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Dollars and Sense: Just say ‘no” to non-essential spending

By Christine Anne Piesyk | September 29, 2008 |

Today our U.S. Representatives voted not to approve a $700 million bail-out for Wall Street and Corporate America, responding in part to a backlash of newly energized American “Joe Average” angry over executive pay, the mortgage crisis, and rocketing debt (personal and Iraq war-related). The time to start worrying, though, began when the balanced budget of the Clinton era was sacrificed on the altar of political expediency and oil profits in the post-911 panic.

Like many Americans, I’ve been following the financial roller coaster ride that is Wall Street and the American financial system, though I may have been following it longer than most. Years, in fact.

In recent weeks I’ve corresponded with a New England friend who, after years of fiscal nonchalance and escalating debt decided to straighten up and become fiscally responsible. It took him five years or so to pay down all his debt, establish a fiscal net worth in savings and investments — and keep it that way. He’s the first to admit “it’s not easy.”

The first rule of thumb, he says, is pay down your debt. The second rule of thumb is “if you can’t pay for it, don’t buy it.” It doesn’t get more straightforward than that, unless you live in a culture like ours in which you are primed to consume beyond your means. Keep up with the Joneses until you both sink. It’s been the American way for some time now. «Read the rest of this article»

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Councilor Lewis to address Outreach Center, Leadership Clarksville forum

By Christine Anne Piesyk | September 28, 2008 |

UPDATE 9.29.08: This event has been canceled.

Ward 3 City Councilor James Lewis will speak at the New Providence Outreach Center on Monday September 29, at 6:30 p.m.  The center is located at 207 Oak Street.

Lewis will also speak at The Leadership Clarksville Forum at the Economic Development Council Office on Jefferson Street  Green Bank at 4:30 on, Tuesday, September 30.

Sections: Business, Events, Issues, News, Politics | 2 Comments

The sin of Confederate hero worship

September 26, 2008 |

Why do Americans stand for Southerners idolizing the Confederacy, despite the evils of slavery and treason at its heart?

By The Rebbe with a Cause, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach

This week, I took my family to Virginia in pursuit of one of my favorite summertime activities, visiting Civil War battlefields. We traveled to the four great battlefields around Fredericksburg, where more than 100,000 soldiers died in the course of the war. I also fulfilled my lifelong dream of visiting Appomattox Courthouse where on April 9, 1865, Lee famously surrendered to Grant, in effect ending the war.

What consistently baffles me in making these visits is the romanticization of the Confederacy that continues 140 years after the war’s end. Wherever you go in the South, Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, J.E.B. Stuart, James Longstreet, and the other Confederate leaders are venerated as heroes. In the course of my travels, I have driven on Robert E. Lee Drive and Jefferson Davis Highway. I’ve seen myriad monuments to Stonewall Jackson, and I’ve seen the Confederate flag flying from cars and homes.

As an American who loves his country, I am appalled by the persistence of Confederate hero worship in the South 140 years after the Civil War’s end. After all, the South fought for a truly evil cause. While there were other factors that led to the Civil War, no serious, objective historian would deny that the principal cause of the war was the institution of slavery, and that the South fought to preserve its “peculiar institution.” «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Arts and Leisure, Business, Events, Issues, Opinion, Politics, Spirituality | 3 Comments

Kucinich offers Main Street Recovery Plan

September 25, 2008 |

Guest Commentator Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, offers a plan to save “Main Street.”

While Wall Street and the Bush Administration try to blackmail Congress into a $700 billion bailout for corporations that have shown zero concern about the plight of the American people through the last decade, I have been working on a comprehensive alternative. Today, I am releasing a plan for economic recovery that will provide not only economic stimulus, but also fairness for everyday people on every “Main Street” in America. The plan  detailed will also be available on the campaign website www.kucinich.us.

Of course, this is a plan that has not only economic implications, but also moral and spiritual implications as well. The social, economic, and political divisions in our nation must be healed.  We can make a new beginning, seizing this moment of crisis and transforming it into a moment of rebirth for our nation. «Read the rest of this article»

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Paddling your child? Corporal punishment in schools still legal in Tennessee

By Christine Anne Piesyk | September 25, 2008 |

A collection of Classroom Paddles (www.corpum.com)

Spare the rod, spoil the child? It’s an axiom many of us grew up with. It’s in the news again, though, sparking controversy over the application of corporal discipline to children by school teachers and administrators.

Nearly half of our states, including Tennessee, still allow and use corporal punishment in schools. Tennessee is among thirteen states reportedly using corporal punishment “frequently,” according to the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education. The group said Wednesday that some 200,000 children were subjected to this practice (spanking or paddling) in the 2007-08 school year.

Surprised? Many people were. Angry? Even more people were.

In the 125-page report, “A Violent Education: Corporal Punishment of Children in U.S. Public Schools,” the ACLU and Human Rights Watch found that in Texas and Mississippi children ranging in age from 3 to 19 years old are routinely physically punished for minor infractions such as chewing gum, talking back to a teacher, or violating the dress code, as well as for more serious transgressions such as fighting. Corporal punishment, legal in 21 states, typically takes the form of “paddling,” during which an administrator or teacher hits a child repeatedly on the buttocks with a long wooden board. The report shows that, as a result of paddling, many children are left injured, degraded, and disengaged from school. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Business, Education, Issues, News, Politics | 2 Comments

Obama responds to fiscal crisis, says “the American people need to hear from us”

By Christine Anne Piesyk | September 25, 2008 |

In response to John McCain’s decision to return to suspend campaigning and return to Washington, his request to postponed the scheduled Sept. 26 debate in Oxford, Mississippi, and in response to the fiscal crisis and a proposed $700 million bail out, Senator Barack Obama spoke out on the issues at a Press Conference Wednesday afternoon. We offer our readers a replay of Obama’s statement.

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McCain drops campaign to focus on economy; seeks postponement of upcoming debate

By Christine Anne Piesyk | September 24, 2008 |

BREAKING NEWS: John McCain this afternoon announced he was suspending his campaign to focus on the economic crisis in America and has requested that the Sept. 26 debate be rescheduled.

President Bush to address nation at 8 p.m. CST.

McCain’s decision is a complete about-face from his prior statements  that the United States economy is “fundamentally sound.” This is John McCain’s statement, released at 3 p.m. today.:

Sen. John McCain

America this week faces an historic crisis in our financial system. We must pass legislation to address this crisis. If we do not, credit will dry up, with devastating consequences for our economy. People will no longer be able to buy homes and their life savings will be at stake. Businesses will not have enough money to pay their employees. If we do not act, ever corner of our country will be impacted. We cannot allow this to happen.

Last Friday, I laid out my proposal and I have since discussed my priorities and concerns with the bill the Administration has put forward. Senator Obama has expressed his priorities and concerns.This morning, I met with a group of economic advisers to talk about the proposal on the table and the steps that we should take going forward.I have also spoken with members of Congress to hear their perspective. «Read the rest of this article»

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Mr. & Mrs. Middle Class: You’ve been punked!

By Tom Paine | September 24, 2008 |

You are being told that we must pony up for Wall Street’s mistakes over the past 20 years. You are being told that if you do not it will only cost you more in the long run. You are being told that if you do not do so, the world as we know it will cease to exist. That part, at least, is correct.

For the past twenty years, beginning with the Reagan administration, economic war has been waged on you, the middle class. The champions of the “free market” demanded that all fetters, all regulations, be removed from the market. It was claimed that regulations were bad, that they prevented the market from operating “efficiently”, that the “freer” the market, the more we would all benefit. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Business, Events, Issues, Opinion, Politics | 1 Comment »