Elizabeth Warren

BudLiteGood morning, y’all. Clear, cold, and expecting some nastiness next week. I hope the buffoons at Channel 11 news are wrong again with their predictions of apocalyptic weather for next week. We’ve had highs in the fifties this week and the Whiz O Meter has been calling the days a “10”. I guess somebody’s internal body  temperature runs a little hot over at the Channel 11 studio. That, or they don’t actually go outside, ever. I suspect the latter.

To belabor the point, if optimum temperature for a human being is 72, then 54 degrees is 18 degrees off of that mark. Conversely, we could add 18 degrees to 72 and arrive at 90 degrees, which should still be a “10” by Whiz O Meter standards. 90 degrees is very uncomfortable in the South. More like a “6” on the Bud O Meter. I fear the groundhogs at Channel 11 are using their shadows to do their predictions, or more likely, a radar showing cloud cover. The cloudier the day, the lower the score. That would make some sense for their scoring methods. It’s always easier to predict an outcome when you limit the number of variables.

Speaking of variables, I happen to read Elizabeth Warren’s book, “A Fighting Chance”, this week. Let me tell you right off, the best candidate for president is not in the race. I am so impressed with Elizabeth Warren’s accomplishments and her dedication to public service that I’d start a fan club. That is if I didn’t mind cleaning eggs and toilet paper off of the clubhouse everyday. For some bizarre reason, folks around here will get up in arms to protect their oppressors, and I’m too old to be scrubbing egg off of the walls at Number Two. I don’t know why Elizabeth Warren brings up that emotion in some folks, but it cuts across economic lines.

Jamie Dimon, the billionaire head of JP Morgan Chase, would certainly be the leader of the mob of people hoping to remove Elizabeth Warren from any post of influence. What confounds me is how he can get people he has foreclosed on, the people Elizabeth wants to protect, to follow him. Well, they say a horse will run back into a burning barn. I guess folks like to think that the wealthy made it all fairly and deserve to have Congress give them the breaks and favors they demand. I don’t see it, never have, never will. I just know if we don’t find a way to fix the system, we’ll be bailing out the rich folks again somewhere down the road.

Elizabeth’s book is about her life, which all of us with humble beginnings should identify with. The fact that she had the gumption and drive to make something of herself should serve as an example to us all. The fact that she balanced motherhood with getting an education and a career is doubly admirable. I am so impressed. Whether or not she has Indian blood in her or not, I can’t see that the question should reflect on her abilities. She was a Harvard law professor when she began her work setting up the Consumer Protection Agency. I think the Cherokees would be happy to claim a part of that bloodline.

The Consumer Protection Agency was the dream of Progressives who felt that the common man should have more protection in their dealings with the powerful corporations. The average man can’t compete with the bank’s ability to hire cadres of lawyers to decipher a mortgage closing statement developed by a cadre of lawyers wanting to obscure the advantages put in for the bankers. One of the stated goals of The Consumer Protection Agency is a mortgage statement that is one page long, in plain English. How can that be bad for the common man?

Elizabeth Warren’s rise to Senator is detailed in the book. Her Senate run comes after her rejection as Director of The Consumer Protection Agency. The “Old Guard” and the bankers felt like giving Elizabeth the power of an independent agency to wage war against the vested interests was more than they could bear. Who knows how far they were willing to go to make sure that President Obama did not appoint Elizabeth as director. Maybe a Senate seat was the swap off. Don’t know. I’m just certain that it will not prevent Elizabeth from continuing her fight for all of us. Read the book and start to chant, “Warren 2020”!

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