Day: November 25, 2008

The American “Inner” Addict

The American nation has become a nation of junkies.  And more and more join the ranks everyday.  It is not crack or heroin or pills or anything like that, but they are addicted and they are not finding a cure.

On 24 Oct 08 I wrote about the American addiction to oil….and that the oil companies are doing all possible to keep their customers addicted.  Take a good honest look at the economy.  The United States Of America are no longer a manufacturing country, it has become a nation of consumers.  We as a people are not creating anything but debt.

And yes I said ADDICTS.  In the 50’s the oil companies created the beginnings of our addiction to oil.  They created the idea that the US was a car owning society.  But wait it did not end there.  In the 80’s credit companies helped create the credit crunch that we are now facing.  They created the illusion of the “American Dream”–of owning a house a big car and unlimited purchasing power.

So you do not believe it?  Just turn on your tube and listen to the ads–you are a complete zero if you do not have this card or that or that you somehow impede the follow of commerce if you pay in cash.  Madison Ave. has used its marketing prowess to create an atmosphere of failure if one does not have a card to whip out in public.

For years credit companies have been targeting low income, minorities and the uneducated for “quick” credit.  This does two things, increases consumerism and creates a whole new group of indentured servants.  And these people will work a lifetime to keep what they have and to pay the credit companies.  Making the payees beholden to the credit companies forever.

Thus the uneducated, low income and minorities are nothing more than indentured servants, indentured to the credit companies to pay off the loans and debts.  Do not like the term?  Then try wage slaves.

My question now is, how will the massive bailout help eliminate this growing problem?  So far it does not address this, it does seem to want to help free up more credit so that more people can be added to the addiction.  The American people are strung out on oil and credit and the corporations are the pushers that we all dispise.

If you like being an indentured servant then by all means just bury your head in the sand and ignore your addiction.  But remember that America is NO longer a world producer, we are a world consumer–and consumption is addictive.

The sad part is, like another addiction, credit and oil will not have much success in breaking the habits of generations.  And YOU, the consumer owe your soul to the company store–YOU ARE AN INDENTURED SERVANT of the credit companies.

Obama’s Right Wing Transition

The increasingly right-wing character of the transition being organized in preparation for President-Elect Barack Obama’s inauguration in January has elicited expressions of concern from the middle-class “left.” This milieu, whose views are reflected in publications like the Nation magazine, played a significant role during the election campaign in promoting Obama’s candidacy and the Democratic Party as vehicles for fundamental political and social change.

The past ten days have served to expose the real content of Obama’s “change you can believe in.” First came the appointment of Rahm Emanuel, the right-wing Democratic congressman and millionaire investment banker, as chief of staff. No sooner was he tapped for the post than Emanuel pledged to the Wall Street Journal that the Obama White House would “stand up to” the strengthened Democratic majorities in Congress.

Then came news that the transition teams at the Pentagon and CIA were headed, respectively, by supporters of the Iraq war and CIA veterans who were complicit in policies of torture and extraordinary rendition as well as in fabricating the phony intelligence used to promote the war against Iraq.

What is taking shape is a government that represents continuity with the last eight years far more than change. Its personnel and the policies with which they are identified spell a continuation of wars of aggression abroad and domestic policies that defend the interests of America’s financial elite at the expense of the broad mass of working people.

To anyone who paid serious attention to what Obama was saying and doing in the course of the election campaign—his vote to expand domestic spying and grant immunity to the telecoms, his statements threatening war against Iran and Pakistan and vowing undying fealty to Israel, his admission that his Iraq withdrawal plan would leave a “residual force” of tens of thousands of troops in the country, while its pace would be set by commanders on the ground, and his support for the $700 billion Wall Street bailout—the character of the transition should hardly come as a surprise.

Were you listening during the primaries and then the campaign?  If you were then you will be weary of this administration taking shape.

GOP Challenges The Laws

The national Republican Party sued the Federal Election Commission Thursday, seeking to overturn prohibitions on unregulated corporate and labor contributions and to make it easier to coordinate spending with federal candidates.

In two lawsuits, the Republican National Committee directly challenged post-Watergate restrictions on the ability of parties and candidates to work hand-in-hand on political campaigns and the law Congress passed in 2002 banning unlimited contributions know as “soft money.”

Republican National Committee Chairman Robert M. “Mike” Duncan said in an interview that the suits were designed to “strengthen the Republican Party and bring a more level playing field to campaign finance.”

At issue are two distinct laws — one passed in the aftermath of the Watergate abuses of the early 1970s and the other a six-year-old ban on soft money. Both laws have been upheld by the Supreme Court, but since then the court has a new Chief Justice in John G. Roberts and a new justice in Samuel Alito.

The lawsuits come after the defeat of Republican presidential candidate John McCain, a fierce opponent of soft money and one of the authors of the 2002 legislation that banned the parties from raising unlimited money from corporations, unions and wealthy individuals.

The RNC lawsuit said the total ban on soft money amounts to a violation of the First Amendment’s guarantees of free speech and association.

The RNC wants to be able to raise unlimited contributions for “non-federal” activities — that is, for expenditures unrelated to presidential, U.S. Senate or House of Representative elections. The money, the complaint says, would be used to help elect Republicans to state offices, to finance congressional redistricting efforts by state Republican parties following the 2010 census, and to finance lobbying efforts on federal legislative issues.

The RNC’s effort to permit fundraising for state parties and state candidates would reverse a key component of the 2002 law that McCain helped write with Democratic Sen. Russell Feingold of Wisconsin and House members Christopher Shays, R-Conn., and Martin Meehan, D-Mass.

Under that law, the national parties can only raise money under federal fundraising restrictions. The law banned the national parties from raising so-called soft-money — that is, unlimited amounts of money from corporations, unions or individuals. If the national parties can raise money for state parties or for state candidates, they would adjust that fundraising to state limits, some of which are far more lenient than federal law.

Sounds like sour grapes?

Hot For Teacher

Last year a teacher was fired from our local middle school. I don’t know the whole story, but apparently she showed too much skin at a bar one night. The school principal happened to be there and witnessed it. I was shocked she was fired for that. Even if she stripped topless, it happened at a bar. On her off time. When she was out with girl friends. Middle school students can’t get in to a bar so it’s not likely any of them would have been subjected to it. And I think many of us have had one too many on a girls night out and done something we aren’t to proud of. But she was fired anyway.

And she wasn’t even a former porn star with a pornographic website currently on the internet.

But there’s a teacher’s aide in New Jersey that still has her job even though she is a former porn star with an active website. She also works with children at her local YMCA. As you can imagine there are some parents that are none to happy about this. But the school says they don’t have grounds to fire her because porn doesn’t show up in a background check and being a porn star isn’t illegal.

And that porn star past? It’s been 5 years since she has done porn. Crystal Gunns, and her obvious assets, appeared in at least three adult-themed movies: ‘Busty Dildo Lovers #5′ in 2003, ‘Score Brabusters’ in 2002, and ‘Busty Dildo Lovers #2′, also in 2002. She also still appears to maintain an adult Web site at crystalgunns[dot]com. The front page features a login prompt for paying members. Nonetheless, finding photos or videos of her pornographic endeavors is easily enough accomplished with a simple google search however those results will be NSFW so take note!


This bring up a lot of questions. Should her pornographic past keep her from working with children? Or does her previous profession have nothing to do with her current job? What rights does she have? Does she deserve the chance to prove she can be a mentor to children? After all, she isn’t a pedophile. She’s just a woman who had sex on film for money. And sex is a very natural thing. Although sex on TV isn’t really that natural.

Do her previous choice of employment mean she doesn’t have the morals to be a good role model to children today? Does being a porn star make you a bad person? Being in a porno isn’t illegal. It’s probably not something you want for your children. But then I doubt this woman is talking about her past to the kids at her school.

I believe that her boobs are 44GG or GGG–now talk about waking up male hormones!

APEC Has A Plan

The United States, China, Japan and 18 other economies in Asia and the Americas promised fast and decisive action on Sunday to prevent a severe global economic downturn.

With recession gripping parts of the world and financial markets in chaos, leaders at the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, or APEC, said the slowdown is “one of the most serious economic challenges we have ever faced.”

They said free trade and higher government spending were key to resolving the crisis and supported a big push to revive long-stalled global trade talks by seeking agreements in the contentious sectors of farming and manufactured goods.

The leaders promised to “take all necessary economic and financial measures to resolve this crisis.”

They pledged to work together to ease the turmoil, agreed not to adopt new trade barriers for a year and called for better regulation of the financial industry.

They also supported overhauls of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank at a time when more countries need emergency bailouts to avert economic disaster.

APEC, which groups some of the most open economies in the world, warned that countries should not be tempted to use protectionist measures even if job losses mount.

“We are convinced that we can overcome this crisis in a period of 18 months,” a statement by the leaders said.

18 months?  They have promised to end the economic crisis in 18 months……see what blind idiocy gets you?

Huckabee: The Mouth Of The South?

If the Republican Party wants to get back on track, former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee says GOP leaders must first restore voters’ confidence in the government.

Huckabee said Republicans have lost their reputation as people who believe in curtailing spending and attempting to balance the budget and have a new label: the “budget busters,” who spend more than they can pay back while priding themselves in not raising taxes

Huckabee boiled down the blueprint for his party’s future to a three-step plan: “Clarify what the principles are that we want to govern by; get elected on those principles because we are authentic in believing them; and thirdly, when elected — implement those principles and show the benefits.”

He add, “I think when it comes to politics, the answer is ‘show me the results.’ ”

As far as the role he’ll play in reshaping the GOP, Huckabee said he doesn’t have “a niche carved out.” The former Baptist pastor said he intends to continue to be a voice for what he hopes is a “common-sense conservatism” through his television show on Fox News and upcoming commentaries on ABC Radio Networks.

I think it would be a safe thing to say that he, Huckabee, is looking to 2012.

What No Chain?

An idea whose time has finally come.

Pedalers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains.

If you’ve ever been riding down the street and had your pants cuff ripped asunder, there may be a revolution at hand.

Trek Bicycle is part of a movement to bury the finger-pinching, pants-munching, rust-prone sprocket and chain, and usher in an era of belt-driven bikes that might have the inventors of the self-propelled transportation Schwinning in their graves.

Wisconsin-based Trek is introducing two models this holiday season that are chainless, instead using technology most often found in things like motorcycles and snowmobiles. While some smaller custom bike makers have used them before, Trek is the first to use the technology for mass-produced bicycles.

The nation’s largest domestic bike manufacturer is hoping to capitalize on a new group of urban pedal-pushers who are trading their cars for a more low-tech way to get around because of gas prices as well as health and environmental concerns.

The U.S. bicycle industry was a $5.4 billion industry in 2007, including the retail value of bicycles, related parts, and accessories through all channels of distribution, according to research funded by the National Sporting Goods Association. More than 43 million Americans age 7 and older were estimated to have ridden a bike six times or more in 2005, the industry group said.