IM2Opinionated - Common sense views on politics

This is the speech I gave this past Saturday August 18th at Storm Expo 2012. Hello, I would like to address the ways in which politics play a role in hurricane preparedness. Fortunately, we have not experienced any hurricanes in South Florida thus far this year and hopefully, we will be spared this fate for the remainder of the season.   As for believing that we will never be faced with the devastation that a hurricane can cause, no one here is that naive.   The best we can do is to mitigate the potential damage by being as prepared as we possibly can be when the next storm strikes. Having emergency supplies on hand can greatly reduce the pain of loss as well as mean the difference between life and death.   If municipal water supplies are cut off or contaminated, a set aside of five gallons of water can not only provide the sustenance a family may need, but also serve to buoy their spirits until assistance can arrive; If that five gallons runs out, bleach can be used to d

As voter suppression laws are passed in states where republicans control a majority of all branches of state governments, something occurs to me.  Why are republican voters not standing up in opposition to these illogical, illegitimate and immoral laws?  The obvious answer is that these actions could guarantee a win for their presidential candidate, but there could be another reason:  A reason that has been primarily ignored by the media.  In my humble opinion, I believe that republican voters have remained mum on this matter, because it does not affect them. Why the major news outlets have not  given a voice to this possibility is of less importance than what tolerance of tactics that circumvent our Democracy mean for our country.  This reluctance to stand up for "other" people's rights has been seen throughout history.  It was this attitude of "looking the other way" that allowed the Nazi's to kill so many Jewish people and "others" who did not

With the shooting at the Family Research Council, I feel that we are seeing an initial attack against individuals and organizations that have fought for so long to deny the rights of other people, simply because they do not share the same values or have similar lifestyles.  It seems to me that you can only attack certain groups or people who have divergent beliefs and ideas for so long before those who have been victimized lash out against their tormentors. Any individual, group or organization that has deemed it their calling to oppose basic rights to any other group, whether they be gay, black, poor or 'other' in any sense of the word, may want to rethink the logic behind their arguments:  First, denying a gay man or lesbian the right to marry shouldn't even be considered a legitimate pursuit when the economy is falling down all around us.  Secondly, how someone lives their life is that person's own cross to bear or gift to share, depending on what part of the count

I recently read an article about how those who are supposed to be finding the unemployed work are finding themselves unemployed.  The state referenced in this story was Michigan, where apparently, the job market is improving so much that the state has issued 400 layoff notices to many of it unemployment insurance agents. My first thought was "If these agents get laid off before noon, do they use their lunch time to wait in line to apply for Unemployment Compensation?  After that however, I wondered how state officials in Michigan had determined that the job market had improved to the point that they could feasibly cut back on the staffing of unemployment insurance agencies?  While manufacturing has been making strides towards getting people gainfully employed, it didn't look as if those strides were great enough when I visited Detroit in October of 2011.  Parts of that city looked like it had been bombed out:  Broken windows outnumber those windows that were intact; the poth

For anyone who thinks that cutting programs for the poor or, more accurately these days, the working poor, think again. As I drive around town and take note of the various neighborhoods in my city, I can't help noticing that they are all begining to look quite similar; at least in regards to one apesct. Most neighborhoods have "For Sale" or "Foreclosure" signs in front of far too many homes for anyone to think that the Housing Market has recovered or will recover anytime soon. What this means for the other families in these neighborhoods is that their security is that much more compromised:  More homeless people means more desperate people:  People willing to do whatever it takes to survive. Now, add on top of this growing demographic of Americans who have lost their dreams to one big bank or another:  The poor, or working poor who could lose the assistance that "leaders" like Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney seek to take away will have fewer mean with whic

If you can't remember how bad George W. Bush was, here are some links that should remind us all of what we had to deal with and what we will HAVE to deal with if the "Axis of Evil" or, as republicans refer to them "Romney/Ryan" wins on November 6, 2012.  Click on the links below to read about Bush and then, come back and watch the videos. The 10 Most Awesomely Bad Moments of the Bush Presidency | Alternet George Bush's 20 worst moments R omney’s team starts to look like Bush’s

Two Paths: Ayn Rand's Legacy Before the American public there were two paths that could be taken. One was open to all, accepting of all and sought to help all along their way. The other path only allowed those who were willing to leave their friends, family and all of humanity behind to travel upon it. Though anyone was free to choose which path they would take, only one allowed for an increasing number of travellers. The other narrowed until there were but a few individuals who could maintain their footing and even that number dwindled as the capacity of this path decreased. Though the two paths were so different in the demographics that followed them, they were plainly viewed by all: Those on the growing path noticed the diminishing numbers of people who chose the one which shrank. They were close enough to call out to them, or so they thought, but for some reason, the people on the other path couldn’t hear them. It could have been that they were simply ignoring what th