Tuesday, December 22

A beast, a blue, a Hank McCoy

Expect a reboot soon.

I can't be sure what you can expect. I only know that I am going to try to be more relatable instead of letting the dickbrains drag me down to their level.

Nicer, and with the minimum swears absoluteƩy necessary.

Tuesday, August 4

Hate This Evil Bullshit



I hate the world.

I am going through life, abated, when something or someone happens that has me absolutely incensed. I realize I am enjoying the distractions but, my hate of the world is renewed.

I've written dozens of posts here, but I get back to the feeling I have when a truly evil atrocious joke, piece, or poetry burns a spot across my page. I hesitate before I send it out into the world. What makes the difference, you ask? That we relinquish the responsibility for the masses, even to the extent to which we feed the Zeitgeist, the large inexorable woolly mammoth of civilization that won't suffer a few extra calories, here or there.

All the better if some of us can make money for just saying exactly what the rest of us are thinking-Just write what will be popular- Who can fault that, right? They are doing what you would be doing if you had the talent. Plus, taking a strong position and sticking to it mortalizes the Endless vampire news cycles.

Am I giving you mixed messages? I almost love the world. Yet, I hate this fucking evil bullshit and the fact that you cannot tell the difference. I don't think you're necessarily evil. I only know there's a problem when the inept fucking mongoloid Congressmen trying to make the small sliver of people that contact them feel better and complain less don't realize that their jobs are about standards and if allowing, idealism.

Sure, the Inferi sound like humans, but that comes out of a pecuniary efficiency. From a business aspect, there is no problem. Losses being felt in newspapers are healing themselves through cutting edge graphics packages and by introducing dramatic storylines to every fucking fifteen minutes of 24-hour news coverage. Whether conservative or liberal, even when we examine an honest-to-goodness journalist, most of their bosses are micro-managers-penetrating-skulduggery more than they are writers, news editors, or journalists. They don't have to make sense. They are paid executives which pull in numbers. Viewers already hold the prejudices they do. We just sell them the sounding board. No one listens. How is anybody supposed to win? Viewers just need to hear themselves talk back at them. Such is the American infatuation with himself.

Only I don't get my sounding board. I wish there was something I could turn to. Even The Daily Show and Today in Washington don't express the outrage I have for what good Christian Americans did to destroy hope in America, and what they are being used for to destroy today. I am thinking very succinctly about posting a religious experience post to let my little brothers and sisters know what I think we can take from yout religion. We have been doing so all along, and to deny a candid exchange would be to leave it in the hands of the morons and idiots who used to run that Ferris Wheel churches. So I am writing, here and there, and using as few tricks as possible to make the best arguments I can these next few posts. I do my research, and only have not written about health care because it is so difficult to find useful data to formulate an argument.


I want to state here that I am in full support of President Obama and the executive branch. I only think that Congress is full of pussies. Fuck you too, Senator Cornyn. You talk out of the side of your mouth.

I don't know that much about Republican officials. They seem, by and large, better than their constituents. This part should have more detail, but this part isn't directed at Republicans.

I'd wager the better part of my life that 25% of Democratic officials are ill-gotten seats. In lean times, this proportion may shrink, but I tend to believe that the reverse is true. It has nothing to do with being marginal or sensible or right. Politics attracts the personalities that are good at manipulating people, and more than half the time, they are incredibly bright. It's easy to run for elections if you're this type of person. Sure, the defeats are heart-rendering and victories exhilarating, but this type of person thrives on these lifestyles. There are only two types of decisions: unconscious or desperate. With steel resolve, a politician knows the life of desperation. He feels dead when it is over. And if he's lucky, only after he's retired does his appetite become embarrassing.



Congress quakes a confluence of evil. Like corpses filled with lava but bubbling in a matrix on the skin doesn't break or incinerate, only smolder. Sorry to go through some basics here-Maybe I am repeating them to make it clear for myself, but important members of Congress position so that they become experts on their local complexities. The theory is that near enough of them spread across the land sooner or later we have experts on every possible problem the country could face. That the Congress should convene on a Federal level and use tax-levied funding to see what works. For every unique obstacle, we'll have applied aggregate solutions. If they can keep their contractors and sub-authorities honest, soon the public will discover what works best.

The problem is this lowest 25%, the ill-gotten seat, a percentage no less catastrophic in the Republican party. The games they play for blood and glory. The petty Congresswomen only know how to manipulate, and because of the short terms, they can afford to run on their selected issue the duration of their terms. They only refine their bullshit, and learn how to take a hit. They know one day a big hit may come, and if it does, they are not surprised. They have been practicing for this day, and they change their game to Survival mode, hoping to God you and him buy their bullshit so they can come back in as little time as it takes for voters to remember what next thing is most important to them.



Health Care

Biggest problems.


What it needs to be, short and concise version:

1. Satisfying the moral imperative. Health care can kill you. It sounds funny, but if indeed you are dying of a terminal disease, not only must you carry on your fight so that your family doesn't think that you want to give up on life and on loving them, but you must head to your grave knowing that you will leave an insurmountable and rising debt for the family you leave behind. Insurance companies do not like to carry terminal patients with lasting and expensive health procedures and medications. THIS WILL NEVER CHANGE. It is government's omral imperative to look out for the welfare of its citizens when such a large imposition of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness is not only ever-present, but looming larger.

2. Controlling costs. I don't know how to fix this. I don't have the access to understand how new machines are sold or which new medicines are the results of innovative breakthroughs as opposed to marketing for profits. Raising revenue for researching the terminal diseases without raising taxes may not be a possibility, but as a person without medical health insurance (or medical needs) even I would be willing to pay more or even a significantly larger portion of my paycheck if we decided as a country that we would take care of everyone who got cancer. We should be able to indirectly control health costs if we can manage to provide the significantly smaller population of those afflicted with cancer. This can itself show government's commitment to refrain from running health care totally, but also provide a necessary testing ground for government involvement in an expanded and pervasive public health care program.

3. Diminishing abuses and patient med-seeking. I could understand all of these 'grassroots' demonstrations going on at townhalls if they were saying "WE DON'T DESERVE FREE HEALTH CARE." It is a stretch, but make the Medicare/Medicaid deduction larger, but make it so that while not everyone is covered for all of the preventative measures Americans would no doubt abuse, no American would need worry that a serious, terminal illness would wipe out their family as well as extinguish their life.

4. Non-permanent oversight by Congress. Only temporary with the fiat options to forcibly readjust costs that insurance and pharmaceutical companies do to drive their CFOs submissive. Treat for-profit hospitals like businesses and charge them the above corporate rates based of their market share so that conglomerates do not form amongst hospitals the way they have between health insurers, or at least to slow the rate at which this indirect price manipulation is occurring.

5. Political offense. Call the Republican leaders by name pussies. Call them upstarts. Call them by name and accuse them of being bitter, schoolyard bullies who refuse to add anything constructive to an initiative that not only needs to take place, but that will take place. Tell them that they need to realize that if they are this uncooperative, they get no motherfucking cookies- no motherfucking chocolate milk- nothing but sent to bed. Democrats need to use their idealism and take a bullet for the 2010 elections. Obama is still President. He needs harsh and SPECIFIC named criticism to leak. Then he needs to say that those statements, while unprofessional, are not out of character with the opposition named. It will be potentially disastrous if fuckwads can interpret these comments as the President criticizing poor little Republicans as a whole. There needs to be some primary footage or media recording to leak out later so that people, even those opposed to the President or his health reform initiative now, will realize through the battering of a 2010 election that the fuckwads playing for their side are worse than the Democrats they believe are the enemy. I don't like Pelosi either, but she's a sight better than most of what's available.

Monday, June 8

The Importance of Researching News Stories

A lie isn't the other side of a story; it's just a lie.

Thursday, May 21

Is Credit Bad For Your Health?

Two more things today, handled only briefly. The first will be health care in terms of what the Democrats should do to combat the barrage of flaming arrows unsheathed upon this very important campaign promise/legislative juggernaut. The second will be a brief strategy to combat supposed Credit card company fees and penalties to you, brave consumer.

1.
This is the way to come at socialized medicine.

It'll be expensive, but the whole point of pooling resources is so that no one as a United States citizen should ever have to suspend their life and liberty because of the costs they incur just trying to be healthy. That's the nexus. Cancer and Alzheimer's are the kinds of infirmity that take happy retiree out of his home and dump him out the the street. It is a desperate condition, but handling these seriously debilitating diseases will be good for all of us and virtually impossible to vote against. Still, until the streams of revenue can be located, the scope should not only be legislated as limited in scope but also temporary. The implementation of further Heathcare rights will be continued on the basis of concurrent success.

The next part of the health care argument is more callous. We already spend upwards of $2 trillion credit (the opposite of cash money) on Medicare and Medicaid, a number that will only increase for the next 15-25 years as more of those entering their golden years are living longer. Not to mention that in about 35 years, all of us, their kids, will be those golden year patients. I don't know what I will be like when I am that age. Right now I can hardly think about wanting to continue on living if my faculties were significantly diminished. I cannot really understand wanting my spouse to prolong life if she were sick or not present. I do not believe there is value in life inherent to it living and breathing. I believe there is no value in life unless you actively can procure it for more than just yourself. I have not yet hit 30, however, so my mind might change. I'm still as cocksure and manipulative as I've ever been, so I do not expect my views to living will change a great deal. It's funny the things that DON'T change.

The cost of health care will surely not be going down from the sheer number of patients. When insurance companies and hospitals were given the free reigns of the corporate bull, they decided to save or trample patients based on how their outlook for the fiscal year. They lost their ability to go unregulated. Instead of providing good care, they provided more care. They award hospitals that make the extra tests and keep a good stable of lawyers to keep their lawsuits from catching wind. Often, they award patients with connections to medical boards through the labyrinth of personal wealth and big business instead of providing care on any kind of moral basis. First do no harm? Since when did that include Above all, Do nothing that costs too much.

No one is saying that universal health care will be all or nothing. Obama is not trying to get new legislation whizzed through Congress so that the junkie homeless person can go into the Emergency room if it's too cold outside. He is not trying pass laws into motion that will allow pregnant teens to get medical attention unabashed. They are aware of frequent flyers and have a plank in there about monitoring repetitive patients. Personally, I am with the idea of American justice where you can make practically any mistake there is if you're willing to pay for it. They might sway a few Republican Congress members over to their side if they introduced certain plank that incurred extra charges to the guaranteed significant Americans that used a free health care system to the point of abuse. The single payer system is good even if that means we all pay a fee that is a percentage of our monthly wage. That is, the single payer that we all put money into will be part of but in addition to the Medicare deductions each paycheck. No, that is not disincentive to earn more. It just means that you are paying the same amount everyone else is for your health, some people just have more or less money than you do.

This is also separate from Federal funding that is being put into the very good idea of electronic records. You may always know what's going on with your health, but if doctors can access real time empirical data on how patients with certain illnesses are being treated and how they are getting better, well that is good for patient and doctor.

Whatever happens, universal healthcare is sure to keep legislators busy for decades.

It is also incredibly smart for the President to make this Congress' bill. I think it is very likely that a foundation-laying bill will be hammered out by the end of the summer, and that most likely, we will see Obama signing a Health Care Rights bill by the end of November. Of course it's going to toss back and forth between House and Senate a couple times, but bi-partisan should mean more than 1 Senator and 3 Reps from the other side. The biggest problem will be reconciling a private health insurance option with the simultaneous payments into Medicare and whatever trust is set up for pay for the Health Care Rights provisions. The superficial answer is that while you will have the option to purchase personal health care, the incentive to do so will be similar to those of Canadian citizens. They purchase health care if they want to have access to highly desirable doctors and facilities. Or if they happen to be traveling in a country without universal health care. Most likely patients paying for premium care will be able to pay both--- and get good use from both. It will be interesting to see what 'networks' arise in response to "private health insurance" allocations in a new bill.


2.

The second thing is the credit card bill of rights. There are things the President can and cannot do. Barack Obama could sign the bill into law. He couldn't tell credit card companies to chill the fuck out with all the credit cards they issue. He cannot tell them not to charge you once they try to make up black they're losing. Listen up, people. The credit card companies stocks are going to go down. The drops will come really quickly in about 2 months, most likely because credit card companies find it inconceivable that they've been operating above their means. The country needs to have a booming industry, but a lot of the troubles that happened in this country came from rampant spending that isn't getting paid back. If the average credit card debt is $10K credit (the opposite of cash money), multiply that time 150 million people. THAT'S 1.5 TRILLION dollars. It's a wonder and an act of blind faith that those companies are not dirt nap cheap.

As consumers, pay off your credit cards. Use debits for dinners and vacations and such. If you want to make your credit score better, use the 12 month no interest for store credit cards that will undoubtedly pervade the consumer market and pay those off within that year. Get new ones from a new store. The number you have is less important than the amount you owe on them altogether. Use notebooks or some app like Quickbooks to track your spending and payments month to month. I prefer notebooks because I just don't trust that information to the Cloud.

Here's the thing. Start paying down your credit cards now. As soon and as often as you get fees or rate increases you believe are unfair to you, the good credit card holder, let them know that you will not be continuing with their company as soon as the bill is paid. Find out who the person's on the phone boss is and short letter to them telling them that they should really consider how to deal with their parent companies' irresponsible, bubble growth. They will listen. They have to now.

Monday, May 18

Default Lending

Just a few things. The real news is jam-packed with frivolity. Whose fault is this? When did the biggest sin currently affecting public policy arise? No, I wouldn't call it the exchange of money for the passage of legislation. Though in that realm of usury and 3rd Circle sins, accepting money directly is sufficiently more corrupt than accepting campaign contributions. Ted Stevens is still a harsh, egomaniac not made for this world so don't let him back in if he tries it. State prosecutors just fumbled the ball on that one. He is guilty. He even got caught. He just didn't have to pay for it. This time.

We cannot do as much to fix politicians at the moment. What we can do is try to whip or waterboard journalistic mediums back into shape. Hell, they have the easiest job in the world. Newspapers and policy magazines still do an admirable job. The former does a good job of providing context and supporting evidence for the brief slant we get from officials. The magazines are built on the edifice of a particular agenda, but they are fair in their imbalance. They provide the critical reader with enough material that we can see the wires and the cutouts. They present manuals for demystifying the magic tricks and obfuscation coming from the many hundreds of magicians both foreign and domestic. You just have to match the manuals up with what the other ones are writing.

Let's try to knock out two things here. Nancy Pelosi and Abortion.

1: Nancy Pelosi knew of torture. The Executive is obligated to inform the Joint chiefs and Congress of war operations, usually the Speaker of the House and specific committee Senators. She was not the only one who knew. If the question is what we should do about it, well then I say lock her up along with Bush and Cheney. If you're shocked that the Democrats were, to say it politely, shrinking violets when it came to standing up to this administration since 9/11, you've not been paying attention. The Democrats were right to support the President. Bush's administration was wrong to take that good will and deceive its citizens while acting like a steroid stepfather over in the Middle East. She knew, but if the Republicans are trying to hammer her on this apparent hypocrisy, they need to punish themselves for being the main offenders. Lock em up! Bulk up the Alexandria Federal Detention Center, put the government officials in one wing, the Gitmo detainees in another, make it a tourist attraction, and show how alive equality and justice are here in America. If Republicans are truly outraged at Pelosi's actions after she found out what was going on, well they should reexamine what they think about Colin Powell. If they are still insistent that she should have blown the whistle on CNN, they should read the US Code 47,606 as pertaining to Powers of War sections b, c, and h.

2: Abortion is repellent. I've seen the videos and read the pamphlets. I know how hard it is to have such a decision touch you. It's brutally painful, not something I'd like to ever have to repeat. I wasn't involved in the decision. It was made without my knowledge and I only found out almost a year later. It crushed me and has nearly ruined me so far as intimacy goes. I do not wish that pain on anyone. I recoil when I hear that the right to abortion is only the woman's decision, I have never considered the choice of terminating a pregnancy an area of State or Federal governance. Whether you would like to save the babies or not, you cannot use your religion as justification. If so, you are as guilty as Pelosi when is comes to knowing about the suffering, greed, and murder that occurs on this Earth with so little as a Bible college or tubes of toothpaste sent their way. God, if he exists, is not going to punish you for voting for a man who supports a woman's choice while letting you off the hook for the 50 other injustices you daily come in contact with your casual dismissal. While I do not desire a nanny state, I do think that a social more can be implemented without a religious case being made, and a limitation of 1 abortion be allowed per woman per lifetime. Having shared the burden of an abortion, essentially without notice, I also would prefer criminal fines for mothers and fathers who try to stave off the responsibility of making this serious judgment.

Oh yeah, and teach kids that while Abstinence is best, condoms are relatively effective. Also tell them that sex is an awkward and ridiculous thing, and there are a lot other things they need to get good at before that will make the getting of sex much easier down the road. Perhaps here school can also teach something about marital ethics during their sexual education class. You can get AIDS or something else awful from just one unprotected coitus. It is abominable to lie to teens about the ineffectiveness of condoms. Talk to your kids. Don't always be their friend. They need guidance. Sometimes they need a villain. You are that parent.

Tuesday, May 12

Torture Or What We Really Need To Worry About

Amidst the looming and interweaving topics clouding American judgment on what we really should be dealing with, let's dispose of the torture situation.

We cannot rule torture completely out in all situations.

We cannot make it standard operating procedure. If torture is going to be used, a clear line of responsibility should be drawn. Bush did know and approve of torture. It was 'legalized' by a series of letters by military lawyers, Rumsfeld, and Rice. Bradbury and Bybee are the patsies so everyone higher could keep their names out of the fire. This is the greatest political legacy Bush left, the Domino Demagoguery. Every ill the Bush Administration faces is simply the work of some dynamic undersecretary or demi-God official that got all of Bushie's good intention turned around. We remind you not out of spite, but because we should all be aware when governments at the state and locals levels echo this strategery.

We cannot torture out of emotion and without just cause. The biggest problem with Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay torture techniques was that it was done not only by CIA officials but also by untrained US soldiers, and privately funded, independent security forces. This loose approach to the collection of information lead to lots of bad intel. We stormed into innocent homes and friendly villages, bombed country sides and empty bunkers because our detainees wanted the torture to stop.

We are fighting a war without borders, without generals, and without a long term objective. It is a fallacy to believe "We are fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them over here." That is true only to the extent that our deployed soldiers and overseas citizens provide closer targets. What the US needs most is the spread of our most basic conviction: That America is good. Not every citizen is brave enough or equipped to play ambassador in the Middle East. So we should be damn grateful to soldiers that both learn the significance of Muslim and Arab; but also teach, by example, the valor and honor of being American. Indeed, they must be better than a large number of us. Counter-insurgency implemented by Gen. Petraeus will prove to be ineffective in the short term but possibly the solution to permanently shifting developed Islamic countries over to the side of religious tolerance and vigorous trade. Iraq will no doubt erupt once US forces leave. It will be short-lived however, as the majority of Iraqis want to return some semblance of regular life. Seeds have been planted, and they see the next obstacle as standing shoulder to should with nations like Saudi Arabia and Iran. Gen Petraeus' problem is now recruiting soldiers who can jive with the mixed-in, ambassadorial, counter-insurgency strategy that puts US soldiers in direct contact with local populations in order to shift their allegiances from Taliban to us, the Peacekeepers.


Now, What We Should Really Be Worrying About. The Threatdown for Obama's Administration and the forseeable future.

1. Right-wing Agit-prop
2. Iranian Nuclear Weapons
3. The Budget and Banking Pitfalls
4. Left-wing Agit-prop
5. Russian Military politicking
6. Taliban operations in Afghanistan and Iraq
7. UK Conservative party and Chinese financiers sabotage
8. Unstable countries such as Pakistan and Somalia

Sunday, May 10

Here in my car, I feel safest of all

I was watching C-SPAN this morning. I like to tune in at least a few hours every week, and almost every morning after something goes down.

Mona Charen was a guest on Today from Washington. I hear makes a lot of appearances for parenting and motherhood, so I hate to dis her on this of all days. She's an empty head. She represents herself as a syndicated columnist for the National Review. That's not exactly true, even less so if you listen to her. If it was true, her job would be to present rigorous debate in the forum of political punditry. She didn't deserve the blanket attack against Jews from a fellow Republican call-in, but she's nearly as vile in her dismissals of Democratic and Obama actions of the past 110 days. Basically, she is boring. Check her out and vilify her on her sites and to the editors of papers she's syndicated to if the feeling strikes you. I'm sure it will. And she just does not justify our aggravation.

Now what I really want to talk about.

Stress tests seem to be an exercise of Government control over financiers. Banks are mandated to reduce costs by these stress tests. Essentially, they are told they must generate liquid assets in about a month. This should allow Geithner's team to understand how banks have previously hidden bad assets, and simultaneously help the banks to reduce operating costs.

I can understand how there appears a disconnect between my previous post and this one. Banks are local and must survive. The Difference is that auto companies can try to survive no matter what country they are in. They've informed the Treasury they will not survive unless they cut their costs, cutting jobs, and manufacture offshore. However, factory towns are decimated in the process. Here is a point where I disagree with Geithner's plan. Do we really need auto companies to survive? Banks are integral to the fabric of even neighborhoods, but wouldn't we just buy a better car if American companies could no longer produce them?

Bailing out banks helps wealthy financiers as well as middle income mortgage payers and lowest bracket survivors. Bailing out auto companies when they are doing little to nothing to protect American infrastructure, consumers, or their employees makes little if any sense. SO should the taxpayer save them?

I will continue to investigate this further, but my gut feeling is 'No.' This is meant to appease voters in Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois who thought Obama was going to swoop in and save their jobs. Unfortunately, auto companies are worried primarily about their bottom lines. Their profits should not be a government concern.

To hammer this home, I stated in my last post that Socialism has some very pertinent and useful applications in the automarket. Innovate! should be the bumper sticker that carries this point across. If American car companies don't want to share its breakthroughs (and we cannot really afford to as yet) with foreign companies, we should develop a new engine or fuel delivery or core technology that is patented on these shores, uniquely American, and marketable to the globe. This is a place where Big Government can do the job that much power is warranted for. They should mandate that these American car companies monthly or quarterly think tank their ideas until they revolutionize the personal vehicle. Treasury, Commerce, Ways and Means, Republicans and Democrats together should be force the R&D of American auto industry to meet and share this information with each other until someone breaks the riddle and gives us something both economically and practically solvent.

Maybe then we can stop with Green energy lip service and tackle the Power Grid next.

And don't forget the assuredly fatal problems of Social Security and Medicare if nothing drastically wise gets done.

Now a gay woman killing the Liberty Tree of America.
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Naw, just kidding, It's Wanda Sykes being funny at the White House Correspondent's Dinner.


Happy Mother's Day.

Wednesday, April 22

Deprivational Therapy

Obama's economic plan is a gamble, and if the well-to-do are going to scream "Holy Bloody Murder!, Obama is destroying the American way of Life!" we are going to have to stop them.

Figure out what the most is you can spend this year on buttressing the economy. Now cut that in half. Cut that in thirds if you are truly a conservative economist. (You still have the second and third budget to 'correct' the course.)The goal of reintroducing confidence in the economy seems a little far-fetched. Even more so since the only way companies dig so far out of the holes they've dug is to innovate, drastically improve their costs, or miraculously improve their market share. The biggest concern that Treasury Secretary Geithner has is on the innovation front.

Even when companies are able to have a breakthrough technology, it is not always accepted on the domestic much less the global market. Take a look at Dean Kamen's company DEKA. He's responsible for the gyroscopic motors of the iBot/Segway, and the self-contained water purification system that could wipe out 1.8 million deaths from waterborne illnesses each year. The top brass in the US and at WHO may not want to save that many people's lives in Third World countries, but this is not moral absolute yet.

We can only be good people if most of us are good people, and that ain't the case.

Auto companies are cutting their costs, discontinuing some brands, spending less on advertisement. They are highly exposed, however, as they are half-heart pursuing the oil companies and old ways of doing business(cynical and easier route) and only quarter-heart pursuing new technologies. They would really like to, so they imagine, but their reluctance only aids the improbability of their company striking it rich with the breakthrough. Here is a place where Socialism or the evolved and untested principals of Parecon (Participational economy) could manifest. International car companies are present in the United States, but anyone in the world would love it if they could solve the Chinese and American consumer problem. GM and Ford are experiencing from revenue influx from the novelty and status their cars bring them from foreign markets, but that will be short-lived. What we need are separate corporations working independently but then clearing all of the paths to corporate espionage by sharing designs and blueprints directly. I don't mean by giving GM the plans for Volvo, but by deciding together that an New Engine must be made. People from Suzuki and Honda and Ford and GM will all work separately, but at least once every quarter until this Engine is built and marketable, they will come together to share designs. The 2-day showcase for the public after the week long collective. After the design is made and we find something to replace the combustion engine, then they can go their separate ways back to trying to destroy each other. Right now they are all playing a public face of Green Innovation, but little is being done, and significantly less is being spent on R&D. Some companies seem to just be spending the money for the news coverage.

Give oil producers a price floor. Give Americans a price ceiling. Tell the oil manufacturers to get their costs down, and we're happy doing business. Work with OPEC but see if they want something other than defense dollars.

Banks. Just as they over-speculated, you have taught Americans to over-speculate. Just like in politics, sometimes you lose. Hard. Bush exemplifies two things you should not be tired of hearing now or EVER. They need to be ground into your brain-dome so you never forget it. If you want to elect an idiot-King, make them Vice-President. I think that Biden is actually effective as a VP for bringing the plaintive comments and old granpa austerity to the Executive. Don't you assholes make the comparison to Sarah Palin. She would have made an excellent Vice President, but I am convinced that under that strain of all the 100 days, McCain would be very sick or dead, and we would be far worse off. Palin as President would probably lead to pandemic Murder-suicides and the first murder-suicide to touch the White House. Sarah Palin knows some weirdos, so if it wasn't immediate, it was gonna be the in-laws. The Most Important and Second Success the Bush Legacy left (that you should always remember) is that he represented the elite notions big business has that they are entitled to their money.

(I cannot, as yet, comment on the stress tests.)

Capitalism: supplying the best products/services at the best price to serve the needs of the consumer

Corporate, legal-purchased definition of Capitalism: supplying demand enough to keep consumers buying things they don't need and if we're really good, things they don't even want. We could sell them a product, but they pay more for a dream.

Capitalist Pig: Them with enough money already they feel forever entitled to their current level and that they and their children deserve more. "Somebody's gonna get rich and somebody's gonna have to pay" is a mantra well-known in these circles. They makes decisions that effect thousands of people and do not always care how those people are effected; the bottom line is all they care for.

And I know how mentioning the name Bush sparks ire in your some of your eyes so that you cannot maintain focus on the important argument, but Bush was responsible for the 3 and 4th highest budgets in the history of the country. Most of that money apparently vanished. It is because he is a capitalist pig, and he believes that any of his deficiencies should be paid for by regular people.

There is less of the crony-minded commercialism coming out the Obama White House, so maybe this deviant, criminally negligent behavior will come to more of an end. I am very sure that Madoff is not the only person running a scheme like this. Understand that Obama is in a very difficult place. We have institutionalized injutice, a pay-to-play legal system, corruption with proper protocols. He loves America and understands that not all of this came about because of evil malingerers. Many of the safeguards in society that keep evil men in business are twisted from the good these safeguards meant to protect. You should check the AP wire stuff that doesn't get printed.

Obama is trying to account for all of the dollars spent. And he is thinking like a poor man (there is the gamble.) The good thing is that he also looking out for the poor men and women in the US. The maxim goes, If you are going to spend your hard-earned dollars, you better have something to show for it.
So I am glad that most of what he is spending will go into tangible improvements in the American way of life. Money is being spent, but that's money that should have been invested for the past 20 years. He is President. He is only guaranteed 4 years. If the American people are steered by their fears and not their heads and not their hearts, he's got to make the biggest dents in Americans' foreheads before he's out.

Homeowners have to take a hit here. Cities and Munis are going to have to take a smaller cut on property taxes. That will help. City planners cannot simply appraise homes at increasingly higher values according to real estate prices and re-zoning adjustments. That has been the Space Dollars episode of South Park, and it will lead to a future bubble burst/economic downturn. They have done this for decades in El Paso, and they are trying it in more and more places to try and boost State and Local revenue. There need to be methods of turning vacated buildings and offices productive by unconventional methods. Houses need to be revalued and in a way that perhaps re-values all mortgages and house payments to less than what they currently are. The banks should do this themselves but, with benchmarks. Regulation is going to need to take place in a variety of business sectors, particularly the ones that provide generic help to any member of any state. Too much regulation by way of standards still has the possibility of hurting smaller franchises, and they need protectionist policies. Small farmers to medium agricultural operations really need to be protected. Monsanto should be put out of motherfucking business. They are killing small farmers and poisoning you.

I've meant to start posting again the day of his 100 days. I should be back relatively regularly now. Next time with links and pics like normal.

Wednesday, February 25

Party for 2

It is curious how the Republican party thought they'd solved it. Especially since it is the end of the Republican party as they know it. I am skeptical to think a man like Karl Rove is motivated by anything like principles, but one thing that he believes in is that 10 years before the end of the Cold War, America found its center. I do not know anything about the downfall of the USSR, but I'm sure that if they had a guy like Rove, they'd execute him. Unless he was doing the executing.

Yes, we can all be glad we are neither former Soviet Russia or Fascist Germany. Yes we can.

I saw this weird speech from Ron Paul addressing members of CPAC. Here's their agenda for the annual conference, this Feb 26-28. Whether or not we can take them seriously will come down to whether or not these youngish Republicans can separate themselves from the current Party Machine while keeping those dollars.

Have you ever worked for a manager that, goods to gods, you would swear they wouldn't be able to do the jobs for what they so fervently harass your fellow underlings? Usually, the business model encouraged this behavior. All of the blame and intimidation flows down through multiple levels of management until it trickles down to you. Taking their shit is an unwritten part of your job description to hide the fact that no one above you has their shit together; you just have to listen to the bitching. And don't do anything that could get you locked up.

Masking the current Conservative movement as a return to Goldwater/Reagan/Gingrich politics is a defense plan for the Republican sham. And we have 10 years to defeat terrorism, find our center, and create a viable two-party system. Not with a photo. Not with a constant media feed. Not with empty rhetoric.

I don't think that a man like Karl Rove or Stephen Colbert or George Bush or Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity or Rachel Maddow or Tina Fey believe that America can solve any problem in 10 years. (I only use that number arbitrarily as that's roughly the time it took to get pictures of Americans on the Moon or Reagan to swashbuckle those commies into submission.) They feel compassion for America and its struggles, but they don't have faith in the people. Frankly, you don't give them a reason to. I believe it though. For all the problems I have with you individually, I am grateful that there are so many of you making a diverse, miracle of a planet for me. Americans in brandishing unison are like the World's version of superheroes.

The reason we loved Reagan so much was that he made us all believe it for awhile. Capitalism was allowed to run free and the money was good. The 80s were more business immoral than the 70s, but we believed that Capitalism was the new God and answer for all sovereign ills. Reagan, whatever his values were, proves to have been unique where the Democrats at that time did not credit him. His illness and age made him 'dial it in' for his 2nd term, but the man he was in the 1st term allowed for it. The republican thought they'd solved it. Get a moral, stubborn, charismatic Leading man, and America will fall at your feet. Give 'em a Reagan, and we'll give them what they need. Bush is no Reagan. Bush II is no Reagan. Steele is no Reagan. He's not even a Sharpton. He's more of a character from TGIF family sitcoms trying to play it 'ethnic.' Jindal is like Chez called it, Kenneth from 30 Rock. No amount of stupid human tricks will turn your party around. Since you are not willing to apologize and move forward with a sharp, steady eye, you must abandon ship.

Obama is your Reagan now. Just as Reagan won the recenter privileges, Obama now was earned it. Give it some time. See how it is. It couldn't possibly be as bad as you are saying it is. and what's more, the outlandish things you say leave America with only one option. We are not going to board your Crazy Train.

Judd Gregg fucked up. Ron Paul is playing his cards in opposition to the Republican party, still naively clinging to the fact that he can make it his Republican party. Honestly dude, I like you. I'm telling you this because I believe America thrives with at least two parties. The ONLY way that Americans are going to accept a third party is to market it as the new Second party. Ron Paul, you are not in the position to take the reins from a Machine. Ditch those assholes. The only way they will ever change is when they die of old age or the guilt and hypocrisy of their vice. By Cardinals, we'd call it Pride.

The economy is in trouble. We are putting our faith in the dips and crests of statistical history. The major stimulus in the economy is coming from government dollars. If you look in the the Economist's Year in 2009, you can see that the graph of US growth these same dips and crests every year. No stagnation. For the past 3 quarters: Stagnation. The purely expansionist business model that exploded in the 1980s has been prevalent for nearly forty years now. America has never, as a nation, had to draw back. Every time we were met with hardship, the economy bounced back better than ever. The depressions might've been deep, but we could rest assured that for all but a latent period in the early 90s, the booms were massive.

The way I see the economic plan: It's a gamble. But what do we do when we spend money and we don't have a lot to spend. We put our money where we'll have something to show for it once it's spent. That is one of the main points of this second major stimulus package. The first one, Bush authored and passed along through 2009, threw money at the problem and over half of it is unaccounted for. We should try the people responsible for this treason, or at least this theft. It would probably be enough to seize their assets. They deserve to be dragged into the streets and torn to pieces by hand by the people they've robbed, but only if we're talking about justice here.

Obama's plan is a move towards socialist economic theory. That's not such a bad thing. I have always supported socialist thinking, but concurrently realize that a major problem with it is its lack of incentives. The best and the brightest should have more, and they should be able to work to whatever they choose to add to the overall productivity of mankind. The major destructive force of Capitalism is that is creates individuals who seek to profit without contributing to the overall productivity of God or country. A participational economy is far beyond what Obama would propose, but he is spending the money on education and energy and buttressing the middle class. He is making public risk more public-controlled. The government shouldn't have to deal with many of these problems (it isn't the government's fault that banks fail,) but the darker sides of Capitalism has become too prevalent to be trusted.

You do not fear this, but if the middle class would ever rise for the justified outrages we suppress, the politicians, corporations and lobbies quickly would all know the errors of their ways. More on economy in the future as this one is running long.

If you're feeling the Daily Show, you should check out the Obama is Hitler spot from Jason Jones? Where is that guy? Wasn't it Sam Bee that had the baby?

If instead you want to see all of that Ron Paul CPAC speech, here it is in three parts. He touches a lot of his regular points. You shouldn't be shocked by any of his shocking statements. He's been saying them for years now. The important thing is that he is raising his dissent inside the Republican epicenter. And he obviously has people behind him.



This last part is a different take on the war on terrorism. I do think he's right that Osama Bin Laden likes our Middle Eastern policy, but not as much as the oil companies do. He doesn't mention this. His only solution is to remove American interventionist policies from around the world. That's wrong, Ron. If you ever do get your party, drop all the crazy talk. Concentrate domestically but don't screw with foreign policy. It needs to be fixed, but you are not the man to deal with it.

Tuesday, January 20

Let's Call Him B-H.

One of the things that always bothered me about the communication among the Barack Obama camp was that we most succintly referred to him as BO. Some people always tended to use the more formal Senator or President-elect Obama, but for those whom efficiency is a standard, there was no other shorthand more used.

He's elected already. If we call him BH, it's another new piece to the cultural zeitgeist and more of the world making sense. Two scoops of Obama praise. His speech was the culmination of the week and the programming the most adept thank you to the nation for coming through for him. Hopefully the thank yous are over since the even tone of his speech was also his way of saying enough with the freaking fanaticism (though I would guess his nervousness was also reason for the even tone.)




He should be nervous. The whole world is counting on him. Still, the text of his speech far exceeds the delivery today. He deserved it. We have ourselves a President my lovelies.

I will say more about the content of his speech after we've seen some of it in action. Also, I want to find out what Bush's last actions in office were.

Did you check out the new website whitehouse.gov ?

Thursday, January 15

BHO: Not Just The Regular First Inaugural Address

I am getting really ants in my pants excited about the Monday and Tuesday. I am volunteering for the national day of service and thinking about what can be done in February. I'll let you know when I come up with something. Monday is just a bunch of Obama volunteers talking healthcare at several venues locally. There are a couple of minority factions trying to lobby for Solar farming, Black history month activities involving Barack Obama in public schools, and getting state representatives to deny bailout funding for cable companies (they're asking) unless they help deliver one of Obama's campaign promises, Free Universal Wi-Fi. The current tactic being espoused by MediaMatters.ORG is free universal broadband, but whatever, I'll take anything over the freakin tiered internet that undoubtedly would have passed should another Executive won office. You still hearing that noise up north too? Now she wants to kill beluga whales in addition to polar bears. What, you didn't know that while some glaciers melt, others are getting larger? It's called Springtime. Gosh, I don't think you are educationed like a Governor would be. Who ever heard of a person without executive experience that didn't know what they were talking about?

I said I would never talk about her again. It appears as if we are somewhat unable to because of the stupid rules about terms of office. If we must, I remit we never speak her name. It'll be like that time that boy soiled his pants on the way to Sunday morning church when I was 10. Just too embarrassing to refer to directly.

I couldn't help myself, here is one more slideshow summing up the Bush years. You'll have to click because the Guardian is being really protective of this Steve Bell cartoonist piece. People still supporting Bushie should be ashamed of themselves. Defend whatever ideas you think are salvageable and worth defending but leave Bush's name out of it. He's the best evidence America has seen of how the entire American government can fail its people. We are huge and big and powerful but still not yet invincible. No one is.

This thing will be more link-heavy and informative when things get started again. I really haven't been doing much because there hasn't been much to talk about-- At least not the way I talk about them.

Wednesday, January 14

Moving of Minds

Holy Fucken Shit, Shut the Fuck Up You Spine Red Jelly Fish!

Before we can start talking about the Obama presidency, we should think we could wait til it actually starts. His moves have been spot on by the way. But he's just getting ready folks, ya'llz better duck those eggs for cover.



But seriously, whether you criticize the new President or are so humanly jaded as to gleam a little like old copper by the sea, you probably work for some tiny conservative rag that's always getting it right but no one ever looks to because it's the essence and holiness of Politics that sicks at your soul. And that, my friends, takes time. So hold your collective breath, but not too long. There's moving to do.

Or if you must pundit, reflect on the things we can take in perspective like:


Bush Tours America To Survey Damage Caused By His Disastrous Presidency

Good Riddance and Happy New Year!

Let's say we break out the fireworks on a New New Year's Eve. Fresh New Years Eve of Beverly Hills. The CIA Panetta appointment, by the way, is an exercise in focusing the combined efforts of this nations' military and intelligence might. He doesn't have foriegn intelligence experience, but he has been an a President's Chief of Staff. And fucking Arkansas shoot his own sister in the foot cause you were kissin on her Bill Clinton's Chief of Staff. Think Toby even though that Fed Reserve dude bears more resemblance. Calculating and boldness that can get some cooperation with DHS going. Cutting taxes? You know you don't say boo on a President who cuts your taxes. Let's see how strong Hope fuels a confidence shortage. It isn't wholly unlike The day after Christmas. It's a gamble, but if we *wistfully* could just keep the miracle going year round.

Something interesting has happened in my little town. The city council voted to referendum the legalization of marijuana. The argument is that legalization will stop the really massive and terrible Mexican murders and executions to decrease. "Crime is spilling over the border into our homes. A man was tortured." "Four were killed Jan. 1st in Juarez, Mexico." "Terrorists are going to bomb the Rio Grande and break a wide hole where jihadists can roam freely into our country to burn our women and rape our churches!" Thank you Whitest Kids and Brownback, R-KS.

The only short-term solution I can see is giving American citizens special status or consideration for traveling into Mexico. Crossing the border requires a passport for over a year now. It was shortly after that time that the violence in our sister city started to rise. No one was going over to Juarez unless they had family over there, and no one is going over there now because of the fear we might be robbed or kidnapped. The ransoms are usually egregiously absurd amounts of money like 30 million dollars or other such senseless crime. The lack of American commerce spilling over into their city is making the crime business a big time player once more.

That being said, I'd like to say Why pot is a bad idea.

Even if it were legalized, the American population is not responsible enough to handle a hallucinogenic substance. Alcohol may impair judgment, but you can stay high for years at a time, and there's no telling what cockamamie signatories Americans full of pot would be. It is an interesting idea to have something so benign as pot not weigh as a legal worry in life, but the trade-offs in American spirit and productivity are approximate to the costs. To do it to offset crime, as our city council voted unanimously in favor of considering, would be the wrong time to do it in the wrong city. If it is as I expect, wholly an ideological move, then it has already been a success. Good to mention it so long as it doesn't pass.

And if you're trying to point to some classic example to prove your point, let us remember what lesson we learned from recent documentation of one of our greatest Presidents, Abraham Lincoln.



I bet you thought more of Shakespeare before now, too.

As a general policy, I think that people should have to demonstrate a certain functionality and comfort in life in order to obtain a prescription for medical marijuana. This would take away the criminally violent incentive from the drug business, especially if it were illegal for anyone but the government to sell the stuff in this country. Even if the drug lords could buy the most ingenious Specs. on the market, they wouldn't be able to compete with the quality American agri-business can concoct.

I watched C-Span today and it was right out the gate with Guantanamo Bay. They are going to be relentless if Obama doesn't make filibustering seem like the biggest pussy roll in all of politics. Indeed, there are other ways the game is played and it would be in all our interests if we saw less Congressional bully pulpit.

Obama will remain tough on terror. Just realize this is for the long haul. There is no way to quickly defeat an enemy we've decided is a race, a religion, a people, and a part of the world. You cannot solve this problem on a map. The sake of one for the sake of another, principles are an asset. When it is the sake of many for the sake of just one, especially if that one's pride or any other sin is at cost, principles are liabilities. America will torture but not as a first means, and not to the extent that it becomes unregulated and untrained again. Guantanamo should close.

America the grand and beautiful idea can find another name to call it.

Any time we need to.

An email with the best of the past election, a list of handy informational sites, and the complex breakdown of the sites which will give you a pretty concise rundown of Obama's first hundred days. They are at least what I think he needs to address in the first hundred days and some explication as to the options. Just send me a pm or leave a comment and I will get you the info. Thanks.