Most Expensive Campaign in World History

The most expensive campaign in the history of the Planet Earth ended this month.  The amount of money spent in the campaign, or perhaps “invested in the future” – depending on your intentions – was the greatest in the history of the world.  

So what really happened?  

Well, the nation’s real problems were not even discussed!  What are those problems?  Here’s a list to begin with:

1. Education for the nation’s people.  This is too important to be left to individual communities, counties or even states.  The rest of the developed world has solved this problem and they are educating their children very well and America is not.  PLUS, education really never ends, but is a constant challenge for all people, all their life.   Life changes and the need for education changes.  Education was never discussed.
2. Health care for America – we are the only developed nation in the world that does not provide for the health of its work force, AND at the same  time we spend three times as much money on health-care as other nations do.  The health care available to many Americans ranks with that of Mexico and Turkey.  Health care was never discussed
3. Infrastructure.  Bridges are crumbling, highways are deteriorating. Light rail and high-speed rail are a main part of all developed nations but not America.  Infrastructure was never discussed.
4. Reforming the nation’s election process which was wrecked by the Supreme Court in its Citizens United decision.  Citizens United was never discussed.
5. Climate change.  Ask the people in New York and New Jersey.  Or New  Orleans.   Climate Change was never discussed.
6. Dependence on foreign oil.  Foreign Oil was never discussed
7. Gun control.  America, according to the Bob Herbert of the NY Times http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/opinion/18herbert.html?_r=0  has lost 1,000,000 people to gun violence since Dr. King was shot down in 1968.  That is a little less than 23,000 people a year – every year – or  about 2,000 a month, some 60 a day, or about  3 Americans who are shot down every hour by American terrorists.  And not a SINGLE WORD was said about this in the recent campaign for president. We went to war when 3,000 people were killed in the Twin Towers attack, but that’s only about 40 days worth of our normal and constant carnage.  America's Killing Fields was never discussed.

Finally, we have to realize that all the money spent in this campaign really came from the same place.  Whether it was individual contributions from many people or from great corporations, all that money REALLY came from the individual people of america.  Does this amount to another tax?  And when the great corporations spend lavishly on these issues from money they have made from selling products and services to American consumers – does that amount to a tax without representation?  

Speaking of Taxes . . ..

The most expensive campaign in the history of the Planet Earth ended this month.  The amount of money spent in the campaign, or perhaps “invested in the future” – depending on your intentions – was the greatest in the history of the world.  

So what really happened?  

Well, the nation’s real problems were not even discussed!  What are those problems?  Here’s a list to begin with:

1. Education for the nation’s people.  This is far too important to be left to individual communities, counties or even states.  The rest of the world had solved this problem and they are educating their children very well and America is not.  Also, there is a continuing need for education for ALL people, not just the children.  This was never discussed.
2. Health care for America – we are the only developed nation in the world that does not provide for the health of its work force, AND at the same  time we spend three times as much money on health-care as other nations do.  The health care available to many Americans ranks with that of Mexico and Turkey.  This was never discussed
3. Infrastructure.  Bridges are crumbling, highways are deteriorating. Light rail and high-speed rail are a main part of all developed nations but not America.  This was never discussed.
4. Reforming the nation’s election process which was wrecked by the Supreme Court in its Citizens United decision.  This was never discussed.
5. Climate change.  Ask the people in New York and New Jersey.  Or New Orleans.   This was never discussed.
6. Dependence on foreign oil.  This was never discussed
7. Gun control.  America, according to Bob Herbert of the NY Times http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/opinion/18herbert.html?_r=0  has lost 1,000,000 people to gun violence since Dr. King was shot down in 1968.  That is a little less than 23,000 people a year – every year – or  about 2,000 a month, some 60 a day, or about  3 Americans who are shot down every hour by American terrorists.  And not a SINGLE WORD was said about this in the recent campaign for president. We went to war when 3,000 people were killed in the Twin Towers attack, but that’s only about 40 days worth of our normal and constant carnage.  This was never discussed.

Finally, we have to realize that all the money spent in this campaign really came from the same place.  Whether it was individual contributions from many people or from great corporations, all that money REALLY came from the individual people of america.  Does this amount to another tax?  And when the great corporations spend lavishly on issues designed to influence government action, and this money comes from the profit they made from selling products and services to American consumers that were totally unrelated to these issues, does that amount to a tax without representation?  

Open Letter to Republicans.

We need to get to work after this election because our country is badly fractured.  The republicans had their say and they lost.    They have destroyed their own political party, now have to court the Tea Party and Christian extremists.  We don’t want America to go the way of the Republican Party. 

Bengazie?  Bad? Yes.  We need to study it and learn from it.  But it was a walk in the park on a nice day with free lemonade compared with the invasion of Iraq, which was one of the greatest blunders of American history.  

Election Night's Silver Lining

Nate Silver is a writer first of all, but second, his niche is that he knows statistics backward and forward.  He rose to prominence with some amazing statistics and their consequent predictions based on the the old national pastime which impressed certain portions of the baseball world  

Nate Silver now called this election weeks ahead of the actual voting.  His particular brand of selection of data to value has been proven to be astonishing.  The last two elections have shown him to have amazing powers to predict outcomes.  

Next election should find him in a vastly different position than he was in this one.

We had been tied to Nate Silver’s 538 Blog for a couple of weeks and the election went pretty well as we all expected it.  He performed almost down to the last detail.  As Bill Clinton said about something else, “It’s mathematics!”  Why the number 538? that is the total number of electors who will vote in the electoral college. 

Two big surprises:  One, why the Romney camp was so stunned by the outcome and the other was that he conceded that night.  Apparently though, Romney had arrived in his headquarters in Boston with his acceptance speech already memorized.  

Next election the republicans will probably have someone keep an eye on Silver's blog.  Remember, it's 538.  

Romney=Perle

A vote for Romney is a vote for Richard Perle. 

Perle is a member of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy,  the Center for Security Policy,  the American Enterprise Institute,  the Project for the New American Century,  and the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs.

He was a Member of the Defense Policy Board, U. S. Department of Defense from 1987-2004, and was its Chairman from 2001-2003. With fellow neoconservative Paul Wolfowitz,  he played a supporting role in the ballistic missile defense project in the 1980s known as “Star Wars

His book “An End to Evil:  How to Win the War on Terror”  which he coauthored with fellow neoconservative David Frum in 2004 criticizes American civil service, and law. The book suggests that we as Americans must “overhaul the institutions of our government to ready them for a new kind of war against a new kind of enemy” .  According to Perle and Frum this includes the FBI, CIA, the  armed forces, and the State Department. The book was also used as a defense of the 2003 invasion of Iraq and outlined important neoconservative ideas, including ways to abandon all Israeli-Palestinian peace processes, to invade Syria, and implement strict US domestic surveillance with biometric identity cards and public vigilance to hinder potential terrorist immigrant or terrorist sympathizer threats.

He has been aided by other prominent neoconservatives, including Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith. 

Perle had long been an advocate of regime change in Iraq. In 1998 Perle led an effort known as the Project for the New American Century with close neoconservative allies Wolfowitz, James Woolsey, Eliott Abrams, and John Bolton. 

Perle has been a frequent critic of the United Nations, and would like to see it abandoned by America.  

Shortly after the invasion of Iraq, Perle stated that international law stood in the way of doing the right thing.

Perle has been out of the picture for the past 4 years but he has experience that would be sought out by other players on Romney’s yet-to-be-announced administration, particularily Wolfowitz, Frum, Feith, Woolsey, Abrams, and the new probably Secretary of State, John Bolton.   These men mean business, and they mean to see that America will try to rule the entire planet.  They think the 21th Century is the New American Century.  Only thing is they can’t do a thing, because none of them could be elected to any position.  What they NEED is a guy who can be elected to the presidency.  THEN they can “advise” him on what he “should” or “ought not” to do.

Flyswatter Award to Schieffer

I hearby present My Flyswatter Award for the  debate last night – with a bit of a sting to it – to Bob Schieffer for asking a hypothetical question about what the two debaters would do if, as president, they found that Israel aircraft were already airborne enroute to a strike on Iran. I give Romney a serious kudo for leaping on that even quicker than I could deliver the swat.

I also award Schieffer an additional swat or two for failing to bring up the issue of drones, or Gitmo, or Global Warming among many other  significantly important discussion points concerning International Relations.

Schieffer also gets an additional swat – loudly! – on the moderator's table for letting Romney ramble on as if he, Schieffer, was rattled and didn't know what to do.  He did OK a couple of times later, and that is why that swat will be aimed for the table.

The debate seemed to me to go almost completely in Obama's favor.  Obama spoke carefully, choosing his thoughts.  Romney spoke in a stacato, hesitating, cascade of sounds, making noises even when he didn't have a word ready, like he didn't want anyone to try to interrupt him.  I noticed when Romney was talking Obama fixed him with a fond gaze much the same as my dog looks at a possible intruder.  I wondered where I had seen that before, then I remembered the photo of Obama when he was listening to the attack on Osama bin Laden.  Romney wound up the last two minutes of the debate, just before the closing points, with a pouring out of points about the economy and other non-debate topics.  He should have gotten a series of swats right on top of his head for that!

Bound for Glory? Or Just in a Bind?

Mitt Romney spoke lovingly of women the other night.  He talked of how he had insisted on helping to hire women when he was governor of Massachusetts .  He said he got women to present information on their skills, lots of women, “Binders full”  of them.  It happened during a presidential debate on TV and his comment was so anachronistic that it caught EVERYbody off guard.  Binders?  Binders full?  Of women? There were a lot of blank looks on a lot of faces, all except Romney’s.  His lips were smiling and flashes of happiness glinted from deep under his brows. He knew he had scored a big one.  But he was the only one there who understood.  

Romney=Tenet

During his tenure as CIA director, Tenet and the intelligence community were criticized for their failure to prevent or even anticipate the September 11 terrorist attacks. In 2002, Tenet lent his personal authority to intelligence reports verifying weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, a key factor in the decision to go to war. Subsequent searches yielded no such stockpiles. In 2004, George Tenet resigned his post as CIA director citing personal reasons

Tenet testified before a public hearing of the Sept. 11 Commission investigating 9/11, that he did not meet with Bush in August 2001, the month before the September 11 attacks. The same evening after the hearings, a CIA spokesman corrected Tenet’s testimony, stating that Tenet did indeed meet with Bush twice in August. Tenet in his memoir writes of his memorable visit to Bush at Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, August 2001.

On December 12, 2002, he assured Bush that the evidence that Iraq had WMDs amounted to a “Slam Dunk!”  After several months of refusing to confirm this statement, Tenet stated that it was taken out of context. He indicated that it was made pursuant to a discussion about how to convince the American people to support invading Iraq

If Romney is elected, will George Tenet come back again?  Tenet's seven-year term as Director of Central Intelligence was the second-longest in U.S. history and  President Bush awarded Tenet the Presidential Medal of Freedom.  He has credentials, and extensive "experience" with the middle-east and might well be available as a "tie-breaker" for one of the sides involved in an administration discussion.  Tenet knows the people who will be Romney's staff and assistants very well.  They know him.  Even if Tenet does not play a headline role in a Romney administration, he will be there, behind the scenes perhaps, but a source of "information" and acquaintances.

  

Romney=Yoo

 Yoo's view of presidential power played an important role in developing a legal justification for the Bush administration's policy in the war on terrorism.  He insisted that enemy combatants captured in Afghanistan, and held in Guantanamo, were not “prisoners of war” as described by the Geneva Conventions.   

Yoo developed the concept that the president of the United States had the authority to use “waterboarding” and other procedures which he called “enhanced” interrogation techniques, and that they were not legally torture, even though they were so regarded by other developed nations and the Geneva Conventions.   also He insisted that the president was immune from being considered a war criminal and was not bound by the War Crimes Act.  He also claimed legal authority for the president to conduct  wire taps without needing a warrant to do so.

Yoo claimed that the president's war-making authority was so broad that he had the constitutional power to order a village to be destroyed even though that country was not at war with the United States.  

Yoo has argued that the original understanding of the Constitution gives the President the authority to use armed force abroad without congressional authorization, subject to Congress's power of the purse; that treaties do not generally have domestic legal force without implementing legislation; and that courts cannot intervene in foreign policy disputes between the President and Congress. 

Yoo has argued that the separation of powers provides each branch of government with the authority to interpret the Constitution for itself. In international law, Yoo has written that the rules governing the use of force must be understood to allow nations to engage in armed intervention to end humanitarian disasters, rebuild failed states, and stop terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

John Yoo is an attorney, a professor of law (Berkeley) and author (5 books).   Yoo is also a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

He has not been a player in Washington in recent years but his shadow has proven to have a long reach through the Republican  Party.  He has impressive credentials and if Romney becomes president, Yoo may well have an important role to play again in American actions.  He fit in very well with Dick Chenney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, John Bolton and a number of other behind-the-scene Puppeteers of the George Bush Presidency.  He “needs” for Romney to become president.

Romney=Feith

From 2001 to 2005, Feith was under secretary of defense for policy and the No. 3 man at the Pentagon, intimately involved both pre-war strategy and post-war planning. His boss, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, called Feith one of the most brilliant individuals in government but he has also been a lightning rod for criticism and a magnet for blame. 

Military lawyers and top brass fought to retain Geneva protections, which formed the basic framework for the Army field manual and underlay all combat planning. The State Department also was loathe to abandon such a major treaty. Feith outmaneuvered his opponents, sometimes by keeping them out of the loop, sometimes by deceptively claiming to share their respect for Geneva.

He argues that advising the President not to protect prisoners with the Geneva Conventions could not be linked to subsequent torture of those prisoners. He has also participated in efforts to advise the Israeli government that Palestinian prisoners should not be covered by the Geneva Conventions, but he insists that he was only "consulted" in such projects and did not officially "coauthor" relevant documents.

In March 2009, a Spanish court named him and other Bush-era officials in criminal complaints concerning torture at Guantanamo of prisoners who were citizens of Spain or had other connections to Spain. Feith claimed to be shocked that anything he had ever done might be considered remotely relevant to torture.

Under George Bush, Feith's primary responsibility was to formulate Pentagon policy and assist in its relations with other federal agencies and foreign nations. Also, he was responsible for overseeing the work of the Office of Special Plans, the group set up by Donald Rumsfeld  to send intelligence data to Vice President Dick Cheney, bypassing  CIA analysis.

Feith's office was also responsible for the oversight of military prisons, including Abu Ghraib.  Feith himself masterminded the policy of ignoring the Geneva Conventions against torture.  After his 2005 resignation, the Pentagon's Inspector General investigated Feith's office for supplying pre-war intelligence assessments -- at odds with findings of the intelligence community -- outlining strong ties between Iraq and al-Qaeda.

Feith has been largely absent from the headlines lately, but he "understands how to get the job done".  If Romney is elected, he will be back.  In spades.

Romney=Wolfowitz

A vote for Romney is a vote for Wolfowitz.  

Paul Wolfowitz,  who was known by his constant assertion that the proper role for America included the following:

The new American century.

radical neo-conservatism

United Nations not necessary

American MIlitary Domination

US must take pre-emptive military action

Military Action without the support of allies

Aggressive foreign policy 

American Enterprise Institute

Wolfowitz Doctrine is an unofficial name given to the initial version of the Defense Planning Guidance for the 1994–99 fiscal years (dated February 18, 1992) authored by Paul Wolfowitz and his deputy Scooter Libby .  Not intended for public release, it was leaked to the New York Times on March 7, 1992, and sparked a public controversy about U.S. foreign and defense policy. The document was widely criticized as imperialist as the document outlined a policy of unilateralism and pre-emptive military action to suppress potential threats from other nations and prevent any other nation from rising to superpower status.

"While the U.S. cannot become the world's policeman, by assuming responsibility for righting every wrong, we will retain the preeminent responsibility for addressing selectively those wrongs which threaten not only our interests, but those of our allies or friends, or which could seriously unsettle international relations."

"In the Middle East and Southwest Asia, advocated an objective is to become and remain the predominant outside power in the region and preserve U.S. and Western access to the region's oil."

Wolfowitz dismissed the work by Hans Blix of the UN who searched Iraq for WMD and said there were none there.  Blix was told to get out of Iraq before the American pre-emptive invasion began.

Wolfowitz was a major architect of President Bush's Iraq policy and ... its most hawkish advocate.

After serving two years, he resigned as president of the World Bank Group ending what a Reuters report called "a protracted battle over his stewardship, prompted by his involvement in a high-paying promotion for his companion."

Wolfowitz is a power player in the Republican Party.  If Romney is elected, he will be a force that America's international friends will have to reckon with, and he will push our antagonists to confrontation after confrontation.  Just like he did under George Bush.

Romney=Bolton

A vote for Romney is a vote for Bolton.  John Bolton.    Our once-upon-a-time ambassador to the UN who wanted to 1)  abolish the organization, or 2) at least withdraw America from it and 3) kick the organization out of the United States.  Failing that, he 4) suggested that we remove the top ten stories of the building.  

 Currently he is a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a contributer to Fox News and the National Rifle Association.  He is a leader in the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, and a member of the Project for the New American Century.  

Bolton equates diplomacy with weakness and indecisiveness.  He upset a Biological Weapons Conference in Geneva in 2001, and stated that such a program would let American sites be opened to international inspection.  

Bolton was a big player in the last Bush administration, often in open confrontation with Colin Powell and other military leaders on matters pertaining to military action.  Romney’s aides would surely see him as an “experienced” member of their team and already capable of presenting America to the international community.

Easy Rape?

Roger Rivard, a republican Wisconsin state lawmaker made headlines when he said that “Some women, they rape so easy.”  

OK, how did he find out?  Was his mother raped?  Was a sister raped?  I don’t mean to seem crude but he speaks with the voice of authority.  How does he know so much about raping women?  Does this statement come from raping a lot of women himself?  Come on Roger, we know who you are now, how did you get that way?  And don’t tell us your father said that.  Your father did not tell that stupidity to the nation, or to the press.  You did.

Organic Food is No Better?

Researchers at Stanford University wrote in the Annals of Internal Medicine, on September 4, 2012, that organic food is not better for human consumption, only more expensive.

Scientists tend to study events in isolation and draw far-reaching conclusions.  Such observations usually have narrow applications that really are more applicable to the internal analytical structure of their originating proposition than to the actual performance of that conclusion in an operating structure with many other factors present.

Let's take a closer look:  Organic is different from non-organic in at least four basic ways.

Pesticides.  There are no pesticides designed to kill “bugs” or “insects”.  Pesticides are poisons with one of three major areas of attack:  1)  The central nervous system, including the brain and spinal chord.  2) the lung and breathing capabilities.  3)  The reproductive system.  They apply to bugs, insects, dogs, cats, children, people.  Everyone knows that an apple a day will keep the doctor away – but apples transmit the highest amount of pesticides to human consumers of any produce. Look up the "Dirty Dozen" on the web. Other members of that list include strawberries, potatoes, spinach, and blueberries.  Be informed. There ARE things you can do to protect your body and that of your family and children.  And you can eat those items if they are organic.

Fertilizers.  According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Pesticide Programs, twelve of the most widely-sold fertilizers used in the U.S. have ingredients know and proven to cause cancer.  Also many fertilizers are made from waste water treatment facilities and and include toxic heavy metals.  Many of these attributes are transferred through to the internal structure of the plant and cannot be "washed off".

Antibiotics.  Antibiotics used in the treatment of medical patients have begun to lose their effectiveness.  New “Superbugs” are also beginning to make their presence known.  These “superbugs” are really not “new” but mainly they are the old “bugs” that have mutated and “learned” how to resist those antibiotics.  The more antibiotics we use as a nation, the more germs will evolve to resist those antibiotics and develop new capabilities.  Now, notice that 80% of ALL the antibodies used in the United States are used on farms to help the animals grow faster, and also to live in the dirty and overcrowded facilities now characteristic of American non-organic farms.  This is especially true for the newer “factory farms”.

Preservatives.  Not added for the benefit of any consumer, but to increase the profit of the producer and marketer.  Many have been associated with brain problems (benzoate, for example),   high cholesterol levels (such as butylates), birth defects (red dye 40), many with skin problems (artificial sweeteners used in soft drinks), and a number of others associated with cancer.  

Even though these various toxin amounts are small they will have some effect on all systems they encounter.  They may also be eliminated more slowly than necessary, and while their effect on a person in their 30s, 40s or 50s may be undetectable for twenty or more years, they may be more noticeable in older people.  In young children these substances may prevent the development of only some of the child’s faculties thus leading to other developmental problems  caused not directly by the toxin but by the delayed development of that faculty, and that will continue to cascade.  And of course, damage to the reproductive system of a child who is two to twelve years old, will not be observable for another ten to twenty (or more) years.  And then any connection between a problem in a child, and its cause in its parent, ten or twenty years later, will be lost in time.

Bill Clinton's Speech, September, 2012.

Just saw and heard the most amazing speech I have ever seen.  It was a Toastmasters Special Edition.  The Master of Ceremony, the Table Topics administrator, the Toastmaster, the Evaluator, and so on were all the same person:   Bill Clinton. 

His use of voice, gestures, inflection and changes of mood were all elements of presentation taught separately in Toastmasters.  After studying each method, the aspirant will then develop and present a speech designed to display his mastery of that technique.  The presentation will be closely observed by all members and then critiqued.  After that, the presenter will take a break of a month or two before begin the preparation of another speech designed to help him or her master a different element of presentation.  

Last night Bill Clinton presented the entire book – all THREE books prepared for Toastmasters – in one forty-five minute speech!  And he left thousands of  people standing, screaming, crying in both outrage and joy, and applauding and dancing.  Other people, elsewhere, are now busy preparing how to rebut this intense presentation.

Okay.  So all this will play out in the election which will follow month after next.  But this speech was a big deal.  We will look at it tomorrow and maybe some of the froth will have gone, some of the bubbles will diminish, some of the air will have adjusted, but the facts and figures and – oh yes, I can’t resist – the "Arithmetic” will still be there.  

Throughout Washington, D.C. great statutes of heroic figures from the past stand, strive, ride and otherwise emerge from granite.  This speech tonight was Clinton’s statute.  It will be talked about, remembered, embellished and IF he ever does get a granite statute in that city, it will be largely due to this speech that he gave tonight in Charlotte.

Inconceivable!

Todd Akin’s comment about “legitimate rape”, and about how women would not get pregnant if they were “really” raped, means that if a woman does get raped and becomes pregnant then it is HER fault.  This is not only stupid and ignorant but more than that – it is very troublesome.  It connects with too many other issues such as the overpopulation of the earth, man-made climate-change, the pollution of the seas and air and many other  "political issues" and how “Truth” has to be adjusted so that it fits into the republican policies.  

This is what Hitler did.  Then the world called that “The Big Lie”.   Back then the “Truth” had to be “adjusted” to meet the policies of the Nazi Party.  Now we see republicans molding, shaving, bending and shaping truth so it will fit fit into the policies of the Republican Party.

Paterno's Statute. What to do with it?

There should be a special place in the College Football Hall of Fame.

A place that would feature Joe Paterno in lead position.

Jo-Pa is the guy who recently held the title "Winningest Coach in College Football"

But that was before a review board held their collective noses and scratched away his last 189 wins because he had covered up pedophilia by one of his assistant coaches for 13 years.  Paterno didn't want word to get out.  Paterno didn't want to let anything happen that might tarnish his reputation.  So.  Paterno knew about the child sodomization that was being conducted by one of his assistant coaches, and when that assistant coach quit, Paterno helped him continue access to the Penn State locker room area and helped him create an organization to "help" young boys in athletic "skills".

Now Penn State has taken Paterno's statute down from a pedestal outside Beaver Stadium and removed it to a "secure location".   They have it "covered up", which seems fitting somehow, but they really don't know what to do with it.

My suggestion is to send it to the College Football Hall of Fame, mount it on another "pedestal", more appropriate to its new significance, and let Joe Paterno stand there forever as one of the very worst people ever to walk the face of the earth.  To Joe Paterno, fame was very important.  He has earned his fame through the hidden tears of young boys.  Tears that he covered up.  Let his statute bask in the fame it deserves.

Social Security

Social Security was really not designed for individuals but for America itself.  It is intended for ALL the people in our country.  Just as police and fire departments protect their city, Social Security provides another kind of protection for a greater community.  

Many of the recipients of Social security helped build the community they live in.  Now, as they grow older, the purchases they continue to make become transferred into wages that are paid to workers at grocery stores, drug stores and gasoline stations, and also generate orders for more merchandise from suppliers.  In this way the recipients of the benefit payments continue to support their community even as they provide for their own personal needs. 

It is sometimes said that social Security provides a safety net for people who did not adequately prepare for retirement.  That’s true.  It also provides a safety net for people who did provide for retirement but because of reasons now beyond their control find those pensions became insufficient.  Other people planned as well as they could for retirement but simply outlived their plan – they, or their spouse lived “too long”.  Social Security does not ask you how long you want to live.  

Social Security was never intended to constitute our only source of retirement funding. We do need to prepare for our own retirement and that is our own responsibility.  Some of us recall when President Bush said that Individual  Retirement Accounts “will be yours – and the government cannot take it a way from you!”  But it has always been the government that has come to the aid of our citizens after the corporations and markets have failed and turned against them.  Our government has not abandoned its citizens as many corporations have done, even in the very recent past.  It is not going to merge with other governments and it does not collapse when the markets fail. 

Catholic Church and Jon Stewart - An Open Letter

Jon Stewart brought to the attention of some of the people in his audience the archaic relationship the Catholic Church maintains toward sex, women, children and life itself.  It is my contention that the Catholic Church should refrain from ANY comments about these matters since its priests and nuns are preemptively unqualified for any comments concerning these matters.  I wouldn't even mention the repeated and carefully shielded, and selectively transmitted crimes of pedophilia which were promulgated by the Catholic Church, not to blame in any way those wayward priests themselves who clearly were denied opportunity for treatment, therapy and redemption, but to blame the Catholic Church itself for claiming those sick priests as some of their most precious beings by sheltering them, holding them closely to the church bosom,  and introducing them to places yet unaware of your most intimate and most valuable sacraments, rites, "services" and "communion"!   Ratzinger himself, now your Pope, was in charge of this denial, shielding and re-infection.  

What you say in church, during services, is one thing; but that which you value most highly, and hold to be most holy, are those things which become apparent only through revelation.  It becomes clear that you hold sex, women, the creation of human life, and the proper "love" of children to be simply unimportant, non-substantial, insignificant, inconvenient, even evil,  temptations apparently created by some devil simply to test your priests.

If it were otherwise, you would not have to utter a word.  Your actions would reveal glory, instead of scum.  Think about it.  Pay attention to people like Jon Stewart, and thousands of others, even millions of others who have tried again and again and again to tell you the same thing.  Jon Stewart finally got through.

Stand Your Ground, or Make My Day?

“Hey Dad,”  Trayvon called out,  “I’m going to run down the the store for some skittles.”  

“O.K.,  got enough money?”

“Yeah, I got more than enough, thanks – be right back!”
“Oh –  Trayvon!”

“Yes  dad?”

“Don’t forget your gun.”

“I don’t have any bullets, Dad.”  The door opens.  “I’ll be O.K.”

“Here – take mine.”  The father said, “You don’t know who you might run into.”
“I’ll be all right, I’ll hurry,”

“NO!”  The father’s voice resonated, “Don’t go out there, it’s pitch dark.  There might be somebody out there looking for trouble.”

“Well, sigh, O.K.”

“And remember, if anybody starts stalking you, or coming after you, in Florida now all you need, to shoot somebody, is to feel like you’re in danger.”

“O.K. Dad, I’ll be right back, don’t worry.” 

Obviously, Trayvon didn’t take a gun on his fatal trip.  But if he had, he probably would have had a much more compelling reason to use it than his killer did.  Apparently he discovered he was being followed on his way home.  According to his girl friend, who was talking with him on his mobile phone right before he was shot, Trayvon knew somebody was following him, he knew he was being stalked.  He knew he was in trouble.  He certainly had reason to feel like he was in danger.  

If I had been Trayvon, and if I had had a gun, and I knew a five-foot ten-inch 250 pound man was coming after me in the dark, I might have pulled that gun and informed the stranger that I was armed and asked him to leave me alone.  If he didn’t, and still came toward me, then I might have fired a warning shot into the earth before I decided to Stand My Ground.  But Travon didn't have a gun.  And in Florida now, if you don't have a gun in your pocket, you don't have any ground to stand on. 

ALEC and the Koch Brothers, Fascist Powers

The suddenly spotlighted “Stand Your Ground” laws that are sprouting up all over America, along with efforts to eliminate state unions, movement toward private prisons such as CCA, attacks on Planned Parenthood and even questions about contraception are all indications of fascism at work in the United States.  The question remained, who is behind all this?  Now finally comes a finger pointing.  Whose finger?  Paul Krugman.  He doesn’t mention the Koch brothers, but they are the forces behind their cover, which Krugman is beginning to remove.  Krugman's finger points to the American Legislative Exchange Council or ALEC, which now numbers at least 2,400 state legislators as members across the United States.  ALEC has been associated with attempts to privatize functions normally performed by government.  ALEC wants to turn those operations into profit-making work.  Theoretically, taxes will go down but  people will pay more for services previously provided by government employees and some company will make a profit from that.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/26/opinion/krugman-lobbyists-guns-and-money.html?_r=2&hp

http://savannahnow.com/bluffton-opinion/2012-01-11/norquist-alec-and-koch-brothers#.T3CguHgh95g

http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/a-primer-on-alec-its-influence-and-its-presence-in-north-carolina/Content?oid=2666829

http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/03/11356/arizona’s-alec-leader-wants-your-boss-make-decisions-about-your-contraception-cov

Trayvon, Zimmerman and the Coming Riots

This much is certain:   The investigation into the shooting of Martin by Zimmerman was over and had been closed. 

Chris Serino, the chief homicide investigator in the Sanford police department had recommended that Zimmerman be arrested the night of the shooting, but Incredibly, the senior State Attorney for the district, Norman Wolfinger came there there that night and said to drop the matter. 

Zimmerman’s father, Robert Zimmerman, is a retired judge or magistrate from the state of Virginia. 

No investigation of the killing was ever conducted thus there is no evidence of injuries to either party except, of course, that Martin was killed and a funeral office employee said he saw no sign of injury to Martin’s hands or face indicating a fight.   Also Zimmerman’s gun was never confiscated or officially inspected.

Although Zimmerman “received  a scalp wound requiring stitches”, no one ever made those stitches, and a video of him in the police department right after the shooting showed no blood, and scalp wounds are famously bloody.  

Zimmerman was well known by the Sanford police department after having placed at least 46 calls on the 911 system in 14 months, or about one every 10 days. 

This event was plunged into a “trial by media” because there was never to be an investigation conducted into the event and there would never be any other kind of trial.

George Zimmerman is a dead man walking.  He can never be A) released from “hiding” and walk free ever again, B) put in any jail in Florida or C)  be incarcerated in any prison in America.  

Finally, this is not the end of this issue.  It is only the beginning of the realization of a great national tragedy.  All that is missing between this awareness of the problem long simmering and a race-riot explosion is the occurrence of some kind of a middle event.  Let’s hope there will be some legal resolution beginning to take place SOON.   This country is too well armed to let something like this get totally out of control. Unfortunately, the elected officials involved here seem to be willing to sit back and wait.

Clear – Rush, Beck, Hannity, Savage, Romney, Bain

Clear Channel owns more radio stations (850) than anyone else in the United States.  They also own Premiere Radio Networks, the company that syndicates the radio shows of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Glenn Beck, among others.  Needless to say, Clear Channel basically owns conservative talk radio in the United States.  So who owns Clear Channel?  Well, it turns out that Bain Capital is one of the primary owners of Clear Channel. 

http://www.infowars.com/bain-capital-owns-clear-channel-rush-limbaugh-sean-hannity-glenn-beck-michael-savage-etc/


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clear_Channel_Communications

Senator Burr and Insider Trading Vote

Called Senator Burr.  Asked why he voted to allow inside trading by members of congress?  Woman says Burr voted against making insider trading illegal because he feels like it is already illegal and there is no need to vote on it.  I told her I was stunned when I saw that last night.  I had heard that two senators had voted against it and I wondered who on earth those two idiots were, then I saw Burr was one of the two idiots.  SO I have a feeling 1) that he is playing games with me. 2) One of the two of us is dumb.  3) If he really meant well, he has a HELL of a communication  problem.  Then I told her he needs to clear this up immediately.