The name of this blog was changed today to “The Cerebrist“. What the heck does that mean? In the search for a unique name, including an available domain name, one must think outside the box as the saying goes. It seems almost every word in the English Dictionary is registered already by someone. So, in thinking about what I am trying to do with this column, I concluded I am trying to get others to “think“. For sure, not everyone will agree with my positions on matters or what I am saying, but if I can cause just one person to think about an issue, I will have succeeded.
What is it to think. It is to cerebrate, by definition. “Cerebrate” is a verb. And who would be the person doing the thinking? It would be a “Cerebrist“; meaning “one who thinks“. You will not find this noun in any dictionary. It was the result of thinking.
It seems Notre Dame University in northern Indiana has a big problem. The President of Notre Dame invited President Barack Obama to speak at their commencement ceremony and Obama accepted. Now the illustrious alumni and the Catholic Church are throwing temper tantrums. Evidently, many of the alums, church members, and clergy object vehemently to Obama’s positions on stem cell research and on abortion. They want Notre Dame to withdraw the invitation.
Frankly, I think such a withdrawl would put ole Notre Dame at the bottom of some list. If they did not want the President of the United States, they should not have issued an invitation. Now, they want to insult the highest office in this land. Obama’s positions on stem cell research and abortion have been no secret, so the only conclusion is that the University administration is not too swift….. or maybe they thought freedom of thought should prevail and that it would be an honor to host the President of the United States on their campus; agree with him on some issues or not. Maybe they thought their alumni were more mature than they have turned out to be. Maybe they have given the Roman Catholic patriarchs more credit than is due. One only has to take a look at 2000 years of history to know better.
So, now Notre Dame is in a Catch-22. On the one hand they don’t want to upset their alumni. After all, millions of dollars to support the school come in from them. On the other hand, I doubt they want to be seen as being disrespectful to the Presidency of the United States of American. I suspect they are on their kneeling rails praying for the President to withdraw his acceptance. This would get them off the hook. I, for one, don’t think it should be made this easy.
Every company that is a private enterprise should be able to have any bonus policy it wants to have. The compensation packages for the folks that get millions are none of our business. Being able to pay these incredible amounts of money should be the decision of the Board of Directors. If the customers of any company continue to buy the goods and services offered, so be it. If the company goes belly up, so be it. This is life in a society that is based upon a system of capitalism. Frankly, I cannot think of any better.
The rub comes when the company is failing. When it heads for the doors of Congress for a handout, all bets are off. The taxpayers then should have the only say in who gets what. Bonuses should be history. Period. There is absolutely no justification for bonuses to anyone, let alone to people who have been in positions of responsibility and contributed to the giant losses.
The latest is Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Some are saying that the planned bonuses are “retention” bonuses. The claim is that these people are needed to guide these two quasi-governmental companies through the present mess. I say, “Are you crazy?”. These are the people who created the mess. They not only should not get bonuses but likely should be fired pronto. You will never convince me that they are “needed”. I suspect fresh graduates of the nation’s business schools could do better than retaining those who have proven they cannot do the job. And, besides, the newly graduated need jobs. Two birds with one stone!!!!
I hope our Congressional representative act to stop this nonsense.
Oh….. I know. All of those coming into our country illegally or over staying their visas are just trying to take care of their families and seek opportunities to advance themselves. The problem is the United States of American is supposed to be a nation of laws. This means being color blind, ethnically blind, educationally blind, faith blind, and economically blind. The law is supposed to apply equally to all.
The current problems we have with illegal aliens, however, have mostly to do with those coming over the Mexican border with the United States. Yes, there is some problem along the Florida coast as well but it pales in comparison to the Mexican border problems. This must stop. Period. If necessary, I think the border must be militarized. Call it by any name you wish, but that is what it amounts to. Too bad if the Mexican government does not like this.
The United States this past month lost another 600,000 jobs. This brings the jobless and under employed numbers to about 23,000,000. So, the argument that illegals are just doing jobs that “Americans” won’t just does not fly. Under present circumstances, illegals are a burden we do not need. Just ask the state of California.
It is time to crack down on illegal border crossings, time to arrest and return to their home country any found to be in this country illegally, time to penalize employers that hire illegals, and not only time to allow but time to expect local law enforcement officials to become a part of this aggressive effort to regain control of our borders. If we do anything less, we are saying it is OK to break the laws of this country at will. This cannot continue.
Think about it. It is estimated there are over 10 million illegal aliens in this country. If all went home, many jobs would be freed to be offered to our citizens that are either out of work completely or are working part time but wanting full time work. To the illegal alien advocacy groups that promote continuation of lawless activities, I say you should pay a price as well. If you aid and abet, you should be held accountable, too.