Why Do Republicans Hate The Homeless?

From Think Progress:

As Republicans gather for their national party convention in Tampa, they will be aware of the stormy weather but may not see another issue clouding the city.

The Tampa-St. Petersburg metropolitan area has the highest rate of homelessness in the nation, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness in a report issued earlier this year — 57 homeless for every 10,000 residents.

There are about 16,000 homeless people in the Tampa area, and one in five of them are children.

Presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney has not laid out any plans when it comes to combating homelessness. However, back in April, an NBC News reporter overheard Romney telling rich donors that he may eliminate the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which would bring an end to critical programs like Section 8 housing vouchers and community development block grants, assuming Romney didn’t just shuffle them around to another department.

The budget crafted by Romney’s running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), could cause housing assistance to disappear for about one million households, according to HUD. GOP Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL) has also shown little sympathy for his state’s homeless population, proposing to completely zero out funding for homelessness prevention programs.

I took in a homeless person for a couple of months, just to help him out and get his social security increased to a livable wage. He left about a week ago after living here for two months (and he paid $200 for the room). The sad part is, I think he went back to the streets, just with more money in his pocket in order to eat and stuff. I don't know why he left, as I was not left a note; I just came home one day and he was gone, and the keys were on my table. No one has seen him around his usual spot, and those that knew he was staying with me (including friends and family whom I consulted before I even took him in, and they all gave me the thumbs up) don't have an explanation to offer either. Some say that once on the street, it's hard to get off the streets. This was by no means one of those bedraggled and dirty/smelly persons. This was a well groomed man, clean as a whistle (in fact, he showered daily and did his laundry, including the sheets he slept on in the extra bedroom every week), bought food, and I sometimes cooked dinner for the both of us. It was an interesting experience for me, but it saddened me a great deal that he would just leave without an explanation, especially since he constantly thanked me for giving him a roof over his head.

As I scramble for work to get money to pay MY rent and my few bills, it's sobering to realize that I am close to being homeless every month now, without a regular paycheck coming in.

The Republican party has no concept of how we middle class people are a paycheck away from being on the streets. I've managed to scrape by doing a job here and there (from home) for a criminal attorney that really doesn't have an office and needs administrative things taken care of, for which he pays me $100 here and there, but I have had to reach out to a friend to borrow $300 to make my rent this month, and a family friend is renting out my extra room for a couple of months for the same $200 (my rent is $1,100 for a one bedroom, 750 square feet, but huge based on the layout - I have always slept on a futon, since the 1980's, so I have one for my couch during the day, and my bed at night). I made my bills this month, and am probably $350 shy of making the rent -- crossing fingers I get paid from a client I am doing two motions for and a temporary restraining order (family law) which could put me over the top.

It's strange to not have the life I had for 12 years. I haven't been to my watering hole in over a month because I really do not have the extra money for the dinner and drinks. I have to buy on the cheap now for food, which is something I haven't done in 12 years. I'm 60 so it's not like there is a regular 9-5 job out there waiting for someone my age, even with my legal skills. The attorney I left at the office (not my boss, my co-worker) is just dying (not literally) at the job having to pick up the slack since I left. He told me he had no idea that "our" boss did absolutely nothing, nada, and even though he is an attorney, he can't draft even a simple complaint or go to a simple hearing. He's worthless, which is why I started hating my job the past two years. It was my way or the highway, and he said no, so I left. My friend would leave but he has a higher threshold of income he needs to survive than I do (like 2-1/2 times more), so he can't leave. I almost feel more sorry for him than I do for myself. I've always been a hustler, so it is not like I haven't lived like this before (without a 9-5 job), but it is a bit different doing it when you are in your 30's vs. doing it when you are 60!

Anyway, this tome is much more personal than I intended it to be, but after reading about how many homeless people are in Tampa, Florida, and given the Republican's methodical elimination of assistance to poor/middle class people, I just felt the need to share one liberal person's plight and acknowledge my understanding of the situation.

On the bright side, since leaving my job, my blood pressure stabilized such that the doctor has me on a lower medication and is now seeing me every two months instead of every month! It truly demonstrates just how much I hated my job and my stress level decreased despite the fact that I have no regular source of income and what should be a stressful situation for me is actually less so than my old job!!!!!!!

I'm Not Dead Politically

First off, I AM curious as to how many of you that belong to Move On, got their e-mail about the possibility of YOU running for an office in in your city/county/state, etc.? If I did not have a "history" that would "out me" in more ways than Gingrich has been BBQ'd in this primary, I would have given the e-mail consideration.

With many of the bigger blogs covering the stupidity that has become to be known as Republican Debates, one can only hope that in the end, it's Gingrich. He's such a stupid man that even if half of the Democrats in this country don't show up at the polls, Obama still wins. I find that creepily eerie. And a reason I don't expand on the regular big blogs' views. At the moment, with stupidity abundant, it is redundant of me to repeat what has already been opined.

This interesting statement from David Atkins at Digby's site:

The part of me that wants to see an easier win in November desperately wants Gingrich to win the nomination.

But the fighter in me wants to see Romney win this nomination so that we can have the tax the rich conversation undistracted all through November. Sadly, I don't get to choose. That's for the crazies on the other side to decide.

I didn't watch the SOTU address this evening. I haven't watched this Prez on TV in about two years, as he creates in me the same desires to smash my television and throw shit at it like Dubya used to bring out in me!

I thought this ad was funny. Courtesy of Romney Gekko 2012.



Another tidbit, worthy of its own post, but I might not get to it, is one of the nominations as Best Actor Nominee (Oscar) in a major motion picture, Demián Bichir. His role is a day laborer in the film A Better Life.

Now, the take down of the Mega whatever site (which, personally, I actually have to say I have never heard of it, yet alone use it ... but then again, I'm not a big fan of having the very first viewing of anything, be it sports, television, movies or music). But found this interesting link to what is supposedly behind the whole shebang and the DOJ's long arm. I will do a separate post about my feelings, though. Some other MPAA and Hollywood shenanigans. Didn't take long for the "pinko, commie leftist hippies" in Hollywood to figure out how to use Citizens United like tactics to move along their agenda. Nothing talks as much as bullshit walks ... but when there is money, hey, you know the "line!"

Well, when I have some more time ... I'll write something relevant. For now, work, family and "you know what" is still Occupying ME! LOL!

Labor News

Just going to give the link to Crooks and Liars, as they have linked to many articles relating to labor news this past year. I believe it's worth a look. Some very interesting stuff, like the story about the outsourcing of the music by Lionsgate for the movie, The Hunger Games, despite having received $2 billion in OUR government subsidies.

Money, money, money, greed, greed, greed. Sad, sad, sad state of affairs. The world is collapsing, and America is just fine with going along for the ride. Step right up and join us in taking taxpayer money and fucking the taxpayer. I am so sick of this shit.

Welcome To The United Corporate States Of America

The Senate bill to repeal the oil subsidies to BIG OIL went down in flames last night, thanks to the Senators that were handsomely paid by BIG OIL to the tune of $21 Million. Does ANYONE in this country really believe these Republicans give two shits about Americans anymore? (H/T to Think Progress, click link in title).

... the oil-friendly Senate split 52 to 48 to end the subsidies. Though the majority of the Senate voted to repeal these oil tax breaks, the procedural motion required a 60 vote threshold. An analysis of campaign contribution records shows the gusher of dirty cash that fueled the filibuster:

A Center for American Progress Action Fund analysis finds that the 48 senators who sided with Big Oil received over $21 million in career oil contributions, while 52 senators who sided with the American people received only $5.4 million in contributions. Each senator who voted for Big Oil received on average more than four times as much oil cash as those who voted to end the subsidies.

So, there you have it. First, it used to be that only a MAJORITY in the Senate was required for a bill to pass. But after Bush took over, the Republicans began to slowly shift that watermark to the now infamous standard "filibuster" breaking magic number of 60. Pretty soon, the Republicans will end up with requiring a 100% vote for any legislation to be passed, thus ensuring that nothing gets done unless and until they completely wipe out the existence of any party in politics except the rich Republicans (and the few Blue Dog Democrats that don't have the balls to change parties and show their true red color).

Can anyone tell me what planet these people get their marching orders from? It's so difficult for me to cover these people, the stench oozes from the pages of material I read that I can't even bring myself to finish reading the shit. From Gingrich to Boehner, from Ryan to Cantor, add in all the nut jobs that are governors now, and toss in the idiots that support them in the press (Ben Stein, O'Reilly, "fill in the blank") and you have a boatload of people that support the handful of rich against the majority of NORMAL people. I mean, come on you people in Texas. Cutting teachers because "the budget" needs to be balanced, but putting up $25 Million a year to a handful of millionaires that want Formula One racing? Forget that Formula One LEFT the fucking state years ago, and they don't really want to go back, but that hasn't stopped the governor from using HIS state's tax dollars to give to HIS rich friends (of whom the investors most likely have a combined wealth larger than the state budget as it is) to supplement, SUPPLEMENT, their ill conceived plan (over the next then years, that's $25 Million a YEAR for ten YEARS) to build the racetrack and try to "lure" Formula One back to Texas. That's NASCAR territory, you idiots! And NO, not all car racing is the same. Oh, and gotta love this quote:

With 20 million Texans within 250 miles of Austin and a growing Formula One fan base in Mexico, the city’s annual race will be successful, Steve Sexton, president of track developer Circuit of the Americas LLC, said in a telephone interview.

Got that? MEXICANS? FAN BASE? I thought Texans hated the brown people, but they want to "lure" them across the border to watch rich people race expensive cars? I have to keep slapping myself just to prevent hyperventilating.

I just don't get it anymore. These deals used to be clandestine and made behind closed doors such that you had to dig deep to find shit and get it out in the press. Nowadays, none of these Republicans (and some Democrats) care about the pretense. They just shove their personal rich people loaded agendas on their constituents, leaving them without jobs, without retirement, without unemployment, without homes, without protection, without medical assurance and insurance, and shrug their shoulders as if saying, "what, you don't like this? vote me out, then" knowing full well that in this day and age, an individual's voting right is meaningless. With corporations dictating what the elected people do and making sure "their" people are elected (whether by hook or by crook) and especially now that some of these state leaders are legislating away voting rights (passing ID laws, trying to enact pol legislation [means testing, i.e., are you smarter than a fifth grader when it comes to American history and the Constitution, which by the way, have you checked Ms. Bachmann's credentials on that one lately?], stripping back or completely eliminating student voting, etc.), the deck has been stacked. Hell, even if everyone stayed home and never voted, the Republicans would still have "ballots" cast to prove they were elected!

I do commend some of my progressive peers for attempting to outrun this catastrophe by setting up comparable Karl Rove millionaire groups to fund progressives, for always looking for someone progressive to challenge in a primary, and for constantly raising the pom poms to get everyone on board. But I join the small, but growing handful of people that say who the fuck cares anymore. Just let it all blow up, let them ruin the country, because you can't fix it until it's no longer working. All we seem to be doing is putting the proverbial finger in the dike (and we see how well that is working for the Mississippi River problem don't we).

My new mantra: More wars, please! Build those plane parts the military has already said THEY DON'T WANT! Gut Social Security, do away with Medicare and Medicaid. And blow off unemployment insurance. Even though all of these programs are paid for out of "the people's" earnings, just let the rich take the money and run and hide. Let the guns be allowed in the bars so that those that are really hit hard by this pillaging of America (the ones with the guns in the bars) get drunk and stupid and start shooting the rich. An uprising cannot begin until it starts to affect those people most like to rise up ... and we are slowly but surely getting there.

Apple Has A Secret App That Literally Tracks Your Every Move!

Boy, am I glad I never liked Apple products from day one, that I've never owned a Mac puter, never owned an IPhone, an IPod nor an IPad. I won't go near that crap, and thank goodness after this information came out just recently:

Holy crap. This is for real. I just ran the software and found the secret file on my laptop, detailing where I've been over the past year, including lots of details of where I visited in Vegas last year during the Netroots Nation conference, where I've been to in DC, and Chicago. It even shows you, over time, where I've been.

Read the rest of the article, and the update here.

Also, it has come to the attention (finally) of major media that Michigan State Police are also using a program that can extract every single piece of data off of a cell phone, including deleted texts and phone numbers, etc., in less than two minutes, and they've been doing it at traffic stops since 2008! More in this piece as well.

Total H/T to AMERICAblog for these stories.

Headlines

Way too much bullshit going on ... way too fast to keep up with it.

UN Alarm At Ivory Coast Massacre

Pakistan Shrine Attack Kills 41

Afghan Koran Protests Spreading

Fukushima Workers' Bodies Found

Fighting Resumes In Libyan Cities

US Oil Spill Executives Get Bonus

Chinese Artist Barred From Flight

Goldman CEO Sees Pay Double In 2010

Giants Fan In Coma After Beating At Dodger Stadium

We're Heading Toward A Double-Dip Recession

Terry Jones Considering "A Trial On The Life Of Muhammad"

Brit Hume Speechless When Asked About G.E. Paying Zero Federal Taxes

Telecom-Funded N.C. House Votes To Gut Public Broadband

Anti-EPA House Votes To Let Agribusiness Dump Pesticides In Our Water

NYC Considers Replacing Union Workers With Welfare Recipients

Best Quote Of The Year

"You know, you can't simultaneously fire teachers and Tomahawk missiles."

Jon Stewart

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) Shot In Arizona

19 injured. 6 dead.

Modern America has endured such moments before. The intense ideological clashes of the 1960s, which centered on Communism and civil rights and Vietnam, were marked by a series of assassinations that changed the course of American history, carried out against a televised backdrop of urban riots and self-immolating war protesters. During the culture wars of the 1990s, fought over issues like gun rights and abortion, right-wing extremists killed 168 people in Oklahoma City and terrorized hundreds of others in Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park and at abortion clinics in the South.

What’s different about this moment is the emergence of a political culture — on blogs and Twitter and cable television — that so loudly and readily reinforces the dark visions of political extremists, often for profit or political gain. It wasn’t clear Saturday whether the alleged shooter in Tucson was motivated by any real political philosophy or by voices in his head, or perhaps by both. But it’s hard not to think he was at least partly influenced by a debate that often seems to conflate philosophical disagreement with some kind of political Armageddon.

The problem here doesn’t lie with the activists like most of those who populate the Tea Parties, ordinary citizens who are doing what citizens are supposed to do — engaging in a conversation about the direction of the country. Rather, the problem would seem to rest with the political leaders who pander to the margins of the margins, employing whatever words seem likely to win them contributions or TV time, with little regard for the consequences.

[snip]

The more pressing question, though, is where this all ends — whether we will begin to re-evaluate the piercing pitch of our political debate in the wake of Saturday’s shooting, or whether we are hurtling unstoppably into a frightening period more like the late 1960s.

The country labors still to recover from the memories of Dealey Plaza and the Ambassador Hotel, of Memphis and Birmingham and Watts. Tucson will either be the tragedy that brought us back from the brink, or the first in a series of gruesome memories to come.

Pretty good article in the Washington Post about today's shooting, the sadness attributed to it, and the atrociousness of the punditry and politicians that whet these peoples' appetite for violence.

My heart goes out to the parents of the little child that was killed in this shooting spree, as well as to the judge's family.

Are we headed to assassinations circa 1968? I sure hope not.

At least the Republicans are postponing any vote on the HCR repeal, one, out of respect for Rep. Giffords, and two, to try and reschedule their schedule.

Are we beyond the "can't we all just get along" dialogue?

UPDATE: Courtesy of Daily Kos:

What we're going to be saturated with for the next week or so are the inevitable false equivalencies. We'll hear, for instance, how there are "nuts on both sides." Undeniably true. But there is no ubiquitous liberal - much less, left-wing - network of talk-radio stations spouting Two Minutes' Hate 24/7. The collective voice of the right wing on radio and the Internet with its coded and uncoded calls to violence, of "2nd Amendment remedies," of cross hairs superimposed on states and on individuals simply has no visible counterpart on the left. When the right discusses the violent left, it must seek overseas examples or something from decades ago in America's past.

Why I Support Wikileaks And Assange's Rights

Journalism is at its lowest point ever since the Bush administration co-opted it along with their partners in crime, people like Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch. But to have Obama follow in the same footsteps as those of his predecessor, and even go steps further in the acts of preventing the American people from knowing the truth about its government's activities around the world, is an abomination. It's really hard for me to recognize the man in the White House. He doesn't stand for any principals that he ran on, or that the American people overwhelming elected him on.

I stand in support of Mr. Assange and Wikileaks. And, no, I am not stupid enough to equate what Mr. Assange has done with that of Ellsberg for leaking what has become known as The Pentagon Papers. Ellsberg released documents that showed the Johnson/Nixon administrations lies being touted in America and across the world in order to cover their tracks for an unsubstantiated war in Vietnam and elsewhere in that area.

Wikileaks doesn't expose lies so much as it just highlights what our government is doing and what they are refusing to inform the American public they are doing. Obama is not disputing the validity of said documents and their content, he is simply trying to make the leaks criminal by labeling them as somehow exposing security secrets that will put Americans that are engaged in the wars in danger, and will promote more terrorism. Maybe so, maybe not.

Some pertinent parts from the leaks. Like the fact that our government paid for Afghanistan leaders to hold parties where they procured underage boys to dress up as girls, dance for the Afghanistan leaders, and then allow said leaders to rape them.

Or, how about the fact that the Vatican forced the Irish government to grant Vatican officials immunity in their part in the ever ongoing abuse of children by Catholic priests.

Or the fact that big pharma giant Pfizer basically threatened to release damaging information about certain Nigerian leaders in order to force the Nigerian government to drop criminal charges against them for their controversial use of children for clinical trials, and who were harmed by a new antibiotic, Trovan, during a meningitis epidemic of unprecedented scale in Kano in 1996.

These are important things that never see the light of day in American journalism, be it print, television or radio. The corporate conglomerates that own most of the world-wide media have an agenda, and that is to push the agenda of the ruling parties in exchange for printing said parties' propaganda as opposed to reporting the news.

As Glenn Greenwald states:

That's why this cannot-be-killed lie about WikiLeaks' "indiscriminate" dumping of cables has so consumed me. It's not because it would change much if they had done or end up doing that -- it wouldn't -- but because it just so powerfully proves how mindlessly subservient the American establishment media is: willing to repeat over and over completely false claims as long as it pleases the right people -- the same people to whom they claim they are "adversarial watchdogs." It's when they engage in such clear-cut, deliberate propagandizing that their true function -- their real identity -- is thrown into such stark relief.

These so called journalistic outlets calling for Assange to be convicted of treason (that's stupid, since Assange is not an American citizen, dipshits), to calling for his outright murder by assassination, is alarming. And our government's use of the internet to force providers to take down Wikileaks' websites, and putting pressure on other governments to do the same, is not only pathetic, but disturbing in its inensity to try to silence the truth from being put forth to not only just the American people, but to the world.

We are no longer a world where the will of the people have any value. We are a world where the will of the few rich and powerful must be kept as the status quo, even if it means demonizing the true heroes and silencing them, even by death.

Life. Liberty. The pursuit of happiness. These things are no longer available to the people of the world. They have become the province of the rich and powerful.

Let Them Eat Cake! Oh, You Heard That One Before, My Bad

Rep. Aaron Schock (IL-18) took his turn at spouting Republican talking points on Morning Joe, with the need to extend all the Bush Tax Cuts. When asked by Pat Buchanan on where Republicans could compromise to ensure that they reach a deal with Democrats before the Bush Tax Cuts expire at the end of the year, Schock's answer -- full extension for all of them -- leaves both Buchanan and Eugene Robinson laughing out loud at the young congressman.

And Schock does look a bit red-faced, of course, but he has no idea how foolish his response sounds to non-Republicans, because in Republican Land tax cuts always create prosperity and jobs (except for the dismal, almost no job creation during the Bush years). And that extending all the Bush tax cuts won't add to the deficit because the tax cuts will magically spur the economy, in some fairytale Republicans tell themselves. And never mind that the national debt nearly doubled under George Bush with unfunded and misguided tax cuts, Medicaid Part D, two wars, etc. That's yesterday's news. Today it's the Democrats who are the fiscally irresponsible ones, left trying to clean up after the Bush disaster.

And this comes from supposedly one of the best and brightest of that crowd who'll run the House in the new year. It boggles the mind. Whenever someone asks a straight-forward question from them they get a load of hogwash which should be greeted with scorn and ridicule, because their answers are ridiculous, but for whatever reasons they're treated as serious people when all the evidence is to the contrary.

There are several insightful posts up on AMERICAblog and Crooks and Liars this morning about the financial dealings between the federal government's reserve bank and corporate financial institutions that should raise a few eyebrows. Lots of hanky panky, wink wink, type of stuff, so that big wig bankers making millions of dollars a year, could stay afloat while we regular Americans are handed out doggie treats and told "hey, enjoy your food, remember, there are starving people in China." Also equally revealing from a post on Crooks and Liars (just go read everything on there today, damn it) highlighting the fact that outside of the TARP program, apparently there was another free money trough that just about every corporation dipped into (Verizon, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Caterpillar, McDonalds, Harley Davidson, General Electric ... you see where I am going). Of course, BofA was the biggest feeder at the trough (am definitely waiting for the Wikileaks on that company's treasonous activities).

On the other hand, the government continues to browbeat those that have been forced into unemployment due to companies like Verizon, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Caterpillar, McDonalds, Harley Davidson, General Electric, BofA (again, you see where I am going) laid off millions of workers so that they could (a) up the profit margin for their corporate CEO's and stockholders and (b) steal money from the federal government that rightfully belongs to the taxpayers (because, as we all know, the above named corporations paid zero to little in taxes during this time, thanks to safe haven off shoring of their "business" locale and the wonderful loopholes in the tax code that only said businesses seem capable of using to not pay their fair share of taxes in this country).

Kids, we are seriously in French Revolution era crisis right now. The Grinch is in the White House, merrily playing with himself as he decides to screw America this Christmas by extending (oh, temporarily will be the explanation, so it will supposedly be palatable to us peons) those tax cuts for the rich, and the Grinch will pass along the misinformation that said "compromise" will help we little people because, you know, giving the rich more money will result in the rich creating jobs! Yeah, um, someone tell me again how many jobs have been created since the Bush era began? Yeah, that's why so many are in the bread line, sadly eating their doggie treats that are supposed to placate them, while the rich continue to dine on caviar and champagne.

And more good news for the rich (and the stupidly Republican crowd and their supporters) ... unemployment benefit extensions have been cut as of yesterday! Yeah! More money for the rich people! Yeah!

I wish I could say Merry Christmas this year, but for millions and millions of Americans, this just won't be a Merry Christmas.

We're In For A Bumpy Ride, Folks

REP. ALAN GRAYSON: Well, my defeat was part of a wave across the country that had Republicans winning because Democrats didn’t vote. We have the results from the pre-election turnout; we don’t have the results from the Election Day turnout yet. In my district, when you compare that to 2008, the Republican turnout in the early voting was down by 20 percent, and the Democratic turnout in early voting was down by 60 percent. And that wasn’t true just in my district; that was true all around Florida and pretty much the whole country, except for the West Coast and New England. And as a result of that, virtually every Democrat who won in 2008 by less than ten points loss this year. There was only one exception out of twenty-four. And there were forty-four more Democrats who won by more than ten points in 2008 who managed to lose this year, because their Democratic voters didn’t turn up. It’s not a situation where Democrats—Democratic voters decided to vote Republican; it’ a situation where Democratic voters didn’t vote. And when Democrats don’t vote, Democrats can’t win.

Courtesy of Democracy Now.

I can't verify the figures that Rep. Grayson quoted, but try to even imagine that Democratic voters in his district were down 60% from last year, and that tells you something. It means the Republicans have not won based on anything the American people are voicing over preferring Republican ruling to Democrats ruling. It's as I have said all along, that the Republicans will take over in 2010 because the liberal base shut down, stayed home and didn't give a fuck.

And it's going to get uglier based on the fact that the newly elected idiots think they have the American people on their side, so they are threatening to completely dismantle what little Obama was able to accomplish his first two years. Couple that with the Obama administration basically feeling they now need to bend over even more to accommodate the new idiots in Congress.

Try to imagine the chaos.

The backlash to all this might in someway benefit liberals come 2012, that is, if the liberal base can find any people like Grayson to run. That will be difficult, however, in light of the Citizen's United decision that proved in this election cycle corporate dollars, and rich peoples' interests currently are the priority of the Republican party. If things pan out the way the Republicans (and that includes the idiots that became governors of many states) say they want, we will see more debt, rollbacks and cutbacks in Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, unemployment benefits, etc. And, we will see more homeless regular Americans, more out of work Americans, more poor Americans that used to be middle class Americans, and more angry Americans. Media will no longer be independent in any fashion as everything will be owned by Murdoch-like minded rich conservatives consumed with the idea they can control the world mind think (just like Hearst did back in his day). Internet freedom will go down the "tubes" and hate speech will become the norm, especially on the airwaves. Money will still be flowing into two countries that should be flowing back into the American economy. Some idiot will push for bombing something in Iran, and all hell will break loose in the Middle East. And, oh look, south of the border, some pretty scary terrorists will be forcing more and more Mexicans into leaving and heading north to get away from the drug cartel's control of their country. Hell, why not throw in a plague or two -- ok, I'm not going to really go there, but the fact that our FDA has no backbone and people keep getting sick and die from their lack of oversight should not be treated lightly. You have to remember that most of Americans who shop at places like Walmart or large grocery chains like Ralphs/Food4Less/Kroeger, these places buy their food, meat and produce NOT from local growers, but from giant corporations that have contempt for regulations that keep their bottom line from growing. What's a few dead Americans to them?

Personally, I'm thinking French Revolution time in the near future. Anyone got a guillotine?

Ramdom Thoughts As We Approach November Mid-Terms

These are the kind of nutty things being said by the Republican and teabagger candidates for various offices in the November 2010 races.

QUESTIONER: Given the salmonella outbreaks that we have seen every three weeks, with the chicken industry, with pesticides and what not that they put onto spinach in order to get the salmonella. We have rules and regulations. However there is no rule mandating that they be enforced. Is there some way when you’re in Congress that you’ll have a bill passed that says instead of having companies voluntarily change, mandate that they must change or give them the ability to shut ‘em down and that goes for mining companies or anyone who has hundreds of violations against ‘em.

KELLY: Here’s the thing with that point, that’s the first time I’ve ever had that question. Congratulations on being unique. First shot out of the box, no ma’am. I do not believe that what we’re lacking right now is a lack of regulations on business. [...] You could literally go spit on the grass and get arrested by the federal government if you wanted to right now. [...] More regulation, more federal control, giving Nancy Pelosi more power, is not the solution right now.

QUESTIONER: Who’s protecting us?

KELLY: That’s the thing, ma’am, it’s our job to protect ourselves. Because no one else is going to look out for your best interests except for you. [...]

Yeah, you heard/read that right. I find this particular comment just plain stupid considering I was sick from salmonella from the contaminated eggs that made it to my local supermarket, and not once, but three times, before I was able to figure out it was the eggs (after the recall gave the numbers of the cartons, and mine was one of those being recalled). How in the hell am I supposed to regulate myself? How does anyone know that the foods they are supposed to believe are safe when they go shopping just may kill them?

That man is just plain stupid.

Then there is this from a blogger after attending the President's speech at USC Friday.

Whatever your opinion of where we are and where we're going is, the choice on November 2nd falls to one between a Tea Party future where climate change is a lie and safety nets for citizens are unconstitutional, or a future where progress is imperfect, flawed and slow, but progress nevertheless. Is it all shiny like 2008? Not really. It's banged up like the metaphorical car in the ditch, but that car can still move forward. With help.

Please vote on November 2nd.

Yeah. I get it that the President's ability to "move" a crowd vis-a-vis a speech is dramatic in its presentation. But get over it. All he has accomplished, for the most part, is just give great speeches. I was taught a long, long, long, long time ago to not listen to the words, but look at the actions of a person if you want to believe in them. In this case, the words of Obama have always outshined his actions. In fact, his words are impossible to live up to at this point in time. Those words are what made the dramatic change in the make up of government in 2008. It is the actions and non-actions of those that ended up in the government thereafter that have concerned me, and others like me. I'm not gearing up to vote just because the President made a great speech! Fuck that.

If we couldn't get even 1/4 of our agenda passed in two years, with a complete domination of Washington, one has to stop, scratch their head, and ask themselves "what went wrong." When you ponder that question, and realize the answer lies square with the corporate control of both parties, you realize there is no value in your vote. It won't fucking matter.

The rich are giddy over the prospects of this election (not to be confused with regular Republican voters) because they realize they will be able to gut regulations, loot the American people's owned government finances to line their coffers, buy up those distressed mansions and hotels and the "everyman" home, with nary a care about what it will do to this country. The teabaggers are just the oddballs that will provide cover for the rich people. They will be blamed for gumming up the works, when in reality, it's the rich corporations that have been plotting this take over.

In 2006, Koch Industries owner Charles Koch revealed to the Wall Street Journal’s Stephen Moore that he coordinates the funding of the conservative infrastructure of front groups, political campaigns, think tanks, media outlets and other anti-government efforts through a twice annual meeting of wealthy right-wing donors. He also confided to Moore, who is funded through several of Koch’s ventures, that his true goal is to strengthen the “culture of prosperity” by eliminating “90%” of all laws and government regulations. Although it is difficult to quantify the exact amount Koch alone has funneled to right-wing fronts, some studies have pointed toward $50 million he has given alone to anti-environmental groups. Recently, fronts funded by Charles and his brother David have received scrutiny because they have played a pivotal role in the organizing of the anti-Obama Tea Parties and the promotion of virulent far right lawmakers like Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC). (David Koch praised DeMint and gave him a “Washington Award” shortly after the senator promised to “break” Obama by making health reform his “Waterloo.”)

First Bush v. Gore and now Citizens United v. FEC.

Money buys power; it always has. Campaign finance laws will be the only thing to stop the power grab. The teabaggers like to brand themselves the "party" of regular people, but that's been debunked so many times, I'm not going to waste my time on my blog preaching to the choir over this. Yeah, the candidates the rich people prop up under the banner of the teabagger party may be regular nut jobs, but they don't have a clue about government. They are just puppets of people like the Koch brothers. That's why they, as a whole, don't bother me, per se. I know that it's the corporate money controlling both parties that will doom the United States.

To paraphrase a cartoon character: Be afwaid. Be vewwy, veewwy afwaid.

DeMint says “this idea that government has to do something is not a good idea.”

Woke up this morning to this:

Speaking with host Bryan Fischer, DeMint argued that “this idea that government has to do something is not a good idea.” He then went on to insist that “the less we do, the better”:

FISCHER: Do you think some kind of gridlock is possible and what do you think will happen if that ensues?

DEMINT: Well I had a group of businessmen tell me the other day “if you can just stop the tax increases on us and then have two years of gridlock, that would be the best thing that could happen for business because at least we would know what to expect.” Right now they don’t know what the government is going to do to them next. So this idea that government has to do something is not a good idea. So I think the less we do, the better except maybe to dismantle some of the federal programs that are making it harder for America to be competitive.

First we had to deal with the Republicans claiming the mantle of the "party of No." Now we have One Republican God who feels it is his duty to make sure that the government does nothing. He specifically (DeMint) states that he does not believe the government should actually do anything! How about we don't pay you then? How about we take away your travel expenses and daily stipends? How about we take away your offices? If it is the job of government to do nothing, then why have the House, Senate or even a President? Let's just have a coup, set up a dictator and run with it, right?

I didn't realize the stupidity level was that high in the halls of Congress.

Need. More. Coffee.

HT Think Progress.

UPDATE: Seems someone in the Senate was "googling" the word "DeMint" and found their way to my blog LOL!

Glenn Greenwald Nails It On Social Security Comission's Aim To Gut SS Benefits

Even those who are ideologically opposed to "social programs" as confiscatory or "socialist" should find this glaring disparity in treatment highly objectionable. The government policies which most benefit the wealthiest -- the owners of the Government -- continue unabated: endless war, private Surveillance State explosions, Wall Street bailouts, too-big-to-fail banks, perhaps even extending Bush tax cuts, while the programs on which the most vulnernable depend are targeted to pay for all that. There have been some gestures during the Obama presidency to work against this trend -- most notably the increase of health care subsidies for millions of poor people -- but targeting Social Security in order to pay for wars, to feed the private Surveillance State, and to extend Bush tax cuts or the suspension of the estate tax is pernicious no matter one's economic ideology. This isn't about free market capitalism; it's crony capitalism -- oligarchy -- where government policies are constructed to transfer wealth to the same small faction at the top.

In the Post today, Milbank justifies the targeting of Social Security recipients and wounded veterans on the ground that nothing should be "sacrosanct" when considering how to solve America's deficit problem. Leaving aside the fact that Social Security is not really a deficit issue, the true causes of America's debt and deficits are absolutely sacrosanct and will never be attacked by this Commission. Does anyone believe it's even remotely possible that meaningful cuts in America's war and military spending, surveillance and intelligence networks, or even corporate-plundering of America's health care system will be enacted as a result of this Commission process? Of course not. Those genuine debt-causing policies are "sacrosanct" because the people who profit from them own and control Washington (and share common socio-economic interests with the millionaire Commission members targeting social programs and the billionaires who are behind this). It's the people who don't control Washington -- ordinary Americans who need Social Security -- who are being targeted in order to feed even further the fattest, most piggish factions actually in control. That's what makes this process so ugly and odious.

A very concise analysis of the current administration's stealth plan to keep the rich rich and the poor poor, as well as move the middle class out of the middle class and into the poor class. Simpson's outbursts are just the tip of the iceberg in this Social Security "commission" and the eventual gutting of the only program that has kept seniors from being put out into the street.

Gotta love me some Obama ... not. I really hope that after the 2010 election, and everyone forgets to do the job they were voted in to do and start "campaigning" again for 2012, that the netroots really, really, really get going on someone to challenge Obama in the primary for 2012 and show him how we really feel by making him a one term president. That ought to slap a little reality into politics ... or not.

I, for one, have never paid into Social Security (don't ask), and so, I've been aware for most of my adult life I was not going to get anything. I may not be a Republican rich person, but I am definitely hoarding my cash (not putting it in any banks). I didn't have a 401K or any money invested in stocks or bonds, so I didn't see my "portfolio" vanish. I never owned a house, so I didn't end up losing one. I switched to public transit, so I don't have to deal with insurance, gas and vehicle maintenance. I don't get sick and have never had health insurance, and I sure as hell don't miss not having it. The few visits I have to make for check ups cost me less than having insurance premiums to pay, and having the insurance companies decide not to pay for my doctors, anyway. All the things that were once a show of American excellence are now the bane of the average American, and the province of the rich and privileged.

I don't trust corporations and I don't trust our government, local, state or federal. I'm hunkering down and maintaining my lifestyle in a low-key fashion. If corporate America (including our corporate government controlled by corporate "people" thanks to SCOTUS) feels it is necessary to destroy this country, so be it. Just hurry up so we real Americans can start to build it from the bottom up. Only an idiot believes that we have to cut benefits to Americans, and middle class Americans at that, in order to keep paying for Iraq and Afghanistan's rebuilding! America is crumbling and our money is being syphoned by fat cats and foreigners.

At least I have a home in Bejing that I can retire to, and take my money with me. China will probably end up being the new America, anyway.

"How Did Stupid Get To Be A Badge Of Honor"

A good line from Keith Olbermann tonight. Finally, my meme worked it's way up to prime time (laughing my ass off!)

Quite honestly, the stupidity meter has been in high gear the past week, I've had no real ability to take the time to put a coherent post together. Each time I have a piece in mind after reading about some inane (or insane) idea, opinion, speech, action, etc. I read about some other inane (or insane) idea, opinion, speech, action, etc.

It has literally become repetitive -- the stupid Glen Beck "March" on Washington (and the "guide list" of where to avoid black people), the birthers that still think Obama was born in Kenya (and the thoroughly and expertly debunked post), the continuous "surprise!" that is expressed by those communities still using these voting machines, that 75% of the BP oil spill is cleaned up, not to mention that the "government" BP handler of the pay out money to those harmed by the spill is trying his damndest to move it along (and make people who take the money sign contract giving away their rights to ever sue BP for these damages!), being a country so full of hate that if we wear the fucking wrong jersey to a game we will be escorted by the police from the sporting event, Obama people not understanding why the LEFT IS FUCKING MAD and will not vote, (and calling for drug testing us whackos!) -- stopping to take a breath!

You get what I mean.

War Money, Capaign Finance Reform Bust, "Netroots Schizo," And Art

Months behind schedule and stripped of money for domestic stimulus programs, legislation to fund the troop surge in Afghanistan was sent to President Barack Obama on Tuesday after disgruntled Democrats failed to block it.

Democratic leaders had to rely on Republican support to pass the almost $59 billion measure to fund Obama's additional 30,000 troops in Afghanistan and other programs. The final vote was 308-114. Twelve Republicans and 102 Democrats opposed it.

[snip]

With the new war spending, the total amount of money that Congress has allotted for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan surpasses $1 trillion.

This is just amazingly ridiculous and stupid, I have almost nothing to say about it!

The Senate Republicans, voting as a bloc, just sustained their filibuster of campaign finance reform. The vote was 57 - 41. All the Democrats present, even Ben Nelson, voted to end the filibuster. (Reid voted no for procedural reasons.) Remember when John McCain used to be an advocate for campaign finance reform, before he flipped on that issue like every other? What a fraud. And, Maine has a Clean Elections law, which passed as a citizen initiative back in 1996. So, this should have been an easy vote for Snowe and Collins, but they must show fealty to Mitch McConnell and the GOP funders, not Mainers.

Another score for the corporate people! Down with real people, damn it!

And then, there's "Netroots Schizo."

I had a good time in Vegas, so I didn't spend a huge amount of time at NN, but I did spend enough time to take in the mood, and it was schizophrenic. About half the people there are some combination of angry, disappointed and bitter with Democrats in general and Obama in particular.

This group sees him as not a heck of a lot better than George Bush, and in fact the Democrat who extended some of Bush's worst policies, especially in civil liberties. This includes a lot of feminists (angry at what they see as betrayals on abortion), many Hispanics angry at the continued harsh enforcement of immigration laws, gays who feel Obama has betrayed clear promises on gay rights, anti-war activists saddened by escalation in Afghanistan and elsewhere, and a mishmash of folks who think health care reform was a dog's breakfast and that the general way the economy and financial reform has been handled is a disgrace.

Then there are the folks who would characterize themselves, in general, as hard-nosed pragmatists and "realists". These range from the "Obama is the greatest liberal president since FDR" types, who think that the Obama is just wonderful and those progressives and liberals who don't agree are simply delusional to those who feel that a lot of what he's done has been watered down pap in general but that it's certainly better than nothing and that those who are disappointed are unrealistic idealists who simply don't understand the constraints Obama and Congressional Democrats are working under.

Those that read MY blog regularly, know exactly what camp I am in.

Mear One is still working on his mural, although he doesn't need the machine to push him to the top of the building to work. Now, all he needs is a ladder to finish it up. I'll post some pictures of his progress, as well as pictures of the subject (so you can get a perspective of the work Mear has done) in a day or two.

So ... how is the week going for you?

Till Death Do Us Part - Pact Between Humans And Earth

Seems the frustration is everywhere.

Updated proposal: Together, we pledge allegiance to the best of America, its democratic principles and economic opportunity, its many freedoms, and high standards of true justice for all. We believe America's destiny co-exists within the community of civilized nations, enriched by the culturally-rich dreams, cultures, and divinities of all lands. Thus, we commit to sustain all living things and the inherited, good earth on which human and animal life and survival depend.

Okay, I dropped the flag (a war relic), God (under or wherever, by definition beyond our commands), and the "indivisible" ploy. One may invoke national unity as a goal but logic fades when proclaiming anything man-made (temporal and geographical) "indivisible," as if immutable.

Community Grows - or Withers

What most depresses me isn't bad news per se, but ruthless assaults against the hard-won legacy of what Americanism at its best can stand for, symbolized by education for all, barn-raising and taking care of the other guy in need. Divided and alienated, even if we elect courageous leaders, insufficient critical mass won't address continent-sized dilemmas. Ransacking the environment is bad enough, but torpedoing the national spirit guarantees stalemate. As Einstein teaches: "You cannot solve a problem with the same thinking that created it."

Long piece, but you NEED to read it.

Another interesting read:

In an age, when nature is besieged and the political landscape blighted, and one stands, stoop shouldered and wincing into the howling wasteland of epic-scale idiocy extant in the era, a solitary person can feel lost ... marooned inside an increasingly isolated sense of self. Whether urban, suburban, or rural dwelling, the sense of alienation, for an individual, is profound ... as discernible to the eye as the constellations of foreclosure signs stippling overgrown front lawns across the land ... as hidden as the abandoned dreams within.