Tag Archives: politics

Our Stupid Commitment in the Middle East

23 Oct

The Jewish people of the Middle East are no ally of the US. By definition allies make collaborative decisions based on what is best for every group within the alliance, however, the Jewish people of the Middle East make decisions based solely on what they think is in their best interest. They justify that their horrendous past suffering has bought them an exemption from this tenet. Regardless of decades of US support, enormous financial support, enormous enough to be a detriment to our own vital domestic needs; political support that has alienated us from most of the rest of the world and put us at risk; support without which the Jewish people of the Middle East could not ignite and win (whatever that means) the next disgusting war; the Jewish people of the Middle East, without hesitation, are willing to throw the US under the bus. This is being punked; in this regard we are a chump nation. We are the rodeo clown chasing the bull.

Unfortunately the Jewish people of the Middle East are no different than hundreds of other groups through out time that worship old scraps of paper but learn nothing from their own devastating history. As most groups do, they have foolishly chosen instead to wrap themselves in wrath, self-righteousness, and entitlement. They then take their political Viagra religiously and beat the crap out of some other group. Where’s the evolution in that?

Perhaps we are emotionally unable to reject the position of the Jewish people of the Middle East because we can’t help but identify with their invasion and domination some 60+ years ago of a faraway land and people, just like we did here with the indigenous people of the East coast. Or, perhaps we just need to seriously invest in alternative domestic sources of energy.

We do need to end all support for the Jewish people of the Middle East and finally keep the money at home to help repair our education system, our infrastructure, our unemployment, et al. We need to publically disconnect from the Jewish people of the Middle East before they drag us into yet another immoral blood sucking financially crippling war, this time with nutso Iran for God sakes. Just as an aside, how are the Iranians going to drop an Atomic bomb on the Jewish people of the Middle East without killing a ton of their Muslim brethren too? Not sure how well that would be received in the neighborhood. The Jewish people of the Middle East, like all of us, need to learn to get along with their neighbors. This is the neighborhood that they supplanted themselves into some 60+ years ago. It’s plain, their neighbors are numerous and not Jewish, these neighbors of theirs are ancient and not going away; and most of these neighbors are fabulously wealthy. Most importantly, these neighbors also have their own old scraps of paper that; likewise, they mindlessly worship and vigorously wave as the absolute word of their God. Stalemate. If the Jewish people of the Middle East can’t learn to get along with their neighbors then they sew their own fate, just like all of us. If force and aggression are the only arrows in their quiver then they are not as smart as we’ve credited them with. If the word of their God is the sum total of their title to real estate then they are doomed by their own arrogance. As with all of us, eventually it boils down to pulling the poker out of our asses regardless of our history. The truth is that none of us is chosen beyond anyone else.

Power to the People

Tags: , , , , , ,

Uncertainty My Ass

19 Oct

There’s a nasty myth being promoted by the right wing, being heavily circulated and co-signed by the media, and going undisputed by elected democrats.

This is the myth that businesses are hoarding dollars on their Balance Sheets and refusing to hire because the poor darlings are wrought with uncertainty about the economy. Pure crap.

First, with regard to the campaigns: both republicans and democrats have been falling all over each other with vows to maintain or exceed existing aids for businesses (such as tax breaks) and promises to create additional ones (such as reduced or revised regulations). Assurances that businesses are held as a protected class abound and are well advertised. By all, businesses are currently being touted as the very saviors of the America way of life. A business owner, big or small, would have to be brain dead to have missed these positive and well disseminated pledges.

Second where’s the need, just for example, to make capital expenditures when the margin can simply be grown by squeezing the workforce? This is not just people being replaced by automated machinery or computers, this is people being laid off in droves and the remaining work force made to do their work too with no additional compensation; doing it just for the privilege of remaining employed (for now). Albeit lazy, this is hardly a revolutionary approach to growing margin and collecting bonus. Laying people off is a hell of lot easier than hustling market share . . . . margin remains steady or even increases, where’s the uncertainty in that?

This “uncertain economic future” ruse has been cultivated to both explain away increased profits while keeping the work force in a constant state of gratitude for having even the crappiest jobs. Workers are afraid to take sick days, afraid to take vacation days, afraid to take lunch hours, and above all, afraid to complain about anything. Hoorah.

Power to the People

Tags: , , , , ,

The Almighty Job Creators, Praise Jesus

15 Oct

Why does this go forever unchallenged? Truly, what’s the real deal breakdown on these wealthy people who supposedly create all these jobs for us plain folk? I need a job, where’s my wealthy job creator, I need an address.

How many of these nameless wealthy people needing tax breaks inherited their wealth, never worked for it, never actually built a company with employees, just had it transferred to them at the reading? Maybe changed brokers; the end.

How many of these oh so vital job creators don’t even get their income from any kind of tangible business source at all but live, very well thank you, off of stock piled dollars, money making money? Making money off of money in and of itself does not create jobs but it does grow personal wealth. One does not invest in order to create jobs, one invests to net a return, the gain or loss of jobs is irrelevant. Not illegal but not job creation either, and certainly not noble.

Seriously, how many of these so called job creators have sought out and invested in start-ups that do employ people but are both risky and often don’t pay out anything for years if at all? And even when these investments are made, how many are initially calculated as losses to offset tax liabilities?

If republicans are going to constantly refer to wealthy people as the job creators then these wealthy people need to be thrown into a spreadsheet . . . . break it down for us plain folk, slap a pie chart on it, show us the money, where it came from, where it went and who got a god damn job out of it.

And the progressives and the media need to quit letting this job creators propaganda slide by day after day unchallenged, demanding no proof. Where’s the fact checking? The legitimacy of the job creators argument is paramount in the tax/budget debate being shoveled at the electorate.

Footnote:
How many years has Romney benefited from capital gains tax breaks?
When was the last year Romney started a company that created jobs?

Power to the People

Tags: , , , , , ,

Capitalism

9 Oct

To be clear, capitalism as a concept, or even the word itself, does not appear anywhere in the Bible. It doesn’t appear anywhere in the Declaration of Independence and it doesn’t appear anywhere in the Constitution. So why, in this country, is it promoted and accepted unequivocally as sacrosanct? We lay claim to it yet we certainly didn’t invent it. Capitalism has been around since the first cave woman picked more berries than she and her family could eat. She traded the excess to some other woman for fire wood and capitalism was born. Openly or covertly capitalism is practiced everywhere in the world 24/7. That, however, doesn’t make it holy. It is the way of the world. At the ground level it’s the marriage between human beings and natural resources but for Christ sakes it’s not a religious experience. Like all things, capitalism is as capitalism does. In an evolved society capitalism is capitalized on, not prayed to. Like all things, if it’s not working for the common good then adapt it, we are a people who invented versions; we stand in lines at midnight to purchase them. The so called experts on capitalism propagandize that it can’t flourish in a harness. These are people with an agenda; their actual expertise is in amassing and protecting personal wealth. Not the same thing. For better or worse capitalism is like the common weed, extremely hardy and engineered to massively reproduce. The exercise is not to eradicate it nor glorify it; it’s a tool to be used creatively to improve the lives of the citizenry.

Power to the People.

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Republicans: A Few Dichotomies

3 Oct

Most would agree that republicans are not usually described as the warm and fuzzy people. They are not considered the “mommy” party and most republicans would say that that description is just fine with them. Most have no tolerance for anything that could possibly smack of female coddling or nurturing of the citizenry. Every man for himself and all that, rah rah. But the ironic thing here is that they’re not the stereotypical masculine party. They’re weenies. They broadcast panic like little children. The sky is falling, all will soon be lost. The Mexicans are coming, the Mexicans are coming. There’s socialist monsters under every bed and black Muslim bogymen in every closet (especially the black bogymen). Republicans are constantly spraying fear and paranoia like skunk juice. Rightly or wrongly, this is not a stereotypically male image. Why would anyone vote to put a bunch of scaredy cats in charge of anything, except maybe the back door?

Then there’s this whole republican embrace of the economic survival of the fittest doctrine. Boy they love that one. Everybody just pull themselves up by their boot straps and if you can’t, well too bad for you, guess you didn’t pull hard enough or something, too bad for you, survival of the fittest. And yet they steadfastly maintain that Darwin is a pile of crap.

Now the republican push to delegalize most forms of birth control, there’s another odd one. We have to estimate that at least 50% of the republicans are men, sperm shooting men. We just know that the over whelming majority of them are not having sex strictly for procreation purposes alone. Please. Likewise it’s fair to assume that again the over whelming majority of them are not practicing abstinence (for any reason). Very hard to believe that these married men want to risk adding more unplanned children to their families or especially that single men want to add child support to their personal budgets. Logically one would think these republican men would want to shut down this nutso delegalization thing. And one would think that the republican strategists would also want to shut it down. After all, what did the last census tell them? We are currently undergoing the browning of America. People of color are the fastest growing populations in the United States. Do republicans really want “these people” without birth control? Do they know that by in large “these people” do not like them? Are republicans that short sighted or do they just calculate that they will be dead by the time this manifests into material votes?

Power to the People

Tags: , , , , , ,

Obstructing the Vote

29 Sep

The super hypocritical thing about all this push to legalize obstructions to voting and the practice of gerrymandering is that these very obstructionists are the hardest flag wavers in the country.

One person one vote is held as the ultimate symbol of all that is American; except, it would seem, if the flag wavers are panicked about losing an election.

These flag wavers would boast that the United States is the fairest most honest country on the planet, that all the world should follow our voting practices, that corrupted voting abroad is a bastardization of democracy.  They would say with great pride that here in the United States we are staunch champions of the fair fight; that we hate filthy cheaters; that we despise athletes that cheat with performance enhancing drugs.  We even pee test horses after races to make sure the races are fair and free of artificial advantages.  Cheating is seen as a shameful weakness, a character flaw and those who practice it should be shunned.  A fixed prize fight or (God forbid) point shaving in a football game is a disgrace, it’s simply unAmerican.  These flag wavers would tell you that America is the Poster Child for the level playing field . . . . except, it would seem, if they are panicked about losing an election.

Our wildly flag waving Tea Party was founded on the bumper sticker “no taxation without representation”.  Where are the Tea Party folks now that this most sacred of American rights is under attack?  Quiet as a thief in the night.  Would they argue that there is a category of Americans who can be taxed but who don’t merit representation?  If there’s an election at stake in America is the catchy slogan suspended, does the end justify the means for an inauguration?

Maeve Reston of the Los Angeles Times talked to donors on their way to one of Romney’s several fundraisers in the Hamptons.

“A New York City donor a few cars back, who also would not give her name, said Romney needed to do a better job connecting. “I don’t think the common person is getting it,” she said from the passenger seat of a Range Rover stamped with East Hampton beach permits. “Nobody understands why Obama is hurting them.” We’ve got the message,” she added. “But my college kid, the baby sitters, the nails ladies – everybody who’s got the right to vote – they don’t understand what’s going on. I just think if you’re lower income – one, you’re not as educated, two, they don’t understand how it works, they don’t understand how the systems work, they don’t understand the impact.” 

So waving the flag while wagging the tongue . . . .  that pesky common person vote, it makes maintaining power much more of an effort than it should be for her people; the people who know best.

Power to the People

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Newer Entries →