Are you a Tea Partier?
Are you a Libertarian?
Are you a Randite, despite not knowing anything about Ayn Rand's anti-religious, anti-poor, hypocritical philosophy?
Then this message is for YOU!
Wednesday, June 29
Saturday, June 25
A Saturday In Which I Find Myself Rather Pleased
Why is this, you may ask?
Why indeed.
1. The rainy season has cranked up down here in America's Soft Dangling Bits, promising several months of me not having to run up my water bill. But that's not all.
2. In a triumph for human rights and 42 years after the Stonewall Riots, the Empire State of New York legalized same-gender marriage. This acme of common sense is all the more amazing when you realize that the NY Senate has a GOP majority, and four of them jumped the aisle so that people who are in loving, committed relationships can jump the broom legally. Hurrah for New York!
3. Newt Gingrich continues to implode. Hooray!
All in all, a good Saturday so far.
Cheers!
Why indeed.
1. The rainy season has cranked up down here in America's Soft Dangling Bits, promising several months of me not having to run up my water bill. But that's not all.
2. In a triumph for human rights and 42 years after the Stonewall Riots, the Empire State of New York legalized same-gender marriage. This acme of common sense is all the more amazing when you realize that the NY Senate has a GOP majority, and four of them jumped the aisle so that people who are in loving, committed relationships can jump the broom legally. Hurrah for New York!
3. Newt Gingrich continues to implode. Hooray!
All in all, a good Saturday so far.
Cheers!
Friday, June 24
Tin Foil Hat Tyme?
Curious thought. Other than Ted Kennedy, who was rather elderly anyway, how many Senators and/or Representatives have died in office recently? Recently is subjective but I’ll go back, say 30 years to St. Ronnie.
Not only that, but how many have been force to resign or take extended leaves because of health problems? Take your time. Think about it. Interesting thought, eh, hosers? I’d wager a goodly sum you could definitely count the number on both hands and maybe even one hand.
So what’s this mean? Well, that’s where the foil comes in (gotta make sure the fit is snug!). The possibilities are few. Are these older men who drink and smoke and eat like members of the Roman Senate then head for the mythical “vomitorium” all in fan-damn-tastic shape? Is their health care THAT much better than what passes for the common man? Or is there something even more suspicious?
If you look at the demographics for working men, you’ll find large disparities in their health. Coal miners, factory workers and such tend to not live as long because of the environment in which they exist.
White collar types tend toward heart related diseases and deaths. More because of mental than physical working conditions?
The endangered housewife is slowly catching up to the sicknesses that once plagued their working husbands. Too many bon-bons in the afternoon watching soaps? (Just kidding gals!)
We’ve all heard how tough it is to be a Yuppie, a broker, MBA or one of those fat asses whose choice of avocation supposedly causes tremendous stress, or more than us peons – enough to sicken and kill them.
Then we have the increase in diseases and allergies and other maladies going around like Swine flu, SARS, measles, mumps, STDs (ever notice Congress doesn’t even seem to suffer from those despite their preoccupation with ways to get them?); even the common cold doesn’t seem to affect our glorious leaders.
Watching someone like Bonner or Barry who smoke like an old coal power plant or trying to match eating habits with the likes of the Metabolismic Challenged Jersey barrier, Chris Christie, you gotta wonder how these monuments to excess continue to stay alive.
Is it possible there’s some kind of magic elixir given to these politicians?
Hey, add the bigwig CEOs and their ilk to the discussion. Ken lay supposedly died of a heart attack…and I hit the Power Ball for 29 cents! Not many other really big business execs succumb to the illnesses we proles are fortunate enough to receive.
It would seem to me that being a Congressional Politician or President for that matter would be more stressful and take more of a toll on these people than 99% of other jobs, yet they seem immune from the shit that sickens and kills us. Inquiring, soon to be senile, minds want to know.
I’m guessing they stay healthy because of really swell, publicly paid for health care and if something comes along to make them sick, the Capitol Alchemists open their secret boxes and administer a "not-for-public-consumption" magic elixir that makes all the bad stuff go away.
Hell, when you really think about how these guys stay in such fine health, this could be a better conspiracy theory than who shot JFK or who really knocked down them there buildings in NYC.
If the answer to these questions is that they just get better health care than us po’folk, then maybe us’ns need to do something about making sure we ALL get the same care these parasites get. Either that or accept that they are much more valuable than any of us and just get on with dying!
Anyway, think about it the next time you get sick or someone you know gets sick or dies unexpectedly. It’s nice to know that our Congressional Petri Dishes are being well taken care of one way or another so they can continue to smoke, drink, over eat and make those tough decisions that affect the rest of us and our lives.
‘scuze me. One of the antennae on my hat seems to be drooping. Anyone got any Duct Tape?
Obligatory Friday Sex Post
Summer time edition!
It's Summer, dear readers - time for fun in the sun, backyard barbecues, swimming, lounging on the beach ...
But, apparently, not the right time for some activities.
A couple were sunning on the beach at Treasure Island, Florida a couple of days ago when the combination of sun, sand and the slow pulse of the waves made them a tad ... shall we say ... frisky?
Unfortunately, they chose to perform certain acts (the article doesn't specify what, but said acts may have included the Horizontal Mambo, the Bolivian Porkpie and maybe even the Albanian Triple Twist) in full view of a popular restaurant that overlooked the beach.
During a meal.
With kids watching.
Obviously, the two lovebirds were arrested, and are now out on bond.
Moral: If the mood strikes, find a private beach or get a room. Just don't do it in public, or you may frighten more than just the horses.
It's Summer, dear readers - time for fun in the sun, backyard barbecues, swimming, lounging on the beach ...
But, apparently, not the right time for some activities.
A couple were sunning on the beach at Treasure Island, Florida a couple of days ago when the combination of sun, sand and the slow pulse of the waves made them a tad ... shall we say ... frisky?
Unfortunately, they chose to perform certain acts (the article doesn't specify what, but said acts may have included the Horizontal Mambo, the Bolivian Porkpie and maybe even the Albanian Triple Twist) in full view of a popular restaurant that overlooked the beach.
During a meal.
With kids watching.
Obviously, the two lovebirds were arrested, and are now out on bond.
Moral: If the mood strikes, find a private beach or get a room. Just don't do it in public, or you may frighten more than just the horses.
Thursday, June 23
Monday, June 20
As tyme goes by...
Sadness!
Anguish!
Despondency!
Gloom!
Bleakness!
Yes, folk. All of that and more! For tomorrow the sun starts it's journey south. Soon the leaves will be falling; kids will be going back to school; Halloween is right around the corner;get ready for the the big Turkey Day; Santa's nearly here;the cold, dark days of the Winter of our Discontent is neigh! (cough cough!)
And we never even had a decent Spring. Summer's almost gone! (Sigh!) No more cookouts. No more short sleeve walks with your favorite gal or guy under the moon.
The crickets will soon be quieted. Song birds will start heading south. Salt trucks are filling. Garages are getting snow tires ready. Stores have their Winter clothes out already!
Get ready to stay indoors, curl up under a nice afghan with a good electronic gadget, have some hot cocoa, you football fans, why not try enjoy some great hockey (the BEST sport) and try to stay warm. If the kids want to freeze their asses off sledding and skiing and ice skating, let them. They'll learn all too soon how fast time flies.
Yep! It's the end, almost. Seems Spring lasts a few minutes; Summer even less; but Winter is forever!
Maybe as we get older, time really does go faster.
(Sigh) Oh well. Gotta make the most of it. Take the good with the bad.
Will we have a globally warm Winter or begin a new Ice Age? Stay tuned.
But hope springs eternal, except in politics...and life today as we knew it.
So lay in a goodly supply of firewood and food (if you can afford it) and make sure the steins are never empty.
It's all downhill from here!
(Those of you in the warmer climes, suck an icicle!)
Sunday, June 19
Happy Father's Day
Ponderables for Dad
Sarah Palin was being interviewed by a reporter for a major network. He wanted to find out something about her personality so he asked, "If you could have a conversation with someone, living or dead, who would it be?"
Sarah quickly responded, "The living one."
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The worst thing about being an American is that you THINK you're really living better than every other country.
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We are the people our parents warned us about.
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If sheep could cook, Republicans would never marry.
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The Republican Politician proclaims that all Americans live in the best of all possible worlds; and the Democratic Politician believes this is true.
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Is Fox News American for Pravda?
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The worst thing about hell is that you THINK you're having a really good time.
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Corporate Welfare:
The transfer of money from poor people in America to
rich people America.
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We are too busy mopping the floor to turn off the faucet.
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Is growing old a right or privilege?
Do not regret growing old; many are denied the privilege.
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Democracy is a form of government that substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few. -- George Bernard Shaw
Capitalism: It's not ok unless you're a big Corporation!
from Wonkette:
Maryland Closes Nightmare Unpermitted Kids’ Lemonade Stand
Even though officials allowed the kids to reopen - somewhere else - (can't have any competition for the U.S. Open - NBC/CommieCast might go under financially), this is the kind of shit those self righteous morAns on the right are spewing all over America...and Americans are allowing them to get away with it.Anonymous comment seen somewhere:
"I'd like say this inspector needs the shit kicked out of him...but I won't, because that would be wrong!" - various Right Wing politicians, Fox Fools and many , many Tea Bigots.
Reminds me of the Johnny Carson quip supposedly (not) from Agnew of years past when Spiro said,(paraphrased, but not much):
"Those of you in the Silent Majority can show your support of this administration by driving with your lights on tonight!"
Thursday, June 16
I think I'll start chasing rainbows...
Great comment by "Prommie" at Wonkette.
From Wonkette:
Prommie writes in the comments to this post about the above-mentioned Nixonian horrorshow:
This is a little bit scary, yes, a tad unsettling, but then you read elsewhere in the news that the Whitehouse has also announced a major initiative to crack down hard on marijuana, the killer weed that is luring so many of our young women into white slavery and destroying the lives of so many young men, turning them into axe-wielding homicidal maniacs, then you realize, Obama has his priorities straight. Wars and conflagrations, double-dip depression, rampant financial fraud and market manipulation, unlimited political propagandizing and electioneering by the billionaire corporatocracy, voter suppression, corruption and conflict of influence even on the Supreme Court, and Obama is going after dirty hippie peaceniks, union organizers, and pot smokers. That’s our Unicorn!
Magic mushroom’s positive effects lasting over a year, say researchers
I want some...NOW!!!
Tip of the hat to the Activist Post
Scientists at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine claim to have determined the proper dose levels needed to create positive changes in attitudes, mood, life satisfaction, and behavior that persist for more than a year with the psychoactive substance in so-called "magic mushrooms."
..."I feel that I relate better in my marriage," one participant reported. "There is more empathy – a greater understanding of people and understanding their difficulties and less judgment."
Tip of the hat to the Activist Post
Wednesday, June 15
Disgusting!
America for Sale?
How much for the Pentagon?
Do you think Al Qaeda would be interested in buying the rights to build skyscrapers?
Hey Barry, with the price of copper being so high, why not melt down the Lady on Liberty Island?
Could we rent out the Grand Canyon as a repository for other country's nukular waste?
How much for the Pentagon?
Do you think Al Qaeda would be interested in buying the rights to build skyscrapers?
Hey Barry, with the price of copper being so high, why not melt down the Lady on Liberty Island?
Could we rent out the Grand Canyon as a repository for other country's nukular waste?
"The Phuking of America"
brought to you by American Terrorism, Inc.
offices on Wall Street, Capitol Hill
and Pennsylvania Ave.
in association with the U.S. Government!
(member P.H.U.K.E.W.E.S.H.E.E.P.., since 1980)
brought to you by American Terrorism, Inc.
offices on Wall Street, Capitol Hill
and Pennsylvania Ave.
in association with the U.S. Government!
(member P.H.U.K.E.W.E.S.H.E.E.P.., since 1980)
The GOP Beauty Contest Begins!
And, as always, it begins with a standard Question and Answer period. It's always important to note, however, that sometimes the questions and answers are canned, so as not to embarrass the contestants.
First off, we shall set the appropriate tone by playing the Anthem of the Republican Party of the United States:
Since they all look generally the same (even the black man and the white woman) we'll boil the summary down to the topics discussed:
1. Abortion: They're all against it, completely, utterly and perpetually. Nothing is to stand in the way of the fetus' emergence into this breathing world, not even the possible death of its mother. The nitty-gritty of this is that the candidates think women are stupid and can't be trusted to make decisions regarding their reproductive machinery. And yes, I include La Bachmann in that statement.
2. Defense: All for it, although Mad-Eye Michelle's position that we should invade countries that don't bother us and we have to have a clear plan sort of falls flat when you consider Iraq.
3. Jobs: Deafening silence, apart from ... Lower Taxes! That'll work!
4. Economy: Lower Taxes! Cut Spending! And then it became a race to the bottom, with Pawlenty advocating lowering the top rate for the rich to a stupid-making 9%. Timmy also gets low marks for touting a completely blitheringly idiotic 5% GDP growth rate for ten years - something that has never happened in American history.
5. Health care: Ryancare good! Obamacare bad! And Pawlenty loses points for not confronting Romney on the parallels between the PPACA and the Massachusetts plans.
6. Foreign policy: Umm, no. Unwavering, unreasoning blind support for Israel. Even if they start dressing up in fancy uniforms and imposing apartheid on the Israeli Arabs and the Palestinians. Even if Israel nukes Iran.
So there you have it - the entire (as of two days ago) GOP field, emptied, steamed, whipped into a fondue and lovingly garnished with lark's vomit. Their positions range from mild-eyebrow-raising to completely insane, and not a whole hell of a lot of difference between them.
I'll say one thing, though - I refuse to sit through the bathing suit phase of the competition.
Facebook's new(?) facial recognition software
From The Guardian - What Facebook Fails to Recognise
Any readers out there that might have anything positive to say about this? I just signed up for a facebook page (for a town committe I recently joined), so I really don't know much about how "The Facebook" works. I'm the only one in the group that doesn't have my pic next to my name. It IS called FACEbook so what's the big deal??
Don't EVEN get me started.
If I ever do upload a pic of me on FB, I think I'll try this suggestion from Sarah Jacobsson Purewal at PCWorld:
Remember the uproar when Facebook made your list of friends, pages you are a fan of, gender, geographic region and networks publicly available to everyone? Now, the social networking behemoth has silently enabled facial recognition software without your permission under the rather benign tag "Suggest photos of me to friends." Even if you choose to disable the option, Facebook still will have the technical ability to connect your name with your image.
Mark Zuckerberg might say his company is just evolving on privacy – witness his comments in this video interview that:
"We view it as our role in the system to constantly be innovating and be updating what our system is to reflect what the current social norms are."
Contrast this with his former claims that privacy is "the vector around which Facebook operates".
....But already, the deck is stacked against privacy. As media activist Cory Doctorow noted in a TED lecture, Facebook employs "very powerful game-like mechanisms to reward to disclosure – it embodies BF's Skinner's famous thought experiment, the notion of the Skinner box … lavish[ing] you with attention from the people that you love … in service to a business model that cashes in the precious material of our social lives." Is this new feature really designed to make the site more useful to users or to boost its commercial value as it nears an initial public stock offering?
Any readers out there that might have anything positive to say about this? I just signed up for a facebook page (for a town committe I recently joined), so I really don't know much about how "The Facebook" works. I'm the only one in the group that doesn't have my pic next to my name. It IS called FACEbook so what's the big deal??
Don't EVEN get me started.
If I ever do upload a pic of me on FB, I think I'll try this suggestion from Sarah Jacobsson Purewal at PCWorld:
Yeah. So not only should you opt out of Facebook's facial recognition technology by going to Account > Account Settings > Privacy > Customize Settings > Things Others Share and disabling "Suggest photos of me to friends," you should also upload random pictures of trees and animals and stuffed toys and tag them as yourself.
Tuesday, June 14
This administration's hypocrisy is nearly terminal.
This should sicken even the most die-hard of the O-pologists, but it won't.
Dan Choi is being held for trial on federal charges by the Obama Administration because:
"...He and 12 others activists were arrested and charged with violating a federal regulation prohibiting “interfering with agency functions,” in this case refusing to obey an order from the National Park Service."
"...however, not since Woodrow Wilson had Alice Paul arrested in 1917 has anyone been brought up on federal charges for doing so."
Wow! It's a good thing we can't put this behind us and move on like we did for the Bush criminals, the Wall Street criminals, the Iraq/Afghanistan war criminals or any and all of the other wealthy and powerful friends of Barry!
The hypocrisy of this administration now exceeds anything Bush and his people did and it's coming close to making Cheney and Company look good.
Obama is to concern for the common "American" as Palin/Bachmann are to intelligence.
How many more Friedman/Obama units is he to be given until those O-pologists can/will see his duplicity?
Primary him!
Any Democrat but Obama in 2012!
Dan Choi is being held for trial on federal charges by the Obama Administration because:
"...He and 12 others activists were arrested and charged with violating a federal regulation prohibiting “interfering with agency functions,” in this case refusing to obey an order from the National Park Service."
"...however, not since Woodrow Wilson had Alice Paul arrested in 1917 has anyone been brought up on federal charges for doing so."
Wow! It's a good thing we can't put this behind us and move on like we did for the Bush criminals, the Wall Street criminals, the Iraq/Afghanistan war criminals or any and all of the other wealthy and powerful friends of Barry!
The hypocrisy of this administration now exceeds anything Bush and his people did and it's coming close to making Cheney and Company look good.
Obama is to concern for the common "American" as Palin/Bachmann are to intelligence.
How many more Friedman/Obama units is he to be given until those O-pologists can/will see his duplicity?
Primary him!
Any Democrat but Obama in 2012!
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You know? Maybe it's time to change my political registration to Republican or at least Independent. Imagine if a few million Democrats who dislike the lies Barry has told, the promises he broke, the campaign promises he failed to even try to take a stand on, imagine that many of us changing political registration? Even if the Faux Liberals in the White House pooh-poohed the movement, imagine the concern Congressional and Local Democrats would experience over that?
What Are You Going To Do On June 14th to Rebel Against Economic Tyranny? Charles Hugh Smith has some REAL ideas...
From Pacific Free Press:
On June 14th at 1pm EST, a group of activists will begin occupation of Liberty Park (recently renamed Zuccotti Park) in lower Manhattan’s Financial District, a few blocks from Wall Street (14971 Broadway, 10007).
A Google Map featuring the event states the following:
“This Flag Day, Tuesday June 14th, we will launch a non-violent movement with this list of demands:
* End the campaign finance and lobbying racket
* Break up the Fed & Too Big to Fail banks
* Enforce RICO laws against organized criminal class
* Order Ben Bernanke to step down”
The big banks have sold us out.
Democrats and Republicans have sold us out.
No one is defending our interests.
Our future is going up in flames.
It’s time for us to stand up and defend ourselves.
Since the MSM obviously feels that America's moral outrage towards Weiner's wang is a more important issue, WE need to take things into our own hands. So get going folks -- we have many, many options. Here are some from Charles Hugh Smith's blog, Of Two Minds
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Our Participation Fuels Financial Tyranny (June 13, 2011)
Our debt and transactional consumerism fuels the tyranny which oppresses us.
The basic dynamic is profound: the political and financial tyranny of Wall Street and the "too big to fail" banks is fueled by our own participation. "Reformers" both within the Central State and outside its halls of delirium-inducing power, keep hoping that some tweaking of policy or regulations will relax the grip of Wall Street and the big banks on the nation's throat.
They are willfully blind to the obvious: that with enough money, any rule can be bent or evaded. Just look at the thousands of pages of tax codes which are supposed to impose "fair and equal" taxation on the citizenry. Yet the Power Elites pay less than half (around 18%) of what self-employed entrepreneurs pay (a basic rate of over 40%--15% self-employment tax and 25% Federal tax). For example, Hedge funders pay a mere 15% on their $100 million earnings because they bought a law in Congress which declares their earnings, regardless of source, as "long-term capital gains."
Loopholes and exclusions abound, if you have the right legislators in your pocket (and they come so cheap--a few million each and their soul is yours) and a Panzer Division of sharp tax attorneys.
We have seen how effective all the "refoms" have been: nothing has really changed except regulators now have larger staffs and more mind-numbing reams of complex rules have been issued.
Correspondent Gabriel M. Mueller examines an alternative strategy to resist financial tyranny, which is to burden the Status Quo with as many social expenses as possible and as much debt as lenders will grant, and then default on that debt:
I read this post The Necessity of Resisting Financial Tyranny on Zero Hedge.
When I first started getting into it, you had my attention: you pushed not just for rallies but for action. But it is your action that I have a problem with: Your instructions for financial tyranny are for people to STOP participating in the system. But nothing could be more difficult if not impossible. (I'm still with you, though, so hear my suggestion.) Why not instruct people to take advantage of the system? Stop working and go on welfare; take out student loans; rack up your credit card debt; default on your mortgage; evade your taxes; etc., etc. I believe the financial system would fall down much quicker if people were to undermine it by pushing on its house-of-cards foundation rather than tip-toeing around it.
I concede that most of what I am recommending (and envisioning) is illegal but I doubt it's immoral; and therefore it does not burden my conscience. My thinking is this: Why play by the rules when you know the game is rigged? To do so is to condone your enslavement. I could be wrong, though. I will have to give this more thought.
Frequent contributor Harun I. offered another point of view on the same post:
Once again the radical becomes the plausible, then becomes the necessary.
People that I would talk with expressed anger and helplessness over the fact no one in D.C. is listening. I would tell them they need not feel either, that they simply need to walk away, to stop participating. That idea immediately met resistance. "What about all those people in the banks that would lose their jobs?" "What will happen to the banking system and therefore the economy?"
The answers were simple. As money flowed to local banks they would need to expand their staff to accommodate an increase in business. Those lower level workers who had nothing to do with the corruption of their management will have the skills that local banks need as they expand. There would be some pain in the transition but it would pass.
I made it very clear that returning to the status quo should not be the intent. We cannot go back to spending that is not supported by productivity. It is time that we completely purge ourselves of this idea that has become a cultural defect.
What you wrote in yesterday's post, the relationship you severed with your broker, are the most patriotic actions of a civilized person in a civilized society.
No one need die and not a shot needs to be fired in this silent but powerful wave of revolution.
As a personal preference I do not think of it as resistance. I just choose not to participate. It is a choice we all can make.
If this was the "grand scheme", then it was a poor one. History is rife with what happens when the people come to their wit's end.
"And what country can preserve it's liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance?" -- Thomas Jefferson (www.monticello.org)
It seems likely that the ongoing economics malaise will cause a significant number of people to default regardless of their initial intentions, so if solvent people decide to opt out of debt and transactional churn that benefits Wall Street and the TBTF banks, then that is withdrawing support of financial tyranny from both ends, so to speak.
As for loading up on debt with the intent of defaulting as a political action against financial tyranny: it may well hasten the downfall of our financial overlords, but it may also expose the defaulter to various forms of harassment and the possibility that the impaired banking sector would transfer collection to a Police State or private proxy. Harassment of debtors is already at tyranny levels.
There is also the moral issue: financial fraud may be "justified" to some as a form of tit for tat--the Status Quo is based on intentional financial fraud--but it is not the same as non-participation, as the gains reaped from the fraud (the new car, the vacation cruise, the new TV, etc. purchased with consumer debt, and the "free" housing provided by the defaulted mortgage) are highly individual: we the oppressed might eventually gain something from this action but the individual gains quite a lot financially.
That makes intentional default quite different ethically from non-participation, i.e. not taking on any debt and limiting the transactional consumerist churn which fuels the tyranny.
Matt H. asked a key question: what about legitimate loans?
Here's a question: While it's best to be completely out of debt (and I attained that status back in Feb after paying off the last of my CC and closing all TBTF accounts), there's still a need for legitimate loans with realistic LTVs and down payments... Or, at the very least, perhaps re-fi with the Credit Union? It would keep any profits within the 'co-op' and benefit the membership....
At this time, I'm still keeping my powder dry, but my paid-off car is starting to demand expensive work and I would _really_like a car with a warranty....
The key issue here is if the credit union or locally owned bank keeps the loans on its books rather than sells them to Wall Street to package. In the ideal situation, a loan from a local lender that holds the debt until maturation is keeping the money in the local economy and thus would be a positive.
I spoke with a local banker in Iowa in 2006 who told me his bank still kept all the mortgages it originated until they were paid off. This is the classic model of banking, and the interest paid, as Harun notes, pays the salaries of bank employees. Local banks and credit unions funded by legitimate loans to local businesses and residents do not skim the billions of dollars in profits needed to distort and sabotage democracy.
The key takeaway is that financial tyranny is fueled by our participation. Remove our participation and the tyranny crumbles for lack of those billions in skimmed profits.
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(picture info)
"The world is a dangerous place. Not because of the people who are evil; but because of the people who don't do anything about it.”
~Albert Einstein
Saturday, June 11
The March on Blair Mountain: A Protest to Protect Our Jobs and Our Mountains, by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Let this serve as the symbolic movement we should all be actively participating in -- Corporations vs. The People
Posted on Huffingtonpost, June 9, 2011 (the "Green" section of huffpo, that is, along with a whopping 155 comments) The huffpo link has all of the other links pertaining to the story
This week an important protest is taking place in the coalfields of West Virginia. The March on Blair Mountain began on Monday as several hundred people embarked on a five-day journey retracing the steps of over 10,000 miners who 90 years ago staged the largest armed insurrection after the American Civil War. Today's march is a protest against both the attack of the union movement in America and the demolition of the Appalachian mountains.
For over 50 years, American unions have served to counterbalance the ascendancy of unsheathed corporate power that threatens now to overwhelm American Democracy. In the past year, the union movement's final redoubt -- the public service unions -- have been vilified and emasculated in traditional union states like Wisconsin, Michigan, and Iowa.
Now one of the biggest union busters in American history, Massey Energy, is launching a final assault on the icon of America's union movement, Blair Mountain.
Blair Mountain's storied history dates back to West Virginia in the 1920s, when the entire state was a company town. Big Coal dominated every aspect of economic life. The industry owned the shops, the homes, of course the mines -- and made sure there was virtually no other source of employment in the state. Working conditions were horrendous: men and their sons worked 12 to 16 grueling hours in dark, dangerous mines dying from a notorious plague of subsurface explosions, cave-ins and black lung.
The companies used local sheriffs to enforce their system of feudal serfdom. When a miner was injured and his family needed to be evicted from their home, the sheriff did the dirty deed. When union organizers appeared, the sheriff arrested, jailed, and routinely beat them, before escorting them to the county line. One sheriff refused to tow the company line: Sid Hatfield, of Hatfield and McCoy lore.
Not only did Hatfield refuse to do the industry's bidding, but he jailed mine operators for mistreating their workers. In the infamous Matewan gun battle, Hatfield helped kill seven mine company private investigators who had evicted union families from their homes.
Hatfield was never convicted for the Matewan shootings, but the mine operators took their revenge and on August 1, 1921 when industry thugs executed Hatfield in broad daylight on the McDowell county court-house steps.
Hatfield's assassination triggered one of the biggest labor demonstrations in American history. Ten thousand miners from the coalfields of Kentucky and West Virginia marched for six days, converging on Blair Mountain to confront their industry bosses. They were met by King Coal's powerful army of thugs and mowed down by Gatling guns.
President Warren Harding, a so-called "friend of coal," like most of the leading politicians of the Gilded Age, authorized the U.S. army to drop bombs and poison gas on the marching miners -- the only time in American History when our military deliberately bombed U.S. citizens. These military measures broke the demonstration but outraged the public, and gave vital traction to the United Mine Workers and the American labor movement.
Over the next 60 years unions became the critical counterweight to corporate power and the principal platform for the growth of the American middle class, which gave our Democracy its wealth, prosperity, and sense of justice as a core value.
Now, as the union movement finds itself battered, beleaguered, and under assault by a legion of corporate toadies in state governor's office from every director to chamber of commerce. Tea Party, talk radio, Fox News and the tsunami of corporate money released by the Citizens United case, Massey Energy has recently announced that it intends to blow up Blair Mountain, the Gettysburg of America's union-based Democracy, to mine it for coal.
For the first time in decades, environmentalists including the NRDC, Sierra Club, Waterkeeper Alliance and local groups have declared common cause with unions in staging a six-day march to retrace the steps of the 1921 Blair Mountain miners. The march convenes Saturday morning June 11 with a final climb up Blair Mountain. Marchers hope to save this historic mountain from Massey by securing its status as a historic landmark.
West Virginia is today's epicenter of one of America's greatest civil disobedience movements. More than 200 people have been arrested protesting mountaintop removal coal mining in the past 18 months. The protesters include college students and local West Virginia marines, former miners, housewives, and an 82-year-old grandmother who was arrested in her wheelchair. They are all calling for an end to mountaintop removal, the extreme form of coal mining that has flattened 500 mountains in Appalachia, illegally buried 2,000 miles of streams, destroyed one million acres of forest, and devastated numerous communities, lives, and towns in the region.
Union busting corporations have commoditized not just the workforce, but the historic landscapes of West Virginia, using great machines and dynamite to eliminate mining jobs. While production has more than doubled in 10 years, industry employment is one-tenth of it what was when my father warned me about strip mining as a 14-year-old boy.
It is time for Americans to march in the footsteps of our union ancestors of 90 years ago to protect our jobs, and save our national patriarchy, the purple mountains majesty, the individual rights and community based values that make our country of the envy of free people.
Posted on Huffingtonpost, June 9, 2011 (the "Green" section of huffpo, that is, along with a whopping 155 comments) The huffpo link has all of the other links pertaining to the story
This week an important protest is taking place in the coalfields of West Virginia. The March on Blair Mountain began on Monday as several hundred people embarked on a five-day journey retracing the steps of over 10,000 miners who 90 years ago staged the largest armed insurrection after the American Civil War. Today's march is a protest against both the attack of the union movement in America and the demolition of the Appalachian mountains.
For over 50 years, American unions have served to counterbalance the ascendancy of unsheathed corporate power that threatens now to overwhelm American Democracy. In the past year, the union movement's final redoubt -- the public service unions -- have been vilified and emasculated in traditional union states like Wisconsin, Michigan, and Iowa.
Now one of the biggest union busters in American history, Massey Energy, is launching a final assault on the icon of America's union movement, Blair Mountain.
Blair Mountain's storied history dates back to West Virginia in the 1920s, when the entire state was a company town. Big Coal dominated every aspect of economic life. The industry owned the shops, the homes, of course the mines -- and made sure there was virtually no other source of employment in the state. Working conditions were horrendous: men and their sons worked 12 to 16 grueling hours in dark, dangerous mines dying from a notorious plague of subsurface explosions, cave-ins and black lung.
The companies used local sheriffs to enforce their system of feudal serfdom. When a miner was injured and his family needed to be evicted from their home, the sheriff did the dirty deed. When union organizers appeared, the sheriff arrested, jailed, and routinely beat them, before escorting them to the county line. One sheriff refused to tow the company line: Sid Hatfield, of Hatfield and McCoy lore.
Not only did Hatfield refuse to do the industry's bidding, but he jailed mine operators for mistreating their workers. In the infamous Matewan gun battle, Hatfield helped kill seven mine company private investigators who had evicted union families from their homes.
Hatfield was never convicted for the Matewan shootings, but the mine operators took their revenge and on August 1, 1921 when industry thugs executed Hatfield in broad daylight on the McDowell county court-house steps.
Hatfield's assassination triggered one of the biggest labor demonstrations in American history. Ten thousand miners from the coalfields of Kentucky and West Virginia marched for six days, converging on Blair Mountain to confront their industry bosses. They were met by King Coal's powerful army of thugs and mowed down by Gatling guns.
President Warren Harding, a so-called "friend of coal," like most of the leading politicians of the Gilded Age, authorized the U.S. army to drop bombs and poison gas on the marching miners -- the only time in American History when our military deliberately bombed U.S. citizens. These military measures broke the demonstration but outraged the public, and gave vital traction to the United Mine Workers and the American labor movement.
Over the next 60 years unions became the critical counterweight to corporate power and the principal platform for the growth of the American middle class, which gave our Democracy its wealth, prosperity, and sense of justice as a core value.
Now, as the union movement finds itself battered, beleaguered, and under assault by a legion of corporate toadies in state governor's office from every director to chamber of commerce. Tea Party, talk radio, Fox News and the tsunami of corporate money released by the Citizens United case, Massey Energy has recently announced that it intends to blow up Blair Mountain, the Gettysburg of America's union-based Democracy, to mine it for coal.
For the first time in decades, environmentalists including the NRDC, Sierra Club, Waterkeeper Alliance and local groups have declared common cause with unions in staging a six-day march to retrace the steps of the 1921 Blair Mountain miners. The march convenes Saturday morning June 11 with a final climb up Blair Mountain. Marchers hope to save this historic mountain from Massey by securing its status as a historic landmark.
West Virginia is today's epicenter of one of America's greatest civil disobedience movements. More than 200 people have been arrested protesting mountaintop removal coal mining in the past 18 months. The protesters include college students and local West Virginia marines, former miners, housewives, and an 82-year-old grandmother who was arrested in her wheelchair. They are all calling for an end to mountaintop removal, the extreme form of coal mining that has flattened 500 mountains in Appalachia, illegally buried 2,000 miles of streams, destroyed one million acres of forest, and devastated numerous communities, lives, and towns in the region.
Union busting corporations have commoditized not just the workforce, but the historic landscapes of West Virginia, using great machines and dynamite to eliminate mining jobs. While production has more than doubled in 10 years, industry employment is one-tenth of it what was when my father warned me about strip mining as a 14-year-old boy.
It is time for Americans to march in the footsteps of our union ancestors of 90 years ago to protect our jobs, and save our national patriarchy, the purple mountains majesty, the individual rights and community based values that make our country of the envy of free people.
Thursday, June 9
Massive Solar Flare June 7th
Here are the top two stories. I'll let you choose which one you'd prefer to read.
From PCmag...
Massive Solar Flare Misses Earth, but Are We Ready for the Big One?
Interesting music choice for this mesmerizing video. Wish I knew the name of the song.
And from Space.com...
Sun Unleashes 'Spectacular' & Powerful Eruption
"It's nothing we really have to worry about," Young said in his video. "It's just really, really beautiful."
From PCmag...
Massive Solar Flare Misses Earth, but Are We Ready for the Big One?
Interesting music choice for this mesmerizing video. Wish I knew the name of the song.
And from Space.com...
Sun Unleashes 'Spectacular' & Powerful Eruption
"It's nothing we really have to worry about," Young said in his video. "It's just really, really beautiful."
Wednesday, June 8
Texas Gov. Perry Bilderberg’s Ace in the Hole?
By James P. Tucker Jr.
"Is Texas Gov. Rick Perry the Bilderberg group’s Republican candidate-in-waiting in the 2012 presidential race? The shadowy globalist group is scheduled to meet secretly behind locked doors over the weekend of June 9-12 in St. Moritz, Switzerland, and AFP will be on location to cover it."Read about it at the American Free Press.
Monday, June 6
The Sound of Heads Exploding is Sweet Music to My Ears
I tell you the story of Adam Pearlman.
He was born in the Jewish faith, to parents who converted to evangelical Christianity (and changed the family name to Gadahn). Well, young Adam went in another direction.
He converted to Islam, joined al Qaeda, and is now the group's internet maven.
Adam has sent out a video recently, exhorting American Muslims and prospective jihadis to not wait for any organized terrorist group to point the way. Oh no. Adam is telling people to seek a Second Amendment alternative.
And now we come to the reason behind the title.
The National Rifle Association, one of the most powerful terrorist organizations in the United States, regularly browbeats and bullies our elected representatives into allowing the fullest availability of guns to everyone - lunatics, racists, militias, "sovereign citizens," Mexican drug cartels, etc. And how have they done this?
Gun shows, where you don't need no stinking background check to spoil your fun. Heck, in some places you don't even need two forms of identification - that would be a violation of your rights, you know.
The exploding heads are those of the NRA, who are seeing their adamant refusal to allow anything but the most superficial fig leaves for gun control turn into carte blanche for Mexican druggies, Muslim jihadis and just plain screwballs to get all the guns they want so they can drop by the mall and shoot the place up.
It's a forlorn hope that this video didn't reach any susceptible minds, but it's just like the venomous bilge spewed by the likes of Glenn Beck. The susceptible minds are out there, just waiting for the Propaganda of the Word to trigger them into the Deed.
He was born in the Jewish faith, to parents who converted to evangelical Christianity (and changed the family name to Gadahn). Well, young Adam went in another direction.
He converted to Islam, joined al Qaeda, and is now the group's internet maven.
Adam has sent out a video recently, exhorting American Muslims and prospective jihadis to not wait for any organized terrorist group to point the way. Oh no. Adam is telling people to seek a Second Amendment alternative.
And now we come to the reason behind the title.
The National Rifle Association, one of the most powerful terrorist organizations in the United States, regularly browbeats and bullies our elected representatives into allowing the fullest availability of guns to everyone - lunatics, racists, militias, "sovereign citizens," Mexican drug cartels, etc. And how have they done this?
Gun shows, where you don't need no stinking background check to spoil your fun. Heck, in some places you don't even need two forms of identification - that would be a violation of your rights, you know.
The exploding heads are those of the NRA, who are seeing their adamant refusal to allow anything but the most superficial fig leaves for gun control turn into carte blanche for Mexican druggies, Muslim jihadis and just plain screwballs to get all the guns they want so they can drop by the mall and shoot the place up.
It's a forlorn hope that this video didn't reach any susceptible minds, but it's just like the venomous bilge spewed by the likes of Glenn Beck. The susceptible minds are out there, just waiting for the Propaganda of the Word to trigger them into the Deed.
Sunday, June 5
"change" someone believes in...
...just maybe not me!
Minimum wage jumps in Haiti
The U.S. intervened in Haiti so Hanes, Levi Strauss, Exxon and Chevron could make a lot more money from the backs of the Haitians.
But! Good News for the poor of Haiti. Their minimum wage just jumped to $.61 per hour from $.24 per hour. But the cost of buying those expensive items from Levi and Hanes just got costlier because...uh...gas is higher...uh there's strife in some country...the Wall Street speculators caused it...the devil made them do it.
Read it.
But he's doing such a swell job looking out for all the middle class! Let's just give him another 4 years. You know. Just like we gave W!
C'mon O-polgists. Justify this.
Minimum wage jumps in Haiti
The U.S. intervened in Haiti so Hanes, Levi Strauss, Exxon and Chevron could make a lot more money from the backs of the Haitians.
But! Good News for the poor of Haiti. Their minimum wage just jumped to $.61 per hour from $.24 per hour. But the cost of buying those expensive items from Levi and Hanes just got costlier because...uh...gas is higher...uh there's strife in some country...the Wall Street speculators caused it...the devil made them do it.
Read it.
But he's doing such a swell job looking out for all the middle class! Let's just give him another 4 years. You know. Just like we gave W!
C'mon O-polgists. Justify this.
You KNEW it was coming...
...right out of the horse's ass!
From Wikipedia (I know. But this time it pertains!)
Narcissus or Narkissos (Greek: Νάρκισσος), possibly derived from ναρκη (narke) meaning "sleep, numbness," in Greek mythology was a hunter from the territory of Thespiae in Boeotia who was renowned for his beauty. He was exceptionally proud, in that he disdained those who loved him. Nemesis saw this and attracted Narcissus to a pool where he saw his own reflection in the waters and fell in love with it, not realizing it was merely an image. Unable to leave the beauty of his reflection, Narcissus died.[1]
Mind boggling, brainlessness, pure idiocy, ignorance beyond human comprehension, an ego that Narcissus would envy, unrelenting avarice - did I mention so stupid that all of the morons of the past 6,000 years collectively were more aware, more intelligent, more rational than Palin? She has the brains of a nematode, an amoeba. She's a tape worm of the mind!
I can't imagine how embarrassed her grade school, high school and college teachers must be to have been associated with this microscopic twit. And I know you should never judge a state or country by who they elect, mainly because of American Stupidity doing it twice to Bush, but the Alaskan Voters...Bush twice and Palin once! Can't they read? And this doesn't even include the soft boiled brains of those who not only think she's qualified to be president, but who worship every erroneous thing that comes out of that cesspool of a mouth as though it were gospel! Good GOD, she's an Asshole!
If you get the "L" out of Palin you get a great big 'Pain.'
Can ANYONE adequately describe, in English, the gross stupidity this piece of fetid flesh represents? Oh God! Oh God! Oh God. It's enough to make a person disembowel himself with a red hot poker!!
Sarah Palin On Paul Revere Ride: I Didn't Get History Wrong (VIDEO)
WASHINGTON (AP/The Huffington Post) -- Sarah Palin says she didn't mess up her history on Paul Revere.
The potential 2012 presidential candidate was in Boston on Thursday as part of her bus tour when she was asked about the Revolutionary War hero.
Palin said Revere "warned the British that they weren't gonna be takin' away our arms."
Palin, a paid Fox News contributor, told "Fox News Sunday" that she was correct. She says there were British soldiers in the area for years before Revere's legendary ride, and that he was warning them, as well as his fellow colonists.
"Part of his ride was to warn the British that were already there that 'hey, you're not going to take American arms, you are not going to beat our own well-armed persons individual private militia that we have.'"
She blamed her previous answer on the media, saying it was a "gotcha question."
The Paul Revere House's website says that on April 18, 1775, Dr. Joseph Warren instructed Revere to ride to Lexington, Mass., to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock that British troops were marching to arrest them.
Saturday, June 4
Another Saturday night...
...and I ain't got no money...
Just sittin' here playing games on the computer, drinkin' some Grand Marnier and listening to oldies from the 40s to the 90s 'n gettin' nostalgic thinkin' about those who brought us such memories.
Enjoy!
Just sittin' here playing games on the computer, drinkin' some Grand Marnier and listening to oldies from the 40s to the 90s 'n gettin' nostalgic thinkin' about those who brought us such memories.
Enjoy!
Statement:
“We believe … a right to resist an unlawful police entry into a home is against public policy and is incompatible with modern Fourth Amendment jurisprudence…”
“We also find that allowing resistance unnecessarily escalates the level of violence and therefore the risk of injuries to all parties involved without preventing the arrest.”
An Agent Of The King In Every Home
Duh...what do incompetent mean?
That's it! We're done as a people!
First (just the stuff from this century) it 9/11, then it was the WMD to get us into Iraq. Then the yellow cake. Don't forget the anthrax (never really liked their style!) Next the gays would turn everyone gay and San(c)torum knew that we'd all be fucking dogs.
We're safer now because the government allows TSA people to play with our gonads (Ever wonder how many of them are gay? Oops!)
The Taliban will row boats to America's shores (because they can't get shampoo past the TSA) to kill us off.
Monsanto is engineering food to kill of all the pests but are killing the bees so they have to develop new strains of food that doesn't require pollenization so they can charge Americans much more money to be able to eat.
Big foot has moved into apartments in the city because loggers have gutted forests.
UFO's regularly check in to make sure Barry is doing what they want (to serve man).
Sarah Palin continues to exist. People who can't spell their names believe everything she says.
Fox is the only media that tells the truth (and the chickens in Fox's Hen house keep paying Fox to watch more and more).
But this may show an even better example of the shearing of the sheep, except that shearing was a little to close to what is left of the brains of the sheep.
Prince Willie is divorcing Kate after only 5 weeks of marriage! Damn Straight! Too true! Gospel! Word! Hand to God and cross my heart and hope to die!
And that comes right from...the Onion?
Yep. But the ignorant masses out there are toooo stupid to think for themselves or even check it out. So they bombard a site with their outrage!
If you want a good laugh...or cry. visit this site and mavel at American Stupidity.
Literally Unbelievable
ALL of this because Georgie Boy claimed he was a uniter, not a divider. Right!
First (just the stuff from this century) it 9/11, then it was the WMD to get us into Iraq. Then the yellow cake. Don't forget the anthrax (never really liked their style!) Next the gays would turn everyone gay and San(c)torum knew that we'd all be fucking dogs.
We're safer now because the government allows TSA people to play with our gonads (Ever wonder how many of them are gay? Oops!)
The Taliban will row boats to America's shores (because they can't get shampoo past the TSA) to kill us off.
Monsanto is engineering food to kill of all the pests but are killing the bees so they have to develop new strains of food that doesn't require pollenization so they can charge Americans much more money to be able to eat.
Big foot has moved into apartments in the city because loggers have gutted forests.
UFO's regularly check in to make sure Barry is doing what they want (to serve man).
Sarah Palin continues to exist. People who can't spell their names believe everything she says.
Fox is the only media that tells the truth (and the chickens in Fox's Hen house keep paying Fox to watch more and more).
But this may show an even better example of the shearing of the sheep, except that shearing was a little to close to what is left of the brains of the sheep.
Prince Willie is divorcing Kate after only 5 weeks of marriage! Damn Straight! Too true! Gospel! Word! Hand to God and cross my heart and hope to die!
And that comes right from...the Onion?
Yep. But the ignorant masses out there are toooo stupid to think for themselves or even check it out. So they bombard a site with their outrage!
If you want a good laugh...or cry. visit this site and mavel at American Stupidity.
Literally Unbelievable
ALL of this because Georgie Boy claimed he was a uniter, not a divider. Right!
Friday, June 3
More proof there is no god...
I...uh...but...ok...whaaa???...Aarrrrggggh!
Whose the more foolish? The fool? Or the fool who follows the fool?
Mind-numbingly stupid!
The mini ice cube she uses for a brain has thawed and dribble out her ears.
A walking, talking ad for birth control.
The poster girl for Republican Education.
If ANY of you out there believe even one word of anything this moron tries to say about politics or how this country should be run, after hearing the facts that she knows NOTHING literally about ANYTHING, you are worse than she is, stupider than she is and should either check yourself and family into the nearest mental hospital or just end your miserable life.
Remember! This is a person who knows absolutely NOTHING about history, geography, math, etc. etc.
BUT...those who follow her believe everything she says about the government and what should be done in the world! Uh Oh! 10 minute to Wapner...10 minutes to Wapner!
Can ANYONE think of any person who ever existed stupider than this POS?
Whose the more foolish? The fool? Or the fool who follows the fool?
Mind-numbingly stupid!
The mini ice cube she uses for a brain has thawed and dribble out her ears.
A walking, talking ad for birth control.
The poster girl for Republican Education.
If ANY of you out there believe even one word of anything this moron tries to say about politics or how this country should be run, after hearing the facts that she knows NOTHING literally about ANYTHING, you are worse than she is, stupider than she is and should either check yourself and family into the nearest mental hospital or just end your miserable life.
Remember! This is a person who knows absolutely NOTHING about history, geography, math, etc. etc.
BUT...those who follow her believe everything she says about the government and what should be done in the world! Uh Oh! 10 minute to Wapner...10 minutes to Wapner!
Can ANYONE think of any person who ever existed stupider than this POS?
Thursday, June 2
A long and overdue, pissed off rant!
It’s the early 20th Century, let’s say, before the mid 60s or early 70s. You’re the Male head of the household, the boss of the family, the bread winner and every other metaphor you can think of.
YOU’RE the god of YOUR family. YOU go to work so that YOU can pay the mortgage so that YOU can pay the utilities so that YOU can make sure YOUR wife stays home and has YOUR house neat, has YOUR dinner ready and YOUR clothes cleaned. YOU provide food and clothing and shelter for YOUR family. YOU make sure YOUR son has everything he wants and needs and YOU make sure YOUR daughter learns her rightful place in society to become THE proper wife for someone else’s son.
Lately, though, things haven’t been so good for YOU. There are layoffs at the factory and cutbacks on overtime and that means less money for YOU. Of course, that’s really not YOUR problem. YOUR wife and family will just have to deal with less coming in while making sure YOU enjoy everything YOU used to enjoy. I mean, YOU can’t be asked to give up Friday nights out with the guys or those Saturday Tee Times or not be able to go where YOU want to go and do what YOU want to do whenever YOU want to do it. And if SHE can’t handle that? Well, YOUR father and grandfather sure knew how to discipline their wife and family to make sure things went smoothly, because THEY were the breadwinners and THEY made damn sure their wife and family had to listen to what THEY wanted.
But things have changed and YOU don’t have the same or even as much power over YOUR family as YOU once did, and YOU certainly aren’t in the same position of family power as your father or grandfather. That really bothers YOU. There’s that damn ERA thing, burn the bra thing, rock and roll, more and more freedom for YOUR kids to go more and more places that don’t require YOU to make the decision as to whether THEY can go or not, who THEY can see or really what THEY can do or learn.
And YOU still have problems, not at the factory anymore because it closed and YOU had to find another job that didn’t pay as well and YOUR wife had to go out to get some part time work to keep YOU living like YOU almost used to. Of course, SHE still has to make sure the house is running properly in spite of working that extra job for YOUR family because YOU are still the head of the house, right?
Costs for all the things YOU used to enjoy have risen more than YOUR income and YOU are upset with those businesses...but there isn’t anything YOU can do about OTHER people or businesses and YOU’RE getting really frustrated. YOU heard on TV that YOUR taxes are too high and those who don’t have as much as YOU, don’t pay any taxes and get stuff for free from hard working guys like YOU. YOU know YOUR money is being wasted on other people while YOU keep working and paying more and more. Hell, YOU can’t even go to YOUR old club because they now let ANYONE in and YOU don’t feel that SOME people should be able to be a member. Maybe THEY even get free money (YOUR money) to join YOUR club while YOU have to pay out of YOUR pocket! YOU know that’s not fair to YOU!
The frustration keeps mounting and YOU soon lose the ability to handle YOUR family situations. The wife and kids are not only doing their own things, THEY seem to think THEY don’t really have to listen to YOU anymore or do what YOU tell THEM even though YOU are still paying for everything (in YOUR opinion) or giving THEM everything they want and get. THEY…are becoming MUCH too independent and that threatens YOUR way of life!
YOU can’t control those outside problems that have affected the style of life YOU’RE accustomed to. Oh, YOU may complain about high taxes and prices or problems with those damn illegal immigrants or the jokers in Washington who take more and more of YOUR money and give YOU nothing back or the idiots on television who don’t realize WE aren’t supposed to be pushed around by other nations or WE give too much of YOUR money to other countries that don’t like us. Or it’s a hundred other things YOU see on the ONE TV channel, the ONLY TV channel YOU believe tells things as they are.
Is that what it is? That YOU’RE extremely frustrated because the world doesn’t work the way YOU think it should; that YOU suffer while paying for others to live well? Yep! YOU betcha! And YOU can’t do a damn thing about it or them. So what do YOU do?
It’s simple, really. YOU must reassert YOUR power over YOUR family! Forget about those others. YOU have no control over what THEY do. YOU must make YOUR family understand YOU are the boss, not THEM. YOU decide what THEY’LL watch, what THEY can do, where THEY can go and how long THEY can stay there. YOU must take steps, however unpleasant to THEM, to ensure THEY conform to YOUR decisions…for THEIR own good, because only YOU know what’s best for THEM. And if THEY don’t understand that YOU are just trying to provide for THEM the way YOU used to, then YOU need to do whatever it takes to bring THEM into line even if it means terrible sacrifices for THEM, while YOU continue to live the way YOU’VE always lived…or even a little better…just to show THEM who is the real boss. This way YOU know THEY’LL have to come around to the way it was in the good old days when YOU were in charge, and THEY did what THEY were told.
Did I just describe America today?
*************
Those in charge in America have lost their power in the eyes of the world. Sand has been kicked in their faces first with Korea then Vietnam, Iraq twice and currently Afghanistan. We’ve become a political and actual military patsy; a loser to countries those in Washington think should knuckle under to our every whim – but aren’t and seemingly won’t.
When a bully gets shown up for what he or it, really is, the bully usually looks for others less formidable to bully. This is the case with America. Today, the American Political and Military Machines realizes they are no longer the "police force" of the world so they turn inward to try to control those they can.
The Military and Politicians today think they are the best there ever was yet they all have to live with the accomplishments of the greats of the last century. Generals and politicians won two major wars in the 20th century. Today’s brass can’t equal what those men did regardless of how hard they try, and believe me, they ARE trying as hard as they can. To make a name for themselves in the history (or revisionist history) books is all they care about. Same with politicians. No great orators today. No great thinkers. No wisdom to lead a nation to make itself better. Thinking died with Ike as did military brilliance.
Instead, these wannabes turn on the only people they can control, American Citizens. They treat them worse than animals because of an ego that knows no bounds and out of a desire for fame.
It seems our government can no longer militarily or politically beat other nations (Granada excepted) so they need to show how big and powerful they are by even more subjugation of the only ones they can bully…the American People.
Make no mistake...The American Government is at war with its own people, undeclared but at war nonetheless. Maybe they finally found the one war they’ve been looking for in a weak enough group of people they can finally defeat.
Hell of a fight! Beat the America People into submission because you can't beat anyone else. Beat and degrade the only people to support you then treat them like dirt. This the New American Way.
Medals all around, guys. The parade starts around noon, January, 2012. The cheering may be much later.
Wednesday, June 1
"Are We Living in Post-Legal America?"
Is the Libyan war legal? Was Bin Laden’s killing legal? Is it legal for the president of the United States to target an American citizen for assassination? Were those “enhanced interrogation techniques” legal? These are all questions raised in recent weeks. Each seems to call out for debate, for answers. Or does it?
Now, you couldn’t call me a legal scholar. I’ve never set foot inside a law school, and in 66 years only made it onto a single jury (dismissed before trial when the civil suit was settled out of court). Still, I feel at least as capable as any constitutional law professor of answering such questions.
My answer is this: they are irrelevant. Think of them as twentieth-century questions that don't begin to come to grips with twenty-first century American realities. In fact, think of them, and the very idea of a nation based on the rule of law, as a reflection of nostalgia for, or sentimentality about, a long-lost republic. At least in terms of what used to be called “foreign policy,” and more recently “national security,” the United States is now a post-legal society. (And you could certainly include in this mix the too-big-to-jail financial and corporate elite.)
Read the rest at Alternet.
Now, you couldn’t call me a legal scholar. I’ve never set foot inside a law school, and in 66 years only made it onto a single jury (dismissed before trial when the civil suit was settled out of court). Still, I feel at least as capable as any constitutional law professor of answering such questions.
My answer is this: they are irrelevant. Think of them as twentieth-century questions that don't begin to come to grips with twenty-first century American realities. In fact, think of them, and the very idea of a nation based on the rule of law, as a reflection of nostalgia for, or sentimentality about, a long-lost republic. At least in terms of what used to be called “foreign policy,” and more recently “national security,” the United States is now a post-legal society. (And you could certainly include in this mix the too-big-to-jail financial and corporate elite.)
Read the rest at Alternet.
All that needs to be said:
WAR IS A RACKET
Written by Two-Time Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient
Major General Smedley D. Butler
USMC, Retired
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