When, back in those nearly dark ages of long, long ago--when we were all either a lot younger or a lot less jaded, and the money seemed endless just as the stuff to spend money on seemed to be so necessary, there was lots of talk about American Exceptionalism. We can spend, we can spend, we can spend. And we did.
Yet we didn't ask one good question.
Then, administrations came and went. Republicans such as Reagan preached and speeched on and on about 'small government' and 'conservative' values. Democrats such as Clinton made the same speeches and balanced the budget. For a few months.
Even before that recent history, there were clouds in the whole budget issue. The biggest was never noticed. The question was never asked.
We went to war against a tactic, based upon an attack never adequately investigated, killing or maiming millions.
We bailed out the brightest guys in the room. We spent money on a program that Hank Paulson wrote on a piece of legal paper, striking a 'big number' because he knew he needed a lot of money to shift fast and $700 Billion seemed to be a nice figure.
We never asked the question.
We bemoaned 'entitlements' for grandma, education costs for kids, law enforcement toys for police that now look like Darth Vader's Raiders. Money, money, money.
We sent $8 Billion to other countries. Or was that $8 Trillion?* (I know, a B(m)illion here a B(m)illion there, pretty soon you're talking real money -- thanks Ike for the image.)
And, we never asked.
We shifted dollars from column A to column B so that Too Big to Fail wouldn't, well, fail. Again, no question.
Now, we hear that if we honor the promises made to people that paid good hard earned money into things, like pensions and Social Security, which is funded by those payments into Social Security, that Social Security won't have our own money available to pay us back on the money we put in in the first place. And, still the silence is deafening.
Here's the question.
Why didn't anyone ask where the money was coming from to bail out this, fund that war, prop up that banking industry filled with Too Big to Fail? And if it was taken from the accounts funded by workers, why aren't the people that shifted the money rotting in jail for stealing from one trust account to fund a speculative venture like propping up Too Big To Fail?
And, while we're at it, why are we fighting so many wars when no one is attacking us at home? Why don't we stay at home and take care of ourselves for a change? It's less expensive, and would bring a lot more peace to so many countries? Like our own.
But, when all those 'conservatives' were hailing their 'conservative' credentials, spouting off about small government as government doubled in size, just in this Century, why didn't anyone ask how we were going to pay for it, and if we were going to take away the contracted benefits we paid for, why aren't we getting a bailout for us. The taxpayers. The FICA funders. Get the money for the banks from the banks. they have lots of it, because they are too big to fail, and that means they have money. Leave the pittance for the little guys alone, and stop telling us you've stolen it, or plan to do so. Enough.
If we're going to fight wars, how about one against the tactic known as robbery?
Inquiring minds, and all that.
__________________
* http://rt.com/usa/news/fed-trillion-reserve-bailout-401/
As for size of government, budgets balancing and all that, a simple tour of the Google will bring up more links than you'll ever want to review. Honest.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Thanks, I did come to my senses. Finally.
Well, I did actually come to my senses months ago. I decided that it would be fun, after being banned from a blog, to get back onto that same blog, and see how far things could be pushed before the envelope contents spilled out and all was made public. I didn't get banned the second time. I quit. Dusted the metaphorical sandals and walked.
But, not before I had my say. (Stay tuned, it's a doozey.)
It started when I saw a post referenced on Rense.com to Fellowship of the Minds, and decided to post there. I thought, these could be an interesting group, and I might get a few of the thinking ones thinking that people, no matter what their bank account, or profession, really can get along. Conservatives and Liberals can talk. At least, if they are willing to listen to both sides of an issue, and bright people of many persuasions often listen to both sides. I sensed hope.
The first time I left, I was banned, kicked off for demanding that the laws of the US apply to all persons and entities in the US, and for thinking that when a spendthrift tries to call himself a conservative while running up the national debt to several times that of all predecessors combined, while doubling the size of government, using cronies to put up a mercenary army that we pay 3X what we pay US soldiers, he ought not be called a conservative.
The second and most recent reason for my leaving was that OWS protesters are not allowed to be upset at a miscarriage. Of justice or a baby.
You see, the edge was reached when, in a thread concerning whether or not a miscarriage happened in Seattle, thanks to police brutality, the comments were running to the "she asked for it" mode of condemnation for OWS protestors. Apparently, if you are a protestor with OWS, you are all of the following, in no particular order: mentally ill, unemployed, unemployable, intent upon public defecation, lower life form such as worm, rat, snake, etc., witless, violent, rapist, criminal, unthinking, and you get the general idea.
The "I want list" of OWS protestors has been pretty fuzzy. They have also been accused of being the spawn of Soros or Satan (Choose one please.) Those injured because of police actions deserved arrest or possibly public hanging. Their First Amendment rights have not been violated by orchestrated raids in up to 18 cities at the same time, evidence notwithstanding, nor have they any right to protest because capitalism is working so well, don't you know? Actually, if the 1% are so good at creating good jobs, they have shown a decades long rotten record of their employment enhancing prowess.
According to the new commerce of conversation we are having, OWS is just filthy poor people, and the rich should never pay the same percentage rate as poor folk do in taxes. The rich, in the best world, should not pay more, or preferably they should pay NO taxes, because somewhere in the back of the minds of those condemning OWS, we will all be the Uber Rich, and we all know how much we hate paying high taxes. But, if the Uber Rich paid a more fair share, the bill for the rest of us would not need to be so high. And, after all, our taxes just barely cover the debt service, so if we want to build our way out of this $15 Trillion hole, we need to fill it fast with money, and the top 1% are the only folk with the gold.
When police violence started up in earnest, against all and sundry, just like police violence has happened in Tunisia, Libya, Syria, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain -- where the violence is condemned as a very, very BAAAAAAD situation. Violence against people seeking fairness in government is condemned by Americans, but suddenly when it's OWS getting maced, well, that's just fine and dandy. I developed instant mental whiplash. So what if that pesky First Amendment has been suspended for the majority so long as the corporations in charge of government get to run their business, their fellow business's business, and the government. Let the bankers run everything. It's worked just fine (not) for the past century. A little tear gas just builds character. We don't need to be concerned, nope. Not at all.
Violence is expected when you gather to protest anything. Yikes! I was now in real enemy territory. I posted relatively few comments, sometimes being snarky to test the waters, and then it got too bad for even little old me to keep up the charade. After all, this was unpaid labor done as my own little experiment. I knew the outcome, I just wanted to be on the inside of the experience.
The story is this. A young woman was pregnant, got pepper sprayed, and miscarried. The police are investigating. She attended what was a peaceful protest and got tear gassed, or pepper sprayed, or even hit by a police officer. She was injured because she was there. Not someplace else, but there, and she brought children with her, inside here abdomen. She was condemned for complaining. She was dismissed for endangerment of her children.
She went to a park that should have looked like the Seurat painting, and got sprayed with noxious chemicals. Think of this pic from the Nov. 24, Daily Mail:
Seurat got surreal in Seattle. It was the vehemence of the responses, and the fact that police violence is okay if you're just an OWS protester. And then, there was this one response that really tor it for me, and the one following it:
"If she was so concerned about her (alleged) pregnancy ... especially with Twins, why did she place herself in a situation that might jeopardize her pregnancy?
One twin is "allegedly" aborted in September from (alleged) police brutality, and she goes at it again, and aborts the remaining fetus in a miscarriage.
If not true, Fox is a menace to society ... and herself." and,
"Exactly XXXXXX, why expose yourself to pepper spray or other dangers? Someone mentioned something else these OWS protestors are obviously mostly liberal. So they probably are pro-abortion. So this isn't actually a baby yet, it's just a fetus, right? But now she's the victim and so is her baby."
Right. Check. Call the Fire Department, 'cuz my very breath was made of fire. I was A. N. G. R. Y. I stopped, had a glass of water, and I'll fill you in on what I did next. After that, I quit the blog. And this is why I had to stop pretending I could any longer speak civilly with these folk.
According to the Fellowship of the Minds, if you go to a demonstration, you are asking for truncheons, night stick hits, pepper spray, tasers, and rubber bullets to be used on your person or your friends. And yes, I will post the reply that was insistent that, despite all the violent activity, your First Amendment Rights are sacred in the eyes of the police, and at FOTM.
Now, I don't know what the Seattle investigation will show. Was there a miscarriage or not? I don't know. I do know that attending a public meeting in a public square is not an open invitation to be brutalized and battered by anyone, in uniform or out. And I know that no matter what, you don't criticize a young woman who is looking ahead to burying her miscarried child. You don't tell her that the consequences forced upon her are okay, because it might have been okay for her to have an abortion, so miscarriage is just sort of an uncontrolled abortion, right? (Try not to gag. It's difficult.) You also don't tell a woman mourning her lost child that it was her fault for showing up to the park in the first place.
I'm also pretty sure from religion classes, that being liberal does not mean that the mother of a miscarried child is saying, well it could have been an abortion...ho hum...tomorrow is another day.
As in, La-di-frickin'-da. I think not.
I'll supply more information on my time as an underground blogger. The funny thing is, I am actually a real financial conservative. Honest. I hold many conservative ideas, including views on education (the old classical learning model), small government that is effective regarding safety, financial oversight, commerce, tariffs, and governing with, not over, the states. I also believe in human rights, the Bill of Rights, and the right to be in charge of one's self. I believe people have the right to opportunity, based upon merit, not free passes based on connections and that sort of stuff. I like secure borders. I literally pine for truth, in all things. If there is a screw up, we should admit it and fix it.
I believe that preemptive anything, founded on a lie, is really bad. I don't believe that because one has the initial "R" after one's name, is not the same as an imprimatur, sealed by God, that you are of course a good Christian, and I don't believe that any religious group has the ownership of the public square. Let me say Happy Christmas, and you can say whatever you want.
Just don't try to tell me the First Amendment and safety in public gatherings is only approved for the few, the well heeled, the botoxed. And don't, no matter what, ever tell me that the life of a liberal's child is worth less than your own son/daughter of a conservative. In that lies madness. For the record, I hung on as long as possible, hoping to change a mind or even a few thoughts while I was there. St. Michael is their "mascot" and I know his head is bowed in weeping for what has been done in his name.
Stay tuned, there's oh so much more.
But, not before I had my say. (Stay tuned, it's a doozey.)
It started when I saw a post referenced on Rense.com to Fellowship of the Minds, and decided to post there. I thought, these could be an interesting group, and I might get a few of the thinking ones thinking that people, no matter what their bank account, or profession, really can get along. Conservatives and Liberals can talk. At least, if they are willing to listen to both sides of an issue, and bright people of many persuasions often listen to both sides. I sensed hope.
The first time I left, I was banned, kicked off for demanding that the laws of the US apply to all persons and entities in the US, and for thinking that when a spendthrift tries to call himself a conservative while running up the national debt to several times that of all predecessors combined, while doubling the size of government, using cronies to put up a mercenary army that we pay 3X what we pay US soldiers, he ought not be called a conservative.
The second and most recent reason for my leaving was that OWS protesters are not allowed to be upset at a miscarriage. Of justice or a baby.
You see, the edge was reached when, in a thread concerning whether or not a miscarriage happened in Seattle, thanks to police brutality, the comments were running to the "she asked for it" mode of condemnation for OWS protestors. Apparently, if you are a protestor with OWS, you are all of the following, in no particular order: mentally ill, unemployed, unemployable, intent upon public defecation, lower life form such as worm, rat, snake, etc., witless, violent, rapist, criminal, unthinking, and you get the general idea.
The "I want list" of OWS protestors has been pretty fuzzy. They have also been accused of being the spawn of Soros or Satan (Choose one please.) Those injured because of police actions deserved arrest or possibly public hanging. Their First Amendment rights have not been violated by orchestrated raids in up to 18 cities at the same time, evidence notwithstanding, nor have they any right to protest because capitalism is working so well, don't you know? Actually, if the 1% are so good at creating good jobs, they have shown a decades long rotten record of their employment enhancing prowess.
According to the new commerce of conversation we are having, OWS is just filthy poor people, and the rich should never pay the same percentage rate as poor folk do in taxes. The rich, in the best world, should not pay more, or preferably they should pay NO taxes, because somewhere in the back of the minds of those condemning OWS, we will all be the Uber Rich, and we all know how much we hate paying high taxes. But, if the Uber Rich paid a more fair share, the bill for the rest of us would not need to be so high. And, after all, our taxes just barely cover the debt service, so if we want to build our way out of this $15 Trillion hole, we need to fill it fast with money, and the top 1% are the only folk with the gold.
When police violence started up in earnest, against all and sundry, just like police violence has happened in Tunisia, Libya, Syria, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain -- where the violence is condemned as a very, very BAAAAAAD situation. Violence against people seeking fairness in government is condemned by Americans, but suddenly when it's OWS getting maced, well, that's just fine and dandy. I developed instant mental whiplash. So what if that pesky First Amendment has been suspended for the majority so long as the corporations in charge of government get to run their business, their fellow business's business, and the government. Let the bankers run everything. It's worked just fine (not) for the past century. A little tear gas just builds character. We don't need to be concerned, nope. Not at all.
Violence is expected when you gather to protest anything. Yikes! I was now in real enemy territory. I posted relatively few comments, sometimes being snarky to test the waters, and then it got too bad for even little old me to keep up the charade. After all, this was unpaid labor done as my own little experiment. I knew the outcome, I just wanted to be on the inside of the experience.
The story is this. A young woman was pregnant, got pepper sprayed, and miscarried. The police are investigating. She attended what was a peaceful protest and got tear gassed, or pepper sprayed, or even hit by a police officer. She was injured because she was there. Not someplace else, but there, and she brought children with her, inside here abdomen. She was condemned for complaining. She was dismissed for endangerment of her children.
She went to a park that should have looked like the Seurat painting, and got sprayed with noxious chemicals. Think of this pic from the Nov. 24, Daily Mail:
Seurat got surreal in Seattle. It was the vehemence of the responses, and the fact that police violence is okay if you're just an OWS protester. And then, there was this one response that really tor it for me, and the one following it:
"If she was so concerned about her (alleged) pregnancy ... especially with Twins, why did she place herself in a situation that might jeopardize her pregnancy?
One twin is "allegedly" aborted in September from (alleged) police brutality, and she goes at it again, and aborts the remaining fetus in a miscarriage.
If not true, Fox is a menace to society ... and herself." and,
"Exactly XXXXXX, why expose yourself to pepper spray or other dangers? Someone mentioned something else these OWS protestors are obviously mostly liberal. So they probably are pro-abortion. So this isn't actually a baby yet, it's just a fetus, right? But now she's the victim and so is her baby."
Right. Check. Call the Fire Department, 'cuz my very breath was made of fire. I was A. N. G. R. Y. I stopped, had a glass of water, and I'll fill you in on what I did next. After that, I quit the blog. And this is why I had to stop pretending I could any longer speak civilly with these folk.
According to the Fellowship of the Minds, if you go to a demonstration, you are asking for truncheons, night stick hits, pepper spray, tasers, and rubber bullets to be used on your person or your friends. And yes, I will post the reply that was insistent that, despite all the violent activity, your First Amendment Rights are sacred in the eyes of the police, and at FOTM.
Now, I don't know what the Seattle investigation will show. Was there a miscarriage or not? I don't know. I do know that attending a public meeting in a public square is not an open invitation to be brutalized and battered by anyone, in uniform or out. And I know that no matter what, you don't criticize a young woman who is looking ahead to burying her miscarried child. You don't tell her that the consequences forced upon her are okay, because it might have been okay for her to have an abortion, so miscarriage is just sort of an uncontrolled abortion, right? (Try not to gag. It's difficult.) You also don't tell a woman mourning her lost child that it was her fault for showing up to the park in the first place.
I'm also pretty sure from religion classes, that being liberal does not mean that the mother of a miscarried child is saying, well it could have been an abortion...ho hum...tomorrow is another day.
As in, La-di-frickin'-da. I think not.
I'll supply more information on my time as an underground blogger. The funny thing is, I am actually a real financial conservative. Honest. I hold many conservative ideas, including views on education (the old classical learning model), small government that is effective regarding safety, financial oversight, commerce, tariffs, and governing with, not over, the states. I also believe in human rights, the Bill of Rights, and the right to be in charge of one's self. I believe people have the right to opportunity, based upon merit, not free passes based on connections and that sort of stuff. I like secure borders. I literally pine for truth, in all things. If there is a screw up, we should admit it and fix it.
I believe that preemptive anything, founded on a lie, is really bad. I don't believe that because one has the initial "R" after one's name, is not the same as an imprimatur, sealed by God, that you are of course a good Christian, and I don't believe that any religious group has the ownership of the public square. Let me say Happy Christmas, and you can say whatever you want.
Just don't try to tell me the First Amendment and safety in public gatherings is only approved for the few, the well heeled, the botoxed. And don't, no matter what, ever tell me that the life of a liberal's child is worth less than your own son/daughter of a conservative. In that lies madness. For the record, I hung on as long as possible, hoping to change a mind or even a few thoughts while I was there. St. Michael is their "mascot" and I know his head is bowed in weeping for what has been done in his name.
Stay tuned, there's oh so much more.
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