Manns Medium

Because this president has been so clear about not stepping on the toes of congress and requiring them to do what they were voted into office to do, it has become apparent that so many have decided that he should not honor that pledge.   They are all asking the president to make laws instead of doing what they were hired to do.   This wish may soon be their undoing. In this debt ceiling debate, Republican Tea party members are always saying that this president has never presented a bill.   Unless I missed my guess, the Legislative Branch is the ones who make laws, while the Executive Branch is supposed to enact them but then with the way some people rewrite history, I could be wrong.   Either way the Tea Party may have just handed President Obama a moment in history that no other President will ever be able to match. By not doing everything that they could to be the ones to save this nation by voting to extend the debt ceiling and debt reduction, they have allowed ...

It has become the norm for representatives of the people who get elected by promising to work for the few forget that they also must represent the many as well.   When you are elected to office, you carry with you more than those who elected you, you have now become the face of this nation and your actions or inactions reflect upon this nation.   The question which should be asked and answered by those chosen is what kind of face will others see? John Boehner may be judged on how he can not act like the adult because he has to check with Rush Limbaugh before putting a plan on the floor but Eric Cantor will also be judged on his lack of leadership skills when it comes to him whipping the votes to pass anything.   It’s an established maxim that if you cater to the minority instead of the majority, you will always be changing planes in mid-air.   These guys are now doing it without a parachute, or so it appears. If the Republican Party wishes to save itself from the T...

According to an article written by Carrie Budoff Brown of Politico titled “Phone tag and wrong numbers: The collapse of the debt talks ”, the talks fell apart for many different reasons yet I still find it hard to believe that given the dire circumstances this nation is in, any leader, regardless of party, would not do everything within their power to lead and not follow. Ms. Brown’s article says that “President Barack Obama tried to get House Speaker John Boehner on the phone late Thursday, but never heard back. The silence continued into Friday, and White House aides began to wonder. It never took this long for the president to get his phone calls returned, particularly from Boehner. After all, the two chatted regularly, forging a working relationship over the many weeks of debt-ceiling negotiations — two men who were each trying to lead their parties someplace they didn’t really want to go.   Obama finally heard from Boehner’s office at 3:30 p.m. Friday: Expect a call in two h...

It’s time that we all begin to take responsibility for our actions or in the case of the progressive left, inaction.   We are the reason that this is happening because when it was time for us to step up to the plate and keep these freshmen Republicans out of office, we choose to sit back and watch this world implode.   We wanted to send Washington a message to not take us for granted but what we ended up doing was dooming America to this dive off a cliff. Hide behind your reasoning all you want but in your heart of hearts, you know that we did not step up and protect this nation from enemies foreign and domestic as we should.   We did not put our own selfish wants and needs behind the need of the nation as a whole.   We complain about the Tea Party taking us to the cliff’s edge but truth be told, they only had the power to do this because we gave it to them.   Unlike the voters of Wisconsin is calling back representatives who lied and mislead them, they are abl...

Forgive me for being so conspiratorial but when I first heard of how depilating Michelle Bachman’s migraine headaches could be, I could feel her pain because I too suffer from them but when I heard that they would sometimes take her out of play for a number of days, something else occurred to me. It became ever so clear that maybe this has been the opportunity that the Bachman Camp has been looking for to get themselves out of the race for President.   She may have started this journey to obtain “Sarah Palin” status or to elevate her personal status and things were going pretty well until the questions about her stance and her husband clinic became the questions may wanted to ask.   Maybe she finally figured out that she was going to have to take this debt ceiling thing serious and the information that she had been given that it really didn’t matter was wrong. Either way, it would not surprise me that soon the Bachman Camp will soon begin packing up their tents and ending th...

The has been much conversation about what happened in the debt talks between President Barack Obama and the Republican’s number two man, Eric Cantor.   Everybody has their own interpretations about what that exchange meant and like everyone else, I have mine.   Mine say that the Republican Party may have received a blessing in disguise and President’s Obama frustration may just be their salvation.   Mine says that this events signals the end of Tea Party rule and the re-emergence of the real Party of Lincoln Here is my evidence and much of it comes from an article by Olivier Knox for AFP titled “ Global warnings raise stakes in US debt standoff” .   It all started when “The US hit the ceiling on May 16 and has used spending and accounting adjustments, as well as higher-than-expected tax receipts, to continue operating without impact on government obligations.”   That was when “The president began pressing for a comprehensive deal to last through his 2012 reelec...

There’s a new sun on the horizon and its rising fast.   Those who have remained quiet will no longer be retrained and those who have felt ignored will now be heard. I was one who had ideas and thoughts about the direction of this country but even with the ability of the blogosphere still felt as if I was not getting heard.   I wanted to do my part in helping to find solutions to the countries’ problems but never could see any incorporation of those ideas make it to those who would ultimately be in charge of making the final decision.   That was then, this is now. Welcome to ACOMM PAC or American Citizens of Modest Means.   Documentation has already been submitted to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and you can join at www.americancitizensofmodestmeans.blogspot.com .   This PAC is designed to hold all elected officials feet to the fire and demand that if you promise, you will be forced to deliver.   Do not look for the leadership of this PAC to be spe...

We all should be familiar with the phrase “judicial activism” by now since it has been used several times in recent memory to determine if any judge should be allowed a seat on any bench by those in political offices who are tasked with that decision.   I submit, that this has now become an epidemic not because it is necessary but because in order for those without to get justice they deserve, the “go-to” governmental offices established to protect the average individual’s rights no longer do so. Case in point is the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).   As an individual, I had filed a complaint regarding a prominent radio-talk show host who used his status to give rise to a movement touting that there were an “institutional hatred of America being taught” in African-American households.   This was more than offensive to me as an African-American single father but more so as a former US Marine.   Thinking that government affords even the average citizen protect...

Because babies do not come with an instruction manual, many parents have no choice but to use trial and error when it comes to trying to raise their children.   Some options are to read as much about being a parent from other parents as possible and adapting some of their results as they tried to raise their kids to be productive members of society.   Another would be to rely heavily on your parents for guidance that is only if you think they did a pretty good job of raising you.   Whatever direction any parent feels is right for them, there is one major issue that I would like to address and that issue is false promises. A false promise is a promise made from parent to a child without any intention to make it a reality on the part of the parent.   If you are somewhat sure that you will not be taking the children to McDonalds after a day of shopping do not promise to do so.   I would even ask that you do not even hint at the possibility at all.   Children,...

I am not a scientist, doctor or head shrink nor do I play one on television but what I do know comes from years of experience and as many years of observation.   Does not mean that this will be true for everyone but it will be so close that you may think it true. How will your child act?   Your child will have all of the mannerisms that you had or have at the time of inception.   I had this unknown habit of sticking my tongue out when I was working on something and didn’t really notice it until my fiancée pointed it out to me.   I must have developed it some time after my oldest son was born because he was not seen doing it but the two youngest really has it bad.   I watch them when they really get engrossed in whatever they are doing and without fail here comes the tongue.   This but one of the many examples that I am being shown by my children. Ever wonder how other people can watch your kids for a few minutes and point out everything that reminds them ...

This is the most often asked and thought about question that many adults face when it comes to having children.   The answer is normally some clinical aspect of parenting read or heard expressed from experts but the real answer is there is none.   No one knows what type of parent that they will be which explains why parenting is one of the hardest jobs that anyone will ever take on.   There are plenty of people out there who will try and tell you what kind of parent to be based on their trial and errors and there are many lessons that can be learned from their mistakes or success.   There are those lessons to be learned from remembering your journey as a child but the most important thing that should be remembered is that the child is a part of you and the person you chose to create that bundle of joy. It must be remembered that the knowledge and experience you have is not readily available to the child.   Sometimes parents speak to a child as if they should kn...

One of the main lessons that any parent can teach to their child is the difference between right and wrong.   Many people have a measurement of whether something is right or wrong by what they have seen or have experienced.   Children need to know that the main difference between right and wrong is strictly based on perception.   Wearing mix matched socks is only wrong to the person who perceives that to not be their style but for the person who thinks it’s a question of individual preference they may not consider it wrong. Children need to know that another main difference between right and wrong is thinking that you are right and knowing that you are right.   Knowing that you are right will take some reading and research while thinking that you are right is mainly just repeating something that you may have heard without verifying it.    A recent example is the debate regarding the reason for the Civil War.   Some argue that it was because of slavery...

In the first part of this two part series, we spoke about TV violence and our children.   In this part I would like to discuss violence in the home and our children.   Whether we wish to admit it or not, the number one reason that our children repeat actions in public is mainly due to the feeling that if it’s okay in the home then it’s okay every where else.   Children do not understand how to separate their actions at home from their actions in the streets.   They can learn but that lesson is best taught by those who they have most exposure to and that is not the teachers at school, it’s the adults in the home. “Current estimates indicate that as many as 10 million children per year may witness or be victims of violence in their homes or that children in communities across the United States are witness to violence at alarmingly high rates.”   “A public health problem of tremendous proportions, childhood exposure to violence (CEV) has a devastating impact on ch...

Because I am not a parent who believes in outside products to teach my children the lessons that I think they should learn, I am not one to find and recommend the top three, five or ten.   What I am able to provide is three of the “must have” abilities for anyone thinking of or already are a parent.   These abilities are extremely important but they are by no means the only ones that parents should possess.   Why they are more important than most of the others is that these abilities, if taught and learned by the child, will dominate their existence for the rest of their lives.   These abilities will repeat themselves over and over again. The first ability is patience.   Easily said but hard to maintain especially if you are a single parent and have to wear so many hats or you are facing so many outside issues that they seem to occupy every single minute of your day.   Patience appears painful but it is far from it.   Patience is a slight smile while ...