Month: June 2012

POLITICAL TALK MAY AFFECT YOUR HEALTH

As the national conversation now goes around healthcare, let’s combine it with the political war we live in. We are constantly bombarded from the left and the right with personal attacks, innuendos and insults every time we listen to the radio or watch on television. Have you ever thought that this might not be good for your health? The truth is that political talk aims to give the listener or the viewer something to be unhappy about. That is the way the climb in the ratings. They want you to feel anger and unhappiness about the other side, in order to convert you in “attack dogs” against others. So far…its working! According to the blog “The Positivity Blog” (http://bit.ly/QHkwQh), this style of “unhappy negative talk” can hurt you.

The Blog states: “No one is an island. Who we socialize with, what we read, watch and listen to, has a big effect on how we feel and think.

It becomes a lot harder to be happier if you let yourself be dragged down by negative voices. Voices that tell you that life will in large part always be unhappy, dangerous and filled with fear and limits. Voices that watch life from a negative perspective, like some talk show hosts and politicians”. No wonder we have so much division and war in our communities, we are being manipulated.

Some practical solutions, so you don’t get absorbed by this type of commentary are as follows:

Replacing those negative voices with more positive influences is very powerful. It can be like a whole new world opening up.

So, spend more time with positive people, inspiring music and books, movies and TV-shows that make you laugh and think about life in a new way.

You can start small. For example, try reading an uplifting blog or book or listen to an audio book while eating your breakfast.

This will never disappear, but you don’t need to get sick.

See you next week.

WHY DO PEOPLE LIE IN THE WORKPLACE?

I was reading and listening about the way certain people that call themselves “public servants” either lie about their job or lie to get promotions, all under false pretenses. I decided to look into this because, for me, lying is really immoral, and more if your job is to serve your community.

According to a study made by Jennifer Argo of the University of Alberta, self-esteem and threats to our sense of self are drivers when it comes to lying to co-workers, rather than strangers.

A recent study she co-authored showed that people are even more willing to lie to coworkers than they are to strangers. “We want to both look good when we are in the company of others (especially people we care about), and we want to protect our self-worth,” Argo said. (http://bit.ly/PYqr3g)

The experiment involved reading a scenario to a subject, telling them they had paid more than a coworker for the same new car. When the coworker, in the scenario, mentioned what they had paid, $200 or $2,000 more in different versions of the experiment, the subject was asked to report how they would respond.

Argo found that her subjects were more willing to lie when the price difference was small and when they were talking to a coworker rather than to a stranger.

Let me call it as I see it: People lie because they are sociopaths. Yes, these people are sick. These are probably the hardest people to deal with, and to be able to detect when they are lying. They don’t always know that they are lying, because they have become so good at it that they can look you straight in your eyes and lie without blinking an eye. They often pride themselves on their ability to lie and get away with it. Some can even pass lie detector tests because they have no conscience. These people are discusting and should be called out. There is no room for liars that serve the people.

See you next week!!

DO PEOPLE REALLY CARE WHO WINS AN ELECTION?

Listening to all the political hoopla, and the media working hard for ratings, there is an interesting factor in all of this: are people REALLY interested in the elections? How many people are interested enough to go out and VOTE? According to some polls…NOT A LOT, NOT ENOUGH.

According to the United States Election Project (http://elections.gmu.edu/Turnout_2008G.html), out of the 213,313,508 people eligible to vote, only 132,653,958 voted in the past election. That is about 62%. That means that 38% of the eligible voters DID NOT VOTE! Is this fair?

Here are some interesting facts:

In the 2008 Census Bureau voting survey, topping the list of reasons for not voting is a lack of interest (13%) or a dislike of the candidates or issues (13%).  More than a quarter of registered nonvoters in 2008 didn’t vote because they weren’t interested or didn’t like their choices.

Many reported illness or disability (15%), especially among older registered nonvoters.  Others were too busy, or had conflicting schedules (17%).  That’s about a third of the registered nonvoters.

Of the remainder, many had some logistical problem with the process:  6% had problems with their voter registration, 3% did not have convenient polling places, and another 3% had some sort of transportation problem.  And 0.2% reported that bad weather conditions kept them from the polls on Election Day.

So, even though the reasons are somewhat logical, they also show that the system does not facilitate the process; many countries have much higher voter participation than the United States. It all boils down to big interests and the political parties who do not cooperate in providing a fair system, a system where EVERYONE can vote and be heard. A simple example, why do elections have to be on a work day? Why can’t they be on a weekend? That would probably eliminate the fact that some people are too busy or have conflicting schedules.

I think its time that the American people open their eyes. It is a corrupt system, no matter what party is in power. It is not a representative democracy; it is a representative dictatorship, based solely on ideological and big interests only. As I have said many times, the voice of all Americans will never be heard as long as the people demand respect and not money to “purchase” elections….just like in Florida.

See you next week!

United States of America….talking about a third world country

 According to the New York Times, the presidential candidates have raised more than $330 million for their campaigns to date, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. Mitt Romney leads among Republicans, but President Obama easily topped the field.  It is interesting how candidates “buy” elections, because they don’t really win. Same thing happened in Florida. It is incredible the amount of money used to buy the votes of a miniscule electorate that votes in the United States.

Think about the 330 million when you read these facts:

1. According to Feeding America, there are 48,832,000 people that are food insecure, that have limited or no access to food. 3,609,200 of these live in Florida. (http://bit.ly/LIdvNW)
2. 17.1 percent of Americans have no health insurance.  (http://huff.to/LIcTrE)
3. 636,017 Homeless people in America, 67,495 are veterans. 56,687 homeless in Florida. (http://www.endhomelessness.org/content/article/detail/4361)

These are just 3 examples that are obvious in a third world country. Now, let’s add to that this humongous amount of money that could easily take help or even take care of these 3 very sad problems. The corruption in politics in general in the United States is worse than in a third world country. The “purchase of government by the big economic interests, the homeless, uninsured and the hungry. Think about it…

United States passes the third world admission test with flying colors!  WELCOME!!

Lesson: NEVER BELIEVE IN POLITITIANS!!

See you next week

My Way Number 12

When not so good people are wrong…..they are third.

Some friends came to me and told me they heard on CNN of someone saying that the “leading” and “largest” Hispanic group in Hillsborough County are the Cubans. Another one stated at a political meeting: “there are a lot of Puerto Ricans here, but they must understand that the Cubans are the only leaders”. I was also told that one bought their way into a political position, paying others and offering money for candidates to quit running for office.  I really don’t know where they get this.  For the record, I have a lot of Cuban friends, listeners and readers; people for who I have the utmost respect and admiration. For those, please don’t feel offended. 

I do have to mention to these 2 or 3 political fanatics that are not leaders but dictators, those who use politics to sell products and try to manipulate facts and people in order to get there way. These Cubans give the rest of the community, in my opinion, a bad name. It seems they have such limited power over the rest of the community  that in their total idiocy and greed, they have to lie and manipulate their way in order to obtain results. These people should be repudiated by ALL the communities in this County.  These people are part of the reason the Hispanic community is divided; they have no respect for the other communities.

I hope these very few fanatic dictators learn that the ONLY way to obtain results is to work united, with all the communities, otherwise, nothing will be achieved.

By the way, according to the Fact Finder of the 2010 Census, Cubans are the THIRD largest Hispanic group in Hillsborough County. Granted, they USED to be first, but not anymore.

Dictators, show a little respect.

See you next week!

****http://bit.ly/M8Pgs9