

Dirty bombs?  I'm much more worried about a dirty White House.

Bush, bu**sh** and botulism.   Now, there's a slogan that will easily fit on your bumper.  You can even add the words, "We've had enough of.."

By Richard Walrath

What does a national sales tax mean to somebody who can go anywhere in the world to buy anything he/she wants?  Tell me, how do you tax something that is bought in another country?  If you're going to do it through customs, you'd have to hire hundreds of thousands of people.  How can they tax me for something if I just have it shipped to me from overseas?  How would the government even know about it?

Just a couple of problems with that for those of us who can't afford to shop in other countries.  As the dollar cheapens, we need more and more of them to buy less and less.  How are y'all doing trying to accumulate more and more of them?  If a cheaper dollar makes our goods easier for foreign countries to buy, why does our trade deficit remain so high?   A cheaper dollar ought to mean an increase in tourism from other countries.  It's not happening.  That may be because nobody likes us, but it's not helping this country. 

Even the cheap stuff from China is getting expensive.

Leahy issues subpoena for Rove

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Thursday issued a subpoena for top White House adviser Karl Rove to compel him to testify about the firing of several U.S. attorneys.

To read more, please visit:
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/leahy-issues-subpoena-for-rove-2007-07-26.html

Shall we continue to debate over gas prices and the energy crises, or should we start looking deeper beyond the custom arguments?

http://deliberatecoincidences.blogspot.com/2007/07/running-on-fumes.html

By Richard E Walrath

What does it mean to be in contempt of Congress?  I mean, what can they do to you if you are this president?  Congress has subpoenaed Harriet Miers and Josh Bolten, and Bush has ordered them not to appear.

Congress can go to court in the hope of getting an order telling them they must appear before Congress.  But a right-wing judge of which there are many appointed in the last six years may rule in favor of Bush.  If not, the case will end up in the Supreme Court if there is still enough time left, and we all know in advance how this Supreme Court would rule. 

There was a time in this country when the New York Times, all by itself, could have stirred the country with an editorial denouncing such defiance of the Constitution.

But that was before the Bush war in Iraq.

By Patricia L Johnson

MSNBC ran a story from washingtonpost.com about James Michael Helms, a civilian employee of the U.S. Army as follows:   http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19946071/

Helms, a civilian counterintelligence expert, went to Iraq where he lived and worked with the U.S. Military.  On June 16, 2004 Helms suffered shrapnel wounds to his left arm and traumatic brain injury when a bomb hit his Humvee.

Upon his return to the states he was denied care at Walter Reed and other military hospitals due to his civilian status.

However, as a civilian, Helms has workers' compensation insurance through his employer, the U.S. Government, and did receive medical treatment through civilian providers.

Due to his civilian status, he was also paid differently than members of the U.S. Military, receiving a 70 percent increase over his regular pay, plus overtime while in the war zone.   Unlike members of the U.S. Military, civilian employees can refuse to deploy to a war zone.

The article makes it appear as if this gentlemen is somehow getting the shaft, because he's not eligible for medical care at facilities set aside for our military and former military.

Maybe I'm missing something, but it seems pretty clear to me - if you want to a member of the military and receive free medical care, quit your job and enlist in a branch of the service. 

If you want to play war games and receive big bucks for doing so, then work as a civilian employee; but don't whine when it's over and done with and you have to shell out some bucks for medical treatment for your wounds.

You weren't forced to go, you volunteered.

Bush , Bu**sh** and Botulism

By Dennis Jackson

Our troops, best in the world and serving for a good cause, deserve all the support and best of equipment that we can give, even if we have to send it ourselves because our government, who sent them to war based on lies and profit for big business won't--our president lied to congress and us to get the vote to get into this war and does not deserve one ounce of support--bring our troops home----

By Patricia L Johnson

What is the difference between supporting our troops and supporting our government?  Is it possible to support our troops and not support the government of the U.S.? 

What is the difference between supporting the Commander in Chief and supporting the President of the U.S.?  Is there any difference since they are one and the same person?

Send replies for publication to:  Patricia L Johnson