Subject: More on Obama's speech
This need to wave the flag and shout our support for the good old USA is
both annoying and nonproductive.
Is the message that Carl Jarvis is less Patriotic because he criticizes his
nation's short-comings, as opposed to those who ignore the nation's faults
and chant, "We are wonderful, we are the best"?
When I worked for the Washington State Department of Services for the Blind,
we would contract with a firm that did a complete Program and Case review,
looking for problem areas that needed our attention.
My job was to take all of this material and walk the director through it, so
she could understand where we were and provide appropriate leadership.
To my way of thinking, this was a very valuable service. If you don't seek
out your soft spots, hunt down overlooked pieces of the big puzzle that
constituted the Department, how could we expect to improve our performance
and better serve our clients? It was the director's job to go before the
world and brag about how wonderful we were. But she had to know where the
cracks were, and know how she planned to fix them. This director, like
most, did not want to be side swiped because someone had forgotten to inform
her of an issue.
But one of my assistants, the fellow in charge of the VR Field Services, saw
any short comings in our review as a statement that he was not doing his
job. He was afraid of the director and only presented positive reports. No
matter how many times I took him aside and explained what I needed from him
in his reports, he simply could not allow himself to "look bad". I never
challenged him in our open meetings, but I had the extra duty of going
privately to the director and discussing what he'd left out of his reports.
Now, would you say that this man was doing his agency and his clients a good
service?
To my way of thinking, this is what we witnessed yesterday evening.
Golly gee, just a few little tweaks and we're still Number One.
Carl Jarvis
----- Original Message -----
From: "Miriam Vieni" <miriamvieni@optonline.net>
To: "'Blind Democracy Discussion List'" <blind-democracy@octothorp.org>
Sent: Wednesday, January 29, 2014 6:27 AM
Subject: RE: Obama's speech
And also, there was no mention of the NSA, not a word! And although most
Americans may feel it's patriotic to talk about how we are bigger and better
than anyone else and will continue to be so, and how we must beat the
competition which means all those other countries, I find it embarrassing as
an American to hear my President speak like that publicly. I am also
embarrassed by Obama's attempts to relate to "the common man" by mentioning
all these individual Americans by name, as examples of the point he is
trying to make; the woman whose unemployment benefits have run out, the
veteran who was so terribly wounded by war, the woman whose insurance began
on January 1 and needed surgery on January 3. I wonder if I listened to
FDR's speeches, if I would feel that he is talking down to his audience in
the same way.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Wednesday, January 29, 2014 12:08 AM
To: Blind Democracy Discussion List
Subject: Re: Obama's speech
fluff. Pie in the sky.
Obama, the magician has demonstrated the greatest trick of the year. He
shoves his head in the sand and still can articulate clearly.
But what he says is all fluff and no substance.
Okay, so he's going to raise federal contractors wages to $10.10 per hour.
Out in little old SeaTac they've gone him fifty percent better already.
$15, per hour.
But not one word about that pesky pipe line he was going to deal with last
year. Nothing about the sell out to the Pacific Trade Treaty. No worry
about the increasing pressure from billionaires bank accounts funding
politicians and backing certain legislation, or attacking unwanted
legislation.
All general talk, just like the last time he stood up and promised us all a
piece of the Moon, and a slice of grandma's home made apple pie.
And then I tried listening to the Republican rebuttal. I wanted to see how
a local representative would challenge what the president said. As she
began spouting her own platitudes and waving her own American/Republican
Flag, I became embarrassed. I mean, I'm an Eastern Washington product, born
in Spokane. My mother was born in Spokane, too, so was her mother. And my
great grandma came to Spokane when she was six years old, in 1875.
Anyway, I'm supposed to go to bed, resting in the knowledge that we are
bigger and better and safer than we've ever been.
But this nagging little voice keeps telling me that we're just being
suckered in by the amazing Wizard of Oz.
Carl Jarvis
----- Original Message -----
From: "Miriam Vieni" <miriamvieni@optonline.net>
To: "'Blind Democracy Discussion List'" <blind-democracy@octothorp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, January 28, 2014 8:02 PM
Subject: Obama's speech
I listened to it on the Green party website and then I heard a bit of the
Green Party commentary. Nothing that the Green Party said was a surprise.
Nothing that Obama said was a surprise either. The only meat in the speech
was the $10.10 an hour for federal contract workers. He mentioned all kinds
of issues and said things that would draw approving applause. He danced
around the TPP without ever mentioning it. He chided the Republicans for
their misguided behavior like a kind schoolteacher, something he's done
before. He took piles of you know what, and covered them with roses and then
displayed them as beautiful. He talked about how we are now ending a war
that has lasted for almost 12 years, as if we'd accomplished something. It
was really a bizarre experience, listening to that speech and it is bizarre
that all of the progressive emails I received, joyfully touted that $10.10
as if we'd won a huge battle. I started figuring out what it would be like
for a family to live on that if one person was working at that job for 40
hours a week.
Miriam
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