2008 Commentary on the World

This is a running dialog giving me a place to comment upon politics of the day without cluttering up the primary dialog.

2008 -- January

Social Security Fraud

I mean fraud by the Social Security Administration itself.  Fraud may be a strong word it is correct.  Here is the deal.  We all hear about Social Security going broke by more or less twenty years from now.  There are all sorts of fights over Social Security to extend it, replace it, remove it, privatize it, personalize it, etc.  But the issue looming before the Social Security Administration is to keeps its expenses down to an absolute minimum.  They have now engaged in the GWB Double Speak concepts of lying the Great Lie.  The annual increase this year is a small fraction of the Congress-defined annual increase.  How did they do this?  Their claim is that the real inflation occurred after their sampling.  Since food process rose about 20% in the first quarter of 2007, their sampling period must be from 2006.  Since gasoline prices rose consistently in the year by what? 20%?  More or less.  Their sampling must not include gasoline or again they used 2006.  Our economy is changing.  Maybe they used the 1967 market basket to determine their costs.

I always wonder about market basket.  I mean even seniors use cell phones. Has Social Security looked at cell phone rates?  50 years ago there was homeowners, car, life, and health insurance.  What about Medicare, Medicare gap, long term, etc.?  We all know of things that we did not have 50 years ago.  Has Social Security bothered to change its basket at all?  No.  It still uses the 1978 Market Basket.  When will they use a new one?  Why, in 2008.  But then they will find a way to use the new Market Basket such that it reflects only upon itself for the current year, forgetting that a better representation would be to calculate that same basket for a couple of previous years so as to create a real inflation path.  Runga-Kutta, maybe.  Something.

Is this amortizing needed?  Absolutely.  If you just use the Current Market Basket and discard the previous, many hi-tech items prices will have gone down!  The new basket will not include net items that replace the declining ones.  The new ones will cost more.  The actual cost of living goes up while the cost of specific items goes down.  And a 30-year old Market Basket?  Get real folks.

In any case my social security went up by about 2%.  I know my expenses went up substantially higher than that.  And my expenses are typical.  Maybe not for a family of 4.  I live alone.  I eat well but not extravagantly.  My car is paid for and is a 1996 Tercel (great mileage).  The fenders are held on with cable ties and it needs serious repair.  Which I cannot afford.  My "house" payments are $550.  My utilities have gone out of sight at about $200 per month.  Health insurance went up 10% to $212 per month -- with less coverage.  I think I lead a minimal life style but I do buy too many things for my friends.

But, however you slice it, the 2% increase by Social Security is a lie.  I would have believed twice that amount as a minimum.  Maybe if we get a real president, we will get the truth or at least some level of honesty.

President GWB will not only go down in history as the worst American president in 200 years but he will go down in history as one of the worst presidents/kings/whatever of any country in the last couple millennia.  And you know what is really sad?  He still has a 34% following.  It makes you understand why they place a few goats in with the sheep.  The people are too much like sheep -- they will follow even the worst behaved goat .  In the sheep's case, thus might keep them alive.  In the GWB case you may have the opposite result.  I can walk down any street anywhere in the world and proudly state that I voted against the man and spoke out against the man at every opportunity.

And I know a whole lot of people living on their Social Security checks and tightening their belts and still thinking that with all of the lies and deceit that GWB is a good man.  While very young I hated the consequences of being caught lying.  Later I learned the real downside of lying.  But we have a president who has to this day never thought that there is a downside to lying.  A lie is the only "sin" where the sole effect is to diminish your own status in your own eyes in an attempt to make someone else think better of you.  Hmm.  Since GWB does not give a shit what other people think, maybe they are not lies.  Maybe he is just that ignorant.  He announced that he had not heard that gas prices were going up (26 Feb).  Maybe informed lies are better than absolute ignorance.  I shall need to think about that.

2008 March 1

Today the news indicated that the United States of America is cutting back food aid to foreign countries due to food price increases.  I guess the GWB administration feels that if it cuts the Social Security retirement benefits forcing citizens to be hungry that it is only fair to stop feeding the world's poor.  GWB did not cut benefits?  Get real.  If the country's food price increases exceed the Social Security increase, that is cutting back.  The purpose.  The sole purpose of the CSI is to measure exactly the income growth necessary to maintain the same standard of living.  Food prices went up.  The CSI ignored it.  The CSI lied.  Social Security expanded the lie.  People are hungry.  I guess it is fair that the GWB lie machine levels the burden by reducing food to the rest of the world.  Oh.  The CSI just lagged real inflation at a critical time?  That is what you are told when you complain to to Social Security that you are hungry.  Right.  Want to buy a nice shiny bridge or desert properties in Florida?

Anti-Abortion Mailed Fetuses

The Racine Wisconsin chapter of the anti-abortion groups made a group mailing of plastic fetuses  to "Resident".   As you know I am a strong advocate of the right to protest.  I denounce any attempt to restrict the First amendment.  This includes preventing the burning of the American flag.  But.  Protest is a public process.  The intent of a protest is to make people aware of how highly you value your issue.  In public, this may require the incensing of some persons just to et their attention.  I am against all forms of violence even against one's own person.  Even though that may be necessary.  The Buddhist monks in Viet Nam immolated themselves in public streets to get the World's attention that the the American-installed dictator of "South" Vietnam was persecuting them and their religion.  Sad but without them pictured on the cover of Life magazine as they burned, who would have known about the American-inspired atrocities?

But now we have a new low by the anti-abortion idiots: using the federal United States Post Office to deliver models of their problems into the privacy of individual  homes.  I resent most junk mail as it costs me to have it forwarded.  I hate the Post Office in general.  But to use the Post Office to deliver offensive items is criminal.  Criminal?  They are exposing children to their religious beliefs.  En masse.  This is really sad.  But like the Texan who robbed a Mexican of his American/Mexican flags (MSN video News last year), no one is going to prosecute.  The anti-abortion groups are too strong to fight.  They will hurt you.  They have murdered doctors.  But the ultimate is the head of this chapter making the following quote:

"We hope that she and everybody else that has received the model that they take it in a positive way. We meant it as an educational piece." (The Associated Press).  The man is a liar or maybe he really is that stupid.  Take your choice.  I think he is the former.

16 Tons and What Do You Get?

Does anyone else remember that old song by Tennessee Ernie?  I am sure many do.  But more importantly do you remember Democrat Kefaufer's slogan in 1952 against Republican Eisenhower?  "16 hours and what do you get?"  Answer: "Another Republican promise and deeper in debt.".  GWB has called for a tax cut and a refund.  That sounds an awfully lot like cut and run -- his slogan for ending his Iraq war.  I am not adverse to tax cuts.  My only complaint is that the Republicans never want to pay for them.  We have wars and subsidies to companies making excessive profits and we defer payment to our children.  The latest call for an emergency tax cut should be implemented -- and paid for.  The easiest way to pay for it will be to stop dumping money into Iraq.  We need to support our soldiers.  Absolutely.  Bring them home and they will not die at the hands of terrorists that we have created and funded by our mismanagement of our funding.  For God's sake, this week we indicted a Republican Congressman for funneling funds to the terrorists.  In over 50 years nothing has changed: just tax relief for those that do not need it and wars at the expense of those who die in them and need the tax relief.

Chertoff: "It's time to grow up and recognize that if ..."

Do you need another reason to know why we need not just a new President but we need to get rid of the attitude of "we know what's best for you"?   Chertoff responds to complaints about increasing slowdowns at the border with "It's time to grow up"?  The concept of "Protect and Serve" has never made it to this White House.  We need this protection because we have a president  who invited terrorists to bomb us (May, 2001).  He starts a jihad because an Arab insulted his father? We have an entire new attitude from our government: we will protect you from the enemies that we have created for you by making it impossible to leave or enter our country.  And you thought that exporting our jobs  meant an end to isolationism?  We do not have to worry though.  The current administration policies have bankrupted the US Dollar and made us a pariah to the world.  It costs too much to travel so the time spent with Mickey Mouse at the border is not as important as it would have been before GWB.

But. It now takes an hour minimum to cross the border to the USA from Mexico.  And Chertoff says it will get worse?  We have agents out making cars compact from two feet to 6 inches in line?  Why?  It does not get you across any sooner.  There is ample space for a line.  6 inches prevents the agents with the dogs from crossing the lines.  The agents just want to make sure that you know that they are in control and they can make your life hell if you want keep a safe distance or to pretend that you have rights as a citizen.  It is not like there is not enough room for the cars.  The line is a two miles long and there is much room at the end.  We need this?

What we need is for Chertoff and his yokels to understand that in today's world they should be encouraging international travel.  Not impeding it.  Grow Up?  What ever happened to the rudimentary concepts we learned about the function of government in our middle school civics classes?  Grow Up?  No.  He should grow up.  The idea is to prevent the terrorists from blowing up more buildings and people.  Making me wait in line does not accomplish this.  If the wait is long, fix it.  Mexico is building new highways to encourage tourism.  More advertisements about its scenic wonders (Copper Canyon, anyone?).  Their border people are some of the most courteous people you will ever find.  The poster on the wall says (in Spanish): "Not even the appearance of corruption".  But Chertoff?  Grow up?  What about more crossing gates?  More responsible agents?  More technical gadgets that speed up and not impede crossing.  More access to "fast lanes".  More.  Maybe.

The border system is broken.  Tons of drugs go across the border daily.  And not in my child's backpack and not in my shoes and not in cavities under my car.  The trucks loaded with drugs are driving cross the border.  That I know this can get me killed but if it will be the drug dealers or the police or the border patrol agents is speculation?  I suspect the latter.  And I have to wait in line for agents with nothing better to do than to tell me to move 6 inches from the car in front of me so that when it rolls backwards over the speed bump, I have to file an accident report?

GWB --  It is Not Just My Opinion

"President Bush and top administration officials issued hundreds of false statements about the national security threat from Iraq in the two years following the 2001 terrorist attacks."  Associated Press.  January 22, 2008

"The cumulative effect of these false statements — amplified by thousands of news stories and broadcasts — was massive, with the media coverage creating an almost impenetrable din for several critical months in the run-up to war,"  Web site of the Center for Public Integrity. 

In my experience "False Statements" are, without exception, lies.  I do not need to amplify this.  I have said since 2001 that Hitler could have taken lessons  from GWB.

2008 -- February

It is time to get with the program.  I think you know where I stand politically but I shall encapsulate it quickly.  I do not hate anyone.  I try to be friends of all.  I really do.  I spent the afternoon yesterday with an ex-Navy, Republican gringo.  He gave one of my kid friends a bicycle so I can not be too hard on him but I left really hot under the collar (and in sore need of the baño).  Gringos believe that the world should be like they think the USA should be.  This shows up from trying to beautify the local Catholic church to thinking that Iraq needs to be a USA-style democracy.  Then we have the Republican: "What is good for General Motors is good for the country".  That did not work 50 years ago and is even worse today.  And tax rebates to families whose jobs have been exported will not solve the problem.  GWB is the world's worst terrorist.  At least since Attila the Hun.  Hitler is not even in the same class.  People accuse me of "Hate-Speak".  I think they have just bought into GWB's "Double-Speak".  He is such a master of this that Orwell could have taken lessons.  I stopped saying the Pledge of Allegiance" in grade school when they turned the Pledge into a prayer.  I hope it returns to a pledge soon.  And pointing out that "In God We Trust"  printed on our coins is irrelevant.  Prayer is prayer.  Pledge is pledge.  Mottos are mottos.  Enough said.

So as I see the candidates.  One last thing.  GWB has ostracized and embarrassed the USA to the world so badly that if this country even comes close to electing a Republican we will see a return to the Cold War from the 1950's and 60's.  And now the proliferation of world-destroying weapons is not limited to one or two rational countries.

Mitt Romney:  Dropped out.   Great idea as he saw that his campaign was reducing the chances of a Republican victory in November.  You have to admire the man.  Maybe McCain can get him to the VP slot.  He is young enough to make a go round in 2012.  McCain will be on heart pills by then.  The Mormon thing is a non-issue.  Mormons have great ethics and professional values. It is their beliefs that are off the deep end.  Read Brigham Young's treatises on the concept of "Blood Atonement".

Ron Paul:  The only Republican with sane beliefs.  But Ron does not act presidential and does not look presidential and seems to argue the short straw.  I like his policies.  I like what he could be.  But he is losing badly so enough.

Great Grandfather John McCain:  He was soiled by the S&L problem in 1989 but survived.  The other Arizona senator lost his job shortly thereafter.   Being a Vietnam surviving POW seems to be McCain's primary credential.  I met him a while back.  He was late for a meeting but we talked as he ran.  I was not impressed.  He makes it clear that he will be GWB's successor in policies.  I saw a bumper sticker the other day: "If you are not frightened then you have not been paying attention".  Great Grandfather McCain as successor frightens me worse than the current lame duck.

Mike Huckabee:  Get serious.  A second religious freak in the White House?  Worse than the current?  A real live Southern minister?  Nominating Huckabee would be the best way to make sure the Republicans lose.  That he gets so many votes just shows how weak McCain is.  I love it.

Others that have dropped out:  I think Fred Thompson would have been viable but he had a few rough edges.  Giuliani: A mayor from New York?   Another "Get Serious." Others are best forgotten.

Hillary Clinton: Her experience in Washington as a politician is about the same as Obama's and she says he does not have enough experience.  I guess 8 years of First Lady counts for something.  She is obviously loyal:  the Republicans did their best to nail her husband and she remained at his side.  Her talking of "Change" is curious.  Her credential for change is that she has the experience that got us here?  Listening to her annoying chuckles during the debates just made we wish she would go away.  She has a good chance at the nomination if she stays within range until March.  I would vote for here if she is the last survivor.  I would prefer any other non-Republican.

Barack Obama:  He reminds you of the Tortoise and the Hare fable.  He just keeps a steady march.  Nothing glamorous.  I like the way he talks of change and hope.  He has the gift of healing and speaking of another John F.  He also has a beautiful wife who, herself, is an eloquent speaker.  I wonder if they did statistics on the appearance of the wives during the campaigns if anything would show up.  She sounds like someone you would choose to cover your back in a serious fight.  In any case, I think Obama will win both the candidacy and the election.  If nothing else I hope he does.  We need the positive presence and the hope for change to tell the rest of the world that the USA is back on the team and not trying to replace them.

Mike Gravel: No comment.  No votes.

Joe Biden:   I would have voted for him for anything short of king.  Why do people ignore the issues and vote primarily on looks?

John Edwards:  I spoke too soon.  Here is a guy with the credentials, the issues, and the looks.  And he is gone too.  Too Southern maybe?  This one is a mystery for me.  Maybe Obama comes across as a poor man made good where as Edwards comes across more as a poor man made rich.

Dennis Kucinich:   I put him in the same boat as Biden but he did not come across as presidential.  I think that the visual presence at the early debate made a lot of difference.  I think if Kucinich got the press that Clinton and Obama got, he would be near the top.  He has the right issues.

Bill Richardson:  Talk about laying it on the line.  I think he did a better job of laying out his positions than Biden -- and that is saying a lot.  I do not think the country is ready for an Hispanic governor of New Mexico.  He at least understand the illegal problem.  I am not sure that many in Arizona do (McCain).  When in Arizona I have to watch my mouth or I am afraid some one will shoot it off.  New Mexico is a bit more realistic.  As their first governor said: "Poor New Mexico, so far from heaven, so close to Texas".  I would add Arizona to the close part.

That's All, folks

Things will change fast now.  The next couple of states will add to Obama's lead but Hillary is still in the race is she known to be able to cut deals and come from behind.  The states after the next week make all the difference.  One thing I have noticed is that when Obama wins, he wins by a large majority.  When Clinton wins, the race is close except in her favored states.  Maybe that is what makes them favored.  But the bottom line is that the hope for our future is in those votes for Obama.  Steadying the course back to normalcy rides with Clinton.  The road to hell, or the road to more of the same isolationism, rests with Great Grandfather McCain.   If you are young, you vote for Obama.  If you are middle-aged or older and are rational, you vote for Clinton.  If you are irrational, you vote for McCain.

2008 -- March

Contrary to what anyone says about me, I am NOT a Democrat.  I simply refuse after watching Reagan and the two Bushes ruin our country to ever vote for a Republican.  If we elect another Republican, especially a war hero, the rest of the world will prepare for war.  As I see it, they have little choice in the matter.  The Americans will have written themselves off as members of the world community.

I cannot speak for Michigan although I spent my younger years living and working there.  Their motivation for moving up the primary and flaunting the party rules is unclear to me.  Claiming that they wanted to have more say in the final election by ignoring their rules sounds like a selfish motivation.

Florida claims that the Republican majority forced the change upon them and it is not their fault.  I lived in Florida.  It is an angry, selfish, racist, sexist, egotistical place.  The governor admitted while I lived there that the growth statistics were inflated because they counted the people moving there but not the people leaving.  Everyone claimed that the prevalent rudeness was due to the number of migrating New Yorkers.  Hurricane Andrew devastated the state and the complaint was that "nobody told us" that a big terrible storm was coming.  Duh.  Even the governor went on TV to warn them to get out of Dodge.  This is common: do not take responsibility for problems you cause yourself.  The state motto should be: "Blame someone else".

So they schedule an election which date draws national attention as they are informed that their votes will not count.  Do they put the date back where it belongs?  Not a chance.  So now it comes time to pay the bill and they start screaming that we are not a democracy if we do not count their votes.  I will tell you that there are a lot of people screaming the same thing and it is NOT their fault.  In Florida and I suspect Michigan it is their fault.  They can blame no one but themselves.

While I lived in Arizona and other places I was not even permitted to vote and so my vote could not count.  In Arizona any state or federal office could be decided and my vote would not be counted because I could not vote.  Because I refuse to name an owning party I cannot vote in the primary at all.  In at least Arizona a final election will not be held if a candidate receives enough votes in the primary.  Yes, I complain bitterly about not being able to vote.

In Texas in 2000, the votes for RV residents were discarded because, as President Bush refers to u, we are the "semi-affluent homeless".  We lost our vote because we did not live in a permanent address: we should not be permitted to vote for permanent candidate positions.  Even the homeless guy sleeping in a store entrance can vote but because I live in a motorhome I cannot vote?  At least the courts were able to stop this discrimination.  Arizona, No.  Texas, Yes.

But those are just my votes and a few million others.  I do not have a state governor crying on national news that he did not believe that he would be  held accountable for his actions.  Hurricane Andrew all over again: "Nobody told us".  Like Andrew, they were told, they chose to ignore the warnings.

Should the current votes stand?  Not a chance.  Should they get another chance.  Sure.  In 4 your years they will have had time to correct their problems.  Another chance this time?  No.  Simply  No.

The national committee did not dis-enfranchise the voters.  Their own state did.  They did it to themselves.  I follow the rules and cannot vote.  They make up their own rules and think that they should count?  Let's let everyone count.  Let's make rules to permit us all to vote.  But we cannot change the rules in the middle of the game.

It is not obvious that any post-election election could come up with an equitable count.  At this point discarding the illegal votes is equitable.  Not happy.  But fair to the rest of the country that did abide by the rules. Fair to the candidates (minus one woman) who did abide by the rules.  And remember it was not some dictator that imposed these rules.  The rules were made by elected representatives.  That is how a democratic republic works.  Accepting the unauthorized votes current or new ones smacks of anarchy and not representative government.

Job Loss?  What Job Loss?

I hear about jobs being lost.  I hear about mortgages that cannot be paid.  I hear about cars being repossessed for lack of payments.  If you have no job, you cannot repay a loan.  If you took the loan counting on having a job, you have not been listening.  President Bush made it very clear when he took office 7 years ago that American jobs were up for sale to the lowest bidder.  The mass exportation of gray and blue collar jobs were left over political thinking of "What is good for General Motors is good for America."  It was good for General Motors to make gas-guzzling trucks known as SUV's and -- they made them.  The fact that they were plentiful encouraged people to buy them and waste precious gasoline.  But the parts for these trucks were made by jobs moved to other countries.  The engineering for which this country has always been famous has been exported to countries such as Brazil and India.

This is well documented.  We heard Bush's cronies saying that exporting jobs was good for us.  We heard Bush himself visiting community colleges telling recent graduates of major universities having prestigious degrees in various engineering disciplines that they should return to the community college and get a degree in McDonald's hamburger flipping.  I did not invent this: reread the news in 2000-2002.

The end result came actually sooner than I expected.  But expected it I did and so should have you.  When there are no jobs, there is no money to pay for the luxuries to which we have become accustomed.  For each job exported, some person here is out looking for new employment.  If the economy is truly growing, these jobs should come available.  But the economy has not been growing.  We have been watching false (read that as lies) information from our president about how great things are.  That is, about 6 months ago when the house of cards started collapsing.  His support of banks and insurance companies now had some, but very few, people wondering how the banks got away with making loans that could not be paid.  Hmm.  Again a no-brainer.

Oh. The oil companies, Bush's historic financial foundation, have made record profits.  Bush is richer than he ever was.  Gas prices have exploded and he says he had not heard about it.  If this is not a bold-faced lie, the alternative is worse.

So.  What is his solution? Cut taxes some more.  Give money away to be spent?  I thought the US discovered years ago that giving uneducated peoples money instead of paying for their education was a lost cause. You may remember the about a boy stating that giving him a fish today feeds him today.  Teaching him to fish, feeds him for a lifetime.  The 1960's Peace Corps was based upon this idea.  So college prices have skyrocketed, the jobs are elsewhere, and the expensive homes are being boarded up to prevent homeless from living in them.  Homeless? Again a no-brainer.

The solution is obvious. Rid ourselves of Bush and anyone who claims to want to walk in his footsteps.  GM and Ford and others have no more jobs to export.  They are on the edge of bankruptcy.  Their workers wonder how to pay for anything, let alone that big house.  It will take decades for us to recover our economy if we start right now.  The soonest we can start is in November, 2008.  We could start sooner but even I would not suggest the obvious necessary action.  The obvious legal action is simple: vote for his opposition.

Maybe if someone loses a home that they should not have bought, they will be more cautious next time.  Actually I doubt it.  Bailouts are coming.  I have always claimed that our culture is anti-Darwinian.  This just proves it.  Survival of the un-fittest.  Anyone who knows me knows that I consider an mortgage other than a 30-year fixed as robbery.  Anyone who knows me knows that I encourage over-extension on credit cards but controlled over-extension.  Holding back when times get tough.  Stretching out when times get better.  It is a fine line but it has been working for me and giving me a good life.  Success is doing what you choose to do.  I am waiting for my landlady to return with the laundry she does for me.  Today I watered the lawn and sprayed for weeds and wrote web pages.  The door is open (not the screen) and my friends await down at the restaurant.  I pick up my new (really new) car in two days.  And I shall pay for it with credit cards and a loan.  My home payments have never been late.  I mean never in all of my life.  My car payments have never been late.  Never in all my life.  Why?  Because of 2 rules: 1. Do not spend what you do not have.  2: Do not expect things to be better next year.  They will not be.  Finances are simple:. Estimate your ability to pay by your current situation and then cut by 10%.

DNC Unconstitutional?

A Florida lawyer is arguing that the DNC rules for the primary elections are unconstitutional due to the Equal Rights Amendment.  In WIsconsin I could vote as an independent.  In Texas I am permitted to vote in the primary..  The Democratic Primary only.  In Arizona I could not vote in the primary at all.  If the Florida Lawyer gets away with his Equal Rights argument then all of us independents should be permitted to vote on the identical argument.  Even in Florida.  To me the only valid argument for permitting anything in the Florida election is that the Republican Legislature forced the date upon the entire population, including the Democrats.  I presume with the general hatred ethic of Florida, that this was intentional.

Free Tibet

The Monks in Tibet have bet their lives that making the world aware of their oppression would create some activity to help them.  They have lost the bet and any freedom they did have and many have lost their lives .  We knew ahead of time that our President (GWB in case you forgot) would do nothing to help people in such dire circumstances.  GWB is too afraid that rocking the China boat might produce a reminder that he has made China the banker of the USA war debt.  The silence from the rest of the world is deafening.  Fifty years ago the Jews cried "Never again".  Maybe they meant it only for themselves.  I seem to remember Israel making claims of support for others -- but not those in Tibet.  We remember many cases of cultural slaughter.  Each time, the world cries out that it is wrong.  But wringing hands and facial tears does not solve the problem.  China counts on the conscience of the world doing nothing more than wriggling and crying afterwards.

Maybe Nancy Pelosi should run for President.  She seems to be the ONLY leader in our government to stand up and say what China is doing is wrong.  And she gets an immediate negative response from China.  If China were not sensitive to criticism, she would have been ignored.  What if many world leaders stood up for human rights?  Then China would have a problem.  As it is, the world is amazingly silent.  Maybe it just hurts me.  I still remember the Life Magazine cover back in the early 1950's with the Vietnamese Buddhist monks immolating themselves in the streets to get world attention to the atrocities of the USA-appointed, French Catholic governor of the newly USA-created country of South Vietnam.  What did the USA do after this attention? We sent soldiers in and did the same thing we are now accusing China of.  I guess it is history repeating itself.  At least this time I do not see the monks setting themselves on fire.  I guess after these comments I understand why the USA is not complaining: we did it first.  But Europe has a conscience even if the USA does not.  We should be hearing from the French, the Germans, the English, the Pope, the Israelis.  Just to name a few.

Did no one expect repercussions of giving China the Olympics?  Did the world really believe that giving China the Olympics would open doors to communication?  Sometimes I think the entire world is populated by optimistic idiots.  We could free Tibet in a minute.  Or that is could have.  I think it is too late now that the storm troupers have moved in and all communication is shut down and lies are pouring forth internally and externally in the controlled Chinese press.  The Olympic committee could have just stopped the Olympics on the grounds that China by its occupation of Tibet and its systematic destruction of the Tibetan culture has trashed the reason for having Olympics in the first place.

Free Tibet

People!  "We will never forget?"  If there was ever a time that you, as one individual, could get points with God or feel good about yourself or you really want to help people who are dying, now is the time.  Anything.  Mail a web page to your friends.  Buy (and wear) a T-shirt.  Give to a charity (remember that not all t-shirts give anything to any charity.)  Tell your friends.  March in a protest.  Something.  Anything.  If you do nothing at all, more people will die.  If you do something, maybe one more person will live.

Boycott the Olympics. Ah.  You are not going?  Do not watch them on TV.  Do not buy from their sponsors.  Tell GWB (President@WhiteHouse.gov) to at least boycott the opening ceremony.  That does not hurt our athletes.  Coca-Cola is already in the defensive.  If one person in 10,000 switches to Pepsi, Coca-Cola hurts.  Look up and boycott other sponsors. Go to web sites and tell them you will boycott their products if they do not support a free Tibet.  Make the switch permanent and tell them so.  Monks are peaceful people.  Absolutely non-violent.  It is not like they want a war.  They just want freedoms like you have.  Tibet is arm candy for China.  Tibet does not contribute to China's economy.  Only world opinion counts here.  Nothing else.  Do something.  Please.

And Barack, you had better take a stand here.  Hillary has.  No stand makes you appear ambivalent.  You do not want people to know you are a fence sitter.  McCain does not need to take a stand -- and he won't -- he will just accept and applaud whatever GWB does.

GWB?  He has made it clear: he says he has spent 8 years telling the world about religious freedom and does not need to do any more -- and he does not need the Olympics to let people know where he stands.  His talking face says that he will not change his plans due to political unrest.  GWB will stand his ground and not be swayed by public opinion here or there.

Political Unrest?  Is this the latest euphemism for the DarFur genocide?  For killing and maiming religious figures that are protesting being killed in a country China claims to own?  We know where the president stands.  He wants statues of Jesus in every classroom with morning prayers for all.  He has exercised his opinion here.  Because of his low integrity quotient with the rest of the world, he can say what he wants: they have learned to ignore him.  The more I hear the more I am sure that the country song was written just for him: "Big Hat, No Cattle". The President of the United States has become irrelevant.   If GWB attends the opening ceremony, and he will, he is supporting the genocide and the killing.  Another bad decision by a man known for bad decisions.

Links:

http://www.tibetanaidproject.org/         http://www.savetibet.org/tibet/history/beforechinese.php    http://www.freetibet.net/
CNN Commentary

Olympic Sponsors (Looking for who to boycott?)

If you do nothing but avoid these products until the Olympics in August, these companies will know you care. 
If you write a letter or email (they have web pages), they will know you care. 
Anything that you do that brings attention to these sponsors will make them aware that you care.

Contrary to GWB's assertion, this Olympics is NOT a "sporting event":
This is a political event and its host country (China) is counting on you, yes you, doing nothing.  Nothing at all.  You can fix that. 

McDonald's counts hamburgers.  McDonald's will know that you ate elsewhere.  Kellogg's counts cereal boxes.  Kellogg's will know that you bought Post.  Coca-Cola counts bottles and syrup.  Coca-Cola will know you bought Pepsi (and Coke hates even the color blue!).  Anything, anything at all will make some difference.  If you really care, you will not stop at just buying the competition -- but buying a Pepsi instead of a Coke will at least help your conscience.

Oh, My, Why Does She Lie?

You know my attitude towards the truth?  No.  There are many reasons for sins (violations of your personal integrity).  You can steal.  Then you have what you stole (and a guilty conscience, I hope).  You can cheat on your spouse (even less reward and even more guilt).  You can do all sorts ot things to violate your own integrity.  A lie is a statement that you believe is false with the sole purpose of devaluing your own integrity with the expectation that another will think higher of you./  You lose on both counts.  When you lie you gain nothing and lose any chance of retaining your personal integrity.  When you are caught.  And you will be caught, the only thing you had temporarily gained is permanently lost.  You are labeled as a liar and that label will never go away.

So we come to Hillary Clinton.  Until the Bosnian lie, I could have accepted either her or Obama for President.  Her other lies sort of smudged my opinion of her and increased my distance from her.  But after all of the writing on this web site about the lies from GWB (you know the adage: How do you know when he is lying?  His lips are moving),  I could never support Hillary Clinton.  That would violate my own integrity.

So now I must stand with Barack Obama. If by some perversion Hillary Clinton wins the nomination, then I would consider Republican.  This very thought ruins my day.  Please Mrs. Clinton, drop out now before your lies and personal problems rob us of the much needed integrity in the President's Office. Your continued presence darkens the respectability (and hopes) of the Democratic Party.

2008 -- April

80,000 jobs lost in March.  I think this qualifies as serious trouble.  GWB said on TV this week that he inherited a recession, fixed it, and now this is part of a normal cycle.   Maybe there was a cycle and maybe he inherited it at the top.  But he did not inherit a recession.  He did not fix a recession.   He did not even prevent a recession.  He merely hid the recession as more and more people replaced  their gray and white collar jobs with hamburger grills.  The recession now, apparently the worst since 1929, is not part of anything normal.  The 1929 recession/depression was followed by a large number of controls to prevent its reoccurrence.  7 years of a president who has stated repeatedly that he will ignore laws that get in his way, and encouraged the loss of American jobs to foreign countries does not understand that the current job loss is a direct result of his stupidity?  You know lots of adages here.  Lights are on but nobodies home.  A few bricks short of a full load.  Big hat, no cattle.  The banks got away with their abusive mortgages because he encouraged bank fraud.  The car companies are in trouble because he encouraged gas-guzzlers.  Not only are people being evicted from their homes but the very banks he was helping are going under also.  His tax reductions have caused my taxes to go from $2,000 to $7,000 this year.  Hard to swallow when the Social Security increase was decimated to make inflation look better.  And there are still people who think well of him?  There are still people who will vote for another Republican?  Maybe saying I would vote Republican instead of Clinton was a bit short sighted.

McCain is correct on this issue: bailing out people or banks is reverse Darwinism: reward of the most incompetent.

Facts? GWB has given permission to ignore any law that gets in the way of border wall construction.  I think the count is 38 laws on this issue alone.  GWB created a separate category for SUV's and light trucks to get around the CAFE standards.  This exempts them and effectively permits higher standards for those remaining in the original group.   He made it clear his first year that exporting jobs increased corporate bottom lines and what is good for the corporations is good for America.  Just a hint guys: what is good for a corporation (def.: legal person) is good for the country when the country (def.: citizens) is the total universe (def.: resources, manufacturing, sales, product) of that corporation.

More Republican DoubleSpeak

We are back to the "If the lips are moving..." problem.  GWB this week says that the troop reductions will stop indefinitely.  This sounds like there were ongoing troop reductions.  Not true.  Another GWB lie.  The "reductions" were the removal of the additional "surge" troops.  Many of these remain there. This means that we took three steps forward and two steps back.: we still have more troops than before his increase for the "surge".  More GWB lies.

Now Great Grandfather McCain has joined the DoubleSpeak Republican dialog.  He claims that by rolling back the temporary GWB tax increases, that is letting them expire on schedule, will be the single largest tax increase since World War II.  It is NOT a tax increase: it is return to the status quo.  Yes, the rich people will pay their fair share but the poor people, like me, will not be impacted or will pay less.  I like that idea.  THe Republicans will always paint something black that should be white.  Maybe more rich people vote than poor people.  Maybe voting for a Republican saying lies is more believable than someone speaking the truth.  Maybe the poor people, like me, think that by voting for rich people tax cuts then maybe they will become rich too.  I do not know.  The problem to me is simple: sort out the DoubleSpeak and the Republicans are going to continue making me poorer.

Worse than that, my grandchildren will be paying for this war if we do not restore taxes to the rich people.  And remember, it is not the rich people who are dying in this war.  Those dying are the poor kids who have promises of training and promises of education and benefits.  They are dying so that the rich people can drive their SUV's.

McCain wants to guarantee availability of student loans.  But not a word about student grants.  Grants are for poor kids.  Loans are for rich kids. You want to send more jobs overseas?  Keep denying the poor kids.  You want more unemployed?  More welfare?  More people on the streets? Keep denying the poor kids.

You want more lies?  Keep voting Republican.  They have lying down to an art form.

What Does it Take?

I lived in the 1960's at the University of Wisconsin.  I sat in the Ad building.  I even spoke once on the microphone.  I am not an eloquent speaker.  Maybe that is the problem.  My sister Kathie was at UC-Berkeley.  Before that she was beat up by the LA Goon Squads (euphemism: special force police).  My sister Jeanne was in Biafra.  Remember Biafra?  We came from an ultra-conservative family.  I sincerely doubt my father ever had a positive thought about any Democrat.  I grew up with Detroit Iron.  My dad at GM.  Me at Chrysler. The ultimate "Don't make Waves", environment.  I heard those words often from my father. But I took on the DOD in Federal Court -- and won.  If I had gone to another university, maybe I would have sat quietly instead of exercising my rights -- before they were all taken away.  And that was what the DOD was trying to do: take away my right to work since I had protested their attempt to make me die in Vietnam.  With my home life, taking on anybody was a miracle in itself.  I won.  I worked where I wanted to and I did not die in an illegal war.

In the 1960's, we had people in the streets protesting the outrages of our government with this illegal war in Vietnam.  We protested its support of racial and sexual prejudices and bigotries.  People were hurt trying to get the message out to the population who did not care.  We wanted them to care.  Nixon coined a word for those who did not care: "The Silent Majority:  People were hurt?  Many went to jail.  Many were physically injured.  Many have a felony record and cannot -- even today -- perform the jobs for which they worked so hard to get an education.  These people had their lives changed permanently.  Regrets?  I only regret that I did not do more.  I worked in the Ad building basement when I saw my roommates come back with their heads bloodied.  Because I did not like going to jail, I showed police my Admin ID rather than my student ID when they stopped me on frivolous charges.  One night I got beat up for just walking down the street.  One time only and I went home again.

But we took on the lying Republican war machine.  The people who took to the streets are now dying of old age or complications of their youth.  Many of my friends are dead. But the lying Republican war machine is stronger than ever.  Yes, I know that Johnson escalated the war.  He made it unpatriotic to be against the war.  He was smart enough to abandon ship as he knew there was no chance of being elected again with all of the noise people were making.  But his successor made it illegal to be against the war.  We could fight unpatriotic by throwing it back in the faces of the Silent Majority: do something, do anything.  We are citizens voicing our opinions. Voice yours.  But Nixon used a different tactic: he made it illegal.  He sent the IRS or other agencies after people he did not like.  There are worse things than threats of physical abuse.

Nixon's method stuck.  Government agencies can ruin your life far worse than just a felony record.  So now we have his successor, GWB.  We have a federal government with more agencies than anyone can name.  We are now all afraid that someone, somewhere, in some office can mark us and we will lose everything.  The lies of GWB are now public knowledge.  There was no truth at all behind our invasion of another country and the assassination of its president.  There is no truth at all in continuing his war except that GWB has created so many enemies that going home again is almost impossible for him.  So.  More lies to make him look good for posterity.  He has already hired lawyers to rewrite history to forge a lying legacy because he knows that the truth will label him forever as a bigger liar than Hitler.

And where is accountability? There is none.  The "free press" slants everything such that the best they will print is just the daily lie as if it were the truth.  We hear about how many American soldiers died today but that does not even make the front page. Each one of these soldiers had a family.  A mother who cried when she heard.  Maybe a wife who will worry about where her next meal will come from for the rest of hers and her children's lives.  How will she guide her son's into adulthood?  Think again.  I raised two daughters.  Being a single parent is really, really hard  -- and I am not talking about the finances.  We are creating new single parents every day.  Did you hear how many Iraqis were killed today?  How many Iraqi fathers will not go home to their children?  How many children will grow up without fathers?  And all of this because of a consummate liar.  Sometimes I really believe that he believes his own lies.

But our courts will change toward the radical religious right.  Our schools (our children) will get text books lying about the immanent dangers caused by this president 's (and that of his cronies) greed for oil profits.  Our children's children will pay the dollar cost of his war.  The loss of our country's integrity is permanent --- like the loss of health of our soldiers.  Maybe our grandchildren will not be able to save the earth as we have known it.

When I walked down city streets in Copenhagen, Munich, Vienna, and Rome, people asked for an explanation.  How can we consider ourselves a democracy with GWB as president?  I could not answer them.

I mean it is all lies.  GWB is unhappy with the congressional treatment of his free trade agreement with Columbia.  They are refusing to accelerate its ratification.  Typical of GWB: push it through before anyone can understand it.  What you will not hear from the "free press" is that the Colombians distrust the agreement because it was created by GWB -- and they do not trust him.  The world does not trust GWB.  The world may never trust the USA again because of him.  And you sit in your chair when you should be in the streets protesting the theft of our government by a system of lies, distortions, and murders?  Shame on you.

The Dalai Lama and the Pope

It is his last year in office.  Do you think GWB is not concerned about his legacy?  The pope got an unbelievable reception.  The world leader of a religion that is currently best known in this country for it abuse of children.  Escorted and driven to anywhere he wanted to go as a guest of GWB.

But the Dalai Lama walked to the coffee shop on his own.  No super reception.  No special privileges.  There are more Buddhists than Catholics.  A man known for his belief in peace and harmony for the world and all of its people.  There is no abuse issue hanging over his head.  There is only the request for freedom from tyranny by his people.  Tyranny from one of the most abusive regimes in modern history.  Our country claims to stand for such freedom.  GWB?  Full support of the tyrannical government suppressing the people of the home country of the Dalai Lama.  Not one word of criticism of the murder of the Tibetan people.  Not one action in support of their freedom.  Actually GWB has thrown his support to the tyranny by not only supporting the Hitler' style Olympics but actually going early to prove his support of China's actions.

2008 -- May

"I Inherited a Depression"

Sometimes I really wonder if the man has been released from the loony bin or what.  We know that GWB has finally figured out that he will go down in history as the most disliked or hated president in our history, short as it is.  Do something to improve this negative legacy?  It is too late for that.  He has hired historians and speech writers to re-write history.  He has taken to making blatant lies on TV sort of like the old joke about raising a flag and seeing who salutes it.  Every president who wants to look good hopes that he can inherit a bad situation and improve upon it.  GWB hopes people will not remember how much better things were 8 years ago and feed us more of his lies hoping to rewrite our memories.  I hope you are not one of the people who swallow this crap.

Gasoline Tax Holiday.  Really?

Obama did not bite on this hook.  McCain/Bush sent this flag up for saluting.  Clinton bit.  Gas tax money goes to provide safety margins for our lives.  Last summer bridges collapsed -- not enough money to pay for inspectors or improvements.  So you are going to save $25 this summer and risk the lives of your children in the fall.  Right.  $0.18 per gallon for 150 gallons saves you $27.  150 gallons in a family car will take you 3000 miles.   You will save the cost of dinner at  a fast food restaurant for two nights if you drive from Wisconsin to Wyoming and back.  Then what happens when you commute from downtown Milwaukee to Oak Creek and a chunk of concrete falls from the overpass?  Exaggerating?  This happened yesterday in San Diego.  And we know that gas prices will rise to fill the vacuum.  So when comes September the  $0.18 goes back on, do you really believe that the price in September will be what is is today? Lower? Even Pollyanna would sell tickets on that one.

You want lower gas prices? Easy.  Buy a Prius.  Or one of its clones.  Can't sell your SUV?  Gee. I wonder why not.  You could take the bus but ever since  Eisenhower buses have been increasingly hard to come by.  I would not take the bus.  A half hour car drive in San Jose was a two hour train/bus ride.  Longer outside of rush hour.  Crowded during rush hour and packing a bike was even worse.  You could ride your bike but then the lifting exercise might overload your heart.

Yes, I just bought a new pickup.  A real gas hog.  It is a little Ford Ranger and I searched for over a month in 4 states to find a 4-cylinder which claims up to 4 mph over the 6-cylinder.  But my little Ranger does not have the angry-face grill to intimidate the poor guy who is unlucky enough to be in front of me.  You like the intimidation factor?  Pay for the gas with a smile and get out of my life.  Intimidation is not a quality I admire.

Back to business.  You want more bad jokes instead of a real solution?  Vote for McBush or Clinton. Another old saying: "pay me now or pay me later."  The problem with pay me later is that that chunk of concrete may fall on my car and I may die.  I think I do not like pay me later.

Your Candidate Loses and you vote for Great Grandfather McCain.  Really?

I am always accused of crediting individuals, especially women, with intelligence for which others do not agree.  I have given up trying to figure out what a particular man sees in a particular woman and vice versa.  In general I give the general public credit for no brains at all.  Rather than having a personal opinion, most people (in my opinion) give up this right to personal prejudices rather than logic.  I had a pastor once who advocated a candidate solely n the grounds of his position on abortion.  The candidate was a jerk and most people figured that out.  The nurses in California recognized a bill as catastrophic to health care.  The insurance companies lied through their teeth claiming additional tax burdens.  There was no tax increases except for windfall profit taxes to the corporate executives.  But people fell for it and the California HMO's have had a free ride since.  But today I see the really very worst of these selfish, pedantic "voters".

Polls indicate that if you like one of the Democrats and your favorite loses, you will turn your bitterness over to the Republicans.  I mean this is just plain stupid.  The political position differences between Obama and Clinton, as Obama has explained, are not that great.  Personally I dislike Clinton intensely.  But then if I were a fighter and I saw a light at the end of the tunnel, I would throw out anything and everything that could possible hurt my opponent.  After all, the prize is the Presidency of the United States of America.  I think she has gone way too far in mudslinging, bitching, etc.  But then she is a fighter and she has seen first hand what the prize is.  Her "experience" seems to be the claim of sharing the bed with a real politician.  But enough. This is not about that.  This is about the petty, pedantic people who would throw the war because they lost a battle.  And it is a war.  I do not like anything that the Republicans represent.  I think they have trashed the entire concept of our forefathers.  GWB has set personal rights back way beyond the founding.  His lies and the lies of his party will go down in history.  Real history, that is.  Not the rewrite he is paying for.  OK.  Enough of that.

The point is that the next President will appoint hundreds of judges, including a couple of Supreme Court Justices.  So you knee-jerk Democrats will vote in McCain who has already stated he will be appointing judges to the right of those proposed by GWB.  I do wish we had a better choice of words than right or left.  Right implies some sort of moral correctness.  The right in this case has horns.

But you knee-jerk Democrats would rather have the reputation, heritage, and vision of our country trashed further than it has been.  Why?  Are you all really that stupid?  Do you really think that the Democratic opponent is such a terrible person?  If he/she were really that bad, they would be fighting McCain on the Republican ticket and not an equally viable candidate on their current ticket.  People. This is just crazy.

The exit polls today indicate that there are such hard feelings that McCain is a shoo-in.  But then if you are that stupid, you are not reading this.  So I am preaching to the choir.  Maybe someone will wake up.  This is depressing me so I shall stop here. Just vote Democratic whoever wins the nomination.  The alternative is closer to hell than you want to imagine.

The Bush, Hitler, and the Knesset Incident

You have to understand the dynamics here.  As much as I dislike the man, GWB is, after all, a human being.  Sort of a low life that you would reach for the Black Flag if you found him on your kitchen floor, but a human being.  I have been comparing him to Hitler for the past 7 years.  Others much more eloquent than myself have been making similar references.  You do not back the President of the United States into a corner like the proverbial cornered rat but the continued swipes at his integrity have been taking their toll.

So, he sees an opening and he takes it.  In the Israel Knesset on their anniversary, he says that there are Americans pushing for appeasement of the terrorists.  Since the only Americans to which this reference could possibly make a difference are the opposing party candidates, those candidates quite rightly take the insult personally.  I mean, after all, GWB could not be referring to anyone else.  Several reasons, the most obvious: no other Americans have any authority to talk to anyone (but they all do have the right to voice their opinions).  .No, the better reason is that GWB considers anyone and everyone his inferior.  Therefore, the only ones to which he could be referring are those wishing to claim his office.  Specifically, Barack Obama.  Not Hillary Clinton as she has already stated her opposition to talking to "terrorists".  Great Grandfather McCain certainly would not be espousing this.  He is tracking GWB's footsteps like a bird dog on a grouse.  No.  The reference is specific and understandable.  Understanding is not the same as consenting.  In college I read Mein Kampf.  I understood the background of Hitler's hatred of the Jews.  Understanding Hitler does not give consent.  Understanding GWB does not give consent.

I wish we could just ignore the man and get on with the business at hand: electing his replacement.  But we have a serious problem in this country.  In 8 years GWB has divided the country so drastically that even people of the same political party hate each other.  This action of GWB rather than consolidating the opposition has further torn them.  Oh.  The opposing candidates have all expressed their anger and sorrow.  But all those yokels out there who are saying my candidate or else we send the country to hell (with McCain) will lap up the President's comments and further split our country.  GWB if nothing else is the master of lies, deception, and dissension.  This is the great example of spreading dissension.  The sooner this man is out of that office, the sooner reparations can begin.

As I have said, GWB has already bought people to rewrite his history.  But then, Mein Kampf is history.  Just with a slant.  I should not compare GWB to Hitler?  Which comparison fails?

GWB's Recession

This is not a normal recession.  GWB worked hard to create it.  A recession occurs when people do not have enough money to buy goods to maintain their lifestyle.  This happens due to inflation and/or the loss of jobs.  If prices go up, you need more money:  Your net income rises accordingly.  If you lose your job, your net income goes to zero.  This is elementary.  GWB made a point at the start of his administration of encouraging, yes, encouraging, corporations to send jobs overseas.  This is a fact, I just put more weight on it than the Republican Right, the rich people.  Result: lots of people in the USA have no jobs.  No job, no purchases.  Either that or increased debt.  Oh, and GWB's Congress changed the bankruptcy laws to make sure that his banks would not suffer by a personal bankruptcy:  go bankrupt now and you still owe the bank.

Less jobs.  More debt.  Hire a Federal Reserve manager that has as much understanding of economics as GWB has in global warming.  So money flow is further restricted as more people need it.  People cannot pay their mortgages.  The banks have sold mortgages with escalating premiums so that you are going to lose your home.  House prices go down.  Who loses? Anyone who believed in GWB economics.  That is like believing in ghosts.  The jobs were going.  The interest rates were going up.  The banks were capitalizing on their increasing rate mortgages.  Definition of recession is within sight.  I have lived in a nice neighborhood when the neighbors homes started being boarded up.  It is not pretty.

Cars.  GWB abandoned the CAFE standards put in place by the previous president (there is a funny rule about reviewing laws passed in the previous 60-90 days).  And GWB added a new category to CAFE standards: SUV's and light trucks: no controls.  What happens now?  WIth the gas guzzlers out of the standard car group, standard cars use more gas.  Why not?  The CAFE average is still there but the gas guzzlers have been moved out.  The average car now uses more gas to fill the gap.  Oh, GWB ultimately put a lid on the SUV's but the lid is really high.  What difference does this make? Gas consumption doubles (?) in 7 years.  Prices rise to meet the demand.  The oil producers refuse to make up the difference.  Why should they?  They have already increased their output many times.  The rest of the world is using more oil.  The producers have a larger market.  And guess what? Some day they will have no more oil.  There were only so many dinosaurs.  So they should use up all of their only natural resource because GWB says so?  I mean the Saudis and their neighbors sell oil.  Their only other natural resource is sand.  They should sell sand?

But it is not over.  The cycle has just begun.  Car manufacturers are closing plants.  People are not buying the GWB-encouraged gas guzzlers.  They cost more than a standard car and taxes on the poor have gone up to pay for the tax breaks to the rich.  Do not believe me? Watch what happens to your Social Security if your income exceeds $50,000.  You can live on $4,000 month?  House payment + Maintenance + Insurance: $1,500.  Car payment and insurance: $500.  Support for my daughter: $1,000. Food, supplies: $400.  Health insurance, medication, doctors: $500.  Gasoline: $100.   And I have outstanding credit card debt to pay off.  And I owe the IRS $300 per month because my "financial advisor" screwed up my IRA.  $4,000 goes by real fast and GWB's tax cuts do not give you anything to cover the inflation.  Taxes go up fast.  Many times faster than income.  Unless you are rich.

Then you cannot afford the car.  What does the bank do with a car?  It does not want a car.  It can only sell it for a portion of what you owe on it.  You still owe that balance and you have no way to get to work.  Then the house goes because you cannot pay the mortgage because just like the taxes, the payment goes up faster than your income.  Oh, I forgot, you lost your income to someone working in Brazil.  Or was it to India, Korea, China, Pakistan, off shore island?  Does it matter.  Oh, and food stamp allocations have not gone up to match inflation.  GWB's arithmetic with the CPI, Consumer Price Index, minimizes Food Stamp and Social Security increases at the immediate expense of those who need them the most.

And home construction?  Build new houses when the old ones are vacant and selling at half-price?  More jobs lost.  Home improvement?  Before the recession really blossoms, people fix up rather than move to better.  But when the job goes, you cannot fix either.  Lowes and Home Depot start to weave under the pressure.  More people with no jobs.  John F. Long, Del Webb and similar home builders would turn over in their graves.

Still with me?  The oil prices are causing all prices to rise geometrically.  Demand on oil has risen sharply as the gas guzzlers take over.  The Detroit auto makers are the biggest believers in GWB economics.  After all, he did it for them.  "What's good for General Motors is good for the country".  I remember that from the Eisenhower campaign.  Republicans live in the past or create a future that ... Oh.  Oil prices.  The demand by the guzzlers has raised the cost for everyone.  To fill the 11-gallon tank on my Tercel now costs me more than filling the 18-gallon tank on my Camry.  But then they are both history.  Do you know that in 6 weeks of searching I could not find a small pickup with 4 cylinders and manual transmission that I could afford?  I finally got a Ford Ranger with 4 cylinders but automatic and a serious rebate/discount.  The Ranger is a safety/health risk.  You cannot enter or exit the extended cab area in the case of an emergency.  And you certainly cannot get your children out of there.  But then this is about economics, not preserving your life.

And food prices go up.  Anything delivered by truck goes up.  Is there anything not delivered by truck?

Many words but the bottom line is this:  the first years of GWB in office set up an economic landslide that did not have to happen.  We have hit the tax breaks for the rich.  We have hit the subsidizing of the gas-guzzlers.  We have hit the changes to banking and money reserves to make the banks richer. We have hit the encouraging of job losses.  We have not hit health care and the encouraging of HMO practices to decrease health care and increase premiums.  We did not need to hit anything else.  The recession is a direct result of the above.  As we say in mathematics: Q.E.D.

So we have a recession.  And we hear it will not go away.  Why should it?  The American economy is, for the most part, self-healing.  It really wants to make itself better.  There are entrepreneurs out there working hard to do this.  But with all of the barriers put in place (by GWB), there is little hope.  And we have not even hit upon world economics or the impending destruction of the planet as we know it.  The solution is easy: give us an administration that cares for its people, the people of the world, and the world itself.  Republicans need not apply.

Here is the initial easy list:

• Encourage recapitalization of loans -- at bank expense.  Rewriting a loan does not cost the bank nearly as much as a foreclosure on an overloaded marketplace.
  
• Return medical care decisions to the doctors.  Give a tax credit to ALL real medical insurance and ALL real medical expenses
  
• Make responsible CAFE standards.  A little late but better than never. Institute a gas-guzzler tax.
• Give the working class the tax break.  They need it.
  
• Stop subsidies to corporations exporting jobs.
• Re-evaluate free trade agreements whose sole purpose it is to cost American jobs (not all are in this category).
• Replace government officials who cannot see the pain n the eyes of the hungry.  Vote!
  
• Stop the Mars station and start work on something closer to home, like the moon or a working, serious, space laboratory.
• Stop the war. The very first thing you learn in Econ 101 is the Guns versus Butter tradeoff.

We did not hit that but I hope you know that GWB has been paying for this war with notes sold to China that your children and grandchildren will have to pay off.  GWB is very good at hiding the cost of his war and economic losses.  I feel like I am the rug that under which he has hidden his dirt.  Japan already owns much of Montana.  Which state do we want to let China have?

And the children and grandchildren will also have to figure out how to save a dying planet while repaying this debt.  I presume you are smart enough to vote for Democrats who are working to end the economic pain and while they are at it, restoring integrity to a country that went from a leader of ethics in the world to nothing more than a murdering thief.

Eliminate the Electoral College or Delegate Voting?

Careful here.  I keep hearing we should do away with the Electoral College and the delegate counting in the primaries.  That we should go to a pure popular vote.  I guess that means that people think they are smarter than the people who framed the Constitution.  Those guys were pretty smart but they did make a few mistakes.  In 200 years many of these have been corrected.  The concept of the Electors is a really great idea but maybe we do not need them.  Maybe the persons could be eliminated and just the corresponding number of votes they represent could be used.  But mostly I hear we should go to a straight national vote count.  This is just plain stupid.  The concept was a compromise by the founders.  The small states were afraid of under representation in the new government.   "Small" meaning population or geography or whatever.  By taking the population percentage and adding 2 made sure that each state received a proportionate count but not eliminated  If we went to a pure national vote count, the people of the Dakotas would be under represented.  All of the campaign expenses would be to large cities.  Agricultural votes would be ignored.  Talk about special interests.  People in the large cities would determine by themselves the new president.  We have cities (metropolitan areas) whose populations exceed the population of some states. Do you want Los Angeles and New York to get together and  determine the president while Ypsilanti and Elkhart and Gillette count for nothing at all?  Well, may be should ignore Elkhart.  Come on, guys, give Jefferson, et al, some credit.  And Ypsilanti was still a Greek hero when they wrote the Constitution.  Some days I really think our education system has failed.  I know it has failed in social concepts.

2008 -- June

Lies, More Lies, and Liars

There is the story about a man asking a snooty woman that he did not know if she would have sex with him for one million dollars.  When she said "yes", he told his friends that she was a prostitute and they merely had to negotiate the price.  I have heard this attributed to several men and women.  I am not sure that I agree here as there are many things that I would do for one million dollars that I would not do for much less.  But I think the story has its points.  People who lie are liars.  People who steal are thieves.  People who murder are murderers.  Etc.

We have established that GWB could have given lessons to Hitler on "the great lie".  That makes GWB a liar.  Again we go to another one liner: "How do we know when he is lying?" -- "When his lips are moving."  GWB has pretty much stayed away from the campaign as Great Grandfather McCain needs all of the help he can get and being associated with a liar does not do him any favors.  But GWB is still the President and he has everyone's ear.  Especially the media's -- and GWB knows how to make the biggest splash.  Dang,  in my life I have never encountered anyone so good at deception as GWB.

June 2, 2008: The NASA inspector general said the press office's actions were ("marginalized, or mischaracterized" ) a result of "inappropriate political interference."

If GWB stayed just with politics, it would be bad enough.  But to have convinced his followers that global warming was "psuedo-science" makes him a criminal in the eyes of the rest of the world.  Of course he did not need these lies to label him as a war criminal.  But he has now attacked gas prices (a topic on everyone's front burner) in another deception.  GWB is claiming that if we act on global warming gas prices will rise by fifty cents.  Of course if we do not act on global warming the price per gallon of gasoline becomes irrelevant within my lifetime.  I mean GWB gets headlines for this stupid claim.  He may be correct.  Shoot, gasoline will rise by fifty cents by the end of the year regardless of what we do about global warming.  Playing to people's fears is something that GWB is extremely adept at.  Deception? Play to an economic fear to hide that you are damaging the world ecology.  This is just plain stupid and the people who believe his lies (27% of the country) are just as stupid.

I just returned from a trip to San Francisco.  900 miles each way.  $400 in gasoline bills.  Sorry guys but next time I take the bus or train.  The USA has turned into a crazy place.  Prices skyrocketing.  Motels that used to be $50 per night are now $120.  Gasoline heading for $5 per gallon.  Soda pop at Wal-mart was 47 cents for two liters.  It will be 75 cents for the same bottle shortly.  Inflation is rampant and about to get worse.  Trucking companies are advertising for drivers at a rate that barely pays for the diesel fuel.  Even taxes are going up.  California has cities declaring bankruptcy.  The heritage of GWB is chaos.  And we have not even gone into the concept of jobs.  Every job exported (at his encouragement) leaves a hungry family.  It does not matter if the price of soda goes up if you cannot make your mortgage payment.

"Not your father's Oldsmobile"

You want more of the same?  Vote for Great Grandfather McCain.  He has promised more radical judges.  He has promised more war.  He has promised more of everything bad.  He also claims that he is not like GWB.  I guess that makes him worse as nothing he has said makes him better.  Of course though since he says he is not like GWB that means he will now ride the coattails of "change".  The problem to me is that change in and of itself is not a good thing.  To date the only changes we can expect from McCain fall into the same "change" category as our gasoline prices.

In my mind I remember those TV ads where Oldsmobile was attempting to revive its image for the younger set.  You know the results of that:  Oldsmobile is now history.  In my minds eye, I see Great Grandpa McCain sitting in the TV ad, smiling to the right and saying "Not your father's Oldsmobile".

Hillary: "I shall do whatever it takes to put a Democrat in the White House."

If you want it better, then vote for "change".  Real "change".  I have moved from supporting Clinton to supporting Obama.  I know, this site has leaned toward Obama for a long time.  At this point, I get tired of hearing about her sexist claims.  She had a clean shot at it and she blew it.  Mostly her voice now sounds like a whine and I shall not use the "b" word.  Her kitchen sink  campaign is beneath the dignity of a real president.  Sort of like an octopus on a sea wall.  Holding on for dear life with some legs while using the other legs to throw things at her attacker.  The only problem is that her "attacker" is not attacking her, he is too busy attacking the real enemy.  But then an octopus has this black, inky stuff it sprays into the water to hide from enemies.  Maybe she cannot see through the ink she is blowing.  I really do hope that when she knows that she has lost that she admits it gracefully.

I had really thought when it was obvious that she was losing that she would bow out gracefully.  Now she has to complete her fight -- although I wish she did not keep looking at the belt to see where she could aim below.  If she had fought a better, more aboveboard fight, I would have thought that she would have become a leading Senator or Governor of New York.  Now I am not so sure.  Do we respect Kennedy -- the last remaining Kennedy -- less because he is a Senator rather than a President?  I do not think so.  He will go down in history as a great leader and advocate of the poorer people.  Hillary could have taken up his lead but now I do not think that she is capable of even that.  Maybe she can go down in history as another Dan Quail.  But if I remember Dan fought a clean fight.

Hillary Clinton as Vice President?  I do not like the idea.  I think her quote means that she would accept second place to Obama.  If that is what it will take to put a Democrat in the White House, so be it.  There has never in my lifetime been a greater need for a Democrat in the White House than today.  If Hillary does not want to remain a Senator, and I think her future is best there, then a cabinet position such as Attorney General, would be good.  Secretary of State, no.  Absolutely, NO.  Her husband would be a bad influence to put it gracefully.  Sort of like my ex-wife.  While we were married, she was a good mother.  Maybe not a good spouse.  Bill was a good president.

Third World Country

There are several things which are indicative of a third world country.  The first are obvious: lack of a strong middle class, inflation, debt to other nations, second-rate school systems, inadequate health care, corrupt federal government, invasion of foreign countries.  The second is that young women have babies just because they want babies without concern (too much) about the father.  Here in Mexico the first is obvious.  Also is the second.  Girls as young as 12 have babies because that is what women do and they might as well start early.

Here is the problem.  In 7 short years GWB has turned the USA into a third world country.  There is no more middle class.  Those jobs have been exported.  Inflation is the worst since Nixon.  "Lies and more lies" is the common phrase describing the "regal" government of GWB.  We all see these and as a result the entire Republican Party suffers his disgrace to democracy.  The USA is the only "developed" nation without a health care system -- and GWB's solution: more health insurance.  More profits to the insurance and drug companies.

The other problem is that we are hearing more and more of young women, girls, having babies.  This is making headlines in some areas.  Teenage girls celebrating positive pregnancy tests.  I know that welfare is now limited.  But is ADC limited?  I would hope not but I hate to see it that badly exploited.

The problem about third world countries is that it generally takes a revolution to overthrow the corrupt government.  And the replacement government might be just as corrupt.  In the USA the population is so cowed by the government spying and the IRS that to become visible to the government puts your life, or at least your entire economic life n jeopardy.  The president has used the technological  advances to his extreme desire for dominance.  He wanted to be remembered as God.  Now he will be remembered as the Devil.  But how do we get back on the road to good government?  Maybe just replacing the seriously sick ones up there (i. e. Republicans) and the almost as sick (Democrats who are afraid to stand up to their voters expectations).  Get with it people.  If you will not demonstrate in the streets, then at lest write your congressman and senator and tell them about your displeasure.

R - E - S - P - E - C - T: Find Out What it Means To Me

Sometimes the best example is a negative example.  I have lost all respect for Hillary Clinton.  I understand that men and women competing are like dogs and cats fighting: they do not play by the same rules.  When a dog gives up, it rolls over and exposes its neck.  When a cat rolls over it does so to make all four sets of claws and its teeth available for assault.  The dog which thinks it is the victor loses a lot of blood.

Hillary Clinton just did the cat thing.  She loaned herself 20 million dollars to compete against Obama.  If she had won, repayment would have been easy.  But she lost and so she holds Obama hostage for the repayment.  She gets her money win or lose.  But she lost, the opponent pays with his blood.  Now the people who support her will get her approval to switch sides only after Obama asks his people to repay her loans.  Money that could have been spent in support of his campaign now goes to pay for her failed flailings.  Worse off, her failed flailings have left so many hard feelings that the Democrats winning the election will do so without the votes of her most ardent supporters.

I considered and still do consider what she did the lowest of the cheap shots.  I hear her name bandied about for Supreme Court justice.  I have more respect for the highest court in the land than to put a sneak like her in there.  I had thought before maybe Attorney General.  But then again comes the respect issue.  Yes, there is the old saying: "All is fair in love and war".  But the war is over.  She lost.  Leave her to history. Let her be a lesson for the next elections: Expose all of your talons and you lose it all.  Let her take her blood money and disappear into the woodwork.

But if you are one of those ardent supporters who is not planning to vote for Obama, I respect you the same way I respect her: not at all.  The next president will replace as many as 4 Supreme Court Justices.  Do you want them to be more Bush clones?  Their decisions will outlast you.  And then there are the appellate judges.  And the district judges.  Bush complained that he could not get his people into those positions.  Believe me, McCain can and will.  You Clinton supporters, yes you, do you really want our courts to be composed of bible-thumping, flag-waving, rule-making judges telling your children what they can or cannot learn in your schools?  Do you want our country to continue moving from an honest, democratic society into a theocracy -- as it has been doing for the last 8 years?

Now we have Obama moving towards the middle.  McCain has always claimed to be in the middle.  We shall have an election where people are thinking they are choosing the best of two moderate candidates.  Again people: think.  They cannot have been left and right and then suddenly be moderate.  The masks are back on but you have had a chance to see them without their masks.  McCain in the Senate long before he became a great grandfather-figure.  Obama in Illinois government and then the Senate.  I really think that the only way Obama can lose this election is if too many Clinton supporters still have their claws out or Obama continues without a teleprompter.

"Well, I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president," General Wesley Clark.

Wow.  What a mess we have.  People think I am a radical leftist.  No.  I am very conservative.  A very traditional conservative.  What I am is anti-Republican.  This puts me into a traffic jam when it comes to defining my box.  Why anti-Republican?  The lies.  Everywhere in this web page you will find my dislike (maybe hatred is better) of lies and liars.  We could start with Reagan and the first Bush but let's just look at the current situation.  GWB got appointed and then elected on lies.  He started a war and may start another justified by his lies.  Even if you like the guy, and there are not too many of you left, you cannot deny the lies.  So let's go back to Vietnam. GWB was just plain AWOL. I think we al know that.  McCain was shot down and spent 5 years as a POW in horrible conditions.  Even if he were doing a good job and had superb flying skills and was shot down in spite of those skills, he is a war hero.  And no one that I have seen is denying him war hero status.  I was not impressed when I met and conversed with him.  I thought he was dirty in the S&L thing but by the time his Senate term was up, the S&L thing was history.  And if dirty, just a little.  But I think I want it both ways.  I think he is a bad of a liar as GWB.  Maybe not that bad.

Both ways?  McCain is saying that you cannot trust what Obama says.  I worry more about what McCain says.  If it is a lie, then he is a liar and I despise him.  If he makes good on his promises, GWB's work into turning the USA into a third-world theocracy will be completed. McCain will appoint theocratic judges.  He has said so.  He is for more guns (to me that equates to more violence).  He thinks a universal health plan is for wimps.  He agrees that sending jobs overseas is good for the USA economy.  He is in favor of the border fence. All those things which common sense will tell you that are just plain wrong.  And of the 200,000 people in this country who have lost their jobs this year alone, how many are stupid enough to vote for McCain?

But it gets worse.  McCain's pet general has asked Obama to decry General Wesley Clark's comments.  The pet general claims that Clark has unpatriotically attacked a war hero.  Sorry guys -- this is just one more lie.  Clark is stating the obvious: 5 years in a POW camp does not give you executive experience. Clark also states in the same discussion that Obama has not inherited rights in this area either.  What is the problem here?  Attack?  There is no attack on McCain.  Just an honest observation: if McCain has executive skills, they are in spite of rather than because of his 5 years outside the country.  McCain has hidden any executive skills well.  The attack is on Obama to get him to react like a doll on a string.  I hope Obama is smart enough to not take the bait.  He did enough of those knee-jerk things defending against the Clintons.

The election is already deluged in Republican machine mud .  For 6 months now they have encouraged the rumors about Obama's religion.  His patriotism.  His wife's patriotism.  He sexual preferences.  Do you hear McCain telling his people to clear the air of these lies?  Does he make it clear that this election should be about positions on the issues?  I don't think so.  I think quite the opposite.  Every statement from McCain is an attack on Obama's integrity. With these attacks heard everyday, it is easy for his cronies and supporters to just go the extra step and question Obama as even a human being.  Why should Obama tell Clark to shut up when Clark has just cleared the air. Bottom line: telling people that life of a POW does not automatically bestow presidential qualities.  This should be obvious but people voted for GWB in spite of his lies.  Why should I think that the average voter is any smarter now than he was 4 or 8 years ago?

2008 -- July

Disaster Economics

The latest buzzword to describe the way things work.  In a broad sense, it seems as simple as apple pie.  In a more narrow sense, GWB has been the favorite son of this paradigm,  invading Iraq being the easiest.  The $4 gas price is a direct result of his politics and now he is refusing to implement (or even discuss) energy-reduction bills until he gets his bill to expand oil production into ANWR and the other protected locations.

To make it clear, if ALL of the possible ANWR oil came into production tomorrow, the amount would not be more than 5% of our consumption.  And as anyone familiar with queuing theories,  increased oil into the few remaining refineries would not increase availability of gasoline anywhere.  Even Mexico (Pemex) uses the remaining American refineries.  With the disastrous refinery fires in the last ten years, you would think that we would have new and improved refineries online by now -- but we have not.

But the subject is disaster economics.  GWB is the absolute master of this concept.  When even someone from his own party suggests a national speed limit, his people say flat out:: not until you permit drilling in ANWR.

I get tired of saying it but I am really worried about replacing GWB with a man who has literally bowed down to the GWB ideas and whose primary qualification for president appears to be time spent as a POW.  Obama may be wearing a shirt of many colors (exactly what McCain is trying to portray), but he is the great white hope.  Black hope too.  If you want $6 gas and want to see the continued hatred and distrust by the rest of the world, vote Republican.  If you want any level of sanity to return to our government, vote Democratic.  This is a no-brainer.

Calling Obama a Muslim is an Insult to Muslims

This is where we must go to non-simple arithmetic or analysis.  This is not what is sounds like.  Whenever you state someone is a something, you are denigrating (insulting) both the someone and the something.  I know you have heard it before: many of my best friends are Muslims.  Ask my daughter, she will tell you.  And I have come to hate gringos within the last few years.  I have read the Koran -- twice (sorry, only the English translations).  Spreading this lie about Obama is really stupid.  It shows the racial and religious hatred rampant in the USA.  If you call a monkey a monkey, then there is no problem  Also there is no issue.  But if you call an orangutan a monkey, it denigrates both the monkey and the orangutan -- and shows your ignorance and prejudice.  It may be your intent to only denigrate the orangutan but since an orangutan is not a monkey, you have also insulted all monkeys.  This is as straight forward as I can explain it.

Since 9-11 we have grown to hate Muslims so much that they, the Muslims, are afraid to speak out against this insult to their beliefs.  Nobody reads what I write so my attempting to clarify the problem does not fall on deaf ears -- it falls on no ears at all.  But this is just the point.  If by calling someone a class of people whom the current administration has taught us to hate, despise, and distrust, and causes that person to lose the election, then the administration has accomplished its goal.

Whenever anyone in Obama's camp has done anything that sounds like denigrating the person of his political opponents, Obama has spoken clearly to the issue.  Now, I think he is wrong in doing this but he has made this a black-and-white contest: issues not persons.  General Clark was absolutely correct in stating that being a mistreated and abused POW for 5 years is not a positive qualification for the most powerful man in the world.  McCain might even hold a grudge.  We see that GWB held a grudge for the war his father did not complete.  Maybe McCain holds a grudge against his captors or some other more currently active group.

We know that the McCain camp will work hard to increase rumors and lies about Obama and, unlike Obama, McCain will not distance himself from these rumors and lies.  McCain may not be the liar of his mentor (GWB) -- but birds of feather fly together.  We do not know -- he just might be the liar we fear.  We have always known that you know the person by his friends.  You want more divisiveness, more lies, more distrust or do you want someone who attempts to shed any corruption and tries every day to make the world a better place?  You want the lies to continue? Vote Republican.  You want a chance for hope and promise of a better tomorrow? Vote Democratic.  Democrats may have weak knees but their intent is not to stab you in the back as they run to the bank.  They promise hope.  The Republicans promise more lies.  And you know my opinion of liars.

Jesse Helms is Dead

I know you are supposed to show the dead some respect.  I think that Jesse Helms should be the exception.  These pages contain many negative comments about Republicans. I attempt to not be vitriolic and sometimes my logic wobbles.  As a friend of mine once put it, and he was a very conservative friend, Jesse Helms should be tried as a mass murderer.  Mr. Helms almost single handedly permitted the tobacco industry to not only flourish but to get government funding to grow their products.  We shall see people dying into the next century because of Mr. Helms abilities in convincing Congress that our country needs the plethora of killing tobacco products produced in his state.  I mean without tobacco his state would have been just another leftover from the Civil War.  With tobacco he can claim responsibility for the millions of people who have died early and continue to die early  because of his promotion of the death weed.

July 4, 2008 -  And the news is more GWB Jokes

He had protesters at his July 4 speech.  This is a surprise?  The most hated man in two centuries gets booed at his Independence Day monologue.  GWB talking about freedom and Independence is like -- oh, you name the comparison.  Anything I say would either not be printable or too mild.

GWB says that his not going to the Olympics would be an insult to the Chinese.  The man cuts lies like some people cut cookies.  I am not aware that anyone has suggested he skip the Olympics.  That would be an insult to the people who have dedicated their lives to compete in this event -- for which they will never get another chance.  He has been asked to skip the Chinese dog and pony show opening ceremony.  This would show solidarity against the genocide in Tibet -- a country fighting for its freedom and independence.  Maybe this is what GWB means by skipping the Olympics.  You can never tell the difference between his lack of understanding, his lies, and his intentional misdirection.  If skipping the dog and pony show is what he meant, he is correct: the Chinese need a little insulting for the thousands of deaths and injuries they have caused to maintain dictatorship over a country which has been the embodiment of peace for 1,000 years.  Longer.  But then GWB cannot afford to insult the Chinese -- they might  stop Buying America -- not stop Buying American -- America itself is being sold to the Chinese to pay for GWB's war.  Insult away, friends.

And now we have the G-8 conference.  I am sure they could get along just fine without GWB.  He has been the class clown at their previous sessions.  Oh, they have problems to solve and issues to raise and there will be difficult choices presented and topping the list is danger to humanity itself.  But with GWB there as one of his last boondoggles before leaving office, nothing of any serious nature will be prosecuted.  He will make himself the star of the show by assuring everyone that nothing is his fault.  Nothing is America's fault.  He will even attempt to make the world believe that everything is just rosy.  GWB is sort of like Mac the Knife posing as PollyAnna.  The sad thing is that although 28% of the Americans still believe he is PollyAnna, the rest of the world knows better but there is little they can do about it except pray that he is not followed by more of the same.

GWB and More Disaster Economics: ANWR

GWB is now using the petroleum crunch to demand Congress to approve more oil drilling in more places.  The companies are not even drilling in places they are permitted now.  Adding more tot eh list just endangers more of our planet.  The man does not know when to quit but then why should he?  People still believe him and some people have not read the book about Disaster Economics to understand what he is doing.  Want cheaper gas?  Build more refineries with all those millions of dollars profits.

The Border Fence and Eyes From the Sky

In 1975 I worked for a company which made a computer-stabilized camera platform for the SR-71.  We had pictures of Dallas taken from heights slightly less than toady's satellites roam.  We could see the license plates on the cars.  We could see the people on the roofs.  That was 30 years ago.  Today we have satellites that can see individual people inside of a house.  We can see tunnels underground and see if people are in them.  We can see people lost in the desert.  When we are able to see a person directly, we can tell his height, build, and face -- and it may be a her and not a he.  In any case we can identify the face:  We can make a good guess as to name and address.  We can do this and We do do this.  And I have written this before.  But it  is one of the president's boondoggles, expensive boondoggles to build an ugly (on all senses of the word) fence along the Mexican border.  Our satellites can see anything from a large mouse to a truck full of people anywhere along the border.  We can do this today without a fence.  Without millions of wasted dollars.

Sometimes I really wonder if the average American has any brains at all.  I mean why is not everyone complaining to the Congressmen and Senators about this glorious waste of our tax dollars to build something that endangers people, animals, environment, and international relations. 

Nixon started the campaign to persecute anyone who did not agree with his politics.  His successors have continued this program but for God's sake people, you just lay back and say t is someone else's problem?  You say that is why we elect officials?  You say your voice does not make a difference?  If you ever wanted to make a difference in anything, today is the day.  Like the ad says: "Just Do it!"

2008 -- August

McCain and his Pretty Girls

Here we are in August the nominating conventions are in a couple of weeks..  I really get concerned here.  Obama is just a few points ahead of McCain.  This should be a walk in the park.  When I think of McCain, I think of one of those bobble head toys sitting in the seat of one of those old plastic car models of an Oldsmobile over the caption: "It's not your father's Oldsmobile".  I probably have said it before. But this guys primary claim to fame is that he sat in a Vietnamese jail for 5 years.  I mean that took courage, fortitude, and many other virtues.  None of these are qualifications for President.  His ads are absolutely amazing and prove my point.  Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, and a big black guy?  We are talking about portraying McCain as the opposite of someone?  It sounds more like a white male dominance thing.  As a Republican we get used to lies but this guy is unbelievable and he is planning to take us down roads lower than GWB?  His campaign is already throwing dirt that we expect to hear from the loser just before the election when he needs a few extra points and will say anything.  And Clinton supporters are saying they will vote for him?  Undying, fanatical allegiance.  It mostly sounds  like the work of the Christian devil.

Clinton Still in There

You would have thought by now you would be seeing Hillary campaigning for the winner.  No.  She says she supports him but where is she?  I think she is taking a vacation until she gets her debts paid off.  Obama has done his job: he has told supporters to send her money.  Here is my problem.  I understand that it is normal for the winner to pay the losers debts.  But the key word here is "normal".  I might at this point think she would have been the better candidate against McCain but I think she fights dirty.  Reagan's rule was to never badmouth someone from your own party as it will come back to bite you.  Well, she did a good job of putting Obama down.  Consistently and with more credibility than McCain had or has.  It is hard to take over the debts of a person who has been biting at your heels for a year.

But there is the other thing.  Often the winner pays legitimate debts.  Her current debts are composed of millions of dollars the she personally loaned her campaign. To extend her mudslinging.  Mostly right up to the point where she lost.  I am right in there when it comes to paying for the dollars for the little guy.  But paying her directly for the kind of mud she was slinging is beyond where I draw the line.  And if she is holding back her support until her bank account balances again, I am glad she will not be president.

The mudslinging turned the campaign into a personal vendetta.  It was not just people having preferences.  She made people make choices.  Permanent, hard and fast, yes and no choices.  Black and white choices.  When you force the level of anger that you have forced,  your supporters no longer look at values, they look with little red eyes like the cornered rat.  Any little hole.  Anything to get out of the corner.  Vote for the bad guys.  That will show them all.

Hillary -- You said you would do anything to get a Democrat in the White House in November.  Let us just see you do something.  Anything at all.  If we saw your face a tenth of the time we did a few months ago it might draw some of your supporters back into line.  With McCain as the Republican and with Obama not hitting any home runs, you could make the difference between a red or a blue White House.  Show your face.  Just do it.

McCain Tire Gauge Anyone?

How far out of it is McCain?  Really out of it.  I have always run my tires at the rated pressure.  I have always exceeded the estimated tire life mileage (except with Firestone 500).  The problem here?  Car dealers and tire shops under-inflate tires for you.  Why?  Softer tires mean a softer ride and they want you to feel like you just bought a Buick.  Product life and efficiency are not their problems, return customers are.  I get better mileage than most but then:

• I use the rated tire pressure (embossed on the side of the tire).
  
• I avoid the brakes: plan ahead, go slowly approaching stops and children.
• I love to go fast but I get there slowly.
• I change filters: Oil and Air: 3,000  Gas and Plugs: 50,000.
• I add fuel injector cleaner to my gas.  95 cents at Walmart.
  

Changing air filters is easy: you can change an air filter   Look at the sun through the filter: no sun, new filter.  Tap it: if stuff falls out: new filter.

If tire tread is thicker in the middle than the edges, you need to do something.

If more people checked their own filters and tire pressure, we would save a lot of gas -- maybe even your Firestones would make their rated mileage.  If drivers really wanted to save gas, there would be a run on tire gauges and filters.   Walmart should stock its air filters.  McCain should give away more tire gauges.

GWB and the Chinese Games

SOmetimes I really wonder.  People died to let the world know how bad life is in Tibet.  They did this anticipating the news coverage of the Olympics.  Their timing was great.  The world sees the oppression.  World leaders had an opportunity to make their deaths acts of greatness.  The world leaders could have put the Chinese on notice that their oppression of a foreign country was unacceptable.  The world leaders could have skipped the opening ceremonial dog and pony show put on by the host country (China) immediately before the actual Olympic games.  Some leaders threatened to do this.

But our glorious president GWB said he would be insulting the Chinese by skipping the dog and pony show.  So he attends the games.  The deaths of the patriots of Tibet are pretty much disposed of with their bodies.  But the ever inappropriately vocal GWB tells the Chinese to lighten up on civil rights.  The Chinese response is what is to be expected: shut up Mr. Bush.  You would think that at least GWB could have learned about Chinese culture from his father.  To anyone other than GWB being told to shut up would be an insult in itself.  I think GWB is beyond being insulted.

McCain and Jerry Ford

This is an analogy that just hit me between the eyes.  You know they will not waste the effort to impeach Bush.  There is too much work to be done and not enough time and GWB will veto anything that could help our country.  But there is another problem.  When Nixon's crooked Vice President Agnew abandoned office without impeachment, Nixon appointed Gerald Ford as VP.  The Constitution is a bit gray in this area but Ford was well respected and next in line for the Presidency anyway.  The zinger is that when President Nixon abandoned his office, we now had an appointed president.  Ford was never elected to an administrative office yet one of his very first actions was to pardon Nixon for any crimes he might have committed while in office  Very generous and indeed maybe necessary to get that part of our dirty laundry behind us.  But remember Ford was not re-elected.  He came across as a dummy who could not walk and chew gum at the same time. Inappropriate for a man as smart as he was but he was old.  He had been around for a long time.  And what was left of his hair was very gray.

So. Now we come to another president with dirty laundry.  We all know that GWB has done illegal things in office and has consistently lied to promote his personal agenda.  If McCain gets elected, we can be sure that he will pull another Gerry Ford on us: he will pardon GWB for any crimes he may have committed.  He has a precedent: another gray-haired old man did the same thing 30 years ago.  This is sort of sad to me.  We let one crook go but we sort of remember him as a crook.  Remember the joke: "Would you buy a used car from this man?"  But to do the same thing for another crook not just establishes a precedent, it establishes a policy. And the world has been watching this time.

The world already looks at the USA as a joke gone bad.  They already wonder how we can call ourselves a democracy.  They are already alarmed that we will execute a foreign national.   They are already alarmed that we permit our money to collapse on the world market.  Now they see us about to pardon a war criminal.  Oh, they take us seriously.  I take rats seriously.  I just do not want them in my house.  WHen I know they are in the neighborhood, I get worried about the rats I do not see.

McCain and Edwards

Sometimes it is hard to keep the players straight here.  The news people from Fox to MSNBC push the Republican agenda -- with Fox being blatant about it.  We have two men here.  Each has admitted to having an affair outside of his marriage.. 

• One is a candidate for president of the USA and the other is a private citizen not in the running for any office.
  
• One was married to a faithful wife who stood by him for 5 years while he was in jail in another country.  The other wife was just as faithful with a serious disease.
• One became involved with a woman with whom he was working.  While a military officer, the other actively pursued a woman he met at a party -- a woman that he found attractive.   This is a violation of the UCMJ -- Uniform Code of Military Justice.

The comparisons could go on all day.  Bottom line:  Edwards made a mistake and when confronted with it, lied, and ultimately admitted to it.  If he were the Democratic nominee, this might be relevant to the election -- but he is not the nominee and is making no claims to any office.  The Democratic nominee has guilt by association?

McCain on the other hand is a real scum bag.  Bottom line: he abandoned a wife for another pretty face.  A very rich pretty face.  While he was in jail, his wife stands by him.  When he returns, she becomes injured and he claims that she is different from when he went to jail.  This is his excuse for actively pursuing a woman who claims to initially having no interest in him.  This is his excuse for violating the UCMJ?  This is his excuse for divorcing his wife for the "other woman"?  This is scum bag is running for President of the USA?

From what I can see, McCain should be arrested and charged with adultery under the UCMJ.  Maybe it happened so long ago that it no longer counts but while you are in the military, sex with a person not your spouse is an indictable offense.  And indictable even after you leave the service.  McCain should be in jail -- again.  This time for a crime in his own country.  Instead he is running for President.

Oh.  He is up front and honest about his adultery?  He did not lie as did Edwards?  Gee.  Being honest about lack of integrity is better than lying about lack of integrity?  I come from the kiss and don't tell camp.  It is not obvious that telling the world you are a cheater and a criminal (UCMJ again) is better than trying to keep your private life private.  Edwards attempted to keep his political ambitions separate from his private life.  McCain brags about his infidelity and criminality.

I do not know how you even compare these two.  McCain is a scum bag.  He violated laws.  He was unfaithful to a wife who stood by him and worried for him for 5 years while she could have been out enjoying her life.  Edwards made a mistake and is paying for it.  No crime.  No wife at home worrying about a 5 year absence.  Maybe worried about a late arrival.  No.  Either way it is bad.  But only one, the scum bag, is running for President.  And the news covers this like all things are equal?  The news items would be equal if the pair were Huckabee and Edwards.  They would be equal if the pair were McCain and Obama.  It seems to me that we are painting Mr. Obama red because one of his friends and one of his competitors each committed the same indiscretion.

Anyone who claims to be a Christian and votes for the man who obviously cares nothing about family values (the scum bag) has really got his hat on backwards.  Or do family values change for convenience and wealth?  And I will bet that the Christian Bible church I previously belonged to is encouraging everyone to vote for the scum bag.  I'll even give you odds.

"Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You But What You Can Do For Your Country"

Yes.  I remember him saying that.  Those days are long past.  They were the days of dreams.  White Rabbits.  Bobby McGee. Rollin on the River. The Mamas and the Papas. Those were the days when people would fight in the streets for rights to live and be happy.  Equal rights for women.  Equal rights for skin colors.  Equal rights for belief systems.  Yes. We were all fired up and wanting to make things better all over the world:  The Peace Corps  VISTA ACLU NAACP ERA.

Then things started downhill.  JFK got shot.  MLK got shot.  RFK got shot.  4 students at Kent State got shot -- by the government.  The president's lies of the Gulf of Tonkin took us to war.  Lies from the next president exiled him from the office like a beaten dog -- but not before he used the IRS to persecute his enemies -- and he had an enemies list.  The president who ended the Vietnam war, Carter, was almost laughed out of office.  He is he president who let the people who would not die in the war come back to their homes -- the last of the dreamers to hold the office of president.

The current president is known for his lies, his parochial interests, and his splitting the country into believers and non-believers.  The rich and the poor.  He eliminated the middle working class.  Other countries are working hard to increase their working middle class.  Our president has helped the world economy by giving them ours.  Here he has made the rich, richer, and the middle part of the poor.

The Social Security tax has increased both in basis and in percent. And even split to provide Medicare a separate an increasing bankroll.  Medicare has increased the profits of insurance and drug companies at the expense of people who can afford neither the insurance nor the drugs.  The poor find their taxes doubled or even quadrupled while the rich get tax breaks.  Sales tax has gone from none to 12%.  Taxes on travel (dreams) exceed 25%.

Today if you have dreams, you are either rich or in another country.  Those of us who thought that we were giving back find out that we were exploited.  So now we have a presidential candidate scum bag who thinks that the problem today is that people are too selfish.  No.  We were too generous.  We paid for presidential whims and excesses only to find out that we were lied to.  With GWB you can start anywhere.  He even prosecutes a war to avenge his father's good name.  Another man kills 2,000 Americans and demolishes a building.  Our president kills 3,000 Americans and demolishes a country.  Pay back.  Except that the 3,000 are the lives (and dreams) of the children of those of us who had dreams.

So today it is not a matter of being selfish.  We have given.  We have given our money.  We have given our labor.  We have given the lives and health of our children.  What have we gotten back?  200,000 jobs lost in one industry in one year. 1,000,000 people lose their homes because their jobs were given away.  Gas prices from 30 cents per gallon when we were dreaming to a nightmare of 4 dollars a gallon today.  Retirement money halved by inflation.  Social Security benefits dribbling in as federal accountants find ways to make the poor poorer.

Selfish is not the right word here.  Millions of people attempting to keep what they earned is not selfish.  Fighting for your economic life is not selfish.  It is self preservation.  Our children will never know the life that we dreamed of.  Selfish?  The scum bag has is backwards.  More of the Big Lie that made Hitler and GWB famous.  Until we get rid of the government that says we should be giving more and until we start getting what we paid for, the downhill speed will just increase.

It is time our government gave back from all that the "I have a Dream" generation has paid.  This is not being selfish.  This is being hungry after having been robbed.

In the 1960's we mutually pledged to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.  We did that.  Repeating actions of 200 years ago hoping to complete the work of our country's founders.  Now, scum bag, give us back what you have stolen.  Return to us our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.  Let us dream again.  Being called "selfish" makes me angry.  I wish it made everyone just as angry.

Cheating In Church

I thought I had heard all of the lying and cheating games that could be played but this one takes the cake. McCain and Obama are to have an interview, separately by a "Christian" minister.  Not any Christian minister but one of the top dogs in the TV faith ministries (set up primarily to take your money while you sit on your couch and wait to die and go to heaven).  McCain is supposed to be in a "Cone of Silence" which in this case is supposed to be a hotel room without audio/visual or a phone.

Instead this is an elaborate hoax set up to trap Obama.  McCain is not in any "Cone of SIlence".  While Obama is fielding questions intended to embarrass him -- and intended to support his opposition.  Where is McCain?  He is in his limousine practicing answers on his cell phone conversing with staff members  relaying the questions.

This is so dirty that it amazes me that we still permit this charlatan to run for president.  Oh.  I know that anyone can run for president but McCain's actions disgrace everyone involved.  Not just McCain.  It disgraces the Republican Party who does not condemn him and remove his name from the party ballot.  It disgraces the charlatan TV minister.  Oh. I forgot: they are beneath disgrace.  It disgraces the entire church ministry complex by permitting an obvious hoax in the name of Jesus Christ.  It makes a mockery of the entire election system.  It is just a sad joke on humanity,  How did we ever sink so low?

So. For any of you remaining out there who would vote for this clown (McCain), I am embarrassed for you and ashamed to be in the same class as you -- whatever class you might consider yourself.  But then I have some class -- you do not.

McCain and the Unicorn

Just a short one.  This is too good to let pass.  Schools think that 5-year-olds are not smart enough to understand the concept of zero and so instead counting starts at 1.  This concept lasts all of our lives.  Zero is re-introduced at 8 or 9 years old.  The schools are wrong.  I know because I would ask my 3 and 4 year old daughters: "How many jelly beans are in your hand?" or "How many unicorns are in the garden?"  Any baby understands the concept of zero.  So in a year after 2 million homes have been taken from from their families, they know the concept of zero.  Well, most of them.  When asked, candidate McCain did not even know how many houses he has.  While so many of us have zero and we know that, many of us now houseless would vote for a man who cannot count to seven?  Get real people. Many paid for the war with their child.  You paid for the war with your house.  How much more do you want to pay?

Obama -- Biden?

I don't know.  Oh.  Of all of them, Joe Biden would be the best president.  The man's mind is razor sharp.  He makes complicated issues simple.   He lays issues out like place settings at a formal table: each plate with a name.  He can smile and set you down at the same time.  But I do not know.  There are too many people who do not like him.  The world is always suspicious of intelligence.  It would be easier to elect a black woman than a white man known to be intelligent.

I hope for the best.  There is no one that Obama could pick to make everyone happy.  And Hillary has done enough damage that selecting her would have been just stupid.  I hear bitching about "after all she has done for him".  I learned a tough lesson from my oldest daughter:  the combination of "done for" and "done to" are interchangeable depending upon whether you are the giver or the givee.  I am sure that those vocal Hillary fans will be especially happy if McCain picks Joe Lieberman: One good turncoat deserves another and if you are voting your emotions rather than your values, you might as well go all of the way.  I say "fans" and not "supporters" because if Hillary fans wanted to show real support, they would retire her campaign debts -- but to be just perverse they expect Obama to do that.

We have 2 of the 5 major regions of our country represented: the upper east coast the the upper mid-west.  Bayh might have been good but both the VP and the P from the rust belt might have frightened too many people east of Missouri or west of Missouri and certainly anyone south of Missouri.  I don't know about Missouri itself.

And there are too many negatives with a black man and a white woman.  And negatives vote in blocks.  If you doubt this, look at school bond votes in your last election.

So now we have a combination that are the best of any for which we could have asked:  Charisma and real intellect.  The problem now is to make sure that that intelligence is held at bay until they get into the White House.  We need a little sugar to go with the salt.

Even after 8 years of the current president, I am not sure people are ready for the combination of charm and intelligence:  50% of the voters still prefer old and dumb.

Obama -- Clinton

The best I can say to you Clinton fans is to go dig yourself a grave before the rest of us need one due to your stupid antics.  She ran.  She lost. Pseudo-Democrats playing electoral games is why the Republicans have owned the White House for the last 50 years.  Get with the program and shut up.  Hillary stated and her advisors stated that she did not want to be Vice-President.  So you Clinton fanatics would put her there anyway?  I know you cannot read. It seems that direct speech is also ignored.  The psychologists have nasty labels for people like you.

I get tired of hearing excuses of why she lost.  I hear claims that the media was sexist.  You know I spend a couple hours every day reading the news.  I know it is a waste of my time but news is addictive.  I saw nothing -- nothing -- in the legitimate news that was sexist.  I saw racist.  Lots of racist.  I saw consistent anti-Democrat bias on all of the major news pages. I do not believe your sexist reporting claims.  In fact I have so much of these claims that I went looking for support of them.  I heard the word "sexist" a lot but I have not seen a list of items proving any of this.

Mostly I think there ar e a bunch of losers out there that want to makes sure that all of us lose.  Misery loves company and I think that Clinton fans (short for fanatics) rate high on the misery scale.

What many people do not see is that this stupid placement of her name in nomination has serious negative consequences.  Delegates are only required/expected to vote for their designee on the first ballot.  After that they are free to vote for anyone they want.  The Clinton fanatics actually believe that many Obama delegates prefer Clinton and so by forcing a second ballot their loser will be converted to a winner.  With the addition of the rogue states' delegates,  the vote may be close.

Since thinking in America has become obsolete, these psychotic games can have no valuable ending.  They can only lead to political disaster or at best confusion of issues.

Hillary Clinton has more to offer anywhere else but as VP.  She is a good Senator for the country and especially her state.  She would fill a cabinet position well but even then the country has lost a good Senator and potentially a great senator.  Why would she really want a job where she is required to only speak the party line and then only when her boss says so.

Biden on the other hand is near the end of his career.  He has been a great Senator.  It is primarily because he does shoot from the hip with straight answers and is a great attack dog on issues that need attacking that make him a great choice.

So, Clintonites -- get with the program and stop the fanatics.  Nothing you can do will get her elected but you can prevent any good from being done.

If Hillary has any serious intentions of helping get a Democrat into the White House, she will repeat over and over in the upcoming week that she does not want to be VP.  Hearing it once or twice has not convinced the fanatics.  Somehow I feel that if she does not do this early in the week that the fanatics will win -- and all of us will lose.

McCain and the Zone

I do not like the man.  I thought that his involvement in the S&L scandal should have taken him down.  Now he is too old to do anything but retire.  But this claim that he is not a "natural-born" citizen has, to put it bluntly, sucks big time.  He was born on a military base while his father was active in the military.  We consider diplomatic embassies American Territory.  Are children of our diplomatic corps not eligible to be president?  I think if politics runs in the family we would lose out on some great potential. 

I am not sure that military experience has the same positive -- but to exclude people from office because their family is involved in serving (however misdirected) the same government but in a different capacity makes no sense at all.  I had not even considered this.  Does a Marine married and stationed at the gate of an American embassy on foreign soil, tell his daughter that she is underprivileged?  I sure hope not.  Do we argue that the location of the service and the nature of the service determine the child's rights?  How many feet from the gate?  Outside the gate or Inside the gate or inside the building? Which hospital?  How many angels dance on the head of a pin?

Remember a few years back when the woman researcher in Antarctica was brought back due to her impending childbirth?  Would that child have been banned from office because her mother was on a research mission and unable to return to American soil in time?  An then there is the question of the ice.  If we claim that a research station is within the bounds of "natural-born", do we claim that ice counts as American soil?  Babies born on a cruise ship of foreign registry.  Maybe they do not permit pregnant women aboard these ships.  Maybe pregnant women do not want to be on these ships.  We can expand this stupid argument almost at will but it does not change the bottom line:

Do we tell our overseas military people -- who are risking their lives for that service -- that their children are forever exempt from any presidential aspirations?

McCain and Palin:
"Never Over Estimate the Intelligence of the Average Bear -- Never Underestimate Its Ability t Hurt You"

Wow.  What a choice.  If we were voting for Playmate of the Month, Palin would be right on top.  If we were voting for mother of the year, she would be right on top.  If we were looking for Harriet Nelson, she would be right on top.  But no, sadly to say, we are looking for a person who is the proverbial "One heartbeat away" from being president of our beloved country.  And in McCain, the oldest man to ever run for the office, that one heartbeat away is closer than it has ever been.  McCain is even older than his physical years.  His history can be held against his years.  His dementia can be held against his years. 

McCain might be the best claim that mental health should be treated equally with physical health.  Our famous 25th amendment stating that a disabled president is replaced by the vice-president could be truly tested.  Remember the movie "Air Force One?"  If a majority of the cabinet votes to claim the president is disabled, then the VP takes over.  But what does it take to convince such a majority if we are voting on mental health?  We already know that McCain's mental health has shown cracks.  His anger management is below average (I am trying to be nice).

And now he picks as the potential VP a woman who is more likely to compete with either his or Obama's wife for looks than as the person we want to stand down presidents of belligerent nations or to get support on global warming or even alternative fuel sources.  By the way, she is in the Bush league: she does not believe global warming is a problem.  I guess if you live where there is still ice on the mountain tops you are not impressed by Global warming.

She is obvious in her stand on everything I am against.  She wants prayers in schools.  Worse, she wants to teach creationism in science classes!  She is anti-abortion -- even in rape and incest!  She wants to drill for more oil in more places, especially in her home state of Alaska rather than try to replace the need for more oil.  Life member of the NRA and a moose hunter (in her introductory news item).  Oh.  I like moose meat.  I am not against moose hunting.  I just wonder how being a moose hunter becomes a presidential qualification. 

Palin sounds more like Harriet Nelson (Wikipedia has a great description of Ozzie and Harriet) than a serious candidate.  And thinking of Harriet Nelson, that TV series was canceled because the values of the 1950's no longer represented the growing up of the United States.

We are talking about an ultra-conservatist.  An ultra-radical right Christian -- and if McCain dies before appointing radicals to the Supreme Court, the choice is up to her.  Not only is she way too far to the right but her experience or competence on  a scale of 1 to 10 is somewhere below the level of 1.  This is not just true of selecting judges, this is true for anything that falls under the title of President of the United States.  But I do not think anyone could have found a more beautiful woman with which to spend the next 67 days pingponging around the country.  The rest of us might spend 40 years trying to put sanity back into out schools and lives.

And do not get me wrong.  Some of the most beautiful women I have known were smarter than me and I give them credit for that.  Being physically attractive should not be held against anyone, male or female.  But this is a two-way street. You pick a person for an office based upon proved skills, proved competence, and experience.  Looks should not enter into the equation.  But Palin seems to have none of the qualifications but rates high on the looks scale.  Remember, McCain's mentor, Bush, attempted to appoint a secretary to the United States Supreme Court.  McCain has a precedent for selecting underqualifed candidates. The Supreme Court has 8 other justices with the experience to overcome such ineptitude.  In the case of President, there comes a day when there is no one to stand up and say: you are not competent to make that decision.

I remember when the Scottsdale Community College students designated the avocado as the team mascot protesting the need of a team mascot.  I remember some South American country electing an animal to office in protest the slated candidates.  Maybe Palin is a protest vote.  Maybe people will vote for her just because they are too fed up with the system.  Only a Kansas Sunday sermon could take her seriously.  Nobody else could take this as a vote of confidence in McCain.  Mostly her nomination should be a red flag to anyone thinking about McCain's capability to decide anything.

Hillary Fanatics: Voters hanging on to Hillary Clinton that would vote for anyone in a skirt, are our most dangerous element.  Like my comment on the bear: Hillary fanatics can hurt us.  For whatever reason they want to vote in this manner, Palin is probably the best they could ask for.  Vote for Miss Congeniality (really!) for President because you need to show that your lack of intelligence is your badge of honor.  Ruin our country because you think your candidate was treated unfairly.  You are dangerous.  You are the reason elitist groups want only the educated to vote.  Your candidate lost, fairly or unfairly.  You get one chance to either help our country or to vent your anger.  Your choice.  There is only one way to help our country.  There are better ways to vent your anger.

McCain's Choices?

Why not Romney?  Huckabee?  Someone Else?  Anyone seriously considering running for president in 2012 would not accept this nomination.  McCain had to look outside the box.  Why?  1 of 3 things will occur.  If McCain loses, then his running mate will also be considered a loser and win the next election.  If McCain wins, then they have little chance to become the next president.  If McCain wins and dies, then they become president by default.  Would you bet your political career that your boss was going to die in office?  Early?  No. McCain had to pick someone who was not already in the running.  So why not a pretty lady from nowhere who would never run for president on her own?

McCain and Gustav

If Bush wants to go out on a positive note and McCain wants to prove that he is capable, Bush should send McCain down after the Gustav damage to verify that everything is being done to care for the damaged people and homes.  This is, of course, a high risk venture for either of them.  The confidence level of Bush approaches zero the closer he comes to leaving office.  And given McCain's policies of corporations first and people somewhere near last,  he would need to make sure that his hypocrisy was well hidden.   But, if McCain pulled it off, he would be a hero to the Gulf Coast and the Republicans cannot recover there without a new hero.  It is unlikely that Bush would have the nerve to do this and it is more unlikely that McCain could show Federal benevolence.  But here is the best chance for McCain to look good enough to maybe win.

Of course, McCain could go there on his own.  This would save Bush the embarrassment and still give him some credit -- credit/guilt by association.

McCain, Bush, Gustav, RNC Convention

Well.  Gustav has arrived just in time.  Now McCain does not have to worry about claims of being Bush's protégé -- in front of Bush.  Or rather behind Bush.  McCain can continue his games with the pretty lady and not face his history.  Gustav is serious.  I mean really serious.  Gustav has the potential of eliminating a major United States City beyond reclamation.  I think New Orleans will survive but it may be close.

The stage is now set for McCain to continue and maybe even sound humanitarian by changing some formats and by spending microphone time with Louisiana people, etc.  Less time trying to explain the pretty lady.  Gustav is a physical disaster but a godsend to the Republicans.  Well, not quite.  Headlines will now be split.  When it is all over, the campaign will continue but the fireworks will not be up north -- they will be down south. 

The Democrats will not benefit because that would be seen as capitalizing on people's losses.  The Republicans cannot win because their dog and pony show will take second place in the ratings.  Bush cannot win because he is a loser.  Gustav will take his toll on everyone everywhere.  God help us all.

And by the way, I taught my daughters that the term "lady" is an insult.

2008 -- September

McCain, Palin: the Joke Improves Every Day

First we hear that McCain picks a beauty pageant queen for Vice President.  And from her current pictures as a grandmother candidate, Playboy would still be interested.  Bush chose a secretary for Supreme Court Justice so McCain is in there fighting for equal rights for all.  Then we hear that Palin had a baby that was rumored to be really her daughter's.  Now her daughter announces her own pregnancy and it is made public to stop the other rumors.  Then we hear that the girl is a high school senior.  Then they announce this girl  will marry the father.  Then we here that Governor Palin is an advocate of abstinence-until-marriage IN PLACE OF real sex education in Alaskan schools.  Then we find out that McCain knew all of this before selecting Palin for VP.  Could we have a better example of where the right wing falls on its face?

You maybe missed that rumor.  The context was better than the rumor.  Apparently Alaska has a negative income tax: if you are born there you get about $2000 a month for life.  Sort of like the Alberta Heritage fund as it was intended.  So Ms. Palin, according to the rumor, took a 9-hour flight to party politics, broke her amniotic water (at 8 months), flew back to Alaska and had her baby. All without missing a beat or losing her pageant figure.  OK.  Choose to believe that this is all true and that this is more believable than her daughter having the baby and hiding its parentage.  WIth all of the loss of privacy (that is what HIPO is in spite of its name), sooner or later the real mother would be discovered.  No.  I accept that she did this and is the real mother.  It follows with the rest of her lack of personal judgment values.  Let's walk through it again:

Ms. Palin has an at-risk pregnancy.  She knows this.  At 8 months, you need a doctor's permission to fly and even then the airlines are taking a risk.  But she is the Governor.  I am sure she found a cooperating doctor to write the letter and I am sure the airlines would not need the negative publicity if there were no problems.  Judgment?  She left that in Alaska.  Now, her water breaks.  Does she rush to a hospital out of concern for the health of her potential, premature, Downs syndrome baby?  No. She flies back home.  Why?  Her baby loses its heritage if born outside Alaska and what is good health care if you are going to lose your money?  And now we really have to ask the airlines: What were you thinking?  Risking the life of the Governor because she wants more money for her kid?  And when she gets off the plane, does she rush then to the hospital?  No. She takes a several hour car journey to get back home and have the baby at her convenience.

I might consider duplicating this circus act if I were a normal resident of Alaska and if I were poor enough that this might be the only way my kid could go to college and if I could convince my wife that her life and the baby's were not in serious trouble.  My wife was not stupid: this would have been impossible.  But I was not running for national office.  At 8 month's we had just finished square dance lessons and my wife and baby-to-be were in good health -- not with a broken amniotic sac.  And what right does any woman have in risking her baby's life for money?  This Palin claims to be against abortion.  From the description of this final adventure, abortion issues run second to person integrity issues.  This puts Ms. Palin line line for crazy person.  But then I read this as part of the rumors and I must say that the voyage can be verified outside of this monologue and you need not accept my opinion of any of this.

Back to the real, not rumored, teenage pregnancy.  I remember the joke told by a Notre Dame University priest .  You have heard it: "What to they call women who used their rhythm for birth control?"  You know the answer.  The updated version of that is: "What do they call mothers who do not teach their daughters the facts of life?"  Answer: Grandmothers.  A normal, healthy, teen age girl NOT getting pregnant from unprotected sex is an accident.  So Palin's daughter being pregnant is the best negative example against all of the things that the right wing has to say.  Oh. And the girl will marry the guy?  Sounds either like a gold digger or a shotgun is involved here somewhere.  And abstinence-until-marriage?  This girl is a senior in high school and five months pregnant.  This means she got pregnant while a junior.  16.  Sweet 16.  Abstinence.  Family Values.  Well, the VP may be young but now candidate Grandpa McCain will have candidate Grandma Palin as his running mate.  You really have to have a sense of humor to consider voting for the adult version of Family Circus.

Oh.  And the Equal Rights comment above?  That is my joke: Ms. Palin is AGAINST equal pay for equal work.  And they joke about Hillary liking to bake cookies?  I doubt that with all of the Alaskan ice and snow, or at least what is left of their ice and snow, much time is spent going barefoot -- so we shall not hear much from that cliché.  You still consider yourself a Republican and admit it in public?

Mr. Obama has said that children of candidates are off-limits.  He is correct: this article is about the candidate and her responsibilities as a parent and as a parent to be.  Comments about family members exist only to support the candidate's attitudes towards family values.

Oh. Personal integrity and values are not campaign issues and there are more important things to discuss?  Name one.  Basic care of a pregnant female is the ultimate human (and animal) personal integrity issue.  It is why life exists on this planet.  Or still exists anyway.  Even the anti-abortion people understand this concept.

Paradise Valley, Bible Church, Bork, Roe vs Wade

In the 1980's I lived in Paradise Valley, Phoenix, AZ.  Not the independent town but in that area of Phoenix using the name.  I belonged to a Bible Church.  A Bible Church is a church that takes the Bible literally and in many respects is like a Baptist Church.  Judge Robert Bork had been nominated to the Supreme Court.  On the Sunday before the Congressional hearings, our pastor told us that we should write our elected representatives to tell them that we wanted Bork on the Supreme Court   Everything at that point that I had heard about Bork had led me to believe that he was a religious zealot and otherwise a general crackpot.  But that had been hearsay.  I wanted to see why our pastor was so dedicated to the appointment of this particular judge.  I took the day off work to listen to the first day of the hearings.  These real life hearings convinced me that what I had heard about him being a crackpot was understated:  Robert Bork was indeed a Class A crackpot.  But he was a crackpot devoted to overturning the Roe Versus Wade decision.  This is why our pastor thought we should make sure that Bork got seated in the Court.  I set up the VCR to record the other sessions since one day off work for these hearings was a lot.  For the next couple of days I came home and listened to my recordings.

When the hearings were complete, I went to our pastor and asked what was he thinking?  This man was a lunatic and should certainly not be seated.  To suggest that we seat a Supreme Court justice based solely upon his desire to overturn one previous decision to me was absolutely stupid.  The pastor said that I had misquoted him.  I should have recorded the sermon.

I have since learned that the Christian Radical Right will do anything -- and I mean anything at all -- to get Roe v Wade overturned.  These are single issue people with only one purpose at all: overthrow that decision.  They will support any court nominee that will further the cause.  The will vote for any candidate which will further the cause.  They will subvert our Constitution and overthrow our Republic to get their way.  Some of their fringe elements have murdered doctors who have performed abortions in accordance with the laws.  Oh.  They deny association with these murderers but that is to be expected of anyone.

So.  Why bring this up now?  Since Palin is so violently against sex education to the point that her teenage daughter will have a baby, and since Palin is on record as opposing this court decision, these radical right-wing Christians, will be voting for her regardless of any existing or non-existing talents she might have as an elected official.  I think she has none.  Some people give her credit for having some. But the bottom line is that this group of single-issue people will vote for her regardless of her position on anything else at all.  This attitude is so contrary to the concept of a democratic republic that all we can do is pray that they lose.  The idea of elected officials is to be representative of their population on ALL of the issues that they will decide.  Electing officials with only the ability to vote a single issue without regard to any thinking or any responsibility to their electorate is criminal.  These people should never hold any office at all.

But the Christian Radical Right does not care about our country or its values.  They only care about whether a woman can have an abortion in a clinical environment or whether she needs to have the abortion clandestinely.  Our country is more important than any one issue and these people are by any definition, terrorists.

I view a vote for McCain/Palin as such a vote and I am frightened for any number of really harmful reasons by the number of people who will vote for them.

Are You Ready to Help or Are You Willing to Accept Your Patriotic Duty?

The Republicans are doing it again.  I hope that you understand that the Republicans have hijacked the word "Patriot" to mean being a Republican.  Do you know that the "Alice In Wonderland" novel is a political satire and parts of it were devoted to the misuse of the English vocabulary?  Hijacking words for personal benefit is not new.  But there is a deeper issue here than just word theft.

Remember when Obama and Hillary Clinton were running?  His entire program was "Change.  Yes, We Can."  It is the "Yes we can" that sat well.  Working as a team our country can turn Washington around to serve us rather than dictate to us.  Hillary never got it quite right.  She was saying the "I can change Washington".  And you know, maybe she could.  She is stronger than her detractors imagine.  She will return to being a Senator and someday may be better remembered for her work than the Kennedys.  But her message did not include us, you and me.  Her message was about her.

And the nation was won over to the idea that we can make us whole again if we all pull together and undo the horrible damage of the last 40 years and if not all 40, the last 8 years.  Yes, we can.

But now the Republicans are doing the Hillary thing.  That is understandable.  Her tactics really hurt Obama.  She split the party so badly that many of the liberal talking heads are still spinning in their chairs.  The healing will not begin until Obama proves himself in office.  This is the easiest path for the Republicans to continue.

The Republicans are playing to their followers.  Cindy McCain has devoted her speech to "duty".  What duty?  I think they squandered my "duty" and the government needs to step up to its "duty" to its own citizens.

The "duty" of the government is to provide for the common defense -- which it has not done.  And yes, 911 could have been prevented by a president doing his job rather than planning to overthrow another country.  The "duty" of the government is to provide an economy capable of supporting its citizens, their needs, and their dreams.  The current Republican "duty" has been to support the dreams of the large corporations while the average citizen has lost his home, his savings, and his health.  Every month there is a new statistic with more people out of work, more homes repossessed, and more medical costs and debts.  Every month for a couple of years now.

We have even added an extra layer of costs to our medical care.  Medicare Part D is a scam and will be expanded upon by the Republicans if they get the chance.  Scam?  When you turn 65, you must pay for private medicine insurance whether you need medicine or not.  This "insurance" permits you to buy medications at a "reduced" cost from stores supported by your insurance company if and when you do need medications.  If you do not buy the insurance immediately, you get to pay full price for the rest of your life.  If you sign up late, your insurance and medications cost more -- again for life.  Medicare part D is a real scam.  Before Part D, you could get your own medication insurance.  Now you must use theirs.  My retirement benefits are reduced because they no longer pay for medications -- while I must pay for medications and the insurance.  Duty to country?  No!  Duty to the Republican banking and insurance empire.

Part D is a side issue?  No.  It is an example.  I can name a dozen more.  Our "duty" has been squandered.  It is pay back time.  The government owes me and not the other way around.  I am willing to join a team to make things better.  I am not willing to accept the mantle of martyr to the rich.

So, if you ware willing to accept this martyrdom called "duty", then go out and get yourself a nice button with an elephant on it,  Make sure that the elephant has a Christian cross around its neck held up by a gold chain.  Make sure that the pavement on which the elephant is trodding is marked with lost civil rights.  And you know, I really like the button that says: Geezer and Gidgit.  You do know that the Geezer's father and grandfather died at ages younger than the Geezer is now.  Maybe the Republicans are correct in making such a big deal of Gidgit.  The Geezer might not last past the inaugural.  Then we get a beauty queen for president and a whole bunch of old Republicans to guide her down the road of increased "duty".  Duty?  I can think of better word choices.

September 4, 2008 Headlines  Straight from MSNBC Home Page

Lindsey Graham saying: Barack Obama “cannot appreciate that our troops are winning in Iraq."

Report: Pentagon opposes quicker Iraq exit

No abuse exhibit at Abu Ghraib museum

Soldier suicide rate may set record again

Soldier Dies While On Leave

This is winning?

Another Difference Between the Political Parties

The Democrats made it clear to the Denver police that demonstrators at the convention were to be tolerated as much as possible and no tear gas was to be used.
The Republicans just gassed anyone who they think demonstrated.
Who cares for the people? 
Who doesn't give a shit about the people as long as the party is not disturbed?

It is a good thing that the Republicans did not hold their convention in Milwaukee (Next stop for the M's).  Milwaukee can arrest a family for disturbing the peace while they are waiting on the corner for the light to change.  Any group of three or more people in public is a potential threat to the peace.  And I know from personal experience that Wisconsin is not afraid to use pepper spray.

Change -- Definition of a Derivative

The basis of the mathematics of Calculus is the measurement of change.  The interesting thing about change in mathematics is that change has a direction.  Velocity is the first derivative of distance across time.  Speed is simply how fast you are going.  Velocity is how fast you are going and in which direction.  You remember this from high school (I hope).

So why the math blurb?  Obama has been saying for the last several months: "Change We Can Believe In" and "Change, Yes We Can".  Notice both include the word "we".  Obama has made it clear that the change must come from within and expand outwards across our country to make things better.  Hillary just did not get it: she promised she would change things.  I think she would have tried and I think she would have made a positive difference.  But it was her game not our game.

McCain has promised change.  Here is where we get into the difference between speed and velocity.  If I am going downhill fast, I can change my speed and go down faster.  This is change that McCain is promising.  Or I can put on the brakes and turn around and go back up the hill.  This is what Obama is promising.  The ultimate change in velocity is when we get further up the hill from where we started.

I will lay it out for you.  Obama has promised more jobs, good jobs, middle class jobs.  Better education with better schools.  Aid to students who want to go to the university (not just the Normal School d.b.a. Community College). Less tax burden on the poor and middle class.  Better health care. More respect in the world.  A serious effort to stop global warming.  Restoration of stem cell research. These are serious and positive changes and will require that we stop the bleeding before things can get better.  And we are bleeding.  Hemorrhaging.

McCain has promised more government intrusion and less privacy.  He has promised to select judges to reverse Roe V Wade.  He has already started by selecting a VP candidate who is so radical in this direction that she refused education for her own daughter and has made it clear that in her world religion comes first.  I am not one who says she cannot be a good mother and a good president at the same time.  I was a good engineer.  A superlative engineer -- and the single father of two daughters.  It can be done.  As a VP, she is a real life nightmare.

McCain has promised more war mongering and more war.  Do you expect less of a man who comes out shooting after spending 5 years in a prison camp?  Someone said he lost 5 planes while a pilot.  I guess if this is true it is a matter of luck he did not get to the prison camp sooner.

McCain has promised less taxes burden on the rich and no relief for the poor or what is left of the middle class.

McCain has not promised better health care.  In fact he wants to expand upon programs that  are already failing.  And, with his VP, further reduction of stem cell research and more hijacking of words.  Hijacking?  Global Warming to a Republican is psuedoscience.  Real science to a Republican includes Creationism.

McCain has not promised new middle class jobs.  He has not promised better education.  His VP has promised prayers in schools and the replacement of science classes with religion classes.  We already have universities refusing credit for high psuedoscience classes (creationism).

I do not know.  We are racing downhill at terrible speeds and McCain wants to remove the brakes so we can go faster.  I know that any hill has a bottom.  I really do not want to learn what the bottom of the hill is for America.  I know after 8 years that 4 more of the McCain Same expose us all to the bottom.  If we are lucky and work together, with Obama we can see that the hill can go up forever.

We do not need "change".  We need a change of direction.  And we must certainly stop replacing education in our school classrooms with religion classes.  We must stop replacing judges who understand the concept of laws and neutrality with religious bigots forcing their ideas on the entire population.

Rice and the World

Now that billions have been spent on trying to repair damage due to ignoring the rest of the world (natural for citizens of Texas and Boston), Secretary Rice is making all of the trips she (or her predecessor) should have made 7 years ago.  You cannot unscramble eggs as the saying goes but I really hope that she can do some good.  She is good at it -- she is just really too late to accomplish anything other than to polish her credentials.

China and the Junk Bonds

China has done what the Japanese did 30 years ago: it bought billions of dollars of American War debt.  And now the Chinese are pissed off, as were the Japanese, when the American dollar deflates.  China is accusing the United States of intentionally selling it junk bonds.  There is a little truth to this as our current president has refused to shore up the value of the dollar.  But mostly I think it is a simple economic problem.  Countries at war suffer inflation which means the value of their currency diminishes.  Sort of like buying stock in a company which just keeps selling more shares of stock.  In fact exactly like that.  The ownership dilutes and the value of a share goes down.  In the case of a country selling bonds, the country is selling itself.  The USA is now owned by foreign governments.  We cannot get it back as we are continuing to sell more and more of ourselves.  What we need are some politicians who will inform us of the extent of the debt and what can be done to buy it back.  You know More-of-the-Same-McCain will not own up to this problem.  We can only hope that Obama will.  The problem for Obama is that this country has a history of shooting the messenger.

Palin the Pit Bull

I keep hearing about her speech and I listen to snippets.  There are certain words that I do not like to use because they are so inflammatory.  But Palin is a bitch.  It is in her tone.  It is in her vocabulary.  It seems to be an integral part of her.  Neither pit bulls nor barracudas are known for their intelligence.  They are known primarily for attacking and killing anything that moves.  And the snippets of Palin's personal conversations now being aired make her far worse than anything that should ever come from the mouth of a politician.  We are talking about serious racist epithets.  You know between the idea that McCain might not live long enough to see his own inaugural and the obvious mis-characterization of "Gidgit", this entire election has become a sick joke on the American people.

Obviously Barracuda is a good name.  Gidgit is not:  Gidgit, the originals, were nice women that were physically attractive and a little on the nieve side.  There is nothing nieve about this woman -- but the last thing our country now needs in a leadership position is a woman with a bad mouth.

Oh. They have isolated her for language lessons for two weeks.  News people have been told to not even try until she has had very speaking skills retuned.  I think even the Republicans realize that her mouth as it is is too much of a liability -- and there are only so many speeches that they can censor before the real words get out.

And the owners of the Barracuda song have asked her to stop identifying with their song.   Even barracudas have more class than does Palin.

If it were not so serious, people would be laughing in the streets.  Now we see sub-cultures lining up in support:  Radical Christians.  Parents of disabilities.   Remember what I said about the bear: never underestimate his ability to hurt you.  Radical Christians are a very large part of our country and are being more and more radicalized by their leaders.

Ashamed to be a Man?

Watching the "news" and the "polls"  is depressing.  The women have figured it out: if you vote your values, you will vote for Obama even though you preferred Hillary.  You want to spite your nose, you vote for McCain -- but most women are smarter than that.  Most women know that a pretty face is often a cover for a devious mind.  Most men see the pretty face and forget that there is a mind.

Historically men have been the external face of the family unit and women the internal face of the family unit.  The Mormons and Moslems capitalize on this but the rest of us came from that same nest.  But why then have the women figured out that Palin is nothing but a pretty face with a sour mouth and the men have not.  The "news" and "polls" indicate a gender gap of men voting from their crotch.

Now I quote words "news" and "polls" because we do not have any such real entities any more.  The newspapers, radio stations, and TV channels are all owned by giant corporations who have a vested interest in the Republicans retaining power.  So anything that they can slant or report in their party's favor makes the headlines.  And the men in our country seem to believe that the old rules still apply.  NO.  The fairness doctrine is gone: the stations and papers can put any spin that they want on their "news" and only have to answer to the people who disagree with them.  And today I think most people are wimps.

Oh.  I know things are worse than in the 1960's.  The president now attacks dissenters with everything from IRS audits to supporting police brutality with electric shock equipment, tasers.  We have seen too many demonstrations where the police have used these things as if they were a new toy rather than as a means of protecting themselves and other citizens.  So I understand that going to the streets is dangerous.  But you could be writing to your editors.  I know from experience that the newspaper editors will rewrite and reverse your papers into what they want but if enough people besides me wrote, then believe it or not, some level of equality in programming would return.

Kids and adults can no longer read anything longer than two lines in a column.  The failure of our schools has become the success of our politicians.  So.  Get smart.  Look at the consequences and vote intelligently.  You only have a few more weeks to figure that you have a real choice:  deeper into BIg Brother government or a chance to restore the joy of living that we had in the early 1960's. 

You only have a couple of weeks to get past the pretty face and vote your values.  Remember that voting blocks vote.  That means that old people vote.  That means religious zealots vote.   If you are not in a block then it is especially important to have an educated vote.  THe stakes this election are so high that I really wonder why it is even a contest.  People have lost their homes, their jobs, their lives, their health, and their confidence in the last 8 years.  "More of the same " digs us a deeper hole.  Remember Alice in Wonderland running as fast as she can just to stay even and the queen tells her she has to run twice as fast to get ahead?  The least we can do is to vote against more of the same.  The very least.

As If You Did Not Know By Now

Right.  I grew up as a Republican.  Regain finished that although Nixon gave him a good head start.  But now we have the most hated president in history.  The man claims he inherited a recession -- that is a lie.  But he shall leave us with a depression. That is just too true -- but again he will not say that.  I mean nobody likes the man.  The best we can say is that someone does not dislike him.  He is about to fix that.  At my expense, of course.  Everything he does is at my expense.  Now he is going to totally repair the Hurricane Ike damage in his home state with Federal funding.  There are arguments in favor of his doing this.  Maybe the best argument is that his parochial attitude towards his home state will set precedent for Palin.  Then of course, maybe the Texans will like him more after he leaves office.  You know the oil companies will love him.  But then they already do.  Oil companies are not people so I do not have to claim them as an exception to nobody.

I really wonder why the United States is populated by so many stupid people.  I know the rich will vote Republican.  I do not fit into that category and the rich may not be stupid.  The poor would never vote for someone who states in his campaign that he will lower taxes on everyone but them.  No.  Here I am wrong. There are poor voting for McCain.  This makes them, in my mind, stupid.  Maybe they hope that Palin will appear in Playboy. Stupid.  Maybe they think that if Roe V Wade is overturned the whole world will reach Nirvana.  Stupid.  Maybe they think that giving more money to the rich will permit them to hire more servants.  Probably.  But Stupid.  Maybe they have grown so accustomed to GWB's lies that they think everybody lies.  No. They don't.  Maybe they have grown so accustomed to GWB's lies that they think that More Of The Same McCain will eventually get us out of the depression.  Stupid.  Maybe they believe that Change is a good thing.  No.  It is not.  Change is only good when the good is in the change.  Obama has promised us that.  McCain is just riding on the word.  Maybe we need a new word.  Patriot was hijacked by the Republicans.  McCain has hijacked change.  No.  We do not need a new word.  We just need no More of the Same.  And we need no more liars.  And, most importantly, we need educated voters showing some sense of intelligence.  The Republicans play to the dumb.  They understand that a stupid vote counts just as much as a smart vote -- and stupid votes are cheaper and easier to collect .  Hitler was president of Germany because he lied.  GWB is president of the USA because he lied.  McCain has serious precedents and now he has a pretty skirt with a history of greed and deception.  Time for lunch.  I need something to throw up

Being a Maverick is a Quality?

A maverick is a calf that has lost its mother.  We remember that from the old cowboy movies.  The maverick does not follow the crowd.  The maverick has a mind of its own and behaves differently than the other cattle. The maverick behaves apparently randomly compared to the other cows because maverick had no role model: its role model is dead.  So the maverick has certain traits of cows and it watches other cows to see how they behave and more or less follows suit.  But without a mother to teach it values, the maverick's behavior is quirky at best.  Mavericks were expensive, time-consuming, efforts that detracted from the work to be done.

But there was and is no value in being a maverick: a maverick is an animal that is lost.  Being a maverick is sort of like having a list of rules to follow but no reason to follow them -- except to be with the rest of the herd.  Now, maybe if cows were really smart, the maverick could logic out how and why and wherefore.  But cows (including and maybe especially mavericks) do not have the mental capacity to even take care of themselves.  Without their farmer of rancher, they survive only where there is plenty of grass. and there are no predators  What is the first trait that you think of when you picture a cow: stupid. Then there is the bull.  The first trait you picture of a bull has little to do with leadership.  Then there are steers.  We won't go there.  I think you get the idea.

So now Mr. McCain claims the title "maverick".  He is certainly no TV cowboy hero.  McCain fits no definition of maverick.  He has had a good teacher in how to behave for the previous 8 years of his career.  Before that he learned finances at the heel of Charles Keating -- who went to jail in the Savings and Loan crisis thirty years ago.  He has consistently voted with GWB more that most of his party and his record of party support approaches 100%.  He has stood with  bank and insurance deregulation to the point where our financial institutions may need a recurrence of the 1930's just to recover.

My God.  Almost anyone fits the definition of maverick better than Mr. McCain.   But even if we let him rant about his new hat, what is the purpose of electing a man who wants to proceed claiming to have abandoned all of his life values?  A real maverick is quirky at best and is totally unpredictable when loose on the range. 

And where are the cowboys who will need to lead this maverick back to his responsibilities before he runs off a cliff and kills himself?  In the real world the president kills more than himself when he runs away from responsibility.  No.  The last trait we need in a president is unpredictability.

You Want More Of The Same.  Really?

Summary.  In 2000 and 2004 we "elected" a president who immediately:

Changed the CAFE standards to exempt pickups and SUV's

This had the immediate effect of Detroit Auto manufacturing and selling lots of high-profit gas hogs.  The automobile category raised their average gasoline usage because the gas-guzzlers were removed from their category.  The new SUV category had almost unlimited gas mileage requirements.
Result 1:   Extreme increase in gasoline consumption at the same time the global demand also went up.
Result 2:   Gasoline prices double to match the doubled consumption.
Result 3:   Detroit Auto Manufacturing goes bankrupt when people cannot afford to drive their gas guzzlers and instead buy Japanese frugal cars.

Reduced Taxes on the upper income brackets while rigidly enforcing tax laws for the working class

Result 1:  Thousands of IRS agents hired to prosecute minor infractions.
Result 2:   Erosion of the tax base
Result 3:   Middle Class paying taxes for jobs that are lost
Result 4:   Middle Class disappears with rich getting richer and middle class entering poverty levels.
Result 5:   University expenses explode while available jobs for graduates disappears.

Permitted and encouraged banking consolidation and integration with insurance and investment companies. 

Previously restricted due to laws enacted after the Great Depression were ignored or "reinterpreted".
Result 1:   Reduced number of banks.
Result 2:   Increased Banking Rates.
Result 3:   Under funded loans due to aggressive practices
Result 4:   The entire banking and loan industry collapses.

Exported Jobs to other countries with trade agreements

Result 1:   The extinction of the American working class
Result 2:   False positive economy as corporate profits  increased due to lower design and manufacturing costs
Result 3:   Economy collapse as previously employed Americans cannot pay for their homes or gas-guzzlers.

Lied about needing a war with Iraq

Result 1:   Divided American population into two groups: lie-believers and lie-haters.
Result 2:   Permanent American Global debt unable to be repaid ever.
Result 3:   Total loss of global respect.  absolute Global distrust: economic and political.
Result 4:   3000 American soldiers killed with more to die. Unknown number of foreign Nationals dead.

So with millions (yes, millions) of homes repossessed by banks who cannot sell them to recover their  losses, banks go broke and millions of families are homeless.  And with the extinction of jobs paying salaries (taxable salaries), people cannot buy any products, thereby depleting the tax base at all government levels.  In 7 years, the USA was the world leader and has become a third-world country.  It has become the snake eating its own tail.

The 4 to 5 years of university expenses and time are wasted as graduates find no jobs or find jobs overseas.  The education level of of the rich increases while the education level of the working American decreases.  The multi-faceted university education is replaced with 4 years of on the job training or job-skill oriented community college classwork.

And you are really going to vote for the protégé of this president?  You really want to learn how far into the hole the United States can crawl?  You really want to prove to the world that the United States is so incompetent that it will vote itself into oblivion?  The rest of the world already believes the the USA will die.  You want to elect a man unlikely to complete 4 years before either dying or becoming more mentally incompetent?  That the beauty queen vice-president would take over is not even a joke to people in other countries: it is a real fear.   People around the world are terrified that Americans are so incompetent that they actually would vote for any Republican let alone for the Geezer and Gidgit.

We, the Taxpayers, Are Bailing Out Whom?

I have always distrusted any business that  treats money as a commodity.  Primarily these are banks, insurance companies, and casinos.  At least the casinos are honest:  they are in business to entertain you and to take your money and they admit it.  Banks and insurance companies are never honest.  If I did not know this from experience doing business with them, I have worked for them.  I worked at State Farm Headquarters in Bloomington and I worked on bank computer processing for Ross Perot at EDS.

The reason for the Great Depression in the 1930's was greed and uncontrolled banking.  Many laws were passed after this to control the greed of the banking industry.  So how did these laws fail to keep us from our second Great Depression?  They didn't fail.  No.  We have had a president so greedy and so stupid that he basically removed all of these laws.  Oh. He did worse than that.  He exported our middle class. He  encouraged the Detroit Auto industry to produce gas guzzlers.  He pushed the economic disaster called "Trickle Down Economics".  He did everything possible to generate the current collapse of our economy.  "Trickle Down"?  It means remove the taxes from the rich and increase (at least relatively) the taxes on the not-rich.  The concept is that the rich get to spend more of their money and the poorer get to produce products for them.  Another form of slavery.  Wage slavery.  You remember: "16 tons and what do we get?" -- Another Republican promise and deeper in debt (1956 political slogan).

The end result?  You can see it.  The banks and insurance companies have consolidated.  They have used predatory practices to become the largest homeowner association in the world.  And they have shown no mercy to the people who cannot complete the payments on these strange mortgage contracts.

I have always, always, told people for banking only buy a 30-year fixed mortgage from a reputable mortgage broker.  Never deal with the bank directly.  Never, ever, buy one of these variable rate or balloon mortgages.  On the insurance side, buy only fixed-term life.  Anything else just is prepayment to the insurance company for which you will get little if anything in return.  But people never learn.  They fall for the argument of new money and old money and that next year will be better than this year.

So.  our second Great Depression.  the $700 billion dollars.  Who gets it?  More money for the banks.  More money for the insurance companies.  Money for the stock brokers?  Yes.  Some sort of financial package is necessary.  But the president's package is just delayed taxes for a system that he implemented and has failed.  I mean his entire house of cards has collapsed.  And his tax cuts for the rich?  They will stay but the middle class, or what is left of it, will have an unending tax burden.  Many lifetimes of tax burden.  Make no mistake: this is a bailout of the president, George W. Bush.

The only serious way out is for the government to use this $700 billion to buy the dysfunctional companies.  That will make us a socialist country but the alternative is More Of the Same.  Only now, we owe the entire world.  Only now, we really are a third world country.  Only now we have lost all respect by anyone anywhere.  The only other alternative is revolution.  But people would not even go in the streets to protest his illegal Iraq war.  Do you think people will go into the streets to protect us from total loss of everything?  No.  Those of us who remember the 1960's know that we are too old to do it again.  Our heads are more fragile and the police have more weapons.  And there are more police and more laws and -- nobody believes that this war -- and it is a war -- can be won in the streets.  So we all go home and cry and give the president what he wants.  It reminds me of placating Hitler -- only our Hitler comes from Texas and is within our system.  The system that he has broken.

So.  There are two things to do.  First abandon this More of the Same crap.  First, get the Republicans and their rich man politics out of any office.  Second, put strings on this bailout that gives ownership of any company wanting money to the people who give it the money.  Anything short of absolute on these two items just digs a deeper hole.  And I am not so sure that the hole is not already so large that there is a way out.  But these two things must be done now.  After January we can implement more permanent and more healthy measures.

Palin and McCain

First off with the total collapse of our economy due to Republican economics, treating any Republican seriously is insanity.  But I am old now.  Almost 65.  I have met a number of Mexican women in their 30's to whom I have been very nice.  These women are as old as my daughters.  When with these women, we laughed and hugged and enjoyed ourselves.  I had such dreams.  I spent a little too much money on each of them.  They were in it for friendship and the money.  I was in it for more.  These were fun but only pipe dreams.  Sort of like watching beauty contests or downloading porn.  Watching McCain jump around with his beauty-queen playmate sort of hits close to home.  I can identify with the feelings of youth when with my young women friends.  But my dreams only effect me and I have learned to not take them seriously.  McCain's dreams can impact all of us in the worst possible ways. McCain and his dreammate can bankrupt and kill all of us.  These two would make a good comedy TV series but I get sick to my stomach that people take these two seriously.

You know, I sort of hope that McCain is in this contest for the laughs.  I mean if he knows he will lose, he might as well have fun while he is at it.  And maybe he can pull of one last joke on his country -- the country that did not retrieve him from his foreign jail.  Have you seen the smile on his face as he watches his new protégé perform?  Mostly like a proud grandfather whose granddaughter is performing her first ballet on stage.  I know that smile.  I hate it on him.

Watch Out! Here It Comes!

This section is pure speculation but I think it has credibility.

1. Since this "financial bailout proposal" was prepared over the previous several months as a "contingency plan", there was time to circumvent this "emergency".
2.  Since this financial bailout proposal from the president helps only the bankers and not the street people, it is obviously a big-money power play.  Read the book on "Shock Economics".
   
3. Since the lame duck president has come to the end of his days in power as president, he has played his trump card.  He has timed his economic emergency to coincide with the election and has found a way to continue big-money in power.
4. McCain has stopped his part of the election process.  Although it looks like a gimmick, it could be part of a well-orchestrated plan.
   
5. If it looks like GWB's guy, McCain is going to win, the emergency proceeds as planned.  Then President McCain privatizes Social Security, health care, overturns Roe V. Wade and basically shits on the American Republic.  McCain is not really "More of the Same".  He is actually much, much worse.  Bush sets the direction and moves the country into play.  McCain ends the game with America becoming a Christian, Banking dream -- or nightmare.
6. If it looks like Obama will win, and I think it does, then McCain sits it out and GWB, declaring a national emergency, postpones indefinitely (i.e. cancels) the election.  GWB's actions in the last 8 years have incrementally changed enough laws, codes, and rules that it is possible that he could do this and with his loaded Supreme Court just might carry it off.
7. With no election, GWB, bowing out, selects McCain, who earlier nicely put politics aside, to run the country.  With no election, Palin is dumped and the USA becomes a Christian Dictatorship.  If McCain has problems, GWB humbly retakes the thrown to save the country from further disaster.  I can hear George Washington screaming "NO!" from his grave.

I am not the first to suggest this scenario.  I shall not be the last.  Congress could act but Congress wants to go home.  There are easy steps to stop this scenario.

1. Congress proposes, unilaterally, an alternative plan and stuffs it down the presidents throat.  Not just with "oversight".  Not just with "controls".  A real plan with real teeth with a real funding alternative assisting its citizens who lost their homes to banking greed while punishing the corporations for their greed -- rather than rewarding them as the president needs.
   
2. As part of their alternative plan, Congress must reinstate the stock transaction tax.  This returns stock purchases to investment and not speculation.  This also provides income to handle the crisis.  At $1 per $2,000, this only hurts the speculators.  The investor expects the $1 to be overcome by the profits of his chosen investment.
3. This alternative plan shows the president that Congress has teeth and will not permit it to be dissolved  to permit a dictatorship.
   
4. Congress immediately stamps McCain's ploy for what it is: an administration gimmick to sabotage the election process.
5. The networks continue with the debates as scheduled, possibly replacing McCain with some of the third party candidates.  This is crucial to save our Republic.  With no televised debate, GWB has effectively shut down the free press -- the very foundation of democratic government.
   
6. Congress immediately passes a bill, overwhelmingly passes a bill, tossing out the president's plan -- replacing it with a plan to help their citizens and not the bankers.
7. Along with the bill Congress asserts that it is one of three EQUAL parts of our constitutional government and will not permit the president to become dictator.

I have drawn parallels between GWB and Hitler before but this time GWB has set himself up in exactly the same manner as did Hitler.  Remember that Hitler after being duly elected, and claiming financial emergencies, dismissed his legislature and took control of his failing economy.  Like I say, Hitler could have taken lessons from GWB.

If Congress does not act now stating that it will not permit this sequence,  the sequence can, and probably will, happen.

Historically, Congress has only acted with this strength when the legislators got enough calls and letters from home telling them that their vote can be replaced.  Call or write NOW!  There are 40 days until the elections.  A lot can happen.  You can help: email, write or call your representatives -- all of them.

www.senate.gov

www.house.gov

Believe it or not, your calls and letters are read by someone and they do make a difference.  With 40 days until they get re-elected -- or not -- they are listening today more than ever.

Before The Great Debate on Friday,  September 26, 2008

I know -- it has not happened yet.  I hope it will.  For you conspiracy theorists, note that Obama took the debate seriously and went to Florida multiple times to practice -- having an aide acting as McCain.  McCain NEVER took the debates seriously.  He did not go to anywhere for practice.  He had no ersatz Obama.  He did not spend all of his time honing talking points and barbs for the debate.  There are some things for which you get a second chance in life.  I think that this is not one of them.  This is a national emergency.  This is the first time that both candidates appear at the same time able to give their views on solutions.  They give us instantly (America loves instant) how they will conduct themselves in this and future emergencies.  Given that GWB has no credibility, McCain and Obama are our faces of this emergency -- and we need faces.  We need to know that, with the ship sinking, that there are enough strong lifeboats to convey everyone to safety.  We have all seen the Titanic movie.  Movies.  Book.  Whatever.

Now.  maybe the talks have broken down and the debate must be delayed.  This is possible.  But cancellation three days in advance  by McCain gets you worried:

1. Did he know the talks would fail and he was smart enough to make sure that he could devote his full attention to them?
2. Did he know the talks would fail because he was informed that they would?
3. Was he afraid to go to the debates due to lack of preparation?
4. Was he afraid of the debates because he cannot simultaneously handle the crisis and verbal communication to the terrified country?

I think the answer is some of each but I lean mostly on 3 and sincerely doubt number 1.  This gives him credit for integrity but no credit for intelligence and ability to schedule his efforts. Mostly I do not give McCain any credit for anything -- but number 2 gives in to the conspiracy theories and conspiracies really frighten me.  I think conspiracies are mostly paranoia -- but one of these days one of the conspiracies will be true and I hope that the dictatorship one is not the one.

After The Great Debate on Friday,  September 26, 2008

I was surprised.  McCain put on a great performance.  Oh, it was a performance.  He had been carefully prepped to keep repeating that Obama was not prepared to be president.  He repeats this mantra even when he could have nailed his opponent.

But what I saw really frightened me.  McCain is not just old.  His is senile and ancient old.

People have noticed that his face looks like something dug up from one of the 1950's horror movies.  His left eye drops so much that if you Google "McCain Left Eye", you get thousands of hits.  This is not trivial.  This man may be lucky to become president even if elected.  He may not live that long. Are you Republicans stupid enough to vote for a beauty queen just because she is anti-abortion and likes to shoot moose?  I have real trouble looking at the Red/Blue map and believing that people can really be that dumb.

McCain has refused to disclose his health records.  A few reporters in a closed room for a few minutes with some health information is not disclosure.  This man is a pig in  a poke.  You would vote for this man knowing that he is hiding his health information and has shown more signs of senility than your great grandfather?  The blogs say the eye problem is from high blood-pressure (best possibility) mini-strokes (maybe) -- or worse.  And he will not tell you.  That is the point: He will not tell you.

Realize as I stated above, there are a group that hope he will become visibly disabled prior to the election so that he can be replaced and the Republicans can win on a sympathy vote for whomever replaces him.

You think I am making too much of the eye thing?  I have the same eye thing.  My right eye blinks too much.  It blinks at different speeds than my other eye.  When I am stressed or tired, the eye closes.  This does not make me senile.  It does not mean that I have strokes or high blood-pressure.  It means that at one time in my life, I had an accident that took out the entire right side of my face -- and with extreme luck, I still have a right eye.  I had an great surgeon and all that shows are some scars -- and they only show under duress.  Mostly my glasses frame hides the scar.  The rest of my face is also fully recovered except for some skin cancers.  Sound familiar?  I hope so.

But I am not running for president and I am making full disclosure.  McCain is obviously and intentionally deceiving the people whose votes he wants.  You hope that your president will be a man devoted to the well-being and improvement of his country.  McCain is lying and deceiving his way through the process with no apparent love of country but more as a self-gratification: Look, Charlie, even with age discrimination I got to the top.

You know the man will not survive.  So why vote for him?  You like playmates?  You like hunters?  You like women who abandon their children to the streets?  You feel sorry for the woman with a Down's baby?  You like to see a candidate's children paraded on the TV?  You think there is magic in Alaska? You like a man who calls his wife a cunt? (yes, he does).  You think the proper reward for 5 years in a prison camp jail is the office of president?  You want pay back because the world is not fair?

There are a lot of reasons for voting Republican this year.  All bad.  It was impossible to explain GWB's elections to people in other countries.  Now that the GWB has ruined our country and put us into bankruptcy, I would not even want to start explaining to someone why we would even consider a senile old man who hides his history and selects a playmate for a running mate.

"You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time."

"I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crises. The great point is to bring them the real facts." Abraham Lincoln (Attributed)

McCain will accept fooling most of the people for 30 more days.. In this case the fool is the one who votes for him and who believes the lies and deceptions. You know he is hiding important health information. What else is he hiding?  You want another liar and cheat for president?  Really?

Bailout? Buyout?  Buyer Beware.

I have a few problems here.  You know my opinion of banks: they have been robbing us for decades.  More than that is before I was here.  But rob us they do.  So now they own a bunch of homes for loans that they sharked and are crying foul.  Let them eat cake.  The government.  The GWB Republican government wants to bail them out.  The Congress leaders rose to the bait.  Congress voted it down.  The stock market is in free fall.

I now that there will be a bailout.  The dollar amount with interest comes to a debt of $8,000 for each man, woman, and child.  And there is no upper limit.  There is no control.  There is no punishment for those who did it wrong.  Oops. Yes, there is: the government created this mess by tossing out the controls put in place on banks after the Great Depression.  The First Great Depression.  Punishment: replace the president and administration and Congress and Senate with people who will make sure that the controls are in place and enforced.

We need several things:

1. The first is some action to let the world know we are handling the problem. 
   
2. The second is to let the world know that we are throwing the criminals out and replacing them with honest caretakers. 
   
3. The third, and most critical, we must do something to restore the faith of the average citizen in the American Government.

These must be done and they must be done  and done rapidly.  I have a few suggestions.

Immediate Financial Action

A bill with teeth.  Actual controls by Congress in how the money is spent.  The current bill provides "oversight".  That means what the president does with the money is visible to at least a few members of Congress.  To restore faith in our government here and overseas, there must be more than oversight: there must be Congressional control.  Maybe not much but enough to make people know that the next president will not continue the road to terminal bankruptcy.  This is a Constitutional issue but I think now is the time to make sure we do this right.

Reinstate the stock transfer tax.  This will help defray the costs and will make buying into the stock market an investment and not a gamble.

Throw The Criminals Out

This of course means making sure that McCain, who is the most de-regulating Senator in the current Senate, is sent packing.  No more office at all -- and certainly not as president.  The world knows that the best way to make the road to hell short is to put him into office.  Maybe Americans will figure this out while the bailout is on the front burner and before the election.

ANY incumbent must look to his record.  There are Democrats and Independents who helped get us here.  The responsible Democrats have to make more noise and rise to the call to get us on track.  The Republican GWB financial system is what got us here.  More Republicans can only make it worse while pretending they want it better.

If your bank or insurance company (or church -- but that is a different issue) is supporting a candidate, vote the opposition.

Show Citizens the Same Principles that you show the Banks

Bailing out the giant financial institutions after cheating your citizens is why we have lost confidence in the government.  How are they cheating us?  Let me give you a few examples:

1. Minuscule increases in Social Security due to stingy government algorithms must stop.  Intentionally under valuing the increased costs of living hurt everyone except those who will never need the money.  Give us honest cost of living increases.  Stop with the money for the banks at the expense of those who paid 40 years into a federal pension.  They only watch as their federal pension disappears due to inflation and taxation.  Tax a pension?  The president should be ashamed to ask for money for the bank and then steal it from the people spent 40 years getting us here.
2. The artificially low gas prices in much of the eastern part of the USA are causing short-term gas shortages.  The gas companies bow to presidential pressure until after the elections.  The president hopes that gas prices will not be an issue.  This helps McCain -- he needs it.  But immediately after the election those same places will see $5 per gallon of gasoline as the oil companies recoup their losses.  I do not want to see the high price but I do want to see honest pricing. It is the deception that got us here.  Stop the lies and cheating.
   
3. Shift the tax algorithm up so that those who can afford to pay, do.  I take $50,000 this year in Social Security and IRA money.  Of that I shall pay $20,000 in income taxes, $2,400 in other taxes, $8,000 in house payments, $3,000 in car payments, and $10,000 in medical costs.  I could live with the others but the taxes are killing me.
   

If you want to restore confidence in our government system, "The rich get richer and the poor get poorer" must stop being the primary goal of the administration.  Trickle down is a lie.

The VP Candidate Dog and Pony Show

This was a charade that should have never happened.  You put a real Senator on stage with a muppet and pretend to have a debate.  It was a farce.  Sort of like watching Fox News for any reason other than the sport.  I hope that Obama has apologized to Senator Biden for the insult.

I had heard rumors that Palin was going to wear a microphone like GWB did in his first debate (the cameras got it with a backside shot).  So Palin's caretakers made sure that there was a backside shot showing no black box.  She also wore her hair such that there were no visible wires into her ears.  But if you have watched the movie "The Runaway Jury" or have a knowledge of electronics, you know that the best place for such a microphone is an adhesive patch behind and down from the ear: a place well covered by hair.  And today a "black box" is the size of a grain of rice -- inside the patch.

But then maybe she did not have a microphone behind her ear.  That same backside camera shot did reveal her teleprompter.  It even had nuclear phonetically spelled out for her.  I mean we want another illiterate for president?

I think her soccer mom dialog must have been practiced for hours.  Oops. Hockey Mom.  GWB attempted to put a secretary on the Supreme Court.  The Senate told him no: a modicum of judicial experience at least.  Voters want to elect a woman on the grounds that she is a good Hockey Mom?  Really?  Her folksy talk sounded more like kitchen table talk rather than a debate.  Sort of like my mother.  If you asked her a question she did not want to answer, she asked if you liked her new hairdo.

And, like my mother, she did not answer any of the questions -- and she admitted that she was not going to answer the questions.  This is a debate?  With no follow-up questions and no back-and-forth (except for when she wanted to extemporize), the best you call this is a dog and pony show.  I call it an insult to human intelligence.

She made a point of not answering the questions.  I can only presume that she did not know the answers until her caretakers had time to formulate a response on her teleprompter.

But she claims to be "one of us".  I am not a millionaire.  I am not a governor of a state with a significant money surplus.  I raised two girls of whom anyone would be proud.  I spent the time with them.  They grew up in a value system that maybe was outdated and maybe too strict but when they got out on their own, they were prepared for the worst.

Palin claims to be a good mom.  I do not think so.  Her son is going off to Iraq.  I wonder if he can get away with slashing tires in Iraq like he did back home (it is on the radio).  My daughters were not knocked up at 16.  My daughters were not handed to me every time I went out in public.  I had serious things to do in public.  My kids were never far away -- but they were never put on display like golf (or hockey) trophies.

I mean this woman is more a candidate for an interview with Child Protective Services that getting an award for mother of the year.  And so you want to elect a woman with no credentials other than big boobs and a pretty face to the office of Vice president?  Are you crazy?  Oh.  She is not running for President, only Vice President?  Give me a break.  McCain will be lucky to survive the inaugural let alone 4 years. 

And it would be good to know that the VP has only one job: to assist the president and take over when he is disabled and to vote ties in the Senate.  Palin indicated that she believes that the VP has legislative responsibilities and would like to see them expanded.  This sounds like an extension of the GWB concept of Regal Presidency.

With as little as she knows about our Constitution and her ignorance of Supreme Court decisions (even those directed at Alaska), I would bet that her handlers had loaded her since the TV interview with lots of names and dates so that she would not further embarrass them Republican Party.  Oh. I forgot.  You can not embarrass the Republican Party: they are the ones who want to have a hockey mom for President.  I think that the Republican party is trying to pull off the biggest scam in history:  elect the Geezer and Gidgit.

The question that was not asked

The reason.  The primary reason.  The ONLY reason to have a televised debate for the candidates is the simple question: "What qualifies  you to become the most powerful person on earth?"  No dodge ball. No slippery answers. Straight out -- "What?"  That is the role of VP: become the President of the United States of America.  Maybe there is the presumption that by dressing pretty and talking folksy people will figure that out for themselves.  No. The question must be asked and answered -- because many voters cannot get past part lines, even more cannot get past big boobs, soft lips, and worst of all, sympathy for a hockey mom with a Down's baby.  McCain is pandering to the lowest common denominator.

"When Are You Going To Take The Gloves Off?"

Wow.  McCain when asked this question he replied "Tuesday night."  By the time you have read this, that date will have passed.  You mean that McCain can get nastier than he already is?  This man has done everything to avoid standing on his record.  He has selected a playmate in place of a running mate.  He claims that his record is not grounds for his born-again "Maverick" claim.  A Maverick is a trouble making calf with no role-model mother.  McCain is no maverick.  McCain's obvious role model is GWB.  McCain's voting record proves that.  McCain is a troublemaker.  He returned to Washington, uninvited, and members of hs own party pointed out that he was a liability to the bailout negotiations.  And he attended the debate anyway.  And his trip served no purpose since there would be no vote on the bailout in the Senate during his visit.  Nice ploy for his supporters. Everyone else saw it for what it was: a highly visible stunt.

The real question is when will Obama take the gloves off.  Really I do not think he has to.  I think McCain is sinking his own ship.  McCain lies.  McCain cheated on his wife -- while a Navy officer.  He should have been brought up on charges.  War hero?  His plane got shot down and he was captured.  He failed his mission.  It was not his only hot down plane. His five years in the prison camp might have save the country millions of dollars in lost aircraft.  I can feel sorry for his lost years but mission failure does not give him rights to the office of president.  That is history?  Long ago? He brings it up.  He does not bring up McCain's affiliations with Keatin in the Savings And Loan industry.  McCain is lucky to have avoided being jailed with accomplices.  McCain makes sure to avoid publishing his voting record. He refuses to publish his health record.  He calls his second wife a cunt?

But Obama has brought none of this up.  Why should he? Obama has always taken the moral high ground and hoped that his supporters will see McCain for what he is: a lying, cheating, crook too senile to bring anything to the party.  If it were not so serious, we could write McCain off as just a bad joke.

And for you bible-thumpers, whatever happened to the biblical quote of "a man with one wife"?  One wife at a time?  Fidelity?  Not on McCain's watch.  Oh.  That qualification is for church deacon -- but not for President. You hope to stop a few abortions while destroying the integrity of the entire country?  Now, that is perverted.

Guilt By Association?

So now McCain is attacking Obama for being acquainted with a Mr. Ayers who may have bombed buildings when Obama wa 8 years old.  Wow.  The Feds gave up prosecuting because of their misconduct so Ayers was never convicted and as a matter of fact became a model citizen in his home of Chicago.  For what it is worth, most of the people claimed to be radicals in the 1960's were either convicted as such or became very active citizens for social reform.  This is bad news for McCain: he can add anger to those who believe him already and the rest of the country will just be pushed away.

Oh. Subversive?  I know just talk is permitted.  But being active leading an organization attempting the secession of their State of Alaska?  I know this is permitted also.  But it is not the value set of someone who claims to want to represent the entire country to the world.

But you never hear Obama telling people about McCain's associations with the ringmaster, Charles Keating, of the Savings And Loan problems.  McCain narrowly escaped -- probably because knew how to work the system. Guilt by association?  Obama will not bring up McCain's cohorts in crime (The Keating Five) but maybe his supporters will.  Here is the quote from www.Slate.com:

"But Keating was more than a constituent to McCain -- he was a longtime friend and associate.
McCain met Keating in 1981 at a Navy League dinner in Arizona where McCain was the speaker.
Keating was a former naval aviator himself, and the two men became friends.
Keating raised money for McCain's two congressional campaigns in 1982 and 1984, and for McCain's 1986 Senate bid.
By 1987, McCain campaigns had received $112,000 from Keating, his relatives, and his employees -- the most received by any of the Keating Five. (Keating raised a total of $300,000 for the five senators.)"

And McCain was a Senator when his friend, Keating, went to jail -- for among other things, attempting to bribe Senators.

McCain is Going to Kill Your Health Care and Maybe You Along With it

This is a no-brainer.  Here is the scam. First McCain gives everyone a fixed tax credit.  Then he taxes your employer health benefits as income.  This sounds good because the credit in most cases will exceed the company benefit.  But that is at today's rates and costs.  Is that most employers are currently self-insured with the insurance companies administering the costs for them.  It looks like insurance but it is not.

Before we go into any of it.  You have heard the expression: "Follow The Money".  Do that here: You will pay your own insurance because your company will stop doing so.  The Insurance company loves your money.  You will be offered teaser policies.  You bought one of the mortgages that you cannot pay?  Wait until you see the pretty insurance company packages.

The self-insured company pays medical expenses for all and divides the costs evenly.  This means that the older people averaging higher medical costs are effectively getting more than their share.  WIth McCain, younger people can go outside their employer and with their new tax credit, pay for private insurance at lower rates.  Great for young people.  Disaster for the older. Our work force is getting older.  People are living longer.  Medical costs are soaring.  Because the company will be insuring fewer people and spending more money per person, their insurance rates go up.  And they go up a lot and they go up fast and the company starts cutting benefits.  It tells everyone to go outside.  This is not a  projection this is common sense.

The concept of insurance is that everyone pays an amount more or less equal to the others in the same base.  Those that need more get more, those that need less know that when they do need more in an emergency that it will be there. The more times you divide the base based upon individual pay outs, the more each group pays in premiums.  Oh, the younger non-claiming people get a break: as their premiums initially go down.  The older people and people needing special care see their premiums go up.

You think this is fair?  Not really.  It means that some day you will find that paying your costs yourself is easier than paying the insurance company  The fewer who use the insurance, the higher the premium  Even if you think that young people paying for old is unfair, remember three things::

1. Some day you will be old.
2. The insurance company takes a third off the top  for expenses and profits. 
   
3. Your plan will not cover contingencies (i.e. emergencies) as well as the company plan.
   

With McCain's plan you are making the insurance companies richer and relieving the employer of paying an insurance benefit.

Still not convinced?  Consider this.  You just got married.  You have one of these minimum pay out health plans that permits you to pocket some of your tax credit.  Your wife gets pregnant.  Maybe you are covered, maybe you extended your plan.  OK. You extended your plan before she got pregnant.  You had best be sure.  If the baby is born one day early, you must provide proof that of early birth or the company pays nothing.  I know.  I was there.  7 days early and they paid nothing.  Doctors do not write letters to insurance companies for babies of 7 pounds and less than 30 days early..

OK. So now your new wife is pregnant and you did write the extension in time.  So now you are laid off work.  You cannot pay the insurance.  You lose it all. If you had the employer benefit or COBRA, you could maybe negotiate the extension.  If on your own, you are out of it.  You cannot change coverage because pregnancy is a pre-existing condition.  Oh, the pregnancy is covered by the old insurance.  Yes, but only if you pay until the baby is born -- and then it does not cover the baby.  I know, I have been there too.  And the insurance paid only half of the costs of the birth due to their reasonable and whatever clause.

OK. So you were not laid off and you are still covered when the baby arrives.  Everything is just great.  Problems in childbirth.  Your wife is disabled and cannot return to her work.  Will your cheap insurance cover this?  Probably not.  Your wife is fine but the baby needs care.  Short term or long term.  Does your coverage handle this?  Not likely.  No.  My children were born healthy and my wife stayed healthy.  Not everything went wrong.  But does your tax-credit paid, cheap, policy cover your unforeseen events? Probably not.  Do you want to take the chance?  My switching jobs when my wife was pregnant almost bankrupted me both times --  I had good insurance but I fell through some holes.

No. You do not want McCain's plan.  Your company will sooner or later opt out of coverage because their motivation to provide the benefit is gone.  The insurance companies will ply you with cheap policies to eat up your credit but leave you with bills that they will not cover.  I have worked for State Farm Corporate and I have worked for Ross Perot's EDS.  EDS was one of the largest insurance claims handlers in the world.  They could teach anyone how to not pay a claim.  He was famous for it.  State Farm actually advertises that they dispute every claim and thereby keeps it premiums down.  I had to obtain a lawyer to get an obvious claim paid.  While at EDS, I took a second job which paid medical benefits.  Had my girl had her health problems under EDS insurance coverage, I would have gone bankrupt.

Yes. You want your employer looking out for you and providing you with the best plans the company can negotiate.  If you go out on your own, you will never get a plan as good as your employer's.  Guaranteed.  And moreover, if your company is self-insured (most are) and your plan does not pay for an expense, you can go to your HR office and request an exception.  They may not -- but they might.  I have had to do this multiple times.  Some I won. Some I lost.  But if I had my own insurance, I would have lost them all.

Too many words.  McCain's plan will cost you and cost you when you can least afford the money.  McCain's plan is like the lollipop with a cyanide filling.  It tastes great -- until you get past the coating and then you are dead..  And you love your variable rate mortgage. Right?  Just wait until you get to Medicare Part D.  Then you will understand why you do not any part of McCain's insurance plans.  Buy their insurance when you do not need it because if you buy it later, you will not be able to afford it.  McCain has a precedent and you can see it in action now.

2008 -- October

I am beginning to see hope.  The world is beginning to see McCain for what he is: a snarly, old man.  The polls are leaning more and more to Obama and the red/blue map is showing more and more states leaning toward blue.  Bush's new great depression is not helping McCain but I am surprised that the Reds do not see McCain for what he is: an extension of the same policies that got us into this mess.   What really disappoints me is that we see Obama attacking the issues while at the same time we see McCain attacking Obama. The issues are extremely serious and need serious answers.  McCain fuels anger at his appearances.  We see McCain people intimidating voters.  It reeks.  It is McCain's anger that proves that we need Obama as president.  We need someone who will work to pull our country back together rather than fuel the anger that is dividing us.  I note that although Obama has pointed out that it is the failed Bush policies that directly caused this depression, his speeches and efforts work towards correcting it and not wasting his time on the blame game.  Good for him but somewhere, somehow we must see the Bush name permanently attached to this crisis: -- it did not happen by itself.

One of Us Just Does Not Get It

If you read these pages you will note that I have a pretty low opinion of the average, normal person.  After all, they voted for GWB -- twice -- and look at the economic world collapsing around our feet.  This is after our country lost all respect in the world by invading a foreign country and assassinating its president.  We have a new election campaign going on now.  One candidate is promising to bring us together again and is attempting to focus on our problems.  Problems that he knows will not be solved in only 4 years.  The other guy and his Barbie doll (sorry Mattel) are spending their time attacking the first guy.  Just out of principle I could not vote for the attacker.  McCain, I think, sort of sees the light.  First off, I think he knows he is going to lose and therefore is softening his rhetoric so that his followers who have been brought up to a frenzy will not panic after the election.  Second off, I think he might be smart enough to see the number of people revolted by his tactics.  I say I think because he seems to be on a roller coaster sometimes fueling the fires and sometimes cooling them off.  Erratic.

But his Barbie doll and I will never agree.  McCain calls himself a maverick.  Basically a maverick is a loose cannon.  We have seen him jumping positions as he tries to find a spot that will shoot him over the top.  He has not found it.  Barbie is out there riling up the crowds even when McCain has drawn back.  Maybe in Alaska, they never heard of Hitler and how he rose to power with his angry tirades in the beer halls.  Maybe that was so long ago that nobody remembers anything except to shirk at the reference.  But in this case I think that riling up the audience just gets your supporters angry.  It will certainly anger  the supporters of the other guy.  But right now Barbie and McCain must convince the guy in the middle.  Come-ons like "we know who the bad guys are" -- referring to the political opponent -- will only repel the guy on the fence.

Barbie's angry tirades might get some beer-drinking bar crowds excited. When the crowd sobers up, they will forget what they did the night before.  We can only hope that they vote after they are sober.   But then maybe I just don't get it.  Maybe the average, normal guy just likes being taunted by a pretty face.

Who's To Blame?  Let's Make It Simple

Once upon a time there was this happy little town with a really great zoo.  Many town people worked at the zoo and it brought good tourism.   Everyone wanted to live in this town.  The zoo contained many animals in great cages built by the people.  The animals were known for their greed and ferocity.  Bears and alligators and such.  The city formed various groups to control the cages, the entrance rates, etc.  Things worked well as the city fathers had learned care and feeding of dangerous animals from their own history and that of other cities with zoos.

One day they elected a mayor whose primary qualification was that his father had been a good mayor.  This man had a history of running corporations into bankruptcy but he was handsome and had lots of money and friends.

He owned the bus company and hired buses to transport workers to neighboring towns and to return with many new products.  This made the bus company rich and the neighboring towns rich but the town itself poor.  In his ignorance of cause and effect, the mayor opened the cages to let the animals run free.  WIth no more cages, the animals started eating the defenseless residents and took over their homes. 

It was a mess, people left their homes and lived in the streets.  The mayor saw the instant solution: feed the animals so that they would politely go back to their cages.  Leave it to the next mayor to figure out how to pay for the food and to get the cages rebuilt and new organizational groups.  He hired writers to blame the wild animals for the disaster he himself created.  The paid writers were so good that the town almost elected the mayor's best friend for more of the same.

The moral of the story?  Who do we blame for the disaster?  Blame the animals for being hungry and greedy.  Really? Check out the story of the frog and the scorpion.  You know the name of the mayor.  No? His initials are GWB.

Conspiracy Theories Abound

I followed the logic through one of the liberal talkies this week and have become worried.  I mean we (that is the Bush Regency) have set up a sequence of events that are really frightening.

1. The Patriot Act has nullified the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878.  Huh?  This act was passed after the Civil War and other insurrections that states specifically that the Federal government may not deploy federal troops against American Citizens except under very restrict situations enumerated in the Constitution.
2. GWB has deployed the Army 1st division directly back from Iraq into internal defense positions within the country.
3. The Federal Register has stated that in the event of the threat of a national emergency US postal workers will be deployed to distribute materials to essential government employees.
4. The Federal Register states that since October 1 such a situation exists and Cipro has been distributed to government leaders.  Cipro is the antibiotic used to fight Anthrax.  I have a bottle sitting next to me at my desk.  Possessing it is otherwise illegal in the USA.
5. Palin and McCain have been aggravating their audiences to the point of audience member threatening to kill Senator Obama and Palin has encouraged the audience to respond with "Obama" when asked who the "bad" guys are.
6. As a representative pointed out this is exactly the tactics used in the 1960's to incite perverted individuals to actually assassinate some of out leaders.  And McCain want Obama to censure the representative rather than censure his own accomplice?
7. If Obama were to be assassinated, GWB could invoke marshal law and make himself king.  He has everything in place to do this.
8. McCain is already putting in place mechanisms to steal the election.  For example, he has discredited ACORN, a group attempting to register voters who have been disenfranchised.  Because people are paid to register voters there have been some irregularities in the registrations.  ACORN itself has assisted prosecution anyone who is found to make fraudulent representations.  Ohio is under court order to validate all voter registrations as a result of McCain's antics.  This may cause the Ohio vote count to be "stolen".
9. South Carolina voters have been intimidated to the point where the Democratic Party is calling for volunteer poll watchers to stop the Republicans threats to the Democratic voters.  Tires are being slashed.  Florida letters written saying people cannot vote.  Groups saying that to vote by FAX or email.  Lies, lies, and more lies.
   
10. The West Virginia touch pad voting computers actually select the Republican party candidate regardless of the name pushed until at least the third attempt to override the computer's choice -- and often only with assistance from the occasional voting assistant on special advice to touch the screen with only a fingernail and not the whole finger.

I really think that the next three weeks must fly quickly before this gets out of hand.  I do not like conspiracy theories.  I dislike conspiracies even more.  But mostly I dislike the uncertainty that they cause.  We have too much to worry about these days than to have to be threatened by GWB taking over  as king or dictator.

The Last Debate

I just finished listening to the final debate between Obama and McCain.  McCain did his very best to imitate Hillary Clinton's antics.  He interrupted questions with childish remarks.  He interrupted answers with the same.  He did his best to personally aggravate Obama.  In his turn, Obama learned his lessons from Clinton: ignore the jibes, diffuse the jabs, and punish with the consistency of the proposed program.  The main subject seemed to be Joe the Plumber from Ohio.  I am sure that if Joe were already undecided, nothing sad tonight changed his mind.  But if I have to choose, I will choose the man with the confidence to stay on mission and not the man whose primary purpose seemed to be agitation.  McCain irritated me more than he irritated his opponent.

And you know what is truly amazing?  Obama has managed to move the voters more and more to his side in spite of the heavily media bias favoring his opponent.  I just read the MSNBC Analysis of the debate.  All it talked about was McCain attacking and Obama reacting to the onslaught.  I am amazed he has kept his integrity and poise with this much attack not just from the Republicans and their "candidates" but from the constant media insinuations that he is  a pretender and not the real thing.    The only thing that can stop Obama now is one of the conspiracies is more than a theory or the Republicans manage to steal the vote counts of entire states.  And I am one who believes that they can accomplish either or both.

Now we just wait for the election as we watch the map change from pink to white to pale blue to blue.

Two More Weeks

McCain is really acting like he is confident.  This is a problem.  Mostly he is speaking only to his supporters.  Mostly, in fact, entirely, his audience is the white Christian right. Scary.  He is picking up on words.  Biden's prediction -- taken out of context.  The next president, presumably Obama,  will a serious international crisis in his first 6 months.  This is not news.  It is barely a prediction -- something that any of us thinking about the world the new president will inherit could say the same.  Attack, attack, attack.  This is a battle cry for war, not a slogan for a political campaign. This just encourages the frantic screams that we hear at McCain's appearances for Obama to be killed.

Maybe McCain is just making noises because he knows he has lost.  He has lost but I don't want to give him credit for his understanding that.

The more serious issue is the number of Obama signs, banners, etc. that are being destroyed.  McCain has created such an angry mob that all they can do is destroy and attack.  This is the kind of anger that McCain has taken from his mentor, GWB.  It was not always anger.  It used to be arrogance.  But frustrated arrogance turns to anger when it is constantly proved wrong.

Obama as president will have serious matters to address.  This first is finding a way to put Humpty Dumpty's parts back into the egg.  This is the more serious task than the potential international incident.  This is what the right wing radical Christians need to get down on their knees and pray that we can unscramble the mess that we have inherited.  And the entire right wing needs to sign up for anger management classes before someone besides a campus bear mascot gets killed.

I Guess McCain Can't Quit , BUT ...

You have heard all of the names: McBush, McNasty, etc.  You have heard about the intentionally irritating 3:45 am robo-calls saying they are from Obama and at the end admitting they are from McCain (legal I guess) or the robo-calls just bitching about Obama.  You have heard all of the lies.  The easiest lie being that Obama will raise your taxes. Well, not a lie if you earn over a quarter million taxable every year.  But then McCain must only be addressing the ultra-rich.  You, not being ultra rich, will get a tax cut or pay no taxes.  McCain just lies, lies, and says more lies.

I guess when you are losing after throwing the kitchen sink, you throw the toilet.  McCain is now down in shit land and can only be addressing his already staunch followers.  Any one with any brains can tell when a toilet is thrown at them.

McCain has already lied about most of his campaign issues.  Now he just lies about Obama.  His latest seems to be accusing Obama of using McCain's own tactics: lies, lies, and more lies.  McCain is calling Obama a liar.  Whatever happened to the concept of people living in glass house and throwing stones?  Whatever happened to the Jesus thing: "He who is without sin, throw the first stone."

We accept (sadly) statements bordering on untruths on campaign issues. This is called "spin".  But do people really believe McCain's lies about his opponent?  I mean all McCain does these days is complain about Obama.  All McCain's wife does is complain about Obama.  All McCain's beauty queen does is complain about Obama.  All of the robo-calls from McCain's camp complain about Obama.  Even if all of what they said were true (I know, I am a dinosaur), I could not believe it.  When all you can do is attack your opponent, you have never taken a basic debate class.  When you have a critical audience, Ad Hominum arguments will cause you to lose.  Always.

McCain's non-critical audience is just out for a dog and pony show.  I wonder if McCain's beauty queen draws more people than McCain.  I have met McCain and was under-impressed.  I do like to see beauty queens.  Especially, I like to see angry beauty queens.  I know, I am a dinosaur, a sex-crazed dinosaur.  Good choice on the frame-less, square glasses though.

Please Do NOT Vote!!!

The election is 6 days away.  Make it 5. According to the polls, 7% of the population sampled claim that they have not yet decided for whom to vote.  That is to say, one of every 14 people is illiterate and is deaf and has no party preference.. If you have no concept of the issues and no concept of the consequences of your vote, your vote is irresponsible.  The ultimately irresponsible action.. If you have not read about the issues. If you have not heard about the issues.  And if you have no philosophy that supports one of the parties, please do not confuse the national vote count with your own ignorance.

This election is the most important election in my lifetime.  Well, 2000 and 2004 were more important but that is hindsight.  Too many idiots and ignorant people voted in those elections and the result is global financial meltdown. 

For this election I can give you some perspective.  One of the surveys earlier pointed out that the number of references in the news to the Democratic candidate was approximately equal to the number of references to the Republican candidate.  This sounds "fair" -- but...

80% of the references to the Democrat were negative and 80% of the references to the Republican were positive.  Given this 4 to 1 news bias toward the Republican candidate, it is amazing that the Democrat (Obama) is so far ahead.  Think about that.  In order for this to be true, people were either 80% hypocritical to what they read and heard or they understood that what they were reading and hearing were propaganda.  I tend to agree with the latter even though I have a very low opinion of the intelligence of the average bear.

Also note that ALL of the major news media is owned by Republicans.  In any situation, I try not to let my opinions direct my values.  I try to let my values direct my opinions.  That is to say that the news will prefer the Republican candidate -- whether the news media is honest or it is not,.  I take Joe BIden's approach to the news: "That was a question?"  The "news" carries innuendo and lies as if they were real.  You have heard the lies: Muslim, anti-Jewish, anti-God, anti-White, anti-whatever. and to me, the ultimate: "his best friends are fire bombers."  If you are smart, you know these are lies.  But if you were smart, you would not be undecided. So, please, since you have no ability to contribute, do not vote.   If after an entire year of sifting and winnowing the tremendous quantity of trivia and lies, you do not know, do not vote.   The only reasonably honest person here is Mr. Obama -- but if you do not understand this, do not vote.  Obama does not need your vote.  Everything that you hear from the Republicans in the upcoming week are acts of desperation.  f your hear anything this week that you have not already heard, it is a lie.  A lie made up just for you so that you can get off your fence.  Me.  If I were on the fence and these lies were thrown at me, I would continue ducking and do a lot of praying.  But then I am smarter than you.  Don't vote stupid!

2008 -- November

Dirty Tricks

It is here.  Time to cast your intelligent vote.  The Republicans have stooped to attempting to steal the election in so many ways.  It is good that many states are permitting early voting.  The cheats are more visible this way.  Specific examples of Republican cheating:

• West Virginia has computer touch screens that will mark your vote Republican when you vote Democratic.  You need to continue touching the screen with a lighter touch. Do it multiple times until it votes the way you want.  Talk about dishonest.
• Georgia has closed its early voting polls for Saturday and Sunday because of the heavy Democratic voting.
• Persons registered but not matching their signature exactly to that on record are being denied -- even if they can prove their identity.  This is pervasive. 
  
• Voting registrations are being purged for many reasons just to reduce the number of eligible since again the Democratic percentage is against them.  The Republican euphemism for "purging" slips my mind but anyone denied the right to vote is a national disgrace.
  
• Republicans are challenging voters at the polls because although they could not get their people out to vote, they did get their people out to turn away voters.  Democrats did not get enough people in the voting cites to stop this.  Too bad.
• Republicans have told people they can vote by FAX, phone, or the Internet.  Amazing.  But you know my opinion of the average bear.
• The Republicans are doing anything possible to reduce the vote count.  Anything.  Accusing charitable organizations (e.g. ACORN) trying to increase the registrations of illegal activities is one of the more obvious.
  

And more and more lies from the Republicans and their biased news.  I love to hear the term "Liberal Press" as I know when I hear it, anything else that I hear is also a lie.  Makes it a little easier to find the lies.  There is NO "Liberal Press".  It is ALL right of center.  If any of it were "Fair and Balanced", McCain would have already conceded.  His only hope is that Republican advertising agencies like Fox News can spread enough lies that the lemmings will all jump off the cliff.

Now we wait until November 5th to find out how many absentee ballots ended up in dumpsters.

Isn't it amazing that we have the technology to protect our bank accounts with the Internet but cannot protect our vote.  We do not need a Constitutional amendment to correct the fraud.  If we can require national tests for school kids, we can certainly find a national law that requires minimal integrity levels of people controlling national elections.

Voting Delayed is Voting Denied

I am hearing about the long lines.  People giving up.  Rudeness.  What is wrong with the "take a number" approach?  For example:

1. You show up, take  a number from the little ticket machine.  Take as many numbers are there are people in your party.
2. Look at the display of the current number being processed.
3. Look at the display registering average numbers per minute/hour.
4. Estimate your time to be processed.  If you are a Republican you may need help with this.
5. Go home, have lunch, return when it is about your time.
6. The voting office accepts groups of, say, 100 at a time in one line. 
   
7. There are two lines: the current and the next.
8. The "next" line is started when the first line is 80% completed.
9. When your number is in the next group, get in the next line.
10. When the current line is emptied, the next line becomes the current line.
    
11. If you miss your number, you go into the next line.  It is possible that the "next" line will have an excess of people if many people take long lunches. You can think of an answer to this one yourself.
    

I am sure you can think of a better way but this is my first pass.  The Arizona DMV has a nice way of queuing people. There are others -- this is not rocket science.

But with all of the cheating and all of the long lines, it is obvious that our governments have dodged one of their primary responsibilities.  When local government do this with national repercussions, it is time for the federal government to step in.  I hear the term "Justice delayed is justice denied" .  I believe it applies to voting.  There are alternatives to long lines.  There are alternatives to voting machines that cheat either intentionally (the general case) or by incompetence.  This will be the first major election where a recount is not possible because no one can make the machines recount.  Do we really want a year-2000 computer problem every 4 years?

I voted absentee ballot in Texas.  They send me a form and a pencil and I am to mark the ellipses next to the names of my selected candidates.  I may also write in names.  An optical scanner reads this form, slides the form into a box and my vote is recorded.  Fast, simple, recountable.  I see no reason for the complicated, error-prone, touch-pad machines that seem to be popping up like acne on a teenager.

There is another advantage to the optical method.  Sample ballots can be printed so that peple are prepared when they get into their private booth with their official copy.  In fact, their sample copy may have even been marked by their friends telling them where they should mark.  What we have had for the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections is a national disgrace.  The 2008 election is already a national disgrace and it has just begun.  Fraud and incompetence is rampant and the only thing we know for sure is that Obama will win.  We shall never know by how much because the fraud is so great.  We do know that the world is watching and they are laughing at us.

President Obama: please ensure that the election problems hurting all of us are cleaned up by the next election.  In 8 years your predecessor ignored his duties in this area.

It's All Over But The Shouting

I could not be happier that Obama has won.  Now maybe our country can get past the racial stereotyping.  They will write books on how not to run a campaign -- and use everything that McCain did as their proof.  Race was not the major issue -- although it was too much of one.  Gender was not the issue -- although it was too much of one.  Economics was a major issue.  War will always be a major issue.  There were two major reasons for the landslide.

The first reason is that the young people voted.  It took a candidate with the audacity to stand up and say "Yes, We Can" and repeat it and repeat it to get the young people motivated to vote.  Look at Florida.  All age groups except the 18 to 29 group voted Republican.  The youth voted Democratic by 60%. Florida went blue.  The very state engorged with fat, old, ornery, rude, rich Republicans went blue -- thanks to the young people.  After the Viet Nam tragedy I thought that the young people would never rise up again.  Thank you, young people.

The other reason is not quite so obvious.  We had very many qualified candidates in this election.  We sifted out people who would have done a very good job: Biden, Clinton, Romney, others.  The two remaining were polar on issues.  The voting decision came down to judgment.  Not the judgment of the voter -- judgment of the candidate.  The choices the candidate made during the election process that let us know what he would do as president. 

Obama chose Biden as his running mate.  Choosing a running mate is difficult.  The VP candidate knows that this is his last political job.  If he loses, he disappears.  Look at Dan Quayle.  If he wins, he has the thankless job of waiting for someone or something to kill his boss. Obama chose a senator with a proven track record and a man who had nothing more to prove.  McCain chose a big-boobed, moose hunter.  I like big boobs.  I like a pretty face.  I hate big boobs with a pretty face and a foul mouth.  And boobs or no boobs, I hate dumb.  I really hate dumb.  Interview with a DJ claiming to be the president of France and never figuring it out?  Dumb.

Obama chose a VP clean as you know what.  McCain chose a VP with an ongoing criminal investigation.

Obama ran a campaign always speaking to the issues.  Always defending against the mud.  Always defining what he promised in detail that could be investigated and proved.  McCain ran against Obama.  Nebulous promises of more of the same policies that bankrupted our country and our people.

Obama became known for the consistency of his program, his shedding of anything that might soil his image.  McCain became known for his under-handed, under the table, dirty politics.  The kind of politics that the state from which Obama came is famous.

Obama ran clean. When McCain threw associations of bad people at Obama, Obama did not throw them back although everyone with any  memory knows that McCain was the major recipient of money from the famous Savings and Loan scandal. Judgment: Obama has it.  McCain does not.

The list goes on. People elected a president that let them feel confident about themselves and their vote.  They elected a president who made the promise that our country will rise again because every on of its citizens will do their fair share.  Not because they have to but because they want to.  Clinton and McCain both promised to make things better but they promised that they would do it.  Obama took up Kennedy's mantra and asked what you can do for your country -- and extended it  by saying that if you do, your country will gratefully pay you back in kind.

We elected a president who offers hope for the future and has shown the courage and judgment to make it there above the dirt of battle.  We turned down a president who became best known for boobs and mud and poor choices.  Judgment.  Bottom Line.

Counts, Percentages, Chips

The general vote was within 5%.  The electoral vote difference was more than 50%!  This is wrong.  I do not want to throw out the electoral college but we need something that more accurately reflects the vote of the people.  Maybe a district electoral count rather than a state all-or-nothing count.

We also need to have confidence in our counting.  I like the optical scanning of paper ballots.  They can be counted and if necessary, inspected.  I do not like touch screens with hidden computer chips.  Hidden computer chips were my livelihood for 20 years.  I know what you can hide in a chip.

Stop Picking on Palin

I mean it is over.  As she said herself: that chapter is closed.  Lives are like books, they have chapters.  In hers there was the beauty pageant chapter.  This year is was wake up and find yourself the VP dream chapter.  Both are now history.  McCain was a long-running sad joke: a commentary the morally bankrupt Republican Party.  The joke is over. Leave it alone.  It is not time to re-unite.  It is not time to join forces.  It is time to get on the wagon or get left behind. 

It is time to understand that giving money to the rich so that they can spend it on the poor just does not work.  "Trickle down" is just that: a trickle.  I am richer because somebody took a vacation in Greece?  Bought a hacienda in the Pyrenees? Bought a Lexus limousine?  Started a company manufacturing products in the Honduras?  Hired 100 engineers in Korea?  No. It is time that we get back to doing what we do: work.  Not giving more money to the rich.  No more reverse Robin Hood.

Palin?  Some parts of your life last through multiple chapters or it would be a Sunday comic serial.  Big boobs.  Dumb as a post. Pretty face.  Christian values.  These last a long time.  They are reasons to buy a picture magazine.  They are not reasons to be an elected official.  Maybe in Alaska.  And hunting wolves or moose from a helicopter is not hunting -- it is the equivalent of shooting fish in a barrel.  Continuing to make fun of Palin is the same: shooting fish in a barrel.  Let her go back in her hole and let us get on with putting our country back together.

Spin, Whatever

There were 3 major players in this election: Clinton, Obama, and McCain.  each won or lost on his/her own merits.

Clinton

Clinton was the woman you wanted as president if you ever wanted a woman president.  Smart, tough, flexible.  She really wanted it.  You want a president who really wants the job.  I think that is why GWB got appointed in 2000 rather than Gore. Clinton lost because people are afraid of intelligence -- especially in a woman.  She lost because women fight differently than men.  Things that I thought were dirty and under-handed my daughter thought were good tactics.  Clinton lost because she identified Obama's drawing card too late and had to play catch-up.  She didn't.

Obama

Since Nixon the Republican presidents have been draining our people of hope, of dreams, of the age of Aquarius.  Today what do Americans fear the most?  War?  Cancer?  No.  They fear the IRS.  Who put into use the fear of the IRS?  Nixon.  Who has doubled the number of IRS auditors in the last 4 years?  GWB.  But we fear war.  We have war.  We fear cancer. GWB has withdrawn ALL support for funded research of ALL sciences.  GWB has brought fear into our daily lives.  War. Job loss. Investigation.  Auditing. Privacy is history.  Who was the last president that offered hope and dreams? Camelot?  Kennedy.  What did Kennedy offer? Change.  Kennedy offered youth and love of life and greatness.  It has been 48 years.  Obama has offered us the same love of life.  The same dream.  The chance of restoring the integrity of the USA in the world.  He has done this after the 8 most miserable years imaginable.  8 years of continuous lies and deceptions. He promises one word: "Change".  Anyone one is better than GWB.  GWB will go down in history as the most hated man since Hitler and maybe even back to Caligula.  Obama did not just use this word as a banner.  He lived "Change" for 2 years.  He kept attacking the problems and let the others attack him.  He put a team in place to diffuse these attacks to that he could keep his eyes upward and continue his "Change".  He told everyone that "Change" is a team effort.  He did not say "I am going to change Washington".  No. He said "Change we can believe in" and "Yes, We Can".  His key message was the word "We".  He has repeated the "We" over and over.  His team, his country, us.  Clinton lost because she never picked up on the "We"..  Obama won because hs promises to be a team player when in the last 8 years the USA has isolated itself from the entire world. Obama won because he has promised to lead from the center.  Nothing radical.  Nothing far left or far right.  Center.  Of course, center is so far right to the Republicans that they are all out buying guns.

When my wife left, I sat down with my children and explained that our family just got smaller and we would work together to restore our happiness and our lives.  Chores were broken into parts -- each of us did our part.   Obama has promised that to our country: our country got broken, we each take a piece and we all put it back together.  Many people put a few dollars on account and raised millions for him -- and his team.  Us.

McCain

Ah, McCain.  The country was looking forward to something new.  Responsible decisions.  No more blame game.  No more stick men to fear.  People were looking for someone who could lead by making the right decisions.  A man could could build the stairs for us to climb out of the hole of dismay that the last 8 years have taken us to.  A man who could say we can do it, whatever it is.  McCain really promised more of the same.  Not just his words.  They were his doom, too.  Because his words gave no promise.  They gave no hope.  They gave no dreams.  They just attacked the others. He picked up where Clinton left off.  He picked up the kitchen sink and threw it again.  Most people can tell a kitchen sink when they see one.  No, it was his actions more than his words.  His decisions.

People want leadership, not more war. Candidates made decisions in the last 2 years. People watched for decisions to be made -- we are in a crisis and these decisions will change our lives. The most visible decision is that for VP.  Choosing a VP is hard because many of the most qualified will turn it down.  Who wants to be tagged a loser when the next election starts in a couple of years?  You choose someone with nothing to lose or a gambler.  Obama picked Biden.  I love Biden.  He has a mouth as big as mine and it gets him into as much trouble as does mine.  He has impeccable credentials.  Experience.  Judgment.  Ultra-responsible single father.  Obama's followers may or may not like Biden but they saw Obama make a great decision and figure that more such decisions will follow.  McCain chose a beauty queen.  Obama played for all 50 states knowing that he would lose most of the "Red" states.  McCain took the easy path: he played the red states and gave up on the blue.  There were not enough Red states that stayed Red for McCain to win.

McCain lost because he promised more bad decisions.  More tax relief for the rich and more taxes for the poor.  Like the guy said: "Vote for the man with one house -- he understands the problems of those who lost their house".

And. No. Palin was not a negative effect on the McCain campaign.  She was an integral part of the most negative campaign in my lifetime.  She was part of the "more of the same".  She was the flagship of McCain's poor judgment.  McCain lost for four reasons: hoodlum politics, bad decisions,  lies, lack of any positive program.

McCain can go back to Arizona where other Republican perverts live.  A couple of weeks ago I sat through an hour of insults before I finally gave up and left. All these people could do was toss the standard McCain lies at me about Obama.  There is no response to McCain's lies about his opponent.  You cannot validate liars with a response.  It only gives them an opportunity to refine their lies.  So, after many ignored requests to change the subject, I went home.  I wonder what they will talk about this week. No. I don't.

Obama and the Court

6 of the 9 Supreme Court Justices are over 65.  This is OK.  That is their choice.  But Obama is the first Democratic president in 8 years.  WIthin the next 4 years we can expect 4 of these justices to retire or die.  We are very fortunate that these have survived the GWB presidency so that we can have a chance at real judge nominations.  With a Democratic Congress (Senate) the log jam of the last 20 years has a chance to be cleared and some real judges rather than religious zealots,  woman-friend secretaries, or beauty queens will sit on the various benches.

This election was all about direction.  The court proscribes the directions.  The President  sets the directions.   Congress either supports the president or it fights him.  It  looks like this time it is support.  It looks like this time the court  may also ultimately cooperate.

Obama and the GWB

I have said for 8 years that if GWB would do something right that I either would not recognize it or not believe it. But for the past month, GWB has behaved like a rational person.  It cannot be because he sees his legacy is at stake: his legacy will last 40 years with people swearing about it or at it the entire time.  Mostly at.  But GWB has barricaded himself into the White House and kept his mouth shut.  That is the best he could do for McCain. McCain should be issuing public Thank You's to GWB.

But GWB has gone one step further.  Maybe two or three. President-elect Obama has 10 weeks to put his priorities in order, select his team, and work with leaders in Congress and the Senate to remove roadblocks to progress.  Or at least identify them. GWB could assist, ignore, or hinder these efforts.  After all the president-elect  has no real authority until January 22,2009.  Bill Clinton tried to steal GWB's thunder right through the swearing-in ceremony..

But GWB has gone the extra mile here and I congratulate him on that.  He has made it clear that he will not only work to make sure the transition is smooth, he has been working with his successor to actually get the new balls rolling now instead of waiting 10 weeks.  Not bad for the first week after the election.  Thank you, GWB.

You cannot underestimate the value of this cooperation.  This means that work held up in the current Congress may be passed prior to the new Congress. Work that would be restarted or scrapped while the new members get organized. With a lame duck president and a lame duck Congress, we either make some progress in climbing back up the cliff or we continue falling.  We are like Alice in Wonderland running as fast as we can just to stay in one place -- and that one place is already over the edge.  We need the 10 weeks.

As long as no Supremes die or resign.

Impeach Obama?

Hey, you guys.  Wake up.  You lost. Obama won.  He won big time.  He won because most of us have faith and hope.  He has promised the days of hate and fear are over.  Government of the people, by the people, and for the people has been restored.  You can cry in your beer if you want but it is no longer "Yes we can", it is now "Yes, we did".  Your rantings will make you look like the idiots you are.  Lots of mantras come to mind.  One of them is "Speak softly and carry a big stick".  If you have not figured it out yet, behind that smile, Mr. Obama is more than a mild-mannered Bruce Wayne.  Mr. Obama is one tough politician . And he comes from Chicago.  If that is not enough warning to you fear mongers, then you had better study up on your Chicago political history.  One month after the inauguration is Valentine's day.  Chicago put Valentine's Day on the map.

2008 -- December

60 Senators: Sleep Deprivation

Why did Obama want 60 Senators?  To prevent the Republicans from their filibuster?  Of course.  But why is this more important today than before?  I think I can answer that.  I hope so.

First off, there will be several Supreme Court resignations in the near future.  We all know the consequences of the choices.  We shall either strengthen or abolish Roe v. Wade depending upon the choice.  The Republicans will do anything and everything to abolish R v. Wade.  That is, they will filibuster for weeks to prevent a freedom of choice supporter. The Republicans need a solid Christian vote in 2012.  They also need more black votes.  We also need more socially aware and world aware judges and the Republicans are against anything that saves the world but reduces corporate profits.  Climate and habitation preservation issues will come up rapidly.

Secondly, Obama has a social issue calendar.  After GWB, these are serious issues.  The absolutely most serious in a century.  We have seen 8 years of Wall Street over Main Street to quote a popular contemporary slogan.  This is a balancing act without historic precedent.   Obama cannot raise taxes as that is how you pay off debt and our national debt is over the limit at the same time that personal debt is also over the limit.  GWB sent our jobs overseas to make the corporate bottom lines positive black.  And that failed.  We are up the creek without a paddle and we have elected a president who has promised to find a way back down.  Every step of the way back to prosperity will be fought by the Republicans.  This is not a prediction.  This is fact.  For example, the current Senate just voted to bankrupt the American automobile manufacturers.  Even GWB does not want this on his record. 700 Billion for the banks and ZERO for the automobile manufacturers?  We are already deep into obstructionism.  Save a few white collars but destroy the blue collars?  I mean not just hurt them a little bit.  I mean abolish them.  This is way outside the pale.  And Obama is not even into office yet.

Roosevelt was ultimately able to label the Republicans as obstructionists.  Maybe the voters will take less time to see the problem than before.  Maybe.  But remember: 47% of the people voted for McCain.  That does not give me much hope.  Georgia voters had the chance to provide us another non-obstructionist Senator -- and they stayed home.  I hope that the news carries the obstruction well.  I doubt it. The media did a good job of supporting McCain while trying to appear neutral.  It will not get better.  Young people have the right idea: stay away from corporate news.

In other words, Obama talked the talk.  Now give him the support he needs to walk the walk.

Pardons, Cars, and the 24

I am always impressed with how really a rotten person GWB is.  I also think he has gotten worse as his days are ending.  Incompetent is too mild.  But it applies.  Malicious also applies but we all see that.  We are counting days now but he will not go out with only a whimper.

He has done the usual thing: pardoned a group of people.  He has also done the absurd.  He pardoned a person whose father had paid so much money that even GWB would look like he took a bribe.  GWB reversed the pardon.  Incompetent hardly describes the situation.  I sort of wonder if after a pardon is issued that the president has the authority to reverse it.  I think it comes down to understanding what means the word "pardon".

Cars.  After the Republicans in the Senate voted down loans to the car companies, the president authorized very small loans.  Small compared to the gifts he gave the banks.  The cost of the loan to the car companies is unbelievable.  If you ever wondered about the intent of the Republicans to bust the unions, you only have to look at the conditions of these loans.  No pay cuts to the executives but the union workers need to reduce their pay to that of their non-union counterparts.  The rich get rich.  The poor get poorer.  Another Republican promise and deeper in debt.  I always wonder if I am the only person who remembers that campaign slogan from 1952.

The 24.  I find this action the most conspicuous poke in the eye that GWB has done lately.  As if putting two dingbats on the Supreme Court were not enough of a harmful legacy.  If not bankrupting the total country except for his rich friends were not enough.  He has hired 24 persons into committee slots surviving his presidency to make sure that we are all reminded regularly of Republican ineptitude.

Obama and Warren

WIth all of the controversial cabinet member selections, Obama's judgment has been called into question.  The question was answered when he selected Warren for the inaugural invocation.  Warren is an insult to the intelligence of the average person.  And you know how little I think of that intelligence -- or lack of it.  I had real hopes for Obama.  Now I just have sadness.

"Out of Touch" is an understatement!

Did you ever hear the history of Ulysses S. Grant?  Probably not.  He was indeed a great militarist.  He and Jackson won the Civil war for us.  But Grant was a drunk.  He was a drunk in college and he was a drunk during the war (before and after becoming a general) and he was a drunk while a the president.  He hired his buddies into senior position and with them made lousy decisions.  As a militarist, he was great.  As a person and a president, he is best known for drinking and his bad decisions.

We can think well of Grant because he won the war.  I had a couple of books written by people in the camps who gave stories that have since been revised out to make the final victory sound more like skill than the luck that it was.

But GWB did not even win the war.  Not even close.  In his attempts he has bankrupted the country, made us one of the most despised countries in the world, and not even repaired hurricane damage.  8 years after inviting the terrorists to bomb our buildings (yes, he did).  Reread his speeches in his visits to Europe in the Spring of 2001.

But that, like Grant is history.  But the events of the last couple of weeks have really driven home how out of touch with the world GWB really is.  Drunk?  I cannot say.  There are many reasons for having a red nose.  There is a famous reindeer which had one this time of year.  It is 4 weeks before the inauguration of Obama.  Twice as many people (citizens) attending than normal.  And these are people with high hopes and coming at their own expense to see the man they hope will restore the dignity and strength of our country.  He won't do this if he keeps making choices like Warren for his inaugural.  But we have hopes and we know he cannot be as bad as his predecessor.

But where is GWB?  We are a country out of control with no leadership at all.  Obama made it clear: we have one president at a time.  It is not his job to baby sit his predecessor as much as he might like to.  I have heard cries that GWB should quit early.  Maybe he has listened.  For Christmas, GWB took his last visit to Camp David and then smuggled himself and family off to his ranch in Texas.  This makes him out of touch with responsibility for the final month of his tenure.  We hold it against Bill Clinton for not leaving the WHite House until the inauguration of GWB was complete.  Clinton maintained his high visibility right up to the final moment in office.  Maybe a sign of disrespect.  Maybe a sign to the world that we maintain continuous control.

Bu where is GWB?  Home in Crawford.  The White House is empty.  Israel uses the opportunity ti invade Gaza.  They will never have a better opportunity.  Obama has promised serious effort at bringing peace to the Middle East.  Remember GWB's first year in office?  After Clinton harbored an uneasy truce, GWB's VP Cheney said they would have a hands off approach to the middle east.  His statement referred to their leaders as adults and responsible for their own countries.  The truce broke down fast.  Now while our president has abdicated is the best opportunity that Israel has to invade Gaza again.  I think it is amazing that the homeland of three major religions can have any thoughts at all of peace but without someone looking over their shoulders, they have no motivation to try.

But where is GWB?  Not even a policy statement. His friend Rice has stated that history will remember him well and not as the shoe target that he is today.  Do you understand the significance of the shoes?  Moslem consider certain things as "dirty".  Pigs and feet are dirty.  When AMerican soldiers rode their tanks into Baghdad they took off their shoes and rode the outside of the tanks.  When you live in a tin can in the desert you will do almost anything to cool off.  I know this from experience and high summer electric bills in my RV.  But the moslems saw the soldier's feet and took it as an insult.    The soldiers were informed to never show the soles of their feet to a Moslem but the damage was done.  When a Moslem throws his shoes at the president, the significance is not that he threw the something at the president.  The significance is that it was a shoe that he threw.  A shoe, the ultimate Moslem insult.

But where is GWB?  That was last month.  Most of the world would throw another set of shoes if it thought it could get away with it.  The political cartoons show everything from a globe to Santa Claus throwing shoes at the president.  A radio talk shoe host suggested (only once) that people mail their shoes to the White House.  I would except I have enough problems with the border patrol and do not need to give them a reason to harass me.  I have an extra shoe sitting on my table out front.  The president's wife has taken exception not just to the original act but to the enjoyment that the world has gotten from the insult.

And again Rice goes on TV and tries to revise history even before it is all history.  We shall respect the man for his decisions in the years to come?  Respect the man who just kept reading to the school children after the country was attacked?  The man who said he would micro-manage the emergency activities from hurricane Rita by sitting in the hurricane control room with the workers? (Secret Service bundled the idiot out of the hurricane area to Colorado hours before the hurricane struck).

Where is GWB?  He may be doing the one smart thing that he has ever done.  He is keeping his mouth shut.  Anything he says will be held against him.  His loans to GM and Chrysler have been recognized for what they are: union-busting.  Cheney says the Senate failed to support the auto companies.  Who gave $700,000,000,000 to the banks?  GWB and HIS Senate.  The Senate has not changed -- yet. 

Where is GWB?  Home where he belongs.  Thank God.  He has already hired people to rewrite his history.  Maybe they are getting a party to start their efforts.  No.  He hired them last year.  Maybe he is making his nose redder.  Maybe he has a conscience and is letting the heat build up for the next president.  For that he does not need a conscience.

<>We know GWB will be back because he told Obama that he cannot use Blair House before the inauguration.  Or maybe this is just a final insult.  Who cares: we are counting the days.  I wonder if people counted the days for Grant to leave.  Maybe it is just Christmas week and the news writers are on vacation but it is nice to not see GWB's picture everywhere.  Really nice.

I thought of a wonderful  inaugaraton change replace the Warren prayer with the Dixie Chicks.  They had it right almost 8 years ago.

One Liners

Churches

Many churches took sides in this election.  Whether they chose a candidate by name, as many did, or hid behind their words and said to not vote for the man who permits abortions (e.g. Roman Catholic), they took a political stand.  They chose sides. The IRS should stop picking on us peasants and go after these criminals.

Creativity

Historically the USA has led the world in creativity and originality.  Where do children learn creativity and originality?  In art classes.  It is time to put art back into our schools.

Keep Your Friends Close.  Keep Your Enemies Closer.

Hillary Clinton should make a good Secretary of State.  I think she would have made a better Attorney General.  The AG should be a good friend of the president so maybe not.

Suggestions?  Questions?  Comments?  Push the Home/eMail above.

Written:  2008          Updated:  December 31, 2008        Back To Top