Jimi's View From the Stands
Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show" recently referred to himself as 'the guy in the stands yelling stuff'. Actually, I think that Mr. Stewart, along with Colbert, Maher and others, are the color commentators in the booth with the journalists calling the game. It is the politicians and leaders that are in the game. We're the guys in the stands yelling stuff. So here is one guy's "view from the stands".
Monday, January 3, 2011
Moving to New URL
This Blog Title Has Changed? W.T.F???
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
I Read The News Today...
Monday, December 6, 2010
A Letter to President Obama
Dear Mr. President,
I'm just one little voice out here & you have 537 voices, much louder & much closer to your ear, mostly saying, "Hooray for our side!"
However, I talk to people and I watch TV news and commentary regularly so I have some idea of what is happening. This is what you need to know, sir:
Sen. Mitch McConnell yesterday on "Meet the Press" said no taxes will go up, the GOP is claiming victory already!
Do not compromise any further on letting "The Bush Tax Cuts" expire. If the GOP really wants to play chicken, sir, go ahead & PLAY CHICKEN with them. Even if you lose, which you most likely wouldn't, you will have been seen by your key supporters (people like me that you will need in 2012, so will every Democrat running in 2012, BTW) as having actually fought for something. As it is, most people I have talked to say that they feel disappointed because you tend to give away important bargaining chips before the negotiations even began – the “Public Option” & “DADT” are typically mentioned.
If the Democratic Party can find a backbone somewhere I think you ought to use it to stand up to the GOP and force “The Bush Tax Cuts” (have you noticed how that's now “the current tax rates” when referred to by the GOP?) to expire. Then come back in the next session & get a better deal for the middle class and small businesses.
Make the GOP go to the American people that elected them and make their case for the richest 2% - most of whom make more in a week than many (most?) Americans do in a year. I just read that the 74 people who had the highest incomes in 2009 made more than all 19 million people that make up the lowest income levels combined. This who the GOP thinks needs a tax break? Really, sir, you can’t figure out how to stand up to this? I gotta believe that the most inspirational Politician in my lifetime, since “Bobby” in ’68, can rally public support for making millionaires pay another 4.6% - for someone making $20,000 per WEEK that ain’t much. My family and I live on far less than $46,000 per year so no millionaire can tell me that they cannot make ends meet without that extra $46K.
If you want us to believe, Mr. President, you have to give us something to believe in. This is a fight you will win, if you stand up for the middle-class we will stand with you. If the money-men win this one, they will win the country and we end up right back where the "Regan-to-Bush II Years" put us.
Never give up, never surrender! (Galaxy Quest)
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Taxing "The Rich" vs "Don't Raise Taxes On Anyone"
Friday, December 3, 2010
Medical Discrimination Toward MMJ Patients
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Supporting The Troops? I Think Not, Pastor Jones!
Please, Please, please do not go through with your "Burn A Koran Day". I am just an American up in Seattle, WA and I can't do anything to stop you, nor should I be able to stop you even if I could, you have every right to burn whatever books you want. This is, after all, America. But that is the point, isn't it? This IS America and we ought to be better than those that burn books which might contain 'threatening ideas' or forbid 'special knowledge' that is too dangerous for public distribution. This is what tyrannical society does to it's citizens, not what any American ought to be emulating.
I hope that you will not do this thing. It will, without question, be used as a 'marketing tool' to prove that this war is, indeed, not a "War On Terror" at all but a direct attack by the "Infidel West" on Islam itself. By burning Korans in a public demonstration, and publicly suggesting that others to do the same in an internationally coordinated protest WILL, not might, not probably but definitely will cost the lives of Americans in harm's way. The blood of those brave soldiers will be on your hands. This is as certain as the sun rising in the east, count on it.
Jesus, were he the god you claim him to be, would tell you to your faces that you are no representative of his or his fathers. Your holy book, the bible, says in Luke 6:27-36 that Jesus' teaching is to LOVE YOUR ENEMIES, look it up, really it is in there, I'm not kidding. So, you are clearly defying what you will say is the "unfailing and holy word of god, perfect in form and fact".
If you have a "Christlike Nature" you cannot justify an act that you already know will enrage your 'enemy'. Antagonism is not a "Christian" trait, is it?
You have been asked by many in America to stand down your demonstration. You have heard, I suppose, Gen. Petraeus basically pleading for you to not do this, you know that Sec. of State Clinton has asked that you not do this, and now you hear from an ordinary American who loves his country and what this nation is supposed to represent to the rest of the world. If you burn korans as you say you plan to, you will be doing more to help the radical Muslim factions around the world than anything they could every buy with all the money in the world. You are proving their case that this is a "Christianity v. Islam" fight. Please let reason reign in this instance and demonstrate the meaning of the phrase, "Grace Under Pressure".
Respectfully,
J. A. Burleigh
I don't think he'll change his plans, but that is up to him.