Friday, November 11, 2011

Perry is Now Only a Memory


“Well I wanna tell you somethin and when I am through you will never forget it!  Let me begin by telling you who I am!  My name is JAMES  - RICK -  . . . .  uh . . . lesseeee . . . ah . . . ah . . .“ 

Someone else interjects “Perry?”  
“YEAH!,  heh - heh - PERRY!” He grins, “Now lemme tell yu what I was goina tell you, and by the way – and don’t forget this – my name IS . . . uh . . . ah . . . heh-heh? . . .ah?”
Someone else “PERRY?”
“Yeah, PERRY! - sorry, sorry ‘bout that.”  
So he speaks, and when he is through, the moderator comments and then says, “And by the way, your name IS Perry, right?”
The speaker replies, “Oh no, no no, Bush? No, no . . . Reagan? no no I don know . . .”  He confers with one of the other speakers and then turns to the moderator and grins, “Yeah.”  
Well, that’s not quite what we saw on TV the other night, but that’s what we will always remember.

Friday, November 04, 2011

Open Tweet to Keith Olbermann

This morning my wife asked me a dumb question while we were eating breakfast and reading the morning paper.  She had just read Paul Krugman’s column and was talking about the “Occupy Wallstreet” and its offspring in other towns, and how the anarchists had now began joining in on the protest movements.   She paused for a moment and asked:  “Who are these ‘anarchists’?”   Then, looking at me, “Really?”
I casually replied “Well they’re ‘anarchists’, you know.  There are photos made of them from time to time, they are always dressed in black, they all seem to be men, look like they are in great physical shape, they have their faces covered  so you can’t see their features and usually have hoodies on.”  I added, “They spray graffiti on property, break windows of shops and set small fires.”  She was still staring at me, so I continued “They usually show up a day or two after a protest has been going on and they become the reason the authorities have to step in and shut down the protest movement.”  I thought for a moment and added “You would think the police could put plainclothes men in among the protestors and have them catch some of the “anarchists” – then we would know for sure.”
She was still staring at me with her eyebrows now raised, so I continued on “Sometimes they do capture one or two of them – the police do – but nothing ever seems to come of that.  They just seem to disappear.”  Then I asked HER a dumb question:  “Yeah, who ARE they?  Really?”  I thought for a moment and then wondered out loud, "Could it possibly be that the 'anarchists' REALLY are policemen dressed in black with their faces covered and with hoodies on?”  But I really couldn't believe that a policeman, or a military guy for that matter would betray his oath to office and do something like that.  Then my mind began running through other possibilities such as Xe (nee Blackwater), or DynCorp,  maybe Triple Canopy, or ArmorGroup . . .”   
I probably looked like my mind was boggled (it really wasn't), so my wife asked.  “But if that were true, who would hire these “anarchists”?  Since my face still looked blank she continued, “Who would want to break up a protest movement, like those at economic summits, and these Occupy movements?  Who would profit from that?”
So I said “I will write my congressman.”  She shook her head.  “I will write our senators.”  Then I shouted “I know, I’ll write Paul Krugman!”  She nodded her head and said “Write Keith Olbermann, he’s following the Occupy people.”  
“Great” I replied, “and he's pushing 'tweeting' – I will tweet Keith Olbermann!"


I might also try to tweet Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell too, maybe somebody will look into this.”   
Then maybe we can ALL find out who these “anarchists” REALLY are.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

The Great Giggle – Oh!

Suave, debonair, possessor of commanding presence, threatener of succession from the union he is.  One who says he was hand-picked by God and told by God Himself to run, and his wife agrees with that.  Evidently, God apparently meant to run far away from seeking any higher office, and Rick misunderstood and he now stands more naked in some ways than either Adam or Eve ever were.
New Hampshire found him grinning,
smirking and dancing (alone with his lectern)
happily squirming, like a
tadpole swimming.  Really just a GiggleOh
Suave and debonair,
everywhere he goes
now people know the truth –
that he’s really just a GiggleOh
This grinning and giggling guy
thinks he should have his finger
on America’s nuclear trigger
should another coyote appear on the road.  Oh no Giggle Oh!
And the worst part is he said the next day that he hadn’t been drinking and he hadn’t had a medical injection for any kind of pain.  He said that was the way he sometimes is.  Hmmmmm.  I guess that depends on what the definition of “is” is.  Or was.  


At any rate he has a LOT of money behind him.  That only goes to show how the American government "works", where the guys who want to run the world, but who could not ever be elected to ANYthing, those people like Rove and Yoo and Cheney and Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz and others, some even worse than those, have to find a good-looking horse to ride in on the main stage.  Then, if there is money behind all that, from some corporate bosses who want to run the world their way, then it is a done deal.  Especially now that the Supreme Court has ruled that dollars are free speech and corporations are people.   

Friday, October 28, 2011

Gotcha? Ha ha. Not ME!

Herman Cain really is a different breed of political cat.  For example, he proudly told reporter David Brody the other day that he was on the lookout for “Gotcha” questions.  He gave an example “When they ask me who is the president of Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan I’m going to say, ‘You know, I don’t know. Do you know?”  And he continued “knowing who is the head of some of these small insignificant states around the world.”  
Wow.  Surely Cain must know Uzbekistan is pretty significant in today’s world.  It plays a major part in helping supply American troops in Afghanistan and also a number of corporations are very active in that country.  Now you can agree or not with the war in Afghanistan, but surely no one thinks we should just abandon them there.  But?  Well, maybe he just didn’t know.  
At any rate, Herman Cain just “gotcha’d” himself. That’s one way to stay ahead of your competition and leave them scratching their heads.  Well, Cain is not the first candidate to Gotcha himself, he is just the first one I have seen who seems proud of it.


This is the guy who is "not a Washington insider"?  Well, that's what he said.  Of course he WAS a lobbyist.   He lobbied for the National Restaurant Association.   He lobbied hard to get legislators to continue letting their patrons smoke in the restaurants and fought hard against lowering the level of alcohol that determines the status of "DUI".  He also knows the Koch brothers pretty well, and apparently receives a good bit of money from them.  He also incurred a trail of two, three, four? sexual episodes, all paid off now with a pledge of silence obtained in exchange for that money.  Apparently there is a lot more than just some of the world's nations that are small and insignificant.  Ask Herman Cain.








Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Republican Candidates for . . . ?

 What are these guys campaigning for?  Are they trying to be elected Speaker of the House?  That’s where the tax bills originate.  Surely they know that don’t they?  That’s in the US Constitution.  Article I, Section 7.1 reads “All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives.”   And, of course I “assume” that both Perry and Cain have asked the permission of Boehner and Cantor and DeMint . . . right?  If either of those two get elected president, and the House of Representatives stays republican and the Senate goes republican too,  will they just do whatever the new president wants them to do?  For the first time in history?  Or do Perry and Cain know – or care – anything about the constitution?  Maybe they are running for Dictator of the United States?
And Cain was talking about an amendment to the constitution.  He said, eloquently I thought, that if the House and Senate and the states of the union passed a constitutional amendment that he liked, he would sign it.  Like maybe if he didn’t sign it, it wouldn’t become a part of the constitution?  Surely he knows that the president doesn’t even get to sign an amendment.  Of course he must?  Doesn’t he?  Ahhhhhh,  but of course!  Dictators would!  
Or maybe, just maybe, the republicans need smoke and mirrors to detract from President Obama’s constant reminders that the House and Senate need to get busy raising taxes on the richest people in the world so America can start hiring teachers to teach our kids, and policemen to protect us and firemen to come to our homes when we call them, and also hire some new workers who can go out and work jobs.  
The republicans have nothing to say about this, don't even want to talk about these things so they talk about Flat Taxes and 999s and so on.  

Friday, October 21, 2011

How to Fix Congress

These are not my ideas (actually they are, but it is not my writing).  However, the persons who sent it to me did so ONLY under the condition that I would pass it on to as many people as I could.  Here goes:


(Warren Buffett, in a recent interview with CNBC, offers one of the best quotes about the debt ceiling:
 
"I could end the deficit in 5 minutes," he told CNBC. "You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election).
 
The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only
3 months & 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded it. That was in 1971...before computers, e-mail, cell phones, etc.
 
Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year or less to become the law of the land...all because of public pressure.
 
Warren Buffet is asking each addressee to forward this email to a minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask each of those to do likewise.
 
In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one idea that really should be passed around.
 
Congressional Reform Act of 2011
1. No Tenure / No Pension.
A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.
 
2. Congress (past, present &future) participates in Social Security.
All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.
 
3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.
 
4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.
 
5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.
 
6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.
 
7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen.
Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.
 
If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only take three days for most people (in the U.S.) to receive the message. Maybe it is time.
 
THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!!!!!
 

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Telephone Calls to Congress about Gun Control.

Today I called Senators Burr and Hagen, Representative McHenry, and Speaker Boehner about gun control in reference to the shooting in California yesterday in which 9 people were shot, 8 of them killed.  All this because a guy was unhappy with his love life, or his wife, or girlfriend or something.   
This was not an isolated incident. Every month 1,000 Americans are killed by gunfire. (*)  They are victims of American Terrorists.  Egyptian terrorists killed 3,000 Americans with airplanes on 9-11-01.  Because of that act we went to war on the other side of world, spent more than a TRILLION dollars, killed tens of thousands of innocent civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Yet that SAME number of  Americans were killed AGAIN before the Christmas Day which followed the attack on 9-11-2001!  
AND 3,000 more Americans have been killed by American Terrorists EVERY three months since then.  That is 120,000 Americans gunned down and killed by American Terrorists since 9-11-2001. That's so far – we're still counting – and still shooting.
Isn’t this a national problem?  What is the solution we are given?  Arm everybody?  Great - then a loud noise in a restaurant, or department store or mall and a number of people pull their guns out and what next?  I hear a noise and pull my gun out, somebody else shoots at something, then I shoot at him, somebody else shoots at me, three or four other people shoot at him and me?  Then everybody starts shooting? Huh?  
I realize that a lot of Republican Party members of Congress have taken pledges to other organizations, which include Grover Norquist and the NRA, and who knows who or what else, and they place those pledges ABOVE their oath of office, and honor those pledges BEFORE they honor their oath of office, but STILL – doesn’t something need to be done?  
All I ask is that we just start a democratic dialog in Congress and begin talking about our problem.  Bring it out from under the rug, and talk about it.  Will you help me?  


http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/jan/10/gun-crime-us-state
n 2010 - the latest year for which detailed statistics are available - there were 12,996 murders in the US. Of those, 8,775 were caused by firearms. (excluding Florida and Illinois).
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/opinion/18herbert.html  Approximately 100,000 shootings occur in the United States every year.  . . more than a million people have died from gun violence — in murders, accidents and suicides — since Dr. King was shot to death in 1968.

Number of murders committed in 1995 in the US:
20,043
Number of murders committed with a firearm:
13,673
Number of murders committed with a handgun:
11,198
(Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reports, 1995)

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Perry and Social Security?

Let me see . . . How can I get this straight? Governor Perry thinks the Social Security thing was a misguided attempt by people who didn't know what they were doing . . . Because 70 years ago they were overly reacting to problems they had? This from the King of the Tea Party?

Friday, August 05, 2011

Standard and Poor's Trick

At first it might seem justifiable that S&P had nailed the Republican Party for letting its Tea Party wing drag it into offering the United State's credit rating on a stone for sacrifice to their principles.  And in that case, Good!  That's what they deserve.  Maybe the Republican Party will cast those demons out!  And it is clear now that the Republicans will be back next time holding the national credit rating hostage again until President Obama kneels before them again.  Also we must remember that some of the GOP presidential hopefuls said the debt rating was a joke.  Bachman said she would not vote to raise it.  And then the Republicans ran it too close to the wire.

But a moment's reflection reveals that this has happened before to other countries.  It was not a real big deal to them at first.  Not at first.  Their interest rates did go up.  Then about three months later their interest rates went up again.  And then about three months after that, they went up again.  So somebody is paying a lot more money than they were just three months ago and even more than they were paying six months before.  A lot of money is rolling around.  Somebody is taking some of that home.

I suspect – but can't prove (wish I could!) – that millions and millions of dollars are now  poised to move to those individuals who made that decision in S&P to downgrade the US credit rating.

Thursday, August 04, 2011

Contempt of Congress

Please don’t call me to testify.  Oh, I can go anywhere and talk – and say whatever I might want to say.  But if I am called to testify, I will be sworn in and instructed to tell the truth.  Then I will have to tell the Congress of the United States of America that I hold them in contempt.  And I do hold the Congress of the United States in contempt because of the following – which is not a complete list:
The lack of jobs for Americans who were laid off by great corporations who fired them and who also out-sourced their jobs to other countries where labor costs were minimal and those corporations could thrust their profits higher than ever before, and achieve great personal enrichment of those few who run these corporations and share that great profit with nobody - except of course, certain members of the Congress of the United States of America.  No wonder the Congress didn't intervene even though it has the power to regulate commerce and has regulated the action of corporations in the past.  Maybe that's why a lot of them got a cut of the action.

The protection of the gun manufacturers so that America has become the “Gun Merchant” of the entire world. We sell guns to foreigners who use them to fight our own troops.   And guns are freely used in America to settle our differences and shoot down people in shopping malls, universities, main streets of our country and in our homes.  We entered  into a ten year long war when foreign terrorists killed less than 3,000 people in the World Trade Tower attack in September, and have spent Trillions of dollars avenging that horrible act.  Of course American terrorists then killed 3,000 more Americans between 9-11-2001 and the following Christmas day - with handguns.  And American terrorists CONTINUE, ten years later, killing 3,000 Americans in EVERY three month period –  or should I say  “season”?  The American Congress continues to say “Well, we got a right to defend ourselves don't we?.”
The persecution of gays and lesbians.  These people are what they are because that is the way they were created.  About 10% of all Russians are gay, about 10% of all Asians are gay, about 10% of all blacks are gay, and so on.  The Good Book says that mankind was made in the image of God, and it also says that God makes no mistakes, so I must assume that God is gay.  Or at least He makes these mistakes on purpose, like he did you and me – but members of the US Congress don’t like what God has done, and want that part of His work to be not REAL American citizens – unless they hide who God has made them.
The acts of treason committed daily by congressmen who refuse to vote in higher taxes because they have taken a pledge to Grover Norquist never to raise taxes ever again.  According to the Constitution it is the job of Congress to “levy taxes”.   More than 200 members of Congress now are being sworn in to office to do their job and support the Constitution but they have this prior pledge they made to Grover that takes precedent over their oath to the American people, their constituents and the Constitution of the United States.   
This week’s refusal to bail out the American economy which may condemn our nation to ten more years of recession or possible entrance into another depression.  The private sector of the American economy is sick.  People have been fired and their jobs out-sourced to other countries and ten years of wars along with great all encompassing tax reductions .  ONLY the public sector can fund the immediate employment of great numbers of workers by, yes borrowing money – which is available – and cheap – and put those people to work repairing roads and bridges, building light rail systems which will bring us up to the level of the rest of the world.  But the congress says  we have to pay off all our debts as soon as we can even if this results in reductions to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.  That is where the corner grocery store, the drug store and gasoline station begin laying off more people.  That's where those stores call their suppliers and tell them to reduce their next orders.
Providing money for troops to engage in war without raising taxes to pay for those endeavors which depress the general economy.  For facilitating the operation of great wealthy corporations that NEED wars to make their profits.  Then for fighting wars endlessly – America has been at war constantly during my lifetime, except when we were still in the Great Depression.  The GD#1, we may begin calling it now.
Eliminating 40 to 50 million Americans from any form of health care, and providing care for the rest of America that costs twice as much as people in other developed countries pay.  Meanwhile the health of the American workforce, probably our greatest natural resource, falls into the level of a pretty good third world nation.
Incarcerating more members of its citizenry than any other nation in the world in both total number and percentage.  And then for facilitating the operation of great wealthy corporations that NEED more prisoners behind bars to increase their profits.
For insisting that a business that makes a NET profit of more than $250,000 in a year is a “small business”.  
For providing subsidies to the largest corporations in the entire world who are now making the greatest profits ever made by anyone or anything, anywhere anytime.  Yet those same corporations pay NO taxes, and the American taxpayers who do pay taxes, also pay these corporations subsidies to please continue their work.  
Well, this is enough for one evening.  There is more.  A lot more.  Sounds like another book.  At any rate I will have to make a list.  Please let me know if you know of other reasons why the American Congress should be held in contempt.  
Then if I do get called, and sworn in, I can fillibuster.

Tuesday, August 02, 2011

The Debt is Saved but the Dream is Dying

The “full faith and credit” of the United States is saved!  And at the last minute, too!  What wonderful . . .
But there is something missing.  In fact there are a lot of somethings missing.  A sickness seems present.  A pollution seems slowly spreading across the nation.  We are like people who have just received very, very bad news.  Stuff like that takes a while to seep in. 
Much of this centers around the president.  He was the one we were expecting to step forward and bang on the pots and pans, to blow the trumpet and to stampede the wild creatures who attacked.  But no.  Obama played it Very Cool.  I suspect much of this was about the upcoming election.  
Obama has no democratic opposition.  He will be nominated and will run. And he will probably be reelected.  Largely because the republicans are in such disarray. They have NO one to run, and those who are likely to be nominated are biding their time and hedging their bets.  
But there is a blast coming from the south.  It will blow all the other republican “candidates” out of the picture.  I am talking about Rick Perry, governor of Texas.  He will be able to control the republican party and he can capture the Tea Party people.  He is not yet fully visible, but as he has already indicated, he senses that God has called him.  Plus – he has a LOT of very rich people ready to back him.
However.  If I were a republican,  and if I were looking for the best possible person to be my president of the United States, I would have to think HARD about voting for anyone else than Obama.  Sure, I know he “runs” as a democrat, but hey – look closely.  As the Good Book says, “ . . . by its fruits, you shall know what kind of tree it is.”  
If I were a republican, I think I would have to vote for Obama.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Loughner Declared Sane!


A ruling from the United States Supreme Court this afternoon stated that Mr. Loughner " . . . was not an insane citizen in a normal nation, but rather was a normal product of an insane nation."  


The 9-0 ruling was accompanied by a statement from Chief Justice Roberts who wrote that Mr. Loughner's actions epitomized the spirit of the country, as exemplified by the courageous refusal of the Congress to pass ANY laws concerning the regulation of hand guns or ammunition.  "This,"  he added, "in spite of stupendous and overwhelming allegations that such laws might occasionally save a life or two."
Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that Loughner's dedication to his own personal ideals and deeply-felt needs was an important prelude to the "Cap, Cut and Balance" legislation which passed in the House of Representatives and failed in the Senate by only 5 votes, this despite the understanding that its passage would result in some 700,000 Americans losing their jobs.  “Mr Lougner showed us that we really don’t need to see through the results of the actions we know in our heart that it is the right action to take.”  he concluded.
Justice Scalia pointed out that Mr. Loughner's willingness to do what would "normal people would regard as unthinkable", has been a sustaining inspiration to members of the Republican Party and its Command Center, formally known as the "Tea Party", and which is now more and more often referred to as "THE Party", as they engage in negotiations with the president over the Debt Ceiling.  Probably without Loughner’s display of leadership”, Scalia continued, “ . . . members of The Party would probably have been unwilling to confront the many economic appraisals that refusal to raise that debt ceiling could somehow taint the nation.”  He concluded “Now, The Party is encouraged to just pull that trigger and get it over with!”
Finally, Justice Alito wrote about the effect of “Mr. Loughner’s demonstration that “Any definitive action, especially if it is compelling action, can divert attention from mindless chatter over unimportant issues and show the rest of us how to accomplish those things that really NEED to be done, like our ruling which concerned campaign contributions by corporations.”  Then he smiled and quietly whispered behind his hand, "Bang-bang."




Friday, July 22, 2011

Open Letter to President Obama

Mr. Obama, it is my observation that the Republican Party is now waging a War of Terrorism against the old, the sick and the poor people of America. 

It is threatening to shove the people of America over the cliff of historic prosperity into the abyss of financial misery unless they, the Republican Party, get the American public to give up the Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and many other entitlements they have earned and built – PLUS – agree to never raise taxes on rich people or corporations again.  

The Republican Party is declaring that the American Government is now dead, and they are the rulers of a new American Fascist State.

We have learned the hard way, and many other countries have too, that to give in to terrorists - and that’s what this threat rightly is - only encourages them to continue to demand some other trophy, and then another and then more.  Eventually, we will HAVE to fight them.  
My take on this is to let it happen now.  Let the country fail and lose its “full faith and credit”, let the rest of the world fall with us into another great depression. Even THAT would be better than to remain dangling and twisting, being picked apart, bite by bite, by those who have sold their own souls to corporate greed and who are busy building a purely fascist nation.  Fascism needs leaders and it need workers.  it does not need – indeed, it  cannot tolerate – a middle class.  
We know how to build a country.  We can do it again.  We can build a new world, and we can build one that operates without its “full faith and credit” being devoted to the great corporations that need wars and prisons to increase their profits.  The old industrial world has changed now anyway.  The great age of industry based on oil and coal, nuclear power and big automobiles and endless highways is diminishing, it is clearly ready to transition into a different engine of power.  New industries beckon us to enter into a new economy increasingly powered by solar and wind energies and using information technologies and new advances in medicine.  
We would eventually evolve into such a condition anyway, but not if we are workers in a fascist state making millions and billions for our corporate owners.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Republicans and Obama versus US?

Well, the last act if the great play is ready to begin but we know how it will end now.  And here's what will make the audience scream in agony and tear their hair and rend their garments and smear their faces with ashes:  just before the curtain descends, the main player, Obama, will announce to the world that Social Security and Medicare will take significant hits.  He says they will remain strong, but everyone in the audience will know that is a lie.

The barbarians, played by republicans, will remain at the gate, and continue to shake it and shout, but their tone of despair will be as fake as Obama's ring of endurance.

How do we know the outcome so early?  Some of the key players have tipped off that they know the outcome.  How could they all know it?  That would have to be because they have been briefed.  We're talking now about the Chamber of Commerce, among others.  Also the great players on Wall Street.  These are the people who would be the great big losers if the debt ceiling does not get raised.  If there was a chance that it would not be done, they would by now be conspicuous by their actions on Capitol Hill.

So they know.  And they know more than that.  They also know that it is all a great play so that the tension can be raised so high, that Obama can cave.  He would have to know that too.  And that's where the play comes in.  Because it will all look like Obama navigated a dangerous strait, that he brought his ship in safely and only had to concede a minor amount.  But that amount will bring an end to the "Social Welfare" programs that the republicans hate so much.

That's my hunch.  I hope I am wrong.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Burr, McHenry, Republicans. Treason?

The current problems in the American economy were caused by a) the freeing of the economic markets from regulations by the federal government, 2) the reduction of tax rates on the wealthiest people and great corporations and c) unfunded wars that have dragged on for 10 years and which have funneled enormous amounts of money to certain major corporations that NEED wars to increase their profits.

Now the inequities of that recession are being portioned out to the middle class and the poor people of America by threatening the dismantling of the Social Security and Medicare programs that we have built and paid for, and the destruction of Medicaid.  Meanwhile, the richest people America has ever had are making more money than ever before largely due to the laying off of American workers and the out-sourcing of American jobs to other countries, like Mexico, Korea, China and others so they can continue to reduce their costs of business and increase their profits even more.  AND, they are paying less taxes than any rich class ever has in American history AND they refuse to even talk about paying more.

Meanwhile, the Republican Party now seems to be saying they will NEVER raise taxes EVER, and they won't even talk about it either, because they have taken an oath to Grover Norquist and his Americans for Tax Reform Party that they now appear to be placing ABOVE the oath they took to the American Constitution when they took office.  If this can be proven true, would they be guilty of treason?  

I have called my two republicans, Senator Burr and Congressman McHenry.  Their staff "doesn't know" if Mr. Burr or McHenry have taken any such oath, and they say they don't want to raise taxes on the rich people and corporations during a recession because those people and corporations "provide jobs", even though that not been true over the past 30 years since deregulation took place, or during the lifetime of the people involved.   They are simply telling us that we have bothered them long enough and that our time is up.

John Womack

Friday, July 08, 2011

Response to "Skyscraper of Debt" by Patrick McHenry

First, the debt was run up there by republicans - the debt ceiling was raised 8 times under George Bush. Second, it went up because the great corporations laid off American workers and they out-sourced American jobs to other countries -  including textile and furniture making jobs from right here in the Piedmont of North Carolina.  Third, it went up because great corporations do not pay taxes (instead, they are paid Subsidies (from us!)) AND the richest people in America now pay less taxes percentage-wise than they EVER have - this another legacy of George Bush and the republicans.  Fourth, three wars in the middle east - including one to attack Iraq because of WMD that they HAD - well, Bush thought they had them (probably still does).

Now, if I get this right, you want to fix this debt issue by 1) eliminating or reducing Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits for American citizens. 2) reducing taxes further on the richest people in America and the great American corporations who are now making more profit than any corporation has EVER made before in ALL of history. And 3) by making all the Americans who are getting these "entitlements"  from the government have to, as Orrin Hatch said today "go back to work".

Probably the reason your "Skyscraper of Debt" is being viewed on two programs is because they are laughing at it.  It may well "go viral".   But if Americans who have EARNED Social Security find it being reduced, they will have to spend less money at the grocery stores, drug stores, and gasoline stations - leading those places to lay off a few more people and call their suppliers and tell them to cut back on their orders, and lead hospitals and health care workers to find out they are not needed to treat Medicare and Medicaid patients and they can stay home.  Emergency Rooms will find more and more extremely sick people showing up who have no money and no insurance.  And no hope.

So.  The answer to all this is the Spirit of America.  Remember, our founding fathers pointed out that all people are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights . . . life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  Then they added:  "To SECURE these rights, GOVERNMENTS are instituted among people, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. . ."

Thank you for providing this opportunity to respond to your video.  A great country is always built by those who have been denied opportunity elsewhere, and their struggle is against those who are defending their own personal pleasures.  We need strong, independent people who have not sold their souls for money to represent us.  Show us your soul Mr. McHenry, are you with us?

Sunday, July 03, 2011

When I Run for President . . .

I will point out how a couple of historical coincidences, a New Hampshire state law, and tradition have decreed that only a tiny handfull of states fire off the first presidential primary contests each election cycle.  These first four events have too often shaped the commitments of the candidates and eventually the platforms of their parties. But these four states, Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina, are not representative of the United States! They are rural, small, self-sufficient entities that have no appreciation of the problems that haunt New York, California, Illinois, Pennsylvania for example, or of the problems peculiar to Florida and Texas, or the big cities or the great mass of Americans.   These four states contain less than 11,700,000 people, or 3.7% of the total American population.  Yet this 3.7% ALWAYS have a large say in the choice of the person who will be the next president of the United States and the commitments made by both parties. 

Perhaps at one time, the contests of these four states were significant because they indicated the comparative strengths of the candidates and showed how they dealt with issues that were important to these small rural states.  But in today’s world, all politics is universal.  Every word uttered by any candidate in Iowa is broadcast across the world, every mistake made by any contestant is repeated again and again.  

So.  The remedy is simple.  When I run for president I will campaign in these four states, like everybody else,  but I will not cater to the “local” vote, being determined to get my viewpoint out to the entire country.  Whether I do well in Iowa or New Hampshire, or those other two places matter not in the full swing of things.  I will happily finish dead last in those four states as long as I can make clear my intention concerning matters of concern to the other 97% of the people of the United States.

I just hope that I am not the only one who understands this.

Monday, June 06, 2011

Anthony Weiner

Carefully, intelligently, purposefully, passionately and successfully, Anthony Weiner maneuvered himself into a position as a major player in the United States House of Representatives, becoming a leading light in the liberal side of the Democratic Party, and a likely candidate to be elected mayor of New York City.

Yet while all these beautiful moves were being perfected by Mr. Weiner, he was also playing a different tune on Twitter, sending questionable, risqué, and even lewd photos of himself to young women whom he apparently did not even know.  

It had to end.  And when it did, Weiner played it well, claiming his Twitter account had been “hacked” and that he was outraged, and that No – he did not send those pictures.  Then he was asked the inevitable question  about one of them:  “Is that photo a picture of you?”  All he had to do at that point was to say that no, that was not him and that should have been the end of the entire matter, and cause for investigation of those damnable “hackers”.

But then the story turned.  Weiner refused to say that the picture was not of him, and that immediately told the rest of us two things:  1)  That the photo WAS a picture of him, and 2) That somebody else, somewhere, somehow KNEW it was a photo of Weiner’s private belongings.  And the story began to intrigue the reporting pool of the world.  It turned into a great spiritual-like quest, a marvelous riddle like a Zen koan similar to the famous “what is the sound of one hand clapping?"   People who disliked Weiner joined with those who loved him and with many others who didn’t care about him and now huge numbers of people who had never even heard of him before, all sought the answer to Weiner’s Dilemma.  He had stumped the entire world!

A great spotlight from heaven, or somewhere out there, now found and focused on Weiner.  As a brilliant advertising executive or marketing director might dribble out pieces of enticing information and with a look in his eyes normally reserved for carnival barkers, Weiner led us all down his tricky little trail.  Like a great performance in some marvelous Olympiad spectacular, every step he took was seen, photographed, videotaped, recorded and breathlessly watched.  Such a level of attention is normally reserved for erupting volcanos, hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis, and similar catastrophes and disasters.  

So now.  Having failed in everything else, Weiner tried to throw himself on the world's pity plate.  Finally he says, he will tell us what he claims is "the truth".  But it won’t work.  Not now.  Now when we have seen  how perfectly he lies.  When he finally tells us what we all knew, and  even elaborates somewhat  upon that, we now KNOW he is hiding the really bad stuff - and we all what to know what he is NOW covering up?  

So we will forgive him – of course we will, but we will only forgive him as a human being.   We can not forgive him as an ideal.    He was at one time, something very special.  He was part of every human dream, he was someone you could count on, rely on, trust  and believe in. That is what made Anthony Weiner very, very special.  Now he is gone.  His shell will apparently remain with us for a while.  He  can still be a politician and still do some things that most politicians do here and there, now grinningly welcomed as one of their own, but the shell will remind us of what once seemed to be, and the rotten smell of decay will remain with us until he finally departs our midst.

Friday, May 13, 2011

How to do It


Great Britan Itinerary
May 13 - Mon. Day 1 - Fly
May 14 - Tues. Day 2 -land in London - train or bus to Bath Spa -
  • !  spend night in Bath, Kennard Hotel - 11 Henrietta St 01225 310472
  • !  p. cloudy 58% rain 53% 58/43 16mph
    May 15 - Wed. day 3 - Bath
    May 16 - Thurs. day 4 - pick up car and explore area - Wells, Gastonbury, Lacock,
  • !  Stonehenge
  • !  spend night in Salisbury, Quidhampton Mill B&B - Netherhampton Rd,
  • "  01722 741171
  • "  cloudy 62% rain 46% 56/42 16 mph
    May 17 - Fri. day 5 - Salisbury, Avebruy - on to Cotswolds
  • !  pubs in Chipping Norton - Great Tew - Bledington
  • !  Stroud Farmer’s Market, Sat. 9-2 also artist center
  • !  Tewkesbury - 12th cent. bldings
  • !  Bibury-old weaver cottages & Cirencester-craft center & antiques
  • !  Chipping Campden music festival
  • !  spend night in Broadway Windrush House - Station Rd, 01386 853577
  • !  p cloudy 65% rain 42% 59/49 12 mph
    May 18 - Sat. day 6 - - tour Blenheim Palace and the Cotswolds -
! spend night in Broadway
May 19 - Sun. day 7 - Stratford-upon-avon (25 mins), then on to Wales, tour Conwy
  • !  Castle (3 hrs)
  • !  sleep in Conwy Bryn Guest House, Sychnant Pass Rd 01492 592449
  • !  rain 52% p cloudy 52% 56/45 17mph
    May 20 - Mon. day 8 - tour more castles - esp. Caernarfon, Beaumaris
  • !  Castle,Snowdonia Nat. Park, Snowdon Mtn Rail train
  • !  sleep in Conwy
    May 21 - Tues. day 9 - drive to Lake District - tour Wordsworth home in Grasmere
  • !  sleep in Keswick (3 hrs) Stonegarth B&B - 2 Eskin St 017687 72436
  • !  p cloudy 44% rain 34% 58/48 17 mph
    May 22 - Wed. day 10 - rest & laundry day
! sleep in Keswick
May 23 - Thurs. day 11 - drive to Hadrian’s Wall (1.5 hrs) drive to Bamburgh Castle
  • !  (1.5 hrs), then on to Stirling (2.5 to 3 hrs)
  • !  sleep in Stirling Firgrove B&B - 13 Clifford Rd 01786 475805
" rain 64% p cloudy 56% 54/45 17 mph
May 24 - Fri. day 12 - Stirling - tour castle ! sleep in Stirling
May 25 - Sat. day 13 - drive around Loch Lomond (1 hr) to Luss and Glencoe & finally
  • !  to Portee (5 hrs total)
  • !  sleep in Portee Conusg B&B. 7 Bosville Terrace 01478 611 873
" rain 64% p cloudy 56% 54/45 17mph
May 26 - Sun. day 14 - tour Isle of Skye - stop at Eilean Donan Castle then on to
  • !  Inverness (2.5 hrs)
  • !  sleep in Inverness, Invergien Guest House, 7 Abertarff Rd 01463 716 350
" rain 67% p cloudy 63% 57/41 16 mph
May 27 - Mon. day 15 - drive to Loch Ness,near Inverness - tour Culloden Battlefield,
  • !  ! (15 min. from Inverness) see clava cairns, then Perth & Scone Palace,
  • !  ! Moot Hill - (1 hr) or Ballindalloch Castle (Macpherson) 1 hr.
  • !  ! then to Edinburg airport to turn in !car (45 min.) bus to city center (30
  • !  ! mins)
  • !  sleep in Edinburg !
    May 28 - Tues. day 16 - Edinburg - Kingsway Guest House, 5 East Mayfield,
" " 0131 667 5029
! rain 82% p cloudy 40% 58/41 16mph
May 29 - Wed. day 17 - Edinburg
May 30 - Thurs. day 18 - train to York (2.5 hrs)
! sleep in York
May 31 - Fri. day 19 - York - Bowmans Guest House - 33 Grosvenor Terrace
  • "  " 01904 622204
  • "  rain 100% p cloudy 67% 59/44 15 mph
    June 1 - Sat. day 20 - train to London (2 hrs)
! sleep in London
June 2 - Sun. day 21 - London - Luna Simone Hotel, 47/49 Belgrave Rd 207 834 5897
! rain 55% p cloudy 45% 64/48 15 mph
June 3 - Mon. day 22 - London !
June 4 - Tues. day 23 - London
June 5 - Wed. day 24 - fly to Charlotte 

Thursday, April 28, 2011

An Open Letter FROM Patrick McHenry

















April 28, 2011

Dear Mr. Womack:

Thank you for contacting my office regarding Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security reforms under the fiscal year 2012 Republican budget plan. I appreciate having the benefit of your thoughts. 
Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security compromise 60 percent of the federal budget, and represent the fastest growing   . . .
WOAH!  Sir . . . I thought you knew that Social Security brings in more money than it spends (actually, I thought everybody knew that!) and Medicare, not quite as effective, still brings in almost 60% of its TOTAL costs.  So, I respectfully request that you take this letter back and rewrite it.  
 I did request you to explain why on earth you voted FOR Representative Paul Ryan's budget bill, and NOW I am beginning to see why you might have done such a destructive thing to 95% of your constituents.  You have not been properly briefed.  So, may I respectfully request that you return to the issue, review all budget matters, particularly issues relating to the difference between budget expenditures and budget income.  Then you will be better able to carry on a dialog with the people you have taken an oath to represent in congress.  You will also be able to point out to Representative Ryan how you all can write a new budget that will protect and improve both Social Security and help bring about Medicare for All Americans.  
Respectfully yours,
John  Womack

Friday, April 22, 2011

Open Letter to Mr. McHenry about Health Insurance


Dear Mr. McHenry:

Why do we even HAVE health-insurance companies? Health care is basically a supply-demand equation and we Americans know how to handle that. We buy groceries, houses, computers, automobiles, clothing, education and so on without any insurance “gatekeepers” to tell us “OK, you can have a Ford but not a Pontiac” or “no, you can’t buy a coat this winter, you bought one last year.” Or "you can't have anymore generic DVDs, you will have to buy these (which cost ten times as much)." And it’s not like we don’t all use health-care. Americans use health-care to get born, we use a lot of it when we die, and we all need teeth repaired and glasses replaced. From time to time we all have accidents and get sick and we all need health care. We "demand" medical services and we have a top-notch medical industry of doctors, nurses, hospitals, and organizations who can "supply" those services. Why do we think we need a gate-keeper to tell us we can have this but not that, or that's a “pre-existing condition”, or a certain procedure we need to live will cost more than we can afford so we can't have it, or that those pills the doctor has prescribed will cost $600 a month, even though they don’t really “cost” nearly that much?  And people who live in other countries get those same pills for much, much less!

We can take care of ourselves together as a nation, and supply-demand will work in this industry like it does elsewhere. All of the money these insurance companies get is money we pay to them, then they give a little bit of it back to us in the form of permission to get some medical service, and the rest goes for their own profit, to their rich CEOs and to buy off our senators and representatives. THEN, they pay less and less in income tax every year and even get some subsidies from the U. S. national government.  Let's get rid of ALL health insurance companies and let the citizens and medical industry of the United States collectively provide the care we need through a PUBLIC - not OPTION - but SERVICE - like Medicare for All - and really provide for our nation’s general welfare.

After all, no national resource is of more importance to any industralized nation that the health of its workforce.  And THAT is too important to be left to any private company that MUST continue to increase their profit every quarter of every year.

John Womack.