What Makes Meg Run?

I was talking to someone on a chat board the other day and I mentioned that I had a blog and that there was no one reading it.  I also mentioned that I was OK with that, because then I could say anything I wanted and not have to worry that someone might argue with me.  Still holds, although, if you are reading this, I promise not to argue if you want to comment.  I don’t promise to think the best of you if you disagree, but I won’t argue with you… at least not for very long.

Back to Meg … Meg Whitman is running for governor of the state of California.  Meg Whitman was the CEO of one of the largest Online Sales sights in the world, EBay.com.  She is also the 4^th Richest woman in the state worth over a billion (with a B!) dollars and has spent more of her own money on her campaign than any other candidate has ever spent on a run for governor, ever.  BTW, the Governor’s job pays $206,500 per year. 

Why spend over $100 million on a job that pays less than 2/100^th s of percent of that? Obviously it isn’t the pay.  It may be altruism, and while I can’t deny her that motive, since I think most public servants start out that way, I also think it has to do with ego, flattery and the desire for power.  None of those thing disqualifies her to be governor and all of those things play into the makeup of any politician running for any office.  But what is she really out to do? California currently has a Republican Governor in Arnold Swarzenneger, so she can’t run her campaign on a change of party will do the state good.  Arnold, while fairly liberal in many ways for Republican holds to much of the GOPs base beliefs, so she can’t say that she represents a change of philosophy either.  California, like most other States, is not enjoying a great time economically and the state is in fiduciary trouble with shortages in revenues to fund even basic programs like police, schools and fire. So she can’t run on the grounds of continued management styles.  She tells us she has a plan, to create jobs, to turn the state economy around and to make us all prosperous and happy.

So what is in her plan? Anything new and exciting? No, not really.  She wants to cut taxes for corporations and rich people and says that will create new jobs.  Let’s see, we’ve had 10 years of similar tax cuts under Bush nationally and that didn’t create new jobs.  In fact we have lost more jobs under Bush and the Bush Tax Cuts than any other President in the last 60 years.  What tax cuts for businesses and for the rich have done is create hoarding, where companies are keeping large cash reserves rather than reinvesting it in their businesses and where the Rich invest in expensive luxury toys like airplanes and yachts which don’t put much money back into circulation.  What’s the best way to put money back into circulation? Give it to people who will spend it on daily necessities. It’s one reason that things like Unemployment payments actually stimulate business, because the unemployed spend the money they get on things like food, shelter, clothing and other things that actually create jobs and drive the economy.  But, hey, let’s take care of Meg and her friends and give them yet another tax break…. They deserve it don’t they.  Only if you are into water sports and like being trickled down on.

Education is another concern of hers. Well she talks some talk, but she’s never walked the walk.  Local control of schools is a good thing and has been out in the educational sphere for quite some time. Nothing new there.  In fact, the NEA and AFT have been all in favor of that kind of thing for years.  Local control for curriculum and for teaching strategies and programs have proven to help improve student performance ever since the 1970’s.  Getting control of the moneys for education down to the local level is too.  The problem is history is against her, here.  Republican governors in California have always had a problem with fully funding education.  Most have made severe cuts in the funding or at least attempted to in order to fund things that are not as high a priority on the state’s list of priorities.  Education is the number 1 priority in California, by law!  So, Meg is saying some good things, although she’s probably also in favor of vouchers and continued low pay for teachers (interesting how business always says they have to have high salaries and bonuses in order to attract high quality personnel, but don’t think that applies to teachers, police or fire).  I’m sure she’s also for merit pay for teachers. 

The problem with merit pay for teachers, as it is for business too, is that no one has ever….that’s EVER with all caps…. Figured out a fair way to assess merit.  Most merit systems in private business I have seen are completely dependent on the opinion of one’s boss about one’s performance.  If your boss doesn’t like you, it doesn’t matter how well you perform, he/she will find a way to make you look bad.  In the classroom, how are you going to measure teacher performance? Is student performance on standardized tests a good measure? Even the standardized test people will tell you that the scores on these test really only have meaning when looking at a large enough population.  If you have a class of low achievers or special education students, do you get a break if their performance is not the same as more capable students?  Is it luck that determines that you get the really bright students who always ace the tests and make you look good?  Just saying it, doesn’t make it work.  There needs to be more thought there. 

The other problem with Meg is that she is running as many other do on the fact that she was successful in business.  Sorry, Meg, Governing and Government are not business.  While I believe that some things you learned in business might help you become a good public official, a hell of a lot of things you learned there won’t and in fact many of those things probably make you a less desirable candidate.  There are parallels but there are as many or more differences between success in business and success in Government.  There are also some big differences in attitude.  Business is selfish, centrally controlled and constantly trying to gain an advantage on its competition. Government is suppose to be focused on the people represented, all the people, BTW, not just your small circle of acquaintances.  It is there not to make money to but spend money in order to deliver the services and meet the needs of the people who live in your state as defined by those people, and not necessarily as defined by you.  Good government is not about ego, but about service. It’s not about showing off your talents and abilities but showing how those are used to benefit us all. It’s not about dictatorial management but management by consensus. It’s not working with sheep and herding them in the direction you want, it’s working with cats, who need to be influenced, but won’t always go along with the program.

Sorry, Meg, I know Jerry Brown can do this job. In spite of the misinformation you have put out about his years as Governor and late Mayor of Oakland, he has proved he knows how to run a large and a small government.  You have proven diddly, except you were in the right place at the right time when Ebay went ballistic.

I’m Mad as Hell …

I’m Mad as Hell …..

And it’s not with the current administration, although there have been some things I would change. No, it’s with the obstructionist, unthinking, harmful and completely false tactics of the Republican Party.  It might not be so bad if Republican congress people weren’t so afraid of their Tea Party shadows to do what’s right. But they are and they don’t. So rather than be reasonable, work with the Democrats and actually try to get some work done, they play 2 year old child and say no to everything.

Let’s see, No to having BP Execs testify under oath?  WTF?  Are you saying that unequivocally that you are taking payola from these guys and so will not allow anyone to actually investigate their actions that led up to the oil leak in the Gulf.  Hmmm, and you want us to believe you have the people’s best interest in mind. No way, GOP! We are not that stupid!

Block Vote no on taking away the tax break business gets for off-shoring jobs?  WTF happened to your concern that Obama’s strategy was not creating jobs fast enough?  But it’s OK to give tax breaks to companies to send jobs overseas?    Are you all the same kind of people as Carly Fiorena and have no idea that just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.  There is this thing about living and earning your living in this country and supporting the economy of this country and seeing that the people of this country get first shake rather than making more of the almighty dollar.  But hey, you probably were raised with the idea that greed is good.  News for you! It’s not!

Then there’s your pledge to American… If you are elected to the majority, you won’t do anything different than what you did to get us all in this mess in the first place?  Again, WTF?  You screwed up, drove us into a ditch, let the Democrats back us out and now you want to drive again. I think not!

GOP economics have been tearing our economy apart ever since Reagan.  The previous administrations actions accelerated that process and now the GOP Leadership wants your vote so they can continue to destroy us?  You had better think not too and vote for anyone except the Republican Candidate.

GOP Pledge to America

This document was found in a trash can outside of the Senate Office Building along with a bottle of wrinkle cream, a free download music card from a local coffee shop and an empty packet of eye glass cleaning wipes. 

MEMO: Changes for the Final Draft

From the Desk of  J. Boeh*** Agent Orange

To M McC****l, Ms Doggy

Hey Ms Doggy!

(OK, OK, I know you don’t like that pseudonym, but we did agree that in order to keep this secret until we get it approved and out, we’d use them.  Sorry you got stuck with that one, but hey, it does rhyme with your name. Anyway, I crossed out our names and inserted our nicknames just in case.)

I have made a few changes that I think might be helpful in getting this to the real people of this country.  I think it does what we discussed, makes it so the little guy can understand just enough of what we are about, but not too much. Anyway Ms Doggy, let me get on with it. 

(OK, OK, I’ll be sure you get a nice addendum to your tobacco lobby check next week, but I just had to put that in there again, heheheh!)

Anyway, my notes are in italics under each line.

PREAMBLE

(I added this so we can say stuff right up front for the people who won’t read more than a few lines. I also think it makes it sound more “official” kind of like that Constitution thing the Government has. Is that where the Con in Neo-Con comes from?)

We the people of the GOP, Great Oppositional Party, want the rest of you to know what we stand for.

(like the new name?!! Just say “Hell no!” Hehehehe! But are we ready to make that public yet.  We’ll have to see what HE says)

 We stand for a lot things.  We stand for big businesses and letting them do their thing.

(See how I put that about the deregulation thing there? Takes the word recognition out of it)

 We, the GOP members of government, need our lobbyist checks.  We stand for keeping things the way they were and because of this, we are making the following pledges:

 (is this good or what! Notice I didn’t say when. Gotta let the people choose, after all)

(Also, I decided that we really did not want to have each of the pledges sponsored at this point. It’s best if it looks like it’s actually coming from people and not our corporate sponsors.  I’m pretty sure we can keep the money we already got for this if we promise to add it back in, once I’m in the Speaker’s seat.)

1.      WE PROMISE to make and then keep everything the same as it was.  Change is a socialist, communist plot to make Government take over your life and we know you don’t want that, unless we are the Government, in which case we won’t tell you what we are doing. Brought to you by the Koch Brothers Fund for a Static World – “We got ours, so why would we change anything?”

2.      We Promise to make you rich!  Just put all your jewelry and other small valuables, including gold in this envelope and mail it to Pledge to America, box 1353, Washington DC. 80934.  Your offering donation to our cause will come back 10 fold!  Please do not discard or ignore this plea, as the Angel of Death will visit you and your family bad luck for seven years may result for such inaction. Brought to you by Gold Find! - the People who want your gold and only want to pay you a little bit for it!

(I did like the religious stuff, but don’t want to give any ideas to our friends on the religious right)

3.      We Promise to never, ever, lie to you again; and when we do, we promise to be sure that we do not tell you that we lied, are lying or will lie, ever again. Sponsored by Fox News.

(Birdshot, our good friend from the previous Administration gave me this one.  I think it’s just brilliant and have sent to to Fox News for their new Logo)

4.      We Promise to not add any new taxes for the “real” people of this country. the ones who count, the ones who earn more than you or your friends ever hope to earn. Sponsored by the Billionaires’ Club of Manhattan

(Rich Kid, aka S F wrote that stuff I crossed out, but we don’t want to show our hand too soon)

5.      We Promise to rewrite the history of the New GOP from the beginning in 1980 under the Great Communicator, in order that no one on the left can point out how stupid we have been, nor how badly we fu**ed messed things up during the last GOP administration. Brought to you by the Bush Family of Government Foundations and Electioneering and the Dick Cheney Blood and Transplant Bank, Nosferatu, Tx.

(Gotta keep it clean; Nixon could get away with that kind of language, but RR and Nancy brought back respect and civility to the Whitehouse, you know?)

6.       We Promise to put the “Con” back into Conservatism!  Sponsored by Madoff, Lay and Associates, “Who you gonna trust?”

(I have no idea what this means, but KR insisted that we include it)

7.      We Promise that the next time you go to pay your bills, all your money will go to paying your bills and none to wasteful government spending like schools, police, fire and infrastructure.  Those are just socialist ideas and we’ve already shown the superiority of Capitalism over Communism when we tore down that cement wall in Germany! Sponsored by the great people of the Russian Mob – “Cyrillic Crime when you need it! Now in the New World too!”

(I like the reference to past GOP glories and also brings back RR again. Man I loved that man -  speaking of which)

8.      We Promise to bring back the Reagan Days by having him stuffed and put under glass in the White House Lobby where our psychics can communicate and channel his spirit daily so he can better advise us all -  Call our Psychics at 1-900-***-****! Only $3.00 a minute to find out what the future holds for you!  Sponsored by the Christina ODonnell Campaign to put our Ex-Witch, Ex-Onanator into Office, any Office and her Mom and Dad.

(Nancy had her astrologer, so I figure the Pat Robertsons will be OK with Psychics. If he objects we’ll cut him in on that $3.00 a minute thing;  also we need to be sure to have the right number in this one so Rush and the Fox guys can put it out right away)

9.      We Promise to not have any original ideas, not now, not ever.  New is change, change is socialism, socialism is bac, bad means we don’t keep as much of the money we steal earn. Brought to you by the John Birch Society, now under the management of the Tea Party.

(We haven’t had any new Ideas since Teddy Roosevelt anyway, and he left us to be some Moose or something.  Not; changed steal to earn.  Wanna be sure the little guys think we are on their side.)

10.   We want to keep your Social Security out of the hands of the Government.  We don’t want the Government spending 1% of your contributions on administering these funds when we can get our Good friends on Wall Street to do the same for just a %5 fee per transaction! – Goldman Sacks is hell on wheels about America!

(We need some kind of plan or program that will get this money back in the hands of the brokers where it belongs.  Maybe call it voluntary opt-out, but then later make it mandatory. If we can confuse the old people like we did with Medicare Options it should be pretty easy)

11.  We promise to outsource Government, and we’ll make it competitive.  China and India have already sent us bids for things like Veteran’s Administration and Military Procurement. Brought to you by the Chamber of Commerce of America – We say we represent Small Businesses but we don’t.

( this really cool. I got it from the dog food lady running for Senate in the Exterminator’s State!  She did this with her company and made a slough of money! Besides we make this a double win for us because a lot of what India and China can procure will be old stuff from the Soviets that the new Russian Capitalists are selling off cheap.  We can charge local prices for new hardware, and buy old stuff on the cheap.  I think that guy whose name was some kind of drink who ran the Pentagon for Dubya came up this Idea back when he Birdshot were in the Nixon Administration.

12.  We promise to never agree with the Democrats on anything, ever!  The last time we did that, they got all the credit, so we promise to just say no to everything and wait until we are back in power to do anything so we will get all the credit for good ideas. Brought to you by the John Boner Foundation for Quality Government.

13.   We promise to makes sure that we apply the laws of the Christian Faith to all legal issues going forward, unless those laws disagree with the Laws of Business.

( I thought this was pretty clever, cause the Religious guys will only see the Christian thing and our business friends will hone in on the business phrase.  In the end we can make this mean anything we want)

(I think if we keep this at a nice round number like 13, then we won’t confuse anyone and no one will be holding some of those strange signs at our Town Meetings, but then they don’t have that many, since we pack them with our own people)

So let me know what you think and we’ll get this right off to Rush for his approval.

Agent Orange

WTF? 


Sharia Law? What is Newty talking about?  Who does he think is trying impose Sharia Law in the US?  Has he been drinking, taking dope or has his last brain cell finally giving out.  


Before we say anything more, let's be absolutely clear.... NO ONE IS TRYING TO IMPOSE SHARIA LAW IN THE US!


If you don't believe that or don't know that, go as fast as you can to the nearest mental health clinic and get some help.


So WTF is Newty doing?  He's doing the same thing that the Nazis did in Germany in the 1930's. He's creating an enemy that doesn't exist by promoting lies.  QED.  Newt has finally shown his true colors, as a liar, as a racist, as being in favor of creating fear in order to promote himself.  


Newt, go to hell!

Why You Should NOT Vote for the GOP - - - EVER!

This is actually a semi-serious list.

10.  The GOP started the recession and also started much of the stimulus spending that conservatives are now complaining about. Personally I like the fact that there was stimulus money, but like the funds for rebuilding Iraq, the GOP mishandled them once again and let the foxes run the henhouse. In Iraq some 10’s of millions of dollars just went poof!

9. The GOP is not an inclusive organization. So unless you are European white or really, really rich (and maybe not then!) you will only be a token to them.

8. The Fringe right is taking over the GOP and you have real nut cases running for high office.  Most of these people are not capable of running their own lives, much less serving in Congress.

7. The GOP takes stands that are not based on the Constitution or reality.  The separation of church and state in the Constitution is pretty clear.  They keep trying to muddy the waters with statements about the US being a Christian country. Sorry religious right, the US has never been a Christian country.  That’s the whole point of separation of church and state.  You don’t get religion dictating law and you don’t get government dictating worship.  STFU, you idiots!

6. They lie.  Then they lie about lying. Then they lie about lying about lying.  Examples abound of GOP leaders saying things that are patently not true.  They say with a straight face knowing full well that it is a lie, and then they say it again.  But six months later when they are asked about it since it has been proven to be false and they were caught out, they deny they ever said it…. Specific Examples:  Anything coming out of John, the orange, Boner or Bitch McConnell’s mouth.

5. This is not your father’s GOP … Nor you mother’s nor even a majority of those people who still think of themselves as Republicans’ GOP.  This is the GOP of the NeoCon cheats and the Tea Party wing-nuts.  Or it belongs to Rush Limpballs. At any rate, the GOP does not belong to you. You are just a dot on their page. And if you’re under 40 and a Republican, then you probably have been left out in the cold by your party, and you need to take it back and stop it from doing really stupid shit.  Either that or you have had a lobotomy and should vote at all.

4. The GOP hasn’t had an original idea since Teddy Roosevelt left to form the Bull Moose Party.  The same economics that Calvin Coolidge and Hoover were pushing that brought us the Great Depression are the same theories and policies that the current crop are pushing… It failed them and it failed during the Bush years as well.

3. Corporations love the GOP because the GOP generally takes care of them by passing legislation that benefits them.  Prime examples are the Bush Tax Cuts for Corporation.  Corporate Tax rates are somewhere around 35%, most which they never pay because of loop holes that allow for all kinds of sweet exclusions and adjustments.  If you wonder why your personal taxes are so high, just look at the fact that corporate tax rates are seemingly so low compared to other countries in the world.  The pattern continues, with other laws past and new ones that the GOP pushes for allowing more off-shoring of jobs with no tax penalties.  Best idea is an Alternative Minimum Tax for corporations. After all, the Supreme Court says that corporations have the same rights as you do, so they should have the same responsibilities too.

2. FOX News not only reports on GOP stuff, they create it as much as they report.  Bill-O, Glenn Beck and others on that Network continue to push the people that Fox Execs want and to ignore or make shit up about the ones they don’t.  All that ACORN stuff was proven to be a total scam where the people filming it all went in and then doctored the results.  Then the woman who told that story on herself at the NAACP meeting getting all that flack for being a racist?  Come on, the people at Fox News are the biggest racists in the country, next to Limpballs, that is. But if they call everyone else one and scream it loud enough there are still people who believe them. Incredible!

1. If you vote for a Republican in the next election and are not a really rich white guy, then you are voting against your best interests.  You cannot expect any progress, social, economic or in any way to happen if you have more Republicans in Congress.  All you can expect is more “No” and nothing getting passed ever again. Because the GOP are big babies and bad losers.  If they can’t have their way, they are pick up the ball and go home.  Babies!!! Just look at John McCain.  At one point in his career, somewhere around 1995 or 2000, he was someone who actually did work both sides of the aisle. Not now, not today, and looks like not ever again.  If the GOP won't work with the opposition, then the GOP needs to go home and go to bed and let the Adults get to work.   QED

Listen and Learn.... Vote for Your Interests, Not the Rhetoric

Looks like the GOP leaders of the last 15 years, you know the NeoCons are finally understanding what it is that they have loosed upon the American people.  They have paved the way for the really radical elements of the right to emerge as the front runners for their party.  Now, don’t get me wrong, most of the positions that these fringe candidates hold are those that the NeoCons hold as well.  The difference is that the NeoCons don’t believe that you can get elected on those stances.  They don’t want to bare their conservative souls to the American People and let us actually see what they stand for.

So you see Karl (sig heil) Rove out there saying he supports the GOP Candidate, but that she really has said some crazy stuff, or Al Demoto calling down a Rep from his state making racial slurs on Fox News.  The message to these guys they are trying to get out is “Hey, we agree, but you have tone it back a bit or the voters won’t like it and you won’t be elected.”  Just another example of dishonesty by this GOP.  It truly isn’t your Father’s GOP, nor my father’s either.  It’s the guys who grew up thinking that it’s OK to cheat as long as you don’t get caught, that cheating on tests in school just meant you didn’t have to study much, freeing yourself for more important things like partying or that they were the chosen ones and they can get away with anything they want.  You know who these guys are. Some of them are in jail because even without regulation they still managed to break the law and others were disgraced in office, and some are the whack jobs on the GOP side of the ballot.

Really listen to what these guys are saying.  John Boehner and Mitch McConnell can’t support keeping the Bush Tax Cuts if they don’t include the tax rates for those earning over $250k?  what they are really saying is that unless my buds on the Boards of Directors get to pay themselves exorbitant salaries and benefits without having to pay a fair tax, then nobody gets a tax cut.  I.e. we only care about the rich.  When they say we can’t afford to continue with unemployment benefits, what they really mean is we want to give that money to our corporate friends and you all can eat off food stamps and live in cardboard boxes.  And the list goes on. Listen and think and you can’t help but see the hypocrisy and lies that these guys are feeding you.

Beck, of punditry renown;

 Wore a wig and big shoes whenever in town;

He’s not much of thinker;

More like a tinker;

And certainly looks like a clown!

If right means correct I amend,

That left must mean much better,  then,

The right is mistaken

And the left is left achin’

For the best for the rest of us men.

What’s good for big business they say

Is what’s good for you too, today,

While business gets rich,

You all can just bitch,

Our CEO earns every bit of his pay!

Rumors and Lies

Hey, the right wingers aren’t ashamed of the BS and lies that they put out; like the whole Birther thing and buying the Insurance Industries lies about healthcare; that I decided that I could do the same thing. So here goes….

Glenn Beckerwood is proof positive that Alzheimer’s can affect even some people in their twenties… fortunately, they won’t remember who he is or what he says for long.

Ken Lay-itonme, you remember him, Shape shifted into Sarah Palin.  Sarah’s husband, used to dead fish, never noticed and the real Sarah is now a momma grizzly-cicle in a snow drift somewhere in the Great White North.

Rush Limp-ah unable to contain his enthusiasm for the under-aged has tried everything from drugs to marriage to control his urges. Drugs got him in hot water with the Feds, will marriage do him any better?  Computer says, “No!”

Non-Reverend Terry (loco) Jones, pastor of that Florida Cult and classmate of Rush Limp-ah has decided that burning the Q’oran isn’t enough and plans to burn Moscow, since God told him that godless Russians of the Soviet Days built the place on Mosques… it’s in the name, you know?

John Boner is not orange, he is just so electric that his visage on your TV is affected whenever he is caught on camera.  As Speaker of the House he has promised to be bi-partisan, having become great friends with Elton John, a relative maybe.

These are of course all lies and I deny the truth of any of them…. Funny,though.

Top 10 Signs You Are a Paranoid Wingnut

You know you are really paranoid if:

10.   Every black SUV you encounter on the freeway makes you check your rearview mirror.

 9.  You duck and cover whenever a helicopter flies nearby

8.  You reach for your hand gun whenever you hear foreign accent

7.   You never leave the house without Mr. Smith and Mr. Wesson by your side

6. You only eat Pre-prepared meals sealed and sold by the NRA

5. You have a bomb-proof cabin within 30 minutes of your home

4. Have more than 3 deadbolts on your doors

3.  Have a deadbolt on your bedroom door

2. Have two deadbolts on the bathroom door and a motion sensor on your waste pipes

1.  Ever voted for or wanted to vote for Newt Gingrich

I'm Tired and I'm Not Going to Take It Any More!

I am tired of the greedy, the insensitive and the completely self-centered people who seem to have invaded the world lately. Most of them are conservatives.  May of them are fools and work against their own best interests believing they will hit the lottery some day and become rich so that they aren’t willing to make corporations pay a fair share of the tax burden.  They listen to people Newt Gingrich whose only agenda is keeping Newty in the public eye.  He has no political standing in his own party, so he’s down to just being a noisy irritant for the rest of us.  Newt, STFU! You had your Political apex, screwed up and are now passé. Dude, get a clue and go hide under your rock again.

It’s interesting how I start off ranting about fools and conservatives and always seem to come around to the Newster. Ah well.  Anyway, as I started to say, I’m tired of the greedy and insensitive.  What I’m looking for is for corporations, now looked upon as people per the Supreme Court to step up and accept some of the blame for the crap that is going on now.  Corporations are money machines with only one reason to exist… to make money.  But what if there were a kinder, gentler corporation? One that understood that just making its stock holders richer is not enough.  That they are indeed part of this society that we call America.  That despite the corporate purpose of making as much money as fast as possible, that they are indeed responsible to the society within which they operate.  Responsible for paying taxes, for instance.  At least paying the taxes that they owe and not pushing for breaks, exceptions and loopholes.  Might they actually recognize that without the people working there is no market for their services and products?  Might they understand that when they put all their money into the pockets of the executives and little into the pockets of their other employees that there is no trickle down, only hoarding and spending on things for the purpose of spending.  Perhaps with the minimum wage we should go back to the 50’s when there essentially was a maximum wage and earnings on anything over $3 MM per year were taxed at such a high rate that most senior execs knew that it was to their benefit to keep their personal incomes limited.  All of which freed money for the corporations to hire workers, invest in technology and research and drive a thriving economy. The Trickle Down theorists have been proven wrong for some time now. Perhaps is time to try the bubble up theory, where you invest more in those who earn the least and who are most likely to spend the money, thus fueling the economy.  Maybe it’s time for those who have plenty to figure out that they have enough and allow the money they are hoarding to work for everyone.  When only the rich get richer you wind up with feudalism and monopolies, not democracy and capitalistic health.

You know you’re really stupid when….

You know you’re really stupid when:

·        You believe anything that Newt Gingrich says.  Everything out of that man’s mouth is self-serving BS.

·         You agree with Mr. Orange Boehner that giving rich guys more money is going to put it in your pocket.

·         You think that Universal Health Care is the worst thing that could happen to you. No, getting cancer without healthcare would be much, much worse.

·        You think that allowing wall street to use your Social Security is a good idea.  Yeah, like they’ve done a great job with your investments lately. But hey, you want to give your money away, here’s a bag you can put your gold jewelry in and send it to us. We promise that we might send you some cash back.

·       Think that Social Security is about to go broke.  It’s solvent through 2045 or so, unless you let the Wall Street thieves steal it. Of course, you really expect to be a millionaire by the time you retire anyway, and won’t get any anyway, so why should you pay into it now?

·        You vote for any Republican running for office in this next election… Vote for your benefit, not the rich and not the corporations. And that means not voting for any Republican.

·        If you still listen to Rush Limbaugh and think he has any sense of humor at all.  Grow up! Rush is not humorous, just cruel, often racists and he wants you to believe whatever will benefit him and the really rich guys who back him and most of the GOP (Kochs and others).

·        If you’re a libertarian… Smoking pot and thinking like a Republican won’t get you any girls.

·       Think Glenn Beck is sane.  What is the matter with you anyway? We already know what’s wrong with him!

·         If you think Sarah Palin would make a good anything.  Ms Cheerleader hasn’t had an original thought in her life and is dangerously uninformed and misinformed and is not qualified to hold any office at any level.

·         If you think that Christians are the only people who have God’s ear.  Everyone does, even Jesus taught that, you cretin!

·        If you  haven’t left the GOP yet and become an independent while you wait for the radical fringe in the GOP to shrivel up and die from lack of a soul.

Islam, Korans and the Idiots in Florida

OK, I admittedly do not know much about Islam other than the religion is based on the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (I apologize if that’s not the way you spell his name, I found several spellings for it).   It is based on the Jewish and Christian Bibles and Muhammad appears to have viewed these two religions as being a part of the Muslim heritage.  I believe that this is based on the separation of the tribes of Israel or at least common descent from Abraham.  Anyway, as I said I do not know much about the basis of the religion, but I do know many Muslims and from what they have told me of their religion I understand that the basis of the religion is peace and devotion to Allah (God).  I know that historically the religion was often spread at the tip of a sword, but the same is true of both Christianity and Judaism.  So to say it is a religion of violence, is to condemn Christianity and Judaism as the same.

It doesn’t really matter, though, since Islam, whether you like it or not, is a legitimate religion.  And this country, contrary to many Christians’ ideas, was founded on the principals of freedom of and freedom from religion.  Meaning, we are not a Christian country, or a country of any other religion.  We are a country of laws.  And our law says that we have the right to worship, or not, without the interference of government. So Christians, get over it. The US is not a Christian country.  Your little corner of the country may be mostly Christian, but not every little corner is.  So get used to having to think in terms of including others' ideas, beliefs and traditions.  Personally, I’m against religions, while being quite spiritual in my own way.  What that means is that I don’t allow a church or organization to dictate to me what I should belief, how I should behave or how I treat others.  So in my case, get used to keeping your religion to yourself.

Now, we have a “Christian” idiot in Florida who thinks that God has told him to burn Korans to show Islam that we, meaning he and his followers, but sounding like he is trying to speak for all Americans, believe Islam to be the religion of the Devil.  Frankly, any religion that operates on that kind of basis, hating others for their beliefs, seems to me to be a religion of the Devil.  You hear many Christians say that his (Terry Jones, I won’t even grant him his self proclaimed title of Reverend, since there is nothing to revere or reverential about the man) Christianity is not their Christianity.  I would go farther than that and say he is not any kind of Christian. Nothing he is teaching is anything that Jesus taught, there’s no love, no devotion or thought, just hatred and obeisance to the Terry Jones ideal.  I would call his religion Jonesism, except then you have the other Jones who killed his followers with Kool-Aid who also was no Christian. 

The problem is that is this free speech?  The man is doing this for the self proclaimed reason that he wants to incite Islam.  And incite the radicals among the Muslims he might!  We know that yelling fire in a crowded theater is not free speech, nor is inciting others to violence, either through direct commands or through actions intended to bring that reaction.  So does this moron have a legal leg to stand on?  At the very least, every thinking and intelligent person in the country should be denouncing this action.  I wonder if Al Qaeda is smart enough to understand that, like them, he does not represent anyone other than himself and tiny radical group who probably will all die the next time they have a Snake Kissing service and all get bit.

On Unionism

There are people in this country who have demonized unions since unions first became any kind of faction.  Mostly these were people in industry and commerce who didn’t want to deal collectively with their employees and others who saw the unions as organizations that might actually cut into their profits and force them to install safe working conditions. Hmmmm.  Are you listening coal and oil industry?

Unions helped to make this country great in the last century, but they have been vilified by certain interests.  Sure there have been some union officials who I wouldn’t vote for for Dog catcher, but hell there are a lot of them on the board of directors for many major corporations too.  I am not making excuses or excusing misbehavior on either side. But I am saying that throwing the baby out with the bathwater seems to be what we have done in the last 30 years, since a certain President began a war on the unions.

What have the unions done for us?  They have given voice to the “little” guy, as a famous BP quote goes.  In a world where money translates as power and influence, Union money has leveled the playing field and allowed the common worker to be able to meet with and negotiate with executives and other management types who wouldn’t pass the time of day with them if they had their way.  Get real, people, most of you, like me, will never be in the catbird seat.  Why do you listen to the union bashers and corporate apologists when you know in your heart that your best interests are in having large unions with the ability to speak for you when it comes to safety, pay, benefits and other things that you are not able or allowed to negotiate for yourselves.  It’s not a matter of skills or ability, it’s a matter of access and leverage.  One person asking for health care benefits is a voice crying in the wilderness, but 100,000 people asking for it is a force to be reckoned with.

Unions are people.  They are what you make them and they do what you, their members allow them to do.  If the union isn’t doing what you want or need it to do, get your fellow members together and make it. I’m tired of the fools and idiots who rant and rave about not getting what they need but won’t organize themselves to get .  Get together, organize a union and make yourself heard!

How Can Anyone Vote for the GOP?

I guess in these days of instant information and instant connection, I shouldn’t be surprised by the Instant Gratification Generation that we all seem to be a part of, despite our age.  We are connected seemingly all the time to the internet and friends and lay bare our souls on Face Book or other social networks sites for all to see.  The problem with our need for instant gratification is that solutions to complex problems do not usually happen in an instant.  I think that cancer patients might be able to tell you that even though they are receiving therapy for their illness, results are not instantaneous.  That they don’t walk out of the infusion clinic or radiology feeling better all at once.  The process takes time.

Just recently, there was a poll asking people who they thought would do a better job with the economy, the Dems or the GOP?   Now I know that you can get any results you want from a survey, just by asking the questions in a way to influence the result and by targeting specific demographics to poll. For instance, if you ask who do you trust to cut taxes and save the economy, your results are going to favor the GOP. But if you asked it another way, such as who do you trust to manage the economy and make decisions that will benefit the majority of the people, not just the rich and corporate interests, your results would probably favor the Dems.

Survey design aside, the question is also about short and long term memory.  Short term memory concerns for the people who were polled and whether they remember that this current economic downturn began with the GOP in power, both in Congress and the White House.  Short term, do they not know that even though there has not been instant recovery, that we are in a much stronger economic position than we were before the current Congress and Administration took office?  My guess is that the need for instant gratification has made that memory exercise impossible.  

What amazes me is that people seem to not understand that by going back to a GOP lead Congress they are going back to the policies and practices that caused the collapse of the Economy and the BP Gulf oil mess.  That deregulation is BS, pure and simple.  That not watching and regulating industry is asking for the unethical to act unethically!  Remember the motto of some of the generation who came to age under Reagan…. It’s not cheating if you don’t get caught!  This is what deregulation is about.  Their goal is to maximize their profits without having to be responsible for being safe or for considering the impact of their actions on the rest of us.  So you get short cuts and cheating and oil in the Gulf and Banks that make bad loans and have to be bailed out and Eggs with Salmonella.  It’s the foxes running the henhouse!  But if your short term and longer term memory is working, you are aware of that.  Are you willing to go back to that crap!  I sure hope not.

The Meaning of Life or a Life With Meaning

I have a real problem with people who think they know the meaning of life.  Most of these people fall into the ignorant category, but then you also find those in the totally in it for myself category.

So what is the meaning of life? I don’t really know, but if I were to guess it would actually be beyond what the Dali Lama said when asked that question (he said “Happiness”), I would guess that the meaning of life it to find meaning in your life.  Maybe , that’s why some babies die young, the meaning in their lives already established and why some people out live the rest of us, because they have lost it. I don’t know. But I do know the meaning of life is not about getting as much as you can and holding on to it.  Nor is it to be lead like a bull with a ring through your nose through life, living by someone else’s requirements and rules, doing what they think you should do to bring meaning to your life.

Well, now we have eliminated the truly greedy and the truly domineering.  Let’s get to the ignorant and unaware.  I probably fall into that category as much as anyone else.  It’s not that I’m ignorant, but I have been accused of not being completely in the moment and aware of what’s going on around me.  And I admit, I am more of an optimist than a realist sometimes and want things to go well even when they aren’t.  For instance, I still think Obama is ten times the man and 10 times the President that his predecessor was.  I think as far as what is beneficial to our nation, he has gone way beyond in two years anything that Dubya did in eight.  I also would hope and believe that American people in general are not so stupid or foolish as to believe even half of what the Glenn Becks and Rush Limbaughs are putting out. But I don’t have any real data on that, and I don’t think they do either. 

I do know that since Limbaugh took to the airwaves that the rightwing attacks on the left have been more vitriolic and generally nastier than ever before.  And perhaps that’s natural, given the fact that conservative thinking tends to harden the thinking arteries and conservatives have a hard time grasping any but their own ideas.  So it also isn’t surprising that when the fringe right grabs the reins of the GOP that compromise in getting anything done in the Senate becomes a bad or a non-word.  I’m sorry, Bitch McConnell, but compromise does not mean that you get your way or no one gets anything.  I’m sorry John Boehner, working for the American people does not mean putting up the tired and failed ideas of the neo-conservatives, the same people who may have read the Constitution, but certainly didn’t understand what they read.  Maybe if their conservative forefathers had put a little more money into the schools that might not have happened… oh, wait, most of you brainless nut cakes went to private schools.  Guess, that’s another #fail for privatization!

Anyway, back to the meaning of life.  If you are just in it for yourself and have no idea of the glory that working with and for others has, you have no meaning to your life.  If you cannot see things through another’s eyes, or walk in their shoes, you’ve missed it.  They say that the good die young and the old die old.  Perhaps hell is living without any meaning to your life.  If there is reincarnation (and BTW Bible thumpers, there’s nothing in the Bible that says there can’t be!) then maybe the real hell is having to do it over and over again until you do find meaning for your life or in that case lives.