...have just concluded that the media is mostly useless (very contrived conflict oriented) and just decided to get the job done despite them. They use the media as a tool as needed...like Kerry's OpEd...but expect media to set up conflict. Personally, I don't get angry at the media too much any more... I just find other ways to get real information and turn off the TV crap.

The options in the ME...post GWB...have always been difficult. Every situation/decision requires choosing the least bad option. There is no 'good' way to restabilize Iraq and it's neighbors. I believe they are in the midst of a Sunni/Shia civil war. I am SO glad the President brought our troops out when he did. And I am confident he will remain a minimalist where boots are concerned.

I am very glad we have Obama, Biden, Kerry and Hagel making the judgements required.

...but I HATE what they did. We are still paying for it and will be paying for it for a very long time. Both in foreign policy and in our economy.

I think they should be held accountable, and wish the Obama Administration had done so. It seems, since they didn't, that we Americans will have to wait for history's judgement. Which means we probably won't be around to see it...

But...think through the 'what if', given the context of the world as it is today:

Would we project the strengths of democracy with a trial for a past president? Maybe, maybe not.

Would it help unify our country? Probably not...would polarize us more, if that's possible. Which could be dangerous, IMHO.

Would it be helpful, considering our economic woes? I doubt it.

Would it be helpful, considering our international woes? Pretty risky, IMO.

Given all that, I can understand President Obama's decision to move FORWARD. History will hold GWB accountable, although I admit I hate the wait.

BUT...

...we can't wait to uphold our BEST American values. We can't wait to reclaim our moral authority. GWB took a lot from us...the American people. I don't want to give up one more thing, because of him and Cheney.

Obama is not Bush. Kerry is not Powell. Biden is not Cheney.

And they NEED our support.

...reps from NASA visited and showed us models of a shuttle and lunar landing vehicle of the future. Students were excited and amazed by the idea of space travel, the possibility of going to the moon, and the idea of a space station and shuttle travel.

That's been accomplished AND an entire generation, motivated toward science, pushed it forward.

My hope is that this shuttle...and the others...will serve to motivate the next generation toward science and discovery. ENDEAVOUR and the other shuttles, flying over LA, going through neighborhood streets, and serving retirement in a nearby museum will live on to inspire students to study science and lead us to the next level of discovery.

It's not the end...just a new beginning. Yes, I am a teacher...

..."What I want to get to is responsibility. the reason I say this is I know people who don't do a damn thing all day long, so why should i or you pay for someone that does not want to do anything. we complain about the rich not doing their fair share, shouldn't we complain about people on the other side doing the same thing."


Why? Because the 6 children did not make the choice to be in the situation they are in. Responsible adults in a society should NEVER stand by and allow children to go hungry. Just because the parents may have made poor choices that created a bad situation is no excuse for not caring for children. Period.

Add to that, in many of those situations, the one responsible adult is the parent...and caring for six children is HARD WORK in my book. Anyone who has children knows that.

BTW, complaining gets all of us nowhere. We need to all be less selfish and find solutions.

...went door to door for Kerry in 2004 and Obama in 2008 because of their vision for our country's future, foreign policy and economic policy, I will vote again for President Obama for the same reasons.

However, while I do agree with many of President Obama's goals for improving education, I have significant issues with his administration's implementation of education policy and its ignorance of the impact of such policies on public schools. I will continue to hope President Obama will actually HEAR the many teachers and educators, at all levels, who are speaking out loudly in an effort to guide the implementation of a successful education policy that will strengthen ALL our public schools...from preschool through college and beyond.


I think he deserves another four years to do that.

...kpete. It is a bit ironic...


As a teacher, AND a person who values those who serve in the military, I always wonder why many Presidents 'hold up' the value and patriotism of our veterans and those currently serving our country in the military, but fail to do the same with our teaching veterans and those currently working as teachers.

It is the same to me. Teachers SERVE...often under difficult conditions and circumstances...to improve our country by providing a free, public education to our children. If the public genuinely understood that service, teacher-bashing would not be tolerated...any more than we would tolerate disrespect toward our troops. (We/our country did that once, after Viet Nam, and have hopefully learned to do better.)


I loved the way President Obama used the example of teamwork in the military to help Americans understand that we need to do the same as citizens to get our country back to being a world power...to make us stronger as a nation.

But teachers have been involved in that same work, every day in their classrooms, for YEARS. What about the value of perseverance? In the SOTU, President Obama said our choice was neither 'teacher bashing' nor the 'status quo'. That is right. The true choice in education is between fixing public education so it is stronger vs. giving up and privatizing it.

I'd like to see THAT held up as an example for the American people.

...peacefully. I DO think we, as a country, needed to face these issues in order to 'perfect' our union, as many say. And I also believe President Obama is the right President to lead us through these times.

Trouble is, that large group in South Carolina (and in many other Southern states) is really angry about changes that they don't and can't control (demographics, for instance). How that will play out is uncertain.

I've always said we need to 'lance the boil' of resentment left from Civil War days. This election...which could get ugly...may help us do that. And as creepy as it is to face Newt, the debate he would bring to the election process could vent some of that anger. And that, IMO, needs to be done.

I just hope it can be done with civility...peacefully...and that the BEST of our democracy will prevail in the end. Those mean folks are pretty loud. But I still believe there are more of us who are good, decent, caring people.

President Obama will represent our case for an inclusive democracy very well.

...places and I am NOT that knowledgeable about financial issues. BUT...from what I understand, there are multiple issues where the banks are concerned.

1. Toxic loans (stated income, for instance) that were doomed to fail and the need for that to support the MBSecurities that banks made money on. The rules/boundaries became blurred between Commercial banks and Investment banks.

2. Systemic changes to how banks/mortgage companies did business. The creation of MERS as an online system to help banks deal with their side of the business seemed, IMHO, to ignore certain laws that had been in place for a long time. Because these changes were allowed to stand unchallenged for YEARS, a lot of mortgages were affected.

3. Fallout from the financial meltdown of 2008 on homeowners. Foreclosures. The economy tanking. Did this 'new world' of MBS that the banks created cause the 2008 crisis? Of course it did.

4. Finally, I once worked at a low-responsibility title job. But I learned a few things. When a mortgage holder (on the original Trust Deed) no longer wants that TD, it is sold. The documentation for that is an Assignment of Trust Deed. In CA, that requires recording the document in the county where the property is located. The county collects a fee each time such a document is recorded. Creation of MERS bypassed that action. Trust Deeds (loan docs) were assigned, assigned and assigned again without doing the recording step which made it legal. Counties lost ALL THOSE FEES at a time when they needed the money. Banks just documented the assignments on MERS and moved on to make new loans. After 2008, when the foreclosures started, they didn't know who legally held the deeds of trust. They foreclosed anyway. Since they had no recorded (at the county) of assignments of TDs, they created them and 'robosigned' to get the paperwork they needed. Illegal, IMHO. But I'm no expert.

Here is my GUESS about the problem: Now there are LOTS of these situations out there, some foreclosed on (legally or not), some in the process (legally or not) and some outstanding mortgages that were wrongly assigned, without documentation or the fees paid, where homeowners' payments are up-to-date but the servicer has no legal proof that the mortgage TD was assigned to them.

Thoughts?

..."-is it unreasonable to think that they don't want public revelation that responsibility for this continued practice runs all the way to the top of pretty much all of the banks involved?"

My opinion...and it is only my opinion based on very little knowledge of the situation...is that the problem became systemic. Because of that, to very publicly indict all involved (a huge number of people and banks)
would destabilized financial markets again...at HUGE risk to the country. That's ALL of us. For President Obama to risk that would not be responsible. He is a smart man.

While I also think those who did this...banks and others...deserve jail for what they did, I am guessing that the Obama Administration could not risk it. Therefore, they are working for a 'deal' that would include reforms to prevent this from happening again. If so, whatever they come up with won't be perfect. It will leave some who did wrong unpunished and reward some homeowners who don't deserve it.

Don't misunderstand me. I support Ca's AG Kamala Harris and the other AGs for doing their job, wherever that leads. I also support President Obama for trying to clean up a mess that festered for 8 years under the GWB Administration who de-regulated, cheered for homeownership at any cost, and looked the other way while people made money off a trashed system.

...before? (2004) I was grateful then that Dems tried to prevent any more damage by GWB...and fought to win back Congress in 2006. Which they did.

Compromise for the sake of compromise (Dems being 'above that kind of thing') is bad for everybody. I am always for 'common ground' compromise in our government...it is how government is supposed to get things done. I draw the line, however, at stupid wars, torture and running the country off a cliff financially...which is what GWB did.

The problem now seems to me to be the short attention span of American citizens, who will get the government they deserve if they put us in a situation where history repeats itself.