| Caridad Pineiro® Romance Author

June 17, 2010

Thoughts on Absolute Power, Good and Evil. . .

I’m going to be doing some quest blogging and one of the things on my mind for the guest blog has been “Why are paranormals still so popular? What is that keeps on pulling readers back for more?”

For me it’s about the eternal struggle of good and evil and what happens when someone has immense power. You know that whole, absolute power corrupts absolutely. I guess it’s why the Founding Fathers developed a unique system of checks and balances on the various branches of government and why the press needs to be free of government interference.

But I digress…

Imagine absolute power. Would you use it for good or evil? Is anything ever absolutely good or evil?

Whenever I sit down to write a book, that’s one of the first questions that I ask myself about each and every one of the characters. I’m much more intrigued by people who aren’t perfect and yet choose to use their power in the right way.

What about you? What keeps you coming back to the paranormal genre? I’d like to know so that I can include your thoughts in the blog I’m going to write!

April 16, 2009

Thoughtful Thursday – On taxes and tea parties . . .

First of all, my apologies for missing Wicked Wednesday only it was a crazy day at work and of course, even worse, it was Tax Day!

The lines at the Post Office were awful, I’m told. There were dozens in line to buy stamps to mail their tax returns and even more people dropping by to place their returns in the bins labelled for the respective tax centers in the area.

Tax day and tea parties! Now, whether you’re for or against the current tax and stimulus plans, here’s the thing . . .

You have the freedom to speak out about it. If you follow all the rules and behave responsibly, you have the right to stand up and let your voice be heard. Whether or not the politicians and media listen is a whole different thing, but it doesn’t lessen the fact that you have that freedom.

Freedom and responsibility. They go hand in hand.

My daughter and I were talking about this the other day. She’s taking a sociology course in college where they are discussing all kinds of interesting things. Political democracy. Economic democracy.

Democracy period. A fascinating concept to be sure. Wikipedia defines it as “a form of government in which power is held indirectly by citizens in a free electoral system” and goes on to offer various examples of different kinds of democracies.

The bottom line is . . .

Democracy only works if you do as well. Vote. Voice your opinions. Demand honesty from your politicians and the media. You have the freedom to do so, but more importantly, it’s your responsibility to do so.

March 26, 2009May 9, 2017

Thoughtful Thursday – Big Government

I’m on the road for work, so this post will be a little short, but I’d be interested in hearing what you have to say!

For starters, let me say that I’m as pissed as the rest of America about the millions paid by AIG in bonuses. What I wonder is why there is so far not so great a fuss about the billions sent overseas to various banks. But I digress.

Again, it’s very disappointing about the bonuses, but I think the disappointment and anger at AIG is misplaced for a number of reasons.

For starters, it’s not uncommon in the financial sector that people get paid a small regular salary and receive the “bonus” as part of their regular salary package. It’s upsetting now since the money is coming from taxpayer dollars, but the point is that these people negotiated these payments as part of a regular and ordinary salary practice.

If you want to blame anyone, ask yourself why it is that the Government provided billions to various financial institutions with full awareness of things like these bonuses. What the Government should have done is lay out the guidelines as to what these financial institutions could do with the monies provided and what they could not do.

The 90% tax imposed to attempt to fix that mistake, while pleasing the public that is riled, is wrong on so many levels. The tax code wasn’t written to penalize anyone and to use it for this reason is wrong.

Again I digress. What I’m trying to say is that Government has to lead by acting thoughtfully and not in haste and certainly not in reaction to public polls and opinions. What the public wants isn’t necessarily what’s right.

Government also has to lead by example. In other words, pay your share of the taxes, don’t vote yourselves a pay raise and find a way to put money back into the hands of hard-working Americans because, IMHO, Government doesn’t know how to manage money. How many times do we hear about cost overruns on Government projects, bloated administrations, $640 toilet seats and $436 hammers!

What do you think? Do you trust the Government to know how to spend all this money?