The Verdict is In.

Although I have been telling my wife for weeks that there is no way that a white police officer is going to get indicted for shooting a black man, last night my prediction came true. The Ferguson police officer was not charged or indicted for anything.

I have not examined all of the evidence, nor did I hear all of the testimony. The prosecutor said in his statement that although many of the eyewitnesses testimony was consistent with autopsy reports and never wavering, many were not.

I have to admit, I thought of this grand jury like I think about The Warren Commission. If I were presented with a bunch of lies and tainted evidence and fed false information and fake evidence, I think I would have drawn the same conclusions they did.

But you wanna know what? The Officer came forward tonight. I listened carefully to his account of the incident. I found him to be credible and his description of the event to be credible and consistent with the description of the gunshot wounds. I believe him. I have been in situations and I have been trained for similar situations.

We were trained that the perp has to be a minimum of 21 feet away for one to adequately prepare for a sharp edge attack. Mr. Brown was apparently a lot closer than that, and still coming. If Mr. Brown overtakes the officer's weapon, we can only speculate on what that would have led to.

I believe the officer. I was against him all the way, convinced that if a seasoned veteran had been at the scene, this would never have happened. But I no longer believe that.

I have been in harm's way. Many times. Everyday for 27 years. But sometimes you have to make split second decisions based on what you perceive the situation to be. I think the cop was right in the situation as presented in sworn testimony.

What is wrong is burning some guys AutoZone store because you don't like the outcome. This senseless violence does not forward any cause. I understand frustration. Register to Vote. Become involved in local politics. But don't burn. Don't loot.

By the way, as I end here, did you know that the "loud noise" shooter, the guy in Florida who shot at a car as the youth were trying to escape him, is in prison. I bet the "conservative media" didn't report that.

Immigration Change

Tonight the President is likely to announce a sweeping program wherein as many as four million undocumented immigrants will get a chance to apply for a program that will allow them to work here legally. They won’t get food stamps, federally subsidized health care, or medicaid despite what the right wing nuts at FOX will most likely rant. It’s a broken system and we have the worst Congress in the history of the United States. They have done approximately 1/10th of what the famous “Do Nothing” Congress the Truman administration faced. So somebody had to take the bull by the horns. 

Eric Cantor was helping to construct a bipartisan plan that would have been a route to citizenship. In it, the person would be required to not have a criminal record, serve in the armed forces, and get a college degree. Not exactly a walk in the park for the immigrant, but good for America overall. Yet the Tea Party went crazy and made sure Cantor didn’t even get the nomination again in his bid to keep his seat. 

Below is an essay I heard on Michigan Radio this afternoon:

I saw a poster the other day on the Internet that I really wish I could have framed and put on the wall. It said something like “Illegal immigrants refuse to learn our language, yet still get food assistance.”

What it showed was the first Thanksgiving.

What it could have added was that those same undocumented aliens were often guilty of tremendous violence against the native population.

Today, the descendants of those illegal immigrants have been wrestling with what do to about those who followed in their footsteps, centuries later.

The fact is that there are millions of so-called undocumented aliens in this country, maybe 100,000 in Michigan, and that our economy depends on them.

These immigrants, by and large, do the jobs nobody else wants, working hard for little money. When they do become legal, they tend to be tremendous job creators. Gov. Rick Snyder knows this; that’s why he has asked Washington to make more visas available for immigrants with special skills to come to Detroit.

There are legal immigration routes, complex and bureaucratic. But there are also millions who came without papers, or were brought here as children.

They have no other home. They are, by and large, productive members of our society. But they live in fear that any day they may be found out and deported.

President George W. Bush, no great liberal, wanted to set up a legal path for citizenship for many of them, but his plan was rejected contemptuously by his fellow Republicans in Congress.

Tonight, President Obama is apparently going to announce a program whereby as many as four million undocumented immigrants can apply for a program that will allow them to work here legally, if they have no criminal record, and protects them from deportation.

They won’t be citizens, and they will be second-class residents in every sense of the word. They won’t get federal subsidies for health care. Nor are they likely to qualify for food stamps or Medicaid.

Farm workers won’t be eligible at all. Some people brought here as children will be shielded from deportation, but not their parents. The president plans to do this with an executive order, since he knows perfectly well he could never get this through Congress, especially after Republicans take full control next year.

Denying them health care assistance is unlikely to appease Republicans. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas attacked the idea.

Ironically, Mr. Cruz, whose real first name is Rafael, was born in Canada to a father who fled Castro’s Cuba and who did not become an American citizen until nine years ago.

The senator is now a citizen of both Canada and the U.S., and his eligibility for the presidency is in some doubt. His parents were able to bring him here when he was four, because his mother was an American citizen.

But he doesn’t want to allow others like himself without a citizen parent to stay. There is something to be said for basic humanity. And for recognizing reality, which is that these people are here to stay, and that our economy needs them. Thanksgiving is coming.

And my guess is that the ghost of Squanto would agree. -Jack Lessenberry

On the upside, this will either force Congress to get serious about their jobs, or voice how they really feel about the largest voting minority. 

Health Care Choices to Double in 2015

To all the lame Republicans that are still trying to run on and spew "I'll repeal Obamacare", um, that ship has sailed. The Detroit News reported last week (November 14, 2014) that the choices for health care plans in Michigan will double in 2015. Double. That means prices will fall. Insurance companies will get more competitive. This thing is going to work. Like it or not Republicans.

I know the Republican mantra is "Repeal and Replace." Ever wonder what the replacement is? It's a health care law written by HMO's and Pharmaceutical companies. Do you honestly think they have our best interests at heart?

You know when President FDRoosevelt supported Social Security he was called all the things that President Obama has been called for the Affordable Health Care Act. This only supports the fact that he's right. Fortunately for Roosevelt, he didn't have to contend with the internet and unreasonable deadlines to ensure the software would work correctly.

Are you Republicans really ready to pull insurance plans out from under 8 million Americans?

My friend Larry a couple years ago priced health insurance on just himself. It was over $800 a month on just him. He now insures his family of four for $232 a month.

The people that claim this it socialism were the same kind of folks that said the same thing about Social Security. By the way, these folks also count on our socialist Police Departments, our socialist Fire Departments, the socialist Public Library, the social roads they drive on, the socialist Military that protects them, and the socialist Public Schools that educate their children.

The Tax and Spend Republicans are at it again.

I see last week state Republicans in the State Senate voted for an enormous gas tax to help repair crumbling roads. Why do the Republicans enjoy the reputation of being the "anti-taxes" party when all they do is tax us to death? This could mean more than thirty cents a gallon. Okay, so gas prices have fallen recently. Convenient time to run this crap through. But when it goes back to $4 a gallon, now it's gonna be $4.30. How many times have you run to the station across the street because their gas was 5 cents less?

The Republicans have put a tax on my retirement. They have raised fees at the Secretary of State's Office. Call it what you want but that's a tax. Everywhere you go there is a new Republican tax, and then they have the gall to call Democrats the "Tax and Spend" party.

The fiscal conservative President Reagan left us a $200 Billion deficit. The fiscal conservative Bush 41 in one term left us with a $300 Billion deficit. The "Tax and Spend Liberal" President Clinton left us with a $200+ Billion SURPLUS, and then fiscal conservative President G. W. Bush left us with a $482 Billion deficit. Will the day ever come the voting public starts thinking straight?

So now were going to get hammered at the pumps even more. Wouldn't have to be if the Washington Republicans would just sign the President's Jobs bill, that has been on their desk so long it's gathering dust. But no, no way. (He's half-black, don't you know). Instead they are gearing up, in exchange for a few summer jobs, to run an ugly nuisance through our back yard for us to trip over forever. And of course all the oil will go to Europe, South America, and China. But the Republicans will be their chest and feel all triumphant.

Will Rogers said it best: "Don't be to hard on Congress. They're the best men money can buy."

Come and listen to my story about a man named Jeb.....

Jeb Bush is toying with the idea of running for the Presidency. Bad news for the Dems, because Jeb Bush is the only viable candidate the Repubs have. As a matter of fact it was said for years the George H.W. Bush envisioned Jeb being the son that might be able to get there, not George. Mrs. Barbara Bush on the other hand does not want him to run stating "There have been enough Bushes in the White House."

But herein lies the rub: Jeb Bush is a moderate Republican. The whacked out right will hate him for not being radical enough, and they undoubtedly won't get behind him. If he sells out his principles and succumbs to the radical right pressure the way that John McCain did, he won't be electable. But if he tells the radical right to go to blazes, he could actually be electable. And a reasonable moderate Republican is not my first choice, but we can live with it if we have to. The Ted Cruz's and Ron Paul's will never understand that the general American public is a lot smarter than they are. We won't elect one of their crazies. Not now, not ever.

I can see the Dems owning the White House for 20 years. Or at least until the Tea Party takes a hike. I've said it before. Repubs, you can have the Tea Party, or you can have the White House, but you can't have both. But a moderate Repub, might sway enough voters away from a woman.

Buy the way, affirming my view that being a past President is a greater fraternity than being a Beatle, last week George W. Bush referred to Bill Clinton as "My brother from another mother." I don't suppose there's any way that that brother could run for President in 2016?

The Speaker of the House

John Boehner is already laying out a course of destruction of the middle class now that the Republican's have captured the Senate and now control Congress. Of course he's preaching the same old "Repeal Obamacare" mantra. Thank goodness that although they have control of the Senate, but they don't have the muscle to override a Veto. So what does that mean? For one thing is means that their attempts to let Pharmaceutical Companies and HMO's write new legislation to replace Obamacare ain't gonna happen. Honestly does anyone really believe those companies have our best interests at heart? But it may lead to some healthy tweaks which is what the Republicans should have been striving for from the beginning. Democrats would most likely go along with that if it's reasonable. And by the way, eliminating the individual mandate is not reasonable.

The Speaker also has warned the President to not try and take Executive action on immigration outside of his authority. Well, Mr. Speaker, that may mean you Republicans will have to get off your dead asses, and actually work with the President like he's been begging you to for 6 years. The onus of this do-nothing Congress is not on him. It's on you Mr. Speaker. Get your pals to set aside their bigotry and try to accomplish something for the country. But he's not gonna let you stick it to the middle class the way you want to. And just so you know Mr. Speaker, we haven't forgotten about the credit down-grade your party gave us, or the government shut down. We never treated you guys with this much ugly racist contempt.

Only 35% of the entire voting public show up for the mid-terms, and as I stated earlier, that is always good for the Republicans. But then they get this false sense of a mandate, and then they screw us for two years and then they get a shellacking and they scratch their heads and wonder what happened. Because this is not a mandate Mr. Speaker, it's what happens when Democrats don't vote. But by the Presidential election 55% of the voting public turns out and that changes things.

Hopefully, on November 8th, 2016 your party gets to switch from being racists to sexists.

North Carolina's Voting Legislation

A couple of weeks ago, part of North Carolina's new voting law, one of the toughest in the nation, was struck down by the courts it was likely to disenfranchise voters. Ya think? After all, that's what it was designed to do.

In a 2 - 1 ruling the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals suspended part of the Republican bill that would have eliminated same day registration during early voting, and voided ballots cast on election day outside of a person's assigned precinct.

All in the name of preventing voter fraud. And the fact that in the history of the United States there have only been four documented cases of actual voter fraud. Four votes in 238 years. This is such a bogus non-issue that it would be laughable if it weren't so sad. But the legislature in North Carolina had to come up with some excuse to not allow Blacks (usually Democrats) to vote.

Some might ask, "What's so bad about insisting that a person vote in their assigned precinct?" That seems reasonable. And on face value, there is nothing wrong with that. Except Republicans are notorious for calling people to inform them that their voting site has changed, or greeting black voters at the door to convince them they have to vote in another precinct, so that their vote won't count. There are hundreds of documented cases of that, hundreds more in fact of cases of voter fraud.

But the North Carolina legislature simply can't be bothered to pass legislation to make that real voter fraud a crime.

Asking for Sermon Approval is Wrong No Matter the Religion

The Mayor's Office of Houston, Texas, has recently issued suboenas  asking for copies of any pastor's sermons in which they violate the newly enacted HERO law. Snopes.Com describes it as a mixture of truth in this way:

The measure bans discrimination based not just on sexual orientation and gender identity but also, as federal laws do, sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, pregnancy and genetic information, as well as family, marital or military status.

The ordinance applies to businesses that serve the public, private employers, housing, city employment and city contracting. Religious institutions would be exempt. Violators could be fined up to $5,000.

Opponents of the equal rights ordinance are hoping to force a repeal referendum when they get their day in court in January, claiming City Attorney David Feldman wrongly determined they had not gathered enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. City attorneys issued subpoenas during the case's discovery phase, seeking, among other communications, "all speeches, presentations, or sermons related to HERO, the Petition, Mayor Annise Parker, homosexuality, or gender identity prepared by, delivered by, revised by, or approved by you or in your possession."

The issue centers around a subpoena sent to some pastors actively involved in collecting petition signatures against Houston's non-discrimination ordinance. The subpoena asked the religious leaders to turn over "all speeches, presentations, or sermons related to HERO, the Petition, Mayor Annise Parker, homosexuality, or gender identity prepared by, delivered by, revised by, or approved by you or in your possession."

Pastors claim it's an overly broad fishing expedition. "The city council and its attorneys are engaging in an inquisition designed to stifle any critique of its actions," said a rep for the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal firm. "Political and social commentary is not a crime; it is protected by the First Amendment."

But their complaints make it sound like the pastors are about to be tried for hate speech using the new law, which is far from the case.

[City attorneys] were looking into what instructions pastors gave out to those collecting signatures for a referendum on the non-discrimination law. (What exactly the pastors said, and what the collectors knew about the rules, is one of the key issues in pending litigation around whether opponents of the law gathered enough signatures for a referendum.)

Feldman said the pastors made their sermons relevant to the case by using the pulpit to do political organizing. That included encouraging congregation members to sign petitions and help gather signatures for equal rights ordinance foes, who largely take issue with the rights extended to gay and transgender residents.

"There's no question, the wording was overly broad. But I also think there was some deliberate misinterpretation on the other side," [Houston mayor Annise] Parker said at a press conference. "The goal is to find out if there were specific instructions given on how the petitions should be accurately filled out. It's not about, 'What did you preach on last Sunday?'"

To reiterate: The mayor's office is not interested in what they preached, or how the pastors feel about Parker or her sexual orientation. (Those things are all well protected under the First Amendment, as they should be.) All officials want to know is what kinds of instructions the pastors gave out with respect to collecting petition signatures, and whether what they said agrees with what they're arguing in court while appealing the referendum.

All this presupposes that the information in the subpoenaed sermons really is substantially relevant to a case or an investigation. I don't quite see how "all speeches, presentations, or sermons related to HERO, the Petition, Mayor Annise Parker, homosexuality, or gender identity prepared by, delivered by, revised by, or approved by you or in your possession" would be relevant to the litigation about the validity of the referendum petitions. At the very least, the subpoena seems vastly overbroad. And the fact that it seeks the contents of religious speeches does counsel in favor of making the subpoena as narrow as possible (which would likewise be the case if it sought the contents of political speeches). I'm not sure what sort of legally relevant information might be contained in the subpoenaed sermons. But the subpoena ought to be narrowed to that legally relevant information, not to all things about homosexuality, gender identity, the mayor, or even the petition or the ordinance.

For the churches, the issue of whether those subpoenaed documents could call their tax-exempt status into question also is at stake. Legal and political science experts said it is a politically fraught issue that governments generally have trod carefully, or avoided altogether.

Tax-exempt churches cannot use the pulpit to promote a specific candidate, but can use it as forum to discuss policy, such as the city's equal rights ordinance, Southern Methodist University political science Professor Matthew Wilson said.

"The city was counting on the fact that the distinction would be muddled in the court of public opinion," Wilson said. "It wasn't."

Feldman said the intent behind the subpoena was never to prove the churches were violating the terms of their tax-exempt status, but to produce proof that pastors who organized a petition drive to put a repeal referendum on the ballot knew the city's rigorous charter rules but failed to follow them.

At the crux of opponents' lawsuit is whether Feldman incorrectly invalidated their petitions to force a referendum.

"The fact that you happen to be a pastor and you happen to be at a church doesn't provide you with protection," Feldman said.

The city may have a point, University of Houston law professor Peter Linzer said. While the churches are correct that the original subpoena was too broad, the city likely has a legitimate right to seek communications about what specific petition instructions may have been given out, he said.

The original subpoena requests much more than that, seeking "all speeches, presentations, or sermons related to HERO, the Petition, Mayor Annise Parker, homosexuality, or gender identity prepared by, delivered by, revised by, or approved by you or in your possession."

Much of that request likely would be difficult to obtain, Linzer said, but instructions germane to the case should not be protected.

"When it comes to whether the ballot petition was correctly done, I see no constitutional problem with that," Linzer said. "I do see most of the current subpoena as overly broad."

Mayor Parker agrees with those who are concerned about the city legal department's subpoenas for pastor's sermons. The subpoenas were issued by pro bono attorneys helping the city prepare for the trial regarding the petition to repeal the new Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) in January. Neither the mayor nor City Attorney David Feldman were aware the subpoenas had been issued. Both agree the original documents were overly broad. The city will move to narrow the scope during an upcoming court hearing. Feldman says the focus should be only on communications related to the HERO petition process.

My question is simply this. Where is the ACLU, an agency dedicated to protecting the Bill of Rights? Where are all the free speech advocates and why aren't they going nuts about this? Why is it that if this were Buddhists or Muslims being persecuted, these folks would be going crazy making this the number one story on the nightly news? I encourage interested parties to go to snopes.com and read the entire text. Parts of it I could not cut and paste. 

Why is there this double standard for Christians?

Perhaps the Best Weapon of All.

The repercussions still ripple in Ferguson, MO after the death of Michael Brown. After the media's weak attempt to garner sympathy for the officer by posting a phony photo of the officer having been beaten up (it wasn't the officer), the citizens have continued their protests. But now they will be taking to the polls instead of the streets.

Voter registration is skyrocketing in Ferguson. Anthony Bell, a St. Louis 3rd Ward committeeman, arrived shortly after the shooting and watched Brown's body lay on the street for hours. That's when he decided to begin to actively register voters. And he's not alone. Rita Days, the St. Louis County Director of Elections says that her office has been fielding questions from individuals and groups asking how to register voters. The NAACP's League of Women Voters, as well as sororities and fraternities have taken classes to learn how to register citizens.

In the election coming this fall, the biggest issue will be the race for county executive of St. Louis County between Republican State Rep. Rick Stream, and County Councilman Steve Stenger, a Democrat. However the real impact may not be felt until next spring when three Ferguson City Council seats are up for grabs.

In a town that many still count the days by how many days police officer Darren Wilson remains free since killing Brown, over 8,000 new voters will weigh in in November, and maybe many, many more by next spring. And perhaps a new era can be ushered in without bullets and tear-gas.

And maybe this can be a lesson for the rest of the country. Register. And vote.

Death and guns.

An Oklahoma prosecutor decided last week to go for the death penalty in the recent beheading case there. Good for the prosecutor. But if the perpetrator would have merely shot her, would they be as zealous? I don't know. But I hope we all recognize that a life is a life no matter how it was taken.

And by the way, when the guy started in on his second victim, and the plant manager shot him to stop him, where are all the gun control freaks crying out about how he shouldn't have had a gun at work?

Think about if a teacher at Sandy Hook would have access to a gun. Could kids have been saved? But no. The faculty there were law abiding citizens, and Sandy Hook was a "no gun zone." Once again folks, these people are called criminals because they don't obey the law.

The Supreme Court Does a Side-Step

The conservative Supreme Court last week took a side-step that most didn't see coming. A court that is so eager to give favorable nods to Hobby-Lobby and other conservative issues, got a little faint of heart when it came to the decision of same-sex marriage in the US.

My theory is this: They being certain that this is an issue that is going to happen, the tide is rolling with no end in sight, decided not to betray their conservative brethren and elect to just fail to do their job, and opt for hiding behind some vague States rights idea. They have opted for the decisions in the lower courts to stand.

So without the Supreme Court taking a clear and decisive stand, West Virginia, Virginia North Carolina, South Carolina, Indiana, Wisconsin, Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The irony of the fact that all of these states seem to be the bastion of Republicanism does not elude me.

Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia still all ban same-sex marriage as does Alaska, Nevada, Arizona, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska. But several states now are awaiting the rulings of lower courts. These are Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, Florida, Texas, Louisiana, and Idaho.

Rather that rule on whether gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry as both proponents and opponents asked them to, the Supreme Court just decided to not decide. How convenient. What a bunch of wimps.

However this Republican majority Court are being clever in a way. They understand that even though it was they who dared not stand up and say "Gay Marriage is Unconstitutional" (because as scholars of the law they know it isn't) they decide to look the other way. All the Republican states that now have to allow gay marriage will resent it. Will they think, "Wow, we were really betrayed by our conservative buddies on the Court"? No. In their typical shallow way they will only remember that it happened in the Obama years.

As they believe as they do of every problem in the world, it's the fault of that uppity President.

Isis, you are messing with the wrong people.

A few days ago, a most horrendous, torturous, inhuman event was video taped and posted online for the civilized world to be sicken by; the murder of James Foley, an American journalist covering the middle-east in Syria. Some English (UK English) speaking terrorist, after forcing Foley to make the statements he'd been fed, committed a horrendous and brutal act upon him.

Intelligence Agencies from around the world already have it narrowed down to about 5 guys this murdering maggot is. But actually he is only a symptom of the problem. The problem is we have a global Nazi party forming. I know the word Nazi is thrown around more inappropriately than any other word we have, but in this case I use it as a metaphor for what is going on in the Mid East.

This Army of Terror is growing in numbers and in strength everyday. New members are flooding in to this grisly group of madmen constantly. Including Americans; one was declared killed in fighting there today.

Over 100 Americans have left America to go and join Isis. And how do they do that? Isis is social network savvy. They have a Facebook page! Twitter! All the rest. There are Germans, French, and English also flowing in. This chills me. And they are recruiting American women. They want blonde American housewives boarding planes with plans to blow it up.

Today President Obama sent out a message: America never forgets, our reach is long, and we will take necessary action. You hear that Isis? Our reach is long. We never forget. We prevailed over Nazis, and by the way, although also evil, they were a lot smarter than you.

Today the President deployed drones for "surveillance". Translation? We want to know when we hit a spot, that you're actually there.

This type of ugly terrorism takes up way too much of the time of our leaders. Think about it. Starting with President George H. W. Bush, our leaders have had to spend an inordinate amount of time dealing with the middle east. And it took a toll on all of them. Our President looked weary dealing with it today.

Our reach is long Isis. This ugliness cannot continue. We are coming.

Shoulder the Weight Mr. President.

Housing Construction bounced back in July hitting it's highest levels in 8 months.

GM, Chrysler, and Ford are solvent again.

The war in Iraq ended.

Unemployment has fallen to the 6% range.

Bin Ladin's dead.

The Stock Market is booming.

A very pleasant and mellow summer in mid-Michigan. Not one 90˚ day yet.

I blame Obama.

Ferguson

Michael Brown fit the general description of a suspect in a convenience store strong-arm robbery (translation: unarmed), of a box of cigars. General Description? A big black guy. A cop pulls up. He calls Michael over to the car. (You will never convince me Michael approached the cruiser of his own volition).  Certain parties want to contend Michael had the box of cigars in his hands. Totally unsubstantiated and contrary to eyewitness accounts. The cops wants to pretend the suspect tried to wrestle the officer's weapon away from him. Question? If this malarky was true, why had the officer brandished his weapon on a routine stop of a suspect in an unarmed robbery? So at some point the officer gets out of his vehicle, and according to several eye-witnesses, the officer brandished his weapon, the suspect put his hands in the air and said "don't shoot" and the officer then shot him, and killed him. Six times. One of the kill shots was apparently as he was falling.

I hope the Grand Jury does a thorough job, and talks to all of the eye-witnesses. But I fear, that this new era of "Black men....Happy Hunting!" Does not prevail. Remember the "loud music" kids that were actually trying to escape in Florida, and the guy shot and killed one of them anyway? Trying to escape and he cried "I felt threatened."

There are good police and there are bad police. And one thing I learned from my 27 years in law enforcement is that bad police always get good police hurt. Look at Ferguson. The alleged bad police is in hiding and the good police are in harm's way. I don't know if this young police officer was a cowboy, started something he didn't know how to control, or if he did everything exactly right. Hopefully everything will come to the light of day.

Let me digress a moment and talk a little bit about Trayvon Martin. You remember? That college-bound honor student that George Zimmerman decided should leave this world? Here's what bad police-like wannabe (not even real police) Zimmerman did: He disobeyed Police orders to stay in his vehicle. He got into a confrontation. He put his hands on the kid. It got physical. The kid starts to get the best of him. So he shoots him dead. Now, here's what good police do: "Hey, there, where are you headed? Him: "Home to watch the NBA game." The good police then says, "Can I give you a lift? You don't want to miss the first tip!" So he gives the kid a lift home. What does good police gain? He knows this young man is home. He knows where this young man lives. He's created good will. That whole "To Serve and Protect" thing.

People are pissed off. Many. I am. And they have a right to be angry. I'm angry. But here's something to ponder: don't aggravate, don't instigate.....litigate. And let the Grand Jury do it's job. I hope it's clear that if this guy is actually a weak-kneed little Barney Fife wannabe, he'll get the deserved murder charge and spend his life in prison. A place not known for being kind to the kind of sissies this guy may be. But that is a fantasy. Even if he is not worthy to wear the uniform, but you know he won't be punished. Evidence be damned, the white guy will get an award.

Now they are trying hard to spin it any way they can. "He had marijuana in his system." That means he was mellower and less likely to want any trouble, dummies. "He lunged at the cop." I don't believe it, because there were nearly a half dozen eye-witnesses. But let's say he did. So? Officers are trained to out-maneuver in these situations. I spent 27 years around real hardened criminals, without a weapon. No weapon. Did I ever get lunged at? Yep. Did the perp get the death penalty? Nope. And if this myth were true, why not draw your taser or your pepper spray, cowboy? ("Cowboy" is a term cops give to other cops who are over-zealous and want to play like their in an action movie.)

According to eye-witnesses: Hands in the air, and he takes 6 shots. Autopsy statements indicate the two to the head may have been when he was down on the ground.

I will be interested in what a probably all white Grand Jury will conclude after hearing all of the evidence.

I have known thousands of cops in my life and believe me, being Police doesn't always mean right folks.

God bless America.

The Convoluded Congress.

So let me see if I have this straight.

The Republicans last week failed to pass their own Immigration Reform bill. So then they turn to the President demanding that he fix it. He contemplates expanding his version of the 'Dream Act' by Executive Order. So now, The House Majority Leader wants to sue the President, and some are using the I word. You know, that obligatory act of Republicans to Impeach Democrats.... and in this case for trying to serve the American people because Congress refuses to.

Just this week President Barrack Obama surpassed President George W. Bush in the number of Executive Orders Issued. Just this week. And George W. seldom had to use them because for many years he enjoyed a Republican House and Senate. Remember? That's when they all bellied up to the trough for stuff like tax cuts for the 1% and a War in Iraq. But The Speaker of the House now is barking about suing the President for using his Executive Privilege to try and accomplish something for the American People because apparently the President wants to leave a positive legacy more than Speaker Boeghner does.

But no President in history has had to deal with this kind of discernible hatred at every level. Speaker Boughner, your legacy will be that you have presided over the worst Congress in history. Your Congress has done approximately 1/10th of what the infamous "Do Nothing" Congress did. You're a better man than that Speaker Boughner. At least I'd like to believe that. Too bad you're afraid of the Tea Party. They are making you look like a sissy.

President Obama has the audacity to be black. "WE ARE NOT RACISTS!" Republicans shout from the money mountaintops. So then, tell me why this is the worst Congress ever? Why have they totally abandoned the American people to wage a war on President Obama? What could be different about this guy? He is maybe the most intelligent President of my lifetime (I started with Eisenhower), he's not overweight, he's not the first Harvard grad, we've had them before.....he's grown the economy by amazing standards in any economists book, he's ended a war, the GNP is doing well, we've added jobs every month of his Presidency save the first 3, unemployment is at about 6% and apparently falling, housing sales and construction are up, upwards of 8 million people who didn't have health insurance before have some form of it now, the stock market is booming, and he and a single Admiral came up with a plan to get Bin Ladin. One can only imagine what could have been accomplished for us if the Congress would have been a constructive partner in bettering America instead of trashing the President.

Sit back for a moment and imagine what the Affordable Care Act might be had Congress set about constructively tweaking it to keep getting it better. What if they would have spent just half the time they spent trying to repeal it on trying to make it better for citizens? Congress that is your job after all.

Kids at Our Borders.

There are about 50,000 refugees at our borders. They are under the age of 12. They have family somewhere here in the United States. Our borders are NOT any more open than they ever were Mike Huckabee - Mr. "Put On Your Christian Coat When It's Convenient". And that goes for the rest of us too. The only difference now is that we are catching them. President Obama has deported more illegals than any other President in history. The right ignores this....acting as though these are 50,000 illegals that got in and are now working in Burger Kings. No, they got caught. They are kids, and they are sleeping on the floor in a detention center somewhere.

Here's the deal on some of the countries these kids come from. They are some of the most violent, deadliest places on the planet. If you make it to age 30 you've done something. In Honduras, when you reach the age of say 12 or 13 you are snagged by a local gang, and "claimed". How do they do this? They tattoo you with their insignia or whatever. Your options. Stay and kill until you are killed at a very young age, or flee. So they flee. They head north. Through treacherous territory to say the least. These are vulnerable children. But they made it this far. Many didn't, by the way.

And then when they reach our border, they are caught. And then the tatts are identified and FOX News declares that many are gang members coming in to wreak havoc in the good old US of A. Because these kids that actually want to work for a living doing what we don't want to do, are easier to pick on, than say, the mob.

Here is your chance Repubs. You could actually step up and maybe garner some Latino vote. But you won't. You would rather cling to your fading belief that America won't be a brown nation in about 30 years. Keep hanging on Repubs.

Hey, I like being white too. It's still the best game in town. But it isn't going to be forever. We can keep fighting a losing battle or try and be more inclusive.

And how do we do that? But implementing more realistic immigration reforms Mike Huckabee. Not like the ones that let your ancestors and mine slip in so easily...(although my first ancestor came in in 1635 as an indentured man, but by 1650 was allowed to vote). But real ease of becoming a citizen. One of your right wing brethren suggested they be made to get a Bachelor's degree AND serve in the military. But the Tea Baggers fed him to the wolves and now he is gone.

You know what I love about the Tea Party? They are going to keep Dems in the White House. And that's okay as long as the Dem is the best candidate, like last time. You know who has the best Repub numbers right now? Rand Paul. Hillary will eat him for lunch. Wake up dummies. You can either be afraid of the Tea Party and be afraid to kick them out, or you can have the White House. Decide. I hope you continue to fear the Tea Party. Dummies.

You know, if Hollywood made a movie about Kindertransport, where all the little Jewish children were fleeing from their countries to get away from terror and murder, we'd all go see it and hope it won the Best Picture Oscar. But then again. Those kids were white.

IRS Alert: Incompetent! Who Would Have Guessed?

The IRS were called on the carpet today by a Congressional Committee and with a smile on his face the IRS Commissioner told with great satisfaction how incompetent, irresponsible, useless his agency is.

When asked for records for the last six months, the Commissioner went all Nixon and said that their system had crashed, records were destroyed, and that subsequently they removed the hard drives and had them destroyed.

I never thought I would ever agree with Tea Party Puppet Paul Ryan, but I had to shout "You go, pal!" as he was asking the Commissioner "You mean you require Americans to produce records from the last 7 years in an audit, but you can't come up with records for the last 6 months?" Right on. These a-holes have intimidated and messed with honest Americans for years, and they cannot live up to a fraction of the standards they expect of us.

The IRS is a disgusting agency. One, because they are manned by people who failed at something else. Oh, failed as a school teacher? Well, join the IRS! Couldn't make it in business? You're just what we're looking for! Secondly, because they prey on small timers, and the big boys like GM who have a post office box in the Cayman's and call that their World Headquarters get to pull this crap year after year. And guess who has to cough up the difference when these fat cats get out of paying their taxes?

Yeah, that would be the middle class.

Vote for people with your interests at heart, and not corporations.

Iraq, you are tiresome.

Anybody with half a brain knew that as soon as we left Iraq, it would fall apart and go back to the same old stuff they've been doing for thousands of years. Killing each other over rocks and desert. We left and guess what? TA-DA!! Of course the predictable inevitable is taking place. The rebels are moving in, and are going to take over the capitol. Republican Security Advisor Richard Clarke, who has spent his working life fighting Al-Quida, and the Taliban says even if we'd have in Iraq stayed a thousand years, well maybe. It didn't matter how long we'd stayed. As soon as we were gone, this was going to happen. This year, or 75 years from now.

Two words.

Who Cares?

President George W. Bush has a personal ax to grind and announced 8 months before 9-11 that we were going into Iraq. He and the people around him just couldn't figure out how to sell and unprovoked war to the American people. And then 9-11 happened. Although Iraq had nothing to do with it, somehow the spin artists in Washington at the time somehow kinda sorta made it look like this was a revenge tactic. An astounding number of Americans still think Iraq had something to do with 9 -11. In reality the people manning those planes that day were all Saudi's...but since Saudi Arabia has a lot of oil, well, we guess we can look the other way. This was the equivalent of being attacked by Brazil so we invade Iceland.

But I digress. The news is calling it "The Crisis in Iraq." Crisis? Really? Not so much. What is more or less happening is the the three main factions are coming together and claiming three separate territories. Which they wanted to do before all of the Americans were killed there! Let them! Good idea!

If we had been really smart then, or really smart now, we would go in and actually help them form three separate countries. The conflict might actually resolve itself then. And they'd be three small countries. That might be an advantage for us.

But, the bottom line is, just let them hash it out. I know John McCain want's to bomb everything, but John, give it a rest. You're old, you're tired, and you weren't quite this brave when you were in a POW camp and the other GIs called you "The Songbird" because you totally spilled your guts to the enemy. Let's just let the Iraqi's figure it out for themselves.

The Big Swap

So the President's Administration decides to swap 5 captives for an American Sgt. At first one must ask, why? Who knows? I feel there is a back story here that we aren't being let in on yet. Maybe this guy is a secretly embedded intelligence part of the machine. Judging by the looks of his Dad, I doubt it, but who knows?

But what no-one is talking about is the fact that the Obama administration's total of Gitmo detainees released isn't 5. It's 87. Yes, it's happened before.

But here's the thing: The Obama Administration is way behind. The George W. Bush Administration released 532 of them and got nothing in return. At least this administration got a captured Sgt. back!

So if you weren't willing to cry foul and scream bloody murder while the Bush Administration were releasing 532 of the Gitmo supposed, with no proof, illegal hostages, denied legal process guys, then just shut your mouth now.

And here's the other thing. Under the watch of this administration hundreds of top Taliban and Al Quida leaders have been killed. These five detainees, that FOX News has dubbed "five star generals", but in reality were not big shots, will go back to a place where all of their homeboys in the gang have been bumped off. They will have to start getting their street credibility all over again. And as soon as they do, we'll clip them. I predict that in a year or so, these 5 will be dead.

And thanks Obama Administration for sucking FOX News in. They are now on this and off Bengazi. And Eric Cantor loses his Primary? That was truly the first step in Hillary owning the White House. Mr. Cantor was reasonably working on realistic, workable immigration reform. Know what just happened? A lot of brown voters just got pissed off. So there's that.

The Mid-Terms

Most people in America are Democrats. So the Republicans spend a lot of time figuring up a lot of ways to not let Americans vote. Voter fraud (less than .002 percent in US history) becomes a huge issue. Demanding photo IDS from 92 year old citizens who never learned to drive. Yeah, there you go.

In the Mid-Term Elections only about 35% of the populace show up to vote. When that happens, Republicans tend to do very well, because Republicans show up at the polls. Republicans win big. And then they get the false notion that since they won big, it must mean America must agree with them. And then they go about doing their mayhem.

And then a Presidential Election comes along. 55% of the populace shows up at the polls. And the Republicans get knocked on their ass. And they don't get it.

Yes the Repubs will probably do very well in the mid-terms, understand THEY are the reason DEMS will do well in the Presidential race. The Repubs will believe the reason they won big is because their economic policies were correct, and then they will set upon a course that only makes them look stupid. A usually acknowledged phrase is "While watching your wallet, vote for Democrats. While voting Foreign Affairs vote Republican."

We Democrats LOVE the Tea Party. They keep us in the White House.

This is historical and classic. Yeah, go nuts on the mid-terms!

Keystone, and oil prices, and other myths.

A battle cry of every President in recent memory is the old worn-out "we need to reduce our dependence on foreign oil."

My question is simply this: Why? What difference will that make?

When most people think of foreign oil they think of those dreaded brown middle-eastern people. If Americans don't like Arabs there are better reasons than the fact they've got us over a barrel. (And the barrel has "Oil" printed on the side.)

But the fact is, only about 4% of our oil is imported from the middle east. Four percent. So what are we really get so worked up about? We import most our oil from Canada, and a great deal from Russia (ever wonder why we are being so cautious about the Ukranian take-back?)

And as far as foreign dependence, oil companies are pumping more oil out of the ground than they have in 20 plus years. In fact, in roughly 2011 the cry "Drill, Baby, Drill" was replaced by "Fracking For The Future." Oil and natural gas are currently hitting mighty healthy levels (never-mind those living near fracking sights.)

Just two years ago 5% of the oil being refined into gasoline at east coast refineries was from domestic oil. Today 50%, yes 50% is coming from domestic oil. Along the Gulf Coast? Their use of foreign oil has dropped by 25% from what it was a couple days ago. So this begs a couple of obvious questions.

If we are obtaining so much of our own oil, why haven't prices dropped? The answer is simple. It isn't about where the oil comes from. Whether it comes from the middle east or east Texas, it's all about whose hands it falls into. And it falls into the hands of about 5 major oil companies. And although these folks keep bringing in record net profits every quarter off the backs of the middle class primarily, our Republican friends in Congress still believe we must maintain the subsidies these companies enjoy....yeah we actually pay them to rape us.

To quote the Detroit Free Press/News from May 26th, 2014: "Reducing the reliance on foreign sources of energy has not led to lower prices though." It's NOT about where the oil comes from folks. It's about the evil, greedy hands it falls into.

Perhaps it isn't generally realized, but Canada is totally oil independent. One hundred percent. And guess what? The Canadians pay as much or more for their gasoline than we do. So what is the advantage of being "energy independent?" There is none. None. So who cares where we get the oil from?

Even though the oil is under our feet the price is out of our hands. The rapist?....I only got the first name. It's Exxon.

And can we stop all the blubbering about the Keystone Pipeline? Seriously in exchange for a few summer jobs, Americans are willing let Canada run a pipeline through our country for us to trip over forever? By the way, NONE of the oil would benefit the USA in any way. All the oil would be shipped out of New Orleans bound for Europe and Asia. So we can we get off the President's ass about this? Bush wouldn't have stood for this. Reagan would have laughed at them. Nixon would have told them to go screw themselves. So folks, stop with the nonsense about this stupid pipeline. It ain't gonna happen. Not with a Democrat in the White House, or a Republican in the White House. It's a bad idea that will never be realized.

Let Canada run the Keystone Pipeline across their country, not ours. And let's stop worrying about where the oil comes from and instead worry about the ways American Corporations are dreaming up to screw us.

If we were totally energy independent tonight, you'd be paying $4.95 at the pump.

Benghazi and Bridge-gate.

Well, Governor Christie of New Jersey has made what I believe is an error. He hired a public relations firm to put together a "study" to convince everyone he had no knowledge of the recent lane closure on the George Washington bridge - an apparent retaliation to a mayor who didn't support him in the last election. The lane closures kept traffic snarled for hours, and allegedly an ambulance was stalled and it cost someone their life. But Governor, methinks thou doest protest too much.

Hiring a PR firm to do your bidding and compile "evidence" to prove you're innocent? This reeks of guilt. Stop. It's better to let everyone speculate. Most of America was never caught in the mess trying to get into New York. Keep that in mind. And the American people have a memory shorter than a fat baby's dick. Just keep your mouth shut and move on. This only proved to me that you were in on this. And I feared they were only doing a Benghazi on you.

What do I mean by that? The way that FOX News continues to make a "story" out of  the Benghazi attacks on our consulate (when it is long forgotten on everywhere else) as a pre-emptive attack on Hillary Clinton. I was thinking maybe this was reciprocal. But now.....C'mon Chris.

I certainly think it is a strong possibility, as I predicted a year ago, that Christie will face off against Hillary Clinton in 2016 for the Presidency. In the past I have predicted that Christie will win by a nose (Republicans always get back in again after Democrats have fixed the economy for them - usually a mess Republicans made), but now I'm not so sure.

Christie enjoys the reputation of being a moderate, although actually he's far from it. But his recent actions of going on and on about the Bridge scandal, makes me think this is simply a Republican ploy to keep his name continually in the headlines.  Like the "debate-every-week" thing the Republicans did last election cycle to keep their names front and center. I truly hope the Democrats do the same thing this time.

Let's just see what transpires in the next few months. Christie might still be a tough sell to some of my Right Wing Republican buddies who are still angry that Christie didn't spit on the President of the United States when they went together to look at Hurricane Sandy damage.

Chris.....methinks thou doest protest too much.

Gov. Chris Christie & Bridgegate, and Unemployment.

Okay, in case you've been living under a rock, or were just rescued from an island where you spent your time talking to a volleyball, there has been a bit of scandal coming out of the swamps of Jersey. It seems that a few of the Governor's insiders took it upon themselves to bitch slap a New Jersey Mayor because he'd failed to endorse Christie in the last election. These overzealous idiots were obviously blinded by the light and think that this is how they should operate, and supposedly unbeknownst to Christie, arranged to have a few critical lanes shut down getting to and on the George Washington Bridge going from New Jersey to New York. There were people stuck there for hours, people were hopelessly late for work, and sadly emergency vehicles couldn't get through. In one case, a gentleman allegedly died because the ambulance couldn't get him to the hospital in time.

Governor Christie held a press conference that was over two hours in length, approaching the length of a Bruce Springsteen show. In it he denied any knowledge of the dirty deed and has fired the morons responsible. Good. That's a start. And let's hope these pieces of excrement never work in politics again. Although FOX News has probably already hired them as ethics gurus.

But here's the deal. I believe Christie. I believe he had no knowledge of this stupid act, and in no way endorsed it, or approved of it. Sometimes people that work for you do dumb, idiotic things. When it was discovered he acted appropriately by firing the culprits. That should be sufficient. He says he's tried to build a track record of integrity, and I believe he has. But like the bridge, folks, it runs both ways.

Although there are currently 2,723,000 Federal employees (not counting the military) this is the lowest number of said employees since 1966. I would hope that if one or more of these two million plus people do something stupid, people wouldn't automatically blame the President, this one or any other, for actions of employees many levels below him that he'll never know or meet. But in today's climate President Obama would probably take more heat for some prank an IRS agent in Barstow, California pulls than Governor Christie will take for this disaster perpetrated by his second in command. Let's hope not. And let's not pile on Christie, and naturally assume he did something wrong. There is currently no evidence to support that. Let's just go with "innocent until proven guilty."

And if we do, then maybe someday, they'll follow suit.

Oh, and referencing my last post.....unemployment has just fallen to 6.7%.