STUPIDITY LOOMS

ACTUALLY.....The Republican Party of Texas released it's 2012 platform this month.  According to what I read about the  platform, they want to eliminate the minimum wage, do away with the Department of Education, the Department of Energy and reduce taxpayer funding to all levels of education.

Now here is 5 of the most outlandish ideas Texas Republicans believe:

1.  The party opposes almost all forms on taxation.  They will "repeal the Sixteenth Amendment", which instituted a national income tax and replace it with a national sales tax - that would make it very hard on low and middle income Americans.  They want the Bush tax cuts to be permanent, and would repeal the capital gains tax. The estate tax would also be repealed because they claim it "is immoral and should be abolished forever".  On the State level they support getting rid of property and business taxes and instead "shift the tax burden to a consumption-based tax". 

2.  They want to return to the gold standard. According to Ben Bernanke, it is not feasible for practical and policy reasons.  The gold standard never worked and it would have disastrous consequences for the American economy.

3.  The party supports privatizing Social Security.  The Texas GOP said "we support an immediate and orderly transition  to a system of private pensions based on the concept of individual retirement accounts".

4.  It opposes multicultural education and "critical thinking".   They believe the current teaching is divisive and says it supports teaching "common American identity and loyalty instead of political correctness that nurtures alienation among racial and ethnic groups."  The GOP opposes "critical thinking skills" because they "focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student's fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority."

5.  It supports corporal punishment in schools. They say it's "effective and legal in Texas and affords authority to deal with disciplinary problems".  Actual research shows that corporal punishment is bad for children and their education.  The American Psychoanalytic Association strongly condemns the use of such punishment because it is "associated with an increase in delinquency, antisocial behavior and aggression in children".

All this just boggles my mind - personally I don't want anyone messing with the Sixteenth Amendment or fooling around with my good old American dollars.  Leave my Social Security alone - I worked hard for that.  Education is fine the way it is and what in the living hell is "critical thinking".  Most importantly, if my children need discipline, I'll do it my way.  Don't lay a hand on this Irish Texan's children or grandchildren, or guess I could say go ahead "MAKE MY DAY".

YOU CAN RUN BUT YOU CAN'T HIDE...........

ACTUALLY.....There are some things we all need to know about Mitt Romney.  He seems to think that because he's a wealthy businessman (for crying out loud we've been reminded of that enough), he believes that he is Presidential material. Romney's wealth keeps him out of touch and, his evasiveness about his wealth makes him untrustworthy.  He thinks he can offer advantages to America but his only indication of this skill is to make himself richer.  His aggressive takeovers have cost jobs, retirement benefits and pensions to many middle class Americans not to mention many have lost their homes because of foreclosure - but, Romney made millions.  He says he wants to work for the American people and improve our nation.  Why then does he keep his money in Swiss bank accounts and the Cayman Islands?  You got it - he avoids paying a lot of taxes that way.  If Gov. Romney is elected the middle class will never recover from his plan to shelter his wealth and that of his rich cronies.  The Associated Press reported that his attorney sold off stock in Chinese companies that traded with Iran beginning in 2010, as the presidential election neared.  He also remains close to Bain Capital and he disclosed that he made over $2 million in new income from Bain, which he claims he has not led in almost 10 years.

A few words about his platform.  Romney believes it's time to cut back on government and help the American people.  He obviously doesn't understand that cops, teachers and firefighters are Americans too, because he sees a need to cut back on those professionals.  (Think about that, it's serious.) Oh!  Here's a new one for you - I just read that Romney's platform also "takes a stand in favor of access to raw milk, motherhood, English as the official language and marriage being defined as only between a natural man and a natural woman".  It's against the minimum wage law and affirmative action.

Gov. Romney only wants to preserve the rich and shortchange the middle class.  He's indignant and arrogant when it comes to his beliefs in running our great country and in being commander in chief.  He was born an aristocrat and the silver spoon is so well wedged there is no possibility of change.  This man is not who we need to be President of the United States.

And so it goes......there's much more to share.  But that's for another day.