Senator McCain’s Naiveté

On the subject of torture Senator John McCain has stood firmly opposed to it on personal and moral reasons. Additionally he recognizes that Abu Ghraib was one of Al-Qaeda’s greatest recruitment tools. But as for following up and prosecuting those who violated American values by ordering and sanctifying torture, he believes nothing is to be gained by it. Today on Face the Nation, he stated that we need to move forward and put this behind us. Two reasons he gives are that “we’ve made a commitment that we will never do this again,” and that  “No administration, I believe, would ever do this again.”

Until I heard his words I was against prosecuting those responsible. Now I am reconsidering. I believe future administrations would do this again. Have you considered “Cheney 2012″ Senator McCain? And there others like him.

Tags: National Issues, Politics by Jay Stuart
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The Hipocrisy of Government Intervention

What constitutes government intervention clearly depends on which side of the aisle you’re sitting. Republicans appear to be most vocal opposing and issuing dire warnings about the dangers of government intervention. That is if the government is instituting new rules and regulations on businesses in order to protect consumers. However if two men or two women wish to marry each other it’s OK for the government to create a law against it. But that doesn’t seem to be government intervention. But this hypocrisy doesn’t end with domestic issues. [Read more →]

Tags: Politics by Jay Stuart
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Outrageous pay

Today’s NY Times took a hard look at pay for 200 chief executives at 198 public companies. And as you would expect there are eye-popping salaries including the $104 million for the head of Motorola,  $84 million for the head of Oracle and $51 million for the CEO of Disney. Now I’m not justifying these salaries, but they run companies; huge international companies that employ thousands of people and creates products we use, many essential to our daily lives.

Now let me get to my point.  Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees was paid $28 million in 2008, Jason Giambi $23 million and Derek Jeter $21.6 million. In other words they made more than the CEOs of Johnson & Johnson, IBM, Verizon, Pfizer, and Coca-Cola to name a few. Yes for playing baseball.

Firefighters (you remember, those brave men and women who ran into the World Trade Center to save others), police officers (men and women who put their lives on the line every day to keep you safe) medical researchers (men and women who try to discover causes and treatments to disease to improve your health) average about $50,000/year—Now that’s outrageous pay!

Maybe it’s time to get priorities straight.

Tags: Economy by Jay Stuart
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