Korene's Blog

Depending on your age or maybe your desire to learn from history, you may remember John F. Kennedy's remarks at his swearing in ceremony in 1960 when he said, "Ask NOT what your country can do for you BUT ask what YOU can do for YOUR COUNTRY". 

I have observed a number of instances where people, programs, companies, states, and politicians think that is GREAT...as long as it doesn't apply to them.  They are more interested in TAKING than they are in caring the load or doing their share.

The things that made America GREAT was the sacrifice of our forefathers who gave selflessly for the GREATEST good and for future gratification as compared to "ME FIRST, ME NOW, ME MOST" whether it is earned or not.

 I, like so many of you, saw the demonstrations against balancing governmental budgets because the free or welfare ride will have to be cut to balance the budget. 

I see various self-interest groups say "Take it from the elderly, the children, the military or the veterans, the education, health care, or public workers.   Just Don't Touch MY FREE Ride!"  

That attitude is not what made America great.  And it is NOT the attitude that will bring greatness back to America.

I believe in the principles and truths that made America what is was as the Greatest Nation on the Face of the Earth.  I also know that is not the nation that is here today.  Don't get me wrong when I say that because I firmly believe that America can be great with "GREATNESS" once again but it will only happen if we remember how we became great and return to the principles and practices that brought us here.

Let me give you some thoughts to think about and you tell me if you think these will make America, the Greatest Nation on the Face of the Earth" once again.

1. We need to live within our means which translates to mean that we STOP spending what we do not have as well as pay off the terrible debt we have placed on the future of our children, grandchildren and maybe our great grandchildren.  Do you know that over 70% of our government spending is first spent on WELFARE related programs (That is not entirely factual because this includes Social Security which our senior citizens have already paid for but we have mismanaged that money then spent it on some other projects.
2. As a nation, we need to take and put our own house in order before we take on the policing and caretaking of the world.  It seems to me that war in Iraq and Afghanistan are more than we can or should handle but look to turn around and start another with -----.  When do we stop the war and clean up our own house/nation.
3.  As a nation, we used to teach our children to respect our elders and those in authority over us.  We knew better than come home whining and crying that something happened at school or at the playground.  We were sure to be asked what was done to provoke the problem and why did we not walk away.  There were always adults and others in authority around who had permission to spank us or send us home.  We need to back our teachers, police, firefighters, etc.  We need to give respect for the office and uphold our laws, rules, and regulations.  No just the ones we like or the ones in our favor. 

As the New Yorker's former press critic, A.J. Liebling, famously said, "Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one." Perhaps that quotation is framed somewhere in a boardroom at the General Electric Corp., which owns NBC News.

In spite of robust profits of $14.2 billion worldwide, GE has calculated a corporate tax bill for 2010 that adds up to zero, via a creative series of tax referrals and revenue shifts. (This was, indeed, the second year running that the company—which has an enormous, and famously nimble, 975-employee tax division, led by former Treasury official John Samuels—paid nothing in U.S. taxes; indeed by claiming a series of losses and deductions, GE came up with a negative tax of 10.5 percent in the admittedly dismal business year of 2009, and realized a $1.5 billion "tax benefit.")

The curious thing about this year's tax story is that it turned up in many major news outlets, with one key exception: NBC News. As the Washington Post's Paul Farhi notes, the network's "Nightly News" broadcast, hosted by Brian Williams, has not mentioned anything about its corporate parent's resourceful accounting, even though the story has been in wide circulation in the business and general-interest press for nearly a week. "This was a straightforward news decision, the kind we make daily around here" network spokeswoman Lauren Kapp told the Post.

One press critic who begs to differ: Daily Show host Jon Stewart, who noted that the Nightly News found the time for a dispatch on the inclusion of slang expressions in the Oxford English Dictionary, such as "LOL" and "OMG." Of course, Comedy Central's corporate parent, Viacom, is also no slouch when it comes to tax strategy: Earlier this year it sold its struggling videogame unit Harmonix for $50—so that it could claim a tax credit of $50 million.

No one has been able to explain to me why young men and women serve in the U.S. Military for 20 years, risking their lives protecting freedom, and only get 50% of their pay. While politicians hold their political positions in the safe confines of the capital, protected by these same men and women, and receive full pay retirement after serving one term. It just does not make any sense.

Do you know that staffers of Congress family members are exempt from having to pay back student loans? This should get national attention if news networks will broadcast it. When you add this to the below, just where will all of it stop?

35 States file lawsuit against the Federal Government

Governors of 35 states have filed suit against the Federal Government for imposing unlawful burdens upon them. It only takes 38 (of the 50) States to convene a Constitutional Convention.

This will take less than thirty seconds to read. If you agree, please pass it on.

This is an idea that we should address.

For too long we have been too complacent about the workings of Congress. Many citizens had no idea that members of Congress could retire with the same pay after only one term, that they specifically exempted themselves from many of the laws they have passed (such as being exempt from any fear of prosecution for sexual harassment) while ordinary citizens must live under those laws. The latest is to exempt themselves from the Healthcare Reform... in all of its forms. Somehow, that doesn't seem logical. We do not have an elite that is above the law. I truly don't care if they are Democrat, Republican, Independent or whatever. The self-serving must stop.

If each person that receives this will forward it on to 20 people, in three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one proposal that really should be passed around.

Proposed 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution: "Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators and/or Representatives; and, Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators and/or Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States."

You are one of my 20.