Tuesday, March 10, 2015

The Panda Bear on Hillary Clinton and The Panda Bear's New Work Schedule

After the terrible snows of  the Boston area, the Panda Bear is having one her first "normal" evenings at home.   The Panda Bear's husband(Mr. Panda)  has gone to the YMCA.    It is the first time the Panda Bear has been at home in her apartment at night in several months due the snow and Mr. Panda's month off at the end of the year.  It is in these times of quiet solitude that the Panda Bear can write her blog.

The Panda Bear Blog is the blog of a humble office worker who wants to change the world.   She wants to restore the position of the average worker to that of respect for being the mainstay of the economy.

In November of 2014, the Panda Bear started a new job.   Her hours have changed; instead of working from 7:00-3:30(a schedule that she has worked for many years), she now works 8:00-4:30.   The reader may laugh and say that is not a big change in hours.   However, the Panda Bear has found these small changes make a difference particularly in modern times when there is pressure to do ev many things in short time frames.   One advantage the Panda Bear has found with working slightly later is that when she comes home it is dinner time.   On the earlier schedule, the Panda Bear wanted to have a snack after work than eat dinner.    The later schedule eliminates the need of a before dinner snack.

Today, in the Panda Bear's new humble office job, the Panda Bear heard on a television in office lounge Hillary Clinton's lame excuses for using personal e-mail for government business.   Now the Panda Bear supported Hillary Clinton in 2008 and thinks its cool that she has not driven a car for many years(the Panda Bear does not drive).   However, the Panda Bear thinks Hillary Clinton is in the process of self destruction; she did put herself in this bind not the evil right wing.

Hillary Clinton sounded like a teenager in her need to use personal e-mail.   She sounded like a dumb blond(which she is not) in the problems using two devices one for personal and one for the job.

However, national defense is a serious issue.   Even in the Panda Bear's humble job, she knows that work e-mail is more secure than personal e-mail and that work and personal e-mails should be separate.

Hillary Clinton had her own server in her house for her e-mails.  It appears that she never used her work e-mail.   The Panda Bear thinks it was very well thought out decision on Mrs. Clinton's part not to use the government e-mail in order to hide information.   Her releasing her e-mails is like Nixon releasing the Nixon tapes(and Hillary Clinton worked on the Watergate hearings).   Someone objective needs to go through the materials.

The Panda Bear is tired of "leaders" of all political stripes and organization types who think they are above the rules the rest of the world needs to follow.   Many of these rules came about for a reason.   The theory behind constitutional government is that a country is more effectively run when the rulers follow the laws.

Please Hillary don't run-let's get someone new.

Sunday, March 8, 2015

The Panda Bear on Snow, Political Corruption and Hillary Clinton

Readers of the Panda Bear know that the Panda Bear lives in the Boston area which has been hit by enormous amounts of snow.   Life for the Panda Bear for the past six weeks has just been a struggle to get to work and back.   The snow banks are very high and the walking is difficult.   Cars are having time driving through the snow.    While the Panda Bear does not drive, she finds the walking difficult and frightening.   For the first time in her full-time working life of nearly thirty years all what she does is go to work and back home(rather than doing additional activities after work).

Normally, this time of year the Panda Bear would be feeling something like cabin fever.   However, this bad winter has made the Panda Bear not hurt but numb.   All of her energy has been going into getting to work and back.   She feels the large banks of snow will never go away.   The Panda Bear feels that people have been snowbound here for so long that it is effecting people’s physical and emotional health. The return to "normal" life will be like a person returning to "normal" life after an illness; it will be an adjustment.

However, the snow has also made the Panda Bear and others more critical of the corruption of government.    People feel the government could be doing a better job of removing the snow.   The mayor of Boston has proposed putting large fines for people who don't clean their sidewalks within a few hours of the snow stopping.  While the Panda Bear does see some sidewalks where the people have not cleared their sidewalks and probably should be fined, she still thinks the Mayor of Boston proposed fines smack of those in power making one set of rules for themselves and another set for those below them.  She thinks the city of Boston has not made snow removal a top priority and that the Mayor of Boston diverted some resources from snow cleaning to the Patriots victory parade this winter.

Of course, the major politician who has been in the news for breaking the rules is Hillary Clinton for using personal e-mail for high level government work.   The Panda Bear thinks she should not run for president; she has too much baggage.  The Panda Bear also thinks the Clinton e-mail scandal reflects negatively on President Obama who must have known about this arrangement.   Did he not promise to have an open and transparent administration?

In many ways the Panda Bear considers herself to be a "Liberal" but she thinks many "Liberal" leaders are corrupt and elitist.    Political corruption and elitism need to be confronted regardless of political party.