Irish Central
"80-year-old Bridie Murphy was stopped when entering the U.S. at Logan Airport andhad her green card confiscated. She was interrogated for over three hours"
Well hell, at least she wasn't (or maybe she was, I don't know) placed into the ultimate bigot machine, the "NNNOOO FFFLYYY LLLISSSTTT"
Can you imagine the frustration, the fury, the dehumanization - No not hers, her two sons, who just happen to be serving in the U.S. Armed Forces in the Middle East???
WTF!!! The "established Americans," you know, the ones who moved into the neighborhood and declared the entire U.S. to now be theirs and theirs alone. The ones who decimated Native American populations, kidnapped their children and placed them into Puritanistic orphanages in order to teach them the "right way to live," have had a long-time love-hate relationship with us filthy, drunken, lazy Irishmen; but an "80 Jahre alten gaelic papierkorb für Christus willen??"
The woman has lived in Boston for 60 years and has given two of her sons to fight the immoral wars of our immoral, eunuch puppets to the elite. Leave her the hell alone!
"I was told by them that since I was not going to be out for a full year, I would not need a reentry permit.” I bet! Some pasty-white, bloated government bureaucrat sitting in his 4x4 cubicle that reeks of fish and garlic was surely pounding his pud in anticipation of her leaving American air space.
“Unfortunately, this is an example of overzealous immigration authorities applying the letter of the law in a manner that defies logic. A moment’s thought and compassion could have avoided a great deal of stress and worry for Bridie.”
No fucking shit!! And the truth of the matter is, our entire government, REGARDLESS of which side of the ballot they reside on, has turned into the same. And WE have given them carte blanch to do as they please by not speaking out when the federal pukes pass bills such as “The Patriot Act,” when we invite Pakistani military officials to the U.S. and treat them like, well, less than lepers. When turn our heads wile our government tortures "combatants," when allow corporate horders (the third leg of which our government's mouths are permanently attached) to reclaim the little advances we've made since WWII in wealth distribution.
We surely do have Gestapo in den Vereinigten Staaten and we continue to turn our heads as they build fences on the southern borders, close down American social programs for the sake of building more multi-million dollar smart bombs, missiles and hi-tech aircraft with cameras so we can watch the action.
Well look at it this way Bridie, If Mike Huckabee has his way, you're pretty old and you'll soon be joining the rest of us in the heap of rotting corpses, rotting because we had the nerve to have pre-existing health conditions, therefore don't deserve health insurance coverage, "Mike Huckabee, denounces the notion of providing health insurance to people with pre-existing conditions."
Well hell Mike, let's just throw everyone with pre-existing conditions into large ovens. That should just about do in 99% of the world's population.
Oh! But that's what it's all about, ISN'T IT MIKE !!!! Saving the world from all us cannon fodder for all the elite AND YOU, THEIR PUPPETS. You ever stop to think what'll happen to YOU when those elite no longer need government morons to control us cannon fodder???
Gestapo in den Vereinigten Staaten
Friday, September 24, 2010
Friday, September 10, 2010
Don't piss off the Muslims by burning Qur'ans. Have more children instead!
One would expect the Vatican to respond to the danger of nutcase Jim Terry Jones' plans to burn Qur'ans. Hell! Anyone with a brain would see the dangers in such a fool's idea.
"On Wednesday the Vatican responded to the proposed burning of the Quran by The Dove World Outreach Center as an “outrageous and grave gesture”, expressing “great concern” over the planned event"
One could even read into the message of opposition that the Vatican would be in tolerance of Islam.
"The Vatican office responsible for relations with Islam issued a stern statement saying every religion has the right to respect and protect its sacred books, places of worship and symbols"
If you beleive that statement you've been duped yet again.
From Irish Central
"Vatican official urges Christians to have more children as Europe becomes ‘Islamized’
"A Vatican official has urged Christians to have more children as they are creating a religion vacuum which is being filled by Islam.
Father Piero Gheddo, a senior Vatican official said the low European birth rate of indigenous European's along with the influx of Muslim migrants with large families would mean that Europe would soon be dominated by Islam.
"The challenge must be taken seriously" said Fr Gheddo. "Certainly from a demographic point of view, as it is clear to everyone that Italians are decreasing by 120,000 or 130,000 persons a year because of abortion and broken families – while among the more than 200,000 legal immigrants a year in Italy, more than half are Muslims and Muslim families, which have a much higher level of growth."
He said "If we consider ourselves a Christian country, we should return to the practice of Christian life, which would also solve the problem of empty cradles."
The Italian priest is from the Vatican's Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, a society of missionaries and is a highly respected figure.
Now, if I was a Muslim reading both these messages, I would surely be confused, but then the Vatican is a very confusing place.
The Catholic (and many other fundamentalist Christian religions) has often voiced their opposition to birth control, abortion, etc. and at first blush, one would think their resistance to birth control and abortion would be based upon their theological ideals, but we would be duped again.
In this message the Catholic Church is clearly making an attempt to pump up their membership in a new, previously undeclared battle with Islam. They are very clearly seeking, as they have since the Church's inception, to continue their hold on their power base by convincing its membership to create more Catholics via conception.
In a world with a population just short of 7 billion people, a massive amount of which are starving, the rest barely holding their own in these horrific economic times and the Earth on the verge of ecological collapse, this directive from the Vatican is as reckless as burning Qur'ans.
The world's leaders should be called upon to condemn yet another foolish plan of action. I truly cannot think of one country that this fool-hardy request would not place in further jeopardy in their attempts to feed, house and govern an already burgeoning population.
I firmly believe in everyone's freedom in religious choices, it's the creed of many nations and a philosophy designed to avoid tyranny, but I think it's time that we apply some critical thinking to what we hear, what we see and what we read rather than blind acceptance of ANY leader's words. We're battered daily by very potent "public relations" schemes from religions, businesses and governments, schemes designed to manipulate us toward a desired goal and sadly, many of those schemes do not have OUR interest in mind.
"On Wednesday the Vatican responded to the proposed burning of the Quran by The Dove World Outreach Center as an “outrageous and grave gesture”, expressing “great concern” over the planned event"
One could even read into the message of opposition that the Vatican would be in tolerance of Islam.
"The Vatican office responsible for relations with Islam issued a stern statement saying every religion has the right to respect and protect its sacred books, places of worship and symbols"
If you beleive that statement you've been duped yet again.
From Irish Central
"Vatican official urges Christians to have more children as Europe becomes ‘Islamized’
"A Vatican official has urged Christians to have more children as they are creating a religion vacuum which is being filled by Islam.
Father Piero Gheddo, a senior Vatican official said the low European birth rate of indigenous European's along with the influx of Muslim migrants with large families would mean that Europe would soon be dominated by Islam.
"The challenge must be taken seriously" said Fr Gheddo. "Certainly from a demographic point of view, as it is clear to everyone that Italians are decreasing by 120,000 or 130,000 persons a year because of abortion and broken families – while among the more than 200,000 legal immigrants a year in Italy, more than half are Muslims and Muslim families, which have a much higher level of growth."
He said "If we consider ourselves a Christian country, we should return to the practice of Christian life, which would also solve the problem of empty cradles."
The Italian priest is from the Vatican's Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, a society of missionaries and is a highly respected figure.
Now, if I was a Muslim reading both these messages, I would surely be confused, but then the Vatican is a very confusing place.
The Catholic (and many other fundamentalist Christian religions) has often voiced their opposition to birth control, abortion, etc. and at first blush, one would think their resistance to birth control and abortion would be based upon their theological ideals, but we would be duped again.
In this message the Catholic Church is clearly making an attempt to pump up their membership in a new, previously undeclared battle with Islam. They are very clearly seeking, as they have since the Church's inception, to continue their hold on their power base by convincing its membership to create more Catholics via conception.
In a world with a population just short of 7 billion people, a massive amount of which are starving, the rest barely holding their own in these horrific economic times and the Earth on the verge of ecological collapse, this directive from the Vatican is as reckless as burning Qur'ans.
The world's leaders should be called upon to condemn yet another foolish plan of action. I truly cannot think of one country that this fool-hardy request would not place in further jeopardy in their attempts to feed, house and govern an already burgeoning population.
I firmly believe in everyone's freedom in religious choices, it's the creed of many nations and a philosophy designed to avoid tyranny, but I think it's time that we apply some critical thinking to what we hear, what we see and what we read rather than blind acceptance of ANY leader's words. We're battered daily by very potent "public relations" schemes from religions, businesses and governments, schemes designed to manipulate us toward a desired goal and sadly, many of those schemes do not have OUR interest in mind.
Thursday, September 02, 2010
Report: Illegal Immigration in US Sees Big Drop
I give up. From this point forward, I'm reporting PURE LOGIC. The way LOGIC is supposed to be reported!!! THE TRUE LOGIC, THE WHOLE LOGIC, NOTHING BUT THE LOGIC, SO HELP ME GODDAMMIT! From the morons at AOL News:"Report: Illegal Immigration in US Sees Big DropUpdated: 6 hours 14 minutes ago" AOL News "(Sept. 2) -- With immigration as a hot-button issue ahead of this year's midterm elections, a new report shows that the number of illegal immigrants to the U.S. fell last year in its first and biggest drop in two decades.
There were 11.1 million immigrants living in the U.S. illegally in March 2009, down from a peak of 12 million two years earlier, the Pew Hispanic Center said in a report issued Wednesday. From 2007 to 2009, the number of illegals entering the country shrank to about 300,000 per year, down by nearly two-thirds from the estimated 850,000 per year from March 2000 to March 2005.
"The decrease represents the first significant reversal in the growth of this population over the past two decades," the report said. The biggest drop -- 22 percent from 2007 to 2009 -- was in the number of unauthorized immigrants from Latin American countries other than Mexico, it said. And the decline was most apparent along the United States' Southeast coast -- Florida, Virginia, Delaware and Georgia -- as well as in Western mountain states like Nevada, Arizona, Colorado and Utah. That finding shows that despite Arizona's controversial new immigration law, as well as stepped-up immigration enforcement along America's Southwestern border, there hasn't been a mass exodus of Mexicans fleeing the U.S. for their home country.That's even despite a sour U.S. economy where work opportunities for Mexicans have been fewer than in previous years.
"They are settled here," Pia M. Orrenius, a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, told The New York Times. "It is going to take more than a business cycle for them to move back to Mexico."
The report also shows that a year’s long debate over immigration in Arizona, which resulted in a tougher new law passed earlier this year, didn't have a huge impact on the number of illegal immigrants there. Arizona's new law allows police to question suspected illegal’s about their immigration status, but the measure is on hold pending legal challenges.
The state was among several that saw decreasing populations of unauthorized immigrants, but it didn't have the highest number.
The Pew (as in damned smelly) report doesn't give definitive reasons for the immigration drop but cites possible contributing factors as the weakened U.S. economy and increased difficulties in crossing the Southern U.S. border.
"They're certainly acting together," Jeffrey Passel, a senior demographer who co-wrote the report, told The Associated Press. He said it's getting increasingly more expensive and dangerous for illegal immigrants to cross into the U.S., and they have less incentive to do so in the languishing U.S. job market.
"Jobs are scarce, and the jobs we can find are more difficult to get because bosses want to see your immigration documents,'' Teresa Guevara, an undocumented Mexican immigrant to Florida, told The Miami Herald.
The U.S. government also credited its own border-tightening measures as contributing to the illegal immigration drop.
"This administration's unprecedented commitment of manpower, technology and infrastructure to the Southwest border has been a major factor in this dramatic drop in illegal crossings,'' said Homeland Security deputy press secretary Matt Chandler, according to the Herald.
The Pew report is based mostly on census data. The center estimated the number of illegal immigrants by subtracting the number of legal, documented immigrants from the total number of foreign-born people living in the country, it said." Oh my god!!!! Could it be that the economy in the U.S. is of no longer interest to the immigrants from south of the U.S./Mexican Border??? FUCK!! Why in hell would immigrants from Mexico chance death, capture, rape and enslavement to sneak across the Sonora Desert for shit-hole jobs they could secure in Mexico for jesus cristo h?????
Does it ever end? The Main Stream Media coloring the news to the point of absurdity???
Your economy is in the smelly-damned out-house and even the Mexicans are smart enough to avoid us. Why aren't you smart enough to analyze the truth related to the drop in illegal immigration? You foolish, dumbass Yankees!!
Fucking Morons!!!!
There were 11.1 million immigrants living in the U.S. illegally in March 2009, down from a peak of 12 million two years earlier, the Pew Hispanic Center said in a report issued Wednesday. From 2007 to 2009, the number of illegals entering the country shrank to about 300,000 per year, down by nearly two-thirds from the estimated 850,000 per year from March 2000 to March 2005.
"The decrease represents the first significant reversal in the growth of this population over the past two decades," the report said. The biggest drop -- 22 percent from 2007 to 2009 -- was in the number of unauthorized immigrants from Latin American countries other than Mexico, it said. And the decline was most apparent along the United States' Southeast coast -- Florida, Virginia, Delaware and Georgia -- as well as in Western mountain states like Nevada, Arizona, Colorado and Utah. That finding shows that despite Arizona's controversial new immigration law, as well as stepped-up immigration enforcement along America's Southwestern border, there hasn't been a mass exodus of Mexicans fleeing the U.S. for their home country.That's even despite a sour U.S. economy where work opportunities for Mexicans have been fewer than in previous years.
"They are settled here," Pia M. Orrenius, a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, told The New York Times. "It is going to take more than a business cycle for them to move back to Mexico."
The report also shows that a year’s long debate over immigration in Arizona, which resulted in a tougher new law passed earlier this year, didn't have a huge impact on the number of illegal immigrants there. Arizona's new law allows police to question suspected illegal’s about their immigration status, but the measure is on hold pending legal challenges.
The state was among several that saw decreasing populations of unauthorized immigrants, but it didn't have the highest number.
The Pew (as in damned smelly) report doesn't give definitive reasons for the immigration drop but cites possible contributing factors as the weakened U.S. economy and increased difficulties in crossing the Southern U.S. border.
"They're certainly acting together," Jeffrey Passel, a senior demographer who co-wrote the report, told The Associated Press. He said it's getting increasingly more expensive and dangerous for illegal immigrants to cross into the U.S., and they have less incentive to do so in the languishing U.S. job market.
"Jobs are scarce, and the jobs we can find are more difficult to get because bosses want to see your immigration documents,'' Teresa Guevara, an undocumented Mexican immigrant to Florida, told The Miami Herald.
The U.S. government also credited its own border-tightening measures as contributing to the illegal immigration drop.
"This administration's unprecedented commitment of manpower, technology and infrastructure to the Southwest border has been a major factor in this dramatic drop in illegal crossings,'' said Homeland Security deputy press secretary Matt Chandler, according to the Herald.
The Pew report is based mostly on census data. The center estimated the number of illegal immigrants by subtracting the number of legal, documented immigrants from the total number of foreign-born people living in the country, it said." Oh my god!!!! Could it be that the economy in the U.S. is of no longer interest to the immigrants from south of the U.S./Mexican Border??? FUCK!! Why in hell would immigrants from Mexico chance death, capture, rape and enslavement to sneak across the Sonora Desert for shit-hole jobs they could secure in Mexico for jesus cristo h?????
Does it ever end? The Main Stream Media coloring the news to the point of absurdity???
Your economy is in the smelly-damned out-house and even the Mexicans are smart enough to avoid us. Why aren't you smart enough to analyze the truth related to the drop in illegal immigration? You foolish, dumbass Yankees!!
Fucking Morons!!!!
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Bad Boys, Watchya Gonna Do
For the best effect, play both videos at the same time - too cool
Twenty Five years old and he's facing a possible 16 years in the pen.
This guy is a real bad player!!!
Yep - Al Jazeera reports that Anthony Graber, a sergeant in the Maryland Air National Guard is facing 16 years in prison. They serve our country and get arrested for inadvertently filming a cop arrest him for reckless driving/speeding and posting it on You-tube.
Now what was the U.S. Mainstream Media saying about Al Jazeera when they first appeared in the U.S. market? They're subversive to democracy??
I'm not sure, but it appears that in this case, democracy is subversive unto itself.
Twenty Five years old and he's facing a possible 16 years in the pen.
This guy is a real bad player!!!
Yep - Al Jazeera reports that Anthony Graber, a sergeant in the Maryland Air National Guard is facing 16 years in prison. They serve our country and get arrested for inadvertently filming a cop arrest him for reckless driving/speeding and posting it on You-tube.
Now what was the U.S. Mainstream Media saying about Al Jazeera when they first appeared in the U.S. market? They're subversive to democracy??
I'm not sure, but it appears that in this case, democracy is subversive unto itself.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Is America Becoming a Third World Country?
A question posed by Cahir O'Doherty in “Irish Central”
O'Dohery's question and ensuing article sums it up damned well as far as I'm concerned, a resounding YES.
“The main characteristics common to Third World countries are a high level of debt, an income distribution concentrated to the top 1% of the population, and an economy based on export of raw materials and import of manufactured products.”
"Whilst the conservative right keeps its voters hypnotized with the latest shell game involving God, Guns and Gays, the ordinary citizen has had his wallet pilfered or her purse snatched, over and over.
Of the $1.7 trillion in tax cuts taxpayers received through 2008, high-income households received by far the largest - not only in amount but also as a percentage of income - which dramatically shifted the concentration of after-tax income toward the top.
The income gap is expanding now not because the middle class is losing income, but because the incomes of the wealthiest are skyrocketing.”
The article is disturbing enough, pointing to a very real likelihood that the US is on the fast track to oblivion, but what’s even more disturbing are some of the moronic comments posted related to the article.
Posted by snuffey
“As long ae the Great One and his Neo Communists, are in office things in the USA will continue to grow worse.”
Posted by rcrdskpr@aol.com
"you forget about the illegals that are helping to increase the income gap. not only that, but being illegal and not paying taxes, putting their children into our educational system, hospitals, welfare systems, etc, is a huge hit on our support systems that the middle class must support. lets face it, the illegals dont squat in upper income areas, they make their ghetto in the poorer sections of cities and towns. they do not contribute their fair share to our system. how much do they send home to mexico each year? every dollar sent to mexico is one less spent here"
Posted by “hancock”
“America has got the fattest poor people in the world. 123% fatter than the rest of the world, 1205 % than the "third world" and 58% fatter than 20 years ago. They receive 10000% more in welfare, and you don't have to be a citizen to receive some of these benefits. Some even have cell phones and color television. They receive free education, although many do not use this option do to time constraints”
hancock - Phenomenal solution, complain about fat poor people. That'll turn our country around in a matter of seconds. You make me proud to be an American. Let me guess, you're a member of one of the maniacal tea parties with illiteracy stamped on your forehead like a badge of honor.
But I did find one ray of intelligence in the posts
Posted by CitizenWhy
“Severe differences between rich and poor, and a shrinking, debt-ridden, anxious middle class is an inevitable result of an overextended military empire that ironically reaps no economic gains from its hugely expensive imperial adventures abroad. An anxious middle class is prone to buy into the panic mongering and bigotry of the far right, whose voice in the US is Fox News. In the US a college education is promoted as the way to economic security yet the costs of college education, even at public colleges, have skyrocketed, making college out of reach for the working poor and lower middle class. ... The US could easily reverse course by ending its military operations abroad, shrinking its defense/war budget, raising taxes on the wealthiest, and levying a surtax on corporations headquartered in tax haven countries.”
CitizenWhy - America has been sliding down this path since the end of WWII when the rich elitists and politicians learned they could earn massive profits from war. The Cold War, Korea, Vietnam, Gulf War I & II, Afghanistan, etc...
Some of the richest companies and people in this country are connected in one way or another to the US war machine and as you so aptly stated, as long as we keep taxing and borrowing to wage war around the world, we're going to follow in the footsteps of the rest of the imperialistic empires in history - relegated to a few pages in a history book, taught by inept history teachers to disinterested children. It is not a coincidence that the gap between the poor and the rich coincide with war-waging elitists in the US.
While the US wages war around the world, the elitist media continues to tell the poor that they are "the heartbeat of America," the "working middle-class," all the while those "working middle class" are working two and three jobs to pay their mortgages on their double-wide mobile homes on rented land (you guessed it, owned by the upper class) (pay attention here hancock, this is for you) and eating junk food because they don't have the time to prepare meals with healthy food and they surely don't have the time to get proper exercise, they barely even have time to sleep between jobs.
AND of course they are the ones who send their children off to war, because the education system has failed them and typically there’s NO option but military. Look at the statistics of military population and you’ll see a very large gap between the lower income class and the upper income class with the lower income class comprising most of our military personnel.
Look around the world; it’s not a coincidence that countries that spend extraordinary amounts of their budgets on war become relegated to a smaller role in history. England prior to WWI was a massive worldwide power. Post WWII, the US has taken on that role as England shrank its empire. In his writings, “The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict from 1500 to 2000” Paul Kennedy aptly points out that “military spending by hegemonic states eventually becomes excessive and a burden on its economy, finally leading to economic ruin.”
Nope, there is no coincidence here.
O'Dohery's question and ensuing article sums it up damned well as far as I'm concerned, a resounding YES.
“The main characteristics common to Third World countries are a high level of debt, an income distribution concentrated to the top 1% of the population, and an economy based on export of raw materials and import of manufactured products.”
"Whilst the conservative right keeps its voters hypnotized with the latest shell game involving God, Guns and Gays, the ordinary citizen has had his wallet pilfered or her purse snatched, over and over.
Of the $1.7 trillion in tax cuts taxpayers received through 2008, high-income households received by far the largest - not only in amount but also as a percentage of income - which dramatically shifted the concentration of after-tax income toward the top.
The income gap is expanding now not because the middle class is losing income, but because the incomes of the wealthiest are skyrocketing.”
The article is disturbing enough, pointing to a very real likelihood that the US is on the fast track to oblivion, but what’s even more disturbing are some of the moronic comments posted related to the article.
Posted by snuffey
“As long ae the Great One and his Neo Communists, are in office things in the USA will continue to grow worse.”
Posted by rcrdskpr@aol.com
"you forget about the illegals that are helping to increase the income gap. not only that, but being illegal and not paying taxes, putting their children into our educational system, hospitals, welfare systems, etc, is a huge hit on our support systems that the middle class must support. lets face it, the illegals dont squat in upper income areas, they make their ghetto in the poorer sections of cities and towns. they do not contribute their fair share to our system. how much do they send home to mexico each year? every dollar sent to mexico is one less spent here"
Posted by “hancock”
“America has got the fattest poor people in the world. 123% fatter than the rest of the world, 1205 % than the "third world" and 58% fatter than 20 years ago. They receive 10000% more in welfare, and you don't have to be a citizen to receive some of these benefits. Some even have cell phones and color television. They receive free education, although many do not use this option do to time constraints”
hancock - Phenomenal solution, complain about fat poor people. That'll turn our country around in a matter of seconds. You make me proud to be an American. Let me guess, you're a member of one of the maniacal tea parties with illiteracy stamped on your forehead like a badge of honor.
But I did find one ray of intelligence in the posts
Posted by CitizenWhy
“Severe differences between rich and poor, and a shrinking, debt-ridden, anxious middle class is an inevitable result of an overextended military empire that ironically reaps no economic gains from its hugely expensive imperial adventures abroad. An anxious middle class is prone to buy into the panic mongering and bigotry of the far right, whose voice in the US is Fox News. In the US a college education is promoted as the way to economic security yet the costs of college education, even at public colleges, have skyrocketed, making college out of reach for the working poor and lower middle class. ... The US could easily reverse course by ending its military operations abroad, shrinking its defense/war budget, raising taxes on the wealthiest, and levying a surtax on corporations headquartered in tax haven countries.”
CitizenWhy - America has been sliding down this path since the end of WWII when the rich elitists and politicians learned they could earn massive profits from war. The Cold War, Korea, Vietnam, Gulf War I & II, Afghanistan, etc...
Some of the richest companies and people in this country are connected in one way or another to the US war machine and as you so aptly stated, as long as we keep taxing and borrowing to wage war around the world, we're going to follow in the footsteps of the rest of the imperialistic empires in history - relegated to a few pages in a history book, taught by inept history teachers to disinterested children. It is not a coincidence that the gap between the poor and the rich coincide with war-waging elitists in the US.
While the US wages war around the world, the elitist media continues to tell the poor that they are "the heartbeat of America," the "working middle-class," all the while those "working middle class" are working two and three jobs to pay their mortgages on their double-wide mobile homes on rented land (you guessed it, owned by the upper class) (pay attention here hancock, this is for you) and eating junk food because they don't have the time to prepare meals with healthy food and they surely don't have the time to get proper exercise, they barely even have time to sleep between jobs.
AND of course they are the ones who send their children off to war, because the education system has failed them and typically there’s NO option but military. Look at the statistics of military population and you’ll see a very large gap between the lower income class and the upper income class with the lower income class comprising most of our military personnel.
Look around the world; it’s not a coincidence that countries that spend extraordinary amounts of their budgets on war become relegated to a smaller role in history. England prior to WWI was a massive worldwide power. Post WWII, the US has taken on that role as England shrank its empire. In his writings, “The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict from 1500 to 2000” Paul Kennedy aptly points out that “military spending by hegemonic states eventually becomes excessive and a burden on its economy, finally leading to economic ruin.”
Nope, there is no coincidence here.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Twaddle, Tripe, Drivel and Other Preaching
The anti-Muslim fervor has stretched across America. Shamefully we have become more like the hate-mongers of Nazi Germany with each passing day.
When we can read a news article from traditionally conservative organization The Christian Sicence Monitor defending President Obama's lack of religious conviction, we have to wonder just what the hell is going on in the U.S. today to prompt such wide-spread hatred for another's religious preference, their secularism, their sexual preference, their preference for oatmeal in the morning rather than Grape Nuts. WTF!!!
Hell, the one-time heartland of the socially liberal, California has become another hotbed of hatred against Muslims. Time Magazine couldn't have caught the bigoted, predictably hypocritical attitude in the U.S. today better when they printed the words of Pastor Bill Rench:
Pastor Bill Rench, whose Calvary Baptist Church sits just across the cul de sac from the mosque site, says Islam and Christianity are like "oil and water" and that Islam is "intolerant at its core". He argues that when Islam becomes dominant in a society, "you also see a repression of freedom of speech and religious expression. In my view, building a mosque in Temecula would act as a magnet. It would embolden the more aggressive acting on the beliefs." In an interview with TIME, Rench accused the Imam of refusing to disavow Islamic terrorism. Harmoush says this is patently untrue. "Unconditionally, I have explained to him (Rench) and others, that I disagree and condemn all sorts of violence by the mentioned organizations," Harmoush explained. On Tuesday, Rench and Harmoush squared off on CNN in an interview conducted by John King. They did not bridge their differences.
Intolerant at its core??? Jesus H Christ!!! What religion could possibly be more intolerant than the Baptist Church??? Maybe the Mormons, but even they seem like Sunday morning liberals when compared to the Baptists who loudly and lewdly proclaim their hate for gays, other religions and simply put, ANYONE who doesn’t believe exactly as they do. Does Westboro Baptist Church ring any hate bells???
Again from Time Magazine
"At a local shopping center, Disa Dearie, a 39-year-old mother of four and born-again Christian was not hostile to the local project, although opposed the New York City one. "I don't have a problem with the mosque down the street," she said. "[But] I have a problem with the mosque in New York at Ground Zero. The mosque in New York is an aggressive affront to our nation. I believe in religious freedom, but a landing gear fell on that site..."
So does this mean that the U.S. Navy should never be allowed to sail its vessels in the Strait of Hormuz after we shot down Iranian Air 655 killing 290 passsengers?
Surely a wheel or two fell there as well.
Personally, I would rather see an end to ALL religions. They are the blight of humanity and are the single most prominent reason for murder and mayhem in the world today, but if one, such as the Baptists, is allowed to live in peace and harmony in Temecula (and of course New York City), then they need to do as they preach, the Godly/Christian/Love and Peace thing and shut their fucking mouths. Maybe then we'll see an end to the disparagement and embarrassment they bring to the U.S. They need to stick with the meaningless twaddle they espouse every Sunday morning and keep their moronic babble out of our faces.
Contradiction is a seriously unbecoming trait of the perfect.
When we can read a news article from traditionally conservative organization The Christian Sicence Monitor defending President Obama's lack of religious conviction, we have to wonder just what the hell is going on in the U.S. today to prompt such wide-spread hatred for another's religious preference, their secularism, their sexual preference, their preference for oatmeal in the morning rather than Grape Nuts. WTF!!!
Hell, the one-time heartland of the socially liberal, California has become another hotbed of hatred against Muslims. Time Magazine couldn't have caught the bigoted, predictably hypocritical attitude in the U.S. today better when they printed the words of Pastor Bill Rench:
Pastor Bill Rench, whose Calvary Baptist Church sits just across the cul de sac from the mosque site, says Islam and Christianity are like "oil and water" and that Islam is "intolerant at its core". He argues that when Islam becomes dominant in a society, "you also see a repression of freedom of speech and religious expression. In my view, building a mosque in Temecula would act as a magnet. It would embolden the more aggressive acting on the beliefs." In an interview with TIME, Rench accused the Imam of refusing to disavow Islamic terrorism. Harmoush says this is patently untrue. "Unconditionally, I have explained to him (Rench) and others, that I disagree and condemn all sorts of violence by the mentioned organizations," Harmoush explained. On Tuesday, Rench and Harmoush squared off on CNN in an interview conducted by John King. They did not bridge their differences.
Intolerant at its core??? Jesus H Christ!!! What religion could possibly be more intolerant than the Baptist Church??? Maybe the Mormons, but even they seem like Sunday morning liberals when compared to the Baptists who loudly and lewdly proclaim their hate for gays, other religions and simply put, ANYONE who doesn’t believe exactly as they do. Does Westboro Baptist Church ring any hate bells???
Again from Time Magazine
"At a local shopping center, Disa Dearie, a 39-year-old mother of four and born-again Christian was not hostile to the local project, although opposed the New York City one. "I don't have a problem with the mosque down the street," she said. "[But] I have a problem with the mosque in New York at Ground Zero. The mosque in New York is an aggressive affront to our nation. I believe in religious freedom, but a landing gear fell on that site..."
So does this mean that the U.S. Navy should never be allowed to sail its vessels in the Strait of Hormuz after we shot down Iranian Air 655 killing 290 passsengers?
Surely a wheel or two fell there as well.
Personally, I would rather see an end to ALL religions. They are the blight of humanity and are the single most prominent reason for murder and mayhem in the world today, but if one, such as the Baptists, is allowed to live in peace and harmony in Temecula (and of course New York City), then they need to do as they preach, the Godly/Christian/Love and Peace thing and shut their fucking mouths. Maybe then we'll see an end to the disparagement and embarrassment they bring to the U.S. They need to stick with the meaningless twaddle they espouse every Sunday morning and keep their moronic babble out of our faces.
Contradiction is a seriously unbecoming trait of the perfect.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Thank You! Thank You! Oh Shining Light of Democracy
My Rant for Today!
“The United States is the best place in the world.” “The United States is THE example of democracy.” “The United States has the best health care in the world;” “I would never want to have a health care system like Canada, England, Australia.”
American arrogance at its best!
It infuriates me when this becomes a topic of campaigns wherein the political candidates spew this utter nonsense. It's beyond infuriating that their foolish pundits and moronic supporters parrot the shameless garbage to the point it’s embarrassing to anyone with enough brain power to perform even the most rudimentary research into the facts of the state of health care, the state of democracy, in the United States.
I wish I could be amused, but I cannot find amusement in the sheer stupidity of those who refuse to see the facts; those who choose to ignore the poor, uninsured people walking and sleeping in the streets in the U.S., the greatest representation of democracy in the world; turn their backs on those with no choice but to live a short, unhealthy life; accept as the way it is that others are faced with no choice but to settle for substandard education filled with elitist propaganda instilling blind acceptance of “The American Way of Life;” allow our puppet government to force Americans to live in abject poverty all the while convincing them that they are “ the working middle-class of America,” “the heartbeat of the nation.”
With unemployment at astounding rates and a redistribution of wealth reversed to pre-WWII standards, we’re far from the shining light that the talking heads on Fox News, the fundamentalist Christians, the skinheads and neo-Nazis espouse. In fact, when you compare some of the statistics related to health care, civil liberties and democracy, our light is a dim (perhaps even dim-witted), world-wide bully which demands conformity from the rest of the world neighborhood, others who are advancing beyond the self-righteousness of self admiration.
Many of us were hoping, perhaps beyond hope, that President Obama would usher into the U.S. real and meaningful health care reform, bring peaceful resolution to the wars and political hot spots around the world, return the U.S. to the compassionate, giving neighbor it once was. But, unfortunately, we were sold out once again by the political machine in favor of the massive corporations. Obama is but the President, he is not the savior of democracy and he cannot change the tide of ruthless, heartless elitists with world-wide domination as their life’s determination. Not by himself.
Now, rather than universal health care, we have “universal health care insurance premiums” mandated by the insanely powerful insurance corporations with their strings firmly attached to our political puppets. Premiums demanded of those who cannot afford annual health care checks much less monthly premiums.
Massive corporations are defying legislation designed to defend America and the world against monopolistic business practices, yet Wal-Mart, the largest corporation in the world, has successfully depleted this country of small enterprises. No longer can you find a mom and pop grocery store, butcher shop, vegetable stand, fish market. They’re all consumed by the gargantuan “one-stop sells all.”
Five of the ten largest corporations in the world - oil companies, freely pollute our world beyond recoverable limits in the name of free, unregulated enterprise.
Thank You! Thank You! Oh shining light of democracy!
The puppet master’s controlling our world strings have become a twisted rope far too strong to break and we, at the mercy of their whims, their desire for destruction, their detestable, war mongering, imperialistic global domination goals, seem utterly helpless to do anything.
Vote you say?? When was the last time your vote mattered? When was the last time the men/women you elected made a difference? When was the last time our elected officials defied the corporations with their boards of directors and CEOs receiving multi-million dollar salaries and bonuses despite failure or success? When was the last time you heard about a politician successfully running for office without the support of hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign funds from deep pockets behind the scenes? And most of all; when was the last time you actually heard honesty come from the mouth of a politician?
We live in a world of demagoguery and boundless corporate greed joining hands to usher into this world the destruction of humanity. Like ebola, our “democracy” will devour its host until that host hemorrhages every ounce of life’s blood and dies. And like the host, the virus will die alongside its victim.
Once again, back to the drawing board to design a true democracy.
For those of you who like to see truth –
The ten largest corporations of the world.
The health care system in the U.S. ranks 37th in the world, well behind those evil socialized countries - UK, Canada and Australia, the countries most often compared to the U.S. as a measurement of successful nations.
The United States ranks 24th in life expectancy, again well behind UK, Canada and Australia
The United States ranks 72nd among member countries in total health care performance
But you know what? We Americans spend the 2nd highest amount as a % of GDP on health care, behind only the Marshall Islands. WHOAHHH!
According to "The Economist" the United States ranks 17th out of 25 in 6 measures of democracy. Civil liberties - 8.53 out of a possible 10, political culture 8.75, political participation 7.22, functional government 7.86, electoral process 8.75.
We take 24th place in nations with the most murders per capita, right between Bulgaria and Armenia. This is one place where we again beat our Canada, UK and Australia.
Doug Thompson - Capital Hill Blue
"Last month, Republican Congressional leaders filed into the Oval Office to meet with President George W. Bush and talk about renewing the controversial USA Patriot Act.
Several provisions of the act, passed in the shell shocked period immediately following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, caused enough anger that liberal groups like the American Civil Liberties Union had joined forces with prominent conservatives like Phyllis Schlafly and Bob Barr to oppose renewal.
GOP leaders told Bush that his hardcore push to renew the more onerous provisions of the act could further alienate conservatives still mad at the President from his botched attempt to nominate White House Counsel Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.
"I don't give a goddamn," Bush retorted. "I'm the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way."
"Mr. President," one aide in the meeting said. "There is a valid case that the provisions in this law undermine the Constitution."
"Stop throwing the Constitution in my face," Bush screamed back. "It's just a goddamned piece of paper!"
And in that statement, you have it all
“The United States is the best place in the world.” “The United States is THE example of democracy.” “The United States has the best health care in the world;” “I would never want to have a health care system like Canada, England, Australia.”
American arrogance at its best!
It infuriates me when this becomes a topic of campaigns wherein the political candidates spew this utter nonsense. It's beyond infuriating that their foolish pundits and moronic supporters parrot the shameless garbage to the point it’s embarrassing to anyone with enough brain power to perform even the most rudimentary research into the facts of the state of health care, the state of democracy, in the United States.
I wish I could be amused, but I cannot find amusement in the sheer stupidity of those who refuse to see the facts; those who choose to ignore the poor, uninsured people walking and sleeping in the streets in the U.S., the greatest representation of democracy in the world; turn their backs on those with no choice but to live a short, unhealthy life; accept as the way it is that others are faced with no choice but to settle for substandard education filled with elitist propaganda instilling blind acceptance of “The American Way of Life;” allow our puppet government to force Americans to live in abject poverty all the while convincing them that they are “ the working middle-class of America,” “the heartbeat of the nation.”
With unemployment at astounding rates and a redistribution of wealth reversed to pre-WWII standards, we’re far from the shining light that the talking heads on Fox News, the fundamentalist Christians, the skinheads and neo-Nazis espouse. In fact, when you compare some of the statistics related to health care, civil liberties and democracy, our light is a dim (perhaps even dim-witted), world-wide bully which demands conformity from the rest of the world neighborhood, others who are advancing beyond the self-righteousness of self admiration.
Many of us were hoping, perhaps beyond hope, that President Obama would usher into the U.S. real and meaningful health care reform, bring peaceful resolution to the wars and political hot spots around the world, return the U.S. to the compassionate, giving neighbor it once was. But, unfortunately, we were sold out once again by the political machine in favor of the massive corporations. Obama is but the President, he is not the savior of democracy and he cannot change the tide of ruthless, heartless elitists with world-wide domination as their life’s determination. Not by himself.
Now, rather than universal health care, we have “universal health care insurance premiums” mandated by the insanely powerful insurance corporations with their strings firmly attached to our political puppets. Premiums demanded of those who cannot afford annual health care checks much less monthly premiums.
Massive corporations are defying legislation designed to defend America and the world against monopolistic business practices, yet Wal-Mart, the largest corporation in the world, has successfully depleted this country of small enterprises. No longer can you find a mom and pop grocery store, butcher shop, vegetable stand, fish market. They’re all consumed by the gargantuan “one-stop sells all.”
Five of the ten largest corporations in the world - oil companies, freely pollute our world beyond recoverable limits in the name of free, unregulated enterprise.
Thank You! Thank You! Oh shining light of democracy!
The puppet master’s controlling our world strings have become a twisted rope far too strong to break and we, at the mercy of their whims, their desire for destruction, their detestable, war mongering, imperialistic global domination goals, seem utterly helpless to do anything.
Vote you say?? When was the last time your vote mattered? When was the last time the men/women you elected made a difference? When was the last time our elected officials defied the corporations with their boards of directors and CEOs receiving multi-million dollar salaries and bonuses despite failure or success? When was the last time you heard about a politician successfully running for office without the support of hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign funds from deep pockets behind the scenes? And most of all; when was the last time you actually heard honesty come from the mouth of a politician?
We live in a world of demagoguery and boundless corporate greed joining hands to usher into this world the destruction of humanity. Like ebola, our “democracy” will devour its host until that host hemorrhages every ounce of life’s blood and dies. And like the host, the virus will die alongside its victim.
Once again, back to the drawing board to design a true democracy.
For those of you who like to see truth –
The ten largest corporations of the world.
The health care system in the U.S. ranks 37th in the world, well behind those evil socialized countries - UK, Canada and Australia, the countries most often compared to the U.S. as a measurement of successful nations.
The United States ranks 24th in life expectancy, again well behind UK, Canada and Australia
The United States ranks 72nd among member countries in total health care performance
But you know what? We Americans spend the 2nd highest amount as a % of GDP on health care, behind only the Marshall Islands. WHOAHHH!
According to "The Economist" the United States ranks 17th out of 25 in 6 measures of democracy. Civil liberties - 8.53 out of a possible 10, political culture 8.75, political participation 7.22, functional government 7.86, electoral process 8.75.
We take 24th place in nations with the most murders per capita, right between Bulgaria and Armenia. This is one place where we again beat our Canada, UK and Australia.
Doug Thompson - Capital Hill Blue
"Last month, Republican Congressional leaders filed into the Oval Office to meet with President George W. Bush and talk about renewing the controversial USA Patriot Act.
Several provisions of the act, passed in the shell shocked period immediately following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, caused enough anger that liberal groups like the American Civil Liberties Union had joined forces with prominent conservatives like Phyllis Schlafly and Bob Barr to oppose renewal.
GOP leaders told Bush that his hardcore push to renew the more onerous provisions of the act could further alienate conservatives still mad at the President from his botched attempt to nominate White House Counsel Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.
"I don't give a goddamn," Bush retorted. "I'm the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way."
"Mr. President," one aide in the meeting said. "There is a valid case that the provisions in this law undermine the Constitution."
"Stop throwing the Constitution in my face," Bush screamed back. "It's just a goddamned piece of paper!"
And in that statement, you have it all
Saturday, August 07, 2010
California: State Officials Seek Resumption of Same-Sex Marriages
It still baffles me that one of the most progressive states in the country, California, actually approved prop 8. Having lived in California for 20+ years, even conservative Orange County had enough progressive-thinking people to get the law through easily. Stupefying at the least, but it appears that the thinking people of California didn't just give up.
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown filed motions on Friday calling for resumption of same-sex weddings in the state. Judge Vaughn R. Walker of Federal District Court this week overturned Proposition 8, California’s voter-approved same-sex marriage ban. Judge Walker ruled the ban violates federal equal protections and due process laws. But he agreed to block same-sex marriages from immediately resuming until he can consider arguments on whether to keep the ban in effect while its supporters take their appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Resuming same-sex marriages “is consistent with California’s long history of treating all people and their relationships with equal dignity and respect,” Mr. Schwarzenegger said in his legal filing."
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is a bastion of liberal thinkers, so I have high hopes that they'll tell the conservative jackasses that even slavery ended many years ago and the ultra-right should get a life. Perhaps the Catholic and Mormon churches (likely the cause for the original ballot failure to begin with) should simply butt out of politics or start paying taxes.
I'd had enough of pulpit politics when I was involved with the Mormon Church. Even as a child, although I was too young to understand the implications, I felt that something was amiss when church officials frequently made attempts to direct their members to vote "the Church way." I can recall when my parents boasted that they'd voted for President Kennedy, other church members actually shamed them and some even shunned them.
I contributed my all but mandatory 2 years of my life to that organization and I'll never forget the day I was in what they euphemistically referred to as the "mission home" where missionaries received training on how and how not to proselytize. Now, I grew up in Oklahoma in the 50s and 60s so I was no stranger to bigotry, it was as much a part of the culture in Oklahoma as was mustard greens. But! When I heard a church official, an official that one could equate to a Catholic Cardinal in the Vatican, speak to us newbies and tell us "when we encounter blacks, we're to change our routine and say that we're conducting a survey. Of course, they never told us what the survey was supposed to be, it was simply left to our own devices.
I knew the church didn't allow blacks (or women for that matter) to participate in the priesthood and as a youngster, I could never understand the reason - "the blacks aren't ready for the responsibilities of the priesthood." Responsibilities??? What responsibilities?? It's not rocket science to preach, so what responsibilities exactly are they referring to for christ sake?
Well fortunately for me, that was the turning point at which I began questioning religion and even the concept of an all powerful "god."
Anyway, back to the subject at hand.
"A federal judge’s forceful opinion Wednesday in favor of same-sex marriage is only the beginning of a process that is likely to go all the way to the United States Supreme Court."
"The decision, which ruled Proposition 8 unconstitutional, has complicated the political tasks before President Obama, whose aides had to explain in the wake of the decision that the president supported equal gay rights but opposed marriage rights for gay men and lesbians."
Is Obama fence-sitting again?? He sold us out to the insurance companies during the national health care debates, denying a single-payer insurance plan that would provide insurance for all (in the name of ending partisanship in the government - pffft). He's speaking out both sides of his mouth yet again. The two statements are incongruent, in fact completely contradictory. It's stating that gays have rights, but they can't express those rights. In other words, keep it quiet and you can be gay if that's what you so choose.
"Meanwhile, Republicans said that dwelling on the issue could become a distraction in the effort to win back the House or Senate from Democrats this fall. At a meeting of the Republican National Committee in Kansas City, Mo., several party leaders and strategists said it would be a mistake for the midterm election campaign to suddenly become focused on gay marriage, immigration or other hot-button issues. The only path to winning control of Congress, they said, rested on making an economic argument. "
In my eyes, this issue showcases what is wrong with government in the US today. We have political parties who are completely disconnected and disinterested in the rights and liberties of the citizenship, focusing only on what will earn them continued positions and party power in future elections.
Term limits will resolve much of this bullshit, or perhaps a parliamentary style government wherein an elected official may be removed by their party if they fail to meet the goals and ideals of that party.
From "Green Gabbro"
"This morning, the California Supreme Court will announce its decision on whether or not a slim 50% majority can amend the state constitution in order to specifically deny a previously-recognized constitutional right. It will also determine the fate of the 18,000 same-sex marriages performed last year, between the state Supreme Court's decision that same-sex marriage was a constitutional right in California, and the passage of Proposition 8. The New York Times quotes one man whose marriage is currently in legal limbo:
“The 18,000 marriages will be evidence that California is not going to fall apart if gay people get married,” Mr. Lok said. “It’s not like there’s not going to be an earthquake.”
Oh ho ho, won't Mr. Lok and his husband be chuckling at that one when San Francisco falls into the ocean! In fact, the potential link between same-sex marriage and earthquakes is one of the strongest arguments I've ever seen in favor of preserving the traditional-except-for-all-the-ways-we've-changed-it-in-the-past institution of opposite-sex-only marriage.
While the observation that same-sex marriage might be followed by earthquakes has been made before - notably by Israeli parliamentarian Shlomo Benizri and American preacher Pat Robertson - science has advanced beyond the simple "God does it" explanations most commonly proposed by nutcase conservative public figures. Below the fold, I will tell you how we actually think this process works.
The Castro district in San Francisco is constantly emitting small pulses of gay energy, called Love waves. These Love waves usually pass harmlessly through the crust, causing only occasional dirty thoughts in sensitive individuals.
Each time that a committed same-sex couple's family bond is recognized and supported by the government, another pulse of gay energy is emitted from the relevant bureau. If this recognition occurs in the form of marriage, the pulse is strengthened, by a factor of approximately 31, through a complicated resonance of the couple's wedding rings with their official marriage license (the exact multiplier varies depending on the font chosen by each county registrar, but it's usually Helvetica).
Under normal conditions, these Love waves would also dissipate harmlessly in the crust. However, due to California's unique geographic and geological conditions, the pulses emitted from state offices in Sacramento combine with the Love waves coming from the Castro in a phenomenon known as constructive interference. This interaction creates a pattern of standing Love waves in the soft sediments of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta:
At the constructively interfering nodes between San Francisco and Sacramento, gay energy is strong enough to penetrate the crust all the way to the seismogenic zone. The effects of this penetration on the seismogenic zone are governed by lubrication theory. Suffice it to say, when enough gay energy lubricates the underlying faults, California will be doomed - maybe not immediately after same-sex marriage is finally legalized for good, but definitely on or after April 15 the following year. Nothing emits pulses of pure gay energy more efficiently than a joint tax return.
(NB: Small numbers of same-sex marriages, typically involving a transgendered spouse whose legal gender is or was different from his/her preferred or identified gender, have been legally recognized even when same-sex marriage generally has not been. These marriages still cause Love waves to be emitted from Sacramento, but their effects have thus far been lost in the noise of ordinary tectonic and heterosexual seismicity. However, the effects of sub-seismogenic quantities of gay energy on the water in the delta - which is an important source of drinking water for Southern California - have not been studied.)"
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown filed motions on Friday calling for resumption of same-sex weddings in the state. Judge Vaughn R. Walker of Federal District Court this week overturned Proposition 8, California’s voter-approved same-sex marriage ban. Judge Walker ruled the ban violates federal equal protections and due process laws. But he agreed to block same-sex marriages from immediately resuming until he can consider arguments on whether to keep the ban in effect while its supporters take their appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Resuming same-sex marriages “is consistent with California’s long history of treating all people and their relationships with equal dignity and respect,” Mr. Schwarzenegger said in his legal filing."
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is a bastion of liberal thinkers, so I have high hopes that they'll tell the conservative jackasses that even slavery ended many years ago and the ultra-right should get a life. Perhaps the Catholic and Mormon churches (likely the cause for the original ballot failure to begin with) should simply butt out of politics or start paying taxes.
I'd had enough of pulpit politics when I was involved with the Mormon Church. Even as a child, although I was too young to understand the implications, I felt that something was amiss when church officials frequently made attempts to direct their members to vote "the Church way." I can recall when my parents boasted that they'd voted for President Kennedy, other church members actually shamed them and some even shunned them.
I contributed my all but mandatory 2 years of my life to that organization and I'll never forget the day I was in what they euphemistically referred to as the "mission home" where missionaries received training on how and how not to proselytize. Now, I grew up in Oklahoma in the 50s and 60s so I was no stranger to bigotry, it was as much a part of the culture in Oklahoma as was mustard greens. But! When I heard a church official, an official that one could equate to a Catholic Cardinal in the Vatican, speak to us newbies and tell us "when we encounter blacks, we're to change our routine and say that we're conducting a survey. Of course, they never told us what the survey was supposed to be, it was simply left to our own devices.
I knew the church didn't allow blacks (or women for that matter) to participate in the priesthood and as a youngster, I could never understand the reason - "the blacks aren't ready for the responsibilities of the priesthood." Responsibilities??? What responsibilities?? It's not rocket science to preach, so what responsibilities exactly are they referring to for christ sake?
Well fortunately for me, that was the turning point at which I began questioning religion and even the concept of an all powerful "god."
Anyway, back to the subject at hand.
"A federal judge’s forceful opinion Wednesday in favor of same-sex marriage is only the beginning of a process that is likely to go all the way to the United States Supreme Court."
"The decision, which ruled Proposition 8 unconstitutional, has complicated the political tasks before President Obama, whose aides had to explain in the wake of the decision that the president supported equal gay rights but opposed marriage rights for gay men and lesbians."
Is Obama fence-sitting again?? He sold us out to the insurance companies during the national health care debates, denying a single-payer insurance plan that would provide insurance for all (in the name of ending partisanship in the government - pffft). He's speaking out both sides of his mouth yet again. The two statements are incongruent, in fact completely contradictory. It's stating that gays have rights, but they can't express those rights. In other words, keep it quiet and you can be gay if that's what you so choose.
"Meanwhile, Republicans said that dwelling on the issue could become a distraction in the effort to win back the House or Senate from Democrats this fall. At a meeting of the Republican National Committee in Kansas City, Mo., several party leaders and strategists said it would be a mistake for the midterm election campaign to suddenly become focused on gay marriage, immigration or other hot-button issues. The only path to winning control of Congress, they said, rested on making an economic argument. "
In my eyes, this issue showcases what is wrong with government in the US today. We have political parties who are completely disconnected and disinterested in the rights and liberties of the citizenship, focusing only on what will earn them continued positions and party power in future elections.
Term limits will resolve much of this bullshit, or perhaps a parliamentary style government wherein an elected official may be removed by their party if they fail to meet the goals and ideals of that party.
From "Green Gabbro"
"This morning, the California Supreme Court will announce its decision on whether or not a slim 50% majority can amend the state constitution in order to specifically deny a previously-recognized constitutional right. It will also determine the fate of the 18,000 same-sex marriages performed last year, between the state Supreme Court's decision that same-sex marriage was a constitutional right in California, and the passage of Proposition 8. The New York Times quotes one man whose marriage is currently in legal limbo:
“The 18,000 marriages will be evidence that California is not going to fall apart if gay people get married,” Mr. Lok said. “It’s not like there’s not going to be an earthquake.”
Oh ho ho, won't Mr. Lok and his husband be chuckling at that one when San Francisco falls into the ocean! In fact, the potential link between same-sex marriage and earthquakes is one of the strongest arguments I've ever seen in favor of preserving the traditional-except-for-all-the-ways-we've-changed-it-in-the-past institution of opposite-sex-only marriage.
While the observation that same-sex marriage might be followed by earthquakes has been made before - notably by Israeli parliamentarian Shlomo Benizri and American preacher Pat Robertson - science has advanced beyond the simple "God does it" explanations most commonly proposed by nutcase conservative public figures. Below the fold, I will tell you how we actually think this process works.
The Castro district in San Francisco is constantly emitting small pulses of gay energy, called Love waves. These Love waves usually pass harmlessly through the crust, causing only occasional dirty thoughts in sensitive individuals.
At the constructively interfering nodes between San Francisco and Sacramento, gay energy is strong enough to penetrate the crust all the way to the seismogenic zone. The effects of this penetration on the seismogenic zone are governed by lubrication theory. Suffice it to say, when enough gay energy lubricates the underlying faults, California will be doomed - maybe not immediately after same-sex marriage is finally legalized for good, but definitely on or after April 15 the following year. Nothing emits pulses of pure gay energy more efficiently than a joint tax return.
(NB: Small numbers of same-sex marriages, typically involving a transgendered spouse whose legal gender is or was different from his/her preferred or identified gender, have been legally recognized even when same-sex marriage generally has not been. These marriages still cause Love waves to be emitted from Sacramento, but their effects have thus far been lost in the noise of ordinary tectonic and heterosexual seismicity. However, the effects of sub-seismogenic quantities of gay energy on the water in the delta - which is an important source of drinking water for Southern California - have not been studied.)"
Thursday, August 05, 2010
The Things I've Made
In response to an "open call" on Open Salon
To the Rex, wherever he may be.
As a youngster in rural Oklahoma, I learned many "things." I learned to rope a calf, tie it to the saddle horn until it was completely helpless, hop off the horse, tag its ear, brand and castrate him with heavy-duty rubber bands wrapped around its testicles. Then with what had to be the most painful ordeal perpetrated by a human being against a hapless animal, use an auger to remove its budding horns by simply digging into the recession where the buds were to dig them out like a rock in the dirt.
I asked the rancher "does this shit hurt them?" "No, he said. They don't feel a thing." Hmm, I suppose they're kicking and screaming like banshees because they're elated about it all! I wonder! Just how does the rancher know this doesn't hurt? Has he been in their place??? I thought he walked a little funny.
Anyway, I soon found that ranching wasn't for those who valued the lives of nature, of the animals to which we assigned the responsibility of dying for our food. So! I moved on to something more creative, more fulfilling. I moved on to framing houses.
l discovered architectural drafting, the fine art of matching angles, the art of geometry, of understanding how they applied to the sturdiness of buildings and for several years, all I equated to this industry was the pride associated with contemplating opposing forces of gravity and angles; of how angles worked in opposition to one another to strengthen homes and other buildings.
Soon, I found myself in the field, working with the gritty men of construction – the job-site supervisors. My first encounter with one of these gentlemen was with “Rex.” He was tougher than a case of 16d nails and loved to boast that if he needed dessert for breakfast - just hand him some more of those nails.
Rex would ridicule, berate, and castigate anyone simply for fun, whether you deserved it or not and that lucky soul would wish death to be rapid and painless when he was after your ass, but death never came. Every day when my girlfriend brought me lunch, he would ride my ass for hours, laughing at his own jokes that weren’t funny while throwing pieces of 2x4, rocks or anything else within his reach.
But! He was the best damned teacher I'd ever encountered and he wasn't even a teacher, but a construction company owner - Grider Construction. He was the coolest man I’d ever met. He was my friend - Rex Grider of Grider Construction in the small town of Shawnee, Oklahoma.
I loved going to work every morning just to watch this man put together gables on homes that were composed of a collection of impossible angels. Framing pencil behind his ear, he’d simply grab his power saw, framing square, nail pouch filled with 16d nails and the 32 oz framing hammer, climb the framed walls like a chimpanzee and go to work.
After a year or so of watching this man assemble houses like a whirling dervish, I began to learn both admiration and desire for his skills and we began working together on projects – he the teacher, I the student, although he wasn't all that happy about me implanting myself into his day.
We eventually became friends, I was always invited to his house for holiday dinners with his family where we had one hell of a time relishing our work over ice cold beer. I loved the fact that a master carpenter would take me under his wings to teach me, to show me the way it was truly done.
Rex taught me far more than craftsmanship, he was a stickler for detail and with the smallest of mistakes I would frequently encounter an expression of utter horror and devastation in his face. “Get that corner tighter you dumbshit!” “Set that 16d nail and drive it with one hit - we don’t have the time for you to play with your hammer like your grandmother does.”
I was never sure if there was a double meaning to that comment or not, but to this day, I can still drive a 16d nail with one strike of the hammer.
I soon learned to love building homes for people in which to live. To see houses come together during a July or August week was both hot as hell and amazingly beautiful. To see the once red clay mud transform into a massive house was awe-inspiring to me.
We could completely frame three houses every week. And then to stand on the unfinished roof of the last one framed to see row upon row of others we'd just completed was beyond satisfying, it was as though I could breathe into my lungs, the accomplishment of a team of good men and to know I was part of that team. I could see every nail driven by my hammer, every angle cut by my saw.
As the rows of houses took shape, the smell of fresh pine and redwood wafted through the air; the sound of hammers setting and driving the nails in an action of high-speed, perfect choreography - “tu THUMP, tu Thump, tu Thump – a rhythm that could literally put one to sleep on a humid Oklahoma summer day and should be exploited by the Blue Man Group.
The power saws and drills joined in, screaming like a female soprano opera singer, the table saw, the tenor of the chorus line, eating 4x12s like toothpicks. The men yelling instructions and placing walls into place like a set being moved around to the change of the play line.
A symphony of smells – sweet redwood, pungent plywood braces, fresh pine bringing mountains and streams closer to the worksite and the hot saw blades adding to the mixture completely overwhelmed the senses.
The buzzing and squawking by an occasional cicada or crow, their out of tune voices punctuating the chorus. Oh, and the lazy summer clouds, drifting by like billows of gray and white cotton creating a cool breeze chilling the sweaty bodies; all of us hoping for the shower or a downpour to relieve the sticky sweat that irritated the skin.
There is nothing like the feeling of building a house and standing on the very top of the gabled roof, walking the stud caps like a high-wire walker in a circus, breathing in the sight of accomplishment.
I jumped off of those high-wires and onto my fair share of nails, one puncturing my foot from bottom through the top. I could see the nail sticking through the top of my work boots, but oh what a charge the entire chorus was, so those nails were a minor annoyance.
Then the girlfriend would bring homemade sandwiches and two one quart jars filled with super cold iced tea. A picnic amongst 2x4 studs, 2x4 blocks, red mud, electric cords, saws hammers, nails and the occasional lizard. It just didn't get any better.
This is my story and I’m forever ssssticking to it.
To the Rex, wherever he may be.
As a youngster in rural Oklahoma, I learned many "things." I learned to rope a calf, tie it to the saddle horn until it was completely helpless, hop off the horse, tag its ear, brand and castrate him with heavy-duty rubber bands wrapped around its testicles. Then with what had to be the most painful ordeal perpetrated by a human being against a hapless animal, use an auger to remove its budding horns by simply digging into the recession where the buds were to dig them out like a rock in the dirt.
I asked the rancher "does this shit hurt them?" "No, he said. They don't feel a thing." Hmm, I suppose they're kicking and screaming like banshees because they're elated about it all! I wonder! Just how does the rancher know this doesn't hurt? Has he been in their place??? I thought he walked a little funny.
Anyway, I soon found that ranching wasn't for those who valued the lives of nature, of the animals to which we assigned the responsibility of dying for our food. So! I moved on to something more creative, more fulfilling. I moved on to framing houses.
l discovered architectural drafting, the fine art of matching angles, the art of geometry, of understanding how they applied to the sturdiness of buildings and for several years, all I equated to this industry was the pride associated with contemplating opposing forces of gravity and angles; of how angles worked in opposition to one another to strengthen homes and other buildings.
Soon, I found myself in the field, working with the gritty men of construction – the job-site supervisors. My first encounter with one of these gentlemen was with “Rex.” He was tougher than a case of 16d nails and loved to boast that if he needed dessert for breakfast - just hand him some more of those nails.
Rex would ridicule, berate, and castigate anyone simply for fun, whether you deserved it or not and that lucky soul would wish death to be rapid and painless when he was after your ass, but death never came. Every day when my girlfriend brought me lunch, he would ride my ass for hours, laughing at his own jokes that weren’t funny while throwing pieces of 2x4, rocks or anything else within his reach.
But! He was the best damned teacher I'd ever encountered and he wasn't even a teacher, but a construction company owner - Grider Construction. He was the coolest man I’d ever met. He was my friend - Rex Grider of Grider Construction in the small town of Shawnee, Oklahoma.
I loved going to work every morning just to watch this man put together gables on homes that were composed of a collection of impossible angels. Framing pencil behind his ear, he’d simply grab his power saw, framing square, nail pouch filled with 16d nails and the 32 oz framing hammer, climb the framed walls like a chimpanzee and go to work.
After a year or so of watching this man assemble houses like a whirling dervish, I began to learn both admiration and desire for his skills and we began working together on projects – he the teacher, I the student, although he wasn't all that happy about me implanting myself into his day.
We eventually became friends, I was always invited to his house for holiday dinners with his family where we had one hell of a time relishing our work over ice cold beer. I loved the fact that a master carpenter would take me under his wings to teach me, to show me the way it was truly done.
Rex taught me far more than craftsmanship, he was a stickler for detail and with the smallest of mistakes I would frequently encounter an expression of utter horror and devastation in his face. “Get that corner tighter you dumbshit!” “Set that 16d nail and drive it with one hit - we don’t have the time for you to play with your hammer like your grandmother does.”
I was never sure if there was a double meaning to that comment or not, but to this day, I can still drive a 16d nail with one strike of the hammer.
I soon learned to love building homes for people in which to live. To see houses come together during a July or August week was both hot as hell and amazingly beautiful. To see the once red clay mud transform into a massive house was awe-inspiring to me.
We could completely frame three houses every week. And then to stand on the unfinished roof of the last one framed to see row upon row of others we'd just completed was beyond satisfying, it was as though I could breathe into my lungs, the accomplishment of a team of good men and to know I was part of that team. I could see every nail driven by my hammer, every angle cut by my saw.
As the rows of houses took shape, the smell of fresh pine and redwood wafted through the air; the sound of hammers setting and driving the nails in an action of high-speed, perfect choreography - “tu THUMP, tu Thump, tu Thump – a rhythm that could literally put one to sleep on a humid Oklahoma summer day and should be exploited by the Blue Man Group.
The power saws and drills joined in, screaming like a female soprano opera singer, the table saw, the tenor of the chorus line, eating 4x12s like toothpicks. The men yelling instructions and placing walls into place like a set being moved around to the change of the play line.
A symphony of smells – sweet redwood, pungent plywood braces, fresh pine bringing mountains and streams closer to the worksite and the hot saw blades adding to the mixture completely overwhelmed the senses.
The buzzing and squawking by an occasional cicada or crow, their out of tune voices punctuating the chorus. Oh, and the lazy summer clouds, drifting by like billows of gray and white cotton creating a cool breeze chilling the sweaty bodies; all of us hoping for the shower or a downpour to relieve the sticky sweat that irritated the skin.
There is nothing like the feeling of building a house and standing on the very top of the gabled roof, walking the stud caps like a high-wire walker in a circus, breathing in the sight of accomplishment.
I jumped off of those high-wires and onto my fair share of nails, one puncturing my foot from bottom through the top. I could see the nail sticking through the top of my work boots, but oh what a charge the entire chorus was, so those nails were a minor annoyance.
Then the girlfriend would bring homemade sandwiches and two one quart jars filled with super cold iced tea. A picnic amongst 2x4 studs, 2x4 blocks, red mud, electric cords, saws hammers, nails and the occasional lizard. It just didn't get any better.
This is my story and I’m forever ssssticking to it.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Requiem For A Young Magpie
Gracing you
With his presence, flying through your lives
Acquiescing to Earth’s gravity.
With every beat of his strong wings,
He straines to soar with the stars.
Passing nearby, a breeze from his wings
Whispers into your ears
Caresses your faces
With his song of love
With his eternal hope
His presence you celebrated
His grace and beauty a gift to you
With visions of hopefulness
Imagination and desires
His strength deep within his heart
Despair not
He glides freely
Amongst his stars, visions, imagination and desires
He has broken Earth’s hold
But takes the bonds of your love with him
He is the clouds
Moving peacefully through the skies
He is the wind
Flowing through your hair, cooling your heart
He is the rain
Falling upon your faces,
Mixing with your tears
He is the waves
Of oceans pure, caressing feet with gentle fingers
He is the land
Upon which you walk
Guiding your path with his love
He is your soul, as you are his
And with you he shall reside
Whispering into your ears
Caressing your faces
With his song of love
Monday, July 26, 2010
Hold'er Steady - ah - ah
The pilot in this chase plane sounds like she's really enjoying the flight, directing the new F-35 Joint Strike Force fighter jet.
I can't imbed this video, so select the URL. When you arrive at the site, select select "F-35 Test" then select the video "AA-1 Tests Afterburner during 5th Flight: Highband"
http://www.jsf.mil/gallery/gal_video.htm#
She's just using the g-force "grunts" or Hick maneuver to counteract the effects of g-force on her body, but the female voice is intoxicating.
I can't imbed this video, so select the URL. When you arrive at the site, select select "F-35 Test" then select the video "AA-1 Tests Afterburner during 5th Flight: Highband"
http://www.jsf.mil/gallery/gal_video.htm#
She's just using the g-force "grunts" or Hick maneuver to counteract the effects of g-force on her body, but the female voice is intoxicating.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
CONGRESS SAVING MONEY – CUTS UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS AND COBRA
Congress is balking at renewing unemployment benefits and COBRA, strategizing on elections and maintaining a “frugal appearance.”
“The U.S. Senate today got the unemployment extension bill approved by the House last month, but changes have been made and a lot of political maneuvering is expected before a final vote is taken“The 65% subsidy for COBRA benefits, however, has been dropped for those who lost their jobs after May 31.
And the bill doesn't provide any more weeks of benefits for those in high-unemployment states like California who have exhausted their maximum 99 weeks of aid.”
Of course, they're cutting costs via benefits! How the hell else can they afford this?
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost us in excess of $1, 005, 300, 000,000 as of 5 minutes ago, or COBRA benefits for 77,330, 769.23 families for one full year.
But what the hell! If we wasted money on COBRA, we wouldn't be able to do this:
There are also differences over whether extending unemployment benefits simply encourages those out of work to continue to accept government aid rather than take any job.”
MAN! Am I glad we have our priorities straight!
Can't have any lazy-ass Americans living off the feds when they can put that money to better uses.
“The U.S. Senate today got the unemployment extension bill approved by the House last month, but changes have been made and a lot of political maneuvering is expected before a final vote is taken“The 65% subsidy for COBRA benefits, however, has been dropped for those who lost their jobs after May 31.
And the bill doesn't provide any more weeks of benefits for those in high-unemployment states like California who have exhausted their maximum 99 weeks of aid.”
Of course, they're cutting costs via benefits! How the hell else can they afford this?
It's estimated that the U.S. has fired approximately 3,000 Tomahawk missiles during the current War in Iraq. The average Tomahawk cost is $800,000, or COBRA benefits for 184,615 families for a full year.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost us in excess of $1, 005, 300, 000,000 as of 5 minutes ago, or COBRA benefits for 77,330, 769.23 families for one full year.
But what the hell! If we wasted money on COBRA, we wouldn't be able to do this:
Or This:
“cost is becoming a major battle ground. The House bill, after significant cuts, would cost $111 billion. Changes already have been made in the Senate version, but no cost estimate has been made.
There are also differences over whether extending unemployment benefits simply encourages those out of work to continue to accept government aid rather than take any job.”
MAN! Am I glad we have our priorities straight!
Can't have any lazy-ass Americans living off the feds when they can put that money to better uses.
Thursday, June 03, 2010
Do Unto Others What’s Been Done To You
The blockade of Gaza seems to be repeating history in reverse. The Turkish aid flotilla raided this past week is reminiscent of the British attack on the “Exodus 1947” in 1947. Loaded with Jewish immigrants heading to blockaded Palestine from Germany’s death camps, British soldiers boarded the ship and were met with violence. Gunfire from the British troops followed, killing and injuring refugees.
For years, Gaza and West Bank citizens have been forced to live in slums, sequestered from their jobs, required to pass through multiple checkpoints to and from work. Aid to Gaza and West Bank is disrupted by the IDF, starving innocent civilians. IDF soldiers are commonly committing egregious atrocities against the civilian population. Aid to the innocent is cruely blocked with either conformity or extermination as a goal.
Sounds of history resonating through the air like the screams of the dying.
You'd have to be deaf, dumb and blind to not see the similarities. Like an abused child, Israel is repeating history.
The incident in 1947 garnered international support for the Jewish refugees, resulting in the establishment of the State of Israel. Perhaps Israel's appalling activities of the last three years will do the same for Gaza and West Bank.
We can only hope.
For years, Gaza and West Bank citizens have been forced to live in slums, sequestered from their jobs, required to pass through multiple checkpoints to and from work. Aid to Gaza and West Bank is disrupted by the IDF, starving innocent civilians. IDF soldiers are commonly committing egregious atrocities against the civilian population. Aid to the innocent is cruely blocked with either conformity or extermination as a goal.
Sounds of history resonating through the air like the screams of the dying.
Gaza
WWII Jewish Ghetto
Gaza
WWII Jewish Ghetto
Gaza
WWII Jewish Ghetto
Gaza
WWII Germany
The incident in 1947 garnered international support for the Jewish refugees, resulting in the establishment of the State of Israel. Perhaps Israel's appalling activities of the last three years will do the same for Gaza and West Bank.
We can only hope.
Saturday, May 08, 2010
U.S. Law Blamed for Migrant Deaths
U.S.A. Today (and probably tomorrow too)
"A national think-tank report released Thursday blames the deaths of thousands of people who died trying to cross the U.S.-Mexican border on the failure to reform immigration law and asserts that congressional inaction has empowered violent human-smuggling organizations.
The Virginia-based National Foundation for American Policy Reform says the lack of a legal entry system for immigrant workers "has contributed to more than 4,000 men, women and children dying while attempting to cross to America since 1998."
In U.S.A. Today's poll:
"Two-thirds of Americans want the government to do a better job of securing the borders, but they are sympathetic to illegal immigrants who have been working hard and staying out of trouble, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds.
Eight in 10 Americans are concerned that illegal immigrants burden schools, hospitals and other government services, and 77% worry that they drive down wages, the poll finds."
ARIZ. POLICY: Sets off polarizing debate
"Yet 77% are concerned that stricter laws would mean illegal immigrants and their families who have lived productively in the USA for years would be forced to leave. The seeming contradiction reflects the difficulty in grappling with the issue, said Tomas Jimenez, a fellow at the non-partisan New America Foundation."
Complacency is the lazy man's source of knowledge and understanding that human trait, papal leaders sway the thoughts of millions, evangelists make incredible incomes, religious organizations have become some of the wealthiest organizations in the world, all from the willingness of people to listen and believe, sight unseen, as the unquestionable truth, rarely seeking an opposing point of view, or even to verify the validity of the words they hear and read.
So where is the conflict? It's simple, many read publications and listen to the "reason" of unreasonable, unbending, narrow-minded, right-wing spewers of hate, much in the same way people listened to Mussolini, Stalin, and Hitler. They accept, unquestionably the words of those who say that "they are the knowledgeable," acting upon another's words rather than to search for the truth
Researching with an open mind denies the authority of the shouters of hate, of the blindingly adulterated words of intolerance and bigotry.
"The illegal aliens from the south are going to kill the American economy."
Well folks, I'm here to tell you that we've done a damned good job of that ourselves with absolutely NO assistance from those south of the border.
Oh, but we must protect our southern borders from drug trafficking, right? Check out Nationmaster for an interesting perspective on drug trafficking nations. Did you know that the California, Oregon and Washington now distribute the most popular, potent form of cannabis? Now this is OK by me, I see nonthingwrong with the drug myself, but let's call it like it is. Should we stop immigration from California, Oregon and Washington too? If Janet Napolitano has anything to do with it, they'd be less likely to travel through Arizona. I sure as hell can tell you, I'll not be traveling there anytime soon, nor will I knowingly spend another dime on goods from Arizona until the government of that state listens to their constituents.
For more enlightenment related to immigration, see here and here
Enlightened thought processes help avoid the knee-jerk reactions such as those supported by neocons such as Napolitano DESPITE the will of the people, DESPITE the voice of their constituents. The "illegal aliens" provide a massive portion of America's economy, typically working much harder than most Americans would dream of doing. Who's going to pick those strawberries, avocados, lettuce, spinach you eat? When Christmas arrives again, where are you going to get your Christmas trees? If the Arizona demagogues have their way, we'll all need to start growing and picking ourselves, for those immigrants who do so now will be too damned frightened of the Gestapo to hang around for the season of love and giving. And the children of the families who are separated by our absurd work-status laws fail? They'll do as millions of children do to survive, turn to drugs and crime.
Now who's the big bad wolf???
Submitting to the nonsense that the right-wing blowhards would have you believe would not only serve an injustice to thousands, perhaps millions of people, it would provide a means to flush the toilet in which America's economy is already adrift. Passing cruel, unconstitutional laws does NOT rid anyone of criminal activity, but doing so does commit a crime against our constitutional liberties.
"He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it." Martin Luther King
It can happen to anyone, even REDHEADS (Thanks to Reality Zone for the video)
"A national think-tank report released Thursday blames the deaths of thousands of people who died trying to cross the U.S.-Mexican border on the failure to reform immigration law and asserts that congressional inaction has empowered violent human-smuggling organizations.
The Virginia-based National Foundation for American Policy Reform says the lack of a legal entry system for immigrant workers "has contributed to more than 4,000 men, women and children dying while attempting to cross to America since 1998."
In U.S.A. Today's poll:
"Two-thirds of Americans want the government to do a better job of securing the borders, but they are sympathetic to illegal immigrants who have been working hard and staying out of trouble, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds.
Eight in 10 Americans are concerned that illegal immigrants burden schools, hospitals and other government services, and 77% worry that they drive down wages, the poll finds."
ARIZ. POLICY: Sets off polarizing debate
"Yet 77% are concerned that stricter laws would mean illegal immigrants and their families who have lived productively in the USA for years would be forced to leave. The seeming contradiction reflects the difficulty in grappling with the issue, said Tomas Jimenez, a fellow at the non-partisan New America Foundation."
Complacency is the lazy man's source of knowledge and understanding that human trait, papal leaders sway the thoughts of millions, evangelists make incredible incomes, religious organizations have become some of the wealthiest organizations in the world, all from the willingness of people to listen and believe, sight unseen, as the unquestionable truth, rarely seeking an opposing point of view, or even to verify the validity of the words they hear and read.
So where is the conflict? It's simple, many read publications and listen to the "reason" of unreasonable, unbending, narrow-minded, right-wing spewers of hate, much in the same way people listened to Mussolini, Stalin, and Hitler. They accept, unquestionably the words of those who say that "they are the knowledgeable," acting upon another's words rather than to search for the truth
Researching with an open mind denies the authority of the shouters of hate, of the blindingly adulterated words of intolerance and bigotry.
"The illegal aliens from the south are going to kill the American economy."
Well folks, I'm here to tell you that we've done a damned good job of that ourselves with absolutely NO assistance from those south of the border.
Oh, but we must protect our southern borders from drug trafficking, right? Check out Nationmaster for an interesting perspective on drug trafficking nations. Did you know that the California, Oregon and Washington now distribute the most popular, potent form of cannabis? Now this is OK by me, I see nonthingwrong with the drug myself, but let's call it like it is. Should we stop immigration from California, Oregon and Washington too? If Janet Napolitano has anything to do with it, they'd be less likely to travel through Arizona. I sure as hell can tell you, I'll not be traveling there anytime soon, nor will I knowingly spend another dime on goods from Arizona until the government of that state listens to their constituents.
For more enlightenment related to immigration, see here and here
Enlightened thought processes help avoid the knee-jerk reactions such as those supported by neocons such as Napolitano DESPITE the will of the people, DESPITE the voice of their constituents. The "illegal aliens" provide a massive portion of America's economy, typically working much harder than most Americans would dream of doing. Who's going to pick those strawberries, avocados, lettuce, spinach you eat? When Christmas arrives again, where are you going to get your Christmas trees? If the Arizona demagogues have their way, we'll all need to start growing and picking ourselves, for those immigrants who do so now will be too damned frightened of the Gestapo to hang around for the season of love and giving. And the children of the families who are separated by our absurd work-status laws fail? They'll do as millions of children do to survive, turn to drugs and crime.
Now who's the big bad wolf???
Submitting to the nonsense that the right-wing blowhards would have you believe would not only serve an injustice to thousands, perhaps millions of people, it would provide a means to flush the toilet in which America's economy is already adrift. Passing cruel, unconstitutional laws does NOT rid anyone of criminal activity, but doing so does commit a crime against our constitutional liberties.
"He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it." Martin Luther King
It can happen to anyone, even REDHEADS (Thanks to Reality Zone for the video)
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
It's Getting Too Serious Again - Let's Take an Okanogan Breather
I love reading about Native American Culture. Their culture of spirituality is second to none, transcending the typical boundaries of orgnaized religion. One of my favorites; "American Indian: Myths and Legends" a collection of Indian Folklore assembled by Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz. It pulls you into the mind of the true Americans, of their beliefs, their love of nature. If you're interested in relaxing and endulging in a sublime look into some of the most endearing ancient cultures, pick it up, relax and become spiritual.
The earth was once a human being: Old One made her out of a woman. "You will be the mother of all people," he said.
Earth is alive yet, but she has been changed. The soil is her flesh, the rocks are her bones, the wind is her breathe, trees and grass are her hair. She lives spread out, and we live on her. When she moves, we have an earthquake.
After taking the woman and changing her to earth, Old One gathered some of her flesh and rolled it into balls, as people do with mud or clay. He made the first group of these balls into the ancients, the early world.
The ancients were people, yet also animals. In form some looked human while some walked on all fours like animals. Some could fly like birds; others could swim like fishes. All had the gift of speech, as well as greater powers and cunning than either animals or people. But deer were never among the ancients, they were always animals, even as they are today.
Besides the ancients, real people and real animals lived on the earth at that time. Old One made the people out of the last balls of mud he took from the Earth. He rolled them over and over, shaped them like Indians, and blew on them to bring them alive. They were so ignorant they were the most helpless of all the creatures Old One had made.
Old One made people and animals into males and females so they might breed and multiply. Thus all living things came from the earth. When we look around, we see part of our mother everywhere.
The difficulty with the early world was that most of the ancients were selfish and some were monsters, and there was much trouble among them. They were also very stupid in some ways. Though they knew they had to hunt in order to live, they did not know which creatures were deer and which were people, and sometimes they ate people by mistake.
At last Old One said, "There will soon be no people if I let things go on like this." So he sent Coyote to kill the monsters and other evil beings among the ancients and teach the Indians how to do things.
And Coyote began to travel on the earth , teaching the Indians, making life easier and better for them, and performing many wonderful deeds.
Perhaps we need a few coyotes to kill a few mosnters and make our lives a little better
CREATION OF THE ANIMAL PEOPLE
From the Okanogan People
Pacific Northwest
The earth was once a human being: Old One made her out of a woman. "You will be the mother of all people," he said.
Earth is alive yet, but she has been changed. The soil is her flesh, the rocks are her bones, the wind is her breathe, trees and grass are her hair. She lives spread out, and we live on her. When she moves, we have an earthquake.
After taking the woman and changing her to earth, Old One gathered some of her flesh and rolled it into balls, as people do with mud or clay. He made the first group of these balls into the ancients, the early world.
The ancients were people, yet also animals. In form some looked human while some walked on all fours like animals. Some could fly like birds; others could swim like fishes. All had the gift of speech, as well as greater powers and cunning than either animals or people. But deer were never among the ancients, they were always animals, even as they are today.
Besides the ancients, real people and real animals lived on the earth at that time. Old One made the people out of the last balls of mud he took from the Earth. He rolled them over and over, shaped them like Indians, and blew on them to bring them alive. They were so ignorant they were the most helpless of all the creatures Old One had made.
Old One made people and animals into males and females so they might breed and multiply. Thus all living things came from the earth. When we look around, we see part of our mother everywhere.
The difficulty with the early world was that most of the ancients were selfish and some were monsters, and there was much trouble among them. They were also very stupid in some ways. Though they knew they had to hunt in order to live, they did not know which creatures were deer and which were people, and sometimes they ate people by mistake.
At last Old One said, "There will soon be no people if I let things go on like this." So he sent Coyote to kill the monsters and other evil beings among the ancients and teach the Indians how to do things.
And Coyote began to travel on the earth , teaching the Indians, making life easier and better for them, and performing many wonderful deeds.
Perhaps we need a few coyotes to kill a few mosnters and make our lives a little better
Sunday, April 25, 2010
These miners lived — as they died — in pursuit of the American dream."
"These miners lived — as they died — in pursuit of the American dream." (President Obama's speech to the miners in Asheville, NC)
Joe Bageant wrote in his book "Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America's Class Wars" (paraphrasing) that Americans are being duped by the elitists into believing the outright bullshit that there are no class wars, and that miners and factory workers are the soul of the nation as they seek a better future. The elitists and their puppets, the American government have sold a bill of goods to a class of people who rarely make it through high school, ending up in the mines and factories of the back-hills of Kentucky.
But the government does such an effective job at convincing these folks that they are "middle class citizens" they are determined to be just that. The brainwashing tactics of the elitists keep these folks, who'd normally be voting with the liberal call, so well convinced that their jobs will disappear if they don't vote republican, don't remove unions, the citizens are often heard repeating vehemently that it's un-American to vote anything but republican, despite the fact that republicans keep union benefits from the employees, that the republican comics take most of the hard-earned money out of their community, leaving little for life's improvements.
As I read about the violence of the extreme right and see some of the illiterate folks participating in the demonstrations and violence, I can't help but wonder just how many of those folks are the same Bageant was referring to. How many sod-poor miners adamantly vote republican because they've been convinced that "they are the heart of the nation?" That they are living the American dream, all while their fathers and mothers are dying from diabetes, CHF, lung cancer, etc due to the fact that they can't obtain health care - their wages are far too low and benefits are all but non-existent.
I can't help but wonder, when a mining disaster, or an oil rig explosion happens, just how many of those seeking the American dream are set back by hundreds of thousands of dollars by the cost of their health care, ruining their American dream for generations. How many new families buy a brand new mobile home and park it in their brand new mobile home park thinking that they've achieved the American dream? Until the bank forecloses on the young couple because the wages of the trade are so pitiful, they can't afford the payments after one of the couple becomes debilitated (if they're not lucky enough to hold down two and three jobs EACH).
Contrary to the neocon’s beliefs, wealth IS NOT being redistributed under the Obama campaign. At best it’s likely to stay the same wherein as of 2007 the top 1% own 42.7% of America’s wealth. The next 19% own 50.3% of America’s wealth and the bottom 80% own 7% of America’s wealth.
That is highly unlikely to change under the Obama administration, even if he is strong enough to hold onto 8 years, a very unlikely event in my mind. Financial redistribution of a country the size of the United States (economically) would take far more time than even a lucky two terms for Obama and when Obama is out of his Presidential Office desk chair, those who follow will very likely have, as their primary agenda to repeal any and all efforts Obama may have been successful in related to a fair redistribution of wealth to those “middle-class” folks pursuing the American dream with their minimum-wage, task-oriented jobs with little or no health insurance. The elitists OWN our government and the mainstream media (owned by those same elitists) influence those incapable, or disinterested in seeking truth, but instead, accept everything the mainstream media tells them. Ignorance is indeed bliss when all you can manage to do in life is to hold your head above water in the flood of bullshit from media, papal and familial influence passed from one generation to the next.
The neoconservatives have such a loud and strong voice in this country, threatening violence and intimidation, we’ll be damned lucky to keep the changes to health care reform, as watered down as it is.
But! If you ask any of these "down-to-earth country folks" about voting Democrat or Republican, the fire and vile will come from their mouths in southern drawls; "we're proud, god-fearin Americans and we vote the right way - Republican, for that's the party of America, the party of God." "Ill aggressively defend my home and liberty against anyone who thinks they can force me to do otherwise."
Well, there you have it liberals. As long as those who need it the most oppose redistribution of wealth so vehemently, where the elitists have all but enslaved them and made them thankful for being enslaved, we have one hell of an uphill climb to make against the tightly held redneck, Puritanistic right-wing hold over them.
Joe Bageant wrote in his book "Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America's Class Wars" (paraphrasing) that Americans are being duped by the elitists into believing the outright bullshit that there are no class wars, and that miners and factory workers are the soul of the nation as they seek a better future. The elitists and their puppets, the American government have sold a bill of goods to a class of people who rarely make it through high school, ending up in the mines and factories of the back-hills of Kentucky.
But the government does such an effective job at convincing these folks that they are "middle class citizens" they are determined to be just that. The brainwashing tactics of the elitists keep these folks, who'd normally be voting with the liberal call, so well convinced that their jobs will disappear if they don't vote republican, don't remove unions, the citizens are often heard repeating vehemently that it's un-American to vote anything but republican, despite the fact that republicans keep union benefits from the employees, that the republican comics take most of the hard-earned money out of their community, leaving little for life's improvements.
As I read about the violence of the extreme right and see some of the illiterate folks participating in the demonstrations and violence, I can't help but wonder just how many of those folks are the same Bageant was referring to. How many sod-poor miners adamantly vote republican because they've been convinced that "they are the heart of the nation?" That they are living the American dream, all while their fathers and mothers are dying from diabetes, CHF, lung cancer, etc due to the fact that they can't obtain health care - their wages are far too low and benefits are all but non-existent.
I can't help but wonder, when a mining disaster, or an oil rig explosion happens, just how many of those seeking the American dream are set back by hundreds of thousands of dollars by the cost of their health care, ruining their American dream for generations. How many new families buy a brand new mobile home and park it in their brand new mobile home park thinking that they've achieved the American dream? Until the bank forecloses on the young couple because the wages of the trade are so pitiful, they can't afford the payments after one of the couple becomes debilitated (if they're not lucky enough to hold down two and three jobs EACH).
Contrary to the neocon’s beliefs, wealth IS NOT being redistributed under the Obama campaign. At best it’s likely to stay the same wherein as of 2007 the top 1% own 42.7% of America’s wealth. The next 19% own 50.3% of America’s wealth and the bottom 80% own 7% of America’s wealth.
That is highly unlikely to change under the Obama administration, even if he is strong enough to hold onto 8 years, a very unlikely event in my mind. Financial redistribution of a country the size of the United States (economically) would take far more time than even a lucky two terms for Obama and when Obama is out of his Presidential Office desk chair, those who follow will very likely have, as their primary agenda to repeal any and all efforts Obama may have been successful in related to a fair redistribution of wealth to those “middle-class” folks pursuing the American dream with their minimum-wage, task-oriented jobs with little or no health insurance. The elitists OWN our government and the mainstream media (owned by those same elitists) influence those incapable, or disinterested in seeking truth, but instead, accept everything the mainstream media tells them. Ignorance is indeed bliss when all you can manage to do in life is to hold your head above water in the flood of bullshit from media, papal and familial influence passed from one generation to the next.
The neoconservatives have such a loud and strong voice in this country, threatening violence and intimidation, we’ll be damned lucky to keep the changes to health care reform, as watered down as it is.
But! If you ask any of these "down-to-earth country folks" about voting Democrat or Republican, the fire and vile will come from their mouths in southern drawls; "we're proud, god-fearin Americans and we vote the right way - Republican, for that's the party of America, the party of God." "Ill aggressively defend my home and liberty against anyone who thinks they can force me to do otherwise."
Well, there you have it liberals. As long as those who need it the most oppose redistribution of wealth so vehemently, where the elitists have all but enslaved them and made them thankful for being enslaved, we have one hell of an uphill climb to make against the tightly held redneck, Puritanistic right-wing hold over them.
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