NewView

Tainted Lense

“The most perfidious way of harming a cause consists of defending it deliberately with faulty arguments.”

--Friedrich Nietzsche--

“In a heated argument we are apt to lose sight of the truth.”

--Publilius Syrus--

“Silence is one of the hardest arguments to refute.”

--Josh Billings--

The Clintons are playing the victim card once again. Yesterday, Hillary Clinton complained about being chosen to answer the questions from the moderator first, and the bias in the media that is skewed toward Barack Obama, and then she went on to overtly use the gender card to stump for votes. I have to admit that some members of the media do appear to favor Senator Obama over Senator Clinton, while other members of the media seem to slightly favor Senator Clinton over Senator Obama, but that is not the point. The reality is that Senator Clinton has very little to complain about since upon a close and reasonable review of her candidacy, she has received more than a few passes by the media. I will review two very big ones.

Senator Clinton has run on the platform of experience. She has declared herself to be the candidate that is the most prepared to be the President of the United States, even though there is nothing in her background to suggest that allegation is true. Think about it. There are three people that have a realistic chance at being elected to the Office of the President of the United States and none of them have any executive experience. All three of the candidates are senators and only have legislative experience. Yet, the media has not debunked her unsubstantiated assertion that she is the candidate that is “ready to be President on day one.”

Senator Clinton wants to have her cake and eat it too. She has subtly made the argument that she is the most experienced, most prepared, and therefore the most qualified candidate. This assertion can only come from her time as the First Lady because she is just a senator that has finished only one year of her second term. Since Senator Clinton was not a member of her husband’s cabinet or staff, it is unclear what her role was in his administration. The only responsibility that we know that she had during his administration was her failed attempt at health care reform. Does this means that she is ultimately asserting that she knows how to be the President because she was married to the President and has seen a President in action? We may never know because no member of the media has yet to force her to explain the basis of her assertion. The media has instead chosen to accept her assertion at face value without challenging it.

Watching something and doing something are two different things. I am a second generation White Sox, Bears, and Bulls fan. I have watched thousands of White Sox games, including the last two no-hitters that were thrown by a White Sox pitcher. I have also watched hundreds of Bears games and thousands of Bulls games. Does that mean that I am ready to pick up my baseball glove, baseball, and spikes and take the mound and throw a no-hitter against a major league team or even a minor league baseball team? Does that mean that I should be in spring training right now trying to crack the White Sox starting rotation? Does that mean that I should start getting ready for the Bears training camp in a few months to try to make their roster? Does that mean that I should give John Paxson a call and look for my short term contract with the Bulls? No!!! The reality is that the next President, regardless who is elected, will not have the luxury of calling the bullpen to bring in the closer when the game is on the line. Watching is not doing. Whoever is elected will have to learn on the job regardless of what she/he may assert.

Last night Senator Clinton essentially said that if she was elected President it would represent a “real challenge to the way things have been done, and who gets to do them, and what the rules are.” The reality is that she was correct in her assessment. Women have been and continue to be discriminated against in this country and throughout the world. Every time a country places the reigns of leadership into the hands of a leader that is also a woman it changes things, but the same is true for African-Americans (The numbers tell the story. The ratio of female governors to African-American governors is 8 to 1. The ratio of female senators to African-American senators is 16 to 1.) If Senator Obama had made that same statement he would have been drilled by the media to explain what he meant by it. He would have been criticized for injecting race into the debate. He would have been marginalized as the candidate that is only appealing to the African-American vote. And it may have jeopardized his chances of winning the nomination. There appears to be no such negative consequences for Senator Clinton. There was no and has been no such criticism toward Senator Clinton. The media gave her another important pass.

It seems that the media passes have not all been addressed to Senator Obama.

Enough of the Same Old Tricks!!!

Plagiarism - the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work.

“People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built.”

--Eleanor Roosevelt--
“Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river.”

--Nikita Khrushchev--

Here we go again. Once again the Clintons have attacked Barack Obama with nonsense. Earlier in the presidential primary race, when Hillary Clinton was the inevitable nominee, the Clinton Campaign attacked Obama by pointing out that he wrote a paper in grade school (I think he was in either kindergarten or first grade) where he proclaimed he wanted to be the President of the United States. Now the Clinton Campaign is trying to say that Barack Obama has committed plagiarism because he used a similar answer that the Governor of Massachusetts did to the same charge of being only about words instead of actions. It is the same old game. Attack politics. Win at all costs.

I do not blame the Clinton Campaign for being frustrated. I do not blame the Clinton Campaign for being anxious. I do not blame the Clinton Campaign for feeling as if they have been blindsided by the phenomena that is Barack Obama. I do, however, blame the Clinton Campaign in how they have dealt with those feelings.

First Hillary tried to counter Barack Obama’s appeal with a claim of greater experience. Hillary Clinton claims to be the candidate that is “ready to be President on the First day.” She claims to have the most experience although she has only seven years of elected experience, whereas Obama has about twelve years. That is okay, because that is just a politician giving their spin. But, there is a point when spin stops and nasty, destructive, petty political tricks begin that are not designed to advance our society’s understanding of issues that are important. They are instead designed for one purpose and that is to get a politician elected. We in this country have been down that road before and I hate to say it but we will find ourselves down that road again. I, like a lot of Americans, would like a vacation from the trampled road of cynical, bickering, partisan politics that is good for dividing the country and bad at helping the country.

The reality is that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama do not have much experience in public office and neither has any executive experience. As a matter of fact, none of the likely nominees for either the Republican Party or the Democratic Party have executive experience so this election is not about experience. It is about where the candidate stands on the issues. Yet, Clinton and Obama have way more in common on the issues than they differ on the issues, therefore the Democratic Party nomination process is not as much about issues as opposed to daring to do something different. That is a huge advantage for Barack Obama and that is the reason for the silly little attacks by the Clintons. That is also one of the reasons I can not and do not support the Clintons.

The American people are tired of the same old political tricks where a few politicians get the majority of the country stirred up and angry at each other while they go about amassing fame, fortune, and power. Each and every politician is elected to do the business of the American people regardless of whether the person is a member of the United States Congress, a state assembly, a city Council, or the President of the United States. The politics of division do not bear the fruit of results to the rest of “us” folks that are not elected. That must change. That is why Barack Obama has been so well received.

In order to achieve great things you must first dream, then conceive, and finally believe that great things are possible. Challenging America to raise the level of debate from petty bickering, name calling, and divisiveness to an honest pursuit of solutions for America from differing points of view is not being naïve it is being a risk taker. Anytime a person, especially a public person, takes a step out onto a new road, he or she needs courage more than they need a map.

Change is not politics, it is policy. It is the policy of changing the way we approach the problems in this country. This election boils down to one question. Will we continue to barrel down the same old beat up and muddy road of partisan, deadlock, bitter politics or will we take a chance of raising our society above petty conflicts to new heights where more solutions can be achieved? That is the question. And whatever the answer maybe, it definitely is not the same old political tricks of making a mountain from a mole hill.

The Inconvenient Truth

“Money can't buy happiness, but neither can poverty.”

--Leo Rosten--

“Nothing astonishes men so much as common sense and plain dealing.”

--Ralph Waldo Emerson--

“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.”

--Arthur Schopenhauer--

“Letting your customers set your standards is a dangerous game, because the race to the bottom is pretty easy to win. Setting your own standards--and living up to them--is a better way to profit. Not to mention a better way to make your day worth all the effort you put into it.”

--Seth Godin--

I have written several articles about Barack Obama. Now I think it is about time I wrote an article about an issue that none of the candidates in either party will discuss. It is illegal immigration. Yeah. I know that every candidate has discussed their stance on illegal immigration. This article is not about whether to lock up people that come here illegally. This article is not about punishment. It is about prevent. It is about the only prevention that has a chance of working. Prevent must begin and end with employers.

The American people have been bamboozled into looking mainly at the people coming into our country illegally, while ignoring why they come here. Debate regarding illegal immigration has centered on the unrealistic supply oriented, punish the immigrant, and build a wall theory. Yet, very few people have talked about the basic reality that people come here for jobs so if there are no or few jobs for illegal labor then the reason to come over here illegally goes away. Once the reason goes away so does the vast majority of the problem. But I doubt anyone is truly going to explore this fact because that would mean going against big business, small business, and moneyed interests.

Illegal immigration is outsourcing within the country. While politicians, including a bunch in our community, are ignoring this reality black folks as well as other Americans from every community are losing opportunities. It is not just about race, ethnicity, or culture. It is about money. Cheaper labor means higher profits. A penny saved means a penny earned. The money saved could be from cheaper wages or from lower labor standards that allow employers to work their employees hardier, longer, and with little or no benefits. The only difference between outsourcing and the use of illegal immigration is where the employer uses the employee. And the biggest benefit of using illegal immigrant labor is that they can not complain about low wages or labor standards because they will risk being fired, arrested, or even deported.

Ordinarily I would not have a problem with any employer looking for the cheapest, most efficient, most convenient employee that he/she can find. That is what anyone should have a right to do in a free market economy. However, when employers use illegal immigrant labor they are not just using a cheaper labor force. In most cases, they are importing poor people to exploit for an extra nickel while forcing everyone else to share the expense of that person being in the country. What am I talking about?

Many of the illegal immigrants come from countries that have a lower standard of living that may be why they come here for opportunity. However, when they initially come here they are not getting high paying jobs so they may start out poor, which means they require resources that are provided to the poor that are paid for by tax dollars. I know many of you that are reading this article must think I am some ultra conservative right wing anti-poor anti-immigrant nut that hates the poor. No. I am not. It is a reality that poor people need help from the government that is funded by tax dollars. This help may manifest itself through a drain on public schools or a drain on emergency room services in hospitals or other local services.

I do not have a problem with poor people and I do not have a problem with big, little, or no business. I have a problem with employers that make money off of poor illegal immigrants and expect the rest of us to share in their expense while they do not share the profits from the exploitation. Therefore the only real way to stop illegal immigration is to stop focusing on putting illegal immigrants in jail and start targeting employers. Any fines that an employer must pay must be greater than the profits that they have made off of their illegal immigrant labor. We should not only fine employers but we should put them in jail if necessary. The minute that there are little to no jobs for illegal immigrants in this country the issue of illegal immigration disappears.

By the way, if during this article you have read this article as an attack on the Hispanic community I would ask you to examine yourself, because I never mentioned any particular community in this article, until now. Furthermore, as a lawyer I have worked on several illegal entry cases that included people from Eastern Europe, India, Western Africa, and Mexico. Illegal immigration does not have a Hispanic face on it. Please do not buy into the propaganda. I do not blame people for leaving a place where there is less opportunity to go to a place where there is more opportunity. That is what my parents did when they migrated from the south to Chicago. I have a problem with employers that use people looking for an opportunity and expect the rest of us to pay for it.