Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Long-Term Unemployment: No Help For The 99ers

A response to the 'Titled" HuffintonPost story about Unemployment Benefits running out.


The country has been run into the ground. Give away things while the economy is good, lower taxes while it is good. And waste - waste more than you put to use. That is the mantra of the 2 parties.

But then when things are bad, there are no reserves to get you through the rough times. Sorry that schools stopped teaching economics decades ago, and replaced it with "keyboarding" (typing on computers that do the formatting for you). Sorry that we encouraged americans to spend more than they make.

"Lower taxes" on the people so they will spend more. "Lower taxes" on companies so they will make more, but when you can't buy with the air you breathe, the companies go under.

We are in this fix because they ruined the schools - most can't count change much less balance their living expenses. Because they kept tempting us with 'pretty things' instead of teaching the lessons that our earlier generations learned the hard way - work, save, buy with some and save for a 'rainy day'.

Today, we are getting drenched, and few are prepared.

To some less educated, it may sound like I am blaming those out of work. I am not. I am blaming a system that taught us all the wrong lessons. I am blaming "the rich get richer" and "let them eat cake" crowd; and the people who taught us not to care.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

"Stuff Happens" - thanks Rand Paul (racism), Don Rumsfeld (war), etc

What a nice quote, cleaned up from "Shit Happens" for TV. Rumsfeld said this about the Iraq war not going well, I think.

NOW Harry Shearer, on Huffington Post, puts it in context for comments made by Republican Rand Paul that appear to be his supporting racism (in the name of personal freedom), blame shifting from BP, and other things. ---

Was the explosion on the oil rig in the Gulf an accident? YES
Was the plan for handling what happened next an accident? YES

UUMMM -- well, let me take that back. There was no REAL PLAN, just a bunch of people in government positions who let BP and all the other oil companies do whatever they wanted, government workers who took home their large paychecks, went on family vacations, and when they went to their government office used the day to download porn, make copies of porn onto DVDs that YOU paid for with tax dollars, and in every other way possible did exactly what big businesses want them to do - which is nothing that interferes with them making billions of dollars.

SO -
You get what you PAY (and VOTE) for - in this case, Americans have voted repeatedly for the same bastards to be in power, answering to the dollars, and power, thrust into their pockets. And for "workers" who (while a 'minority in number') have a huge, negative, impact on our lives.

AND - Was it a stupid comment by Rand Paul? YES. 
And I hope he is defeated in the general KY election for thinking that racism should be allowed because of "freedom". What some idiot does in his house, we can not and should not control. But when his actions affect others (like "you can't eat here", "you can't sleep here", "you can't pee here"), then Government, and BETTER PEOPLE, need to step in and stop it.

Oil Spill may be Impossible to Clean

For article in USA Today --  on Yahoo -----

IN WIKI - search for "oil spill" and you find ---
Dispersants act as detergents, clustering around oil globules and allowing them to be carried away in the water.[12] This improves the surface aesthetically, and mobilizes the oil. Smaller oil droplets, scattered by currents, may cause less harm and may degrade more easily. But THE DISPERSED OIL DROPLETS INFILTRATE INTO DEEPER WATER and can lethally contaminate coral. Recent research indicates that some dispersant are toxic to corals.[13] ******* (I put in the CAPS section)*******
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NOTE that the dispersants do EXACTLY as I speculated over the past few days in other posts - the "plumes" underwater are a direct result of huge amounts of the chemicals used at the source of the spill.

So if it is a known fact, why are they "surprised" to find that oil released into the water as a steady stream will clump together in "plumes"?

It is clear that NO ONE in government (because industry certainly would not want to do it) ever did a decent study of what happens when you use dispersants at the source instead of places like beaches (like Alaska where it was so hard to clean it all up) and other already contaminated places. And if they never studied it, why have the OK'ed the use of massive amounts?

This is not just an Obama problem; it comes through 60-70 years of governments not wanting to interfere with big oil. Great job Washington Bureaucrats.