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.

"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)*******
*****************
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.

The AMT is UNFAIR To All

I got a newsletter from "my" senator, Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), the other day. It read, in part -

On Monday, I introduced the Children of Fallen Warriors AMT Relief Act, a bill that will remove the punitive burden that is currently imposed on the children of fallen servicemembers by our outdated tax code. Under our current tax laws, the children of a fallen servicemember who receive an annuity from the Uniformed Services Survivor Benefit Plan can unintentionally become subject to the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). This bill recognizes that the children of fallen soldiers have already sacrificed enough for their country, and ensures that they are not subject to the AMT. 


SO I SENT HIM A MESSAGE BACK, (and sent it to "my" Representative) as follows -

In your latest newsletter, you mentioned that you introduced an Act to keep children of fallen soldiers from being subject to the AMT.

That may be a good thing, but you could have saved EVERYONE ELSE along with them by simply changing the AMT to be indexed to inflation, with the RATE INDEX ONLY retroactive to when the AMT started, and any "refund" to taxpayers good only to 2008 (even though I would get money back if it went back to 1999, I recognize that the country needs the income from the past decade).

SO - how about it? How about introducing a BILL to make this a law?"

Catholic Bishop Convicted for Denial of Holocaust

Recently a PRIEST from Germany DENIED THE HOLOCAUST !!! It made news because, though he did an AP interview in a different European country (AND asked that it NOT be shown in Germany because of "Non-Denial" laws there) it was shown on TV, and on the internet, in Germany.

"The interview was conducted near Regensburg and was granted shortly before Williamson's excommunication was lifted by Pope Benedict XVI, along with that of three other bishops from the anti-modernization movement of the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre."

MY RESPONSE to the many comments made after the post - many also saying that either people were not mass-murdered, or that "we need an investigation" :

It is nearly 100% -- that every person who denies the Holocaust is also one who would do today if they could.

So if YOU want to kill millions, why deny that Nazis DID IT ??? The PICTURES ARE AVAILABLE, SURVIVORS (though very few now) ARE AVAILABLE (as is video of their stories).

I guess the main reason to deny it is so when they do it, no one will believe it, and they won't have to face JUSTICE.

It is probably illegal to deny it in Germany for this reason - that given the chance, many would do it again.


I ALSO posted that the Priest should be excommunicated -- then I went back and saw that HE WAS (by Pope Paul II ?) but that the current pope lifted that order. (And people wonder why I hate religions -- they are two-faced, and prey on the ignorant)

The 'church' should be demanding that all services this week include comments that the Holocaust DID happen -- fat chance that will happen; looks like Pope Benedict wants to deny it too, if he lifted the order.

Rape of the American Electorate by The Supreme Court - again

“the court’s opinion is thus a rejection of the common sense of the American people, who have recognized a need to prevent corporations from undermining self government since the founding, and who have fought against the distinctive corrupting potential of corporate electioneering since the days of Theodore Roosevelt.”
Justice John Paul Stevens, about the Jan. 21, 2010 ruling that corporations may spend all they want to get people elected in the USA. The Court has effectively ruled that corporations are more important than individuals in voicing, by money contributions, running advertisements, and all other election-related procedures, their "opinions and desires". There are still LIMITS ON PEOPLE giving money - but no longer on corporations!

This is just added to the already unconstitutional ruling that any municipality may force you out of the house you have owned (even without a mortgage) for 1 year or 100 years, because a rich person is willing to pay more in taxes than you currently pay (they are taking by "eminent domain", thought that is supposed to be strictly reserved for instances of public safety, public progress, and where no other reasonable alternative exists (such as building a court complex elsewhere). [Wiki says "The property is taken either for government use or by delegation to third parties who will devote it to public or civic use or, in some cases, economic development." BUT I have to point out that personal housing is NOT economic development, as "pubic housing" would be construed.] [[They took thousands of people's homes in NYC and Chicago, and elsewhere, so apartments could be built. As a kid that sounded fine, but now I question it because some company (person) got very rich building and renting apartments.]]

Back to the issue at hand -- This is a severe taking of our rights and we should be screaming the streets, but Americans have become too complacent. We watch places like Poland in the 80's, and Iran today, and say "way to go! Fight for your freedom! Down with totalitarian regimes!" But here we sit - most Americans are not even aware that their freedoms are being taken, many others are apathetic (the old 'there's nothing we can do about it' attitude), and the rest just are too stupid to understand what is being done to them by the Supreme Court. (I see this in many comments on USA Today, where people support "indefinite holding of terrorists", but that also means that THEY can be accused, grabbed, and held, sometimes for months before anyone knows [people reported as "missing" because no one knows] where they are or even what they are charged with. HOW DUMB they are to think that tossing the Constitution for someone else will never come back and affect them! The 'Bush era renditions' are another example of this - here a President acted like a King; or tyrant.)

There is a saying - "the constitution is what the Supreme Court says it is"; meaning that the Supreme Court is the final, and "correct", interpreter of what the Constitution means. But just as any law can be overturned when a court says it violates the constitution, so too can any ruling of the Supreme Court by a later court (as they have done here, taking TWO rulings from before 1950 that have limited corporate money in elections). I hope people wake up and start demanding the return of their individual rights.

WE ARE ON THE ROAD TO -- THE BEST CORPORATION (uh - Country) MONEY CAN BUY !!!

Not all Crooks are Americans - but this one needs a Bullet !

An article found on my Yahoo page, by BBC News - 'Bomb detector' maker Jim McCormick arrested

Here is another account of government "buyers" being too stupid to hold the job they get paid for. While this guy and everyone in his 'company' is a fraud, the buyers are also at fault for purchasing these devices. They are noted as the "ADE-651"

Look at what was reported - "The device consists of a swivelling aerial mounted to a hinge on a hand-grip. It does not operate by battery, instead promotional material says it is powered only by the user's static electricity." Now, can someone tell me how much static is generated in a high-humidity environment, or in a swamp, or a rain? (Hint - NONE. Static is bled-off by the moisture before it can build to any usable level.)

It also took a special investigation by BBC Newsnight which paid a computer laboratory to find out that the "device" is simply a store security/theft-prevention device, which sends out a signal to a large 'sensor' to detect items being shoplifted! It could no more detect bombs than your average doorknob!

Now just who has bought these devices? What government official "signed off" on millions of dollars worth useless "bomb detectors" -- as they posted - "The Iraqi government has spent US$85m (£52m) on the hand-held detectors, now used at most checkpoints in Baghdad." Now most likely, that is US TAX DOLLARS spent; and US SOLDIERS AND CIVILIANS BEING KILLED BECAUSE OF THIS FRAUD. The article mentions that "no western government uses" these worthless things, but because Iraq is using them, certainly the US is involved in some way - purchase, promotion, and "protected by".

Nothing short of a trial to find all of the conspirators and then a bullet in each person's head is called for here. I am not far from also saying that the decision-makers for purchasing these bogus devices should be included in the lineup. At the least, anyone involved in any testing phase (they did more than read some one else's report) should be fired and jailed, and barred from collecting any pay, pension, etc. AND the "report reader" needs to be fired - the description provided should have raised "red flags" throughout the industry.

Has anyone been killed because of this? They don't say outright, but certainly that MUST be the case; so everyone of the conspirators should be tried for MURDER, because they knew what the purpose of the device "is" and where it would be used, and that people would die because they sold / were involved in selling a non-functioning piece of crap.