With roughly $2 trillion in bailouts (and counting) it's really time to consider if another US auto industry bailout is really a prudent course of action. $25-50 billion is a lot to give to corporations that spend so much time trying to screw the public over. I can't think of very many experiences at a car dealership that makes people say, "Wow, I had such a great time there. The service was excellent, they processed everything quickly, and I got my car a a steal! I thought they were going to pay me to take it away! Plus, this new model gets 1,000,000 miles per gallon and will never break down!"
Nowadays though, they may want you to take it away so they can make an insurance claim.
I remember going into a dealership and looking at a Jeep. I had a young salesman who kept saying, "all you have to do is put gas and oil into her and she'll keep running forever!" OK, I get the gas part, after all, it is a Jeep and they drink gas like Rush Limbaugh pops pills, but what's with the oil? Do Jeeps inherently just eat oil? Doesn't that mean something is wrong with the car? Worn out pistons, rings, seals, or maybe a leak? Maybe it's just the old timers who gave him a load of bullshit that "works like a charm" on all the "suckers" who walk into the dealership.
I've also looked at Mustangs. The Ford dealership said all the GTs were sold so there were none to test drive. That part is okay, I mean, I wouldn't want some jerk driving my new car. The problem was the next bit of info the salesman told me: "We'll be getting next year's model in in a few months. You can have one of those. It's $35,000 ($5,000 over sticker) if you decide to take one today. If you wait you can't have one, 'cause it'll be gone." So I said, "you want me to buy a car without even test driving it?" At this point another guy, who I'm guessing was the manager, said, "Nobody gets a test drive. Either you buy the car or you don't"
I bought a Lexus a week later. They were shitty too, just not as...
There's a reason that the Big Three in Detroit are suffering: the make lousy cars. It's like the Apple commercial where PC is divvying up money into two piles, a gigantic one for marketing, and tiny one for development. The Big Three spend enormous amounts on advertising but put out cars with horse and buggy style leaf spring suspensions. Instead of modern overhead cams they use archaic pushrods that wheeze asthmatically. Fuel efficiency? Forget it! you'll get mileage worse than a 100 year old Model T and you'll like it, and that's on they're so called "green" cars!
The US automakers don't need a bailout, they need to get their act together, and another "loan" that they won't payback, again, won't fix the real problems. If the majority of the leaders, including CEOs, CFOs, Chairmen, Presidents, Senior VPs, Junior VPs, Directors, Controllers, and various other upper management were replaced by guys like Elon Musk or Nikola Tesla we wouldn't have issues with the auto makers. We'd have cars that work properly, last forever, don't pollute, and don't smell bad. Besides,
WOULDN'T A GOVERNMENT BACKED BAILOUT OF GM USED TO MERGE GM AND CHRYSLER VIOLATE FEDERAL ANTITRUST LAWS???!!!
Now maybe I'm wrong about this, but, with all the talk about these companies being "too big to fail", doesn't that put them in a position of power that the antitrust laws were written to prevent? Antitrust laws, aside from preventing things like price fixing, price discrimination, monopolization, and the like are there to protect the public from very wealthy people from having too much control over a commodity or service and thereby having widespread power to do all manner of egregious harm to the public, financially or otherwise. That is the key spirit in which antitrust laws were put into place way back in 1890.
The current state of affairs on Wall Street, by federal mandate, has burst the dam that held back the wash of greed waiting behind protective concrete. To bring this to the auto industry is madness. It means that one of the world's greatest legal achievements is being torn to shreds by the government that was once threatened with a coup by the institutions it now intends to turn into monopolies. Rockefeller's descendants are surely popping open the bubbly! Maybe Standard Oil will make it's return!
It would appear the Business Plot of 1933 has found a more insidious way of seeing it's plans to fruition over the years. Fascism can't be too far behind. Well, if McCain wins anyway.
It is duck season by the way. Go exercise you Second Amendment rights. If enough people do, maybe the only quacking we'll ever have to hear is from real ducks. The government should respect and work for the people, and we should never have to fear the government. Ever.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Joe the, um, "Plumber"
Samuel J. Wurzelbacher, a.k.a. "Joe the Plumber" is not actually a plumber, just like Sarah Palin is not actually a good, honest Christian. He works for a plumbing company in Toledo, Ohio, a city in a state that holds a great deal of interest to both Democrats and Republicans.
I wonder if the "J" in his middle name actually stands for Joseph. It's probably James, or maybe Jacob. Jason perhaps?
From the NY Times:
"Thomas Joseph, the business manager of Local 50 of the United Association of Plumbers, Steamfitters and Service Mechanics, based in Toledo, said Thursday that Mr. Wurzelbacher had never held a plumber’s license, which is required in Toledo and several surrounding municipalities. He also never completed an apprenticeship and does not belong to the plumber’s union, which has endorsed Mr. Obama. On Thursday, he acknowledged that he does plumbing work even though he does not have a license."
It's interesting how MaoCain keeps picking these people that are wholly unfit for anything to be his most important supporters, and the ones that are supposed to win your heart over. Okay, who doesn't feel for the "little guy" that is just trying to live the American Dream? Of course if the little guy hasn't even taken the time to do what is necessary to live the dream, like undergoing proper training, an apprenticeship, and status as a journeyman working towards being a master plumber, why should he just expect to be a business owner?
It's not Obama who's holding Joe the Six-Pack Plumber back, it's himself.
If McCain wants to celebrate that type of mediocrity he should do so somewhere else. In the current world, where kids in China are better at math than most college students here, we need to kick the mental pansies in the gonads and then make fun of them when they cry. The mediocre people McCain celebrates hold America back.
It should be no surprise to anyone that the US is no longer the industrial powerhouse it once was. Go around your house and try to find something that was made here. If you have any expensive furniture there's a possibility. For everything else the chances of finding a "Made in U.S.A." mark on would be up there with finding Dick Cheney's soul, or Jiffy Hoffa's body.
At the very least there are scores of decent, hard working, honest folk here in America that should be held to the highest esteem. It's the people that McPain and Painlin try to appeal to, but have no respect for. Why doesn't McCain truly acknowledge them, instead of phonies like Sarah Palin and Samuel J. Wurzelbacher?
Sarah so crudely defines real Americans as "Hockey Moms" and "Joe Six-Pack". She can pander to the proletariat with phony praise in perpetuity, but proper political performance has the prerequisite of psychological parity. McCain and Palin do not have that capacity.
If every mom and average Joe out there cares about seeing things get better for everyone, the choice is clear: Ron Paul, but since he's in the running like a horse in the stable it seems Obama is the clear choice. Hey, Gore lost because 97,000 some-odd people in Florida were fed up with our governmental system and they voted for Nader. We saw how that turned out. Let's not make the same mistake again.
Once this is all over maybe Sarah will give Trig back to his mother, Bristol.
I wonder if the "J" in his middle name actually stands for Joseph. It's probably James, or maybe Jacob. Jason perhaps?
From the NY Times:
"Thomas Joseph, the business manager of Local 50 of the United Association of Plumbers, Steamfitters and Service Mechanics, based in Toledo, said Thursday that Mr. Wurzelbacher had never held a plumber’s license, which is required in Toledo and several surrounding municipalities. He also never completed an apprenticeship and does not belong to the plumber’s union, which has endorsed Mr. Obama. On Thursday, he acknowledged that he does plumbing work even though he does not have a license."
It's interesting how MaoCain keeps picking these people that are wholly unfit for anything to be his most important supporters, and the ones that are supposed to win your heart over. Okay, who doesn't feel for the "little guy" that is just trying to live the American Dream? Of course if the little guy hasn't even taken the time to do what is necessary to live the dream, like undergoing proper training, an apprenticeship, and status as a journeyman working towards being a master plumber, why should he just expect to be a business owner?
It's not Obama who's holding Joe the Six-Pack Plumber back, it's himself.
If McCain wants to celebrate that type of mediocrity he should do so somewhere else. In the current world, where kids in China are better at math than most college students here, we need to kick the mental pansies in the gonads and then make fun of them when they cry. The mediocre people McCain celebrates hold America back.
It should be no surprise to anyone that the US is no longer the industrial powerhouse it once was. Go around your house and try to find something that was made here. If you have any expensive furniture there's a possibility. For everything else the chances of finding a "Made in U.S.A." mark on would be up there with finding Dick Cheney's soul, or Jiffy Hoffa's body.
At the very least there are scores of decent, hard working, honest folk here in America that should be held to the highest esteem. It's the people that McPain and Painlin try to appeal to, but have no respect for. Why doesn't McCain truly acknowledge them, instead of phonies like Sarah Palin and Samuel J. Wurzelbacher?
Sarah so crudely defines real Americans as "Hockey Moms" and "Joe Six-Pack". She can pander to the proletariat with phony praise in perpetuity, but proper political performance has the prerequisite of psychological parity. McCain and Palin do not have that capacity.
If every mom and average Joe out there cares about seeing things get better for everyone, the choice is clear: Ron Paul, but since he's in the running like a horse in the stable it seems Obama is the clear choice. Hey, Gore lost because 97,000 some-odd people in Florida were fed up with our governmental system and they voted for Nader. We saw how that turned out. Let's not make the same mistake again.
Once this is all over maybe Sarah will give Trig back to his mother, Bristol.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Bailouts and ducks, Part 1
The bailouts that have been given out during the Bush administration seem puzzling to me. The airlines, the Big Three, Fannie and Freddie, AIG, Wall Street, and now there seems to be more on the way.
Let's look at the airlines. $15 billion for an industry that is basically a high speed bus system. With all the surcharges, fees, taxes, and miscellaneous other charges it's a nightmare in cost to travelers. Of course those fees go towards things like quasi-governmental authorities (who steal your belongings), Big Oil (who steals tax dollars and public lands), politicians (who steal anything), and a wide variety of other people, like CEO's (who just love to steal, steal, steal).
With their bailout there was a promise of things becoming normal again and the American Consumer returning to a life filled with cheap conveniences. What seems to have happened is a travel world in a disconcerting quagmire of haphazardly enforced rules, laws and regulations that confuse both the travelers and the rent-a-cops that are supposed to enforce the oft-times forgotten or misinterpreted book of rules.
The bailout was also a loan. Now, some interest has been paid, but the outstanding balance? Ha-ha! No money honey! It's funny Sunny! It's... wait a minute... wasn't that our tax dollars? Even if it was money that was printed up on the Fed's magic ATM machine at some point somebody has got to pay. I'm guessing it's not gonna be the CEO of United Airlines.
Hey, I haven't seen any normalcy, courtesy, efficiency or economy in air travel from the bailout. Granted, there is some amount of blame that needs be placed on the events of 9/11. It just seems to me that nothing has truly been handled in any way to make it better, just more convoluted than it already was.
That one was a bust. We all know it was. Listen to the quacking noise.
Let's look at the airlines. $15 billion for an industry that is basically a high speed bus system. With all the surcharges, fees, taxes, and miscellaneous other charges it's a nightmare in cost to travelers. Of course those fees go towards things like quasi-governmental authorities (who steal your belongings), Big Oil (who steals tax dollars and public lands), politicians (who steal anything), and a wide variety of other people, like CEO's (who just love to steal, steal, steal).
With their bailout there was a promise of things becoming normal again and the American Consumer returning to a life filled with cheap conveniences. What seems to have happened is a travel world in a disconcerting quagmire of haphazardly enforced rules, laws and regulations that confuse both the travelers and the rent-a-cops that are supposed to enforce the oft-times forgotten or misinterpreted book of rules.
The bailout was also a loan. Now, some interest has been paid, but the outstanding balance? Ha-ha! No money honey! It's funny Sunny! It's... wait a minute... wasn't that our tax dollars? Even if it was money that was printed up on the Fed's magic ATM machine at some point somebody has got to pay. I'm guessing it's not gonna be the CEO of United Airlines.
Hey, I haven't seen any normalcy, courtesy, efficiency or economy in air travel from the bailout. Granted, there is some amount of blame that needs be placed on the events of 9/11. It just seems to me that nothing has truly been handled in any way to make it better, just more convoluted than it already was.
That one was a bust. We all know it was. Listen to the quacking noise.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Well, she didn't say New-Cue-Lurh!
John McCain and Sarah Palin's interview with Brian Williams was as ridiculous as could be. It's clear that the two were prepped and told the questions that would be asked of them prior to taping the show. For some reason they both still stumbled from time to time with the answers. Not enough prep? Here's what I think: they know they're lying to themselves. Now there are times when you just can't answer a question, like when you're drunk, don't really know the answer, or are lying through your teeth (and know it!).
I'm trying to figure out how McCain, as he said, Has been "tested". Was it the time in the POW camp? He wasn't the leader of the POWs. If the sandbox of childhood has taught anyone anything it's that people can, and will be cruel for no apparent reason. I'd wager a guess that there were many POWs that suffered more due to his very presence in the camp. The called McCain "The Prince" because the knew his father was an admiral. If they feel they have such a valuable commodity in the war market what would lead you to believe that would make the captors more congenial? Deciding to stay, if the offered release from POW camp was real, could only lead to the captors testing the spirit of the other, non-prince, prisoners. Don't think so? Now why would you give POW camp guard the benefit of the doubt? Because they're sure nice guys performing a necessary service to the world?
Was he tested in how to rip of tax payers during the Saving & Loan scandal of the 80's? Maybe it was a test to see how little a man can love his crippled wife. How to run a campaign based on hate and trying to find faults in your opponent instead of talking about the issues? How about a test to see if Americans really are stupid enough to believe Sarah Palin is fit to tie her own shoes, much less be Vice President. Hey, she can't even shop for herself if she wants dignified, un-six-pack clothing. (BTW, I did pick up a six pack today, and I don't support McCain)
In regard to Biden's statement about the upcoming "test" on Obama, well, here's the quote:
“The world is looking. We’re about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America.” He added: “Watch, we’re going to have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy.”
I don't doubt that there will be a great many challenges that an Obama administration would have to face. There will surely be tests of his mettle. I disagree with Biden in that I feel the enemies of America don't need a reason to check our temperature. They'll do it regardless of who occupies the White House.
Now, for the comment from Sarah about naiveté. It seems a bit naive of her to think that leaders of other countries, be they dictatorships or not, would be led by people that lack to capacity for intelligent discourse. Of course that is "foreign" to her, but it is the norm for most of the world. There is a reason the more hostile nations of the world are the way they are. A lot of it likely has to do with the leaders and people of those nations feel that their interests are being threatened. I don't blame them for wanting to protect their interests. Do they really infringe on mine?
I don't believe in autocracies, monarchies, totalitarianism, or any other coalition government system based on martial law, like the Bush Regime is. I believe in democracy. I believe in a free world. I also believe that a leader of a free country should want to spread the idea of a free world to other world leaders. Would every world leader subscribe to the ideas in the Federalist Papers? Not likely, but it would plant seeds in the people that live under authoritarian rule if they knew there was hope and options for them. It is possible too that our options are not the best options for them.
Maybe we shouldn't tell them we're right by bombing the shit out of them.
Sarah spoke of wars tonight. She's thinking of how to wage war. She wants to win wars, just like Nixon wanted to win... Well, we know how that ended.
For all the nations that are not allies of the U.S., those that hate us, we should open up lines of communication. One thing I've learned in life is that "little people" want and need respect as much as "big people" do. If we really are the bigger people doesn't that, by default, mean that we should be more understanding and tolerant of what we see as the mistakes of these smaller nations? Maybe if they felt understood they would see us as an ally rather than the Death Star.
Sarah, you are wrong to think that any leader would go into a negotiation with the same lack of planning, openness, and understanding as you. Of course, I understand where you come from, even though I'm not from there. I'm just paying attention. Now there comes a time, when after making careful consideration, to make decisions about situations. In regards to you I'd say it's safe to say you belong on Jerry Springer and not in Washington.
Lastly, after hearing Sarah's comments about possibly releasing her medical records, if you think Trig is Sarah's baby, I want you over with your life savings to play some poker. Bring your mom too.
I'm trying to figure out how McCain, as he said, Has been "tested". Was it the time in the POW camp? He wasn't the leader of the POWs. If the sandbox of childhood has taught anyone anything it's that people can, and will be cruel for no apparent reason. I'd wager a guess that there were many POWs that suffered more due to his very presence in the camp. The called McCain "The Prince" because the knew his father was an admiral. If they feel they have such a valuable commodity in the war market what would lead you to believe that would make the captors more congenial? Deciding to stay, if the offered release from POW camp was real, could only lead to the captors testing the spirit of the other, non-prince, prisoners. Don't think so? Now why would you give POW camp guard the benefit of the doubt? Because they're sure nice guys performing a necessary service to the world?
Was he tested in how to rip of tax payers during the Saving & Loan scandal of the 80's? Maybe it was a test to see how little a man can love his crippled wife. How to run a campaign based on hate and trying to find faults in your opponent instead of talking about the issues? How about a test to see if Americans really are stupid enough to believe Sarah Palin is fit to tie her own shoes, much less be Vice President. Hey, she can't even shop for herself if she wants dignified, un-six-pack clothing. (BTW, I did pick up a six pack today, and I don't support McCain)
In regard to Biden's statement about the upcoming "test" on Obama, well, here's the quote:
“The world is looking. We’re about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America.” He added: “Watch, we’re going to have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy.”
I don't doubt that there will be a great many challenges that an Obama administration would have to face. There will surely be tests of his mettle. I disagree with Biden in that I feel the enemies of America don't need a reason to check our temperature. They'll do it regardless of who occupies the White House.
Now, for the comment from Sarah about naiveté. It seems a bit naive of her to think that leaders of other countries, be they dictatorships or not, would be led by people that lack to capacity for intelligent discourse. Of course that is "foreign" to her, but it is the norm for most of the world. There is a reason the more hostile nations of the world are the way they are. A lot of it likely has to do with the leaders and people of those nations feel that their interests are being threatened. I don't blame them for wanting to protect their interests. Do they really infringe on mine?
I don't believe in autocracies, monarchies, totalitarianism, or any other coalition government system based on martial law, like the Bush Regime is. I believe in democracy. I believe in a free world. I also believe that a leader of a free country should want to spread the idea of a free world to other world leaders. Would every world leader subscribe to the ideas in the Federalist Papers? Not likely, but it would plant seeds in the people that live under authoritarian rule if they knew there was hope and options for them. It is possible too that our options are not the best options for them.
Maybe we shouldn't tell them we're right by bombing the shit out of them.
Sarah spoke of wars tonight. She's thinking of how to wage war. She wants to win wars, just like Nixon wanted to win... Well, we know how that ended.
For all the nations that are not allies of the U.S., those that hate us, we should open up lines of communication. One thing I've learned in life is that "little people" want and need respect as much as "big people" do. If we really are the bigger people doesn't that, by default, mean that we should be more understanding and tolerant of what we see as the mistakes of these smaller nations? Maybe if they felt understood they would see us as an ally rather than the Death Star.
Sarah, you are wrong to think that any leader would go into a negotiation with the same lack of planning, openness, and understanding as you. Of course, I understand where you come from, even though I'm not from there. I'm just paying attention. Now there comes a time, when after making careful consideration, to make decisions about situations. In regards to you I'd say it's safe to say you belong on Jerry Springer and not in Washington.
Lastly, after hearing Sarah's comments about possibly releasing her medical records, if you think Trig is Sarah's baby, I want you over with your life savings to play some poker. Bring your mom too.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Friday, October 17, 2008
That was then, this is now
At one time McCain may have been the right man for the job. That time was likely 2000. Gore likely would have been better, after all ol' Al is far more educated and foreign countries like him. Still, back in 2000 he would have been a far better choice than Bush. Now the reason he wasn't chosen as the front runner, and that did eat at him all these years, is because he was robbed. Why was he robbed? Because he wasn't as willing to sell out as Bush nor did he have an ex-president father. Of course that was then...
THIS IS NOW...
Now about Jeffrey M. Frederick's remarks comparing Obama to Osama. Clearly lies, meant racially and to incite hate. The majority of campaigning from the GOP has prejudiced and venomous. It has also been tuned to appeal to the worst in people. It's as if the GOP thinks conservatives are all future guests of the Jerry Springer Show. There are no real issues, only the complications of being trashy people. The GOP would be better of producing new episodes of Cops than running a presidential campaign. Ann Coulter could be best boy and Rush Limbaugh can supply drugs to the talent.
I will give McCain credit (but not a vote!) for telling that woman who thought Obama was an Arab that he (Obama) is not an Arab and is an honorable man. McCain will likely lose, but I think he hopes to walk away from this with dignity, unlike Palin.
To think that a Buckley will vote Democratic is truly historic, or is it? Obama is far more of a conservative than Bush or McCain. Uncontrolled government spending, meddling in the affairs of foreign sovereignties, seeing to an end of American Industrialism, turning wall street into a frat party, selling our national treasures in parks and preserves to industry, and bringing out the George Wallace in the GOP entrenched... not too conservative, quite radical, and not in a Founding Father type of way. They can cry Second Amendment all they want. I support the Second Amendment. That's not just going to go away if a "liberal" is in office. Let's be real, the USA PATRIOT Act (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001, in case you were wondering... rings of pre-owned) tore the US Constitution to shreds. "Conservative" demagogues can cry out all they want about the Constitution and how "Liberals" trample it. The GOP are the ones that shit all over it.
Lastly, here's a picture to print out and throw darts at. It's Jeffrey M. Frederick, R - 52nd District, Virginia House of Delegates. Just click on the picture, hit print in your browser, tape to suitable wall space, and have fun!
The Grand Wizard!
THIS IS NOW...
Now about Jeffrey M. Frederick's remarks comparing Obama to Osama. Clearly lies, meant racially and to incite hate. The majority of campaigning from the GOP has prejudiced and venomous. It has also been tuned to appeal to the worst in people. It's as if the GOP thinks conservatives are all future guests of the Jerry Springer Show. There are no real issues, only the complications of being trashy people. The GOP would be better of producing new episodes of Cops than running a presidential campaign. Ann Coulter could be best boy and Rush Limbaugh can supply drugs to the talent.
I will give McCain credit (but not a vote!) for telling that woman who thought Obama was an Arab that he (Obama) is not an Arab and is an honorable man. McCain will likely lose, but I think he hopes to walk away from this with dignity, unlike Palin.
To think that a Buckley will vote Democratic is truly historic, or is it? Obama is far more of a conservative than Bush or McCain. Uncontrolled government spending, meddling in the affairs of foreign sovereignties, seeing to an end of American Industrialism, turning wall street into a frat party, selling our national treasures in parks and preserves to industry, and bringing out the George Wallace in the GOP entrenched... not too conservative, quite radical, and not in a Founding Father type of way. They can cry Second Amendment all they want. I support the Second Amendment. That's not just going to go away if a "liberal" is in office. Let's be real, the USA PATRIOT Act (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001, in case you were wondering... rings of pre-owned) tore the US Constitution to shreds. "Conservative" demagogues can cry out all they want about the Constitution and how "Liberals" trample it. The GOP are the ones that shit all over it.
Lastly, here's a picture to print out and throw darts at. It's Jeffrey M. Frederick, R - 52nd District, Virginia House of Delegates. Just click on the picture, hit print in your browser, tape to suitable wall space, and have fun!
The Grand Wizard!
Thursday, October 16, 2008
McCain in office would be a McPain
McCain is ready to tackle our financial problems, right?
Hmmmm... The S&L debacle in the 19080's cost US taxpayers $3.4 billion in a bailout in 1989. We, as a nation, paid for that while Charles Keating got to walk away with all that money in the end. Make a buck, Chuck!
Here we are now with the "$700 billion" bailout. Why is it in quotes? Because it's not really $700 billion; it's growing, and the bailout includes golden parachutes for the current day Keatings.
McCain was part of the largest bank scandal up until the current one we're in (Let's be real, it's not a crisis, it's a scandal). McCain, being so intimately wrapped up in the last one would surely have known what another one would smell like, right? He would stop with all the deregulation talk that put the S&L Bailout into play, right?
Don't even get me started on Mike Millikin and the Junk Bond fiasco!
There's a reason why all these people need to be regulated: they are greedy and will rob us all if they have no hard rules to follow. I think they should have to put up collateral like a small business owner would. Imagine, all those fat cats putting up their multi-million dollar homes and Rolls Royces as collateral. Maybe that would make them at least a bit more responsible in their action. Hey, if you love your kids you wouldn't want things like their college fund taken away for your indiscretions, would you?...
Don't bet a worn out sock with holes in it! McCain wants to deregulate everything, from banks to insurance, big oil to pharmaceuticals. If it's big business, he wants to deregulate them and let them do whatever the hell they want. So does Palin. Go head and double check. The info is all there. Right down to their every last vote in office. Right down to every last drop of America's blood, sweat, and tears.
If you think things are bad now, with all the deregulation the Bush administration is responsible for, just put McCain in office and see what happens. Someone said to me, "the Republicans can't make things any worse than they have" in a fit of anger and desperation. I think he's underestimating them.
Hey, it's easy to take good conservative ideas and spin them into lies that benefit the fat cats that want to rip us all off. Smaller, less obtrusive government? It's gotten bigger! The big banks and insurers are state run. That's small! Lower taxes? Well at least the rich get tax breaks! Oh, and golden parachutes! Freedom of speech? Well, just ask Ron Paul about that one! Thanks Fox News! Thanks Bush appointed Supreme Court! Thanks Rupert Murdoch!
The current situation shows that large businesses have gotten better at robbing the public. Think about all the scandals in the past eight years: Enron, Tyco, Adelphia, Exxon, Bridgestone/Firestone and child labor, the list just goes on and on. Think about all the banks right now.
We, as the little people, don't need more government. The corporations... well, they need the government up their asses. Maybe then our troops in the Middle East won't be ordered to take Prozac to numb them from the realities of a war they're now being forced to be in. Yep, they're now being forced. Thanks Prince McCain, for looking out for your compatriots!
Hmmmm... The S&L debacle in the 19080's cost US taxpayers $3.4 billion in a bailout in 1989. We, as a nation, paid for that while Charles Keating got to walk away with all that money in the end. Make a buck, Chuck!
Here we are now with the "$700 billion" bailout. Why is it in quotes? Because it's not really $700 billion; it's growing, and the bailout includes golden parachutes for the current day Keatings.
McCain was part of the largest bank scandal up until the current one we're in (Let's be real, it's not a crisis, it's a scandal). McCain, being so intimately wrapped up in the last one would surely have known what another one would smell like, right? He would stop with all the deregulation talk that put the S&L Bailout into play, right?
Don't even get me started on Mike Millikin and the Junk Bond fiasco!
There's a reason why all these people need to be regulated: they are greedy and will rob us all if they have no hard rules to follow. I think they should have to put up collateral like a small business owner would. Imagine, all those fat cats putting up their multi-million dollar homes and Rolls Royces as collateral. Maybe that would make them at least a bit more responsible in their action. Hey, if you love your kids you wouldn't want things like their college fund taken away for your indiscretions, would you?...
Don't bet a worn out sock with holes in it! McCain wants to deregulate everything, from banks to insurance, big oil to pharmaceuticals. If it's big business, he wants to deregulate them and let them do whatever the hell they want. So does Palin. Go head and double check. The info is all there. Right down to their every last vote in office. Right down to every last drop of America's blood, sweat, and tears.
If you think things are bad now, with all the deregulation the Bush administration is responsible for, just put McCain in office and see what happens. Someone said to me, "the Republicans can't make things any worse than they have" in a fit of anger and desperation. I think he's underestimating them.
Hey, it's easy to take good conservative ideas and spin them into lies that benefit the fat cats that want to rip us all off. Smaller, less obtrusive government? It's gotten bigger! The big banks and insurers are state run. That's small! Lower taxes? Well at least the rich get tax breaks! Oh, and golden parachutes! Freedom of speech? Well, just ask Ron Paul about that one! Thanks Fox News! Thanks Bush appointed Supreme Court! Thanks Rupert Murdoch!
The current situation shows that large businesses have gotten better at robbing the public. Think about all the scandals in the past eight years: Enron, Tyco, Adelphia, Exxon, Bridgestone/Firestone and child labor, the list just goes on and on. Think about all the banks right now.
We, as the little people, don't need more government. The corporations... well, they need the government up their asses. Maybe then our troops in the Middle East won't be ordered to take Prozac to numb them from the realities of a war they're now being forced to be in. Yep, they're now being forced. Thanks Prince McCain, for looking out for your compatriots!
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Palin's future, according to Garrison Keillor
We are a stalwart and stouthearted people, and never more so than in hard times. People weep in the dark and arise in the morning and go to work. The waves crash on your nest egg and a chunk is swept away and you put your salami sandwich in the brown bag and get on the bus. In Philly, a woman earns $10.30/hour to care for a man brought down by cystic fibrosis. She bathes and dresses him in the morning, brings him meals, puts him to bed at night. It's hard work lifting him and she has suffered a painful hernia that, because she can't afford health insurance, she can't get fixed, but she still goes to work because he'd be helpless without her. There are a lot of people like her. I know because I'm related to some of them.
Low dishonesty and craven cynicism sometimes win the day but not inevitably. The attempt to link Barack Obama to an old radical in his neighborhood has desperation and deceit written all over it. Meanwhile, stunning acts of heroism stand out, such as the fidelity of military lawyers assigned to defend detainees at Guantanamo Bay -- uniformed officers faithful to their lawyerly duty to offer a vigorous defense even though it means exposing the injustice of military justice that is rigged for conviction and the mendacity of a commander in chief who commits war crimes. If your law school is looking for a name for its new library, instead of selling the honor to a fat cat alumnus, you should consider the names of Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift, Lt. Col. Mark Bridges, Col. Steven David, Lt. Col. Sharon Shaffer, Lt. Cmdr. Philip Sundel and Maj. Michael Mori.
It was dishonest, cynical men who put forward a clueless young woman for national office, hoping to juice up the ticket, hoping she could skate through two months of chaperoned campaigning, but the truth emerges: The lady is talking freely about matters she has never thought about. The American people have an ear for B.S. They can tell when someone's mouth is moving and the clutch is not engaged. When she said, "One thing that Americans do at this time, also, though, is let's commit ourselves just every day, American people, Joe Six-Pack, hockey moms across the nation, I think we need to band together and say never again. Never will we be exploited and taken advantage of again by those who are managing our money and loaning us these dollars," people smelled gas.
Some Republicans adore her because they are pranksters at heart and love the consternation of grown-ups. The ne'er-do-well son of the old Republican family as president, the idea that you increase government revenue by cutting taxes, the idea that you cut social services and thereby drive the needy into the middle class, the idea that you overthrow a dictator with a show of force and achieve democracy at no cost to yourself -- one stink bomb after another, and now Governor Palin.
She is a chatty sportscaster who lacks the guile to conceal her vacuity, and she was Mr. McCain's first major decision as nominee. This troubles independent voters, and now she is a major drag on his candidacy. She will get a nice book deal from Regnery and a new career making personal appearances for forty grand a pop, and she'll become a trivia question, "What politician claimed foreign-policy expertise based on being able to see Russia from her house?" And the rest of us will have to pull ourselves out of the swamp of Republican economics.
Your broker kept saying, "Stay with the portfolio, don't jump ship," and you felt a strong urge to dump the stocks and get into the money market where at least you're not going to lose your shirt, but you didn't do it and didn't do it, and now you're holding a big bag of brown bananas. Me, too. But at least I know enough not to believe desperate people who are talking trash. Anybody who got whacked last week and still thinks McCain-Palin is going to lead us out of the swamp and not into a war with Iran is beyond persuasion in the English language. They'll need to lose their homes and be out on the street in a cold hard rain before they connect the dots.
Garrison Keillor is the author of a new Lake Wobegon novel, "Liberty" (Viking).
Monday, October 13, 2008
There's our girl, Miss Ameri-duh!
There's our girl, Miss Ameri-duh! Oh, look at her shirt. I may be broke but I'm not flat breasted. I see..
And so does McCain!
I wonder how Cindy McCain feels about her.
And so does McCain!
I wonder how Cindy McCain feels about her.
It's New-Cue-Luhr!
This is precisely why ignoramuses like Palin should not be in public office. Of course we can't and shouldn't monitor local government in an Orwellian style, it would behoove the entire nation to show these people how crazy they truly are. There's just something very Gomer Pyle from Full Metal Jacket gone mainstream about all of this.
http://imao.us/docs/NukeTheMoon.htm
Now all this is under the guise of conservatism, but there is nothing conservative about this. I'd say it's most definitely radical imperialism fueled by insanity. It may even be a joke, but let's face it, there are quite a few people with low IQs that may consider it a viable path to take... like Sarah Palin.
Oh, you didn't hear about that? Let's take a look, shall we?
If I remember correctly Forest Gump was at 80. Considering that I'd have to say the number's were wrong on Forest because he was smart in many ways while Sarah is mean, cruel, tactless, and totally unrefined. I'd be afraid that if she were within a block of a bottle of good wine it would turn into vinegar! Sarah's IQ must really be closer to 30, give or take.
Just for fun let's look at her SAT scores:
Wow, is that a 425 verbal? No wonder she says new-cue-luhr!
http://imao.us/docs/NukeTheMoon.htm
Now all this is under the guise of conservatism, but there is nothing conservative about this. I'd say it's most definitely radical imperialism fueled by insanity. It may even be a joke, but let's face it, there are quite a few people with low IQs that may consider it a viable path to take... like Sarah Palin.
Oh, you didn't hear about that? Let's take a look, shall we?
If I remember correctly Forest Gump was at 80. Considering that I'd have to say the number's were wrong on Forest because he was smart in many ways while Sarah is mean, cruel, tactless, and totally unrefined. I'd be afraid that if she were within a block of a bottle of good wine it would turn into vinegar! Sarah's IQ must really be closer to 30, give or take.
Just for fun let's look at her SAT scores:
Wow, is that a 425 verbal? No wonder she says new-cue-luhr!
AIG bailout is a blast!
Here's some of what happened with the AIG bailout. I wonder how the larger, $700 Billion bailout is going? I'm not too hopeful about that one.
Fear and the actions of the fearful
Here's a clip showing what the Alaskan countryside is like, and one type of hunting that Sarah Palin participates in. The video shows the use of a small airplane. Sarah likes helicopters, paid for with tax dollars. (Where do you think $400 million+ in earmarks go? To teenage mothers and homeless people? Maybe the Bridge to Nowhere is the new $250 toothbrush.)
Seriously, there's only one reason to be so cruel. It's because the people that participate in this type of hunting are scared little children inside. Scared little children that are not lead by logic, reason, and understanding, but instead follow the course of fear and deep rooted ignorance. Fear and deep rooted ignorance was endearing in the movie "The Waterboy", but in national politics it is a game of death.
There is nothing wrong with hunting when it's for the right purpose. To cull animals is a natural process that is part of our evolution as humans. To kill animals in such a violent manner as shown in the video makes it clear that it is purely done for the thrill of the kill, anger, or an irrational fear of something that is benign, just like murders would do. It all comes back to fear caused by misunderstanding and ignorance.
Aerial hunting is not sport. Aerial hunting is not to harvest game. Aerial hunting is to feed the desires of a sick mind of a disturbed individual. Individuals like Sarah Palin. She did after all, offer a $150 reward per right foreleg for the dead wolves. Sarah is so together!
Seriously, there's only one reason to be so cruel. It's because the people that participate in this type of hunting are scared little children inside. Scared little children that are not lead by logic, reason, and understanding, but instead follow the course of fear and deep rooted ignorance. Fear and deep rooted ignorance was endearing in the movie "The Waterboy", but in national politics it is a game of death.
There is nothing wrong with hunting when it's for the right purpose. To cull animals is a natural process that is part of our evolution as humans. To kill animals in such a violent manner as shown in the video makes it clear that it is purely done for the thrill of the kill, anger, or an irrational fear of something that is benign, just like murders would do. It all comes back to fear caused by misunderstanding and ignorance.
Aerial hunting is not sport. Aerial hunting is not to harvest game. Aerial hunting is to feed the desires of a sick mind of a disturbed individual. Individuals like Sarah Palin. She did after all, offer a $150 reward per right foreleg for the dead wolves. Sarah is so together!
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Great Leaders, Bad Leaders, Followers
Great leaders can bring you out of dark times. Bad leaders will carry you to dark times, in their arms, while reassuring you of your safety.
Of course, as a leader, you'd need a following. As a bad leader it helps to have a following made up of people filled with hatred and fear. People that confuse old fears with new ones and commingle the two, or three, or more. It also helps to have vain followers. Those that think they themselves are smart enough to take on the challenges of a job like being president, when clearly they are average joes. Nothing against "joe six-pack" and "hockey moms". They just don't know the difference between energy independence and oil addiction.
Listen to what these people have to say as they wait in line. Pay attention to their body language and tone of voice. Understandably we do live in a turbulent time. These folks in line are speaking from their hearts and mean all that they say. There is no lying in them in regard to how they feel.
In this video there is an interviewer, who does a bad job, and those being interviewed, who also do a bad job. For the lack of professionalism the honesty of the interactions are startling. The actions and statements of the people on camera is absolutely unbelievable. It's amazing what people will convince themselves of. Now I know neither candidate is perfect. I just want verifiable reasons to make my decisions about them. For others it's more of a matter of taste, kinda like vanilla, or chocolate.
With so much feeling involved with these people I decided to include one move video of a very zealous, angry, blinded by rage and lacking in clear thought person. You may recognize him. Heck, you may even like him, agree with him... If that's the case, on any level, well...
Of course, as a leader, you'd need a following. As a bad leader it helps to have a following made up of people filled with hatred and fear. People that confuse old fears with new ones and commingle the two, or three, or more. It also helps to have vain followers. Those that think they themselves are smart enough to take on the challenges of a job like being president, when clearly they are average joes. Nothing against "joe six-pack" and "hockey moms". They just don't know the difference between energy independence and oil addiction.
Listen to what these people have to say as they wait in line. Pay attention to their body language and tone of voice. Understandably we do live in a turbulent time. These folks in line are speaking from their hearts and mean all that they say. There is no lying in them in regard to how they feel.
In this video there is an interviewer, who does a bad job, and those being interviewed, who also do a bad job. For the lack of professionalism the honesty of the interactions are startling. The actions and statements of the people on camera is absolutely unbelievable. It's amazing what people will convince themselves of. Now I know neither candidate is perfect. I just want verifiable reasons to make my decisions about them. For others it's more of a matter of taste, kinda like vanilla, or chocolate.
With so much feeling involved with these people I decided to include one move video of a very zealous, angry, blinded by rage and lacking in clear thought person. You may recognize him. Heck, you may even like him, agree with him... If that's the case, on any level, well...
One Nation
There is a price that great men have paid for what is truly right. That's part of what made them great. It's not having to pay the ultimate price, but the willingness to give that much to a cause so important. Many people talk about dying for freedom. They don't see the horrors of what death can be, and how it can come. They are insulated in a world where they buy prepackaged meats in a supermarket display case, complete with blood absorbing maxi-pad.
There are so many brave ones who are dying everyday, not knowing that the freedom they wish to leave us here at home doesn't exist anymore. The reason they don't die in vain is because their hearts, at that final moment, are pure and immeasurably generous. We are all so lucky for them to have graced us with their tribute to our dreams, and the sacrifice of their dreams for us.
To honor them it is our responsibility to restore that which they died for, because it can only be done here, on this land, and not on foreign soil. We hold the key, the key to restoring this land to her former splendor, to the land that the Founding Fathers built up from their dreams. The words of those men, written by men who acknowledged their faults and frailties, but were strong enough not to be ashamed, and not so arrogant to make stupid choices, were the words of true genius and were based on a foundation of stone.
We have fallen very far from where they left us and we need to restore those words, their vision, to their original meaning, for we are not so great as those men were, but we must live up to their hope for us. It is a great duty to uphold. It is one we must humbly respect.
As we once again we find ourselves in tumultuous times rife with snap anger and blind hatred we should remember that regardless of the turnout of this election, we are still one nation.
One nation.
There are so many brave ones who are dying everyday, not knowing that the freedom they wish to leave us here at home doesn't exist anymore. The reason they don't die in vain is because their hearts, at that final moment, are pure and immeasurably generous. We are all so lucky for them to have graced us with their tribute to our dreams, and the sacrifice of their dreams for us.
To honor them it is our responsibility to restore that which they died for, because it can only be done here, on this land, and not on foreign soil. We hold the key, the key to restoring this land to her former splendor, to the land that the Founding Fathers built up from their dreams. The words of those men, written by men who acknowledged their faults and frailties, but were strong enough not to be ashamed, and not so arrogant to make stupid choices, were the words of true genius and were based on a foundation of stone.
We have fallen very far from where they left us and we need to restore those words, their vision, to their original meaning, for we are not so great as those men were, but we must live up to their hope for us. It is a great duty to uphold. It is one we must humbly respect.
As we once again we find ourselves in tumultuous times rife with snap anger and blind hatred we should remember that regardless of the turnout of this election, we are still one nation.
One nation.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Does Mercedes-Benz still make ovens?http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif
Here's a couple of articles to read.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2008253075_opin12pitts.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7662820.stm
One word: Nazis.
If you don't think so it's because you may be about to become one of them. When you question authority and find nothing wrong you have done the right thing. Blindly accept authority and you will find yourself sticking people in ovens... alive.
Have a real day.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2008253075_opin12pitts.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7662820.stm
One word: Nazis.
If you don't think so it's because you may be about to become one of them. When you question authority and find nothing wrong you have done the right thing. Blindly accept authority and you will find yourself sticking people in ovens... alive.
Have a real day.
Friday, October 10, 2008
The Alaska Disasta'
Watch below and make a comparison!
Okay, so how is she fit to lead?
Here's Palin on Russia...
... and again.
Now here's Matt Damon on Palin.
Sooo... What are world leaders supposed to think of li'l ol' Sarah? Do you think they'll think she'll be a puppet when the ol' fogey kicks da bucket? Will they think she'll be a decisive leader who brings harmony to the world? Are they justified if they thought she has no business being anywhere but at her Alaska home tied up to a post in the backyard?
What real, not brainwashed women think of Sarah.
Amen!
Okay, so how is she fit to lead?
Here's Palin on Russia...
... and again.
Now here's Matt Damon on Palin.
Sooo... What are world leaders supposed to think of li'l ol' Sarah? Do you think they'll think she'll be a puppet when the ol' fogey kicks da bucket? Will they think she'll be a decisive leader who brings harmony to the world? Are they justified if they thought she has no business being anywhere but at her Alaska home tied up to a post in the backyard?
What real, not brainwashed women think of Sarah.
Amen!
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Fearcession and the Credit Crisis
Fearcession. That's what a market analyst called our current situation on a morning show today. It's an interesting hybrid word. With so much of the world in a panic it's easy to understand it's meaning. It has depth, emotion, and paints a clear picture. It also only tells part of the story because it implies that, without fear, we wouldn't be in this situation right now. I think without the stupid decisions made by so many banks and, mostly, the current administration is Washington we wouldn't be in this situation right now.
With another day of this we'll have to shut down the market. Here is any possibility of $700 Billion helping out going down the tubes, right? Ten years ago today the market closed at 7899.52. That's a far cry from the 13,000's we were seeing last year during the holidays. Roughly 60% give or take. Okay, ten years ago the economy was much heathier. I mean, we were actually paying down the national debt. The famous debt clock, now over $10 Trillion, was going backwards! With the spectacular rise in the Dow comes spectacular inflation, also know as a bunch of overvalued crap. Now how overvalued was everything a year ago? I still don't believe things are at their true value now. Think about it; is a studio apartment in Midtown Manhattan the size of a walk in closet really worth $300,000+. Now what if it's a co-op (you don't really even own it) and have $700 a month in maintenance? And a window unit? And the building is old and decrepit? And there's an upcoming special assessment? Of course units are never like that, right?
How 'bout that gas you pump into your car? Worth it at $4+ a gallon. I hope you don't need premium! $5 is a killer (c'mon, $4.899? That's five buckaroos, pilgrim).
Everything costs too much. It's called inflation. It was made worse by the stimulus checks we all received. I was made worse by giving tax breaks to the wealthy, which in turn made luxury goods more expensive because, well, they can afford it and the luxury goods manufacturers have no issue charging anything they want. Very simply, if there's more money around, everything will cost more.
To make matters worse nobody saved any money. Everything was paid for in credit. The people that aren't high net worth racked up the credit card bills on expensive baubles that seemed so important, like 20" wheels and D&G suglasses. Gotta keep up with the Jones' after all! Real money was thrown away like old newspapers. Even the banks were throwing it all away, chasing after what turned out to be figments of their imagination, like high interest loans to unqualified borrowers that had an ice cube's chance in hell, or maybe to be more modern, the Arctic's chance on Palin's Earth of making it.
Let's think of a way to make an artificial situation that can lead to catastrophe in the marketplace. Let's pick a random point, say, housing. In particular: home sales. Real property if you want to get all technical about it. If you wanted to, and this is all hypothetical of course, to create massive amounts of inflation, and distraction (I'll get to that later), the home market is an excellent place to accomplish that end. Now people tend to see home ownership as the ultimate expression of security and accomplishment in their lives. It is a great undertaking and the feeling of walking into your new home is singular. There is, quite literally, nothing like it.
Now, if you wanted to add some perceived value to the overall market you could do things like, rob the Social Security Trust Fund to pay your expensive war bills or you could make the banks ledgers look like there's tons of money about to come in. Okay, how? Let's start by lowering interest rates to the point that money becomes unbelievably cheap, on a long term scale... to the banks. Now let's find the biggest thing people can buy so they can spend, spend, spend... like houses. Let's think of all the things that people need to fill the ginourmous houses they just bought... on credit (hey, it's 0%, right?... for now). Let's have people spend, spend, spend. Let's see what else they um, need... a new SUV perhaps? How about a flat screen TV? Only a few thousand!
Now while all this money is being spent, a lot of money is being made at the same time. More money made is all the excuse most people, and the companies they run, need to spend more money. The problem is that all the money isn't real. It's credit. It's an IOU. A promissory note written in non-biodegradable ink on plastic cards and stored in digital libraries that know incredibly detailed things about your life. Things you can't remember, or don't even know, like your mother's, mother's, mother's maiden name.
So all this stuff is built up of monopoly money (no offense Hasbro, I love that game!). So where's the real money going? Well, the real money isn't a Stimulus Check because that was just money printed out of thin air. Money in the bank is non-existent until you pull it out. I'm not getting richer. Who's been selling lots of stuff? Maybe expensive stuff like... bombs and planes and warships and... aw shit. Here we are again, just like when Ronnie was president, and WWII. Lots of federal spending on $1000 stainless steel toilet seats. Matching brush only $500 (only in WWII it was bullets and tanks and the sweet smell of freedom, so I guess pretty much just like Ronnie's time! Just more painfully all around).
Anywhere else? Let's see... if I had a consumable good that didn't cost me squat and I could sell at tremendous profit, and have world governments subsidize the cost so consumers don't have to pay $20 a gallon straight out of their own pockets, but just through their tax dollars, I'd make a killing. I'd even buy some Palinticians, er politicians so I could eradicate Polar Bears for fun. I could, with some help from GM, bring the world to it's knees! Moo-ha-ha-ha! Moo-ha-ha-ha!
So, the ones that are actually seeing real money, real US Dollars, want real US Dollars. Now where do you find that, in a world of unregulated (sic) credit run amok? Where might there be a trust fund with trillions (not billions, trillions) of those US Dollars meant to protect the weakest in society just ready to loot? Ah, Social Security. Now how do I access all that delicious money? Maybe I could rig an election or two... Hey, I know! I COULD RIG AN ELECTION (or two)!!! Now how do I get away with it? Ou, ou, ou, I know I could tell everyone that the multi-trillion dollar trust fund is going bankrupt. That's a great idea. I could even tell people we can privatize that trust. You know, put the remaining money in Wall Street so it would, guaranteed, make more. Who doesn't trust the market? Just look at where it's headed!
Okay, your tax dollars go to all that too. That's real money. The fake money is the stuff you don't really own because you have to pay your bills. That's the bank's money. Now where's the bank's money? Tied up in that overvalued apartment in midtown that will probably auction of for it's real value somewhere closer to $150,000, and no, it's not a deal at that price; it's fair market value. It's okay for the banks though, because you had to buy mortgage insurance. They don't by it, you do. On top of all that the banks saw to changing the bankruptcy laws so, even if you can't pay, you still owe them no matter what. There is a way out. It's called suicide, but that may leave the debt to your relatives. Ouch! I didn't know that banks could legally make legislature... hmmm. Maybe it is a ray of hope if the insurers won't, or can't, pay! Like AIG for example...
Basically, all this fearcession stuff is a bunch of hooey designed to distract you while the public coffers are pilfered by the very people that are supposed to be looking out for our collective interest. You're just too busy paying credit card bills and trying to make your mortgage to know what just happened to you.
Credit crisis? I don't smell no stinkin' credit crisis. I smell coffee.
It's like any other insane thing you may ever investigate: just follow the money. Just follow the stench of it all. This time it leads right to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, and there... it doesn't smell like coffee.
With another day of this we'll have to shut down the market. Here is any possibility of $700 Billion helping out going down the tubes, right? Ten years ago today the market closed at 7899.52. That's a far cry from the 13,000's we were seeing last year during the holidays. Roughly 60% give or take. Okay, ten years ago the economy was much heathier. I mean, we were actually paying down the national debt. The famous debt clock, now over $10 Trillion, was going backwards! With the spectacular rise in the Dow comes spectacular inflation, also know as a bunch of overvalued crap. Now how overvalued was everything a year ago? I still don't believe things are at their true value now. Think about it; is a studio apartment in Midtown Manhattan the size of a walk in closet really worth $300,000+. Now what if it's a co-op (you don't really even own it) and have $700 a month in maintenance? And a window unit? And the building is old and decrepit? And there's an upcoming special assessment? Of course units are never like that, right?
How 'bout that gas you pump into your car? Worth it at $4+ a gallon. I hope you don't need premium! $5 is a killer (c'mon, $4.899? That's five buckaroos, pilgrim).
Everything costs too much. It's called inflation. It was made worse by the stimulus checks we all received. I was made worse by giving tax breaks to the wealthy, which in turn made luxury goods more expensive because, well, they can afford it and the luxury goods manufacturers have no issue charging anything they want. Very simply, if there's more money around, everything will cost more.
To make matters worse nobody saved any money. Everything was paid for in credit. The people that aren't high net worth racked up the credit card bills on expensive baubles that seemed so important, like 20" wheels and D&G suglasses. Gotta keep up with the Jones' after all! Real money was thrown away like old newspapers. Even the banks were throwing it all away, chasing after what turned out to be figments of their imagination, like high interest loans to unqualified borrowers that had an ice cube's chance in hell, or maybe to be more modern, the Arctic's chance on Palin's Earth of making it.
Let's think of a way to make an artificial situation that can lead to catastrophe in the marketplace. Let's pick a random point, say, housing. In particular: home sales. Real property if you want to get all technical about it. If you wanted to, and this is all hypothetical of course, to create massive amounts of inflation, and distraction (I'll get to that later), the home market is an excellent place to accomplish that end. Now people tend to see home ownership as the ultimate expression of security and accomplishment in their lives. It is a great undertaking and the feeling of walking into your new home is singular. There is, quite literally, nothing like it.
Now, if you wanted to add some perceived value to the overall market you could do things like, rob the Social Security Trust Fund to pay your expensive war bills or you could make the banks ledgers look like there's tons of money about to come in. Okay, how? Let's start by lowering interest rates to the point that money becomes unbelievably cheap, on a long term scale... to the banks. Now let's find the biggest thing people can buy so they can spend, spend, spend... like houses. Let's think of all the things that people need to fill the ginourmous houses they just bought... on credit (hey, it's 0%, right?... for now). Let's have people spend, spend, spend. Let's see what else they um, need... a new SUV perhaps? How about a flat screen TV? Only a few thousand!
Now while all this money is being spent, a lot of money is being made at the same time. More money made is all the excuse most people, and the companies they run, need to spend more money. The problem is that all the money isn't real. It's credit. It's an IOU. A promissory note written in non-biodegradable ink on plastic cards and stored in digital libraries that know incredibly detailed things about your life. Things you can't remember, or don't even know, like your mother's, mother's, mother's maiden name.
So all this stuff is built up of monopoly money (no offense Hasbro, I love that game!). So where's the real money going? Well, the real money isn't a Stimulus Check because that was just money printed out of thin air. Money in the bank is non-existent until you pull it out. I'm not getting richer. Who's been selling lots of stuff? Maybe expensive stuff like... bombs and planes and warships and... aw shit. Here we are again, just like when Ronnie was president, and WWII. Lots of federal spending on $1000 stainless steel toilet seats. Matching brush only $500 (only in WWII it was bullets and tanks and the sweet smell of freedom, so I guess pretty much just like Ronnie's time! Just more painfully all around).
Anywhere else? Let's see... if I had a consumable good that didn't cost me squat and I could sell at tremendous profit, and have world governments subsidize the cost so consumers don't have to pay $20 a gallon straight out of their own pockets, but just through their tax dollars, I'd make a killing. I'd even buy some Palinticians, er politicians so I could eradicate Polar Bears for fun. I could, with some help from GM, bring the world to it's knees! Moo-ha-ha-ha! Moo-ha-ha-ha!
So, the ones that are actually seeing real money, real US Dollars, want real US Dollars. Now where do you find that, in a world of unregulated (sic) credit run amok? Where might there be a trust fund with trillions (not billions, trillions) of those US Dollars meant to protect the weakest in society just ready to loot? Ah, Social Security. Now how do I access all that delicious money? Maybe I could rig an election or two... Hey, I know! I COULD RIG AN ELECTION (or two)!!! Now how do I get away with it? Ou, ou, ou, I know I could tell everyone that the multi-trillion dollar trust fund is going bankrupt. That's a great idea. I could even tell people we can privatize that trust. You know, put the remaining money in Wall Street so it would, guaranteed, make more. Who doesn't trust the market? Just look at where it's headed!
Okay, your tax dollars go to all that too. That's real money. The fake money is the stuff you don't really own because you have to pay your bills. That's the bank's money. Now where's the bank's money? Tied up in that overvalued apartment in midtown that will probably auction of for it's real value somewhere closer to $150,000, and no, it's not a deal at that price; it's fair market value. It's okay for the banks though, because you had to buy mortgage insurance. They don't by it, you do. On top of all that the banks saw to changing the bankruptcy laws so, even if you can't pay, you still owe them no matter what. There is a way out. It's called suicide, but that may leave the debt to your relatives. Ouch! I didn't know that banks could legally make legislature... hmmm. Maybe it is a ray of hope if the insurers won't, or can't, pay! Like AIG for example...
Basically, all this fearcession stuff is a bunch of hooey designed to distract you while the public coffers are pilfered by the very people that are supposed to be looking out for our collective interest. You're just too busy paying credit card bills and trying to make your mortgage to know what just happened to you.
Credit crisis? I don't smell no stinkin' credit crisis. I smell coffee.
It's like any other insane thing you may ever investigate: just follow the money. Just follow the stench of it all. This time it leads right to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, and there... it doesn't smell like coffee.
Now it's Banks, not Tanks from Russia... with Love restrictions apply love not defined as "unconditional" please confer with your financial counsel
Read this article:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/3154116/Financial-crisis-Iceland-nationalises-bank-and-seeks-Russian-loan.html
We can't loan them the money. The International Monetary Fund and The World Bank hasn't loaned them the money. Russia has actual cash reserves! Now how did that happen? If you ever questioned the purchasing of fossil fuels due to the inherent surrender of security it demands, you should now be certain that your next fill-up may very well pay for the bomb that falls on your head.
The likelihood of Russia not wanting a foothold in Iceland after this is quite slim. Now they are in the West. Well, better with money than with guns I suppose.
If Ronald Reagan knew this would be the child born of his financial policies he might have reconsidered. The two Bushes that followed were too sold to industry and too stupid to understand what may occur if you let the animals run the zoo so now we have to consider Russia, once again.
There was a joke in Russian media, due to the US Government taking over Fannie and Freddie, and now bailing out Wall Street, that called us The United Soviet Socialist Republic of America, or U.S.S.R.A.
And you thought I was joking in previous posts about impending fascism!
Do I really need to say it?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/3154116/Financial-crisis-Iceland-nationalises-bank-and-seeks-Russian-loan.html
We can't loan them the money. The International Monetary Fund and The World Bank hasn't loaned them the money. Russia has actual cash reserves! Now how did that happen? If you ever questioned the purchasing of fossil fuels due to the inherent surrender of security it demands, you should now be certain that your next fill-up may very well pay for the bomb that falls on your head.
The likelihood of Russia not wanting a foothold in Iceland after this is quite slim. Now they are in the West. Well, better with money than with guns I suppose.
If Ronald Reagan knew this would be the child born of his financial policies he might have reconsidered. The two Bushes that followed were too sold to industry and too stupid to understand what may occur if you let the animals run the zoo so now we have to consider Russia, once again.
There was a joke in Russian media, due to the US Government taking over Fannie and Freddie, and now bailing out Wall Street, that called us The United Soviet Socialist Republic of America, or U.S.S.R.A.
And you thought I was joking in previous posts about impending fascism!
Do I really need to say it?
Sarah Palin spotted in Polar Bear fur coat!
On August 4th of this year Sarah Palin filed suit against the government for listing the polar bear as an "threatened" species. Palin stated that it, "was not based on the best scientific and commercial data available". She also claims that climate models, made by top scientists, of continuing loss of sea ice are unreliable. A further argument she made is that it, "harms gas and oil... development".
A scientist she clearly is not. A shill of industry she most certainly is!
It's not news at this point that, in the 30 years of satellite photos tracking the polar ice cap, the past two winters showed the least amount of ice ever recorded. Now I know 30 years may not seem like enough data to say definitively, however, there is older data of areas like Glacier National Park that show, through both written and photographic evidence, that what was once a great glacier is now an ice cube.
Back to the sea ice. Without the great expanse of ice in the North the polar bear has no hunting ground. It is the bears habitat; home, hunting ground, shelter, and way of life. The ice also supports seals and walrus. These animals all depend on the sea ice for survival. All of these are rather large animals, right? Well, I'm sure you understand that there is a food chain, and the smaller animals get eaten by the bigger ones.
Enter the plankton that bloom and blossom on the bottom of the sea ice. This feeds whales, fish, and other wildlife that swim in these waters. Plankton, all throughout the oceans, are the basis of rich food chain. Without the ice even those tiny creatures have nowhere to call home. I'm sure you can see how this breaks down the chain and kills all the life in this region of the world.
The sea ice may yet see a new low this year and the delicate ecosystem that depends on it will disappear with the ice. In 5 to 20 years there may be no ice left. It is in a death spiral. This is according to data gathered by scientists worldwide and reported by the World Wildlife Fund.
The Endangered Species Act, under which all listings of such developments are made, is a major target of the Bush Administration and Republicans. This listing of "threatened" for the polar bear is the first time that Global Warming is directly implicated in the potential eradication of a species from the face of the Earth. This is also why Palin is fighting so hard to beat it. If the truth is revealed the jig is up for fossil fuels. It would show that we are indeed all going to die as a result of it's use.
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne doesn't want this type of thing to prevent Big Oil and other fossil fueled industries from making money and he stated that it will not affect Bush's policy on Global Warming or stop development of drilling rigs in the Arctic. Kempthorne further saw to making what he called a "slight regulatory change" that created a permanent back door to conservation policy that would relegate any mention of Global Warming or climate change to amount to nothing.
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is on the chopping block. This is yet another crime against life in the process of being created by the soulless shells in the GOP.
There are a great many creatures that we rely on everyday for our very survival. The greed of certain politicians is jack hammering away at the most basic right of all: the right to live. We don't know what the outcome of such atrocities such as the one in the Arctic may ultimately do to us or the planet. The greed and idiocy of McCain, Palin, and the entire Bush Administration has brought us to a dire crossroads, and we face many heavy decisions in the very near future. The choices we make today, and tomorrow, will determine whether we are worthy to be on this beautiful planet, which gives us life: our Mother Earth.
Either way, the Earth will live on, with, or without us. I prefer it to be with.
BTW, watch Arctic Tale, narrated by Queen Latifah. It is a film that was killed by the media, although it was heavily promoted in every Starbuck's in the country. It is a poignant story of two families; one a polar bear, and the other seals. There are some walruses thrown in for fun!
I am the eggman (woo), they are the eggmen (woo), I am the walrus,
Coo coo, kachoo!
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Make a wish... No really, make a wish.
Take a look at the photo below.
It's a man fishing for change in a fountain. I took this picture while trying not to disturb him. Just out of frame to the right is a wheelchair. His wheelchair. While he is not totally handicapped, he can't move around as well as most of us and needs the chair for mobility. I've seen this guy before. I've never seen him do this before. I haven't seen anyone do this since Reagan's presidency. Money hasn't been so worthless, yet so precious, since Reagan. This time however, it's worse. Anyone who doesn't think so is crazy.
A month ago, in the company of people with 9 figure bank accounts, I was listening to a conversation about how expensive it is to travel to Europe right now. Imagine hearing about how expensive things are from people who collectively have half a billion dollars. Wow.
Now, about this bailout. I can't seem to find out if it includes "golden parachutes" for the people that put us into this mess to begin with. I'll bet it does. Why else would the President and Vice President push so hard for it's approval, I mean, even the Republicans in the House and Senate didn't want this thing to go through. Nobody did, but they voted it through anyway... the second time around.
The reality is, even with such a weak, weak dollar, that Wall Street is still the center of the world's economy. Of course right now it's more like the epicenter! Had Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac gone under the global economy would have literally come to an immediate stop. Chaos and rioting would have erupted, and only people with guns would be safe... sort of safe.
The full breadth of the banking crisis outside of Fannie and Freddie has yet to be seen. The market took a big drop yesterday. I wonder if it'll be under 9000 by week's end.
The Bush administration caused this mess, and they should be tried criminally. McCain will continue this course of destructive leadership. Palin? She's an idiot. If you don't think so, well, you're IQ is even lower than hers.
Now, how many of you saw this coming? I did. I saw lots of bad things coming while Bush and Gore were still campaigning! I knew the outcome wouldn't be pretty if Bush won. I also knew quite a few people, in Florida, that could have voted for Gore, but chose to vote for Nader. I'll bet they regret that now.
Had Gore won I doubt that 9/11 would have happened. Once it did though I knew we were headed right for this type of situation.
The housing market crash? Saw it coming. Financial market? Saw it coming. Energy costs? Saw it coming. I saw it all, pretty much the way it's going now. I'm no Nostradamus, but for this I don't need to be. It's all obvious like rain.
As for the rest, the things that are yet to come, I got a good feeling as to what's next. Do you?
If you're not, 1) paying attention and, 2) acting appropriately you're making our situation worse. No doubt making it worse! Many things in life are full of gray areas, or colored areas. This is definitively black and white. There is no middle ground here.
This election is a fight for life.
If you don't believe in dinosaurs, or that the world is, oh, a few billion years older than 5000, or that Adam and Eve, while a nice fairy tale, is false like Pamela Anderson's boobs, you are a terrorist. You just don't know it yet, and your intent is to see the world burn.
Question, if you make an allowance for dinosaurs as reality while still believing in Jesus does that make you a hypocrite? I mean, there's clear physical evidence of dinosaurs, but not a single shred of it for Jesus. The "gospel" doesn't mention dinosaurs. The "scriptures" were written at least 60 years after his death. Were all the disciples 10 years old when he was nailed up? How long was the average life span back then? Hmmmm, probably shorter than today, right? Ever notice that when someone says, "it's gospel", about something not religious they mean it's something that you do without clear reason? Let's look at giving money to the church. Aren't they rich after all these centuries of taking? They can't take the money to heaven, right?
Well, enough for today. Check yourself to see if you're a terrorist, or humanist.
Me, I'm with the humans.
It's a man fishing for change in a fountain. I took this picture while trying not to disturb him. Just out of frame to the right is a wheelchair. His wheelchair. While he is not totally handicapped, he can't move around as well as most of us and needs the chair for mobility. I've seen this guy before. I've never seen him do this before. I haven't seen anyone do this since Reagan's presidency. Money hasn't been so worthless, yet so precious, since Reagan. This time however, it's worse. Anyone who doesn't think so is crazy.
A month ago, in the company of people with 9 figure bank accounts, I was listening to a conversation about how expensive it is to travel to Europe right now. Imagine hearing about how expensive things are from people who collectively have half a billion dollars. Wow.
Now, about this bailout. I can't seem to find out if it includes "golden parachutes" for the people that put us into this mess to begin with. I'll bet it does. Why else would the President and Vice President push so hard for it's approval, I mean, even the Republicans in the House and Senate didn't want this thing to go through. Nobody did, but they voted it through anyway... the second time around.
The reality is, even with such a weak, weak dollar, that Wall Street is still the center of the world's economy. Of course right now it's more like the epicenter! Had Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac gone under the global economy would have literally come to an immediate stop. Chaos and rioting would have erupted, and only people with guns would be safe... sort of safe.
The full breadth of the banking crisis outside of Fannie and Freddie has yet to be seen. The market took a big drop yesterday. I wonder if it'll be under 9000 by week's end.
The Bush administration caused this mess, and they should be tried criminally. McCain will continue this course of destructive leadership. Palin? She's an idiot. If you don't think so, well, you're IQ is even lower than hers.
Now, how many of you saw this coming? I did. I saw lots of bad things coming while Bush and Gore were still campaigning! I knew the outcome wouldn't be pretty if Bush won. I also knew quite a few people, in Florida, that could have voted for Gore, but chose to vote for Nader. I'll bet they regret that now.
Had Gore won I doubt that 9/11 would have happened. Once it did though I knew we were headed right for this type of situation.
The housing market crash? Saw it coming. Financial market? Saw it coming. Energy costs? Saw it coming. I saw it all, pretty much the way it's going now. I'm no Nostradamus, but for this I don't need to be. It's all obvious like rain.
As for the rest, the things that are yet to come, I got a good feeling as to what's next. Do you?
If you're not, 1) paying attention and, 2) acting appropriately you're making our situation worse. No doubt making it worse! Many things in life are full of gray areas, or colored areas. This is definitively black and white. There is no middle ground here.
This election is a fight for life.
If you don't believe in dinosaurs, or that the world is, oh, a few billion years older than 5000, or that Adam and Eve, while a nice fairy tale, is false like Pamela Anderson's boobs, you are a terrorist. You just don't know it yet, and your intent is to see the world burn.
Question, if you make an allowance for dinosaurs as reality while still believing in Jesus does that make you a hypocrite? I mean, there's clear physical evidence of dinosaurs, but not a single shred of it for Jesus. The "gospel" doesn't mention dinosaurs. The "scriptures" were written at least 60 years after his death. Were all the disciples 10 years old when he was nailed up? How long was the average life span back then? Hmmmm, probably shorter than today, right? Ever notice that when someone says, "it's gospel", about something not religious they mean it's something that you do without clear reason? Let's look at giving money to the church. Aren't they rich after all these centuries of taking? They can't take the money to heaven, right?
Well, enough for today. Check yourself to see if you're a terrorist, or humanist.
Me, I'm with the humans.
Monday, October 6, 2008
JOHN McCAIN’S FAILING RECORD ON RETIREMENT SECURITY
When it comes to issues affecting our aging population, once again Sen. John McCain has proven himself out of touch, aloof and in league with President Bush. He supported Bush’s plan to risk our Social Security benefits through privatization, voted to raise the Medicare eligibility age and missed a critical vote to reduce prescription drug costs for seniors.
McCAIN ABANDONED UNION RETIREES
McCain Voted Against Providing Health Insurance for Retirees of Bankrupt Steel Companies. McCain voted against a measure to provide temporary health insurance assistance to retirees of bankrupt steel companies. [S. Amdt. 3433, Vote #117, 5/21/02]
McCAIN WANTS TO PRIVATIZE SOCIAL SECURITY
McCain Voted for Bush’s 2006 Social Security Privatization Plan. In 2006, McCain voted for the Social Security Reserve Fund. The proposal would shift Social Security’s annual surpluses into a reserve account that would be converted into risky private accounts. [SCR 83, Vote #68, 3/16/06; SCR 83, Vote #68, 3/16/06]
In 2000 McCain Wanted to Divert Social Security Money to Private Accounts. The Wall Street Journal reported that “[a] centerpiece of a McCain presidential bid in 2000 was a plan to divert a portion of Social Security payroll taxes to fund private accounts, much as President Bush proposed unsuccessfully.” The plan would put workers’ retirement money into the risky market and reduce the amount of Social Security payments they would receive from the government. The plan would undermine the Social Security system. [Wall Street Journal, 3/3/08]
McCain STILL Proposes Privatizing Social Security—Despite What His Website Says. McCain told the Wall Street Journal he still backs a system of private retirement accounts that he supported in 2000 and President Bush pushed unsuccessfully. The Journal reported he “disowned” details of a proposal on his 2008 campaign website that says he would “supplement” the existing Social Security system with personally managed accounts. But when asked about the position change he denied it and promised to change the website to reflect his true position. “I’m totally in favor of personal savings accounts… As part of Social Security reform, I believe that private savings accounts are a part of it—along the lines that President Bush proposed,” McCain told the Journal.[Wall Street Journal, 3/3/08; Campaign Website, accessed 3/3/08]
McCain Might Raise the Retirement Age and Reduce Cost-of-Living Adjustments. “[T]he McCain campaign says the candidate intends to keep Social Security solvent by reducing the growth in benefits over the coming decades to match projected growth in payroll tax revenues. Among the options are extending the retirement age to 68 and reducing cost-of-living adjustments, but the campaign hasn’t made any final decisions. ‘You can’t keep promises made to retirees,’ said Mr. Holtz-Eakin, McCain’s chief economic aide.” [Wall Street Journal, 3/3/08]
McCain Supported Deep Cuts That Put Social Security Benefits at Risk. In 2005, McCain supported a Social Security plan that would require deep benefit cuts or a massive increase in debt. That same year, McCain voted against prioritizing Social Security solvency over tax cuts for the wealthy. [SCR 18, Vote #49, 3/15/05; S. Amdt. 144 to SCR 18, Vote #47, 3/15/05]
McCain Voted to Use Social Security Money to Pay Off National Debt. In 2003, McCain voted to use Social Security funds to pay off federal debt. [HJR 51, Vote #201, 5/23/03]
McCain Voted Against Protecting Social Security Solvency with a Strategic Reserve. In 2001, McCain opposed reducing tax cuts for the wealthy to create a strategic reserve for Social Security. In the same year, McCain voted against a proposal to create “lockboxes” to protect Social Security and Medicare. [H.R. 1836, Senate RPC, Vote #145, 5/22/01; S. Amdt. 29, Vote #22, 3/13/01]
McCain Voted to Replace Social Security with Risk-Based Investments. In 1998, McCain voted twice to replace Social Security’s guaranteed benefits with income from risk-based private investments. [SCR 86, Vote #56, 4/1/98; SCR 86, Vote #77, 4/1/98]
McCAIN ATTACKED MEDICARE
McCain Voted to Cut Billions from Medicare. McCain voted for the budget reconciliation bill that reduced spending on Medicare by $6.4 billion by requiring that beneficiariespurchase medical equipment and cutting payments to home health care providers. [S. 1932, Vote #363, 12/21/05; Congressional Quarterly, 12/26/05]
McCain Missed Critical Vote to Bargain for Lower Prescription Drug Prices for Seniors. McCain missed a vote to amend Medicare Part D so Medicare could negotiate lower prices for prescription drugs, just like the Department of Veterans Affairs does. Prices for prescription drugs under Medicare Part D are 50 percent higher than those for veterans because the VA can bargain. [S. 3, Vote #132, 4/18/07; New York Times, 4/19/07; Families USA, 1/07]
McCain Voted for Steep Increases in Seniors’ Medicare Premiums. McCain voted against protecting seniors from steep increases in their Medicare Part B premiums. Seniors faced the premium increase because Congress increased Medicare payments to physicians but failed to enact savings from Medicare payments to private health plans. [S. 1932, Vote #287, 11/3/05]
McCain Voted to Raise Medicare Eligibility Age. In 1997, McCain voted to support provisions that would increase the age for Medicare eligibility from 65 to 67 and impose a new $5 co-payment for home health care visits. [S. 947, Vote #112, 6/24/97; S. Amdt. 445, Vote #115, 6/25/97]
What will you leave the next generation?
I don't have children, but many of my friends do. Their kids are beautiful. Each and every last one of them beautiful. You can't help but love them. Kids just tend to be that way; wonderful creations born of two people. I'm looking forward to seeing who they grow up to be, and believe that they will all grow up to be good, contributing members of society. Of course I still want them to be kids too. Adult life can wait and childhood goes by too quickly for all of us.
Do you remember what it was like to be a kid? It was cool wasn't it? Do you remember the first time you rode a bike? How about the first time it was without training wheels? Your best friend as a child? Favorite toy perhaps? What about the shavings in the crayon sharpener? The smell of paste? Learning who to read and write? Sesame Street?
You were a kid once. All the good things in childhood are the foundation of a person's sense of good as an adult. If any of the lessons of early life are skewed and distorted they may have the effect of helping create a person who is out of touch with the things that are truly important to the continuation of a meaningful life for that person. In some cases it may affect far more than that.
Imagine there's a collaboration between many people who were brought up in a world of intense pressure and hate. Imagine those people are led to believe lies and made to hate those that are different from them. Imagine the lack of true understanding they would have. Imagine those people never got past the moments in their early life that brought them so much pain. Imagine those people are in power. It's not hard to imagine that it could affect everybody.
Rick Davis, campaign manager for John McCain's presidential bid, said this about the election:
"This election is not about issues. This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates."
If there a legacy that we leave the next generation I hope it's not based on the Republican Party. This type of strategy very clearly shows a manipulative strategy lacking in morals and clear judgment. Think of the lack of ethics involved with such a horrible statement. It's clearly reflected in the fact that the nation isn't aghast of Sarah Palin and McCain's selection of her after the Vice Presidential Debate (which was not a debate, more of a forum really. No real debate structure existed. Wiki debate)
John McCain came from a military family. His father was an Admiral. Very lofty indeed. John McCain was 894 of 899 in his class at the Naval Academy. 894 of 899. Not Admiral material, that's for sure.
Dwight D. Eisenhower was a General. Ulysses S. Grant was a General. George Washington was a General. Very lofty indeed. They excelled. They were not 894 of 899.
With such low standards, in an age of low standards, this nation will be plunged into a hell Danté could not have imagined.
With McCain/Palin we will...
... be broke.
... be sold to corporations and conglomerates hell bent on Globalization.
... become part of a new age of slavery based on economics run amok.
... be choking on nearly unbreathable air.
... see the nations preserves and parks sold for their lumber, minerals, and other resources, while the animals that live there all die off.
... face the loss of scientific advancement to a new dark age.
... say goodbye to many species of animals and plants. Many of which may hold the keys to mankind's ailments.
... face a renewed age of nuclear threat to life on earth.
... lose understanding and diplomacy on the world's stage.
... be hated by almost all the nations of the world (and not because of jealousy).
... see more attacks on our nation.
... go from civilization to a nation of warring tribes, like all faith based nations.
... potentially see the end of mankind.
As these kids grow I wonder what their world will be like when they are at my age. It is, after all, the world we will leave to them. Will it be a paradise that feeds ambrosia to mankind, or will it be a desert where they squeeze water from rocks?
John Lennon is right. We should heed his words. If we imagine anything, anything at all, and strive to make it real it should be this, the words of one of mankind's greatest artists:
Do you remember what it was like to be a kid? It was cool wasn't it? Do you remember the first time you rode a bike? How about the first time it was without training wheels? Your best friend as a child? Favorite toy perhaps? What about the shavings in the crayon sharpener? The smell of paste? Learning who to read and write? Sesame Street?
You were a kid once. All the good things in childhood are the foundation of a person's sense of good as an adult. If any of the lessons of early life are skewed and distorted they may have the effect of helping create a person who is out of touch with the things that are truly important to the continuation of a meaningful life for that person. In some cases it may affect far more than that.
Imagine there's a collaboration between many people who were brought up in a world of intense pressure and hate. Imagine those people are led to believe lies and made to hate those that are different from them. Imagine the lack of true understanding they would have. Imagine those people never got past the moments in their early life that brought them so much pain. Imagine those people are in power. It's not hard to imagine that it could affect everybody.
Rick Davis, campaign manager for John McCain's presidential bid, said this about the election:
"This election is not about issues. This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates."
If there a legacy that we leave the next generation I hope it's not based on the Republican Party. This type of strategy very clearly shows a manipulative strategy lacking in morals and clear judgment. Think of the lack of ethics involved with such a horrible statement. It's clearly reflected in the fact that the nation isn't aghast of Sarah Palin and McCain's selection of her after the Vice Presidential Debate (which was not a debate, more of a forum really. No real debate structure existed. Wiki debate)
John McCain came from a military family. His father was an Admiral. Very lofty indeed. John McCain was 894 of 899 in his class at the Naval Academy. 894 of 899. Not Admiral material, that's for sure.
Dwight D. Eisenhower was a General. Ulysses S. Grant was a General. George Washington was a General. Very lofty indeed. They excelled. They were not 894 of 899.
With such low standards, in an age of low standards, this nation will be plunged into a hell Danté could not have imagined.
With McCain/Palin we will...
... be broke.
... be sold to corporations and conglomerates hell bent on Globalization.
... become part of a new age of slavery based on economics run amok.
... be choking on nearly unbreathable air.
... see the nations preserves and parks sold for their lumber, minerals, and other resources, while the animals that live there all die off.
... face the loss of scientific advancement to a new dark age.
... say goodbye to many species of animals and plants. Many of which may hold the keys to mankind's ailments.
... face a renewed age of nuclear threat to life on earth.
... lose understanding and diplomacy on the world's stage.
... be hated by almost all the nations of the world (and not because of jealousy).
... see more attacks on our nation.
... go from civilization to a nation of warring tribes, like all faith based nations.
... potentially see the end of mankind.
As these kids grow I wonder what their world will be like when they are at my age. It is, after all, the world we will leave to them. Will it be a paradise that feeds ambrosia to mankind, or will it be a desert where they squeeze water from rocks?
John Lennon is right. We should heed his words. If we imagine anything, anything at all, and strive to make it real it should be this, the words of one of mankind's greatest artists:
Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
Women Against Sarah Palin blog
The women who write letters to this blog are articulate, thoughtful, and intelligent. They understand what is going on in our world and are speaking out. If you are a woman please send in your comments to their blog, your blog; the blog for women with brains.
http://womenagainstsarahpalin.blogspot.com/
Also, please visit this website and make the time to go to a rally showing your disapproval of the hatred carried by McCain/Palin and the support of our hope of getting out of this mess: Obama/Biden!
http://www.uswomenmoveforward.com/
http://womenagainstsarahpalin.blogspot.com/
Also, please visit this website and make the time to go to a rally showing your disapproval of the hatred carried by McCain/Palin and the support of our hope of getting out of this mess: Obama/Biden!
http://www.uswomenmoveforward.com/
Sunday, October 5, 2008
The Willfully Ignorant and American History (hopefully not America IS History)
I know so many people that are willfully ignorant of what is going on in our world. It's shameful that there are so many that are afraid of what it is that makes the situation we live in. They just don't want to know.
Let's go back in time a wee bit. Remember the 35th President? John Fitzgerald Kennedy. One of the greats. One of the most controversial. For the many that mourned his death in 1963, there were an equal number that celebrated it.
Beyond that, let's think of the one thing he did during his presidency that made him truly great: being able to navigate around a nuclear (pronounced new-clear, like clean glass) holocaust.
When Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev parked nuclear (remember the pronunciation please) missiles in Cuba it put the world on high alert that things.... wait a minute....
Let's go back a little further...
Eisenhower. He gave us the Interstate System, carried on Roosevelt's New Deal, especially Social Security, endorsed Richard Nixon's campaign against Kennedy, and gave a speech stating, "We face a hostile ideology global in scope, atheistic in character, ruthless in purpose and insidious in method..." at the end of his presidency. He also heightened fear worldwide of apocalyptic nuclear (Um, you know...) demise.
So back to Kennedy: Just like Obama, should he win the presidency, Kennedy was placed in a world full of hate and ready to kill. Now the players back then were two rather enormous ones. What those two players in the game could have done, however, was bring for the end of our existence, and the beginning of the end was sitting 90 miles away from US soil.
Fast forward to today. I like guns. Guns are cool. Guns are also dangerous. Guns kill. That is their destiny. They can have other purposes, like being a deterrent, but lets face reality: the purpose of a gun is to shoot living things. Killing is never cool. Even when you harvest an animal for food. That animal gives it's life so that you may further yours. It has helped you live in it's death. That is something that must be respected. That is sacred and guns are never toys.
Sarah Palin shoots wolves, the beautiful, proof of evolution creatures that they are, by the pack from helicopters, paid for by tax dollars, for the purpose of shooting them. Nothing more. There is no other purpose, just to kill them... from a helicopter. She does this with moose also.
Now, have you ever seen a moose in the wild? They are magnificent creatures. In their natural environment they are a beautiful thing to behold. All animals in the wild are. The wild is beautiful. The animals that live in the wild are beautiful too. For anyone who says they are of god and live for god, then destroy god's creation for sport shows what incredible hypocrites they are, but they write they're own twisted rules and are lacking in both conscience and morals; the very morals they claim to espouse.
Back to 1962. Kennedy could have sent forces into Cuba. Castro was already not a friendly. There was that whole Bay of Pigs thing. Instead of calling people part of an axis of evil and planning attacks however, Kennedy showed restraint. He showed patience. He called Khrushchev and they discussed the matter as leaders, and as gentlemen. Both men were ready, of course, to take whatever action necessary should the worst arise. The end result though was the USSR removing the weapons and NATO making inspections to be sure the threat of global annihilation was over. Patience. Understanding your enemy's perspective. Not overreacting. That saved us from extinction.
McCain is ready to pull the trigger. He is no military leader. He was very near to last in his class at the Naval Academy. His ignorance could be part of humanity's downfall.
Palin wants to pull the trigger. She can't even answer simple questions placed to her. She depends on her attractiveness to further her personal, destructive, agenda.
The McCain/Palin bill holds two people that have more potential to end the world than any leaders of this nation previously in the race for the most important office in the world.
Many who are willfully ignorant, on a want to believe that the leader of our country would work in the best interest of the people that make up this nation are woefully inadequate in their ability to process information. They are willing sheep. They are the complacent pall bearers of our doom.
Let's go back in time a wee bit. Remember the 35th President? John Fitzgerald Kennedy. One of the greats. One of the most controversial. For the many that mourned his death in 1963, there were an equal number that celebrated it.
Beyond that, let's think of the one thing he did during his presidency that made him truly great: being able to navigate around a nuclear (pronounced new-clear, like clean glass) holocaust.
When Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev parked nuclear (remember the pronunciation please) missiles in Cuba it put the world on high alert that things.... wait a minute....
Let's go back a little further...
Eisenhower. He gave us the Interstate System, carried on Roosevelt's New Deal, especially Social Security, endorsed Richard Nixon's campaign against Kennedy, and gave a speech stating, "We face a hostile ideology global in scope, atheistic in character, ruthless in purpose and insidious in method..." at the end of his presidency. He also heightened fear worldwide of apocalyptic nuclear (Um, you know...) demise.
So back to Kennedy: Just like Obama, should he win the presidency, Kennedy was placed in a world full of hate and ready to kill. Now the players back then were two rather enormous ones. What those two players in the game could have done, however, was bring for the end of our existence, and the beginning of the end was sitting 90 miles away from US soil.
Fast forward to today. I like guns. Guns are cool. Guns are also dangerous. Guns kill. That is their destiny. They can have other purposes, like being a deterrent, but lets face reality: the purpose of a gun is to shoot living things. Killing is never cool. Even when you harvest an animal for food. That animal gives it's life so that you may further yours. It has helped you live in it's death. That is something that must be respected. That is sacred and guns are never toys.
Sarah Palin shoots wolves, the beautiful, proof of evolution creatures that they are, by the pack from helicopters, paid for by tax dollars, for the purpose of shooting them. Nothing more. There is no other purpose, just to kill them... from a helicopter. She does this with moose also.
Now, have you ever seen a moose in the wild? They are magnificent creatures. In their natural environment they are a beautiful thing to behold. All animals in the wild are. The wild is beautiful. The animals that live in the wild are beautiful too. For anyone who says they are of god and live for god, then destroy god's creation for sport shows what incredible hypocrites they are, but they write they're own twisted rules and are lacking in both conscience and morals; the very morals they claim to espouse.
Back to 1962. Kennedy could have sent forces into Cuba. Castro was already not a friendly. There was that whole Bay of Pigs thing. Instead of calling people part of an axis of evil and planning attacks however, Kennedy showed restraint. He showed patience. He called Khrushchev and they discussed the matter as leaders, and as gentlemen. Both men were ready, of course, to take whatever action necessary should the worst arise. The end result though was the USSR removing the weapons and NATO making inspections to be sure the threat of global annihilation was over. Patience. Understanding your enemy's perspective. Not overreacting. That saved us from extinction.
McCain is ready to pull the trigger. He is no military leader. He was very near to last in his class at the Naval Academy. His ignorance could be part of humanity's downfall.
Palin wants to pull the trigger. She can't even answer simple questions placed to her. She depends on her attractiveness to further her personal, destructive, agenda.
The McCain/Palin bill holds two people that have more potential to end the world than any leaders of this nation previously in the race for the most important office in the world.
Many who are willfully ignorant, on a want to believe that the leader of our country would work in the best interest of the people that make up this nation are woefully inadequate in their ability to process information. They are willing sheep. They are the complacent pall bearers of our doom.
Let's Try and Bring Sexy Into the Religion, er, the Campaign
Bringing Sarah Palin into the campaign is clearly an attempt to sex up the Republican Party. There's no mistaking that. Oddly though, it's with a former miss congeniality who is hell bent on religion, so at the same time, it's like the religious right has suddenly been given a shot to the arm with sex appeal. Now she's certainly no supermodel, but she does have the sexy nerd look down pat though. Pat on the ass! Mm!
In a call to a radio show after the debate there was a woman (senior citizen from the voice) who called in to say she was voting for Palin, not McCain, but Palin because she found her so "fresh" and so "young". Weird, right? Little, old, bible-thumping, right-wing, lesbian lady who wants that sweet nerdy ass in the White House. Spread 'em, bitch!
If you talk to people as to why they like li'l ol' Sarah it's always the same story. They like her down home, folksy, cute, fuckability. It's not about issues, and we know she has plenty. It's the fact that she represents, in some strange way, either who they wish they were, or who they want to fuck (in this case being... Sarah Palin).
"Say it ain't so, Joe", you cry! Well let's think about the debate again. She winked several times right into the camera in order to connect with the people watching. She faced the camera directly, both with her face and with her body. Her body language amounts to nothing more than a shallow attempt at being manipulative. Now, these things aren't exactly a bad thing, after all, she should want to make as strong of a connection with the public as possible. The issue though is that she rarely answered the questions. It's as if a speech she rehearsed kept getting interrupted by Gwen Ifill, so she kept talking about, or asking to go back, to energy and war.
Energy, she says, she's an expert on. I'd like her to explain what a calorie is.
War, well... we know she likes war on brown, unholy people, and, Putin? Putin better look out! If he flys within one mile of Alaska she'll see him coming from her back yard!
Her winks and smiles were her flirting with the camera. The dirty li'l trollop. Shake it, naughty girl! I know you don't have shit to say! I don't care. Just get in a bikini and oil up your skin and get ready for a bikini elec... contest! Remember: dry skin won't win!
Let's look at another, more qualified WOMAN from the Republican party: Kay Bailey Hutchinson. Kay: sounds like a fun nickname (based on Katherine). Bailey: who doesn't like a good Irish coffee? Hutchinson: well... okay. She's the senior US Senator from Texas. She recieved her BA from the Univivesity of Texas, Austin and her Juris Doctor from the University of Texas School of Law. She was a television reporter (the first female in Texas to accomplish this) and her political career began in 1972. Palin was not yet in puberty at this time. Now Kay did have her share of turmoil in her career, but hey, the president was a coke-head in college (I'm almost certain it ended after college, er, yeah...). Now why would you pick Palin over someone who is clearly more qualified to run this country, and is just as willing to sell public lands to big oil?
Distinguished, isn't she? Actually, she was a hottie when she was younger. You don't think they put ugly women on camera unless they have to, do you?
Now about that pesky religion thing. The deep rooted, cousin mating religious of this nation don't particularly like McCain. He's crass, arrogant, and even they know he would sell his soul for the right price, but he's also old and will likely die soon. Palin on the other hand is (to them) a shining beacon of Sexy Christian Light come down from the Ivory Tower of godly sexyness come here tuh resceuw us from them awful heathhhen who spoi-uld our sacred white land. Have you seen the videos of her pastor Ed Kahlnins yet? She's had a longer relationship with him than Obama has with Wright, yet there seems to be no media coverage. With Palin in office it will be a breeze to bring about not only the rapture (sounds nice, "rapture". To bad it's Pre-Owned speak for end of the world). It would be a sexy rapture with nylons and lipstick and nerdy looking glasses that make it all seem much smarter. Smart as a pig! Smart as building bridges (to nowhere) and calling the whole world a bunch of heathen terrorist sympathizers (just like um, Obama... right?).
Oh yeah! She wants the end of the world, like David Koresh. Remember him? The difference here is how many people she might be able to take with her. It's a small, sexy difference really; only about 340 million to 6 billion more. No big deal, at least not here on Main St.
Hey, if you want the end of the world and believe "the rapture" will happen in your lifetime, believe in talking snakes, think the world is 5000 years old, and god speaks to you through prophets who only talk to him on lonely mountaintops when you're not around, then hey, it's all cool, 'cause we're gonna have a sexy rapture, and a sexy election before that. Just ask that little old lady with a gay slant who's voting for Palin (not McCain), after all she did say, "[Biden] just seems old and crusty, and she's so young and fresh."
Don't you love the AARP?
In a call to a radio show after the debate there was a woman (senior citizen from the voice) who called in to say she was voting for Palin, not McCain, but Palin because she found her so "fresh" and so "young". Weird, right? Little, old, bible-thumping, right-wing, lesbian lady who wants that sweet nerdy ass in the White House. Spread 'em, bitch!
If you talk to people as to why they like li'l ol' Sarah it's always the same story. They like her down home, folksy, cute, fuckability. It's not about issues, and we know she has plenty. It's the fact that she represents, in some strange way, either who they wish they were, or who they want to fuck (in this case being... Sarah Palin).
"Say it ain't so, Joe", you cry! Well let's think about the debate again. She winked several times right into the camera in order to connect with the people watching. She faced the camera directly, both with her face and with her body. Her body language amounts to nothing more than a shallow attempt at being manipulative. Now, these things aren't exactly a bad thing, after all, she should want to make as strong of a connection with the public as possible. The issue though is that she rarely answered the questions. It's as if a speech she rehearsed kept getting interrupted by Gwen Ifill, so she kept talking about, or asking to go back, to energy and war.
Energy, she says, she's an expert on. I'd like her to explain what a calorie is.
War, well... we know she likes war on brown, unholy people, and, Putin? Putin better look out! If he flys within one mile of Alaska she'll see him coming from her back yard!
Her winks and smiles were her flirting with the camera. The dirty li'l trollop. Shake it, naughty girl! I know you don't have shit to say! I don't care. Just get in a bikini and oil up your skin and get ready for a bikini elec... contest! Remember: dry skin won't win!
Let's look at another, more qualified WOMAN from the Republican party: Kay Bailey Hutchinson. Kay: sounds like a fun nickname (based on Katherine). Bailey: who doesn't like a good Irish coffee? Hutchinson: well... okay. She's the senior US Senator from Texas. She recieved her BA from the Univivesity of Texas, Austin and her Juris Doctor from the University of Texas School of Law. She was a television reporter (the first female in Texas to accomplish this) and her political career began in 1972. Palin was not yet in puberty at this time. Now Kay did have her share of turmoil in her career, but hey, the president was a coke-head in college (I'm almost certain it ended after college, er, yeah...). Now why would you pick Palin over someone who is clearly more qualified to run this country, and is just as willing to sell public lands to big oil?
Distinguished, isn't she? Actually, she was a hottie when she was younger. You don't think they put ugly women on camera unless they have to, do you?
Now about that pesky religion thing. The deep rooted, cousin mating religious of this nation don't particularly like McCain. He's crass, arrogant, and even they know he would sell his soul for the right price, but he's also old and will likely die soon. Palin on the other hand is (to them) a shining beacon of Sexy Christian Light come down from the Ivory Tower of godly sexyness come here tuh resceuw us from them awful heathhhen who spoi-uld our sacred white land. Have you seen the videos of her pastor Ed Kahlnins yet? She's had a longer relationship with him than Obama has with Wright, yet there seems to be no media coverage. With Palin in office it will be a breeze to bring about not only the rapture (sounds nice, "rapture". To bad it's Pre-Owned speak for end of the world). It would be a sexy rapture with nylons and lipstick and nerdy looking glasses that make it all seem much smarter. Smart as a pig! Smart as building bridges (to nowhere) and calling the whole world a bunch of heathen terrorist sympathizers (just like um, Obama... right?).
Oh yeah! She wants the end of the world, like David Koresh. Remember him? The difference here is how many people she might be able to take with her. It's a small, sexy difference really; only about 340 million to 6 billion more. No big deal, at least not here on Main St.
Hey, if you want the end of the world and believe "the rapture" will happen in your lifetime, believe in talking snakes, think the world is 5000 years old, and god speaks to you through prophets who only talk to him on lonely mountaintops when you're not around, then hey, it's all cool, 'cause we're gonna have a sexy rapture, and a sexy election before that. Just ask that little old lady with a gay slant who's voting for Palin (not McCain), after all she did say, "[Biden] just seems old and crusty, and she's so young and fresh."
Don't you love the AARP?
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Conservatism is...
Conservatism is...
...staying out of other nation's policy.
...keeping a watchful eye on the financial markets.
...having the best and smartest, not the most marketable people running government.
...separation of church and state.
...not letting businesses run state affairs.
...preserving the splendors of the land for future generations.
...respecting the rights, not selfish desires, of the people that make this nation.
...understanding that it is the people of this nation that make it great, and to defend those people from those that bring harm and cause suffering upon them.
...setting the example for standard of life, all life, for the world.
...using what is necessary and no more.
...fairness and balance in the judiciary system.
...laws that apply equally to all.
...heeding the words of the Constitution of the United States of America, the words that made this nation great; the words that can still save this nation from it's enemies both foreign and within.
...staying out of other nation's policy.
...keeping a watchful eye on the financial markets.
...having the best and smartest, not the most marketable people running government.
...separation of church and state.
...not letting businesses run state affairs.
...preserving the splendors of the land for future generations.
...respecting the rights, not selfish desires, of the people that make this nation.
...understanding that it is the people of this nation that make it great, and to defend those people from those that bring harm and cause suffering upon them.
...setting the example for standard of life, all life, for the world.
...using what is necessary and no more.
...fairness and balance in the judiciary system.
...laws that apply equally to all.
...heeding the words of the Constitution of the United States of America, the words that made this nation great; the words that can still save this nation from it's enemies both foreign and within.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Did you watch the debate?
While Joe Biden answers the questions from Gwen with facts, clear observations, and numbers Sarah Palin anecdotally panders to "hockey moms" and "Joe six-pack" using her backwoods vernacular, all the while not actually answering the questions asked of her.
Her worry about the "Private Sector" is preposterous. Small business owners don't call themselves the private sector; large businesses do. Who is she working for? Not you or me!
Palin stated that energy is her, "area of expertise". Maybe that's why she keeps going to it when the topic is the mortgage crisis. She talks about energy independence and how it's part of national security, but how does she mean to bring this about? She is clearly unaware of what causes global warming. She makes no mention of the reduced use of fossil fuels and worries about other growing countries creating more pollution than "America would stand for". We caused 80% of it. What is she really talking about? Her followers chant "drill baby, drill" at her rallies. She was extremely gleeful while talking about that. She cares nothing for the environment, and Alaskans sold their Manhattan for beads to the oil industry. How much of the real money will be hers? She did say, "energy independence" constantly. You know she means drilling.
Tolerance should never be a part of Sarah's vocabulary. Ask any gay friends you have.
Now what type of change does Palin want to see when she thinks the current administration has done nothing wrong? All this talk of change and mavericks when no real plan for change has been shown. Ever.
How does McCain "know how to win a war"? He was a POW, not a general (or an admiral). She keeps offering anecdotes and loose statements. Pathetic.
Palin wants to bring "Wasilla Main St." to Washington.
Here's her pastor:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecxj1C1xJWA
Palin's eyes seemed to get bloodshot after the first hard question. Does she smoke weed? Maybe she's frustrated because she doesn't have real answers. Let's just hear her say "drill baby, drill" one more time. Maybe "New-cue-lure"...
When she said, "he is the man to leave" about John McCain... that was the only part she got right. (Maybe she's planning on killing him)
She is as fit to be vice president as a lipstick wearing pig is to go deep sea diving.
Her worry about the "Private Sector" is preposterous. Small business owners don't call themselves the private sector; large businesses do. Who is she working for? Not you or me!
Palin stated that energy is her, "area of expertise". Maybe that's why she keeps going to it when the topic is the mortgage crisis. She talks about energy independence and how it's part of national security, but how does she mean to bring this about? She is clearly unaware of what causes global warming. She makes no mention of the reduced use of fossil fuels and worries about other growing countries creating more pollution than "America would stand for". We caused 80% of it. What is she really talking about? Her followers chant "drill baby, drill" at her rallies. She was extremely gleeful while talking about that. She cares nothing for the environment, and Alaskans sold their Manhattan for beads to the oil industry. How much of the real money will be hers? She did say, "energy independence" constantly. You know she means drilling.
Tolerance should never be a part of Sarah's vocabulary. Ask any gay friends you have.
Now what type of change does Palin want to see when she thinks the current administration has done nothing wrong? All this talk of change and mavericks when no real plan for change has been shown. Ever.
How does McCain "know how to win a war"? He was a POW, not a general (or an admiral). She keeps offering anecdotes and loose statements. Pathetic.
Palin wants to bring "Wasilla Main St." to Washington.
Here's her pastor:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecxj1C1xJWA
Palin's eyes seemed to get bloodshot after the first hard question. Does she smoke weed? Maybe she's frustrated because she doesn't have real answers. Let's just hear her say "drill baby, drill" one more time. Maybe "New-cue-lure"...
When she said, "he is the man to leave" about John McCain... that was the only part she got right. (Maybe she's planning on killing him)
She is as fit to be vice president as a lipstick wearing pig is to go deep sea diving.
Wall Street Crunch, Wall Street Crunch! Thanks A Thanks A Thanks A Bunch!
Read this article
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/national/politics/general/view.bg?articleid=1122325
Now ask yourself why the Democrats, who are at odds with Wall Street, would have so many more votes than the Republicans to rescue the banks that went wild (and under) knowing Bush would turn a blind eye to their antics?
Let's see here...
Republicans clearly spend more...
Republicans eliminated oversight of the banking industry (and oil, and auto makers, and pharmaceuticals, and energy, and...)...
Republicans aren't looking at the hard answers... (Even Bush and Cheney wanted this to go through!)
"We’re all worried about losing our jobs," Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., declared in an impassioned speech in support of the bill before the vote. "Most of us say, ’I want this thing to pass, but I want you to vote for it — not me.’"
The reason Mr. Ryan said this is because 2/3rds of the Republicans want the Democrats to be the ones blamed for all the spending. Well, their plan failed, and that's what really sent the market down 777 points last Monday. (777, hmmm... I'm sure there are quite a few evangelical pentecostals who see that as a sign from above to use the nuclear codes like, like... Palin) Now the Democrat's gambit looks like they support a spendthrift economy. They just didn't want to be remembered as the ones that were in office, and blamed, should another Great Depression begin.
The situation on Wall Street has a very real possibility of causing a financial collapse. The reason things would collapse are because it is a house of cards (like credit cards, sorta...). If we build a house of brick, stainless steel brick, we wouldn't have these issues. Ultimately the government is our biggest bank, whether they want to be or not. If all the little banks like WaMu, National City (about to, trust me), Bear Stearns, etc... get to do whatever they want things will get a bit screwed up. Ever read Lord of the Flies?
It would seem that the bailout may be necessary to preserve our current way of life. This wasn't the way of life even 30 years ago. It's a bad path to take because it will still end up in the same place. The bailout will only delay the outcome.
The same is true with all other industries. Now don't worry, I'm not saying we grow the government more than Bush has done for the sake of oversight. I don't even think that's possible (Thank you Mr. Bush). I'm saying we bring back the laws Bush, Bush, and Reagan took away that gave industry the power it has and, when the companies are bad little boys and girls like they inevitably will be, we fine the shit out of them and imprison some of the CEO's and CFO's with regular, general prison population, not the Hilton. Hey, if they really want to make 3-400 times what the average worker makes, while in Europe or Japan it would rarely hit over 40 times, they need to be literally, in the flesh, prison raped because they spent all their time raping the American People.
Can I get a "WOOT!"
Reagan sold America on the whole deregulation idea. I don't know if you've noticed or not, but as regulation expired on many industries like natural gas, electricity, oil, etc... prices skyrocketed. At the point of deregulation the bill, from one month (regulation) to the next (deregulation) would double (or more!). I'm sure it doesn't really cost them more to get it to us. If it does it's because the things they buy (like pipes) cost more because they raised their prices. It just goes on down the line. (that's real trickle down economics, it's really trickle up!)
Thanks Ronnie!
Love,
Gordon
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/national/politics/general/view.bg?articleid=1122325
Now ask yourself why the Democrats, who are at odds with Wall Street, would have so many more votes than the Republicans to rescue the banks that went wild (and under) knowing Bush would turn a blind eye to their antics?
Let's see here...
Republicans clearly spend more...
Republicans eliminated oversight of the banking industry (and oil, and auto makers, and pharmaceuticals, and energy, and...)...
Republicans aren't looking at the hard answers... (Even Bush and Cheney wanted this to go through!)
"We’re all worried about losing our jobs," Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., declared in an impassioned speech in support of the bill before the vote. "Most of us say, ’I want this thing to pass, but I want you to vote for it — not me.’"
The reason Mr. Ryan said this is because 2/3rds of the Republicans want the Democrats to be the ones blamed for all the spending. Well, their plan failed, and that's what really sent the market down 777 points last Monday. (777, hmmm... I'm sure there are quite a few evangelical pentecostals who see that as a sign from above to use the nuclear codes like, like... Palin) Now the Democrat's gambit looks like they support a spendthrift economy. They just didn't want to be remembered as the ones that were in office, and blamed, should another Great Depression begin.
The situation on Wall Street has a very real possibility of causing a financial collapse. The reason things would collapse are because it is a house of cards (like credit cards, sorta...). If we build a house of brick, stainless steel brick, we wouldn't have these issues. Ultimately the government is our biggest bank, whether they want to be or not. If all the little banks like WaMu, National City (about to, trust me), Bear Stearns, etc... get to do whatever they want things will get a bit screwed up. Ever read Lord of the Flies?
It would seem that the bailout may be necessary to preserve our current way of life. This wasn't the way of life even 30 years ago. It's a bad path to take because it will still end up in the same place. The bailout will only delay the outcome.
The same is true with all other industries. Now don't worry, I'm not saying we grow the government more than Bush has done for the sake of oversight. I don't even think that's possible (Thank you Mr. Bush). I'm saying we bring back the laws Bush, Bush, and Reagan took away that gave industry the power it has and, when the companies are bad little boys and girls like they inevitably will be, we fine the shit out of them and imprison some of the CEO's and CFO's with regular, general prison population, not the Hilton. Hey, if they really want to make 3-400 times what the average worker makes, while in Europe or Japan it would rarely hit over 40 times, they need to be literally, in the flesh, prison raped because they spent all their time raping the American People.
Can I get a "WOOT!"
Reagan sold America on the whole deregulation idea. I don't know if you've noticed or not, but as regulation expired on many industries like natural gas, electricity, oil, etc... prices skyrocketed. At the point of deregulation the bill, from one month (regulation) to the next (deregulation) would double (or more!). I'm sure it doesn't really cost them more to get it to us. If it does it's because the things they buy (like pipes) cost more because they raised their prices. It just goes on down the line. (that's real trickle down economics, it's really trickle up!)
Thanks Ronnie!
Love,
Gordon
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