Month: July 2010

BP Must Pay!

From the VOMITORIUM

From time to time there are some things that happen in the political world that can be best described as a………..BLOWJOB!  And now it has Florida on its knees…..(pun intended)

It seems that Florida’s governor, Charlie Crist has a new idea:

Gov. Charlie Crist authorized property appraisers Wednesday to calculate lost real-estate values caused by the Gulf oil spill, so homeowners and businesses can send the tab to BP.

The governor signed an executive order authorizing property appraisers in 26 counties under threat from the oil spill to give property owners an updated assessment on their homes and businesses if they believe they have lost value because of the spill. Property owners could use the document to file a claim for damages against BP, although they wouldn’t necessarily have their tax bills lowered.

“It is logical to predict that the oil spill will result in declining property values,” Crist said at a news conference. “Businesses and families of the Gulf Coast did nothing to warrant this loss, but they bear the burden of it.”

State law requires property to pay taxes based on the value of their property in January. But in many cases — particularly for hotels and businesses dependent on the beach — their property values have dropped as much as 30 percent since then.

His action drew approval from some affected property appraisers, although staff time and cost of reappraisals will be tough on cash-strapped counties.

This is a helluva idea, right?

This is just plain stupid!  It is just another political ploy to gain votes in Crist upcoming election against Rubio.  This will probably never happen….why?  Florida has suffered much from the economic meltdown…how does one prove that the oil spill is the cause of loss of value?

If you read my stuff you know that I think that BP should be held accountable for their damage because of the oil spill….but this idea is just plain moronic…..does that mean that I can sue AIG or Goldman-Sachs for the loss of value of my property because they gambled with my money?

This is all so much political theater….after all, he has an election to win.

War Of The Words

Inkwell Institute

2010/2012 Election Series

In four months the mid term elections will be happening and in the meantime the war of the words is heating up….the silly season it has been called…..the he said, they said……all the humor of an election and the campaigns that accompany it…..

Both sides are screaming at the voter…….let us start with Obama and the Dems…..

President Barack Obama implored heartland voters Thursday to believe his economic policies averted impending disaster, pushing a hard-to-swallow message at a time when unemployment still hovers near double-digit levels.”What is absolutely clear is we’re moving in the right direction, we’re headed in the right direction,” Obama said at an electric truck factory here, before a pair of campaign appearances for Senate Democratic candidates in Missouri and Nevada.

He will be pushing his FinReg and the upcoming energy bill and he will avoid the immigration thing, for now.

The Repubs are just as guilty….they are screaming at the voter also…..

on Fox News Sunday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he and other Republicans condemned Barton’s remarks (and forced him to apologize). In terms of the election, McConnell said the Obama-ites are seeking to change the subject from issues they plan to address this fall.The Democrats are “in deep trouble and the reason for that is the American people have looked at this administration,” McConnell said. “They’ve seen them running banks, insurance companies, car companies, nationalizing the student loan business, taking over health care, running up debts. America would like to do a mid-course correction.”

It is what the American people want (at least that is what the Repubs tell us) but so far NO one has ask me what I want (maybe they read the blog…yea right!)

The GOP will push the jobs issue…it is a winner for them…at least at the polls……even if there is NOT much sense in any proposal they have to increase employment, other than the vague promises of supply side economics.

Let us look at a well known maverick, John McCain.  He has shed his maverick moniker and embraced the views and verbiage of the far right…all in the name of re-election.  He is nothing new…it is surprising just how hollow their words are when they need to be re-elected.

No matter who wins in November……the promises of change and such are just nothing more than idle promises……but we will have to trust those campaigning to hold to their word……and we have seen how silly that prospect is from past elections.  But Americans will smile and vote and give them another chance to do the right thing…..and then the bitching will start…….we NEVER learn!

It is a “War of Words” and nothing will change but the name on the congressional office door…….

Well Said, Keith!

I had a post along the same lines and just wanted all to hear what Olbermann had to say in his special comment section of his show…..He is spot on and well said.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/vp/38353508%2338353508

The media is still all over Obama and his admin for the incident…….where is the godd*mn outrage at the character assassination by a yellow journalist?  Where is the f*cking outrage at some malignant politico that has NO remorse for destroying an innocent persons life?  If these self-absorb morons that call themselves journalist cannot bring themselves to fight the political a/holes on the fringes then they need to retire and let “real” journalist have their jobs.

Some of these politics like to think themselves informed are nothing more than agents of the partisanship that they all bitch about……THEY ARE ALL COWARDS!

A Tea Party Caucus?

From the VOMITORIUM

Actually that is a real question….it seems that everyone’s mouth of the ignorant Right has decided to try and form a caucus within the Congress for the Tea Party….but first….what is a caucus?

A faction within a legislative body that pursues its interests through the legislative process: the Women’s Caucus; the Black Caucus.  Thgis is about the best for what Bachmann has in mind….yes Michele Bachmann is forming a caucus within the Congress……

Not surprisingly, Bachmann declared herself chair of the caucus, for which she filed paperwork on Thursday. “This caucus will espouse the timeless principles of our founding, principles that all Members of Congress have sworn to uphold,” she declared. “The American people are doing their part and making their voices heard and this caucus will prove that there are some here in Washington willing to listen.”  From WaPo blog “Post Partisan” by EJ Dionne.

I love it!  And now I wait for her to say just what principles our Founders had in mind……and I wait…….

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) will preside over the inaugural meeting of the caucus, and she said she hopes the newly formed group will provide a voice in Congress for “real housewives, real farmers, real businessmen, real plumbers.”

A dozen House Republicans have announced they will join the new Tea Party Caucus, and the group will gather Wednesday for its inaugural meeting.

The caucus has attracted GOP leaders — Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana, the third-ranking House Republican, and Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas, who heads the National Republican Congressional Committee. But House Minority Leader John A. Boehner of Ohio said he would not join.

At last count….there were 25 members of Congress that have joined the caucus.  And they seem to be the ones that cooked up the biggest lies during the health debate and are into the birther conspiracy and………well let us just say…the ones that bring down the collective IQ of conservs……

Now I would like to know why the need for a Tea Party Caucus?  A political game is the best reason…….Bachmann says she wants to hear from the “real” people and their concerns….but is that NOT the idea of these dips having an office, website, telephone, email etc?

If the GOP stands for small government, fiscal responsibility and the rest of the conserv ideas….why does there need to be a Tea Party Caucus?  What purpose will it serve other than to give the fringe right and better chance to hijack the conserv agenda, whatever that might be……

Finally! It Is Everything They Wanted!

Today is the big day!  The Prez will sign the new and improved FinReg bill into law….and it is everything they wanted….by they I mean Wall Street…..Obama has said….

“Because of this reform, the American people will never again be asked to foot the bill for Wall Street’s mistakes. There will be no more taxpayer-funded bailouts—period.”

The GOP immediately sent out their Agent Orange, Rep. Boehner, to condemn the bill and its passage (go figure)….which to me is astonishing because Wall Street made out like a bandit and the GOP should be pleased that the bill was so watered down…..or is it just a political tactic?

Any way……

The bill authorizes the allocation of pubic funds to pay for the operation, without congressional approval, with the proviso that the major banks would subsequently be taxed to defer some of the cost.

This amounts to the institutionalization of financial rescue operations, instead of the ad hoc methods employed in the fall of 2008. The procedure is being put into place precisely because the regulatory overhaul fails to impose any real restrictions on the speculative activities of the banks.

It does not restore the legal wall between commercial banking and investment banking, a central reform carried out during the Depression of the 1930s to prevent deposit-taking commercial banks from engaging in the high-risk speculation that is the bread and butter of investment banks and brokerages. The weakening and final removal of this wall in 1999 during the Clinton administration encouraged the wave of speculation and swindling that led to the collapse in September 2008.

It does not cap executive compensation.

It does not eliminate or seriously limit trading in derivatives, the complex and opaque financial instruments that played a central role in the collapse of American International Group (AIG) and threatened to topple the entire banking system.

Instead, the bill sets up what some have called a Potemkin village of regulatory structures with little real substance, which Wall Street banks will have little difficulty manipulating and gaming. For the most part, the details concerning how much capital banks must hold in reserve, what percentage of their capital they can invest in hedge funds, which types of derivatives will be forced onto clearinghouses and exchanges and which will continue to be traded in the “shadow banking system,” etc. will be determined by the various regulatory agencies.  It will grow the bureaucracy but will not cease the gambling by the Banksters with taxpayer money.

Once again the paid agents of Wall Street have successfully set the stage for another economic meltdown…….sooner rather than later……the only good thing is that youtube is up and alive and everything anyone has ever said about FinReg has been recorded and it will come back to them in the near future…….the American people are getting their Christmas goose early…..sorry to be a buzz kill!

Where Is The Condemnation?

More from the VOMITORIUM

By now I believe everybody has witnessed the story of the black lady who worked for the USDA and her racist rant….which was a total fabrication…..and the mainstream media once it got the whole tape came down on the side of the Right and asking why the WH act too quickly to force this woman to resign….

I agree that the government acted before the whole picture was seen……but that is NOT the story they should be reporting….but then ALL conservs will do the stories that will do the most harm to the Pres…..that is ALL that matters to make the WH look ineffectual and panicky…….

The REAL story should be that some yellow journalist has ruined the life of an innocent person…..all the try and get even with the NAACP for the resolution on racists in the Tea Party……..it is all about a woman that was slandered by some pig on the Far Right and NO one is holding him accountable, at least in the media.  Why?

The Mainstream Media should be ashamed of itself….if they want to be journalist than they need to let the bullshit reside where it is most comfortable….FOX News.  Watching FOX news I have NOT seen them apologize for their coverage on a loop to be sure that all their pea brain viewers would get a shot at it…….and after some coward trying to disguise himself as a journalist has gone on FOX and defended the tape…and still NO one has called him to task to his action…….

Let me be the first (hopefully NOT) to apologize to Ms. Sherrod for the treatment she has received and continues to receive in the media…”I am truly sorry for the actions of the media…..it is never about the truth but rather the agenda”…….

If you dipsticks take these people seriously as journalists then you deserve the crap they feed you!

A Solution For Afghanistan

The College of Political Knowledge

Professor’s Classroom

International Studies

Subject:  Afghan Politics

I thank my friend Quin over at Quintessential Havoc (blogroll will get you to his site) for making me think about this….I enjoy it when my talents are put to the task and Quin does have a way of pulling my chain….thanx my friend…..

As the war in Afghanistan drags on into its 10th year, there are many that are asking just what is the end game in the country, me being one of many that is asking.  There are many vague excuses for the continuation of the armed conflict….you noticed I said vague?  Yes vague…..is it to get al Qaeda?  How about the Taliban?  We are trying to give Afghanistan its first stable government in a thousand years.  But we are NOT there to build a nation.  What would you call it when one country imposes its political beliefs on another through the use of arms?

In case you are not sure….it is called NATION BUILDING………

Because of the tribal mentality of the country there is only ONE logical and rational answer….a DICTATORSHIP!  Sorry people…..you must be realistic….there is NO way that Afghanistan will ever have a stable representative government like the US in the foreseeable future.  The only viable alternative is a dictatorship…like it or not….

We have seen how weak the president/legislation example is in Afghanistan?  There will NEVER be a stable form of representative democracy in Afghanistan.  An authoritarian dictatorship would be the ONLY answer for stability.  If you like we could call it a guided democracy if that makes you more comfortable.

An authoritarian dictatorship would have a command of the political system but is kept in check by other institutions like the church or the military.  And that brings us to another point…Afghanistan needs a strong general that can command ALL the army and keep it in tow.

Saddam comes to mind…..that much hated dictator of years past…..but if you look at the societal part of his reign you will find education for all, including women, health care for all from cradle to grave, inexpensive energy, abundant food…granted his rule had its ugly sides but there was relative peace within the country…Afghanistan could use a good dictator at this point if they are ever to move into the 21st century.

Or another example is Libya…..an authoritarian state with an assembly of 700+ seats elected from the people’s committees….this could be a sample of what to do….give the heads of the different factions a seat in government, in the Jirga…..

Like it or not, without what I outlined the US and its troops will be serving and dying in Afghanistan for a generation or more.  Let us NOT delude ourselves…..calling for a democracy will NOT make it so.  Many people have many definitions for democracy , but to think that Afghanistan will ever have an American style democracy is just a pipe dream, at best.

“Live With It…Life’s Hard!”

Recently I wrote a piece on the new “claim czar” and how he was NO friend to the people that he was suppose to be helping and few thought I was a bit hard on him and his new rule as the “claims czar……but as usual I was RIGHT!

From the horse’s mouth comes the news for Gulf residents…..

Gulf fishermen have reacted in anger to a decision made Friday by Obama’s appointee to oversee the “independent” claims escrow account funded by BP. Millionaire lawyer Kenneth Feinberg announced that he would subtract from any damage award the fishermen ultimately receive from BP money they have been paid for participating in the Vessels of Opportunity (VoO) cleanup program.

Through VoO, BP contracts local vessels in order to assist in highly dangerous oil containment and cleanup activities. Vessel owners reportedly earn about $5,000 per month through their participation in the program. Fishermen say that BP is rejecting their boats over arbitrary requirements and that even among those declared eligible to participate, only a fraction have been put to use.

Feinberg announced the ruling at a meeting with fishermen in Biloxi, Mississippi on Friday. Fishermen protested from the floor and some stormed out of the meeting in anger, declaring that it is now “pointless to work under the Vessels of Opportunity program, set up by BP to help clean up the damage” from the disaster, Reuters reported.

Did you really think that BP would pay the whole cost of the clean-up?  No!  Really?

The timing of Feinberg’s decision is revealing. It came the day after BP claimed initial success in capping its runaway Macondo well and in the midst of an Obama administration campaign to drive the disaster “off the front page,” as one Republican critic complained on Sunday.

Should the well be capped, the fishermen and others affected by the disaster can only expect Feinberg to draw a harder line as the blowout fades from media attention.

Bend over Gulf Coast….the screwing has just begun!

Money Well Spent (Yet Again)

From the VOMITORIUM

Okay this one is for my friend and colleague, Quin at Quintessential Havoc (please venture to my blogroll and visit his blog)…we have been bitching about the massive bureaucracies that we in the West seem to think that we cannot live without ….well we in the US seem to do it better than most and this post is about our latest big deal…..

The BBC is reporting on a WaPo investigative report on the intel industry in our government……

Secret US intelligence gathering has grown so much since 9/11 no-one knows its exact cost, nor how many people are involved, the Washington Post reports.

It says nearly 2,000 private companies and 1,270 government agencies are involved in counter-terror work at 10,000 locations across the country.

According to the Washington Post:

  • Some 854,000 US citizens have the highest level of security clearance
  • A fifth of the US government’s anti-terror organisations have been created since the September 2001 attacks
  • More than 250 security bodies have been created or restructured since 9/11
  • More than 30 complexes with 17m sq ft of space (1.6 sq m) have been built for top-secret intelligence work in the Washington area since the attacks
  • Various agencies publish so many reports these are often ignored by officials

A massive bureaucracy created out of fear and now it is a beast with NO control.

Have you heard of such moronic BS?  This is just scary……that a million people have clearance to the intel and how it works…it is just unbelievable…at least to me….this is what Quin and I have been telling people…….the government creates a massive bureaucracy with YOUR money and it is about as worthless as tits on a boar….I just wish we could get more people to PAY ATTENTION!

Do you feel safer?  Of course you do NOT!

“Change You Can Believe In”

Inkwell Institute

The College of Political Knowledge

Professor’s Classroom

Subject:  Government/Political Theory

Paper #23

ch-ch-changes…as the song goes……

That was the slogan for the Obama campaign…….that was the selling point for the Dems in 2008…..a vote for Dems would change the course of government and the country…..well sports fans….how did that work out?

There is the conserv change….and the libs change…..and the change that moderates want……but what is it really….change for the sake of change is not change…it is just going through the motions and hoping NO one will notice…..

Change is an interesting yet subjective term….and for that reason it is perfect for a politician to use in their campaign….and is the perfect attack slogan also…why?  Again it is subjective and can be used in a detrimental way to mean something undesirable and foreign.

What you say, Professor?

Just what types of change can there possibly be?

You ask for it!  First I will begin with Radical Change……this is the desire for immediate and fundamental change.  Followers are frustrated and impatient and at times revolutionary in their desire…..they can become violent or not.  (This is pretty much what many see as the definition of change and this is what they want)

Then there is the Liberal Change……..this is the desire for rapid far reaching change they differ from radical change followers in that they believe that improvements can be made through reason…..

Next is the Moderate view of Change……..these followers are fairly content with society and will tolerate a slow and gradual shift or change…(this is where most Americans are at…they vote for change but they will wait and see….any movement is seen as a win)

Conservative Change…….actively challenges any alteration in the status quo…It is very pessimistic about human capacity to improve life through the use of reason.  These depends on “tried and true” institutions and actions…….(here is where the modern GOP falls…..look at their alternative programs…they are just re-hashes from the past…”tried and true”, at least in their eyes.

Finally there is the Reactionary Change…….these followers want things to be as they were in the past….but they seldom define what that means or how far back they want to return….similar to the “radical change” they suffer from frustration when things do not go their way and could possibly resort to violence to get their way.  The Tea Party, at least parts of it, seem to be this type of change…they keep referring to the Founders and the past as examples of where they want to go and the change they want.

As I instructed you…there is change and then there is CHANGE….but which is for you?  Are you a radical or a moderate?  If you want change be sure to know what type of change you are trying to impose….it could bite you and society in the ass.