tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24518713418935522362009-11-07T15:06:13.354-05:00Having lived a long time, I have a broad view on many issues. Here I am sharing some of my thoughts, hoping that they will prove interesting and thought-provoking. My perspective is definitely on the left but being open-minded is terribly important to me. Please consider signing up as a follower, if you enjoy this blog.Richard Schmitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08196321164877963757noreply@blogger.comBlogger56125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2451871341893552236.post-55878464146191902542009-11-07T08:52:00.001-05:002009-11-07T08:54:46.909-05:00

Who is the enemy in Afghanistan?Matthew Hoh fought in Iraq in 2004- 2005 and again in 2006 - 2007 both as a commissioned officer in the Marine Corps and as a civilian employee of the US government. He is a hero and a patriot. During the last six months he worked in Afghanistan as a foreign service officer. When he resigned his job last week, he stated that the war in Afghanistan, in his view,

Richard Schmitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08196321164877963757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2451871341893552236.post-61786269642637651562009-11-01T09:01:00.001-05:002009-11-01T09:01:43.754-05:00

Public Option anyone?In the debate about the health reform in the works in Congress, the “public option” is frequently mentioned as a particularly controversial item in the health reform plan. What is it?The public option refers to government health insurance to be offered to some small businesses and private citizens who cannot afford to buy health insurance from commercial insurance

Richard Schmitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08196321164877963757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2451871341893552236.post-87406827397752180062009-10-24T22:19:00.001-04:002009-10-24T22:20:41.095-04:00

You need to think about capitalism if you want to change the world.Riane Eisler has written a number of books about personal and social change. The most recent one, published in 2003 is called The Power of Partnership:Seven Relationships that will change your Life. The book is interesting; it makes many important points, chief among them that the world is often run on a domination model and that

Richard Schmitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08196321164877963757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2451871341893552236.post-81667180513317152322009-10-17T15:40:00.000-04:002009-10-17T15:41:00.603-04:00

Paying big business to send jobs off-shore.Would you believe it? The US government, the government you and I elect, has had a tax policy for 50 years or more that encourages companies to send jobs off-shore. President John F. Kennedy spoke out against it in 1961. But nothing happened. A company--GE and IBM are examples--may build a plant in Asia and produce products previously produced at home.

Richard Schmitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08196321164877963757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2451871341893552236.post-86209998619328561762009-10-13T19:45:00.001-04:002009-10-13T19:47:12.783-04:00

Private property and common goods: parking vs. children's play area..Private property is very important. Most people work hard for what they own and it matters to them that they be secure in their possession. They want to be sure, when they go to work in the morning, that they find their car in the driveway where they parked it last night. They want to feel completely safe in their house and not

Richard Schmitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08196321164877963757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2451871341893552236.post-17381464621489418042009-10-11T14:00:00.000-04:002009-10-11T14:01:10.519-04:00

Who is the enemy?This morning's Boston Globe reports that an intelligence expert in Washington DC denies that the enemy in Afghanistan are the Taliban ”ninety percent [of the enemy] is a tribal, localized insurgency... ten percent are hard-core ideologues fighting for the Taliban.” The 90% “use the threat of force to further their own economic interests – extorting payments from people shipping

Richard Schmitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08196321164877963757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2451871341893552236.post-76693375837918194662009-10-08T09:23:00.001-04:002009-10-08T09:24:47.714-04:00

Many people believe that it is free enterprise – the single-minded pursuit of private profit-- that makes our country great, that gives us a high standard of living.But along comes the Simmons Mattress company forced into bankruptcy by several private equity firms. A sad story that shows that pursuit of private profit is often ruinous for workers and owners both.For 133 years Simmons has made

Richard Schmitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08196321164877963757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2451871341893552236.post-79582302601590435472009-10-01T08:42:00.000-04:002009-10-01T08:43:12.801-04:00

No one seems to know what to do in Afghanistan. There are huge debates within the military. The White House is thinking about the options. More and more voters oppose sending more troops. No doubt the situation is very difficult. But one difficulty most of us have is that we have very limited information about Afghanistan and the situation there.Every now and then, though, we get a glimpse of the

Richard Schmitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08196321164877963757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2451871341893552236.post-55951294890307520512009-09-29T10:39:00.002-04:002009-09-29T10:42:49.047-04:00

Citing hard economic times, three Hyatt hotels in the Boston area fired about 100 housekeepers. These women who make the beds, clean the bathrooms and make sure that new guests will find their hotel rooms immaculate, had been working for Hyatt for 20 or more years. They earned $ 15.00 an hour, had health insurance and a 401k plan. (Their annual pay came to about $30,000.00 a year--not a lot of

Richard Schmitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08196321164877963757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2451871341893552236.post-34641746978686123762009-09-26T09:40:00.001-04:002009-09-26T09:42:50.243-04:00

Do Americans love their children? Of course they do. Nothing is more certain than that.But let's look at some facts: 13 million children in the US are either hungry or in danger of going hungry.Almost half of all US kids, aged 6 to 13, are home alone for part of the day? In order to earn more, both father and mother go to work in many families. Children spend the afternoon after school at home--

Richard Schmitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08196321164877963757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2451871341893552236.post-6338451419829300522009-09-23T08:20:00.000-04:002009-09-23T08:22:13.572-04:00

Textron Defense Systems announces a new cluster bomb, designed to spray 40 individual projectiles of molten copper destroying enemy tanks across a 30-acre swath of battlefield. Cluster bombs are vicious weapons that, upon impact, explode into clouds of small metal projectiles causing multiple injuries to many victims. Often the clusters do not explode immediately but cause terrible damage to

Richard Schmitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08196321164877963757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2451871341893552236.post-9880360012007290622009-09-19T13:28:00.000-04:002009-09-19T13:29:04.358-04:00

A Boston business owner has entered the primaries to fill the seat of the late Senator Kennedy. He believes himself particularly well-qualified because he is a successful business man.Where has he been during the last year?We are in the middle of the worst recession in eighty years; unemployment is inching up to 10%. Millions of families have lost their homes. Homelessness is up; more and more

Richard Schmitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08196321164877963757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2451871341893552236.post-36742640970122722192009-09-19T13:19:00.000-04:002009-09-19T13:20:40.792-04:00

When critics call President Obama's health reform plans “socialist” they often worry about the overwhelming power of government. The Federal government is very powerful; the worry is justified. But if the same people then go on to say that health care should be in the hands of private business, they forget that private business also is often very large and even more powerful than the Feds. Do you

Richard Schmitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08196321164877963757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2451871341893552236.post-1127160922604110422009-09-16T15:38:00.001-04:002009-09-16T15:41:16.674-04:00

Twenty years ago the Berlin wall came down and Soviet communism collapsed. Chinese communism has morphed into an authoritatian capitalism that destroys the environment and mercilessly exploits working people. Except for the tiny island of Cuba, communism or socialism appear to be dead. Why then the continuing fear of socialism? In the recent debates about health care, the president's program was

Richard Schmitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08196321164877963757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2451871341893552236.post-65994969055261523442009-09-08T20:17:00.000-04:002009-09-08T20:18:42.239-04:00

The California case of Philip Garrido has once again aroused great anxiety about child sexual abuse. He is accused of having kidnapped an 11 year old girl 18 years ago, keeping her a virtual prisoner and fathering two children with her. How can we protect our children against such outrages?The most common answer to this question consists of a complex system of mandatory registration of convicted

Richard Schmitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08196321164877963757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2451871341893552236.post-86901564626526922322009-08-07T08:43:00.001-04:002009-08-07T08:44:37.623-04:00

Money is very important. You should not waste it by paying too much for the goods you buy. So people drive out to the edge of town to go to the big box stores where prices tend to be very low. They want to get as much as possible for the money they have.But now come the "buy local" people – you can find them in many cities and towns in the United States. They tell us to avoid the big box stores

Richard Schmitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08196321164877963757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2451871341893552236.post-80611988726352597832009-08-07T08:42:00.000-04:002009-08-07T08:43:41.010-04:00

Everyone knows that money is very important.Everyone equally believes that "money does not buy happiness."But many people, including many"important" people, do not understand that, however important money is, a lot of things are much more important.Take love.Take friends and family.Since summer is slowly coming to a close and schools are starting again, it is time to think about the importance of

Richard Schmitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08196321164877963757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2451871341893552236.post-8087452056574101972009-08-02T16:40:00.000-04:002009-08-02T16:41:31.351-04:00

Everyone knows that poor people have more health problems than people who are well-off. Many poor people also do not live as long as people in better economic conditions. Poor middle-aged men have much low life expectancy than rich ones. The same is true for poor women and the discrepancies in life expectancy between the poor and the rich have grown in recent years.We understand the reasons for

Richard Schmitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08196321164877963757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2451871341893552236.post-12968621625761918412009-07-21T08:16:00.001-04:002009-07-21T08:16:44.069-04:00

We do not think much about the cost of war. A few years after the end of the latest military engagement, we erect war monuments—plaques with names, statues of soldiers, civic buildings. We call our soldiers heroes, especially if they did not come home and that's about it.But a spate of recent news stories about the Iraq war cannot be ignored. They force us to face up to the horrendous cost of

Richard Schmitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08196321164877963757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2451871341893552236.post-30844983805709124752009-07-19T13:06:00.000-04:002009-07-19T13:07:08.356-04:00

Somalia, a country in East Africa has suffered from civil war for many years. 200,000 Somalis fled to the US; 70,000 of them live in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area in the largest settlement of Somali refugees in the US. Many of these refugees came as children, often without parents. They graduated from high school here. Many are now in college. They have become American citizens.The FBI has

Richard Schmitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08196321164877963757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2451871341893552236.post-26456549992288938442009-06-18T08:07:00.000-04:002009-06-18T08:08:16.894-04:00

Many Americans think that. On April 15, tax day, a national organization held a series of “tea parties”all over the country to commemorate the colonists' resistance to government and specifically to taxation. They are planning more events for the 4th of July. At present, the Republicans in Congress are are resisting the proposal to have government provide health insurance for some Americans.

Richard Schmitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08196321164877963757noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2451871341893552236.post-60066885299484724062009-06-03T21:57:00.000-04:002009-06-03T21:58:37.684-04:00

Congratulations, Ms. and Mr. America. Overnight you have become industrialists. You are now owners of what used to be called General Motors, and perhaps should now be called US Motors. GM went bankrupt and now the US gov't—your and my government—owns about 60% of the company.But then something really odd happened. The man who looks after our interests in Washington—at least that's what he is

Richard Schmitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08196321164877963757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2451871341893552236.post-63170952975779301762009-05-30T08:23:00.001-04:002009-05-30T08:26:02.590-04:00

The Boston Globe reports that big business has recently begun to cooperate with Pres. Obama and his team. The CEO of Dow Chemical praises the president's efforts to control carbon emissions. The healthcare industry is joining Sen. Kennedy to write a healthcare reform bill. The financial services industry is cooperating with representative Barney Frank in regulating banks and other financial

Richard Schmitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08196321164877963757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2451871341893552236.post-816013362125809292009-05-19T10:49:00.000-04:002009-05-19T10:50:19.056-04:00

Teachers, school administrators, education experts meet almost any day of the year in one place or another to discuss education. Conferences about education occur almost daily throughout the year. Someone at any of these conferences is bound to talk about “the crisis in education.” For many years now, education in the United States has been deteriorating. Everyone knows it. But all the experts

Richard Schmitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08196321164877963757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2451871341893552236.post-33630591095989435862009-05-05T08:25:00.000-04:002009-05-05T08:26:14.706-04:00

May 1 has come to be one of the days when the advocates of undocumented workers demonstrate their support for immigrants. It is also a day for their opponents -- mostly persons who feel threatened by the job competition of the immigrants -- to emphasize that the immigrants are here illegally.Alan Greenspan, for many years the head of the Federal Reserve and now, in his retirement, the grand old

Richard Schmitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08196321164877963757noreply@blogger.com0