NO FRACAS SIOUX CITY.

It was a remarkable evening that seven gentle people, one woman and six men, running for the Republican Party's nomination behaved so nicely, and although with no niceties toward each other, the beating was on the present occupant of the office that they themselves were seeking after.

Gingrich, as brilliant and alert as ever. He was on the defensive for most of the time, but he came out looking unscathed, as his answers were well thought out and straight to the point. The surprising fact was that he seemed to have toned down on his eloquence and has become just one of the "persons" on the stage.

Using big, fat words was not for tonight, he might have said; and he was right, for people were choosing a president, and not a college professor.

It was Romney who was not being so sure of what members of the audience might think, and of what the public would assume the day after, that he tried to repeat what he has said, time and time again, that he has emerged from the corporate world, and so he could be the best manager for the country's economy and finances; and that job creation was in his blood.

He chose his words with much caution than ever, to straighten out a bad impression he thought he might have made on the campaign trail; and that was good.

Paul had his eyes on Gingrich all night long, trying to make him look bad on a draft evasion charge; but it was not so, and Gingrich was able to prove it.

He, Paul, himself had a little trouble explaining why he was such an isolationist, when the world scene was calling for more involvement and participation by all nations for vigilance sake. Iran obtaining a nuclear bomb should be a no-no; and as such, it must be watched cautiously.

So, would the United States be safe for staying out of world affairs, and the answer would be a resounding "No". America keeping out of other countries' "business" would not bring world peace.

Santorum maintained his strong conservative beliefs, and said that he would not stray from them as long as he was president; showing that he was the most consistent person among his rivals, when pursuing ideological policies.

Huntsman showed brilliance in speech, more so now than ever, and he was able to extricate himself from the impression he has made, so far in the other debates, that he was too diplomatically minded.

That could play very well in foreign policy making, but not when it came to domestic affairs; namely, the economy, job creation, unemployment, etc.; people have said.

Perry, good old Perry, had his head in the clouds once again, thinking that a governorship was comparable to being the leader of the Western World; and that he could be a "mini-dictator", when it came to world matters. He would deal with the Congress of the United States in such a way that it would be a "part-time" profession for its members.

He was proud of his Texan record as governor, for lowering taxes in that State and making the economy there to grow faster than anywhere else in the country.

Bachmann was trouncing President Barack Obama anywhere she could, from health care to troop withdrawal in Iraq and the drawdown in Afghanistan. The president has been a "failure"; and that among all her Republican colleagues, she could do a better job.

There was, however, no change of the standings in the polls for any of the candidates, as they were equally prepared for the occasion, due to the Iowa caucuses scheduled for the first week in January, 2012.

The voting there would be pivotal for all of the candidates, as the winner could have the chance of meeting Obama head on for the presidency of the U.S. They all have the same inclination of becoming that person.

Though, there were some frisky moments, such as, for example, Santorum getting personal with Gingrich over a resolution against him, when he (Gingrich) was Mr. Speaker; as well as touching on his numerous divorces. Or, as said before, Paul's charge of AWOL (Absence Without Official Leave) by Gingrich, way back when.

Those were some of the hairy moments during the debate, but they amounted to nothing much. Otherwise, there was no real "juicy stuff" to write home about.

It would only be that Sioux City, Iowa, would remain agog with voters trying to figure out who the winner would be or should be in the caucus.

Media pollsters, political analysts and strategists, commentators and contributors of all shades and forms are there to supply all the information the public needs for it to make a sound judgment on all the candidates. You can count on that.

It was a Sioux City fracas that was no fracas at all.

ZANY?

Calling a fellow politician ZANY is rather uncouth. It is uncalled for in a fight that can make him the nominee of your party.

It makes for belly aching laughter in the living room after dinner. Only the other person must not react in the same way and use some smearing remarks that will embarrass himself, if his rival wins the nomination.

The situation will be very delicate for both persons.

It will be like the old story of one candidate calling the other's economic plans as "Voodoo economics" in the 1990s. That has happened in a similar, I beg your pardon, in the same race some years ago.

The two have finally become friends; and the one that has won the nomination chose to make the other person his Vice-president.

You may not have noticed it, but there is a lot of human frailty going on among the people running in the Republican Party nomination race; but one has just opted out; yet, the other one who has experienced almost the same problems is about to be attacked ferociously in due course.

However, traveling on the political campaign trail, there is the physical human trait that gives the nuances that every person has away, like inadvertently stammering or fumbling or stumbling over words in answering questions.

They are not weaknesses, but they become natural at times to one, when one least expects them to occur.

Jumping around like a rabbit, looking for young cactus to chew on, and calling a supposedly friend and ally a name such as "zany" does not seem to be right. It only causes laughter, for it does not show nimbleness.

"There is a great deal of instability in the man; and he says he wants to be the leader of the Western World?" People will be asking.

Many will doubt that, presumably, not only due to the profuse sweat on his face on the campaign trail, but also for him to make a stupid joke of that kind is not proper. They (people) are saying that there must be a full-time staff member wiping all that off his face; and also, his supporters should be telling him about it, the sweating; as well as asking him to be more serious with his utterances.

The same goes for Mr. Speaker Newt Gingrich, though from a different perspective, who needs some morning exercise than all of his colleagues on the stage.

Take his intellectual savvy and eloquence from him, and he has nothing or very little left in the way of his fitness. Being very smart is one thing, but being fat is definitely and entirely another.

So, if he does not deal with it, that will not connect well with many of his own supporters and sympathisers.

Both men have the chance of sitting in front of the cameras with President Barack Obama in the debates that the media are strenuously planning for November of 2012 presidential election..

He, Obama, will be at the peak of health and resplendent in his Wall Street suit; and as being the current president, he will be exhibiting a great deal of confidence during the debates.

On the other hand, with his opponents, and it can be either one of them, one will be having a watery face or the other will be too fat and clumsy.

In fact, it will be like another event in history repeating itself, with Kennedy versus Nixon being in the same scenario.

When that happens, who do you think the voters will go for? The sweaty or the overweight candidate or the healthy looking debonair, who is ever so clean cut and ready to lead?

You be the judge.

Zany is a caricature type; it must not be associated with a friend and fellow party member, just because he is a rival in a race that the two of you are involved in, for the presidency of the United States, or for that matter, any other contest.

By the way, the sweaty one, Nixon, lost to Kennedy, the clean cut one.

THE FATE OF A BILL.

There is no end to what the lawmakers in Washington D.C. will do to damage the enthusiasm of the people of the United States, for this holiday season.

Throughout the year 2011, they have accomplished nothing, in terms of bolstering the nation's confidence to meet what seemed to be ahead.

Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon, and what it was going to do with it. Or Israel attacking that country in self defense, and that could trigger a third World War.

The latest being the fight over the payroll tax cut that President Barack Obama wants for the middle class and ordinary working families.

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed its version of the bill that would oppose the one that the president favored, igniting a fierce argument that would reverberate through the other chamber of Congress, the Senate.

The Democratic Party majority in the Senate would defeat it; and even if it did not, the White House staff would have an easy obligation in presenting it to the president, who has vowed to veto it.

The reason being that, the House plan has been linked to the controversial Keystone oil pipeline from Canada to the U.S., terminating in Texas.

It was a separate issue, and it was still being studied by State Department scientific experts of its environmental concerns, and therefore it had no place in the payroll tax cut bill, whatsoever.

In view of that, there were a whole lot of issues at risk, which included the payroll tax cut per se, and government spending through the following year, that was equally important. So, if the bill has to fail, it could result in the government shutting down.

All that was happening, because of the intransigence of the Republican Congressional members, who were determined to do whatever they could to bring about the failure of the Obama administration.

It would be an anomaly to compare the homosexual community, who would destroy anything to be homosexual; like marriage, the only relationship, in any culture, which has a purpose.

That the purpose of marriage was, (and still is), for procreation only and nothing else.

The Republicans would do anything to remain reactionary, even if they have to do so and destroy the U.S., only to get the Obama administration out of the way.

To many, this must be a serious accusation; however, it underlay what was currently going on in the country today.

Yet, if only a simple bill would be made to pass through both the House and the Senate, Americans would have the peace of mind that they drastically needed to devote their energies to what was extremely and more important to them; and that was the well being of themselves and their families.

The future of the nation is at stake; for it is being held hostage by a handful of people, just because an African American is now the president of the U.S.

If there is any doubt of that, just ask the common man in the street.

P.S. I would not call anybody "Gay", unless that was their name. Besides, my cousin, Nat King Cole, used it in his songs, and I might add, in a positive way.

SPEAKER BOEHNER'S PLAN.

Speaker John Boehner will get the votes in the House of Representatives to pass the Republican bill for the payroll tax cut today, that will include the Keystone Oil pipeline from Canada to Texas; knowing fully well that it will be a stumbling block, and therefore a failure in the Senate.

He will not remove any single item from the bill that the Democratic Party members objected to, but rather he will adhere to what is traditionally a Republican stand on issues that mainly prevent wealthy Americans from paying more taxes.

The Republicans contend that small business owners are not to be considered as being wealthy, and although most of them are making more than the stipulation amount that the Democrats are insisting to be taxed, which centers around those earning $1 million dollars or more.

The most ridiculous aspect of the kind of football that is going on in the United States Congress is that everyone knows what is coming in either the Democratic plan, as well as what is contained in the Republican plan; however, each party thinks that it can overlook the other party's plan and get away with it.

Yet, to the man in the street, common sense shows that those who are paying lesser taxes must be asked to pay more to make the differential of covering the cost of the payroll tax cut possible.

It is as simple as that.

To suggest in any way that people earning more than $1 million or more are not to have a tax increase is preposterous, compared to reducing the number of weeks in unemployment benefits from 99 to 59. Where will the unemployed go after that.

Also, the idea that the Keystone oil pipeline must be included in the payroll tax cut plan is completely deliberate to throw dust in the eyes of the American people that the project will create jobs.

It has its environmental hazards, as many people are opposed to it for numerous reasons, including the destruction of water, agricultural and landscape systems along the pipeline route.

Accepting one plan has to be easy for Congress, and it must be the one that President Barack Obama approves, which is the bill that the Democrats are proposing; rather than the one that pits the government against labor, that it will produce jobs and cut down on unemployment. Of course, people want unemployment figures to go down, but not at the expense of their health.

That is the one that Minority Leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, is saying has "bi-partisan support", which is only a red herring philosophy designed to confuse the American public.

It is a political stunt, and voters will take notice of that and act accordingly in the next round of elections, of which the 2012 presidential election is part.

POLITICS & AMERICAN CULTURE.

As just discovered by Herman Cain, that politics is a dirty game; but, as if he does not know, it is what runs the world. As a businessman, it is a wonder that he fails to see it that way.

It (politics, collectively) only comes in different types; however all of them have the same organic tenets on which to exist, namely, social, economic and cultural pillars, with the last ... cultural ... being the most important.

It then can divide itself ideologically into organizations and parties through which governing bodies or governments emanate.

How kingships and sheikdoms that have ruled in centuries past have their individual basis from clans, ethnicity and tribal groupings; the advent of education and civilization have come to revolutionized it.

Through that comes the newer or modern systems, which are Socialism, Communism and Democracy; and here too, the last being the one that many nations are gravitating toward.

Yet, whether it ... Democracy ... is the best form of system, and how long it will be embraced by all the societies utilizing it, only scientists, sociologists and anthropologists can tell. The analytical processes by scientists, involving Democracy, continue to unfold as time goes on.

Historians have a part to play in its maintenance, but they, historian, can only comment after the fact of events happening, be they natural or man-made, but its survival is anybody's guess; at least, in the interim.

That brings us closer home to the United States. Why? Because it is a Democracy born out of the adversities of a revolution and a gruesome civil war. The greatest achievement of ordinary men and women being able to govern themselves away from the domination of aristocracy. (Kings, Queens and Sheiks or Shaikhs, in Arabic).

America's system or type of Democracy embraces individuality, and the ability to use one's strength and natural prowess to advance socially, economically and politically.

It also offers freedom (and some say, too much of it)to its citizens, and that has been its main attraction by other nationalities around the world, it has caused them to emigrate and domicile here.

They love it as a country to the point of being patriotic. They fight in wars to protect it, for the most reason (and there are several others) that it creates opportunities for them to establish and grow their families and enjoy life under its profound national security.

It is the greatest Democracy ever formed, as history tells us, by the Founding Fathers. "It is of the people, by the people and for the people."; "a system that will live forever." the Founding Fathers are likely to have anticipated.

There are so many famous quotes with respect to the American Democracy, and they are, or most of them are grandiose and affectionate; however, what is at stake here is its culture.

Change will come and change will go, but it must not affect its culture, which is based on its language, English.

Everyone who wants to live here must embrace the culture of the founders, and it becomes incumbent upon any person, who chooses to be a citizen of the United States to learn and make English his or her first language.

By virtue of all kinds of nationalities, with all brands of cultures making America a "melting pot", change is bound to occur; but it must not replace the mother tongue of its creators with any other.

In other words, despite the differences that people may culturally have, they must call themselves Americans first, and be able to use the English language.

Or, it (America) will lose its uniqueness, which sets it apart from other nations; and it will become like any other country, because its attractiveness will be gone for good.

One is not condemning any nation or nationality in the world as being inferior or mediocre; nonetheless, one wants to preserve America and its culture.

Politics can change everything; but it must not be allowed to change the culture of the people; in this case, the American culture.

GREED MUST GO.

It looks like 80% of Americans belong to the old school, for example that, labor laws, business regulations and restrictions must be removed or curtailed for corporate greed to go on as usual.

Or that the United States economy must remain the same as in the 1930s, when car manufacturing was the biggest industry and cars were made in America and Europe only.

There was a time when Japanese factory goods were thought to be inferior, but since after WW 2, most of the best engineering products in the world have emerged from the land of the rising sun. such as cars, cameras, television sets and other things.

Now, China, South Korea, India and other countries have joined what is called the industrial world, and they are competing for business with America and Europe.

Soon Africa and South America will join in the global economy with their own brands of manufactured goods for domestic and international markets.

In short, the world is rapidly changing, and the domination of the erstwhile powerful nations will diminish, as the status quo will tend to be a thing of the past.

Yet, it seems as if only a few people in America are waking up to know that history is organic and it does not revert into charting the same course, as it possesses an independent characteristic to move any where and in whatever direction it chooses.

If only most people can realize that for a fact, then the period the present world is navigating will not be a surprise at all; as every nation is working so strenuously to carve a niche for itself.

Nations do not want to remain in the dark, so to speak, where they will have to put up with mediocrity and inferiority by or from other nations.

Change is not coming; it is already here, and the sooner people begin to find a way to accept it, the more likely they will have a better chance to deal with it.

Of course the outsourcing of jobs has a part to play in the present economic trend, and technology or technological knowledge is spreading like wild fire across the world, and there cannot be a stopping to that, no matter how hard anyone tries to do.

It is synonymous to having a big pizza pie; you have to share it. You also have to know not to give yourself a bigger portion, as that will antagonize your friends.

The only mistake Americans can make will be in sitting in the past, thinking that history will revert itself. That will never happen, for from experience, as the world progresses, so are ideas and concepts of improvement; and they are the commodities that all nations want.

The conservative thinking is for America to stay in the past. It must speculate that everything will be the same always. Capitalism must be the stronghold of economies around the world, and that this country must be leading in that respect. However, that will be wrong. It will be as the old proverbial ostrich burying its head in the sand.

There is so much hypocrisy going on in the country, like when have the Republicans start to fight for the working people in America, for them to attach the Keystone oil project to President Barack Obama's payroll tax cut geared to improve the lives of the middle class and ordinary workers, even as temporary as it may seem?

They have always aspired to the chicanery going on in Wall Street, leaving Occupy Wall Street organizers to fend for themselves. That, if one is poor, one has no one to blame, but oneself.

Change has come, and wages of workers must grow, just as corporate profits increase each and every year. Standard of living must not be the opulent lifestyles of the rich and the powerful. It must be as simple as having "a chicken in every pot, and a Ford in every garage" for everyone.

Military power is alright. It is needed for protection from all kinds of enemies; as its advancement is vital to a nation's security.

Yet, greed must go, for safeguarding the interests of the nation at home and abroad to take its place; and then America will be proud and be able to lead the world as a good example.

PAYROLL TAX CUT; A POSSIBILITY.

The payroll tax cut proposal is still in contention, and the United States Congress is about to break for the holiday season, with no decision on its outcome.

President Barack Obama wants to have members of Congress to stay on the matter and to arrive at making the measure passed, otherwise the tax burden of ordinary working people will begin to go up as early as January 1st, 2012.

Meanwhile, the Senate has rejected a Democratic plan as well as a Republican plan, with the Democrats requesting a surtax of 1.6% on people earning $1 million dollars or more a year. While the Republican plan tend to reduce government workforce by 10%, among other things.

Showing that the conservatives aim of cutting the size of government was influential in the Republican plan, and the liberal side of the Democratic Party, which has the support of the Trade Unions and opposing such act would stand its ground; and therefore the situation would remain unmoved, with no compromise of any kind.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, John Boehner, has announced another version of the bill in a meeting that was held behind closed doors, and it was very different from the one from the White House.

He was saying that, "they’ve already cut spending, changed the culture of the Capitol and stopped Obama’s agenda in its tracks." (Politico 12/09/11).

His plan also has the attachment of the controversial Keystone pipeline that the Obama administration has given the State Department the responsibility to handle. The president has objected to it as being part of the payroll tax cut initiative.

Speaker Boehner's bill would definitely pass in the House, but it would not make any inroads in the Senate; and so the impasse would continue.

However, where would that leave the country? Should politics as usual prevail in Washington D.C., while the fate of millions of households was in the balance, whether the unemployment benefit, which formed part of Obama's proposal, would be extended?

Though, the breadwinners in those families were out of work, they would want to cater to their members, in terms of making the holiday season worthwhile for them. Should they be denied that privilege?

As said yesterday, that Congress should reconsider, as the spirit of the season demanded that goodwill should be extended to all citizens, and therefore a compromise was within its reach to have the payroll tax cut to become a possibility in the next few days.

It must shove politics aside and act without any hesitation whatsoever.