Marko Rubio

Marko Rubio

9/6/2011 9:17 AM EDT

 

I don't quite know what to think about 

Marco.

He seems like a real nice young man. He 

is an excellent speaker and obviously 

intelligent. The hard work of his 

immigrant parents to raise and

educate him is a true tribute to 

realization of the American Dream. Well 

Done.

I think he could probably be very

successful in anything he tries, 

but I worry about him. 

First of all, he is a product of the Florida 

Legislature which has been totally 

Republican controlled for years. Our 

legislature does not have the

best reputation for honesty and 

openness, and,

in the legislature they don't even bother 

to “compromise” with Democrats. Marco 

was used to getting his way, with little or 

no effort.

Although, not really a Tea Party member, 

he has been swept onto the forefront of 

the national scene by the movement and 

may feel some allegiance. This worries 

me. Politicians need to know how and 

when to compromise.He has 

demonstrated that he will not. I'm 

also worried about some of his speeches, 

which are eloquently done. However, like 

politicians on both sides of the aisle, he 

sometime speaks with forked tongue, 

regurgitating party mantra of half-truths 

and outright lies. In one speech

he praised Medicare for saving his father.

Couple days later, another speech, he 

wants to do away with medicare.

I think he's smart enough to know 

something about economics. If you need 

to create jobs, you can create make work 

projects like CCC and WPA, or you need 

to create a demand for products and 

services. This is sometimes done

by, cutting taxes on producers and/or

consumers. Bush 2, successfully did this 

with his first cut or taxpayer rebate, 

which provided a small pick-up in 

spending. Obama, tried the Stimulus, to 

increase consumer spending,

( Marco falsely called a total failure) which

CBO scored as creating 1.2 million jobs 

and probably saved, at least temporarily, 

more jobs. However, the Stimulus was 

not as successful as it should have been. 

Too many “non-shovel ready” jobs were 

really just political pork for members of 

both parties. 

Actually the Stimulus was not big 

enough. (I give Mario a “D” for his 

remark)

It may be that the economy crash of 2008 

was so severe that it was very close in 

intensity to the Great Depression and the 

economy may take nearly as long to 

recover. However, one of the things that 

extended the depression, was Roosevelt's 

change in tactics in 1937,

when he sharply curtailed spending at the

urging of Republicans, and some 

Democrats on his staff. This was an 

immediate catastrophe that was only 

overturned by the massive spending for 

armament preparing for WWII.

There are two things that are

counterproductive during a recession.

Increasing taxes, and cutting spending. 

Due to our enormous debt, it needs to be 

controlled, and brought down, but during 

the time of a very anemic recovery, 

drastic near term cuts

are counterproductive. Cutting taxes on 

the consumers might be helpful to 

stimulate spending, but cutting taxes on 

the wealthy producers, just doesn't make 

sense and Marco should know this. The 

wealthy, and corporations currently have 

plenty of money to hire, but there is no 

demand for their products and services. 

They didn't accumulate or retain

money by being dumb.

Marco knows, or should know, that now 

is not the time for draconian action, like 

failing to increase the debt ceiling, and 

simultaneously cutting spending . The 

ceiling needs to be raised, and the cuts 

need to be further in the future. The 

wisest move for the present, would

be to let expire the Bush tax cuts (for the 

rich).

The Balance Budget Amendment might 

also be a good idea, but not while you're 

trying to dig your way out of a hole 

created by generations of politicians. The 

current crisis is self made

and just being exploited to defeat 

Obama, country be damned. The 

Balanced Budget Amendment could have 

been initiated when the Reps were in 

total control, or when they are again.

I would feel a lot better about Marco, if 

some of John McCain would rub off on 

him. John sometimes is a little irrational, 

but he loves his country, and when he 

sees his party, or an individual, acting 

against the best interest of

the country—he speaks out. Marco 

appears to be falling in line as a political 

hack, putting his career and his party 

above all his constituents

(which are not only republican, but 

democrat, and independent also). and the 

best interest of America. I hope he 

realizes this soon, before

he takes a leadership role.

Unfortunately Marco's father died last 

year and now his mother is extremely ill. 

My sympathy goes out to him and his 

family and I hope his mother has a 

speedy and full recovery, and

perhaps these unfortunate events will 

soften his rather strident views regarding 

the less fortunate among us.  

Friendly animals

I was sitting on the small tower on the bow of my

 boat, returning from a day of fishing, around Sanibel

 Island when I heard a strange noise.  Frequently sea

 gulls and terns would follow me and they would 

squawk for a free meal, but this was a different and

 out of place sound.  After looking all around, I finally 

spotted a Cockatiel, right above my head.  I stopped

 the boat and the bird immediately landed on the

 fishing nest in the stern of the boat.  I went back and

 picked up the exhausted  bird and looked around. 

 We were at least 3 miles from any dry land, so I

 carried the bird back to my little tower, placed him 

in my lap, and headed for my fishhouse.  The little bird 

snuggled up as close to my belly as it could get and 

closed its eyes.  Eventually a friend who already had

 two Cockatiels took the bird.  

I thought of this little episode, when I saw the following article:

The   Best Day Of Fishing Ever!         
   

  I've  heard of  salmon jumping into boats  but   .  . Four were pulled   from the icy waters of Stephens Passage, Alaska  , by a  group      of  locals on   Tom  Satre's 62-foot charter vessel. Four juvenile   Sitka black-      tailed  deer swam  directly toward the  boat.  

        . 

       Once   the deer reached the boat, the four began to  circle the boat,  looking      directly  at the humans on board. Clearly,  the bucks were  distressed. With      help,  the  typically skittish and absolutely wild  animals came willingly  onto      the  boat. Once onboard, they collapsed with   exhaustion, shivering.           

Here   the rescued bucks rest on the back of Tom  Satre's boat, the Alaska  Quest.   All four deer were transported to Taku Harbour .  Once the  group      reached  the dock, the first buck that had  been pulled  from the water hopped      onto  the dock,  looked back, then leapt into the  harbour, swam to shore, and      disappeared  into the forest. After a bit of  prodding and  assistance from the      humans,  two  others followed suit, but  one  deer   needed more help.

 

    Here  he is being  transported by Tom 

 

Tom,   Anna and Tim Satre help the last of the "button"  bucks to its  feet.  They   did not know how long the deer had been in the  icy waters or  if  there  had been others who did not  survive. The good  Samaritans (humans) describe their experience as   "one of those defining moments in life.." I'm  sure it was for the deer as well.

Four Old Guys

 

Four old retired guys are walking down a street near NC State 

in Raleigh, North Carolina. They turn a corner and see a sign

that says, “Old Timers Bar - ALL drinks 10 cents.” They look

at each other and then go in, thinking, This is too good to be true. 

The old bartender says in a voice that carries across the room,

“Good afternoon - glad you came in; What'll it be, gentlemen?" 

There's a fully stocked bar, so each of the men orders a martini.

In no time the bartender serves up four iced martinis—shaken,

not stirred—and says, "That'll be 10 cents each, please."

The four guys stare at the bartender for a moment, then at

each other. They can't believe their good luck.

They pay the 40 cents, finish their martinis, and order

another round. Again, four excellent martinis are produced,

with the bartender again saying, "That's 40 cents, please."

They pay the 40 cents, but their curiosity gets the better of

them. They've each had two martinis and haven't even

spent a dollar yet.

Finally one of them says, "How can you afford to serve martinis

s good as these for a dime apiece?"

"I'm a retired tailor from Charlotte," the bartender says, “and

I always wanted to own a bar. Last year I hit the Lottery

jackpot for $125 million and decided to open this

place. Every drink costs a dime. Wine, liquor, beer—

it's all the same."

"Wow! That's some story!" one of the men says.

As the four of them sip at their martinis, they can't help noticing four

other people at the end of the bar who don't have any drinks

in front of them and haven't ordered anything the whole

time they've been there.

Nodding at thefourat the end of the bar, one of the men

asks the bartender, "What's with them?"

The bartender says, "They're retired people from Florida.

They're waiting for Happy Hour when drinks are half-price."

 

The Wedding Dress
9/1/2011 11:22 AM EDT

  A woman who had been married three times walked into a bridal shop one


and told the sales clerk that she was looking for a wedding gown for her


fourth wedding.

"Of course, madam," replied the sales clerk, "exactly what type and color


dress are you looking for?"

The bride to be said: "A long frilly white dress with a veil."








The sales clerk hesitated a bit, then said, "Please don't take this the


wrong way, but gowns of that nature are considered more appropriate for


brides who are being married the first time - for those who are a bit more


innocent, if you know what I mean? Perhaps ivory or sky blue would be nice?"



"Well," replied the customer, a little peeved at the clerk's directness, "I


can assure you that a white gown would be quite appropriate. Believe it or


not, despite all my marriages, I remain as innocent as a first-time bride.


You see, my first husband was so excited about our wedding, he died as we


were checking into our hotel."

"My second husband and I got into such a terrible fight in the limo on our


way to our honeymoon that we had that wedding annulled immediately and never


spoke to each other again."


"What about your third husband?" asked the sales clerk.

"That one was in the Tea Party," said the woman, "and every night for four years,









he just sat on the edge of the bed and told me how good it was going to be,


but nothing ever happened."