Vote Like A Goat

Today is School Board Elections…Polls are open 10-8…  If anyone is sponsored by Markell or Rodell or RTTT or WSFS, don’t vote for them.. If anyone is sponsored by DSEA, they are on the students side. They are safe.

So go out and vote like a goat… Be…  B-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-D

Gone, Gone…. The Damage Done….

I watched the Sequester take down another man….. Gone, gone, the damage done…..

Just a quick review of the Wilmington News Journal this past week to keep up with exactly all the unnecessary waste and wasteful perks we needed to cut so our billionaire friends won’t have to pay one more single penny of every dollar they earn over the $1 million mark…… .*

Here are those things less important than a penny to a billionaire……

• Air Force suspended its military tuition assistance program for the remainder of fiscal year 2013, impacting more than 1,000 Dover Air Force Base Airmen…
• DAFB has already endured deep cuts to flying hour programs, training cancellations and civilian furloughs,,,
• Delaware will lose approximately $1.4 million in funding for primary and secondary education, putting around 20 teacher and aide jobs at risk.,,,,,
• 2,000 fewer students would be served and approximately 4 fewer schools would receive funding…
• Delaware will lose approximately $1.8 million in funds for about 20 teachers, aides, and staff who help children with disabilities… including autism.
• Head Start and Early Head Start services would be eliminated for approximately 100 children in Delaware,
• Delaware would lose about $1.1 million in environmental funding ..
• Delaware’s to lose another $359,000 in grants for fish and wildlife protection.
• 2,000 civilian Department of Defense employees would be furloughed or around $7.6 million in payroll no longer hitting Delaware’s economy…
• Delaware will lose about $83,000 in Justice Assistance Grants,, used to prosecute criminals.
• Delaware will lose about $86,000 in funding for job search assistance, referral, and placement,..
• 100 disadvantaged and vulnerable children are being dropped from child care, meaning their parent will have to quit work to care for them.
• Reduced funding for vaccinations of about $26,000. 380 fewer children will receive vaccines
• Delaware will lose approximately $86,000 in funds to help upgrade its ability to respond to public health threats..
•  Delaware will lose about $330,000 in grants to help prevent and treat substance abuse..
• Delaware will lose about $70,000 resulting in around 1,800 fewer HIV tests….
• Gone are the $19,000 in funds that provide services to victims of domestic violence,
• Gone are the $201,000 in funds that provide meals for seniors, currently the only meal they have.
• Elimination of inspections to prevent the introduction of foreign pests and diseases into U.S
• 1,000 fewer grants awarded by the National Science Foundation, and 5.1 percent cuts to the National Institute of Health..

In all, $18 million that would otherwise flow into Delaware’s economy…… The CBO uses this formula to judge the economic impact of Federal cuts.  1.6 times the Federal Cuts =  local economic damage….  Delaware then is facing a slump of  $28.8 million dollars…

And why are we facing all these hardships?

So billionaires won’t have to pay one penny off every dollar they earn over a million….. Just curious,… what part of society do you think deserves and needs that money more?  If we were choosing where in society that money should go to do the most good, would you vote to keep it in a billionaires pocket?

If you are Republican, you would?……..

*(one penny on every dollar earned over 1 million equals almost exactly $85 billion, the amount of the sequester...)

American Taxpayers Subsidize Every Big Bank’s Bonus To Their Top Executives!!!

Courtesy of Bloomberg

Bloomberg published a report showing how a Federal subsidy of 0.8th of one percent, costs the US Treasury $83 billion dollars a year.

Ironically we are arguing about how to fill almost that exact amount with sequestration. $83 billion; either by taxes or cuts.

But what Bloomberg points out, by deducting the subsidies from the reported profits of the top five banks, that without the subsidies, there would be no profits.

The bonuses being paid to all top bank executives, are our money that we are subsidizing. The dividend payouts being received by every stockholder, is a give-you-something-free right from the US Treasury….

So, how does it make you feel, Mr. Middle Class, to have bankers flaunting $43 million paychecks, fleeced out of taxing you, while you pay $3.00 for every automatic teller transaction….

Oh, I’m sure you don’t mind. These banks are too big to fail… They bankrolled almost the entire Republican Party, and now, as long as Boehner runs the House, they are completely protected and can keep living off your subsidies…. You know what? They probably won’t even say thank you… Because in their eyes, their bonuses? They built that…..

Republicans, so devious … you gotta love them.

Chuck Hagel Passes Committee: Vote Strictly Along Party Lines

With just ten minutes left for one Senator to possibly scramble upstairs and cast a vote that would not change the outcome, Chuck Hagel’s secretary of defense nomination was sent to the Floor….

One of the more surprising moments was the very Senatorial response given by Mazie Hirono, the replacement for Dan Inouye, who passed away after the election.

In a brief statement she noted (at exactly the 2:00 mark) that the national security need for an immediate Secretary of Defense was necessary, and to abort the process and begin anew was irresponsible, for with sequestration, budget reductions, downsizing after Afghanistan, re-pivoting to the Pacific, challenges of North Korea, Syria, North Africa, cyber attacks to our data systems, power grid, infrastructure, all requiring immediate attention. Chuck Hagel exemplified himself in war, as a CEO, and in the chambers of the Senate itself. That puts him as equally qualified as anyone else in that room. Simply put, we need someone now, this man is capable, he has my vote.

Courtesy of C Span
I guess she hasn’t learned to be long winded yet.

Which brings up the Republicans… What on earth is wrong with them? Are they nuts?

Every unbiased report confirms they are nuts.

Republican foreign policy is farce, not even worthy of Shakespeare.

So Republicans have decided that Afghanistan doesn’t exist. At last summer’s Republican National Convention, Mitt Romney never mentioned the Afghan War (that was left up to Clint Eastwood).

During Hagel’s seven and a half hours of questioning by the Senate Armed Services Committee last month, the country where 66,000 American troops are still fighting, and dying, was mentioned 27 times. How many mentions did it receive from the Armed Service Committee’s 12 Republican members combined? Four.

Drones, Zero mentions.

Cyber warfare, two came from Committee Republicans..

China, only one mention came from a Senate Republican. (and that occured when Texas Sen. Ted Cruz asked Hagel if he had traveled to China with Chas Freeman, a former American diplomat known for critical views toward, you guessed it, Israel.)

Israel (178 Republican mentions)

America must help Israel prevent the development of Iran’s nuclear weapon. (171 mentions)

The GOP campaign against him has descended even deeper into triviality. Republicans on the Armed Services Committee are now refusing to vote on Hagel’s nomination until he provides evidence that no organization he was affiliated with received foreign funding over the past decade? WTF? Every Republican on that committed gets foreign political funding from AIPAC….

His answer: no.

Republicans stoop even lower.

Republicans are demanding that he prove that no company or non-profit he has been involved in has received any foreign funding either!

Chuck Hagel’s answer? “That information…is legally controlled by the individual entities and not mine to disclose.”

This is “unprecedented,” as well as “ridiculous and outrageous,” especially since there’s zero evidence that Hagel—a decorated Vietnam veteran—has ever subverted the interests of the United States in service of a foreign power.

One senses Chuck Hagel’s ridiculous farcical hearing process, brought to its knees by these Republicans, has not one iota of relevance to Mr. Hagel’s qualifications, and every bit of relevancy to fending off a potential evangelical Tea Party primary challenger chomping for a run against these Republicans in the next election season….

The Man On The Hill

To understand the appeal of Mitt Romney among rural voters you have to understand a small town’s fascination with the “man on the hill”.  Usually in a every small town, the best, most expensive house, sits on the highest piece of ground and has a beautiful yard that is perfectly landscaped.  During holiday season, his colored lights look down on all those looking up from their houses below.

If you see him around town, you always say “hi”, and chat for a moment.  You don’t want to bother him, because he could pick up the phone and make your life a living hell.   But it’s the best house in town, and it molds your dreams, like if you won the lottery or got a promotion or got a surprise inheritance,  you too would see yourself as and want to be “the man on the hill.”

Just as men and women supposedly come from Mars and Venus, there is a cosmic difference between conservatives and progressives too.  Progressives tend to think with their brain.  If given a dichotomy between what their brain says and what their feelings say, they will choose the one promoted by their brain, and think they made the wiser choice.  Conservatives do it backwards.  Conservatives in the same situation, rely on their feelings.  If their feelings tell them this person is alright, then despite warnings being given by their brain, they trust their feelings instead of their neurons.

Neither side can help being the way they are.  Like Bones and Spock, they are wired that way…..

This explains quite a lot about the two…  That is why a progressive can get everything right, do a great job, have all his ducks in a row,  snatch the golden ring,  and then still lose at the last minute because he didn’t connect to what the voters were feeling…  And this is also why a  conservative,  who runs the country on his feelings, can mess up pretty bad over a long stretch until finally no amount of feeling can overcome the numerous neurons saying  this likable guy just isn’t working out……

Progressives see their leader as someone who will do this, this, and this for them…   Conservatives see a leader as someone who inspires them…

And for the most part, our electorate is split down the middle 50/50 and except for 2008 collapse, we’d  have a razor thin win every four years….

Progressives whose brains are working overtime,  do not necessarily like “the man on the hill.”  They’re smart; they know how he got his money and it disgusts them.  They see him as a less moral person than themselves, who if he didn’t break the law to get his wealth, at least caused a lot of people heartache and headache as he pulled their money towards him…  Though they might be envious of his money, they see many better options which that money could be put to use.  They might respect the money, but they dislike the man.

Conservatives see the wealthy, and wish they could be like that.  They really don’t have a broad perspective.  Their vision is usually just their town, and the “man on the hill” is the showpiece their town offers.   They almost gain a sense of pride in how well his grounds are kept, because they identify with that as being where they are from….  Even if their neighbor gets tricked out of her house by this same man, they will somehow rationalize that it had to be her fault; they still cannot get rid of their loyalty for “the man on the hill” because that means they would somehow then be unloyal to their town, and thus themselves.

A Progressive, who thinks everything through, just simply cannot see this..  It is beyond his comprehension.  How can you support someone who has no heart, who will trash you and take what you have, and leave you for dead in a heartbeat?  What on earth is motivating you?  What secret lurks deep inside of you, that would make you do something so terribly wrong to yourself,  to your aging parents, to your kids?    And hence we see the bubbling charges of racism….

It has to be racism the Progressive says.   He says so because racism is a concept the Progressive has been taught.  He can wrap his skull around racism because it is a hard concept he has learned about it…  He knows that racism is something that defies common sense, but exists anyway.  I keep to my own and you are not welcome…

But these conservatives would deny that.  In their mind they have no anti black feelings.  They all know someone who is black they will tell you.  That is not even close to why they prefer their candidate….

The truth depends upon how broad you want to draw the definition of racism.  If you want racism to be only a conscious effort, as in “I hate these people so I am going to make their lives difficult”, even though there are some like those in the Republican Party, they do not control or have much of an impact….  But if you want to go with the  subconscious definition, where one is more comfortable with the familiar, and will tend to choose what they know over what they don’t, then that broad definition may apply.  Be wary of using it because it applies to quite a lot of things, including progressives…..

The reality is that when it comes to who they would like to see as their “man on the hill”  in small town rural America,  it simply comes down to this:  Romney for whatever reason is who they are most comfortable wanting to be like.  Many of them have never talked to an African American.  They don’t know any, and in a forced social setting, it is hard to break down walls built up over a lifetime…

To conservatives these are changing times, and scary times.  They are dying off.  They are being replaced by people with darker skin, whether with African descent, Mexican heritage, or even from India or Southeast Asia.   For the rural person, it used to be the dry cleaning lady was Aunt Em; now she has a name that is so long it is unpronounceable….   Like Arlo Guthre’s City of New Orleans,  all across this great land, white America feels like it is fading into a bad dream…

So when you ask rural America who are you most comfortable with?  They first, look deep inside their hearts, then go with Romney.  And it is nothing negative against Obama;  it is just that when they look at both, first Obama and then Romney,  they are looking for the one who will  take over that “house on a hill”,  the one with an immaculate lawn, the one they sometimes want to own, the house that makes them proud they live in that town, the one they take every family visitor to see….   You see, Romney already reminds them of that “man on a hill” who right now is in their town.  ”I can trust him” they feel, no matter how many facts, or how impeccable of logic,  or how exciting the presentation gets made by his opponent…..

They don’t vote with their head.  If you want their vote,  you have to go for their heart….

And I’ll leave you with an actual encounter while canvassing in Southern PA;  the subject here is an undecided voter…..

Knock, Knock.

TV (Giants game) volume gets turned down and a man is at the door)   Yes, “hello?”

“Hi, we’re with Team Obama.  Got something here for you, and were just making sure you were ok with voting on November 6th,  whether you needed a ride or anything..?   You haven’t made up your mind yet, have you?

“Naahhh… Still trying to figure it out…”

“That’s cool… that’s cool.  That decision is important, and we certainly don’t want to rush anyone to vote in a way they will regret…  Just think it over…  Any questions you might have that we can find an answer for you?   You can always call that toll free number on that card we gave you, and someone can answer your questions…  Mind if we ask what’s on your mind?”

“Well, I voted for him the last time, and nothing’s changed…  I’m feeling we can’t just be doing the same ole, same ole.  Something different’s gotta happen…”

“I hear you.  Believe me, we understand…  It’s a decision only you can make…  Do you want to hear  why I think so much of him I’m out missing the Sunday games?”

“Certainly..”.

“First of all, I’m a numbers guy.   I look at numbers, and the numbers are off the charts… This guy has hired more people in three years than three presidents did their whole term…  I know if you are looking only at the finish line you’re saying, he’s not there yet…  but the thing is, he started so far back, and is right on the edge already, right now, of the finish line.  It’s like us making Usain Bolt because he’s so good, start  340 yards back  behind the rest of the pack to run a 100 yard dash, and he’s still almost up to the finish line ….  You wouldn’t say Bolt’s a bad runner because he didn’t win.  In fact, he probably broke a world record to make up that distance…  To me, it’s the same with Obama. ..  5 million new private sector jobs is amazing, even though the Republicans cut half a million government jobs to make him fail…   I’m in it, because “good” has got to win;  i can’t let ” good”, fail…  That’s not what America is about. America is giving each a fair chance…  and there’s only one guy running for president who is doing that…  Well sorry if I talked too much…”

“Oh, you didn’t.  I kinda glad I got to hear what you had to say….”

“Well, just look everything over and make the right choice for you… Just be sure to vote…  Not everyone does and that is just terrible..”

Use emotions…  Positive emotions.   Make them proud of their president,  and he, will carry their vote… Simply put, they’re not looking for facts.  They are looking for emotional acceptance.  If you do it right, they will have found their… “new man on the hill.” …

Rape = Republicans

At first such a headline sounds trite and unthoughtful. Oh, it’s the simple linking of two words to forge a relationship. The proper name for that inside the English Language, is zeugma, a term borrowed from the Greeks.

But there appears to be something there. From a woman’s point of view, rape has been in the news a lot lately. And I don’t mean the physical reporting of actual rapes, they seem to be less than in the past. But the philosophical discussion about rape, has almost dominated the political discussions across this political season.

We have offensive laws proposed requiring wands inserted by strangers up into ones vagina.
We have the Akins physical slip of legitimizing rape in some circumstances.
We have the Bodenweiser situation here in Delaware. As if by being extremely religious, he was beyond reproach.
We have the Murdoch debate from last night. Rape is protected by God.

They show a crack in the Republican armor.

When confronted, the wiggle and try to hide what they meant, which was that rape is a “so what” type of crime.

Here are some of the responses Republicans bring up when confronted by this acceptance of rape as a normal human attribute.

Rapes happen.
She asked for it.
She should have kept herself locked up.
It’s just sex.
She’s lying. She wanted it too.

And if she gets pregnant.

It’s god’s child, not hers.
It’s life; we have to preserve life; the mother is unimportant.
It’s ok to rape if a man wants sex and a woman doesn’t.
The woman is required to be submissive to the man.
She must keep the child, because God is punishing her, and the child is her cross to bear.

I don’t know how many of you sit in cross examinations. But most of you have seen fake ones on television dramas. They are not alike, trust me, but there is one things that reigns true over both. If someone is trying to hide something from you, they don’t come right out and tell you.

Instead you have to look at the peripheral, and use questioning tactics to force them to explain anomalies from their story. What is buried internally, invariably slips out. Then, forcing them to explain those things eventually uncovers that which they are working so hard to hide.

It is safe to say, that the Republican Party has no concern for women. They will use women, but they do not have any concern. It is a man’s world in the Republican Party. And as long as a woman supports the notion that woman must be submissive to man, and she wins votes, she can be a part of that party…..

Is it ok to rape?

Look at the bigger picture.

Rape of the Budget Surplus put in place by Clinton.
Rape of people’s property rights under eminent domain.
Rape of animals rights encouraging wanton killing.
Rape of the earth’s resources, putting profits ahead of cleaning up after themselves.
Rape of Earth’s Climate; encouraging Global Warning.

There is a tendency for Republicans to rape everything they get their hands on.
Look at the rape of Republican Chris Christie’s New Jersey Budget.
Look at the rape of Tea Party’s Rick Scott of Florida’s budget.
Look at the rape of Koch’s Scott Walker, of Wisconsin’s ones prosperous financial health.
Look at the rape of Ronald Reagan’s use of borrowed money to fund his bounce back economic times.

And then contrast that, to the healthy building of mutual sustaining policies that benefit everyone whenever Democrats have full power…..

If Republicans = Rape, then Democrats = Long, lasting, happy marriages…….

Don’t take my word for it. Skim any newspaper.

If Wishes Were Fishes….

If wishes were fishes…

I’d go catch me one…..

 

What would I wish for?  A great economy. That would take care of so many problems.

The issue within the economy that gets the most attention, is jobs.  Not enough people are working. And the reason not enough people are working is because not enough money is getting spent, to add on additional help.

What we need is to get more money spent, and then add on extra people to assist with that increase of business.  So, how do we do that?

 Here are the old tried and true was trotted out long ago.

1) The government can hire. Those people spend money into the economy.

2) The government can award contracts.  Those people now working, spend money into the economy.

3) The government can dole out more tax cuts.  If people get more in their pocket they will spend more.

We’ve tried that, but the amount the government needs to spend to cover the salaries of 16 million people, would be (at $50,000 each per year)  would be $800 billion.  (Does TARP come to mind?)  That is just a too big job for government to handle by itself…

Who on earth has $800 billion.  Are we doomed?

No, corporate America makes almost $2 trillion of profits per quarter. By now all of you should know that is every 65 working days.  

 

So who do YOU think should be hiring all these unemployed workers?  The government that is in debt ($16 trillion) up to its eyeballs, or…. corporate America that after all expenses, has a new $2 trillion every 65 days to play with? 

I hope you said Corporate America.  We now know the cost: $800 billion/year. We now know the profit: just under $8 trillion per year (four quarters). 

So the cost to Corporate America of putting all these unemployed back to work, is in percent: 10%. So instead of making a full dollar in profit, Corporate America makes 90 cents on the dollar.

If that seems like a lot, keep in mind we are not discussing an expense here.  That is not a 10 % cost incurred that the business has to scramble and find some method to compensate. Historically profits are not this high. In fact, they never have been this high in the history of the United States, at least according to the records kept today of long ago.  So these very high profits are a new phenomena… They are probably occurring because business just aren’t hiring; 

Remember: profit is what is left over after everything has been paid off.  So having businesses take ten percent of their “profits” and put people to work, doesn’t cost them anything. They just don’t record dream level profits anymore.  Instead, they just have healthy profit levels..

So let us review.  We have 16 million unemployed and out of work, who for just $800 billion could be working at $50,000 a year.  That would give us zero unemployment. And we have Corporate America making $8 trillion a year earning profit that is so much, they have no idea or way to spend it.  

So, all we have to do is make, force, impose, compel Corporate America hire 16 million people. 

But wait.  Wasn’t everyone up in arms over forcing, imposing, and compelling Corporate America to pay for health insurance?  Saying things like the government “can’t make anyone do anything?”  Didn’t a whole bunch of patriots emerge from the woodwork with that philosophy in mind?

Justice Roberts opened the door.  And he showed Congress the way.  Raise taxes on Corporate America; its legal; Congress can raise taxes. . Raise taxes and take their money… But, if you want to be sporting, you can allow them to not record profits as high as they have.  You could also allow them to write off the amounts they invested in building new plants, establishing budgets for R & D.  Hey, they could even pay you more.  Better to have you a happy camper than give that money to the IRS…..

So you see, if we just raise taxes, the economy takes off.  And raising taxes is really just a trick with words.  All we are really going to do is raise the tax rates.  The amount of taxes a corporation actually pays will stay the same or maybe be less, because their profit (by their choice) will go down and so though they will be asked to pay a higher rate, it will be on far less “income”.  And where does that money go?  If they act in their own selfish interests and choose to invest the money in themselves so they don’t have to fork it over to the FED’s, .. all that money goes to new jobs.  16 million of them.

The solution is plain as the words on this page.  Raise the tax rates, watch corporations reinvest in themselves here in America, watch the hiring begin en masse, and watch the economy get roaring again.

It is nothing new;  it is the way it always was, up until the Bush Tax Cuts were passed.  How many of you remember old Delaware, where around the middle of December, Dupont’s tax division presented the data to the chairman, “this is what you gotta spend”; and building contracts came flying out of 1007 N. Market Street.

We should have never stopped the gravy train, but we did.  It’s time we return to reality and raise those Federal Tax rates.  It wouldn’t hurt to remove every Republican from office while we are at it………

I think I just caught me a wish…….  

 

 

 

 

 

Are You Serious?

Just days ago, the day before the Super Bowl,…..  Ford lawyer Lynne Matuszak sent GM a letter demanding that the GM ad (the one where the Ford does not make it out of the apocalypse),  not air and be removed from all websites and social media outlets. “Ford objects to the commercial showing the owner of a Ford F-150 pickup as one who did not make it to the meeting point safely.”

Are you serious?

It’s a commercial….

What made you so entitled that no one can compare their products to yours?  And poke a little fun at you as  well?

Don’t even say you thought they would pull the ad just because you complained?

 

J.C Penny’s Stands Up For Ellen

J. C Penny refused to cow to the alleged boycott by the Million Moms, part of the American Dumbass Association, and stood up today, saying it is proud to stand behind Ellen DeGeneres as their spokesperson….

Unlike the Koman foundation, they can do math…..

311,591,917 Americans

At 50.8% that includes  158,288,693 women….

Out of which 1 Million Moms equals…   0.6% of one measly percent…..

To the American Family Blah, Blah, Blah Organization……

“Oh, … shut…..  up.”

.

As Republicans Get Sick, They Start To Realize Why “Obamacare” Is Good

This story is making it’s way up the charts… It is about the perils of navigating the private insurance labyrinth, being kicked out, and finding salvation in what?…… A government run Health Care Program.

“Obama-care To The Rescue”

Bottom line… Private Insurance ain’t what it was under Clinton’s 1990′s… If you haven’t gotten sick lately, then talking smack about Governmental Healthcare, makes you a stupid-ass hypocrite.

Bottom line.