Bowl games all over the place. And although I graduated from Stern School of Business at NYU which had no football team at all, I still became a pretty big college fan. In fact, due to relations and some close friends, I root for several teams.
Penn State, because that's where my father went, and Florida due to someone I worked with a while ago. He became a very close friend, then "drafted" me and gave me all kinds of team memorabilia. Then there's South Carolina where Steve Spurrier wound up as coach when he left the Gators, and USC because of Pete Carroll who I was very sorry to see leave the Jets.
But the reason for the theme today isn't because of the teams I usually root for. In fact, none of them have played their games yet. It's about a very odd happening from last evening. Because as I was flipping channels, I came across a game between North Carolina and Tennessee, two teams I know virtually nothing about. Yet, I was sitting there really pulling for North Carolina.
And then it hit me. The movie "The Blind Side" has been running for the last couple of months on TV, and I've seen it more than a few times because I think it's great.
In the film, Sandra Bullock, who won an Academy Award for her role, plays the part of Leigh Anne Tuohy, who virtually adopted homeless Michael Oher. Oher, a huge and talented athlete, goes on to become an outstanding offensive lineman for Ole Miss, eventually reaching the NFL and Baltimore Ravens.
So, I guess Sandra Bullock really deserved the award she won for her role. Because there I was yesterday rooting against Tennessee simply because, even though Mrs. Touhy was born and raised in Memphis, she hates the school and the team. And her dislike was pretty infectious, because although I don't really even know a thing about them, I don't like them now either.
The Tennessee game though might just have been an odd occurrence, because I have no really strong connection to affect my feelings. But, tomorrow's another story completely. Because at 1 o'clock in the afternoon Penn State goes head to head against Florida in the Outback Bowl in Tampa. And although I know I'll be pulling for Penn State, because family comes first, I'm not going to be really happy if Florida loses either.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
Friday, December 31, 2010
Thursday, December 30, 2010
BloggeRhythms 12/30/2010
While just hacking around today because there's nothing of interest, I found a follow up to yesterday's note about how the House threw away a half billion taxpayer dollars by paying for contracts on equipment that will never be used.
It seems that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention "lost or misplaced" more than $8 million in property in 2007, including computer and video equipment, according to government auditors. Then I saw a comment by Tom Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste. He said "There are a lot of agencies that do their job well, but they don't manage the 'little things' very well. The Defense Department is notorious for losing all kinds of equipment, but they do a pretty good job defending the country."
So, I guess what it all boils down to is, that if its not your money you really don't have to get upset about how much gets lost or stolen, even if you're the president of an organization dedicated against waste.
In the meantime, I saw an item that the Republicans in the House plan to demand that every new bill in Congress be measured against the Constitution, to insure its within the law. According to the same Tom Schatz, they're also going to put everything up on the web for three days to let people scour through the actual bills, and to check all titles and sections to see if what the legislators say is in the bill is actually there. Although the capability to do that has been there for many years, Congress has continually refused to let people see what they're doing.
While all of this sounds pretty good, and will likely have great benefit down the line, I also noticed that many commentators agree that the next election campaign will begin right after January 1st. So here we have a "new" Republican leadership in the House talking about all kinds of changes for the betterment of the American people, because, according to them, the public's demand for change has been heard loud and clear and the demand will be met, yet there's much more to be dealt with.
Because, while the party's gearing up for the presidential campaign, who's at the top of the list? Why none other than Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney. And that looks like recycling 101 to me. So, if after all the noise and smoke and hype and grandiose verbiage, that pack of clowns is all they can come up with, the campaign's over right now. Obama's a slam dunk winner.
But maybe one of these days one of the parties will figure out that that 40% and growing number of independent folks that will swing the vote don't want another politician in office. They want someone who can get a job done. Perhaps someone like Bloomberg was, before he sold out and became political scum like all the rest. I've heard the name Jeb Bush thrown around and he's closer to the model than most, but he's got the baggage of his family to weigh him down.
But regardless of who finally gets the nod, what's most important is, that if its simply another blowhard politico put up by the Dem's opposition, if those folks really wanted to help the country they'd donate their campaign funds right now to help reduce the deficit, because none of those recycled losers has got a prayer of being elected.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
It seems that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention "lost or misplaced" more than $8 million in property in 2007, including computer and video equipment, according to government auditors. Then I saw a comment by Tom Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste. He said "There are a lot of agencies that do their job well, but they don't manage the 'little things' very well. The Defense Department is notorious for losing all kinds of equipment, but they do a pretty good job defending the country."
So, I guess what it all boils down to is, that if its not your money you really don't have to get upset about how much gets lost or stolen, even if you're the president of an organization dedicated against waste.
In the meantime, I saw an item that the Republicans in the House plan to demand that every new bill in Congress be measured against the Constitution, to insure its within the law. According to the same Tom Schatz, they're also going to put everything up on the web for three days to let people scour through the actual bills, and to check all titles and sections to see if what the legislators say is in the bill is actually there. Although the capability to do that has been there for many years, Congress has continually refused to let people see what they're doing.
While all of this sounds pretty good, and will likely have great benefit down the line, I also noticed that many commentators agree that the next election campaign will begin right after January 1st. So here we have a "new" Republican leadership in the House talking about all kinds of changes for the betterment of the American people, because, according to them, the public's demand for change has been heard loud and clear and the demand will be met, yet there's much more to be dealt with.
Because, while the party's gearing up for the presidential campaign, who's at the top of the list? Why none other than Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney. And that looks like recycling 101 to me. So, if after all the noise and smoke and hype and grandiose verbiage, that pack of clowns is all they can come up with, the campaign's over right now. Obama's a slam dunk winner.
But maybe one of these days one of the parties will figure out that that 40% and growing number of independent folks that will swing the vote don't want another politician in office. They want someone who can get a job done. Perhaps someone like Bloomberg was, before he sold out and became political scum like all the rest. I've heard the name Jeb Bush thrown around and he's closer to the model than most, but he's got the baggage of his family to weigh him down.
But regardless of who finally gets the nod, what's most important is, that if its simply another blowhard politico put up by the Dem's opposition, if those folks really wanted to help the country they'd donate their campaign funds right now to help reduce the deficit, because none of those recycled losers has got a prayer of being elected.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
BloggeRhythms 12/29/2010
Since there's nothing of interest going on anywhere, it seems, I was scanning websites out of boredom. And that's when this headline hit me. "Rocket To Nowhere" Because after the president "nixed" a NASA project, Congress is still spending $500 million on it over the next six months.
Due to legislative bottlenecks, NASA must continue funding an already defunct rocket program until March. Half a billion dollars will be spent, in trying to replace the space shuttle.
Constellation is an umbrella program, including the Ares I rocket NASA's been building to replace the space shuttle as means of transport to and from the International Space Station among other spacecraft capable of performing a variety of missions. But although President Obama cancelled Constellation last year, congressional delays and inaction won't let the program die, costing scads of money.
$165 million of the estimated $500,000,000 NASA will spend in the next few months, will be paid to Alliant Techsystems, toward development of a solid-rocket first stage for the Ares I rocket. However, with the program cancellation signed into law in October, there are doubts the technology will ever be used, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
The reason this happened is a political battle over the last year. Since potential cancellation was looming, lawmakers wrote clauses into NASA’s 2010 budget, protecting Ares I jobs in their home states. Those clauses effectively prevented NASA from shutting down the program pending a new budget from Congress.
The new budget was expected to happen prior to October 1, but Congress extended the current budget until March, thereby the inaction leaves NASA obligated to keep Ares I alive, despite the program’s cancellation. NASA is currently spending almost $100 million a month on Ares I, or roughly $500 million from October to March 2011, according to the agency.
The reason I mention this is that while these charlatan SOB's in congress makes lot's of noise about spending on the big issues like health care, tax cuts, bailouts and unemployment benefit extensions where they throw away trillions, a small column buried in the press exposes half a billion of taxpayer's money they might just as well have burned.
And this is only one example of money totally wasted by people who couldn't care less about the dire financial straits their country is in. To them all that counts is skimming off as much as they can for themselves from the top, or anywhere else they can find it, and everyone else be damned.
But as I keep typing more and more lately, the game is changing and these folks are being found out. And although I really do believe that today, the public's much more aware and far better informed, there's still too much time between elections until the incompetents and crooks can be blown out. I truly believe the time has come that although politicians get their jobs via votes, there has to be a method put in place to simply throw the bad ones out. Just like they do in the real world.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
Due to legislative bottlenecks, NASA must continue funding an already defunct rocket program until March. Half a billion dollars will be spent, in trying to replace the space shuttle.
Constellation is an umbrella program, including the Ares I rocket NASA's been building to replace the space shuttle as means of transport to and from the International Space Station among other spacecraft capable of performing a variety of missions. But although President Obama cancelled Constellation last year, congressional delays and inaction won't let the program die, costing scads of money.
$165 million of the estimated $500,000,000 NASA will spend in the next few months, will be paid to Alliant Techsystems, toward development of a solid-rocket first stage for the Ares I rocket. However, with the program cancellation signed into law in October, there are doubts the technology will ever be used, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
The reason this happened is a political battle over the last year. Since potential cancellation was looming, lawmakers wrote clauses into NASA’s 2010 budget, protecting Ares I jobs in their home states. Those clauses effectively prevented NASA from shutting down the program pending a new budget from Congress.
The new budget was expected to happen prior to October 1, but Congress extended the current budget until March, thereby the inaction leaves NASA obligated to keep Ares I alive, despite the program’s cancellation. NASA is currently spending almost $100 million a month on Ares I, or roughly $500 million from October to March 2011, according to the agency.
The reason I mention this is that while these charlatan SOB's in congress makes lot's of noise about spending on the big issues like health care, tax cuts, bailouts and unemployment benefit extensions where they throw away trillions, a small column buried in the press exposes half a billion of taxpayer's money they might just as well have burned.
And this is only one example of money totally wasted by people who couldn't care less about the dire financial straits their country is in. To them all that counts is skimming off as much as they can for themselves from the top, or anywhere else they can find it, and everyone else be damned.
But as I keep typing more and more lately, the game is changing and these folks are being found out. And although I really do believe that today, the public's much more aware and far better informed, there's still too much time between elections until the incompetents and crooks can be blown out. I truly believe the time has come that although politicians get their jobs via votes, there has to be a method put in place to simply throw the bad ones out. Just like they do in the real world.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
BloggeRhythms 12/28/2010
The beat goes on in Dullsville. Absolutely nothing going on except for some snow. I guess Mother Nature didn't get the memo about greenhouse effect and global warming.
In the meantime the administration's looking for a director of the National Economic Council, because the current head, Lawrence Summers, is going back to Harvard. And from what I read, there's great concern that the choice might be someone from Wall Street, and what a disaster that would be. Because to theorists and academia, people who get their hands dirty handling money are not to be trusted.
And that leads to me to wonder if these elitist airheads ever think about how their salaries get paid, or who pays their rent. And where does the money for tuition come from, or the funds in the grants and the trusts? It's similar to political idealists who want to redistribute everybody else's wealth by fiat, without ever contributing a red cent themselves.
So, philosophically, the administration's in a box. Because if they don't turn to folks who know how the economy really works, like those on Wall Street or running large commercial organizations, the economic pit's going to deepen. And that would mean that the president, and maybe his whole party would face horrible setbacks, maybe even extinction.
On the other hand, if they really turn things around they'll have to admit that their hare-brained policies don't work, as evidenced by the last four years and getting worse.
So, what will they do? Stick with principle and policy that will turn the whole country into a parking lot, or instead really help their fellow citizens by letting real capitalists bail them out?
That's it for today folks.
Adios
In the meantime the administration's looking for a director of the National Economic Council, because the current head, Lawrence Summers, is going back to Harvard. And from what I read, there's great concern that the choice might be someone from Wall Street, and what a disaster that would be. Because to theorists and academia, people who get their hands dirty handling money are not to be trusted.
And that leads to me to wonder if these elitist airheads ever think about how their salaries get paid, or who pays their rent. And where does the money for tuition come from, or the funds in the grants and the trusts? It's similar to political idealists who want to redistribute everybody else's wealth by fiat, without ever contributing a red cent themselves.
So, philosophically, the administration's in a box. Because if they don't turn to folks who know how the economy really works, like those on Wall Street or running large commercial organizations, the economic pit's going to deepen. And that would mean that the president, and maybe his whole party would face horrible setbacks, maybe even extinction.
On the other hand, if they really turn things around they'll have to admit that their hare-brained policies don't work, as evidenced by the last four years and getting worse.
So, what will they do? Stick with principle and policy that will turn the whole country into a parking lot, or instead really help their fellow citizens by letting real capitalists bail them out?
That's it for today folks.
Adios
Monday, December 27, 2010
BloggeRhythms 12/27/2010
Things get more boring everywhere I look. There isn't even any excitement in the football season's last weeks. While the Jets played down to the last minute again in Chicago, it didn't matter. They backed into the playoffs via a Jacksonville loss. And as far as playoff hopes go, I agree with Coach Rex Ryan who says if they keep playing defense as they are, they don't have a prayer of lasting.
With nothing else going on, it's back to watching the president I guess. And I still don't understand it. Because he's now saying he plans to make no changes in goals or policy, but instead intends to get closer to the people by making more speeches around the country.
And I have to wonder why someone who's supposed to be so bright can simply stand there, watching the country and his administration's efforts fail time and time again, yet still expect to fix things with nothing but hot air.
As of now there are early indications that the economy might take a turn toward the better. Christmas sales were said to be up, except I don't think any "experts" have a clue as to the actual numbers. Because huge portions of business are being conducted via the Internet, Al Gore's invention, and I doubt anyone on Earth can gather the data. My guess is, almost none of it's really reported or measured because no one knows how.
But regardless of why the economy's showing some signs of improvement, there are many who'll say its simply because Republicans have gained the House back. And that may even be true. But true or not, you can bet that they're going to hammer away on all the failed Dem programs, and chances are reverse many of them. That momentum alone will likely add stimulus to consumer spending, job growth and upticks in economic performance. And all of those changes for the positive will have significant impact in the population because they're measurable and real.
That being the case, why would anyone in charge of the whole situation willingly leave town to make speeches that no one but the already brainwashed would ever listen too?
That's it for today folks.
Adios
With nothing else going on, it's back to watching the president I guess. And I still don't understand it. Because he's now saying he plans to make no changes in goals or policy, but instead intends to get closer to the people by making more speeches around the country.
And I have to wonder why someone who's supposed to be so bright can simply stand there, watching the country and his administration's efforts fail time and time again, yet still expect to fix things with nothing but hot air.
As of now there are early indications that the economy might take a turn toward the better. Christmas sales were said to be up, except I don't think any "experts" have a clue as to the actual numbers. Because huge portions of business are being conducted via the Internet, Al Gore's invention, and I doubt anyone on Earth can gather the data. My guess is, almost none of it's really reported or measured because no one knows how.
But regardless of why the economy's showing some signs of improvement, there are many who'll say its simply because Republicans have gained the House back. And that may even be true. But true or not, you can bet that they're going to hammer away on all the failed Dem programs, and chances are reverse many of them. That momentum alone will likely add stimulus to consumer spending, job growth and upticks in economic performance. And all of those changes for the positive will have significant impact in the population because they're measurable and real.
That being the case, why would anyone in charge of the whole situation willingly leave town to make speeches that no one but the already brainwashed would ever listen too?
That's it for today folks.
Adios
Sunday, December 26, 2010
BloggeRhythms 12/26/2010
Nothing new for a change, which is really good, I suppose. Except that the Northeast is battening down for an expected blizzard. So that means I have some time to clarify yesterday's entry wherein once I started typing, I got carried away in memories of the Clinton Administration and actually forgot to include my basic point.
After I entered the first few comments, recalling all the "gates," I was planning to mention the real mistake I think the president's making by trying to use Bill Clinton as an envoy, front man, shill or whatever. But then the wave of memory hit me and my point was lost.
What I wanted to mention was, why I thought the Clinton Administration had any success at all. Because I'm one of those who believe that except in times of outright war, this nation runs and votes on its pocketbook. So, if things are good economically, folks don't rock the status quo. And primarily during Clinton's years thing were good, business wise.
Yet the cause for the success may or may not have had anything to do with Clinton at all. Because when he ran, he was just about the only one who'd step up, all the others thinking Bush the first was a going away winner. And I remember clearly when Clinton raised his hand and said something like "Yuk, Yuk Y'all. Ah'll do it." Then Bush turned around, hardly campaigned and had already shot himself in the foot by compromising his original promise of "Read my lips. No new taxes," sweeping Clinton in.
After the election, I think Clinton was so surprised by the win that he really had to scramble to put a staff together, and one of the things he did by plan or default, likely the latter, was to leave Allen Greenspan as Chairman of the Federal Reserve. Originally appointed by Ronald Reagan, Greenspan continued under George H. W. Bush and then Bill Clinton kept him on.
At that time the "Fed" had a direct and powerful impact on the economy through its control of the money supply. And in that regard, Greenspan did a masterful job of adjusting the flow of dollars to the extent that the country ran exceptionally well economically. In fact, despite all the headlines, stories and exposes about the squad of bozos heading government, I doubt any real people cared about what those folks did, because the country could afford it. What's more, if those clowns at the top were busily fending off reporters, investigating committees and lawyers, they didn't have time to screw the country up with brain-dead legislation, so outside of DC things ran extremely well.
And that brings me back to the real point.
If the president really wants to bring back something from the Clinton Administration that would really help him get re-elected, he'd do some homework and find out that the key has nothing to do with this so-called "triangulation" pap . It has, instead got everything to do with stopping the failed attempts at socialism, and back door enriching of folks like Soros. Thus, the one to bring back isn't Clinton or any one like him at all. The guy to re-hire is Greenspan.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
After I entered the first few comments, recalling all the "gates," I was planning to mention the real mistake I think the president's making by trying to use Bill Clinton as an envoy, front man, shill or whatever. But then the wave of memory hit me and my point was lost.
What I wanted to mention was, why I thought the Clinton Administration had any success at all. Because I'm one of those who believe that except in times of outright war, this nation runs and votes on its pocketbook. So, if things are good economically, folks don't rock the status quo. And primarily during Clinton's years thing were good, business wise.
Yet the cause for the success may or may not have had anything to do with Clinton at all. Because when he ran, he was just about the only one who'd step up, all the others thinking Bush the first was a going away winner. And I remember clearly when Clinton raised his hand and said something like "Yuk, Yuk Y'all. Ah'll do it." Then Bush turned around, hardly campaigned and had already shot himself in the foot by compromising his original promise of "Read my lips. No new taxes," sweeping Clinton in.
After the election, I think Clinton was so surprised by the win that he really had to scramble to put a staff together, and one of the things he did by plan or default, likely the latter, was to leave Allen Greenspan as Chairman of the Federal Reserve. Originally appointed by Ronald Reagan, Greenspan continued under George H. W. Bush and then Bill Clinton kept him on.
At that time the "Fed" had a direct and powerful impact on the economy through its control of the money supply. And in that regard, Greenspan did a masterful job of adjusting the flow of dollars to the extent that the country ran exceptionally well economically. In fact, despite all the headlines, stories and exposes about the squad of bozos heading government, I doubt any real people cared about what those folks did, because the country could afford it. What's more, if those clowns at the top were busily fending off reporters, investigating committees and lawyers, they didn't have time to screw the country up with brain-dead legislation, so outside of DC things ran extremely well.
And that brings me back to the real point.
If the president really wants to bring back something from the Clinton Administration that would really help him get re-elected, he'd do some homework and find out that the key has nothing to do with this so-called "triangulation" pap . It has, instead got everything to do with stopping the failed attempts at socialism, and back door enriching of folks like Soros. Thus, the one to bring back isn't Clinton or any one like him at all. The guy to re-hire is Greenspan.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
Saturday, December 25, 2010
BloggeRhythms 12/25/2010
Santa hasn't visited our house yet, but he's a very busy guy today and there's still plenty of time left for him to show up. And since there's absolutely nothing else going on today of any interest, I thought I'd go back to yesterday's item.
I mentioned that the administration now plans to use Bill Clinton on a regular basis, to shore up the White House's message and image. I also said that I thought that was good news for the Republicans. And the more I think about it, the more I believe that's true.
To me, it couldn't be more evident that what voters demonstrated loud and clear at the polls is that they want government to be directly responsive to their needs and to stop serving its own misguided ideals. Firstly because we can't afford them and then because the majority of citizens don't want to become a socialist nation.
But, since politicians can't think beyond the end of their nose, they seek to employ age old tactics of fast talk and deception, and that's why, instead of making any attempt to truly respond to voters wishes, they roll out the master of hogwash. Because if you searched the earth you couldn't find an emptier suit than Bill Clinton.
Without going into great detail, because I'm working from memory not documentation, I don't recall any great, or even really substantive legislation, coming out of the Clinton years. But, I do vaguely recollect something like 50 murders or disappearances of folks who got too close to truths about underlying scandals, right up to Vince Foster who mysteriously showed up dead in Fort Marcy Park with no evident way for his being able to get there from the White House.
Then there was Whitewater and all the "gates". Filegate, Travelgate, Cattlegate and Billinggate. In Filegate, Xerox's were found in the White House book room, two years after they were first sought because it was improper that the White House rummage through 900 FBI files on Republican officials in the Bush and Reagan administration.
In Travelgate the Clinton's fired career travel staffers to make way for cronies. White House memos say Hillary Clinton was behind it, spurred on by Clinton Hollywood pal Harry Thomason, who was seeking a piece of the lucrative White House charter business. Cattlegate, involved Hillary's mysterious ability to turn a $1,000 investment into a $100,000 profit on cattle futures. Experts say that was virtually impossible in normal trading.
In Billing-gate, Hillary's law-billing records were "lost," raising questions about her role in a sham called Castle Grande. Though subpoenaed in 1994. the paperwork was missing until early 1996, turning up in a White House room next to her office. She says she doesn't know how they got there. The pages had her fingerprints around the section on Castle Grande and red ink notations in the late Vince Foster's handwriting.
Although everyone in the world likely remembers Whitewater, some refreshing can't hurt. Here, Jim and Susan McDougal, the Clintons' Whitewater partners, both were convicted of fraud. President Clinton himself lied when denying knowledge of an illegal $300,000 loan to bail out Whitewater. The loan wasn't repaid, and taxpayers were left holding the bag.
Then of course, there was Bill's relationship with 22-year-old White House intern, Monica Lewinsky, leading to another scandal. In a lame duck session after the 1998 elections, the House voted to impeach Clinton, based on allegations he lied about his relationship with Lewinsky in a sworn deposition in another lawsuit. This made him only the second U.S. president to be impeached. The first was Andrew Johnson in 1868.
But, why rehash all of this now? Simply because I have to wonder about why anyone, especially the president of the United States, would choose to have someone of Clinton's ilk even visit the White House, much less give him some public exposure. Because, if I, simply sitting here typing about what I recall about Clinton bring this stuff up, what are serious folks and especially political rivals going to do now?
I don't think they're going to sit on their hands and let a huge public relations gaffe go unnoticed, especially today. I think they're going to dredge all this old stuff back up and beat Obama, Bill and Hillary to political death with it. And, if the best you can do, considering the serious problems this country has right now, is to recycle a self-serving, impeached liar, then being driven to political demise is well deserved. And as far as Republcan's are concerned, they got a Christmas present so far beyond their wildest dreams, they'll likely never forget it.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
I mentioned that the administration now plans to use Bill Clinton on a regular basis, to shore up the White House's message and image. I also said that I thought that was good news for the Republicans. And the more I think about it, the more I believe that's true.
To me, it couldn't be more evident that what voters demonstrated loud and clear at the polls is that they want government to be directly responsive to their needs and to stop serving its own misguided ideals. Firstly because we can't afford them and then because the majority of citizens don't want to become a socialist nation.
But, since politicians can't think beyond the end of their nose, they seek to employ age old tactics of fast talk and deception, and that's why, instead of making any attempt to truly respond to voters wishes, they roll out the master of hogwash. Because if you searched the earth you couldn't find an emptier suit than Bill Clinton.
Without going into great detail, because I'm working from memory not documentation, I don't recall any great, or even really substantive legislation, coming out of the Clinton years. But, I do vaguely recollect something like 50 murders or disappearances of folks who got too close to truths about underlying scandals, right up to Vince Foster who mysteriously showed up dead in Fort Marcy Park with no evident way for his being able to get there from the White House.
Then there was Whitewater and all the "gates". Filegate, Travelgate, Cattlegate and Billinggate. In Filegate, Xerox's were found in the White House book room, two years after they were first sought because it was improper that the White House rummage through 900 FBI files on Republican officials in the Bush and Reagan administration.
In Travelgate the Clinton's fired career travel staffers to make way for cronies. White House memos say Hillary Clinton was behind it, spurred on by Clinton Hollywood pal Harry Thomason, who was seeking a piece of the lucrative White House charter business. Cattlegate, involved Hillary's mysterious ability to turn a $1,000 investment into a $100,000 profit on cattle futures. Experts say that was virtually impossible in normal trading.
In Billing-gate, Hillary's law-billing records were "lost," raising questions about her role in a sham called Castle Grande. Though subpoenaed in 1994. the paperwork was missing until early 1996, turning up in a White House room next to her office. She says she doesn't know how they got there. The pages had her fingerprints around the section on Castle Grande and red ink notations in the late Vince Foster's handwriting.
Although everyone in the world likely remembers Whitewater, some refreshing can't hurt. Here, Jim and Susan McDougal, the Clintons' Whitewater partners, both were convicted of fraud. President Clinton himself lied when denying knowledge of an illegal $300,000 loan to bail out Whitewater. The loan wasn't repaid, and taxpayers were left holding the bag.
Then of course, there was Bill's relationship with 22-year-old White House intern, Monica Lewinsky, leading to another scandal. In a lame duck session after the 1998 elections, the House voted to impeach Clinton, based on allegations he lied about his relationship with Lewinsky in a sworn deposition in another lawsuit. This made him only the second U.S. president to be impeached. The first was Andrew Johnson in 1868.
But, why rehash all of this now? Simply because I have to wonder about why anyone, especially the president of the United States, would choose to have someone of Clinton's ilk even visit the White House, much less give him some public exposure. Because, if I, simply sitting here typing about what I recall about Clinton bring this stuff up, what are serious folks and especially political rivals going to do now?
I don't think they're going to sit on their hands and let a huge public relations gaffe go unnoticed, especially today. I think they're going to dredge all this old stuff back up and beat Obama, Bill and Hillary to political death with it. And, if the best you can do, considering the serious problems this country has right now, is to recycle a self-serving, impeached liar, then being driven to political demise is well deserved. And as far as Republcan's are concerned, they got a Christmas present so far beyond their wildest dreams, they'll likely never forget it.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
Friday, December 24, 2010
BloggeRhythms 12/24/2010
Looks like everybody's taking a break to celebrate Christmas. Because it seems there's nothing happening anywhere that's of any interest, except the holiday itself.
And, as far as the holiday goes, it looks like the Democrats decided to give their rivals a present beyond their wildest dreams. Because, according to a news blurb I read, the White House is planning to give Bill Clinton a much larger role next year. And what that means is, instead of trying to listen to the public's pleas for real change in direction and help, they're instead going to try to cover up their lying self-interests with polished hype, smoke and some mirrors.
As each day goes by I wonder why these Dem politicos don't seem to grasp basic math. Because it's widely known that there are roughly 20% of voters who cling strongly to party lines on each side no matter, 40% waver according to particular issues that affect them directly, and the remaining 20% don't really much care. So, that means that recycling a tired old party windbag is likely only going to strongly appeal to the hard core 20% the party already has.
So, it may be interesting to watch these clowns continue to try to duck, maneuver and scramble, but when push comes to shove it really won't matter at all. Because the next election's going to be won by whoever figures out a way to deliver what the voters really want, and I doubt a skirt-chasing con man is going to scam them again.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
And, as far as the holiday goes, it looks like the Democrats decided to give their rivals a present beyond their wildest dreams. Because, according to a news blurb I read, the White House is planning to give Bill Clinton a much larger role next year. And what that means is, instead of trying to listen to the public's pleas for real change in direction and help, they're instead going to try to cover up their lying self-interests with polished hype, smoke and some mirrors.
As each day goes by I wonder why these Dem politicos don't seem to grasp basic math. Because it's widely known that there are roughly 20% of voters who cling strongly to party lines on each side no matter, 40% waver according to particular issues that affect them directly, and the remaining 20% don't really much care. So, that means that recycling a tired old party windbag is likely only going to strongly appeal to the hard core 20% the party already has.
So, it may be interesting to watch these clowns continue to try to duck, maneuver and scramble, but when push comes to shove it really won't matter at all. Because the next election's going to be won by whoever figures out a way to deliver what the voters really want, and I doubt a skirt-chasing con man is going to scam them again.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
Thursday, December 23, 2010
12/23/2010
Homeland Security, and its Secretary, Janet Napolitano, are scrambling for answers. Because they're trying to cover up for the fact that the director, James Clapper knew nothing about the arrest in Britain of 12 men allegedly involved in an Al Qaeda plot to attack targets there.
Clapper was being interviewed Tuesday on ABC News by Diane Sawyer, who asked him about the event while discussing what the U.S. is doing to prevent another attempted terror attack. She asked: "First of all, London. How serious is it? Any implication that it was coming here?"
After several silent seconds, Clapper quietly turned his head and said, "London?" At that point the adviser accompanying him, John Brennan, explained that the British had informed U.S. officials about the plot that morning. Clapper said "Oh."
What struck me when I read about the preceding interview is that I'd just been thinking about the situation regarding the WikiLeaks document dump. And it seemed to me that this was one more example of how weak and poorly administered our whole security system is at the moment. But then, I had another thought.
We've recently seen how some foreign entity was able to crack the supposedly absolutely secure Iranian nuclear project, and somehow place worms in their software. And technology and systems are now capable of all kinds of spying and infiltration never possible before. So, in that way, the whole world of intelligence and cold warfare is changing.
So, if that kind of capability now exists, and warfare is much more of a mind game, what if those aspects are being employed more readily. For example, what if every aspect of the British Al Qaeda capture was known to us, but we simply played dumb. And in that way try to lull our enemies into underestimating us, while we simply sit back, waiting for them to try something here that we'll abort and round up the perps.
Along those same lines, there's the WikiLeaks situation. And while everyone's jumping up and down because highly classified information's being exposed, what if it's all disinformation? Purposely put together and full of misdirection and disguised data hoping to send enemies down false trails and into traps. If that's the case, this guy Assange is willingly and unknowingly doing the dirty-work for our intelligence agencies, unless he's actually a part of the plot.
I guess what it all boils down to is, nobody who isn't on the inside of the game really knows very much at all, but it seems to make very good headlines. And in the meantime, there haven't been any very threatening terrorist attacks and Iran's got all kinds of nuclear problems. What that means, I suppose, is that there really are some good guys someplace that actually do know what's going on.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
Clapper was being interviewed Tuesday on ABC News by Diane Sawyer, who asked him about the event while discussing what the U.S. is doing to prevent another attempted terror attack. She asked: "First of all, London. How serious is it? Any implication that it was coming here?"
After several silent seconds, Clapper quietly turned his head and said, "London?" At that point the adviser accompanying him, John Brennan, explained that the British had informed U.S. officials about the plot that morning. Clapper said "Oh."
What struck me when I read about the preceding interview is that I'd just been thinking about the situation regarding the WikiLeaks document dump. And it seemed to me that this was one more example of how weak and poorly administered our whole security system is at the moment. But then, I had another thought.
We've recently seen how some foreign entity was able to crack the supposedly absolutely secure Iranian nuclear project, and somehow place worms in their software. And technology and systems are now capable of all kinds of spying and infiltration never possible before. So, in that way, the whole world of intelligence and cold warfare is changing.
So, if that kind of capability now exists, and warfare is much more of a mind game, what if those aspects are being employed more readily. For example, what if every aspect of the British Al Qaeda capture was known to us, but we simply played dumb. And in that way try to lull our enemies into underestimating us, while we simply sit back, waiting for them to try something here that we'll abort and round up the perps.
Along those same lines, there's the WikiLeaks situation. And while everyone's jumping up and down because highly classified information's being exposed, what if it's all disinformation? Purposely put together and full of misdirection and disguised data hoping to send enemies down false trails and into traps. If that's the case, this guy Assange is willingly and unknowingly doing the dirty-work for our intelligence agencies, unless he's actually a part of the plot.
I guess what it all boils down to is, nobody who isn't on the inside of the game really knows very much at all, but it seems to make very good headlines. And in the meantime, there haven't been any very threatening terrorist attacks and Iran's got all kinds of nuclear problems. What that means, I suppose, is that there really are some good guys someplace that actually do know what's going on.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
BloggeRhythms 12/22/2010
I guess Santa's out there somewhere, clearing his throat, getting ready for a night of Ho, Ho, Ho. And the lame ducks are still diligently at work in DC, ho-hum, ho-hum, ho-hum. These guys are more boring than dust.
And the president's holding a news conference this afternoon. According to pundits, this is meant as a "victory lap" for all the last minute legislation the lame one's pushed through. But, I think it's actually going to be a very temporary spurt. Because, when the new Congress takes over in January much of what's been passed by the duckies will be rewritten, reconfigured or repealed.
For starters, there aren't enough funds to support the first phase of the health care law, so it may just evaporate. And if that happens, the whole bill's likely to unravel. And as far as keeping the tax cuts in place, the president's taking the credit, but the whole planet knows it was the insistence of Republicans that forced his hand.
As far as the budget goes, there's no spending bill at all. The ducks loaded the legislation up with so much pork, it may never pass, and short term extensions might be needed for years. Meanwhile, Harry Reid's plan for sending illegal aliens to college went up in smoke, which is appropriate. Because he must have been smoking something when he pushed for it's passage.
And I guess, that brings us to Don't Ask, Don't Tell which is the perfect bill for this Congress to pass. Because in the future, when these turkeys are out in the street looking for jobs, they'll be praying that nobody asks what they did before. And if by chance they are asked...it's unlikely that they'll tell.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
And the president's holding a news conference this afternoon. According to pundits, this is meant as a "victory lap" for all the last minute legislation the lame one's pushed through. But, I think it's actually going to be a very temporary spurt. Because, when the new Congress takes over in January much of what's been passed by the duckies will be rewritten, reconfigured or repealed.
For starters, there aren't enough funds to support the first phase of the health care law, so it may just evaporate. And if that happens, the whole bill's likely to unravel. And as far as keeping the tax cuts in place, the president's taking the credit, but the whole planet knows it was the insistence of Republicans that forced his hand.
As far as the budget goes, there's no spending bill at all. The ducks loaded the legislation up with so much pork, it may never pass, and short term extensions might be needed for years. Meanwhile, Harry Reid's plan for sending illegal aliens to college went up in smoke, which is appropriate. Because he must have been smoking something when he pushed for it's passage.
And I guess, that brings us to Don't Ask, Don't Tell which is the perfect bill for this Congress to pass. Because in the future, when these turkeys are out in the street looking for jobs, they'll be praying that nobody asks what they did before. And if by chance they are asked...it's unlikely that they'll tell.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
BloggeRhythms 12/21/2010
There's little doubt that citizens are sending loud and clear signals about their desires and preferences to Washington. Yet it seems those signals are being heard everywhere but DC. And you'd think, especially after the last election's results, folks inside the beltway would listen, but they don't.
What the election demonstrated was, that voters want smaller government, less interference, and especially...lower taxes. Nonetheless, particular factions almost caused a government shutdown (although I don't really have a problem with government closing down, hopefully completely) and forced enactment of measures to keep it working until March, because they couldn't agree on exactly how much much money to steal for perks and special interests.
But, if the election wasn't enough to demonstrate how fed up folks are with incumbent politicians, the results of this year's census have begun to be released. And what the numbers show, tells us a couple of things. First of all, the population now stands at at 308,745,538, a 9.7 percent increase from ten years ago, although the growth rate was slower than ever before.
But, it's interesting as to how the demographics are changing. Growth in the South and West averaged about 14 percent, with states in those regions set to gain the most additional representation in Congress. Texas, will gain four, Florida two, and Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, South Carolina, Utah and Washington one each.
A seat was lost in Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. New York and Ohio, lost two.
Representative Patrick McHenry, North Carolina, said the migration patterns show the Rust Belt is losing out to the Sun Belt because of better state and local opportunities and, "It is no coincidence that the states gaining population the fastest over the last 10 years have lower tax rates and, consequently, stronger economies. As states draw new congressional districts to reflect this shift, we will certainly see more Republicans in the U.S. House."
So here we see another confirmation of the message, this one very loud and clear. Folks are fed up with big government, spending and taxes and will uproot themselves if that's what it takes to get out from under. And between voting out those who tax and spend and moving to to other parts of the nation, the next census may show that the only city left with any high taxation will be DC itself.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
What the election demonstrated was, that voters want smaller government, less interference, and especially...lower taxes. Nonetheless, particular factions almost caused a government shutdown (although I don't really have a problem with government closing down, hopefully completely) and forced enactment of measures to keep it working until March, because they couldn't agree on exactly how much much money to steal for perks and special interests.
But, if the election wasn't enough to demonstrate how fed up folks are with incumbent politicians, the results of this year's census have begun to be released. And what the numbers show, tells us a couple of things. First of all, the population now stands at at 308,745,538, a 9.7 percent increase from ten years ago, although the growth rate was slower than ever before.
But, it's interesting as to how the demographics are changing. Growth in the South and West averaged about 14 percent, with states in those regions set to gain the most additional representation in Congress. Texas, will gain four, Florida two, and Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, South Carolina, Utah and Washington one each.
A seat was lost in Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. New York and Ohio, lost two.
Representative Patrick McHenry, North Carolina, said the migration patterns show the Rust Belt is losing out to the Sun Belt because of better state and local opportunities and, "It is no coincidence that the states gaining population the fastest over the last 10 years have lower tax rates and, consequently, stronger economies. As states draw new congressional districts to reflect this shift, we will certainly see more Republicans in the U.S. House."
So here we see another confirmation of the message, this one very loud and clear. Folks are fed up with big government, spending and taxes and will uproot themselves if that's what it takes to get out from under. And between voting out those who tax and spend and moving to to other parts of the nation, the next census may show that the only city left with any high taxation will be DC itself.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
Monday, December 20, 2010
BloggeRhythms 12/20/2010
I've had some heart issues in the past few years that my medicos tell me have been completely fixed. But, I'm one of those folks that likes reassurance, even when given "expert" opinions. And yesterday I got some. Because the Jets pulled out a win against the Steelers that went down to the last two seconds, and Gang Green didn't cave in. However, the nail-biting finish was enough to do a weaker man in.
I obviously don't know why, but it seems that this year's team can't simply put away games early, no matter the opposition. Just about every contest, except one, has gone down to the wire. I know I've said this here before, but it's a lot like watching the NBA in the old days when they played real basketball. The whole game really took place in the last few moments of the fourth quarter, and no leads were ever too big too overcome, so no fan could ever become complacent.
I've also been around too long to make any kind of prediction on any kind of professional sport, and I've learned that no matter how much experience professionals have amassed before they become talking heads, they can't predict with assurance either. Nonetheless one can still get a sense of a team's capabilities over the course of a season, whereby you can see which way the odds tilt somewhat. And, in that sense, the Jets have proven quite often that they can come back from behind and win. The only problem I have with that is, trying to live through the competitions.
That's it for today folks
Adios
I obviously don't know why, but it seems that this year's team can't simply put away games early, no matter the opposition. Just about every contest, except one, has gone down to the wire. I know I've said this here before, but it's a lot like watching the NBA in the old days when they played real basketball. The whole game really took place in the last few moments of the fourth quarter, and no leads were ever too big too overcome, so no fan could ever become complacent.
I've also been around too long to make any kind of prediction on any kind of professional sport, and I've learned that no matter how much experience professionals have amassed before they become talking heads, they can't predict with assurance either. Nonetheless one can still get a sense of a team's capabilities over the course of a season, whereby you can see which way the odds tilt somewhat. And, in that sense, the Jets have proven quite often that they can come back from behind and win. The only problem I have with that is, trying to live through the competitions.
That's it for today folks
Adios
Sunday, December 19, 2010
BloggeRhythms 12/19/2010
Six days before Christmas, and all through the House,
lame duck Congress-folks are striving to see how many bills they can all louse.
And in the Senate, it's pretty much the same.
Screwing up legislation, then finding someone to blame.
But another years coming, so don't be blue.
Because pretty soon, all of them are through.
And now it's back to watch the Jets as they play,
trying their best to give one more game away.
That's it for today folks.
Adios.
lame duck Congress-folks are striving to see how many bills they can all louse.
And in the Senate, it's pretty much the same.
Screwing up legislation, then finding someone to blame.
But another years coming, so don't be blue.
Because pretty soon, all of them are through.
And now it's back to watch the Jets as they play,
trying their best to give one more game away.
That's it for today folks.
Adios.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
BloggeRhythms 12/18/2010
The "Dream Act" was defeated in Congress today. And this is another situation I simply don't understand.
As I recall from way back in grade school, there's a process for becoming a citizen of the United States. And citizenship can be obtained by those born elsewhere, if they follow the rules for immigration. Yet what the backers of the Dream Act want is to forget about our laws and open pathways to citizenship for those who sneak in.
It would seem to me though, that the conversation ought to stop at the very first word in the act under discussion. And that word is "illegal." So, what is it that the bill's backer's don't understand? Why are they so intent on making life easier for people who have already proven beyond doubt that they have no respect for our laws? By definition, these illegals are felons simply by being here at all.
And what about all those who go through the process, and become citizens the way they should? Isn't there something wrong with making those diligent, dedicated, and honest arrivals look like fools, simply because they played by the rules?
But, when you consider where the bill derived from, the question answers itself. Because it was put together by politicians. And, as we all see more clearly every day, these low life slimes have no interest in our rules, or the laws that make our country run. They only understand ways to cheat, lie and steal. And since they spend most of their time screwing the public from behind closed doors in DC, what do they care about what goes on in border states, even if that's where they're from?
To add another question to the mix, even if there was a rational reason to legalize people who crawl in from wherever the hell they come from, why do it now? At the moment, there aren't enough jobs for folks who were born, bred and raised here and whose families may go back for many generations. So, why would any rational, honest person want to take potential jobs away from them via clotting the market with folks who'll work for next to nothing and push idle citizens out of the market? The answer is, politicians are neither rational nor honest.
In the end though, since the bill didn't pass, for now it really doesn't matter what the objective of it's backers was. And as for the rest of us, it's a good thing. Because, had it been approved, the Dream Act would have become a nightmare for honest American workers.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
As I recall from way back in grade school, there's a process for becoming a citizen of the United States. And citizenship can be obtained by those born elsewhere, if they follow the rules for immigration. Yet what the backers of the Dream Act want is to forget about our laws and open pathways to citizenship for those who sneak in.
It would seem to me though, that the conversation ought to stop at the very first word in the act under discussion. And that word is "illegal." So, what is it that the bill's backer's don't understand? Why are they so intent on making life easier for people who have already proven beyond doubt that they have no respect for our laws? By definition, these illegals are felons simply by being here at all.
And what about all those who go through the process, and become citizens the way they should? Isn't there something wrong with making those diligent, dedicated, and honest arrivals look like fools, simply because they played by the rules?
But, when you consider where the bill derived from, the question answers itself. Because it was put together by politicians. And, as we all see more clearly every day, these low life slimes have no interest in our rules, or the laws that make our country run. They only understand ways to cheat, lie and steal. And since they spend most of their time screwing the public from behind closed doors in DC, what do they care about what goes on in border states, even if that's where they're from?
To add another question to the mix, even if there was a rational reason to legalize people who crawl in from wherever the hell they come from, why do it now? At the moment, there aren't enough jobs for folks who were born, bred and raised here and whose families may go back for many generations. So, why would any rational, honest person want to take potential jobs away from them via clotting the market with folks who'll work for next to nothing and push idle citizens out of the market? The answer is, politicians are neither rational nor honest.
In the end though, since the bill didn't pass, for now it really doesn't matter what the objective of it's backers was. And as for the rest of us, it's a good thing. Because, had it been approved, the Dream Act would have become a nightmare for honest American workers.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
Friday, December 17, 2010
BloggeRhythms 12/17/2010
Overcoming the posturings, posings and the blowing out of zeppelin loads of hot air by the members of Congress still living in 1940 and hoping that Socialism will still take hold in the U.S., the tax bill finally passed.
And the major stumbling block was the estate tax, because Pinko's have a problem with folks keeping the money they've earned. These parasites live under the delusion that it's wrong to be successful and that anything accumulated by others, somehow belongs to them.
As far as the plan itself goes, it includes an estate tax allowing the first $10 million of a couple's estate to pass to heirs without taxation. Amounts over that would be subject to a 35 percent tax rate. But what many House Democrats wanted was a tax that would allow couples to pass only $7 million tax-free, and anything more taxed at a 45 percent rate. They argued that the higher estate tax would affect only 6,600 of the wealthiest estates in 2011 and would save $23 billion over two years.
Departing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, called the estate tax the "most egregious provision" in the bill. She held a vote that would have imposed the higher estate tax. It failed, 194-233.
Now, what I still don't understand is: Why does a dime of anyone's estate go to anybody, especially the government, unless those that earned that money decide to give it to them? And not only have the funds already been taxed, when they were earned or accrued, there's no earthly logical reason for the tax at all. In fact, it's outright theft.
Along the same lines, I've suspected for quite some time now that the unemployment rate is likely overstated, because smart folks haven't been sitting on their hands waiting for things to get better job-wise. My guess is they're out there doing things, but getting paid off the books. Because that way, Sam doesn't have his claws in their pockets.
What I think facilitated this "underground" work force is when businesses used the economic down-slide as an excuse to blow out lot's of dead wood from their employment rolls. In many cases, they axed too many folks. But, instead of hiring them back, they brought them on as "consultants " thereby eliminating the need to offer the benefits and perks that strangled those businesses to begin with.
And the idea of hiring consultants is nothing new, because many large corporations were buried under staffs of non-productive blocks of wood but couldn't rid themselves of them without bringing on a zillion lawsuits for discrimination, harassment, and whatever else labor attorneys can dream up. So, to get needed productivity, businesses brought in supplemental outside help.
What I believe all this sums up to is a changing workplace where folks no longer care if they have so-called full-time jobs, because between taxation, regulation and all of the other nonsensical burdens of being "employed," they've now learned they're better off on their own. Especially when it comes to how they're compensated and what their pay checks look like without all those "deductions" withheld.
Thus, once again in it's divine wisdom government's taken the best economic system ever known to man and forced it underground. And through it's greed, stupidity and arrogance it's shot the golden goose outright dead. What's more, as the trend toward self-reliance builds, not only won't there be a return to the former "employment" levels, but tax reporting and collection may decrease to the point to where Washington starves itself to death.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
And the major stumbling block was the estate tax, because Pinko's have a problem with folks keeping the money they've earned. These parasites live under the delusion that it's wrong to be successful and that anything accumulated by others, somehow belongs to them.
As far as the plan itself goes, it includes an estate tax allowing the first $10 million of a couple's estate to pass to heirs without taxation. Amounts over that would be subject to a 35 percent tax rate. But what many House Democrats wanted was a tax that would allow couples to pass only $7 million tax-free, and anything more taxed at a 45 percent rate. They argued that the higher estate tax would affect only 6,600 of the wealthiest estates in 2011 and would save $23 billion over two years.
Departing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, called the estate tax the "most egregious provision" in the bill. She held a vote that would have imposed the higher estate tax. It failed, 194-233.
Now, what I still don't understand is: Why does a dime of anyone's estate go to anybody, especially the government, unless those that earned that money decide to give it to them? And not only have the funds already been taxed, when they were earned or accrued, there's no earthly logical reason for the tax at all. In fact, it's outright theft.
Along the same lines, I've suspected for quite some time now that the unemployment rate is likely overstated, because smart folks haven't been sitting on their hands waiting for things to get better job-wise. My guess is they're out there doing things, but getting paid off the books. Because that way, Sam doesn't have his claws in their pockets.
What I think facilitated this "underground" work force is when businesses used the economic down-slide as an excuse to blow out lot's of dead wood from their employment rolls. In many cases, they axed too many folks. But, instead of hiring them back, they brought them on as "consultants " thereby eliminating the need to offer the benefits and perks that strangled those businesses to begin with.
And the idea of hiring consultants is nothing new, because many large corporations were buried under staffs of non-productive blocks of wood but couldn't rid themselves of them without bringing on a zillion lawsuits for discrimination, harassment, and whatever else labor attorneys can dream up. So, to get needed productivity, businesses brought in supplemental outside help.
What I believe all this sums up to is a changing workplace where folks no longer care if they have so-called full-time jobs, because between taxation, regulation and all of the other nonsensical burdens of being "employed," they've now learned they're better off on their own. Especially when it comes to how they're compensated and what their pay checks look like without all those "deductions" withheld.
Thus, once again in it's divine wisdom government's taken the best economic system ever known to man and forced it underground. And through it's greed, stupidity and arrogance it's shot the golden goose outright dead. What's more, as the trend toward self-reliance builds, not only won't there be a return to the former "employment" levels, but tax reporting and collection may decrease to the point to where Washington starves itself to death.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
Thursday, December 16, 2010
BloggeRhythms 12/16/2010
Sometimes the best things come as complete surprises, and this year hard-working, realistic citizens may get more than they could ever wish for. Because, although I think it's highly unlikely and typical politico smoke and mirrors, there's talk that the government may shut altogether down due to infighting over next year's appropriations bill. And if government really does shut down, the nation's got a much better chance of survival.
The rub seems to be between politicians who want to see taxes raised on the rich, and those who want to get re-elected. Or, to put it another way, between those who want to see the country survive and those who want to bleed it dryer.
But what's really remarkable about so many of these low-life slimes who somehow ooze into office, is their incredible rhetoric. Because yesterday they were posturing, scheming and screaming about how the country can't afford to go on as it has, because there's no money, so taxes have to be raised. And then today, in an appropriations bill they're trying to bury billions and billions of pork to feather their own nests.
While all but eight Senate Republicans agreed to a two year ban on earmarks. A majority of Democrats did not. They voted down a proposed ban two weeks ago. So, the $1.1 trillion Senate omnibus bill contains 6,714 earmarks worth 8.3 billion dollars.
But, what's even more incredible is that the deal was worked out principally by Senator Dan Inouye, Democrat of Hawaii and Thad Cochran, Republican of Mississippi. These two guys are not only ranking members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, they're also the reigning kings of pork. In 2010, Cochran won 240 earmarks worth $490million, while Inouye sponsored or co-sponsored 151 programs worth $387 million.
This year's Inouye's earmarks include $21 million for Hawaiian Health Care, a $6 million wildlife refuge, a $3 million Hawaii National Guard drug program and a $5.5 million Joint Venture Education Center. As for Cochran, there's $21 million Gulf Coast Test Center, $5 million for a Natural Products Center, $4 million for a Large Structure Building Center and $3.4 million Anti Drug Center. So, that's 68.9 million dollars taken from earners all over the U.S. to line the pockets of special interests in only two states.
Now, I don't know about you, or how you feel when some con man gives you a story and then tries to steal everything you own, right down to your jockey shorts, but as for me...I really don't like it. And I know I'd feel much better if these guys walked up to me with a gun and said, "Give me everything you own." Because then I'd know who I was dealing with, right out in the open, and wouldn't have to listen to the bilge, the swill and the lies. I'd also be able to fight back. But these guys in Washington don't have the guts to thieve out in sunlight and show their faces, they'd rather rip you off in the dark then slink away into the night. And maybe that's why Congress has an approval rating of 16 percent, and sinking.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
The rub seems to be between politicians who want to see taxes raised on the rich, and those who want to get re-elected. Or, to put it another way, between those who want to see the country survive and those who want to bleed it dryer.
But what's really remarkable about so many of these low-life slimes who somehow ooze into office, is their incredible rhetoric. Because yesterday they were posturing, scheming and screaming about how the country can't afford to go on as it has, because there's no money, so taxes have to be raised. And then today, in an appropriations bill they're trying to bury billions and billions of pork to feather their own nests.
While all but eight Senate Republicans agreed to a two year ban on earmarks. A majority of Democrats did not. They voted down a proposed ban two weeks ago. So, the $1.1 trillion Senate omnibus bill contains 6,714 earmarks worth 8.3 billion dollars.
But, what's even more incredible is that the deal was worked out principally by Senator Dan Inouye, Democrat of Hawaii and Thad Cochran, Republican of Mississippi. These two guys are not only ranking members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, they're also the reigning kings of pork. In 2010, Cochran won 240 earmarks worth $490million, while Inouye sponsored or co-sponsored 151 programs worth $387 million.
This year's Inouye's earmarks include $21 million for Hawaiian Health Care, a $6 million wildlife refuge, a $3 million Hawaii National Guard drug program and a $5.5 million Joint Venture Education Center. As for Cochran, there's $21 million Gulf Coast Test Center, $5 million for a Natural Products Center, $4 million for a Large Structure Building Center and $3.4 million Anti Drug Center. So, that's 68.9 million dollars taken from earners all over the U.S. to line the pockets of special interests in only two states.
Now, I don't know about you, or how you feel when some con man gives you a story and then tries to steal everything you own, right down to your jockey shorts, but as for me...I really don't like it. And I know I'd feel much better if these guys walked up to me with a gun and said, "Give me everything you own." Because then I'd know who I was dealing with, right out in the open, and wouldn't have to listen to the bilge, the swill and the lies. I'd also be able to fight back. But these guys in Washington don't have the guts to thieve out in sunlight and show their faces, they'd rather rip you off in the dark then slink away into the night. And maybe that's why Congress has an approval rating of 16 percent, and sinking.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
BloggeRhythms 12/15/2010
According to new polling data, the Congressional approval rating has fallen to 16 percent. That's the lowest in the history of polling. And in looking for why that's happened, you don't have to go very far.
Robert Menendez, is a Democrat senator from New Jersey. And while "hailing" passage of the tax cuts he attacked Republicans for insisting that the wealthy were included in the package. He said, "It is astounding that Republicans prioritized millionaires and adopted questionable negotiating tactics to protect them, including working in lockstep to deny medical treatment for ailing 9/11 responders, but for many of us, this is not about whether or not to support tax cuts for millionaires, it is about whether we are going to stand up for the middle class, protect them from the tax increase that's looming two weeks from now and actually provide significant additional relief beyond that."
So, in effect, what this guy's babbling about is that it's criminal to allow successful folks to keep money they've earned instead of giving it to government to throw away on pet projects or otherwise steal and waste. Because while he was ranting about his dissatisfaction with taxpayers keeping their money, the Senate Appropriations Committee, led by Daniel Inouye, Democrat of Hawaii, introduced a 2,000-page bill, drawn behind closed doors.
The $1.1 trillion bill is an earmark-laden spending plan to fund the government for next year. It even includes $10 million to build a center in memory of Representative John Murtha, earmark king of Western Pennsylvania, who died amid a growing scandal over the funds he directed to his home district. And what the Democrat leaders hope is that with the government shutdown coming on Saturday, Republicans will be forced to accept the plan, or most of it.
So here we have this bunch of worthless con men politicians who've practically bled the country dry via their incompetence, greed, and most often simply stupidity, showing their contempt for people who've done nothing but gone out and succeeded financially. And as I've pounded over and over on this keyboard for the last few weeks, where do they get the right?
Unfortunately, it will take some time for all of the damage done by these self-serving phonies to correct itself, but the voters of this nation will get that accomplished. Because, as of the moment only 16% of those voters think a good job's being done. And when this new spending bill is added to the deficit, that 16% will likely shrink some more.
Thus, the only thing to be hoped for in these politicos future is that when their shortly back in the real world, no one gives them a job that lets them anywhere near anyone else's money.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
Robert Menendez, is a Democrat senator from New Jersey. And while "hailing" passage of the tax cuts he attacked Republicans for insisting that the wealthy were included in the package. He said, "It is astounding that Republicans prioritized millionaires and adopted questionable negotiating tactics to protect them, including working in lockstep to deny medical treatment for ailing 9/11 responders, but for many of us, this is not about whether or not to support tax cuts for millionaires, it is about whether we are going to stand up for the middle class, protect them from the tax increase that's looming two weeks from now and actually provide significant additional relief beyond that."
So, in effect, what this guy's babbling about is that it's criminal to allow successful folks to keep money they've earned instead of giving it to government to throw away on pet projects or otherwise steal and waste. Because while he was ranting about his dissatisfaction with taxpayers keeping their money, the Senate Appropriations Committee, led by Daniel Inouye, Democrat of Hawaii, introduced a 2,000-page bill, drawn behind closed doors.
The $1.1 trillion bill is an earmark-laden spending plan to fund the government for next year. It even includes $10 million to build a center in memory of Representative John Murtha, earmark king of Western Pennsylvania, who died amid a growing scandal over the funds he directed to his home district. And what the Democrat leaders hope is that with the government shutdown coming on Saturday, Republicans will be forced to accept the plan, or most of it.
So here we have this bunch of worthless con men politicians who've practically bled the country dry via their incompetence, greed, and most often simply stupidity, showing their contempt for people who've done nothing but gone out and succeeded financially. And as I've pounded over and over on this keyboard for the last few weeks, where do they get the right?
Unfortunately, it will take some time for all of the damage done by these self-serving phonies to correct itself, but the voters of this nation will get that accomplished. Because, as of the moment only 16% of those voters think a good job's being done. And when this new spending bill is added to the deficit, that 16% will likely shrink some more.
Thus, the only thing to be hoped for in these politicos future is that when their shortly back in the real world, no one gives them a job that lets them anywhere near anyone else's money.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
BloggeRhythms 12/14/2010
Sometimes I amaze myself at how little I understand about many things. And one of those things is how politics really works. Because I've been concerned for quite a while now about the state of our economy, and the fact that the government has done nothing to really help it. So, I've had little hope that the situation would improve.
And then, this morning, while I was watching the news and seeing how the Democrats had loaded up the tax cut extension with pork and costly riders to pay back special interests of theirs, I came to realize that the answer to fixing our problems was right there on my TV screen.
Because the first blurb that went by said that the most recent polls show that 60% of the voting public wants the new health care bill repealed. And right after that, a screen said that the Democrats would vote against the tax cut extensions unless the "wealthy" gave up far more of their assets after death than currently called for. Which is also a quite unpopular stance.
So, despite the fact that I'm well aware that typical politicians aren't happy unless they're stealing from folks whom really work for a living, and that their major goal is seeing how much they can gain for themselves, I completely missed the point that this time around, they've destroyed themselves.
Because if the tax bill passes with all the fat that's in it now, I believe voters will remember how they were ripped off again, and reflect that at the polls next time around. But, if the bill gets held up because Dem's want to take another pound of flesh from the "rich," that will add to the revolt against them and help insure their departure from office. And, if at the end, they stop passage completely, they're over altogether.
So, as I said at the start, at the moment politicians are really doing us all a huge favor. Because by standing against those things that will surely help the nation, and holding us all hostage so that they can enrich themselves, they're committing political suicide. And for us in the public, it doesn't get better than that.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
And then, this morning, while I was watching the news and seeing how the Democrats had loaded up the tax cut extension with pork and costly riders to pay back special interests of theirs, I came to realize that the answer to fixing our problems was right there on my TV screen.
Because the first blurb that went by said that the most recent polls show that 60% of the voting public wants the new health care bill repealed. And right after that, a screen said that the Democrats would vote against the tax cut extensions unless the "wealthy" gave up far more of their assets after death than currently called for. Which is also a quite unpopular stance.
So, despite the fact that I'm well aware that typical politicians aren't happy unless they're stealing from folks whom really work for a living, and that their major goal is seeing how much they can gain for themselves, I completely missed the point that this time around, they've destroyed themselves.
Because if the tax bill passes with all the fat that's in it now, I believe voters will remember how they were ripped off again, and reflect that at the polls next time around. But, if the bill gets held up because Dem's want to take another pound of flesh from the "rich," that will add to the revolt against them and help insure their departure from office. And, if at the end, they stop passage completely, they're over altogether.
So, as I said at the start, at the moment politicians are really doing us all a huge favor. Because by standing against those things that will surely help the nation, and holding us all hostage so that they can enrich themselves, they're committing political suicide. And for us in the public, it doesn't get better than that.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
Monday, December 13, 2010
BloggeRhythms 12/13/2010
It seems to be getting clearer every day that government's gotten totally out of hand, and people will no longer sit by and let that happen. As I noted yesterday, even John McCain woke up and realized that folks have had it with politicians, and he seems to be beginning to understand that what citizens really want is to live their lives unfettered by self-serving drains on their pocketbooks and lifestyles.
To that extent, Henry E. Hudson, a federal judge in Virginia, ruled Monday that a major component of the new health care reform law is unconstitutional. He held that the state's claim that the requirement for people to purchase health care exceeds the power of Congress under the Constitution's Commerce Clause or under the General Welfare Clause. He wrote, "It is not the effect on individuals that is presently at issue, it is the authority of Congress to compel anyone to purchase health insurance."
Now, as far as his ruling goes, the judge really expects the there will be an appeal by the government, and the case will ultimately end up in the Supreme Court. But, I don't think that really matters. Because there's much more to this than just the health care bill.
What people are seeing very clearly now, perhaps for the very first time thanks to technology, media and the Internet in particular, is how government really works at the top. And it's the displays of conniving, underhanded and insidious misuse of power that's getting exposed more vividly every day. So, it isn't just the legislation that's unravelling, it's the politicos themselves.
That's it for today folks
Adios
To that extent, Henry E. Hudson, a federal judge in Virginia, ruled Monday that a major component of the new health care reform law is unconstitutional. He held that the state's claim that the requirement for people to purchase health care exceeds the power of Congress under the Constitution's Commerce Clause or under the General Welfare Clause. He wrote, "It is not the effect on individuals that is presently at issue, it is the authority of Congress to compel anyone to purchase health insurance."
Now, as far as his ruling goes, the judge really expects the there will be an appeal by the government, and the case will ultimately end up in the Supreme Court. But, I don't think that really matters. Because there's much more to this than just the health care bill.
What people are seeing very clearly now, perhaps for the very first time thanks to technology, media and the Internet in particular, is how government really works at the top. And it's the displays of conniving, underhanded and insidious misuse of power that's getting exposed more vividly every day. So, it isn't just the legislation that's unravelling, it's the politicos themselves.
That's it for today folks
Adios
Sunday, December 12, 2010
BloggeRhythms 12/12/2010
I don't get very much feedback from readers of this blog, so it's hard for me to determine what those folks think. But, at least I know one person's been logging in. Because for quite some time now I've been writing that I think the population's sick, tired, and fed-up with all politicians, and in fact, I truly expect some kind of revolt. And, none other than Senator John McCain declared today that he agrees with me, although he gave me no credit.
He said that while he'll support President Obama's tax cut compromise, he's not happy about all the pork and earmarks being loaded into it and he predicted that "Unless we satisfy the message of this last election, you will see the rise of a third party."
He also said most Americans think Congress has not responded to the message voters sent this election. To "Stop the spending, keep the taxes low, end the corruption, have some fiscal discipline, and start making some tough decisions about this debt that we have laid on every man, woman and child in America."
While I certainly agree with the senator about how disgusted voters are with all the damage politicians have historically done, I'm not so sure his thought about "Unless we satisfy the message of this last election" matters. Because I think by now folks are absolutely certain about what politicians are all about, and consequently won't support them no matter what they say or do. And, this time, smoothing the damage over with rhetoric simply isn't going to work.
Now, I obviously have no clue as to what will actually happen in the next election, nor can I make any predictions. Nonetheless, I truly expect a huge purge of "professional" politicians, and if that doesn't keep the country moving in the right direction for it's inhabitants, I can guarantee another major purge to follow. What's more, even John McCain can understand that.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
He said that while he'll support President Obama's tax cut compromise, he's not happy about all the pork and earmarks being loaded into it and he predicted that "Unless we satisfy the message of this last election, you will see the rise of a third party."
He also said most Americans think Congress has not responded to the message voters sent this election. To "Stop the spending, keep the taxes low, end the corruption, have some fiscal discipline, and start making some tough decisions about this debt that we have laid on every man, woman and child in America."
While I certainly agree with the senator about how disgusted voters are with all the damage politicians have historically done, I'm not so sure his thought about "Unless we satisfy the message of this last election" matters. Because I think by now folks are absolutely certain about what politicians are all about, and consequently won't support them no matter what they say or do. And, this time, smoothing the damage over with rhetoric simply isn't going to work.
Now, I obviously have no clue as to what will actually happen in the next election, nor can I make any predictions. Nonetheless, I truly expect a huge purge of "professional" politicians, and if that doesn't keep the country moving in the right direction for it's inhabitants, I can guarantee another major purge to follow. What's more, even John McCain can understand that.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
Saturday, December 11, 2010
BloggeRhythms 12/11/2010
I was told yesterday that harping on the tax cut deal is getting boring, and that I ought to find something else to type about. I thought it was very good advice, and planned to do exactly that. Except, after spending considerable time seeking something else of interest, I struck out. Perhaps the upcoming holidays have put just about everything else on hold, or maybe the rest of the world's become complacent, but I've not been able to find anything out there, even of minor interest.
Then again, over the last few days I really haven't been harping on the tax bill itself, I've simply been using it to illustrate the significant difference in how people think. Because I believe that the fierce desire to steal from the successful to support the dregs is fundamentally wrong. And the power of those who connive, wheedle, whine and maneuver to obtain huge shares of other's earnings and assets stems simply from the fact that there are scads upon scads of losers compared to a much smaller population of winners. So, naturally, losers get more votes simply because of their number.
But, as I've been writing for the past few days, I think that balance is shifting because, although the losers are still making voluminous noise, they've taken so much from so many that the bar keeps dropping to qualify as a winner. In fact, you no longer have to have much financial success to become a target. What that means is, the group being targeted by the losers is growing by default. And for the folks in that group to have any hope of retaining much of what they earn, they have to revolt at the polls or elsewhere. And, I think that's what's happening now.
To support my conclusions to myself, I think about how what I see around me appears, and then try to determine why that should be. Thus, without going through a whole series of analytics and suppositions, I try to figure out what the simple facts say to me. That's why when a whole political segment of the nation can't produce a valid reason for why they're entitled to the rewards of someone else's labor, I tend to question the basis of their beliefs. And when the major reason that this segment of the population despises those who succeed is simply because they're successful, I have to question that thinking too. Because I always thought that that was a fundamental building block of our nation...to be free to reach any goals you're capable of without unwarranted intrusion, and to reap whatever the reward.
Since we're still two years away from the next election, except for the squawks and infighting nothing much is going to happen right now on the political scene. But, I believe a foundation's being laid at present for that coming showdown. And, when folks cast their votes next time my bet is they'll seek people they think will help them keep more of what they themselves earned, because they can no longer afford the costs of all the losers.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
Then again, over the last few days I really haven't been harping on the tax bill itself, I've simply been using it to illustrate the significant difference in how people think. Because I believe that the fierce desire to steal from the successful to support the dregs is fundamentally wrong. And the power of those who connive, wheedle, whine and maneuver to obtain huge shares of other's earnings and assets stems simply from the fact that there are scads upon scads of losers compared to a much smaller population of winners. So, naturally, losers get more votes simply because of their number.
But, as I've been writing for the past few days, I think that balance is shifting because, although the losers are still making voluminous noise, they've taken so much from so many that the bar keeps dropping to qualify as a winner. In fact, you no longer have to have much financial success to become a target. What that means is, the group being targeted by the losers is growing by default. And for the folks in that group to have any hope of retaining much of what they earn, they have to revolt at the polls or elsewhere. And, I think that's what's happening now.
To support my conclusions to myself, I think about how what I see around me appears, and then try to determine why that should be. Thus, without going through a whole series of analytics and suppositions, I try to figure out what the simple facts say to me. That's why when a whole political segment of the nation can't produce a valid reason for why they're entitled to the rewards of someone else's labor, I tend to question the basis of their beliefs. And when the major reason that this segment of the population despises those who succeed is simply because they're successful, I have to question that thinking too. Because I always thought that that was a fundamental building block of our nation...to be free to reach any goals you're capable of without unwarranted intrusion, and to reap whatever the reward.
Since we're still two years away from the next election, except for the squawks and infighting nothing much is going to happen right now on the political scene. But, I believe a foundation's being laid at present for that coming showdown. And, when folks cast their votes next time my bet is they'll seek people they think will help them keep more of what they themselves earned, because they can no longer afford the costs of all the losers.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
Friday, December 10, 2010
BloggeRhythms 12/10/2010
The tax cut extension negotiation keeps moving along, and with each step it becomes clearer that something really has to be done to find a way to manage the country's finances without politician's involvement. The system is so far out of control due to their fundamental ignorance and ridiculous biases that what's happening now would really be funny, if it didn't concern the financial well-being of the nation in whole.
Democrats keep yapping about the bill's being too "generous" for the rich. And although I wrote about this yesterday, I think it's worth mentioning again. Because I simply don't comprehend in any way, shape, or form, how a bunch of worthless, scum-sucking vultures who do absolutely nothing of value at all, can call money that's kept by those who actually earned it as some kind of generous gift.
This whole picture's upside down. Because the gift part is actually what's sent to DC by the earners to keep the scum-suckers in office fed, housed and clothed. And without the earners willingness to pay taxes of any kind, these politicos would likely be wringing towels in their neighborhood car wash, or picking grapes for the ex-speaker's husband, because none of them are qualified for jobs that require thought.
What's worse is that the main arguments against the extension of tax cuts are that the country can't afford it, and even if it could...money has to be taken from the rich merely on principle. Yet, the answer seems to be in compromise. And the way that's likely to be done is by adding "sweeteners" as appeasement to those against enactment.
And what are the sweeteners? In the Senate, tax credits have been proposed for biodiesel, a tax credit for ethanol, extensions of tax credits for energy-efficient homes and appliances, and credits for training mine rescue teams. The 45-cent-per-gallon ethanol subsidy alone, extended through 2011, was estimated to cost about $5 billion. The issue is of particular interest to lawmakers from Midwestern states with grain crops.
Additionally would be the allowing of millions of dollars worth of expensing for film and production companies doing work in the United States. Breaks would be given to the rum trade in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, and incentives provided for investment in the District of Columbia, along with other benefits for the battered Gulf coast.
So here we have a bill that's critical to driving the economy, and should have been passed months ago to incent businesses to expand, hire more people and begin generating income ASAP, that's been bogged down because of ignorance of finance and political bias. Yet, the suggested way to passage is to load the legislation with selected, costly perks benefiting a core of special interests. Thus, my question is, how can a nation that's practically broke afford to "give" anything at all to others than the ones who earned the money that keep it alive?
While this situation bounces its way along, as horrible as it is, I think it's providing a huge public service. Because, the longer it drags on, the more people see the squad of dolts in DC for what they really are. And that has very real value. Because I have very little doubt that, regardless of party, all those in office at present are on their way out.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
Democrats keep yapping about the bill's being too "generous" for the rich. And although I wrote about this yesterday, I think it's worth mentioning again. Because I simply don't comprehend in any way, shape, or form, how a bunch of worthless, scum-sucking vultures who do absolutely nothing of value at all, can call money that's kept by those who actually earned it as some kind of generous gift.
This whole picture's upside down. Because the gift part is actually what's sent to DC by the earners to keep the scum-suckers in office fed, housed and clothed. And without the earners willingness to pay taxes of any kind, these politicos would likely be wringing towels in their neighborhood car wash, or picking grapes for the ex-speaker's husband, because none of them are qualified for jobs that require thought.
What's worse is that the main arguments against the extension of tax cuts are that the country can't afford it, and even if it could...money has to be taken from the rich merely on principle. Yet, the answer seems to be in compromise. And the way that's likely to be done is by adding "sweeteners" as appeasement to those against enactment.
And what are the sweeteners? In the Senate, tax credits have been proposed for biodiesel, a tax credit for ethanol, extensions of tax credits for energy-efficient homes and appliances, and credits for training mine rescue teams. The 45-cent-per-gallon ethanol subsidy alone, extended through 2011, was estimated to cost about $5 billion. The issue is of particular interest to lawmakers from Midwestern states with grain crops.
Additionally would be the allowing of millions of dollars worth of expensing for film and production companies doing work in the United States. Breaks would be given to the rum trade in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, and incentives provided for investment in the District of Columbia, along with other benefits for the battered Gulf coast.
So here we have a bill that's critical to driving the economy, and should have been passed months ago to incent businesses to expand, hire more people and begin generating income ASAP, that's been bogged down because of ignorance of finance and political bias. Yet, the suggested way to passage is to load the legislation with selected, costly perks benefiting a core of special interests. Thus, my question is, how can a nation that's practically broke afford to "give" anything at all to others than the ones who earned the money that keep it alive?
While this situation bounces its way along, as horrible as it is, I think it's providing a huge public service. Because, the longer it drags on, the more people see the squad of dolts in DC for what they really are. And that has very real value. Because I have very little doubt that, regardless of party, all those in office at present are on their way out.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
Thursday, December 9, 2010
BloggeRhythms 12/9/2010
Except for Iran's little problem with a computer worm that will likely disintegrate their whole country when their nuclear weapons all implode, there's nothing much going on in the news. But, some of the comments about the tax cut deal caught my eye, because they, as usual, reveal so much about how some folks think.
The deal they seem to be heading for would extend tax cuts for all taxpayers for two years, although Democrats wanted them discontinued for the "wealthy." It would also temporarily cut the payroll tax on employees for Social Security, extend long-term unemployment benefits, rein in the estate tax and provide breaks for businesses.
The president believes the compromise necessary because Republicans were prepared to let everyone's taxes rise and to block the extension of unemployment benefits for jobless Americans if they didn't get much of what they wanted. So that means a key to passage rests in the fact that the hard core unemployed are going to get their free ride continued.
While typical of the Democrat party to pose and posture as champions of the downtrodden while their leadership rakes in more cash for themselves than Vegas, another of their comments blew me away this morning. In discussing their unhappiness with the president's acquiescence on tax cuts, many House Democrats were "unmoved." It seems they particularly criticized Obama's proposed estate tax rates, which are far more "generous" than most Democrats had expected.
As I've been writing the last few days, I genuinely can't fathom that these Democrat thieves evidently truly believe that what others earn belongs to them. And the more successful working folks are, and the more they earn, the farther into their pockets these parasites try to crawl. And not one politician adds a nickel to anyone's coffers, unless they're jobless, on welfare, or otherwise draining the system of cash while never adding anything to it.
All this leads me to believe that the problem lies in the greatness of the American system for those with talent, smarts, a willingness to strive, or all three. Because in this society, folks are free to become whatever they want and rise to wherever their abilities take them. So, the successful ones don't have time to stop and analyze what's going around them as far as politicians are concerned. And because this country's done so well, it could easily afford government's ineptitude, ignorance and dead weight. But right now, when things are tougher, and our economy's stagnant everyone has more time on their hands and can readily examine exactly who's "running' our nation.
I think a good comparison would be to a useless rock in the middle of someone's garden. It could stay there for years, and though people see it all the time, they really don't pay much attention. And then one day, for whatever reason, the rock has to be moved. And that's when you find the vermin hidden under and around it that's been there forever, it's just that up until now, nobody cared. The rock just sat there.
But now that times are a little tough, more folks are watching the garden and I truly believe that fairly soon, the garden party in DC is going to be over. And maybe it'll become a nice place to build a golf course, once all the rocks and dead wood are gone.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
The deal they seem to be heading for would extend tax cuts for all taxpayers for two years, although Democrats wanted them discontinued for the "wealthy." It would also temporarily cut the payroll tax on employees for Social Security, extend long-term unemployment benefits, rein in the estate tax and provide breaks for businesses.
The president believes the compromise necessary because Republicans were prepared to let everyone's taxes rise and to block the extension of unemployment benefits for jobless Americans if they didn't get much of what they wanted. So that means a key to passage rests in the fact that the hard core unemployed are going to get their free ride continued.
While typical of the Democrat party to pose and posture as champions of the downtrodden while their leadership rakes in more cash for themselves than Vegas, another of their comments blew me away this morning. In discussing their unhappiness with the president's acquiescence on tax cuts, many House Democrats were "unmoved." It seems they particularly criticized Obama's proposed estate tax rates, which are far more "generous" than most Democrats had expected.
As I've been writing the last few days, I genuinely can't fathom that these Democrat thieves evidently truly believe that what others earn belongs to them. And the more successful working folks are, and the more they earn, the farther into their pockets these parasites try to crawl. And not one politician adds a nickel to anyone's coffers, unless they're jobless, on welfare, or otherwise draining the system of cash while never adding anything to it.
All this leads me to believe that the problem lies in the greatness of the American system for those with talent, smarts, a willingness to strive, or all three. Because in this society, folks are free to become whatever they want and rise to wherever their abilities take them. So, the successful ones don't have time to stop and analyze what's going around them as far as politicians are concerned. And because this country's done so well, it could easily afford government's ineptitude, ignorance and dead weight. But right now, when things are tougher, and our economy's stagnant everyone has more time on their hands and can readily examine exactly who's "running' our nation.
I think a good comparison would be to a useless rock in the middle of someone's garden. It could stay there for years, and though people see it all the time, they really don't pay much attention. And then one day, for whatever reason, the rock has to be moved. And that's when you find the vermin hidden under and around it that's been there forever, it's just that up until now, nobody cared. The rock just sat there.
But now that times are a little tough, more folks are watching the garden and I truly believe that fairly soon, the garden party in DC is going to be over. And maybe it'll become a nice place to build a golf course, once all the rocks and dead wood are gone.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
BloggeRhythms 12/8/2010
I happened to stumble across an interview with Senator Lieberman last night. He's always seemed to me be quite bright, sensible, and one who takes a basically honest stance in his positions. But, I had to realize, once again, that at heart even the practical Lieberman is still really only a politician.
The question asked of him regarded the now likely passage of extension to the Bush tax cuts, which he felt was the right thing to do. And then he went on to mention that there are other serious issues that need attention, more specifically, passage of a bill dealing with the military, raises in their pay, additional benefits for them and other things our forces surely deserve. However the bill has hit a roadblock in Congress, which he says imperils passage, despite the importance of the bill's enactment before Congress adjourns.
When pressed as to why this bill has hit a snag, considering that it directly effects our troops and the fact that if it doesn't pass they don't get paid, Lieberman casually responded that some legislators have a problem with the fact that the rescinding of "Don't ask, Don't tell" policy has been included in the package.
So here you have the essence of what politics is really all about. Because recent information has come out that the Pentagon ordered studies on the effect of Don't ask, Don't tell are flawed, and if nothing else, the issue needs more and better study before any kind of changes are made.
But, no. Politicians don't work that way. They disguise and bury the issues they champion by sliding bills and enactments into other needed legislation, holding passage for ransom unless their demands are met. And in that way these lowlifes wheedle, finagle and worm legislation in that has extremely serious effect, yet might not pass if proper homework is done. Which is how we all get stuck with total disasters like Obama's bill on healthcare.
Right after the Lieberman segment, some representative, who's name I don't know nor want to, was expounding on how upset he was that the president "gave in" on tax cuts when, according to this representative, the American people are so against extending the cuts that backing down on the issue is almost beyond belief.
Now, I didn't take notes, so my numbers may be somewhat off, but here's roughly what the interviewer said. According to the interviewer, it's estimated that extending the cuts will likely add three and a half trillion dollars to the economy in time, and the tax cuts equate to 90 billion dollars. So, if that's the case, or anywhere near it, why would any rational person object? The politician's answer was, that it's the "rich" whom are getting the benefit and these people who have millions and billions don't deserve it.
After that comment, I was quite glad that I've matured somewhat over the years. Because my first instinct was to throw something heavy at my TV screen. But then this clown would have gotten me twice. Once because of his moronics, and then again when I had to go out and buy a new set.
In closing the brilliant representative said he would have preferred that the president wait until the very last hour of the Congressional year before "caving" on the tax issue. Because that way, for the next two weeks everyone would see those who favored the extension on the screen all the time, pushing for passage and exposing themselves to the public. And, in that way, the representative felt the public would know precisely who was responsible for their grandchildren's need to pay our overdue tax bill.
Although I thought the interviewer took a patient, even-handed approach though obviously trying hard not to insult or embarrass the representative, a thought came back to me that's at the core of all of these income related issues. The money that's in question here doesn't belong to the government, it belongs to the folks that earned it. And if some people make more than others, it's not the earners fault, so long as they play straight up. What's more, the rules in this country are pretty simple. If you want or need more, get off your duff and go earn it like you're supposed to.
And that's why I think perhaps a change might be needed to how tax money is spent. Because high earners might be happier and maybe even agree to donating a little bit more if they had more specific control over how funds were directly spent. Because in that way they'd be able to insure that no matter how a guy like this flea-brained representative whined and squawked, not a nickel would ever go to him or his constituents.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
The question asked of him regarded the now likely passage of extension to the Bush tax cuts, which he felt was the right thing to do. And then he went on to mention that there are other serious issues that need attention, more specifically, passage of a bill dealing with the military, raises in their pay, additional benefits for them and other things our forces surely deserve. However the bill has hit a roadblock in Congress, which he says imperils passage, despite the importance of the bill's enactment before Congress adjourns.
When pressed as to why this bill has hit a snag, considering that it directly effects our troops and the fact that if it doesn't pass they don't get paid, Lieberman casually responded that some legislators have a problem with the fact that the rescinding of "Don't ask, Don't tell" policy has been included in the package.
So here you have the essence of what politics is really all about. Because recent information has come out that the Pentagon ordered studies on the effect of Don't ask, Don't tell are flawed, and if nothing else, the issue needs more and better study before any kind of changes are made.
But, no. Politicians don't work that way. They disguise and bury the issues they champion by sliding bills and enactments into other needed legislation, holding passage for ransom unless their demands are met. And in that way these lowlifes wheedle, finagle and worm legislation in that has extremely serious effect, yet might not pass if proper homework is done. Which is how we all get stuck with total disasters like Obama's bill on healthcare.
Right after the Lieberman segment, some representative, who's name I don't know nor want to, was expounding on how upset he was that the president "gave in" on tax cuts when, according to this representative, the American people are so against extending the cuts that backing down on the issue is almost beyond belief.
Now, I didn't take notes, so my numbers may be somewhat off, but here's roughly what the interviewer said. According to the interviewer, it's estimated that extending the cuts will likely add three and a half trillion dollars to the economy in time, and the tax cuts equate to 90 billion dollars. So, if that's the case, or anywhere near it, why would any rational person object? The politician's answer was, that it's the "rich" whom are getting the benefit and these people who have millions and billions don't deserve it.
After that comment, I was quite glad that I've matured somewhat over the years. Because my first instinct was to throw something heavy at my TV screen. But then this clown would have gotten me twice. Once because of his moronics, and then again when I had to go out and buy a new set.
In closing the brilliant representative said he would have preferred that the president wait until the very last hour of the Congressional year before "caving" on the tax issue. Because that way, for the next two weeks everyone would see those who favored the extension on the screen all the time, pushing for passage and exposing themselves to the public. And, in that way, the representative felt the public would know precisely who was responsible for their grandchildren's need to pay our overdue tax bill.
Although I thought the interviewer took a patient, even-handed approach though obviously trying hard not to insult or embarrass the representative, a thought came back to me that's at the core of all of these income related issues. The money that's in question here doesn't belong to the government, it belongs to the folks that earned it. And if some people make more than others, it's not the earners fault, so long as they play straight up. What's more, the rules in this country are pretty simple. If you want or need more, get off your duff and go earn it like you're supposed to.
And that's why I think perhaps a change might be needed to how tax money is spent. Because high earners might be happier and maybe even agree to donating a little bit more if they had more specific control over how funds were directly spent. Because in that way they'd be able to insure that no matter how a guy like this flea-brained representative whined and squawked, not a nickel would ever go to him or his constituents.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
BloggeRhythms 12/7/2010
Sometimes, extremely complex things can be summed up in very few words, if those words cut to the core of issues. And that can certainly be proven by a comment from a Senator from Iowa. Tom Harkin's a Democrat who's not happy with the president's consent to an across the board extension of tax cuts.
Harkin griped that it's "a moral outrage," that tax cuts for the "rich" would be extended for two years while long-term unemployment aid would be extended for only one. And in that simple sentence, Harkin voiced the incredible vapidity that typical Democrats display in anything regarding economics, business, income, expense or anything having to do with how the real world works regarding money.
Had this guy spent as little as ten minutes trying to understand why several huge problems exist in our present economy, he might have learned that half of the "rich" aren't wealthy at all by any realistic standard, but they happen to run the small businesses that help drive the entire economy. They do that by not only paying taxes, but by providing jobs and benefits for employees, in addition to purchasing materials and supplies thereby pumping funds into other enterprises, which in turn helps the economic water level to rise across the board. On the other hand, increases and/or extensions of unemployment benefits incents recipients to keep sitting on their useless tails and becoming more and more stagnant.
And because its critical to the economy to keep these small businesses running and growing, it's a smart thing to do to find out why most business owner are reluctant to spend and grow. In the present situation it's been known for some time that the key stumbling block to business investment is uncertainty about taxes, and the fear among business owners that the government will simply take more from them of what they earn down the line. Thus, by government promising to leave current tax rates untouched it's providing some security to those owners. And that, on its own, will lead to economic growth.
But, on the other hand, I can also see why this guy Harkin, and a lot of his colleagues, have a problem with giving more money to people that produce then to those whom are dead wood. Because as someone in government, it's highly likely that he has no concept at all of what employment really is, or for that matter, anything regarding "work" at all. He also probably believes that money originates from the Handout Fairy who gives folks whatever funds they may need, and has no idea where her bucks actually came from.
Thus, the only real regret I have is that our system works the way is does at present, with all collected taxes flowing into Washington. Because if these politicos had to actually come into our homes to steal what they do from us, to give to someone else after they take their share off the top, we'd be able to shoot them on the spot. And no court would ever convict us of doing anything wrong, because break-in and theft happen to be illegal in the U.S.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
Harkin griped that it's "a moral outrage," that tax cuts for the "rich" would be extended for two years while long-term unemployment aid would be extended for only one. And in that simple sentence, Harkin voiced the incredible vapidity that typical Democrats display in anything regarding economics, business, income, expense or anything having to do with how the real world works regarding money.
Had this guy spent as little as ten minutes trying to understand why several huge problems exist in our present economy, he might have learned that half of the "rich" aren't wealthy at all by any realistic standard, but they happen to run the small businesses that help drive the entire economy. They do that by not only paying taxes, but by providing jobs and benefits for employees, in addition to purchasing materials and supplies thereby pumping funds into other enterprises, which in turn helps the economic water level to rise across the board. On the other hand, increases and/or extensions of unemployment benefits incents recipients to keep sitting on their useless tails and becoming more and more stagnant.
And because its critical to the economy to keep these small businesses running and growing, it's a smart thing to do to find out why most business owner are reluctant to spend and grow. In the present situation it's been known for some time that the key stumbling block to business investment is uncertainty about taxes, and the fear among business owners that the government will simply take more from them of what they earn down the line. Thus, by government promising to leave current tax rates untouched it's providing some security to those owners. And that, on its own, will lead to economic growth.
But, on the other hand, I can also see why this guy Harkin, and a lot of his colleagues, have a problem with giving more money to people that produce then to those whom are dead wood. Because as someone in government, it's highly likely that he has no concept at all of what employment really is, or for that matter, anything regarding "work" at all. He also probably believes that money originates from the Handout Fairy who gives folks whatever funds they may need, and has no idea where her bucks actually came from.
Thus, the only real regret I have is that our system works the way is does at present, with all collected taxes flowing into Washington. Because if these politicos had to actually come into our homes to steal what they do from us, to give to someone else after they take their share off the top, we'd be able to shoot them on the spot. And no court would ever convict us of doing anything wrong, because break-in and theft happen to be illegal in the U.S.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
Monday, December 6, 2010
BloggeRhythms 12/6/2010
Rehashing the weekend news, the only thing seemingly on folks minds is what the outcome will be regarding taxes. As far as that goes, I heard very little that was earthshaking, but someone did mention a very good idea. There really isn't any reason for "lame ducks" to stay in office at all once election day's over, so these people really should be treated the same as folks in the real world.
When someone with a real job, in a real business, is fired, especially in a big, well-managed, professionally run operation, they find that all their personal belongings have been boxed up and all of that stuff is thrown out with them as they're immediately booted out the door. The primary reason that's done is that folks who've been axed tend to do disruptive things if they're allowed to hang around, and no smart businesspeople want to take the chance of having to deal with retribution and ill will.
Our government however, doesn't do anything that has the slightest resemblance to anything in the real world, and therefore the helpless population lives with the results of not only the damage that electees bring down on them, but the horrendous ongoing votes of those who are on their way out the door and no longer have a downside.
Of course, while the immediate termination and lockout of those who've lost their office would be very helpful, we still have to live with those who've been reelected, and in most cases, these folks are amazing. Because, somewhere, somehow, the people populating our country have been lost in the shuffle as far as most politicians go, and I have to really wonder about where these politicos got the idea that the general public not only reports directly to them, but is there to support them financially, regardless.
In that regard, this woman, Claire McCaskill, Democrat senator from Missouri got upset Saturday because the "wealthy" seem to be demanding too much from the government by virtue of tax breaks, and apparently she thinks they have lots of nerve by not wanting to pay more taxes, considering how much she believes they're financially worth. Her attitude seems to fall right in line with Chucky Cheese Schumer who also believes these "rich" folks shouldn't want money back.
So, their attitudes got me to thinking about the whole tax situation and I'm beginning to realize that the premise is not only upside down, it's actually insane. Because no one in government produces a farthing of income, is worthy of what they receive financially and few have ever succeeded in the real world. Consequently, I think the management chart should be turned upside down in DC, and these elected officials put in the slots where they belong which would have them reporting to the public as our forefathers originally intended.
To further establish the point I asked myself a question. If the government disappeared completely, who'd be effected the most financially. For example, if there were no government would owners of small businesses still survive economically? I think it's odds on that they would. If there were no government, would folks employed in the real world find ways to feed and clothes themselves? Here again, yes, most likely they would. So, as you go down the line and examine who produces what, and who's best able to really survive you have to conclude that parasites and thieves need someone or something to prey on, because they're totally incapable of supporting themselves.
And that brings me back to the Senators, McCaskill and Chucky Cheeze. All they really know how to do is suck other's blood dry, as is common among leeches, but add not a dime to anyone's survival due to their own ingenuity or labor. In other words, they're economic parasites who've lucked out by virtue of conning their constituents into casting yea votes.
But, as I've been writing almost every day now, I think the clock's ticking for these folks in office and soon they'll be out in the job force too. And when that happens, who'll be at the head of the line screaming for lower taxes? Why none other than McCaskill and Schumer, of course.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
When someone with a real job, in a real business, is fired, especially in a big, well-managed, professionally run operation, they find that all their personal belongings have been boxed up and all of that stuff is thrown out with them as they're immediately booted out the door. The primary reason that's done is that folks who've been axed tend to do disruptive things if they're allowed to hang around, and no smart businesspeople want to take the chance of having to deal with retribution and ill will.
Our government however, doesn't do anything that has the slightest resemblance to anything in the real world, and therefore the helpless population lives with the results of not only the damage that electees bring down on them, but the horrendous ongoing votes of those who are on their way out the door and no longer have a downside.
Of course, while the immediate termination and lockout of those who've lost their office would be very helpful, we still have to live with those who've been reelected, and in most cases, these folks are amazing. Because, somewhere, somehow, the people populating our country have been lost in the shuffle as far as most politicians go, and I have to really wonder about where these politicos got the idea that the general public not only reports directly to them, but is there to support them financially, regardless.
In that regard, this woman, Claire McCaskill, Democrat senator from Missouri got upset Saturday because the "wealthy" seem to be demanding too much from the government by virtue of tax breaks, and apparently she thinks they have lots of nerve by not wanting to pay more taxes, considering how much she believes they're financially worth. Her attitude seems to fall right in line with Chucky Cheese Schumer who also believes these "rich" folks shouldn't want money back.
So, their attitudes got me to thinking about the whole tax situation and I'm beginning to realize that the premise is not only upside down, it's actually insane. Because no one in government produces a farthing of income, is worthy of what they receive financially and few have ever succeeded in the real world. Consequently, I think the management chart should be turned upside down in DC, and these elected officials put in the slots where they belong which would have them reporting to the public as our forefathers originally intended.
To further establish the point I asked myself a question. If the government disappeared completely, who'd be effected the most financially. For example, if there were no government would owners of small businesses still survive economically? I think it's odds on that they would. If there were no government, would folks employed in the real world find ways to feed and clothes themselves? Here again, yes, most likely they would. So, as you go down the line and examine who produces what, and who's best able to really survive you have to conclude that parasites and thieves need someone or something to prey on, because they're totally incapable of supporting themselves.
And that brings me back to the Senators, McCaskill and Chucky Cheeze. All they really know how to do is suck other's blood dry, as is common among leeches, but add not a dime to anyone's survival due to their own ingenuity or labor. In other words, they're economic parasites who've lucked out by virtue of conning their constituents into casting yea votes.
But, as I've been writing almost every day now, I think the clock's ticking for these folks in office and soon they'll be out in the job force too. And when that happens, who'll be at the head of the line screaming for lower taxes? Why none other than McCaskill and Schumer, of course.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
Sunday, December 5, 2010
BloggeRhythms 12/5/2010
I was never big on "formal" education as being a factor in anyone's real success, unless particular types of training were required in their chosen career, such as medicine, dentistry, engineering, the law, etc. and things like that. I've always believed that folks really learn on the job, and the real world's by far the best teacher.
So, in that regard, at the moment the public's learning about governance, politics, economics, debt and business management, taxes, finance, charity, social studies, and a host of other subjects as the tax break extension bounces of all the walls in Washington, DC, and of course, is exposed in the media.
Now, these kinds of situations have been going on in Congress for two hundred years, as members of varying political parties vie with each other due to differences in beliefs and opinions. But, as I've been writing more and more often lately, this time around it's different as far as the public's concerned because of the instant access to information.
And one thing's becoming more crystally clear to more and more voters as every day goes by. At the moment our country's being run around the block by an incredibly incompetent bunch of self-important stooges. But, worse than that, these politicos have not an iota of guilt about losing taxpayers hard-earned money hand over fist.
I was going to include a bunch of quotes to support my opinion, but as I sit here and type I don't think that's really necessary because I think most of the part of the public that cares is already painfully aware of how disastrous these politicos have let this situation get.
But what really insults my intelligence and reflects how little regard politicos have for the public is something like what Chuck Schumer of New York said. He accused Republicans of siding with "millionaires and billionaires" with their rejection of proposals that would let tax cuts passed during George W. Bush's presidency lapse on seven-figure incomes.
And that makes me wonder why a man in his position isn't aware that half of those folks are the ones running the small businesses that help drive what's left of this failing economy, and the other half puts their money back in in other ways that help stimulate growth. But, aside from that, I also think somebody ought to tell Chucky that $250,000, which is where the tax cut-off starts, only has SIX figures so loads of these folks are actually "thousandaires." In all, I'd say that this guy is dumber than a brick, but that would be insulting to bricks.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
So, in that regard, at the moment the public's learning about governance, politics, economics, debt and business management, taxes, finance, charity, social studies, and a host of other subjects as the tax break extension bounces of all the walls in Washington, DC, and of course, is exposed in the media.
Now, these kinds of situations have been going on in Congress for two hundred years, as members of varying political parties vie with each other due to differences in beliefs and opinions. But, as I've been writing more and more often lately, this time around it's different as far as the public's concerned because of the instant access to information.
And one thing's becoming more crystally clear to more and more voters as every day goes by. At the moment our country's being run around the block by an incredibly incompetent bunch of self-important stooges. But, worse than that, these politicos have not an iota of guilt about losing taxpayers hard-earned money hand over fist.
I was going to include a bunch of quotes to support my opinion, but as I sit here and type I don't think that's really necessary because I think most of the part of the public that cares is already painfully aware of how disastrous these politicos have let this situation get.
But what really insults my intelligence and reflects how little regard politicos have for the public is something like what Chuck Schumer of New York said. He accused Republicans of siding with "millionaires and billionaires" with their rejection of proposals that would let tax cuts passed during George W. Bush's presidency lapse on seven-figure incomes.
And that makes me wonder why a man in his position isn't aware that half of those folks are the ones running the small businesses that help drive what's left of this failing economy, and the other half puts their money back in in other ways that help stimulate growth. But, aside from that, I also think somebody ought to tell Chucky that $250,000, which is where the tax cut-off starts, only has SIX figures so loads of these folks are actually "thousandaires." In all, I'd say that this guy is dumber than a brick, but that would be insulting to bricks.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
Saturday, December 4, 2010
BloggeRhythms 12/4/2010
I think that the more that Democrats talk about refusing to keep the "Bush" tax cuts in place for the "rich" the more damage they're doing to themselves. Because, I assume, more and more folks like myself are paying more attention today to how these laws really work, and more than that, who they really affect.
And as I mentioned yesterday, roughly half of the folks designated as "rich," under the law, are actually owners of small businesses that are backbone of the nation. These are operations that employ people, buy raw materials and inventory, pay all kinds of other taxes and help keep the economy humming. What's more, it's still quite likely that in one way or another tax hike protection will be granted to them.
Yet, low-life politicians can't just go out and do the right thing, they've got to turn it into some kind of one-upsmanship game. The only problem the politicos are going to have this time around though, is that they're all going to lose their jobs.
Next on the list is the wage freeze proposed by the president for non-military federal employees. And here's another one where the facts blow you away if you're unfamiliar with the numbers. According to an article last August in USA Today, based on data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, "federal civil servants earned average pay and benefits of $123,049 in 2009 while private workers made $61,051 in total compensation." Additionally the average federal salary has grown 33% faster than inflation since 2000.
So that means that in the government business, where you need three or four employees to do most jobs that in the private sector you'd need only one, not only are the employees incompetent, each one's getting twice as much income. Thus, my arithmetic tells me that if you have to pay three folks to get the same result as from one, because most government employees I've ever met are certainly dumber than stones, the labor cost for most tasks is six times greater than if done in the real world. That means, on average, the government's paying $369,147.00 to get $61,051.00 worth of labor results.
And if that isn't enough damage done by the thieves supposedly running our nation, the federal estate tax is scheduled to return Jan. 1, 2011. That imposes a levy of up to 55% on estates valued at more than $1 million. In this case, aside from the fact that the dollars in question have already been taxed once as income or gains when they were earned, there's simply no real justification for the levy at all, except that the government's run out of money due to incompetence.
But here again, this is one of those things that might just slip by because average folks aren't likely affected. But, then again, maybe they are. Because families who live in areas with high property values are particularly vulnerable, according to Clint Stretch, tax principal for Deloitte Tax who lives outside Washington, D.C. He uses the example: "People in my neighborhood bought a house for $32,000 in the '60s, and now it's worth $1 million, if they've got anything else, they would be paying an estate tax."
In a nutshell, what this all seems to add up to is a bunch of incompetents insulating each other and spending all their time and effort looking for ways to empower and enrich themselves from everybody else's smarts and labor. But, I keep getting a stronger sense that that isn't going to work anymore for them. And, the luckiest thing for our population is that these folks are so smug, complacent and arrogant, they don't see the broadside coming. Or, if they do, they don't seem too worried. And that's the best kind of adversary to have. Because as each day goes by, these bozos are doing one more stupid thing to help defeat themselves.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
And as I mentioned yesterday, roughly half of the folks designated as "rich," under the law, are actually owners of small businesses that are backbone of the nation. These are operations that employ people, buy raw materials and inventory, pay all kinds of other taxes and help keep the economy humming. What's more, it's still quite likely that in one way or another tax hike protection will be granted to them.
Yet, low-life politicians can't just go out and do the right thing, they've got to turn it into some kind of one-upsmanship game. The only problem the politicos are going to have this time around though, is that they're all going to lose their jobs.
Next on the list is the wage freeze proposed by the president for non-military federal employees. And here's another one where the facts blow you away if you're unfamiliar with the numbers. According to an article last August in USA Today, based on data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, "federal civil servants earned average pay and benefits of $123,049 in 2009 while private workers made $61,051 in total compensation." Additionally the average federal salary has grown 33% faster than inflation since 2000.
So that means that in the government business, where you need three or four employees to do most jobs that in the private sector you'd need only one, not only are the employees incompetent, each one's getting twice as much income. Thus, my arithmetic tells me that if you have to pay three folks to get the same result as from one, because most government employees I've ever met are certainly dumber than stones, the labor cost for most tasks is six times greater than if done in the real world. That means, on average, the government's paying $369,147.00 to get $61,051.00 worth of labor results.
And if that isn't enough damage done by the thieves supposedly running our nation, the federal estate tax is scheduled to return Jan. 1, 2011. That imposes a levy of up to 55% on estates valued at more than $1 million. In this case, aside from the fact that the dollars in question have already been taxed once as income or gains when they were earned, there's simply no real justification for the levy at all, except that the government's run out of money due to incompetence.
But here again, this is one of those things that might just slip by because average folks aren't likely affected. But, then again, maybe they are. Because families who live in areas with high property values are particularly vulnerable, according to Clint Stretch, tax principal for Deloitte Tax who lives outside Washington, D.C. He uses the example: "People in my neighborhood bought a house for $32,000 in the '60s, and now it's worth $1 million, if they've got anything else, they would be paying an estate tax."
In a nutshell, what this all seems to add up to is a bunch of incompetents insulating each other and spending all their time and effort looking for ways to empower and enrich themselves from everybody else's smarts and labor. But, I keep getting a stronger sense that that isn't going to work anymore for them. And, the luckiest thing for our population is that these folks are so smug, complacent and arrogant, they don't see the broadside coming. Or, if they do, they don't seem too worried. And that's the best kind of adversary to have. Because as each day goes by, these bozos are doing one more stupid thing to help defeat themselves.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
Friday, December 3, 2010
BloggeRhythms 12/3/2010
Yesterday I wrote that I didn't I know how many of the so-called rich, and who are bundled into that category by politicians who want to raise taxes on them, were actually small businesses filing as individuals. Today I found out that the number is reported to be 48%.
So that means about half of the those facing increased taxes are the ones who own what are generally known as "Ma & Pa" operations and aren't really rich at all by most standards. But once again, for the purposes of those who'd steal from anyone to get a few more bucks under their control, they don't care who they take money from as long as it goes to them.
But, the good news is, as I've been typing more and more lately, the shell games are coming more and more into light as information disseminates faster, and more and more "regular" folks are becoming much more knowledgeable. That means it's getting harder for the politicos to put their mirrors in the corners and adjust the lights. In fact, even Charles Rangel found that his buddies could no longer cover for him and he wound up getting censured yesterday, which is really a joke, but at least an indication that public pressure has some weight in Congress.
In the meantime it seems that as of today 222 businesses, all large and having some clout, have been able to get special exemptions under the health care law that Nancy Pelosi's never read but loves. According to the pundits I listened to, this is one more step toward unraveling a ridiculous, do nothing but harm, piece of legislation.
And while all of this was going on, the president slipped away to Afghanistan to see the troops for a Christmas visit. Under most circumstances I'd think this was a very nice, caring gesture. Except, when things like this are done by an anti-military, bring everyone home kind of guy, I think about what Harry Truman used to say: "If you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen." Except in this case things here are boiling over so feverishly, I guess the president thinks it's best to stay out of the country altogether.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
So that means about half of the those facing increased taxes are the ones who own what are generally known as "Ma & Pa" operations and aren't really rich at all by most standards. But once again, for the purposes of those who'd steal from anyone to get a few more bucks under their control, they don't care who they take money from as long as it goes to them.
But, the good news is, as I've been typing more and more lately, the shell games are coming more and more into light as information disseminates faster, and more and more "regular" folks are becoming much more knowledgeable. That means it's getting harder for the politicos to put their mirrors in the corners and adjust the lights. In fact, even Charles Rangel found that his buddies could no longer cover for him and he wound up getting censured yesterday, which is really a joke, but at least an indication that public pressure has some weight in Congress.
In the meantime it seems that as of today 222 businesses, all large and having some clout, have been able to get special exemptions under the health care law that Nancy Pelosi's never read but loves. According to the pundits I listened to, this is one more step toward unraveling a ridiculous, do nothing but harm, piece of legislation.
And while all of this was going on, the president slipped away to Afghanistan to see the troops for a Christmas visit. Under most circumstances I'd think this was a very nice, caring gesture. Except, when things like this are done by an anti-military, bring everyone home kind of guy, I think about what Harry Truman used to say: "If you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen." Except in this case things here are boiling over so feverishly, I guess the president thinks it's best to stay out of the country altogether.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
Thursday, December 2, 2010
BloggeRhythms 12/2/2010
Sometimes I'm very slow on the uptake, and don't really spend the time I should on important matters. As a result, I get surprised now and then by things I really should have known more about.
That's why this afternoon, after representative Boehner made his comments calling the Democrat's back-room approach to tax extensions "chicken crap," I listened in to a commentator. And that's when I realized that I didn't realize the effect of not extending tax cuts to those earning more than $250,000.00 per annum. Because I thought the argument was about individual income tax only for those in that category, but I was entirely wrong.
Although I'm reasonably familiar with tax application, having spent thirty-five years or so in the finance business, it's been a while since I've brushed up on the law. And as for myself today, I trust the folks I get advice from on tax matters and don't spend nearly the amount of time on those issues as I used to. So that's why I didn't realize that it's not only individuals subject to additional taxes if the cuts aren't extended, it also applies to a significant number of Sub-Chapter S corporations and other forms of organization where business proceeds are treated as personal income to the owners.
Consequently, this whole approach of demonizing the "rich," while ridiculous on its own, is really worse because it's a sham and a scam as well. The ones throwing mud on people who have the nerve to succeed, and who spend their lives trying to figure out how to have someone else carry their weight, are not only demonizing top-earners, they're also seeking to steal from the folks running the small business that are the backbone of this whole country.
So, that leads me right back to my running question of late. How incredibly dumb do you have to be to shoot a goose that lays golden eggs when you haven't a prayer of replacing it? And, even if you could replace it, why would you want to when you've got one now? I repeat, small businesses fund this country in more ways than you can count. So I would think it would be much simpler and far more beneficial to stop funding projects like finding out why wildflowers don't grow in the winter or how many congress folks brains can fit on the head of a pin. And, after that, slam a lid on all government projects that don't involve the physical safety of the population.
But, above all, the vast majority of those involved in writing our laws have all sold out long ago for personal gain, and the good of the nation has never been high on their priority list to begin with. So they'll just go on playing their games and pointing fingers while their disastrous maneuvering sends us all further and further down the chute.
Nonetheless, I still get this vibration or feeling that I keep writing about. And as each day goes by, more and more information impacts the public. Consequently, sooner or later, the forty percent undecideds, joined by the twenty percent un or under employed will boot these frauds out on their tails and this country will again run like it ought to.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
That's why this afternoon, after representative Boehner made his comments calling the Democrat's back-room approach to tax extensions "chicken crap," I listened in to a commentator. And that's when I realized that I didn't realize the effect of not extending tax cuts to those earning more than $250,000.00 per annum. Because I thought the argument was about individual income tax only for those in that category, but I was entirely wrong.
Although I'm reasonably familiar with tax application, having spent thirty-five years or so in the finance business, it's been a while since I've brushed up on the law. And as for myself today, I trust the folks I get advice from on tax matters and don't spend nearly the amount of time on those issues as I used to. So that's why I didn't realize that it's not only individuals subject to additional taxes if the cuts aren't extended, it also applies to a significant number of Sub-Chapter S corporations and other forms of organization where business proceeds are treated as personal income to the owners.
Consequently, this whole approach of demonizing the "rich," while ridiculous on its own, is really worse because it's a sham and a scam as well. The ones throwing mud on people who have the nerve to succeed, and who spend their lives trying to figure out how to have someone else carry their weight, are not only demonizing top-earners, they're also seeking to steal from the folks running the small business that are the backbone of this whole country.
So, that leads me right back to my running question of late. How incredibly dumb do you have to be to shoot a goose that lays golden eggs when you haven't a prayer of replacing it? And, even if you could replace it, why would you want to when you've got one now? I repeat, small businesses fund this country in more ways than you can count. So I would think it would be much simpler and far more beneficial to stop funding projects like finding out why wildflowers don't grow in the winter or how many congress folks brains can fit on the head of a pin. And, after that, slam a lid on all government projects that don't involve the physical safety of the population.
But, above all, the vast majority of those involved in writing our laws have all sold out long ago for personal gain, and the good of the nation has never been high on their priority list to begin with. So they'll just go on playing their games and pointing fingers while their disastrous maneuvering sends us all further and further down the chute.
Nonetheless, I still get this vibration or feeling that I keep writing about. And as each day goes by, more and more information impacts the public. Consequently, sooner or later, the forty percent undecideds, joined by the twenty percent un or under employed will boot these frauds out on their tails and this country will again run like it ought to.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
BloggeRhythms 12/1/2010
As I look and listen for blogworthy items, sometimes the stuff I come across astounds me, because I can't believe people can actually be as dumb as they appear and still manage to function at all. And my amazement certainly applies in spades to politicians.
As I recall, there was an election in November the results of which clearly stated that the American people are fed up with what comes out of Washington, and especially incumbents, and no matter, they want change. Even the top Republicans who got the benefit of the backlash vote generally understood the message, because they realize it wasn't a vote of confidence in them, it was a revolt against those in power.
So, what do these turkeys do? Right now the critical issue for a vast segment of the population is jobs, taxes, and whatever else can be done to start the economy cooking again. A way to help do that is lowering taxes for everyone and in that way, priming the pump. But Democrats have a problem with that because what's key to them is redistribution of wealth and instituting worthless programs that give government more control.
Thus, in an effort to seem as if they're looking for real solutions they hold a bipartisan summit kind of meeting, to discuss methods for providing tax relief. Then, back behind closed doors they gerry-rig a partial tax relief plan they know Republicans won't want to vote for, simply to make their opposition look like bad guys who are against providing help.
The only difference is, and this is the part that confuses me, this isn't 1939 it's 2010. And every move these morons make is seen, analyzed, understood and recorded. So, maybe they could have pulled off a coup back in the stone ages, through a devious political ploy. But it isn't going to work any more, as the last election demonstrated.
And worse than their attempts to smear their opposition, is the simple truth that it's obvious that they don't care a whit about the condition the country's in, or the plight of it's inhabitants, all these low-lives want is a way to score political points.
Yet, through it all, there really is light at the end of the tunnel that these jokers in office either can't see or don't believe. Because the forty percent undecided voters, with no committed party affiliation, will keep adding to their numbers so long as these political games are played. And, all these incumbents better hope that unemployment benefits are extended, because before they know it, they're going to need them.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
As I recall, there was an election in November the results of which clearly stated that the American people are fed up with what comes out of Washington, and especially incumbents, and no matter, they want change. Even the top Republicans who got the benefit of the backlash vote generally understood the message, because they realize it wasn't a vote of confidence in them, it was a revolt against those in power.
So, what do these turkeys do? Right now the critical issue for a vast segment of the population is jobs, taxes, and whatever else can be done to start the economy cooking again. A way to help do that is lowering taxes for everyone and in that way, priming the pump. But Democrats have a problem with that because what's key to them is redistribution of wealth and instituting worthless programs that give government more control.
Thus, in an effort to seem as if they're looking for real solutions they hold a bipartisan summit kind of meeting, to discuss methods for providing tax relief. Then, back behind closed doors they gerry-rig a partial tax relief plan they know Republicans won't want to vote for, simply to make their opposition look like bad guys who are against providing help.
The only difference is, and this is the part that confuses me, this isn't 1939 it's 2010. And every move these morons make is seen, analyzed, understood and recorded. So, maybe they could have pulled off a coup back in the stone ages, through a devious political ploy. But it isn't going to work any more, as the last election demonstrated.
And worse than their attempts to smear their opposition, is the simple truth that it's obvious that they don't care a whit about the condition the country's in, or the plight of it's inhabitants, all these low-lives want is a way to score political points.
Yet, through it all, there really is light at the end of the tunnel that these jokers in office either can't see or don't believe. Because the forty percent undecided voters, with no committed party affiliation, will keep adding to their numbers so long as these political games are played. And, all these incumbents better hope that unemployment benefits are extended, because before they know it, they're going to need them.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
BloggeRhythms 11/30/2010
A story that was buried in other non-news caught my eye, because although relatively unimportant, it says a lot. There's this king guy, Abdullah, from Saudi Arabia who took over a whole wing at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan. He's 86 years old and is recovering from back surgery on the "VIP" floor.
According to a family member of another patient, "The king has taken the entire luxury treatment wing and booked out all the rooms, even though they are empty and he doesn't need them, to protect his privacy. Patients are grumbling that they have been moved out to other areas of the hospital, and that despite there being a number of unused VIP treatment rooms, they can't be moved into them because they are all reserved for the king of Saudi Arabia."
So, my question for today is, despite that I clearly understand that money can buy practically anything, I would think this hospital ought to know better. Because, this isn't some private arrangement a zillionaire made to have celebrities show up at his tent, or wherever this camel-jockey lives in the desert, or tying up a runway for a half hour so his private jet can land, this is about other folks who can afford the best in medical care...but he's precluded them from the privacy their own status merits. Therefore I think the hospital should have told this king they'd give him the care and attention his ailment merits, and a private room if he wishes, but if he really wants to be alone that much, he can stay home in his sand-box.
Aside from that, the beat goes on in DC. Today, the president met with top congressional leaders to discuss the soon to expire tax cuts and what to do about them. Now, this is a discussion that's been going on for quite some time, and has yet to be resolved. My guess is they really will find some kind of workable agreement. So my note today isn't about the cuts themselves, it regards the rhetoric in the discussion.
There seems to be basic agreement already, that cuts be kept in place for those earning under $250,000 a year, but for how long a term has yet to be finalized. The bigger stumbling block though, is whether or not cuts should be granted to those who earn more. And what struck me today was, that no matter the subject, politicians can't make a comment without throwing in some kind of cheap shot or biased jab.
I write that because there appeared to be at least a tacit agreement to continue the discussion, and that a task force be set up representative of both major parties to seek a mutually satisfactory solution. Yet, when the president made some comments later, he said that the Republicans were taking a "political" stand by not agreeing to eliminating the cuts for top earners. So, my question is, in a case like this how can anyone who has a different opinion not be accused of taking a political stand?
In fact, that's what politics is all about. Some people believe "A" and others "B," still others might believe C,D,E and on down the line. That's what opinions are all about in the first place. And in that context, there's nothing wrong with politics at all, people disagree all the time on all kinds of subjects. But, I think it's really funny when someone who's nothing more than a politician himself, and who's beliefs are whatever his puppeteer's told him they are, calls someone else a politician as if it's a dirty word.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
According to a family member of another patient, "The king has taken the entire luxury treatment wing and booked out all the rooms, even though they are empty and he doesn't need them, to protect his privacy. Patients are grumbling that they have been moved out to other areas of the hospital, and that despite there being a number of unused VIP treatment rooms, they can't be moved into them because they are all reserved for the king of Saudi Arabia."
So, my question for today is, despite that I clearly understand that money can buy practically anything, I would think this hospital ought to know better. Because, this isn't some private arrangement a zillionaire made to have celebrities show up at his tent, or wherever this camel-jockey lives in the desert, or tying up a runway for a half hour so his private jet can land, this is about other folks who can afford the best in medical care...but he's precluded them from the privacy their own status merits. Therefore I think the hospital should have told this king they'd give him the care and attention his ailment merits, and a private room if he wishes, but if he really wants to be alone that much, he can stay home in his sand-box.
Aside from that, the beat goes on in DC. Today, the president met with top congressional leaders to discuss the soon to expire tax cuts and what to do about them. Now, this is a discussion that's been going on for quite some time, and has yet to be resolved. My guess is they really will find some kind of workable agreement. So my note today isn't about the cuts themselves, it regards the rhetoric in the discussion.
There seems to be basic agreement already, that cuts be kept in place for those earning under $250,000 a year, but for how long a term has yet to be finalized. The bigger stumbling block though, is whether or not cuts should be granted to those who earn more. And what struck me today was, that no matter the subject, politicians can't make a comment without throwing in some kind of cheap shot or biased jab.
I write that because there appeared to be at least a tacit agreement to continue the discussion, and that a task force be set up representative of both major parties to seek a mutually satisfactory solution. Yet, when the president made some comments later, he said that the Republicans were taking a "political" stand by not agreeing to eliminating the cuts for top earners. So, my question is, in a case like this how can anyone who has a different opinion not be accused of taking a political stand?
In fact, that's what politics is all about. Some people believe "A" and others "B," still others might believe C,D,E and on down the line. That's what opinions are all about in the first place. And in that context, there's nothing wrong with politics at all, people disagree all the time on all kinds of subjects. But, I think it's really funny when someone who's nothing more than a politician himself, and who's beliefs are whatever his puppeteer's told him they are, calls someone else a politician as if it's a dirty word.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
Monday, November 29, 2010
BloggeRhythms 11/29/2010
The question for today is: Where do you start?
The president announced a wage freeze on to all civilian federal employees, including those working at the Department of Defense, but not military personnel. He said "The hard truth is that getting this deficit under control is going to require some broad sacrifice, and that sacrifice must be shared by the employees of the federal government. Today, I'm proposing a two year pay freeze for all civilian federal workers."
Now, while practically any spending cut is a good one when it comes to the government, once again I think these folks have the picture upside down. Because, at the moment total U.S. debt stands at approximately 13.723 trillion dollars. But holding back wage increases saves only $2 billion. So, while it's a step toward cutting spending, it isn't even a drop in the bucket.
What's more, money in the hands of the workers in question isn't likely to wind up in long-term investments or sewn into mattresses, it's going to be spent on things like rent, food, clothing and similar items that spur the economy, so we have a double whammy. Not only are employees earning less, they're either going to cut their spending or evaporate their savings.
In the meantime, massive federal programs will go on shoveling funds out the door, hand over fist, as our electees pay back whoever it was they bought votes from.
So, I think a much better solution would be to reinstate salaries for federal workers, who actually might serve a purpose and eliminate payments of any kind to elected officials, whether it be salaries, benefits, or any other kind of compensation. That way these politicos will be getting exactly what they're really worth. And that amounts to zero.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
The president announced a wage freeze on to all civilian federal employees, including those working at the Department of Defense, but not military personnel. He said "The hard truth is that getting this deficit under control is going to require some broad sacrifice, and that sacrifice must be shared by the employees of the federal government. Today, I'm proposing a two year pay freeze for all civilian federal workers."
Now, while practically any spending cut is a good one when it comes to the government, once again I think these folks have the picture upside down. Because, at the moment total U.S. debt stands at approximately 13.723 trillion dollars. But holding back wage increases saves only $2 billion. So, while it's a step toward cutting spending, it isn't even a drop in the bucket.
What's more, money in the hands of the workers in question isn't likely to wind up in long-term investments or sewn into mattresses, it's going to be spent on things like rent, food, clothing and similar items that spur the economy, so we have a double whammy. Not only are employees earning less, they're either going to cut their spending or evaporate their savings.
In the meantime, massive federal programs will go on shoveling funds out the door, hand over fist, as our electees pay back whoever it was they bought votes from.
So, I think a much better solution would be to reinstate salaries for federal workers, who actually might serve a purpose and eliminate payments of any kind to elected officials, whether it be salaries, benefits, or any other kind of compensation. That way these politicos will be getting exactly what they're really worth. And that amounts to zero.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
Sunday, November 28, 2010
The older I get and the more news I read, the less I understand it. Because either there has to be some kind of disconnect between elected people and reality, or perhaps they live in some kind of time-warp bubble in which only they function, while the rest of the world moves along in real time.
Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat from Missouri said today that we have too many pressing security issues to delay voting on a nuclear arms treaty with Russia. She claims that the Republicans wishing to wait longer are merely using stalling tactics for political reasons. Conversely, Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona said any urgency in ratifying the START legislation is politically motivated by the opposition and that there are far more pressing domestic matters during the next few weeks to be considered by the lame-duck Congress.
Now, here's my confusion. Russia's already proven to be a paper tiger, and likely close to totally broke. Their top echelon of public officials and government insiders have walked away with massive fortunes, probably stealing whatever was left when their economy blew up. So, basically you have a nation that's talking to itself. Thus, if that's the case, why in the world are we in any kind of hurry to negotiate any kind of treaty about anything with them, especially regarding nuclear weapons?
Lastly, why would we ever believe what those people told us about how many weapons they've destroyed, inspectors or not? Especially considering that they've never told us the truth about anything ever before. So, if Ms Caskill wants to believe these frauds, that's okay with me. So long as no treaty gets signed, she can believe anything she wants. But as for me, I'll be much happier if we walk away from any kind of treaty and keep building weapons of our own, because I live right here in the U.S., and not in Moscow.
As far as Senator Kyl's concerned, he went on to say that Congress has to pass tax rate extensions and a budget bill for the current fiscal year, adding that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid insists on finishing up "political commitments" he made to unions, homosexuals and immigrants. Kyl stated on Meet the Press, "Of course, Harry Reid can bring the START treaty up any time he wants to. But he has a different agenda. He's made some promise to political constituencies."
The Senator was referring to Reid's positions on don't ask, don't tell policy for gays in the military, the DREAM Act to give children of illegal immigrants a pathway to citizenship and a federal unionization bill for government workers.
When you add up all the forgoing blather going back and forth in Congress, I think it illustrates my point about wondering how these politicians think, how they act and poses the question as to whether or not they realize what's happening in their own nation. Because it couldn't be clearer that what's needed in this country now is jobs, and jobs and jobs. Something that might help with that is a clear, concise determination on taxes. And, instead of more legislation, cutting the size of government by half or maybe two-thirds would make things run two thousand percent better.
And that leads me to two simple words that if uttered by every politician would make this country stronger by the minute. "I quit."
That's it for today folks.
Adios
Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat from Missouri said today that we have too many pressing security issues to delay voting on a nuclear arms treaty with Russia. She claims that the Republicans wishing to wait longer are merely using stalling tactics for political reasons. Conversely, Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona said any urgency in ratifying the START legislation is politically motivated by the opposition and that there are far more pressing domestic matters during the next few weeks to be considered by the lame-duck Congress.
Now, here's my confusion. Russia's already proven to be a paper tiger, and likely close to totally broke. Their top echelon of public officials and government insiders have walked away with massive fortunes, probably stealing whatever was left when their economy blew up. So, basically you have a nation that's talking to itself. Thus, if that's the case, why in the world are we in any kind of hurry to negotiate any kind of treaty about anything with them, especially regarding nuclear weapons?
Lastly, why would we ever believe what those people told us about how many weapons they've destroyed, inspectors or not? Especially considering that they've never told us the truth about anything ever before. So, if Ms Caskill wants to believe these frauds, that's okay with me. So long as no treaty gets signed, she can believe anything she wants. But as for me, I'll be much happier if we walk away from any kind of treaty and keep building weapons of our own, because I live right here in the U.S., and not in Moscow.
As far as Senator Kyl's concerned, he went on to say that Congress has to pass tax rate extensions and a budget bill for the current fiscal year, adding that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid insists on finishing up "political commitments" he made to unions, homosexuals and immigrants. Kyl stated on Meet the Press, "Of course, Harry Reid can bring the START treaty up any time he wants to. But he has a different agenda. He's made some promise to political constituencies."
The Senator was referring to Reid's positions on don't ask, don't tell policy for gays in the military, the DREAM Act to give children of illegal immigrants a pathway to citizenship and a federal unionization bill for government workers.
When you add up all the forgoing blather going back and forth in Congress, I think it illustrates my point about wondering how these politicians think, how they act and poses the question as to whether or not they realize what's happening in their own nation. Because it couldn't be clearer that what's needed in this country now is jobs, and jobs and jobs. Something that might help with that is a clear, concise determination on taxes. And, instead of more legislation, cutting the size of government by half or maybe two-thirds would make things run two thousand percent better.
And that leads me to two simple words that if uttered by every politician would make this country stronger by the minute. "I quit."
That's it for today folks.
Adios
Saturday, November 27, 2010
BloggeRhythms 11/27/2010
Except for the North Koreans gearing up to try and start another major war, there's really not very much going on that's blogworthy at all. Yet, an article caught my eye as I was skimming the news this afternoon.
This guy Dan Pfeiffer, the White House communications director, said he doesn't believe the public is looking for the president to take an all-or-nothing approach to the economy. "The American people understand that we have both domestic and international issues that have to be dealt with. The public expects that's what he's doing."
Then, White House chief spokesman Robert Gibbs said, "You learn quickly as president that there are events that happen like North Korea that you have to address as they happen, not how you would plan for them to happen."
Aides say they see opportunities for the president's economic message to break through, starting with a bipartisan meeting with lawmakers this Tuesday. The top issue will be what to do about the Bush-era tax cuts set to expire at year's end. Obama also plans to take a few more domestic trips through the end of the year to discuss the economy.
Having read all that I sat here and wondered who these spokesman are talking about. I mean, why would anyone sit around and listen to, or care about, what this lame duck president said about anything, anywhere any time. Because after he failed to socialize the nation for himself and Soros, he got blown out big time in the mid-term elections and right now everyone's sitting on their hands until he's completely out of office himself. What's more, no businessman in his right mind will spend a dime on growth or anything he doesn't have to, with some loose cannon at the top who knows less than zip about simple economics.
But in the White House reaction to the Korean issue and their frustration about economic issues, they continue to rely on the same old, same old worthless attempt at solutions. They either truly believe or have some mis-guided assumption that all the country's ills can be cured with talk. Because that's the only thing you can rely coming out of the oval office...hour upon hour of worthless blather.
And a thought just crossed my mind about where this administration can apply for jobs when their term's over. They can move to Ohio and fill up all those Goodyear blimps.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
This guy Dan Pfeiffer, the White House communications director, said he doesn't believe the public is looking for the president to take an all-or-nothing approach to the economy. "The American people understand that we have both domestic and international issues that have to be dealt with. The public expects that's what he's doing."
Then, White House chief spokesman Robert Gibbs said, "You learn quickly as president that there are events that happen like North Korea that you have to address as they happen, not how you would plan for them to happen."
Aides say they see opportunities for the president's economic message to break through, starting with a bipartisan meeting with lawmakers this Tuesday. The top issue will be what to do about the Bush-era tax cuts set to expire at year's end. Obama also plans to take a few more domestic trips through the end of the year to discuss the economy.
Having read all that I sat here and wondered who these spokesman are talking about. I mean, why would anyone sit around and listen to, or care about, what this lame duck president said about anything, anywhere any time. Because after he failed to socialize the nation for himself and Soros, he got blown out big time in the mid-term elections and right now everyone's sitting on their hands until he's completely out of office himself. What's more, no businessman in his right mind will spend a dime on growth or anything he doesn't have to, with some loose cannon at the top who knows less than zip about simple economics.
But in the White House reaction to the Korean issue and their frustration about economic issues, they continue to rely on the same old, same old worthless attempt at solutions. They either truly believe or have some mis-guided assumption that all the country's ills can be cured with talk. Because that's the only thing you can rely coming out of the oval office...hour upon hour of worthless blather.
And a thought just crossed my mind about where this administration can apply for jobs when their term's over. They can move to Ohio and fill up all those Goodyear blimps.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
Friday, November 26, 2010
BloggeRhythms 11/26/2010
Thanksgiving turned out to be a pretty good day all around, if you weren't a turkey that is. I didn't have to drive too far, there was hardly any traffic at all, and for a family get together, reasonably good behavior from all.
But, the two best things that happened occurred well after dinner was over, and I was back home in bed. First and foremost, the Jets actually played solid football throughout and scored a nice win, and better than that, except for one little doze-off at half-time I actually saw most of the game.
As regular readers know, I've got my own beliefs about Jets teams, formulated from years of heart-breaking experience. And though I absolutely know that every game played by every team in every sport must be fully played before anyone on earth actually knows the results, some predictions are more valid than others.
But, when it comes to Gang Green, you've got to know that the clock's ticked it's final tick and that there's nothing harmful that can change that, before you say to yourself, "Yup, that's a win." Because in my heart of hearts I'm certain that if there's a way to give away a game, even one that seems over, the Jets are fully capable of still finding a way to lose.
But, aside from the score itself, what was far more important to me is that from the opening kick-off right to the end, this team played solid football. Unfortunately, since I don't have the TV sound on and really don't read all the blurbs on the screen, I know very few names of the players and thus, can't give them individual credit. But it seemed to me that all of them, backs, ends, wide receivers, and certainly the whole defensive squad played a great game.
So, with the season coming down toward the end, I guess we're going to find out if these guys are the real deal or not. And that means it's absolutely necessary now, more than ever, to keep my TV on mute, because there's going to be enough smoke, noise, and plain absolute gibberish from the "pundits" and wannabees coming out of the woodwork that I'm surely going to wish I was really deaf.
On another front, it seems the Stuxnet worm is back and plaguing Iran's centrifuges used for its nuclear programs. There are stories on the web that have lot's of interesting detail that you can look up about what's been done and how. But my point is simply the same as last time. If you were the person responsible for pushing the ignition button for an Iranian nuclear missile, would you do it? I know I certainly would not. So, to me that's the genius of whoever planted that virus in the first place. Because, it just might turn out to be the worm that saved the world.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
But, the two best things that happened occurred well after dinner was over, and I was back home in bed. First and foremost, the Jets actually played solid football throughout and scored a nice win, and better than that, except for one little doze-off at half-time I actually saw most of the game.
As regular readers know, I've got my own beliefs about Jets teams, formulated from years of heart-breaking experience. And though I absolutely know that every game played by every team in every sport must be fully played before anyone on earth actually knows the results, some predictions are more valid than others.
But, when it comes to Gang Green, you've got to know that the clock's ticked it's final tick and that there's nothing harmful that can change that, before you say to yourself, "Yup, that's a win." Because in my heart of hearts I'm certain that if there's a way to give away a game, even one that seems over, the Jets are fully capable of still finding a way to lose.
But, aside from the score itself, what was far more important to me is that from the opening kick-off right to the end, this team played solid football. Unfortunately, since I don't have the TV sound on and really don't read all the blurbs on the screen, I know very few names of the players and thus, can't give them individual credit. But it seemed to me that all of them, backs, ends, wide receivers, and certainly the whole defensive squad played a great game.
So, with the season coming down toward the end, I guess we're going to find out if these guys are the real deal or not. And that means it's absolutely necessary now, more than ever, to keep my TV on mute, because there's going to be enough smoke, noise, and plain absolute gibberish from the "pundits" and wannabees coming out of the woodwork that I'm surely going to wish I was really deaf.
On another front, it seems the Stuxnet worm is back and plaguing Iran's centrifuges used for its nuclear programs. There are stories on the web that have lot's of interesting detail that you can look up about what's been done and how. But my point is simply the same as last time. If you were the person responsible for pushing the ignition button for an Iranian nuclear missile, would you do it? I know I certainly would not. So, to me that's the genius of whoever planted that virus in the first place. Because, it just might turn out to be the worm that saved the world.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
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