Month: July 2010

Get Real, People!

From the VOMITORIUM

One of today’s biggest problems facing the US is that of immigration….well NOT ALL immigration…just that part of it that involves the drug lords and their war for territory and routes…..the American Southwest has become a hot bed of this illegal activity….people’s property being violated, people killed crime of all sorts being perpetrated….and now the common election rhetoric is that we must slam the door shut on the border…at least to keep the undesirables out (their term not mine).

Why are Americans worried about immigration?

All this concern (and I use the term loosely) is just so much lip service….and political lip service at that….after all it IS election time and this IS a good issue to emphasize during a campaign……

What is the main problem?  The demand for illegal drugs….and in as such creates the middle man which in this case creates the crime, the killings and the problem….but to blame ALL immigrants for the actions of a few is MORONIC.  A man in search of cash to feed his family is not causing the crimes!  The people supplying the demand for illegal drugs are causing the problem.

Let us look at the War on Drugs….a DISMAL failure!  Billions spent on control has done NOTHING to curb the drugs entering into the US.  It has not slowed demand or use or anything else.  But yet we keep throwing money at the problem, if you want to call it a problem.

You want to curb the violence in this country and in Mexico?  One sure fire way!  Eliminate the middle man!  Users of illegal drugs will keep using and farmers will keep growing…..that is all you need to know about the industry.

A radical idea!  LEGALIZE drugs!  Once legal they can be taxed …once that is done then the need for the middle man is gone.  With the middle man gone the crime will to lessened if not removed.  Farmers can make their money and users can get whacked out and the government has a new source of income.  The need for the War on Drugs is gone and that money can be used where it is needed….in the US of A.

All this in turn will help the deficit…something to consider if we are serious about controlling the deficit and responsibility.  But then I am NOT sure that we are serious, more like just more BS and lip service to make us think something is done…..I have NO confidence in the government…no matter which pack of lairs and cheats are in power.

Does This Sound Racist?

Mark Williams a pundit for the Tea Party, or at least one of its factions, wrote this “pretend” letter, as if it was a slave writing to Pres. Lincoln—this is Mr. Williams response to the NAACP’s call for the Tea Party to condemn its racist factions…….do you find the humor?

Dear Mr. Lincoln

We [National Association for the Advancement of] Colored People have taken a vote and decided that we don’t cotton to that whole emancipation thing.  Freedom means having to work for real, think for ourselves, and take consequences along with the rewards.  That is just far too much to ask of us [National Association for the Advancement of] Colored People and we demand that it stop!

In fact we held a big meeting and took a vote in Kansas City this week.  We voted to condemn a political revival of that old abolitionist spirit called the ‘tea party movement’.

The tea party position to “end the bailouts” for example is just silly.  Bailouts are just big money welfare and isn’t that what we want all [National Association for the Advancement of] Colored People to strive for?  What kind of racist would want to end big money welfare?  What they need to do is start handing the bail outs directly to us [National Association for the Advancement of] Colored People!  Of course, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is the only responsible party that should be granted the right to disperse the funds.

And the ridiculous idea of “reduce[ing] the size and intrusiveness of government.”  What kind of world would we have is I  ever  to control and be responsible for my life own?  As [National Association for the Advancement of] Colored People we must have somebody care for us otherwise we would be on our own, have to think for ourselves and make decisions and if you do not agree than there is not enough Colored in your People, as we labeled Ken Gladney


The racist tea parties also demand that the government “stop the out of control spending.”  Again, they directly target [National Association for the Advancement of] Colored People.  That means we [National Association for the Advancement of] Colored People would have to compete for jobs like everybody else and that is just not right.

Perhaps the most racist point of all in the tea parties is their demand that government “stop raising our taxes.”  That is outrageous!    Totally racist!  The tea party expects [National Association for the Advancement of] Colored People to be productive members of society, especially when our mission is to convince them that progress is impossible for them based on the color of their skin?

Mr. Lincoln, you were the greatest racist ever.  We had a great gig.  Three squares, room and board, all our decisions made by someone else.  Please repeal the 13th and 14th Amendments and let us get back to where we say that belong.

Sincerely

Ben Jealous, Tom’s Nephew  National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Head Colored Person

This is Mr. Williams response to the NAACP for their vote…..in humor it is a letter “found” from a “colored” person to Pres. Lincoln…..the humor escapes me!

Mr. Williams has vehemently denied that there are NO racist in the Tea Party…..I posted this from his website in case it disappeared in the future….you decide……

So does it sound racist to you?

It Is The Laziness!

From the VOMITORIUM

I have heard a lot of excuses for the unemployment problems we have….some are pretty accurate and then there are some that are just plain moronic…..

I realize the Americans can be a lazy lot….NO?…..explain a salad shooter or a machine that cracks an egg or drugs that offer instant weight lose…….Lazy!

But to blame the unemployed for unemployment is beyond rational thought….and there are a few that seem to think that the unemployed are lazy and unemployed by choice……from the Huffington Post:

Corbett joins the ranks of GOP candidates Rand Paul in Kentucky and Sharron Angle in Nevada, not to mention several members of Congress — including Democrats — who suspect the jobless of preferring not to work.

“The jobs are there, but if we keep extending unemployment, people are just going to sit there,” Pennsylvania attorney general Tom Corbett told radio reporter Scott Detrow last week. “I’ve literally had construction companies tell me, ‘I can’t get people to come back to work until — they say, ‘We’ll come back when unemployment runs out.'”

Are these people smoking crack?  I do not know about the states beyond mine, but here you make about $245 a week in unemployment benefits…..has anyone tried living on $245 a week?  If not, then let me inform you….IT CANNOT BE DONE?  There is a possibility that some states pay more, but their cost of living is higher than my state.

This whole thing just illustrates how out of touch politicians are…..making comments like the unemployed are unemployed by choice is just beyond ignorant…..or is it arrogance…..but the biggest problem is the somewhere there is a group of people that will believe the crap spread.

Should Social Security Pay For War?

From the VOMITORIUM

All of Washington is looking for ways to cut the budget spending in one way or the other…all in the name of the budget deficit…..there has been plan after plan……coming from both sides of the aisle….some have been pretty good and then there are the ones like the proposal coming from the Repub Minority leader of the House of Representatives, John Boehner……

Democrats are slamming House Minority Leader John Boehner for reportedly saying the Social Security retirement age should be raised to pay for the war in Afghanistan — though Boehner’s office vehemently denies he made that connection.

The comment came during an interview Monday with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Boehner said the retirement age should be raised to 70 for those at least 20 years away from retirement and suggested wealthy taxpayers should not be receiving benefits at all. (I do not agree with the retirement thing…if you pay into the fund then you get you check).

“The House Republican Leader John Boehner and his GOP colleagues want to raise the Social Security retirement age to 70 and cut benefits in order to pay for George Bush’s war and their failed policies of the past,” House Democratic Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., said in a written statement.

A ridiculous idea!  It is FORCING Americans to pay for a war without end, especially those people who have worked hard their entire lives and deserve to retire and enjoy what is left of their lives.  I mean working people are the ones the die in war….and now you want the retirees to “do their part”……I tell you what dickheads, when you DO your part, then we will think about it some more”.

This is the best idea they can come up with?  Make working people pay for the war and let those profiting from the war skate on payment.  This is where your conservs are at in Washington….DO NOT let them screw you out of what you have worked and paid for for all those years.

Who Do They Think They Are?

From the VOMITORIUM

I recently read a piece about what the UAE’s ambassador to the Us has said about the US and Iran….before I give you the quote I would like to say that I am truly sick of these sanctimonious  a/holes telling us what we should do ……..

Recently in Aspen the ambassador made the following comments:

Ambassador Yousef al-Otaiba reportedly endorsed the military option if sanctions do not stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

“I think it’s a cost-benefit analysis,” Otaiba said to an audience in Aspen, Colorado. “I think despite the large amount of trade we do with Iran, which is close to $12 billion … there will be consequences, there will be a backlash and there will be problems with people protesting and rioting and very unhappy that there is an outside force attacking a Muslim country; that is going to happen no matter what.”

“If you are asking me, ‘Am I willing to live with that versus living with a nuclear Iran?,’ my answer is still the same: ‘We cannot live with a nuclear Iran.’ I am willing to absorb what takes place at the expense of the security of the UAE,” Otaiba reportedly said, in response to a question after a public interview with the Atlantic magazine.  (then do it yourself!)

Okay!  Enough!  This is the final straw!  It is time for the US to cut its defense budget to a percentage of the GDP and let the rest of the damn world fend for themselves.  The rest of the world, has done just that, especially our allies in Europe and now it is time for them to STOP hiding behind our backs and learn to defend themselves.

You want to lessen the budget deficit…then that idea would go a LONG way in doing just that….it would not be too damn popular to the military-industrial complex which bribes politicians as much as Wall Street does.

I have been saying for years that it is time for the US to get out of the police business….that it is time for the rest of the world to do their part.  I have said and said that foreign aid was the biggest drag on our budget and that it was beyond time to rethink that program.  I am NOT speaking of the humanitarian programs that is only about 10% of our total foreign expenditures…but rather our military presence in place that NO longer need our protection from the boogie man…….

I would like to tell the ambassador to go f*ck himself…if he is that concerned then raise an army for their own protection and stop wimping out and telling the US what to do and how to do it.

Shared Sacrifice

Daily Agitator

A wonderful term, at least politically……

And most of the time it does NOT mean ALL Americans, just those that work hard and try to survive…….those calling for a shared sacrifice seldom ever have to sacrifice anything……

My friend over at Quintessential Havoc (go to blogroll and visit an insightful site) and I have been bitching about politicians for some time now and it got me to thinking about ways of changing the whole atmosphere in which they work (I use the term loosely).

Americans for generations have been asked to sacrifice for the country’s sake…..wars, depression, national disasters, etc….each and every time Americans have stepped up for the good of their country…most recently Americans have sacrificed, not all, but a few….war has made American families sacrifice everything…not only the loss of lives and the mutilation of bodies.  The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have taken families to the brink…..multiple deployments, sons, daughters, fathers and mothers taken away from their families so that many situations are lost like births, deaths, birthdays, anniversaries, first steps, etc. etc.  And these people do this voluntarily for the good of the country.

What have you done?

If you do not live near a military base then the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan mean very little to you…..Americans are not asked to sacrifice for the good of the country and when only a small percentage is asked to do so…sacrifice, that is……

I am tired of hearing these “do nothing” worms in Washington talk about sacrifice…they know nothing about sacrifice….but they want you top sacrifice while they retain their privileged existence…..that is time for a change…….

But then I think that congress people should not have their families with them and that they should live in a dormitory type structure…(I hear that the Watergate is for sale..) after all these people only work about 3 days a week and spend the rest of their time at home fund raising….so it is not like that they would be deprived of their families, like the troops.  There would be NO need for private schools or houses in exclusive neighborhoods.   If they have time for tanning beds and golf and other such pursuits then we are paying them too much or they are NOT doing their job…after all they are in Washington to run the government, not to increase their visibilities at social functions.  Or to take vacations and call it work.  Let these clowns share in the sacrifices of the working people of this country.  (Emphasis for effect)

And further more it is time to consider making these perpetual candidates to start retiring when they hit 75…..time to move past people running the country that are over 90 and cannot remember their gran kid’s names…we all bitch about making the government more fiscal conservative then eliminate the expenses that these celebrities run up in the name of doing their jobs.  But nope we had rather let them gut the education system, among many programs and retain their elitism.

The problem is that Americans are timid and allow the top 10% to make their decisions and their sacrifices.

YOU WANT CHANGE!  Then change everything about the Congress…you will have to do it because your elected officials will NOT change the sure thing or the sweet gig that they have….but NO you prefer to let them talk and promise and bullsh*t you…all the while they are getting rich on your dime…..does that sound logical or for that matter, rational?

Representation Without………

Inkwell Institute

The College of Political Knowledge

Professor’s Classroom

Subject:  Government/Representation/

Paper #22

After watching and ranting about the government and its misfires, I feel I need to talk about our form of representation….it is our pride and joy…our representative form of democracy….of our Republic.

you want the representative form of government but what type of representation do you want?  Yes, Irene, there are several types of representation and our Founders knew this….so what type do you prefer?

The truth of the matter is that your representation SUCKS!

With that out of the way, let us look at the different types and those that pushed the various forms of representation……

There is a reactionary theory of representation….Alexander Hamilton was a believer…the theory is based on the need for law and authority, the executive, the leader of the government, and legislative branch would rule in the interests of the people, as they determined the interests.  The people would have their input but the politicians being of superior knowledge and judgment and that they should not be hindered by popular sentiment.  And that the masses are required to support the decisions of the leaders since they, the leaders, were acting in the people’s best interests.

James Madison was a believer in the conservative theory of representation, which grants the people control but discourages their public participation in the act of governing.  People chose their leaders but do not have the right to force them to act and behave in a very particular way.  The people may replace representative only at a prescribed time, a election and with people of the same class as the ones they had, the elites.

The liberal theory of representation was embraced by Thomas Jefferson, that All people were equal and in as such were equally qualified to rule.  This form of representation sees the representative as a messenger of his/her constituents.  Thus the Rep is obliged to vote the way of the people’s concerns.

Finally the is the radical theory of representation of which only one of our Founders (even if he is ignored) believed and that would be Thomas Paine.  This theory proposes that the vast citizenry should have the call as to policy of the nation.  This theory holds that the people are the only ones capable of governing themselves.  This is what we today call direct democracy and the only true form of representation…but this will never happen….it is NOT what politicians want…..they want input (on a limited basis) but they do NOT want the public to participate in policy.

There has been an argument for decades, even centuries on whether the Reps should be concerned with the people’s will or their interests.  What is your opinion on representation?

This Is Why Soccer Rules!

I have been a soccer fan, futbol to the rest of the world, for a long time and there is a perfectly good reason why.

You will never see stuff like this with Baseball or Basketball or American football.  In American football we get guys with painted faces and large wedges of cheese of their heads or we get fat guys with no shirts and bodies painted the team colors….all in all too damn boring.  We NEVER get stuff like this:

A porn star from the Netherlands named Bobbi Eden has promised oral sex for all of her Twitter followers if the Netherlands win the World Cup. Fun!

Eden’s number of followers has gone from just over 4,000 on Tuesday when she first made her courageous promise, to 66,163 as of right now.

Or stuff like this……

Remember Paraguayan model Larissa Riquelme, and her courageous promise of naked street-running should her countrymen reach the World Cup Final? Well, they didn’t quite make it that far, but she still got quite nude.

Yes, still eager to thank her team for all of their hard work and dedication following their loss to Spain, Riquelme didn’t really run anywhere naked – she just stood still and allowed a professional photographer take pictures of her naked.

Here are the (NSFW) photos, courtesy of the Daily Mail. Should you try to go to the website that is watermarked on these bad boys, you will be faced with a whole lot of load time – apparently they’ve seen a small surge in traffic since publishing said photos.

[Larissa Riquelme sports best strip of the tournament] Daily Mail

This is why soccer RULES!  I had much rather see these two than some drunk fat guy without his shirt….but then I am a bit more rational than most American sports fans….

Americans could learn a thing or two from our international brothers and sisters….Go Espana!

Clean Up We Can Believe In

From the desk of the Scriptorium

May I see a show of hands…..How many recall  the early days of the Obama presidency and he called for a Civilian Response Corps?…..volunteers in service to America, if you will….if you recall then you will also recall that some on the Right were calling this the attempt to take over the US by organizing an army that is indoctrinated in “socialism” or Fascism or whatever other pipe dream they had at the time…..any way, the CRC was a group of volunteers that would be first responders to problems across the world, the volunteers would come from many different agencies and would provide “expert” assistance.  It was a big deal on Right nutcase radio for awhile, Limbaugh, Beck, Bachmann and the rest of the pea brains…..

And then nothing…it has  gone silent…..

Before Obama’s CRC there was Clinton’s AmeriCorps which was put together to assist in education to environmental clean up…..GW Bush even went along for the ride and the program was expanding by 50%.

Okay, enough of the history lesson…where are you going with this, Professor?

Why have not the “volunteers” been used in the clean up?  Presidents have called on Americans to volunteer in service to the country, but yet NOTHING concerning the spill.  Why?  We are asked to donate to every situation that crosses the wire…it is Summer…school is out….why not ask Americans to do their part and volunteer in the Coast region?

What happened to the “Case for National Service”?

Obama’s position has considerable support. Last year Time magazine profiled the calls of a number of prominent Democrats in a cover story, “The Case for National Service,” supporting a plan to mandate universal service and establishing a cabinet-level Department of National Service. The plan envisioned 419,000 jobs annually for young people between the ages of 18-25 doing one year of “national or military service.”

What happened to this “plan”?  It is like all other ideas that come out at election time….once said, soon forgotten…..and you wonder why I have little use for today’s politicians?

The pundits want jobs…then use the “volunteers” to assist in the clean-up in the Gulf….granted it would be temp jobs but at least people could feed their families….

BTW, there is a phone scam going on asking for donations to assist in the oil spill clean-up…..sick bastards!

From Rep. Paul Ryan: Line Item Veto

Federal Budget Deficit Series

Paper #4

While the GOP seems to have NO concrete ideas on the budget deficit other than cutting spending….regardless what it may do to the economy….but I think they want it that way….why?….because as long as the economy stays in the crapper the better their prospects are for picking more Repubs in the Congress…it is all a political game played with the lives of the American people…..Rep. Ryan has some ideas…while they are pretty vague some are pretty good and others are just out right wrong…

One of the better ideas offered is the line item veto…that every Repub president has been drooling over for more than a decade…but is it a good idea?

On the surface I believe it is a good one…..however (I am tired of using the “but”) this could turn into a partisan piece of crap…….a president could remove things that he is personally, notice I said personally, objects to in the budget.  It could be used to pay off the donors who have given massive amounts to his campaign.  This could effectively kill the notion of political compromise which our teachers tell us is the basis of the Federal system.

All in all, I must disagree with Rep. Ryan….while the idea is a good one….the reality of it will suck and suck bad, especially in the hands of those elitists that care nothing of the rest of the people.  This could be used to punish political opponents, regardless of who it hurts in the long run…….

I say leave the system as it is….and stop all this jerking around over something that is NOT that important in the large scheme of running a good government.