Month: February 2011

You Want Cuts? Where?

We have heard all the back and forth on the subject of spending cuts……..the GOP had two main promises that propelled them to the top….Jobs and spending cuts……so far they have produced about ZERO jobs and they have started their attacks on spending…….but where do they start this attack…….where do the people think the cuts should start?

NO one has an idea……they said in a recent poll that were should start with foreign aid…the problem there is that the aid makes up about 1% of the total spending so that will NOT be a big help…..so what is the beginning of the attack on spending?

Good question…..and the GOP has an answer for you…….

http://t.co/VoYjTFL.

Really good ideas……NOT!  Cuts come from social services, energy and hi speed rail, law enforcement, development projects…..to the tune of about $50 billion……a lot of cash, eh?  Well in the scheme of things it is a pimple on an elephant’s ass……that is right……chump change!  Does NOTHING to cut the spending but everything to do with the continuing attacks on the middle class and working poor…..the position that the GOP is ALWAYS in…….

Nothing the GOP is proposing will do anything to balance a budget……you asked for it and now you have it……by voting for the GOP in the last election you have condemned many people to a more miserable life than they have…..and quite possibly have even condemned yourself….typical of American voters…..always voting against their best interests…….

Brings to mind one of my fav quotes…”Stupidity is the deliberate cultivation of ignorance”….American voter in a nutshell!

 

An Ass To Die For!

Throughout history, the history of mankind, at is, there have been memorable works that define each age on man…..Aristotle, Plato, etc in the Classical Age and then the Reformation with Luther (not the bad guy in Superman) nail his grievances to the door and the Age of Enlightenment when great thinkers produced great works like Newton, Locke, Paine, etc…..and then we come to this “age” of man…….

Just what will we be remembered for?  Great electronics?  Great greed?  How about philosophy?  When, in a thousand years our civilization is studied what will we be known for?

After some thought, I have decided that we will be known as the generation of fakes!  We are concerned with fake tits, fake lips, hips and asses…..speaking of asses (how is that for a segway?)

Police say they are investigating the death of a 20-year-old woman from London who had a cosmetic injection into her buttocks at a hotel near the Philadelphia International Airport.Detectives say the woman and three associates traveled from London and were staying at the Hampton Inn in southwest Philadelphia. Two of them reportedly came to the city in November to have their buttocks enlarged and, on Monday, one received another injection while the other had a hip augmentation.

Detective Joseph Murray said the 20-year-old woman who had the buttocks injection complained of chest pains and trouble breathing. She was later taken to Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital where she died early Tuesday.

Was the result worth the risk?  You wanted an ass to die for……and you got your wish…..

Vanity thy name is woman, someone once said and it is soooo true…..when archeologists dig up some remains they will say it is a female…..no need to know the size of the cervix or whatever for there will be silicone left behind and other substances….and then it can be dated by the substances….alas!  The Age of Vanity!

Classic Southern Thinking

I have many times wrote about how the so-called “New South” is not so New….Southerners are the biggest hypocrites around…..for one, they will not let go of their disastrous past, the Civil War to be more accurate……many of Beck’s ardent admirers are located in the South….beyond that, Southerners have fairly typical of most Americans believe what they want and disregard all else…..if it does not fit into their mental capacity then it is wrong or just not there…..

For instance…..from a report on ABC News…….

The Mississippi division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans had its first specialty license plate approved in 2002. The plate has remained the same for eight years, until this year when the group proposed five new designs to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.One of those designs features Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, a heralded cavalry leader who also is known for commanding a massacre of black Union Army soldiers at the Battle of Fort Pillow and for being a founding member of the Ku Klux Klan.

“It’s been said he disavowed the Klan later in life and that puts him in the same category as former Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black and former West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd,” said Greg Stewart, a Sons of Confederate Veterans member.

He disavowed the KKK later in life?…….Disavowed?

I am getting to my point…….these liars want the rest of us to believe that a man that hated so badly that he created an organization to inflict pain on other human beings….then saw the light and changed his mind….is that about it?

If you talk to most Southerns about what is happening in Egypt….they will almost always say that the Muslim Brotherhood is starting their push for world domination or something as silly……and trhay the MB is in league with AQ, even though the MB has “disavowed” violence and has condemned AQ as an abomination of Islam…….

Sorry dudes…if the MB is lying then so are the supporters of Forrest……..

Henry Ford may have said best……..”Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.”

What Would The Founders Say?

College of Political Knowledge

Subject:  International Relations

For three weeks the people of Egypt have been demonstrating their disgust with the government….mostly peaceful with the except of a couple of days when Mubarak sent in the dogs to beat the hell out of the opposition……for the most part the US has been doing what I consider the best thing…..staying out of it and working behind the scenes to keep it peaceful and to find a possible solution….but keeping in mind that it is Egypt and only Egyptians have a final voice on what that solution will be…….

But as usual there are those on the Right that are bitching about the Prez and his handling of the whole Egyptian situation….and some have even come down on the side of Mubarak who has kept the people under his thumb for thirty years while receiving billions upon billions of US foreign aid…..

All this reminds me of the lunatics on the Right how they are always referring to what the “Founders” had to say or think or meant…….okay then let us go with that……

Jefferson said that we Americans should export the “Empire of liberty”…….  meaning?

“We shall divert through our own Country a branch of commerce which the European States have thought worthy of the most important struggles and sacrifices, and in the event of peace [ending the American Revolution]…we shall form to the American union a barrier against the dangerous extension of the British Province of Canada and add to the Empire of liberty an extensive and fertile Country thereby converting dangerous Enemies into valuable friends.” – Jefferson to George Rogers Clark, 25 December 1780.

Meaning?  Jefferson thought and believed that it was America’s job and responsibility to spread freedom across the globe…….so if Jefferson considered it our job to spread democracy, why would the people that pretend to speaker for the Founders be so against the US doing just that?

By the US staying out of the fray we are doing exactly what Jefferson wanted…..we are letting the people of Egypt decide their own future with democracy….may I suggest that people like Palin, DeMint, Beck and the rest of the lunatics on the Right…….stop using the Founders in ways that they NEVER intended…….or learn moree about the Founders so that you are correct when you invoke their names……

If one is into conspiracy theories….I have one for you….the Right is on the support Mubarak bandwagon because they are running scared….if the people win and there is no Islamic revolution then their whole premise for the fear factor goes in the crapper and with that they have NOTHING!

Egypt is for Egyptians!  And Jefferson would agree with me on this (may be the only thing that he would agree with me on)………

Charter Schools: The Future

For the last couple years the media and many politicians have been pushing the concept of charter schools as the future and the program that prepares our children for college and then to retake our place in the industrial world that we have let slip through our grubby little fingers…….

Charter schools….that program where children are accepted to special schools that run differently than traditional public schools……it is a LOTTO!  The future of your child is in the hands of Bozo the Clown with a bingo machine……

Charter schools….the attempt to eliminate teacher’s tenure, attempt to break the back of the teachers union…all in the name of your children and education…..

But all the news and all the visitations have shown that the charter schools are a ripping success….at least according to the media and those pushing a lotto schooling for the kids…..but what is the real news about charter schools?

Let us look at those in New York since these are the ones that the media focuses the most heavily on…in a report issued by the Department of Education…….

the graduation rate in 2009, the last year for which figures are public, was 77%. But only 41% of high-school students were prepared for a career or college, the state said. The state defines students as college- and career-ready if they score at least an 80 on the state’s math Regents exam and at least a 75 on the English Regents exam. New York students receive a high-school diploma if they achieve a score of at least 65 on Regents tests.The state education department said that in New York City, only 23% of graduating high-school students meet the college- and career-ready standard, compared with a graduation rate of 65% among general-education students.

There was bad news for charter schools as well. Of the 49 percent of students who graduated from a charter school, just 10 percent were college- and career-ready, according to the report.

So, the hip new program is NOT…I repeat…..Is NOT, the glowing success that it is painted as being….the god-like charter schools NO more prepare grads for college than regular public schools…..PLEASE!  Stop the lies!  Find a real solution for a real problem……quit putting band-aids on gunshot wounds……

Education: The Only Future!

College of Political Knowledge

Subject:  Education

I wish Americans would hurry along and finally and totally be tired of the education merry-go-round…..The Pres gives it lip service…the Repubs have a plan….the media reports on it endlessly….and this is a thing that has gone on and on for 50 years or so ….and what do we have in return?  The 34th most successful education system in the world…..now there is something for the pigs in Washington to be proud of…all their hard work (that is sarcasm) has really paid off in 50 years…….

New York has been a corner stone of ed reform with the success of their charter schools….but wait it is so important that…..

Funding to New York’s schools and Medicaid program would get slashed under a budget unveiled by newly installed Gov. Andrew Cuomo Tuesday.Seeking to close a $10 billion budget deficit, Cuomo is proposing reducing school aid by $1.5 billion and Medicaid by $982 million.

So much for the importance of education……

But what about the truth……the truth is that if the Repubs get their way on education….then your children’s future will depend on a coupon book or the educational lotto…..where the future depends on a moron and a bingo ball machine…..now there is MORE to be proud of…….

But what about the American people?  Where do they stand on education?

In a recent Gallup poll on where should cuts be made in federal spending…the top place was Defense and further down the poll was education…..at the bottom….where 32% said that education should be cut….it was at the bottom of the list….good news, right?

Think about it…people!  That is about 1 in 3 that would cut education….or about 33% of the people…..in other terms…if there are 300 million Americans….then 100 million would cut education……NOW!  Does that sound like a country that is too concerned about improving the educational standards of the country?

This in a country that still is afraid to teach evolution in some areas…..from an article ……

Our data show that these teachers understandably want to avoid controversy. Often they have not taken a course in evolution and they lack confidence in their ability to defend it. Their strategies for avoiding controversy are varied, but three were especially common and each has the effect of undermining science. Some teach evolutionary biology as though it only applies to molecular biology—completely ignoring macroevolution of species. At best, this approach sacrifices a rich understanding of the diversity of species. At worst it lends credence to the creationist claim that there is no evidence for one species giving rise to others.

Others defend the teaching of evolution as a necessary evil, using state examination requirements as a convenient means to disassociate themselves from the very material they are expected to teach. These examinations have only been recently introduced in most states. Yet, many teachers told us that they tell students that it does not matter if they really “believe” in evolution, so long as they know it for the test. One Michigan teacher tells students that they need to understand evolution because the biology curriculum “is organized as if evolution is true”.

The president is concerned….the Repubs are concerned….the media is concerned….the people are concerned……but absolutely NOTHING proves that concerned.  The faux concern for education in the US is one of the most laughable positions of either party…….We may have a lot to look forward to in the future…..but a better educated child is NOT…repeat…NOT one of those things!

The Council Fires Are Dying!

College of Political Knowledge

Subject:  Liberalism

Back in the 90’s when one Clinton became president of the US I was thrilled that we might have a real liberal within the walls of the tower known as Washington……I was so sadly mistaken….he showed such great promise that the people would be the most important thing in the world of politics….then a couple of years into his presidency I could see just how mistaken I had been…..

But Chuq…he is loved the world over….how could I say such a thing?  First of all, to me popularity is NOT necessarily a good thing in a leader and Clinton was and is so very popular…..I am looking at policies….not his likability…..and his popularity damn near condemned the Democratic Party to a lesser position in American political life……

But what happened that he lead the way to the attempt at destruction of a party?  Pragmatism!  Is the easy answer……..and that pragmatism took the guise of the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC)…..

The DLC, the father of Clintonism and the Blue Dog Democrats, conservative group within the Democratic Party……Clinton who was a past chairman of the DLC help lead American into the problems we face now…..but what does the DLC stand for?

The DLC has supported welfare reform, such as the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, President Clinton’s expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit,[9] and the creation of AmeriCorps. The DLC supports expanded health insurance via tax credits for the uninsured and opposes plans for single-payer universal health care. The DLC supports universal access to preschool, charter schools, and measures to allow a greater degree of choice in schooling (though not school vouchers), and supports the No Child Left Behind Act.  The DLC supports both the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).  (From our friend at Wikipedia)

These are their positions that I did not agree with….but not all their positions were to my dislike (but not much did I agree with at all)…..They also favored some form of Social Security privatization…..another mistake in my opinion….

All that aside…I will bet that you are asking….what is my point?

Cool!  It seems that this “leadership” group is on its last leg…..

Politico is reporting that the Democratic Leadership Council, a centrist organization once chaired by Bill Clinton, is having financial troubles and could fold as soon as next week.

The story quotes an unnamed “person familiar with the plans.”The DLC was founded more than 25 years ago by Al From and gained prominence during the 1990s. Clinton hailed the group at a gala honoring From, saying: “I would never have become president if it wasn’t for you.”

I foresaw this problem for the DLC because the Blue Dogs lost badly in the last election and without their butt boys in the Congress there is NO good reason this group of centrists (a term that I am not too comfortable with)  should continue to exist….but I can say that thanx to their “leadership” we have jobs gone that will NEVER return and we have an economic base that will collapse again and again….because NO one has the huevos to stop them….because they help sell the idea that most of America is in the middle….something that I am not positive is all that accurate…..

So if the DLC’s funds are drying up….then how does that reinforce the idea that all America is centrist?

Just What Are We Paying For?

From the VOMITORIUM

For years I have bitched and bitched about the work ethic of our so called “representatives”……..they have Monday and Friday as travel days….so they work 3 days a week…..do not forget all the holidays and such in between…….

But the new Congress has surpassed the do nothings of the past…..check out their work schedule for this year…….house.gov/house/House_Ca……

They work 2 weeks and have one week off…….now there is a sweet gig by any stretch of the imagination……..how m,any Americans would love to have that schedule and get the same pay and benfits as these slackers?

Does it not seem like that the problems the country is facing that these lazy a/holes should be working a little harder to find solutions….after all that is what we pay them for…..not to lounge around the house and collect cash from their sponsors……

American people need to wake and smell the steaming pile of crap that they elect…….time after time!

Happy Birthday, Ronnie!

College of Political Knowledge

Subject:  Presidents

NOTE:  I apologize for the delay of this post…it was meant to be done on 06 Feb on Reagan’s actual birthday……a cold and a fever have been more than my fingers could take……

We are in the midst of celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ronald Reagan, the 40th president of the US, that god-like hero of the Right….conservs bow and pray (or should that be prey)  at the feet of the giant in American conservatism…..

Let us be real for just a damn moment!  The Left (if you will) has its deified leaders……FDR, Kennedy and Clinton….you know those past presidents that did some things right and the country seem to respond well to them….and thus they become rallying calls for subsequent elections…..and what has the Right had to use?  Goldwater? Hoover?  Nope!  The only thing that they have had in the past 70+ years is …..Reagan.  And they have used it for all it is worth…….every recent GOP nominee has tried to use the mantle of the heir to Reaganism.

I will give Reagan his props…..I believe that he was instrumental in the ending of the Cold War (a debatable premise)  and the demise of the USSR….he helped redefine the conservatism as we know it today and he changed economics ………not that I consider anything good…..the trickle down theory that is still used today and still does NOT work……

If the very name makes you wish for better days then you need to go back and try again….Reagan supposedly stood for lower taxes, deficit reduction and smaller government….you know all the crap that Repubs still cling to but still cannot seem to find the right handle to open that door.

In reality, Reagan could not find the handle either….for all his bolster and vocalization….he could NOT keep the three simple rules of the GOP…..he increased taxes 6 out of the 8 years he was president……he increased the deficit at least two fold and he grew the size of government….

Does lower taxes, smaller government or deficit reduction sound at all familiar?  Well it should!  You have been promised that by every GOP president for the last many years….Bush I, Bush II, and every candidate for as many years…..and whenever they control Congress they have been unable to keep the promises and in most cases did the opposite….and yet YOU keep voting for the idea that cannot be upheld…..at least NOT in our way of governing…..

The GOP cannot keep their promises and have seldom kept the promises of smaller government, lower taxes or deficit reduction and yet they cling to the past and the crap of the past……Repubs need to find a new tune….this song remains the same…..

People!  Stop deifying these people…they do NOT deserve such an honor!  Every president is a special person, in their own right, but NOT one needs to be deified…….when the electorate finds that person that can solve the problems and still treat the people, all the people, with respect to their needs, then, only then…..should deification be considered!