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.
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
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.
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.
Friday, June 20, 2014
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.
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.
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.
Sunday, June 15, 2014
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.
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.
Friday, May 30, 2014
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!
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.
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.
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