THE TOP 12 POLITICAL FALLACIES OF 2012

YOU WILL LOVE EM. .READ EM HERE

ECONOMIC STARTING POINT 2013

A selection of graphs on the economy over time are presented by the Economic Policy Institute in this post.  The arrows on the side take you through the bunch of graphs they all explanations at the bottom , some require a little studying to fully understand their meaning.  It is well worth the time to look these over they provide a damn good basis for any economic discussion you might have..

DEEPER INTO THE SHEEPOL PEN

Here's another story on the attack on Occupy.  If the last piece I posted didn't make you happy, this one is worse..so read on fool.My feeling after reading this I felt just like a sheep being herded by a very mean dog..

OCCUPIED WAS OCCUPIED

The Ocuppy movement was hamstrung by the coordinated efforts of all manners of law enforcement agencies in cohorts with banking institutions countrywide.. This story is so unbelievable it has to be true... We saw with our own eyes the violence used to knock down the movement... A movement by the way that had little chance of affecting anything...Without a leader and pictures of  finger wiggling to make decisions should have been ample evidence that they were of little danger to government.

Yet , brute force was used in lots of confrontations , ugly enough to make a guy watching on tv wince.. 

Now we find out in the article presented here the depth of coordination between agencies to disrupt the peaceful group.. Just imagine what force could be applied to stop a more aggressive campaign.. 

To all this consider the rumors that detention centers have been built across the country may in fact be true.. Even though they may be hidden very well they could be there..What in the hell is happening to our country... and yet here we sit.

SULKING TIGER STUNNED BY CITIZEN APATHY

The Tiger has been very quiet the last few weeks.  He has been in the cave in the back of his pen brooding over the fact that few citizens seem to give a shit that we are about to be had again.. 

Yeah the Fiscal Cliff , that mythical drop purely invented by the polls to push us into accepting cuts in our social programs to save some of the tax cuts for the lower end folk... They are playing a very poor game of poker here.  They are holding two 3's and Obama has a full house.. Will Obama be out bluffed , I am afraid to bet.. I wouldn't but will he that is the question.

The weeks, months of debate on this subject have never revealed the true fixes to the deficit problem.. There are easy fixes to all the major drivers of the debt.. but you never hear of them from the politicians and only dam few talk and news personalities broach the real fixes... Just a very few in politics Bernie Sanders being one of the most outspoken and has named on the radio shows he visits some of the real fixes.. 

I've listed these fixes before and will do them again now , just in case you forgot..

Raise the ceiling on Social Security to 250K , that fixes the program far into the foreseeable future (although SS contributes nothing to the deficit problem the republicans want to cut it) because they always have hated the program..

Allow Medicare to negotiate  drug prices which will save half a trillion bucks over 10 years.

Stop using Civilian contractors to do military work.. cooks, drivers, comm folk, ordinary grunts and special forces should be all military.. I can't put a number on how much this would save but I'm betting over 10 years it would be at least a trillion..

Close all foreign bases that will not stand the scrutiny   of what they contribute to our defense policy.. We have closed many base inside the US how many how you heard of that were closed elsewhere.  Once again I don't have a number for how much savings are here but it would be a bunch. 

Discard building programs  for ships, airplanes and super super munitions we will never use.  

Stop all subsidy to corporations that don't need the help in what they do... support new development companies that need financial support till they get going.. Choose wisely, save a bunch.

Make Medicare Universal coverage for everyone, no exceptions eliminating Medicaid and other government medical assistance programs.. This one item all buy itself cures the annul deficit problem.. And tell those who object they don't know what they are talking about with their objection to the program.. Politicians don't pay much attention to our wants normally so why should they change to put Medicare in service for all.. Veterans would get a gold Medicare card covering every medical care a vet would need any where... 

Put a transaction tax on all financial transactions of 1/4 of a % bringing in lots of bucks and perhaps put limits on the Fast Track Trading programs that are 70% of the market and contribute nothing to the GDP.

Negate all derivative contracts  and prohibit all this type skulduggery   in the future.. Yep it would be busing contracts but they haven't stopped union contracts broken and pension funds stolen so why would they stop this..

Separate banks back to the each being only one phase of finance, either a Savings bank, or an Investment bank.. not both..

Severally limit the number of option contracts that can exist on any single commodity.. This stops all the speculative devices now being used to peak the markets at their will..

Stop the Federal Reserve pumping 90 Billion bucks a month into the banks buying up junk mortgage packages.. instead put that 90 Billion into rebuilding the structure and creating thousands of jobs and replacing aging bridges, schools, transportation systems, and fund retraining programs for all those displaced by change in job structure..

Last but not least , place import tariffs on all manufacturing that will create jobs in the industries that need to be done at home.. 

None of this will be done if we just sit on our hands.. We have to make our self heard and be loud and clear about our demands.. If we don't then take a look at most of the EU and see what they are doing for them, the same is planned for us.. We have got to stop it or be willing to give up the rest of what we have.. Your Choice.

WHAT WE NEED IS A WAR OF RELIGIONS

O'Reilly screams there is a war on Christmas , there's not.  But what we really need is a War on Religions. Leaders of the religious right after the Connecticut school shooting spew their evil beliefs that God allowed these killings because of the decadence of Americans.. Some were specific and claimed God did it because of God and Gays (Dobson) , Huckabee said because we have removed God from our schools.. Other claimed it was because of us allowing abortions.. 

Notice that all of these comments reflect on a very vindictive God who allows atrocities to happen because we didn't please him.. Now if that is true , Why would anybody confess to following such a God.. making you as vicious as he is.. 

A better case can be made that if you follow this God you are in bed with the crazies that have done the actual killings.. If we all followed these principles just imagine the life we would lead.. 

Instead if religions have to exist they should do good works like their Jesus suggested instead of spreading hate and discontent among the citizens... and to live their personal lives as they preach.. But they can't even do that.. Priests abuse children, clerical icons lead adulterous lives, practice acts they rant about on Sundays then are our Mondays doing the dirty deed.. In fact many have violated so many of the acts they scream about they should have been laughed off the stage long ago.. Yes the stage, it's all just as act founded on age old myths that have yet to be proven.. That's why we must believe the myths as the word of God .. and his word of late according to them is "YOU PISSED ME OFF , NOW YOU DIE" 

I better kneel down right now and pray, because the religious right has pissed me off and now they must pay.. Never fear, I'm not God lucky for you.

MEDALS FOR BRAVERY

Granted it won't heal the wounds of those left behind by the 4 teachers who died in defense of their kids. But they  should receive the highest medal we have for bravery.. If they had been on the battlefield they would receive the Bronze Star.. but hell they are just teachers that the country has been kicking in the groin for the last few years..

You know those overpaid, shiftless, lame brains who teach our kids. Who should probably receive combat pay the way things have went lately.. Definitely not pay and benefit cuts.

Perhaps now you would like to reconsider your biased opinion that set out to destroy the status of these folks.. Perhaps you should go to the school tomorrow and shake the hands of your teachers and say your sorry for being as asshole.

Then think how many of you would lay down your life like they did..?  Oh sure , I'm sure you say you would, but I'm not betting the farm on you... You have demonstrated in the recent past what deep thinkers you are with your attack on teachers... Why should I think you could think this problem out.. I don't ..

All teachers can stand tall today in the glow from those 4 brave souls who laid down their lives for their kids..

In closing , how much do we know about those four teachers, we know a lot more than I ever wanted to know about the killer... All I needed to know about him is that he is dead and of course if so many knew he was screwed up (and apparently many did) (including his mom who paid the big price for not turning him in.. )  and the hope that we all will take action when necessary to put these folks in a place where society is  safe from them..

16 CHARTS THAT REQUIRE ONLY ONE WORD

FUCKED

FUCKING UNBELIEVABLE

The Federal Reserve is increasing it's buying of MBS's from the banks to 90 billons per month, basic math shows you that a cool 

TRILLION of added debt.  While back on the Washington ranch they are haggling over how much a month to screw seniors and the poor out of . Instead they should be spending that trillion to create jobs... When are people going to understand this and rebel..

THE EVILS OF HUGO CHAVEZ

As the US government views the accomplishments of Mr. Chavez.  If you take the time to read this piece and see how Venezuela has changed under hugo you will understand maybe! Why our government hates his ass.  A huge reduction in poverty, large increases in income, more schools, neighborhood medical clinics, low income housing, more land to individuals and an economy that has grown at 4% + a year..  In 13 years Chavez has completely turned his country around, that's why we hate him.. He did that by Nationalizing industry , starting with oil... (which has largely funded his deeds)

The is despite all our efforts to undermine him. If you read any of books of the activities of "Economic Hit Men" across most of Latin America then you know why Hugo is on our shit list.. He didn't take the bait.

Us and our friends have been predicting his failure from the git go.. and like most of our other foreign strategy it has been totally wrong..

How Chavez is fighting Cancer and with any luck he will beat it.. If not we will see if his hand picked VP can keep things going.. One can hope so.. and yes by all means remember that Venezuela is the only oil company contributing to the fund to furnish low income families with oil.. All our companies showing the biggest profits of their life gave NOTHING.

The only danger Chavez is to the US is that we suddendly wake up and say hey he made life better and our guys are screwing us each day a little more.

I don't know what you call the US government of today but is sure as hell not democracy.. Fascist, or Corporatocracy perhaps, but whatever you call it , it needs to be changed right now..

IS IT ANY WONDER STUDENTS ARE SUFFERING

Here we go again.  The Common Core State Standards just removed most of the fiction books that are used in literature classes from the curriculum.  Old standards like "Catcher in the Rye"  and  "To Kill a Mockingbird " will no longer be used..In their place such barn burners as "Levels of Insulation" a manual on building insulation requirements,  and "Invasive Plant Inventory"
will be added..  70% of new courses must be non fiction, informational type material..

I would like to suggest that the folks making these new stupid laws spend a few days in the average classroom where a huge percentage of the kids can't read even after reaching their high school years.  If basic reading and writing skills are not being taught (and they obviously aren't) This new program will never get off the ground..

They destroyed reading skill way back in the early 70's when they replaced normal children books with these informational pamphlets that were so boring and contained not one tidbit to catch the mind of grade school kids.. One of my son's was said to not being able to read, (a kid that we were taking to the library several times a week) to get new reading books.. so I knew something was dreadfully wrong..So I asked my son what the problem was and he explained how the program worked... You got a phamphet from a box , read it and took a test on it and if you passed you got another book. Didn't seem to be a real hard task for a genius level kid , so why aren't you doing this son.. He simply said they are all about boring subjects that I don't care or want to care about... HMMMM so I went to a teachers conference and asked some questions.. Have you ever heard my son read,, has he ever read to the classs, do you know what's in the box they are supposed to read...So I offered her a deal,, I'll go back and pick a few from the box and then you and i will read them... I did and bingo the first one was a bio of one of the first black man that was important . Don't remember the subject exactly but certaintly not of interest to a 3rd or 4 grader.

So the only obvious answer was to make some threats.. So I offered her an out .. pass my kid in the reading department, or I will blow the whistle on this stupid reading system at the next PTA meeting and let you defend it.  Simple enough.  Kid passed, stupid system in place.

So here we go again, good reading to dull ass instructional manuals..

I think were on to something here... Our kids are not doing well in schoold because they are being guided above the teacher level by Stupid, Stupid people.. This story could make a good joke on the Blue Collar Comedy circuit..

WHERE FOOLS MARCH IN

I believe we will go off the cliff.. We have very few friends of the working man in DC.  Maybe a dozen or so congressmen have our interests at heart and the only way they can save us is to use their options to block a bill from coming to the floor.. The problems are big and the available solutions are few and neither side actually likes the real fixes to this problem...

The world seems bent on going the Austerity route.  The EU is proving once again that austerity measures will not pull anybody out of depression, it justs makes things worse.. The drums from DC are signaling we are going to go down the same rabbit hole.

Their are a few logical fixes but first you have to admit how we got here and what the true state of us consumers really is.. and then bite the bullet and do the things it takes to fix us..

Paul Craig Roberts lays out in this piece how we got to this fix and then lays out how it can be fixed, while showing what we are doing is not going to fix the problem... He ends the piece with "WE ARE GOING TO CRASH" and also believe we will go into a depression worse than the Great Depression...

Let's hope we are both wrong..

FOOLS ONE AND ALL

The  above is going to the required dress code of all Republicans.

Once again the republicans are looking like fools in their attack on Susan Rice's statement to the UN on the embassy attack.  They put on a full court press to destroy her public image while getting out information they thought she should have said...It would now appear that they might have seen the memos out of the FBI and the CIA that had more indication of the event having terrorists involvement.  (that info provided by insider leaks) sometimes called neighborhood gossip.  I've lost count on how incidents like this they have pulled off since they went on stupid road to party irrelevance.  

 Rice put the information  provided to her by the DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY the chain of command of all government data to the public.. So by now you must have figured out that the republicans knew exactly what was put out by all agencies and that Susan had relayed the information they wanted to put out.

There may have been a real good reason for them to edit out terrorist from the  memo.  Some items concerning national security should not be released to the public as soon as it is known.  The republicans over three decades have shown their disdain for cloak and dagger stuff... Hell they outed Valarie Plame god knows how many of her operatives were offed because of that leak.

The party as a whole has shown they shouldn't be any where near the levers of power,  they have no compassion or gratitude , they only care about the status of their power at the time and will do anything to destroy the other guy.

SUNSET IN AMERICA

Yesterday we talked about Twinkies and today I want to highlight Walmart..   The link is kinda a graphic , not a lot of words, but they will give you a quick and sorrowful picture of how it feels to be a Walmart working single Mom.  While the Waltons and shareholders pocket billion in profits their employees (who earn on average $8/hr)  and given just enough hours in lots of cases to get no benefits.. Not an unusual situation today as it has become the norm..

$16000 a year is poverty level wages , but it does qualify for food stamps (making her one of the takers 47%)  .  Most likely workers such as her have to get their health care in free clinics or emergency rooms . While Obama care might help this some , there are an awful lot of doctors out there who won't take Medcaid because their payment schedule is   to low for the docs to run a business on.. So it's whatever care left... A bitch for someone with a young child.. God forbid that the child have a significant problem..

You saw the same story happening in the baker story of yesterday.. NOW PAY ATTENTION FOR A MINUTE.  Stop and remember how these strikes and walkouts are presented in our MSM's. Always , Always slanted to make the workers look like greedy bastards...

Even when their were teachers on the picket lines they were painted as overpaid, lazy , with too much time off and with benefits way to high.... If you ever take a minute to pick one of these fights and find out who fucked up their pension plans you won't see it be the workers fault.. It's always management who stole the money for other programs and left the retirement fund with IOU;s.

Our own government does it with Social Security ... Social Security is in surplus every year and in the past over 200 billion bucks was taken in than was needed to support the system.. So Uncle borrowed it and gave good ole government T-bills to hold ... Now you hear the cry that the system is broken ,, *HELL NO IT'S NOT" . They are trying to find a way to default on our accounts by various budget savings pieces of shit fixes that lines more of Wall Street pockets while they pick ours..

CURRENT STATUS OF PENSION PLANS IN AMERICA AND A GOOD GRAPH SHOWING WHAT YOU NEED TO   PUT AWAY MONTHLY FOR YOUR IRA

Please don't think because we Progressives won the election that we don't have to pay attention to the programs that effect us.. We do, because neither side is the workers friend.. Neither... We can only supply pressure and support to the few in congress who can save us.  Sanders, Warren and Grayson are good one's to support.. We have to stay on top of this because they have the Austerity Fever and now they want to apply it to us..We have to fight back and hard..

WHAT BOTH PARTIES LACK.. COMPASSION AND GRATITUDE

TWINKIE SUICIDE

Vulture Capitalist kill another companyhttp://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/nov2012/pers-n21.shtml.   From Wonder Bread to Twinkies to Hostess Ding Dongs are being killed by brutal management tactics bent on destroying the union or the company , the employees have a choice take another monster wage and benefit cut or watch the gates get locked and the company ends.  

The bakers 10 years ago took a wage cut from 48K to 34K , lost their pension fund and benefit package reduction.. Now they are back again offering cuts to 25k .  So in 10 years they are being asked to eat a 50% pay cut.

The sad thing about this story is the Union has basically sold them out each time and now it looks like the curtain is going to close on products that have been around almost as long as  I have.. The intention is to sell off the parts of the company they can and just walk away from the rest.

One more glaring example how Vulture Capitalists are destroying our country.. and it seems the unions may be on the wrong side of the story..

The link is to the World Socialist Party but don't let that throw you,. the story is correct and can be verified if you doubt the story..

Their fix a worker revolution may be the only answer.. I would suggest my style of revolution , GO SIT ON YOUR LAWN , WITH RIGHT ARM RAISED AND YOU MIDDLE FINGER EXTENDED AND WAIT FOR THEM TO ASK WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO GET YOU TO RETURN TO WORK... It wouldn't take long , maybe only a week...

ONE THING THIS ELECTION PROVED

Obama's win proves one thing... A Cracker vote only counts as 3/5ths of a vote...The South will not rise again till they get a little more human...Back to the bible boys and figure out where you went wrong..

REPUBLICANS BLOW CIA COVER AGAIN

They just had to make the Benghazi attack a political event before many of the facts were known.  Too what benefit I was never sure.. The republicans were spewing out   leaked information from what appear now to be uninformed sources ,leaked information which of course was not fact checked (they don't believe in fact checking)(and now you know why) The truth doesn't make a good political attack.

You do remember Valarie Plame the CIA  nuke expert working under cover with a large string of inside informants (and now probably dead) when
Cheney's office outed her as CIA operative to try and debunk her husband's
Ambassador Wilson's story that Iraq had no WMD.

In just a short period of time a Republican has outed operatives and the names o f their contacts which is clearly an act of Treason.  It's time for the Attorney General too investigate and charge those involved. Good people have served and some have died because of their callous acts.. How could you possibly vote for such as these..

ROMNEYNOMICS 5=0

Mitt has been running around the country touting his 5 point plan (which is really 1 point) .  Now his one point plan has been destroyed by a Congressional Research Service Report which goes back 60 years has found that tax cuts to the rich do little or nothing to create jobs.   You haven't seen this report which was issued weeks ago because the Republicans objected to it's findings.  They not only can't handle the truth they don't want you to see it and be able to choose.
See Choice of any kind is hated by the republicans..

The fact that Romney has based all his miracle programs on one simple idea cut taxes and all will be well.   Even if you are hard cored republican you have to admit that this tax cut stuff has been going on for at least 15 years and it has produced damn few jobs..

SALT LAKE TRIBUNE EDITORIAL  You need to read this (especially if your a republican) .  From the heart of Mormon country an endorsement of Obama with a good analysis of both men.

To sum up my feelings on Mr. Romney , his 5 point plan is no plan at all.. his demonstrated lack of knowledge of things foreign (even to knowing Iran has 1000 miles of shoreline) and doesn't back Syria for that reason.  His stated goals of privatizing everything (including FEMA) has in every case to cost more while providing less.

Their hardly should be a need for anybody to write negative stories on Mitt. He is his own demolisher simply done by opening his mouth.. He has been on the other side of himself every other day and as the Tribune asks "What does Mitt believe?" you have to pick a day and you can bet he will be somewhere else tomorrow..

A vote for this clown shows me something of your character , and it ain't good.

"HECK OF A JOB BROWNIE"

Ole Brownie hasn't got any brighter in the 7 years since his big fuckup responding to Katrina .  Today he said that Obama responded too quickly to hurricane Sandy.  Obama's FEMA director responded saying "better to be too fast and competent than too slow and incompetent "

For my money this is just a sample of what you would get with a Romney  presidency.  Privatize everything including outfits like FEMA and any good businessman knows they wouldn't gear up before the fact and then you get a Brownie response to everything..

Bumbling , incompetent shitheads will destroy this country , they already have a head start on this destruction///

DARE TO COMPARE

The response to Sandy versus the response to Katrina.   You can have the Obama response or pick Romney and you get the Bush approach to response.. Romney after all would privatize FEMA and you would get the same thing the troops got out of contractor companies in Iraq.

The Economic Realities of Social Security » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names

As I have said repeatedly that no matter who is elected we face the prospects of Social Security being destroyed , yet it was not in the debates and is seldom if ever defended in the MSM .. We had  better all stay awake a be prepared to go on the offensive soon after the election. We are being set up to getting screwed and they own all the lube.
The Economic Realities of Social Security » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names:

'via Blog this'

Voting for Obliteration » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names

BEST BE LEARNING TO SAY"YASAAA BOSS"  AND A GOOD BOW TOO

Voting for Obliteration » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names:

'via Blog this'

PROTECTION-NOT FOR US

Their was a very good reason the Prez didn't pick Elizabeth Warren to head the Consumer Protection Board, and here's the first clue why she wasn't .  They are about to give the banks protection against making false loans , junk one's as before.. In an attempt to blow another bubble.  At 40 billion a month going into the banks and then giving them absolution for the bad loans they make , guaranteeing them they can't get sued for their criminal acts looks like a good RICOH charge to me. Conspiracy to fuck the people ?  looks like it too me.

THE POLLS-AS FUCKED UP AS THE PEOPLE

Or are they calling during dope smoking hours. Or do they simply have an arithmetic problem...Or are they shilling for Romney. Or was it just a slow news day.

Having watched all four debates their is no way that Romney/Ryan came out the winners- added together or viewed separately their is no way that Romney/Ryan came out on top.

Comparing the Prez and Romney 3 , Obama won two out of 3 clearly ..two out of 3 wins in rock, paper , scissors. or in a 3 round fight.. Two out of 3 is clearly the winner in every engagement..

Even giving Romney the first one had only  to do with style, Lies shouldn't count in a debate and he told more lies than truth in that debate..

Something is really fishy in Poll land this election..

FISCAL HEALTH CARE -DEFICIT CURE

AS I HAVE BEEN SAYING ALL ALONG THE CURE FOR THE COMING DEFICITS IS UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE

Yep folks , it cures the deficit problem add in the wars and take back of the rich folk tax breaks and we are in the pink.  Anything else is just a gift to big business.

I KNOW YOU KNOW -BUT DO YOU KNOW WHY

21 GROCERY ITEMS THAT HAVE DESTROYED YOUR FOOD BUDGET

HOW TO CREATE A GREAT DEPRESSION

Once again Greece is in the lead showing us the proper way to create a depression.  Even though the IMF has publicly stated their formula on deficit reduction plan formula was wrong by a factor of 3 or 4..yet they continue to enforce the same formula to cure the economy of the EU countries.

I would study what is happening over there to get ahead of the curve how to deal during those times.  You'll need them to survive our coming Great Depression,, My personal name for our coming event is"THE GREATEST DEPRESSION"
Why will it be different ?  Our manufacturing base has been destroyed (50,000 factories gone) and with a true 23% unemployment rate , and damn near 0 demand from the consumers ,when either side imposes austerity measures as both sides plan to do, we will cycle toward  depression size numbers.. According to data calculated by Shadow Stats we are actually have been with a couple of % of depression size numbers for years.. any further deterioration of the labor market will push us over into depression numbers..

The Shadow Stats also shows us with a real GNP of +2% and as they show in the 2008 can dip far into  negative territory as their graph shows.. along with an inflation number you will find easier to believe than the government numbers shows.. 10% to 2% as you pocketbook has shown every payday.

If Obama wins the big question is "What will the republican congress do.. Will they continue to block any legislation favorable to the president and for us.. I they make the across the board cut in place to happen or will they work to save us.. You can guess which route they will take.. Not increasing the debit limit while forcing the budget cuts will without a doubt push us off the cliff.

So the bottom line I believe is "WE ARE IN FOR IT" no matter who wins. Cheerful fellow aren't I?

NTD (A NEW FORM OF DEPRESSION)

The Japanese have identified a new class of depression caused by a classic case of overworking and over demanding output exceeding the capability of an individual.. They respond by being unable to face going to work yet function normally in their social lives..

The Japanese are about 20 years ahead of us in the economic cycle and have been in downturn mode much longer than us.. We now see in our workforce increasing demands of workout output and time at work.. You can only push people so far till they crack.. The easy way to cope is the Japanese way , just don't go to work.. The uptick in workforce violence in the US might be another symptom .. It seems to be getting common practice in the US to demand 60 and even 80 hour workweek with ever increasing demand of more output from fewer and fewer workers.. With ever increasing women in the dominant wage earner along with normal chores of family life , sooner or later will break.

Even after increasing performance we see weekly whole factories being shipped to China and our workers thrown out of work, with in some cases their retirement funds stolen and they are left to fend for themselves. Our wannabe president's ole firm is still outsourcing as they did this week in Fremont Illinois (a company Romney held 51% of) and held only two years.. Dismantled and shipped equipment to China (minus the safety limit equipment).

Now we have to consider those who have been thrown away in our workforce, people they are telling may never work again..What do we call their depression , is it something new or does the brain just run out of chemistry. Whatever it is we better be prepared to deal with it.. Our reaction to PTSD from our wars is a pretty bad example of what we are willing to do about this..

 Economists from the beginning of the trade have known that you cannot have a successful economy without a manufacturing  base but we allowed the Bain's of the world to destroy ours on the theory that high paying financial jobs would replace them.

During the same period the idiots of the world have destroyed our education system year by year and have not done their job to train a workforce for the changing times. Sending every one to college might sound like a good idea but if their are no jobs what good did it do.. We are going to have to rebuild our manufacturing base and to man that schools will have to change radically..

Meantime the 25% out of work wonder if they will ever work again ,the rest of us worry daily about our children and their children being raped (economicllay)
by these greedy pricks making billions.. Things will change it is yet to be seen how.  This coming election will tell you a lot.  A Romney win will spell the final throws of a once great country...

WEIGHING LEADERSHIP

While I have picked on Obama and his lack of leadership in accomplishing the tasks he promised , I have to consider that there was a planned disruption of his presidency starting on the day he was sworn in.   Surely he must have know this which makes his attempts at compromising with the right wing a pretty bad idea.  True it would have not gotten any more accomplished and the fact he got anything done was a minor miracle..

Let's for the sake of argument give everybody a clean slate and judge them only on what they have displayed in their quest to fill the number 1 chair..I consider not only what they do personally but also what their affiliate groups do too. After all that's where most of the money is. 


Both  of the money pools slings all kinds of misinformation repeatedly at the voters a good bit of it flat out lies.. What is troublesome about that is it works.. In arguments with the right the one liners surface all the time and when  you ask did you actually check the fact you are keying on I have never gotten a yes.. If Rush says it it is held as gospel...The left don't have a all powerful representative in this department.. We have some very good talkers but none are held on the pedestal like Limbaugh.

So I am applying a more simple rule to judge leadership ability.. and will use just the debates for this argument... round 1 , Romney won and the right went nutso.  Obama admitted almost right away "I screwed up".   

Round 2, the VP debate.  Biden wiped the floor with the little viper and the left said well done Joe, the right went apeshit accusing Biden of being a bully and Oh my god he was laughing  and actually called Mr. Shark Eyes on his falsehoods.. It just wasn't gentlemanly..and then attacked the moderator, who actually did  a pretty good job.. Blame the questioner yeah that's leadership.

Round 3.  The second presidential debate.. Obama clearly won (he was back on his game) and the left said just that , "The President was on his game"  The right whined that he lied (they should talk) and that once again the moderator did them in. when actually Candy did a good job trying to control the bullying of Romney and Obama's attempt to get equal time.. supposedly the clock had Obama doing 4 more minutes but it didn't seem like that.. On the Embassy attack Obama once again showed leadership in saying the fault lies with me not Hillary... I'm the Prez and the buck stops here.

So for my money the facts and leadership quality of the two still have me voting for Obama, perhaps his second term will garner a little more cooperation from the right , it better or we will all experience a Greater Depression.   If things don't improve soon on cooperation we will have to start the march to a third party option..

WHERE'S THE BEEF

As you have seen in the debates we get canned bullshit and peanut butter sandwiches and almost no jelly on either.. Both sides skip and dance, one side lies their asses off and the other side puts no hard plans on the tables to get jobs back or puts to the economy to get it going..

The cold eyed duo from the republican side offer programs that any sane person knows would further destroy the country big time.. The Dems offer nothing substantial to boost the economy ..

So here we sit in desperate need of some leadership and we get show business. The networks and talk shows line up on their predetermined sides and feed more manure into the fire.. Economists both world and national spout bullshit that totally ignores the real fixes for a world in depression..

Read the stories from the EU  about formerly middle class scrounging in dumpsters for food. While all the bail out moneys go to fix bank balance sheets.  Here the same in happening ,we use different names like QE3. Sounds like a ship to me, wish it was I would put a spread of 6 torpedoes in its guts and sink.. Putting 40 billion a month into bank balance sheets will not create on job.. while the banks claim record profits .  Lot's of things wrong with this picture and I don't see one sign of anybody out there to fix it..

THE BEST THEY GOT- REALLY

If Romney is the best the republicans got their party is in more trouble than even I believe.. But you have to remember the stages full of republican wannabes that they had to choose from.. Only one sane one I could see Huntsman got no traction at all... So sure we end up with a Romney... hopefully who will remain a has been once again.

Troublesome though is recent conservations I have had with some republicans I know.. and they aren't concerned they know that Obama is either a Socialist or a Communist and maybe not a citizen.. although they won't admit it he is still the wrong color.  They believe this nonsense because some nut job Congressman or perhaps even a Limbaugh say so..

If Romney gets one woman vote it's more than I would expect him to get.. So girls , check your x marks carefully.. you can't stand 8 years of this idiot,  One more idiot would make 3 in my generation and a couple more are on my suspect list.. So vote,  and now you know where to put your x..

Social Security Keeps 21 Million Americans Out of Poverty: A State-by-State Analysis — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

With all this talk of messing with SS we all should keep this in mind, if in the future SS was not available as some parties want almost 50% of the elderly will live in poverty and about the same single women would be living in poverty..Don't believe these numbers !  Crank up your Google machine and look up elderly poverty before SS,,

Social Security Keeps 21 Million Americans Out of Poverty: A State-by-State Analysis — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:

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Social Security Keeps 21 Million Americans Out of Poverty: A State-by-State Analysis — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

With all this talk of messing with SS we all should keep this in mind, if in the future SS was not available as some parties want almost 50% of the elderly will live in poverty and about the same single women would be living in poverty..Don't believe these numbers !  Crank up your Google machine and look up elderly poverty before SS,,

Social Security Keeps 21 Million Americans Out of Poverty: A State-by-State Analysis — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:

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ROUND TWO TO OBAMA

A clear win for the President ..He came out punching and was a winner in every round...He  danced around some of the questions and eventually answered them, but he could have been more direct if he wanted too.. He may have been just eating up time as Romney was tending to hog the stage.. While never (ever) answering the question..  

The president did a great job tonight , nothing like round 1 which I gave to Romney(had to discount the lies) to give it to him but I did.. Tonight Romney was arrogant and I believe once again showed his bullying style in trying to push Candy around.. She was a lot nicer than I would have been.. I still think the moderator should have a giant air horn and when they  use up their time start to blow the horn till they shut up..and yes the prez would have gotten honked a few times himself..

So round 2 to the President and I do believe it will have more effect that Romney's first round win.. It should , but time will tell.. 

I do wonder what Romney's rich friends think about the $25000 DOLLAR CAP on deductions..?

WORLD FOOD DAY

I waited all day yesterday , which was world food day for someone to mention the biggest aid to world food supply , but alas , no mention.. What did I think they should have mentioned .. It's the portion size of restaurant meals served in this country.  From fast food joints to almost every place serving food.. Don't know about the high end joints , they might not. but the stuff you and I get served is ridiculous.  On average it's twice what any normal human should eat at one sitting .. and 4 times what most seniors can eat.. and we wonder where all the obesity in the US comes from.. check it out and you will soon find the answer..

I have tried several journalists I know to make a pictorial of the crazy portions but they don't think it would ever be published..

THE END OF EVERY FAIRYTALE

ROMNEY MEDICARE

THE IMF HAS HAD AN EPIPHANY

They have  come out and admitted that their austerity program being applied to the EU is the wrong thing to do..They have discovered finally that their prediction of a 1% reduction in spending would only reduce GDP by .5%. Well OH golly gee we were wrong it is really as much as a 1.9% reduction for every 1% in spending.. Do you think that all those pitchforks in the streets or was it the increased sale of guillotines that caught their eye.

If you took time to notice how they were cutting the budgets , they were concentrated in social services area of government,,wages, retirements, health care, welfare, etc.. And they wonder why their assumptions were so far wrong... Any damn fool who has read some economics knows that the most stimuli from government spending is through social programs.. gains of 1.5 to 2% are the average, versus military spending which comes in at 1%.

Then you look at what they have been doing, bailing out banks , both in the EU and the US too. How much bang do they get for those bucks..0 zip nadda .. the banks sat on the money and put nothing into the production factors they were supposed to fund.. they even lent it back to the FED and got paid 3% interest on money the got for next to nothing..

The only money out of all the Trillions spent to turn things around only around 400 billion got put into infrastructure and hence we got a little bounce in GDP and a slight drop in unemployment..

It should have been no surprise to the IMF that their Austerity programs didn't work ,,THEY NEVER HAVE WORKED...They destroyed most of the Latin American economies in the 80's and 90,s and we can logically assume that it is now the  EU and the US's turn in the barrel.

The problem facing us is that either party that wins the coming election is going to play the Austerity game.. even though the evidence from time immortal that it doesn't work is out there.. Obama may cut some less than republicans but SS and Medicare are in danger.

For sure if this nation is stupid enough to put Romney in office kiss the future of Social Secutiry , Medicare, Medicaid and pensions goodbye..

I WOULD SUGGEST WE HAVE ONLY TWO CHOICES, TO GET SCREWED WITH OBAMA OR ROYALLY SCREWED WITH ROMNEY.  WHOOPIE

SMILING JOE

Smiling all the while , while sticking the knife in Ryan's belly , won him the night hands down.. While some pundits criticized the  VP for smiling during Ryan's comments , I thought it was a lot better than saying out loud what the smile was saying "YOU LYING SON OF A BITCH".

It's always a hoot to watch the talking heads critique the debate and depending on which channel you choose it's always a mixed bag.. I watched CNN sorta kinda giving the debate to Ryan I guess for lying the most., it sure as hell wasn't on answering the questions Martha put forth which were well thought although not answered.. I could have done without the religion question on the end because you know the canned answer you are going to get.. the response means nothing..

When Martha tried to pin Ryan down on how they were going to pay for the 5 trillion dollar tax cuts you got no answers except for the usual play on words that said nothing..

The pundits were amusing for saying that Ryan looked more Presidential than Biden, really the little frowny little puppet who seldom  if ever cracked a grin but can certainly lie with a straight face..

The bottom line is simply this, vote for Romney/Ryan but be prepared to live a very painful old age after the decimate SS and Medicare.. Anybody who believes they can beat Medicare with a voucher had better have at least $6000 to add to the voucher and then get less coverage than you get with Medicare.. A lot of people who have Medicare Advantage are finding out just how much less they get for their bucks.. and anyone who thinks they can do better with an IRA than on SS obviously not tried it..Both programs can be fixed forever with some minor adjustments..

Clearly I give the night to Joe Biden..

The Shameful Politicization of the Benghazi Consulate Attack | Informed Comment

Leave it to Juan Cole the most knowledgeable professor I know on the Middle East and the religions of that territory to ask the question What the Hell are the Republicans winning about the Embassy attack and as always are working on incomplete data. Juan lays out the events as they happened and were reported..

The Shameful Politicization of the Benghazi Consulate Attack | Informed Comment:

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ROMNEY-NOBODY DIES FOR LACK OF HEALTHCARE

I have heard of out of touch, but Romney and his statement "Nobody dies from lack of health care" indicates he is out of his mind and so far out of touch with our world that life under him could be a real bitch

THEN WHAT THE HELL IS THIS

THIS KINDA INDICATES HOW OFTEN ROMNEY IS WRONG..A SIMPLE GOOGLE IMAGES SEARCH

THE DEFICITS IN ONE GRAPH

Tonight , like every night the politicians will scream about the budget deficits and claim it's the entitlements that are driving them.. Would it surprise you that they are lying on both sides... Here's one little graph using CBO data that clearly shows what is responsible..

E PLURIBUS UNUM

Was suggested in 1776 and was used in the first design of the US seal.. It was first used on a coin in 1786.   The Latin phrase means "ONE FROM MANY" which has been the standard of this nation since inception

 "RUGGED INDIVIDUALISM"  IS not the idea the nation was founded on.. This phrase was first used by Herbert Hoover during the The Great Depression.. Which meant that the government shouldn't help those that were down and out.. Obviously the man never read the Constitution or the Bill of Rights.  Where it   states the duty of the government is to  provide for the general welfare of the people.

The term Rugged Individualism has always jerked my chain up short since it has been the Republican motto since the days of the great depression.. and you would think to hear them talk that they all made it all my their selves.. From birth your life has been guided by others, starting with your parents, your teachers, your friends, and your safety provided by various government agencies.  You did not do it on your own , face up to it , you depend on others every day..

Throughout my life ,at times my very life depended on others , from backup in a street fight, to survival on my submarine, to my wife who saved me during a heart attack at age 50.  My troops in the Navy depended on me to back them to the hilt when they were in trouble, right or wrong I was there for them .  Guided them back to good standing when they were found to be wrong in a deed.

Ask any man who has been on the battlefield if he depended on his brothers to always watch his back and to never leave him on the battlefield.. They know that their lives depended on others.

So would these republican blowhards if they ever engaged their brain on something besides Limbaugh chants.. The fact that conservatives a lot of them claim to be very religious and yet they hate giving anybody a helping hand boggles my mind.. Yet damn near every republican I know keyed on Romney's 47 percent remark and screamed "FUCKING EH" enough to make a caring man puke ..AND I DID!

OH SHIT! ROMNEY HAS KILLED BIG BIRD

BIG BIRD DIES

NO WORDS NEEDED

IT'S HARD TO DEBATE A SHAPE SHIFTER

Yep everybody is right, Obama did a shitty job at the debate .  All kinds of things can be said about who did what right and wrong..

In thinking through the debate and while listening to Randi Rhodes she dropped this jewel .. "IT'S HARD TO DEBATE A SHAPESHIFTER"  When you think about that , Romney had 180 degree shift on damn near all topics.. So Obama might have realized no matter what he said about Romney's plan he would deny it or take a totally different tack.

SO! YOU HAVE TO FACT CHECK ANY STATISTIC OUT OF ROMNEY'S MOUTH

Neither of these two candidates is truthful all the time but one of them seems to lie about everything.. During the debate Romney said 50% of the doctors don't take Medicare ..Well that is just flat out bullshit .. the real number is 17% won't accept new Medicare patients , and to boot 18% will not take any insurance ..

Now when you get to Medicaid that's a different story.. a high percentage of doctors won't take Medicaid because they really do not pay well something like 10% of Medicare.. any really really low payments that doc's can't run their business on..

Now if you take a look at Medicare Advantage programs (some ) doctors won't take because of overbearing limits on the specialist they can use.. The very same thing republicans are worried about the Medical boards doing is already being done by Advantage insurance companies right now.. (the Obama board does not do this)  and to beat all the Advantage providers get paid 17% over Medicare costs.

ROMNEY IS BEING STALKED

ROMNEY DONE WENT AND IT NOW.. THE BIRD IS STALKING HIM.  THERE GOES ALL ROMNEY'S UNDER 6 VOTES... ;LOOKS LIKE THE BIRD NEEDS SOME FOOD STAMP?

SO IT''S FACTS YOU WANT

I have said it all before and have provided evidence that what I was saying was in fact what he said... Now I am called a bloviator for saying stuff that is absolutely true.  But as always here's more proof that I am just using the facts..won't mean much to some but nontheless here's evidence.

Some might back plans that do not specify how they will carry out a particular plan but I want to know how before I bless  anything.

The attempt to say Romney's Medicare plan won't affect current seniors is absolutely a lie.. and what it would do those under 55 is going back 80 years to the day when seniors lived in poverty and had no health care..Nobody on retirement income can afford the difference between voucher amounts and the real cost of even identical Medicare coverage.. In fact for a current sample Medicare Advantage cost the government 17% more than providing Medicare all by it self.. And The Advantage program does limit doctors and services Medicare doesn't.

Why the Pundits Are Wrong About the Debate | Alternet

IT WAS A YAWNER!
Romney carried the night, no doubt... It looked like the president showed up to take a nap.  The moderator let both candidates walk all over the rules and neither would shut up when asked..Romney I thought acted like the school yard bully we have heard about.. Obama acted like he didn't want to play.

All is all what did we learn about the details of their intentions for the most critical thing we face jobs.. I'm betting none of us will like how either one handles the budget problems.. 

I do know this , Romney's plans/plans for Medicare/Medicaid will be devastating to people 55 and over today... It will be and you know it, for anybody to deny that it will certifies they are crazy..

Neither stated how they would fix SS probably because both ideas are terrible.

Please tell me what the hell Romney needs to spend 200 billion a year more on military than they have asked for.. Shows you at least the military knows how to be embarrassed..   

So all in all this debate was a waste of time information wise, and definitely not entertainment.ZZZZZZZZZZ

The link is farfetched

Why the Pundits Are Wrong About the Debate | Alternet:

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EMPLOYERS CLAIM BUT I DON'T BELIEVE THEM

The claim that their are not enough qualified workers to fill their positions is most likely untrue.  Look at the difference in unemployed to jobs available.  The differences are huge. There are many out there ready willing and able to work .  The truth is their is no demand so no jobs are really needed.

ONE CAN ALWAYS HOPE

That the debates will make at least a little more aware of how each candidate will address the real problems of this country.. They seldom do, what with all the prep each side goes through and their dissecting of each speech with their cute little machines to weed out words that don't turn it on.. The fact that it seems to work on most bothers me... If your speech is full of only pleasant buzz words and zingers what have we learned..

As usual both sides are downplaying their candidate so both will probably do better than expected..  I do think if the advice Romney is getting from whack jobs like Trump (the birther issue) on top of Romney using zingers which he is not good at..It will be interesting to see if months of practicing zingers will make them effective..

In my opinion Romney has to turn into something he is not .. Obama will be as un  affective on his feet which I don't think he can do..

So break out the beer and the popcorn , settle back and enjoy.. not sure I can use that word enjoy,, although it does work for us junkies.

NOTE: THERE ARE RETURN COMMENT ON COMMENTS SUBMITTED TO THIS BLOG -I THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION .. I WILL TRY TO REMEMBER TO RESPOND TO YOUR SAYINGS..

Hundreds of thousands of war vets still waiting for health benefits - CNN.com

There is an instant fix for this problem.. When a Vet files for a disability claim they most likely are backed up by a private physician , so the chances of them not being screwed up are small..Upon filing they should be handed day one a Gold Medicare card good for 100% coverage .This will accomplish a few things it will allow them to get coverage from local help right away (which is critical) and it would surely speed up the disability claim.

The problem with PTSD and other brain disorders the VA is short 50% of the shirnks they need for these cases so perhaps paying for local help would be the best route especially where care is not available
Hundreds of thousands of war vets still waiting for health benefits - CNN.com:

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LET'S PLAY PRETEND

My wife and I are both working but we don't have health care , we just can't afford it for us and our 2 kids.. We make the national average pf 46K.  With all our other modest expenses we don't have a $1000 for health care .. and probably couldn't get it because of some preexisting condition of one of our children.. Before Obamacare of course.

My wife goes to the doctor with breathing problems and chest pains. He thinks it's walking pneumonia and sends her home with some antibiotics . The following evening shortly after nightfall she really has trouble breathing so I measure her CO2 and it is 88 the danger level for tissue damage..So off to the emergency room we go and they admit her..

Five days later she is some better but very weak but we go home..3 weeks later the bill arrives $35000 .  We can't pay it and the hospital won't agree to payments (admittedly they weren't very high).  2 month later the calls start coming in .. The hospital has sold our debt to a collection agency the cold hearted bastards that they are hound us to death.. Yeah it's supposed to be illegal but you know how that works..

So after months of this terror we file for bankruptcy and it is granted the only way out for 50% of the bankruptcies in the country..

This is a way of life for way too many folks.  But their is a fix... we have to make tea a controlled substance the use of same a felony.We could put the whole Tea Party bunch in jail and vote in Medicare for all.  End of the problem.. I can hear the screams from the right loudly in the night. All I can say to them is mail your Medicare card to me. go get your parents out of the nursing home and bring them to live with you..

This story has  a happy ending for me,, We have 3 insurances that cover our medical expenses 100% .  All I might add earned with blood , sweat and tears.. Everybody should be that well covered and they could..

I have been on Medicare for 10 years , and they have never questioned or turned down a treatment or ever told my docs who they could send me too.. You can't say that about some Medicare Advantage plans they get paid 17% extra by Medicare and control who your doc can send you too and what drugs you can take..

We need to deal with this National disgrace , now..

U.S. Tracking Killers in Attack on Libya Mission - NYTimes.com

What do you need to know and when do you need to know it.. The right wing has went ape shit over information from the administration on the raid on our Libyan embassy.. True they didn't jump out and yell terrorism as the right wing wanted to them to do.. I don't think they knew for awhile what it really was.. There was a lot of commotion over that stupid film and it's the  first time Muslims went berserk over supposed insults to their prophet.. 

So the administration was slow to call it terrorism.. meantime as this article states they are at work tracking the culprits.. most likely drone attacks on the suspected bunch.. 

Mounting attack in a foreign country is a violation of so many rules it probably is not a good practice to do it routinely.  I think we already do it more than we should and plan to do much more in the future..

One of the main reasons I am scared of a Romney presidency is the fact that he is surrounded by crazy hawks whose first answer is to bomb somebody and lots of time they are talking about the big bomb..
It's simple we were lied into war by one republican president, and are still involved in both wars started on the Bush watch.. It's time to start obeying international law.. The days of the quick draw gun shooter  are over.. 

U.S. Tracking Killers in Attack on Libya Mission - NYTimes.com:

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6 Awful Pieces of Advice the Right Is Giving Mitt Romney on the Eve of Debates | Alternet

Boy I hope he follows this advice. He will get creamed.. Every hot point here is only good  for his hard core base..If he mentions Birther it will cost him votes.. Romney a comic I will pay to see that.The Embassy thing a non started... They have played this up like a big deal when any fool knows we did't get access to the sight for quite awhile...Running around shouting terrorists  might be good for the base .. Those that have a memory remember Iran guns for hostages...

Please take their advice Mitt.

6 Awful Pieces of Advice the Right Is Giving Mitt Romney on the Eve of Debates | Alternet:

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ROMNEY'S DEFENSE PLANS STILL IN COLD WAR

Like most of his other ideas they are all backward looking.. Same solutions for systems that have not worked.. You know like tax cuts, cut social services, cut regulations .. All started by super star Regan in 1980l.

Well the same can be said for his defense budgets.. Increases of 100,000 troops , increase ship building from 9 to 15 ships per year with defense spending doubling within 20 years.. It is obvious why this is his strategy.  Actually you don't have to look much past manic Bolton.. (the walrus as he is known). Cold war crappola .Picking Russia as our main opponents.. when our own intelligence for years has put that thought off the table.. 

Here's Romney's strategy  

Here's the latest of on going strategy 

The short version of the game plan is just this.. to cut army and marine forces, increase special forces, increase a ton drones, shift the focus to China and the pacific, close many EU bases keeping only those needed as major kicking off points for fast strike capabilities.. moving major Navy forces to the pacific.. depending more on our allies to provide manpower and weapons capabilities..

We now have 11 strike carrier groups with their accompanying escorts, more than anybody else added together.. we have the best special forces in the world and increasing their strength will make them even more awesome.. 

The planners have taken a look at the last major ground conflicts all of which we eventually lost . Nam , Iraq and soon to Afghanistan.. How much longer will we be willing to spend two billion a week in Afghanistan to get our troops shot in the back and blown up.

It's time to retrench as all our military leaders agree.. They have been fighting congressional pork building for instance aircraft they didn't want or need.

Yet the Republican nominee is pushing to go back to cold war status with old cold war thinking.. including a version of the Star Wars Defense which has been proven ineffective..

So for the safety of the country we can't put this nut job in office.. Time for the republicans to join the 21st century..but god they have a very long way to go..

TRASHING EXPERIENCE

There are many from both political parties that strive to be bad ass  in trashing skill and experience as having worth in the workplace.  The latest examples point out how wrong they are.. The NFL referees who they thought could be replaced from flunk outs in the panty league. Real successful wern't they.?

A personal experience of how training is discounted in civilian society.. When I got out of the Navy a nuclear trained Chief Electrician, I applied to Idaho Power for a job,, the Chief of Ops placed no value on my Navy experience and didn't hire me..What it took was an in, I was selling appliances for Sears and Roebuck , when a Navy Reserve recruiter came calling.. I didn't know him and told him I wasn't interested , but he kept coming back.One day he asked me what it would take to get me to join,, I then found out he was a dispatcher for Idaho Power..so I looked him in the eye and said get me a job with IPCO and I'll join, two days later I had a job and in 6 years had a top end job with them.. Problem is they held 11 years of training as nothing , still pisses me off to this day.. 

Then of course we jump to Rahm Emanuel's attack on Chicago teachers on  the lines of Walker in Chicago...where both tried to jam  reforms down the teachers throat.. In Chicago the teachers brought him to his knees and he finally caved.  The teachers in Chicago have seen where Rahm wanted to go , he loves the Arnie Duncan route, fire everybody , rehire few, and replace the rest with teachers supplied by a private company (supposedly trained by them) and just by coincidence they were non union.  Fortunately in Wisconsin most of what Walker tried to do has been found unconstitutional .. 

The linked story tells how even union janitors when replaced with non union workers they were shocked when they returned... I have experienced the same effect of janitors in the power plants I worked in ..In the early days they were government employees making a decent wage.. The ones I worked with took pride in the power plants they maintained (two janitors 5 plants)  They were replaced and things turned to shit.. Hell you were reduced to emptying your own  garbage can and brought clothes pins to use when you went to john.  They pretended to save money and ended up getting their asses reamed by some pretty high up people who were shocked at the condition of the plants, because they had seen what they should look like.

The next brilliant idea  was to contract out maintenance work. Problem is they always had to send at least one gov worker with them and after they had to rework jobs they decided it was costing them money to contract out.. 

The attack on workers has been going on for 32 years, started with Regan busting the traffic controllers, who had some valid complaints they could not get resolved , so they struck, and were replaced... A change you can still see the results of today. Every president since then has  been out to destroy the work force, Clinton who  in my opinion was the worst of all, with his NFTA, GATT, WTO and deregulation of the financial markets.

The attack has reduced the household income to 46 K a year barely enough to provide the basics of life for a family man.. I am not sure a single person can do  very well on 23K.  With the outsourcing of 5 million blue collar jobs the middle class has been virtually  destroyed and then the CEO's have the balls to say they cannot find qualified help.. gee I wonder why.  When they destroyed the jobs , unions were destroyed and training ceased.. Check out the school systems today there is virtually no vocational training provided .. and damn little guidance given except get thee to college without a clue in the world what you want to study because you have no world experience.. 

We had better get our heads screwed on straight and start producing blue collar folks tuned to this century.. Manufacturing is coming back and talent is one thing they are going to be forced to build on their own... Many other countries do Germany for example.

As soon as manufacturers figure out you have to spend a buck to make a buck we will be back on the road to middle class.

TALES OF THE DIRTY TALIBAN

At times when criticizing our efforts in Afghanistan I hear in reply that those dirty Taliban don't fight fair they don't wear uniforms..

Other thing the Taliban don't have  airplane, drones, satellites, tanks, artillery you know stuff that real army has..

Yet they have throughout history have never been defeated but yet some kick ass countries keep trying and not many seem to learn from others that have been defeated by them.. Think the 10 years Russia tried and was driven out of the country.. and in a year or two so, will be claim victory and leave (the sooner the better) as far as I am concerned.

While the uniformed version of Iraq troops in recent history have killed 35 coalition troops last year and 40 so far this  year shows exactly what.. I would say it shows they don't like us very much.  Here's what an Afghan officer says is the reason.

It has gotten so dangerous there that Coalition troops have ceased all but training.  No more field ops with Afghan troops.. Why be there, it is at least obvious to me that being there will do nothing and one week of the cost(would cover all welfare fraud for a year.  The trillion it will cost per year could do a lot toward deficit reduction..

WELFARE FRAUD-THE REAL FRAUD REVEALED

When I was a kid coming up in Baltimore the local legend was the welfare queens would drive up to get their checks .. It was nonsense then and the right wings tales are today... Are there  cheats , of course their are , is it possible that one person could draw 5 checks Yeah I guess so, but they would have to commit several felonies to do it.. Which indicates a lot of enforcement is inadequate.

HERE ARE THE REAL STATS FOR 2012  

The gist of that report are this:

Total number of American’s on welfare 15,000,000
Percent of the US population on welfare 4.1 %
Total government spending on welfare annually (not including food stamps or unemployment) $131.9 billion
Percent of recipients who are white 38.8 %
Percent of recipients who are black 39.8 %
Percent of recipients who are hispanic 15.7 %
Percent of recipients who are Asian 2.4 %
Percent of recipients who are Other 3.3 %

Yep a whopping 4%

2009 stats say that out of all the welfare cases there were 129000 cases of fraud reported.. Of that only 1486 lead to prosecution.  Hardly an epidemic.
Total monies involved $2.9 billion  of which 900 million was recovered leaving a total cost to taxpayers about 2 billion..
Percent of fraud  .0086%

So keep on talking about welfare cheats it plays well for your side, but it is another fallacy like Iraq's weapons of mass destruction .

TIME TO START WORK ON PISSING OFF SOUTH AMERICAN (AGAIN)AGAIN)

An ex Ambassador to Venezuela has put forth a plan for intervention in Venezuela when Hugo Chavez wins (which he will)  up to and including military action..

We might not like Hugo but the people of Venezuela do and it is their choice we should honor.. We won't because we never do.. I just ask you one simple question name why leader that we installed one way or another that has been successful..JUst one


We have pissed off the whole middle east with our meddling and now we are working on South America (again) In the 80's and 90's  we destroyed most of the economies down there with our free market crap , when the IMF steps in you know a countries fate has been set by the powers that be..The hell of it is they are generally successful in their endeavors. Chili is the best example of their Weapons of Mass Economic Destruction.. For a primer on how , what and who did it.. read Economic Hit Men.  

Milton Friedman and his Chicago School bunch went country to country wrecking havoc with their economies and their way of life.. I suggest you read up on what they did down there and then look at what has happened here the last 32 years.. Yep ,  same crap.  All under the tent Of Free Markets will enrich everybody (they just never told us what they meant by everybody.) 

Now it is our turn , if you look at South America you will see the model that  is being played out in the EU and here..Same game , same results... Welcome to Latin America circ 1980.

Hugely in debt, million of people without  work, without food, without jobs and a lot without hope.. While they have us at each others throats over matters that mostly should be private..  Meanwhile having convinced us that we did it personally and now we must pay,, while the real culprits sit on their yachts , or in their fancy penthouses while the middle class is destroyed and the rich become super rich..

Am I picking on the rich , you bet  your sweet ass I am and throw in the mega corporations too...They have (and use to exercise) a duty in sharing the load of infrastructure and defense.  Instead they fiddle with economic models that do nothing for the country ,ship jobs, and factories overseas and leave us a crumbling nation.  Thanks a lot. Do I hold you responsible? Hell yes  I do , If corporations are people then they should put their shoulders to the grindstone like we have to.. 

We set here at election time and watch politicians deliberately  set out to sabotage the vote in many devious and in some cases illegal operations and have the balls to stand up and brag that passing this law will guarantee a Romney win in PA.  Openly in other states they attempt other forms of retarding the vote. That's the only way they could possibly win with the field of loosers they put up this cycle.  In fact it's documented knowledge they stole both elections that put Bush Jr. in the White House.. 

While in many of their mansions they sit and brag and gloat that hoard of quadrillion dollars can buy any election in the country.  Hell they don't even have to sneak around any more the courts have made it all legal.. 

I guess there is little doubt who I don't want to win this election.. I really don't see how the right could vote for a guy that has been on every side of every issue.. There must be some redeeming quality they see that I don't//And no not being Barack is not a quality.. 

NOW WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS PLAN?

Not only unmanned but almost without control , drones that see, analyze and strike without a human hand on the trigger.. They talk like that is the case but you and I know that all kinds of crap could go wrong.. I would like to see all drones banned..If you want to fight get your ass on the ground and drop some blood or stay home...Don't tell me , I admit I ferried enough nuke bombs around the ocean to blow up the world.. buy heh , that was different , wasn't It?

IT'S CONFESSION TIME

It has been suggested by some readers of this blog that I need to read other than left wing news.. and some won't probably believe this confession..

On the TV I watch John and Jenna (fox) (I have a thing for Jenna)  Martin Bashir (msnbc)  at 1 and for my evening news I watch Shep Smith (fox) with occasional glances at CNN and MSNBC if I hear of something special.going on .For instance for braking new I go to CNN probably out of  habit..

On the net:   I have on my Google Reader 100 news sources that provide me with the top stories from each that I scan at least 40 of them on a regular basis and read any headline that is in my interest areas..economics, politics, world events, science..climate change.  oil, gas, and food supples.

Then it's fun stuff till bed time and then it's talk radio time... Here you got me most of the shows I like are progressive , when I want to hear some conservative stuff I will tune in Tom Hartman as he quite often debates conservatives..a real good way to see how the stories fare against Tom..Not too well most of the time.. They are not shout pieces he'll cut off a guest who tries to command the show..
If I want a ranting view I listen to Mike Malloy the wildest man on radio.. For information and a little fun there is always Norman Goldman.. with a little Ed Shultz Rachel Maddow, Stephanie Miller when I want to laugh, Randy Rhodes for just some straight talk.. There is a lot there to please your taste buds..

Yeah your right there are no Limbaugh, O'Reily ,Hannity, or Savages all that hate ain't good fair for late night listening , to be truthful any time..They are so full of hate backed by imagination (a fancy way of saying lies) you can burn up your fact checker trying to verify the slaver out of their mouths..

If my critics are saying I don't read their preferred sites they are mostly right but I do read right wing stuff if it comes in my reader and their are right wing sites on it and right wing commentators on a lot of the pages.. You will have to scratch hard to disprove anything I write with actual facts , if you can please do , I will look at it..

So in closing,, Yes I am a proud Progressive and a Atheist to boot , so I have no God hangups , I do try to follow most of what is the good books of faith in that I  am concerned about the plight of all , especially those who don't have.  Do I think those on welfare and food stamps and unemployment are just sucking on the government tit.. Hell no , they would much rather earn a living and have a good life without going thru the   humbling experience of getting all that help.. Are there some of these who are riding the system ,Oh hell yes.. but they are doing a lot less damage than the rich of the world out to get richer at the cost of everyone else.. Most conservative I know complain of all those riding the dole while their rich compatriots rob, steal and cheat their way to being super rich..There is something basically wrong with conservative to be so mean at hear when they claim a deep Christian belief.. It confuses me.. It pains me It makes me want to see them never in power again,

The last 32 years this country has been raped and stripped of it's riches from Reagan on, democrats and republican alike... From Trickle Down to downtrodden they have destroyed the country, they should be held accountable.. I am at a loss on how to make it right again...

And finally I do use Fact Checkers to verify what has been said...Not that I agree with their every conclusion, but I do read how they made their decision.. and that in the hope that my writings are of some worth (at least to my pride)