The Seat of Government (Photo credit: Ewan-M)

Mistakes have grown to be even more costly today. In 1983 the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress discovered that the armed services and the Defense logistics Agency, which handles supplies for the Military, had been hiding billions of dollars in costly errors. They had said parts not available for tanks, ships, missiles, and aircraft when they were available. Causing millions of dollars on purchases of unneeded items. Fraud and criminal activity was ruled out. The whole fiasco was called shocking and declared, “it clearly strikes at the management of the defense supply system.”

The educational system gets it’s share of blame. They can’t get their facts or figures right either. The New York Board of Education erred in counting the number of disabled students and stood to lose $30 million in funds for 1982-83 school year. They had relied on the number of disabled students enrolled the year before. The mistake was never corrected and when asked why, a member on the Mayor’s board said, ” Because the Board of Education can’t count.” This is how errors cause waste, effecting citizens and frustrating taxpayers.

Ruby’s Articles:

http://trifter.com/usa-canada/GOP-exploits-the-poor/

http://socyberty.com/history/romney-and-the-GOP/

http://socyberty.com/government/poverty-guidelines/

United States Mint Police (Photo credit: cliff1066™)

As I sit here in my office and think about life in general it always comes back to the same thing no matter what it is always about politics. 

Politics in the nation, politics in the world, politics in the office and politics at home. Why does life have to be so dam political. Why is every decision every made dependent on someone else and their opinions. Why is how much we pay for gasoline or an orange depending on what the people in higher power believe it should be.

I often wonder what the future holds for all of us this these times of troubles. How long are regular Americans going to to able to survive when the weekly pay check of $300. ends up being $230. after we fill our gas tanks? Is it going to come down to feeding our families or having to fill the tank to get back and fourth for the 200 lousy dollars a week to survive.

I myself feel like I am  in sinking mode. No matter what I do there never seems to be enough money for everything especial with gas prices escalating to parts unknown and food prices also on the rise. How much can we all take before we just slide into the dark abise with no hopes of floating again? Rent, heat, lights, phone, food, gasoline, car repairs, these are just the tip of the ice burg of what Americans pay on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.

Is it going to take finding a second or a third job to be able to maintain? That is of course is if you can find one job. America the beautiful seems to be becoming America the struggle. Politics and politicians make our lives the way they are. Do they struggle daily and wonder where the hell their next meal is coming from? Of course not making the yearly salaries they do that won’t be a problem.

How far can this all go? Where is the light at the end of the tunnel or is this tunnel a never ending ride to no place good? I want to stop this train from hell and get back on the gravy train and once more plant my feet back on American soil with pride knowing that things will be alright and will change for the better.

I honestly don’t see much difference in America and third world countries at the moment, we too have people living in poverty with nothing but the shirts on their backs. The homeless are on the rise and have been for a very long time. Living in cars or under a bridge. Not knowing if you will get a job and even after that if you will be able to survive and tread water with the dollar amount written on your check at the end of the week.

I feel sad with the happenings of today, I feel sad for people who are good and try their best to make it all work, I feel sad because looking into the future is a grim sight. I don’t see anything changing for the better only for the worse. Whats next on the agenda taking those who are burdens out back and standing them in front of a wall to be shot? maybe in a long run it would be more humane. 

Sometimes  i believe cults and small groups of people trying to make their lives and others better have the right idea. They want to make a universe that is not all about struggle, but about unity and working together to make life better.

Yes I know I am ranting, but voicing my opinion on paper is all that I know. It is not hurting anyone and maybe it will make me feel better. Seeing woman with babies walking down the street holding signs that says we are hungry, or Veterans begging on the street corner makes me angry! In this place that is supposed to be wonderful and take care of their own and others around the world, I would say they are not doing a very good job!

Stopping world hunger is a joke for sure, America cannot even stop American hunger let alone any place else. Until the day that the politicians see what is really going on with the little guy and always seeming to make it harder just for us, I guess fixing things will not happen.

I don’t want to be rich, but I do know that working my ass off every single week for nothing is getting old. I am a good person and try to be the best I can, but it seems that makes no difference. I will continue to struggle and try to make ends meat but how long before my utilities have been turned off and there is no food in the frig. Being evicted from my apartment will be next and where will I go? Who will care if I am one of the many living on the streets with no place to go?

More of Mine:

Medical Oddities

Gout Causes and Effects

Living in This Day and Age in America

A journalistic scoop a few years ago led to serious legal difficulties for a top office-bearer of the party of former defence minister George Fernandes. Earlier this month, the defence ministry banned six foreign and two Indian companies for 10 years for allegedly being involved in the payment of hefty sums to the director-general of the ordnance board to secure the contract for setting up factories to produce specialised materials for artillery shells. The firms included the Israeli government company that manages much of that country’s defence exports to India, and Israel is now India’s second largest defence exporter.

Although we know a good deal about what goes on, it is still a shock to learn that a bribe-giver had the gumption to go right up to the Chief of the Indian Army and make an offer, and had the nerve to suggest to him not to be squeamish as others had happily accepted similarly sweetened deals. The CBI inquiry into the affair which was ordered by the defence ministry after a ruckus erupted in Parliament over this matter on Monday, will necessarily have to go into actions of some former Army Chiefs as well. But why didn’t the Chief, who enjoys a just reputation for integrity — exactly like defence minister A.K. Antony — not have his dubious interlocutor arrested on the spot? Asked about this in a television interview, Gen. Singh said he was too shocked as the vile suggestion was made by an officer just recently retired and was couched in indirect terms.

Gen. Singh said he went up to the defence minister right away and informed him of the episode. Questions do arise from this — such as what action did Mr Antony choose to take apart from “holding his head” and instructing the Chief not to let shady characters into our defence trade. Knowing our Parliament, it will probably get fixated on this issue (it must certainly investigate it though), and not pay attention to the wider (and pressing) question of corruption in defence purchases that could have the effect of selling our soldiers down the river in a military crisis. This is what happened when the Bofors revelations surfaced. The Opposition in India is obsessively preoccupied with narrow political advantage and looks askance at systems correction. India is now the world’s largest arms purchaser and must innovate tough norms on military purchases.

Some would say that responsibility begins at home. If that is true, then responsibility begins with the individual. If the individual does not educate himself on the facts, then how is he supposed to make an informed decision when called upon. Making a decision based upon emotions, gossip, and innuendos is not a responsible decision.

A politician is an individual who practices the science of politics; of gaining and holding power. He will use every resource in his bag of political tricks to woo the public to his side. It is his responsibility to gain political office. This may be self serving, but it is true It is the individual citizen’s responsibility to learn all there is about the candidate he wishes to support and vote for.  The candidate’s record,while in past and current offices, is a good source of information. Everything he did while in office will be documented and available to the public under the Freedom of Information Act. Do not rely on the candidate or other individuals to do the research for you. Be responsible and do the research yourself. When armed with factual, substantiated information, you can make an informed decision, not an emotional response,  to a political candidate’s potential for doing good or harm if elected for his chosen office.

We the people of the United States have been granted the right to vote. With that right comes a responsibility to see that we make a decision based upon informed consent. It would be irresponsible if we chose our next President, Congressmen, or Senator, based upon an emotional response. If we grant power to those who would lead us, then we must take the responsibility to see that we choose wisely and monitor their actions while in office. If we choose unwisely, then we will be asking the same question again- Who is accountable for our nation’s woes?

Though, as stated before, if the trend of how we the citizens of the United States exercise our role in the government continues, there will be a SOPA passed. The problem with people today is they don’t care. Wikipedia, Craigslist etc. did a great job of spreading the word about SOPA; which was great. Though if people don’t put more than 2 minutes of care in, then nothing will change. It’s easy to read a small paragraph followed by clicking a link to sign a petition, anyone can do it. What we really need to do is take it to the next step. The citizens of the United States have a louder voice than it appears, and it’s called voting. These people supporting SOPA and PIPA are elected officials and big business crying over 1.6 billion in revenue apposed to 1.67 billion. We have the control over who runs our country.

If you really want to make a difference, and see SOPA and PIPA put to rest indeffinitly, you need to go out and VOTE. Otherwise these bills will continue to pop up, and one will eventually pass through congress.

     The prison system in this country is costing you and me 55 billion to 65 billion dollars each year.  There are over 2 million people incarcerated at any given time in this country.

Isn’t it funny that no political candidates ever talked about this part of our society when they are trying to tell us that we are out of money as a nation, and have to pay for this entire deficit by raising taxes?  Do you know that the government is worried more about a prisoner’s rights and care then the youth of this country?  They don’t want anyone to commit the “no no” by saying, hey guys I know where we can come up with a few billion.  We can make cuts in the prison system and then we don’t have to cut the education system.  The prison system has been a failure and is so overcrowded and miss handled that it can be considered completely out of control and billions over budget.  Since when does a prisoner have rights other than to an appeal on their own personal cases, which they should have? This government gives them three meals a day, the best of medical care and even an education.  Your children have to bring their own paper to school and have no medical care.  I don’t know about you but I think we just found our futures Social Security money.  I know most of you never knew that billions and billions of tax payer dollars are being wasted on convicts.  The reason is that the government doesn’t want you to know.  The figures are public and you can Google them anytime, but this is one of those areas the government would rather you didn’t see or talk about.  We are paying through the nose as citizens of this nation and asked to believe that we need to pay more taxes for the government to make ends meet.  Folks all we have to do is add many billions of convict money to the many billions given away to foreign countries under the lie of federal security, and there we have it.  Education, medical, and food paid for.  As for the prisons, as bad and as overcrowded they are they are still paradise compared to most prisons in the world.  We give our criminals more rights and freebees than we do our law abiding citizens.  We need to start to put prisoners to work for their keep and if they don’t they stay locked up tight.  They need to work for food and medical care and pay the same prices for school as I do.  I promise you that I can take care of the whole system and save billions of dollars in one years’ time just by making changes in jails across the land.  You want to go to jail; it won’t be a vacation with three hot’s and a cot anymore.  By the way remember I am a Criminal Justice Specialist and I know what I am talking about here.  Just think about how many schools can be painted at night or during summers, how many government buildings can be clean and updated, how many roads and cities can be cleaned, hundreds of products can be produced at a lower cost by those who lost their rights to a fair living and are paying for their crimes by being a help not a burden to others.  I am talking about organized work and not the old chain gang although the chain gang works good for criminals that can’t work on a more relaxed team.  I am no longer willing to use my tax dollars for criminal upkeep, are you?  I would agree to cut about 40 billion and put the other 25 billion together in order to create the programs that would make even the prisoners contributors to society.  Believe it or not this chapter opens a big can of government worms and I hope will make the government by way of those of you reading this book explain why making prisons an asset to society is a bad thing.  I want to know how much of this money will pay for our poor, uneducated and medically uncared for in this country.  It is time we take a stand against this type of spending and put the money where it belongs, in the pockets and the programs of the decent hard working citizens of this nation.  Don’t believe we as the people of this country don’t have money and have to pay more taxes; in fact we are a very wealthy nation and actually have enough money to run the country and give back to you and I what we put in.  All we have to do is become the government of the people and by the people, again. 

     After looking at this area of government miss use of funds and the foreign miss use of funds alone we have to come to the conclusion that our government as it stands today is a detriment to the working man in this country, and an embarrassment to all of us.  I didn’t write this article in order to break down the prison system and tell you what changes can be made here.  I don’t think it would take long for many of us to come up with some great ideas that would work just fine.  By writing this chapter I want you to see another hidden area of government, and one that is hidden in plain sight.  When I look at 65 billion wasted dollars and sit at a desk doing my bills and see what I am asked to pay for medical care, insurances, and education, I don’t know about you, but I get mad as Hell!

The Scope of Speech

We use speech inter culturally.  We communicate inter personally.  We turn to our telephones and talk with machines that are able to recognize speech and give answers.  For some, this can be rather tedious and annoying especially if a person is seeking an immediate answer to a pressing problem.  We want to speak to a person.  But there is no one on the line.  Talking machines are the face of many businesses today.

Intercultural speakers are always intriguing.  Some have different accents which are difficult to understand unless a person is from a particular country or region.  Some insensitive individuals laugh about this, while others become irritated or exercise patience.  It is always a challenge to watch a foreign film where the speakers are supposed to be English speakers and much of it we do not understand because of the accent.

There are remarkable differences between an Indian, Nigerian, Spanish, Italian, and British speakers of English.  Many in the West considers the Queen’s English as being the perfect English.  Some cockney speakers in England may not be understandable in the West.  It is however noteworthy that broadcasts from the BBC are well received in the United States.  It leaves a person to conclude that generally the well educated have no problems communicating among themselves.  They tend to set the standard for us to follow.

Speech Limitations

To many being behind a microphone on the radio is one thing, but in face-to-face conversation is another.  Here we learn that speech communication is also reinforced by non verbal cues.  Speech and non verbal communication go hand in hand.  A person may be saying one thing but his body language is saying something else.  Some people believe that body language does not lie.  Others may fake sincerity by being emotional.  Their voice may crack and  they may even cry.  An experienced observer may look for these clues to determine their sincerity. 

There are those that argue that words cannot describe the way they truly feel.  This is also true.  A person may be shouting and screaming.  What does this mean?  Is it because that person is in pain?  Is it because that individual is experiencing a flight of ecstasy?  One could never tell unless we know for sure under which conditions these sounds are occurring.       

Speech in Therapy

A person may be able to benefit through speech via a trained therapist.  While in therapy such a patient may be able to recall painful and not so painful events in his life.  These are analyzed, discussed, and an understanding of the issues that have been troubling him are explored.  The therapist and patient are able to tap into the root causes of his problems and the patient eventually learns to deal with them.

These revelations may take weeks, months, or years.  At first, this patient may resist opening up to the therapist for he considers much of the information that has been eating away at him private.  Nevertheless, as they proceed, there are moments when both the therapist and the patient encounter glimmers of hope.  The patient eventually comes to trust his therapist.

Trust

Regardless how great a speaker a person may be, if there is no trust between the speaker and his audience all is for nought.  In most situations, like the therapist and the patient, this trust may build gradually.  Some prominent people may be fortunate for they have developed a reputation that precedes them.  These are generally film stars, authority figures, and opinion leaders in the society.  In politics some may argue that they only trust democrats while others say that republicans are the real deal and so it goes.

Having trust in the leaders of the country is essential.  Much of it comes from the things that they say.  That is why in order to make us believe in their positions many politicians appeal to fundamental identifiers like patriotism, the flag, and love of country.  Those are core things with which many citizens identify.  They may have nothing to do with policy statements which can be controversial and some go so far as to drive fear in our hearts to win our trust.

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Speech is a common denominator on which we all rely.  It takes different forms and are spoken in many languages 

Image by bitmask via Flickr

Image by The Library of Congress via Flickr

around the world, but regardless where it is spoken, it serves as our guiding light.  Without it society would be a completely different place.

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My one thought that keeps coming to mind is if these politicians are wasting all this money to be elected, how much money will they waste if they are elected. I mean lets face it once in the position to spend money they intend to do just that. Each of the politicians will say what they think the public wants to hear, they do not disclose what they intend to spend in order to give those things each area of the country wants.

Just once I would like to see a politician say he will limit his campaign spending to XX amount of dollars and then stay with in that amount. Then tell those who would donate to his or her campaign to donate or give to those agencies that are helping the less fortunate. Those millions of dollars spent on advertising could go to United Way, Red Cross, relief agencies in disaster areas and help to feed the poor.

If you want my vote don’t tell me how you will reduce taxes for the rich, or how you are going to eliminate costly programs that help the old and the needy. I would like to hear you say I am going to use my campaign funds to get the economy back on its feet.

Here are some of my solutions:

1. Limit out sourcing; If companies want to out source to other countries they need to pay a penalty for costing jobs in the US.

2. Stop the paperwork; with the new age of computers there is less need for multiple copies of documents. If someone needs a copy they can read it on the computer or download it as needed. Each time there is a change to a law or a tax code the entire code is reprinted. Millions of dollars are wasted not to say anything about the trees we lose.

3. Reduce the money spent for military equipment; Yes we need modern weapons, but do we need convenient items at absorbent prices. The GEO is still wasting millions because of over sites on cost of items. Why do the weapons and ammunition we buy have to cost so much. if someone wants to do business with the US Government then the cost of the items should be equal to or less than what you would pay locally.  

4. Make congress have to use the same rules as everyone else; elected official have made themselves a nice little comfort zone for themselves while at the same time enacting laws that they don’t have to abide by. If we put limits to times served like we do with the presidency I feel there would a lot less me me me and more us .

if you have read this far perhaps you as well as me should encourage others to make their issues known and tell these politicians , no matter what party they be in, that it is time for change and it should start with them.