Indignity of Charity

Imagine my shock to surf to Fox News last night and witness Obama being interviewed by mild mannered Bret Baier. I mean, after Obama stated that Fox was an arm of the GOP it was unsettling to see the president sputtering and tap dancing around the questions and answer interruptus of Fox's boy next door Baier.

I did ask myself if past interviewers have been as dogged, bordering on rude, with past (white) presidents. But, to be honest, I would have appreciated and enjoyed the press pinning Bush. Did we not cheer when Helen Thomas managed a pointed question or two at GWB.

I don't remember any similar interviews in the recent past, i.e. Clinton or Bushes, but then they weren't publicly twisting arms and bribing to pass a huge package like healthcare. Clinton knew when to stop twisting, and Clinton's advisers/handlers were not the elitist mob from Chicago who believe they make offers you can't refuse.

If only ... if only Obama put as much effort into draining the swamp and letting in the sunlight ...

I expect this behemoth healthcare package to pass, to the regret of the public. Personally, I cannot see how anyone with a brain can believe any of it. The rhetoric and promises are the same as LBJ in 1965 signing the Independence of the Medicare Bill, which was to give dignity to the elderly and poor, because they were entitled.

Truman said at the signing: "Not one of these, our citizens, should ever be abandoned to the indignity of charity. Charity is indignity when you have to have it. But we don't want these people to have anything to do with charity ..."

Government charity is different - because you "earned" it. Never mind that millions the government is dignifying have paid little or none into the coffers they're drawing from. Never mind that the affluent and upper class rush to liquidate or hide everything ma and pa have so they're eligible for government provided dignity. Never mind that all this free (or lost cost) dignity helped produce a generation of crippled young folks with bad backs, bad knees, carpal tunnels, obesity, and/or bipolar and attention deficit disabilities. Never mind that most physicians are now nothing more than legal drug dealers and gallbladder and uterus removers. Never mind that folks consider it dignified to prolong the life by a decade of nursing home family throw-away, lucky semi-lucid granny dignified with bedsores and gangrene amputations and oxygen tanked. Is this the new quality of life. Does anyone know anything about quality of life versus quantity.

This from Johnson's Medicare speech struck a familiar chord: "The people of the United States love and voted for Harry Truman, not because he gave them hell--but because he gave them hope. I believe today that all America shares my joy that he is present now when the hope that he offered becomes a reality for millions of our fellow citizens."

Ahhh, hope (and change) recycled. Warm fuzzy, warm fuzzy.

Course, we all know that in 45 years Medicare fraud and corruption has created more millionaires and billionaires then you can shake a rubber glove at - pharmaceuticals, nursing homes, physicians, medical equipment companies, research foundations, or like the scandalous HCA, founded by the Frist family, former Senator Bill Frist, a physician. Ever wonder why the last few decades so many doctors enter congress? Illness is the latest lucrative frontier.

Do you really believe Obama's trillion dollar overhaul of health care is going to expand coverage and slash the deficit as supporters claim? Name me one government program that has ever benefited the majority and slashed the public debt. Just one. (Wha jest look Bubba at the dignity and hope that safety nets brought to black culture, yessuh.)

Expand coverage/slash deficit - an oxymoron, contains the prefix for air and moron. Airhead, lack of oxygen to the brain, hot air, mild mental retardation, moron, politicians.

"The 10-year plan would provide coverage to more than 30 million people now uninsured through a combination of tax credits for middle class households and an expansion of the Medicaid program for low income people.

---- Excuse me, but in 10 years the US population is projected to be 362 million, so will there be another 30+ million uninsured that will have to be insured? Is anyone factoring in population growth cost?

"It would restructure one-sixth of the U.S. economy in the biggest expansion of the social safety net since Medicare was created in 1965. It would also impose new obligations on individuals and businesses, requiring for the first time that most Americans carry health insurance and penalizing medium-sized and large companies that don't provide coverage for their workers.

Hospitals and doctors, drug companies and insurers would gain millions of new paying customers, but they would also have to adjust to major changes. Medicare cuts would force hospitals to operate more efficiently or risk going out of business. Insurance companies would face unprecedented federal regulation. Health care industries would be hit with new federal taxes. Upper-income households would face a new tax on investment earnings."

---- There it is folks, the truth parts in bold. Impose new obligations on individuals (you and me) and make it mandatory you carry health insurance. You'll be able to buy it from Uncle Scam at congressional approved rates. For those "upper-income households" don't worry - tax shelter lobbyists, along with "respectable" accounting firms and law firms will always be with us, turning those earnings into many ways to avoid taxes.

Do you really believe that Big Daddy government will "penalize" companies who don't cover their workers? Ooooh, slap on the wrist with a penalty and then a big tax break or bailout over there in another part of the tax code. Like Wal-mart, who offers health plans but only half their employees are willing or able to pay for it. Now Wal-mart can have Big Daddy hold the safety net or the government that "requires" you to carry insurance will force you to buy it from your employer, i.e. Wal-mart. And by the way - hypochondria and Munchausen will no longer be covered - you may be forced to get a job instead of getting a trendy "disease." You may even be forced to get well.

If you think you're SOL now with health care - just wait until your health care is walmartized. But on the bright side - maybe, when folks have to be the "new paying customers" bent over the exam table by quacks and false compassion, they will purposefully stay healthy.

How to Handle an In-law

Placido Domingo

Core 'ngrato (Ungrateful Heart) For someone we know.

Iniquities

Poor Tom Hanks. He was purring along, sounding like a younger version of Hal Holbrook in Douglas Brinkley's positively reverent Time magazine cover story--the one where Brinkley calls Hanks "American history's highest-profile professor"--until the penultimate graph of the story, timed to tout HBO's new series, "The Pacific," which debuts Sunday night at 9 p.m. That's when disaster, of a kind, struck. After spending thousands of words paying tribute to the U.S. soldiers who fought in the Pacific theater ... Hanks suddenly veered off course, going from being a gauzy celebrator of the importance of studying history to an unruly political activist.

"Back in World War II," he told Brinkley, "we viewed the Japanese as 'yellow, slant-eyed dogs' that believed in different gods. They were out to kill us because our way of living was different. We, in turn, wanted to annihilate them because they were different. Does that sound familiar, by any chance, to what's going on today?" In a separate interview, Hanks referred to the war in the Pacific as one of "racism and terror."

-------- Another Hollywood history expert. I used to like Hanks until he made the awful Bonfire of the Vanities, after that it was years until I watched any of his films again. I have yet to make it through the bloody ocean of Saving Private Ryan or Forrest Gump. But it may be because we're not big fans of the last 30 years of television or film. I'd rather watch the black and white classics and catch all the sexual innuendo that I never noticed the first time around. I have never understood America's love affair of escape in movies and television; I irritate everyone as I will argue vehemently with the screen.

As I've blogged hundreds of times - all wars are about profit/power. Race and religion are secondary, although often used as justifiable cover, depending on the mentality of the sheople who fight them, and most of our forefathers of whatever class and creed, have known wars are fought for profit and power, which they usually shared in to some degree. Wars are rarely fought for self-defense. And yes, I've heard and read all the tinfoil about Pearl Harbor. The spin of whether the US powers that be knew the attack was coming and "let it happen" to the US provoking the attack - doesn't matter, fact is Japan attacked.

Hanks remarks seem to indicate he believes WWII and today the Middle East are fought for racial and cultural differences. If so, he is ignorant of history and/or has swallowed too much Hollywood activist crap. You know, as if he's saying: you low-browed ignorant American knotheads, your fathers and grandfathers weren't the "greatest generation," they just wanted to annihilate those yellow slant-eyed dogs because they were "different."

The US was so "racist" it shielded the defeated Japan from many war crime charges and kept Hirohito on the throne, rebuilt their economy, and negotiated fair reparations from Japan to China, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand. Pay no attention to the fact that Japan out slaughtered even the Nazis by about 4 million, used prisoners for medical experiments, buried POWs alive, and cannibilized others (Lt Gen. Yoshio Tachibana was convicted of murder and "prevention of honorable burial" because cannibalism was not covered under war crimes law).

"Certainly, we wanted to honor U.S. bravery in The Pacific," Hanks says. "But we also wanted to have people say, 'We didn't know our troops did that to Japanese people.' " He wants Americans to understand the glories — and the iniquities — of American history."

Crapactivists always begin sentences with "...certainly we wanted to honor US bravery... but" BUT, but not really, in between the emotional interviews with aging veterans and special effects reminiscent of Private Ryan, the real intent is to get you dumbed down boob-tube folks to wallow in flat screen heart-warming sadomasochism and think you've been educated on WWII in 10 cinematic episodes, a $200,000,000 tribute. The Pacific is not a documentary, it is entertainment, a drama based on some real life events/characters and a lot of poetic license, to make a profit. Brought to you by the same folks who did the 2001 Band of Brothers, the Pacific is sort of a Hollywood sequel.

I lost an uncle in WWII France. I had an uncle who spent months as a POW with a head wound in a German camp (at first he feared they would experiment on his head but they put a metal plate in). Another uncle (working as a civilian contractor in the Philippines) survived the Bataan death march and a year in a Japanese prison camp. We know atrocities by US troops happened, it goes on in all wars on all sides. But I also know US atrocities wouldn't compare to the horrors my uncle experienced and witnessed at the hands of the Japanese - the Japanese of WWII made the Vikings look amiable. Yes the US has committed gross injustice - do the wealthy in Russia, China, the Middle East use $200M to "educate" their citizens on their "iniquities"? A free library card would better serve you.

History is something a person should study from all sides and sources, but don't rely too much on propagandized violin versions from Hollywood or movie stars or script and screen writers with an agenda, especially Spielberg's orchestrated crescendos of emotional manipulation. The enfeebled media snobs can provoke anger, outrage, shame, pride or warm fuzzies, but they produce nothing objectively - war films have always been glorified melodrama or horrifying pornoviolence or a mix of both. Most likely Hanks opinion above was written for him for the sole sake of publicity; as The Pacific is rumored to be a $200M thud.

A Communist Plot?

Yuri Bezmenov 1983 - Ideological Warfare

Part 1



Part 2


Part 3


Part 4


Part 5


Part 6


Part 7

Blink, Gulp, Sniff

Kennedy says "somewhere I heard that during the Vietnam war..." he was born in 1967... I think bipolar Pat is back on the booze and pills. Sometimes I seriously believe we need to bring back the lunatic asylums, instead of sending them to congress and D.C.

Enough

Always this time of year are stories of children lost in fires connected to utility shutoffs. It's been going on every winter for decades. In this story, "State attempts to victimize mother of fire victims" 3 young children died.

"The Michigan state government is attempting to victimize the mother of three young children who died in a fire that erupted only hours after the family’s utilities were shut off on Tuesday.

The state attorney general general’s office has reportedly filed a neglect case against Sylvia Young, 30, for not being home at the time of the blaze. Young says she fears the state will attempt to take away the four children who survived.

The move by the state is part of a media-backed campaign to blame Young for the tragedy, covering up for those who are responsible: DTE Energy for cutting off her utilities, and the government for approving the utility company’s policy.

A space heater the single mother was forced to use to warm her seven children is believed to have caused the fire, which quickly engulfed the old wooden structure on the 4600 block of Bangor on the city’s west side.

Lost in the March 2 fire were Tro’vion Young, 5, Fantasia Young, 4 and Selena Young, 3, who died of smoke inhalation and soot. Thanks to the quick and collective action by neighbors the other children made it out alive, including three-month-old Serena, who was tossed from the second floor window. Sylvia’s 8-year-old son, Jalen, 11-year-old son, Tywon, and 6-year-old son JaShawn also escaped.

Spokesmen for DTE Energy have said they cut off service to the home because it had been “illegally” hooked up and there was no record of a paying account at the address after previous residents moved out in mid-December and cancelled their service.

Sylvia told the WSWS that the lights and gas were in her landlord’s name and were included in $650 in rent she paid each month. “The DTE guy said if I showed him a lease statement saying how long I had been there that might help. I told him that my landlord was on the way with the lease and he would be there in 15 minutes or maybe half an hour. He said he couldn’t wait.” She continued, “I had an outstanding bill from before with DTE—that’s why I put the utilities in my landlord’s name. I knew they wouldn’t hook the services back up because of what I owed, and I couldn’t afford to pay it.

Sylvia told the WSWS, “I am on FIA (Family Independence Agency) assistance. I’m raising seven kids on $347 every two weeks. Out of that I pay $650 a month in rent.”

Sylvia pointed to the hypocrisy of such claims. "DTE never contacted me to help. Everything is a money thing with DTE. If you are a dollar off on your payment plan they will cut you off."

------ There are many lies in this sad story, from the mother and WSWS writers. I see the same situations here in Podunk. Thirty-year old single mothers with 7 children. Some of the truth is Sylvia should not have 7 children and no daddies to help. The truth is Sylvia has reached the point where she no longer is eligible for much of the aid that is out there. She burned those bridges before the house burned.

If Sylvia is paying $650 for rent, then she has disqualified herself from Section 8 housing for some reason - this could be from not paying utilities as Section 8 requires you to be up to date on utility payments, or not paying her portion of the rent (in her case would be $20-65 a month), or someone in the home is involved in illegal drug activity. I know someone locally on Section 8 and her share of the rent to the landlord is $20 per month - yet she is 6 months behind in her rent.

All utility companies work with state and local agencies that assist folks in paying for utilities. Many have the words "Area Economic Opportunity" in their acronym. Folks are usually only eligible once a year for energy assistance - once AEO has you current on your utility bill they expect you to keep it paid up. Often such groups also provide weatherization programs, even for renters. You may be on a waiting list for a while, so if you continually change house/apartment that sets you back.

Here in the 'hood of Podunk, mothers, like Sylvia, move around a lot (especially if they've lost their Section 8) - to live a full year in the same house/apartment is the exception, not the rule. Even so, they still manage to stiff the landlord for a few months rent and quite a bit in clean up and repairs. Landlords give them a decent reference just to get them out of their rental - let the next slum lord deal with it.

The article does not say if Sylvia is employed or not but she is on FIA, which also has a low income energy assistance program and weatherization program. Since Clinton's Welfare-to-Work, women are only eligible for cash assistance for a few years (4-5 years) - although there are ways around that sometimes, however, this has forced most welfare mommas to work low wage jobs. Here in Podunk the majority of the Sylvias don't mind too much because childcare is paid for, they still receive foodstamps and Medicaid, and that yearly $4000-7000 EIC February tax refund is like winning the lottery.

In Podunk, every year these refunds are spent at Rent-to-Own, down payment on a used car at loan shark rates, on new clothes, new nails, new weave, and new boyfriend. The more responsible women turn half the refund over to the landlord for months of unpaid rent. But none in Podunk, not one, will pay old heating bills. For some reason there's this ingrained idea that electric and/or gas heat should be free, or paid by someone else. For decades mothers went through the names and social security numbers of their children to hook up utilities, ruining the payment history of each kid. With technology and interagency connections that tactic can no longer be used - now Big Utility can see your new service request is for 9-year-old Lakesha.

If Sylvia's gas and lights were in her landlord's name they would have been current, and if not would be shut off - which they were which is why someone illegally hooked up Sylvia's electric. With Michigan winter heating bills in poorly insulated homes being at least $400 per month, and electric another $100 or more, her landlord would have little profit if he paid the utilities - and slum lords like their profits. Where was Sylvia's copy of the lease? Was she really out buying space heaters, or is that another lie in a lifetime raised in trying to game the system, while losing the game but dumb enough to think it's winning.

Years ago I felt outrage and despair at such stories, but it's misplaced emotion, because no matter how much we spin it, this woman and her children are not the victims of Big Utility or the capitalist system. Sylvia is the victim of a society that will not face the truth of what lifelong entitlement has done to the soul and character of generational recipients, the children are the victims of their own mothers and fathers. Enough is enough.

Zombies

Young People Waiting

I'm still amazed at how much propaganda people are exposed to and how seriously I once agreed with so much of it. I can no longer read anything without auditing it for b.s.

Take the following piece for example. Written for a left/progressive audience it really says nothing, yet for a "believer," it says everything and all.

Young People Wait Out the Recession…and Their Youth. By Michelle Chen

---- Beginning with the title... sounds forlorn and painful doesn't it? A mental picture of young people, life passing them by, waiting, staring into a dismal empty future, like a sad t.v. commercial - without the eye fly.

CHEN: "Young workers may not know it, but the jobs crisis threatens to turn what should be the best years of their lives into another "lost generation."

---- "Another" lost generation? I was not aware we lost others before, not to a recession anyway. We've lost a couple to generational social programs and a society that prefers doping themselves and/or their kids rather than raising them. Personally, in looking back, I found every decade of life the "best years." Although the usual batch of "revolutionary" folk heroes were telling my generation the same things - how dreary our lives were because of this or that, i.e. that being rich white people, or this capitalism, or inequalities, and all sorts of bleakness they claimed was on the horizon.

CHEN: "Do young people have anything to look forward to in this upside-down economy? The inequalities embedded in the country's young workforce are growing more pronounced."

---- The economic world is upside-down ... especially for young people. Inequalities ... growing more pronounced. "Embedded" good word for planting the idea that the situation is hopeless and you're helpless, unless our pols perform some drastic sociopolitical surgery to cut out the embedded unfairness of life. Oh woe is us, what to do, what to do. Of course, the propaganda would not be complete without calling on the immigrants and black folks, segregation, poverty, and the prison system:

CHEN: "In the Black community, joblessness consistently hovers at epidemic levels. Joblessness among blacks aged 20 to 24 edged up to 28.7 percent in January, compared to (an also frightening) 14.9 percent among whites. Neighborhood segregation and concentrated poverty already prime children for economic stagnation later in life or even downward mobility, according to a Pew study. Involvement in the criminal justice system could either take young people out of the workforce through incarceration (that's one reason why Black unemployment figures are often underestimated), or ensure that they'll have doors slammed in their faces for years to come. On top of a bleak job market, many immigrant youth are legally blocked from pursuing economic advancement. Students residing illegally in the U.S. are often excluded from higher education thanks to policies precluding subsidized public college tuitions. While they push for passage of the aptly named DREAM Act, their aspirations are left to atrophy as Washington's impasse over immigration reform drags on."

"... Black community joblessness" and "... residing illegally ..." Residing illegally? Oh that is a good one; is that what we're calling it now? "... left to atrophy..." what I call use it or lose it. And if you're waiting for D.C. to fulfill your dreams and aspirations you deserve to lose it, if you ever had it.

The white "left" still pretending that Latinos and blacks are on the same side of social issues for no other reason than pigmentation. They must believe that below a certain income level all nonwhites think alike. Black unease about immigration goes back a long way. In the 1870s, former slave Frederick Douglass warned that immigrants were displacing free blacks in the labor market.

If my sweetest daughter-in-law can teach herself English and come to America at 16 and join the Army to gain citizenship ... (see video below)

CHEN: "Internally, economic turmoil could sow a cycle of anger and defeatism that may manifest itself in depression, heavy drinking, or even family violence."

---- Sow a cycle of anger, depression, drinking, domestic violence. I guess all those rich and affluent folks have the same problems for other reasons. Or maybe 'the economy made me do it' is a one size fits all excuse.

CHEN: "In a 2008 study, analysts with the Center for Labor Market Education predicted that the low rates of teen employment (which have since intensified) meant that “Low income, Black and Hispanic teens face the equivalent of a Great Depression.” Something as mundane as a shortage of teen summer jobs has implications for future earnings, career choices, and teen pregnancy rates. The Center for American Progress and Center for Law and Social Policy have devised plans for “reconnecting” at-risk youth through public service jobs programs ala the New Deal."

---- If we don't find summer jobs for teens, they're gonna get pregnant or choose the wrong career? A standard "progressive" stink tank is cited. Center for American Progress (CAP) - funded mainly by George Soros and Wal-mart. In March, 2009 CAP strongly supported Barack Obama's escalation of the US wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Progressives for war. That's a whole other blog post.

CHEN: "Absent a comprehensive government commitment on job creation and expanding the role of the state, the AFL-CIO's survey of young workers portrays a generation adrift. About one in three surveyed workers under 35 lived with their parents. About half of young workers of color and women workers said they “worr[ied] somewhat to very often that I will not be able to afford education costs for myself.” So they do with their futures what most people do when they can't afford something they want: take a pass and try to wait out the slump."

---- Comprehensive government commitment has to create jobs lest this generation is adrift, living with their parents, worried about their future and ... oh, getting pregnant, drunk, and beating family members. One in three workers under 35 live with parents - can it be they're teenagers/students? How many are what I refer to as Crosslins? As in Nancy Grace's latest obsession, Misty Crosslin, who sits in jail begging her dad, a drug addict on probation, and mom, a drug addict on probation, and drug addict brother on probation, to please find her bail money.

And who is Chen kidding with "can't afford something they want: take a pass.." Most people today under age 40 delay nothing, it's instant gratification and they will beg, borrow, steal, con, manipulate, and reach for their cell phone to get what they want. And another thing that bothers me about "progressives." They push the insane idea that everyone should be college educated when we know that half the population can barely read and write and are ill-equipped and unqualified for higher education. Progressives have made menial/manual labor a dirty word rather than what it is - an honest day's work. (They will say it's an honest day job if done by anyone residing illegally though.)

CHEN: "But one lesson we can draw from the experiences of previous recession-era generations is that avoiding risk comes at a high cost in an economy notoriously impatient when it comes to human concerns."

---- What risks? Who is avoiding risk? Government? Policy makers? Youth? Note the "human concerns," more ideological buzz words, to make the reader feel he will suffer greatly if someone or some entity doesn't step up and risk something real soon. Previous generations were not bailed out by government - even during the Great Depression, people had helped themselves and one another by the time government got around to it. Today's rich and poor bailouts are socialism - "progressive" snuck right up on you didn't it.

CHEN: "So it comes full circle: those baby boomers donning Wal-Mart vests have much more in common with angsty cubicle denizens than you think. Workers young and old are struggling to find firm footing on an economic path wending toward indefinite misery. The longer communities and policymakers push back the question of creating a meaningful future for young workers, the more elusive the answers become."

---- Indefinite misery - unless someone creates a life for you, creates a job for you, creates passing scores for your education, creates your meaningful future, and makes certain when you're gray you never have to wear a vest, even if you want to. Damned if I know what you're supposed to be doing.

DIL - in several shots but I particularly like the cucumber one.

Exercise Bald Eagle III @ Yahoo! Video

Geography

GEOGRAPHY OF A WOMAN
Between 18 and 22, a woman is like Africa . Half-discovered, half-wild, fertile and naturally beautiful!

Between 23 and 30, a woman is like Europe . Well-developed and open to trade, especially for someone of real value.

Between 31 and 35, a woman is like Spain, very hot, relaxed and convinced of her own beauty.

Between 36 and 40, a woman is like Greece, gently aging but still a warm and desirable place to visit.

Between 41 and 50, a woman is like Great Britain, with a glorious and all-conquering past.

Between 51 and 60, a woman is like Israel, has been through war, doesn't make the same mistakes twice, takes care of business.

Between 61 and 70, a woman is like Canada, self-preserving, but open to meeting new people.

After 70, she becomes Tibet ... Wildly beautiful, with a mysterious past and the wisdom of the ages ... an adventurous spirit and a thirst for spiritual knowledge.

GEOGRAPHY OF A MAN
Between 1 and 80, a man is like Iran, ruled by nuts ...

Dig Two Holes

MOSCOW, Ohio -- Like many people, Terry Hoskins has had troubles with his bank. But his solution to foreclosure might be unique.

Hoskins said he's been in a struggle with RiverHills Bank over his Clermont County home for nearly a decade, a struggle that was coming to an end as the bank began foreclosure proceedings on his $350,000 home.

"When I see I owe $160,000 on a home valued at $350,000, and someone decides they want to take it – no, I wasn't going to stand for that, so I took it down," Hoskins said.

Hoskins said the Internal Revenue Service placed liens on his carpet store and commercial property on state Route 125 after his brother, a one-time business partner, sued him.

The bank claimed his home as collateral, Hoskins said, and went after both his residential and commercial properties.

"The average homeowner that can't afford an attorney or can fight as long as we have, they don't stand a chance," he said.

Hoskins said he'd gotten a $170,000 offer from someone to pay off the house, but the bank refused, saying they could get more from selling it in foreclosure.

---- The opinion survey with this story showed 78% checked "good for him." That shows the animosity and aimless anger of folks. Mr. Hoskins basically bulldozed his own life.

Hoskins had to owe the bank more than the $170K offer - perhaps for loans on his commercial property or business loans and any monies from his business property would go to the IRS. In his own words Hoskins says the house is "cross-collateral" which means he's in hock with other loans to the bank. The IRS is always first in line. It also doesn't make sense to me why the IRS would place liens "after his brother ... sued him." The IRS places liens for taxes owed to the IRS.

Why did his own brother sue him, for business practices that brought in the IRS? If Hoskins paid attorneys for a lengthy battle, why not put that money toward the debts and liens? Were those attorneys to fight his brother's suit or the IRS or both? It's legal to transfer assets prior to an IRS lien, why didn't the man do that? He could negotiate a better deal with the IRS if assets are out of their reach. Did his business go under after the IRS liens? IRS liens ruin your personal and business credit.

No one likes dealing with the IRS, no one likes dealing with banks. For 15 minutes Hoskins can play the common man's hero, but he's dug himself a very deep hole, faces possible prosecution, and in more debt than ever as he owes the bank the full value of the home now. The new American breed - don't learn from your failures, just blame who/whatever and seek revenge.

As the old adage says - when you seek revenge, dig two holes - Hoskins did.

Weenies

Pediatricians Want Redesign of Hot Dogs, Candy to Curb Kids' Choking.

MONDAY, Feb. 22 (HealthDay News) -- The leading group of pediatricians in the United States is pushing for a redesign of common foods such as hot dogs and candies, along with new warning labels placed on food packaging, to help curb sometimes fatal incidents of child choking. Hot dogs are a prime offender, accounting for 17 percent of food-related asphyxiation in children under the age of 10, according to one study.

--- Wonder how many millions this "study" and bright idea of redesigning a hotdog cost taxpayers...This asinine proposal is because of those mothers who stick a wiener in the kid's hand, right out of the package/no bun, because it's the easiest meal for mom to make. I could walk down the street now and would see at least 1 toddler standing on a porch step with a runny nose and a cold hotdog dinner.

God, how did I manage to raise 5 kids without "leading group" studies and bureaucratic intervention. And how the hell do you redesign a hotdog?

Oogabooga Tweedles

Those folks who are or lean libertarian seem to believe Ron Paul has a shot for the 2012 presidential candidacy. Whut? The man, if he won, would be 78 when sworn into office. Sure, there are many vibrant active near-octogenarian elderly out there, but they're not applying for the most powerful and stressful job on the planet.

Paul introduced term limits which I believe in but that has went nowhere of course.

He served in congress from 1976 to 1984 and again from 1996 to present, and has run for president a couple or three times. He claims that "By abolishing extravagant perks like the lucrative congressional pension plan, we will remove the incentives for people to make a career out of elected office." That hasn't stopped Paul from making a career out of elected office ... although admirably he does refuse the pension plan and other perks. On the other hand, has Paul changed anything in the D.C. machine? I don't think so.

Ultra rightwingers support Paul, as do many on the "left," because of Paul's noninterventionist policies, return to the gold standard, abolish the income tax, etc., and in his heydays Paul stood for abolishing the FBI and CIA. He once called Reagan a failure but sorta back paddled on that because of all the Reagan love-festers. Paul also is one of those who encourages "fear the government" propaganda. Odd sometimes where the right and left meet up and agree.

Off topic a bit, but Peter Schwartz, a "scenario planner" has 4 possible scenarios for the future of the US:
1. Collapse. Occurs after a long series of catastrophes, i.e. natural disasters, pandemic nuclear war, any catastrophe that breeds internal division and bungled government response (i.e. Katrina). Or Zimbabwe sized corruption, "a succession of executives who pilfer the national treasury and refuse to hold free elections."
2. Friendly breakup. The country dissolves peacefully because the overhead of running a large nation becomes unmanageable. Schwartz likens this to the breakup of the Soviet Union, a case where the cost of holding the country together proved too great and the advantages too small.
3. Global governance. The national government declines in importance relative to the world community. US importance will be maintained as long as the welfare state continues to extend well beyond our borders - we will cut welfare at home before cutting foreign nations off the dole.
4. Global conquest. "The final scenario and the grimmest of all: A figure described variously as a "global Napoleon," "a much more empowered Hitler," and "a super-Mao" conquers America and the rest of the world via brute force. This idea, which Schwartz classifies as the least likely of the four, leads us to debate whether it's harder to subjugate the world than it used to be—Schwartz believes it is, as there are "more people with military competence spread across the world." That's followed by a discussion of the best method to exercise dominion over the globe. "I think the way you conquer the world these days is from space," he says. "You can put weapons up there and shut down the world."

Personally, I think we may be at the Zimbabwe level. Our execs just hide it better and convinced us elections are "free," that somehow electing tweedledee or tweedledum makes a huge difference.

As for global governance, just looking at the current global leaders tells us how much fun that will be.

I can't see the "friendly breakup" - the Confederacy tried that, although that might be the least painful future for the US. We could all live in the state that caters to our particularly dogma. I find that most interesting, just to see which states attract which ideology, as they do to some extent already. I have seen folks relocate based on a State's acceptance of homoseuxality, based on welfare benefits, based on climate, cost of living, a sparse population, or the right to openly or conceal/carry. My silly hope is, in the event of a friendly breakup, that at least one state would attract the smart people.

Schwartz classifies global conquest by some unknown force as the least likely scenario but personally I think it may be the most likely future. And the new space age Napoleon won't be us, at least not with Obama's space funding which is nothing more than billions to "entice" private companies to build craft to ferry astronauts to the space station and a "flexible path" for other space exploration ... i.e. more treasury theft and graft for nothing to little in return (the 9.1 billion spent on the Bush return-to-the-moon project is gone/wasted folks).

Paul hits a few things right on the mark: "The use of the welfare state to cement popular support for the incumbent government remains intact. As a United States congressman, I regularly see how prevalent the welfare state mentality is among elected officials who use the tool of redistribution as a means to "buying votes" with the taxpayers' own money." Or "... if you think the financial crisis is bad and the financial system isn't working, wait until you find out when the dollar doesn't work." He advocates complete withdrawal from the United Nations, free market enterprise without government regulation, opposes tax funded NASA, etc. etc.

Honestly, if I thought Dr. Paul could accomplish even half of his proposals, I would support him as the next tweedle-in-chief, but I would also stock the cellar with beans and ammo. When you cut off the milk flowing from the world's biggest teat you have to expect a lot of chaos.

Hodgepodge #10

Healthcare reform: Will not be "reformed" until politicians and the public admit the problem is the fraud and waste perpetrated by patients and physicians simply because they can, especially on a public tab. Healthcare became all about big business in the 1980s, just ask Wall Street. Government intervention in healthcare has not helped the sick and needy; it has created them.

Palin criticized the "Family Guy" for mocking her son Trig's Down syndrome and called for the firing of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel over Emanuel's use of the phrase "fu----- retards": This is Palin expressing shallow-mindedness by demanding political correctness from a TV cartoon and foul-mouthed folk. Although if you believe Levi Johnston, the trailer park daddy of Palin's grandson, Palin herself has referred to her child as retarded. Affectionately I'm sure. In Sarah's next speech she will condemn liberals/democrats for demanding political correctness.

Tiger Woods apologizes to his family, his wife, his children, his friends, his fans, and his charitable foundation: He seemed sincere - until he emphasized that there was no domestic violence in his home, to put to rest the rumors that Elin chased him from the house with a golf club. I suppose she could have just had that golf club in her hand at 3 a.m. ... while I agree with Tiger that Elin has shown enormous grace in her handling of this situation, such grace does not always stop a woman from picking up the nearest cudgel to knock a man's brains out. Hell hath no fury ...

Left/liberal/democrats are linking Joe Stack, the Austin kamikaze pilot, to Tea Partyers and rightwingers, while the rightwingers want to connect Stack to the "left": But his manifesto, if it is his, reads more left than right. "The communist creed: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need. The capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed." --- As a small business person, I can identify with much of Joe's rant. Regardless of what the government is doing or not doing, the majority of Stack's problems were his to own - in the end he chose to blame everyone else, which is what sociopaths and democrats typically do. It has always been survival of the fittest, and if you cannot outsmart and out think a parasitic government and its incompetent bureaucrats and employees ...

The DOJ decided "... lawyers showed "poor judgment" but did not commit professional misconduct when they authorized CIA interrogators to use waterboarding and other harsh tactics at the height of the U.S. war on terrorism, an internal review released Friday found." --- Did you expect a different conclusion?

Buenos Aires, Feb 18 (Prensa Latina). "Argentinean association Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo demanded the Nobel Committee to take away the Prize granted in 2009 to North American President Barack Obama, who keeps sending troops to fight other countries." ---This complaint coming from a country where the politicians and police are some of the most corrupt in the world, laundering drug money in plain sight, illegal arms sales to their neighbors, using death squads to fight crime, where abandoned children roam the streets sniffing glue and prostituting. Pot/kettle, glass/house. But yes, Nobel can take back Obama's prize, and we can give Mark Sanford to Argentina.

New York, Feb 19 (Reuters) - "U.S. front-month crude oil futures shot up to more than $80 a barrel in post-settlement trading on Friday, a five-week high, as geopolitical worries about Iran's nuclear program and strikes at French refineries." --- Hugo smiles, anything less is an oligarchical plot by his capitalist opponents.

Huntsville: The Alabama university professor charged with fatally shooting three colleagues is remorseful but does not recall the shooting, her defense attorney said yesterday. Roy W. Miller said Amy Bishop, 44, is likely insane and does not remember pulling out a handgun and shooting six colleagues, three fatally, at a biology department faculty meeting a week ago at the University of Alabama-Huntsville. "She just doesn’t remember shooting these folks," he said. --- The beginning of more antisocial female mass murderers. Amy Bishop, self-proclaimed intellectual, had her insanity defense planned before she locked and loaded. You've come a long way baby. Not only has the women's movement achieved its goal of teaching men to be more in touch with their emotions (effete), women have become stronger (mannish), able to wield swords and pump a shotgun with one hand. No Bette Davis or Kate Hepburns. No sirree, you got Sara Conners, Lara Croft, Kill Bill, an endless supply of leathered-up weapon toting babes.

A new study shows those who are bullied more are likely to have problems in other parts of their lives, lacking nonverbal communication skills: Inability to read nonverbal cues, understanding their social meaning, and coming up with options to resolve social conflict. In other words, both bully and bullied are social retards.

'Miss me yet?' asks billboard, George W. Bush. Not really Dubya since Barry O is more or less continuing your reign.

Last but not least, the Misery Index for January 2010 is at 12.33. The index was in double digits (10, 11, 12) during much of the 1980s and '90s. The all time high in my lifetime was 21.98 in June of 1980, so our misery still has a way to go. Even during the 1930s Great Depression the index can be calculated at 21-23. So when yapping heads say today is as bad or nearly as bad as the depression, that everything is spinning out of control, or worse that the guvmint has rescued the economy - just remember it is not even as bad as 1980. Yet.

Bayh's Burning Love

Evan Bayh : "To put it in words most people can understand: I love working for the people of Indiana, I love helping our citizens make the most of their lives, but I do not love Congress. I will not, therefore, be a candidate for election to the Senate this November."

Ya gotta wonder - is there a massive corporate payday in Bayh's future, or a scandal? Have republicans pulled out the polaroids to convince a few Dems to retire? (Does his "put it in words most people can understand" sound condescending?)

Evan is the son of Senator Birch Bayh, who was a pol from 1954 to 1980, when he lost his reelection bid to Dan Quayle after having lost his bid for the democratic presidential nomination to Jimmy Carter. You really must be a loser to lose to Dan Quayle.

I remember Evan's daddy, Birch Bayh. He made news in the 1978-79 bribery scandal of rice dealer and lobbyist Tongsun Park. The "Koreagate" scandal likely cost Dad his senate seat; but the senate ethics committee dropped an investigation into daddy Bayh. Tongsun still in the news decades later in the "Oil for Food" scandal.

I think Evan Bayh may be prepping for higher office. No longer in love with congress, he's a man of the people, a populist come to represent the common folk. Wife Susan, as described in the Indiana Journal, is a "professional board member," having been a board member and/or attorney of a dozen plus different corporations over the years (Eli Lilly & Company, Wellpoint, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Curis, Dyax).

But Bayh assured the common folk "... his wife's ties have had no bearing on his Congressional actions." And Mrs. Bayh points out that her rapid rise in the corporate world had nothing to do with hubby's senator career. Both are not influenced at all by corporate money peddlers, but by a burning desire to serve the people.

Just thinking about how pols are serving the people, and particularly generational peddlers and pols, makes me want a long hot shower with a rough sponge and a lot of soap.

Joe the (Assistant) Plumber

He's back. Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, or Joe the Plumber, political activist, author, commentator, possible future pol, etc.

Joe now says about John McCain : "I don't owe him s—. He really screwed my life up, is how I look at it."

Since the 2008 election:
Wurzelbacher has signed with a publicity management agent regarding media relationships, including "a possible record deal with a major label, personal appearances and corporate sponsorships."

In November 2008, Wurzelbacher was hired for a series of commercials reminding people to convert analog television to digital

In November 2008, Wurzelbacher began promoting his book Joe the Plumber: Fighting for the American Dream. Co-written with novelist Thomas ... the book addresses Wurzelbacher’s ideas concerning American values. In particular, Wurzelbacher criticizes John McCain and states that he did not want him as the Republican presidential nominee.

In January 2009, Wurzelbacher began work as a motivational speaker and commentator. His first assignment was to comment from Israel on the fighting between the Israeli Defence Forces and Hamas, focusing on the Israeli experience of the conflict. On February 26, Wurzelbacher spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference, where he led a panel titled "conservatism 2.0". On February 27, he spoke at the Washington, D.C. American Tea Party protest in Lafayette Park. In March, Wurzelbacher attended two conferences in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, first speaking to the "Conservative Young Professionals of Milwaukee," and then at the “Defending the American Dream Summit." On April 15, he spoke at the Michigan Tax Day Tea Party in Lansing. On May 6, 2009, Wurzelbacher appeared at a campaign event on behalf of New Jersey Gubernatorial Candidate Steve Lonegan. In May 2009, Time magazine reported that Wurzelbacher was quitting the Republican Party. On September 19 he spoke at a Tea Party protest at Veteran's Park in Milwaukee.

---- Joe also considered running for public office but after talking to God about it he felt God said no. God wants him in the "grassroots" activist area.

I wonder sometimes if "grassroots organizer/activist " may be code for the old Socialist "central planner." Grassrooter being the entry level. (If Hayek is correct, that central planning robs people of their basic freedoms and ruins their economy, then we must be on schedule.)

But, I think Joe has all the qualities of an American flip-flop politician - self-absorbed, self-serving, self-important, wanting big income for little effort, and really full of b.s.

Innate Simpletons

Tea Partyers Are White Nationalists, Pure and Simple.

Proof please, or just BAR's opinion?

There was a local Tea Party a few months ago but the turnout was small. However, the Partyers "core values" are: Fiscal Responsibility, Constitutionally Limited Government, and Free Markets. I can agree with that.

White Nationalists, KKK, Stormfront, skinheads, etc. are small groups of antisocial misfits and losers seeking attention. They can make money preaching their b.s. Their "leaders" are similar, like it or not, to guys like Jeremiah Wright - blaming another race for the benefit of their personal coffers. Painting a target on the back of someone else. Shepherds, herds, dues, collection plates - and they all claim God is on their side.

The "left" would be lost if not for the bums and excons of White Nationalists to scare folks. White Nationalists have as much power as did the multiracial S.L.A., or the Black Liberation Army - self-styled militants who consider themselves a revolutionary vanguard army. The only thing such groups accomplish is making criminals of themselves. They all use the same rhetoric, same shooting range, same tactics, making everything a class or race struggle, appealing to the most incompetent and weak-minded among us.

I guess BAR would think Les Phillip is an Uncle Tom for defending the Tea Partyers? Or Angela McGlowan from Mississippi?

Someone on the "right" suggested a literacy test and to the "left" that equals racism. I know a lot of folks, black, white, and brown, who agree that voters should be literate. Every wonder if we are where we are because too many stupid have been voting for too long?

The "left" had an orgasm when Meghan McCain said Tea Parties represent "innate racism." But shucks, what can you expect from a political youngin' like Meg who gets more attention with her boobs than her brains.

Valentines

In Every Beat


Best Thing

Swashbucklers

After falling short of the supermajority needed last week under streamlined rules for noncontroversial bills, Delegate Donna Christensen's bill to make St. Croix's Estate Castle Nugent a National Historic Site passed the House of Representatives Wednesday, and will be heading on to the Senate.

Zero Republicans supported the bill both times. Five Democrats voted no initially and four voted no on the second vote. The final vote was 240-yes to 175-no.

Based on Park Service estimates, CBO figures the entire 2,900 acres of non-submerged land addressed by the bill has a value of about $45 million and would take 10 years to acquire. The submerged land belongs to the V.I. Government and would be donated or traded, perhaps for land within the V.I. National Park on St. John.

In addition, CBO estimates a cost of $1 million to develop a general management plan and $1 million a year to manage the new park.

---- Owners of the property, the Gasperi family of cattle ranchers, wanted to prevent the land from being raped and pillaged, or "developed." They must be delighted with $45,000,000+ million in their coffers with the US government "managing" this historic site (former sugar cane and cotton plantations).

Now you can really appreciate the US department of parks, the department of interior, and department of park barrel politics -- every time you book the luxury guesthouse at Estate Castle, go nature hiking, dine on a free range drug free T-bone, or drink Jump Up and Kiss Me's made from Cruzan rum ... argggh argggh me matey.

Murtha

Jack Murtha dead at 77. Nature's term limits at work.

Tragic Comedy

The AFL-CIO is calling on Congress and the Obama administration to take five steps now to care for the jobless and put America back to work.

Extend unemployment benefit, food assistance, cobra for another 12 months. "Extending benefits also will boost personal spending and create jobs throughout the economy."

Rebuild America’s schools, roads and energy systems. America still has at least $2.2 trillion in unmet infrastructure needs.

Increase aid to state and local governments to maintain vital services. State and local governments and school districts have a $178 billion budget shortfall this year alone—while the recession creates greater need for their services.

Put people to work doing work that needs to be done. If the private sector can't or won't provide the needed jobs, the government should step up to the plate, putting people who need jobs together with work that needs to be done. These should never be replacements for existing public jobs. They must pay competitive wages and should target distressed communities.

----- While the above "calling on" sounds well and good - it's the same liberal/left hype I have heard for decades. Decades I tell you.

The AFLCIO outlived its purpose long ago; now just another international fatcat political organization claiming "Our political system is awash with dirty money, corporate money and foreign money," while they spend millions on their preferred candidates. Laughably, many union members are government employees. Whatever happened to the ULLICO scandal where labor leaders were profiting on insider trading? There was some sort of money laundry scandal involving AFLCIO/Teamsters and a guy named Carey. Doesn't anyone watch the Sopranos to understand how labor groups function?

"... putting people who need jobs together with work that needs to be done." Sounds simple and easy doesn't it. These same old talking points are temporary band-aids - benefits and busy work - and have been in play for decades.

To "create programs" or extend current programs, minimally keeps folk afloat for a short while, but these "programs" are nonproductive, solve nothing, create debt. Over the last few decades trillions have been poured into hundreds of "departments" of education, health, housing, social programs, transportation ... and wasted (stolen) at every level of bureaucratic disbursement.

Question is - who is the tax base that will generate the revenue or "step up to the plate" to pay for extended benefits, job creation, for the eternal building of schools that require metal detectors, to pay Bubba for filling potholes when he's not in rehab?

Do we just print more money as we have done for the last few decades? Or, as some say, use the war chest for the extending, building, creating. Really? I know, I know, it sounds so feasible and reasonable and good. Make roads, not war. Make Bubba spread tar, not war.

And how many do we put out of work when cutting defense spending? A war chest covers not just guns and bullets - but textiles, agriculture, hi-tech, R&D, aviation, shipping, automotive, science, education, finance, manpower. Defense spending, like it or not, supports and employs millions. Are there enough potholes and middle schools to employ everyone?

Does the liberal/left know how the economy works? In simple terms: You make a product/service which creates a market. The product/market will pay for salaries and goods that in turn generate other salaries and goods. These dollars create wealth which brings a higher living standard for everyone who produces.

Folks who do not produce are burdens to someone else. When you have more burdens than producers - you collapse. Which slice of the production/burden/collapse pie chart are we eating?

People and nations who do not produce go bankrupt. You cannot allocate funds if you are not producing funds. Tax the "rich"? The rich only tolerate a certain level of taxation before they take their money and run. A good many have done so. If you think the economy is bad now, just wait until more of the wealth has moved to tax friendlier places. Will you pay enough taxes to cover your government created temp job?

The U.S. has the highest combined statutory corporate income tax rate among OECD countries. Current theme is a nation will not attract new and expanded business and its attendant job creation if its corporate income tax is significantly higher than it is in comparable nations.

While you've been busy begging to fill potholes at a competitive wage and eating on foodstamps, the liberal/left has been creating government ownership through the welfare state and the corrupt bureaucracy that comes with it.

Think the liberal/left worked to your benefit? Then why did the markets that produce disappear from the US. The "left" has campaigned for years that protectionism is bad, we're all the same yet diverse, we are the world, workers unite, it's a global village - what they didn't tell you is you're one of many village idiots and you live like one.

Much of the US population is on the receiving end of the current tax-revenue stream. Estimates are 56% of Americans, but I have read figures as high as 80% when including other segments of society dependent on government support (disability, prisons, government funded institutions, rebates, refunds, free lunch and breakfast, etc.).

Feel-good incompetent "empty-eyed" politicians have endorsed a new breed of American rich who build estates anywhere in the world and feel at home, and a new breed of lower classes who prefer to gripe, an organized gripe of course, and wait for the government promised rescue.

Fact is, if you're getting a handout from government in any way, shape, or form - then you can't bitch when government bails out Wall Street. You have signed on to the unspoken deal between pothole fillers and pinstripe killers.

Guvmint Jobs

If executive bonuses rub you the wrong way so should congressional staffer bonuses. Lawmakers Have Long Rewarded Their Aides With Bonuses. In 2008 "more than 200 House lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, awarded bonuses totaling $9.1 million to more than 2,000 staff members, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of office-disbursement forms. The money comes out of taxpayer-funded office budgets, and is surplus cash that would otherwise be forfeited if not spent."

In 2009, "The House program pays up to $10,000 a year, with a maximum lifetime benefit of $60,000. Staffers making any salary are now eligible, though their total compensation - including the loan repayment - cannot exceed the 2009 cap of $168,411. From 2008 through May of this year, the cap was $145,159."

The justification for bonuses is - similar to private corporate bonus excuses - to attract the best and brightest, talented staffers - who are underpaid for their long grueling hours of hard work, they could make more money in the private sector, etc. etc. etc.

What do these talented underpaid "staffers" do? Their tasks include : Developing legislation, managing the office, press relations, answering mail, casework, scheduling appearances and appointments, and other duties. Congressional committee staff assist members with committee hearings, markups, reports, and assist Members when necessary on the floor and in conference committees."

"Developing legislation?" Sounds like writing policy to me ... Scheduling ... like those Vegas or tropical get-togethers. Press relations, appearances - damage control and constant campaigning for the next election; photo-ops. Answering mail/casework ... assisting just enough voters back home with petty nonpolitical problems to boost reelection odds.

Thank goodness these staffers worked so hard to give us things like the Patriot Act, TARP, Obamacare, Pork R'Us proposals...

Typical House and Senate staffer incomes are shown here. Not shown are the perks - paid travel expenses, health insurance, paid holidays/vacations, etc., and best of all the contacts made in the halls of power and K Street. Many of the staff positions, such as mail opener and phone answerer are not high pay, but the top staffers usually go on to lucrative careers in business or public/private "institutes". Some staffers go on to become congress critters themselves.

Staffing can also serve to supplement income of the congress critter's friends and family. And there's always the prospect of working decades as the top office dog, such as Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen's Chief of Staff, Arthur Estopinan.

Chief of staffers typically earn 6-figures. They also can work for more than one congress critter, can hold paid positions on other "committees." Example: Chief staffer for Glen Nye (D-VA) Angela Kouters. Or as with David McKean , chief of staff for John Kerry and staff director for Senate Foreign Relations Committee, for a lowly underpaid 2009 salary of about $168,000, and all that elbow rubbing of the rich.

Amazing huh that pols used to write pamphlets and declarations in short order that most men and women could understand - now we require thousands of overworked underpaid staffers to assemble a foot-high paper pile that no one can make any sense of, other than the industries the pile will benefit.

It's A Whitewing Conspiracy

The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander.

Crow theory sampler: The white backlash against Black success in tearing down Jim Crow led to a new form of racial domination: mass Black incarceration. "A new race-neutral language was developed for appealing to old racist sentiments." The "war on drugs" was central to the new system of control. "Before 1988, one year was the maximum prison sentence for possession of any amount of drug." Bill Clinton was to become the president most responsible for creating "the current racial undercaste."

Oh my, Billy Jeff Clinton, the "first Black president," was most responsible for the current domination of a racial undercaste? Note: The US prison and jail population as of 2008 was 33.44% White, 40.21% Black, 20.29% Hispanic, and 6.06% Other. The reason there is 7% more Blacks than Whites is because many poor white grandmamas will get little Bubba a slicker attorney than the public defender, even if she has to take out a second mortgage on her dilapidated house.

I'm sure The New Jim Crow is an interesting read and I would mentally argue with a great deal of it. Alexander's book, to paraphrase Van Jones' review, "shows that mass incarceration of Black America is the American gulag ... that the prison industry is to the 21st Century what Jim Crow was to the 20th" ... etc.

Yep, jailing colored folks is just the latest way whitey has devised to control Black America. I wonder, does Ms. Alexander know the little details that shape most black convicts? Like feral childhoods without a daddy and/or a sometime mama? Like running the street from the time the kid is old enough to walk? Or thinking the world owe you something just because you're here (sing it Pops ). Carrying a chip on the shoulder that nothing and no one is big enough to knock off. And thinking work, sacrifice, and education are for fools, 'specially white fools.

Does the author know that the baggy pants thugwear began in prison? Not because of any "gay" thing behind bars but simply because inmates were issued poorly fitting pants without belts, and hip hop artists adopted the style to further their tough guy image. Although I fail to see how showing a butt crack enhances one's masculinity. And you think clothes don't make the man? How can ya be a man with your pants on the ground.

Does anyone but the most addicted kool-aid drinkers, and/or blame whitey profiteers, believe that Black incarceration is a grand planned white conspiracy that supposedly somehow ensures white superiority?

Don't you think the prison industry would be just as fat and happy locking up their own race - the trailer trash, the meth heads, and crackerbillies dealing? You really think the white ruling class conspired to jail black men so the dregs of their society won't feel inferior?

There is no "new Jim Crow" or "white backlash" against Black success.

There are only authors, publishers, and brother-hoods who strongly and profitably encourage the black "undercaste" to "sputano nel piatto che mangiano da," or more bluntly, to shit where they eat. And then blame someone else for the mess on their plate.

Obamaretic Tingle

Did Barak deliver a message for his followers with his SOTU speech? Yessirree, same old same old postracial political cowpies.

Obama's speech was like every other presidential pep talk - basically telling us the worst is over, the best is yet to come, stay the course, build a new foundation for prosperity, we can do it rah rah rah. Although I do believe Barry had more b.s. in this speech than previous. If I didn't know better I would think his speech writers were over-educated hippies from the '60s. To be honest, my first thought was Bill Ayers and his Chicago bunch are putting words in Obama's mouth because I know Obama knows better. Unfortunately, he and his handlers believe you are fool enough to believe their political cowpie checklist.

For instance, Obama's statement on the recent SCOTUS ruling : "The Supreme Court reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests -- including foreign companies -- to spend without limit in our elections. Well I don't think American elections should be bankrolled by America's most powerful interests, and worse, by foreign entities."

Can you say demagogue?

Isn't Barak's education in law? He knows better! Not to mention a dime or two in his political coffers came from "foreign" bagmen like Nadhmi Auchi and Tony Rezko and a host of unknown shady characters.

To begin with, foreign companies are still not allowed, the ruling did not change that. (The Court held that 2 U.S.C. Section 441a, which prohibits all corporate political spending, is unconstitutional. Foreign nationals, specifically defined to include foreign corporations, are prohibiting from making “a contribution or donation of money or other thing of value, or to make an express or implied promise to make a contribution or donation, in connection with a Federal, State or local election” under 2 U.S.C. Section 441e, which was not at issue in the case. Foreign corporations are also prohibited, under 2 U.S.C. 441e, from making any contribution or donation to any committee of any political party, and they prohibited from making any "expenditure, independent expenditure, or disbursement for an electioneering communication.")

Secondly, special interests/corporations have always bought and sold congressmen, governors, mayors, etc. In the 1950s we had Scoop Jackson, the "Boeing senator," and today the Lockheed senators, Northrop senators, Merck, Babcock, GE, etc. Nothing changed, other than today the pols and media do not openly nickname senators with the corporation they're porking for.

Corporation includes all "businesses" that have a snout at the trough - public, private, for and not-for profit. What pols have changed somewhat is the route to the money - the roads now go through more departments, the "Department of " Labor, HUD, Education, Agriculture, Transportation, etc. Makes the skunks smell better. Every department needs congressmen proposing more funds for dumbass but expensive ideas that a corporation will profit from at some level, i.e. the big dig, the bridge to nowhere, military jets that don't fly, a train to serve Disney World.... also known as earmarks. Trough hogs, pork, earmarks - the double-speakers are coaxing us toward the day when we will call such corruption simply "worthy funds" and feel good about it.

I could not force myself to watch the entire speech. The man is nearly as phony as Bush the Boy. I think the last honest heartfelt speech I heard was MLK's I Have a Dream, and he did. That's the problem with today's speakers - they have no dream; they have image makers and hairdressers, and speech writers assigned to cover designated talking points on what out-of-touch pols think we want to hear. It's enough to drive me into the arms of Glenn Beck or crypt keeper Larry King. There's less b.s. in tawdry gossip, sob stories, or watching the vein pump in Beck's neck.

And then I heard that idiot pundit Chris Matthews say "I forgot he was black tonight for an hour." Isn't Matthews the guy during the campaign who said Obama gave him a tingle up his leg?

Chris suffers, as many whites do, from the "mighty white of you" Harry Reid "light-skinned no Negro dialect" syndrome. Those with this syndrome also say things like "She/he is pretty to be a Negro." "He/she is really smart to be a Negro." "He/she sure are clean to be a Negro." "He/she works 2 jobs and is a Negro."

Usually such folks put their feet in their mouth because they overreach when praising the Negro - Chris thought that by stating he forgot Obama was black was a compliment - because white folks think the highest praise they can give you is to say they "forgot" for a minute (or an hour) that you're a Negro.

Crocheting Dolls

A man and woman had been married for more than 50 years. They had shared everything. They had talked about everything. They had kept no secrets from each other except the little old woman had a shoe box in the top of her closet that she had cautioned her husband never to open or ask her about.

For all of these years, he had never thought about the box, but one day the little old woman got very sick and the doctor said she would not recover. In trying to sort out their affairs, the little old man took down the shoe box and took it to his wife's bedside. She agreed that it was time that he should know what was in the box. When he opened it, he found two crocheted dolls and a stack of money totaling $95,000. He asked her about the contents.

"When we were to be married," she said, '"my grandmother told me the secret of a happy marriage was to never argue. She told me that if I ever got angry with you, I should just keep quiet and crochet a doll."

The little old man was so moved, he had to fight back tears. Only two precious dolls were in the box. She had only been angry with him twice in all those years of living and loving. He almost burst with happiness. "Honey," he said, "that explains the doll, but what about all of this money? Where did it come from?"

"Oh," she said, "that's the money I made from selling the dolls."

Harry Scarey

Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader and isolated white male from Nevada, apologizes for racial remarks.

Reid said he believed the nation was ready to "embrace a black presidential candidate such as Obama" because Obama was "light-skinned and had no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one." Reid was convinced, in fact, that Obama's race would help him more than hurt him in a bid for the Democratic nomination.

Obama accepted Reid's apology stating he has known Reid for years, etc. etc. But pols claim to know one another for years simply because they rub elbows in the halls of D.C. and patronize the same clubs, restaurants, dinner parties, spas, brothels.

To put this another way, Reid was saying he feared most token-minded Democrats would vote for a light-skinneded darkie who can talk like a white person when he wants to. Ironic. Reid, a member of the political party that has worked long and hard to shackle us with political correctness - doesn't do it correctly.

Another Year

Whooo hooo, another year. Another year to watch the liberal left radicals, if we can call the anti-establishment that; probably should use a lot of quotation marks around words like "liberal" "left" "radicals" etc. to insinuate their phonihood. At any rate, another year to watch, listen, and read the "leftist" bash and hash of the same old pols, policies, and pundits.

Another year of pointless rants and writings about Meltdowns, Bailouts, and Bonuses - even though these events have been occurring since 1776 - you would think your generation is the first to experience them.

Another year for the "left" to tell us what each and every political speech really means: Basically, each speech given by any politician means "more of the same." Another year of ranting how the rich are getting richer. Another year to rage against the machine because it turns decent men into patsies and prisoners - yep, just standing around doing nothing minding your own business and you could be the next convict or casualty of America's social, political, or economic injustice.

Another year to read radical forums where the endless discussion is on the theories of dead leftists and what the "movement" needs. There's always a couple of folks who stand out as having great knowledge and understanding of all things political - as opposed to the others who paste and copy from their manifesto with a snarky comment to nonbelievers or tell the forum guru how right-on he/she is. You couldn't pay me to participate in chatter with these people let alone become a pay-pal member. I'd sooner sit down with Sarah Palin and listen to her bleat about core values while Bristol served us beer and peanuts with little Tripp saddled on her hip.

Another year to hear we are all victims of the capitalist system which lies and murders and tortures - we are all potential detainees with a black bag of underwear on our heads. Another year to hear the "war on terror" is phony hype to scare us dumb Americans into dying for oil, because Russia or India or China or the EU would be much kinder about getting all the oil and wealth. Yes, the rest of the world is a kinder thief - they let the US bleed and pass the oil to them so they can produce tons of junk we dummies don't need but buy anyway, out of our low-wage jobs and/or guvmint checks/EBT.

Another year to hear how the poor need mo' money; and to remind us of the poor in Latino countries who are experiencing the "leftist" dream under leftist presidents (Hugo, Evo, Castro, Ortego). If only the US would elect a president with a name ending in "o" we too might experience a social "revolution."

Another year of anniversaries to rub rancor in old wounds so they never heal, MLK, MX, Fred Hampton, Medgar, and every civil righter or radical who was ever murdered or martyred. Most young black adults can't tell you who Hampton and Medgar were but most white "leftists" can. Actually, even MLK and MX mean little to anyone anymore other than a few black old-schoolers and a lot of white leftists who write as if they know the hearts of all men.

Yessirree, make demands for mo' stuff from the same folks who, according to the "left", murdered those who demanded change. Those who survive making demands go on to become preachers and professors who basically teach and preach how to game the system; sometimes they trot out to make statements when CNN or Fox News call for a "left" opinion. Preachers and professors - the oldest form of prostitution.

Another year to listen to the "left" beg for more and better education - never mind that education has been getting more money year after year and yet the population is dumber than a century ago. But what can ya do with a public school system where disinterested parents want teachers to housebreak their children, and too many teachers use movies in the classroom as educational tools. The academy of Woody Woodpeckers and Willie Wonkers.

Remember "We Want Jobs." Even if we be uneducated, felonious, and lazier than an old Mississippi porch dog - we still want jobs that pay us enough to consume all the bling we can buy and deserve for bitterly putting up with this unfair shit.

Another year to rant about the system that impoverishes predominantly blacks and Latinos, because of racism - I guess the Natives are reluctant to join the "movement" now that they're raking in casino dollars. And I gotta wonder, why aren't all the poor white folks out there demanding an end to the capitalist system? Is the "left" nothing more than a colored underclass led predominantly by white snakeoil salesmen with a slick Van Jones or Cynthia McKinney thrown in for show?

Another year to read rants on the unfairness of life in general, written by guys and gals from their radical beach chairs or condo or ranch. Remember these folks made it in spite of the system, not because of it. They repeat their socialist mantras with every corporate paycheck directly deposited into their account, with every donation their followers pay a pal, because you know, they're paid to put "the truth" out there.

It all sort of gives new meaning to the phrase "death to America."

Bigger Hammers

America's White Underclass By JOE BAGEANT.

Not to pick on Joe in particular but some thoughts came to me when reading this piece of his mind. Joe talks about the usual "code" words and attempts to give definition to the words "underclass" and "middle class."

Joe: "For instance, for all practical purposes and to most Americans, regardless of race, the term "middle class" means "white." Plain and simple. We all know that, even members of the "black middle class."

Until now I personally had not thought of "middle class" as having a color, but just simply an income level, or the class of Mr. and Mrs. Keeping Up With The Jones. I missed that coding I guess and fell into the making assumptions people. According to the "left", I should have known middle class meant white folk.

According to Joe : "But this comes down to describing human beings solely in terms of their jobs in the capitalist labor marketplace, and assumptions about income and whether one takes their daily shower before they go to work or after they come home. By that definition, anyone of working age who doesn’t have a steady job of the right type, for whatever reason, is in some sort of “economic underclass.” In other words, they are the people that middle class folks feel should damned well be working, if they are over age 18 and have a pulse. (“If I gotta do time in this meaningless workhouse of a nation, you do too!”) This underclass includes any people of color seen on the street at midday during the week, single mothers, and paraplegics too, now that the middle class is paying taxes for handicap parking spaces and wheelchair access to the public shitters."

Again, personally I never gave much thought as to whether a person takes their shower before going to work or after coming home from work. However, husband and self have held jobs where we did the shower before and some after - never worried about the job being the "right type" as long as said job kept our boats afloat at the time.

I guess Joe's rant is about those pesky "bourgeois" folks who he thinks are looking down at everyone else as the "underclass." Does the "middle class" concern itself with why people of color are on the street midday? Single mothers, paraplegics? Although you know, most of those handicap spaces are not taken by paraplegics but by puffing 350+ pound younger people, usually in a new van or SUV, who manage to walk into the store to plop in one of those motorized carts at Wal-mart.

Joe goes on describing this hearty brand of "underclass": "Non-mainstreamers," in socio-demographic speak. Many of these are men who say, "Screw it, I ain’t gonna even bother to work my ass off and be treated like dirt for six bucks an hour. I’d rather shoot pool."

Yep, shoot pool and let the State support those 3 or 4 babies he's got. Maybe the guy can draw a check for that bad back sustained from leaning over the pool table so much. Is shooting pool now code for what real "men" do today?

And Joe goes on to rant about income disparity, his first-hand experience with being a member of the underclass, and the unfairness of the American system, blah blah blah. Boiling it down to his success came because he has real balls. Does that mean successful folks have real balls and the underclass has pool balls?

What struck me in this piece though is: "When it comes to the underclass, there is no arguing that some people are members because they are so damned uneducated they cannot count their toes or read well enough to fill out a job app, the causes of which are too deep and tangled to go into at the moment. Others just don’t care to do the smiling grammatically correct wimp assed customer service zombie thing. They prefer swinging a bigger hammer than that – doing real work, like America used to do."

A bigger hammer. Hmmm. Not too many years ago I remember when the so-called "left" or folks like Joe, were writing rants on that bigger hammer, those "real work" jobs. We were told by guys like Joe that those manufacturing jobs, mining jobs, shower-after-work jobs, although they paid well, were merely slave labor, physically destroying your mind and body, making zombies out of you with repetitive monotonous tedious and sometimes dangerous labor; sapping your soul and strength. They asked you, why should anyone have to put a widget in a widget on an assembly line all day? It's demeaning.

Well, the PTB heard the Joes and have rid the "underclass" or "middle class" of most of those big hammer jobs. And when men and women are offered "bigger hammer" jobs today, the jobs are too roughneck or too destructive to the green folks, or some group will complain and remind you that you should question why these jobs are of any use whatsoever - you could be playing pool or dealing drugs, getting a government check, or doing something easier all day.

And of course, Joe does the usual comparison to some foreign country that has it so much better. In this case Australia where he says a maid told him she makes $19/hour and was going to school with an assortment of public assistance programs. (I guess this means Aussie welfare is better than US welfare.)

According to Joe, if you're an old farty Wal-mart greeter or a Hooters waitress you are a member of the "humiliated and socially oppressed people." You might be a greeter for extra money to play bingo and that short hooter skirt doesn't compare to the sexting pics you send around - you're still mostly humiliated and oppressed by capitalism and the man.

I remember when it would have been humiliating to not work, regardless whether it was six dollars an hour or not. I remember when speaking good English didn't make you a "wimp assed" zombie but someone who was more employable. I remember when people were respected for working any job, period, not given excuses to hang around the pool hall and bitch about life instead of living it.

Guys like Joe, pretending to care while denigrating, and encouraging the ignorance and victimhood of all the "underclass" folks who should have everything and pay little to nothing for it instead of doing "time in this meaningless workhouse nation". Oh woe is us.

Dizzney World

There is really nothing of importance to write about.

Tiger Woods skirt-chasing to fill his emotional pit with plastic skanks when he has a good woman at home? Didn't mama warn you about guys like this? Few ever "settle down" and then only because they can't get it up, but now with Viagra ... the old guy in the bar picking up whatever is left at closing time.

How about reaming Obamabush a new one for his peace prizing Afghanistan surge? Or praising him for finally doing something with the issue other than deliberating it.

Could write about the old man Berlusconi's smack in the face with an overpriced religious souvenir.

How about the ever present global cooling, warming, no wait... it's climate change now. It's been proven - it's colder, it's warmer, yep, it's climate change.

How about Governor Patterson's cutting money to schools and municipal funding? It's described as a "fiscal bind" and "budget gaps." When regular folks are in the same situation it's called not having a pot to piss in or a window to throw it from.

There's always the WSWS to pick on. "US firms lose out in bidding for Iraq oil fields." In a clear signal of the declining influence of American capitalism, even in a country conquered and occupied by the US military, companies from China, Russia, Malaysia and Angola, along with several European oil giants, won most of the rights for exploration and development of Iraq’s oil fields. The most aggressive bidder was the China National Petroleum Company (CNPC), while Lukoil and Gazprom of Russia, and European firms like Royal Dutch Shell, ENI (Italy), British Petroleum, Statoil (Norway) and Total (France) all won bids. Petronas, the state-owned Malaysian oil company, won the most bids, three, while the Angolan state oil company Sonangol won two.

Duh. I told you 5 years ago - the US is just the muscle, the brains are elsewhere, although apparently some Americans had enough sense to know a good deal for selling out the US when they saw it. It's a clear signal for sure - of the influence of global capitalism mixed with feel-good fuzzy socialism.

But what the hay, we can always sing:

It's a world of laughter,
A world of tears.
It's a world of hopes,
And a world of fears.
There's so much that we share,
That it's time we're aware,
It's a small world after all.

Chorus:
It's a small world after all.
It's a small world after all.
It's a small world after all.
It's a small, small world.
(Repeat ad nauseam until you have permanent white matter atrophy.)

Ho hum. I'm going to go out on a limb here and be politically incorrect: Merry Christmas, merry Christmas. Hohoho - for all the old guys, and gals, in the bar. May your pits be filled.