Follow-Up on the Ouster of UVA President Sullivan

This article on the firing of the University of Virginia President should make every voter think twice about electing a Harvard MBA to be President who was head of Bain Capital.  Bain is known throughout the world as a vulture capitalist group who under Romney and after would buy up companies, take out the profits, lay people off, and ship jobs overseas.   That is the real Romney legacy not the rewrite his consultants are trying to do along with the his millionaire/billionaire donors who helped create the problem we have today not Federal Civil Service.

Romney's disdain for the teachers, police, fire,  and civil servants is beyond disgusting but fits in with some of the MBA mentality -- only the bottom line counts not people.  Any Federal Employee who votes for Romney hasn't checked out the facts on the man they support because he doesn't support them.  He plans to lay off over 150,000 civil servants if he was elected even though many of those were hired because of mandates out of the Congress and as the group of civil service from the Vietnam War retied and were replaced.  

You want an example of what an MBA does to education look no further than the University of Virginia and their Board of Visitors headed by two MBAs who are out to change the whole culture of education at the university founded to educate students by Thomas Jefferson.  MBA's for the most part hate the humanities and it shows as that is the real reason that the current President of UVA was fired as she refused to cut two programs she felt added to the University. 

Why don't the students just become mind-numbed robots and take all the same busienss classes so they can be like Romney and the other very wealthy in this Country where it is all about the bottom line and people don't count.  (sarcasm) As Romney said  he loves to 'fire people!'  Another word for it is greed as we have seen happen in the last few years in this Country:

There’s a painful irony in all of this, of course: The same folks who championed the combination of tax kickbacks to the wealthy, deregulation, and insider trading that helped shatter the economy and hobble the budgets of colleges and universities are now increasingly running them. What these people like to call “strategic dynamism” produced binge profits, sure. But it ended up shredding the economy, and now it’s coming to a college or university near you. (If you haven’t seen The Chronicle of Higher Education piece on the idea of “strategic dynamism” and the role it played in Sullivan’s firing, you ought to check it out.) Boards like UVAs, increasingly made up of hedge fund operators, mortgage lenders, developers, and investment firm CEOs, are trained to put fast-paced change, short-term economic gain, and dramatic changes in asset allocation and in personnel ahead of long term, methodical academic planning, subordinating even the pretense of shared governance to the economic bottom line. It represents a culture of governance alien to the one we’re used to in higher education. As Kris Olds points out in a superb Inside Higher Education piece on UVAs Board, this is "a patently unbalanced and inward-oriented board, drawing from a very narrow segment of society," one prone to "group think."

Talk to any engineer who has to work for an MBA and about 95% of the time, they will tell you how bad they are because they are not for innovations.  All they care about is making money no matter what you have to do including bending the rules as witnessed by some of the aerospace companies who have way too many MBA's to the stage it is stiffling innovation.  Yet the Republican Party is poised to nominate someone who is the poster boy for being an MBA.

This story is far from over as the faculty have their say or are they supposed to shut up, sit down, and do as they are told which seems to be the mantra of MBA's no matter what they are doing.   They can only see the bottom line and could care less in this case about education.  If you want to be over a university that is a money maker go to Phoenix or Kaplan for profit universities but this is a public university established to educate students not for profit.   

The Silver Lining in the Ouster of UVA President Teresa Sullivan
June 19, 2012

It always helps to know your enemy, and boy, do we know our enemy now.

The recent ouster of Teresa Sullivan, a mini coup d’etat that had enough court intrigue to give Hilary Mantel's new novel, Bring Up the Bodies, a run for its money, may be the best thing that’s happened in higher education in a long time.

Why? Because her summary dismissal by the Board of Visitors, spear-headed by real estate developer Helen Dragas, the Board’s Rector, and its Vice Rector, Mark Kington (the head of a capital management firm who sits with Dragas on the BOD of the energy company, Dominion) makes it absolutely clear what is at stake in the corporatization of higher education: Goodbye shared governance, hello strategic dynamism.
(snip) 

You remember shared governance, right? In the old days, when the business of education was education, and not business, the academic mission of the university -- its courses, curricula, and programs -- could safely be delegated to the people who have the expertise: the faculty. So could the process of promotion and tenure. Now, however, the curriculum has become a product, the faculty are employees (increasingly limited to adjunct or part-time status), and the students consumers. In the process, academic issues have been transformed into economic issues, and so the faculty can no longer be trusted with them. The value -- and thus the viability -- of courses, programs and departments can no longer be separated from the maximization of revenue flows, or from the cant of productivity and quantifiable learning outcomes. Strategic dynamism is fast becoming the new bottom line, and all it wants to know is how departments and their faculties can perform in the context of short-term, wildly fluctuating financial exigencies. Why allow faculty a governance role in the curriculum when faculty want to protect the viability of traditional academic programs that supposedly put a drag on the university's finances and are irrelevant to the vocational needs of their students? Shared governance just looks absurd to people like Dragas and Kington. They're CEOs, developers, and investment fund executives. Whoever heard of shared governance in their world?

And finally, what happens to the humanities under such a regime? They shrink into irrelevancy and their departments close. It’s telling that the only concrete reason we’ve gotten for Sullivan’s ouster is that she apparently refused to cut the departments of German and Classics. It’s not hard to imagine that this is where the deeper story lies. According to an article in The Washington Post, “Leaders of the university’s governing board ousted Sullivan last week largely because of her unwillingness to consider dramatic program cuts in the face of dwindling resources and for her perceived reluctance to approach the school with the bottom-line mentality of a corporate chief executive.” Surely if the recent past is any indicator, many of these cuts would have come from the humanities and the liberal arts. Indeed, the statement she issued yesterday suggests this is the case. You can read it here.
To its credit, the AAUP saw this coming way back in 1966. Consider this introductory passage from the AAUP Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities:

“[T]he academic institution, public or private, often has become less autonomous; buildings, research, and student tuition are supported by funds over which the college or university exercises a diminishing control. Legislative and executive governmental authorities, at all levels, play a part in the making of important decisions in academic policy. If these voices and forces are to be successfully heard and integrated, the academic institution must be in a position to meet them with its own generally unified view.”

“Less autonomy?" "Diminishing control?” "Unified view?" Indeed. If strategic dynamism is the ideal the Board at UVA was pushing, one doesn’t have to look far to see how recklessly that ideal operates, and how damaging it can be, for the firing of President Sullivan was clearly meant to be strategically dynamic. And boy did it backfire. But we shouldn’t be surprised. If it can screw up an entire nation’s economy it can certainly do the same thing to a university. The manner of Sullivan's firing is the best argument against the managerial ideal that drove it, and we can at least thank the UVA Board for dramatizing so brazenly what's at stake in the corporatizing of higher education.

Posted by Jay

Romney Stop in Troy, Ohio, Cut Short Due to Shouts of "Romney Go Home"

Romney was heckled off the stage in Troy, Ohio, yesterday afternoon after 5 minutes with anywhere from 1,000 to 1,500 people there depending who gives the figures. Shouts of "Romney Go Home" drowned out his speech so he got mad, left the stage ducking into a diner before getting back on the bus and leaving Troy, Ohio behind.  Troy, Ohio, is not liberal so this speaks volumes.

Want to share a video with you from Troy, Ohio, in 2004 when President George W. Bush visited. Contrast this with the picture above from the Troy Daily News of the Romney visit.  Notice the lack of people and Romney signs compared to Bush along with lack of hecklers for Bush.  The people of Troy loved the visit of George W. Bush and were one of the places giving him the votes to win Ohio.



Know people who were at the Bush Rally and they said the 20,000 figure was an underestimate of how many people were actually there.  These were people out to support Bush/Cheney and welcome the President to Troy, Ohio, county seat of one of the most Republican counties in Ohio.  I grew up seven miles from Troy and where I first learned about politics becoming a Charter Member of the Teenage Republican Club of Ohio thanks to my Uncle who was heavily involved in Republican politics.  That is how I met Barry Goldwater in Lima as a teenager.  I know this area well and what it shows me is that Romney has NO enthusiasm in this area at all to get so few people to turn out and a lot of hecklers telling him to GO HOME!  
Troy is not Obama territory but frankly with what I have read about and pictures I have seen in Troy with the Romney visit, I don't see how Romney wins Ohio.  In fact Speaker of the House Boehner and Senator Portman do not look happy in some of the pictures.  

Romney like Obama is flying to pick up his bus not driving across Country on the bus.  Where are all the people going after Romney like they did Obama?  I stand by my original comments on Obama that now apply to Romney as well -- if you are going on a bus tour, then do a bus tour -- don't fly in and make it seem like you have been on the bus the whole time.
Then we have Romney's bus circling the Obama speech area in Cleveland honking the horn like some high school kid.  I found it disgusting and not something a major campaign would do because the bus is part of the Romney campaign not just a supporter.   That is absolutely tacky and classless. 
My favorite is Romney in the Philadelphia area stopping at a 'convenience store' bragging about eating a hoagie which was actually a meatball sub.  How many people do you know would brag about eating a hoagie from a convenience store?  A hoagie to me is a freshly baked roll with the famous Philly Cheesesteak ingredients that are the best in the Country that you find at a real deli not a convenience store.  Does Romney think this is how he is supposed to talk so the the middle class will like him?  Whoever are his advisers are making a huge mistake with trying to morph him into someone from Middle America because it is not working as we know what a donut is (unlike Romney) and definitely know what a hoagie is (unlike Romney).  Good for laughs and reminds me of Kerry and especially his wife when confronted with fast food.  
It all shows how out of touch Romney is with a lot of people and why the Republican Party apparatus should never have forced him down our throats.  If he gets this reaction in Troy, I don't see a path to win Ohio and that is being said by someone who grew up there.  If Romney loses, then the Republican Establishment needs to apologize to all of us long time grassroots people who have had our voices silenced with Romney as the GOP does every trick in the book including cheating to get him the nomination and then step aisde.  My guess is that they are going to blame conservatives for his loss and keep right on going like nothing is wrong in the Republican Party.  
Until the GOP kicks out these huge donors out to buy elections like the Koch Brothers, Rove, and others, then it is doomed as they have become Democrat lite and in some areas worse like with the Super PACs.  The other problem is that a lot of Republicans in the Congress are 'big' government types not 'small' and their economic philosophy is more along the lines of  Ayn Rand then Ronald Reagan.
The big question is whether the Republican Party can be saved from the bureaucrats and big money people or whether it is doomed like the Whigs and a new party will rise from the ashes?  The jury is out on that one!

Happy Father's Day Weekend!

Thanks to AOL for this video on the origins of Father's Day:

A special Happy Father's Day to the Dad's of our grandchildren.   They are doing a great job raising their children.  

My Dad will always have a special place in my heart -- he was my hero who could tackle anything.  He fought the Nazi's in WWII and never saw him be prejudice toward any person because of the color of their skin.  He did not tolerate anyone who dissed the military or wanted to take his Freedom of Speech away like his union when he was President of his local.  He believed in unions but fought against the union slush fun for candidates believing they had no right to give his dues to Democrat candidates.  He would have said the same if they were giving to Republicans.  

He was a staunch Goldwater and Reagan supporter who taught my brother and I the value of freedom as he knew from fighting in the trenches of Germany what had been done to their people by a maniac who burned books, believed he had the only answers, and ordered the murders of countless people who were a different religion and didn't look like Hitler's vision of a German.

Remember on this Father's Day those that have fought for our freedoms and don't let anyone ever silence you because you don't believe the way they do.  My Dad taught me to be independent and speak out -- that's what makes America the greatest country in the world -- freedom of speech along with the other freedoms guaranteed to us in the Constitution.  We don't all have to be the same and march in lockstep.  Remember that the next time someone tells you to shut-up, sit down, and vote for who we say that you have a voice to tell them NO!

Happy Father's Day to Dad's across America.  Enjoy this weekend and especially tomorrow which is your special day!

The Ousting of University of Virginia President Sullivan Background

Some may ask what this has to do with someone in Oklahoma and I say a lot because it is giving us a look inside how the MBA wants to run things no matter who they are dealing with.  A public university is not a corporation and should not be treated like one.  It is also telling the rules don't apply to MBA's either which reminds of Presidential campaigns where rules don't apply.

Calling an emergency meeting when it looks like you already have someone in mind for the job and was against the rules doesn't seem very smart -- in fact it is downright stupid.

There’s one more wrinkle. Dragas said, in an interview, that “this decision [to force out Sullivan] should be judged after a new president is installed.” She’s saying that, when we compare Sullivan to the next president, then we’ll see that the next president is better. A reasonable inference is that Dragas already knows who the next president will be—that this isn’t a coup to eliminate Sullivan but, instead, to replace her with somebody specific. If that proves to be true, it seems vanishingly unlikely that the faculty will soon accept the legitimacy of that president, which will make his term awfully unpleasant.  

Is this an insight into what a Romney administration would be since MBA's are running everything around Romney?  They seem out of touch with ordinary Americans with some of their ideas.   People better think long and hard before they support an MBA for President.  The Corporate Board Room is not a stepping stone to the Presidency IMHO!

The Ousting of Sullivan: How We Got Here 

Published by Waldo Jaquith on June 14, 2012

You’d really have to put a lot of work into something to fuck it up as badly as the UVA Board of Visitors has with their removal of Teresa Sullivan from the presidency. 

Based on all of the latest evidence to come out, here’s what happened. Rector Helen Dragas spent months persuading a majority of the 16-member board to support ousting Sullivan. To circumvent Virginia’s open meetings law, Dragas and vice rector Mark Kington talked with them one by one, apparently only meeting with those members who she thought were most amenable to supporting her plan. (Macdonald Caputo, Heywood Fralin, and Vincent Mastracco—and perhaps others—were not contacted until the last minute.) 

Somewhere along the line the growing group brought in the chair of the Darden School Foundation, Peter Kiernan. In an e-mail to fellow Darden trustees on Sunday, Kiernan made the mistake of telling the truth, describing how he’d worked with “two important Virginia alums” on the “project” to oust Sullivan. 

Governor McDonnell’s spokesman says that the governor was notified only days beforehand that Sullivan was to be forced out, apparently once Dragas had obtained enough support from the board to get a majority supporting the coup. 

On Friday, Sullivan was apparently informed that she could quit or be fired. 

On Sunday morning the Board of Visitors announced that they’d hold an emergency executive session that afternoon, giving just a few hours’ notice. That “emergency” bit is important. Under § 2.2-3701 of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, an “emergency” is “an unforeseen circumstance rendering the notice required by this chapter impossible or impracticable and which circumstance requires immediate action.” That’s what allowed them to meet without providing the three-day notice that’s legally required. The fact that this was planned for months makes clear that no such emergency could have existed. The meeting was illegal. The meeting involved just three members of the executive committee: Dragas, Kington, and Charlottesville developer Hunter Craig. Holding that meeting with little notice, on a Sunday, was advantageous to Dragas, since that prevented the attendance of executive committee members who opposed the coup against Sullivan. Macdonald Caputo was unable to travel, due to an injury. George Martin was out of the country, in South Africa. The vote was 3–0 to accept Sullivan’s “resignation.”

The story went public, and people immediately began to wonder why Sullivan had quit. Was she forced out? Was the board’s lack of explanation perhaps to spare her some humiliation?
Then that e-mail from Darden’s Kiernan got out. Today Kiernan resigned from the board, writing in a letter that his e-mail had been “confusing” (on the contrary, it was enlightening) and strained credulity with his claim that his work to toss the president was completely unrelated to the fact that he’s chairing Darden’s foundation. Kiernan’s e-mail was important, because it was the first piece of evidence that there was a long-term conspiracy, at the highest levels of the university—and perhaps the state—to force out the brand-new president.

(snip) 

How much damage? Rumor has it that members of the teaching faculty are talking about a boycott come fall semester, in two months’ time. It remains to be seen whether that will come to fruition, or what their specific demand is going to be. (An explanation? Re-hire Sullivan? Fire Dragas? Replace the whole Board of Visitors?) But if the Board of Visitors wants to play hardball, they may find that faculty are prepared to play, too. 

Despite everything that we know now, we still have no insight into the heart of the matter: why Sullivan was forced out. But we’ll know before long. There are too many people involved at this point, and there’s too much at stake. 

Excerpt:  Read More at http://cvillenews.com/2012/06/14/sullivan-story/

The following is a comment from the site that describes what is happening and what could be the consequences from a faculty perspective:

June 15, 2012 at 1:05 am 

The faculty senate is on this. I think there will be a faculty-wide meeting on Sunday and then they will meet with the BOV and the negotiations will begin. There could be a strike of sorts. I would participate. It is the public vs. the BOV at this point. The root problem is the way BOVs are appointed and the capturing of the University by corporate neoliberal (Dem and Rep) interests. Its about privatizing a public resource, thats what is behind these micro-political machinations. We need reform so tha the BOV looks more like the people of the Commonwealth and less like a corporate boardroom. That’s the heart of the matter. Do we want UVA turned into a diploma factory and a big business that merely prepares automatons for the global corporate economy? I think Sulivan stood up to this corporate bullying.Her allegiance is to the profession of education. 

I don’t think the MBA class thought much about pushback from the ranks, they are used to bullying thier employees in their corporations. This aint a corporation and I am hopeful the faculty won’t act like sheep. It is a line in the sand so to speak. On the other side of the line are the University of Phoenix model and is that what we want Jefferson’s university to become. We should go back to 1933 when the University was governed by the faculty. 

So that’s where this is not just about the BOV vs. the Faculty. Its is a public university and even those who never attend or don’t have arelative who attends have a dog in the fight. We need students, alums, and citizens weighing in and protesting. 

The legislature is the final authorizor of the BOV, even though the Gov. appoints. So that is why it is important that all citizens weigh in on this and protest going forward. Having David Toscano and Creigh Deeds involved is an imprtant first step. They need to convey to their colleagues the outrage and impropriety of this move. So its the fsuclty ,alums, students, and citizens vs. the elitist BOV and a small oligarichal cabal at that it turns out. 

What the Faculty Senate does next is important. They need to play hardball with these crooks and fascists. We all need to rally around the faculty as they may become a fulcrum of potential change. 

My demands would be: 

1. Dismiss the BOV
2. Reinstate Sullivan
3. Change the appointment process for BOVs 

If there is public action planned by the Faculty Senate, I urge all of you in the public to participate in that action, don’t lreave the faculty hanging. There is power in numbers. Its a public university and it belongs to the pubic, not a group of fat cat corporate types who have the morality which brought on the depression we are all in.

Flag Day, June 14th

History of Flag Day from  Nation Flag Day Foundation

The “Stars and Stripes”, the official National symbol of the United States of America was authorized by congress on that Saturday of June 14, 1777 in the fifth item of the days agenda. The entry in the journal of the Continental Congress 1774-1789 Vol. Vlll 1777 reads “Resolved that the flag of the thirteen United States be Thirteen stripes alternate red and white: that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”




In Waubeka, Wisconsin, in 1885 Bernard John Cigrand a nineteen year old school teacher in a one room school placed a 10” 38 star flag in an inkwell and had his students write essays on what the flag meant to them. He called June 14th the flag’s birthday. Stony Hill School is now a historical site. From that day on Bernard J. Cigrand dedicated himself to inspire not only his students but also all Americans in the real meaning and majesty of our flag.






"Resolved, that the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field representing a new constellation."

-Marine Committee of the Second Continental Congress, June 14, 1777
Flag Day is June 14, 2008
History of Flag Day


Flag Day is a celebration of the adoption of the American flag by Continental Congress in the First Flag Resolution of June 14, 1777. Although the 200-year anniversary of this date was celebrated by flying flags on public buildings and holding remembrances in several cities, Flag Day wasn’t officially recognized until President Harry Truman signed it into law in 1949.

Bernard J. Cigrand, known to the general public as the "Father of Flag Day," worked as a school teacher at Stony Hill School in Waubeka, Wisconsin. He held the first unofficial observance for Flag Day at that school in 1885, and today a bust of Cigrand stands in Waubeka at the National Flag Day Americanism Center.
Cigrand delivered speeches around the country about patriotism and holding an observance for the flag on June 14. He later became the president of the American Flag Day Association and the National Flag Day Society. He continued to promote his cause with backing from those organizations. According to amateur historian James L. Brown who wrote the booklet, "The Real Bernard J. Cigrand: Father of Flag Day," Cigrand once claimed he had given 2,188 speeches on the flag and patriotism. The Chicago Tribune noted that Cigrand "almost single-handedly" established Flag Day.

Although Cigrand is perhaps the most recognized candidate, several others have also claimed to be founders of Flag Day. In 1889 the principal of a free kindergarten, George Bolch, celebrated the anniversary of the Flag resolution at his New York City school. Soon the State Board of Education of New York, the Betsy Ross House in Philadelphia and the New York Society of the Sons of the Revolution celebrated Flag Day too.

In 1893 Elizabeth Duane Gillespie, a descendant of Benjamin Franklin and the president of the Colonial Dames of Pennsylvania, attempted to have a resolution passed deeming June 14 as Flag Day. That same year the Colonial Dames of Pennsylvania were responsible for a resolution passed requiring the American flag to be displayed on all Philadelphia’s public buildings. In 1937 Pennsylvania was the first state to make Flag Day a legal holiday.After much persistence and the support of many individuals, organizations, mayors, governors and five presidents, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation requesting that June 14 become National Flag Day. In 1927 President Coolidge issued a second proclamation, and finally in 1949 Congress approved it and it became a law.

Soon after Flag Day became official, another law passed requiring the state superintendent of public schools to make sure patriotic holidays like Memorial Day, Flag Day, Lincoln’s birthday and Washington’s Birthday are observed in schools.

Republic Report: Northrop Grumman Employee Paid Bonus Before Joining House Committee

UPDATE:  06/13/2012/3:35 p.m:

Report: Blumenthal Calls on Northrop to Explain Bonus

Earlier this week, Republic Report had the story of how Northrop Grumman paid an employee, Thomas MacKenzie, a $498,334 bonus before he left to join the House Armed Services Committee as a staffer, an amount that almost equaled his annual salary.

Now, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) is calling on the defense contractor to "explain to Congress and the American public" the payment, according to the Connecticut Post. The Post reports that Northrop has announced it is shuttering a plant in Connecticut.

The Post reports:

"The company owes that explanation, particularly in light of its decision to close the Northrop plant in Norwalk,'' Blumenthal said. ...

Blumenthal, a freshman member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said MacKenzie's bonus "is totally inexplicable.''

At the least, Blumenthal said, "The perception is horrible, at a time when the credibility of Congress is certainly in question. I'm concerned about the integrity of the Defense Department budget if it is tainted by any whiff of a payoff.''

Efforts to reach MacKenzie were unsuccessful, but Northrop said there was nothing unusual about the payment, and the Armed Services Committee said he was an excellent hire.

****** 

Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-CA) took back over this committee after the GOP won back the House and then tapped someone from Northrup Grumman one of the three major aerospace companies to start work with the Committee in March of 2011.  If that is not a conflict of interest, I don't know the meaning.  Taking a vice president at Northrop Grumman, Thomas MacKenzie, defies any sense of ethics that I can think of today and then learning that Northrop paid him a huge bonus before he took the job makes it worse.  A little recent background on Mr. MacKenzie, a former Naval aviator and Naval Academy grad:

MacKenzie joined Northrop Grumman in 2005 as corporate director of navy programs. Before coming to Northrop Grumman, he had spent seven years as the senior professional staff member of the Senate Armed Services Committee where he was responsible for providing recommendations on oversight of all aviation, shipbuilding and associated weapons systems development and procurement programs.   

ARLINGTON, Va., May 17, 2007 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) has named Thomas L. MacKenzie, vice president of naval programs. In this position, MacKenzie reports to Larry Lanzillotta, vice president of customer relations within Northrop Grumman's government relations organization located in the company's Washington office.

That second paragraph above from the Northrop Grumman press release screams lobbyist.  So Mr. MacKenzie goes from senior staff on the Armed Services Committee to a fat cat job with Northrop and then gets promoted, goes back to Armed Services and gets a huge bonus from Northrop.  We are supposed to just do a wink and nod -- nothing to see here folks just move along.

When I changed the name of the blog to incorporate Republicans, little did I realize that it would be so true.  How much did Northrop donate McKeon to get their person on the Committee?  From Open Secrets:

Top 5 Contributors, 2011-2012, Campaign Cmte

Contributor	Total	Indivs	PACs
Lockheed Martin	$64,250	$54,250	$10,000
Northrop Grumman	$50,500	$34,500	$16,000
General Dynamics	$36,000	$26,000	$10,000
General Atomics	$32,500	$22,500	$10,000
Boeing Co	$31,750	$21,750	$10,000

Top 5 Industries, 2011-2012, Campaign Cmte

Industry	Total	Indivs	PACs
Defense Aerospace	$168,500	$84,000	$84,500
Misc Defense	$144,100	$66,600	$77,500
Defense Electronics	$116,500	$51,000	$65,500
Lobbyists	$46,349	$44,384	$1,965
Education	$43,250	$26,250	$17,000

Representative McKeon, by far the biggest recipient of Northrop Grumman campaign contributions in Congress, has defended billions of dollars in questionable projects for MacKenzie’s former employer. McKeon has fought to cancel the retirement of the Northrop’s RQ-4 Global Hawk, a drone the Pentagon could save $2.5 billion by cutting. He’s pressed to secure funding for a range of different aircraft developed by Northrop Grumman, from a new nuclear-capable long-range bomber to the F-35, which is slated to be the most expensive weapon developed in human history. Earlier this year, McKeon visited a Northrop plant and rallied employees to help him stave off nearly $500 billion in sequestration cuts to the defense budget as part of the deficit-reduction deal.

When I saw the F-35 listed as a system McKeon is trying to secure funding, it dawned on me while Lockheed, #1 contributor to McKeon, is the prime on the F35, Northrop and BAE are subcontractors.  That explains the donations from #1 Lockheed and #2 Northrop to McKeon.

No wonder the Defense budget is so far out of control and bloated when you have someone from Northrop working on Armed Services Committee and the Chair receives so many campaign contributions from the Aerospace community.  This is just wrong.  IMHO no Chairman should be allowed to accept donations from the companies who are involved with his committee.  In this case, it looks like pay for play anyway you slice it.  

This Republican House is not going to be looked at much favorably then the four years of Democrat control especially their last two when Obama was President, and they went nuts with the liberal's pet projects.  Now we are seeing the same thing with Republicans which is frankly disgusting.  I have been around the Defense Department most of my adult life and when I hear a member of Congress say that we cannot cut defense as it will hurt our troops, I cringe.  Guess when you are bought and paid for, you don't want to see all the wasted dollars especially when the waste comes from the same people who fund your campaign and provide committee members. 

My husband used to visit Northrop when he was heading programs for the MX Missile and then Minuteman.            I had seen the major companies come to the Command Section in the Headquarters trying to influence contracts for the Air Force Materiel Command but it was nothing compared to what I saw out of Northrop trying to influence the Ballistic Missile Office (BMO).   This doesn't shock me even a little but the fact a Republican Chair is involved disappoints me but I should know from experience that is how the DoD budget and especially the Air Force which I know best gets so bloated.  This I admit takes it to a new level:

Report: Northrop Grumman Employee Paid Bonus Before Joining House Committee

By Andrew Joseph

June 11, 2012 | 2:08 p.m.

Lee Fang of Republic Report reports on how Northrop Grumman paid an employee a six-figure bonus before he joined the House Armed Services Committee as a staffer:

In 2011, after Republicans seized the House of Representatives in a landslide victory, the House Armed Services Committee, which oversees the military, gained a new chairman, Representative Buck McKeon (R-CA). As with most leadership changes, McKeon and his committee hired new professional staff. Thomas MacKenzie, a vice president at Northrop Grumman, was tapped to work for the committee beginning in March of 2011.

There are many examples of lobbyists burrowing into government to work in policy areas that impact their former employers. These lobbyists, as Public Citizen's Craig Holman, an expert on lobbying, has explained, seem happy to accept low-paid public service salaries, perhaps because they can expect extremely high pay once they return to K Street.

In MacKenzie's case, Northrop Grumman made sure he had extra cash before he went to work writing policy on the defense budget. Republic Report viewed a recently filed ethics disclosure form, and found that Northrop Grumman paid MacKenzie a $498,334 bonus in 2011, just before he went to work under McKeon as a committee staffer. The bonus was almost the size of MacKenzie's annual salary at the firm, which was $529,379 in 2010.

Neither MacKenzie or the House Armed Services Committee communications director responded to multiple requests for comment from Republic Report. As a congressional staffer, MacKenzie now makes close to $100,000 a year.

Source:  Influence Alley of the National Journal 

The Legacy of George W. Bush

As I was looking for an article for today, an email from the George W Bush Presidential Center arrived in my inbox.  After reading. I decided today was a perfect to day to share the article about what President Bush has been doing about the healthcare crises in Africa in coordination with President Obama, Hillary Clinton, Condi Rice, members of Congress and many others.   The article is long but well worth the read to discover what has been happening in Africa after George W Bush made attacking AIDS in Africa a priority.

Secretary of State Condi Rice brought the plight of Africa healthcare to then Governor Bush years ago.  When you read what has been accomplished because of George W. Bush not being willing to turn his back on Africa, it gives you chills that he has made this a priority.  What a legacy he is leaving and is a road map for what can be accomplished when people work together no matter their ideology as we can all come together to help others less fortunate.

This article makes me realize that man running for Governor of Texas was destined to be our Governor, our President, and now a Humanitarian.  When he said he was a 'compassionate' conservative he meant it and now as a former President has shown what can be done.  You don't have to agree with President Bush on every issue but one thing that cannot be denied is his compassion for others which is not just words but he lives it giving to those less fortunate hope for a better future.  There is little media coverage about the former President which is what he wants.

Realizing that donations to the George W Bush Presidential Center are so far reaching makes me happy that I decided to donate there this year instead of to politicians.  What a legacy our former President and Commander in Chief is leaving.  Great job Mr. President!

Bringing Africa Back to Life: The Legacy of George W. Bush

Posted by: Eric G. Bing

Posted date: June 11, 2012

The below article by Jim Landers was published in the Dallas Morning News on June 8, 2012. The article highlights the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which began under President George W. Bush and is the cornerstone of President Obama’s Global Health Initiative. PEPFAR is responsible for saving millions of lives in Africa and beyond. Today President Bush builds upon the success of PEPFAR through the Global Health Program at the George W. Bush Presidential Center. The program’s key initiative, featured in the below article, is Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon, an innovative partnership to leverage public and private investments in global health to combat cervical and breast cancer – two of the leading causes of cancer death in women – in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. Led by the George W. Bush Institute, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), Susan G. Komen for the Cure, and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon will expand the availability of vital cervical cancer screening and treatment—especially for high-risk HIV-positive women – and also promote breast cancer education. The partnership will further the mission of saving lives of women in developing nations.


The article can be found on the Dallas Morning News online here.

Image taken on a recent trip by President and Mrs. Bush to Tanzania, Zambia and Ethiopia to demonstrate a continued commitment to the people of Africa. For more information on the Bush Family’s 2011 trip to Africa click here.

Bringing Africa Back to Life: The Legacy of George W. Bush

LUSAKA, Zambia — On a beautiful Saturday morning, Delfi Nyankombe stood among her bracelets and necklaces at a churchyard bazaar and pondered a question: What do you think of George W. Bush?

“George Bush is a great man,” she answered. “He tried to help poor countries like Zambia when we were really hurting from AIDS. He empowered us, especially women, when the number of people dying was frightening. Now we are able to live.”

Nyankombe, 38, is a mother of three girls. She also admires the former president because of his current campaign to corral cervical cancer. Few are screened for the disease, and it now kills more Zambian women than any other cancer.

“By the time a woman knows, she may need radiation or chemotherapy that can have awful side effects, like fistula,” she said. “This is a big problem in Zambia, and he’s still helping us.”

The debate over a president’s legacy lasts many years longer than his term of office. At home, there’s still no consensus about the 2001-09 record of George W. Bush, with its wars and economic turmoil.

In Africa, he’s a hero.

“No American president has done more for Africa,” said Festus Mogae, who served as president of Botswana from 1998 to 2008. “It’s not only me saying that. All of my colleagues agree.”

AIDS was an inferno burning through sub-Saharan Africa. The American people, led by Bush, checked that fire and saved millions of lives.

People with immune systems badly weakened by HIV were given anti-retroviral drugs that stopped the progression of the disease. Mothers and newborns were given drugs that stopped the transmission of the virus from one generation to the next. Clinics were built. Doctors and nurses and lay workers were trained. A wrenching cultural conversation about sexual practices broadened, fueled by American money promoting abstinence, fidelity and the use of condoms.

“We kept this country from falling off the edge of a cliff,” said Mark Storella, the U.S. ambassador to Zambia. “We’ve saved hundreds of thousands of lives. We’ve assisted over a million orphans. We’ve created a partnership with Zambia that gives us the possibility of walking the path to an AIDS-free generation. This is an enormous achievement.”

Bush remains active in African health. Last September, he launched a new program — dubbed Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon — to tackle cervical and breast cancer among African women. The program has 14 co-sponsors, including the Obama administration.

Falling death rates


Nyankombe sells colorful batiks, purses and other crafts to benefit Mothers without Borders, a charity that looks after orphans. When AIDS tore unchecked through southern Africa, millions of children lost their parents. Nearly one in five children in countries like Malawi and Lesotho were orphaned. In Zambia, it was one in four.

A decade ago, AIDS was killing 630 of every 100,000 Zambians, according to the World Health Organization. That was 100 times the AIDS death rate in the United States.

In neighboring Botswana, the toll was 750 of every 100,000 people. That was four times the rate for the leading cause of death among Texans (heart disease).

In 2001, four in 10 adults in Botswana were infected with HIV. President Mogae went before the United Nations to plead for the life of his country.

“We are threatened with extinction,” he said. “People are dying in chillingly high numbers. It is a crisis of the first magnitude.”

Bush, with bipartisan support from Congress and $15 billion, mobilized the U.S. government with the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. In 2008, Congress agreed to provide $38 billion more.
By the time Bush left office, the death rate from AIDS had fallen more than 60 percent in Botswana. There are now 330,000 taking anti-retroviral drugs.

The death rate fell by nearly half in Zambia. There are 418,000 Zambians taking the drugs.
One of them is 46-year-old Teddy Njapau. He makes a living as a Lusaka sidewalk peddler selling copper and brass jewelry with bits of malachite and other stones added for color. He’s been HIV-positive for at least five years.

“After my wife and I separated, I got sick,” he said.

Njapau takes anti-retroviral drugs supplied free at government clinics.

“They’re helping me very much,” he said. “Without them, I don’t know where I’d be now.”

“George Bush is a good man,” he added.

‘Moral responsibility’


AIDS is still an incurable disease. Anti-retroviral drugs keep people alive but must be taken daily. Erratic use can lead to drug resistance. Unless prevention slows the spread of the disease, more and more people will need to go on drug therapy — risking an expanding, open-ended commitment of U.S. tax money.

Bush’s achievement endures because of continuing support from President Barack Obama and Congress and also because of progress in slowing the rate of infection. The percentage of adults living with HIV has fallen in 22 African countries, according to the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS.

Drug treatments are themselves one of the most important prevention measures, since people taking anti-retroviral drugs are less infectious. Another success has been saving infants from being born with the disease when their mothers are HIV-positive. Before U.S. assistance became available, four in 10 HIV-positive mothers in Botswana transmitted the disease to their children. It’s now down to 4 percent.

Dr. Mark Dybul, who served in the Bush White House and as the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, remembers that many AIDS specialists doubted the program could succeed.

“When we started, people said, ‘Africans can’t possibly do this. They don’t have the education. They don’t have the infrastructure,’” Dybul said. “Bush refused to accept that. He had a visceral reaction against the idea that Africa cannot do it. He also felt we have a moral responsibility not to let 30 million people die, that it wasn’t morally acceptable.”

The former president has said he was urged by Condoleezza Rice, who became his national security adviser and then secretary of state, to help Africa beat back the plague of AIDS.

“When I first got going, Condi Rice and I had a discussion at the Governor’s Mansion about the importance of Africa,” Bush said in an interview with this newspaper in December.

“What got me interested was the AIDS pandemic. I didn’t want to look back at a presidency that did nothing about a pandemic that was destroying a generation. When I got into office, the devastation was becoming so real that to have done nothing about it as president of the wealthiest nation would have been immoral.”

Bushes’ commitment


As the death toll from AIDS has ebbed, other killers have emerged. Women who were living with U.S.-supplied drugs that checked the advance of AIDS were dying from another infectious disease.
“It’s not enough to save a woman from dying from AIDS and have her succumb to cervical cancer. It’s unacceptable,” Bush said in September, when he announced an $85 million campaign against women’s cancers led by his SMU-based presidential institute.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, attending the kickoff event, praised the former president and said the Obama administration would provide $30 million of the funding.

Clinton kiddingly thanked former first lady Laura Bush and daughter Barbara Bush “for getting him to do it,” then added, “What we see here is a continuation of the Bush family’s commitment to global health, especially to the health of women, and in particular to the women of Africa.”

As part of the Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon campaign, Bush said, he wants to cut the cervical cancer death rate by 25 percent. There are 15 partners, including the United Nations; the Dallas-based Susan G. Komen Foundation; the drug companies Merck, Bristol-Meyers Squibb and GlaxoSmithKline; and the Caris Foundation, a medical mission based in Irving.

The executive director of Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon is Doyin Oluwole, a Nigerian physician now living in Dallas who has spent decades working on Africa’s myriad health problems. She was in Lusaka recently to see how quickly the campaign could boost Zambia’s cervical cancer screening and treatment into a model of excellence for Africa.

Oluwole told Zambian officials she carried a charge from her boss to save lives, and to do it quickly.
“President Bush is on our backs to ask what we have done in Zambia. He wants to know we are not just talking, but what we are doing,” she declared in one meeting. “I want to know at the end of six months how many lives we have touched, because without this, I will not leave Zambia.”

Cancer of the cervix is typically caused by a sexually transmitted virus. It is picked up by more than 6 million Americans every year.

Ninety percent of those infections are fought off by the host’s immune system. Years later, however, the surviving virus can start causing cancerous lesions on a woman’s cervix. If unchecked, the lesions can become tumors, and cancer can spread to other parts of the body.

Before Pap smear exams became routine, cervical cancer killed more American women than any other form of the disease. Today about 12,000 American women come down with cervical cancer every year; about 4,000 die from it, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Cancer care crisis


Hardly any Zambian women get Pap smear tests.

There are 1,300 doctors in Zambia, a country with 14.3 million people. There are just 15 gynecologists.
One of those is Christine Kaseba, the wife of Zambian President Michael Sata. She is hosting a meeting of African first ladies in July to discuss women’s cancers.

Another of Zambia’s few gynecologists is Groesbeck Parham, a tall man with a gray Afro and an Alabama accent. In the United States, Parham earned degrees as an ob/gyn and oncologist at Alabama and California. He’s also studied in London, Kenya and Sudan. He was active in the U.S. civil rights movement and then promoted healthy diets among black Americans.

He came to Zambia in 2005 to direct the cervical cancer program for Zambia’s Ministry of Health.
The problem was acute. Between 2002 and 2007, some 4,500 Zambian women needed chemotherapy or radiation treatment for advanced cervical cancer.

“Three hundred and fifty were sent to South Africa for treatment,” Parham remembered. “The rest died.”
Because of their weakened immune systems, HIV-positive women are much more likely to develop cervical cancer — and at a younger age. Zambia needed a screening program in a hurry.

Pap smears take cell samples from a woman’s cervix that need to be examined by a pathologist — a process that, in many parts of Africa, can take months or even a year. If there’s a problem, the patient needs to come back for further treatment. But even finding her again can be a challenge.

Parham turned to a simple screening process using household vinegar.

When smeared on the cervix, vinegar turns lesions white. The screener takes a digital photo of the cervix that can be examined closely on a laptop computer screen. If the lesions are significant but still in an early stage, they can be burned off during the exam session with liquid nitrogen.

Empowering nurses


With so few gynecologists in the country, Parham trained nurses to do the work, and they, in turn, are training other nurses. They’ve now done more than 80,000 screenings.

More serious cases get referred to Lusaka’s University Teaching Hospital, where Parham and his colleagues perform surgeries. The hospital now has a cancer center that provides radiation and chemotherapy as well.
Bush came to Lusaka in December to see for himself how this was working. He visited the George Clinic (named for an old property owner) in a poor part of the city. Thousands of Zambians squashed together nearby, hoping to catch a glimpse of the former president.

“There were crowds of people jumping over each other to see and touch him,” said Storella, the U.S. ambassador.

When Oluwole came to Lusaka, Parham described how $4.5 million to $5 million could turn Zambia’s cervical cancer program into a center of excellence for all Africa. Nurses and doctors from across the continent would come to Lusaka for training, including surgical techniques. Clinics would be extended across Zambia and then elsewhere to provide screening for both cervical and breast cancer.

Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon is trying to help Parham realize his dream.

Zambia’s Ministry of Health, meanwhile, plans to start vaccinating schoolgirls later this year to make them immune to the strains of the human papillomavirus that cause cervical cancer. The work has started with an education campaign aimed at the girls’ parents

The current focus of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief is on seeing host countries take over the effort as they are able, so that the work can be sustained into the future.

Oluwole says the most important accomplishment of the American anti-AIDS campaign was to help Africans turn from a plague of death to the struggles and joys of ordinary life.

Jeb Bush: Reagan and George H.W. Bush Would Have 'Hard Time' In Modern GOP

I couldn't agree more.  Would also like to add George W. Bush to the list because he doesn't fit the mold of today's selfish Republicans.

Now I am beginning to wonder if Bush 41 saw Romney as someone who would work across the aisle and that is why he supported him so hard originally in 2008 because it never made sense.  Romney was an independent during the Reagan/Bush years starting in 1976 and ending in 1994.  During the 12 years of Reagan/Bush, Romney was not even a member of the Republican Party.  No wonder today's Republican Party is so different with Romney people in charge.  Did Romney play up to Bush 41 getting him on his side initially with pandering and telling him what he wanted to hear?  We will never know but Romney will say and do anything to get elected as evidenced with trying to buy this election with his friends from Wall Street and K Street not to mention his Mormon church who happens to be building a large mall.  Wonder if they have their money offshore in the Cayman's like Romney and Bain Capital?

If Romney treating this election like a hostile takeover he orchestrated with companies when he was head of Bain Capital?  It sure looks like it from the perspective of a lot of Republicans.  If you don't agree with Romney, you are supposed to sit down, shut up, and vote for him in November no matter what.

While I was outside this morning tackling my grass, I was trying to figure out why today's Republican Party is so different and so anti when the word compromise arises even if it is for the good of the whole Country.  Then I come in the house for a break and read this statement from Jeb and all a sudden it makes sense.

I am flabbergasted at times the words that come out of the House and now you can add Romney to that list. Even Scott Walker threw Romney under the bus about Wisconsin as Romney didn't have a clue what the Wisconsin deal was all about.  It wasn't about not hiring teachers, firemen, and police officers, it was about public service unions and their overreach:

“The answer’s not more big government. I know in my state, our reforms allowed us to protect firefighters, police officers and teachers. That’s not what I think of when I think of big government.”

Is George W Bush going to be the last nominee of the Republican Party who is a compassionate person which doesn't fly in today's Republican Party which is turning into the party of greed as evidenced by the protection of wealthy taxpayers and their low tax rates for starters. When I saw House Republicans want to cut food stamps in this economy but keep the low tax rates for the wealthy, I just shook my head.  That same group has also cut the budget of the US Forest Service who is facing wildfires once again this year.  Is this group about just let the West burn -- nothing there.  Looks like we are back to being flyover country except when Romney wants money from donors.

Then we have the logjam of the transportation budget to fund roads and bridges in our states.  Know some say it is not necessary but when you live in a state that is 49th and you have unsafe bridges, that doesn't fly.  Is the real reason that the House knows that road and bridge money equals shovel ready jobs that contractors are waiting to start filling?  Would House Republicans be that insensitive to real jobs being created for work on our Nation's highways in order to make Obama look bad and get Romney elected.  I cannot even believe I typed that statement but that is the way it is looking.

Federal highways should be fully funded but the Republicans in the House are stonewalling.  The way some Republicans including House members acted when the poor job numbers came in with the high fiving and being so happy, it dawned on my that just maybe this logjam is on purpose to make Obama's reelection harder while the American people in many instances continue to struggle.  Do I think they would really do that?  If you read my email from all these so-called 'conservative' groups that have sprung up, you wouldn't consider it a far fetched idea.  I am literally appalled at some of what I am reading.

I am so disgusted with this group of Republicans and have been saying that for sometime.  Finally looks like I have my answer -- this is not the party of Reagan but the part of greed and a party that could care less about regular people and their struggles as evidenced from some of their comments.  Now the GOP nominee goes after teachers, police and firemen saying we have enough and for good measure throws in the federal civil service employees as the reason for the economic disaster.  He plans to cut over 150,000 when he takes office no matter the number of new mandates which caused a lot of the hiring.

Republicans went after Perry with a vengeance on immigration and what was done to Bush 43 on immigration I still cannot believe.  We cannot deport all those people as our economy would collapse.  Are we supposed to deport parents of children born here or are they going to take away the citizenship of those children as some Republicans have suggested?

I don't know this Republican Party and frankly think they have lost all 'common sense' but then I know Democrats who are saying the same thing about the  Democrat Party.  We have a group of House members on both sides that are part of the 'my way or no way' class and if they don't get their way, they take the ball and go home.  To them their agenda is more important then the good for all America and the word 'compromise' is a dirty word even if it is the right thing to do. Neither party has all the right answers.  Some have turned into pretzels to match Romney and his agenda just like some Democrats have done with Obama.  WHY? They forget they don't just represent their Party in the House but represent every last person in their district be they Republican, Democrat, Independent, Libertarian, Reform, or no party affiliation.    

Jeb Bush: Reagan, George H.W. Bush Would Have 'Hard Time' In Modern GOP
By Jonathan Miller Updated: June 11, 2012 | 10:23 a.m.
June 11, 2012 | 10:03 a.m. 

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said on Monday that both his father, George H.W. Bush, and Ronald Reagan would have a “hard time” finding a place in today’s GOP, according to BuzzFeed.

"They would have a hard time if you define the Republican party — and I don’t — as having an orthodoxy that doesn't allow for disagreement, doesn't allow for finding some common ground," Bush said, according to the website.  

He added: "Back to my dad’s time and Ronald Reagan’s time – they got a lot of stuff done with a lot of bipartisan support," he said. Reagan "would be criticized for doing the things that he did."

In February, Bush said he found the tone of the GOP nomination process “a little troubling.”

Source:  National Journal

Are the Elites Out to Repeat LBJ and Nixon Years?

Looks like elites want to take us back to the failed days of LBJ policy and Nixon secrecy which makes my head swim and ask the question "WHY?"  Do elites never admit they made a mistake?  They are always right no matter if something fails -- it is all of us who just don't understand them and their way of governing.  (sarcasm)

Do they want gimmicks like Romney did in MA as Governor and Huckabee in AR -- raise fees and then brag about they didn't raise taxes.  That is short term fix not a long term one.  Cutting tax loopholes should be in play not cutting taxes across the board until the economy is in better shape.  Laying off federal employees like Romney wants to do when he takes office will send this Country into more of a tailspin but then as he said before he "likes to fire people" and smiles.

When are going to get candidates with new ideas who understand the vast majority of the American people and what we go through on a daily basis?  This election is about two out of touch candidates although no one can be more out of touch then Romney.

Quotation of the Day…
by Don Boudreaux on June 11, 2012 

… is from page 161 of Robert Higgs’s 2012 book Delusions of Power (original emphasis; link added); here, Bob is writing about policy-making in the U.S. during the reign of LBJ:

Had economic theorists rested content with using the microeconomics of the Neoclassical Synthesis strictly as a conceptual device employed in abstract reasoning, it might have done little damage. However, as I have already suggested, this type of theory cried out for application, which in practice was nearly always misapplication. The idealized conditions required for theoretical general-equilibrium efficiency could not possibly obtain in the real world, yet the economists readily endorsed government measures aimed at coercively pounding the real world into conformity with these impossible theoretical conditions. Closely examined, such efforts represented a form of madness.

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Source:  Cafe Hayek

Mitt Romney Being Honest: We don’t need more cops, firefighters or teachers

Mitt Romney was finally honest and we saw one of the points he said if we knew we wouldn't vote for him.  Police organizations have always been fairly pro-Republican but after Romney's comments why would they want to be part of Romney's Republican Party?

Romney made the comments in response to Obama’s presser today, at which the president claimed the “private sector is doing fine.” Per CNN:

Romney said of Obama, “he wants another stimulus, he wants to hire more government workers. He says we need more fireman, more policeman, more teachers. Did he not get the message of Wisconsin? The American people did. It’s time for us to cut back on government and help the American people.”

Excuse me but how does cutting back on fire protection, police protection, and teachers help the American people?  Governor Walker who Romney cites exempted policemen and firemen from his cutting in Wisconsin.  It was also about bargaining rights for employees by the unions.  Romney cannot even get that right.

Romney believes class size doesn't matter and who needs special ed when other kids can help the students in Romneyland.  He is so anti-public education, it blows my mind.  No wonder Jeb Bush this week praised Obama's education policy and talked about what a good job the Education Secretary is doing.  In fact, I would agree with the Secretary Duncan and what he has done to lessen the mandates on local communities.  Looks like his problem in Chicago was the school board because he has done a very good job as Secretary of Education -- one of the best as a matter of fact.  Why would anyone support Romney who thinks nothing of paling around with the Wall Street wealthy who got us in this mess but when it comes to jobs in your community, we don't need them?

What we don't need is Mitt Romney for President or anywhere near the White House with his archaic ideas.     He talks about the growth of Government then he needs to look no further then when the Republicans controlled Congress and Pres Bush was President during the first decade of the century.  Between Department of Defense, Homeland Security, No Child Left Behind, and Prescription Drug Program for starters, the rolls of public employees in the Federal Government grew.  Guess Romney forgets about 9/11 like he does so many other things that would hurt his narrative.  Then we have Republicans growing the staffs of committees with Democrats following to grow the staffs even more.  Both parties today in DC are big government types.  The growth of Government has been going on for years.  Republicans blaming Democrats for growth of Government is hypocritical but we see that a lot today.

Does Romney plan to start terminating massive amounts of federal employees and drive up the unemployment numbers even more?

As Romney recently put it: “We have 145,000 more government workers under this president. Let’s send them home and put you back to work.” 

So he does want to put 145,000 government workers out of work sending them to the unemployment lines as they are to blame for the economic problems in the short sighted view of Romey and Republicans. You can probably cut some of these people but the reason jobs have grown is the mandates from Congress.  Every time they pass a bill and it is signed into law dictating new mandates on agencies, someone has to do the job.  The problem in DC is both parties were not willing to bite the bullet when the economy was good to trim Government.  Today trimming Government will send it into a tailspin but if you are a federal employee you are bilking the taxpayers in Romney's America (Romney's staff misspelled America and Reagan recently).  As a former federal employee who worked a lot of overtime hours due to lack of staff, I resent his remarks.  When my husband was at the Ballistic Missile Office at Nortorn AFB, CA, I did a lot of his unclassified work at home because their staff was so thin.

If it is for about saving taxpayer dollars, how about Romney paying his fair share along with his fellow Wall Street buddies plus require all the offshore accounts by the wealthy be brought back into this Country?  When the wealthy put their money overseas and would rather pay foreign government's tax, then we have a major problems.

For Romney to talk about NOT needing more cops, firefighters, or teachers shows he has absolutely no idea how most people live.  We need to be giving our children the best education possible which means more teachers.  I could understand administrators but he said teachers.  Wanting to cram students in classrooms that are built for 25 max is just flat out wrong.

Romney wouldn't like Norman as we are building a new elementary school to relieve overcrowding.  Right after we moved to Norman, they added a second high school because of overcrowding.  In our school district when cuts come down first hit are administrators.  We value public schools in Norman and it shows as our two high schools are some of the best in the Country because administrators, teachers, parents, and the community work together.  Our police and fireman I would put up with anyone but as a community grows you need to add more.  Our corporation limit stretches for miles because of the open farm land in west and east Norman .  Adding more police and firemen make sure they are fresh and are not working so much overtime.

In Romney's America we don't need more law enforcement even though gangs still are a problem in the cities and in some areas have gotten worse as they have moved into rural America?  Guess he forgot about the huge fires burning in NM and throughout the west due to drought conditions or he doesn't care.  I opting for he doesn't care since he doesn't want more fire fighters.

Most of us could not afford to send our children to private schools like Mr. Romney so we want the best possible schools our tax dollars can buy.  Our children are owed a great education but then Romney doesn't think everyone should strive for higher education either if they cannot afford to pay for it.  What does Romney want?  More elitists snobs running this Country?

Posted at 03:25 PM ET, 06/08/2012TheWashingtonPost

Mitt Romney: We don’t need more cops, firefighters or teachers 

By Greg Sargent

When Republicans attack public workers, they often take care to exempt cops and firefighters, because they are culturally sympathetic figures, and muddle the message that government workers are parasites who are destroying the economic conditions of ordinary Americans.

But today Mitt Romney got a good deal more specific, claiming we do not need to hire more cops or firefighters specifically, which would, he said, cut against the interests of the American people. He also specifically named teachers. 

(snip) 

It’s hard to argue that the message from Wisconsin was that Americans don’t think we should hire more firefighters and cops. They were exempted from Scott Walker’s crackdown on public employee bargaining rights, which enabled him to “divide and conquer” labor. 

But beyond that, this could resonate in the presidential race: It will allow the White House to reframe the debate over public sector workers and job creation on more favorable terms. 

One of the components of the American Jobs Act that Obama continues to demand that Republicans pass would invest $35 billion in federal funds to keep cops, firefighters, and teachers on the job. Republicans, Romney included, oppose this plan. Central to their argument against this type of investment is to keep the focus on public sector workers as a class, arguing that they are bilking the taxpayer and are to blame for the economic plight of struggling Americans.   

(snip) 

This time, however, Romney deserves points for honesty: He has forthrightly declared that the class of government workers holding back other Americans does include cops, firefighters and teachers. And in so doing, he has singlehandedly reframed the debate from one over despised government bureaucrats to one over whether we should hire more cops, firefighters and teachers to get the economy going. This is a debate the White House will be happy to have. 

Or, to put it another way: #WedgeFail! 

Excerpt:  Read More at The Washington Post

Does Romney plan to slash government pensions that we paid into the retirement fund?  This man has zero empathy for the Middle Class or Poor.  He is all about the rich and how they can get richer.  Not interested in any more of his trying to relate to the middle class because this says it all.  He wants no additional teachers (mostly women) who teach our children, no additional police who patrol our streets and keep us safe, and no more firefighters who protect our community not only from house/building fires but from wildfires, rescue people, and provide our ambulance/EMS.

Mitt Romney, the candidate of the wealthy, will never get my vote.  I would vote for Obama before I voted for Romney because frankly I think in many ways we have been lied to about him by the conservative media starting with Fox.  That said I am not voting for him either as I don't vote for liberals.  Romney's Republican Party is not one I recognize or worked for all these years.

I am taking my vote to the 'real' Republican in the race, former New Mexico Republican Governor Gary Johnson who is honest which is refreshing after all the dishonesty we have been seeing out of both parties.  He received the Libertarian nomination this past May.  I am not a Libertarian as there are issues I don't agree with but in this race I agree with Johnson at least 80% of the time and I agree with Romney almost 0% of the time because he is dishonest where he stands most of the time.  When he gets honest like this time, I agree with him 0%.