While a church in Florida plans to burn copies of the Koran, the Hartford (CT) City Council plans to begin meetings with Muslim prayers.

Both ideas to me are absurd.    Why can’t we just peacefully co-exist, without burning religious texts or adding prayer to secular functions such as politics?

America will be ready to honor the lives of Americans lost on 9/11 for its 9th anniversary within a few days. It is unexpected where Obama will be on that day. However, the families of the lost loves ones will be mourning yet another time. America will continue to be America. NYC will still be there and standing strong. Let us pray for a better future.

America is struggling to get back on her feet.  She is a country full of unemployed.  Will the 99ers get to 125- lets hope for deflation and GDP sake!! Americans need their Campbells soup and skittles to survive. 99 weeks is not a long time. It can go in a blink of an eye. 125 as well but its necessary. Long term unemployment is at its highest ever and people are losing jobs more than ever and unable to pay mortgage payments on their homes.  What is 125 weeks? Its roughly 29 months. Well, October through January is party time and super speed and there goes 4 months. Obviously summer is another 3 months-June/July/August. And the weekends go like minutes. Time is really speeding. If anything, the unemployed should get 150 weeks and it should be subsidized by the riches tax cuts from the Bush era taxes.  Domestic spending is necessary if we as a nation can grow and live off unemployment benefits. If we choose to get check after check, so be it. A few hundred every week never hurt anybody. So spread them like your legs

As reported today in The NY Times, residents of New York City are less likely to be unemployed and bankrupt than the average American.

What fantastic news for the people of the ny metropolitan region.  More people are moving to this area rather than leaving it, and while the recovery remains slow, it is just that: a recovery.  Big bonuses are back, and the best restaurants are again filled.  While it is indeed a long road ahead, it is no surprise to see the steadfast determination of this city.

Well, someone has to lead the way.

New home sales have plunged again!! People do not have money to buy homes. Nonetheless, keep jobs. Renting is seeming like a much more realistic option and one that will remain in the grind for some time. Foreclosures will happen. More people will be homeless. Houses will be left empty. Housing has usually been the first item to lead an economy out of a bad time but it seems like we’re still on the hill coming down. It will probably be like this for a while. Housing is not the best investment at this point. It will come back but will probably need another five to seven years.

Bob Herbert of The New York Times recently wrote a fascinating Op-Ed piece describing America’s crumbling educational system.  Meanwhile, he wrote about our fascination with what he felt were trivial items, like Lady Gaga, Mike the Situation, etc.  I think his main point is we are doing a good job distracting ourselves while our country dissolves before our eyes.

Are we obsessed with the wrong things?  Perhaps.   But I think it’s a generalization.  For every groupie listening to Alejandro on his IPOD, there are surely several intellectuals working away to help us get rid of this dirty recession, right?  Or is BARACK at home watching Keeping up with the Karadashians?

Obama is running now with the lowest approval rating so far since the inception of his Presidency.  Despite legislative victories with the economic stimulus, health care and financial overhaul, Obama still is lacking the credit for the achievements he’s accomplished.  Things may still get worse towards the end of the year. With two wars, major oil spill, debt liability, unemployment, national security issues and partisan attacks coming along the way there’s a lot to tackle.  The President has a bigger than expected agenda which will affect other issues.  Issues that Obama wanted to hit that may get delayed included social security, illegal immigration and climate change. Obama needs many years to get all this taken care of. Obviously over 4. So what does this mean to Barack. It means that this change he promised has be progressive change that will take time.  Take years. It tooks years to get into this mess and years to get out. Obama can win ‘12 for several reasons. Well, firstly there’s no worthy competitors. Secondly, Obama will have the experience with all the conflict situations ongoing that it would merely be an interruption to have a different candidate. Thirdly, Obama can’t get worse from here but hopefully better.

by Ken LeClair

Nikki Haley, the daughter of Punjab Sikhs, is poised to become the Republican candidate for Governor of South Carolina. Being called a rag head by an opponent didn’t hurt her in this good old boy state and may very well have helped her. As a child she and her sister were denied entry into a beauty contest as they didn’t fit into the white or the black category of separate contests. But oh how the new south has changed! South Carolina like it’s sister Louisiana knows a good deal when it sees one.

The primary will be held June 22nd and if she wins, she is the odds on favorite, she will be a shoo in to beat the Democratic candidate State Senator Vincent Sheheen in this heavily Republican state. Mitt Romney will be appearing with her this week and Sarah Palin is expected to endorse her as well. Let’s see who makes the national ticket first Bobby Jindal or Nikki Haley.

written by an outside contributor for desiexclusives.com.  Read our disclaimer here.

New Jersey state troopers were out in full force over the Memorial Day weekend targeting speeders and drunk drivers.  Many speculate that due to the state budget cuts, police are looking to give out more tickets to increase revenue.   State troopers wrote 50 percent more tickets this past April on the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway than they did the previous April of 2009.  However, New Jersey police weren’t very successful promoting safety this past holiday weekend, as there were seven fatal traffic accidents.

This past weekend, I made the trek from North Jersey down to Point Pleasant Beach.  I can attest to increased aggressive driving among the motorists on the Garden State Parkway.  The Garden State Parkway was congested so not many motorists could speed, and during the day when I drove, you usually don’t see many drunk drivers, so I can wonder what the cops do just sitting on the side of the highway instilling fear among motorists.  Many aggressive drivers cause accidents by tailgating other drivers, switching lanes recklessly, passing other cars improperly, and other hazardous ways of driving.  It isn’t necessarily true that if you are driving 10-15 mph above the speed limit, you are at a greater risk of causing an accident.  Most accidents occur due to aggressive and careless driving.  Why don’t cops give out tickets for such driving that causes accidents, instead of flashing their radar gun on the side of the highway trying to catch drivers speeding?

I respect cops for making our society a safer place, but I don’t respect them for being jerks on power trips that want to give out tickets for miniscule violations.  If they really want to make our roads a safer place, why don’t they patrol the highways more efficiently and catch these aggressive drivers that threaten the safety of others.  I can’t help look at some cops as a-holes that abuse their authority and take the easy way out, only to retire when they are 50 and receive a sweet pension, paid for by none other than the taxpayers.  The state budget cuts are only giving these cops more incentive to be jerks and give out more summonses.  Hopefully, the majority of these summonses are deserved, but honestly, I have my doubts.

by Ken LeClair

British Petroleum(BP) is pumping approximately 19,0000 barrels of oil per day into the Gulf of Mexico and at $70 per barrel- that comes to about $1,360,000 worth of oil floating each day with no owner. Who will be the clever one to lease an oil tanker and go suck up all that oil? This oil could be coming out till August and that means millions of dollars worth of oil floating out in the gulf for the taking!

So if you happen to have an oil tanker with a big hose or if you know someone who does, or if you can get your hands on one there is a fortune waiting to be sucked up. How hard could it possibly be to do this? Am I the only one to think of this? Well, now the idea is out so let’s see who is clever enough to go get that oil. Alas it won’t be me as I already have everything I need…a great gym, Muscle Milk and great workout partners.  But I bet one of you smart readers will follow up on this and go get all that oil!