Sal's Reflections

The way to win the White House in 2016 will be a cake walk because of the brilliant national and local strategies being implemented. Continue to oppose equal pay for women, and stifle their opportunities for contraception and personal health care concerns. .Supplement this with statements about rape.Kill immigration legislation and make racial remarks about how lazy Hispanics are. Attempt to pass sodomy laws, and refer to gay marriage as a form of incest. Block every job bill that comes your way, and do everything possible to make it difficult for minority groups to vote. Balance the budget on the backs of the most vulnerable, and dismiss all forms of knowledge that do not fit with your end game. In addition shut down the government and change your demands by the hour.The route will be facilitated by a government default and a world wide financial crisis.

Imagine what a business Board of Directors would do if their business did a public survey and their customer approval rate was 5%.I cannot imagine that their reaction would be to reenact policies that would continue to alienate their customers. Our current Congress has dipped to a 5% approval rate, and their choice is to stonewall that fact and ignore their customers and become more rigid in their positions. In the interim the world shakes its head at the most powerful nation in the world that is at a standstill because of the total lack of leadership. Where are the reasonable voices in both parties that are outside the clown show? The American people want tax reform, jobs, growth and a host of other critical goals. They are tired of name calling and foolish photo opportunities. The system needs a complete over hall and somehow these clowns must leave and get jobs where they do less harm.

There is an ongoing debate about teachers and their value or lack of value. Like everyone I had some that were superb and some that were fair to midland.My life has been altered for the better for those that took the profession as a calling. So many lessons learned from teachers who helped transfer more than mere academic information. My life is better because of Viktor,Sister Catherine Laboure,Anthony Padovano,Mrs.Short,Frank McNulty and a legion of those whose dedication opened up the world of knowledge and exploration.

In every life there are moments or situations that do not work out. These often create emotional scar tissue that prevents new attempts to lead life more fully. The emotional residue is something that lingers, and the feelings that accompany this are often so painful that we avoid new choices. I would contend that there are ways to overcome this dread of failure by realizing that the only sustained failure is the refusal to try again .There is learning in our failure, but to allow it to stifle our hopes and dreams is a choice that needs to be changed.It is more than a simple bromide that states”If at first you don’t succeed ,try try again.

One of the strong influences on the decisions we make are the beliefs that we carry often unexamined. There are negative beliefs that prevent us from creating alternatives and achieving positive goals.Things like” I am poor at mathematics” or” I always fail at new business oopportunities” or” I am too old to go back to school”. These and a host of other beliefs can be further examined and substituting new positive beliefs will not make the world perfect, but it will give you new paths to explore .

The clowns in the Congress were falling all over themselves to publicly praise the Capital police and other first responders who put themselves in harms way.Yet they are responsible for these heroic souls not being paid while risking their lives. Meanwhile they are being paid as they seek out one photo opportunity after another. It would be laughable if it was not creating real harm for millions of innocent American citizens. They live in the Beltway bubble eating and feasting on the public trough while the lives of families are disrupted.

Every time I have the privilege of giving a presentation about the Holocaust I am overwhelmed by the response of the audience. It matters little whether there are five hundred in an auditorium, or ten persons in a book club at someone’,s home. It is not a maudlin exercise to examine that horrid period, and though no one can totally explain it there are hundreds of lessons to draw from the evil of bias and prejudice. I am ever grateful to my mentor and all the survivors who shared their stories with me through the years.

There will come a time in the future when persons in the current Congress will look back on their lives. As in all cases they will review what contributions they made to the common good. It would be so satisfying to know they helped create jobs, provided health care for every citizen, fostered fair Immigration policies, developed energy policies that made the nation self sufficient, fostered early child education and a host of other tremendous goals that made a real difference in the lives of others. However, those opportunities will not be the satisfying goals that this current Congress can reflect on and savor with pride. Instead as they sit in their rocking chairs they will have to settle for the only signature accomplishment they achieved was that they shut the government down. It will be truly sad for the nation and them that with all of he meaningful opportunities for positive change the only thing they will be able to point to is their ability to be obstructionists.

There are great similarities between the Beltway and Disneyworld.Both places operate in a world of fantasy and reality is solely absent within their boundaries. The fundamental difference is that Disneyworld is a place of choice that brings great joy to millions of children. It is a world that adults sponsor because the characters and themes fill children with a sense of wonder. The Beltway is a haven for fantasy but the difference is that those who create these fables do not have any sense of the pain that their fables create. Today the children who are in Disneyland are smiling while those deprived by the machinations of the Beltway will go hungry again.

I pledge to do all in my power to stifle the will of the American people. My allegiance will be to those who contribute to my campaign and they alone.I will block all forms of reasonable legislation especially in the areas of health care and job creation. I will be allowed to purchase stock with privileged information ,and will be covered by the best health care coverage ,and will be paid even when the government shuts down.I will balance the budget on the backs of the poor and whenever cooperation with the enemy becomes possible, I will take my football and go home.”