The Fourth Option (A Centrist Perspective) Blog

Hi Folks, I will be away from my computer July 27 - 30, 2011. On these days I will be participating in track and field, which is another one of my passions! Blogs will resume on July 31, 2011 .

The United States of America has the greatest armed forces in the world. Our Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and Coast Guard are second to none. They have the capacity to confront and defeat all foreign forces on land, air, and sea at any place in the world. Additionally, our intelligence, security, and interrogation agencies have done exceptional jobs in keeping our nation safe, despite 9/11. Moreover, our forces and our agencies continue to improve, and they appear to be making us safer with each passing day. So who would have thought that at this point in time, in this day and age, our nation would be on the verge of destruction? Yet, here we are facing annihilation, and to make matters worst, it’s probably going to be done by the weapon of mass destruction we least suspected ― ourselves! The inability of our government to move beyond partisan politics, and its powerlessness to implement the types of policies that are in the best interest of all the people, is creating increasing pu...

Well, the debate rages on: Should we raise the United States debt ceiling? And if we do raise it, what should be the price for doing so? Which group of experts is correct ― those who suggests that failure to raise the ceiling will result in economic gloom and doom, or those who argue that failure to raise the ceiling will have little or no economic impact? I, like most Americans, don’t know the answer to any of these questions, but I do know two things about this problem. First, what has transpired and is transpiring should have never occurred. And second, this crisis proves just how ineffective the Democratic Party has become under its current leadership.” In the two years since President Obama took office, the republicans have controlled all the debates on policies. They controlled the argument concerning keeping the Bush tax cuts in place. They controlled the argument concerning insurance coverage for all Americans. They controlled the argument about national debt reduction, and the...

The Republican Party appears to be in a moral free fall: a high velocity plummet from its Christian values, its moral beliefs, and its democratic principles. It’s like a falling star descending down to Hell on a crash course. And it saddens me and worries me, because I always regarded this party of Lincoln to be the moral conscious of the United States. I think most Americans, including the ones who disagree with republicans on many issues, felt that this was the party that stressed the importance of faith, and emphasized the importance of having God in our lives. This was the party that preached the principles of our democracy, and the principles by which a Christian nation must live. It taught us that character education about honesty, respect, responsibility, integrity, fairness, tolerance, trust, etc. should be taught in schools, because, in many ways, they are more important than science, math, reading, language arts, and social studies. I don’t think that I would be overstating t...

These days I find myself continuously surrounded, in the work place, by technological busy bees. These are the types of people who are always twittering, texting, talking on Facebook, emailing, sending and receiving phone call, and surfing the net to find new programs that will enable them to do more things at a faster speed. A friend of mine is one of them. He is always engaged in several of these activities at the same time. And it is very fascinating to look at him sitting there, working on his laptop, while trying to participate in the conversations around him, and answer all his incoming phone calls and text messages, while trying to listen to ESPN. “Being engaged in these technological activities” is his pride and his passion. He seems to be proud of the fact that he appears, at all times, to be involved in more tasks than anyone else. “I love to multi-task!” he states, as if his visual behavior isn’t enough to reinforce this point. Personally, I am not in favor or against anyone...

I hate hypocrisy. I hate double standards. I strongly dislike the actions of leaders, who set stringent rules and expectations for average citizens, which they set flexible rules and expectations for themselves. When a leader tells me that I am going to need to do some belt tightening, I do not expect to see him loosening-up his waist line. When he tells me that I need to become leaner, I do not expect to see him becoming grossly obese. When I think of leadership, the pictures that come to my mind are those of George Washington leading the patriots in the American Revolution; David D. Eisenhower leading the allied forces in WWII; and Theodore Roosevelt leading the Rough Riders in the Spanish-American War. The images that do not come to my mind are those of former Vice-President Don Quayle, Former Vice-President Dick Chaney, and former President George W. Bush using their family influences to avoid combat duty in Viet Nam. All leaders have the rights and authorities to set high standard...

Raising the debt ceiling appears to be the big objective in Washington D.C. these days. Both the republicans and the democrats agree, for the most part, that it should be done. But they disagree on how it should be done. Essentially, each party is arguing a continuation of its same old rhetoric: The democrats are arguing for taxes increases and the closing of tax loopholes; they are suggesting that these two issues need to be discussions concerning the reduction of the national debt. The republicans are arguing against tax increases and in favor of reductions in government spending. They contend that our economy is too fragile at the present time to allow taxes increases. Moreover, they argue, this is right time to restructure our government by reducing government spending and reducing the size of government. First, it’s important to note that most Americans are in favor of tax increases and the closing of tax loopholes. The argument by the republicans that these measures will hurt the...

If you are the parent of a student who will be entering his/her junior year in high school this fall, it is important to note that the Bush tax cuts started the year your child entered first grade. If your child was a third grader the year the Bush tax cuts began, your child graduated from high school a month or two ago. It is important to note these facts because the republicans, who argue for these cuts, are always telling us (1) “These cuts will create jobs,” (which they never do); and (2) “These cuts will make the future better for our children.” Apparently, they didn’t have your child in mind, because the future doesn’t look any brighter for today’s high school student and today’s high school graduate that it did ten years ago, when the tax cuts started. If anything, the future looks bleaker, the level of uncertainty is higher, and none of our leaders is presenting to us a vision that makes us confident that it will move our nation in the right direction. In the ten years, sin...

Picture yourself as the proud owner of a beautiful, state-of-the-art, in mint condition, 1937 Rolls Royce Phantom III V-12 baby-blue convertible. It is your pride and joy. Actually it is much, much more. In 1937, your great grandfather bought it as a wedding present for your great grandmother, who passed it down to her daughter, (your grandmother), who passed it down to your mother, who passed it down to you. Each kept it spotless and well maintained. Each loved and valued it. You heard family stories from them about the roles it played in vacations, picnics, the birth of children, “the Sunday drive in the country,” and much, much more. Now it’s yours and you absolutely love it. One day you take it to a service station and requested “a simple oil change.” It was the only thing you wanted the mechanic to do to your beautiful Rolls Royce: “Change the oil.” The mechanic told you “No problem, I will have it done in 45 minutes.” You told him “I will run some errands and return in one ho...

Tomorrow’s elections in Wisconsin are shams that further underscore just how immoral the Republican Party has become. In tomorrow’s elections, republicans, pretending to be democrats, will run in democratic primaries. In other words, they will be frauds ― impostors in the acts of deceiving or misrepresenting what should be the true objectives of democratic candidate in a democratic primary. Their actions will be devious and dishonorable and they will make a mockery of the election process. (This doesn’t seem to bother these republicans.) By the end of tomorrow, many of our citizens will no longer trust government or believe in our system of government. Many have already given up; they no longer believe that fairness, justice, and honesty are qualities of Wisconsin’s government. (Again, this doesn’t seem to bother these republicans.) Quite the contrary, these republicans, who are receiving encouragement and approval from their leaders, don’t seem to care. As a matter of fact, they seem ...

Dear God, Earlier today I killed a bee. I hurt an innocent insect that hadn’t done anything to me. He was a big, fat, beautiful bumble bee flying around my living room like crazy I should have just open the screen door and let him go free but because of my anger and my stupidity, I decided to kill him before he stung me. It didn’t even occur to me that I don’t know if I could get stung by a bumble especially since I could clearly see as my violent swats passed him as close as could be he didn’t have any intentions of hurting me he was just flying around hoping to see some opening through which he could escape to liberty so instead of helping him to go free, I acted like a big, bad bully. I cried a few minutes later when it occurred to me that “someone who hurt others’’ wasn’t the person I wanted to be so I spoke to my mom and dad about this “useful giver” who pollinates the flowers we see. They told me if I write You this letter it will bring my mind clarity If I promise You that I wil...

There is a song by Joan Osborne that asks the question “What if God was one of us?” I think about its lyrics often, these days, when I hear discussions about balancing the budget, paying off the national debt, and raising the debt ceiling. I find myself wondering “What would God do about these issues ― if He was one of us? What role would He play in our society? How would He be treated in the United States? First of all, His name is Jehovah. He was born and raised in the Middle East. I suspect that His complexion, His features, and the texture of His facial hair would make it difficult for Him to travel ― especially on airplanes, and He would be an ideal candidate for ethnic profiling. But aside from these personal issues, He would still be our God, who died for our sins, and the Father to whom we pray and ask for help ― every day these days. So I am wondering “What would be His ideology and party affiliation if He was living presently in the United States of America? Would He cut ent...

The best answers are beacons from this lighthouse. whose beams direct accurate attentions in simplified accurate attentions of visibilities’ focus clarity. These beacons of the most probable spotlighted basic illuminates and points from a view that can be seen from afar The best answers from this lighthouse manifest all edges, disclose all shapes and divulge all contours by reducing the complex to the fundamental as they are unveiled in the best light of day or this revealing Sun of the night. The best answer from this lighthouse leaves no room for darkness immediate paths ― unlike poor perceivable hazy observations in obstructive dense fogs, and distorted and dim with concealed edges and undistinguishable all things. Ultimately, the best answers from this lighthouse are instrumental for navigating the rough seas and avoiding the unseen rocks in the oceans. They simply conforms the clear paths to the safe shores of reasons resolutions resolve and revelations on this Island of Occam’s r...

This happened once upon a time when these special boys and girls were about nine. By the home of a girl named Liberty stood a ragged old see-saw under a tree with magic powers that only a few could see and one of those few was Liberty . One day a boy named Patriotism and his sister    ¾ Free , went to visit Liberty because Patriotism was trying as hard as could be to become the leader of all the children in the community. “May I lead you, Liberty ?” Patriotism said. “I have some very good ideas in my head.” Liberty stood quietly. First she looked at Patriotism , then at Free . Soon her eyes lit-up in her head, and with great enthusiasm this is what she said: “Patriotism! Have your ideas ever traveled beyond the stars? Or flung themselves beyond Jupiter and Mars? Or played in the other universes    ¾ beyond this one? Or tipped-toed, like on hot coal, from sun to sun? If your ideas haven’t done these, I must confess. Your ability to lead me hasn’t passed the test.”...

I. The republicans have an agenda that they bargain for collectively: Saw what they did for the richest Americans? That they bargained for collectively? Saw what they did for corporations? That they bargained for collectively? And what about those oil companies, for whom the bargain and bargain collectively? And what about those insurance companies, for whom the bargain and bargain ― collectively? II. In concert, they refuse to cut taxes. Are they acting ― collectively? In concert, they insist on cutting entitlements. Are they acting collectively? How about their arguments on “the right to bare arms?” How about their argument on “the right to conceal carry?” How about their stance against gay marriages? Are they acting ― collectively? III. They’re proposing a balance budget amendment. Isn’t this bargaining ― collectively? They proposed cutting the size of government, (hypocritically), but isn’t this bargaining ― collectively? And they are encouraging us to stay longer in Afghanistan. W...

A nightmare is a bad dream from which you will awake. Discrimination is a bad dream you will live every day while you are awake. American teachers in states like Wisconsin are experiencing discrimination. They’re experiencing unnecessary, horrific nightmares caused by vindictive, greedy, immoral republican leaders, whose actions under the guise of balancing their budgets, have subjected a wonderful, hard-working, high moral, undeserving group of innocent role models to ongoing horrifying ordeals. It is difficult for me to look at my fellow teachers these days. Many of them have the blank stare and numb look of soldiers and marines returning from the battlefield. I suspect that several of them pinch themselves every day hoping that it is all a bad dream. I also suspect their thoughts of events in their lives are tormenting them. And I am certain, giving what they been through, that many may be suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, for they have experienced real losses. They los...