Tag Archives: FDR

Is Donald Trump Right About Election Fraud?

Donald Trump has been pounding on the podium recently contending that there is ‘election fraud’ during this upcoming election.  Is he right?

I believe that there could be election fraud, but not for the same reasons as Trump.  Are you familiar with the Voter ID Laws?  A voter ID law is a law that requires some form of official identification in order for a person to register to vote, receive a ballot for an election, or to vote.

In the United States, voter ID laws have been passed in thirty-three states.  At the federal level, the 2002 Help America Vote Act requires a voter ID for all new voters in federal elections who registered by mail and who did not provide a driver’s license number or the last four digits of a Social Security number that was matched against government records.

Voter ID laws first generated controversy in 1999 when Virginia attempted to implement an ID requirement in a pilot program.  Proponents argue that the laws are a common-sense effort to reduce voter fraud and place little burden on voters.  Opponents argue that voter fraud is extremely rare and has been magnified as an issue to create barriers to voter registration and voting that discriminates against minority groups and others who are statistically less likely to possess photo IDs.

So here are the ways that the states have dealt with voter ID requirements.  Seven states require strict photo ID in order to vote.  Three states have a strict non-photo ID requirement.  Nine states have a non-strict photo ID requirement, which includes my state.  I find this interesting as my home state would not issue us a ballot without a picture ID, so I am confused as to what non-strict photo ID requirement actually means.  It’s not the first time I have been confused.  I digress. Thirteen states have a non-strict non-photo ID requirement.  Appallingly, there are eighteen states and the District of Columbia that do not require any ID to vote at the ballot box.

By now, you realize that the voter ID requirements are certainly diverse and nondescript. If I could provide simple definitions for those five levels of voting requirements, I would.  But here is where I become concerned.  I view my vote as being precious as it is a part of the great democratic process by which we elect our political representatives.  Nowhere in any of these laws does it require proof of citizenship.  There are many states that will issue photo IDs without requiring proof of citizenship.  Thus, with the photo ID, an illegal alien is now voting in our elections.  With the number of illegal aliens now in the United States, there is little doubt that they will influence this election.

I have needed a photo ID to board a plane, to board a cruise ship, to renew my car insurance, to use a credit card, to write a check, to buy Sudafed, to see a doctor, to check in to a clinic or hospital and to vote.; to name a few.     How is this discriminatory as people of all races and backgrounds do at least two or three of what I have listed.  Provide a birth certificate and get a photo ID.  How difficult is that?  Yet, I have seen people vote by presenting an electric bill with an address that is located in the polling place precinct.  No ID was required as to whether the voter was the name on the electric bill.  How many times could that electric bill be used to vote?  How many times can dead people continue to vote?  No, I am not making this up.

Minnesota has had two election recounts in recent years.  In both instances, the Republican candidates where leading by small margins.  After the recount, both candidates lost.  In both cases, uncounted ballots were suddenly located in the heart of the liberal metropolitan area.  Surprisingly, just enough Democrat votes were found.  Voter fraud?  Ballot box stuffing?

Also in Minnesota, a young reporter went into a courthouse in a Minneapolis suburb with a hidden mini-camera.  He went into the courthouse with the following story, “I work in a nursing home, and I am concerned that some of our patients will have difficulty getting to the polling places.”  The result? The clerk handed him 25 absentee ballots without question, without proof.  What happened next? He was able to do it again with the same results at another courthouse!  Voter fraud?   That little item appeared on 60 Minutes.

It astounds me that we now have chips on our credit cards to avoid theft, but far less care is taken to protect the sanctity of our elections. If this is what Trump is referring to when he speaks of election fraud, then I certainly can concur.

Or, is Trump referring to the biased media reporting?  During the last debate, he came under fire for what he said about women in a tape from 2005.  His type of talk was referred to as ‘locker room talk.’ I have referred to it as ‘gutter talk.’  (By the way, this kind of talk would eliminate 90% of the men I have known in my life from being president, as well as an equal amount of women!)   Either way, the screaming liberals came out of the woodwork to express their disdain for such talk.  Republican politicians began jumping ship from his support. Donald scored some points during the debate by saying that talking about women was one thing, but abusing them in action was another.  Of course, this was a not so veiled reference to Bill Clinton. That pretty much rocked Hillary for the rest of the debate.   An then….and then….just as Grandma P predicted  (which I found very uncanny and somewhat frightening) women could not come forth fast enough to tell their stories of how Donald Trump groped them and made sexual advances upon them.  This was no doubt to bring Donald down to the level of Bill (he would have to practice to match Bill!) and to detract from those damn pesky deleted emails that Wikileaks keeps publishing.  As I am writing this, more of these accusation stories have proven to be fictitious.

Those deleted emails are getting more interesting by the day.  They have indicated that there is collusion between the Clinton campaign and the media.  There is plenty of evidence of what was done to erase those damaging emails.  There are references about influence peddling as Secretary of State coupled with  contributions to the Clinton Foundation.  There is now evidence that they attempted to pressure the FBI to declassify some of the emails, so the campaign can say that no classified emails were sent on a non-secure computer.  It appears Hillary received the questions concerning the debates before the debates.  Bill Clinton received a million dollar birthday gift from the country of Qatar, while at the same time, the State Department was indicating that Qatar was sponsoring terrorism!   I am waiting for the shoe to drop on Benghazi and the Clinton Foundation. The Clinton Foundation being the personal piggy bank of the Clinton family and no doubt funding a huge portion of her election campaign with foreign contributors.  Of course, this is illegal, but that has not stopped the Clinton money machine yet.

But with all of this information about the missing emails….with all the serious illegal, immoral and indecent items that are being released in these emails….the mainstream media has devoted seven times more TV air time to Trump’s female accusers than they have on the deleted emails.  In fact, some of the major TV networks are not reporting about the released emails at all!

The timing of these women accusing Trump could not be more suspicious.  If they were so concerned about how he treated women, why did they not come forth during the primaries.  Certainly these maidens of virtue would have been Ted Cruz supporters and would have wanted to do the proper Christian thing.  But noooooooo, after winning some points against Bill during the last debate, that is the response that Trump received.  I am not saying Trump is an angel, but the timing and the number of these accusations appears to be coordinated.

It is obvious to me that these ranting self-righteous Liberals are not students of history.  The Democratic party has had more than their fair share of presidential and political bad boys   When Franklin D. Roosevelt died in Warm Springs, Georgia; he was not with Eleanor, his wife.  He was with his mistress of decades, Lucy Mercer.  We all know that JFK was a presidential bad boy.  So were his brothers Teddy and Bobby.  Then we go to LBJ.  Another presidential bad boy who had mistresses in the White House.  Then there is Bill Clinton.  “I did not have relations with that woman.” Well, he did have relations with that woman and lied numerous times about it.  “People who live in glass houses should not throw stones!”

If Jesus Christ would appear on earth and run for president as a Republican, I am convinced the liberal, biased media would tear him apart.

This is the sleaziest election of my lifetime.  The personal attacks have no boundaries or limitations. I fear it will only sink further before election day.   It is very disheartening to see the media, our watch dogs of society and of truth, fall lockstep into this biased reporting and smear campaign.  Forget the issues, don’t report the relevance of those missing emails….smear, smear, smear!

Does Donald Trump have justification for saying the election campaign is rigged?  If you take into consideration the biased media, fictitious accusations, voters voting without an ID, voters voting who may not be US citizens, well, how could you disagree.

God Help America.  God Bless America.

Waist versus Waste

Have you jumped on a scale lately?

Here we are, in that ‘tweener’ period between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  It is the time of year when, confronted with vast servings of cookies, nuts and candies, we just seem to lose control of our ‘well-intended’ diet plans.

In the spirit of this caring and sharing time of year, friends and neighbors love to share homemade gifts – usually more  cookies, nuts and candies.  Grandma P partakes in this tradition.  It has created a vicious cycle of personal ‘weight turbulence.’  This is especially true when Grandma P bakes about 200 extra dozen cookies, with the direct order for me to try each type to assure they are friend and neighbor-worthy.  As she values my opinion, I am obligated to sample each type.  I usually taste each flavor  five or six times to make sure she got that cookie ‘just right.’  She helps me during this process by leaving said cookies exposed on the kitchen counter for easy access.  This is the same concept as the check-out lines in Walmart that are stocked with items for your ‘impulse’ purchase.  I impulsively eat more cookies.

Friends, family and neighbors also want to socialize during this time of the year.  (My opinion is this is done so they get their ticket punched, and do not have to do it again for the New Year!)  These gatherings usually entail adult beverages, cookies, nuts, candies and other assorted desserts to ensure that cardiac care centers remain in business!

Taking all of these items into consideration and combining them with my recent exposure to a twenty-eight day ‘all you can eat’ bacon buffet, you begin to understand my weight gain dilemma and  challenges.

But, just when the world appears its darkest and gloomiest, it is human nature to look at those less fortunate and say, “I guess I don’t have it so bad.”

And therein lies the light at the end of the tunnel!  Just when I thought that my pending weight gain was unstoppable and incorrigible, that magical, inevitable  “I guess I don’t have it so bad” epiphany. (What Oprah Winfrey calls “an ah-ha moment.”)  Even though I may put on a few pounds, this organization has virtually increased its ‘weight’ almost five times during my lifetime!

What is it, you ask?  The size of the President’s Cabinet, and the Cabinet level staff! 

An explanation is necessary.  I researched the material for this post on December 7, Pearl Harbor Day.  The bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 was the prelude to the largest single event to affect the United States and the world in the last 100 years, World War II.  (If you disagree, just imagine the ramifications to the world and the U.S. if we would have lost!)

I was curious as to how many members there were in Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s 1940 cabinet.  This would have been the cabinet that was responsible for America’s large contribution to winning that war.  Have a guess?  The number of members of the 1940 FDR cabinet was eleven.  This 1940 cabinet was comprised of:  Vice President, Secretary of State, Secretary of War, Attorney General, Postmaster General, Secretary of the Navy, Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Labor.

FDR was a smart guy.  He foresaw the events in Europe unfolding in the late 30s, and  he surmised that America, regardless of her isolationist sentiment, would eventually get involved.  He selected his cabinet members wisely.  He valued experience.  Two of his cabinet members served all thirteen years of his term as President.

His most interesting choice and his most remarkable choice was Henry L. Stimson as Secretary of War.  Firstly, Stimson was a Republican.  No harm in that, as the current Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel is also a Republican serving a Democrat POTUS.  Stimson was appointed Secretary of War in July of 1940 at the age of 73!  Why Stimson?  ( A question for my trivia team!)  He was selected because he was the Secretary of War during World War I in the Taft administration!  During WWII, Stimson directed the expansion of the military, managing the conscription and training of 13 million soldiers and airmen.  He also was responsible for the purchase and transportation to battlefields of 30% of the nation’s industrial output.

What a patriot!  At the time in his life when most retired, Henry Stimson stepped up to the plate to help his country.  He did this at an age that was greater than the average life expectancy of a male at that time.  He lived to the age of 83.

Harold Ickes, the Secretary of the Interior, and Frances Perkins, the Secretary of Labor, served the entire time of the FDR presidency.  Secretary of State Cordell Hull and Secretary of Treasury Henry Morgenthau, Jr. both served eleven years.  One FDR cabinet member had four years experience.  The remainder of the cabinet had five or more years.

In retrospect, FDR and his Cabinet could be called the ‘gang of twelve.’  Fortunately for us and the world, they were educated, experienced and dedicated.  They must have been remarkable to shoulder so much responsibility,  as we won the war.

Do you know how many members there currently are in the 2012 Obama Cabinet?  There are twenty-two members.  That is double what FDR had in his Cabinet just 73 years ago.  Just like my weight, it gets bigger; and just like the commercials on TV….but wait, there’s more!  There are an additional twenty-nine Czars, many of them with Cabinet-level standing.  This adds up to fifty-one Cabinet members and Czars.   That is over five times the number of people FDR had to win World War II!  Now who has put on the weight?

Most of these current Cabinet members have been appointed recently.  Most were appointed following the 2012 election, but there are some that have been appointed after 2012, as their predecessors resigned.  John Kerry replacing Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State would be an example.  Suffice it to say that the eleven members of the FDR administration would far and away exceed the existing twenty-two Cabinet members in experience. It appears that Cabinet membership has become a revolving door to ‘get one’s ticket punched’ on the way to a better position.  The dedication is not as apparent.

There is no doubt that the largest problem for our country is the continuing inability to present a budget, much less make an attempt to balance a budget.  We have not had a budget since this POTUS took office.    Our government is still operating on ‘appropriation bills.’  The next one expires on January 15.  We have another possible government shutdown looming in less than six weeks.  Happy New Year!

The existence of all these Cabinet members and Czars is creating a financial hardship on this country.  How so?  Have the Departments of Education and Energy run their course?  Do we need them?  Do we need twenty-nine Czars?  With the existence of all these Cabinets and Czars, we have people competing for monies to justify their existence and expand their particular agencies.  We are funding people we don’t need and programs we don’t need.  They are doing this with our money!  (We could eliminate a boatload of IRS agents by repealing Obamacare!)

Here is a partial list of the Czars that are currently in this administration:  Energy and Environment Czar, Faith-based Czar, Domestic Violence Czar, Aids Czar, Climate Czar, Central Region Czar, Auto Recovery Czar (Yup, I’m serious.  I could not make this up!), California Water Czar, Car Czar, Government Performance Czar (How would you like to present that report to the POTUS?), Great Lakes Czar, Green Jobs Czar, Guantanamo Closure Czar, Information Czar, Pay Czar, Regulatory Czar, WMD Policy Czar, Tarp Czar, and last but surely not least – Sudan Czar.

I am not exactly sure of the responsibilities of each Czar, but Common Sense tells me we can put the Federal Government on a diet and eliminate a bunch of them.  There appears to be overlap between Czar responsibilities and Cabinet responsibilities.  Do we need both?

FDR and his cabinet were masterful in their ability to shape our country and the world.  They did it with a cabinet of eleven and a President.  There were no Czars.  They were the ‘gang of twelve.’

The fact is, our government is too large and has ballooned in size.  We, as a nation have become much too dependent on the government, at the expense of individual responsibility.  This  ‘plus size’ government is the result.  The people of the United States need to decrease their reliance on the government, and the government needs to be put on a ‘diet.’

As a role model for our government, I, Grandpa T am going to get on a treadmill to reverse the misfortunes of weight gain.  (Right after I am done with my milk and cookies.)