FORT HOOD, TEXAS

Twelve dead, 31 wounded at Fort Hood, Texas.  Not many details coming out, but rumors are spreading that there were three shooters, all of them US soldiers.  My heart is with all of you.

If you believe in God, pray for their families.  If not, send them your thoughts.

Oh…look, the Mainstream Media is having multiple orgasms again…

I wonder how much blood they’ll squeeze from this bunch of turnips.  Fucking vultures.

“CHANGE HAS COME TO AMERICA”…? (still waiting)

President Obama today told Afghan President Hamid Karzai to make an honest effort at cleaning up corruption in Government.

“I did emphasize that this has to be a point in time where we write a new chapter based on improved governance, a much more serious effort to eradicate corruption, joint efforts to accelerate the training of Afghan security forces… that kind of coordination and a sense on the part of President Karzai that after some difficult years in which there has been some drift, in fact, he is [now] going to move boldly forward in taking advantage of the international community’s interest in his country….

He assured me that he understood the importance of this moment… But as I indicated to him the proof is not going to be in words. It is going to be in deeds.”

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/02/gibbs-karzai-is-the-legit_n_342616.html

“serious effort to eradicate corruption”…hmm…

Irony?  Hypocrisy?  “Change has come to America!”

Remember those words?  I’m sure you do; they were the first words America heard President Obama speak moments after he had been projected as the winner of our 2008 presidential election.  At the time, I noted here on my blog that those words were very premature.  Seems they still are, almost one year later.  Washington is as corrput as ever, and our Federal Government remains dominated by two parties more interested in staying in power than accomplishing any real, lasting good.

For Washington to change, we need one serious bit of legislation written immediately.  We need Lobbying and PAC financing reform.  We need to take the money completely out of lobbying and special interests; yet to date, no mention of this type of reform exists since the 2008 elections.

Mr. President, sweep in front of your own door before you dare open your mouth about demanding a fledging democracy to clean up the corruption it that country.  To date, you have not lifted a finger to change the way business is done in Washington.

NOT

ONE

FINGER.

Maybe Afghanistan does need to clean up corruption in government, but Washington should be far more focused on cleaning up the corruption in DC than anywhere else.  All you accomplished today, Mr. President, was to sound like an international hypocrite.  Why don’t you memorize the last sentence of that quote, and make it your personal creed?  We have not seen change, yet, Mr. President.  All we’ve heard are words.  It’s time to put up or shut up.

WHAT IS A POLITICAL PARTY GOOD FOR?

After a brief hiatus, I am back.  Glad to see some of you have stuck around.  I’ll be focusing on the usual suspects; political parties, stupidity, Washington, stupidity, politicians, stupidity, the mainstream media, stupidity, and why common sense solutions and Washington are polar opposites.

Did I mention stupidity?

Things are really getting interesting with the healthcare reform debate.  I’m a single-payer advocate, but I guess, with only a super-majority in the Senate and House, the Democrats thought that drafting legislation which reflects their core beliefs was just too risky.

Which begs the question:  What is a political party good for?

CONGRESS, SENATE GET RICH OVER REFORM DEBATE

Yesterday, Max Baucus of the Senate Finance committee introduced the gem; the coup de tat, the end all and be all of all that is all…his health care reform plan.

I can’t begin to describe the futility of it.  To summarize, his committee believes that forcing every American to buy health insurance is a great idea.  Fining them if they don’t is even better.  Heck, let’s introduce jail time for three time offenders, why not?  At least in jail, they’ll get decent care.  He also believes in forcing insurance companies to offer high deductible, low benefit policies..something they already do, so, hey…mission accomplished.

As I browsed the plan, I couldn’t believe what I was reading.  I thought to myself, “How is it possible for these clowns to be so blatant about their patronage of the health insurance industry?”  How is it possible indeed?  The bill reads like a wet dream of the insurance lobby.  Let’s see; every American must be forced to buy our insurance…check.  There can be no possibility of realistic competition…check.  No public option to keep private insurers honest…check.  High deductibles and the right to rescind policies, and deny coverage due to pre-existing conditons…check.  This bill is the culmination of the insurance lobby telling the finance committee to bend over…and our finance commitee saying, “more, please”.

Whores, all of them.  Max Baucus and friends have proven that they can accept their bribes, vote on an issue in which they have clear conflicts of interest, and manage to piss nearly every American off, and still keep their jobs.   And why shouldn’t they flaunt this power?  They’ve not been taught otherwise.  On the contrary, American voters continue to vote these walking tombstones into office every six years.

Corruption.  That is the word that best sums up both parties, and nearly all of Washington.  Tell me, if it isn’t true, how is it that every senator and congressperson is a multimillionaire earning just $160,ooo a year on their congressional salary?

Swine, all of them.  This health care reform debate was never serious.  It was just another opportunity for Washington to put the campaign finance screws to their favorite lobbyists, and collect the jackpot.  This was about getting re-elected, and nothing else.

UNEMPLOYMENT CLOSER TO FIFTEEN PERCENT THAN TEN

One of the most frustrating statistics in this time of economic turmoil is the one that depicts the unemployment rate in this country.  As it nears double digits for the first time in nearly three decades, one can’t help but begin picturing an economic collapse of epic proportions.  I know that this might sound alarmist; after all, we have not reached double digits in unemployment…or have we?

Currently, I have over 150 clients who are, or were, small business owners before this most recent downturn.  As of last Friday, twenty-three of them had closed their doors to business for good, directly related to the lack of business caused by this recession.  That’s a little more than a fifteen percent fail rate, which is, I am sure, higher than the national average.  Nevertheless, what is significant about this number is not the percentages of businesses closed; rather it is the fact that these small business owners do not receive unemployment benefits, and are therefore not amongst the statistics when considering the unemployed.

These small business owners do not pay for unemployment insurance, do not receive unemployment benefits, and are amongst the most hopeless of cases in our nation.  Not all of them are destitute by any means, but consider the ramifications of a small business owner who was barely making ends meet before the recession hit, and who has since closed his doors.  An employee would receive unemployment compensation if he loses his job; the small business owner will not.

As we approach that dreaded double-digit unemployment number which the mainstream media circles over like a vulture, please think about the fact that if we included small business owners in those unemployment numbers, the actual statistic would be closer to fifteen percent unemployed than ten percent.  Those are numbers we haven’t seen since the Great Depression.

The stock market may be rising, but Main Street America has not benefited from its impact.  The local liquor store, the small family restaurant, the town dime store, the local hardware store are all suffering still.  If you get a chance and don’t mind paying a bit more, maybe your neighborhood drug store is a better choice for that shampoo purchase than Walmart.  Maybe Bill’s Family restaurant takes a little longer than McDonald’s, but the food is better and comparably priced.  Sure there’s no playland or Happy Meals, but your children will remember sitting down at Bill’s, while the thousandth time they’ve eaten Chicken McNuggetswill get lost amongst all the other memories of fast food drive- throughs.

Small business America is dying, and the only number the main stream media cares about is double digit unemployment.  We’re already there; they’ve missed it by over five percent.  If you will, think about your local small businesses; and maybe you can spread the word that they need help, and won’t be getting a $10,000 bail out from the government because Bank of America and others who caused this mess received billions as their reward for being stupid.

WILL PRINCE EDWARD KENNEDY’S SEAT BE PASSED ON TO HIS WIFE, THE ROYAL PRINCESS VICKY?

With Edward Kennedy’s passing, the United States Senate is one senator short.  And now there is word that Democrats believe his wife, Vicky, would make the perfect replacement.

This is not surprising.  A senate seat that was held by a Kennedy for four decades is a hard thing to give up.  Why don’t we just start writing into our constitution that Senate seats are to be passed from father to son, or husband to wife, the way they used to pass lordships down in the olden days?  Why not just name the President King, and let his family rule?

Right?

Vicky Kennedy may be a fine person, but it was her husband, not her, who owned that senate seat for forty-plus years.  Her experience and qualifications for the job are the same as any other challenger: ZERO.

Let’s keep that in mind, and stop this incipient fawning over tradition.  Vicky Kennedy is no more qualified to be a senator than I am.

WISCONSIN CASINO GETS ARRA MONEY TO IMPROVE CUSTOMER RELATIONS

Someone please tell me how this was supposed to stimulate our economy?  A story in the Green Bay Press Gazette tells of how one of our larger CASINOS received ARRA money (Stimulus money) for the training of its  employees in “nurturing customer service”.  What??!!  What is that?!!

The partnership between NWTC and the tribe came from a $67,268 work force advancement-training grant through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Oneida Bingo & Casino pitched in more money to make it available to its entire 1,600-plus staff through the end of August. -  Green Bay Press Gazette

This is why Americans do not trust our government to spend money wisely.  If we looked, we could probably find ten thousand projects just like this one wasting taxpayer dollars.  Someone please tell me how this created jobs?  Anyone?  Wasn’t ARRA supposed to be about creating jobs?

Where are the jobs?!

This money went to a casino, which, lo and behold, probably was a major contributor to some local representative or senator.

But never you mind that.  We don’t need lobbying and campaign finance reform.  There’s not even the slightest hint of deal-making and bribery.

Not even a sliver.

Yeah, right.

CNN IN LOVE WITH DEATH OF MICHAEL JACKSON

Once again, CNN spent nearly all of its broadcast time on the Michael Jackson story.  Yup, they are a 24 hour NEWS network, except when there is something to gossip about…then they’re a gossip network.

Congrats, CNN, you ought to win a dozen awards for broadcast journalism over this story.

CONSERVATIVE CHALLENGES

Elizabeth at The Middle of Nowhere has several challenges for Conservatives.  I think it is necessary for Conservatives to answer these challenges, so I am linking to them here.  Please, if you don’t want your government..at all; if you like rich people owning you, and you like being lower middle class without a prayer of ever rising above, by all means, answer these challenges. The first is here, and the second is here. Please let Elizabeth know how much you hate our government.

SUING THE SENATE, US HOUSE OVER UNCONSTITUTIONAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST IN RECEIVING MONEY FROM SPECIAL INTERESTS

I’m looking for a group of attorneys to help me sue the United States House of Representatives, and the United States Senate for violating the Constitution of the United States of America.  Specifically, we looking for help in bringing to court our claim (and probably every American’s claim) that Lobbying, PAC’s, and Soft Money contributions create a conflict of interests, and are therefor unconstitutional.

It’s time to change this government.  It’s obvious they won’t listen to citizens, so we are going to use our right to the courts, and sue them.  Our goal is to forbid all lobbyist, PAC, and soft-money contributions to our elected officials.  In layman’s terms, we want to stop the blatant bribery in Washington, and further, we want that effort to spread to each individual state House as well.

We have watched as repeatedly,  important legislation that would protect Americans has been undermined by rich and powerful lobbying groups who have been hired by industries to tilt the scales of legislation always in their favor.  The time for petitioning our elected officials is ended.  We have repeatedly called for campaign finance reform, and have been repeatedly ignored.

We choose the lawsuit because as Americans, it is our duty, our honor, and our privilege to obey, and when necessary, change the law to represent all Americans.

If you are interested in helping, leave a comment.  We are at the very beginning of this, but it won’t take long for us to grow if enough of you will comment and let us know your thoughts, and help us spread the word.  Let’s show Washington, and our elected officials that if they will not change the corruption, we’ll change it for them.  Thank you.