Jobs are not created by the wealthy

There is this notion, perpetuated by Republicans, that the wealthy create jobs, so raising taxes on the wealthy will lead to fewer jobs being created.

Nothing could be farther from the truth. The wealthy cannot create jobs in a vacuum. The laws of supply and demand drive job creation. You can't just increase supply and expect that demand will somehow materialize for your goods and services.

But the reverse is true. When you cause demand to go up, entrepreneurs will find a way to produce goods and services to meet the demand, gaining wealth in the process.

So to spur job creation you have to increase demand for good and services.

How do you increase demand? Demand for goods and services go up when the middle-class has more money to spend. So to increase demand, cut taxes on the middle-class and raise minimum wages. When demand goes up entrepreneurs will meet that demand by increasing supply, hiring more employees to produce more. This is what creates jobs!

Republicans

The Republican party is really a party of the wealthy. These wealthy Americans own businesses and have multiple homes if not yachts and private jets. Their main source of income is investment returns as opposed to paychecks. They are in the top 1% in terms of wealth. They may own or invest in companies that profit from coal and other pollutants, so the environment and climate change are not their favorite topics. They are also against taxes (for obvious reasons–they are wealthy), against minimum wages (they will have to pay their employees more), and against safety nets that they have no use for, such as social security and affordable health care.

Now you may think, if only 1% of Americans are true Republicans then how can they possibly win elections? Well they came up with an ingenious solution: rope in people who can't think for themselves, such as the rural poor. Bamboozle them into aligning with the rich by offering them some red meat: guns and religion. The rural poor are not educated, and are not capable of deep analysis. As long as they get their guns and get to incorporate their religious beliefs into the laws of the land, they will let the rich get away with complicated things that they don't even understand, let alone care about. So the Republican politicians go on and on about the second amendment and the ten commandments and protecting the unborn and so on while letting the wealthy get away with not paying their fair share of taxes, exporting jobs, rolling back consumer protections, banning unions, prohibiting class actions, mandating arbitration and so on.

My advice to "Republicans" who are not wealthy–stop being sheep. Vote in your interest, not in the interest of the wealthy. Vote Democratic.

Islamic vs Christian fundamentalism

Sometimes to get a good view of your backyard you have to look from your neighbor's house. Germany's Schroeder has a good view of our nation's backyard:

"We rightly criticize that in most Islamic states, the role of religion for society and the character of the rule of law are not clearly separated, but we fail to recognize that in the USA, the Christian fundamentalists and their interpretation of the Bible have similar tendencies." — Ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder of Germany.

Liberalism and morality

Liberalism is about living your own life the way you want and letting others live their lives the way they want.

Conservativism is about living your own life the way you want and making others live their lives the way you want too!

Take the issue of sex toys, for example. Liberals are not bothered by the fact that some Americans may be using sex toys to pleasure themselves in the privacy of their homes, because it has no impact on their own lives, and they don't care what others do in their bedrooms. Conservatives do worry about other people using sex toys, because even though it has no impact on their own lives, they don't want others to live in a way they don't approve of. Thus in Alabama, in 1998 they passed a law that banned the sale of devices designed for "the stimulation of human genital organs."

We live in a free country and we take pride in it. In a truly free country citizens are free to do anything they want as long as it does not infringe the rights and freedoms of other citizens. The government does not exist to decide what is moral and what is reprehensible. The goverment exists to protect the country from foreign aggressors and to make sure one citizen does not infringe the rights and freedoms of another citizen. That's it. In a free country anything that does not infringe the rights and freedoms of another person should be legal, even if it is immoral in the view of the majority. Thus for example, sex toys, masturbation, pornography and prostitution may be immoral to many, but it is not the government's job to prevent it. Marriage and family may be virtuous, but it is not the government's job to encourage it.

It is suitable for authoritarian governments (such as the Singapore government) to encourage marriage, make divorce difficult or illegal, punish adultery, etc. It is not suitable for the land of the free.

If Democrats are to win again...

donna7742 says on yahoo message boards...

Truthfully, if Democrats are to win again in the next election, or any future elections, they are going to have to "dumb" themselves down, so that they can connect with the dumb-downed America that exists today. I'm not saying that all Americans are dumb, because that's not true. But, there seems to be a growing "base" of people that participate in "groupthink", and cannot or will not think for themselves. They have to be told what to do (and whom to vote for) by their religious and moral leaders. That is what is scary. We claim to be bringing democracy to Iraq, when our own democracy is being slowly eroded by this new upcoming wave of fundamentalism. Maybe someday, we'll have to be "invaded" by another country to re-install democracy again. I consider myself a Christian, but these "Christians" that voted for Bush (some of them), are very different than the "thinking" Christians that I have known and grown up with.

Scientist says Bush stifling evidence of global warming

Scientist James E. Hansen, who has twice briefed a task force headed by Vice President Dick Cheney on global warming says "In my more than three decades in government, I have never seen anything approaching the degree to which information flow from scientists to the public has been screened and controlled as it is now."

Hansen said the administration wants to hear only scientific results that "fit predetermined, inflexible positions." Evidence that would raise concerns about the dangers of climate change is often dismissed as not being of sufficient interest to the public.

Read the full story here.

Diplomats, scientists, musicians -- all want Bush out

Two dozen former diplomats - some Republicans, some Democrats - say the Bush administration's foreign policy has been a disaster, and they want Bush out.

60 influential scientists, including 20 Nobel laureates accuse the Bush administration of deliberately and systematically distorting scientific facts in the service of policy goals on the environment, health, biomedical research and nuclear weaponry.

More than 20 bands - including Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam and the Dixie Chicks - will perform fund-raising concerts one month before the Nov. 2 election in an effort to unseat President Bush.

Religion and control of others

What is peculiar about the religious is that they are not content to lead their own lives in a manner that is consistent with their religious beliefs---they want to impose their religious values on others too. This is true of the Taliban of Afghanistan. And this is true of the Christian extremists of Alabama.

Taliban's "Ministry of Vice and Virtue" made it illegal to listen to music or watch movies in their country. The fact that you are not hurting anyone by watching a movie made no difference to the Taliban. Alabama is not far behind. They have made it illegal to sell sex toys in their state.

It is OK to sell guns in Alabama, even though you can use a gun to hurt others. But it is not OK to sell sex toys in Alabama even though you cannot use a sex toy to hurt others.

This is just one example of how a religion run amuck can interfere with the freedoms and personal lives of everyone, even those not following that particular religion.

Do you need religion?

Without religion how do you know right from wrong?

"When I do good, I feel good; when I do bad, I feel bad. That’s my religion." -- Abraham Lincoln

Do you feel good when you do good? Do you feel bad when you do bad? If you answered no to either of these questions you might need religion.

Should laws be based on religious beliefs?

Should laws be based on religious beliefs?

"Only one ambition is worthy of Islam, to save the world from the curse of democracy: to teach men that they cannot rule themselves on the basis of man-made laws. Mankind has strayed from the path of God, we must return to that path or face certain annihilation." -- The late Saudi theologian, Sheikh Muhammad bin Ibrahim al-Jubair, who believed that the root cause of contemporary ills is the spread of democracy.

If you agree with Sheikh Mohammad bin Ibrahim al-Jubair I guess the answer is yes.

What's more, "to say that Islam is incompatible with democracy should not be seen as a disparagement of Islam. On the contrary, many Muslims would see it as a compliment because they believe that their idea of rule by God is superior to that of rule by men, which is democracy." Read more here.

What bothers me

Science is truth. That there are people in this world that would distort or suppress truth is hardly surprising. What bothers me is that nearly 50% of Americans seem to think it is OK for such people to run this country.

Read the story: Scientists accuse White House of distorting facts.

Scientists Accuse White House of Distorting Facts

The Bush administration has deliberately and systematically distorted scientific fact in the service of policy goals on the environment, health, biomedical research and nuclear weaponry at home and abroad, a group of about 60 influential scientists, including 20 Nobel laureates, said in a statement issued today. Full story on nytimes.com

Two of Bush's science advisers say their board distorted facts

Two scientists from President Bush's top advisory board on cutting-edge medical research published a detailed criticism Friday of the board's own reports, and said the board skewed scientific facts in service of a political and ideological cause. Full story on sfgate.com

Terrorism is not the problem

Terrorism is not the problem. Religious extremism is. Terrorism is just one of the manifestations of religious extremism. For terrorism to go away religious extremism has to go away. The "War on terror" doesn't make sense; we need a "War on religious extremism."

We can set an example for the world by voting our own religious extremist leaders out of office this November.

A modern country like ours should be run based on science and reason. Faith is believing without evidence. Faith is anti-science. Let the people of faith run the Islamic world.