Tag: States

If At First You Don’t Suceed, Secede

Back in 2008 and the ensuing campaign we learned that Palin’s hubby, Todd, was a member of an Alaskan secessionist movement……we all laughed.  Then in 2009, I believe, our boy Rick Perry of Texas stated that Texas could secede from the Union when they became unhappy with the government….we all hook our heads and giggled under our breath….but what about secession?

Personally, I live within the borders of what use to be called the Republic of West Florida and have said that we need to leave the state of Mississippi and become the 51st state……I want to leave the state, NOT the nation……but since the recent re-election of Obama there seems to be more and more talk about secession……..

Newser) – Will we soon be a nation of 49 states? Not a snowball’s chance in hell. But the Houston Chronicle reports that residents of Texas who petitionedfor the right to secede from the Union will indeed have their plea considered by the White House. That’s not because the administration is taking the request seriously; rather, the petition met the threshold of 25,000 signatures needed to trigger a review, as per the White House website where it was filed.

A rep for Gov. Rick Perry released a statement to the Dallas Morning News pooh-poohing the secession drive while taking a dig at Washington: “Gov. Perry believes in the greatness of our Union and nothing should be done to change it. But he also shares the frustrations many Americans have with our federal government.” Unhappy voters in 19 more states have similar petitions in the works.

So, are they kidding….19 other states feel like it would be a good idea to start breaking up the Union?

(Newser) – Forget moving to Canada: Some disappointed American voters would like to stay in the USA … so long as their state secedes from the Union. The blog Red Alert Politics takes a look at petitions posted to the White House’s petitions page by residents demanding just that. Newser’s count puts the number of states with such a petition attached to their name at 20. They range from Colorado to Florida to New York, and a few thousand residents in each would, pretty please, like the Obama administration to “Peacefully grant the State of X to withdraw from the United States of America and create its own NEW government.”

Many of them reference the Declaration of Independence, and the fact that it holds that it is “the Right of the People to … institute new Government … whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends.” While, news flash, these petitions won’t actually result in secession, the “We the People” section of the White House website does promise that staffers will review a petition that gets enough backing (25,000 votes by residents of that state), “ensure it’s sent to the appropriate policy experts, and issue an official response.” So far, Texas looks to be closest to that threshold.

Read the articles carefully…….the states that consider this secessionist movement maybe not be the ones that you would suspect……

This is scary to me………..for a country that prides itself on patriotism….this does not seem that patriotic to me…….I would like to hear what others think of this situation……..

UpDate:  After writing this draft there appear a bit more info……

(Newser) – An online Texas petition to secede from the union is nearing 100,000 votes now, giving the group leading the charge its 15 minutes. Politico interviews Texas Nationalist Movement leader Daniel Miller:

  • On Obama: Election Day “was a catalyzing moment,” but this isn’t just about the president. “This cake has been baking for a long time—it’s the Obama administration that put the candles on the cake and lit it for us.”
  • On Gandhi: Luckily, there won’t be a civil war, or even violent protests. “We walk in the same vein as Gandhi and those guys.”
  • On heading mainstream: “For the longest time, this was what people would classify as a fringe issue. It was relegated to the back rooms in the cafés. But in 2008, 2009—the tail end of the Bush administration and start of Obama’s—what you saw was kind of interesting. This issue went to being part of the political discourse.”

The Daily Caller, meanwhile, reports that similar petitions from 50 states are now up on the White House website, and six others besides Texas have reached the 25,000-signature threshold to warrant an automatic review by the administration. (They are Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Tennessee, for the record.)

Sorry, but this is all so much crap!  People do not want the government wasting money but they do this stunt…..and it is a waste of money…..NONE of these dipsticks are going anywhere…….I know it….they know it…..and now YOU know it!

Advice?  STOP taking these morons seriously!  Period!

Who’s Afraid Of Sharia Law?

College of Political Knowledge

Please tell me why we are afraid of Islamic law.  Some say that we are not afraid….and then I have to ask why 13 states maybe more have waiting legislation about prohibiting sharia law in US courts?  My state of Mississippi is one of those scared people……their bill reads like this…..MISSISSIPPI: House bill 301 was introduced to ban “Mississippi courts from using foreign laws, including sharia law, which is a guide to Islamic religious practice.”

First of all, I have NO one that I have talked to that can tell me just what Sharia law is….other than some vague reference to terrorists and such…….all you quivering Americans this is what the law is all about……

The word sharia means “the path to a watering hole”. It denotes an Islamic way of life that is more than a system of criminal justice. Sharia is a religious code for living, in the same way that the Bible offers a moral system for Christians.

It is adopted by most Muslims to a greater or lesser degree as a matter of personal conscience, but it can also be formally instituted as law by certain states and enforced by the courts. Many Islamic countries have adopted elements of sharia law, governing areas such as inheritance, banking and contract law.

Now what makes these quivering lumps of crap think that it would every be adopted in the good old US?  First, it would be unconstitutional and that is the most important reason why all this bovine fecal matter about sharia law is just a smoke screen and a waste of valuable time and resources…..the cowards do this to avoid tackling the real problems of unemployment, state revenues and education……

I hate to be critical (now that is just a lie…I love it!)…..if you are afraid of sharia law then you are a moron!  The chances of it every being the rule of the land is about as good as you being struck by lightening on a clear day…….

Let me sum up this post and this notion…..with one of my favorite quotes….”Stupidity is the deliberate cultivation of ignorance”…..and the American people are buying the fertilizer……

Is There A Master Plan?

All the crap going on in Washington and through some of the states makes me wonder if there may be some master plan that these Repubs and Tea Party types are trying to install……and are the Koch Bros. (for lack of another front man) behind this new movement?

Rick Perry, Governor of Texas, is getting a lot of press….why?  He has become the frontrunner, ahead of Mitt, for the GOP in the next election (boy that did not last long at all)……and somewhere in his little mind there is a right to secession from the US written into the Texas constitution……first, I believe that Texas has the right to break into smaller states, but there is nothing about secession if their government is unhappy with the government or the policies of the US (if there are Texans out there and they are reading this…please clear it up for us)……..

Looks like the master plan within the GOP is to do away with the national government in favor of 50 state governments……this would be the best thing for business and the wealthy…..why?  to begin with NO minimum wage enforced by a national government,  the death of unions, mandatory education, no environmental policy, no national health care or a social security….in other words, the people become tools to be discarded when they become a burden in favor of the younger ones as they come of age…..

They would not need to worry about SCOTUS  getting in the way of the takeover …it would not be needed….each state has its own and they are elected, in most cases, and that would be good for corporations…..they could get whatever they want for some bucks for a campaign…….

Is this what the Founders had in mind?  Without reading about the constitutional debate and siding with the Repubs, then yes it is what they had in mind……but if one has read the Constitution and the debate surrounding it, then this is all so much crap and if they succeed then we can kiss the American exceptionalism thing goodbye…….and return to the days of the Confederation.

The Confederation…….states were printing their own money, signing individual treaties and trade agreement…..the country collected almost NO taxes and the weakness of the situation made foreign intervention possible….in other words, America was a f*cked up place and not capable of anything other than the cutting of each others throats……..the states were too weak to even protect their own territory……and with all the GOP/Tea Party crap about returning so much back to the states we are moving to repeat our failure with the Confederation….It will benefit NO one but speculators and corporations….the residents will be SCREWED!

Bachmann I realize that she is not the sharpest pencil in the box, but……) does not think were need any revenue as a country and the rest of the GOP field is lessening the amount of money that the country could have on hand and that would make the states the major players….individually with 50 separate agendas….what would that do to make the US a stronger country?  NOTHING!

Bring Sexy Back

Sunday and my final day of Zen…..my final day of joying the day without much thought of the fucked up world around me….tomorrow I will return to reality and to the grind of trying to help others understand what is happening in their world…..

Last Sunday I posted on the new proposed ban on doing anything with your penis until you are 18……NO piercings!  No circumcision!  NO tats!  Your wanker belongs to the state until you turn 18…..I find it humorous that the party of small government spends a lot of time trying to get into your private life and tell you what to do….well women have been dealing with that intrusion for decades and now men may taste what that is like……it could be a good thing…..but I digress…..

In yet another state where Repubs are in control….they are trying to define what sexy is….and once they do that they will try to outlaw it…..from the Newser website…….

Be careful how you act in Utah: If you get too “sexy,” you could find yourself arrested under a new law. The law broadens the definition of solicitation—agreeing to trade sex for money—to include “lewd acts” that imply you want to trade sex for money, like exposing or touching yourself. It was intended to help undercover law enforcement officers, who are sometimes asked by prostitutes to expose themselves in order to prove they’re not cops. Such requests are now illegal, the AP reports. But two escort services are suing to halt the law, claiming that it could lead to the arrest of licensed employees, like strippers or escorts, who are acting sexy as part of their job. “Most girls who touch their breasts are not telling you they’re open for sex,” says the attorney representing the escort services, noting that a similar law was struck down as unconstitutional in 1988. He worries that under this law, police could hassle legal businesses and potentially arrest exotic dancers for “suggestively thrusting.”

Is it not about time to call these pricks what they truly are….Puritan Cretans and the party of intrusive government?  I thought they, the GOP, sold themselves last election as the party of jobs?  What part of this stupidity creates jobs?

Are You Poor And Need Help?

From the VOMITORIUM

Yes the GOP is standing by Ryan’s budget….but not too close….they all see the handwriting on the wall…..mess with Medicare and lose your re-election bid….and we know that it is all about being re-elected and nothing about what is best for the people of this country….anyway…..Medicare will most likely be safe from the massive overhaul and eventual privatization that the Repubs had wanted…and that will be great news……but…..there is always a but…..what about Medicaid?  You know that program in the states that assists the poor in receiving medical care?  Will it be safe from the hatchet job that the Repubs were planning for Medicare?

It seems that Ryan’s budget will still have this program in the cross hairs and if he and his cronies are successful what will it mean to the poor in the states?

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities delves into the details of Ryan’s plan to slash Medicaid by more than a third over the next decade, and in half over the next two decades:

          • Seniors:   An overwhelming majority of Medicare beneficiaries who live in nursing homes rely on Medicaid for their nursing home coverage.  Because the Ryan plan would require such deep cuts in federal Medicaid funding, it would inevitably result in less coverage for nursing home residents and shift more of the cost of nursing home care to elderly beneficiaries and their families.  A sharp reduction in the quality of nursing home care would be virtually inevitable, due to the large reduction that would occur in the resources made available to pay for such care.
          • People with disabilities:   These individuals constitute 15 percent of Medicaid beneficiaries but account for 42 percent of all Medicaid expenditures, mostly because of their extensive health and long-term care needs.  Capping federal Medicaid funding would place significant financial pressure on states to scale back eligibility and coverage for this high-cost population, many of whom would be unable to obtain coverage elsewhere because of their medical conditions.
          • Children:  Currently, state Medicaid programs must provide children with health care services and treatments they need for their healthy development through the Early Periodic Screening, Diagnostic and Treatment (EPSDT) aspect of Medicaid, which provides regular preventive care for children and all follow-up diagnostic and treatment services that children are found to need.  A block grant would likely permit states to drop EPSDT coverage, meaning that children, particularly those with special health care needs, would not be able to access some care that medical professionals find they need (because Medicaid would no longer cover certain health services and treatments for children, and their parents wouldn’t be able to afford to pay for that care on their own).

See…..they may be pushing back from the horrible idea of the voucher system for Medicare…they are still trying to kill the medical coverage for the poor….for they know that if it boils down to the states solely…the program will disappear….governors have been trying to kill it for decades and now they are within sight of success….

The GOP’s Man Crush

By now we ALL have heard about the doings in states like Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, to mention a few……if not then there is a rush by GOP governors to attack public employees and their unions….it seems to these types all the budget problems and shortfalls are ALL the fault of public employees and the unions……It seems that the GOP is still trying to negate ALL progress of workers that started back in the 1940’s………..conservs make it sound as if the public employees have somehow stolen their benefits….utter and total BS!

I am still waiting for these governors to focus on one of their major points that helped them win a large percentage of the vote….that point is…the creation of jobs…..somehow lower corporate taxes will create jobs….it has NOT in my state, which has some of the lowest in the country, and have been promised great prosperity will come with lower taxes….not so in the last 50 years…..nowhere have these elected officials created a job and their points they are pushing like furloughs, dismissals, etc….will create NO jobs  but will create a rise in unemployment….keep in mind you mental midgets voted for these people….are you pleased with your choices?

Anyway back to the man crush thing…….The darling of ALL conservs, Gov. Cristie of New Jersey today on MSNBC (which has a major man crush on this guy)…..Christie talked about the stuff he is doing in New Jersey he said that….”the unions were destroying thew Middle Class and that by pursuing them he was going to strengthen the Middle Class….(this is a paraphrase)……and of course Morning Joe was so9 pleased to hear that the public employees would be attacked that he could barely contain himself (after all he is a conserv and as such sees the evils behind unions)…….but after hearing his little mindless diatribe I have to ask……..

Just how are unions destroying the middle class, governor?  How would weakening or eliminating unions strengthen the middle class?

Since thanx to the work of unions, the middle class prospered and gave working people the opportunity to advance their standing in society…Thanx to the work of unions Americans were given the chance to live the American dream…Just how would Christie and his comrades strengthen the middle class?

These GOP governors are pursuing an agenda that they kept from the voter during the campaign….this is NOT unusual….but you would think that the American voter would be smarter by now……(pause here for raucous laughter)…….

Why Bureaucracy?

College of Political Knowledge

Subject:  Political Theory/Political Administration

This is a continuation of a discussion that one of my most avid readers, Quin of Quintessential Havoc (go to blogroll to get to his site)……we have discussed the evils of the heavy bureaucracy that is prevalent in democracies…..but I want to talk about the bureaucracy on the local or state level this time…..

I will talk about my state…Mississippi……(thanx for all the sympathy cards)……..the state has 82 counties….and in some cases the county seats are less than 25 miles apart….the counties were created around land ownership, in most cases or were created in the days of the horse and buggy as the only mode of transportation….those days are gone and so are the days of the necessity for so many different jurisdictions…..

The capital city of Jackson and its suburbs are located in 3 counties…..the Coast, which is about 26 miles long, has three repeated county seats…..Hattiesburg, locate between Coast and the Capital, and its suburbs cover 2 counties, maybe three……my point is, if the state is truly wanting to saving money it is time for some realistic consolidation…..eliminate all the duplication….K.I.S.S. and consolidation is the simplest solution…..

All that is a worthless waste of resources just to keep the “good ol boy” system in place….states are struggling to save money and balance their budgets and still offer the services that the people need….but instead of looking at reality they attempt all sorts of revenue generating schemes that in the long run harm the people that they say they are trying to help…..

Elected officials need to cease all this bantering and pseudo-fixes to the administration of government and look for real solutions….no matter if they are popular or not……eventually a real statesman will appear and do what is necessary….until then…..budgets will be crap and the people will suffer while the politicians keep lying and cheating the people out of their future…….sorry to be a downer……but we need to face reality and stop sticking our heads in the sane and exposing our butts to the politicians….they WILL take advantage……

Another good plan for the people’s money…..where I live the local courthouse decided to build a new parking garage….they tore up an existing parking lot and when the garage was built they gain about 3 new parking spaces…..but it was imperative that it be built…….the old parking lot was perfectly good but they had to have a garage and the couple extra parking spots cost about $1 million each…..not bad if you are a contractor, huh?  God I love this stuff!

Side Note:

One appointment in a memo announcing White House staffing changes sounds like something from a future Harvard Kennedy School case study of what went wrong: Emmett Beliveau was appointed Deputy Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to the Chief of Staff.  God, I love this stuff…it just keeps getting better and better……

Civil Disobedience Comes Home!

From the VOMITORIUM

In the last month all of the Middle East has exploded into protests…..by now we all have heard the reasons….no jobs, little food, little pay, total breakdown of society for the people and a well spring for the authoritarian a/holes that hold the power….somewhere I though it would be good if Americans would get off their lazy butts and start demanding that the pigs in Washington would start acting as a true rep of the people….so far I have been sadly disappointed….we Americans stand by and allow the crap to happen…..

But wait!  Wisconsin has revved up and the public employees are protesting the bill by their new governor that would target unions, especially public service unions…trying  to eliminate collective bargaining, screwing with their pensions and their health care….basically it is an attack on unions….a typical GOP strategy…that and trying to eliminate any organization that deals with the poor……

All the pundits whether Right or Left have been calling this action by the governor as a way to attack the state budget and that the protesters are just cowards for NOT caring about the state deficit……25,000 protests have descended on the state capital of Madison to voice their disapproval of these targeted actions….

Let us look a little closer at the situation……as of January whjen the governor took office there was an expectation of a budget surplus of about $120 million…..but shortly after the swearing in….the Repub governor and his cronies in the GOP lead legislature passed a sweeping bill that spent $140 million on the special interests that paid him for his campaign…..news pundits say that the people need to do the math….I agree……a $125 million surplus minus the $140 million bill mean that there will be a deficit…….a deficit that the governor the legislature brought onto the people of Wisconsin and now the public employees are asked to make up the shortfall……I WOULD BE PISSED TOO!

Oh by the way….there are exemptions from the cuts those would be the police union, firefighters union and the state troops union…….in case you are interested…these 3 unions were the ones that supported Walker in his campaign…..coincidence?  Like Hell!

A few more tidbits……

The Fiscal Bureau memo — which readers can access here — makes it clear that Walker did not inherit a budget that required a repair bill.

The facts are not debatable.

Because of the painful choices made by the previous Legislature, Wisconsin is in better shape fiscally than most states.

Wisconsin has lower unemployment than most states.

Wisconsin has better prospects for maintaining great schools, great public services and a great quality of life than most states, even in turbulent economic times.

Unfortunately, Walker has a political agenda that relies on the fantasy that Wisconsin is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy.

Walker is not interested in balanced budgets, efficient government or meaningful job creation.

Walker is interested in gaming the system to benefit his political allies and campaign contributors.

Any deficit that may occur in Wisconsin had NOTHING to do with the public employees and their benefits….but rather a well timed plan to destroy anything union…….the middle class workers MUST pay for the benefits that the governor has given to his handlers and their interests…..

Repubs are PIGS!  Attack anything that represents the workers….now please tell me whose has the best interests of the middle class at heart….why does the middle class keep voting for the very people that are out to destroy them?

Here is another thought….if they succeed in Wisconsin…NO public employee will be safe anywhere in this country…..

The American People May Not Be In A Coma

Have you heard the news coming out of Arizona?  No!  Not the immigration thing that has everybody’s panties in a twist….I mean the sales tax thing….as reported by the LA Times:

Voters in this famously tax-averse state Tuesday night approved a temporary hike in the sales tax to stave off brutal budget cuts.

The veteran Republican had shocked many in her party last year by advocating the penny sales tax increase, arguing that the state couldn’t simply cut its way out of a deficit that rivals California’s. Critics said it was economic suicide to raise taxes in a recession.

Political observers have noted that because the governor was defying GOP orthodoxy by pushing the tax increase, she had little option but to sign the immigration bill, which is strongly supported by most Arizona voters and an overwhelming proportion of Republicans.

It seems that the American people, at least Arizonans for now, agree with me that some form of tax increases are needed to save needed programs.  The residents voted FOR the increase; this was not some sneak attack on their lives by some shady, back street deal made with politicians.

Given the facts, as best as a politician can give the facts, and the people can make a decision that effects their lives……a plus for more direct democracy.

Is This A Dumbass Plan?

Inkwell Institute

Budget Deficit Series #7

For years now I have been writing about taxation and fiscal policy….on how tax revenues are the sole source that generates money for the states and the country……and to cut taxes in times of deep economic problems is more of a give away than entitlement programs….

Allow me to qualify what I am saying….

Sales taxes on groceries would be eliminated once the state’s economic condition approves under a bill that has passed the Oklahoma Senate.

The bill would eliminate the sales tax on groceries once state revenue collections return to where they were before the economic downturn.

The bill also has a provision that would require the state to reimburse local cities and counties for sales taxes lost on groceries.

In my state there is a similar bill in the legislature but it has not yet passed……there also other forms of tax cuts being offered also….

Where I have a problem with this the fact that of reimbursement….yet another problem, even though a future problem, for local governance……the money that is being given away by cities and states just to try an lure business will not be replaced….that is why it is called a “GIVE AWAY”……..

Legislatures are looking short term and a political benefit and are ignoring the long term beast they are creating….this will come back and bite somebody in the ass!  This is just a way to gain politically for the guys in charge….yes it will save people a bit of cash….but keep in mind that the lost revenue WILL be made up as soon as they can…..so if anyone is to be bitten in the ass…..it will be YOU!