It's almost 2009--and it's just plain wrong that all men (and women) still aren't created equal.
I support gay marriage and gay rights and I don't understand how so many people can vote to take rights away from other people. Or how a simple majority can remove those rights. What's next--blonds can't marry brunettes?
If your religious beliefs tell you that gays shouldn't get married--then don't get married if you are gay. But don't oppress other people. That's NOT what Jesus would do.
But let's stop fighting over semantics and get to the heart of the matter--restoring basic civil rights to at least 10% of Americans!
I HAVE A SIMPLE SOLUTION: GIVE CIVIL UNIONS ALL THE SAME RIGHTS AS MARRIAGE.
Let's stop fighting over the word "marriage." Not separate, just EQUAL.
In fact, the government shouldn't be in the marriage business at all. Anybody joined in union in a courthouse, straight or gay, gets a civil union. Anyone joined in union in a church is "married." Same thing, different names.
That's just the first step. But it can be done quickly and with less backlash from the unenlightened.
The next step is to make sure everybody can also get married--but in the mean time, the point is to ensure that everybody has the same RIGHTS, if not the same words.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Monday, December 15, 2008
Country First... California's Secession
I know Palin is long, at least for a while, but I'm still fuming over the fact that she and her "Country First!" campaign were such utter hypocrisy. Until Palin was tapped, she was a secessionist who wanted Alaska to break off from the Country she was now supposedly putting first.
Why was this not an issue? Can you really be expected to put Country First, when just weeks previous you'd put country last, and were part of a group of outright haters of America?
I don't hate America--I love it. I was taught to love it, and there's much to love.
But I can love America and still hate the way it's been run for eight years, and still, at times, think the best plan for California would be to secede. I mean, it was good enough for the Republican running-mate, why can't it be good enough for our Republican Governator?
I think about this scenario when I'm angry about the way the country is being run--into the ground.
And the latest bonehead move is by Southern Senators who have blocked any loans to struggling US automakers--at least the automakers who aren't in their states!
How dare these soon-to-be-out-on-their-asses asshole Senators use their last few minutes in power to try to break the unions? Who are they to tell union workers that they need to make less money--at a time when it's not the unions who are at fault, it's management--and it's senators themselves for not following Europe's lead in terms of energy efficiency for cars.
So, while they still clung to power, these senators, mostly from the south, have screwed Detroit--and the rest of the country--including themselves.
The senators who kept the auto loans from happening just happen to be the senators of states where there are auto factories from foreign companies with non-union jobs: VW, Mercedes, Hyundai and Toyota.
These senators through it was within their power to insist that United Auto workers would agree to work for non-union wages, as if this had all been their fault. Let's not talk about the $700 billion given to money men who perpetrated fraudulent if not criminal financial schemes--they're OK, throw money at them.
Meanwhile, these senators are too stupid to realize that their auto workers would suffer, too. Because if GM or Chrysler goes bankrupt, all the major auto suppliers will be hit hard, if not into bankruptcy themselves, and since all major automakers use basically the same suppliers for dashboards, seats, airbags, brakes, even transmissions, all those German and Japanese automakers wouldn't be able to get parts to build cars!
What's more, the North's answer to the Southern union breaking should have been, "Sure, we'll work for non-union wages like your foreign automakers, just as soon as you give us nationalized health care, like the foreign auto companies give employees in their native countries so we don't have to spend a huge chunk of the cost of our cars and health care for current and retired workers."
Assholes. I'm sick of the politics of backwater states taking priority over truly national matters, and their spiteful little political moves that will even hurt themselves but they're too dumb to realize it.
So I'm once again back to wanting California to secede from the Union. We pay more federal taxes and get less back from the feds, while we're subsidizing the south. And to what end?
California doesn't need the rest of the USA. We're the 7th largest economy on the planet. We build computers and cars and planes and all things internet. We even produce more food than any other US state. So we'd have lots of exports to the US of A, even more than Canada!
Of course, Oregon and Washington should also secede and join California, because it would make sense to have the whole coast.
Of course, now that we will soon have a REAL president again, rather than a brain-dead puppet of fascist corporations, the US is going to need California to help rebuild and get through this depression. So we'd better stick around for a while, at least until the next fascist Republican president.
Why was this not an issue? Can you really be expected to put Country First, when just weeks previous you'd put country last, and were part of a group of outright haters of America?
I don't hate America--I love it. I was taught to love it, and there's much to love.
But I can love America and still hate the way it's been run for eight years, and still, at times, think the best plan for California would be to secede. I mean, it was good enough for the Republican running-mate, why can't it be good enough for our Republican Governator?
I think about this scenario when I'm angry about the way the country is being run--into the ground.
And the latest bonehead move is by Southern Senators who have blocked any loans to struggling US automakers--at least the automakers who aren't in their states!
How dare these soon-to-be-out-on-their-asses asshole Senators use their last few minutes in power to try to break the unions? Who are they to tell union workers that they need to make less money--at a time when it's not the unions who are at fault, it's management--and it's senators themselves for not following Europe's lead in terms of energy efficiency for cars.
So, while they still clung to power, these senators, mostly from the south, have screwed Detroit--and the rest of the country--including themselves.
The senators who kept the auto loans from happening just happen to be the senators of states where there are auto factories from foreign companies with non-union jobs: VW, Mercedes, Hyundai and Toyota.
These senators through it was within their power to insist that United Auto workers would agree to work for non-union wages, as if this had all been their fault. Let's not talk about the $700 billion given to money men who perpetrated fraudulent if not criminal financial schemes--they're OK, throw money at them.
Meanwhile, these senators are too stupid to realize that their auto workers would suffer, too. Because if GM or Chrysler goes bankrupt, all the major auto suppliers will be hit hard, if not into bankruptcy themselves, and since all major automakers use basically the same suppliers for dashboards, seats, airbags, brakes, even transmissions, all those German and Japanese automakers wouldn't be able to get parts to build cars!
What's more, the North's answer to the Southern union breaking should have been, "Sure, we'll work for non-union wages like your foreign automakers, just as soon as you give us nationalized health care, like the foreign auto companies give employees in their native countries so we don't have to spend a huge chunk of the cost of our cars and health care for current and retired workers."
Assholes. I'm sick of the politics of backwater states taking priority over truly national matters, and their spiteful little political moves that will even hurt themselves but they're too dumb to realize it.
So I'm once again back to wanting California to secede from the Union. We pay more federal taxes and get less back from the feds, while we're subsidizing the south. And to what end?
California doesn't need the rest of the USA. We're the 7th largest economy on the planet. We build computers and cars and planes and all things internet. We even produce more food than any other US state. So we'd have lots of exports to the US of A, even more than Canada!
Of course, Oregon and Washington should also secede and join California, because it would make sense to have the whole coast.
Of course, now that we will soon have a REAL president again, rather than a brain-dead puppet of fascist corporations, the US is going to need California to help rebuild and get through this depression. So we'd better stick around for a while, at least until the next fascist Republican president.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Why the US auto industry deserves to be saved
I'm sick of hearing how the US Automakers somehow don't deserve a bailout, while banks and insurance companies, that were so poorly run they literally self-destructed, have been bailed out, paid off, propped up, despite the poor management, and without berating them or asking them for a plan to make it all better.
The government simply threw money at the white collar companies that produce nothing. Yes, it's important to have banks and insurance companies, it's vital that the money continues to flow.
But the US economy is built on more than shuffling money around--it's built on making things--or at least it used to be. There are fewer and fewer companies that actually make things now, and more that are either about ideas (that's fine), or just making money from money (is that really productive, or just exploitative?)
GM and Ford are building better cars today than they ever have--even in their golden age of tail fins.
US car quality is every bit as good as rivals from Japan and Germany.
And yet they're being treated as if "nobody buys them" and "everything they make it crap." Yet they sell over half the cars in this country. That's a majority of the market share, and a larger percentage than Presidents have gotten in elections in years.
What the automakers have yet to do is change the PERCEPTION of their brands and vehicles.
True, the Big Three put out some bad cars for a number of years, they wrecked their own brands and reputations--but now they have fixed their products--it takes longer to repair their images.
I went to the San Francisco auto show and in looking at car designs and interior quality, GM absolutely had some of the best looking, most well-designed and put together cars. The Chevy Malibu's interior is beautiful and more customizable than just about anything under $150K--I thought it was better designed and built than the Maserati Quattroporte, which cost five times as much.
The Cadillac interiors with their leather-wrapped everything, including dash, are more attractive and better made than more expensive European cars, including Mercedes (and head and shoulders above Lexus, which somehow manages to create truly ugly car interiors with atrocious Maraschino cherry red "wood" accents).
At the low end--the Chevy HHR is less expensive than the Scion xB, gets better gas mileage, is more attractive, and clearly has a better interior design and quality. The Scion's interior is hideous, it looks like a cheap boombox made of hard black plastic.
As for Ford, the Edge is thoroughly and thoughtfully designed inside and out. The Mustang is cool and desirable, even to my European friends. The new Flex, a "mini on steroids" is a wonderful design, practical and attractive. And while I feel the entire Lincoln and Mercury lines could go and not be missed, the main Ford product line is strong. Except for Jeep and the mini-vans, Chrysler is weak, but it still sells a lot of cars and employs a lot of people. It could be pared down to its strongest assets and continue--even as Jeep alone. Jeep minivans anyone?
As for the bailout--Washington was happy to give 120 BILLION to AIG, a company that did so much wrong, and literally played with money. Yet somehow they could be trusted "without a plan."
Yet when it comes to automakers who actually CREATE and PRODUCE something, who actually CREATE JOBS, they are scolded like bad children and told to go home and do their homework before they can be given 1/10th of what went to profligate AIG, a mere 12 billion. It makes no sense.
It's time for the feds to help bail out companies that actually create jobs, rather than just playing with money.
---
Here's a great article that compares the US automakers market share with Apple's. Apple's is much smaller, yet is considered more successful. This piece helps put things in perspective.
http://www.motorobilia.com/2008/11/of-apples-and-automobiles.html
And this is another excellent piece about the bailout by the same author.
The government simply threw money at the white collar companies that produce nothing. Yes, it's important to have banks and insurance companies, it's vital that the money continues to flow.
But the US economy is built on more than shuffling money around--it's built on making things--or at least it used to be. There are fewer and fewer companies that actually make things now, and more that are either about ideas (that's fine), or just making money from money (is that really productive, or just exploitative?)
GM and Ford are building better cars today than they ever have--even in their golden age of tail fins.
US car quality is every bit as good as rivals from Japan and Germany.
And yet they're being treated as if "nobody buys them" and "everything they make it crap." Yet they sell over half the cars in this country. That's a majority of the market share, and a larger percentage than Presidents have gotten in elections in years.
What the automakers have yet to do is change the PERCEPTION of their brands and vehicles.
True, the Big Three put out some bad cars for a number of years, they wrecked their own brands and reputations--but now they have fixed their products--it takes longer to repair their images.
I went to the San Francisco auto show and in looking at car designs and interior quality, GM absolutely had some of the best looking, most well-designed and put together cars. The Chevy Malibu's interior is beautiful and more customizable than just about anything under $150K--I thought it was better designed and built than the Maserati Quattroporte, which cost five times as much.
The Cadillac interiors with their leather-wrapped everything, including dash, are more attractive and better made than more expensive European cars, including Mercedes (and head and shoulders above Lexus, which somehow manages to create truly ugly car interiors with atrocious Maraschino cherry red "wood" accents).
At the low end--the Chevy HHR is less expensive than the Scion xB, gets better gas mileage, is more attractive, and clearly has a better interior design and quality. The Scion's interior is hideous, it looks like a cheap boombox made of hard black plastic.
As for Ford, the Edge is thoroughly and thoughtfully designed inside and out. The Mustang is cool and desirable, even to my European friends. The new Flex, a "mini on steroids" is a wonderful design, practical and attractive. And while I feel the entire Lincoln and Mercury lines could go and not be missed, the main Ford product line is strong. Except for Jeep and the mini-vans, Chrysler is weak, but it still sells a lot of cars and employs a lot of people. It could be pared down to its strongest assets and continue--even as Jeep alone. Jeep minivans anyone?
As for the bailout--Washington was happy to give 120 BILLION to AIG, a company that did so much wrong, and literally played with money. Yet somehow they could be trusted "without a plan."
Yet when it comes to automakers who actually CREATE and PRODUCE something, who actually CREATE JOBS, they are scolded like bad children and told to go home and do their homework before they can be given 1/10th of what went to profligate AIG, a mere 12 billion. It makes no sense.
It's time for the feds to help bail out companies that actually create jobs, rather than just playing with money.
---
Here's a great article that compares the US automakers market share with Apple's. Apple's is much smaller, yet is considered more successful. This piece helps put things in perspective.
http://www.motorobilia.com/2008/11/of-apples-and-automobiles.html
And this is another excellent piece about the bailout by the same author.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Republicans: "We're rubber, you're glue..."
CONCORD, North Carolina (CNN) – John McCain stepped up his rhetoric against Barack Obama on taxes in his weekly radio address, comparing his plan to 'socialist' programs that would “convert the IRS into a giant welfare agency, redistributing massive amounts of wealth.”
What's so astounding about the current Republican propaganda machine is that they're eager to take whatever criticism can factually be applied to them, and throw it at their opponents.
You say Obama doesn't have enough experience? Introduce Palin!
The head of McCain's transition team worked on Saddam Hussein's behalf? Say Obama pals around with terrorists! Your biggest weaknesses? Say they're the other guy's! Works like magic!
McCain has been in the forefront of two major US bank meltdowns (Keating, then now with his friend Phil). So Bush has to literally socialize the banks. So what do you do--call Obama a socialist!
Of course, Bush's plan is not really socialism, which would mean health care and social services. It's fascism, which means taking care of businesses, not people. I wrote about this a few weeks ago.
"redistributing massive amounts of wealth" that's been the main goal of the Bush administration from day one--but it's been a reverse Robin Hood scheme, robbing the poor and middle class and giving it to the rich.
We have had, in the past eight years, the most massive redistribution of wealth in US history, much of it going outside the country to Iraq--and foreign corporations (of which Cheney's Halliburton is now one--they moved to Dubai to escape potential prosecution from war profiteering).
And so, since they've done it themselves, they are now pinning it on someone else.
What I don't get is why the so-called liberal media never stops to say, "Hey, wait a second, you're calling him a socialist but YOU are the ones socializing major corporations, he's just for programs to protect people."
Why does nobody say that?
What's so astounding about the current Republican propaganda machine is that they're eager to take whatever criticism can factually be applied to them, and throw it at their opponents.
You say Obama doesn't have enough experience? Introduce Palin!
The head of McCain's transition team worked on Saddam Hussein's behalf? Say Obama pals around with terrorists! Your biggest weaknesses? Say they're the other guy's! Works like magic!
McCain has been in the forefront of two major US bank meltdowns (Keating, then now with his friend Phil). So Bush has to literally socialize the banks. So what do you do--call Obama a socialist!
Of course, Bush's plan is not really socialism, which would mean health care and social services. It's fascism, which means taking care of businesses, not people. I wrote about this a few weeks ago.
"redistributing massive amounts of wealth" that's been the main goal of the Bush administration from day one--but it's been a reverse Robin Hood scheme, robbing the poor and middle class and giving it to the rich.
We have had, in the past eight years, the most massive redistribution of wealth in US history, much of it going outside the country to Iraq--and foreign corporations (of which Cheney's Halliburton is now one--they moved to Dubai to escape potential prosecution from war profiteering).
And so, since they've done it themselves, they are now pinning it on someone else.
What I don't get is why the so-called liberal media never stops to say, "Hey, wait a second, you're calling him a socialist but YOU are the ones socializing major corporations, he's just for programs to protect people."
Why does nobody say that?
Sunday, October 05, 2008
A POSITIVE PATH (real American Freedom from fear, lies, greed)
The Cheney /Bush administration has left this country (and world) in a crisis.
Their policies of lying, cheating, stealing, killing, destroying--somehow sold as "Family Values" have done nothing but undermined everything that Americans grow up holding sacred--freedom and democracy.
In the guise of "protectors" Cheney/Bush have turned this country from a democracy into a Fascist state--where the corporations and government tag-team to tell average citizens what we can and can't do.
Bush/Cheney have turned the government against us. Against you. Against me. They lie to us. They steal from us. They spy on us.
They say they're for "less government interference" but in reality they've created the biggest, most dangerous government this country has ever had.
And now that we're on the brink of disaster--they don't know what to do. So they just do what they got away with before, they lie, they cheat, they steal, they kill, and they tell you it's good for you.
But the neo-CON-MEN don't want to be responsible the shit they themselves shat. They don't know what to do with it, because neo-cons have no positive ideas--only fear-mongering and attacks. Propaganda is all they can do.
You can't get out of this massive mess, now financial as well as military, with propaganda.
So they need a Democrat for at least four years (it took Clinton 8 to remove the Reagan/Bush1 deficit and turn it into a surplus) to clean it up for them.
This mess can be cleaned up, but it'll take intelligence (something we know is lacking in the neo-cons, who can't think more than a few days ahead, hence the financial crisis that anyone with a brain would have seen coming and could have avoided), dedication and time.
And, sadly, while paying for all this unnecessary war, financial gambling and the ultimate redistribution o wealth, there won't be much left for little things like health care, infrastructure and preparing for the future by developing green energy, three things that are essential for real national security.
Sadly, the fascism of the Cheney, a group of people so sad and devoid of even basic human compassion, could only imagine spending that money killing and destroying--not to mention stealing--stealing from the taxes most of us pay, and stealing from the investments people made for their future.
They could have spent the far less money on health care (for life!), and rebuilding bridges, roads, water systems, sustainable energy and other vital infrastructure.
They could have created rather then destroyed. And in creating--they could have made friends instead of enemies, and they would have been improving the world, rather than literally tearing it apart.
And that, in a nutshell, is the choice. The Bush/Cheney/McCain neo-CON path of bankrupting the country on a rampage of greed, death and self-destruction.
Or the Obama/Binden POSITIVE path of REBUILDING the country in the true American way.
Some people who know nothing but fear and hate will vote for the only candidate they can see--because he's selling fear and hate--McCain.
I truly believe that the American people are weary to the bone of 8 years of fear, hate, and destruction.
That we long for real American values of working WITH our fellow man--not against him. Of buildig a better world. Of freedom (freedom from want and fear and greedy financial criminals--freedom from our own government who has been spying on us, lying to us, and stealing from us).
The people who want a better world for themselves and their children must vote for the candidate who has a positive message, and a postive path--Obama.
Their policies of lying, cheating, stealing, killing, destroying--somehow sold as "Family Values" have done nothing but undermined everything that Americans grow up holding sacred--freedom and democracy.
In the guise of "protectors" Cheney/Bush have turned this country from a democracy into a Fascist state--where the corporations and government tag-team to tell average citizens what we can and can't do.
Bush/Cheney have turned the government against us. Against you. Against me. They lie to us. They steal from us. They spy on us.
They say they're for "less government interference" but in reality they've created the biggest, most dangerous government this country has ever had.
And now that we're on the brink of disaster--they don't know what to do. So they just do what they got away with before, they lie, they cheat, they steal, they kill, and they tell you it's good for you.
But the neo-CON-MEN don't want to be responsible the shit they themselves shat. They don't know what to do with it, because neo-cons have no positive ideas--only fear-mongering and attacks. Propaganda is all they can do.
You can't get out of this massive mess, now financial as well as military, with propaganda.
So they need a Democrat for at least four years (it took Clinton 8 to remove the Reagan/Bush1 deficit and turn it into a surplus) to clean it up for them.
This mess can be cleaned up, but it'll take intelligence (something we know is lacking in the neo-cons, who can't think more than a few days ahead, hence the financial crisis that anyone with a brain would have seen coming and could have avoided), dedication and time.
And, sadly, while paying for all this unnecessary war, financial gambling and the ultimate redistribution o wealth, there won't be much left for little things like health care, infrastructure and preparing for the future by developing green energy, three things that are essential for real national security.
Sadly, the fascism of the Cheney, a group of people so sad and devoid of even basic human compassion, could only imagine spending that money killing and destroying--not to mention stealing--stealing from the taxes most of us pay, and stealing from the investments people made for their future.
They could have spent the far less money on health care (for life!), and rebuilding bridges, roads, water systems, sustainable energy and other vital infrastructure.
They could have created rather then destroyed. And in creating--they could have made friends instead of enemies, and they would have been improving the world, rather than literally tearing it apart.
And that, in a nutshell, is the choice. The Bush/Cheney/McCain neo-CON path of bankrupting the country on a rampage of greed, death and self-destruction.
Or the Obama/Binden POSITIVE path of REBUILDING the country in the true American way.
Some people who know nothing but fear and hate will vote for the only candidate they can see--because he's selling fear and hate--McCain.
I truly believe that the American people are weary to the bone of 8 years of fear, hate, and destruction.
That we long for real American values of working WITH our fellow man--not against him. Of buildig a better world. Of freedom (freedom from want and fear and greedy financial criminals--freedom from our own government who has been spying on us, lying to us, and stealing from us).
The people who want a better world for themselves and their children must vote for the candidate who has a positive message, and a postive path--Obama.
Saturday, October 04, 2008
Obama Wins. Country Wins. YOU: REGISTER & VOTE
The good news is that internal Republican pollsters have basically said McCain has lost.
Palin's performances give her LESS credibility, only 25% say she's ready and those are the die hard brain dead Republicans (we might possibly know one or two personally--oh, sorry).
So, I'm convinced Obama will win the votes.
Now the question is--will they be counted? And will the Republicans do electoral college shenanigans.
I actually think Republicans will be relieved to have this mess they created in somebody else's hands. That's their pattern. Look at Reagan/Bush1, they screwed things up royal, then gave it to Clinton to clean up. They attacked him mercilessly for eight years but he cleaned it up and gave us a surplus.
Then Bush2 takes over (face it, folks, he didn't win, the Supreme Court unconstitutionally gave it to him), messes up the economy and world worse than any president in history--and now Daddy Democrat has to come in and be the adult and clean it up--while Republicans throw tantrums the entire time and try to undermine him.
Clearly Republicans are very spoiled children (if not "the bad seeds" :)
Of course, I will be surprised if Cheney allows there to be an election at all--I am still waiting for him to pull something, like another terrorist attack.
Then again, he may take his freshly printed billions and go to Dubai, like his company, Halliburton, where he can't be extradited to the world war tribunal and held up as the war criminal he is.
I live in hope :)
Palin's performances give her LESS credibility, only 25% say she's ready and those are the die hard brain dead Republicans (we might possibly know one or two personally--oh, sorry).
So, I'm convinced Obama will win the votes.
Now the question is--will they be counted? And will the Republicans do electoral college shenanigans.
I actually think Republicans will be relieved to have this mess they created in somebody else's hands. That's their pattern. Look at Reagan/Bush1, they screwed things up royal, then gave it to Clinton to clean up. They attacked him mercilessly for eight years but he cleaned it up and gave us a surplus.
Then Bush2 takes over (face it, folks, he didn't win, the Supreme Court unconstitutionally gave it to him), messes up the economy and world worse than any president in history--and now Daddy Democrat has to come in and be the adult and clean it up--while Republicans throw tantrums the entire time and try to undermine him.
Clearly Republicans are very spoiled children (if not "the bad seeds" :)
Of course, I will be surprised if Cheney allows there to be an election at all--I am still waiting for him to pull something, like another terrorist attack.
Then again, he may take his freshly printed billions and go to Dubai, like his company, Halliburton, where he can't be extradited to the world war tribunal and held up as the war criminal he is.
I live in hope :)
Monday, September 29, 2008
Better ways to spend 700 BILLION DOLLARS!
The people who need to be protected are AMERICAN CITIZENS, not Corporations who knowingly and willfully took actions for temporary profit that they had to know would lead to long-term disaster. Giving them money produces nothing.
We need to get back to making things -- that's what made this country great.
We've had too many years of "trickle down" economics where the people in the middle and bottom basically just get pissed on.
It's time to try "Bubble Up" economics--where money is spread out among the people so it can rise up. JFK said, "A rising tide lifts all boats."
The perfect example of this is FDR's public works programs which created jobs, pumped money into the economy--and resulted in building huge public works we still use today!
YOU and I deserve to be protected from greedy criminals on this huge of a scale.
Here's how we need to use the money:
We need to get back to making things -- that's what made this country great.
We've had too many years of "trickle down" economics where the people in the middle and bottom basically just get pissed on.
It's time to try "Bubble Up" economics--where money is spread out among the people so it can rise up. JFK said, "A rising tide lifts all boats."
The perfect example of this is FDR's public works programs which created jobs, pumped money into the economy--and resulted in building huge public works we still use today!
YOU and I deserve to be protected from greedy criminals on this huge of a scale.
Here's how we need to use the money:
- Fund the FDIC to make sure our bank accounts are safe. If you're worked hard and saved money, then you expect it to be there. We've been told the FDIC insures our money so it's safe. But the truth is that the FDIC doesn't have enough money to cover all our bank accounts--and it should.
It's one thing to lose money on stocks--stocks are not insured, they are risk. But "money in the bank" is supposed to be safe, protected, insured by the government! - Rewrite mortgages. The only people who can possibly blame homeowners for the crisis are the same greedy ones who gave the loans. Anyone who's had a home loan knows that normal people cannot figure out the hundreds of pages of small print. That's not our job. If someone wasn't qualified to get a loan, then WaMu and the others shouldn't have given them.
Now the government could come in, rewrite mortgages, let people keep their homes, and that alone would help stabilize the housing market which is a key to this crisis. - Fund national health insurance so people don't have to go bankrupt if they get sick. Most home foreclosures come from people going bankrupt from their medical expenses. That's absolutely insane. My Australian and Danish friends think this is unbelievable since it's so alien to them. Nobody should lose everything trying to pay for their health care. And nobody else in the industrialized world has to--just us. Meanwhile, insurance companies won't insure people with pre-existing conditions, and often cancel people when they get sick. We can stop this insanity now with some of this money!
- Create a new WPA to create jobs and rebuild our infrastructure. Roads. Bridges. Schools. Water systems. Our country is literally falling apart--and this money would both create jobs and rebuild the nation. This money would make something!
- Pay off McCain/Palin to get out of the race. Instead of electing McCain/Palin, I say just pay them off to go away. I think Palin would take 100 million, and McCain doesn't really need the money so he'd take half that. Just as we could have paid off people to get rid of Saddam for a few hundred million, (thereby saving trillions of dollars and tens of thousands of lives!) we can save the country by paying off these people to just go away!
Say Hello to SOCIALISM... really FASCISM!
Since the takeover of major banks, brokerages and insurance companies, the USA has just changed from Democracy to what some people think is Socialism. The change is really to fascism, as true socialism, in the Scandinavian manner, would also have socialized health care and made sure people are taken care of.
They should be bailing out the FDIC to protect YOUR money in the bank. They should be protecting legitimate homeowners (not speculators), funding universal health care (since so many mortgage defaults come from bankruptcy caused by paying medical bills), and creating a WPA-like group (if you're going to go socialist, that's the way to go) to create jobs and rebuild our infrastructure.
But this isn't about protecting people or rebuilding the country.
This is about completing our move to Fascism, where we must bail out the greedy corporations that screwed us in the first place, and hand more money than the bloated Pentagon gets, to one person with no oversight or control--and judicial immunity.
That's not democracy. That is the very definition of a Fascist dictatorship, only in this case even our El Presidente would be overridden by this new financial wizard who was so smart he didn't see all this coming.
That's where we've been moving for eight years under Bush and the neo-cons--to a state where we had a government by corporations, for corporations and of corporations, rather than our traditional democratic rule of "of the people, for the people, and by the people."
I have said since the start of the Neo-Con administration (since this is wider than just Bush and Cheney, though they have been the leaders), that their goal was nothing less than to destroy our economy.
WHY?
Because that was the only way they could fundamentally change the government from representative democracy, to corporate fascism.
This administration may not have been competent at much of anything--not at preparing for or dealing with national disasters like Katrina, or preparing for or running a war, but they have been brilliant at things always associated with fascists:
Done.
And--while YOUR MONEY is used to pay for this RISK, any profits from these corporations will be private. That's right--YOU PAY THE RISK, THEY REAP THE PROFITS. Is that fair?
They have basically bankrupted the country with tax cuts to ONLY the rich and corporations, then spending trillions on the war (which funnels money back to corporations.
Look at the national debt--right now we have no means of paying it off. Each citizen--THIS MEANS YOU--owes more than $31,000
Then, without really the money to do so, the government has NATIONALIZED the corporations that were the backbone of our economy--controlling money, stocks, mortgages. (And "nationalized" means they bought these companies with YOUR money, which, in a democracy, would mean you owned part of them--but that's now how Fascism works--here you have no ownership or control).
So, in a mere eight years, the Neo-cons have managed to take us from the Democracy of our Founding fathers, and, with little complaining from the press (also corporately controlled), turned the USA into a FASCIST STATE.
Some would call this a bloodless coup--but it required the deaths and mutilation of tens of thousands of Americans, and countless people of other nationalities.
What's so ironic is that Republicans have always tried to scare Americans with communism and the "Red menace" for years. Yet now, the "Neo-cons" (who only pretend to be conservative--they are radicals who only call themselves Republicans but don't reflect true Republican values, they are and have always been Fascists), have turned this country into exactly what they warned people away from--a totalitarian state that smothers the individual.
Meanwhile, the rich have fewer taxes, more money, and can now more easily buy your house at fire sale prices.
And you? YOU ARE WORTH LESS, if not WORTHLESS. Everything you own is worth less--except the gasoline in your car. If you owned a house, it was your biggest asset--and now it's worth 25-50% less than it was two years ago. That's less money for you, less security.
YOU ARE NOT PROTECTED. The government won't help you keep your house if you have a bad mortgage, one that lenders understood but you didn't. They have only bought up the lenders to control them. You can lose your house.
Traditionally socialist countries have nationalized health care. And some Socialism has worked in this country--Social Security and Medicare.
But in Fascism we won't get health care or any other form of protection--because Fascism is run for the corporations--and insurance and oil companies are making huge profits the way things are--they are both bleeding you dry.
YOU ARE ONLY A CONSUMER. Your only job is to shop, to spread your money around. That's your job in this new fascist state.
Now--you may be saying, "Hey, it's still a democracy, and we'll prove it in November with a presidential election."
Really? Like we proved it in 2000 when the Supreme Court took the unconstitutional step of selecting, instead of electing a president?
Like in 2004 where in Ohio and Florida there was widespread electronic voting machine fraud?
"Yes, I still get to vote," you cry. Well, you can vote all you want, but if your votes aren't counted correctly, then it doesn't matter--it's a sham, all for show. And with the takeover of electronic voting machines, with no paper trail, there's NO WAY TO TELL IF YOUR VOTE IS COUNTED. NONE.
And the company behind these machines, Diebold, is run by neo-cons, who can now decide who wins elections.
How do we stop the race to Fascism and move back to Democracy?
The only way is to make the election so obviously in favor of someone who is NOT part of the fascist plan. In this case that choice is Obama. Whether you like him or not--he is the only AMERICAN FOR DEMOCRACY on the ticket.
McCAIN FLIP FLOPPED so much he's pointing in the totally opposite direction of where he used to be. Palin is nothing more than a tool of the fascists, with the perfect smiling facade.
But don't be fooled--this Fascist takeover cannot be stopped by the very people who created it. Their goal, and the goal of the political machine behind them, is to continue the transformation to Fascism.
But--if the election is NOT close, if Obama has an 8 point lead, then hacking voting machines in a few states won't be the deciding factor as it was in the past.
IF YOU LOVE THE DEMOCRACY OF OUR FOUNDING FATHERS, AND YOUR FOREFATHERS, THEN YOU MUST VOTE FOR OBAMA.
Because the only way to stop the march of Fascism is to put people who love democracy in the white house. That's the only way to stop it now.
So the choice is clear.
McCAIN=FASCISM
(corporations rule)
OBAMA=DEMOCRACY
(of the people, by the people, for the people)
Which do you want? Which one will work for you--the people?
CHOOSE DEMOCRACY
They should be bailing out the FDIC to protect YOUR money in the bank. They should be protecting legitimate homeowners (not speculators), funding universal health care (since so many mortgage defaults come from bankruptcy caused by paying medical bills), and creating a WPA-like group (if you're going to go socialist, that's the way to go) to create jobs and rebuild our infrastructure.
But this isn't about protecting people or rebuilding the country.
This is about completing our move to Fascism, where we must bail out the greedy corporations that screwed us in the first place, and hand more money than the bloated Pentagon gets, to one person with no oversight or control--and judicial immunity.
That's not democracy. That is the very definition of a Fascist dictatorship, only in this case even our El Presidente would be overridden by this new financial wizard who was so smart he didn't see all this coming.
That's where we've been moving for eight years under Bush and the neo-cons--to a state where we had a government by corporations, for corporations and of corporations, rather than our traditional democratic rule of "of the people, for the people, and by the people."
I have said since the start of the Neo-Con administration (since this is wider than just Bush and Cheney, though they have been the leaders), that their goal was nothing less than to destroy our economy.
WHY?
Because that was the only way they could fundamentally change the government from representative democracy, to corporate fascism.
This administration may not have been competent at much of anything--not at preparing for or dealing with national disasters like Katrina, or preparing for or running a war, but they have been brilliant at things always associated with fascists:
- Propaganda
- Seizing control of the government away from the people (secret meetings with oil companies to create an "energy plan" that's only in their interest)
- Taking property away from the people (nationalizing formerly private owned companies, leaving the stockholders with nothing--Lehman Brothers stock went from around $70 to seventeen CENTS! Meanwhile--YOUR money is being used to bail out these corporations)
Done.
And--while YOUR MONEY is used to pay for this RISK, any profits from these corporations will be private. That's right--YOU PAY THE RISK, THEY REAP THE PROFITS. Is that fair?
They have basically bankrupted the country with tax cuts to ONLY the rich and corporations, then spending trillions on the war (which funnels money back to corporations.
Look at the national debt--right now we have no means of paying it off. Each citizen--THIS MEANS YOU--owes more than $31,000
Then, without really the money to do so, the government has NATIONALIZED the corporations that were the backbone of our economy--controlling money, stocks, mortgages. (And "nationalized" means they bought these companies with YOUR money, which, in a democracy, would mean you owned part of them--but that's now how Fascism works--here you have no ownership or control).
So, in a mere eight years, the Neo-cons have managed to take us from the Democracy of our Founding fathers, and, with little complaining from the press (also corporately controlled), turned the USA into a FASCIST STATE.
Some would call this a bloodless coup--but it required the deaths and mutilation of tens of thousands of Americans, and countless people of other nationalities.
What's so ironic is that Republicans have always tried to scare Americans with communism and the "Red menace" for years. Yet now, the "Neo-cons" (who only pretend to be conservative--they are radicals who only call themselves Republicans but don't reflect true Republican values, they are and have always been Fascists), have turned this country into exactly what they warned people away from--a totalitarian state that smothers the individual.
Meanwhile, the rich have fewer taxes, more money, and can now more easily buy your house at fire sale prices.
And you? YOU ARE WORTH LESS, if not WORTHLESS. Everything you own is worth less--except the gasoline in your car. If you owned a house, it was your biggest asset--and now it's worth 25-50% less than it was two years ago. That's less money for you, less security.
YOU ARE NOT PROTECTED. The government won't help you keep your house if you have a bad mortgage, one that lenders understood but you didn't. They have only bought up the lenders to control them. You can lose your house.
Traditionally socialist countries have nationalized health care. And some Socialism has worked in this country--Social Security and Medicare.
But in Fascism we won't get health care or any other form of protection--because Fascism is run for the corporations--and insurance and oil companies are making huge profits the way things are--they are both bleeding you dry.
YOU ARE ONLY A CONSUMER. Your only job is to shop, to spread your money around. That's your job in this new fascist state.
Now--you may be saying, "Hey, it's still a democracy, and we'll prove it in November with a presidential election."
Really? Like we proved it in 2000 when the Supreme Court took the unconstitutional step of selecting, instead of electing a president?
Like in 2004 where in Ohio and Florida there was widespread electronic voting machine fraud?
"Yes, I still get to vote," you cry. Well, you can vote all you want, but if your votes aren't counted correctly, then it doesn't matter--it's a sham, all for show. And with the takeover of electronic voting machines, with no paper trail, there's NO WAY TO TELL IF YOUR VOTE IS COUNTED. NONE.
And the company behind these machines, Diebold, is run by neo-cons, who can now decide who wins elections.
How do we stop the race to Fascism and move back to Democracy?
The only way is to make the election so obviously in favor of someone who is NOT part of the fascist plan. In this case that choice is Obama. Whether you like him or not--he is the only AMERICAN FOR DEMOCRACY on the ticket.
McCAIN FLIP FLOPPED so much he's pointing in the totally opposite direction of where he used to be. Palin is nothing more than a tool of the fascists, with the perfect smiling facade.
But don't be fooled--this Fascist takeover cannot be stopped by the very people who created it. Their goal, and the goal of the political machine behind them, is to continue the transformation to Fascism.
But--if the election is NOT close, if Obama has an 8 point lead, then hacking voting machines in a few states won't be the deciding factor as it was in the past.
IF YOU LOVE THE DEMOCRACY OF OUR FOUNDING FATHERS, AND YOUR FOREFATHERS, THEN YOU MUST VOTE FOR OBAMA.
Because the only way to stop the march of Fascism is to put people who love democracy in the white house. That's the only way to stop it now.
So the choice is clear.
McCAIN=FASCISM
(corporations rule)
OBAMA=DEMOCRACY
(of the people, by the people, for the people)
Which do you want? Which one will work for you--the people?
CHOOSE DEMOCRACY
Friday, September 26, 2008
McCain's tie and ties--who is he, a USED CAR SALESMAN?
McCain's odd candy-striped tie was NOT presidential.
In fact, his tie and ill-fitting suit both made him look like a used car salesman.
But a mere fashion faux paux is trivial--what's important is that McCain isa used policy salesman--Selling old, worn out, tired. FAILED.
And let's talk about McCains TIES to the people behind the failure of the savings and loans, behind the deregulation and current failure of banks. Those are the ties that bind.
And what about McCain's ties to lobbyists? He had an affair with one and then gave her lobby special treatment!
Why would we want to buy used failed policy from McCain?
We need a NEW model, new policy, new ideas--WE NEED CHANGE. We need OBAMA.
In fact, his tie and ill-fitting suit both made him look like a used car salesman.
But a mere fashion faux paux is trivial--what's important is that McCain isa used policy salesman--Selling old, worn out, tired. FAILED.
And let's talk about McCains TIES to the people behind the failure of the savings and loans, behind the deregulation and current failure of banks. Those are the ties that bind.
And what about McCain's ties to lobbyists? He had an affair with one and then gave her lobby special treatment!
- Would you buy a country from a man like this?
- A man who lies even when it would be simple to tell the truth?
- A man who was in the middle of the failure of savings and loan failure, and is now in the middle of the biggest financial crisis since the great depression?
- A man who's best friend and financial advisor is Phil Gramm, who wrote the laws that deregulated the market--which caused this current crisis?
Why would we want to buy used failed policy from McCain?
We need a NEW model, new policy, new ideas--WE NEED CHANGE. We need OBAMA.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Palin - A RUSSIAN SPY TRYING TO TAKE OVER THE USA?
I AM AFRAID TO VOTE FOR SARAH PALIN, BECAUSE SHE COULD BE A RUSSIAN SPY!!!
SHE'S NOT A MOM, SHE'S A POLITICIAN--and maybe a SPY!
SHE NEVER HAD AN F.B.I. BACKGROUND check!!! For all we know, she could be a Russian spy. She lives close enough to Russia as Cindy McCain reminded us.
LAST YEAR SHE WANTED ALASKA TO LEAVE THE UNION, to stop being part of the USA.
She is so AGAINST OUR GREAT NATION that she was working to separate oil-rich Alaska from the rest of the U-S of A!!! She's not what anyone would call a patriot.
And why did she want to take Alaska and all it's oil? Did she want to give it to Russia?
And why would anyone want our next VP or president to have recently wanted to be no part of this country? She was Alaska first, NOT country first.
We don't know who she really is? Maybe she's going to kill McCain, take over the country, and then, at last, the Reds will have control over the USA.
We don't know, because McCain, in one of the hasty decisions even he has said he regrets, didn't leave enough time for a thorough background search.
Because McCain didn't care enough about this country to spend enough time looking for the person who would be president if he died.
McCAIN DOESN'T CARE ENOUGH TO SEND THE VERY BEST, and PALIN COULD BE A SPY. THAT'S UNAMERICAN.
Don't let the Red's take over the Red White and Blue!
DON'T VOTE FOR PALIN--IT COULD BE A SOVIET PLOT!!!
SHE'S NOT A MOM, SHE'S A POLITICIAN--and maybe a SPY!
SHE NEVER HAD AN F.B.I. BACKGROUND check!!! For all we know, she could be a Russian spy. She lives close enough to Russia as Cindy McCain reminded us.
LAST YEAR SHE WANTED ALASKA TO LEAVE THE UNION, to stop being part of the USA.
She is so AGAINST OUR GREAT NATION that she was working to separate oil-rich Alaska from the rest of the U-S of A!!! She's not what anyone would call a patriot.
And why did she want to take Alaska and all it's oil? Did she want to give it to Russia?
And why would anyone want our next VP or president to have recently wanted to be no part of this country? She was Alaska first, NOT country first.
We don't know who she really is? Maybe she's going to kill McCain, take over the country, and then, at last, the Reds will have control over the USA.
We don't know, because McCain, in one of the hasty decisions even he has said he regrets, didn't leave enough time for a thorough background search.
Because McCain didn't care enough about this country to spend enough time looking for the person who would be president if he died.
McCAIN DOESN'T CARE ENOUGH TO SEND THE VERY BEST, and PALIN COULD BE A SPY. THAT'S UNAMERICAN.
Don't let the Red's take over the Red White and Blue!
DON'T VOTE FOR PALIN--IT COULD BE A SOVIET PLOT!!!
Thursday, September 11, 2008
ARE YOU BETTER OFF NOW? No? Don't be DISTRACTED!!!
Palin's main job, which she is doing like a smart politician, whose main job is to be a DISTRACTION.
That's pure Karl Rove strategy. He ran the white house (into the ground) for 7 years. He started a war as pure politics! He traitorously exposed a CIA operative (doing that really is treason and there's proof he did it).
And his ploy is simple, yet effective"
Let's not talk about war, or the economy, or home foreclosures or gas prices.
No, let's talk about VP Barbie.
And, of course, it works, because the media is so shocking shallow, superficial and stupid. It used to be called the "fourth estate" like it was part of the US government Judicial/Legislative/Executive.
But it long ago shirked its responsibility in exchange for ratings. And for some reason, that has generally mean, "Pick Democrats to death while repeating Republican lies as truths and giving them a free pass."
I don't understand why Republicans get to lie and not be challenged on it, whereas if a Democrat does one little thing it's the end of the world (lipstick on a pig, anyone--another distraction). I don't get it. I don't see how the press benefits from attacking democrats and kissing Repugnantcan ass, but they do.
Maybe it's their corporate parents--but even then, Republicans are BAD for the economy. They have been for over 100 years. A recent study shows that the country and individuals do TWICE as well under a Democrat president than under a Republican.
It's not hard to figure out why. The Republican party is the party for the rich, greedy or stupid (and "no child left behind" was designed to keep people stupid by not really teaching, just forcing kids to remember--and believe--what they're told!). No wonder Republicans don't help. They don't have positive ideas, they just have negative attacks.
Not one major government project that really helps people--we're talking about Social Security, Medicare, things like that, has been created by Republicans--in fact, they always fight them, and then try to dismantle them (as Bush tried to do with Social Security--he would have put all our money into the sub-prime mortgages and the if Bush has his way--Social Security would have been wiped out. Maybe that was the plan, yet another way to suck all the money from the middle class and give it to the rich).
But it stinks. STINKS. And people are too stupid to smell it deserve to be lied to and cheated, as they have been for eight years.
But the 49% (or probably more) that does smell it--we don't deserve to be dropped into the dump because of the stupid people.
That's why we have to fight stupidity.
NOW, before it's too late.
Start by ignoring Sarah Palin (or admitting she could be a Russian spy!). Focus on the real problems of this country.
ARE YOU BETTER OFF NOW THAN YOU WERE EIGHT YEARS AGO?
OF COURSE NOT.
DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
That's pure Karl Rove strategy. He ran the white house (into the ground) for 7 years. He started a war as pure politics! He traitorously exposed a CIA operative (doing that really is treason and there's proof he did it).
And his ploy is simple, yet effective"
Let's not talk about war, or the economy, or home foreclosures or gas prices.
No, let's talk about VP Barbie.
And, of course, it works, because the media is so shocking shallow, superficial and stupid. It used to be called the "fourth estate" like it was part of the US government Judicial/Legislative/Executive.
But it long ago shirked its responsibility in exchange for ratings. And for some reason, that has generally mean, "Pick Democrats to death while repeating Republican lies as truths and giving them a free pass."
I don't understand why Republicans get to lie and not be challenged on it, whereas if a Democrat does one little thing it's the end of the world (lipstick on a pig, anyone--another distraction). I don't get it. I don't see how the press benefits from attacking democrats and kissing Repugnantcan ass, but they do.
Maybe it's their corporate parents--but even then, Republicans are BAD for the economy. They have been for over 100 years. A recent study shows that the country and individuals do TWICE as well under a Democrat president than under a Republican.
It's not hard to figure out why. The Republican party is the party for the rich, greedy or stupid (and "no child left behind" was designed to keep people stupid by not really teaching, just forcing kids to remember--and believe--what they're told!). No wonder Republicans don't help. They don't have positive ideas, they just have negative attacks.
Not one major government project that really helps people--we're talking about Social Security, Medicare, things like that, has been created by Republicans--in fact, they always fight them, and then try to dismantle them (as Bush tried to do with Social Security--he would have put all our money into the sub-prime mortgages and the if Bush has his way--Social Security would have been wiped out. Maybe that was the plan, yet another way to suck all the money from the middle class and give it to the rich).
But it stinks. STINKS. And people are too stupid to smell it deserve to be lied to and cheated, as they have been for eight years.
But the 49% (or probably more) that does smell it--we don't deserve to be dropped into the dump because of the stupid people.
That's why we have to fight stupidity.
NOW, before it's too late.
Start by ignoring Sarah Palin (or admitting she could be a Russian spy!). Focus on the real problems of this country.
ARE YOU BETTER OFF NOW THAN YOU WERE EIGHT YEARS AGO?
OF COURSE NOT.
DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Morning in America - SELL THE SUNSHINE!
Republicans are good at one thing--propaganda. They have no positive ideas at all, it's really sick and sad.
As for what to do:
1) McCAIN=BUSH - "the country can't afford four more years."
2) OBAMA=HOPE (he's kind of lost that message)
There's a great piece about the old "morning in america" ad Reagan ran. It was nauseating, but it was totally effective.
You have to sell people the dream, not the reality. You can't "convince" voters for president. You have to either promise them a sunny day, or make them afraid of the approaching storm.
Sunny is better.
As for what to do:
1) McCAIN=BUSH - "the country can't afford four more years."
2) OBAMA=HOPE (he's kind of lost that message)
There's a great piece about the old "morning in america" ad Reagan ran. It was nauseating, but it was totally effective.
You have to sell people the dream, not the reality. You can't "convince" voters for president. You have to either promise them a sunny day, or make them afraid of the approaching storm.
Sunny is better.
Sunday, August 03, 2008
Obama: It's NOT strategy, it's PERSONALITY!
I am seriously worried about Obama.
He's clearly being run into the ground by the same group of political hacks who undermined Gore. The giant "triangulation" brain idiots who don't realize that wasn't the thing that got Bill elected--it was Bill's personality. He could have said anything. Yet they're sure it was strategy, when it was just personality.
Now Obama's talking about drilling. What's next?
This is the most basic marketing mistake. You don't try to sell your product to people you know don't want it--yet that's what they're trying to do, and in doing so, they're making people who did want what he was selling less sure they want it.
So in the end, they're not persuading the non-believers and losing the believers. It's dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb.
Obama needs to stop listening to these political hacks, be himself again, and remember his most important job is to inspire! That it's not about strategy, it's about personality (stupid!)
I still do not understand how McCain can have 44% in polls--I know 25% of the public is either ignorant, insane or both. But what's wrong with that other 19%? Have they been in a coma for the past eight years? Have they not seen the country go to hell in a hand basket (I love this line, "Why am I in this hand basket and where are we going?"
If nothing else, have they not noticed the price of gas and wondered why Exxon made more profits than any corporation in US history and realized it's at their expense!
How can they be SO oblivious (or ignorant/insane).
So unless Obama gets back on track as "the Man from Hope" (hmm, I remember someone else named that, and he won!), then he's just going to be someone who's kind of like McCain, except more wishy-washy, and we know how the ignorant swing voters love wishy-washy (and how they won't remember that McCain has changed his stance on so many things since selling his soul to the GOP).
Sigh.
So, for the moment, I'm left not wanting to have too much hope because I'm afraid of being disappointed.
He's clearly being run into the ground by the same group of political hacks who undermined Gore. The giant "triangulation" brain idiots who don't realize that wasn't the thing that got Bill elected--it was Bill's personality. He could have said anything. Yet they're sure it was strategy, when it was just personality.
Now Obama's talking about drilling. What's next?
This is the most basic marketing mistake. You don't try to sell your product to people you know don't want it--yet that's what they're trying to do, and in doing so, they're making people who did want what he was selling less sure they want it.
So in the end, they're not persuading the non-believers and losing the believers. It's dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb.
Obama needs to stop listening to these political hacks, be himself again, and remember his most important job is to inspire! That it's not about strategy, it's about personality (stupid!)
I still do not understand how McCain can have 44% in polls--I know 25% of the public is either ignorant, insane or both. But what's wrong with that other 19%? Have they been in a coma for the past eight years? Have they not seen the country go to hell in a hand basket (I love this line, "Why am I in this hand basket and where are we going?"
If nothing else, have they not noticed the price of gas and wondered why Exxon made more profits than any corporation in US history and realized it's at their expense!
How can they be SO oblivious (or ignorant/insane).
So unless Obama gets back on track as "the Man from Hope" (hmm, I remember someone else named that, and he won!), then he's just going to be someone who's kind of like McCain, except more wishy-washy, and we know how the ignorant swing voters love wishy-washy (and how they won't remember that McCain has changed his stance on so many things since selling his soul to the GOP).
Sigh.
So, for the moment, I'm left not wanting to have too much hope because I'm afraid of being disappointed.
Friday, July 25, 2008
YOU OWE $31,302.33 - Thank Bush and Republicans
DO THE MATH! You CAN'T "Lower Taxes. Raise Spending. Balance the Budget."
"I'll lower taxes, raise spending on the war, and balance the budget." John McCain.
It started with Ronald Reagan and his famous "Reagonomics," which was code for, "I'm going to tell you I can do the impossible, because that sounds so much better than telling you the truth, and that's what you want to hear anyway."
That's like me saying, "I'm not going to earn as much money, I'm going to spend more, and yet somehow I am going to magically make my budget balance at the end of the month.
How? HOW?
DO THE FREAKING MATH, PEOPLE!
Amazingly, no one bothered to ask how Reagan would do it. The press simply never asked the question so he didn't have to answer.
And the result--the largest deficit in history--until now, of course.
Then President Clinton managed to not only pay off this deficit in record time, but turn it into a surplus.
Then along comes yet another Republican who, in nearly the blink of an eye, not only burns through the surplus but plunges the country into a unprecedented, huge deficit that, as of July 2008, is approximately $31,000 PER PERSON. That's right -- because of George W. Bush and Dick W. Cheney and the Republican W. Pimps in the congress and senate, you and your children owe over $31,000--and that's just for the deficit!
Um, let's see, WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO PAY IT OFF?
Huh?
It WILL come out of your pocket eventually.
The war debt alone is more than $10,000 PER PERSON!
Where will this money come from? Well, not from corporations, oh no, we can't tax them, that's bad for the economy! Gas companies, no, they're only making billions, that's not enough.
WTF?
By the way, the current national deficit is
9,528,997,575,696.25
I think that's a quadrillion, but it's so big I don't know, and so big none of us can envision that much. I can't even really envision a billion (a thousand million). But I can envision $31,000, I know what that will buy, and what you and I won't be able to buy as we have to spent it paying off George W. Bush's debt.
(See the National Debt Clock)
"I'll lower taxes, raise spending on the war, and balance the budget." John McCain.
It started with Ronald Reagan and his famous "Reagonomics," which was code for, "I'm going to tell you I can do the impossible, because that sounds so much better than telling you the truth, and that's what you want to hear anyway."
That's like me saying, "I'm not going to earn as much money, I'm going to spend more, and yet somehow I am going to magically make my budget balance at the end of the month.
How? HOW?
DO THE FREAKING MATH, PEOPLE!
Amazingly, no one bothered to ask how Reagan would do it. The press simply never asked the question so he didn't have to answer.
And the result--the largest deficit in history--until now, of course.
Then President Clinton managed to not only pay off this deficit in record time, but turn it into a surplus.
Then along comes yet another Republican who, in nearly the blink of an eye, not only burns through the surplus but plunges the country into a unprecedented, huge deficit that, as of July 2008, is approximately $31,000 PER PERSON. That's right -- because of George W. Bush and Dick W. Cheney and the Republican W. Pimps in the congress and senate, you and your children owe over $31,000--and that's just for the deficit!
Um, let's see, WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO PAY IT OFF?
Huh?
It WILL come out of your pocket eventually.
The war debt alone is more than $10,000 PER PERSON!
Where will this money come from? Well, not from corporations, oh no, we can't tax them, that's bad for the economy! Gas companies, no, they're only making billions, that's not enough.
WTF?
By the way, the current national deficit is
9,528,997,575,696.25
I think that's a quadrillion, but it's so big I don't know, and so big none of us can envision that much. I can't even really envision a billion (a thousand million). But I can envision $31,000, I know what that will buy, and what you and I won't be able to buy as we have to spent it paying off George W. Bush's debt.
(See the National Debt Clock)
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Drugs and Oil
I think medicine has been in decline ever since insurance and drug companies took over.
Now they're talking about giving cholesterol lowering drugs to kids as young as 8. That's really, really sick. They have no idea of the long term implications on kids, yet they are happy to risk the lives of millions of children (who will become millions of adults with as now unknown ailments because of it).
Why? So they can sell more drugs. The insurance companies will pay the pharma companies and it ensures that we all need MORE insurance and drugs. I'm suspicious of all those drugs, since you can get Red Yeast Rice at any health food store, it has the same NATURAL chemicals in very low dose, which works fine. Even then, don't give it to kids. Jesus F. Christ on a cracker.
What's amazing is that we have managed to grow into reasonably healthy human beings without it, and wow, our parents did and they ate eggs and bacon every day. How is that possible?
Pixar's Wall-E presents a wonderful and sad vision of humans in the future--a vision that "nanny corporations" are working tirelessly to achieve. They want to turn us into Matrix-like beings that do nothing but consume and spend.
And they're doing a great job of preparing us for this future, one news bite at a time.
Yesterday regular gas cost $4.45 a gallon in Northern California.
And yet I found myself being grateful it wasn't $6. Why? Because in that one day I'd I heard three different people say they'd heard gas was going to $8 a gallon! This after the "gas is going to $7 a gallon" a month or so ago.
This is clearly all designed to make us grateful to pay $4.45 now, and $6 (or $7!) in a year, because at least it's not $8. How adaptable we are! How stupid we are!
And the citizens of this country, most of whom are more like farm animals than people, are just going, "Oh, well," instead of getting furious and screaming, "Those f-ing fascists Bush and Cheney are screwing the entire economy so their friends can suck up all our money!"
Do they not remember that gas was under $1.50 a gallon in 2000? That even after 9/11 when it jumped to $1.70, it went back down?
It's only after the concerted efforts of the Bush Fascists (and they are fascists--because fascists are corporate-run governments), starting a war on the oilfields *partly out of the insane stupidity of thinking they could take over Iraq's oil, and partly because it was their way to getting total power--look people, we're in a war!) that gas is the price it is.
And when it's $7 or $8 this country's lifestyle is going to change drastically. No more WalMart "Buy it cheap while we screw everyone!" (which is a little like those psychological tests where normally people off the street would give apparently lethal shocks to other people because they were told to--not caring who they hurt because they were following orders and getting theirs).
No more relatively cheap food (yes, a loaf of bread is now an amazing $4, but our parents complained about bread when it was a quarter, and overall I'd say food is cheaper based on the value of the dollar). No more cheap clothes and cheap everything from China--too expensive to process and ship.
A LOT of jobs lost, as people can't pay for luxuries and entertainment (except people at the top end). I've read that the first thing people cut out are restaurants, movies, clothes. We are now mostly a service economy and people will cut out the services. Great.
But gas companies will still be making billions--and getting billions in tax breaks at a time when we have McCain going the Reaganomics route of saying, "I'll lower taxes and keep the war going and balance the budget."
How? HOW? Do the freaking math people! No one bothered to ask how Reagan would do it and he created what was, at the time, a gigantic deficit. Now we have one so huge (the war debt alone is more than $10,000 PER PERSON), where will this money come from? Well, not from corporations, oh no, we can't tax them, that's bad for the economy! Gas companies, no, they're only making billions, that's not enough.
WTF?
OK, enough of all that. I know that China and India's increasing need for gas has a little something to do with, and that mostly, we're over peak oil and we can't continue on this way forever, so rising prices and lower consumption can be a very good thing.
But there were smart ways to do all this and literally insane and stupid ways of doing this, and we have allowed the insane and stupid to chart our course. Sigh
Now they're talking about giving cholesterol lowering drugs to kids as young as 8. That's really, really sick. They have no idea of the long term implications on kids, yet they are happy to risk the lives of millions of children (who will become millions of adults with as now unknown ailments because of it).
Why? So they can sell more drugs. The insurance companies will pay the pharma companies and it ensures that we all need MORE insurance and drugs. I'm suspicious of all those drugs, since you can get Red Yeast Rice at any health food store, it has the same NATURAL chemicals in very low dose, which works fine. Even then, don't give it to kids. Jesus F. Christ on a cracker.
What's amazing is that we have managed to grow into reasonably healthy human beings without it, and wow, our parents did and they ate eggs and bacon every day. How is that possible?
Pixar's Wall-E presents a wonderful and sad vision of humans in the future--a vision that "nanny corporations" are working tirelessly to achieve. They want to turn us into Matrix-like beings that do nothing but consume and spend.
And they're doing a great job of preparing us for this future, one news bite at a time.
Yesterday regular gas cost $4.45 a gallon in Northern California.
And yet I found myself being grateful it wasn't $6. Why? Because in that one day I'd I heard three different people say they'd heard gas was going to $8 a gallon! This after the "gas is going to $7 a gallon" a month or so ago.
This is clearly all designed to make us grateful to pay $4.45 now, and $6 (or $7!) in a year, because at least it's not $8. How adaptable we are! How stupid we are!
And the citizens of this country, most of whom are more like farm animals than people, are just going, "Oh, well," instead of getting furious and screaming, "Those f-ing fascists Bush and Cheney are screwing the entire economy so their friends can suck up all our money!"
Do they not remember that gas was under $1.50 a gallon in 2000? That even after 9/11 when it jumped to $1.70, it went back down?
It's only after the concerted efforts of the Bush Fascists (and they are fascists--because fascists are corporate-run governments), starting a war on the oilfields *partly out of the insane stupidity of thinking they could take over Iraq's oil, and partly because it was their way to getting total power--look people, we're in a war!) that gas is the price it is.
And when it's $7 or $8 this country's lifestyle is going to change drastically. No more WalMart "Buy it cheap while we screw everyone!" (which is a little like those psychological tests where normally people off the street would give apparently lethal shocks to other people because they were told to--not caring who they hurt because they were following orders and getting theirs).
No more relatively cheap food (yes, a loaf of bread is now an amazing $4, but our parents complained about bread when it was a quarter, and overall I'd say food is cheaper based on the value of the dollar). No more cheap clothes and cheap everything from China--too expensive to process and ship.
A LOT of jobs lost, as people can't pay for luxuries and entertainment (except people at the top end). I've read that the first thing people cut out are restaurants, movies, clothes. We are now mostly a service economy and people will cut out the services. Great.
But gas companies will still be making billions--and getting billions in tax breaks at a time when we have McCain going the Reaganomics route of saying, "I'll lower taxes and keep the war going and balance the budget."
How? HOW? Do the freaking math people! No one bothered to ask how Reagan would do it and he created what was, at the time, a gigantic deficit. Now we have one so huge (the war debt alone is more than $10,000 PER PERSON), where will this money come from? Well, not from corporations, oh no, we can't tax them, that's bad for the economy! Gas companies, no, they're only making billions, that's not enough.
WTF?
OK, enough of all that. I know that China and India's increasing need for gas has a little something to do with, and that mostly, we're over peak oil and we can't continue on this way forever, so rising prices and lower consumption can be a very good thing.
But there were smart ways to do all this and literally insane and stupid ways of doing this, and we have allowed the insane and stupid to chart our course. Sigh
Thursday, May 15, 2008
More Republican lies about health care
Dick Armey is aptly named. This Republican corporate shill is once again attacking the idea of health care for all Americas by pulling out the same tired arguments.
And yet his argument now not only sounds tired, it sounds outright absurd, like something from a political bizarro world, where lies are truth and truth is irrelevant.
EVERYONE knows the American health care system is broken. Patients know it. Doctors know it. Employers and employees know it. The self-employed know it (they often can't get it).
EVERYONE knows that it's increasingly difficult (not to mention expensive) to get health insurance, and without it, we can either go bankrupt, or go without life saving medical care.
Everyone knows that every other industrialized country in the world has government run health care for all--care that works. My friends in Australia and Denmark simply can't believe that in the USA, the richest country in the world, our citizens are left to fend for themselves in an insanely expensive system, when they have no financial worries about health care. They need it, they get it.
So why, at a time when everybody knows this common obvious problem, does someone write an editorial, and Murdoch's WSJ print it, trying to say that a there's no problem, and a national health care system isn't an improvement.
This is a total throw-back to the ignorant and fact-deprived arguments of the past.
How long will Americans have to endure this kind of corporate pandering nonsense?
How long will some Republicans claim we can't afford health care for all Americans--when that is the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF "NATIONAL SECURITY." Why is it Republicans have no problem throwing almost a TRILLION dollars at Iraq, which has only proven you can throw away a trillion dollars and end up with less security, but they can't spend one month's budget in Iraq to protect the health of all Americans?
How can you argue against truly protecting Americans like this? The townspeople should be chasing this monster with torches.
When's the last time we needed another nuclear missile? When's the last time you got sick? Everyone gets sick. We haven't used a nuclear weapon in over 50 years (nor should we).
This argument is the very definition of insanity, and it's repulsive that the WSJ is following the sick path of neo-cons who think that just because they say something it's true, even when everybody else knows they're false.
The day when they can simply repeat the same lies over and over and over are--over.
And yet his argument now not only sounds tired, it sounds outright absurd, like something from a political bizarro world, where lies are truth and truth is irrelevant.
EVERYONE knows the American health care system is broken. Patients know it. Doctors know it. Employers and employees know it. The self-employed know it (they often can't get it).
EVERYONE knows that it's increasingly difficult (not to mention expensive) to get health insurance, and without it, we can either go bankrupt, or go without life saving medical care.
Everyone knows that every other industrialized country in the world has government run health care for all--care that works. My friends in Australia and Denmark simply can't believe that in the USA, the richest country in the world, our citizens are left to fend for themselves in an insanely expensive system, when they have no financial worries about health care. They need it, they get it.
So why, at a time when everybody knows this common obvious problem, does someone write an editorial, and Murdoch's WSJ print it, trying to say that a there's no problem, and a national health care system isn't an improvement.
This is a total throw-back to the ignorant and fact-deprived arguments of the past.
How long will Americans have to endure this kind of corporate pandering nonsense?
How long will some Republicans claim we can't afford health care for all Americans--when that is the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF "NATIONAL SECURITY." Why is it Republicans have no problem throwing almost a TRILLION dollars at Iraq, which has only proven you can throw away a trillion dollars and end up with less security, but they can't spend one month's budget in Iraq to protect the health of all Americans?
How can you argue against truly protecting Americans like this? The townspeople should be chasing this monster with torches.
When's the last time we needed another nuclear missile? When's the last time you got sick? Everyone gets sick. We haven't used a nuclear weapon in over 50 years (nor should we).
This argument is the very definition of insanity, and it's repulsive that the WSJ is following the sick path of neo-cons who think that just because they say something it's true, even when everybody else knows they're false.
The day when they can simply repeat the same lies over and over and over are--over.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
VOTE DEMOCRAT
First--I don't care who you vote for as long as they're a Democrat, or even a true conservative, such as Ron Paul.
Just don't vote for yet another hypocritical liar who says one thing and does another, who steals from the poor to give to the rich, who starts wars and kills hundreds of thousands with no good reason, and who is trying to undermine democracy and personal freedom at every turn.
OK?
That's not much to ask.
Next--While John Edwards was my first choice, since he's out of the race, I urge you to vote for either Hillary or Obama. Either one. Take your pick.
Either will seem like the height of competence and honor after eight years of total incompetence and dishonor.
Nobody knows how long it will take to undo all the damage the Cheney/Bush Regime has done to this country--and they've make it their priority destroy democracy and freedom as we've known it, and that's the only thing they've been successful doing!
But we all know that we have to change direction, that we have to try to repair the damage and move on.
As much as I used to respect McCain, he's shown in the past four years that he is willing to sell his integrity to the GOP, which is very sad. I'm sure he's fine man, but he hasn't demonstrated backbone, integrity and honor the past four years.
So--whether you want Obama's slick if calculated Kennedy-esque brand of Change, or Hillary's slick if calculated newfound warmth brand of Change--just choose one and vote.
Vote with your money, vote with your voice, vote with your vote.
Just don't vote for yet another hypocritical liar who says one thing and does another, who steals from the poor to give to the rich, who starts wars and kills hundreds of thousands with no good reason, and who is trying to undermine democracy and personal freedom at every turn.
OK?
That's not much to ask.
Next--While John Edwards was my first choice, since he's out of the race, I urge you to vote for either Hillary or Obama. Either one. Take your pick.
Either will seem like the height of competence and honor after eight years of total incompetence and dishonor.
Nobody knows how long it will take to undo all the damage the Cheney/Bush Regime has done to this country--and they've make it their priority destroy democracy and freedom as we've known it, and that's the only thing they've been successful doing!
But we all know that we have to change direction, that we have to try to repair the damage and move on.
As much as I used to respect McCain, he's shown in the past four years that he is willing to sell his integrity to the GOP, which is very sad. I'm sure he's fine man, but he hasn't demonstrated backbone, integrity and honor the past four years.
So--whether you want Obama's slick if calculated Kennedy-esque brand of Change, or Hillary's slick if calculated newfound warmth brand of Change--just choose one and vote.
Vote with your money, vote with your voice, vote with your vote.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
The Reagan Playbook of Presidential Platitudes
There's a candidate out there, I'm not going to name names, who others find inspiring and personally I have so far found unconvincing.
Why? Because this candidate is a Democrat who's selling a 21st century "Morning in America" shtick straight from the Reagan Playbook of Presidential Platitudes.
I remember hearing this all before.
Then again, I think it's meant for a young audience who will find it all very new and inspiring.
While it doesn't make me think less of this candidate, it makes it difficult to see who they really are beneath the rhetoric.
The good news is that there are still two liberal candidates in the race, and it's still a race, so the media hasn't been able to declare a winner without even an election.
So Vote.
Why? Because this candidate is a Democrat who's selling a 21st century "Morning in America" shtick straight from the Reagan Playbook of Presidential Platitudes.
I remember hearing this all before.
Then again, I think it's meant for a young audience who will find it all very new and inspiring.
While it doesn't make me think less of this candidate, it makes it difficult to see who they really are beneath the rhetoric.
The good news is that there are still two liberal candidates in the race, and it's still a race, so the media hasn't been able to declare a winner without even an election.
So Vote.
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Why I'm for John Edwards
(Postscript: Edwards exits with honor) Salon Magazine's Walter Shapiro wrote a great piece about Edwards's exit:
"Edwards ran boldly as a unabashed heart-on-his-sleeve, union-windbreaker-on-his-back old-fashioned populist. As the most liberal (whoops, progressive) major Democratic presidential contender in more than two decades, Edwards walked the picket lines and spoke passionately of poverty and injustice.
A president is elected, because people like them, even trust them, to do the right thing.
John Edwards has the charisma, warmth--and experience it takes to be win the election and make a good president. While the president is perhaps the most difficult and important job in the world (I say that from the POV of an American!), it's also one where intelligence and even their stated goals aren't the most important thing--their personality is.
When I see John Edwards speak I trust him to do the right thing. He'll stand up for what's right, rather than just what's politically convenient. Here's a strong statement he makes about giving all Americans health care (rather than the ones who can afford whatever the insurance companies may demand, and are then lucky if they're not canceled if they get sick).
Here's Edwards talking about his Patients Bill of Rights--he's fighting for you and me, not insurance companies, or pharmaceutical firms:
Why do I support Edwards? Because I think he's the most "real" honest and connected of the candidates. Hillary is brilliant and would make a fine president, but she's a political animal, and so while things may get passed, they will get watered down along the way. Obama is a fine man,
but he speaks in political platitudes. I've listened to his Iowa speech and he speaks as if he's a presidential hallmark card. All very nice and grand, Regan-esque in its lack of specifics.
John Edward talks like a smart, caring man.
Hillary and Obama are playing political games, waiting to vote on issues regarding the war until they see how the other votes. We don't have time for games, we need action.
Watch Edwards' speech after Iowa--he talks about people, about health, about jobs. Unlike the others, Barak and Clinton, he speaks in specifics--what needs to be done for the people of this country.
And here's an American who lost his job talking about what Edwards said to his son:
Go to Edwards' site and see more.
"Edwards ran boldly as a unabashed heart-on-his-sleeve, union-windbreaker-on-his-back old-fashioned populist. As the most liberal (whoops, progressive) major Democratic presidential contender in more than two decades, Edwards walked the picket lines and spoke passionately of poverty and injustice.
What Edwards offered -- through all the debilitating and often irrelevant flaps over haircuts, hedge funds and humongous houses -- was an opportunity to return the Democratic Party to its blue-collar roots. As he put it with characteristic fervor Wednesday, "I don't know when our party began to turn away from the cause of working people, from the fathers who were working three jobs literally just to pay the rent, mothers sending their kids to bed wrapped up in their clothes and in coats because they couldn't afford to pay for heat."
...Edwards requested only one thing when he telephoned Obama and Hillary Clinton Tuesday night to confide that he was considering withdrawing before the Feb. 5 primaries.
What Edwards asked for and received was a commitment from his erstwhile rivals that they make the eradication of poverty a central theme in their campaigns."
This is the kind of man who would have made a president for the people, and will, I imagine, continue to make a positive difference in this country and world.
A president is elected, because people like them, even trust them, to do the right thing.
John Edwards has the charisma, warmth--and experience it takes to be win the election and make a good president. While the president is perhaps the most difficult and important job in the world (I say that from the POV of an American!), it's also one where intelligence and even their stated goals aren't the most important thing--their personality is.
When I see John Edwards speak I trust him to do the right thing. He'll stand up for what's right, rather than just what's politically convenient. Here's a strong statement he makes about giving all Americans health care (rather than the ones who can afford whatever the insurance companies may demand, and are then lucky if they're not canceled if they get sick).
Here's Edwards talking about his Patients Bill of Rights--he's fighting for you and me, not insurance companies, or pharmaceutical firms:
“When I’m president I’m going to say to members of Congress and members of my administration, including my cabinet: I’m glad that you have health care coverage and your family has health care coverage. But if you don’t pass universal health care by July of 2009 – in six months – I’m going to use my power as president to take your health care away from you. There’s no excuse for politicians in Washington having health care when you don’t have health care.
Why do I support Edwards? Because I think he's the most "real" honest and connected of the candidates. Hillary is brilliant and would make a fine president, but she's a political animal, and so while things may get passed, they will get watered down along the way. Obama is a fine man,
but he speaks in political platitudes. I've listened to his Iowa speech and he speaks as if he's a presidential hallmark card. All very nice and grand, Regan-esque in its lack of specifics.
John Edward talks like a smart, caring man.
Hillary and Obama are playing political games, waiting to vote on issues regarding the war until they see how the other votes. We don't have time for games, we need action.
Watch Edwards' speech after Iowa--he talks about people, about health, about jobs. Unlike the others, Barak and Clinton, he speaks in specifics--what needs to be done for the people of this country.
And here's an American who lost his job talking about what Edwards said to his son:
Go to Edwards' site and see more.
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