Saturday, March 29, 2008

Campaigns Reformed - Revisited

On the most recent offering by former comedian turned sexist pig, Bill Maher (Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO) one of the guests made a statement that points to my blog piece of February 18th entitled “Campaigns Reformed.” http://reschzoo.blogspot.com/2008/02/campaigns-reformed.html
Tavis Smiley argued that the current system of primaries, polls and ‘general election reporting’ was terribly flawed in that many Americans do not even get a chance to vote before the winners are announced.
Mr. Smiley added that in the general election the polls may not have come close to closing in California while the media is announcing the eventual winner of the race. This disenfranchises the West Coast voter and could make the outcome of an election a ‘fait a compli.’
Bill Maher, who is so against Senator Hillary Clinton as to be irrationally moronic at times actually agreed. He defended Senator Clinton against those who wish her to quit the race noting that several states have yet to make their opinions known. Of course his opinion is well known, he wants Hillary to lose so badly that every other minute he is making jokes at her expense while defending Senator Obama against any possible joke to come his way.
The panel on the show touched on the subject of the ‘Super Delegate’ but did not delve far enough to offer thoughts of resolution. The arguments that crop up concerning those political insiders who hold the deciding votes this year is that they should vote the way the people vote. This is an interesting argument and while on its face seems logical is totally flawed. If the super delegates are supposed to vote one way or the other then why do they exist? It is the same argument that Tavis Smiley is railing against. Just because someone who voted before I had a chance to make my selection chose to oppose my view why should my view be any less important?
An election should not be on a first come first served basis. And after the stink of the last two presidential elections where fraud decided the outcome and America was the loser why have we not learned a lesson? Our President should not be someone we want to have a beer with if for no other reason than we don’t want him or her hung over when that 3am phone call comes in.
It is too late for this year but it must be done soon so that we don’t have to go through another campaign season such as this ever again. Trust me, there will be at least four people running for the 2012 presidency by February and the polls will have picked the winner by the summer.

Preyers on the Prayers

The sub-prime mortgage melt-down has a bit more to go before we are out of trouble and the economy can start focusing on normal things such as how can the rich make more money off the backs of the poor and middle class without being caught.
It is ironic that the mortgage companies prey on families that pray.
One of the biggest shames is that the ones that are hurt the most are unsuspecting, faithful, somewhat innocent poor and middle class families who have bet the farm so to speak and now cannot afford to reap the benefits of home ownership. The CEOS and board members of the mortgage companies who willingly and knowingly handed out cash to help these deluded people get their dream homes have not been hurt. With very few exceptions they have come away smelling like roses instead of shit, which is truly what they are.
We all have our religions, even the agnostic. One of the best meanings of the word religion is, ‘to follow a set of rules and or regulations by which to live. These beliefs may be spiritual or otherwise.’ (sic) Some may say that science is their religion but all of us just wish to get through the day as peacefully as possible. If religion helps us do it then so be it. But when big business, and I include Tele-Evangelists use our faith to trick us out of our worldly possessions then something should be done.
There is no easy solution but one thing is clear except for a slap on the wrist from our government the bad boys of the business world will be back to beg borrow and steal again because their religion is greed.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Whose Rights?

You have the right to remain silent.
You also have the right to free speech.
You supposedly have the right to the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness.
And you also have the right to pay for those things.
But ever since our current administration turned America into Bush World you no longer have any rights that conflict with the profit margins of big business.
Your latest trek backwards in time to a feudal state was announced today when the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against travelers stuck on airplanes for untold hours worth of delays. It is a sad state of affairs when you see the list of your rights that the airlines went to court to block.
These rights are:
Food
Water
Clean Toilets and
Fresh Air.
Marie Antoinette would be proud!

Next up - Fines when your baby cries.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Words - Part Three - Ode on Phlegm

I know it's disgusting
But I had a thought
My head is just busting
In dilemma it's caught
From whence did this word come
It is a true gem
To spell it you go some
The word friend is PHLEGM
Don't call me a big jerk
And make a huge fuss
But why is it hard work
To spell a word thus
For surely it would mean
The same thing to them
Who'd just eaten ice cream
And had a throat full of FLEM!
English is hard
Without making it worse
And I am no bard
So here ends my verse.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Washington - An Equal Opportunity Snoop Town

Once again Bush World reared its ugly head, and I do mean ugly this week when it was announced that Condoleeeeeeza Rice and her crack staff broke into the personal passport files of the 3 remaining candidates for President. Naturally they have apologized and heads will roll, probably because they got caught! The first one to announce the breach was Senator Obama looking for all the world as a victim once again and hoping for a sympathy bump in the polls. But alas that was not to be when the same breach came to light in the case of Senator Clinton.
Then as if to show that they weren't just targeting Democrats the files of Senator McCain were opened to view. But in this case they were just testing out their methods to see if they could get into the files in the first place. They chose McCain because his passport number was easy to remember, 000-000-001 (Contrary to popular belief Jack Benny held #2.)
When asked how many times a day they do this sort of thing Ms. Rice declined to speak but gestured her answer nevertheless.
State Department spokesman McCormack would not disclose the company name that hired the contractors responsible for the breaches but did hint that they would be receiving fair and swift treatment by the government. Insiders took this to mean that there would be more Medals of Freedom ceremonies in the Rose Garden shortly.
Finally McCormack insisted he wanted to go slow with his investigation because he would rather "err on the side of caution." Seeing as how this administration has erred on all other sides to date that seemed like a novel approach.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Politically Correct or Right?

I was brought up to believe that correct meant right. If your teacher told you that you were correct that meant you got the answer right and if he or she told you that you were right then that meant your answer was correct. This is called interchangeable. The words have the same meaning and with only a very few exceptions either can be used.
Exceptions?
Aye, there’s the rub.
Geraldine Ferraro, who is soon to become a footnote in this year’s dirty dogfight aka Democratic campaign for the White House, uttered some terrible words last week. She announced to all the world that, wait for it, Barack Obama was a black man!
What?
Really?
I thought he had a great tan but this changes everything.
Come on, let’s be real here.
In England this sort of thing would be called the bleeding obvious.
But I am wrong. This America and pointing something like that out is something that can cost you your job.
Ms. Ferraro said that Mr. Obama was where he was basically because of who he is. This was another ‘duh’ moment.
To be fair the Obama camp has had its words used to cause the exit of staffers as well. One of his supporters called Ms. Clinton a monster. Stick and stones baby. Well I may be a monster, but you’re black.
Actually if you ever hear people in the street or on a train ride commuting to and from work the above sentence will have some whispering involved. It would sound more like this, “I may be a monster but you’re black.”
We are all who we are and therefore where we are as a result. The fact that Obama is black or Clinton is a woman should not come as a shock but pointing it out is anathema.
So with apologies to all my teachers whether or not Ms. Ferraro was correct she was most certainly not right.

Commercial Relations

I have a love hate relationship with commercials. And I’ll bet we all do.
First of all they intrude on our viewing pleasure, assuming we are watching a television show we like. Second of all many if not most are incredibly stupid and many of the rest are just plain annoying. Okay, some of them are clever and entertaining but unfortunately those are few and far between.
When a good one strikes our fancy it can become part of our culture. I cannot remember all of them and I am sure, if anyone bothers to read this they can add their own favorites. So before I go into my tirade against the bad ones I hereby give the devil his due with:
"Where’s the beef?"
"I can’t believe I ate the whole thing!"
"Get to know what good is."
"We bring good things to light."
"See the USA in your ---------."
"Please don’t squeeze the -------!" (He squeezed his last this year.)
"I’d walk a mile for a -----."
"The San Francisco treat."
"Plop plop fizz fizz…"
"You’ll wonder where the yellow went…"
(Oldie) "Trust your car to the man with the star."
"And leave the driving to us."
"We try harder."
"Good to the last drop" (My grandma’s favorite)
"We answer to a higher authority" (My Rabbi’s favorite) and
"Look ma, no cavities." (Every mother’s favorite.)
Naturally there are hundreds more catchy phrases turned sales tools but I have a limited life span so I stop here.
There are books written about this stuff and they become obsolete as soon as the next smart ad man comes along.
A good book on advertising - $29.95
Average price to buy what they are selling - $99.95
Enjoying the slogan without spending money – You guessed it, priceless.
Then we come to the God awful ones, at least as far as I am concerned and if you do not agree, well since this is my piece, tough. In fact I despise some of these that I cannot even bring myself to recreate the entire phrase. I start with the all-time (to date) worst ad for a product THAT DOES NOT WORK AND IS A FRAUD:
"Head On –" (apply directly to the garbage.)
"So easy a caveman… "
"Can you hear me now?" (unfortunately.)
"Zoom Zoom" (I shall never purchase the product, EVER – Just because of the ad.)
"You’re in good hands" (And their hands are in your pocket.)
"I’m loving it." (What, obesity, hardening of the arteries?)
And a couple of oldies that made my list:
"The first pre-mixed pre-measured disposable douche." (Ewww!)
“Can I talk to you about, diarrhea?” (NO – And it always aired during DINNER!)
There are several, seems like thousands of new ads for real or made up diseases or ailments that are flooding the airways. This is because the pharmaceutical industry is hemorrhaging money. A pill that averages costing them 2¢ can sell for $10 so getting you to think you have the disease the pill cures is ‘job one’ for their ad agencies. The current darlings of the mass mania media are:
RLS (They ‘Kidnapped’ the literary usage)
ED (The Bob Dole one, not the TV show)
BPH (Big Prostate, Huge? No, Benign Prostate Hypertrophy – I like mine better.)
COPD (Colorado Police Dept?)
RA (Not the Egyptian one)
And don’t you love it when the ad says, “Ask your doctor if Blah Blah Blah is right for you.” I will not ask him! He gets enough money to take the tests and find out what I have, why should I give him the answers?
And finally one you won’t hear, NYD. This stands for Not Yet Diagnosed. But trust me they will find something that fits and make up a drug to cure it. If not they will name it, "Fever of unknown origin." TRUE, Look it up!
There are many more but I seem to have developed STM. (That’s M not D.)
There is a commercial running these days for a very real and debilitating disorder known as depression. While this condition is treatable not every drug or combination of drugs will work for every person afflicted. You really must see a doctor about this one. However a certain ad claims that their product is the must have. They are not actually lying because if you do not buy their pills they will become depressed.
Since we are all bombarded with ads all the time I feel that the product of the young century must be the TIVO. The I and the O must stand for input and output and the TV part is obvious. TiVo allows you to take the I Out of TV and what could be better than that?
Anything that allows me to zoom zoom through commercials is priceless!

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Bush World

Speaking in Manhattan this week President George W Bush was totally optimistic about the future. This is a good thing and not to be taken lightly. We should all be optimistic about our future and hope for the best. The only problem in this case is that the man speaking those ‘rose colored’ words has done nothing to move the dream along.
He cited all the things that could have brought our nation to its knees but noted that we are still standing. He was trying to point out that the sun will come out tomorrow.
His ‘Annie’ moment was almost comical because he neglected to list one thing among the items hurting and hindering America, namely his 7 years in office.
An old friend once told me that no one is perfect nor should we expect anyone to be so. "The more we do the more chance we have to screw up," he said. His favorite analogy was, “When you cut down a lot of trees you are going to get a lot of sawdust.” In his almost two terms as the leader of the free world our President has made many speeches and said many things so we should expect some of them to be, well stupid. Unfortunately we have reaped far more sawdust than firewood.
When Mr. Bush showed his incredulous stare at the thought of a $4.00 per gallon gasoline price at the pump I thought of sawdust. But he was actually right! We will not have to pay $4 per gallon for gasoline; it will be much higher than that. In fact at the rate we are going we may reminisce about the good old days of $4 per gallon.
All of our economic hurts are being caused by greed. The greed of Mr. Bush and his oil friends; the greed of his corporate friends in that business and others; the greed of the CEOs of such companies as Countrywide and Bear Sterns and the list could go on and on. You may add your own favorites.
We have become accustomed to price increases for the basics of our lives. In fact we expect many of them and are secretly amazed when the prices do not go higher than they do. But the bottom line is that our paychecks are not going nearly as far as they used to and our real cost of living (COL) is outpacing our income at an alarming rate. The divide between rich and poor is increasing every day.
Airfares are rising because of the fuel costs. Basic food items such as wheat are at all-time high levels. Tolls on our roads and rails are going up by percentage points above the governments supposed COL increase. Even poor Mr. Spitzer had to shell out an inordinate amount of his easy earned income for a little enjoyment.
Everyone is paying more for goods and services because everyone is hurting; everyone that is except Mr. Bush and his ilk who bilk the rest of us.
Yes the future is rosy and the outlook is bright. The sun will indeed come out tomorrow, and the next day. Unfortunately we may not be able to see it as clearly as does our President because we live in the real world.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Even Teflon Wears Off

The Teflon candidate has his work cut out for himself this time. And this one might be a little harder for the poor political pundits also known as Obama’s Babies to turn around.
Barack’s minister of several years, Reverend Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. has finally explained why we were attacked on 9-11. IT WAS OUR FAULT! America is totally to blame for all the pain and suffering we endured at the hands of the poor oppressed Muslim fanatics. And we are even to blame for the AIDS epidemic! Go figure. I would not be surprised if the Reverend's second best friend, after Farrakhan was Hutton Gibson!
Of course there were already some Senator Clinton haters who have asked how come this news comes out now? Could it be that Hillary Clinton or one of her supporters is behind the disclosure of the traitorous words out of the mouth of this irrational lunatic and Obama spiritual advisor? And while we’re at it why not blame this woman for 9-11 in the first place and be done with it?
If it was not clear before then certainly those of you out there who thought the SNL skit was a bit overboard should be rethinking your position. The fact is that Obama has been given an almost complete free pass by the media and the brainless and brainwashed masses merely because of his Stepford Wives sort of message. Well listen to or read the message from the guy Senator Obama listens to and then decide if you should trust this man with the future of our country. And remember the button upon which his finger will be should he be elected. http://www.newsmax.com/kessler/obama_minister_wright/2008/03/06/78440.html
Barack Obama may actually prove to be a wonderful leader with fantastic ideas and the political clout and know-how to get things done in our increasingly troublesome capitol once he grows up but so far he has not shown us enough to deserve our complete and blind adoration.
What’s next, Simon Cowell picking our leader?
“Are you kidding? You call that a message? No substance, pal! I could get a better message out of a fourth grader! Get off my political stage and don’t come back until you can give me a reason to want you in the White House. GO.”
I have no idea what will happen from here on out but one thing is clear, Senator Obama is not as pure as he would have you believe and no amount of denunciations can un-ring a bell once it peals. His last denunciation was of Farrakhan and in fact was a command performance during one of the 765 debates we have been subjected to. Sincere or not he had no choice at that moment but to put down one of his big supporters. Minister (that’s a joke) Louis Farrakhan loves this guy and his main man minister Rev. Wright loves Farrakhan and hates America. Can we afford to fall in blindly behind this Senator with no record?
In his absolutely wonderful poem, 'If' Rudyard Kipling says that it is okay to dream as long as we do 'not make dreams our master.' Don't allow the delusion of Obama’s illusion to put you to sleep merely for the sake of dreaming. His meteoric rise to the national stage seems to mirror his "audacity of hope" but is really the embodiment of hubris. Without a little more information we should not put this man in charge of the nation. Perhaps by 2012 or 2016 we will know for sure where he stands but I will not pull his lever in 2008, no matter what.
Sshhh, do you hear that? Somewhere Karl Rove is laughing

Monday, March 10, 2008

Criminal Definition

According to the bible you need the testimony of two men for something to be real and therefore trustworthy. I believe that we should extrapolate that into actions as well as words and state that if a society treats two similar actions in the same manner then that must be the way to treat such future actions as well. We should also review and revisit near past actions with the same eye toward justice.
What am I trying to say?
Well it is simple.
Our current President and his extended staff have trampled all over the Constitution and our Nation’s Bill of Rights. They have committed us into an unfavorable and never ending war. They have sent off thousands of our fine young men and women to their deaths in order to defend their oil rights and investments. They have tortured prisoners ruthlessly while covering it all up. They have ignored those in need in our country and allowed disasters to fester. BUT THEY HAVE NOT BEEN PROSECUTED FOR THESE CRIMES. In fact some of the people who committed those crimes have received our Nation’s Medal of Freedom, a high honor indeed once reserved only for real heroes now given incidentally as favors to political hacks and inept morons to shut them up. And if by chance one of these bad men should be found guilty he is quickly and summarily pardoned, also to keep him quiet.
So since no court has looked into these actions they must be legal and therefore the standard with which we wish to be viewed in the world.
Now we come to a real crime as evidenced by the fact that two very bad men have been censured and publically humiliated. I am of course referring to infidelity with the opposite sex. Former President Bill Clinton privately opened his privates to an intern and was hounded by an independent prosecutor using public money until he was brought up on impeachment charges for high crimes supposedly against the country. By the country I mean the USA because in Italy he would have been named President for life if found guilty.
And now soon to be former Governor Eliot Spitzer is going through his own personal Hell for dealing with prostitutes. Yes prostitution is illegal and yes it is reprehensible and yes he blew it (figuratively of course) but in the long run it is far less illegal and reprehensible than the war acts being allowed and promoted by our current President.
So with the use of the Bible to back me up I can state quite clearly and without fear of successful contradiction that it is okay to invade a sovereign country for its oil and kill as many of its citizens to get and keep that oil for your friends; and it is okay to wire tap without proper court allowance any and all citizens of America; and it is okay to open all the e-mail sent to and received by American citizens; and it is okay to ignore disasters as long as the people involved are not political supporters of your party.
It is also okay to solicit homosexual sex in the public bathrooms of airports. Anyone know where Larry Craig is these days?
No?
He is still in the Senate! Oh, wait a second, never mind Larry Craig solicited sex from a man and that is totally different than the disgusting acts of the two Democrats. You know, it’s the old “Not that there’s anything wrong with it” routine.
And the Republican leadership, the same ones calling for Spitzers head, ignored for years any improper behavior by one of their own, namely Florida Senator Mark “Fun with Younguns” Foley. Wow, more man on boy stuff.
That's it!
It all becomes clear.
IT IS NOT OKAY FOR A MALE DEMOCRAT TO HAVE SEX WITH A WOMAN WHILE IN OFFICE! (I wonder if that's why Joe from Connecticut switched parties?)

Sunday, March 9, 2008

DST SUX

One quick question, why must we change the clocks forward and back at all?

If you like daylight savings time then why not leave it on all year long?

I mean what is it called in the Winter, Nighttime Savings Time, Daylight Losing Time?

And aside from the obvious pain in the ass of having to change all the various clocks of our lives why must we lose the hour DURING ONE OF OUR TWO DAYS OFF?

We work (most of us) five days a week but only have a two-day weekend away from the job.  So why not 'spring ahead' on a Monday at 4pm?  Everyone hates Mondays anyway so make them shorter.

Naturally we would have to keep the 'fall Back' portion of the stupidity to hold on to the perceived gain.

Daylight Saving Time was originally put in place to conserve electricity.  The theory was that a longer daytime would mean less need to have your lights on in the home thereby holding down energy consumption.

As is typical with quickly thought out plans studies show that while the lights were on for less time the overall ENERGY USE ACTUALLY INCREASED!

How could THAT be?
Glad you asked!

You see normal human beings had to turn up the heat earlier in the morning during the cold times and run their air conditioning longer in the height of Summer!

DST was also supposed to help the farmers get their work done while it was light out. Well in all fairness to the 17 individual farmers left in America CHANGE YOUR ALARM CLOCKS AND LEAVE THE REST OF US THE HELL ALONE!

Sorry to rant about this but I didn't get enough sleep last night.

Statistics Don't Lie - People Who use them Do

Have you ever heard the stupid phrase, “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people?” How about. “Statistics don’t lie?” I think they rank up there with a college student telling his date, “Of course I’ll definitely respect you in the morning.” In other words they are lies!
People definitely kill people but one of the most popular ways to do so is with the help of a gun. In fact many murderers would not even contemplate theor heinous act if they could not get a gun. Ask the experts if it is easy to kill someone with your bare hands. It is not. And let’s face it many guns are made just for killing. When the sportsman tells you he is going deer hunting he usually brings along a regular single-shot rifle not an AK47 assault rifle. Or better yet if he is a true sport he will use a bow and arrow.
If someone is shopping for an assault rifle I believe alarms should be set off in the minds of the law enforcement community. Naturally the National Rifle Association (NRA) is going to claim second amendment rights if anyone tries to limit the use or availability of fire arms for the general public. But that is only because they have chosen to be ignorant of the facts and the law. The second amendment does not give the right to buy assault rifles to every moron or crazy jackass in the world merely because his girlfriend slighted him upon seeing the tiny size of his manhood. That legislative piece was written by our founders to promote and regulate a militia for the means of keeping a free state and is not to be used by every brain dead individual hell bent on murder. And if the leaders of the NRA try to tell you that that is what was meant by the members of the Continental Congress THEY ARE LYING!
Recently our government let out the news that we are sort of maybe in or heading for an economic downturn that is not necessarily but could be misconstrued as a sort of recession. That is akin to a guy saying that he got his date a little pregnant. But we allow our leaders to hem and haw and fumfer and get away with murder, literally in the name of our piece of mind. Everything will be fine, just you wait and see. The problem is we look away so we cannot see.
The bottom line is that our economic pundits are no better than, actually worse than a weatherman. Oh, the guy on the news can call himself a meteorologist but a garbage man is a garbage man and he is just a weatherman. He cannot really predict the future weather and we should not expect him to nor be upset when he does not. I do not have to iterate examples of weathermen errors we have all lived through them.
The great economists of the National Bureau of Economic Research have defined recession as, “a significant protracted decline in activity that cuts across the economy affecting measures like income, employment, retail sales and industrial productivity. Well let’s see, as a nation are we doing well in any of these areas? Real income, adjusted for inflation and cost of living increases is way down. Retailers are hurting as their sales have plummeted because we do not have as much disposable income. I for one never considered my income disposable but that’s just me. Industrial productivity? Is that a joke? Do we count our national productivity or that of the countries we sold out to?
As for unemployment we come back to the statistical game our government loves to play. According to Washington the unemployment rate was down one tenth of a point to 4.8% in February as compared to January. But if you read the small print you will find a disclaimer. These numbers do not include people who are out of work but have given up looking for a job, possibly because it is futile and costs too much money to do so and they cannot get over to India or China to get their old jobs back.
How hard is it to add or subtract? We should be able to find out how many able bodied people are out of work in our country. If our leaders cannot even get this statistic right perhaps they need a bit more help in doing so. I have an idea; why not hire some of the uncounted millions. At least then the phony unemployment numbers would be closer to reality.
And by the way according to a leading research team four out of five doctors agree with all the statements I have made herein.

Friday, March 7, 2008

The Economy is Slowing.

According to our fearless, brainless leader, "It's clear our economy has slowed."
"Losing a job is painful and I know Americans are concerned about our economy. So am I," he said today after the release of a gloomy government economic report. Of course he already has a new job lined up after he is finally, dear G-D finally out of office. He will formerly move to one of the Arab states so that he may be nearer to the asses he loves to kiss.
Acknowledging that it is a difficult time for the little people of America he went on to say, "But we recognized the problem early and we provided the economy with a booster shot."
He is of course referring to the measley rebate that we sheep will be getting. A rebate is by definition a return of money already spent. So he pushed for and authorized a return of some of the money we paid out in taxes later this spring. He wants us to spend it and thereby help boost the economy.
COULD THIS MAN BE MORE OUT OF TOUCH?
Should the man who just lost his job to 'out of country outsourcing' spend the $600 on a new IPod? Frankly anything he or she buys will be made in China so whose economy is he helping?
How about the family that lost their home and cannot find food, "to put on their family" as Mr. Bush would say. Should they go on vacation with the windfall? Even if they had the money they could not afford to visit Europe what with the currency exchange rate. Okay, see America first! But use public transportation because the price of gas will soon be over $4.00 per gallon. Did you hear that Mr. President?
Personally I just checked and my bank account and I can barely buy Mediterranean Avenue let alone visit Mediterranean!
Would it not be a better idea to pull our men, women, and children out of a hated, unnecessary, and frankly illegal war that is costing us billions of dollars and use the money instead to really stimulate the economy? How about a "Jobs Program" Mr. 'I feel for you' President?
Learn from history, Mr. Bush. Look to the WPA and ask for help from non yes-men. Then take their advise. You have very little time left in office, thank goodness, to prove you are not a total idiot. Pull yourself out of the Saudi's pockets and do something to help the country.
You would think after listening in to all of our phone conversations and reading all of our e-mails you would have guessed how we feel about you. We are being slowly tortured and you are wearing the hood.
Yes our economy has slowed. In fact it has stopped. Please do not use the fact that you and your disgusting friends have more money than G-d to think otherwise. If you only had a brain.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Enough is Enough. End it Already.

Is it any wonder that Karl Rove, the true architect of our country's demise found it child's play to beat the Democrats twice in the last two Presidential elections? The Dems shoot themselves in their feet so often you would think they had death wishes. They fall into the trap of the egomaniacal SOB Rove and his ilk and generally do his dirty work for him.

The primaries are still taking place, at leastf or the party of the people and the rules are ridiculous. Hillary Clinton won the most votes and states this past Semi-Super-Stupid-Tuesday-That-Means-Nothing but gained only 4 delegates in her attempt to head off the green candidate, Obama. By Green I do not mean he is enviironmentally friendly but rather totally green as in wet behind the ears green.

Now to be fair the Democratic way of counting votes and awarding delegates is actually a more fair way to do it than the winner take all version of the Republican camp. But if all we are going to do is award a portion of the hard fought for delegates with each primary then we are in for a long and drawn out dirty fight. Therefore I once again renew my plea to totally overhaul this absurd primary farce and get down to business. Read my previous blog concerning Primary Reform and understand that as long as we continue to force one party or the other to air everyone's dirty laundry in public during the primaries we lose sight of the real issues such as securing a better life for our citizens. The final vote for the Presidency will, or should be decided by a vote of the people and not some convoluted scheme such as the electoral college which is more like an Electoral Pre-School.

I am not totally naive and I realize that most politicians do not give a rat's ass about those of us here on the ground but at least allow me my delusions for a while.

Hey you guys that are left standing - Make believe you really care about the middle class. Make believe you really want to change the way our government does business. Fool us for a while with promises of grandeur rather than explaining how your opponent is really a closet war criminal.

We know that all the candidates really crave the power and the thrill of the victory over the idea and ideal of helping the people of America. Why else would they be spending so much money and time and effort to gain a job whose salary could not repay them if they held it for thirty years?

Having said all this I will reiterate my feelings about who I feel should gain control of the White House for the next four years and that is Senator Hillary Clinton.

I feel that Grandpa McCain, while possibly qualified should not win merely because he has proven himself to be an idiot and a weak one at that with such a blinding ambition as to circumvent his hatred of the current moron in the White House to allow himself to be endorsed by him. He even embraced the Bushman and said he would be honored to have him campaign for him. That alone should negate any chance he had to hold the highest office in the land. In fact it could be used as an insanity plea should his lovely wife ever decide to put him a way. (And he does have the loveliest spouse in the election by far although Bill can be cute sometimes.)

Green Obama reminds me of the story of the Butterfly so often repeated throughout history to tell the tale of a too soon birth into the world. It was made into a song for the Broadway show Zorba and you should try to find it and hear it. Some of the lyric is, "Not too soon, not too soon, let it grow." It is a nice and bittersweet tale that actually dates back to ancient Japan about a man who laments the death of a butterfly that he forced to be born before it was ready to truly spread its wings. And as a result the deformed creature could not survive. If you are interested a link to the Hawaiian version is provided. Read it and think Obama as you do. His and our future may depend upon it. http://www.hawaiiswim.org/business/TheButterfly/TheButterfly.html


Senator Clinton is left and she is quite capable of handling any situation that is thrown her way. She has shown herself to care about the common man, hell she even married one. Just kidding, but she has handled him and she can do the same with any crisis that is thrown at her. Don't take my word for it, elect her and see for yourself!

Let's hope the Dems come to their senses and stop allowing such scum of the Earth as Karl Rove and his Puppet Bush continue to win. Grandpa McCain IS Bush and all you really have to know to vote for the Democrats is that Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly are doing everything in their power to stop them from winning!

Sunday, March 2, 2008

The Aura of the Hour

Whether it's an aura or an illusion it is obvious that the race for the Nation’s top spot is over. And even though any one of the three credible people still vying for the presidency would be able to run the country as long as he or she was surrounded by a good team we will soon have to focus on only one person and one team.
It was once possible that the current resident of the White House could have been a decent President had he assembled a good team rather than the awful group he chose or chose him. But in the end they were either puppeteers or ‘yes men & women’ who only had their own best interests at heart. History will tell the tale of how bad this inept inarticulate man really was and how long it took us to recover from his mishandling of our great nation. But thankfully he is history and we are making new history now.
So who will it be?
I have been saying for a while that the conclusion is far from a mystery and that Barack Obama will become the next President of the United States. This is not because I want him or because I feel he is the most deserving, far from it. I merely see what is happening and realize that there is almost no reason to go through the next several months of campaign agony in order to get to the inevitable conclusion. The movement is as unstoppable as the tide. As was said about Maria in the Sound of Music, “How do you hold a wave upon the sand?”
But we should know what we are doing before crowning this new leader.
What can I say? Here is a great resume.
He is a wonderful and charismatic speaker.
He is charming and young and makes a good “Presidential” appearance.
He knows what to say and how to deliver the line in a forceful and inspiring way.
His repartees are quick and biting.
These sentences just described half of Hollywood’s actors. So are we electing another actor such as we did when the “Bedtime for Bonzo” star took over the reigns in 1981?
Perhaps but since it is happening I feel we all better get together and keep our eyes open. Let’s not let the next four year term be as terrible as the last two four year terms were. If something is going awry we must not wait until it is too late to demand change. Don’t let a ‘Katrina’ fester for weeks or years before demanding a fix. Learn from history.
This new President will need all the help he can get. He has no foreign policy, no real history of being able to govern and no plan other than hope and change to turn this nation around.
If we want the aura of this idealist to make this an Obama-nation rather than an Abomination we will all have to do our part.

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Got Gas?

The President showed his lack of understanding once again this week when he admitted that he knew nothing about the price of a gallon of gas. "You're kiddin' I hadn't heard that," was his response to a reporters question about the impending $4 per gallon cost.
But before we jump all over this man just because he is not fit to pump gas let alone set the price we should look at the full picture.
We live in a democracy with a free market that runs on the 'Supply and Demand' premise. If I have something you want then I will raise the price as high as I can without losing your order. And presumably so will you. That's the American way.
So if supplies are limited but demand is high then the price must rise! Keeping the price down would deplete supplies even faster and if the item in question is a commodity that would be bad.
So what's the problem?
Simple, we are falling into the trap of believing our current administration and their friends at Exxon etc. These oil men have been raping American citizens for years and they have no reason to stop now.
Don't believe me, according to James Ritterbusch, (That's Busch) president of Ritterbusch & Associates in Galena, Ill., an oil trading advisory firm, gasoline supplies in the United States are at a 14-year high. He also noted that demand is flat with or even lagging last year's numbers.
So let's get this straight, Demand is down and supply is high. Naturally the price of gas is going through the roof!
Would someone please get me out of Bizarro World? Who is running this place, Mr. Mxyzptlk?
The Dollar is at an all-time low against, well just about every other currency in the world. The dollar will go further down if our interest rates are lowered but our Fed chairman is forced to lower interest rates in order to keep our economy out of the dreaded recession THAT WE ARE ALREADY IN!
There is no easy solution but Washington could help those of us here on the ground by releasing some of the oil reserves and forcing down the inflated price of gasoline. Then they could ask Exxon and the rest to lower their prices and start to levy the proper tax on their obscene profits instead of giving them tax breaks. And then we all board the fairy train to lala land and live happily ever after!
The President is ignorant and that is a fact.
But Congress must help us with some kind of act.
Please do so by lowering the price of our gas.
And tell Bush to pull out his head from his - - - cloud?

Chauvinism, Politics and the Media

A critic has a choice any time he or she does their job, write a favorable review or a bomb. Frankly it's more fun to bomb something. You can make fun of the name or rhyme it with something mean or stupid. But after a while a critic that always goes for the jugular is boring.
The news media has gotten boring. Even the so-called funny shows such as Real Time with Bill Maher has fallen into the trap. On the February 29th show he and his panel of men took turns making fun of Senator Clinton in every way they could.
They made fun of her hair and the fact that she changed her style often. (She tried a different look - Shocking!)
They went on to her changing tactics when it came to her campaign. (Unbelievable to try to win.)
They made fun of her television ads. (What nerve to try a television ad.)
They even belittled her service in Congress saying that in her 6 years - HEY FELLOWS SENATOR CLINTON WAS ELECTED IN 2000. DO THE MATH, IDIOTS.
And finally they made fun of her 8 years as the first lady.
And they never called her Senator Clinton. They just said Hillary.
But later in the show the men aired a photo of Obama wearing a traditional Somali outfit complete with turban. I find nothing wrong with him wearing the outfit in the least. In fact he was visiting Kenya and I believe he showed respect for the people there by doing so. But did these critics go for the jugular and make fun of the ridiculous outfit? Did they mock him as they would have had it been Senator Clinton.
No. Bill Maher went into a tirade against all those who tried to use the photo against Obama. And Maher went on to point out and debunk every other knock against Obama he could think of.
At some point during the show he mentioned the Taliban and ironically said thet they hate women! PHYSICIAN HEAL THYSELF!
When Saturday Night Live did their skit showing the press fawning over the Obama character many thought they went to far. I beleive they were the only ones in America who have hit the nail on the head!
Three year Senator Obama has yet to write a single bill in congress. While he is on the Senate Committee for Foreign Relations he has not attended any meetings. He has yet to make any policy of his known. He has yet to prove himself worthy of the highest office in the land. But he has proved himself worthy of the highest pulpits in the land. This man has spun a tale of hope to rival any other in history and the critics have fallen behind him as apostles.
At this rate he will not be sworn into office, he will be crowned and annointed right after the white smoke pours out of the chimneys of DC.