Ron Johnson, is he just lazy?

Ron Johnson thinks unemployment benefits leads to people sitting at home until a good paying job comes around.

Does introducing only bill in eight months show signs of a motivated man? Ron Johnson introduced one bill that eliminates federal regulations until unemployment hits 7.7 percent.

Wow,  Ron Johnson better pace himself, or he might actually do what the people of Wisconsin sent him to do, and that is fix Washington. He is probably pacing himself, because the heck schedule of working part-time in Washington is probably harder than creating a  business with your in-laws' money.

Where is the anger in Wisconsin towards Ron Johnson's work ethic. One bill in eight months from a man that talked tough on unemployment benefits. It seems he lacks the work ethic to do anything but collect a check for just showing up for a job.

What about limited government Mr. Johnson talked about when he was running for office? Oh, government needs to help the struggling oil industry by subsidizing, if you go by Mr. Johnson voting to keep the oil subsidy. It sounds like he is for smaller government.

Maybe, Ron Johnson won because of voter rage, but where is the rage when it comes to his laziness and apparent flip-flop on smaller government. Why can't an account introduce a bill to change the tax code?

Free Trade

Mitch McConnell is using his bully pulpit to push Obama to sign the three free trade deals with Columbia, South Korea, and Panama, and he is doing it by means of an op-ed piece in the Washington Post.

The editorial raises some good issues about getting the deal done, and the importance of signing the deal. But, the best part of the editorial is his claim that "21/2 years have taught us anything, government spending isn't the solution." These are great words of advice, considering Republicans started two wars on the backs of tax cuts, and that means increased government spending on the backs of IOUs.He didn't seem to have issues with that kind government spending increasing our deficits.

Hypocrisy shouldn't be the issue right now, but it does seem odd that the push to save 380,000 jobs seems more important than finding ways to create jobs for the 14 million unemployed and 8.4 million working part-time.

Free trade doesn't have a track record of creating jobs that it hypes, but it does offer Americans a chance to buy cheaper goods, if they have a job. 

What about Ron?

Does Ron Paul deserve more respect?

After Ron Paul lost to Michele Bachmann in the Ames Straw Poll by less than one percent, you would have thought he would be featured in more news stories, but thinking and reality are two different things when it comes to politics.

It is hard to fault the media for not having more stories about Ron Paul, because Ron Paul is the only consistent candidate running for president. People now where he stands on the issues. He would pull American soldiers out of foreign countries. He won't beat the war drum when it comes to Iran. He doesn't like the Federal Reserve printing so much money. He wants to get rid of income taxes. He believes government and insurance companies make health care unaffordable. There isn't much about Ron Paul that the media hasn't reported already.  

However, his Republican opponents lack the convictions of Mr. Paul. Imagine if Michele Bachmann didn't have an interesting husband with a homophobic background. She probably wouldn't get much press, either.

Mitt Romney is good at raising lots of money, and has the support of his party. Mr. Romney is acting like he already won the Republican nomination and spends most of his time attacking President Obama, while not having any plans different from what mainstream Republicans want.

Don't forget Mitt Romney is Mormon. Religion is an important subject during election time, but never that important after the election. His religious beliefs shouldn't matter, but they do, and that makes for good news stories.

Newt Gingrich has the advantage of working for Fox News, has two ex-wives, is a "devout" Catholic, and started his campaign by bashing Paul Ryan's plan to privatize Medicare. He tried to retract any comments he made about Paul Ryan's plan but the damage was already done. Newt does the kind of crazy stuff that makes for good news stories. 

Sarah Palin isn't running for president, not yet, but she sure likes to be around cameras. She also likes to dress for the part, too. It just seems like their isn't anything she won't do to get on camera. Put her family on cable television, why not, if it helps her get elected president. Her comments and other tactics makes for good news stories.

Donald Trump thought about running for president, but for some good reason he decided not to run for president. He still gets attention because he is Donald Trump. He is rich and doesn't like president, so that makes for good news stories.

Rick Perry, Governor Good Hair, sounds like Ron Paul. Perry is governor of the state of Texas, like George Bush once was. Perry likes to bash the president. Perry likes to flaunt his religious beliefs for his own political gains. His tactics makes for good news stories.

The media might get bashed for not mentioning Ron Paul, but why should they. Ron Paul  is so consistent that there isn't much for them to report. Sure, people at Fox News look bad for not talking about Ron Paul, because he is a Republican, but they are the "Fair and Balanced" network. Fox News doesn't have an agenda when it comes to Ron Paul.

When Cuts Hurt

What will it cost to go to college in the next couple years? Does it matter? College students can take out student loans. I wonder what kind of debt future college students will face when they graduate from college? Will they be forced to live with their parents or even be able to find a job?

Why so many questions about the future?

The last couple weeks the news coverage concerned the debt ceiling. "Oh, the debt ceiling is too high," cried Chicken Little(The part played by the Tea Party).

It is amazing how the debt ceiling debacle distracted Americans from the real issue of figuring ways to improve the economy. Unemployment is still too high, and too many homeowners owe more on their house than it is worth, and these issues aren't getting enough news coverage.

What are some ways we could improve the economy? We could increase government spending. But will it work?

Let us take a stroll down memory lane, or maybe just open a history book, if you aren't old enough to remember points in American history that involved increased government spending to improve the economy, but you need to ignore those annoying Republicans yelling 'Socialist.' Who wants to listen to those hypocrites talk about smaller government, anyway, when the truth is that their god, Ronald Reagan grew the federal government like it was a genetically modified crop from Monsanto.

But, what does history teach us about cutting government spending during a tough economic period? Well, Roosevelt tried that in 1937 when he cut government spending and added the Social Security tax, but he did so because he believed the economy was doing better. It is hard to say that a lot of politicians feel the economy is well enough for cuts in federal spending, but they do like their phony baloney jobs and cutting spending seems like great Newspeak.

But what about the point I wanted to make about college students and increased debt? Could this be holding back the economy? A student in debt can't buy a lot of things that might help improve the economy.

According to Studentdoc.com, about 50% of recent college graduates have at least $10,000 in student loans. Then you add the $4,100 in credit card debt that the average college senior has on top of the student loans, well, it doesn't make it easy for students to do much but give their paychecks to the banks that begrudgingly gave them loans and shinny credit cards.

The rising cost of a college education doesn't seem to concern Washington right now. But, imagine a world, yes, touchy-feely thing to do, but just imagine a world were college students don't graduate with so much debt. Imagine what they could do to get this economy going.

I know that college students bear some of the blame for taking out loans and using their credit cards, and I can't put all the blame on politicians for the high cost of a college education.

However, I can put the blame of politicians for not heeding the warnings of 1937.

Writing Classes

Writing classes are a great way to get feedback on your writing. That is probably the best cliche any writer can ever write.

I remember one writing class I had. The class was in the darkest corner of campus, and the room was always poorly lit. The class size was small, but yet never seemed to fit into the small room--it almost felt like the professor needed to remove a few bodies from the room, so we had room to breathe.

I did look for Rod Serling to appear in the classroom, but I realized he probably got kicked out of the building because the building was smoke free. 

I took many writing classes as an undergraduate, but none like this class. The professor was middle aged and still lived with her mother. I don't think she had any friends, except for her mother, because all her personal stories involved her mother, if she told a personal story.

This professor was waiting to publish her first novel, but seemed a little bitter about the publishing world, because she never had anything nice to say about it, even her own publisher. I don't remember her ever having anything nice to say about anyone stories, now that I think about it.  She had a way for making a positive comment seem negative. It probably had more to do with the fact she had no range in her voice, because it always seemed condescending.

My classmates were an interesting bunch, too. I can remember one woman was taking medication for a psychotic disorder--she could share she had issues but not what kind of issues. I can remember one woman was still learning English, so her stories were hard to follow. I can remember one guy never spoke, unless he had no other option--he didn't even show the day his story was critiqued. I can remember another guy who was oblivious to any reference to popular culture--he was a product of homeschooling. I could tell you about the rest of the class, but I think I made my point that it was an interesting class.

What should you learn in a writing class? I liked asking myself this question when I sat there listening to my classmates talk about writing. You should learn how to write a good story and learn how to spot a good story--another cliche. You should learn how to give feedback, and you should learn how to receive feedback, and these are skills that require some sensitivity, because in a small setting you don't want to be known as the mean person.

I really can't say that I remember anything this professor said about writing and how to become a better writer, but I do remember that she loved Faulkner and made use read a lot of his short stories. A few clever students even went as far as to borrow some of Faulkner's themes for their stories, and this seemed to temporarily please the professor, because she loved to talk about Faulkner.

I would say that all my other writing classes were normal in comparison. I won't say that there wasn't some classmates that stuck out in a room full of writers, but creative writing is a strange subject to pursue in college. 

I do believe writing classes help writers improve their skills of critiquing another writer's work, but I am not sure these writing classes help improve the skill of writing a good piece of fiction.I believe to learn how to write good fiction you need learn how to write for yourself and not for what you think will make another person happy. I am not saying that everyone in a writing class does this, but just pay attention to the second story a writer shares with the class.

Being Walter Mitty--Writing Prompt

What if you were Walter Mitty and how would the story change if you were Walter Mitty?

I am including a link to the Walter Mitty story if you never read it, or if you would just like a refresher.

You can post a link to your story in the comment section.

Getting Paid

A few months ago, in the distant past, I joined All Voices. I joined their website because I wanted to write opinion pieces and news stories about current political issues, and get paid for my writing, if I got enough page views.

I found I was spending too much time on All Voices, and for the amount of time I spent on the site, well, I  just don't get paid enough. I know any pay is better than no pay.

I just spent too much time on the site reading stories written by other writers and then commenting on those stories. You have to do this to increase your rating, and an increased rating means more money for all my page views.


The comments I found on my news stories were along the lines of "nice piece and keep up the great work." It seems these comments cheat the system and count as a writers contribution to All Voices.

Yes, there are people on the site that don't mind writing and not getting paid for their writing, but that isn't the reason I joined the site. I joined the site because they offered to pay writers for their writing, and maybe in the future they will pay writers more for the time they have to spend on the website.